To Catch a Falling Star (Steve Harrington)

(1.10) Connected

The other people in the room were to much for me to handle. Eleven seemed to be taking all of it in stride, but every time someone spoke just a bit to harshly or loudly I panicked, but Steve was there. Just him being next to me seemed to keep me calm.

I tried my best to follow along with the conversation. But they kept saying things that I didn't understand. Like 'acrobat' and 'flea', somehow the boy in that I saw in the Inbetween and the girl I saw at the pool is a 'flea' and we are all the 'acrobats.' They talked about a Gate, and I actually knew what they meant by that. I was the one that opened the Gate. The doctors at the lab made me open it.

"We know that the gate is in Hawkins Lab, but we don't know where." The little one called Dustin said excitably. 

I stepped forward and tapped my chest with my left hand, showing that I knew where it was, which Steve voiced for me.

"Is the gate underground?" Hopper asked while looking at me. I nodded. "Near a big tank of water?" I nodded again.

"How do you know all that?" Steve asked from behind me, not actually speaking for me, but in a way still asking the right questions.

"He's seen it." The boy said, his name got away from me, but he was older than the others, and he stood next to the girl Nancy.

Joyce put her hand on my shoulder (the right unluckily) and I winced, pulling away quickly. She says 'sorry' and adjusts to stand in front of me. "Is there anyway you could, talk to Will? In the, the Upsidedown thing?"

"And my friend Barb, Barbara? Can you find her too?"Nancy asks, I look between the two woman and nod slowly. Then it's a flurry of action, the three boys start running around collecting things and handing them to me. One boy, the one called Mike held out a box with buttons on it, and I looked at him confused. 

"El needs this stuff, I kinda assumed you did too." Mike muttered, holding the box close to his chest. I shake my head no, but take the mask that the boy offered. I walk away from the group of people towards the room with the soft chairs. The 'Living Room' if I remember from Steve. I hear the group of people muttering behind me and following me into there, they sit or stand all the way around the room and I stand in the middle.

I tug on the jacket by my left wrist, trying to pull it off of me, looking at Steve for help. He was there in an instant, grabbing the jacket by my shoulders and pulling it off. I slowly unfurl my wings, ignoring the gasps that everyone gives or the whispers that pass through the room. I sit on the floor, crossing my legs and start to pull the mask over my eyes.

I stop, and I look up at Steve. When our eyes meet, I pat the ground in front of me he walks over slowly and sits down in front of me. I grab his hand and put it on my wrist, pull the mask on, and than hold the other out to him, he does the same thing. I mouth the word 'grounded' over and over again, hoping that he understands.

I wrap my hands around his wrists, and make sure his are still around mine. I breathe deeply, and feel myself fall backwards into the Inbetween. It was the same as last time, empty and dark with water covering the floor. I walked forward, looking for the boy, looking for something that could tell me where the boy was. It was empty, perfectly empty, eerily empty. I couldn't see him, he wasn't here. Neither of them were here.

I pull back, using Steve as a stiff point to get me back. When I came back through I nearly fell forward, but Steve held me up, releasing my wrists and pulling the mask off of my eyes. When I look to him he is smiling with worry in his eyes. I nodded, letting him help pull me to my feet, and leaning into him once I stand on my own two feet.

"Did you see him?" Joyce asks excitably, but I shook my head, watching as the joy left her face. 

I wanted to say that I was sorry, but I couldn't.

"He's dead?" Joyce started to cry and I was quick to react, I reached out to her, and shook my head no. "Can you look for him again?"

That's when Steve stepped forward, speaking for me. "When he does stuff like this he gets tired, like really tired. I don't think he's gonna be able to try again for a while."

Joyce looked sad, and I felt bad for telling her no, but I know that even if I tried I wouldn't be successful. I sat down on the ground again, holding my head in my hands and sighing loudly. I heard everyone slowly leave the room, and I was left alone, or so I thought. A hand touched my shoulder, a small one, and when I looked up it was Eleven. I could see Steve in the other room, looking over his shoulder at me as he talked to someone.

I focused on Eleven.

She sat down next to me, and held out her hand. I took it, and smiled sadly. She opened her mouth to speak, but something flashed across my mind. The tank. The tank, I shot to my feet, and nearly fell back down. Eleven caught me, and called out to Steve for help. He was there, holding me up as I tried to speak to say what I was thinking. It wasn't coming out, just like every other single time I try to. 

I wrapped my hand around Steve's forearm and suddenly he froze, I could feel what he was thinking. I could feel what he was thinking. I pushed the memory into his mind of the tank that would put me in the Inbetween.

"What the fuck?" Steve muttered, "You just, that was you in my head."