STARCROSSED ▷ steve harrington

15. papa - part one

CHAPTER FIFTEEN — PAPA
PART ONE

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"HURRY UP!" Jackie screamed from the living room, heart pounding. She couldn't stop wringing her hands together nervously as the sound of commotion continued, and Steve's voice echoed over, begging Nancy to wake up. She shared an exasperated glance with Erica, and then stormed into the next room over. "What the hell is taking so long?!"

"Eddie's only got hard metal!" Robin answered, and the others were frantically rushing around to find something. Anything. "Do you have any Madonna, Blondie, Bowie, Beatles? We need music!"

Eddie snatched the tape from her. "This is music!"

"Oh my God," Jackie's panic rose. Nancy was going to die. Nancy was going to die, and they were in the middle of some stupid petty argument. And Nancy was going to die thinking Jackie was angry with her. She couldn't stop the bile from rising in her throat, and she swallowed it back down before she started crying.

Someone shouted, and they all bolted back into the living room, peering up to see that Nancy was bracing herself against Steve, who was staring at her worriedly. Then, he turned to look at them, and nodded.

"She's okay."

It seemed like it took forever for Steve to finally get back on their side, and the moment he did, Jackie brushed past Eddie, and threw her arms around his neck. Steve nearly stumbled back at the force, but he quickly steadied himself, returning the gesture. She felt him lower his head into her hair, and she squeezed tighter.

"Oh, God," he murmured, his breath barely above a whisper, and he drew back to look at her. He'd knocked her headphones off during the exchange, and slowly, almost hesitantly, he lifted his hand up to readjust them on her head. His fingers lingered, brushing her jaw, before his arm fell back to his side, and he glanced behind her. "What the hell happened to her? Henderson?"

"We'll tell you guys everything," Dustin assured. "But let's get out of here. And get Nancy somewhere more secure."

They wounded up at the Mayfield trailer. Jackie felt anxious just being there—even if nothing that had taken place there had been real. She grabbed a can of soda from the fridge to ease her stomach, and watched as the others got settled around Nancy.

Her voice was hoarse when she spoke. "He showed me things that haven't happened yet. The most awful things. I saw a dark cloud spreading over Hawkins. Downtown on fire. Dead soldiers. And this... giant creature with a gaping mouth. And this creature wasn't alone. There were so many monsters," she shook her head in disbelief. "An army."

Jackie lowered herself onto the floor next to the chair Nancy was sitting in. They were listening intently, but all she could focus on was how Nancy's hands were trembling. Hoping it wouldn't cause a bad reaction, Jackie grabbed them, and tightened her hold reassuringly.

Nancy looked down in surprise, but Jackie only nodded. She swallowed thickly, before resuming what she was saying, her voice slowly returning to normal. "They were coming into Hawkins. Into our neighborhoods. Our homes. And then... he showed me my mom. And Holly. Mike. And they... they were all..."

She didn't have to finish for them to know what she was going to say. Jackie's grip further tightened on her hand as tears began to slip down her face. There was a collective silence throughout their group.

Steve broke it first. "He's just trying to scare you. Right? I mean..." He glanced to Jackie. "I mean, it's not real. None of it was."

"Not yet," Nancy whispered. "But there was something else. He showed me gates. Four gates. Spreading across Hawkins. And these gates, they looked like the one outside Eddie's trailer, but they didn't stop growing. And it wasn't the Upside Down Hawkins. This was our Hawkins. Our home."