HAWKINS BLEEDING! CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE:
THE VISION
They got to the top after way felt like a million hours. Stephenie was sweating in places she didn't know she could and wiped the sweat off her forehead. "Made it" Dustin said placing his hands onto his hips
"Only took 5 hours" Max muttered
"Why couldn't we just play d&d?" Will said
"Or go to like... the pool or something?" Stephenie suggested as she panted tiredly
"I'm so thirsty" Lucas said taking out the water he had and gulping it all down.
"Did you seriously just drink the rest of our water?" Max asked making Lucas stop spit some back in the bottle
"What a gentleman you have Max" Stephenie smirked
After setting up the huge radio tower, they all looked up at it
"Pretty impressive, am I right?"
"Yeah"
"It better be, after all that" Stephenie sassed
"Now,are you Ready to meet my love" Dustin asked
"Okay, sure"
"Yeah"
They all watched as Dustin turned on the radio
"Suzie this is Dustin, do you copy, over" no response "just a sec she's still there, Suzie, this is Dustin, do you copy. Over"
Still no response "I'm sure she's there, maybe she's busy or something"
"Yeah" Lucas agreed
"It's around dinner time"
"Yea totally" "mhm" "ok"
"Here, Suzie this is Dustin, over"
An hour later and still no response, it was dark. Steve's shift was probably ending soon— or had ended. Stephenie laid on wills chest while Dustin was still trying to reach Suzie.
"Do you believe him?" Stephenie asked in a whispered tone
"Yeah, I guess. Do you?"
"When she picks up I will"
"Suzie this is Dustin, do you copy, over"
"Suzie this is Dustin do you"
"Dustin she not there!" Max finally said
"She's there, all right? she'll pick up"
"Maybe cerebro doesn't work" Will suggested
"Or Maybe Suzie doesn't exist"
"She exists" Dustin said defensively
"She's a genius, and she's hotter than phoebe Kate's? No girl is that perfect" Lucas said
"Is that so?" Max said sitting up
"I mean, your perfect. P-Perfect in your own special—your own special way" Lucas stammered on his words— he said things like this all the time. It was cheep entertainment hanging out with the couple.
"Real smooth Lucas" Stephenie said while laughing. Will turned to Stephenie, "your perfect" he whispered in her ear. Stephenie blushed and pecked his lips.
"Relax I was teasing, I'm obviously perfect and Dustin's obviously lying! Come on Don Juan" Max said while sticking her hand out and Lucas stood up and they started to walk away
"Where are you guys going?"
"Home" Max said simply before they ran down the hill. Dustin sighed and turned to them
"Well I guess it's just us"
Will got up "Uh, it's late I should probably get Steph home. maybe tomorrow we can play d&d or something fun, like we used to"
"Yeah" Dustin said, nodding sadly
"Welcome home" Will said before sticking an arm out for Stephenie to grab. Dustin held his head down.
"Oh Dustin" Stephenie said, making Dustins head shook up "stop by Scoops in the new mall. Steve misses you" Stephenie smiled "and for what it's worth... I think Suzie sounds great" she told the boy making his smile grow slightly
"Thanks Stephenie" He said before Stephenie turned around to follow Will down the hill.
"I feel bad" Stephenie said half way home
"Why" Will asked
"For leaving him there, alone"
"He's fine Steph, we couldn't wait forever"
"Your right" Stephenie said as they arrived to the Byers house. Stephenie stopped at the door.
"Bye Will" she said before going on her tippy toes to kiss Will. Will held her tight, not wanting her to leave. Will sighed "bye Steph" he said before getting one more kiss before Stephenie left.
Stephenie opened the door to the Harrington house. Steve's car was in the driveway so he was home. As Stephenie walked in, she felt a pain in her head again
"Steve?" Stephenie made her way to the kitchen to get an aspirin or something, but on her way she felt her body go limp and she fell to the ground and everything went black—the last thing she heard was Steve yelling her name frantically.
when Stephenie woke up, but She wasn't at her house, she was at the steel works. It hadn't been used in a while.
"Hello?" Stephenie called out, with no response "Steve?" Stephenie saw rats crawling into the shop, so she followed them and then saw them all laying on the ground and exploding and all gathering together Stephenie stepped back, and screamed out
"What the hell!" She fell back and appeared in a dark room. There was water on the ground and she stood up. It was just an endless amount of darkness until Stephenie felt a pain in the side of her head before flashes of events fled through her mind—
screaming
someone going through bricks
the sound of a pole waking something
getting pulled by a Slimy leg
fireworks
—Then someone calling her name faintly came more clear with every word
"Steph, Steph wake up please"
She woke up and gasped— Steve was by her side with a confused and concerned look on his face. A tear went down her face as Steve pulled her into a hug to calm her down for a minute before she pulled away and looked around.
She now realized, that she was in her bed.
"How....did I get here?" She asked
"I carried you, you passed out in the kitchen"
Stephenie didn't say anything but just sobbed into Steve's arms remembering the things she saw in the dream.
"Steph, we can talk in the morning. You need to get some sleep" Steve kissed her forehead and went to leave the room
"Steve" Stephenie said
"Yeah, what's up Steph?"
"can you... stay in here"
"Y-Yeah sure"
the next morning when Stephenie came downstairs, Steve was rushing around the house, probably running late. Stephenie went to the fridge and poured herself a glass of grape juice.
"Hey Steph...you feel better?" Steve asked
"Yeah" Stephenie said while sipping her juice. Steve leaned on the counter in front of her
"What happened?" Steve asked
"I came home and had a headache, so I went to get aspirin... but I passed out on the way there, and I-I" Stephenie paused
"And you what Steph?"
"I had a dream—or something, but It was almost like it was real" Steph said
"What did you see?"
"I was at a metal shop—or auto shop and... a bunch of rats they all....melted and then I saw flashes of little things, like I heard screaming, and fireworks" Stephenie explained— She left out everything else. Steve didn't know what to say, it really traumatized his sister.
"I think I'm just going to go to Max's today." Stephenie stated "to Get my mind off of this"
"Okay, let me know if you need anything" Steve said before heading out the door
Stephenie grabbed her skateboard and skated to Max's house where she saw Max outside trying to do a kick flip.
"Hey Max" She said
"Hey Steph"
"You'll get it" Stephanie encouraged
"I know, it's just so hard" Max said getting back on her board, trying again but this time completely falling off, the skateboard flying down the road, only to be stopped by El
"El?" Stephenie said as she walked up to her and Max, handing Max her board
"Hi"
"Hi?" Max said... El had never talked to her
"Can we talk?" El asked