Chapter Text
After standing on the flower covered hill for a minute, seeing the destruction overtaking the town, the group runs as fast as they can back to the cabin. Hopper…Dad opens the door in the way where it slams against a wall, making the walls shake. It was as if a cue sounded and everyone starts talking over each other immediately.
Jane sits on the floor when a sharp pain erupts in her temples. She cradles her head in her hands, the sounds of talking, which now sounds more like shouting, gets louder. She feels a body sit beside her and a muffled voice asks if she’s okay. Jane thinks it may be Will but she can’t be sure. She closes her eyes and leans her head on her knees and suddenly there’s silence. It’s so sudden it startles her into looking up.
She’s in the void, miles and miles of pure blackness stretching everywhere and the water under her makes her stand up. She tries to look for something, anything that’s the reason behind why she’s here but she sees nothing. She does feel something though. A chill runs up her spine and the hairs on her arm stand up when the temperature drops a few degrees.
That’s new. The void never really had any temperature.
She hears a voice and she tries to focus on it but it’s muffled so she can’t make out the words. So instead she tries to force herself out of the void to see what’s going on.
After opening her eyes the first thing she registers is H- dad shouting very very loud. She’s in..a chair? and there’s a hand on her shoulder. She turns and sees Joyce biting her lip, worried.
“What is going on?” She asks, wiping blood from her nose.
“I don’t know, we’re in some weird cinema that’s like ten times bigger than the one in Hawkins. Oh yeah also I think everyone from the town is here. We have no clue what’s happening.” Max pipes up from her left side. Jane turns so fast that Max jumps a little.
“What..How are you-“
“Here? I don’t know. Nothing about this makes sense, the last thing I remember is being at the Creel house and passing out. I thought I died and maybe it’s actually happening because I can see Billy. Billy who is supposed to be dead as far as I’m aware.”
Jane just gapes at her. Turning around, she sees Max is right. There, a few rows above sits Billy who’s currently getting hugged by a very teary eyed Susan. Safe to say that Billy looks pretty annoyed.
She flips back around at the reminder that hugs exist, reaches out to Max and promptly squeezes her so hard that the arm rest is pushing into her stomach. Max lets out a little oof at the impact but she hugs her back just as hard.
“You’ve been out for a while. We were worried.” Joyce supplies when they finally let go of each other. That’s when Jane finally gets a good look around. Max was right. It is a big movie theatre and it looks like everyone is here. Everyone. Even Becky- her aunt and Kali who looks positively pissed with everything going on.
She also sees, well, hears her dad screaming at everyone to calm down. His voice is hoarse so he’s probably been doing that for a while. But strangely, no one is running around. Everyone is neatly seated in their own seats besides a few people hugging or holding hands.
She tries to get up and is immediately held down by what could closely be described as an invisible seatbelt.
“Yeah. That also happens.” Max smiles. “Good thing I’m seated near you then huh?”
Jane smiles back.
And the giant screen turns on. It startles everyone into almost silence as words appear on the screen. They read pretty slow so even Jane has enough time to catch up and read them.
Greetings, residents of Hawkins. Please refrain from panicking. This arrangement won’t hurt you. I have gathered you here so you all can see and understand the events from 1983 up until now. However the main part is that something went wrong. You are all from the year 1986 a few days from when the..earthquakes have happened. This arrangement is happening to help you prevent an incident that could have apocalyptic consequences.
Murmurs break along the cinema. Jane is behind on some words, for example ‘apocalyptic’ but she knows instantly what this is about. The upside down. 001. Her.
They must have failed. They must have failed so badly that whoever..whatever gathered them here had to bring the entire town in on the secret just so the world doesn’t end. Max squeezes her hand as too, she understands what this means. The text doesn’t stop moving.
As you have noticed you can’t move from your seat. Don’t panic, this is just a precaution. Children under the age of 10 have not been brought here due to the nature of what I’m about to show you. This is also not a cause for panic as when you get back they won’t even notice you were gone in the first place.
There have been a few complications due to people who were needed not being necessarily available, so they have been brought back to help you along with this.
These events have been documented in the style of a tv show, so it is quite long but don’t worry, everything has been adjusted in a way where you don’t get bored, hungry or won’t need to take a bathroom break.
Please do your best to pay attention.
People are still understandably freaking out but the screen immediately changes to show what Jane assumes is the first scene.
She pulls her legs up onto the seat and hopes that it isn’t too detailed.