✧･: *✧･ﾟ:* *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧
Jennifer Henderson hadn't been in
Hawkins since Summer of 1981, now on
Halloween of 1984 she's back.
She excepted to be returning back to the
...
CHAPTER FORTY FIVE; THE HIVE MIND — Also known as; The Massacre at Hawkins Lab, Part 1.
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The Upside Down was nothing like my nightmares. In fact, it was worse—much worse. I'd always pictured it to be dark and scary looking but I never thought it would be Hawkins. In my nightmares it was always just an empty void, a rocky terrain where Demogorgans and Demodogs co-existed and the Mind Flayer ruled over them. I never dreamed of it to be the town I called home just decrepit and void of life.
The trees were dead, the ground was harsh. Thick yet old vines ran across the earth but they didn't move like the ones we had past experience with did. They were still yet I still found myself treading carefully.
My eyes were fast to adjust to the darkness here. The black darkening sky was ominous. It was what I'd describe as overcast if we were in our world but we weren't and the thunder that clapped regularly was threatening. With each clap of thunder, a lightening strike was only seconds behind and with it came a deep flash of red seeping into the sky above our heads.
The five of us, having come through the gate at a dried out Lovers Lake had ran until came across a familiar collection of large boulders. Robin was quick to dive under the boulder of Skull Rock, the four of us following her out of the eye sight of the large swarm of bats that were hunting us.
The sound of our heavy breaths were almost overshadowed by the thundering echo of everything going on in this dimension. The thunder, the screeching of the bats, the echoing of high-pitched wailing in the distance made me stand on edge and I gripped Steve's hand tighter in fear. My courage had diminished within seconds once I knew Steve was alive. It had been replaced by an overwhelming dread while I questioned my every decision in crossing through the gate in the first place.
The reason why squeezed my hand in reassurance and I closed my eyes briefly while taking a deep, controlled breath before exhaling. The fear was almost paralysing—even worse than realising all my nightmares were actually coming true.
"It's okay." Steve whispered to me quietly, his calm voice echoing in my ear, "In and out. In and out."
I nodded vigorously along with his words, trying to keep my breathing controlled like he guided me.
"I'm scared." I said quietly.
"I know." He responded soothingly, "Try not to think about it. We're gonna be okay."
A part of me was thankful for Steve's calm words of reassurance but the other part of me knew he was equally as scared as me. He put on a good brave face but in the aftermath of the whatever traumatic incident we'd been through and it was just the two of us lying awake in bed at night too afraid to fall asleep he'd speak the truth. He'd tell me how scared he had been during those times, how he thought he was going to die but he would always put on a brave face for everyone around him, for the kids, for me...
