CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.
THE WAITING GAME

☆ミ ☆彡

ON ANY NORMAL OCCASION, CHALLAN WAS TYPICALLY A PATIENT PERSON. It was easy to acquire patience when you have so much free time on your hands. But for the first time ever, Challan didn't have much patience at all. Could you blame her? They were in an anxiety-driven situation after all. No one in the house had much patience as they prepared to wake up Will and attempt to get answers. They were all anxious; afraid. Challan was glad she wasn't the only one feeling this way.

She, Lucas, and Max were sitting in a hallway. Challan and Lucas sat side by side whilst Max sat across from them leaning against the opposite wall. The three friends were silent for a long while, all too pensive to say anything. Max had been the one to break their silence.

"If he finds out where we are... will he send those dogs after us?" She asked.

"He won't find out," Lucas stated so firmly and so surely that Challan almost believed him.

"Yeah, but, if he does..." Max said.

Lucas took a moment to respond. "Judgment day."

"That doesn't make me feel better at all, Lucas," Challan disclosed.

"We're gonna be okay," Lucas assured, placing his hand over her own and squeezing it. Max looked down at their hands and then up at Challan who was sending Lucas a smile. Max frowned and looked away from the two, annoyance bubbling up in her chest. Challan pulled her hand out from underneath Lucas's and crossed her arms over her chest, releasing a breath.

"I got invited to a sleepover," she randomly announced, an attempt to distract herself and them from what was happening around them. The two teens looked over at her. "I've never been to a sleepover before. Never been invited to one. I didn't think that I wanted to go but if we survive this, I think I'm gonna accept the invitation."

"You should, sleepovers are fun," Max muttered quietly, still feeling annoyed by Challan and Lucas holding hands. Why? She didn't know. He was just trying to comfort her. Lucas nodded his head along to Max's words.

"Sleepovers with your friends are the best," Lucas agreed.

Challan nodded, "We should have a sleepover."

"Really?" Lucas asked.

"Why not? It might be fun. Maybe you guys can teach me how to play Dungeons and Dragons," Challan shrugged.

"You'd be interested in that?" Lucas asked and she shrugged.

Max looked between the two and chuckled, her annoyance dissipating. "You guys are such dorks."

"You like it though," Challan teased.

"Yeah she does," Lucas agreed and Max rolled her eyes as Challan and Lucas chuckled. Their laughter ceased when the lights all throughout the house began flickering. They looked at each other in worry before standing up and walking to the window that showed them the shed from the kitchen. Eventually, the lights stopped flickering and Challan released the breath she was holding.

"What was that?" Challan asked aloud.

"The Mind Flayer," Nancy muttered.

The waiting continued and an uneasiness settled around the group in the house. Slowly they all began to sit back down but they were all on edge. Hopper came through the door with Mike, Ms. Byers, and Jonathan, grabbing a pad of paper and pen. The group that had already been in the house stood up again and huddled around him when he sat at the table.

"What happened?" Dustin asked.

"I think he's talking, just not with words," Hopper explained as he drew an array of dots and lines on the paper.

"What is that?" Steve asked.

"Morse code," the younger boys answered simultaneously.

"H-E-R-E," Hopper spelled out.

"Here," they all said. Ms. Byers looked so relieved as she looked over at Jonathan, hope beginning to swell within the woman's chest.

"Will's still in there. He's talking to us," Hopper stated.

The four went back out to the shed where Will was tied up, harboring a newfound determination. The interrogation began again. Whenever Will would tap out morse code, Hopper would repeat it with a radio; Dustin would write it down; Lucas, Challan, and Max would translate it; and Nancy would write out the letters using a red crayon. The process repeated over and over again until the letters spelled something that made sense.

"'Close gate,'" they all read.

As soon as the words left their lips, the phone began to ring. The startled teens looked over at the phone on the wall, eyes wide in fear. Dustin was the first one up, dashing towards the phone. "Shit. Shit." He pulled the phone from the wall before slamming it back down on the receiver.

Challan could practically feel the blood rushing through her vessels as her heart beat rapidly in her chest. She held her breath whilst the others released breaths of relief. Her eyes remained on the telephone, unwavering as she stared. The phone began ringing a second time and before Dustin could repeat what he had done the first time, Nancy gripped onto the entire telephone, ripping it from the wall and throwing it to the ground with a grunt.

It was then that Challan released her breath, knowing that the phone wouldn't ring again. But she was still on high alert. She didn't know if Will had heard the phone ring and if he had, would he recognize it as his own home phone? No, right? How could he? It's just a phone. All phones ring.

"Do you think he heard that?" Max breathed.

"It's just a phone. It could be anywhere. Right?" Steve saying that made her rethink everything. Saying it out loud the way he did, she just knew that Will would know if he had heard the phone. Because that was just their luck today.

Challan's suspicions were confirmed when they heard howling and screeching in the distance. They all took a step forward and looked out one of the windows. "That's not good," Dustin stated the obvious.

The younger kids went to the windows, peering out into the darkness to catch a glimpse of the Demo-dogs. Jonathan carried an unconscious Will into the house with Ms. Byers and Mike trailing in after. Mike joined the kids at the windows. Hopper came in after them, holding two guns.

"Hey. Hey, get away from the windows!" The man commanded. They turned to look at him before complying, all rushing away from the windows. Hopper turned to Jonathan and held out the shotgun in his right hand. "Do you know how to use this?"

"What?" Jonathan responded.

"Can you use this?" Hopper pressed more urgently.

"Um..."

"I can," Nancy announced and Hopper quickly tossed it to her. Nancy caught the gun and cocked it, holding it up to her chest as they readied themselves for what was to come. Both Nancy and Hopper held guns up, Steve had his bat, Lucas had what looked like a slingshot, and Mike was gripping a trophy.

"Where are they?" Max asked. Nobody responded, all listening carefully. A screech could be heard in the distance. Challan took a step closer to Max, both girls reaching for each other's hands simultaneously. Challan didn't intend on letting go of Max's hand anytime soon.

The air was still, the only sounds that were heard were the rapid pants of the group in the house. They turned in the direction of monsters growling, weapons at the ready. Thudding followed the growls and they waited for something to happen.

"What are they doing?" Nancy panted. The sounds of the Demo-dogs quieted for just a moment before another loud growl filled the air and the group was turning in the direction of the sound. They could hear footsteps, more snarling and growling, screeching. And then, the screeching died down. Before they could even react, a Demo-dog went crashing through the window causing them all to scream and jump away.

The creature lay unmoving and they all stared down at it.

"Holy shit," Dustin breathed.

"Is it dead?" Max asked.

Hopper walked forward, using his foot to nudge the creature. It didn't move and appeared to be dead. Before they could even begin to feel relieved, a creaking sound could be heard behind them and they all instantly turned to the door. The lock on the front door twisted, unlocking on its own and weapons were raised yet again. Max's hand gripped Challan's tighter as they all waited for whatever it was to open the door.

The latch on the door slid out of its locked position. Slowly, the front door opened but instead of seeing a monster, they came face to face with a girl. Her hair was slicked back and dark eyeliner surrounded her eyes. The black jacket she wore was too big for her frame but it looked good on her regardless. Blood was dripping from her nose as her calculated eyes moved between each and every person in the room. Challan felt intimidated under the girl's gaze. Looks of recognition filled many faces in the group and their weapons slowly began to lower. Challan had no idea who this girl was but it was clear that most of the others did.

Mike took a step forward, completely shocked to see the girl in front of him. The girl looked happy to see him. A smile made its way onto Mike's face and Challan could only stare. She had only ever seen Mike smile once and it was a fleeting one. She never thought she would see the boy smile ever again. But there he was, smiling at the unfamiliar girl who had walked through the front door.

"Eleven," Mike breathed as he walked forward.

Eleven? She was alive?

"Mike," Eleven gasped before immediately embracing him in a hug.

Eleven began to cry as she hugged the boy. "Is that..." Max began and Lucas nodded in confirmation.

Mike pulled away from the hug and held Eleven by her shoulders, "I called you every night. Every night for—"

"353 days. I heard," Eleven interrupted.

"Why didn't you tell me you were there? That you were okay?" Mike asked in confusion.

"Because I wouldn't let her," Hopper spoke and they all turned to him. The man walked toward Eleven, "The hell is this? Where you been?"

"Where have you been?" Eleven retorted before she was pulled into a side hug by Hopper.

Realization dawned on Mike in that instance, "You've been hiding her. You've been hiding her this whole time!" Mike shoved Hopper.

"Hey!" Hopper grabbed Mike's shirt. "Let's talk. Alone." Hopper and Mike walked into another room, Mike's yelling being heard until the door was closed. Even when the door was closed, his muffled shouts could still be heard by the others. Challan tried to block out his yells and focused on the reunion happening in front of her between Eleven, Lucas, and Dustin. The girl hugged the two boys simultaneously and Challan found herself smiling at the scene.

Max nudged Challan's arm and nodded toward Eleven when Challan looked at her. "Should we introduce ourselves? You know, when they finish catching up."

Challan shrugged, "I guess. It would be weird if we didn't, right?"

"Right."

The two girls waited patiently for the three friends to pull away from their hug. Once they had, Eleven examined Dustin for a second before poking at his teeth. "Teeth," she spoke.

"What?" He questioned.

"You have teeth," she realized.

"Oh. You like these pearls?" Dustin purred at Eleven and she looked startled.

Max stepped forward, "Eleven?" She walked until she was in front of her, "Hey. Um, I'm Max." She looked to Challan.

"And I'm Challan," the girl introduced. Eleven eyed her before turning back to Max.

"We've heard a lot about you," Max held out a hand for Eleven to shake. Eleven didn't even look at her hand, merely brushing past the two girls and walking over to Ms. Byers. Max deflated slightly at Eleven brushing her off and Challan frowned. That was rude.

She couldn't think of a reason for Eleven to have been so cold toward them. Neither girl did anything. They didn't even know Eleven outside of the stories Lucas told them. Challan turned to Lucas and Dustin who were looking between the three girls in confusion.

Eleven and Ms. Byers left the living room and when they had come back, the two began discussing the gate with Ms. Byers asking her if she could close it. If she was able to, then they could end this madness once and for all. A look of determination crossed Eleven's features. She could close the gate.

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