"Why Did You Leave?" Stranger Things x Reader

Chapter Thirteen: Alive

"He's back." She repeats, but I think it was more so for her than anyone else. Her voice almost sounded like she was trying to convince herself of the words that left her mouth. So he is alive. He really is back.

I start thinking of everything that had happened, replaying the events in my head. I cringe when I come to the exam room. Wait, where is-

I start to look around, stopping in my tracks once Jake is in my line of vision. Only it's not the Jake I wished to see. Instead, I see the Jake from years ago rocking back and forth slowly, his knees in his chest and his lips are moving, but no words come out.

"Jake?"

No answer.

"He's been like that since he woke up." I look over to Max who was sitting on a tree stump hunched over, her knee bouncing up and down. I look over to the rest of the group. Dustin was the closest to me, grabbing his hand. Lucas was sitting near Max, Mike was sitting next to Jane, and Will was sitting a foot or two away from Jake.

"He wouldn't respond to any of us," added Will. He looked over to him and the face of worry was written all over his face.

I crawl over to him, slowly waving my hand in front of his face. No acknowledgment. Nothing."What was that?" I ask while putting my hand down on the ground. "Why did we all- what even was that? There's no way that was really him. He's dead you said it yourself." I turn around now facing Jane. Her eyes are filled to the brim with tears but they don't fall over.

"I- I don't know, exactly what it was. I don't know how we were pulled into that- that state, or who did it. But he was apart of it. He's alive. He was able to contact us, he saw us, which is enough to cause worry." She sniffles, wiping away a single tear that managed to escape with the back of her long sleeved shirt.

"But how do you know he's-"

"I just do ok!" She snaps at me. Dead silence. "Just, please, we were wrong." I look back over to Jake and see he's not mumbling anymore. I guess that's progress.

"I didn't tell you guys something," Jane said in a guilty tone. We all look at each other before all eyes are back on her. "Remember when I told you guys about my sister, kali. How I found her?" We all nod our heads. She takes a deep breath. "Well, that last night, when we broke into the house, the guy who lived there, the guy who worked at the lab, the guy who tortured us..." she took one more breath. "He said that Brenner was still alive, and that he would take us to him if kali had let him live." We all looked at her in disbelief.

"He said himself that Brenner was alive?" Asked Will for conformation. She shook her head yes. Damn. So he really is alive. Of course he's alive. I was foolish for believing otherwise.

"Is that what all this is about? You guys saw Brenner?" Lucas asked. We all just look down.

"So, what do we do now?" Spoke Mike. Everyone just looked at each other. I looked back at Jake and slowly placed my hand on top of his. He struck his gaze to our hands. Then he looked up at me.

"Hey, can you hear me?" He nodded his head slowly yes. "Do you remember what happened?" He cringed as I'm sure my statement conjured up the memories he was surly trying to forget. "Ok, it's ok. You don't have to think about them. Just wanted to make sure you weren't having a blackout episode."

"Is he gonna be ok?" Will asked very concerned.

"I hope so."
It was close to dark out, but The unease in the atmosphere confirmed we didn't want to split up, so we all went to the Byers house. Will said the basement had plenty of room for all of us, and to be honest, I didn't feel safe splitting up either.

Jake still wasn't all there. As we walked, any little noise would make him flinch, like if a twig snapped or if there was rustling from a tree. When we had finally made it to the main road, the sun was setting, maybe 30 minutes until it was moonlight. We walked the roads until we made it to the Byers house, entering through the front door only to be greeted my a living room full of adults.

"Hi kids! Thank god your back, I was starting to get a bit worried!" Said Joyce, looking at us all standing silently at her front door. Jake and I were towards the back, thank god. I look over at him and see he's staring at the floor.

There was collective banter confirming we were ok and that we had fun today from the group. "Uh, mom? Could Jake and Y/N stay the night tonight?" Asked Will.

"Oh of course they can! Uh, Y/N, Jake, do your parents know?"

Shit.

I forgot about that. We're gonna be in so much shit tomorrow. I look back at Jake for a second before putting on a concerned face and turning back to Ms. Byers and the rest of the room."Actually, I was wondering if I could borrow your phone, to call my guardian? If you don't mind. It was a bit last minute."

"Oh honey don't worry about it. The phone is right there," she says pointing the the landline hanging from the wall as you enter the kitchen. "You call when your ready."

"Thank you so much, Ms. Byers," I say while giving a convincing grin."Of course sweetie."

We take that as our cue to leave and Will shows us to his basement. I still have a hold of Jake's hand, and guide him down the stairs. Once we make it to the bottom, we are led to a couch in the corner with a table. There is mostly just boxes but there was an area apart from the rest, set up with blankets, food, pillows. I assumed it was for the rest of the gang.

"Help yourselves to whatever. There's no bathroom down here so you'll have to go upstairs but other than that everything we need for the night is here," spoke Will as he plopped himself down on the couch. I bring Jake over to the couch as well, both of us sitting. Everyone else takes a spot on the floor.

"Hey, Jake, how you doin?" Dustin asked light heartedly. He looked genuinely concerned, and now looking around the room, he wasn't the only one. Jake snapped out of his thoughts and looked up at Dustin.

He nods his head slightly up and down. "Yea, I'm ok," he says quietly but loud enough for us to hear. His grip on my hand tightens and he gives a non convincing smile to the rest of the group."I hope I don't bring up anything to bad, but we should talk about what you guys saw in the woods." Lucas spoke.

Well, what exactly did you guys see?" Will asked.

"Yea, whatever it was it seemed pretty bad if it put Jake in..." Max didn't finish her sentence, but we knew what she was implying. Jake gave a small chuckle to this.Attempt one to rebuild the wall.

Make it seem like no one can hurt you.

Jake does that by turning it funny. If people see he laughs then it creates a false sense of security for both parties. They assume it's ok,When it's really not.

"I was in a hospital room," started Jane. "There was a little girl lying in a bed, she had a bunch of machines around her, and-'' she paused to look down at her wrist. She was fiddling with a blue bracelet. "And she was bald."

"Bald, like the lab bald?" I asked, looking over at Jake who is looking over at Jane. That's good, he's engaged in conversation. Wish it wasn't this conversation, but it's something.

She shakes her head. "No, she had no hair at all. It was all gone. She had no eyebrows either. She was sleeping with a lion. I went to go sit next to her, but before I could I felt a hand on my shoulder. It was Kali."

Kali... Kali, I remember her. Not just because of what Jane had told us when she explained to us everything that had happened, but because of the lab. We weren't close with her but we saw her around. Jane was around her the most, I don't understand why.

"She asked if I was happy to see her, I-If I liked what she had done for me."

Before Jane could continue, there was a knock at the basement door. We all looked at each other, obviously scared shitless. The person knocks again. Will gets up and heads cautiously towards the door, the opening it.

"Steve?"

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I couldn't not put Steve into this book. I mean it's mama Steve. Babysitter Steve. Anyways...-blue:)