wills pov

As we were aggressively dragged into a white room and surrounded by Powell and four other men, I couldn't help but think of what they'd done to Eve. Not that they could have done much.

I felt a pang in my chest as I thought of her. Though I'd only knew her some months before she disappeared, I'd spent most of my time with her. Me feeling bad about leaving her alone and bored in the cabin had turn into something completely different.

"Get on your knees and put you hands behind your back." I didn't recognize the man who spoke, but the unfamiliarity of his harsh and raspy voice was slightly intimidating. So of course I sat down.

And my mom did too. But- as usual- Hopper had his own plans. He ran for Powell, knocking him over in a second, before getting tased.

And not just a zap to weaken him up. They held the taser to the back of his neck until foam leak from his mouth. By the end of it he was unconscious, unable to hear me and my mother's deathly shrieks and begs for them to stop.

My mind flashed back to the time when I wasn't myself. When the mind flayer had taken over every aspect of my mind, making me this tiny heap of hatred. And now it felt like all that was rushing back, and the fear and memories flooded my head. I could feel my eyes rolling back into my head and though my throat vibrated, I myself couldn't hear the terrible growls that involuntarily erupted from my mouth.

The lights flickered and next thing I knew, all five men where unconscious. Not dead, bevause even during this impulsive episode, I would never have the heart to kill anyone.

My eyes went back into their... normal position as I fell. I heard what was supposed to be a loud gunshot that seemed to echo through my mind as a ripple of agonizing pain shot through my stomach.

I struggled to breathe, I couldn't even cry out in pain as my mother shrieked and sobbed. I looked up to see my attacker, and it all happened as if time were moving in slow motion.

My entire life flashed before me in that moment. Meeting Mike for the first time. Coloring forty pictures and shoving all of them at my mother. Her gasping with that big smile on her face, telling me how amazing they were.

Meeting Dustin and Lucas. All of us getting bullied, but doing it together. Meetings in the AV club. The demogorgan. Returning home to love and comfort. Getting possessed by the Mind Flayer. Finally meeting Eleven. The Snowball. Meeting eve and losing Eve.

A low hum vibrated the room as my eyes readjusted. The door unlocked and swung open, leaving a dent in the wall from the knob resembling the one in the wall in my own home. As I was looking down at the floor, trying to keep my eyes open, I saw small, black converses that struck a memory.

My eyes trailed up, from the jeans to the turtle neck sweater to the flannel jacket. Once my eyes reached that angry face, all the pain, all the anger went numb.

The man who had shot me huffed and puffed as his face turned red and beads of sweat dripped down his forehead to compliment the blood dripping from his eyes and mouth. He fell, and to my satisfaction, took his last breath.

The girl walked over to me and it finally clicked.

It's really her. My best friend. My little crush. My star.

She loved the stars. Before all the craziness, we would sit on the porch and stare at the stars. Her showing me shapes in the sky, and me telling her what they were called. Just thinking about it made me smile. Her favorite were the big and little dipper, because they reminded her of us. So different but yet so the same. I looked up to the ceiling and for the first time this entire time, I noticed it was a glass ceiling. Like a green room.

She looked at me, and I heard a choked sob. My mom stood gaping. Her baby was back. Eve's hands began to tremble and she gave me a smile that I would do this all over again to see.

She ran over to me and threw her arms around me. And no matter how much it hurt, I hugged her back. I put all my emotion into that hug. All the pain, all the anger, all the relief, all the sadness. It was one of the most emotional hugs I'd ever received, though the hug with my mom after burning the flayer out of me won first place.

When she finally let go, she practically suffocated my mother in a hug. They rocked back in forth, making noises that sounded like they were dying loudly but found it funny.

She looked at Hopper who was still unconscious and flinched. She looked to me, a questioning look on her face, when her eyes went down to the bullet wound in my stomach.

She made what seemed like a growling sound and crawled to my side. I studied her face. She was making the same face she made when she said she could kill the flayer, secretly knowing she would disappear. I furrowed my eyebrows. I held her arms, giving her pleading eyes but she just avoided my gaze. I noticed small needle bruises in her arms and frowned.

She turned to my mom. She set her mouth into a thin line.

"I can fix it," she blurted, with a face telling me she wanted to scream. My mind wondered to the other workers in the building, but remembered that Powell set an evacuation once they got us.

My mother sighed with a smile, pinching Eve's cheek. I noticed Eve's hair was half up half down, sitting just below her shoulders. Her friend in my dream must have done it.

Hopper finally sat up as Eve was pulling me over to the wall. He limped over and pulled her into a tight hug, and gaped at my wound for a second before she told him she would fix it.

A small bang in what must have been the lobby sent Hopper and Joyce racing out the door, leaving us behind.

Eve pov

My three new friends are dead. It hurts to say, but it is done. As I ran toward Will, Joyce, and Hopper I heard piercing screams ring through my ears. And of course it was coming from the room we escaped.

In the second white cell next to the one we broke out of, a man had pressed a button. And what I saw next would haunt me forever, no matter how much better things got or how well I didn't know them.

The flames danced in the reflection of my eyes as the orange and purple dancers ate at the delicate skin of my three friends. By now they had stopped screaming and were falling. Their ashes dropping to the floor like wilted roses in the heat. And roses they were, and they were amazing.

I reached for the door knob, not caring if it scolded my hand but the door was jammed. I sobbed and sobbed as the flames began to die out and the skulls of three magnificent people lay before me, behind scolding glass. A pair and melted glasses stared at me, and the eaten at clothing shouted at me, asking why I did nothing.

Eddie. The one they call spaghetti. It may be rude to say this but he was my favorite. He was so sweet and helpful and I trusted him more than the others. But he's gone now, and the only thing I've got to remember them is this jacket and the letter Eddie helped me write.

And now I sat, with my hand hovering over Will Byers' wound, knowing that my abilities were limited from the drug, and the only way I could rid Will of this wound would be to transfer it to myself. I looked up at the stars and back at him as his wound receded and the pain in ny stomach grew agonizing.

I pointed to the brightest star. "Look. That one's ours! And dippers."

He laughed a little before meeting my eyes. We sat like that for a while, in a comfortable silence. I hoped something spectacular would happen before the wound completely moved.

And just as I thought that Will Byers' face connected with mine and I felt a jolt of happiness despite the pain. I felt his fingers wrap around mine and as if we were in sync we pulled away at the same time, erupting in a fit of giggles.

Talk about spectacular.

As if on cue, Mike, Lucas, Dustin Max came in carrying El. Mike lied her down next to me, and I did what I could to cover the fresh wound that was slowly killing me. I felt I would be even more of a burden, after them searching for me for so long.

I looked up at Mike, who I called big brother. He began rambling. "There's something here, it's possessing people and it got El and it's worse than the Mind Flayer and it's taking people's brains and-"

"Thessalhydra. From the letter." Of course I knew they read it. I lost ny locket in the Upsidedown. I glanced at Will's neck and smiled at the fact that he was wearing it.

I then remembered something that my mother sung to me. A lullaby that somehow distracted the Thessal Monster.

"Storyteller, what's my fate?
Dozing off it's getting late.
Quiet murmurs, table tops.
Sleep or death, a gone heart rate."

It sounds dark, but a rumor through the lab- yes they knew about it- was that it was once a person. It's got a brain, and it's casual form is two legs and arms and a disfigured head. Maybe that's why the lullaby slowed it down.

A dead man who had once played d&d hated the game and connected himself to a whole new dimension.

"A person. Hates D&D." My heart rate slowed and I could feel ny eyelids drooping.

"Eve what's wrong," the words that came from everyone in the room all at once, echoing through my mind. My life didn't flash before my eyes, which would've been a waste of time anyway. I never really had much of a life.

The last thing I ever saw was a teary eyed Will. And the last words I ever said to Will Byers as I placed ny hand over his heart were;

"Your star."

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*
a

nd she took the wound of her lover...
and took the life of his attacker...
and it took the last of her strength...
and to stay alive she did her best...
and she took her very last breath...
and was engulfed in the arms of death.
✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*

[ hey guys! that's it! there will be a sequel where they finish things up with the thessalhydra, so don't worry. stay alert for more updates! im going through and editing, so ill add a bunch of fluff chapters! love you guys! thank you for sticking with me, even though this book sucks lmao.]

ciao!