a/n: thank you so much for over 700 reads! please vote 💜

a/n 2– i was celebrating 700 reads total, now this chapter alone has nearly 2k! thank you for reading ♥️♥️♥️
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CHAPTER NINETEEN

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     ADDIE WAS THANKFUL THAT HOPPER WAS THERE. She hated getting her blood drawn, and didn't understand why they needed to do it every single time.

"Adeline! Sorry, Addie. I know you prefer that," Dr. Owens greeted her as soon as he entered the room.

"It's okay, Addie or Adeline is fine," she shifted on the hard bed they always had her lay on. They made small talk for a few minutes, and Addie appreciated that Dr. Owens always tried to ease into things instead of just getting right to it.

"So, why don't you tell me about any episodes you might've had since I last saw you."

Addie looked down and bit her lip, afraid they'd think she was crazy if she told them about that night at the arcade.

"It's okay Addie," Hopper tried to reassure her.

"Well, when I was at the arcade, I had gone to drop off Will, there was a minute where everyone was... gone. It was snowing, that was my first clue that something was wrong. I turned to look at the arcade to see if I could spot Will, but the building was empty too. And... and I was back, there."

"The Upside Down?" Dr. Owens clarified, and Addie could only give a small nod in response.

"What happened after that?"

"Umm, well I started to panic. I closed my eyes and tried to tell myself that it wasn't real. That I couldn't actually be back there because it had been so long and I thought I was doing better. It started to get worse but then a friend came up to me, I guess got me out of it."

"How did it feel, when you were back there?"

"I was terrified. But it's like I was... frozen. I couldn't do anything all I could do was look around. I didn't run, or try to call out to anyone. I was too scared."

"You didn't see anyone else there?"

Addie looked down, having already tried to forget this part. "It felt like something evil was there. But my friend snapped me out of it before I could see anything. I'm sorry, that's all I saw. I just, I looked around and thought I was going to die. And I— I froze. I should've run or looked around more and maybe I would've seen something and I—"

"Alright doc, I think that's enough about the Upside Down for today, hmm?" Hopper stepped in, hearing Addie's tone and seeing her fiddle with the blue hair tie on her wrist, the same one that he'd given her all those years ago.

(a/n: when i saw someone point out that el had the blue hair tie that hopper's daughter used to wear, i was like 🥺🥺🥺🥺 & i know his daughter wore pigtails so i thought because he sees addie as like a daughter too, he gave her the other one 🤧🤧🤧🤧)

Dr. Owens nodded, apologizing for putting Addie through this again. He smiled and gave her a pat on the shoulder, and ended their session the same way he always did, by telling her she was brave.

A tear fell, and Addie wiped her face. She hadn't even realized she was crying.

"It's okay, you're done, no more questions," Hopper handed her a tissue and gave her a hug. He wasn't an overly affectionate person, but he was sad for Addie. Not even 18 yet and she'd already gone through so much.

They exit the room and see Will had already finished too. Joyce jumped up to hug Addie, and she could tell that she had cried.

"I'm sorry Addie I should've gone in with you too, I... I'm sorry you have to keep going through this."

"Mom, it's okay. Even if Hopper wasn't here I would've said go with Will anyway. I'll wait with him now," she sat down next to Will as her mom and Hopper went into Dr. Owens' office.

Once the door closed, Will scooted closer and leaned his head on Addie's shoulder. "Hey Addie?"

"Hmm?"

"You were back... back there, too, huh."

The way he said it as a statement and not a question, Addie knew she had to tell him the truth.

"Yeah, I was. When I dropped you off at the arcade. It was less than a minute but it felt so much longer."

He sat up and looked at her, eyes wide. "That's when it happened to me too!" He leaned back against the wall, thinking for a minute.

"Okay, I know you didn't tell me because you don't want to scare me, but I think... I think we have to tell each other. Even mom and Hopper and Dr. Owens don't fully understand. You were in the Upside Down almost as long as I was. And we're the only ones who could know what the other might be feeling. If it happens again, I'll tell you right away. And you have to tell me too okay?"

Addie wiped away another tear. She wished she could take away everything Will had gone through, even if it would mean she'd have gone through it all by herself instead. He was just a kid, but he was so brave. She was scared, but she nodded.

"Okay, I'll tell you too."

"Does Billy know?" He asked after another minute of silence.

Addie shook her head and looked down at her feet. "No, I haven't told him anything yet."

"Do you want to?"

"I do, but... I don't know how he'll react. If we hadn't gone through any of this and were just leading completely normal lives, and someone told me about all of this happening to them, I might think they're crazy. I want to tell him, and I know I'll have to someday. But not yet, not until..."

"They figure out what's wrong with us?" Will finished her sentence.

"I don't think anything's wrong with us, I just, I don't know. But maybe Dr. Owens will help us and he'll be able to explain why we both were back there at the exact same moment."

Less than a minute later, their mom and Hopper exit the office, followed by Dr. Owens who waves to both of them before walking in the opposite direction.

They're whispering, and Addie and Will can't help but notice that their mom looks pretty upset. Addie wonders if she'll actually tell her what Dr. Owens said. Maybe Will is right, and something is wrong with them.

The 4 of them walk out to their cars, with Addie and Will walking faster, just eager to leave and get home.

"Things get worse, you call me first. You call me," Hopper says before Joyce gets in the car.

Addie calls out to Hopper before he gets in his car too. She quickly walks over to him, not wanting him to come to her incase her mom hears. She figures Hopper will give her a straight answer.

"Is everything okay? Did something happen in Dr. Owens office?"

"You heard what I told your mom, right? About calling me?" When she nods, he continues. "I mean it. Anything happens, no matter what time it is or where you guys are, call me first. Before Dr. Owens or anyone else."

"Okay, thanks." Addie nods and turns to walk back to the car, when Hopper coughs loudly. When she looks back at him, he's got his hand up, and Addie can't help but smile, knowing what he's waiting for. She holds her pinky up to his and they "shake" on it. "I promise you'll be the first call if something happens." It's only when Addie is staring out the window on the ride home, that she realizes Hopper didn't answer either of her questions.

When they get home, Addie and Will go straight to their rooms. Half an hour later, Addie slams her math textbook shut, having been stuck on the same problem the entire time. The phone rings, and after a few seconds Addie heard her mom tell her to pick up the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hey, what are you doing for the rest of the night?" Addie smiles hearing Billy's voice. She desperately wants to tell him to come over, but she's in a mood and knows that if he does come over she might blurt something out when he asks what's wrong.

"Honestly I'm exhausted. It was a little more than a normal checkup, they asked a lot more questions. My moms got dinner almost ready, after we eat I think I'm gonna quickly finish my homework and then go to bed."

"Oh, are you okay?" She can hear the concern in his voice, and for a second she debates about just saying fuck it, tell him to come over and then explain everything to him. But as she makes a decision, even in that moment she realizes it's stupid.

Halloween is right around the corner and she wants just one more fun night / party with Billy before she tells him what's going on with her. She decides she's going to finally let him in to that part of her life, but only after Halloween.

"I'm okay, just really tired."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," she smiles, really appreciating that he cares about her. "I don't want you to think that I don't want you to come over or—"

"Baby it's fine, promise. You just get some rest. I'll see you at school tomorrow. I love you."

"I love you, see you tomorrow," when they hang up, they've both got smiles on their faces. Billy still can't believe it himself, that he's that... emotionally intimate with a girl.

Only a few minutes of laying in bed, waiting to eat dinner, and Addie is already overthinking things. Going through every worst-case scenario, what might go wrong if she tells Billy everything.

What if it scares him, and he doesn't want that in his life? What if he doesn't believe her, it's like she said before if this hadn't happened to her and she heard about this from someone else, she would probably think they were insane.

Eventually she sits up, grabbing a tissue to wipe her new tears. There's a knock on the door and Addie is quick to wipe her face to hide whatever evidence of her crying.

"Addie, honey dinner's ready early if you want to eat now,"

"I'm okay mom, I'll come eat in a little bit," she's fighting back tears at this point and hopes more than anything that her mom can't hear it.

"Okay, I'll leave a plate for you in the microwave, you just heat it up whenever you're hungry. I love you."

"I love you too mom, thanks." Addie puts her ear to the door to be sure her mom is gone, and then the tears come. She grabs a nearby blanket and puts it over her face, so that if her mom or Will or Jonathan walks by, they can't hear her.

After only a few seconds, though, she forces herself to stop. She can't cry like that again.

Why is this all happening again? And to Will, too.

Eventually, Addie lays down in an attempt to fall asleep, but it doesn't work. That's how session days usually go, for the next day or so whenever she closes her eyes, all she sees is the Upside Down.

Having to talk about it in depth, and describe what she saw and how she felt, she still doesn't see how that's supposed to make her better.

And now she feels worse, because she feels like she can't talk about it. If her mom, or Hopper, or anyone hears that she's having these thoughts, what if they want her to stay at the lab permanently, for constant monitoring?

An unknown amount of time passes as Addie just lays there, staring at the ceiling. There's another knock on the door, and Addie bets that her mom sent Jonathan to try and convince her to eat something.

Will is probably going through the same thing, and Addie knows she should check on him, but she also knows that her mom wouldn't send him.

Just thinking about her younger brother and what he must also be going through is enough to make tears form again, but Addie quickly wipes them away before standing up and opening the door. She's greeted by Steve, who says nothing as he simply pulls her in for a hug.

"Wh-what are you doing here?"

"Your mom told me you had another appointment today. Why didn't you tell me? I would've rescheduled my stuff to come with you," they sit on opposite ends of Addie's bed, with Addie hugging a pillow to her chest.

"She forgot, Will and I didn't even find out until we got home from school and by then she said we had to leave pretty much right away or we'd be late. And Jonathan wasn't home yet either or I would've asked him to come too."

"How did it go?"

Addie shrugs, "the same as it always does. They drew blood, again, stuck those little suction things to my head and asked me questions about... you know. And I had to tell them I had another episode."

Steve looks at his best friend, concerned. "What? When??"

"You know that night I met Billy at the arcade after dropping off Will? It was then, right before he came up to me. One second I saw him talking to Max, and Will was already in the arcade with the boys, and the next... everyone was gone."

For a moment, they're both silent. Steve feels terrible, and is trying to think of what to do to make Addie feel better.

"Do you think somethings wrong with me? Like I'm going crazy or something?"

"No, no of course not. Addie you went through a lot. And I know every time I point that out, you say we all did, but you and Will more than anyone. You were stuck there nearly as long, and we all thought at one point or another, that we were going to lose you both. Anyone that knows what really happened, wouldn't think you're crazy. I promise. Does anyone else know you feel like this?"

"What, that I think I'm crazy? No, just Will. And now you. Although I cried in front of Hopper like twice so maybe he knows," Addie shrugged again, not really knowing how else to respond. "But do you think somethings going to happen?"

"Like... like what?"

Another half shrug. "I don't know. But what are the odds that Will and I have an "episode" not only on the same day, but at the exact same time? And we both saw the same thing. It was snowing, everything looked dead, and cold, and there was something else there."

"A Demogorgon?"

"We don't know. Will was in it a few seconds longer than I was. I didn't see what it was, I could just feel that something was there. And Will saw it, but it must not have been for long because he says all he could tell was that it was something evil, which is what I felt too. What are the odds of that happening?" Addie shakes her head, feeling overwhelmed from talking about it again.

"Well, hey, it's over with. Hopefully you don't have to go back there for a while. And if you do, just let me know and I'll go with you. No matter what time it is. If I've got other plans, I'll cancel. You're not alone in this Addie. I know you, and I know you're holding back whatever it is that you're feeling because you think you can't put that on other people, but we're all here for you. Me, Jonathan, your mom, Nancy, hell even Mike, Lucas, and Dustin. Now wait here," he gets up and leaves the room, coming back a minute later with the plate that Joyce had left out. "I'm sitting right here until you eat."

Addie takes the plate and sits down, pushing the food around with her fork. When she looks up, she sees Steve patiently waiting for her to take a bite, so she does. He sighs with relief, having half expected her to say she wasn't hungry.

"How much of this does Billy know?" He asks after Addie has eaten a few bites.

"He doesn't know about any of it. I think he wanted to come over but I can't tell him yet," she shakes her head again. "He's the only person who doesn't know about any of the stuff that happened, and I just want things to stay normal with him for a little longer. Because what if he finds out and..."

"Hey if he finds out and leaves, then he's an asshole. But Addie I think he deserves to be given that chance. I may not like the guy very much but with the way you talk about him, and I see how happy he makes you, I think he'd be there for you."

Addie finished the rest of her food and gets up to go wash her dishes. Steve follows her out of her room, and helps himself to some ice cream from their freezer as Addie cleans up.

"So did you end up talking to Nancy? What's going on with you guys anyway?"

Steve let's out a groan, putting his head down on the table. "I don't know. She says we're fine."

"But... you don't think you are?"

"I don't know. I'm hoping with Tina's party it'll cheer her up, she'll let loose and maybe we will be fine after that. You're going to that by the way right?"

Addie thinks back to when Tina was part of the plan to get her and Billy apart. Afterwards Tina did apologize, saying she knew it was wrong and she shouldn't have gone along with it, but part of Addie felt like it was a fake, half-assed apology.

She accepted though, just wanting to be done with the drama. But did she really want to go to a party at Tina's house?

"I... yeah, I'll go. Let's get sheet faced."

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