The Overcomer, Stranger Things

The beginning or the end?

"No, no, no, no, no," Joyce cried desperately as she held onto her daughter gingerly, not wanting to hurt her more, but if only she knew she couldn't be hurt anymore. She put her head on Gwen's chest and she could feel it rising and falling slowly in shallow breaths. Rise, fall, rise... fall... rise?

"No, Gwen!" Joyce sobbed before turning to Hopper who had a hand clamped over his mouth as tears flooded his face. "Hopper, she's not breathing!" She grasped onto her wrist, searching desperately for any signs of life. "She has no pulse, either! We have to do something!"

"Joyce," he started, his voice heavy with despair as he put a gentle hand on her arm. Joyce didn't even look at him as she kept trying to wake up her daughter. "Joyce, I'm sorry. She's gone. You have to let her go."

"No! No, I will never let her go, again. " Joyce held Gwen closer to her and scooted away from Hopper. The grief in the air was unbearable, consuming the pair as they cried for their little girl.  The one that they had loved so much and just wanted to protect. One was mourning the loss of the child while the other was in denial of the entire situation, but only one was right.

"She died saving the world," Hopper whispered to Joyce, the woman slowly turning her head to face him when the room began to shake.

The two gasped as a gate started to open right underneath them. They jumped back, taking Gwen with them, and watched as it got bigger and bigger, heading north of the Creel House and throughout the town. Jim wrapped his arms around Joyce and Gwen as the ground shook once more, pieces of the roof falling from the sheer force.

Suddenly, a vine sprouted from the portal and slithered toward them at lightning speed. It wrapped around Gwen's ankle before yanking the girl out of Joyce's arms before she even got a chance to react.

"No!" Joyce and Hopper scrambled after her as the tentacle dragged the catatonic girl toward the opening. "You can't take her!"

Before they could even blink, Gwen's lifeless body fell through the gate never to be seen again. Joyce jumped toward the portal, having every intention of following her daughter to death only for an arm to wrap around her waist. It was stronger than her and pulled her up from the floor and away from where Gwen had been just a few seconds ago. Joyce wailed loudly, her screams echoing through the house as Hopper kept her from going after Gwen.

"No, no, no! NO, LET ME GO! LET ME GO, HOPPER! LET ME GO!"

Dustin and Eddie ran through the doors, their faces falling in unison at the sight in front of them. The Henderson boy's eyes were wide as he scanned the room for his best friend. He already knew what had happened, but he didn't want to believe it. His eyes landed on Joyce, who was struggling to get out of Hopper's grip.

"Where's Gwen?!"

"LET ME FOLLOW HER! LET ME BE WITH HER!" Joyce cried, reaching her hand out towards the portal.

"YOU'LL DIE!" Hopper shouted back.

"I DON'T CARE!" Joyce screamed, meaning every word as the fight slowly drained out of her.

"She's gone, Joyce," Hopper whispered into her hair as she stopped moving, her body going limp as the truth settled in. "There's nothing we can do about it now."

The end had come, and Gwen Byers was the one to start it all.

~:~

Gwen Byer's lifeless body floated through the air like a rag doll. The young girl's body plummeted down as the scene around her changed. At first, it was a crimson red, resembling the color of the gate she fell through. Then it slowly changed. First orange, then yellow, then lilac, then grey, and finally black. The colors swirl around, becoming a kaleidoscope of twisting lights.

The air was dense and heavy at first but then it slowly changed to light and airy. Suddenly, the sound of a clock ticking could be heard. If Gwen had been able to open her eyes she could have seen four grandfather clocks surrounding her, all of their hands spinning wildly and out of control. And then... even stranger things began to occur.

Out of nowhere, the Byers girl's body seemed to actually heal itself. Starting with her arms and then mending her left leg. The blood that previously surrounded her eyes had evaporated. The farther she dropped down the more she was fixed. The cuts on her back were stitched up, the bruises on her chest and shoulders gone. The grandfather clocks were going haywire, the ticking sound ringing through the atmosphere.

Tick.

Tock.

Tick.

Tock.

Tick.

Tock.

Gwen's continued to hurtle down the portal as her hair turned from brown back to its regular long golden locks. Her clothes changed from the oversized shirt and puffy jacket she had on earlier to a long-sleeved shirt and jeans. Her body seemed to actually shrink in size the farther she got as the lines on her face were erased, and then even stranger things happened.

All at once, the blood started to flow through Gwen's veins again. The color returned to her pale face. Her heart started to beat at a regular tempo. She could hear the clocks ticking around her in the background and she could feel the air between her fingertips. And then, her bright blue orbs slowly fluttered open as the scene changed one last time.

Gwen Byers furrowed her eyebrows as she opened her eyes to see that she was... on the back of a bike? Her eyes scanned the area around her and as she turned around they grew double in size. A 12-year-old Dustin Henderson was rolling down the hill. She gaped at him before turning to the front where her hands were gripping her older brother's shoulders. What the heck?! Before she could stop herself a sentence came out of her mouth that gave her a major sense of De Ja Vu.

"Faster, Will! He's gaining on us!"

And that's when it all came together in one full, confounding circle. She was in the past. On the night of November 6, 1983, when everything began. The night that Will and Gwen Byers vanished. She could see the Hawkins Laboratory sign a few yards ahead of them and her fingers tingled at the energy that radiated from it. She looked at Will, her hands squeezing his shoulders to make sure he was really there before looking back at her best friend. This moment, right here, was where everything went to crap.

Knowing everything that she knew now, was she going to do things differently this time?