Hell on Earth

Chapter Twenty - Things Go Slightly to Shit... Again

Cynthia woke up and started to get ready for her day. She walked down the hallway and to the kitchen. As she passed her brother's room, she noticed that Dustin's door was closed.

"Dustin," Cynthia knocked on the door. "You need to get ready for school."

"I'm coming!" Dustin yelled from inside.

Cynthia left him be and went to the kitchen to start to make breakfast. Dustin joined her after a few minutes. He looked a bit jittery.

"You okay?" Cynthia asked as she ate her cereal? "You seem a bit jumpy."

"Totally fine," Dustin said quickly. He grabbed a granola bar before grabbing his bag. "I'm heading out early. Me and the other boys wanted to talk about something."

"Okay," Cynthia said. "Dustin, you know that you can tell me anything."

"I know," Dustin nodded as he left the kitchen.

Cynthia let her head hang low, "Well, shit. Why does it always have to be us."

Even if her brother didn't tell her a single thing, she knew him well enough to know when something was wrong. Something was wrong. Something seemed to be very wrong. There was only one thing that would be very wrong that would make Dustin jittery. Something was up the Upside Down again. Cynthia didn't know what, but she was going to make her brother talk to her after school. No matter what.

When Cynthia got to school, there was no sign of Jonathan's car. She knew that Jonathan and Nancy had already sprung their plan into action. She headed into the school and kept her head down. It was going to be a long day. Cynthia got through the day with minimal insults to her person. As she was going to leave the school, she was stopped.

"Cynthia, where are Nancy and Jonathan?" Steve was sitting on the hood of her car.

"I don't know," Cynthia told him. "Now get off of my car."

"You don't know or you won't tell me?" Steve asked. "Because those are two completely different things."

"I honestly don't know, Steve," Cynthia said. "And I'm really not in the mood for this bullshit because I need to go talk to my brother. So, get off my car and let me leave. I need to catch Dustin before he leaves the middle school."

Steve slid off the hood of the car, "You would tell me if you knew where they are?"

"Undecided," Cynthia got into her car. "Goodbye, Steve."

Cynthia revved her engine and raced out of the school's parking lot. Well, she tried revving it three times before the car decided it wanted to work. Luckily, the middle school was really close to the high school. She parked by the bikes. Dustin's was still there. When he walked out, he seemed to be in a hurry. He stopped when he saw Cynthia's car and Cynthia's stare.

"Put your bike in the car," Cynthia's voice was cold. "Now."

Dustin didn't argue with her. He quickly put his bike into the car and got into the passenger seat. The siblings started to drive to their house.

"You haven't been telling me things, Dustin," Cynthia said. "I want the full story of why you've been so jittery."

"On Halloween night, I found something in our trashcan," Dustin explained. "I thought it was a new species of an amphibian or reptile, but now, well now, I think it might be connected to the Upside Down."

"Dammit!" Cynthia hit the steering wheel. "I was worried you were going to say that." She took a breath before looking at her brother. "What's been happening?"

"Well, Will's been having more and more visions," Dustin told her. "Mike and Lucas think that Dart could be..."

"Who's Dart?" Cynthia asked.