ain't it weird || stranger things x female reader (season 3)

fourteen - boop

Thursday, July 4, 1985

"He said he was building something. That it was all for me."

Eleven is sitting on the couch, surrounded by everyone and cheeks still stained with the tears she has spilled in terror.

When she entered Billy's mind through the Void, the Mind Flayer had somehow sensed her and turned the tables around. He managed to trap Eleven and talk to her, and to say this didn't have an impact on her would be lying.

"Building something..." Max frowns. "Is he talking about the flayed?"

"He must be," Nancy nods.

"So he's building an army just like we thought," Lucas paces around anxiously.

"Yeah, but he's not building this army to spread," Mike says.

"He's building it to stop Eleven," Will concludes.

"Last year, El closed the gate on him. I have a feeling that really pissed him off."

"Like, royally," Lucas comments.

"And the Mind Flayer now knows that she's the only thing that can stop him. But if she's out of the way-"

"Game over."

"He... also said... He was gonna kill all of you," Eleven says softly, looking at each of them with such nervousness that Kazuo feels his heart sink in his chest, both at the threat and the young girl's hopelessness.

"Yeah, well, that's nice," Max ironizes.

Kazuo sighs and looks outside the window at the dark forest, listening to the sound of the fireworks in the distance. It was the Fourth of July. He was supposed to drag you out of your house so that you could go to the fun fair. You would complain you would rather be at the arcade when he'd convince you to ride the ferris wheel, and then you'd light up at the sight of the ghost train and it would be his turn to want to go back home.

Where the hell were you?

A screeching sound among the explosions of the party catches his attention. He walks closer to the window, tilting his head curiously.

Could be an animal. But it sounded too much like the dreadful yell of a familiar dog-like monster.

Another screeching noise. Kazuo feels his body tense with fear, irrational fear that something was coming for them. Still, he should warn the others.

"Do you guys hear that?" Him and Nancy speak at the same time. She had heard it too.

"It's just the fireworks," Jonathan says after they all listen for a bit. Nancy and Kazuo share a knowing gaze before the girl turns back to Eleven.

"Billy... When he told you this, it was here, in this room?"

Eleven nods.

When he had threatened her, they had all assumed they were still in Billy's mind. But it seemed the Mind Flayer had followed her into her own mind and found out her location. And know he was probably on his way to them.

His growing inquietude was justified by Will bringing his hand up to his neck, shuddering.

"He knows we're here," the boy states.

"To the car!" Nancy commands, and they run out of the cabin, only to stop at the sight of the road ahead.

At first, it was trees rustling. They started to move and break like chopsticks. Then, the monster emerged.

Just like at the hospital, it had several limbs and was made of organs and flesh. But it was bigger, about the size of a house. Twice the size of Hopper's cabin.