rush // steve harrington (REWRITING)

seven

When Dylan got home, it was no surprise that Jonathan's car was missing. How could she possibly expect him to be home when he had been so secretive about his whereabouts and hadn't been there for his siblings at all.

She was thankful that Steve was trying to be there for her, but it was hard for him to understand what they were going through. Steve knew he couldn't begin to understand what she was going through, but he wanted to be there for her. All of her wished this wasn't real, but as days went on and more events kept happening, realization was hitting that this was as real as ever.

When Dylan saw Will, she wanted to be shocked, but she wasn't. He looked just like she did. Sweaty, dark circles under his eyes, unusually pale. Both of them were still going through the same thing. Whatever connection they had, she wanted it to break.

If she could do anything, she wanted to take all of it. She wanted to bare every ounce of pain Will was going through just so he didn't have to.

Shutting the door behind her, light beads of sweat dripped down her forehead from being outside. Joyce looked at her daugher, a pit in her stomach forming. She was tired, anyone could tell.

"You too? Dylan..." Joyce trailed off. Dylan could tell her mother was under immense amounts of stress dealing with Will so she acted like nothing was wrong with her.

"What?" Dylan wiped the sweat off her head and put on her best smile, "Steve and I went for a run. I'm fine. How's Will?" Will's drawings were sprawled everywhere. On the floor, on the walls, some on the ceiling. "What the hell is going on?" She asked, looking around the living room. She tried piecing together what she was seeing, everything feeling vaguely familiar.

She felt like she had seen these drawings before. 

"They're Will's. Maybe it's a way to stop this thing." Joyce took the paper in her hand and went back to looking for its place on the wall.

Dylan looked and looked but still didn't understand what she was looking at. She just knew that she had seen them before. "Where is Will?" Dylan asked.

"He and Mike are in his room." Joyce replied, "Chief said that they're vines."

"Vines?"

"Yeah." The pair walked to Dylan's room together, both of them looking at the insane drawings on the walls and floor. They sat on the bed and she leaned into her mother's side, resting her head on Joyce's shoulder. "I appreciate you being here for Will. He may not know it, but he needs his big sister more than he realizes."

"You have no idea," She sighed, closing her eyes.

"Jonathan hasn't been around for the past few days, so I know Will appreciates you being there for him too."

"I love Will. He's one of the best baby brother's anyone could ask for." Dylan smiled a little, drifting to sleep. The day exhausted her and she wanted nothing more than to rest. She had never fallen asleep so easily.

When she woke up the next morning, the clock read 9:45AM. She was feeling worse than the day before, so she was thankful that it was Saturday. Dylan crawled out of bed and pulled on a sweatshirt, that happened to be Steve's, because she felt cold again. Somewhere deep in her, she cursed herself for putting on the sweatshirt. He wants to be cold.

Making her way through the house, she stopped when she noticed Will, Mike, Joyce and surprisingly Bob. He hadn't been around since Halloween, she can only imagine why. Joyce probably didn't want to drag him into the dangers of the Upside Down.

Dylan went behind Will and Mike and put her hands on their shoulders. She nonchalantly pulled them away into the kitchen and looked at Will, who undoubtedly looked just like she did. Hearing it from her mother was one thing, but seeing it in person worried her.