tw: description of panic attack; nothing graphic

AMARA HARDLY GOT ANY SLEEP THAT NIGHT, because how could she when the Upside Down was back again? She had tossed and turned and done her best to shake the notion of a disfigured body from her subconscious but only succeeded in heightening it until she collapsed from exhaustion. She was so fatigued the next morning that it took her five minutes to shut off her alarm, and when splashing water on her face didn't help wake her up, she applied extra concealer and finally succumbed to the need for coffee.

        Her house, as much as it still felt like home, was empty as always. Scott was at work, greeted by an influx of townspeople demanding if he knew the license plate of Chrissy's killer (which he didn't, not when most people didn't even know who had killed her). Eurydice had listened to Amara's advice and taken a day off from cleaning, blowing on her emerald-painted nails to dry them while the radio crackled in the background. Kevin was spending the break driving around Indiana with his friends, who had taken his breakup with Ximena as a warning not to bring up the fire. Amara hoped that he found time to enjoy himself and not feel the need to come back, even if word of Chrissy's murder extended beyond Hawkins.

        "Morning, honey," Eurydice yawned as Amara brought two mugs of coffee over to the kitchen table. "Oh, you made some for yourself?"

        "Yeah, I barely got any sleep last night," Amara mumbled. Her coffee had an inordinate amount of milk and sugar and still wasn't sweet enough, but it helped her become more alert. "A lot going on at the moment."

        "Yeah, I'll say," Eurydice remarked, brushing her daughter's hair back so she could get a better look at her face. "Are you okay? You look really pale."

        "I'm half-Jewish, Mom. Of course I'm gonna be pale at this time of the year."

        Okay, so Amara was reluctant to tell her mother about the resurgence of the Upside Down. Eurydice was bound to have heard of what happened to Chrissy, just as the entire town had, and increasing fears of Satanism coupled with the fact that her body had been discovered at Eddie's trailer would surely lead to most people accusing him. Amara could handle that just as she'd weathered their ignorance before, but if Eurydice believed that an outcast like Eddie had killed Chrissy, an outcast not so different from herself...

        "I didn't mean that," Eurydice clarified, though she couldn't stop herself from giggling at Amara's comment. "You look paler than usual, that's what I'm trying to say. Are you not spending enough time outside? Did something – "

        "Do you think Eddie killed someone?" Amara cut to the chase. She tried to gauge Eurydice's reaction but all she found was confusion. "You've probably heard the news by now of a body being found at his trailer, it's all news outlets are talking about. Do you think he did that?"

        "No, of – of course not," Eurydice stammered, surprised that this was what Amara was so worked up about. "What made you think I thought that?"

        "I don't know," Amara hung her head, ashamed of herself for thinking anything less of her mother. This was a woman who had filed a lawsuit against a school board with the knowledge that it would fail, all because she believed Amara was worth defending. "It's just, the victim was found at his trailer, and because he's the town freak or whatever it would make sense for him to be the killer, and considering I'm an outcast and I've also killed someone – "

        "That was self-defense. This was a cold-blooded murder," Eurydice clasped Amara's hand, compelling her to lift her head. "If Eddie's as harmless as you claim he is, that's what I believe. There's no way he could've murdered that poor girl – there's no way anything human could've done anything like that." As she spoke, she finally pieced the murder and Amara's unnatural stillness together. "It's that stuff again, isn't it? From last summer?"

        "Yeah... " Amara murmured sheepishly.

        "It just never ends, does it?" Eurydice huffed, beyond furious. But not at Amara – at the forces that kept terrorizing their town when her daughter and her friends had already been through so much and now had to relive their trauma again. Why did it always have to be them? "Well, I'm sure that whatever plan you guys come up with has to be better than any leads the cops or anyone else thinks they have. You actually know what you're dealing with."

        "Actually, we don't," Amara admitted sadly. "It's something new this time. Something that wasn't here until now, because we kept winning. We barely know anything about it."

        "You will. I know you will," Eurydice reassured her daughter, gesturing at the forgotten cup of coffee for her to finish. "Drink up, you're gonna need all the energy you can get if you're going at this again."

        Amara did as she was told, the caffeine working its magic as it entered her bloodstream. She was quick to finish it, conscious that Steve would be arriving soon. Eurydice hated that her daughter was stepping into battle yet again but what kind of mother would she be to stop her? All she could do was let her go and hope that she survived like she always did. Holding her back would only result in more casualties.

        "Okay, I gotta head out," Amara had caught sight of Steve's car in her driveway. Eurydice had stood up as well but was making no move to follow. "Are you not gonna insist on coming with me?"

        "Only if you need me there, but you guys know what you're fighting better than I do. I'd only drag you down," Eurydice clarified. Before Amara could open her mouth to object she continued, "I can't be the only one who thinks Eddie isn't guilty. I was thinking of rallying as many people as I can in support of him – he doesn't deserve to be hated or feared because of something he couldn't control, just as you were."

        "Thank you so much, Mom," Amara beamed despite the trepidation racing through her system. Eurydice, who had the chance of a clean slate just as much as her daughter upon moving to Hawkins was willing to tarnish it again by fighting tirelessly for someone shunned by practically everyone else. While Amara would be facing a supernatural threat, Eurydice would be confronting another antagonist in the form of close-minded individuals. "It means so much to me."

        She hurled herself into Eurydice's outstretched arms, clinging to the linen material of her plaid shirt. Unlike the last time she embraced her mother before endangering her life, when she had been under the impression her children were simply going to a concert, this time was more foreboding and yet far more heartfelt. There were no more secrets between them, and Eurydice knew she could be of help even if she didn't join Amara in the line of fire. This was the purpose she needed after a lifetime of having nothing but an empty house for company.

        "Now go on. Go do what you do best," Eurydice urged upon letting go of Amara. "But please don't do anything too rash. You have so many people who'd be lost without you."

        "I won't," Amara vowed, and she intended on following through this time. She had so much to live for, and the Upside Down was no longer a means for others to recognize her value. They had known it all along. "Same goes for you."

        Amara proceeded to grab her backpack and head out the door, but this time Eurydice wasn't left with another day of nothing. If she wasn't knowledgeable of the threat her daughter and her friends sought to overcome to the same extent that they were, the very least she could do was push back against the townspeople who had jumped to conclusions because they wanted someone to blame, even if it was the wrong person.

        Sure, she might've been in for a bad reputation, but to her that had to be better than having no reputation at all.

AMARA HAD WARNED DUSTIN THAT FORCING open the door to the boathouse in such an aggressive manner would only increase Eddie's apprehension, but he hadn't listened. As she suspected Eddie had panicked at the sudden noise and grappled for the broken beer bottle, only letting his guard down when he saw that it was just his friends, the supplies they had promised in hand.

        "Delivery service!" Dustin greeted, flashing him a grin.

        Eddie exhaled in relief and accepted the grocery bags from Dustin, migrating to the boat to eat. The absence of light had made it difficult for Amara to get a good look at him the night before, but now she could see just how much the last few days had taken a toll on him. His cheekbones were gaunt and his eyes had dark shadows around them, and he was guzzling the cereal they had gotten for him like he hadn't had anything to eat in days. He didn't deserve any of this.

        "So we got, uh, some good news and some bad news," Dustin was the first to speak, perched on a stool. "How do you prefer it?"

        "Bad news first, always," Eddie answered, his speech muffled from the cereal in his mouth.

        "All right. Bad news," Dustin hesitated, aware that Eddie wouldn't take what he was about to disclose lightly. "We tapped into the Hawkins PD dispatch with our Cerebro, and they're definitely looking for you. Also, they're, uh, pretty convinced that you killed Chrissy."

        "Like, 100% kind of convinced," Max added grimly.

        "And the good news?"

        "Your name hasn't gone public yet," Robin revealed. "But if we found out about you, it's only a matter of time before others do. And once that gets out, everyone and their shallow-minded mother is gonna be gunning for you."

        Eddie looked like he was on the precipice of throwing up. "Hunt the freak, right?" he spat venomously.

        "Yeah," Amara sighed sadly, reminded of all the times she'd been treated as someone to be feared, as someone who would one day snap and kill someone. And maybe she had, but as her loved ones had reiterated time and time again it was to save her friends. "Hunt the freak."

        "Shit."

        "So, before that happens, we need to find Vecna, kill him, and prove your innocence," Dustin chimed in, endeavoring to clear the apprehension that had risen due to the situation at hand, even though none of them knew where Vecna was, let alone how to kill him.

        "That's all, Dustin?" Eddie questioned, tilting his head. "That's all?"

        "Yeah, no, that's pretty much it," Dustin replied, his voice uncharacteristically high-pitched.

        "Listen, Eddie, I know everything Dustin is saying sounds totally delusional, but we've actually been through this kind of thing before," Robin spoke up, but the knowledge that they were in uncharted territory did no justice for her nerves, which translated into rambling. "I mean, they have a... a few times, and... and I have once. Mine was more human-flesh-based, and theirs was more smoke-related, but bottom line is, collectively, I really feel like we got this."

        Amara wasn't sure that even Robin believed that.

        "Yeah, see, we usually rely on this girl who has superpowers," Steve added on. Eddie looked positively dumbfounded at this point. "But, uh, those went bye-bye, so, uh ... "

        "So we're technically in – in more of the – "

        "Kinda... "

        "Brainstorming phase," Max offered, breaking through their overlapping chatter.

        "Brainstorming," Steve snapped his fingers, grinning nervously.

        "There... there's nothing to worry about," Dustin spluttered, thinking that sugarcoating their situation was the best way to go about things given that this was Eddie's first brush with the Upside Down. Steve scoffed at him, wondering just how much he was trying to convince himself and the rest of them that.

        "Okay, we really don't know what we're doing," Amara confessed, earning a grimace from Dustin but a clear 'thank you' from Steve. Even Eddie appeared grateful that one of them was willing to be brutally honest with them. "Robin's right – we've dealt with this sort of thing before, but this time's different. We barely know where to begin, but we're gonna do our best to keep you hidden. You deserve to be as far away from this as possible."

        "Hey, we were supposed to tell him there was nothing to worry about!" Dustin yelped, dragging a hand across his face. "You're only gonna scare him more!"

        "Oh, act as if you aren't scared, Henderson," Steve rebuked, swatting his friend's hat. Dustin only redirected his animosity to him. "I'd say there's a lot to worry about."

        "I'm not a child, Dustin. I can handle my fair share of doom and gloom," Eddie drawled, glaring daggers at Dustin. "At least Reid here has the decency to be honest with me, unlike you."

        Before Dustin could retort, sirens wailing in the distance that were only increasing in volume every passing second caused them to fear the worst; that the police had managed to track Eddie down not much longer after his friends had. "Shit," Steve cursed, his eyes widening.

        "Tarp," Robin pressed, motioning at Eddie. "Tarp. Tarp!"

        Eddie obscured himself beneath the tarp while the others rushed to the window, expecting the police cars to halt in front of the driveway and demand he come out with his hands up. Instead, they continued down the road, followed by an ambulance. Amara felt a mixture of relief that they hadn't located Eddie right under their nose as well as unease that something terrible had occurred. Who were they to think that Vecna would stop after killing one person?

        "You guys don't think... " Max had come to the same conclusion, her face written with fear.

        "Yeah, it has to be," Amara agreed. By now the sirens had faded from earshot; Eddie had dodged a bullet, but someone else hadn't been so fortunate. "C'mon, let's go."

        With promises that they would return soon with more food the five of them geared up to chase after the police. Amara lingered by the boat, lifting the tarp to hand Eddie an extra walkie-talkie. He looked scared to be left alone again, but thankful that he now had a mode of communication with them.

        "That definitely wasn't me," Eddie mumbled, his appetite gone by now. "They won't think I killed someone else, right?"

        "I don't know for sure," Amara admitted, clamping her hands around the rim of the boat. "I know the odds don't look that great, but my mom knows the truth and she's trying to get as many people to stand in defense of you. In the meantime we'll try to hunt this thing down."

        "You're a real one, Reid," Eddie grinned, the slightest bit more relaxed. "Harrington's one lucky bastard, that's for sure."

        "I'll be sure to tell him that," Amara giggled, rising to her feet to catch up with the others. "Hang in there, okay?"

        "I'll do my best, considering the circumstances," Eddie replied, prepared to hide again for the next few hours. "Make sure you keep Henderson in his place."

        "Will do."

        The crime scene was too congested for them to get a proper glance at what the police cars and bystanders were surrounding when they arrived and promptly disembarked Steve's BMW, but Amara was able to make out a white sheet covering what she comprehended to be another body. She knew at once that Vecna had struck again while they had been explaining the truth to Eddie and automatically feared the worst, racking her mind for any of their other companions they hadn't been able to get in contact with, like Lucas or Nancy. Amara hoped beyond belief that it wasn't either of them hidden from view, their body distorted beyond recognition...

        But Nancy was alive if severely shaken as she conversed with the police, her arms folded tightly over her torso. And she wasn't the only one – standing next to her, terrified and appearing as though she'd rather be anywhere else, was Shaelynn Campbell. Nancy's jean jacket and multicolored skirt compared to Shaelynn's dark flannel and jeans made them look like they were from two different universes, and it was obvious to Amara that just like Eddie, she hadn't signed up for any of this. Even Steve couldn't bring himself to utter a snarky comment Robin's way.

        When Nancy caught sight of them, she seemed alleviated at the presence of her companions, risking them a subtle smile and wave. Amara waved back.

SHAELYNN HAD NEVER BEEN PART OF a more eclectic group of individuals. There she sat at the same picnic table as a few days ago alongside the presumptive valedictorian of the class of '86, the former King of Hawkins High, a band geek, a sci-fi nerd, a Hellfire dweeb, and a morose shell of a girl. She fit right in, even though she hadn't wanted to come in the first place. She could scarcely comprehend how she'd gone from planning her best friend's funeral to coping with the aftermath of another slaughter less than 24 hours later.

        She'd barely managed to sleep at all after discovering Chrissy's mangled body and being questioned by the police, in a state of shock that anyone could stomach murdering her best friend so brutally. The cops had assured her that they were looking for Eddie before he could kill anyone else, but her anger had worn off by the next morning and all she could think about was burying Chrissy. Maybe Eddie posed an exception to her support of restorative justice, but no prison sentence the police issued him would bring Chrissy back.

        So Shaelynn had chosen to cope with her grief by offering to help Chrissy's family prepare for her funeral, which they'd slated for Tuesday. At least, until Nancy Wheeler had dropped by.

Chrissy's house was more of a museum than an actual home. Even with her gone, Shaelynn didn't dare tarnish their spotless living room furniture or carpet, cautiously maneuvering her way around them as she transported a myriad of Polaroids, cheerleading awards, and diary entries that she didn't dare read into the kitchen. Her family had been flooded with condolence cards and rosettes and all that superficial shit that didn't last more than a day, all from people who hadn't known Chrissy existed until she didn't.

        Laura Cunningham was sat at the head of the dining room table, catatonic as she'd been since the police brought her the news that morning. Selfishly, Shaelynn liked to think she knew Chrissy better than anyone else and resented Laura for all the emotional abuse she put her daughter through, but no one had any right to question a mourning person. Especially not Shaelynn, who had distanced herself because of her own grief and only come back in regret. Laura would continue clinging to the idea of Chrissy long after she died, the perfect daughter with the world at her feet who wouldn't dare touch drugs.

        "Thank you for stopping by, dear," Laura rasped, her voice hoarse from hours of being unable to speak. "It means so much to me and my family, that you took the time to come."

        "It was my pleasure," Shaelynn replied like it was nothing, setting her collection in one of the boxes and sitting down. "I'm so sorry I wasn't around these last few months."

        "You had every right to push everyone away, what with you losing your father in that terrible fire," Laura clasped one bony hand over Shaelynn's sepia skin. Everything about her was cold, from her piercing gaze down to her delicate touch. "You had to bury an empty casket because they couldn't recover a body. You had to say goodbye to your father at a far younger age than anyone should have to. But here I am, and I have to bury my daughter. I have a broken body the coroner wouldn't even let me look at. You're half an orphan, so what does that make me?"

        Laura had the unique ability to go for the jugular while remaining vulnerable enough to avoid any backlash, the powerful combination of an abraded throat and crocodile tears. She was belligerent with a victim complex, just like any rich woman with no other job. Angry men can tear each other down physically through warfare and brawls and in the more subtle sense of sports and business ranks, but women don't have the same privilege. A mad woman is a force to be reckoned with by way of verbal jabs and withering glares, just like the woman sat opposite Shaelynn.

        Sometimes she wondered what her life would be like if Ramona was the one doing the gaslighting, not Chadwick. Chrissy said that her inner critic took on a voice that matched her mother's, but Shaelynn never heard Chadwick's voice in her head.

        "I – "

        "I don't mean to make you feel bad about yourself, if that's what you were wondering," Laura assured her, though it was abundantly clear to Shaelynn that she did. Victimhood was the most potent tool a white woman such as Laura Cunningham possessed. "All I ask is that you don't go back to shutting everyone out after this, because you aren't alone in your grief. There are countless families who lost a loved one to the fire. Count yourself lucky that your father wasn't murdered in such a brutal fashion."

        My father burned to death, I'd consider that pretty brutal, Shaelynn wanted to scream, but she didn't. Giving Laura the reaction she wanted would only enable her to win. She was clever enough to understand that an angry Black woman was a perceived threat and wouldn't hesitate to accuse her of endangering her, and Shaelynn couldn't handle another encounter with the police. "I'll take that into consideration," she said instead, tussling her braided hair.

        "Good. Chrissy was always grateful to have you in her life, and I know she wouldn't have wanted you to spend the rest of your life in misery." Shaelynn resisted the temptation to grimace at Laura's obvious ploy of using her daughter as a means of criticism. "Chrissy may be dead, and so may your father, but you're still alive. So get out there and make them proud."

        Yeah, by starting another nuclear family – with a man, of course – and wasting my life away in a house too big for me, Shaelynn thought bitterly.

        "Okay, I will," Shaelynn resolved, pushing her chair back with an alacritous scrape so she could stand up. "Uh... do you need me to get anything else from upstairs? There's a lot left I haven't gotten around to."

        "No, you've done plenty. I've got the rest covered," Laura beamed so widely that Shaelynn almost believed it was genuine. "Why don't you say something at the funeral? Tell everyone how much Chrissy meant to you."

        "Yeah, I'd love to," a hint of a smile crept onto Shaelynn's face for the first time since Chrissy's death. "See you then."

        Shaelynn was all too grateful to escape Chrissy's house, understanding completely why her best friend preferred hanging out or having sleepovers at her place. She'd parked her bike down the street – Chadwick had promised to get her a car for her senior year but he obviously never had the chance to, and money was too tight for her and Ramona to have more than one car. Her mother had promised to give it to her by the time she started college, though.

        But just as she mounted her bike and made to pedal home, a station wagon pulled up beside her. It was occupied by one Nancy Wheeler and some newspaper guy she couldn't recall the name of, and they were both looking at her. If word had gotten out that she had been the one to find Chrissy, she didn't need to ask what they wanted. She had already made up her mind.

        "Hey, you're Shaelynn Campbell, right?" Nancy had put the car in park and stepped outside. Shaelynn narrowed her eyes upon detecting the notepad in her grasp. She wasn't even bothering to hide it. "You're the one who found the body, right?"

        "That's Chrissy to you," Shaelynn retorted, not moving from her bike. "And I'm not up for an interview. I already went over everything with the police."

        "Sorry, pardon my notepad," Nancy apologized, pocketing it in her tweed jacket. She remembered too late that Shaelynn didn't know about the Upside Down to understand why she was intent on finding out the truth. "Could you just tell me what happened, please? I know you two were close, you probably have some perspective no one's heard."

        "Nancy, I told you this was a bad idea – "

        "Can't you tell that I'm not in the mood?" Shaelynn snapped, dismounting her bike and letting it fall to the ground as she stalked toward Nancy. She had never hated Nancy even if she wasn't particularly fond of her, but her lack of empathy was disconcerting. "I found Chrissy on the floor with her bones broken and her eyes gouged out. I'm planning her funeral. I'm still grieving, and you have the nerve to interrogate me for publicity? A bit shallow, don't you think?"

        "I'm sorry, I didn't mean – "

        "Nancy, can we just go already?" her friend called from the passenger seat, sticking his head out the window. "She's obviously not into it."

        "You're damn right I'm not," Shaelynn glowered at the two of them and picked her bike up for the ground. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a eulogy I need to write. Good luck finding anyone else willing to give you the information you're so desperate for."

        She began the journey home, a wide range of emotions flooding to the surface. Anguish from Chrissy's death, irritation that the police were taking so long to find Eddie, distaste for Laura for being the root cause of Chrissy's depression, outrage at Nancy for prioritizing the latest edition of her precious newspaper over how she was feeling. What did Nancy know about losing a best friend to murder?

        "Wait," Nancy implored before Shaelynn could depart completely. She halted in her tracks, reluctantly turning back around. "Could you at least come to the trailer park with us? It's bound to be roped off, but they'd let you in."

        Shaelynn weighed her options. As reluctant as she was to get in a car with Nancy Wheeler after she'd reduced Chrissy to the subject of a news article, she was already planning on going to the trailer park, back home. If they were headed in the same direction, she'd very much prefer not having to bike when she had the option of a ride.

        "Fine. Only because I'm going there as well." she decided, dragging her bike to deposit in the back of the station wagon. "But no questions allowed. Got it?"

        "Will do," Nancy's friend saluted, appearing mildly afraid of her. "Name's Fred, by the way. Fred Benson."

        "Pleasure," Shaelynn drawled, leaning back against the leather of her seat. She was in for a long drive.

        And so Shaelynn had accompanied Nancy and Fred back to the trailer park, where Officer Daniels granted them access after recognizing the former as a resident. Fred had gone surprisingly still during their encounter, but Shaelynn didn't question it, wishing them luck on their investigation and returning home to work on her tribute. She had pored over a blank sheet of paper for most of the afternoon, unable to put how much Chrissy had meant to her into writing. It was just as she was about to go to sleep that she picked up on Nancy hollering Fred's name and, against her better judgment, stepped outside to ask what was going on. She had lost sight of him while interviewing Eddie's uncle, apparently.

        Except Nancy hadn't. Fred, the thoughtful journalist who had warned her against asking Shaelynn what she knew, had been murdered in the exact same fashion as Chrissy. And as much as Shaelynn wished to lock herself in her room and tune out the world, she couldn't. This was so much bigger than Chrissy now – Eddie wasn't going to stop after one killing.

        "So, you're saying that this thing that killed Fred and Chrissy, it's from the Upside Down?" Nancy's query fell flat on deaf ears.

        "If the shoe fits."

        "Our working theory is that he attacks with a spell or a curse," the boy next to her spoke. "Now, whether or not he's doing the bidding of the Mind Flayer or just loves killing teens, we don't know."

        "All we know is this is different. Something new."

        "Wait," Shaelynn piped up, completely lost. "You're saying Eddie didn't do this?"

        All of them pivoted to face her, most of them beyond that point already. Shaelynn shrunk into herself from their gazes, wondering why they bothered looking at her like that when none of them were willing to give her a proper explanation.

        "No, he didn't do this. Why does everyone think that?" the same boy snapped, his eyes narrowed to slits. "I swear, everyone judges him before getting to know him – "

        "Eddie didn't kill them. We're sure of that," the girl opposite her cut across. If Shaelynn remembered correctly her name was Amara. "We were with Eddie last night, at a boathouse by Lover's Lake. Fred wasn't anywhere near there."

        "Okay... " Shaelynn nodded slowly, taking in the news. If Eddie hadn't murdered Fred or Chrissy, that had to mean that his scream was genuine. It meant that nearly everyone was after the wrong guy, including her up until now. "So... who killed them if it wasn't him?"

        "That's what we're discussing right now," Nancy said calmly, rather composed for someone who had just lost a friend of hers. Shaelynn regretted her outburst at her yesterday. "This might be hard for you to understand, but there's another world beneath Hawkins. It's like our world, only darker and covered in vines. We think that whatever killed Chrissy and Fred is from there."

        "I'm not sure I follow... " Shaelynn furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, wondering if they were all hopped up on drugs. Or maybe she was. "Are you guys for real?"

        "Look, I know it's a lot to take in. I didn't believe it at first," the redhead diagonal from her interjected. "But think back to everything that's happened in the past, everything that's made you wonder if this town's cursed. It's because of this other world. Will Byers getting lost in the woods, he was actually lost in the other dimension – we call it the Upside Down. And my brother Billy, everyone thinks he died in a mall fire, but he was really infected by this creature... "

        "You mean the mall fire where my dad died?" Shaelynn probed, suddenly feeling sick. She wanted to tell them how insane they sounded, but their countenances were too grave to signify any falsehoods. "You're saying it wasn't actually a fire?"

        "Yeah, it wasn't," the girl with short hair next to Nancy looked hesitant to divulge the truth. "Basically this – this weird spiderlike thing infected people by taking over their brains with its weird black particle dust. It like, forced them to drink chemicals and shit and decomposed their bodies to build its physical form. We literally had to fight a monster made of melted people."

        Shaelynn stood up shakily, processing everything. The laundry detergent, Chadwick's clammy face, what he'd been doing at the mall on the Fourth of July, why the firefighters hadn't found a body... it was all because of this other universe that seemed straight out of a horror movie. It was too inextricably linked to be a coincidence. Her dad hadn't died from a mall fire – he'd been a dead man walking for days, merely the instrument to an interdimensional monster that required his body. Now it was all back, and it had gone after Chrissy... it was all too much for her to handle. She couldn't breathe.

        "Hey, easy there. Easy," steady hands enveloped her trembling shoulders, grounding her. She saw brown eyes filled with concern, framed by styled hair of the same color. The harder she looked the more his face came into focus. It was Steve Harrington, the boy she'd dismissed as a douchebag in high school. "Just breathe with me, okay? In and out. In and out."

        Shaelynn did her best to match his breathing, clinging to his arms for support. The more she concentrated on her breathing the less she felt like there was something lodged in her throat, cutting off her oxygen flow. The onlookers watched with sympathetic expressions, and Robin felt awful for being the one to cause her to have a panic attack. Sensing her best friend's nerves, Amara squeezed her hand.

        It took a few more minutes for Shaelynn to calm down fully, and even then she looked like she might burst into tears at any given moment. Steve kept her at arm's length in the event that she needed someone, guilty that her dad had been a casualty they'd been unable to prevent.

        "You don't have to stay here if you don't want to," Robin stated, drawing Shaelynn's attention to her. "I'm sorry you had to find out this way. I – we won't blame you if you want to leave, or never talk to us again."

        "No, I'm okay," Shaelynn protested, though her voice was still wobbly. The last thing any of them needed was to have to dote on her when an interdimensional killer was on the loose. "You guys can continue. I'll feel so much better once this thing is dead."

        "Okay," Nancy resumed, careful to tread lightly. "As I was saying, it doesn't make sense, Fred and Chrissy. I mean, why them?"

        "Maybe they were just in the wrong place," Dustin theorized, shrugging his shoulders. "They were both at the game."

        "And near the trailer park," Max added.

"We're at the trailer park," Steve noted, casting a nervous glance around the perimeter. "Uh, should we maybe not be here?"

        "It's completely harmless," Shaelynn contested, slightly calmer now that they were coming up with a plan to defeat the entity that had murdered both Chrissy and her father. She could almost begin to understand why Nancy had been so intent on recruiting her yesterday, because she'd been through this sort of thing before. "At least, that's what I thought until now... "

        "There is something about this place," Nancy admitted, deep in thought. "Fred started acting weird the second we got here."

        "I remember that," Shaelynn said. She hadn't thought too much of it, but he was dead now and might connect somehow. "Officer Daniels said his name five times before he responded."

        "Acting weird as in... ?"

        "Scared, on edge," Nancy described to Amara. "Upset."

        "Max said Chrissy was upset too," Dustin recollected. Shaelynn's frown only deepened at the fact that she'd been too wrapped up in her own grief to notice that something was going on with Chrissy. She really was the worst friend in the world, wasn't she?

        "Yeah, but not here," Max clarified. "She was crying in the bathroom at school."

        "Serial killers stalk their prey before they strike, right?" Robin mentioned, not meeting Shaelynn's eyes. "So, maybe Fred and Chrissy saw this Vecman – "

        "Vecna."

        "Wait, that thing has a name?" Shaelynn interposed, raising her eyebrows.

        "We tend to name them after Dungeons and Dragons villains," Amara explained. "Like, this monster with petals for a face, we called it the Demogorgon. And the spider monster's called the Mind Flayer. It's easier for us to identify them that way."

        "Noted."

        "Dunno about you guys, but if I saw some freaky wizard monster, I would mention it to someone," Steve articulated. Not that many people would believe him or assume that he was merely hallucinating, but surely everyone around him would.

        "Maybe they did," Max hypothesized, thinking back to a few days ago. "I saw Chrissy leaving Ms. Kelley's office. If you saw a monster, you... you wouldn't go to the police. They'd never believe you. But you might go to your – "

        " – Your shrink," Robin finished, her eyes widening in realization at what their next step was.

        From there they made their way to Steve's car; Shaelynn followed along, in too deep to consider backing out. But Nancy directed her to her station wagon, which she'd left behind the night before, and Shaelynn walked there instead, conscious that there were too many of them to fit into a single car. She was still reeling from the reality of it all, but confronting the force behind the curtain was the only thing that would bring her closure, even if it didn't bring back her loved ones.

        "Wait, where are you two going?" Robin queried, bemused at why they were splitting off. There was also a small, poignant part of her that wanted to get to know Shaelynn even though it was undoubtedly the wrong time. Steve seemed to catch on, an idea forming in his head.

        "We're not all gonna fit in one car, are we?" Shaelynn asked rhetorically. "Don't worry, we'll be right behind you."

        "Actually, there's something I wanna check on first," Nancy elaborated, causing Shaelynn to sigh into her hands when she was sure she wasn't looking. She knew Nancy meant well, but she was tired of following her around like a dog on a leash.

        "Something you maybe wanna share with the rest of us?" Dustin queried, raising his eyebrows at her lack of communication.

        "I don't wanna waste your time," Nancy ducked her head, stuffing her hands in the pockets of her jean jacket. "It's a real shot in the dark."

        "We'll, maybe Robin here can be of assistance," Steve suggested, seizing the opportunity to get Robin with Shaelynn. It wasn't every day that the person you liked ended up learning the truth about Hawkins, which only solidified his belief that Shaelynn was the right person for Robin. "She loves a good mystery. Don't you, Robin?"

        "I hate you, Steve."

        "Nah, you love me," Steve grinned cockily, urging Robin on in Nancy and Shaelynn's direction. She reluctantly capitulated, walking over and standing as far away from Shaelynn as she could.

        "Okay... " Nancy agreed, not expecting anyone else to accompany her and Shaelynn. "Well, then can Amara join as well? If you're okay with it, of course," she added to Amara.

        "Yeah, sure," Amara smiled. She made to join Robin, Shaelynn, and Nancy where they were standing near the latter's car, but Steve caught her arm before she could get far.

        "Wait, are you sure about this?" he asked, not-so-secretly hoping that she would stay with him. She could hold her own better than anyone he knew, but they were treading in uncharted waters and he wouldn't be able to live with himself if Vecna claimed her as his next victim. He also knew by now that he wasn't strong enough without her, as he'd nearly lost his life every time she wasn't with him.

        "I'll be fine, Steve," Amara reassured her boyfriend, leaning on her tiptoes to peck his cheek. Dustin flashed them a heart sign, provoking Steve to flip him off. "I'll see you in a few, yeah?"

         "Okay," Steve sighed, letting her go. "Be careful."

        "I promise."

        Amara meant it when she promised Steve she would stay safe. But that didn't mean she wouldn't end up unearthing the very discovery that would chart her future.

published to quotev: 9/13/23
published to wattpad: 2/8/25

AUTHOR'S NOTE

i love robin's line of "unless you think we need you to protect us" but there was no way i was including any stancy, even if amara and steve had stayed friends