one last thing. (eddie munson x mike's sister)

(27)

before i could process his words, i was back in the upside down, steve's arms shaking my shoulders.

i fell like a rag doll onto the ground and began sobbing so hard i could barely breathe.

"she's ok!" steve yelled, kneeling beside me and wrapping his arms around my back.

he held me tight and close to his body as i cried, hot tears falling from my eyes onto his shoulder.

i wrapped my arms around him as i grounded myself to the fact that i wasn't dead and was in fact alive.

once i had settled down, we had climbed through the gate and were staying in max's trailer.

it was morning, we were sitting around the table.

"so are we going to talk about it?" steve asked.

"about what?" nancy asked.

"your sister almost dying, or are we going to completely ignore that?" steve asked.

something felt off.

i looked over behind max.

el was there.

"el?" i called.

"you can see me?" she asked softly.

"what are you doing here? you're supposed to be in california?" i asked, walking up to her and holding her hands softly.

"something is happening in hawkins, i'm not really here, i'm only here in your mind."

"what?"

"be ready."

and with that, she disappeared.

"what was that?" eddie asked.

"where did she-"

"winnie who were you talking to?" steve asked, looking at me like i was crazy.

"she was right here.."

"who?"

"el." i looked over at him.

"el's in california, maybe you're seeing things." he suggested.

"i'm not seeing things, she was right there behind max. she said something was happening in hawkins, said be ready, and then disappeared."

"winnie i hate to say it but maybe you are seeing things. you've almost died like 10 times in the past week." dustin spoke up.

"i didn't imagine her, she was definitely there." i insisted, walking over to max's phone.

"it's busted, the line went dead a month ago. my moms been trying to fix it but the phone company just won't."

"damn it." i sighed, looking back at the spot where el had been standing.

"dustin do you still have your tower up to talk to susie?" i asked.

"yeah but it's busted too. i can't get through to her anymore, it's like her tower broke or something."

"we need to find el, will and mike, and we can't do that without suzie." nancy sighed.

i nodded.

"it's fine, we'll find them later. we need weapons, protection. we need to kill vecna." i turned to look at them.

"absolutely not." steve shook his head, standing up.

"no, just no." eddie shook his curly hair.

"you need to shower." i began as steve got close to me.

"but then we need weapons. vecna can't keep trying to kill us, trying to ruin hawkins."

"no. i'm putting my foot down winnie, we aren't killing him."

"winnie has a point. we know el's strengths and weaknesses, and if vecna's like eleven, we can get in and kill him." dustin agreed with me.

"we don't even know who or when he's going to attack next." robin argued.

"yeah we do." max nodded.

"it'll either be me or her." she pointed to me.

"use us as bait, max has her walkman, i have eddie and his guitar." i agreed.

"you also have baby. her sound system will play a lot louder and a lot better than i can, and we don't even know your favourite song to be able to help you." eddie stood up and cupped my cheek in his hand gently.

i grabbed his hand softly and squeezed it.

"then steve needs to go get my car, and i need to steal some plates." i said, looking over at him.

"fine, i'll go get your stupid car, you go do your thing and get some plates." he nodded, grabbing his keys off the table.

"can i get some other parts while i'm at it?" i joked.

"i swear to god." he mumbled, leaving the trailer.

"i'll be back in like 5 minutes." i said to eddie.

"don't get shot." he joked.

"no promises." i kissed him and walked to the door.

"do you need tools?" max asked.

i grabbed the pocket knife from my bra and shook my head.

"i'll be fine."