the monster

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FEAR RUSHED THROUGH THEIR VEINS. All they could think about was how they had met their ends. They didn't know how to get out, how to escape this beast or how to even move. Sitting behind a tree frozen in fear was not their ideal night. Hell, they didn't even know what world this tree belonged to.

Jonathan and Ben continued calling out for the girls, panicking the longer they went without a response. "We never should have taken our eyes off them." Ben yelled towards Jonathan.

"Yeah? Well, it's too late now." Jonathan yelled back, seeming to be losing hope.

Ben snapped his head towards Jonathan, staring at the boy in disbelief, "Are you seriously giving up right now?"

"No! I'm just saying we need to focus on what actually matters. Not what we should have done. What we need to do now!" Jonathan picked up Nancy's bag and bat. "And what we need to do now is find them."

Ben shook his head, turning away from Jonathan and shining his flashlight elsewhere, "Scarlett! Nancy!"

"Jonathan! Ben!" Scarlett ran around the tree, Nancy not too far behind her. Their voices echoed from the other world into their own.

"Scar! Nancy! We're right here! Scarlett!" Ben cried out, shining his flashlight around the trees, hoping to catch a glimpse of his friends.

Jonathan's face lit up with an idea, "Just follow our voices! Okay?" He yelled.

"Jonathan?" Nancy exclaimed, the two of them running in the direction of his voice.

"Follow my voice, I'm right here!" Jonathan's voice echoed out in the distance, the girls slowing down as they fearfully made their way over, clinging onto each other. "Nancy! Scarlett!"

They stopped in their tracks, hoping to figure out which direction his voice was coming from. As they turned to the left, they came face to face with the horrifying creature, causing them to scream at the top of their lungs in fear.

The boys shared a terrified look and rushed in the direction of their screams, freezing once they noticed a tree with an opening much to small for them to fit through.

The creature lurked around the trees, searching for the humans who invaded its home. Scarlett and Nancy sat glued to a tree, scared to move in case it attracted the beast.

Jonathan kneeled down, his face meeting the entrance. "Nancy? Scarlett? Follow my voice!" He called through the gate.

Ben kneeled to look at it as well, his eyes widening when he noticed something Jonathan had not yet noticed. "Holy shit. Holy shit, it's closing! It's closing!"

Sure enough, the bark on the tree was slowly covering the opening as they spoke. Nancy peeked around the side, looking at the gate. Her way out. Nancy glanced at Scarlett, who was still looking the opposite direction. Nancy knew she shouldn't have, but she did. She made a run for it, crawling into the gate and leaving Scarlett behind.

Nancy knew she was wrong, she didn't want Scarlett to stay in that place. But she also didn't want to stay there for another minute. Nancy knew Scarlett was strong enough and smart enough to get out of there. Scarlett had a lot of things Nancy didn't have, and if it was just Nancy out there, she would have died.

When Scarlett realized Nancy had ran, it was too late. The gate was too small for her to fit through, and it was almost fully closed. She choked back tears as she banged on the bark where the gate once was, completely closing her off from Hawkins itself. "Ben! Ben help!" She cried out, choking back the tears fighting to escape.

On the other side, Nancy Wheeler sat in Jonathan's arms, not even looking towards the gate that had closed her 'friend' into an unknown world, leaving her scared and alone.

Ben came to a realization that his best friend was not with her, "Where's Scarlett?"

"She- She um. She found another gate. She got out before me." Nancy lied, sending the two boys a fake smile.

Ben stared at her for a moment, not fully believing what Nancy had told them. "Okay. Well, Jonathan take her home. I'll go look for Scarlett."

"Okay." Jonathan simply replied, helping Nancy to her feet.

Ben looked shocked, but shook it off and turned away. "Make out with her while you're at it." He mumbled under his breath, chuckling to himself as he walked away from the two. Secretly, he wished Jonathan would put up more of a fight. To refuse to go home without Scarlett. Ben was in disbelief at how shitty of a friend he was to her. Even helping to look for her would be better than completely leaving. But then again, he told him to leave.

"Scarlett!" Benjamin yelled out into the darkness, praying for a response but getting none. "Shit!" He exclaimed, kicking the trunk of a random tree.

Scarlett sat up against a vine, trembling with terror as she looked around for a way out of this place. Maybe she could find a gate somewhere nearby, but her biggest fear at the moment was the creature finding her.

She didn't know why Nancy did what she did. Leaving her alone with nothing but a gun, which she doubted would actually kill the beast. She had confidence in herself that she would make it out of this mess.

She observed her surroundings, not seeing any monsters. And with that, she took off running through the trees, hoping she didn't gain the attention of the thing. A light in the distance caused the girl to rush towards it, discovering Steve's house illuminated by the slightly blu-ish sky. What drew her gaze was not the house, but the opening in the tree in front of her.

Her joyous expression was wiped off her face when she heard the low growling of a creature. The color drained from her face as she immediately froze, reaching for her gun. Clicking traveled around the trees, Scarlett cocking her gun as she swung it around in whatever direction the click came from.

"I- I don't know if you can understand me. But I know you're here! Come out!" She yelled into the darkness, and the clicking and growling stopped.

Just moments later, the thing they had been searching for and running from all night crawled out on all fours towards the scared teenager. In that moment, Scarlett decided maybe she would be able to kill it this time instead of running away from it. It took a great deal of effort to aim the gun at the creature steadily, and when it stood up to its full height, it struck even more fear in her.

It seemed to observe her before lunging at her with an ear piercing roar. Scarlett screamed at the top of her lungs, shooting the thing everywhere she could. While the bullets didn't kill it, they distracted it enough for her to get closer to the gate.

Ben heard the scream and picked up his head, "Scarlett?" He yelled sprinting after her voice, the wind stinging his eyes. He slowed as he approached Steve's house, putting his hands on his knees in an effort to catch his breath. "Scarlett! Can you hear me?"

More shots rang out, "Yes, I can hear you!" Her voice echoed. Ben noticed the gate in the tree in front of him and he rushed towards it, immediately crouching in front of it.

"Scarlett, I need you to do something for me." He yelled through the opening.

"Anything!"

"Get through the gate! I'm here to pull you out!" Ben instructed, desperately wanting her to move faster. "That thing is not dying, and I don't want you dying either! So please, go through!"

"If I turn my back on this thing I swear it's going to eat me!"

"Shoot it in the face and run!" Ben screamed.

Four shots rang out, and suddenly an arm lunged through the gooey material of the gate, causing Ben to gasp in relief as he pulled his best friend out of whatever world she was in.

Fully out of the realm, she could feel the gate closing behind her. She grasped onto Ben, pulling him in for a tight hug as she sobbed into his shoulder. The two friends both sobbed, holding each other as tightly as they possibly could. These weren't sobs of sadness, no. They were sobs of relief, fear, happiness and disbelief. And maybe a little bit of sadness.

"I'm so glad you're okay." Ben said, his voice muffled by the girls hair. Scarlett laughed, patting the back of Ben's hair.

"Well, we're not completely out of the woods yet. Literally." Scarlett laughed at her own joke, Ben shaking his head at her stupidity, but laughing.

"Let's get you home." Ben said. He adored the way Scarlett could bring light to even the darkest times. I mean, hell, she just dealt with whatever that was and now sat in front of him, making jokes.

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Scarlett woke up the next morning to a knock at her bedroom door, startling her. Flashes of the creature last night ran through her mind. Running from it, shooting at it, seeing it stand above her and open it's horrifying face scared the shit out of her. The knocking continued, causing her to unnecessarily panic. She took a deep breath and composed herself before yelling, "Come in!"

Lucas cautiously opened the door, peeking his head in and giggling nervously. Last night, when Scarlett got home she told Lucas about everything. About the creature, about the other world, about the gun, and about Nancy leaving her behind.

He sad said to her, "If it makes you feel any better, at least we know the Wheeler's love to leave the Sinclair's behind in the dust."

"Hey, Lucas." She smiled weakly at him before patting the space on the bed next to her. Lucas crawled beside her, with a book in his hands. "Wow, you've been reading?"

"No," He scoffed. "I've been researching." He opened the book to a bookmarked page with a picture of a creature with three heads.

Scarlett looked at him with confusion on her face, "Is this your Dungeons and Dragons book thing?"

"Well, yeah. But it's related to what's been happening in Hawkins. For example, this is a Demogorgon. It's what you saw last night." Lucas explained, pointing to the picture.

"But that looks nothing like it?"

"Well obviously not. Because we're not in Dungeons and Dragons. But, it acts exactly like one." Lucas fought back, speaking as if it were obvious.

"So, this... Demogorgon. Where did it come from?" Scarlett's eyes were drawn to the next bookmark, stuck in a page just a few over from their current one.

Lucas flipped to the next section, his finger tracing the bold words on the page. The words, 'Vale of Shadows' was crossed out and written over it was, "The Upside Down." Lucas exclaimed, pointing at the picture then at a paragraph below. "The Upside Down, previously known as the Vale of Shadows. Mike explained it to us and it was pretty hard to understand, but listen to this," Lucas began to read it to her, "The Vale of Shadows is a dimension that is a dark reflection or echo of our world. It is a place of decay and death. A plane out of phase, a place of monsters. It is right next to you and you don't even see it."

"But I was there." Scarlett looked at her cousin, who was grinning from ear to ear.

"Exactly! The freak didn't know how to get there, but you've already been there. And got out!" Lucas said, referring to Eleven as 'The Freak'.

"Hey! She's not a freak." She shoved him, earning a fatal glare. "So, Demogorgon, and The Upside Down. I got in and out of the Upside Down by some sort of portal- or gate or something."

"Gate! Yes, a gate is what Dustin was talking about. And Mr. Clarke. He taught us about the Flea and the Acrobat theory." Lucas jumped up and down on her bed excitedly.

"The Flea and the Acrobat?" Scarlett said with a laugh, not quite understanding what he was saying.

"Yes. Imagine an acrobat balancing on a tightrope, and a flea too. The acrobat can go forwards and backwards. But in this case, you're the flea. The flea can travel forwards, backwards, down and even on the side of the tightrope." The younger boy explained to his cousin.

"Okay, so the flea is me. But the flea can be anyone. You just need to tell them what to do. The flea can be you, El, Mike, whoever. But you just need to create a rip in our dimension to get to the Upside Down. And from what I understand, whenever a Demogorgon, which belongs in the Upside Down, comes into our world it creates a rip, or a gate. So little pieces of that world continues to bleed into ours, starting with the monsters." Scarlett rambled on, explaining everything thoroughly.

Dustin and Mike stood in her doorway with their jaws on the ground as they listened to Scarlett speak. Lucas looked baffled as well, "Did you get all of that just from me explaining the Flea and The Acrobat?"

"Yeah?" She simply stated as if it were completely obvious.

Lucas shook his head, composing himself and facing Dustin and Mike, "What do you want."

The two walked up to the edge of the bed, staring at him in silence before Dustin smacked Mike. Mike let out an annoyed sigh, "I drew first blood, so.." He offered his hand out for Lucas to shake.

The boy stared at Mike's hand, unimpressed by him. He got up and began pacing back and forth, but not before sending Mike the nastiest glare he could muster. Scarlett shared a look with Dustin, who shrugged.

Lucas stopped pacing and turned towards Mike, "Okay. I'll shake." Mike sighed, relieved as he offered his hand out once again. Lucas was quick to stop him though, "On one condition. We forget the weirdo and go straight to the gate!"

"Then the deals off." Mike quickly pulled his hand back to his side. It was safe to say Dustin expected this to happen.

"Fine!"

"Fine."

"No, no. Not fine! Guys, seriously?" Dustin grabbed Mike's shoulder. "Do you even remember what happened on the Bloodstone Pass?"

Lucas and Mike stared at each other for a moment before shrugging, confirming only Dustin had remembered. And Scarlett sat on her bed, not understanding a single word of DND language.

Dustin sighed, "We couldn't agree on what path to take, so we split up the party, and those trolls took us out one by one. And it all went to shit. And we were all disabled! So we stick together, no matter what!"

"Yeah, I agree. But this is the party, right here in this room." Lucas swung his finger around the room.

Scarlett placed a hand on her heart, "Aw, I'm a part of your party?"

"Honorary member." Lucas stated, glimpsing at Scarlett then back at Mike and Dustin.

"El is one of us now."

"Um, no. She's not. Not even close! Never will be. She's a liar, a traitor-" Lucas began listening off, completely against the idea of El joining the party.

"She was just trying to keep us safe! She didn't mean to hurt you, it was an accident!" Mike interrupted.

Scarlett loved El, but her family got hurt. She knew El throwing Lucas against a piece of metal was not a good way to keep them safe. She knew Lucas would eventually forgive the girl though. But keeping El in the party would be their best bet on keeping this evil from infiltrating Hawkins.

"An accident?" Lucas yelled at Mike.

"Alright accident or not... admit it, it was a little awesome." Dustin commented, a small grin on his face.

"Awesome?" Lucas was in disbelief, Dustin wasn't even considering what could've happened to Lucas if he hit something at the wrong angle.

"Yeah, she threw you in the air with her mind!" Dustin's eyes were wide as he spoke, Scarlett just staring at him, completely unimpressed.

"I could have been killed!"

"Which is exactly why we need her. She's a weapon! Do you seriously want to fight the Demogorgon with your wrist rocket? That's like R2-D2 going to fight Darth Vader! We're no use to Will if we're dead." Mike went off, flailing his arms.

"If you two want to waste your time looking for a traitor, go ahead, 'cause I'm not spending my time on her anymore. No way." Lucas jabbed his finger at the two boys. "I'm going to the gate. I'm gonna find Will." He shoved past Mike and Dustin, storming out of the house.

The boys stood and stared at the door Lucas had just walked out of. Scarlett looked between the two of them in hopes they would follow after him, but they didn't. She let out an annoyed groan, "Don't just stand there." She shooed them out, closing her door and flopping down on her bed with a sigh.

As if on cue, her phone rang. She picked it up instantly, "Hello?"

Ben sat on the other line, "Hi, Scar! Can you come down to the movie theater.. like.. now." He laughed nervously, stuttering into the phone.

"Sure.. I'll be down there soon." She spoke slowly, a bit nervous as she listened to his tone. She didn't know what was happening, but she did know it probably wasn't good. So, she didn't waste a second and dashed out of her house, starting her car and driving into town.

Ben was leaning against the wall, anxiously awaiting her arrival. She parked and walked up to the boy, "What's going on?" He just simply motioned for her to follow him.

They stood in front of the board, staring at it in disbelief as Nancy ran up next to them, fighting back tears. The board which normally displayed the movies playing that day read, 'All the right moves, starring Nancy THE SLUT Wheeler'.

"Holy shit." Scarlett didn't take her wide eyes off of it as she mumbled, "Nancy.. what did you do."

"Jesus." Jonathan said faintly, glancing at Nancy who seemed to have heard something because just a moment later she was off running towards the alleyway next to the theater. The three left behind shared a look and ran after Nancy, Scarlett arriving just in time to witness Nancy slap Steve across the face. She had to put a hand over her mouth to stop laughter from escaping, and cleared her throat as she approached them.

"Why are you guys always the cause of unnecessary anger." Scarlett shook her head, leaning against the car.

"Why don't you ask your friend that?" Carol sassed.

"Shut up Carol, everything that comes out of your mouth is bullshit." Scarlett flipped Carol off, blowing a bubble with the gum in her mouth. She had enough of Carol's antics, they pushed her over the edge. Everyone was shocked for a moment until Jonathan rounded the corner.

"Speak of the devil." Tommy H jumped off the ledge he stood on, "Hi."

Nancy came to a realization, "You came by last night." She turned from Jonathan to Steve.

"Ding! Ding! Ding! Does she get a prize?" Carol laughed. Scarlett shot her a look that could kill. Carol was one word away from a punch in the face.

"Look, I don't know what you think you saw, but it wasn't like that." Nancy inched closer to Steve, who was clearly hurt.

"What? You just let him into your room to study?" Steve said dully, barely making eye contact with Nancy.

"Or for another pervy photo session?" Tommy H added, causing them to laugh.

"We were just-"

"You were just what? Finish that sentence." He walked even closer to Nancy, the look he usually gave her was now a glare that could cause anyone to crumble from shame. "Finish, the sentence." Nancy looked away from him, staying silent. There was no more love in his eyes, only hatred and hurt. "Go to hell, Nancy."

"Come on Nancy, let's just leave." Jonathan reached out for Nancy, tugging her away from him.

"You know what, Byers? I'm actually kind of impressed." Steve walked up to the boy, shoving him harshly. "I always took you for a queer, but I guess you're just a little screw-up like your father."

Scarlett's expression immediately turned into one of shock, crossing her arms as she watched Steve deteriorate. "Shut up, Steve." She warned through gritted teeth.

"Oh! Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, that house is full of screw-ups." Steve continued, shoving him again. "You know, I guess I shouldn't really be surprised. A bunch of screw-ups in your family."

Jonathan stood still. "Jonathan, leave it." Nancy warned, trying to pull him away.

"I mean, your mom. I'm not even surprised what happened to your brother. I'm sorry I have to be the one to tell you, but the Byers, their family, it's a disgrace to the entire-"

Steve's words were cut off by a solid punch to his cheek, sending him to the ground. Jonathan watched Steve slowly stand up, holding his cheek as he stared at the boy who punched him in shock.

"What did you expect, Steve? For him to walk away?" Scarlett's laughed at him, the hurt in her heart welling up even more. She thought Steve would be the bigger person, there was no reason for him to blow up on Jonathan like he did.

Steve grunted, throwing himself at Jonathan with all his might, sending him into the hood of the car. Right next to where Scarlett stood. She jumped back, staring at the two as they fought.

"Stop, Steve! Get off of him, seriously!" Nancy yelled as Steve had Jonathan pinned to the ground. Tommy H began instigating the fight, urging Steve on.

Jonathan got a bit of leverage, kneeing him in the stomach and causing him to roll off. Jonathan now had the advantage, whipping a fist at Steve and hitting his cheek, sending him back to the ground. He grabbed the collar of his shirt, drawing a fist back and punching him again.

Everyone cried for Jonathan to stop, fearing Steve was hurt when he clearly already was. Sirens wailed in the distance, drawing nearer to them as Jonathan continued to punch him.

The cops pulled into the alleyway, alerting Tommy H, who urged his friends to run as he tried to pull apart Steve and Jonathan so Steve could run as well. Ben had not even came in the alleyway, leaving the second he saw the fight. He had already gotten into enough trouble with the police, and he wasn't interested in dealing with Callahan again, whom he and Scarlett hated with a passion.

Scarlett shook her head in disappointment as Steve and his crew ran away, Callahan holding his nose while not too far behind them.

The next place Scarlett Sinclair and her friends would end up would be the police department.

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3885 words

can scarlett even consider nancy a friend rn? no🤣