[ Location: The Wheelers' Driveway ][ Time: 10:30 PM ]
"Mike! Stop!"
I sprinted down the driveway, my lungs burning. My headache was now a fully functional construction site behind my eyes.
Mike didn't stop. He threw his bike onto the grass and kicked the tire, screaming in frustration.
"You lied!, She lied!" Mike shouted, tears streaming down his face. He pointed a shaking finger at El, who was standing behind me, gripping my shirt like a lifeline. "She said he was hiding! She said he was safe!"
"Mike, listen—"
"No! You saw it, Vivan! They pulled him out of the water! He's dead!" Mike's voice cracked, dropping to a whisper. "He's dead."
Lucas stood nearby, looking at the ground, his face hard. "We were stupid. We actually believed a mental patient and a guy with a concussion could find him."
I gritted my teeth. The grief was palpable. It was heavy, suffocating air.
'This is the moment. The party breaks. Unless I fix it.'
I looked at El. She was terrified. She didn't understand why Mike was yelling. She didn't understand "dead."
"El," I whispered, kneeling down so I was eye-level with her. "They think Will is gone. Forever."
She shook her head violently. "No. Hiding."
"I know," I said. "But we have to prove it. Can you find him again? On the radio?"
She looked at the small walkie-talkie in Mike's hand. She reached for it.
Mike snatched it away. "No! Get away from me!"
"Mike!" I snapped, standing up. My voice was louder than I intended. "Give her the damn radio."
"Why?" Mike challenged, stepping into my personal space. "So she can trick us again? So she can make us look like idiots?"
"Because that body is a fake," I said.
Silence. Even the crickets seemed to stop chirping.
Lucas scoffed. "A fake? Dude, it's on the news. It's the State Police."
"Think about it, Lucas!" I argued, tapping my temple. "We just got chased by vans from Hawkins Lab. We saw a girl flip a grown man into a truck. And suddenly, an hour later, a body shows up? Conveniently ending the search? Conveniently telling everyone to go home?"
I turned to Mike. "If Will is dead, why were they chasing us? Why were they trying to kill us to get her?"
I pointed at El.
Mike hesitated. The logic was penetrating the grief. Just barely.
"It doesn't make sense," I pressed. "Unless they want us to stop looking."
"You're crazy," Lucas muttered. But he didn't leave.
"Maybe," I admitted. "But I can prove it."
I closed my eyes.
'Okay, Vivan. This is going to hurt. Remote Viewing. Target The Quarry. The Body.'
[ Ability Active: Remote Viewing. ][ Strain Level: Moderate. ]
My vision fractured. The driveway dissolved into static.
White noise.Rain.Flashing blue lights.
I was hovering over the quarry. It was chaotic. Police everywhere. But not Hopper's officers. These were State Troopers.
I focused on the stretcher. They were loading the small body into a coroner's van.
'Zoom in. I need to see.'
The pressure in my head spiked. It felt like a nail being driven into my skull, but... maybe slightly duller than the first time?
'Just push through it.'
I pushed closer. I looked at the face.
It was Will. Pale. Bloated.
'It looks so real.'
But then, I saw the man handling the stretcher. A tall man in a suit. He wasn't crying. He wasn't grim. He was... checking his watch. He looked bored.
And as he adjusted the strap, his hand pressed into the body's chest.
It didn't yield like flesh. It dented. Like foam.
'Gotcha.'
I snapped back to reality.
"Gah!" I grabbed my head, stumbling back. Blood gushed from my left nostril, dripping onto the driveway.
[ System Notice: Remote Viewing Proficiency Increased. ][ Current Mastery: Level 1 (15%) ][ Note: Psionic strain decreases as Mastery increases. Keep bleeding, host. ]
'Good to know the pain has a purpose.'
"Vivan?" El grabbed my arm, steadying me.
"I saw it," I wheezed, wiping the blood. "I saw them loading it."
"You... saw it?" Mike looked at me like I was possessed. "How?"
"The connection," I lied. "I saw the man touch the body. It didn't move right. It was stiff. Artificial."
"You're hallucinating," Lucas said, but his voice wavered.
"Give her the radio," I said again, looking at Mike. "If I'm wrong, nothing happens. We go home. We mourn. But if I'm right... Will is screaming for help right now."
Mike looked at the walkie-talkie. He looked at the tears on his face. Then he looked at El.
He handed it to her.
El took it with trembling hands. She sat down right there on the wet asphalt. She closed her eyes.
Static.
We waited. Ten seconds. Twenty.
"See?" Lucas whispered. "Nothing. He's—"
"...mom..."
Lucas froze.
The voice cut through the static like a knife. It was faint, distorted, echoing like it was coming from the bottom of a well. But it was him.
"...please..."
Mike dropped to his knees next to El. "Will? Will, is that you?"
"...it's cold..."
Then, a sound. Not speaking. Singing.
"...should I stay or should I go now..."
Mike started crying again, but this time, it wasn't grief. It was shock.
"It's him," Mike whispered. "He's singing his favorite song."
Then, the transmission cut. Fzzzt.
El opened her eyes. She looked exhausted. Blood was running from her nose, matching mine. We looked like a pair of matched bookends of trauma.
"He is there," El whispered. "The Upside Down."
Mike looked at me. The anger was gone, replaced by a frantic, terrifying hope.
"He's alive," Mike said. "But... but the body..."
"A doll," I said, leaning against El for support. "A distraction. To stop his mom from looking. To stop the Chief from looking."
"We have to tell them," Mike stood up. "We have to tell my mom! We have to tell the Chief!"
"We can't," I said, shaking my head. "They won't believe us. They saw a body. We heard a ghost boy on a toy radio."
"Then what do we do?" Lucas asked, finally accepting the insanity of the situation. "We can't just leave him there."
"We need a stronger signal," I said, rubbing my temples. "That walkie-talkie is weak. We need something that can reach the Upside Down clearly. Something that can let us talk to him, not just hear him."
Mike's eyes widened. "The Heathkit."
"The what?" El asked.
"The ham radio at school," Mike explained, excitement rising. "Mr. Clarke's radio. It can reach Australia. If Will is in another dimension... it can reach him."
"School is closed," Lucas pointed out. "And there are cops everywhere."
I looked at the group. A rich kid with a migraine, a fugitive telekinetic, and two nerds.
"Since when do we care about rules?" I asked, grinning through the pain. "We broke into the woods. We fought the government. Breaking into school to use the AV club room?"
I looked at my inventory (155 Points).
[ Current Telekinesis Mastery: Level 1 (6%) ]
'Grinding is slow. But tonight might speed it up.'
"It's a piece of cake," I said.
Mike looked at El. "Can you do it? Can you find him on the big radio?"
El nodded.
"Okay," Mike set his jaw. "Tomorrow. Before the funeral assembly. We go to school."
"Wait," I interrupted. "Not tomorrow. Tonight? No, we're too tired. Okay, tomorrow morning. But we need a plan. The school will be crawling with people."
"We go to the assembly," Dustin said, finally speaking up (he had been eating wafers the whole time). "Everyone will be in the gym. The AV room will be empty."
"Smart," I admitted.
"Okay," Mike nodded. "Vivan, you and El... you can't go home. The bad men know where you live."
"I know," I sighed. "My parents probably think I'm dead or kidnapped by now."
"You stay here," Mike said. "In the basement. I'll sneak you food."
"Deal," I agreed.
We walked back toward the garage. The air was still heavy, but the crushing weight of death was gone. Now, it was just the weight of a conspiracy.
I looked at El. She was curling up on the beanbag chair, holding Mike's walkie-talkie.
"Vivan?" she whispered.
"Yeah?"
"Not a doll," she pointed at herself.
"No," I smiled, sitting down next to her. "You're real. You're the realest thing here."
She leaned her head on my shoulder and fell asleep almost instantly.
I stared at the ceiling of the Wheelers' basement.
'Tomorrow, we break into school. We contact Will. And then... we figure out how to kill a monster with a slingshot and a rusty shovel.'
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