Chapter 11

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The sound of thunder boomed through the Wheeler basement as Will, Avery, Mike, and Lucas sat at the table in front of a dungeons and dragons board.
"Do you hear that?" Will asked dramatically. "It sounds like... thunder!" He reached over and clicked another button on the recorder. The sound of cellos and violins played. "But no, wait. That's not thunder. It's... a horde of juju zombies! Sir Mike, your action." 
"What should I do?" Mike asked, not really paying attention to the game.
"Attack?" Avery suggested, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Okay, I attack with my flail." Mike said. Will rolled the dice.
"Woosh!" He said. "You miss. Your flail clanks the stone, the zombie horde lumbers towards you, and... the juju bites your arm off! Flesh tears!"
"Aah!" Avery screamed laughing.
"Seven points of damage!" Will yelled. Mike held out his arm to Lucas.
"Oh no, my arm." He said sarcastically. "Lucas, look, my arm." Lucas snickered.
"Sir Lucas, the zombie hoard roars! Do you fight back, or do you run?" Will asked. Just then the phone rang.
"No! It's a distraction!" Will cried. "A trap. Do not answer it." Mike got up and walked to the phone anyway. 
"What... no!" Avery yelled.
"Mahi?" Mike said into the phone expectantly. He paused, listening to the person on the person on the other end. "No. Sorry. Not interested." Looking back at his friend's confused faces he clarified "Telemarketers."
"Maybe we should just call them." Lucas suggested. 
"We can do that?" Mike asked.
"I think so." Lucas replied.
"Yeah, but what would we say?" Mike wondered.
"We'll say nothing! The Khuisar tribe still needs your help!" Will snapped.
"Alright then." Lucas said. "I'll use my torch to set fire to the chambers, sacrificing ourselves, killing the jujus, and saving the Khuisar. We all live on as heros in the memories of the kalamar. Victory."
"Okay. Fine." Will said, upset. "You guys win." He turned off the music and stood up. "Congratulations."
"Will, I was just messing around." Lucas said. "Hey, let's finish for real."
"How much longer is the campaign?" Mike added, still wanting to call the telemarketers or Mahi.
"Just forget it, Mike." Will snapped.
"No, you want to keep playing right? We'll just call the girls afterwards." Mike said.
"I said forget it Mike, okay?" Will said. "I'm going home."
"But..." Avery trailed off. They had been having fun.
"Come on, Will." Mike said. Will sighed and walked toward the stairs. "Will, come on. You can't leave. It's raining. Listen, I said I was sorry, alright? It's a cool campaign. It's really cool.  We're just not in the mood right now."
"Yeah Mike. That's the problem. You guys are never in the mood anymore. You're ruining our party."
"That's not true." Lucas protested.
"Really? Where are Dustin and Andrea right now?" Will snapped. Lucas and Mike shrugged. "See, you don't know and you don't even care. And obviously they don't care and I don't blame them. You're destroying everything and for what? So you can swap s**t with some stupid girl?"
"Mahi isn't stupid!" Mike said, defending his ex. Thunder boomed. "I'm not trying to be a jerk, okay? But we're not kids anymore. I mean, what did you think? We were gonna sit in my basement all day and play games for the rest of our lives?"
"Yeah." Will sniffled. "I guess I did. I really did." He turned and ran up the stairs, practically crying. "Will!" Mike called.
"Will come on!" Lucas added.
Avery stood up, glared at Mike and Lucas 
"I hope you're happy." They snapped and ran up the stairs after Will, leaving Mike and Lucas alone downstairs.

Thunder rumbled at the Hawkins community pool as El, Max, Ember, and Mahi walked up to the front desk in their rain coats, the pack in Max's hand.
"Excuse me." Mahi said, walking up to the guy behind the desk. The guy looked up at her exasperated.
"No one in the water until 30 minutes after the last strike. And don't try to argue with me. You wanna get electrocuted, go climb a tree.
"Yeah, we don't care. We're not here to swim." Max said, walking up beside Mahi. "Or get electrocuted. We found this." She held up the pack.
"Does that belong to anyone?" Mahi asked.
"Oh, yeah. That's Heather's. I'll get it back to her." The guy said.
"We could give it back to her." Ember suggested.
"You could." The guy replied. "'Cept she's not here. Bailed on me today. What is this? You girls want a reward or something?"
"No. We're just... good samaritans." Max smiled. She, El, Mahi, and Ember turned away and looked at the board with all the lifeguards pictures on it. Heather had curly black hair and was smiling at the camera.
"Heather. Think you can find her?" Ember asked, looking at El. El looked back at the guy, now distracted by a girl and she ripped off Heather's picture.
The girls walked to shower holding goggles and duct tape. Ember, Mahi, and Max turned on all the showers to create the static while El put tape over the goggles so it would be completely dark. Then El went, sat down on the floor in front of Heather's picture, pulled the goggles down and closed her eyes. 

El saw a mailbox. White, wet, with the numbers 1429 on it. She touched it and off to her side a red door materialized.
"What do you see?" Max asked.
"A door." El replied. "A red door." 
She walked toward it and opened it. Beyond the door was a bathtub. El walked slowly toward it and peered in. Ice filled the tub to the brim. Just then Heather popped out, gasping for breath. She looked scared.
"Help me." She said, terror filling her voice. Then something pulled her back under. El screamed and jumped back. The bathtub vanished but El could still see Heather falling down, screaming, reaching. 
"No!" El screamed and ripped off the goggles to see her friends worried faces.
"What happened?" Max asked as El panted. "El!" El turned to look at her friends, terror etched on her face. 

Is this gonna be okay? A Stranger Things apply ficحيث تعيش القصص. اكتشف الآن