𝘁𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗲𝘆𝗲𝘀, ( 𝗺𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗿 )

[49] HEY

THE LIGHTS FLICKERED. That's always what Mariella would remember best about this experience. The rapid flashing of the electricity and the panic which set through her. Getting up and rushing towards the window staring out to the shed, Dustin right beside her as they stop, close to Nancy and Steve.

It stops. That's always what Mariella would remember the least. The panic was still in her, the lights felt like they were still flickering. She didn't even bother to breathe out the sigh of relief Dustin, Nancy, and Steve had. She still held her breath.

Turning away, she stalked off towards a wall, leaning against it and sliding down. She brings her knees to her chest, her head falling onto them. She felt so lost in thought, she hadn't even noticed Dustin slide down the wall next her.

Dustin puts an arm on her shoulder, noticing the blank stare she had in her face. "You okay?"  He asks her, attempting to put on a small smile to cheer her up. The party knew that one of true main things that made Mariella happy was them smiling.

She snaps from her thoughts, turning to look at him. She shakes her head, searching for her words to form. "What if he finds out where we are? And... What if we never get Will back?" She asks, beginning to pick at the loose thread hanging on her shoelace. Her voice sounded so broken. So strained.

"He won't. We disguised that place up and down. There's nothing that could give us away," Dustin starts, looking forward and tapping his fingers against his crossed legs. "And we're going to figure it out. We did it last year. We can do it again," He adds on.

Mariella scoffs lightly. "We had El last year," Rolling her neck around and bobbing her head before she rests it against the wall. "My, God. I miss El," She whispers.

Dustin nods slowly in agreement. Opening his mouth to respond but is cut off by Hopper bursting through the door, grabbing a ripped envelope and pencil from the counter. "What happened?" Dustin asks, pushing at the floor and getting up. Mariella following after him.

Hopper goes to the table, leaning over and beginning to draw. They all crowd around him, with preening eyes towards the paper. "I think he's talking, just not with words," He say as he puts down dot after dot in clean pencil.

Steve stares at the paper with squinted eyes. "What is that?" He asks.

"Morse code," Nearly all of them say in unisons, Hopper beginning to write down the letter translations under the dots.

"H-E-R-E," Hopper spells.

"Here," They all say, reading out the word.

Hopper brings his hand to his mouth before throwing the pencil down on the table. "Will's still in there. He's talking to us," He says.

They exchange looks, wondering how they'd accomplish this. "How are we going to do this then?" Max asks, tilting her head. "How are we going to write it all down without him knowing?".

It was silent for a moment. They hadn't any ideas before Lucas' eyes linger over to the living room. There sat Mariella's purple backpack zipper wide open, her walkie's antenna pointing out in all its glory. "Our walkies," He mumbles, walking towards it and plucking it out of her bag.

"What?" Nancy questions, all eyes on Lucas as he retreats back to the group with the walkie in hand.

Lucas holds it up to them. "We can use our walkies," He goes on, placing the walkie onto the table and sliding it towards Hopper. "You repeat it back to us. We'll translate," He goes on.

And, heck, Lucas Sinclair might as of well of been a superhero in the eyes of the public. After all, he really did just save the world with that idea. Nearly.