1983 || Stranger Things

ᴛʜɪʀᴛᴇᴇɴ | ᴛʜᴇ ᴜᴘsɪᴅᴇ ᴅᴏᴡɴ

      It took nearly five minutes for both El and Julie to regain their normal breathing patterns. El, who was comfortable leaning against Joyce, and Julie, who was sitting with Dustin and Lucas behind her, telling her how badass she is, but she wasn't listening.

      Julie was sitting with her knees to her chest and her cheek resting on them. She had decided that she would take three more deep breaths, and then she would go change her sopping wet clothes.

      One...

      Two...

      Three... she stood up once her third breath was over, the water sloshing as she did so. Everyone looked at her, as she stepped out of the pool and grabbed the clothes she had placed next to it along with her shoes.

      "Are you okay?" Joyce asked her, and Julie nodded, walking towards the exit.

      "I'm fine." was all Julie said. She wasn't fine.

      Julie left a trail of water from the pool to the girls locker room. The girl made sure the door was closed before she stripped of her clothes. She grabbed a towel and started to dry her body off. Once Julie was satisfied, she pulled on fresh undergarments, jeans, an old shirt and her green sweatshirt she had worn before.

      The girl felt gross standing on the dirty floor with bare feet, so she tugged on her socks and shoved her feet into her unlaced converse. Julie started to take her wet hair down from it's bun, and focused on her reflection in the locker room mirror. What she saw staring back at her terrified her. The reflection she saw wasn't a teen girl with curly hair and a kind smile, but a monster, with no face and a slimy body. The monster.

      Julie didn't know if she was going crazy, but she figured she was because when she looked away for a brief second and then back to the mirror, the monster was gone. She took a deep breath and combed her fingers through her hair, leaving it down so it could dry. Julie exited the locker room and walked back into the gym, tossing her wet, salty and dirty clothes in the garbage. She did have plenty of jeans.

•••

      When Julie walked back into the gym, she saw the kids all huddled together, El with a towel wrapped around her small frame. She began to walk over to them, when her hand was grabbed and she was pulled into the hallway by an unknown force.

      She yelped, and a hand was slapped over her mouth. It was Nancy's hand, and she licked it. Nancy pulled her hand back in disgust. "What is wrong with you?" Nancy asked, wiping her hand vigourously on her jacket. Jonathan was next to her, and trying hard not to laugh.

      "What's wrong with me? What's wrong with you? Don't scare me like that." Julie said, eyeing Nancy and Jonathan suspisiously.

      "Sorry, Jules. We need your help." Jonathan said, and Julie sighed.

      "What is it?" she asked, even though she already knew the answer.

      "We have to kill the monster. We need you." Nancy said. Julie nodded.

      Nancy and Jonathan went to the car, and Julie went to the gym to talk to the kids. She hated leaving them, but she knew as long as they stayed put, they would be fine.

      "There you are! Are you okay?" Dustin said loudly, standing up from the bleachers and running over to Julie.

      "I'm good." Julie said, being pushed back slightly as all three boys collided with her.

      When they pulled back, Julie looked down at them and inspected all of their faces. "Are you guys okay?" she asked, fixing Lucas's shirt, Dustin's hat and Mike's hair.