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𝗖𝗔𝗥𝗗𝗜𝗚𝗔𝗡

prologue:
nightmares & nosebleeds

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THE NIGHTMARES HAD gotten worse.

For the past three years, Serenity Alexander had experienced a lot of things that had caused her usual sunshine to dim into darkness. Here, she'll give you a quick summary.

First, Will Byers, one of the kids she had babysat for years, had gone missing out of the blue. Then, she had gone with Steve Harrington to apologize to Jonathan Byers, only for an actual monster called the Demogorgon to drop from the ceiling. It was then revealed that Will was taken by that monster to a parallel dimension called the Upside Down. For about a year, all of them lived without another hiccup, until a miniature version of a Demogorgon, nicknamed by Dustin Henderson as a Demo-Dog, had come back, along with a new monster called the Mind Flayer that inhabited Will to use under his control. Serenity had fought against the Demo-Dogs (she had the scars on her legs to prove it) and burned the Upside Down tunnels, along with Steve Harrington, Mike Wheeler, Max Mayfield, Lucas Sinclair, and Dustin, while Eleven, a girl with supernatural powers, closed the Gate to the Upside Down. And then when it was believed to be over, the summer came, and along with it brought a resurgence of the Mind Flayer, but this time, it was made of flesh and guts from melted people. The Mind Flayer had been defeated yet again, but it came with a sacrifice of Jim Hopper, and the Byers family plus Eleven moving all the way to California.

So, basically things that no normal person would have to deal with. But Hawkins wasn't a normal town, as Serenity would come to learn. For some reason, the Upside Down had a fascination for the small town, and it just wouldn't leave it alone.

It was natural for Serenity to get nightmares abut these things. Who could blame her? She had seen actual monsters that she had to fight against. They had started with the Demogorgon, and she had started to get better until the Mind Flayer and Demo-Dogs. Then they got worse again, but summer came, and she was okay. And then summer came, and everything went to shit again. It had been months since then, and around winter, things started to get a little bit better.

But now, for some reason, they had gotten extremely bad.

They took her through a journey of all the different monsters she had encountered, like a horror movie.

Fade into view. She stood in the Byers household, surrounded by blinking Christmas lights and the smell of gasoline. Serenity watched as the ceiling crumbled away, only for the Demogorgon to fall out. Her legs burned as she ran, jumping over a bear trap on the way, to a back bedroom. She had left with Steve, only to run back and see the Demogorgon's face open like a flower to reveal sharp teeth.

Then the scene flashed. She was in the field by Hawkins Middle School, running up to Will, who was standing by himself. He was completely still and his eyes were closed, and no matter what Serenity did, he wasn't waking up. All she could do was cry his name and tell him to snap out of it.

Flash again. The old junkyard was foggy, creating an ominous setting. Serenity's heart pounded against her chest as she watched Steve go out to deal with Dart on his own, only for more Demo-Dogs to show up. The bus rattled as the Demo-Dogs tried to get inside, and her leg burned with pain as one of them scratched her.

Another flash. They had set fire to the tunnels underground, taking over the blue shade to a bright shade of orange. All of the kids were above ground, but Serenity and Steve didn't have time. The Demo-Dogs came racing at them, and even though they left them alone, Serenity could feel their bodies rubbing up against her leg.

Flash again. She was in the sauna room, watching as the Mind Flayer overtook Billy Hargrove completely, his curses echoing off the walls and his veins turning black. Serenity whacked a metal pole against his head to get him to leave Eleven alone, and her chest heaved up and down as he approached her, now defenseless.

Another flash. That hospital, that stupid hospital. The blood that was on Tom Holloway's shirt, how her legs were aching as she ran as fast as she could, watching Bruce slam a metal stool into Jonathan's head, stabbing a pair of scissors into his back, running away again and getting separated from Nancy Wheeler and Jonathan, slamming a fire extinguisher into Bruce's head. She watched as his body turned into blood and guts, and she followed it into the hallway, only for two piles of blood and guts to merge into one giant monster of flesh and teeth. Serenity sobbed as she got chased all the way into a room, and she didn't stop as it climbed over her, shrieking into her face with slime dripping all over her.

(That was the worst part of her nightmare, by the way.)

Flash again. She was in Hopper's cabin, and the Mind Flayer, way larger than what it was in the hospital, was lifting up Eleven by her ankle. In a moment of desperation, she grabbed the spiked bat that she had stolen from Steve's car and started to hit against the Mind Flayer. With the help of Lucas, they cut off the arm, and they managed to get away.

The final flash, the final fight. Starcourt Mall was filled with sparks and residual smoke from the fireworks they had used, but they ran out quick. Serenity stood on the second floor, watching from down below as Billy faced the Mind Flayer alone. Arm after arm embedded itself into him, covering him in black blood. And the worst part of all, Max's agonized scream of her brother's name.

That scream echoed throughout Serenity's mind, and she awoke with a start, gasping for air as she sat up. She blinked a couple of times to adjust her eyes to the darkness. Serenity glanced over to the clock on her nightstand, which read 3:00.

She let out a sigh. Another night of no sleep, it seemed. Exhaustion clouded her mind as she rubbed at her eyes, followed by a raging headache.

Oh, that was also new. This headaches had started a couple of days ago, and they seemed never-ending. No matter what she did, there would be a dull pounding in her skull, paired with the occasional pain spike. Serenity didn't really understand how they had just come out of nowhere.

There was movement beside her. Serenity glanced over, only for her heart rate from her nightmare decrease once her eyes set on the figure in her bed. Steve was laying beside her, his eyes closed and breaths passing through his lips. He seemed unaware of what was happening with his girlfriend beside her.

To Serenity, this was both a good and a bad thing. Good because she didn't want to worry him about how she was getting worse. Bad because she wanted nothing more than to wake him up and have him tell her everything was going to be okay. Even though he had told her that same phrase numerous times, it never failed to make her feel at least a little bit better.

A sharp pain hit the side of her head. Serenity winced from it. There was no way she was going to get back to sleep with this, if she was going to get back to sleep at all. She could at least try to alleviate it.

Serenity pushed herself to stand up, moving the covers off of her. Steve's arm fell from around her waist onto the bed, thankfully not waking up from the sudden movement. Serenity quietly padded over to her door, a slight chill running against her skin after leaving her warm bed. She opened it and closed it as silently as possible, leaving him to sleep as she went into the hallway.

On her way, she snuck a glance at her older brother's room, which had the door shut because he was also sleeping. Spencer Alexander had been kept in the dark for the past three years, not knowing about the Upside Down. It was for his own safety. But when Serenity left for days on end and came back only to be extremely shaken up, he was just confused. Spencer, however, never questioned it and did everything he could to be there for his little sister.

After all, it was Serenity's last couple of months before she went to college. Serenity had chosen to go to the University of Notre Dame. She was able to afford it because of her parents being rich. They honestly didn't care about her personal life, only that she was successful. She was going to study psychology, something she had been interested in for a while.

Serenity walked into her bathroom and flicked on the light. She blinked a couple of times from the brightness for a second before her eyes adjusted. Serenity looked in the mirror — hair a mess, dark circles under her eyes. Honestly, she just looked tired, which was also how she felt.

She opened up the cabinet and brought out a bottle of Tylenol. Serenity got two pills out before closing it and putting it away. She took the cup on the sink and filled it with a little bit of water. Serenity put the pills in her mouth and tilted her head back as she drank the water, successfully swallowing them all the way. Hopefully this would help a little.

However, as she pulled the cup away from her mouth, something fell from her face. Serenity's eyebrows knit in confusion as she looked down, only to see a drop of blood, starkly contrasting with the white porcelain of her counter. She put the cup back down and slowly looked up, only to see blood flowing from her nose.

Oh. Well, that hadn't happened before.

Serenity never ever got nosebleeds. She had a couple when she was little, but they were sporadic, never consistent. It was weird how she was just getting one out of the blue when she hadn't had one in about a decade.

She reached over, taking a tissue. Serenity wiped away the drop of blood, and thankfully, the nosebleed didn't continue. She ran the tissue under a little water and got the rest of the blood that had already dried on her face. Serenity then cleaned up the blood on the counter with the same tissue before throwing it away.

Nightmares, headaches, nosebleeds. What was happening?

Before she could dwell on it too long, she was interrupted.

"Baby?"

Serenity turned. Standing in the hallway right outside of the bathroom was none other than her boyfriend. Steve was shirtless, which always managed to make butterflies erupt in her stomach. His hair was sticking up from sleeping and he was rubbing at his eye tiredly.

She smiled softly at him. "Hey."

Steve yawned and walked closer to her. "What are you doing up?"

"Just woke up out of nowhere," Serenity answered — a lie. She didn't want to worry him, because she knew if she told him what happened, he would be awake and wouldn't sleep. There was always tomorrow morning. "Why'd you wake up?"

"You weren't there." Steve put his arms around her waist, pulling her back into his chest as he buried his head into the crook of her neck. "It got cold without you there."

"Oh, did it?"

"It did," Steve confirmed. He pressed a kiss to her neck, sending pleasant shivers up Serenity's spine. "Come back to bed."

"I will," Serenity replied. She turned herself around so she was facing him now, and they stared at each other in nothing short of adoration. "Come on."

Somehow, someway, Serenity knew that everything that was happening to her was connected. The nightmares getting bad again, the headaches raging her mind, the sudden nosebleed that came out of nowhere.

She just didn't know to what extent. Serenity had threatened to not fuck with the babysitter, but now, something was fucking with her.

Mark their words — Serenity Alexander was as good as dead.

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hihihi! welcome to cardigan :D

did y'all think that serenity would be, like, safe? you thought WRONG