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chapter seven

"THE MIND FLAYER," Dustin said, slamming the Dungeons and Dragons Handbook onto the dining room table. Everyone, aside from Mrs. Byers and Will, was standing  around the Byers' table. They leaned over, staring at the thick book, and the section labeled "Mind Flayer".

"What the hell is that?" Chief Hopper asked, his voice gruff.

Dustin immediately began his explanation. "It's a monster from an unknown dimension." His eyes darted around the table. "It's so ancient that it doesn't even know its true home." Diana raised her eyebrows unhappy to think that they were all just living in another game of D&D. "Okay, it enslaves races of other dimensions by taking over their brains using its highly-developed psionic powers."

"Oh, my God, none of this is real," Hopper said, exasperated. "This is a kids' game."

Dustin paused. "No, it's a manual. And it's not for kids." This time he didn't miss a beat. "And unless you know something that we don't, this is the best metaphor—"

"Analogy," Lucas and Diana interrupted at the same time. The former made a face at her.

Dustin halted in disbelief. "Analogy? That's what you're worried about?" No reply. "Fine. An analogy for understanding whatever the hell this is. Besides it's not like she was just scrying in the next room." His last words were sarcastic as he gestured to Di.

"Am I supposed to know what that means, or why she's even here?" Hopper asked, pointing at her.

She narrowed her eyes looking at the man who must've been a foot taller than her. "It's Diana. My scrying was just another reason to believe this manual. And I'm here because I know a lot of things. Too many, in fact. Wanna know the future? It's not that good. Think you've got a secret? You can't hide it from me—"

"Enough kid," Hopper said cutting her off. Well, he wasn't in a good mood. Lucas shot her a look and she shrugged. She was mostly just pushing the man's buttons. If they thought she was crazy, she might as well try and prove them wrong.

"Okay, so this mind flamer thing—" Nancy began, steering the conversation back on track.

"Flayer. Mind flayer," Dustin corrected. There was a collective sigh across the room.

Nancy's curly brown hair fell into her eyes as she moved. "What does it want?"

"To conquer us, basically," Dustin replied simply. "It believes it's the master race."

"It wants the world for itself," Diana added. "I thought it was well on its way to getting it too, now I'm not so sure."

Steve leaned over in question. "Master race? Yeah, like the Germans?"

Diana made a face and so did Dustin. "Uh, the Nazis?"

Steve waved a hand around. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, the Nazis."

"If the Nazis were from another dimension, totally. Uh, it views other races, like us, as inferior to itself," Dustin continued to explain.

"It wants to spread, take over other dimensions," Will continued.

Diana looked at Lucas as he began to speak. "We are talking about the destruction of our world as we know it."

"That's great. That's great. That's really great. Jesus," Steve let out frustratedly, taking a few steps away from the table. Diana put a hand to his shoulder. His skin was once again flushed. He looked at her with a frown but didn't move away from her touch. She caught her brother's eyes watching them and quickly looked away.

Her hand fell to her side.

"Well what does Ms. Psychic have to say about that?" Max asked, her mouth quirking down at the corner.

"If your asses would come up with a definitive plan I could let you know," Diana said underneath her breath, with a roll of her eyes. She could've sworn she saw Nancy hide a smirk at her words. Maybe she should reel it in.

They went into a discussion on how to stop the Mind Flayer. It was a brain that controlled everything so, kill it and you kill everything connected to it, which she was sure included Will.

"They're right," a new voice came. Joyce Byers. "We have to kill it. I want to kill it." Hopper moved toward her, grabbing onto her shoulders. It seemed as if Mrs. Byers was on the verge of falling apart at the seams.

"Me too," Hopper insisted. "Me too, Joyce, okay? But how do we do that? We don't exactly know what we're dealing with here."

"No. But he does." Mike moved past the two adults. "If anyone knows how to destroy this thing, it's Will. He's connected to it. He'll know its weakness."

Diana nodded in agreement.

"I thought we couldn't trust him anymore. That he's a spy for the mind flayer now," Max stated, confused.

"We can't, and he is," Diana said slowly. "When I scried earlier, Will was too terrified to say anything against the Mind Flayer. He told me to wake him up though, so that has to count for something right? Maybe he can speak to us here?"

Joyce eyed her. "You spoke to him?"

Diana tried to explain. "Yes. What's left of the Will you all know is locked behind a door the Mind Flayer can't enter, not yet." She rubbed her hands together, an odd habit of hers. Her hands were absent of paint; she'd been away from her easel too long. "But like any normal door, you can hear from the other side of it. It knew I was there, it could hear us talking." She paused. "Wake him up. Spy or not, Will wants to help us end this."

Mike stared ahead and spoke after a prolonged pause. "But he can't spy... if he doesn't know where he is."

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Now that it was covered in cardboard and old newspapers, the shed behind the house would be unrecognizable to Will. Everyone helped to enact the plan, and Diana hoped it would work.

Will was was seated on a chair and tied tightly to a post. The young boy was pale and unconscious. In all honesty, he seemed harmless but everyone knew that that was not the case. Diana stood behind Mike, Joyce, Jonathan, and Chief Hopper, afraid to be in the harsh light of the lamp.

Hopper shook the jug of ammonia in his hand as he moved toward Will. He dabbed some of the substance onto a cotton ball and placed it under Will's nose. A chill ran down Diana's spine as the boy gasped awake.

The frantic look in his brown eyes told them he had no clue of his whereabouts. It was suddenly a lot colder in the shed. She shivered again, and shut her eyes.

"What is this—what—why am I tied up?" Will asked, his voice growing louder. She heard the chair squeak.

He was struggling.

"Will we just want to talk," Joyce said softly. And Diana had the sudden urge to get as far away from here as possible.

She whispered into Mike's ear, the hair on her neck standing straight up. "That is not him." Mike shivered.

Joyce continued. "We wanna help you, but to do that we have to know how to kill it."

Pause.

"Why am I tied up," he yelled, causing them all to jump. Diana's eyes darted to Joyce and Hopper who were squatting before Will. The boy continued to yell, jerking around in his ties, the lamp flickering uncontrollably. Hopper cradled Will's head as his yells turned into 'let me go''s and his struggling got more violent. Joyce looked away.

Diana moved to the space beside the woman and got low. She put her hands on Will's cold cheeks, and stared him straight in the eyes. Such empty eyes that made her feel as if she couldn't breathe. "Calm down Will, we aren't here to hurt you." His movements stopped but his words didn't. Diana backed away as he sunk into Hopper's arms.

His words died down soon after and the lamp had become stable again. They all stared, breathing hard. Hopper's arms slid from around Will and Joyce began to recount a memory of Will and so did Jonathan and Mike. Diana could feel Will's presence peeking out from the depths that were like waves and waves of murky water. Every time he'd get close to resurfacing, he was swallowed whole into the water.

Will was shaking now, his eyes becoming teary as Joyce begged him to talk to them. Then suddenly he was pulled back into the darkness, his shaking halting, and his face returning to that empty stare. "Let me go."

It was silent for a moment and then Diana saw his hand begin to tap on the side of the chair. Hopper must've seen it too because he gestured for them to leave the shed.

They did and Diana was glad.

Back in the house Hopper grabbed a used envelope and a black pen. Everyone on the house gathered around the table where he sat. "What happened," someone asked. He began to scribble a series of dots and lines on the paper. She'd seen something like that in Lucas's room, a translator card maybe. A code?

"I think he's talking," the chief explained. "Just not with words."

"Hey, what is that?" Steve question, eyeing the dots and lines.

There was a collective response from the other boys. "Morse code." Hopper wrote the letter H-E-R-E and everyone said it aloud.

He tossed his pen aside. "He's talking to us."

Everyone dispersed then, some going to find something to write on and decipher the code and going back into the shed. Diana refused the offer to return, she desperately needed some quiet. Before she went into the living room she pulled Mike aside. "I have a bad feeling," she began, eyes lowered to his. "You guys have to be careful. Do not let him find out where he is."

"Just make sure we won't have any problems," Hopper said, exiting the house.

She could do that.

She left without another word, heading into the living room. She laid on the couch her head resting on its armrest. She simply stared at the ceiling trying to will a vision to come to mind. She'd never been so willing to use her gift, but she had to be now.

All she could think about was a phone, black eyeliner, and blood. So much of it.

"Diana," someone called directly into her ears. She flinched away, glaring at the culprit.

"Really, Harrington?" She sat up and he stood up.

He shrugged. "Sorry, I've been calling you for five minutes, and you've been staring at the ceiling for almost fifteen."

It'd been fifteen minutes already? "Oh." She said blanking for a moment.

"See anything important?" He asked, actually hoping for an answer. He held his hat tighter at his side.

"If you consider eyeliner, gushing blood and—" She stopped herself. "The phone," she whispered, realization dawning on her. She pushed past Steve, and stumbled into the kitchen, unhappy with the fact that she couldn't just yell. "Get the phone—"

Too late. It rang shrill and loud for a single second before Dustin picked up the receiver and quickly. Diana frustratedly groaned. It rang once more and Nancy quickly pulled it from the wall, throwing it across the room.

"Do you think he heard that?" Max asked after a beat.

Steve answered unsure. "It was just a phone, he could be anywhere." He looked to Diana worriedly.

"Shit," Diana cursed, rubbing her face. "I've been seeing that phone for the past ten minutes." She paused. "He undoubtedly knows."

Dustin groaned. "Shit."

A screech could be heard in the distance. She went to the door, the rest following. "Did you guys hear that?" As if on cue a resounding screech sounded.

"That's not good."

The worse just kept happening.

They regrouped in the living room. Will was somewhere sleeping and Hopper, Nancy, and Steve were all holding weapons as if that would help them.

Joyce grabbed Diana's arm, pulling the girl to her side. The demogorgons were right outside. They stood waiting for an imminent attack that would fortunately never come. One of the dogs flew threw the window, causing them all to jump. It, however, seemed to be dead. Something had killed it, or maybe someone.

Diana could sense her now. The door creaked, it locks unlocking. They put up their weapons.

"Put them down, it's her," she said, hope and relief flooding through her system. The only one who faltered was Hopper. The door opened slowly, and in walked Eleven, her eyes darkened by makeup and her short hair slicked back. Well, that would explain what she'd seen earlier. "It's about damn time," she murmured.

author's note:
hey!