18 - DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE

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For somebody that had been deadset on staying far away from whatever crazy mess that had been dropped into Hawkins's lap, Dottie Fields really had tumbled into a dark hole that was currently consuming everything in town. Sadly, the girl with no desire for trouble or chaos had indeed found herself in the middle of some pretty strange shit.

About an hour ago she had been hurried into the dark Byers' house with the group of kids, a little confused and growing rather irritated by everything. Chief Hopper had bluntly instructed she follow behind him on the drive over and even though she wanted to put her rusted truck in reverse and drive the hell out of Hawkins, she did not. With the stern glance from Hopper, she kept her mouth tightly shut and followed blindly, keeping Micky close by. She piled into the rundown house behind Eleven, who was quiet too. Dottie had already assumed she didn't really speak though. While everyone shuffled into the tiny kitchen, Nancy Wheeler fell into her step. "How'd you get dragged into this mess?"

Dottie let out a tiny pained laugh. "Honestly, I was only trying to protect my brother." She hugged her arms around her chest, her dark eyes falling upon Nancy, who was actually calmer than expected. Nancy Wheeler had been through a lot in the past few days, more than most, but she was still standing tall. "Next time, I'm hightailing away from whatever all this actually is."

Nancy nodded. "I know the feeling."

The ragtag group of teenagers, kids and adults fanned around the kitchen, everyone listening intensely to little Mike Wheeler's speech about a flea and an acrobat. A lot of the information falling from his lips went over Dottie's head. She had never been overly interested in science or whatever any of this was. She did pick up a few key words; the Upside Down, Demogorgon, a rip in time and space, Hawkins Laboratory, and how Eleven could reach people struck in the weird dimension. The experiment using a walkie-talkie had been fruitless though, but the girl had another idea using some bath, or rather a sensory deprivation tank which seemed like the next best thing. After a rather interesting conversation with Mr. Clarke, the middle school science teacher, the group had everything they needed to reach Will Byers and hopefully Barbara Holland.

"Micky, this is all crazy! Building some salty water bath—" Dottie had remained calm, quiet and more importantly focused throughout the entire planning process, but while everyone was heading towards the cars, she had pulled Micky away.

Her little brother corrected her. "Sensory deprivation tank. Well, it won't be an actual tank tonight, but it should work mostly the same."

Dottie was already rolling her eyes. "That's beside the point. It's past ten o'clock, we really need to get home. Look, today was really, weird, but we can't just follow everyone to the middle school. This isn't really our problem." Although it pained her to admit it, that very thought had been bouncing up and down in her head since arriving here. Her day had been full of too much craziness and all she wanted was a bubble bath to forget this nightmare.

"Will is one of my friends," Micky protested loudly, gaining attention from the others. Dottie was already feeling a hot wave of guilt and embarrassment dump over her. "He's stuck in the Upside Down and we can actually do something to find him. You're right though, this isn't your problem, you don't even really know him. Go home, Dottie."

A prick of regret crept up her spine. "I didn't mean it like that. Micky, please. I don't want to leave you with all this craziness. What if the Demogorgon comes back? What if this plan actually becomes dangerous? I can't just leave you. The only reason I got dragged into this crap, is because of you."

Micky shrugged his thin shoulders, not even remotely worried or afraid if this plan backfired. Thankfully, before Dottie could either burst into tears from frustration or drag her brother's skinny body towards her truck, Nancy Wheeler popped up beside her. "I'll look after him. We've got Hopper coming with us too, there shouldn't be any danger." Her polite voice snapped Dottie's attention, her heavy gaze captured by the way Nancy placed a hand on her arm. The very notion had Dottie's heart racing against her chest.

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