TEN DEAD IN THE WATER

💀

       ANITA YAWNED AS SHE SAT DOWN on the grass, cross-legged. She, Mike, Lucas, and Dustin were looking for stones for Lucas' wrist rocket in the schoolyard, but Anita was exhausted, her limbs felt heavier and heavier with every second, and she needed a break. She hadn't slept at all last night, and she felt it, she was fucking tired. It showed, too. The bags under her eyes were extremely dark, and she was pretty sure that her eyelids were swollen. Of course, the boys noticed that as well. And Anita noticed that they noticed — the unsure and worried glances they cast her every now and then weren't discreet.

       Dustin did it right now. He looked at her like he wanted to say something but wasn't sure how he should say it. Anita tried to ignore it and started picking blades of grass, ripping them into tiny pieces to keep her busy.

       "Are you OK?" Dustin finally asked.

       Anita looked up at him. "Mm-hmm," she hummed, nodding. "Just tired, is all."

       Lie.

       That was not all...

       Last night, every time Anita had closed her eyes, she was scared that the Midnight Man would show up and take her, that he was just waiting for her to relax, and then he would come out of the shadows and kidnap her like he kidnapped India. Over and over again, she had told herself that she was fearless and a fighter and that the Midnight Man couldn't appear, couldn't harm her, because she hadn't played the game — but all of those things were lies. First of all, Anita was scared shitless, she wanted to do nothing more than just crawl into bed and hide under the blanket; and second of all, the Midnight Man could show up and take her without the game — Will proved that.

       India, too.

       India wouldn't play the Midnight Game again. Not after what had happened last time. Anita was sure of that. But the Midnight Man still took her. And now she was gone, missing, hiding from the Midnight Man in a place far away, a place Anita couldn't get to. She had tried to figure out where India was by reaching out to her in a way that the sisters were able to do since the month they had been missing. (Well. Anita and India could do that. Esme didn't have it under control, just like her touch.) But she still couldn't find her; she could feel that India was there, but she couldn't feel where.

       She just hoped that El could find her. Them. India and Will.

       That was the reason why they were looking for stones — they had a plan to find Will and India: Operation Mirkwood. After school, at 3:15 p.m., they would meet El by the power lines behind Mike's house, and then they would look for Will and India. Well, El would hopefully lead them to them. And in case the Demogorgon (the Midnight Man — this morning, when they all were in Mike's basement planning Operation Mirkwood, they had decided to call the Midnight Man 'Demogorgon', Anita thought that was less scary) showed up, they needed stones for Lucas' wrist rocket.

       "You sure?" Dustin's voice snapped Anita out of her thoughts.

       "Hm? Yes. I'm sure."

       She wasn't sure. Actually, she knew that she wasn't OK at all. All of this, Will and India missing, the Midnight Man being back, her dad dead — probably murdered — was making her feel fucking awful. And she knew if she allowed all those feelings — the sadness, the uncertainty, the fear, the pain —, then she wouldn't be able to do anything anymore. This — collecting stones and thinking about El, about where she came from, who she was, why she had superpowers, and how her dad had helped her... It distracted her.

       Dustin eyed her with a worried look on his face. Anita reciprocated it with a glare. She didn't want anyone's pity. Dustin diverted his attention back to the ground and to their search for stones.

       "How about this one?" Mike asked, showing Dustin the stone he found.

       "Too big for the sling."

       Mike threw the stone away, a sigh escaping him.

       "So," Dustin then started, "do you think Eleven was born with her powers, like the X-Men, or do you think she acquired them, like... like..." He trailed off, not able to think of a superhero.

       "... Like Green Lantern," Anita jumped in.

       Dustin pointed his index finger enthusiastically at her. "Yes, like Green Lantern."

       Lucas shook his head, annoyed. "She's not a superhero. She's a weirdo."

       Anita rolled her eyes. She couldn't understand why Lucas was so much against El. OK, she could, actually — El showed up out of nowhere in the same place that Will disappeared from, she has a number tattooed onto her arm, had a shaved head, hardly spoke, and had superpowers. Maybe Anita should question herself why she trusted El already... But then she remembered the fear on El's face, and she thought, no one with evil intentions looks so scared. And her dad had helped her, somehow. He had to have had a reason for that. And if he helped her, then Anita would help her, too.

       Her dad would've wanted that.

       "Why does that matter?" Mike asked, looking at Lucas with a frown on his face. "The X-Men are weirdos."

       Anita raised her hand. "I'm a weirdo, too."

       "Yeah, Anita's a weirdo, too," Mike repeated her words, gesturing toward her.

       "Yeah, but that's different," Lucas said, glancing at Anita.

       Anita furrowed her brows.

       "How's that different?" Mike asked.

       "Because..." Lucas fell silent, his mouth opening and closing like a fish's, not able to find the right words.

       "Because...?" Anita urged him to continue.

       Lucas' gaze landed on her, and his annoyed expression softened. "Because you're one of us." He looked back at Mike. "Eleven is not!"

       Dustin started to grin, and he glanced back and forth between Anita and Lucas. Anita looked back at him with a questioning frown on her face. The grin was wiped off of Dustin's face as he noticed her eyes on him, quickly looking away. What the fuck?

       "She could be one of us!" Mike countered.

       "If you love her so much, why don't you marry her?" Lucas exclaimed, mocking Mike.

       Mike pulled a grimace. "What are you talking about?"

       Lucas gave him a deadpan look. "Mike, seriously?"

       "What?"

       "You look at her all, like..." Lucas put his hands on his chest and made puppy dog eyes. Anita raised an eyebrow, bewildered. "Hi, El! El! El! El! I love you so much!" He lunged forward, wrapping his arms around Mike. Then he went down on one knee, holding Mike's hand. "Would you marry me?"

       Anita rolled her eyes at his antics, a feeling of some kind of ... irritation ... brewing in her. It wasn't anger, though. Anita didn't know what it was, she just knew that she didn't like it. Just like she didn't like them talking about Mike's alleged crush on El when they had more important things to do. It was ridiculous, really.

       "Shut up, Lucas," Mike said, annoyed.

       Lucas opened his mouth to say something else, most likely to continue making fun of Mike, but Anita spoke up before he could, "Honestly, I think the last thing on El's mind are boys."

       With a grin on his lips, Lucas turned to her. "Don't be such a grinch, Anita."

       Normally, Anita would join in and tease Mike with Lucas (it was fun, sue her), but right now, she couldn't find amusement in it. So, she sent him a glare, ready to start arguing, when another voice chimed in, "Yeah, don't be such a grinch, Anita!"

       Anita jumped up from the floor as she saw Troy Walsh and his mouth breather of a best friend James Dante walking over to them. Mean looks adorned their facial features, their lips stretching into twisted grins. Anita's gaze darkened, and she daggered them with glares, a piercing look in her eyes that all Deverell women could muster.

       "Or are you too upset about your daddy?" Troy mocked.

       Her heart dropped.

       The words felt like a punch in the gut, and all the anger that had started to course through her veins at the sight of dumb and dumber dissolved, and was replaced by an all too familiar emotion — fear. Her stomach twisted into knots, almost making her want to vomit; her hands began to shake, and a pressure built behind her eyes as if she was about to start crying right then and there, but she didn't. (She still couldn't cry.)

       How could he say something like that? Anita didn't understand how someone could make fun of something like that, of someone's death, of her dad's death. It was fucked up. And the way the two assholes grinned was even more fucked up. Why would they say something like that? Sure, she knew they were mean, but this... No, that was not mean. That was cruel. Evil.

       "Don't talk to her like that!" Lucas defended her, coming to stand in front of her to protect her from them — or them from her.

       Anita looked at his back, her eyes wide.

       "Or what?" Troy smirked, taking a menacing step toward Lucas. Automatically, Lucas backed away, almost crashing into Anita, but she grabbed his arms before that happened. "What are you doing back here, anyway?"

       "Probably looking for their missing friend," James said, barking out a laugh.

       The mention of Will alerted her, her body going rigid. The fear controlling her body faded slightly, making room for anger once more.

       Dustin scowled. "That's not funny. It's serious. He's in danger."

       Troy scoffed. "I hate to break it to you, Toothless, but he's not in danger. He's dead. That's what my dad says. He said he was probably killed by some other queer."

       That made Anita see red.

       "What the fuck is wrong with you?" She stepped forward from behind Lucas. But before she could lash out at them, attack them, make them see their worst nightmares come to life, Lucas grabbed hold of her, holding her back. Dustin and Mike understood that they should leave if they wanted to prevent Anita from gaining another week of detention (she should have had detention this week, but because her dad died, the school thought they should let her off).

       "Come on," Mike said, his gaze trained on Anita, "Just ignore them."

       Mike started to leave, but when he brushed past Troy, Troy tripped him. With a surprised gasp, Mike fell flat on his stomach, his chin landing on a stone with a sickening crunch.

       Anita flinched. "Mike." She rushed over to his side, crouched down beside him, and helped him sit up. As soon as she saw the blood on Mike's chin, Anita felt a little bit dizzy. She didn't like blood, she hated seeing blood, she always had. But since the Midnight Game, where they had to prick their fingers with a needle because the game needed a drop of blood from every player (Esme pricked her finger for her, she hadn't been able to do that on her own), she hated it even more. She tore her eyes away from Mike's chin, swallowing loudly, and focused on the rest of his face.

       "Watch where you're going, Frogface." Troy and James laughed and started to walk away. Anita felt the urge to go after them, to make them pay for hurting Mike, but she smothered that urge. Making sure Mike was OK was more important.

       "You OK?" she asked, her voice shaky.

       Mike nodded. "Yeah," he breathed. With his hand, he rubbed over the wound on his chin, smearing the blood a little bit. He winced, his face contorting into a pained grimace.

       Lucas and Dustin came over to them, and while Lucas and Anita helped Mike to his feet, Dustin picked up the stone that had ripped his skin open, inspecting it.

       "Hey," Dustin said, gaining the attention of the other three. He held up the stone, a big smile on his face. "How about this one?"

       Anita snorted.

       Mike chuckled. "Yeah."

       "Yeah?" Dustin repeated.

       "Yeah, this is it," Mike said, smiling.

       Lucas took the stone out of Dustin's hand and grinned. "Oh, yeah. Yeah, this is the monster killer. Whoo!"

💀

       OPERATION MIRKWOOD WAS IN FULL SWING as they trudged through the woods, Lucas, Dustin, and Anita walking behind El and Mike. Yesterday, they found out that El knew where Will was, and now she was leading them to where he was hiding — from the Midnight Man. And even if she would never admit it out loud, she was super scared. Her stomach was twisting and turning, her heart was racing, and her hands would be shaking like a leaf in the wind if she hadn't buried them in her jacket pockets. She couldn't help it. They were walking to the place where the Midnight Man would be, how could anyone expect her to be cool about this?

       "Shit!" Lucas cursed under his breath — again.

       The boys were pushing their bikes alongside them, and it wasn't exactly easy to move a bike through the woods, twigs and branches getting tangled in the wheel every now and then. And Lucas wasn't in the best mood anyway (he didn't like the idea of blindly following El) so it annoyed him.

       But it distracted Anita.

       She snorted, gloating. (It was funny, OK?)

       "Shut up!" Lucas said, rolling his eyes at her.

       "I didn't say anything!"

       "No, but you laughed."

       Anita shrugged. "True."

       Lucas narrowed his eyes at her but didn't say anything else. Which allowed Anita's thoughts to return to one question she had been asking herself over and over again on their way through the woods. El was leading them to the place where Will was hiding — did that mean India was there, too? Or was it just Will, and India was somewhere else? What if India wasn't hiding from the Midnight Man, but he held her captive? What if she was in even worse danger than Will?

       Her gaze wandered to El, focusing on the back of her head. (Who had shaved her head? Where did she come from?) She wanted to ask her about India, but, somehow, every time she thought about approaching her, she felt like she was about to vomit. She was probably scared of the answer El could give her...

       For Christ's sake! She had to pull herself together! She was acting like a coward, just like she had that night. Anita hated it, hated how easily she got scared. For three years, she had pretended to be strong, to be fearless, a fighter, but the truth was that she was just a pathetic coward. Before that night, India had always said that Anita was a coward, and Anita never wanted to believe it, but, apparently, she was right.

       Someone only had to mention the Midnight Man, and all she wanted to do was hide!

       Anita shook her head, pushing away those thoughts. And ignoring the anxious sensation in her stomach, she caught up to El and started to walk next to her, "Hi."

       El turned to her and smiled. "Hi."

       Immediately, Anita felt the corners of her mouth twitch upward, mirroring El's smile. But, then, she froze and forced herself to frown. She shouldn't be smiling. Her dad died two days ago, she should be crying. For some reason, though, she felt the urge to smile when she saw El. And she had no fucking idea why... No one had ever had that effect on her—

       "Anita?" Mike spoke up, tearing her out of her trance. She blinked, dazed. She hadn't realized she had been staring at El. El looked very confused — understandably so. God, what was wrong with her?

       "Yes, sorry," she said, sheepishly. Mike eyed her with furrowed brows. "Um, El... I wanted to ask you something..."

       "OK...?" El said, but it sounded more like a question than anything else.

       "You..." She swallowed. "You know where Will is hiding, right?"

       El frowned, then nodded. "Yes."

       "Do you— Do you know where my sister is, too? Is she with Will?" Anita looked at El with a hopeful yet terrified look in her eyes.

       El stared back at her, unblinking. And with every second that passed in which she stayed silent, Anita got more and more nervous, and her hope started to dwindle.

       "She's ... alive," El finally said.

       Anita raised an eyebrow. The fear in her stomach turned into irritation — a feeling she preferred. "I know that she's alive. I wanted to know if you know where she is." If India was hurt, if she was— if she was dead ... Anita would know. She would've felt it the moment it happened.

       El just kept looking at her.

       "Say something, please," Anita begged.

       El shook her head. "I'm sorry." Anita's stomach dropped. "I don't know."

       Anita stopped walking, her feet suddenly rooted into the ground. El didn't know where her sister was. She didn't know. What did that mean for India? Was she— Was she somewhere else entirely? Was she not in the place that Will was? Or—Or did the Midnight Man hide her somewhere so Anita couldn't find her? So no one could find her? Did he somehow make sure that India wouldn't be able to escape like they did three years ago? She couldn't lose her sister too!

       She felt someone grab her hand, and she looked up at El standing in front of her. Her forehead was lightly scrunched up, a look of determination in her eyes.

       "We'll find her," she said.

       "How?" Anita asked. And she hated that she sounded weak and scared.

       El's grip on her hand tightened. "We will."

       A peculiar sensation grew in the pit of Anita's stomach, making her body feel ... weird. Why did she feel so different around El?

       El looked directly into Anita's eyes, hope and optimism twinkling in her brown irises, trying to make her believe her. But Anita still had her doubts. If El didn't know where India was — if Anita didn't know where her sister was —, how could she be so sure? If they had no clues, no leads, how were they supposed to find her? But, maybe, if they could find Will, if they could find the place where he was hiding, where the sisters had been hiding during the month they were missing... Maybe they could find her.

       Hesitantly, Anita nodded. "OK." She wasn't convinced, but she couldn't give up. That wasn't in her blood.

       El's lips stretched into a smile, and Anita reciprocated it.

       "Guys, maybe we should keep going...?" Mike said, looking back and forth between the two girls.

       Anita's gaze darted to Mike, and she nodded. "Yeah, let's go."

       Reluctant, she pulled her hand out of El's, and they continued to walk.

       The sun was setting quickly, the shadows getting longer and darker, and Anita grew more and more anxious with every passing second. Fear coursed through her veins, her muscles were tense, and goosebumps covered her skin. Anita just wanted to go home. She wanted to be with Esme. Instead, she was trudging through the woods while the Midnight Man was out there, lurking in the darkness. What if he was just waiting for the perfect moment to strike, to kidnap her like he did India?

       A thought struck her.

       Esme. 

       She must be worried sick by now! Esme had wanted to pick her up after school, she had been waiting in the car park with Tatum, her pink-haired best friend (Anita loved her hair) — Anita had seen them. But she had still left with the boys, without telling Esme where she was going. Oh, God, she was a terrible sister. Their dad was dead, India was missing, and Anita ran away — for the second time.

       She felt awful.

       "Hey, you OK?" Dustin asked.

       Anita turned to him, a troubled look on her face. Dustin frowned when he noticed her expression. "I should've been home before dark." A quiet scoff escaped her. "Esme will kill me."

       "We're looking for Will, she'll understand," Dustin said, giving her a reassuring smile.

       Anita doubted that. Esme got angry a lot easier and faster than before since their dad died. It was like ... like she couldn't control herself anymore. And Esme loved control, she felt uneasy and unsure when she didn't have things under control, so this must be hard as hell for her... And Anita only made it worse.

       "I hope so," she muttered.

       Dustin bumped his shoulder against hers. "Come on, Esme's cool. When we bring Will home, she won't be mad."

       "If Eleven actually knows where he is," Lucas grumbled.

       Anita rolled her eyes at Lucas' comment. Sure, she could understand why he was wary of El. But he could at least give her a chance. However, Lucas was just as stubborn as Anita when it came to his opinions, so she decided not to say anything. Instead, she averted her gaze to the ground and focused on not tripping over a root or something like that. (It was better to look at the floor than at her surroundings, it was less scary. Every time she saw a shadow moving, she panicked, thinking it was the Midnight Man, until she realized it was just the shadow of one of the boys or El. Or her own. It made her feel weak, being scared of her own shadow.)

       Then, finally, they got out of the woods, and Anita's eyes landed upon a familiar house. She frowned.

       Upon seeing the house, El turned around. "Here," she said, her voice strong, sure.

       "Yeah, this is where Will lives," Mike said, confused.

       Anita came to stand beside Mike, and they exchanged a look.

       "Hiding," El said.

       "No, El, he lives here," Anita retorted.

       "He's missing from here," Mike added. "Understand?"

       El didn't seem to understand.

       Anita crossed her arms in front of her chest, growing annoyed. El was supposed to lead them to the place where Will was hiding, not where he was missing from! 

       Behind her, Dustin and Lucas let their bikes fall to the ground.

       "What are we doing here?" Lucas asked, exasperated, as he saw the Byers' home.

       Mike and Anita turned away from El and toward Lucas and Dustin.

       "She said he's hiding here," Mike answered.

       "Um ... no!" Lucas replied, before turning to Anita and giving her a look that pretty much screamed 'I told you so'. Anita rolled her eyes.

       "I swear, if we walked all the way out here for nothing—" Dustin started, out of breath, but before he could finish what he wanted to say, Lucas cut him off: "That's exactly what we did!" He threw his hands up, irritation radiating off of him. And Anita couldn't even blame him; she was annoyed too. Lucas turned to Mike, daggering him with glares, "I told you she didn't know what the hell she was talking about!"

       Sighing, Mike looked back at El. "Why did you bring us here?"

       El opened her mouth to say something, but she couldn't formulate an answer. She just stammered, trying to find the right words. But Lucas didn't even give her a chance to explain herself, interrupting her, "Mike, don't waste your time with her."

       Well, that's not fair, Anita thought. El probably had a reason for bringing them here, although Anita had no idea what that reason could be. She should get a chance to explain it, though.

       "What do you wanna do, then?" Mike asked Lucas.

       "Call the cops, like we should've done yesterday!" Lucas exclaimed.

       "We are not calling the cops—!"

       That was when a noise reached her ears. Frowning, she turned to look in the direction where the noise was coming from. It got louder and louder, and Anita realized that the noise was the wailing of police sirens. Her stomach dropped. No. No, no, no, no, not again. The police never meant anything good. Pictures of police cars in front of her home flashed before her eyes, and suddenly, she was unable to breathe, unable to move, unable to do anything.

       She was frozen.

       "Guys...?" she heard Dustin's voice. In the corner of her eye, she saw him come up next to her. He heard the sirens as well, but Lucas and Mike didn't; they were still arguing about what to do next. "Guys!" Dustin yelled.

       Anita flinched.

       Mike and Lucas stopped fighting, just in time to see police cars and an ambulance driving past. They all stared, horrified, scared of what that could mean. Anita could feel her heart beating against her ribcage with such force that she feared it would jump out at any moment. She could hear it echoing in her mind, together with the sound of the sirens, blending into a deafening melody of fear and catastrophe.

       "Will," Mike breathed.

       That broke them out of their trance and they jumped into action. They quickly got on their bikes and drove off, El riding with Mike and Anita with Lucas, following the police. Her fingers were boring into Lucas' shoulders, clinging onto him for dear life. She was terrified. Terrified of what the police could have found. Terrified that it could be India. Dead. Like her dad... She couldn't lose her too. She just couldn't.

       No. No, it wasn't India. It couldn't be. Anita would've felt it if something had happened to her, just like she had felt it when she had been taken by the Midnight Man.

       But ... what if it was Will?

       Her grip on Lucas' shoulders tightened.

       They followed the police until they arrived at Sattler Quarry where they hid behind the ambulance so no one could see them. Several police officers were there, standing at the edge of the lake, watching as two men pulled something— no, someone out of the water. Someone wearing a red jacket that looked all too familiar.

       And Anita felt the world caving in.

       "It's not Will," Mike whispered. "It can't be."

       Anita felt her eyes burning.

       "It's Will," Lucas said, his voice thick. "It's really Will."

       Anita shook her head, frantic. No, no, no, no. No, this couldn't— It couldn't be Will. Will was alive. Missing, but alive. He wasn't— He couldn't be— Her best friend was not dead. This was not supposed to happen! Will was alive, he had to be! She—She couldn't take this— She spotted Hopper. And, without thinking, she ran toward him. The boys tried to stop her but she was too fast.

       "Hop!" she called.

       Hopper and the other people standing around whirled around upon hearing her voice. And as Hopper saw her, his expression shifted — he looked almost panicked. He rushed over to Anita, who was sprinting toward him, and caught her in his arms when she crashed into him. And as soon as she felt his arms wrap around her, she felt herself break. All the tears that she hadn't been able to cry started to stream down her face, an endless waterfall.

       Everything she had held back, every emotion she had bottled up over the last two days — all the sadness, the pain, the fear — came crashing down on her. And it hurt. So so bad.

       Her dad was dead, and now Will.

       What if India would die too?

lucas definitely has a crush on anita bc we all know he likes fiery girls... meanwhile anita is (very very very slowly) figuring out that she likes girls... and she finally cried 

i don't like this chapter very much but i hope you enjoyed it anyway! let me know what you thought!