SAR HELD UP ONE END OF THE KIDDIE POOL AS THE OTHER SIDE FELL OVER. "Shit— Dustin!" she exclaimed accusingly. The boy had gotten distracted looking towards the kitchen area. "Hold it up!"

"Yeah, Dustin!" Lucas yelled, struggling with the other side.

Dustin was shaking his head as he pulled the wall back up. "Shit, sorry." The other edge of the pool fell onto the ground. Dustin threw up his hands. "Ah, son of a bitch!"

"Just pick it back up," Sar said. She kept her side up as Dustin walked around to pick up the other side.

"How does this even work?" Lucas huffed. Sar was just shaking her head. After what felt like a half-hour of struggling, the three of them finally managed to set the pool up straight.

"Good enough," Sar said, sighing. She put her hands on her hips as she looked at their work, before placing both hands on the boys' shoulders. Then she nodded. The girl pulled her hands away and took a step back, watching as Jonathan and Hopper emerged from the hall carrying bags of salt on their shoulders.

Jonathan gave her a grin as he chucked the salt bags at her feet. "Enough?" he asked her, and Sar turned to Dustin with raised eyebrows. He nodded at them.

Nancy and Mike secured a large hose to the taps in the showers, spraying it into the kiddie pool. The boys took turns measuring the temperature until it was just right. "Right there!" Lucas yelled to Nancy, raising a hand.

The bags of salt poured into the pool as Sar knelt beside it, the material of her skirt soaking up the water that spilt over the side. She watched as Dustin dropped eggs into the pool, until finally, one floated. "Perfect," Dustin laughed as his friends clasped him over the shoulders. Then they set up the walkie on a chair, and they were ready.

Sar stood up, eyes darting over to the group to her left. "Ready?" she asked them. They nodded to her. The girl made her way across the gymnasium, sneakers slipping in the puddles they'd made along the floor. Eleven was sitting in the locker room across from Joyce. Her head shot up as Sar entered. "El." She reached out a hand to Eleven, who took it after giving Joyce a fleeting glance. "We're ready for you." Eleven nodded and followed her out into the gymnasium.

The rest of the group were sitting around the kiddie pool, watching as Sar and Eleven walked out of the room next to Joyce. Sar helped the young girl into the pool. She leant over the edge as Eleven sat down. "Right, so we'll be here the whole time," Sar told her, clutching onto both of the girl's hands. El nodded to her quickly. "Okay." She reached back to grab the diving mask covered in duct-tape. "Here." She gave it to Eleven. El slowly slipped it over her head and leant back into the water. Sar exchanged a nervous glance with Joyce before she sat back down on her legs. The lights above began to flicker and Sar looked around anxiously. Sar couldn't help but think about the Demogorgon's ability to mess with lights, and Nancy reached out a comforting hand to lay on her arm.

"Barbara?" The name made Nancy perk up, body straightening. Her eyes were wide and Sar gave her a smile. They waited in silence for a few moments, leaning forward eagerly to hear that Nancy's friend was okay. The lights flickered overhead again, more violently this time. Eleven's breath sharpened.

"What's going on?" Nancy asked.

Sar crinkled her brows and lifted her arm away from Nancy's, looking around. "I don't know."

Nancy snapped her head back towards Eleven. "Is Barbara okay? Is she okay?" She was raised on her knees now.

The scream burst from Eleven's lips before Sar knew it was coming. "Gone!" Sar's lips slipped open at the noise. "Gone! Gone. Gone!" The words were emitting in loud wails. Sobs burst from her chest. Sar splashed into the pool, the salt stinging her wounded knuckles. She ignored the pain and scooped her arms around Eleven, pulling the younger girl into her lap. Her tight yellow skirt clung to her legs. "Gone! Gone! Gone!" she was still crying.

Sar stroked a hand through Eleven's short hair, cupping her cheek and hugging her against her chest. "No, no. It's okay. I'm here." She pressed her face to the little girl's head. "Just breathe, El, okay? Breathe. In and out. In and out. Match my breathing — can you do that? In and out." Beside them, Hopper turned his head away and ran a hand over his eyes. Sar noticed the sudden reaction but didn't pay any attention to it. She kept Eleven cradled against her. "In and out." Eleven's breaths slowed down to match hers. "That's it. Good, sweet girl, you're okay. That's okay." Sar didn't move from her position, jeans soaking wet as she knelt in the pool. The cut on her arm was burning as the salt entered it. She kept her hands beneath El. "It's okay," she whispered against Eleven's head. "It's okay." Nancy had her hand clasped over her mouth from off to the side, eyes shimmering. "Don't be afraid. Just focus, sweet thing." Her lips curled downwards at the familiar nickname.

"Castle Byers," Eleven murmured after a moment. Sar glanced up at that, eyes darting to Jonathan and then Joyce. She repeated the same words a few times. "Will?" she asked.

Joyce gasped. The woman was craning forward, hope in her eyes, and Jonathan was staring at them from beside Nancy. "You tell him..." Joyce began," tell him... I'm coming. Mom is coming." Eleven's lips murmured soundlessly in her state. Her dress curled around her calves in the water.

"Hurry." Sar's head darted up as the soft voice of Will Byers crackled through the radio. "H-hurry."

Joyce was holding on tightly to the side of the pool. "Okay. Listen, you tell him to... to stay where he is. We're coming. We're coming, okay? We're coming, honey."

"Will. Will," El was saying, as if trying to get someone to wake up. The muffled crying of Eleven was coming through the radio now. "Will? Will!" She sat bolt right up in Sar's arms, pulling off the mask.

Sar instantly brought her arms around the girl. "I got you," Sar told her as Eleven wrapped her arms around Sar's waist. "You're okay. I got you." Hopper was still staring at her. Eleven was just crying softly in Sar's shoulder. So much pain... We did this to her, Sar thought. We should have gone back to find her. She's had no one for three years. Now look how she is. Eleven tightened her grip as she sniffled into Sar's neck. Sar lifted her arms away from the younger girl, gazing down at her with bright blue eyes. "Hey, let's get you dried off, yeah?" She stood up, still holding onto Eleven's hands. The two of them stepped out of the pool, Sar's shoes spilling with water. She hadn't thought about taking them off.

Hopper handed her to a towel and she passed it to El. The girl was shivering as she slipped off her denim jacket. Eleven wrapped the towel around her shoulders as she went to sit on the bleachers with the other kids. Sar took a seat in on of the folding chairs that had been set up, beside the others. "Is— is Will okay?" Joyce was kneeling beside her.

Sar nodded. "Will is just sleeping. I'll be with him when he wakes."

Nancy looked over. "And Barbara?"

Sar let her words fall silent for a moment. She tucked her hands together and glanced at Nancy. "I haven't gotten into contact with Barbara at all. She— if..." she trailed off. "Eleven said 'gone'. I don't— I don't know if she's out there, Nancy. Otherwise I would have found her mind."

"So— so you're saying she's dead?"

"I don't know," Sar whispered, lips barely moving. Nancy stood abruptly and strode away from the group. Her hands were clenched by her side. "Nancy," Sar called after her. "Nancy!" The girl burst out the gymnasium doorway and into the night.

"Nancy," Jonathan tried, and walked after her. Sar sighed and put her head in her hands, resting her elbows on her knees. Her foot made circles in the dusty floor. She vaguely felt wetness slide down her arm.

"Hey, you're bleeding again," Joyce pointed out.

Sar looked down, to see red seeping through her long striped shirt. Her leather jacket had been discarded on the seat. "Yeah, it must have opened when I hurried into the salt bath. It'll be fine."

Joyce shook her head. "No, no. I mean, the salt is good for it, but we don't want it getting infected. I'm sure there are some bandages around here somewhere..." And that was how Sar ended up sitting on one of the seats, surrounded by medical kits and being fussed over by Joyce Byers (she didn't really mind, she kind of liked the motherly affection). It wasn't that bad really — just another scratch. Sar chuckled softly. She'd seen this scenario before.

Joyce pushed Sar's sleeve up to her bicep, shaking her head over her wound. They were surrounded by the others, them having paused what they were doing for a momentary break. Hopper sat beside her, watching them, with nothing else to do. His eyebrows lowered as her sleeve came up. The end of her scar was poking from beneath her sleeve, raised, long and white. It was distinctly jagged.

Hopper quickly leaned forward and pulled her sleeve up the rest of the way. It was a random, uncalled for action, that had Sar furrowing her eyebrows. Joyce looked confused as well. The scar was well visible now, a scar she knew too well from her memories. It twisted in an 'L' down the side of her bicep, incredibly large and distinct.

She still had her eyebrows stitched together as she watched his hands hover over the scar. But when she looked up, she saw recognition in his dark eyes, and that frightened her more than any Demogorgon could.

"Sara?"

•°•☆•°•

This book will be updated every Monday and Thursday (Thursday may change to Friday depending on my sport commitments). Also, please be understanding if I have to miss a day of writing. I've got a big project coming up that if I don't pass, I can't get into my Year 12 course, and so I have to focus on that a lot. Also other school work may come up as this is a really busy year for us. Thanks for your understanding!