lessons in the woods

. ✧ ・゜. +・o ✧

The ghost of a breeze swept across the town of Hawkins on an early summer night, caressing cheeks and providing some relief to the wall of heat that had surmounted it during the day. It sang softly as it passed through the town—past the middle school, great and foreboding in the trepidation of darkness, past the high school, which lay right beside, past the playground and the cream and beige houses and the quarry, with water glistening far below the cliffs, past the park, with trees bunched with green leaves, past the desolate array of shops lined in the downtown, past the mall illuminated by a glowing neon sign—and landed right at the outside of a cabin that lay in the middle of the woods.

Its gentle touch flicked the loose strands of curly brown hair out of Alina Fairgrieves-Byers' eyes, something she was immensely grateful for. She'd rake them away herself—her hair had a tendency to obscure her vision in the most unfortunate of times, even after she'd cut it a couple months ago—but both of her hands were busy at the moment, one thrust out in front of her, aiming at the cherry-red target that hung from the tree twenty feet away, and the other curled into a determined fist.

"Focus, Alina," instructed the girl beside her. Her brown hair, a lighter shade than Alina's and definitely not as wild, was tied back into a ponytail, and she dug her sneakers into the dirt as she spoke. "Channel your anger. Force it into your hands."

Anger. Alina hadn't felt a lot of that lately, so she found herself focusing on anger from the past, bringing it back as if it was brand new, letting it fill her like it had so often when she was younger. There had been a lot of reasons to be mad back then—she didn't have any friends, her mother had abandoned her, and, to top it all off, she was being hunted by government-issued men from a laboratory. Oh, and then she'd also nearly been killed (more than once) by creatures from another dimension and been possessed for a short span of time. Bringing her old fury back was almost easy, and she let it consume her, her face darkening into a scowl as she remembered everything all over again.

As she concentrated, she let her outstretched palm spark to life, letting it burst with energy. Without a sound, a bright ball of red light suddenly bloomed on the surface of it, hovering slightly above and emanating a light heat. Narrowing her eyes, Alina focused on the target, which was swaying slightly in the wind, and, using a tip she'd learned over the past six months, compacted the light into her hand into a tighter ball. Then, with a gritting of her teeth, Alina let the energy fling out, hurling it like a comet at the target. Before she could even take a breath, the red light had crashed right into the center of the cherry red, bursting it into pieces.

Shards of wood flew everywhere, but luckily, the two girls were far enough away that they were untouched. The target had been completely demolished by the force of the blow, and the rope it hung on was blackened, surrounded by a faint red aura.

Alina lowered her arm, exhaling gently as a drop of wine-colored blood fell from her nose. Digging a tissue out of the pack that now permanently resided in her pocket—at least, until it ran out, which she'd then replace with a new one—she held it up to her face, catching the blood droplet before it could streak its way down to her lips. Then, turning to the girl beside her, she smiled.

"I did it," she announced triumphantly, watching the blackened rope sway slightly. Closing her eyes, she called the energy that still surrounded the rope. It lifted off of it, zooming back to her, and she let it sink back into her, rejuvenated. The girl beside her wasn't fazed—not by the light that seemed to come from her, nor how it had destroyed that target in one hit. She wouldn't be, not when she had abilities of her own.

"Good job," complimented El, previously known as Subject Eleven, experiment at the now shut-down Hawkins Laboratory (or Hawkins Power and Light, as the rest of the town knew it as). "You got it in one hit."

For the past six months, El had been teaching Alina on how to better control her abilities, which had come back just before El's own arrival at her door. Being a test subject had admittedly taught her a lot about how to use them, but so had Kali, fellow test subject and number Eight, who El had met at the request of her mother, who was, apparently, currently in a dream-like state, and would most likely remain that way for the rest of her life. Kali had been the one to tell her that her abilities followed emotions, with anger the best one for destruction.

Kali could make illusions, let you see things that weren't there. She wasn't the best person—she'd tried to manipulate El into killing people, and had summoned an image of Doctor Brenner, the head of Hawkins Lab, in order to coerce her into staying—but she'd taught El a lot, and Alina would still meet her if she could. Unfortunately, she hadn't had the opportunity to meet her yet, and there was also the fact that she was a criminal.

But Alina had been a fugitive at the age of twelve, so it wasn't that big of a deal.

Alina flexed her fingers now. Even after seven months, she was still amazed at what could come out of her hands. She knew her abilities were a product of the MKUltra experiments her birth mother had participated in while pregnant with her, but it was still extraordinary. And as Alina developed her abilities further and further, things just got even better.

"Thanks," Alina said, lowering the tissue from her nose. Her nosebleeds didn't last long, and she had gotten used to them. "I couldn't have done it without your help." She was about to hold out her hand for a high-five before she remembered that El still got confused about those gestures. Spending most of your life isolated from the outside world would do that to someone.

She lowered her hand instead, and checked the time on the black watch that adorned her left wrist. "It's getting kind of late," she realized, downcast. 'Kind of late' meant seven forty-five, but that was close to El's curfew. Chief Jim Hopper, her adopted father, was kind of nuts about her getting back on time. He had every reason to be worried—she'd been on the run for a year, after all—but as the days went by, Alina had to admit he was getting ridiculous.

Plus, if El went back home to her cabin in the woods, that meant Alina wouldn't get any one-on-one time with her until next week, their next planned lesson. The party had, obviously, been hanging out every day this summer, but there was something different now. El had a boyfriend, and they were beginning to separate from the party little by little. Sometimes, they'd go a whole day without seeing each other, because she'd instead choose to spend it with Mike. Making out, reading comics, making out, listening to music, making out... yeah. There was a lot of making out going on.

They were beginning to get a little bit insufferable. Alina had a boyfriend, too (could you believe it?), but she hadn't been abandoning the party like El had. Sure, she and Lucas had a little alone time, but they still spent most of their days with the party. Going swimming, playing at the arcade, going to the movies, et cetera. It was summer, after all, the last summer before responsibilities began to set in. This was the summer before high school, and they hadn't a day to waste.

The party had expanded since its first creation. Alina and El had joined nearly two years ago, and Gabe and Max had been added last November. All eight of them—Alina, Lucas, El, Max, Gabe, Dustin, Will, and Mike—had battled against monsters from parallel universes, and won. But they were still just kids. Well, teenagers now, but they'd barely gone through puberty (except for Alina, who'd had a growth spurt during the past few months, and now was taller than Lucas). They just wanted to have fun. They wanted to reclaim the childhood that had been snatched from them.

El bit her lip, and for a moment, she was quiet, so that all could be heard were the crickets chirping, along with the occasional rustle in the bushes or the hoot of an owl. Perspire dripped down Alina's forehead, and she swiped it off quickly. Then El spoke. "Sorry."

"It's fine." Alina waved her off, watching a moth flutter its way to the light coming from the cabin window. The cabin was surrounded by thick trees, which made it a very good spot to practice with abilities, because it wasn't like anyone would ever make their way here. The people of Hawkins, Indiana preferred the security of their neighborhoods, not the unknowns of the wild. "I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow," El echoed, giving her 'sister' a soft smile. Alina and El weren't blood-related, but they did have that subtle connection that pulled them together. The magnet, they called it, because it had always felt to them like a magnet in their stomachs, pulling them towards each other. They were linked by the experiments their mothers had gone through, and by the abilities that were both a blessing and a curse.

Alina smiled, and began to walk to the outside of the woods. Jonathan would be here to pick her up soon, anyway. He always found her sitting on the edge of the cliff, watching the water down below ripple as she tossed rocks into it. On her bad days, where she couldn't stop thinking about her dad and Bob and taste the blood in her mouth (although, thankfully, she didn't have as many of those anymore) she'd imagine what it would be like to jump. To fall.

Mike had experienced that. Alina still remembered the panic of that situation—the lighter against her cheek, the sting of the slap on her face, the knife against Dustin's teeth. The sheer helplessness of the situation that had spawned a fear of fire (which had been conquered—after you feel like you're burning alive for nearly a week straight, it doesn't seem so scary anymore) and a running habit, so that something like this would never happen again.

Even though she seemed recovered, the one thing that plagued her the most were her nightmares. They were better than they used to be, and she didn't have them as often, but every once in a while she'd wake up in complete paralysis, frozen in terror at the horrible things her brain cooked up. On those nights, she'd sleep in Will's bunk.

Sure enough, Jonathan was already waiting when Alina reached the quarry. Her older brother smiled, reaching out to ruffle her hair. "How was it?" he asked.

"Good," Alina admitted. "Really good. El's an exemplary teacher."

There she went again, sounding like she'd just read a dictionary. But recently she'd developed a fascination with big words—it had stemmed from when she'd read Hamlet, half of which she hadn't understood—and now she was speaking with a strange vocabulary, peppering in as many new words she could think of. Another strange quirk in the strange life of Alina Fairgrieves-Byers. But at least now she understood Hamlet.

Romeo and Juliet was still the best play, though.

"Good," said Jonathan, smiling with an immeasurable amount of fondness at his younger sister. Alina had only been officially adopted last December, but it felt like he'd had her his entire life—as well as her spunky cat, Skywalker, who was still very much alive and well.

Jonathan led Alina down the path that led to where his car was parked, and for a moment, not even a full second, she felt it. She didn't disappear, like she'd done so much last year—one of the side effects of having a creature from another dimension reside in your body is that you routinely find yourself seeing into that other dimension—but there was that familiar prickle at the back of her neck. That familiar sense of impending doom.

And for that half a second, Alina Fairgrieves-Byers feared that maybe everything wasn't over.

But then the feeling went away, and Alina reminded herself that she was safe now, that the Mind Flayer was gone. This summer was going to be a good summer. A completely normal one. No otherworldly shenanigans.

Right?

. ✧ ・゜. +・o ✧

a/n: and alina's back!! woohoo! and gabe is coming soon!! i'd like to officially welcome each and every one of you to paroxysm, the project i have been working for nearly five months now. it's already the longest out of the series, and i'm not even finished yet! it's a super long ride, and it gets as dark, if not darker, than mad'ouk does, which is saying something. 

i'm kind of nervous to be posting this, because, yet again, paroxysm isn't like any other stranger things fic i've read before. there are a lot of extra scenes that aren't in the show and things i tweaked around to make it work for the story, haha. but i guess that's what fanfiction is. it's not anyone else's. it's yours.

if you enjoyed, remember to vote and comment! i am so excited for this book, it's literally my baby. i think it might just be my favourite, maybe because i've been working on it the longest, but ugh. i love it.

okay, final thing, i don't have an update schedule for this. i think i might update it every 3-5 days, maybe sooner if i get anxious, but yeah, it's not like mad'ouk. and i don't think i'll be doing a paroxysm week, at least not until we get farther in.

'till next time!!