CARLA CUT THROUGH ANOTHER BAG OF SALT AND ADDED IT TO THE KIDDIE POOL.

For about thirty minutes or so, the group had been setting up their sensory deprivation tank with Hawkins Middle School.  Hopper had suggested the place, and it had worked—they'd stolen the 1'500 pounds of salt necessary from the outdoor shed, and were now using the place as a set up because it just worked.

Dustin and Lucas had managed to set up the small kiddie pool on their own within the gym—Carla was surprised they didn't find her for help, but it seemed like a bitch to set-up by their weary expressions— Nancy and Mike having filled it with water using the hose.  Joyce and Eleven had disappeared, leaving Jonathan, Carla and Hopper with the manual work of retrieving and hauling the bags of salt to the gym, as well as dumping them into the pool.

With Eleven and Joyce away, it left the group plenty of time to test out their tank—the last thing they needed was the young girl laying in it only to fall into the water, unsuccessful.  After every few bags of salt, Dustin would set a singular egg on top of the liquid as a buoyancy test.  If the egg floated, El would too. 

It took them a few tries and a ton of salt, but finally, the egg floated. They were ready.

They re-grouped together, all eyes on Eleven as she took off her socks and Mike's watch, which she'd been wearing.  Carla turned the walkie talkie on static before setting it up on the small cart they'd used to hold supplies, moving to kneel beside Jonathan and Nancy.

Joyce gave the girl taped over goggles, and then she was off.

Lying down in the warm water—Carla had made sure it wasn't freezing—the girl floated up to the top, water soaking her dirty pink dress.  Overhead, the lights began to flicker before turning off completely, which Carla had learned was the sign that her powers were working. 

Everyone stayed silent, hands gripping the edge of the pool anxiously, or fidgeting with the other as anticipation grew within.

"Barb?" Eleven muttered after a few moments, breaking the silence. "Barbara?"

The sound of her friend's name has Nancy on edge, and the girl sits up on her knees.  The lights flicker back on for a few moments, which doesn't help her anxiousness at all—it worsens it, actually. "What's going on?"

Mike looks just as confused, "I don't know."

"Is Barb okay? Is she okay?" Nancy's voice is full of concern as she assumes the worst, leaning towards the kiddie pool for an answer from Eleven.

"Gone. Gone. Gone." Eleven begins to say, words coming out in a panic and painful voice despite her ever so still body. The words cause Nancy to put a shaky hand over her mouth because deep down she knows what the little girl means.

Barb was dead. She was gone.

"It's okay. It's okay. It's okay." Joyce tries to reassure the girl, who still continues to chant the word over and over again, voice growing louder and more pain filled with each repeat.  The older woman grabs on to Eleven's hand, as does Hopper from the opposite side. "Hey, it's okay.  We're right here.  We're right here, honey. It's okay, I got you. Don't be afraid. I'm right here with you." The Byers woman continues to spew out reassuring words, only stopping when Eleven cut her off.

"Castle Byers." Eleven muttered, causing Joyce's eyes to widen at her other son, who looks hopeful. Carla tenses, holding tightly on her Jonathan's hand—her other arm was wrapped around Nancy in a show of comfort. "Will?"

Her voice isn't as panicked or painful as it was when she said Barb's name, giving Carla more hope than ever that Will Byers was alive. 

Joyce gasps and is immediately telling Eleven what to say, what she wants her boy to know. "You tell him.....You tell him I'm coming. Mom is coming."

"You're mom.....she's coming for you." Eleven says, relaying the message to the boy.

"Hurry."

Carla's heart clenched at Will's voice through the walkie—he sounded so weak and tired, words no more than a sleepy mutter. 

"Okay. Listen, you tell him to....to stay where he is.  We're coming. We're coming, okay? We're coming, honey. Just....just hold on a little longer." Joyce rushes, tightly holding on to the girl as she relays the message to the boy.

"Will. Will?"

  There's nothing more from the radio as Eleven starts to yell for the Byers boy, putting panic in the faces of everyone.  

Suddenly, Eleven burst out of the pool, ripping the goggles from her eyes. Joyce wrapped an arm around the small girl, comforting her and showing that she did good, that she was loved.  "I've got you. It's okay.  I got you. I got you, honey. You did so good."  

The girl starts to cry, and the group falls into a solemn silence.

The group is now separated once more.

Eleven had been taken out of the kiddie pool and was now situated on the bleachers, towel wrapping around her thin body. Mike was beside her, allowing the girl to rest her head on his shoulder while Lucas and Dustin sat around, the Sinclair boy rubbing a hand up and down Eleven's towel.

Joyce, Hopper, and Jonathan had been talking but the three stormed out of the gym, which Carla decided not to investigate.  Her sister had left the gym as well—the moment Eleven was sat down, she'd rushed out with trembling lips—and, while Carla wanted to make sure her twin was okay, decided it was best to give Nancy a few moments to herself to grieve over Barb.

Barb. Carla's heart sank at the thought of the friendly, nerdy, and caring red head.  Barbara didn't deserve to die so young—especially not at the hands of such a gruesome creature. She was innocent and was always there to help her close friends, (which was truly only Nancy, if Carla is honest).  She'd been at the wrong place at the wrong time, an unsuspecting victim.

So, to take her mind off the death of the Holland, the Wheeler girl trailed over to the four kids sitting silently on the bleachers.

"How are you feeling El? Any better?" Carla looks at Eleven.  The girl looks exhausted and the Wheeler feels bad for being the reason behind her exhaustion—they'd needed her powers, but she didn't know El would feel so tired afterwards.

Eleven picks up her head for a moment to nod, "Okay."

"Do you need anything else? Some dry clothes, another towel or blanket, anything?" Carla asks, the small girl shaking her head in a no.  In an attempt to lighten the mood, the Wheeler gives a small smile and offers, "Hey, how about this, you come over to my house and we watch a movie? Or do whatever you want to do."

"Make Eggos?" El asks, causing the Wheeler girl to furrow her brows.

"I mean, if that's what you want.....sure?" Carla shrugs, causing the girl to small to herself.  The Wheeler then looks at her brother with a raised brow, confused on how the girl knew about the brand Eggo in the first place—she doubts the lab fed her waffles. "How does she know about Eggos?"

Mike met his sister's gaze, "I may or may not have been feeding her Eggos when she was hiding in our basement."

"She was hiding in our basement?" the Wheeler gapes, looking at her brother with wide eyes.  The boy, as well as Dustin and Lucas, nod simultaneously.  She couldn't believe that a mystery, super powered, girl was hiding in her house for the past week and she wasn't finding out until now.  Mike was really good at hiding things.  "Why am I just now finding out about this?"

Lucas shrugs, "I don't know, I feel like it was kinda known by now.  She had a whole blanket fort and everything."

"Don't give me that tone Baby Boy."  

Eleven furrows her brows, "Baby...Boy?"

Carla smiled at Eleven, "It's my nickname for Lucas—a name only I call him."

"Oh."

Lucas grumbles, "A name that I hate."

Carla pauses a second before eyeing Dustin, "You know, I'm surprised you were able to keep the secret from me, Dustin."

Dustin's mouth dropped, "What? Why?"

"Because you suck at keeping secrets, that's why."

"I do not!"

Mike deadpanned, "Dustin, you literally told her about the surprise party we were gonna throw for her last year."

"Oh that doesn't count—"

The boys then started retelling stories of when the Henderson boy spilled secrets. Carla gave a light chuckle, but soon caught the gym doors in her gaze.  Thinking of her sister, she looked back at the Party and El. "I'm gonna go check on Nancy, you guys okay?"

"Yeah."

"We'll be fine."

Carla sends them a reassuring smile before running out of the gym. She's quick to catch her sister sitting against a nearby wall, legs pulled into her chest.  The Wheeler didn't even ask if she could sit, and just did so, knowing Nancy needed someone.  The sisters sat in silence, yet it wasn't entirely uncomfortable—what was Carla supposed to say? I'm sorry your best friend died because you decided to have sex with your boyfriend instead of going home with her? Certainly not.

Their silence is ruined by the opening of a door, and Carla looks up to see Jonathan walking over to them. The boy takes a seat on Nancy's other side, copying her position by wrapping his hands over his knees.

The trio sits like this until Nancy speaks up, "We have to go back to the station."

Jonathan looks at her, "What?"

"Nance." Carla sighs, knowing that Nancy was in no state to fight a monster—she just wanted revenge for Barb's death and was running on act first, think later mode. "We have to stay and watch the boys and El. We can't just leave without a promise of coming back like that." 

Carla wants to finish this creature off once and for all, but the kids need protection too. Without Hopper and Joyce—who she assumes left for some reason, given they hadn't returned to the gym—the kids counted on them for protection, especially with Eleven being so drained.  If they left, the boys were defenseless if something attacked.

"Your mom and Hopper are just walking in there like bait. That thing is still in there.....And we can't just sit there and let it get them too." Nancy's words are harshly edged, tone more serious and venomous than Carla had heard it in a while. "We can't."

Jonathan took in a breath, "You still wanna try it out?"

"I wanna finish what we started." Nancy stated, looking between her sister and friend with determination. Her voice is still thick with tears and guilt as she adds, "I want to kill it."                    The Wheeler wasn't just going to kill it—she was gonna avenge Barb's death even if it was the last fucking thing she did.  

Jonathan nodded. Carla sighed and thought over her choices.

If she went with the other two teens, she'd get to kill the monster for good—they'd planned to kill the monster together, as a trio. She couldn't leave Jonathan and Nancy as a duo now, when they needed her. 

If she stayed in the gym, she could watch over the kids like the babysitter she was.  She could help the Party stay protected, as well as make sure Eleven stayed rested enough in case something were to go wrong.  

But, if the creature was dead, nothing could go wrong.  

So, Carla nodded. "Let's kill the son of a bitch."

She hoped this was the right decision.

The teens were back at the Byers residence.

After retrieving their original supplies from the police station, the group returned to the Byers house to fulfill their original plan—or, as Carla liked to call it, Plan; Monster Killing.  The plan they were supposed to test out earlier before the fight with Steve, before getting sent to the station. 

The moment they stepped into the house, the trio got to work.

The three started with the straining task of twisting each light bulb back into their sockets—not only did it clean the floors so no one ended up tripping on a Christmas light when trying to kill this thing, it also (based on Jonathan's assumptions) would help them figure out when the monster was coming.

They then move on to the weapons—setting up the bear trap, pouring gasoline in the middle of the hallway beside it, filling the two guns Carla and Nancy had bought with bullets, as well as hammering nails in to Nancy's baseball bat, which she'd brought along.

Currently, Carla was working on the latter with Jonathan.

The two teens stood in silence, hammering nails in sync.  Carla was trying to keep her internal thoughts in, but as she hammered the nails into the wooden object—as she prepared her and the two others to fight this thing—it was really setting in.  

They were going to fight this thing.

Now, Carla had confidence that they'd be able to put up a good fight, but there was no way it would be easy. When her and Nance had seen it in the realm of her nightmares, they'd run without even trying to stand their ground.  Who was saying that couldn't happen again?

Who's saying someone won't get hurt? That someone won't.....die?

The stopping of hammering took the Wheeler from her thoughts, and she watched as Jonathan walked away to grab some more nails. With the moment of silence, the girl opened her mouth, blurting,"Hey Jonathan.....can you promise me something?" 

"Uh, sure?" Jonathan replied in a confused tone, turning back around to face his best friend. "What do you need?"

Carla began, "Um, I—this is really stupid, I know, but—if everything goes to shit tonight and I die—"

"Hey, hey, hey." Jonathan cuts the Wheeler off, moving towards her and putting a hand on her shoulder in comfort. "Don't think like that. We're going to kill this bastard, and we're all going to be okay—"

"We don't know that, Jonathan." the Wheeler says quietly, and the Byers boys lips drew into a thin line because she was right—they didn't know anything about this creature in the long run, something could indeed happen. "I just want you to be there for my family if something happens to me tonight, okay? Especially Nancy—she'll really need you.  Don't let her blame herself."

She sent her best friend a small yet weak smile, "I, uh, also just want to say that you're one of the best people I've ever met, and that if something happens to me, I'm glad I spent  my sixteen years being your friend."

Jonathan looked at the girl solemnly, "Carla."

"I know it's stupid and I know we'll be totally fine." the Wheeler isn't sure whether she's trying to reassure Jonathan that her words were a precaution or herself. "I just want to get that off my chest to you before......"

"No, Carla, it's not stupid. You're right." Jonathan shakes his head, "We don't know what could happen—you're right to want to say those things." He turns back and grabs the box of nails before adding, "And for the record, if something was to happen to me, I want you to know that you are the best person I've ever met."

Carla blew him a kiss and he pressed a hand against his cheek—she missed when things were normal.

Another thirty minutes or so later and everything was ready.

The three teens stood in a small circle, the three of them holding a knife in their hands.  As planned, they were going to cut their hands to puncture their skin—to lure the creature to them via their blood.

Carla also saw it as some sort of blood oath. If they went down, they would go together.

Jonathan looked between the two girls, "Remember....."

"Straight to Will's room." Nancy nodded, "And—"

Carla cut in, "Don't step on the trap."

"Wait for the yo-yo to move."

"Then....." the Byers boy trailed off, flicking the lighter he had in his free hand open to show what he meant—then we burn the bastard. The two girls nodded, and he continued. "Alright. You guys ready?"

Nancy confirmed, "Ready."

"Ready as I'll ever be." Carla sighed, holding out her left hand, the others doing the exact same thing. The all hovered their opposite hands over their palms, preparing to cut—the Wheeler squeezed her eyes shut, ready for the sting of the wound.

"On three. One...two...." Jonathan trailed off, the other two girls' face's contorting  together in anticipation of the pain. "You don't have to do this—"

"Jonathan, stop talking." Nancy muttered.

"I'm just saying you don't have to—"

"Three." Carla squeezed her eyes shut as she blurted the number, not hesitating to push the edge of the knife into her palm.  The Wheeler lets out a hiss as the feeling of her skin breaking sends a shot of pain up her arm, blood beginning to come against the wound given it was in the center of her palm.

The trio stands, allowing drops of blood to fall from their palms as they wait for the lights to start flickering—Joyce's way of contact—or for the creature to flat out burst out of nowhere.  But....after ten minutes of waiting, there was nothing.

No signs, no flickering, no growling. Nothing.

"Well, we might as well wrap our hands before we turn the carpeting red." Carla mutters, wrapping her free hand over the gash she'd cut.  Now they had to wait—she isn't sure whether shes glad or not. 

Nancy nodded, "Now we wait."

"It'll come when it's ready." Carla agrees.

Jonathan nods too and runs off to find a first aid kit to use on their gashes.  The two sisters take a seat on the couch, on the ready for when he returned.  When he did, the trio took turns wrapping each other's hands—Jonathan wrapping Carla's, Carla wrapping Nancy's and Nancy wrapping Jonathan's.

The latter was currently getting wrapped, Nancy sitting beside him doing the task. Carla leaned against the wall behind them, ears open for any sort of sound—quiet or loud, scary or calm.  She wanted to be ready when this thing came.

A small creak sounded.

Carla's ears perked at the sudden sound, as did Nancy's.  The latter looks at the other two teens, worried and curious as she asks, "Did you hear that?"

"It's just the wind." Jonathan replies, though he doesn't seem to sure of his answer.

"Let's hope it is." Carla mutters, examining the Byers' bandage job on her palm. It still slightly stung, but overtime, the skin would rebuild to produce a slightly badass scar—one she'd share with her sister and best friend for the rest of her life. 

"Don't worry." Jonathan reassures as Nancy continues to wrap his hand, "My mom, she said the lights speak when it comes."

Nancy furrows a brow, "Speak?"

"Flicker, blink, whatever you want to call it." Carla explains, remembering the words the mother had told the two teens, explaining how she'd spoken to Will— of course then she'd been assumed in denial. "Think of them as an alarm."

Nancy glances at the lights before finishing wrapping the boys hand, "Is that too tight?"

"No, it—it's fine." Jonathan reassures.

The two then look at one another, hands grazing against each other, and Carla's absolutely sure there's something there before the moment is interrupted by a sudden banging at the door.

The Wheeler girl jumps at the sudden sound, and she's immediately pacing towards the door. Her heart is racing in anticipation and in fear, and her hand grazes the door knob, about to open it, when she's cut off by a very familiar voice.

"Jonathan? Are you there, man? It's...It's Steve!"

Steve?

Carla's eyes suddenly narrowed. What the hell was Steve doing at the Byers residence? He had no right to step foot within their house after the mess that was this afternoon, let alone banging on their door like a maniac.

"Listen, I just want to talk!"

There's another round of knocking, and the Wheeler looks back at her sister and Jonathan, Nancy nodding towards the door, wanting her sister to open the door and shoo her boyfriend away.

Carla sighs, unlocking the deadlock before swinging the Byers' front door open.

As expected, Steve Harrington stands in front of her. His face is all bloodied and bruised, dried blood crusted on top of his nose and under one of his eyes, as well as under his lips.  One of his eyes is black from Jonathan's countless punches, and he has a small yet visible bruise on his cheek—Carla knows it's from her.

A small wash of sympathy washes over Carla as she looks at the Harrington because, well, he looked terrible.  A year ago, if Steve showed up at her door-step in this condition, the Wheeler would have ushered him in without a minutes worth of hesitation—she would have cleaned and kissed all of his wounds until he felt better.

But there wasn't time for sympathy right now. She had to get him out.

"Carla?" Steve spoke her name softly, looking at the girl with apologetic eyes. God, Carla had always loved his eyes—she'd always told him he had puppy dog ones.  He couldn't hide emotion in them, or keep secrets.  She could read them in a second.

And even worse; she'd always give in to them, whether or not she wanted too. 

mara's misc!

and everyone's back!!!