𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐓𝐖𝐈𝐍; steve harrington

ᶠ ᵒ ᵘ ʳ ᵗ ʸ

July 4th, 1985

THE MALL WAS BLOSSOMING IN colour. The Mind Flayer screeched and fell against the flashing walls as the fireworks collided with its dense skin. Everyone else was focused on lighting the matches and passing them off to the designated throwers, glaring at the interdimensional monster in front of them. However, Aven wasn't looking at it. Aven was looking at him. 

On the bottom floor of the usually bustling mall was Billy and Eleven, the older boy harshly gripping onto the younger girl's shoulders as she muttered inaudible words to him. His hair was a mess, his eyes were filled with tears, and his hands were shaking. That wasn't what striked Aven as unusual. It was his skin - his skin looked black.

Without letting anyone notice, she sprinted down the nearest escalator, jumping down the stairs of the halted machine before quietly landing on the bottom. She ran towards the pair, but stopped a few feet away from them when she noticed why her brother's skin looked so dark. It was his veins - they were popping out of his skin. The little tendrils of typically red or blue blood were ebony black.

It was as if he could sense her presence, because as soon as her dirty shoes came to a squeaking stop against the polished Starcourt floor, he glanced up from the once powerful girl beneath him. 

As soon as their eyes connected, he was standing. The constant bright colours flashing around them slowly stopped exploding, but they didn't see it. They only saw each other.

They were drawn to one another. Aven pushed the thought of the darkness lurking throughout his veins away as she ran towards him, wrapping her arms around the battling boy without noticing they had the attention of the Mind Flayer. He did the same, except he did realise who was watching. It was the monster he had grown to despise.

He watched from over the thankful girl's shoulder as the dark monster adjusted its stance before opening its mouth, letting out a screech before propelling one of its tentacles straight towards the reuniting twins. Billy felt helpless. He knew he had to save her, and there was only one way he could do it. 

All the times she'd stuck up for him at the dinner table when they were seven rolled back to him. All the times she'd willingly given up what she wanted to do just so he was happy flashed in his mind. All the times she'd tried to bring back the Billy he once was reappeared within his pounding head. All those times had thought to be proven useless, but they weren't. Because, on the fourth of July, 1985, the Billy from California came back.

In a flash, the boy had spun the twins around and pushed his sister to the ground, the girl sliding across the tiled floor with furrowed brows and a gasp of shock as she stared up at her brother with confusion. It wasn't until he subtly fell forward with blood pouring from his mouth that she realised what he'd done. 

"No," she whispered beneath her breath as she stared at the twin, the boy smiling through his pain as even more of the horrific tentacles attached themselves to his body. Blood soaked through his white top and pooled at the floor below him, countless arms latching hungrily onto his failing body. He tried his hardest to fight them off, pushing the despicable disease eating at his organs away, and it was working - until the biggest one shot through his chest.

He fell limply to the ground as Aven scrambled up, rushing towards her barely breathing brother with sobs rocketing from her mouth. She heard Steve screaming her name, she heard Max screaming her name, she heard Mike screaming her name - but she heard Billy whispering her name clearer.

Her back was to the monster as she ran a trembling hand through his bloody hair, crying as he choked on the red and black blood. He couldn't find the words to say, because he had so many to utter yet so little time. He could feel his heart slowing down in his chest and the blood leaking through his wounds. He knew he was dying, he just didn't want to believe it.

"Behind you," was all he could say. Her sobs quietened down as she peered down at him, and by looking into his widened eyes, she knew she should listen.

"Aven!" Steve cried from the top floor, shouting down at the girl as he gripped tightly onto the wooden railing. 

She barely had time to turn around before the very same tentacle grabbed her.

She screamed in pain as the monstrous arm grabbed onto her stomach, Steve wasting no time in sprinting down the escalator. He made it to the bottom of the stairs as Max and Mike started to run towards her too, Billy watching his sister cry out in pain as the Mind Flayer pulled her away. The trio ran towards the girl, but they weren't fast enough. They couldn't save her.

The dark creature before them let out one final, writhing screech, Aven doing the same as it flailed around the mall. Before they knew it, the Mind Flayer fell to the ground - dead - but Aven didn't. Aven was gone.

She'd disappeared, turning into a whoosh of dust as the interdimensional creature crumbled to the ground in a shrivelled mess.

Steve let out a shout as he kept sprinting towards her - or where she once was -, skidding to his knees in front of the dead being and it's now empty hand. Max had stopped in her tracks, sobbing hysterically as she fell to the ground beside her dead brother, his last breath having been taken as he watched his sister disappear into the air. Mike, who had stopped alongside Max, couldn't comprehend anything that was happening - or had happened. Eleven pulled him to the ground beside her and wrapped her arms around him, crying into his shoulder as she tried to provide him the comfort they both needed. Nobody wanted to believe that Aven Hargrove was gone.

Everyone on the top level watched on emotionally, most shedding a few tears, as they stared down at the unoccupied spot in the mall. Robin ran down the escalator as soon as she saw Steve on the floor, not bothering to wipe the tears cascading down her cheeks away as she fell to the ground beside him. She pulled him into a desperate hug, one that he couldn't even reciprocate. 

His whole world, the person that made him feel most alive . . .

was gone.

1148 words