AS ABOVE, SO BELOW (BENEATH HIS FEET) | STRANGER THINGS ✓

CHAPTER FIFTEEN | YOU NEED TO GET UP

"Go, go, go!" Everyone split up to get away from the Mind Flayer, Nancy, Johnathan, Lucas and Will were with each other and Amanda went with Mike, El, and Max. "To the Gap!" Mike led the way with El on his arm.

     They all hid behind a shelf, trying to get their erratic breathing under control.

"Think we can get out of here?" Amanda asked under her breath, panting. There was a loud, horrendous screech nearby. "I'm gonna take that as a no."

Amanda felt someone's hand quickly cover hers seconds after the sound was made, and she looked down to see that it was Mike grabbing onto her hand out of stress. "Sorry." His hand yanked back once he realized what he'd done. "I didn't know what I was thinking. The scream was so close that it made me jump."

     "Hey," Amanda stopped his hand from retracting all the way, "it's okay. I'm sure you'd rather focus on something else than the 'thickening tension of our impending doom,' right?" She took his hand into hers and linked their fingers together, squeezing affirmatively. "We're gonna get out of here. We're gonna be fine. We just gotta wait for the Mind Flayer to turn the other way and then we bolt."

     Mike nodded, swallowing her words whole. He rested his head against the shelf and let out a breath. "Okay. We'll be fine."

     Just as he breathed that out, the Mind Flayer let out a terrifying screech and Max gasped out of shock. Shelves were being knocked over and the kids were ready to make a run for it. They bolted as soon as the Mind Flayer wasn't looking and went through the exit that was in The Gap.

     "Now what?" Amanda caught her breath as she looked around her, everyone looking down in a similar direction. She followed their line of eyesight and saw that she and Mike were still holding hands. They detached themselves from each other quickly as if the other was on fire.

"We were scared, okay?" Amanda defended, "we were probably about to die!"

     They all nodded and moved on. "Anyway," Max switched subjects, "which way's out?"

     El led the way, with the help of Mike and Max to ease some of the weight. After taking a number of stairs, they finally made it out of the mall to see Billy climbing out of his car that was on fire. He caught sight of El and started marching his way towards her.

     "Back in the mall. Back in the mall!" Amanda yelled and her body distorted a bit when Billy got closer. The four of them turned and headed back into Starcourt. There was a lot running through corridors, trying to lose Billy and get him off their track.

     "Do you think we lost him?" Amanda asked as Max and Mike set El down. She peeked her out of the corridor to see Billy limping his way towards them. "I'm gonna take that as a no."

     "What?" Max saw what Amanda was looking at and her eyes widened. Billy picked up his pace at the sight of her, and Max was telling him — more like yelling — that this wasn't him. "This isn't you!" she screamed at him. "I'm your sister! You wouldn't do this to me, no matter how much of a pain I can be!"

It didn't seem to have an effect on him as he flung Max to the side as if she were nothing. Amanda distorted and disappeared completely once he got close to her, never having been so close to a part of the Mind Flayer before. Once his attention was off of her, she came back to see Mike be flown into a pipe and El knocked to the ground.

     Billy picked El up and threw her over his shoulder and walked out, promptly ignoring Amanda now that she wasn't a roadblock anymore. "Shit!" she swore and ran towards Max first, as she had been unconscious longer. "Max!" She shook her, but nothing came of it. Max was out cold. She went over to Mike next, and tried to shake him awake, too. Nothing.

     Amanda had two options. She could either stay here and wait for the two of them to wake up or she could go see where Billy was taking El. She decided to stay here and wait for them to come to.

*･゜ﾟ･*:.｡..｡.:*･'

Max was the first to wake up. She spotted Amanda, who was sitting by Mike, who was still out of it.

     "Mike." She scrambled over to him and shook him awake. He woke up, as well, bleary-eyed. "Hey," Max said, "we gotta go."

     Mike looked around and sat up straight. "Where's El?" He turned to Amanda and asked again. "Where is she? Where's El?"

     "Billy took her to the Mind Flayer. We need to hurry up and get a move on before he causes any real damage," Amanda explained as she got up. "I think the half of the mall would beg to differ," Mike retorted as they made their through the corridors. "Now's not the time for banter. We gotta go!" Max yelped.

They all made a break for the center of the mall. And the Mind Flayer.

The lights were flickering as they ran down the halls, and Amanda was starting to distort more and more the closer they got to the Mind Flayer.

"What's happening?" Mike came to a stop when he saw Amanda coming in and out a bit more ferociously than usual. "We're getting close to the Mind Flayer," Amanda explained, "the closer I get to him, the more. . .this happens."

"How do we make it stop?" Max asked. Amanda shook her head. "You can't. I'm technically a projection, remember? A really real projection. 4 D, even. But whatever. All I'm saying is that the more you fight the Mind Flayer, the more it makes me disappear. And once the projector's down, I'm gone."

"Then what?" Mike asked urgently. Amanda shrugged. "You just gotta find the real me."

"And where could you be?"

"Under a pumpkin patch."

The lights flickered more and a horrendous screech fell through the corridors. "We gotta go," the three of them said together.

*･゜ﾟ･*:.｡..｡.:*･'

When they finally reached all of the chaos, Amanda saw a literal fireworks show going off, the Mind Flayer being attacked by said fireworks, and Billy hovering over El. From what she could see, it looked like El was talking to Billy, trying to tap into what was really him and not the monster that's taken him over. It felt like everything was going in slow motion, with Billy slowly getting up, yelling "NO!", and taking a tentacle to the stomach.

She could see Max's life crumble before her very eyes as she fell to her knees and scrambled over to her older brother. "Billy, wake up," she sobbed, "Billy, please. This isn't funny. You need to get up. Please."

"I'm sorry," Billy mumbled, his voice going soft. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Max said through tears. "It's okay."

When Billy finally let go, Amanda's projection disappeared.