The Devil's Gift/The Bloody Handed

5: Everybody Wants to Rule the World

Once morning (in the Upside Down) hit, we started to run to the portal we came through. The gaping hole in the middle of nowhere was already waiting for us. Within seconds, we were on the other side and met with Nancy yelling and motioning for us to get in. We instantly hop into the RV and Steve jumps into the drivers seat, Nancy taking the passenger side.

The way Steve looked at Nancy seemed to change. It was more sad than lustful; I felt bad for the boy. But maybe our conversation helped him see something in her he never saw before. Another chance.

Dustin and Robin go up to Erica, Max, and Lucus. Max was asleep with her headphones on while Lucus was sitting by her. I felt they had some sort of past, considering they seemed pretty close. I was good at sensing these kinds of things but not my own life. How ironic was that?

I sit on the couch and curl my legs up to my chest. I could go for a nap. I didn't sleep all night. I tried, but two things kept me up. 1) Eddie's snoring, and 2) Too eerie.

Instead, I just stared out of the window all night counting the flashes of lightning I saw and thought about how my life played out so far.

1) move to a new town
2) start to like new town
3) starts to open up and do something new for once
4) meet a psycho metal head with a sense of humor
5) witnesses a girl's bone break into pieces
6) find psycho metal head
7) stay with said psycho metal head for a few days
8 ) gets beat up in the process of trying to escape narcissistic cousin
9) gets rescued
10) goes into portal and sees a different dimension
11) gets a headache to discover it's actual psychic abilities
12)  years apart a monster
13) laying on this couch
14) probably is a murder suspect

I prop my head on my knees and close my eyes. For this to happen in a span of a week was too much. And we all needed as much rest as we could get. We had a big fight coming up that we weren't really prepared for yet.

"So where we goin'?" I hear Eddie ask. I keep my eyes closed.

"We need to get some weapons and heavy artillery from that place you told us about."

"Heck, yeah." He says happily.

"You can't go in, Eddie." Nancy mumbles.

"Awww... that's right." I hear his voice lower.

"Yeah, you're like- a literal fugitive now. Maybe Clary too. We cannot risk that." Robin says.

My eyes grow heavier and I start to blur out the conversations happening around me.

Pitch black. I look around. I'm in here again? I look around to find the same pitch black room I was in before. No, no. Not again. Don't panic. No- I can't handle this again. I need to wake up- yeah, that's it. I close my eyes and open them, imagining the RV.

Still in the same place.

"Shit!" I yell. Wait. I look at my feet. Maybe if I.. do what I did last time? I fall down onto my knees and touch what I presumed was the ground. Imagine. Think. Vivid. Reality.

Within seconds, flashes hit me like how a strong wind does with all the windows down in a car would do.

Click.

Pocket knife? My pocket knife?

Click.

The symbol. It was a circle with dots along the shape, a line straight across. The symbol of protection and love, as Dad called it.

Click.

"Clary!" Mom? That sounded like-

Click.