Desideratum - Stranger Things

Epilogue

"Hey, how are you?" Bonnie greeted the teens as they entered the store, pushing back some stray hairs from her ponytail.

"Got any new music?" Steve asked as he and Nancy walked up to the counter.

"What are you thinking?" Bonnie pulled out a little journal she kept of all the types they had and where to find it.

"I'm feeling...Queen or Tears for Fears," he said.

"Madonna...maybe ABBA," Nancy replied.

"Alright, well, Queen would be in the rock section, aisle 10," Bonnie looked through her list. "And the others would be pop, aisle 11. Check shelf...4 for Madonna, shelf 8 for ABBA, and shelf 15 for Tears for Fears."

"Thanks," Steve smiled and the pair moved off to search for their music choices.

It had only been two weeks since everything went down and Bonnie's boss was kind enough to let the whole week slide, especially since Bonnie had been pronounced dead with a fake body and had a funeral. In fact, she had to go in front of a court and have herself, legally, brought back from the dead. It was a weird thing, but what else was new in Bonnie's fucked up life?

The world around Bonnie flickered and suddenly, she was back in the Upside Down. The vines, the particles, everything. She panted as she looked around, scared that something had dragged her back to that hell hole. She couldn't be back there. The Demogorgon was dead and wouldn't be coming back for her or Will or anyone.

Because that gate to the Upside Down was closed.

Wasn't it?

"Bonnie!" Steve yelled, shaking her.

The blonde blinked as her surroundings changed back to normal and she looked at Steve and Nancy before her, both crouched on the ground as they looked at their friend.

"What?" Bonnie frowned.

"You...you stopped answering us," Nancy frowned. "Your eyes..."

"They were rolled back," Steve finished, hands still on Bonnie's shoulders.

"I'm fine," the blonde waved them off, standing up. "I just...had a vision."

"Vision?" Nancy questioned.

"Yeah, the doctors at the lab say they're from trauma," Bonnie reached toward her left wrist and started to scratch at the tattoo, something both Nancy and Steve recognized as a coping mechanism.

But it was bad when the skin starts to turn raw.

"Hey," Steve reached forward, a jolt of electricity going through his body, but he didn't jump. It happened so many times that he was used to it. Ever since everything ended, Bonnie would often give people static shocks and Steve was one of the few who had physical contact with her so often that he had grown used to it.

"I'm fine," Bonnie moved his hand aside, a deep frown etched on her face. "L-let me ring you guys up. Did you find everything okay?"

"Yeah," Steve shared a look with Nancy, both worried for their friend as they saw her shakily ring the pair up.

"Have a nice day," Bonnie swallowed as she handed Steve his change and their bag of cassettes, immediately turning and going into the back to avoid her friends.

She couldn't handle their questions.

Not today.

Not ever.

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"They're having fun," Bonnie said as she looked at Steve, the cheers of the younger teens downstairs echoing into the living room.

Her parents wanted to go to Colorado for the winter break and Jason had agreed, but Bonnie wanted to stay with her friends in Hawkins to celebrate the season. So, she was staying with Nancy in the Wheeler house and was celebrating the winter holiday with the family, Steve with them as well.

"I wonder what they defeated," he teased her as Jonathan entered the house, shaking the snow from his hair.

"Hey, I think they just finished!" Bonnie greeted Jonathan with a wave.

"They have fun?" He asked, walking to the door.

"I'd say they did," Steve laughed as the teen walked downstairs.

After a few minutes, Jonathan came out of the basement with Will and Bonnie hurried to the boy, pulling him into a hug. "Have fun?" She asked, pulling away.

"Yeah, we defeated the thessalhydra," he said, the pair doing their handshake.

Ever since coming out of the Upside Down together, they shared in their collective trauma and check-ups at Hawkins Lab, leading to an unlikely friendship between the two. Not that either would complain. It was good that they were able to re-integrate into society together and get back to a normal life.

"Hey, Jonathan, wait up," Nancy said as she hurried down the steps, a wrapped box in hand. 

Bonnie decided to leave the pair alone and went back to the living room and sat on the floor next to Steve, fiddling with the bracelet he had given her after noticing her picking at the skin by her '019' tattoo, something he had been told about later. He thought that distracting her from the act of self-harm would be a good idea and he knew she liked the design, the adjustable leather bracelet with some charms she could fiddle with.

After a few minutes, Nancy came into the living room and sat next to her boyfriend, letting him wrap an arm around her shoulder. "Did you give it to him?" He asked his girlfriend, who curled into his embrace a little, vision focused on the television.

"Yeah," Nancy nodded.

The trio in the living room remained silent as they watched the holiday cartoons on the screen, ignoring Nancy's father as he snored in his La-Z-Boy off to the side.

As Bonnie watched the cartoon, she got up, catching the attention of the couple on the sofa. "Hey, you okay?" Steve asked her, noticing her shaking hand.

"Yeah, just need to use the restroom," she mumbled, not looking at the pair. She didn't want them to see the sweat building on her face as she tried not to throw up.

Swiftly moving to the bathroom, the teen immediately dropped to the floor by the toilet and started coughing heavily, as if something was coming out of her throat. After a few more coughs and hacks, a slimy green slug left her lips and fell into the toilet before she purged the contents of her stomach, the yellow, acidic chunks leaving her body and following the green slime. Panting, Bonnie pulled away from the toilet and flushed it, not wanting to smell or see her vomit. She stood on shaky feet and turned on the sink, cleaning her mouth of the disgusting taste.

As she looked in the mirror, the world around her flickered to darkness and she found herself back in the Upside Down.

Gasping, she backed into the wall as she looked at the vines and the particles flying around her. She was back.

And she hated it.

The world flickered back to normal after and Bonnie swallowed and wiped her hands on a nearby towel.

Leaving the bathroom, she re-entered the living room with a small smile and sat on the floor once more, looking at Holly playing with her dolls.

"Having fun?" She teased, earning a nod. "Do you think Santa brought you more dolls this year?"

"Yeah," Holly mumbled, eyes moving to the television as the commercial break ended and How the Grinch Stole Christmas came back on the screen, the familiar sound of the Grinch taking the child's attention.

Bonnie glanced at Steve and Nancy curled up on the couch and let out a barely audible sigh.

She wished she had someone like that.