Chapter Text
Sean had no idea why anybody would want to go to one of Todd’s parties. Least of all did he know why White would want to go to one of Todd’s parties. “Why not?” White had asked, blinking at him. “Todd’s nice.”
Todd wasn’t nice, in Sean’s opinion. Todd just wanted to get into White’s pants, which was unacceptable from Sean’s point of view. But White seemed completely oblivious to the fact that Todd wasn’t really a nice guy. Todd was just the sort of guy who acted nice until he got what he wanted. White had been so sheltered over the course of his life that he had apparently never met anybody like that before coming to Hawkins.
So when Todd stopped by the garage and invited White to the party, Sean was annoyed. When White said, “Sure, that sounds like fun,” Sean was even more annoyed. Now he was going to have to go, too, which was approximately the last thing he wanted to do. White attempted to assure him that this wasn’t necessary, and Sean certainly wasn’t about to admit the fact that he was only going because he didn’t trust Todd to keep his grubby hands off White.
“Dude,” Yok said, upon hearing about this. “Would you please just ask him out before you hurt yourself?”
“Mind your own business, Yok,” Sean said. “You can’t talk when you’ve been stalking the new deputy sheriff for months.”
“Oh, come on, have you seen him - ”
“Yeah, I have, I’ve seen you getting arrested by him repeatedly for committing vandalism in broad daylight. It’s rude to make someone indulge your kink without their consent.”
“He enjoys handcuffing me,” Yok said, laughing. “It’s always him, never one of the other officers. And nice try changing the subject. Come on, White’s been here for six months now and you’ve wanted to ask him out since you knew him for six hours. It’s getting a little sad.”
Sean flipped him off. He wasn’t about to get drawn into a discussion of how he felt about White. He knew Yok wouldn’t really understand. White was his friend, and he didn’t want to mess that up because White didn’t have anybody else. He especially didn’t have anyone else here in Hawkins. If things got awkward at the garage, White might just haul stakes and leave, like he had done wherever he had come from. So what if Sean wanted to slow-play it a little, be more sure of White’s feelings before he said anything? It wasn’t like Yok, who had never slow-played anything in his life, would get that.
“Will you please just come to the party with us?” he asked.
“Can’t,” Yok said, with a note of actual apology in his voice. “I’ve got a big project due on Monday. I already promised Mom I’d do chores and errands for her on Sunday, and we’ve got D&D Saturday, so I have to start tonight.”
Gram couldn’t go either, because it was his parents’ date night and he had his younger siblings to look after, and Namo simply said she wouldn’t be caught dead at one of Todd’s parties. Sean said that was fair, even as he sulked about having to go himself.
“You really don’t have to come with me,” White said, combing his hair. “I know you don’t like Todd very much, even if I don’t know why.”
“He’s a slut,” Sean said.
“Yok’s a slut and you like Yok.”
Sean laughed despite himself. “Okay, that’s true. But I don’t want to make you go by yourself. What if you don’t feel well?”
“I have a phone,” White pointed out. “I could always call you to come pick me up.” He saw that Sean wasn’t budging and said, “Look, just promise me that if you’re miserable, you won’t stay and bring the whole party down by glaring at Todd the whole time. You can leave me and either pick me up later or I’ll crash at his place. Okay?”
Sean groaned. “Okay, fine. I promise.”
White had to remind him of this promise twice, first when they got there, and then again forty-five minutes later, at which point Sean could tell he was getting annoyed. He decided he would just go, and let White call him later for a ride. “Even if it’s really late, just call me and I’ll come get you.”
“Okay,” White said, leaning back in the pool chair.
Sean was comforted by the fact that there were at least a dozen people there, two of whom were actively flirting with Todd. That meant Todd was more likely to just screw one of them instead of continuing to flirt with the deeply oblivious White. He reminded himself that White had made it all the way from California on his own, and could certainly take care of himself. He also reminded himself that White wasn’t his boyfriend, so he had no business getting jealous.
He went back to the garage, avoided Gumpa, and went to bed with his phone on his chest. He was sure it would wake him when White called for a ride.
But when he woke, it was to the sound of his alarm clock. He startled, then groaned, fumbling until he turned it off. Swearing to himself, he climbed out of bed and went to the room next door to his. He knocked and then opened the door to see that it was empty. “Hey, White?” he called out, jogging into the garage. “Hia, have you seen White this morning?”
“No,” Gumpa said, unbothered. “Wasn’t he going to crash at Todd’s if he stayed late?”
Sean wondered why everyone was so casually fine with White staying at Todd’s. “He told me before I left last night that he’d call me for a ride.”
Gumpa seemed amused. “He told you that? Or you told him to do that and he agreed to go along with it? Because you know how he is. If it was after midnight, he wouldn’t have wanted to bother you even if you had told him that he should. Just go pick him up and stop worrying.”
Sean somehow resisted the urge to flip Gumpa off before going to get dressed. Twenty minutes later, he was knocking on Todd’s door.
It took quite some time before someone answered, and then it was Todd, wearing a bathrobe and looking annoyed. “What do you want?”
“I’m here to pick White up.”
“What?” Todd yawned, pushing a hand back through his hair. “I don’t think he’s here. I mean, I haven’t been up long but I haven’t seen him.”
Sean muttered something uncomplimentary. “Well, did you see him leave last night?”
“No. I went in around midnight with Ohm.”
“Of course you did,” Sean muttered, rolling his eyes. “And he was still here then?”
“Yeah, along with maybe half a dozen other people. I don’t know where he went. I thought he was going to call you for a ride, but he might have just come in and found a sofa to sleep on. I’ll look around if it really matters that much to you.”
“Only you could have to have a search party in your own house,” Sean said. “Forget it. I’ll just call him.”
“Suit yourself,” Todd said, and shut the door in his face.
Sean cursed him out but took out his phone and dialed, walking back to his motorcycle. He had barely taken a few steps when he realized he could faintly hear it ringing. He looked over at the side of the house, wondering if White had just fallen asleep in the pool chair. He hoped not; it was too cold at night to be sleeping outside. But he jogged in that direction anyway.
The backyard was empty, and he didn’t see the phone anywhere. He had to call it twice before he could manage to follow the sound to where it was sitting in the grass. “What the fuck?” he said to himself, looking around. He supposed it was possible that White had just dropped it at some point during the party, but if that was the case, then where was he?
Who else had been at the party? He thought back. Eugene had been there, and she was usually a decent human being. He called her and said, “Did you see White leave last night?”
“No, he was still there when Nene and I left,” Eugene said. “We asked him if he wanted a ride since we were the last ones leaving. He said no, he was just going to stay the night and call you to pick him up in the morning. Why?”
“He’s not there, but . . . I’ll call you back,” Sean said, and hung up. He went back to the door and pounded on it again.
“What?” Todd asked, sounding exasperated.
“I just found his phone in your backyard,” Sean said. “I talked to Eugene and she said White was the last one left at the pool, and that he told her he was going to go in and sleep here. So you’d better fucking find him.”
“Dude, he’s not here,” Todd said. “My house isn’t that big. Give me a break.”
“You’re really useless, you know that?” Sean said, and decided to call Gumpa.
~ ~ ~ ~
Gumpa wouldn’t have admitted it, because he knew teenagers were very sensitive, but he found Sean’s whole attitude around Todd’s party to be quite funny. He agreed that White was completely oblivious to the fact that Todd was flirting with him, but he also wasn’t worried about it. White was sheltered and inexperienced, but he wasn’t an idiot. When Todd finally made a move on him, Gumpa was ninety-nine percent sure that White would shut him down. White was always polite with Todd, but White was polite with everyone. He didn’t act the way around Todd the way he acted around Sean. He was comfortable with Sean, genuinely friends with him, whereas Todd he still held at arm’s length.
Sure, Gumpa didn’t particularly like Todd either. His parents owned the factory that was responsible for the jobs of eighty percent of the people who lived in their town. Todd was richer than half the population put together, and he never let anyone forget it. Gumpa thought he was an arrogant douchebag, like almost any teenager in his position would be, but he was basically harmless. There was plenty of time for him to grow out of it.
The only reason White had decided to go to this party was, as far as Gumpa could tell, because he had never been to a real party before. A lot of White’s background was still a mystery, as he had shared very little since arriving in Hawkins. But the framework of it was pretty clear to Gumpa. He had been a chronically ill child of rich parents who had all but suffocated him in their attempts to keep him safe. There was so much of life that White had just never experienced, and now that he was out on his own, he wanted to try anything that sounded like it might be remotely appealing.
So Gumpa wasn’t particularly worried. White would go to this party, and he might even have a good time at it and want to go to another someday. But he would still be Sean’s friend afterwards.
Gumpa equally understood why Sean was so hesitant about sharing his feelings with White. Within weeks of the day White had arrived, Sean’s crush had intensified into full blown puppy love. But even though White was comfortable around Sean, and trusted Sean, he was still hard to read. He had been so isolated that he had never become very expressive, and always seemed to be holding himself back a little, unsure of what an appropriate reaction would be.
Beyond that, White had no real ties to Hawkins. He could decide to leave at any time, if he got sick of staying at Gumpa’s garage, or if he became, for whatever reason, uncomfortable there.
Gumpa wasn’t really worried about it. White wasn’t expressive, but there was a softness to him around Sean that never came out around anyone else. Sometimes Gumpa caught him just smiling at Sean over a book, while Sean wasn’t looking at him. White had barely been there for a month when he had decided to learn how to make Sean’s favorite foods. It was always Sean that he went to when he wasn’t feeling well, even though Gumpa was the adult in the picture.
It was quite possible that White had no idea he was in love with Sean, given how sheltered he had been, and certainly Sean hadn’t noticed yet. But Gumpa wasn’t about to stick his nose in. They were kids. They just needed a little time to sort themselves out.
He almost didn’t hear Sean’s call, as he was halfway in an engine, and grabbed it just before it would have gone to voicemail. Sean was talking so quickly that Gumpa had to stop him and say, “Slow down. What’s going on?”
“White’s not at Todd’s,” Sean said. “He didn’t call me for a ride so he was going to stay here but he’s not here and I don’t know where he is. I called him but he left his phone here.”
Gumpa was a bit taken aback by this, as it wasn’t at all how he had planned to spend his Saturday morning. He was lucky he only had one oil change on the books, and had just been finishing it up. “He left his phone?”
“I found it in the backyard, like he had dropped it or something, and Todd swears he’s not here but I’m thinking about breaking a window - ”
“Calm down,” Gumpa told him. “I’ll be there in a few minutes, okay?”
Sean blew out an aggrieved breath. “Okay. Fine.”
Gumpa quickly finished up with the car in the garage, then put up a sign saying he was closed due to a family emergency. Most of the people in town knew there were kids he looked after, and wouldn’t be completely surprised by this. He got on his bike and drove down to Todd’s. Sean was pacing around in the driveway, and Todd was sitting on the front step in his bathrobe, looking both annoyed and amused.
“He’s not here,” Todd said, as soon as Gumpa pulled up. “I’ve checked. Tell him I don’t have White in my closet.”
“I’d believe you didn’t have White in your closet if you would let me in to look - ”
“Dude, I don’t have to let you in to look. Come back with a warrant.”
“I’m going to kick your ass so hard - ”
Gumpa squeezed his shoulder, but addressed Todd, staying polite. “You didn’t see White leave last night?”
“As I’ve already told this asshole here a dozen times, no,” Todd said. “I left the party around midnight to go to my room with Ohm. I told everyone they were welcome to stay and keep hanging out. Sean already talked to Eugene who said she and Nene were the last ones to leave, and that White was still at the pool and said he was going to crash here. But again, as I’ve said repeatedly, he didn’t come inside.”
“But we have to take your word on that,” Sean snapped.
“No, dickhead, you don’t. I told you.” Todd shook his head and turned back to Gumpa. “We have a security system, right? It wasn’t armed last night because of the party, but the ring cameras were still on. White didn’t come into this house. Seriously. I’ll show you the footage.”
“You don’t need to,” Gumpa said, much to Sean’s annoyance. Todd wouldn’t bother to make up a lie they could easily disprove. To Sean, he said, “Did you check White’s phone?”
“I don’t know the code,” Sean said.
“And here I thought you two were so close,” Todd drawled.
“You son of a - ”
Gumpa gripped Sean’s shoulder harder, but said to Todd, “You’re not helping.”
Todd sighed. “He probably just decided to walk home. I don’t know why Sean’s making such a big deal out of it.”
“Because he wouldn’t do that when he knew he could call me for a ride,” Sean retorted. “Besides, if he had done that, he’d be back by now!”
As much as Gumpa didn’t want to be an alarmist, he agreed with Sean on those points. White didn’t want to be a bother, but he trusted Sean, and would have rather called him than walk back to the garage in the dead of night. It was about five miles if he took the roads, but only two if he went through the woods. If he had tried to do that, he could have gotten lost; he had been out there with the gang a number of times but things looked different at night. It was at least one explanation, but Gumpa frankly didn’t buy it. White was responsible, and although he was sheltered, he still seemed to have more common sense than most teenagers Gumpa knew. He wouldn’t have risked walking home through the woods when he could have just called for a ride.
His worry was compounded due to White’s health condition, which frankly Gumpa didn’t know what to think of. White had told them on his second day in Hawkins that he had epilepsy, and Gumpa had seen his episodes. Wanting to be a responsible adult, Gumpa had done a bit of research to make sure White had everything he needed. He had come to the uncomfortable conclusion that whatever was wrong with White, it wasn’t epilepsy. He always knew when he was about to have a seizure; he said his vision got blurry and he had chest pain and shortness of breath beforehand. To the best of Gumpa’s ability to Google, there were no seizure disorders that looked like that. But White only barely trusted him, had still told them very little about where he had come from and why he had left home, so he hadn’t wanted to ask a lot of questions. Now he wished he had, because if White had had an episode when nobody was around, Gumpa wasn’t sure if he would be okay afterwards.
It was probably nothing, he thought. Hawkins was a safe place and White had a good head on his shoulders. But in case it wasn’t nothing, and partly to keep Sean from freaking out, he decided that it was time to call the police.
~ ~ ~ ~
// Gumpa was reading a magazine when he heard the jingle of the bells that were on the door to the garage. He glanced up to see a teenager coming in, which was a bit of a surprise, especially since it was someone he didn’t know. He knew almost everyone in Hawkins, and their town really wasn’t on the way to anywhere else. People would occasionally come through, but it was rare.
“Excuse me, sir,” the teenager said, which amused Gumpa somewhat. None of the local teenagers would ever call him sir. “My check engine light came on about a half an hour ago while I was driving up route 113. Would you be able to take a look?”
“Sure,” Gumpa said. Route 113 was the only road that led into their town that went somewhere else within an hour, so he was guessing that the boy was indeed on his way somewhere else. He grabbed the cord and reader and followed him out to the car. It was a bland and boring vehicle, a small sedan that was about 6 years old but had clearly been well taken care of. He plugged his equipment in and grabbed the keys. “Looks like it’s probably your catalytic converter. Let me get it into the shop and I can take a closer look.”
“Thank you, sir.”
Gumpa shook his head slightly, still amused at being called sir. He told the teenager that he could wait in the office and then took the keys to drive it in.
About a half hour later, he had determined that it was indeed the catalytic converter, and went in to tell him so. “I can order one for you, but they can be pretty pricey,” he said. “It’s not so badly damaged that you can’t keep driving, so you could do that to get where you’re going before you stop to replace it.”
“Money isn’t an issue, but . . .” He looked slightly uncomfortable, pushing his glasses up on his nose. “I wasn’t really going anywhere, so I guess I might as well get it replaced here rather than risk damaging the car.”
Gumpa wondered what that meant, that he wasn’t going anywhere. The car didn’t look like he was living in it. “Okay, let me get some paperwork. I’m Gumpa, by the way. I own this garage.”
“Ah . . . I’m White,” he introduced himself, as Gumpa got out the paperwork. He looked up the parts he would need and began to fill it out. “How long will it take for the parts to come in?”
“Depends on where it’s coming from,” Gumpa said. “Some stuff I can get within a few days, but I’m going to have to special order this, so it might be a week or so. Sure you don’t want to drive to the nearest city?”
Rather than answering the question, White said, “Do you know of a motel within walking distance?”
“No motels around here,” Gumpa said. “We’re not exactly a booming tourist town, nor are we on the way from anywhere to anywhere else.” He set the clipboard down and gave White a close look. He seemed a little nervous, and Gumpa hadn’t missed that he didn’t want to go to the city, nor had he given a family name. “Are you okay?”
White blinked at him. “What do you mean?”
Gumpa had never been long on tact. “I mean, it seems like you’re running away from somewhere, or something.”
“Oh,” White said, and didn’t confirm or deny.
Gumpa sighed. “Look, I’ve got some spare rooms in the back. There are a couple of other kids about your age, local kids, who crash with me a lot. You can stay here at the garage if you want, and you don’t have to tell me anything.”
He thought White would refuse. He didn’t look like the sort of person who would want to stay in a garage in the middle of nowhere. But instead he just nodded and said, “Thank you, sir. I appreciate that.”
“One condition, though - you have to stop calling me sir,” Gumpa said. He said it in a joking tone, but didn’t miss the way White’s body tightened at the word ‘condition’. He relaxed an instant later, when he heard the second half of Gumpa’s sentence, and even smiled. But Gumpa grew more certain that there was a lot to this teenager that he wasn’t seeing. The feeling grew more pronounced when he told White how much the parts would be, and White paid in cash.
He thought about that as he pulled the car out of the garage to empty the space for anyone else who came in who needed something in the meantime. White looked around the same age as Sean, which meant he should probably be in school and in the custody of some sort of guardian. He said money wasn’t an issue, but the car he drove was neither expensive nor new. Gumpa ran the VIN, as he always did, and confirmed that the car was seven years old. It had clearly been well cared for, but from the few questions he had asked White about the car’s behavior and history, White hadn’t had it long. He had bought it used, probably paid cash for that as well. But White also looked well cared for. He was tidy and dressed well - better than most of the kids his age that Gumpa knew - and he seemed uninjured and of an appropriate weight for his height.
A mystery, Gumpa thought. But a lot of the kids who hung out at the garage had started as mysteries. Given time, they usually trusted him.
As if the thought had conjured him, Sean jogged inside and slung his backpack down on one of the plastic chairs in the kitchen. “Hey, hia. Whose car is that outside? Is there work?”
“Had to order parts,” Gumpa said. “I’ll introduce you. Hey, White?” he called out.
He had showed White the rooms at the back, and although White had taken a backpack out of the passenger seat, he didn’t seem to have much else. Upon hearing his name, he poked his head out, looking a little wary. Sean seemed surprised, probably to see that the owner of the vehicle was so young. “Sean, this is White - he’s going to crash here until his car is fixed. White, Sean - he has the room next to the one I gave you.”
“Nice to meet you,” White said, still very polite.
“Yeah, same,” Sean said, and added to Gumpa, “Namo is staying with her mom this weekend, so she won’t be home tonight.”
“Is it Friday?” White interjected.
Sean blinked at him. “Yeah. Shouldn’t you know that?”
“I’ve been driving for a while,” White said, vaguely. “It wasn’t really important what day of the week it was.”
“Where you from?” Sean asked, although the conversation wasn’t stopping him from raiding Gumpa’s refrigerator. Gumpa decided to leave them to it, although he kept half an ear out for any interesting information. White was a lot more likely to talk to another teenager than an adult, even one who wasn’t any sort of authority figure.
“I was born in New York,” White said, “but I lived in California until last year.”
“Oh yeah?” Sean asked through a mouthful of chips. “Want any?”
“Um . . . no, thank you,” White said. He seemed a little wary of Sean, which Gumpa figured was probably mainly due to his manners, or lack thereof.
“Why’d you come to Indiana of all places?” Sean asked.
White shrugged. “It seemed like the thing to do. What’s with all the questions?”
Sean plunked down in a chair and rocked it back so only the hind legs were on the floor. “Gumpa will adopt anyone who wanders in his door, but I like to make sure there isn’t a serial killer sleeping in the room next to mine. Shouldn’t you be in school?”
“I graduated this spring.”
“Oh? You don’t look that old.”
“I’m not.” White seemed to be getting irritated, or maybe just overwhelmed by Sean’s interrogation. “I’m sixteen.”
“Yeah? You must be smart, then. I think school is for suckers but Gumpa keeps telling me I have to go anyway. If you’re that smart, why didn’t you go to college?”
“I didn’t want to.”
“Why not?”
“Because school is for suckers.”
Sean laughed. “You’re okay, White. C’mon, I’ll show you my bike.” //
~ ~ ~ ~
Chapter Text
Dan had been a deputy sheriff at the Hawkins police station for just over a year. In that time, he had collared two drunk drivers, given a stern warning to a shoplifter, intervened in one single domestic dispute, and arrested Yok nineteen times for vandalism.
Hawkins was a small town where nothing ever happened. It wasn’t where he would have chosen to be stationed, but he hadn’t had a lot of choice. He had gotten used to it. Even so, he couldn’t help but feel a prickle of interest when Gumpa came in to report a missing person. He had met Gumpa twice before - both times when he had arrived to pick up Yok, looking like he was about to roll his eyes into the next hemisphere - and he knew Gumpa looked out for a lot of the kids around town who didn’t have great families or role models. So of all the people who might come in to report a missing person, Gumpa was the most likely.
“His name is White Pothiyakorn,” Gumpa said, and held out his phone, which had a picture. It was a group photo, with several other teens in it, and Gumpa zoomed in to show which one was White. “He’s been staying with me since September.”
“Okay,” Dan said, jotting down notes. “When was he last seen?”
“He was at a party at Todd’s last night. According to some of the other kids, he was still there when they left at around one thirty. He was supposed to call Sean for a ride, but never did. We found his phone still at Todd’s this morning.”
Dan frowned slightly, and was about to say something when the sheriff called over. “You don’t need to open a case for that, Dan. All of Gumpa’s kids are little delinquents. He’s probably just out getting high somewhere.”
Gumpa’s face went tight, but he didn’t bother to respond to the sheriff. “White’s very responsible and level-headed. But he also has epilepsy, so I’m a little more worried than I might have been otherwise.”
Dan nodded. The sheriff, however, said, “That kid isn’t even from Hawkins. He’s barely been here six months. He probably just hauled up and took off.”
“Without his phone?” Gumpa said. “His car is still at the garage. Where do you think he took off to?”
It looked like his boss might say something rude, so Dan hastily intervened. “I don’t mind taking the case, Sheriff. It’s not like I’m busy.”
“Suit yourself,” the sheriff said, heading towards the back, where the vending machines were.
“Sorry about him,” Dan said.
Gumpa shrugged. “I’m used to it.”
“So you said he has epilepsy?” Dan asked.
“Yes, but it’s in very good control. He hasn’t had a seizure in probably about two months now, and he can tell when he’s about to have one and usually get to a safe place. But I’m still worried that he might have decided to walk home for some reason and there wasn’t a safe place to get to.”
Dan nodded, but was distracted by a sudden thought. “You said his car is at your place? He shouldn’t be driving if he has a seizure disorder.”
“He’s not driving,” Gumpa said. “He’s missing.”
Dan lifted his hands in surrender. “Fair enough. I’ll worry about that later. I’ll head over to the place he was last seen. I think you should probably go back to the garage. If he turns up there, he won’t be able to call you and let you know without a phone. I’ll give you my cell number so you can call me if he does.”
“Okay,” Gumpa said, then added, “Thanks.”
Over the course of his months in Hawkins, Dan had met Todd and his family multiple times, because they liked to act like they owned the whole place. He had also heard from the other deputies that it wasn’t worth pulling them over for speeding, or giving them parking tickets, or really acknowledging any of the laws they broke at all. So Dan wasn’t particularly looking forward to trying to question the snot-nosed brat they called their son.
Todd, however, seemed intrigued. “Am I a suspect?” he asked, grinning. “Should I get a lawyer?”
Dan sighed. “Nobody is a suspect because at this point there’s no evidence a crime was committed. Feel free to call an attorney if you feel it’s necessary.”
“Nah, I’m good,” Todd said. He seemed oblivious to the fact that Sean was lurking, and clearly thinking about drowning Todd in his pool. “You wanna come in and take a look around? I’ll show you the ring camera footage.”
“Sure,” Dan said.
The ring camera footage didn’t show the pool area, but it did show both the front and back door. It was clear that White hadn’t made any attempt to enter the house. So where had he gone?
By far, the most likely explanation was that he had decided to walk home, taken the path through the woods as it would be much shorter, and gotten lost. Dan got on his radio and made a few calls. Although the other deputies were skeptical, they didn’t argue with him that much. It was a nice spring day. There was no harm in walking around the woods.
Dan called Gumpa to give him an update. Gumpa didn’t seem surprised at his conclusions and asked if he needed volunteers to help search. “The more, the merrier,” Dan said. Gumpa said he would make a few calls.
Word spread quickly in a town like Hawkins, and on a Saturday, there wasn’t a lot to do. Before long, there were a few hundred people in the woods, walking along the paths and calling White’s name. The forest surrounding Hawkins was large, and Dan was more worried than he had let Gumpa know. A lot could happen to a kid at night, even one without a health condition. If they didn’t find him today, he would want to call in outside help, and he had an uncomfortable feeling that his superior wouldn’t approve of that.
He heard noise up ahead, and called out White’s name as he started to jog. But when he came around the curve of the path, it was a different teenager, one he wasn’t altogether thrilled to see. Yok looked up and his face immediately broke into a smile. “Oh, it’s you. Fancy meeting you here, officer.”
Dan sighed. “You’re part of the search, I take it?”
The smile disappeared off Yok’s face. “Yeah. I’ve been out here since Sean called me, actually. Before Gumpa headed to the station.”
Dan remembered that Yok was also one of the kids who hung out at the garage regularly, and figured he probably knew White fairly well. That explained why he wasn’t his usual flirty self. “Gumpa didn’t seem to think it was likely that White was out here, but you do?”
“No, I don’t,” Yok said, his face creasing in a slight frown. “It’s not like White. I mean, he’s a careful sort of person. Like the whole reason he didn’t bring his car to the party was because he knew he’d be drinking and so he wouldn’t be able to drive it home. He thinks ahead. I don’t see why he would’ve tried to walk home in the dark when there are multiple people he could’ve called for a ride. Even if he hadn’t been able to get through to Sean for whatever reason, he could’ve called Gumpa, or me or Gram. I just couldn’t think of anywhere else he might be, so I came out to try to take the most likely paths.”
Dan nodded, thinking about this. “Epilepsy . . . I don’t know much about it. Could he have had a seizure and wandered off?”
Yok immediately shook his head. “I saw White after a seizure a couple times. He was always completely clear-headed within a minute or so. And he certainly couldn’t have gone somewhere during one.”
“Okay. Just figured it was worth a guess. I’m going to want to call in more people, I think, and I’m going to have to justify that decision.”
“Oh, yeah?” Yok sounded unimpressed. “You know, a couple years ago, I actually did get lost in the woods? I was riding some of the trails on my bike, crashed it, and ended up getting lost trying to get back. My mom was at the police station for two days with Gumpa and they wouldn’t take it seriously. Just said I was probably off getting high somewhere, until I finally rescued my own ass. The cops in this town are great.”
Dan thought of Gumpa saying he was used to it. “I’m not like that.”
“Not yet,” Yok said. Then he grinned. “Sorry. I’m not a big fan of your profession.”
“That explains why you’re always trying to get me to arrest you.”
“Oh, no, that’s a completely different reason.”
Dan sighed. He had tried to be firm with Yok and set down boundaries. Yok was sixteen. Dan was twenty-two. Absolutely nothing was going to happen between them no matter how much Yok flirted. But having said this to Yok had had no impact on the amount of flirting. Dan couldn’t bring himself to just not go arrest him when Yok was committing crimes on main street during broad daylight, but none of the other deputies could be bothered to do their jobs.
“Sorry,” Yok said, serious again. “I actually am grateful that you’re out here and that you’re willing to help. I’m just worried, that’s all.”
“I get that,” Dan said. “Let’s just focus on finding him.”
~ ~ ~ ~
// Sean always slept until noon on the weekends, but Gumpa wasn’t surprised to see that White was up early, even earlier than Gumpa, who was up at eight. He was, however, surprised to find that White had cooked breakfast. “I hope you don’t mind,” he said.
“Mind having food ready when I wake up? Hardly,” Gumpa said. “Most kids your age don’t know how to cook.”
“Oh?” White sounded politely interested, as if he honestly hadn’t known that. Gumpa put it on the list of very odd things about this very odd teenager.
He worked Saturday and Sunday, closing the garage on Monday rather than over the weekend, so people with nine-to-five jobs could bring their cars in. White expressed some interest, so Gumpa taught him how to change a car’s oil and check other fluid levels. White was wearing a similar outfit to the day before - a button-down shirt and slacks - so Gumpa tried to keep him from getting too messy. He wondered if there was someone White could borrow clothes from, but almost everyone in the group was several inches taller than him. Still, Yok and Gram were a lot closer to his size than Sean and Gumpa were, so it might be worth asking.
He had just finished up with a car when Sean got up and asked White if he wanted to try out his motorcycle. Gumpa found this extremely amusing, because Sean would normally bite off the head of anyone who even touched his bike, let alone offer to let someone ride it.
However, White said, “Um, I don’t think I should. I don’t feel really great today.”
“Oh?” Gumpa was surprised. “You should’ve said something, I wouldn’t have had you out here in the heat - ”
“It’s not that. It’s a little . . .” White sighed slightly and then held out his wrist. Gumpa had noticed he wore a silver bracelet; with a better look, he saw that it was a Medic-Alert. “I have epilepsy, so I have seizures. Sometimes I don’t get a lot of warning, but sometimes I feel kind of crappy for a few days first. The doctors were never really sure why. I didn’t feel well yesterday . . . that’s part of why I decided to stay here instead of continuing to drive. I can’t risk having one behind the wheel.”
Sean was frowning. “I thought you can’t get your license if you have seizures.”
White shrugged and said, “I never said I had my license . . .?”
Gumpa gave a snort. “Still, are there things you should avoid? I know a lot of seizures are triggered by lights. Is there medication you should take?”
White shook his head. “They’re pretty much completely random, and none of the medication they ever tried me on actually helps. There’s nothing you can do if I have one besides maybe making sure I don’t hit my head on the floor.” He saw Gumpa’s look and sighed. “Um, okay, seizure 101. I’ll warn you. I always know when there’s one coming on because my vision gets blurry and my chest locks up first. So I can lie down ahead of time. Don’t try to hold me down or shove anything into my mouth. Just get a pillow under my head if you can. If it goes on longer than five minutes or if I stop breathing, call 911.”
“Does that happen often?” Sean asked, sounding appalled.
Thankfully, White shook his head. “It hasn’t happened since I was maybe six or seven years old. I don’t get them as often or as badly as I used to when I was a little kid. I have them once every few months or so, although sometimes I’ll have a bunch really close together. There’s not much I can do about it so I just . . . try not to worry about it most of the time. But I’d feel awful if I crashed your bike.”
“Some other time, then,” Sean said. “You wanna watch some TV instead?”
After a moment, White nodded. Gumpa’s gaze followed him thoughtfully, considering this odd teenager with his nice clothes, and wondered if it was something as simple as a teenager with a medical condition whose parents smothered him out of worry, who had decided to get away from them and try to actually live his life.
He felt he understood the parents’ perspective a little better later that day. White was helping Sean with the dishes when he suddenly said, in a matter-of-fact but somewhat diffident tone, “I’m about to have a seizure. Please excuse me.”
With that, he quickly took off his glasses and set them on the counter, then walked over to the nearest open space and lay down on his side. A few seconds later, his body began to shake and convulse. “Fucking hell,” Gumpa muttered, grabbing a cushion from the sofa and sliding it underneath his head. He tried to tell if White was breathing, and he was, although it was in short gasps. “Sean, watch the time.”
“Oh, uh, yeah,” Sean said, his eyes slightly wide.
It was a long sixty seconds, but fortunately, it was only sixty seconds. White’s spasms suddenly stopped, and he lay still for a moment before half-sitting up and shaking his head as if to clear it. His face was pinched like he was in a great deal of pain, one hand pressing against his chest as his breathing steadied out.
“Hey, take it easy,” Gumpa said. “You don’t have to get up right away.”
“I’m okay,” White said, but he didn’t make any effort to get off the floor. Sean brought him over a cup of water and he sipped it slowly. “Sorry.”
“You don’t have to be sorry,” Gumpa said.
White wouldn’t look at either of them. “I don’t like people seeing them. I was sort of hoping it would wait until I was back in my room.”
“I get that,” Gumpa said, “but it’s not like you can help it, so don’t worry about it, okay?”
“Here,” Sean said, kneeling next to him and handing him his glasses. White slowly put them on with hands that trembled. “If you ask me, you should be much more embarrassed about the fact that you drive a Kia - ”
“Hey!” White protested. He was clearly surprised, but the joke seemed to relax him. “I didn’t have a lot of options.”
“Oh, sure,” Sean said. “Excuses, excuses.”
White smiled, and when Sean extended a hand to him, he let Sean help him up off the floor and into a chair. “I’m okay now, really. I’ll help finish with the dishes.”
Seeing that he didn’t want to be coddled, Sean said, “Well, I’m sure as hell not going to finish them by myself.”
~ ~ ~ ~
At first, White didn’t seem to understand the point of Dungeons and Dragons. “It’s just like telling a story with your friends,” Sean told him. “Only you get to make decisions for your character, rather than someone else deciding for you. You can watch the first time if you want, to sort of get a feel for it.”
“Okay,” White said. He had been introduced to the others when they arrived as they were finishing up the dishes. He really did seem completely normal after his seizure, Sean thought. Seeing it had been a little frightening, but at least there didn’t seem to be aftereffects. Sean supposed that he knew people with weirder problems.
Gumpa had been roped into being their DM, mainly because the others were terrible at it. Sean was notorious for having accidentally killed their characters multiple times. Yok had great ideas but terrible execution, leading to either utter chaos or utter boredom. Gram always planned in far too much detail, which led to him getting frustrated by things almost immediately going off the rails.
White sat and watched politely, as quiet as always. Sean had a feeling that making noise hadn’t been encouraged or possibly even permitted in White’s life. Still, he didn’t seem bothered by the noise, of which there was always a lot of on D&D nights. They’d had these characters a while, and leveled up several times. Yok was a bard (because of course he was, Sean had said), Gram was a ranger, and Sean was a barbarian.
“We could really use a healer,” Gram said, after a fight had finished.
“I have some healing,” Yok said.
“You have one spell, Yok, that’s not super helpful.”
“Oh, is it not? See if I ever use it on you again, asshole - ”
Gram waved this aside. “What do you think, White?”
White blinked at them, looking owlish behind his round glasses (which Sean thought were extremely cute). “Um, I don’t really know.”
Gumpa interceded, saying, “White’s probably not staying long, guys, so I don’t think it would help to rope him into making a character sheet.”
Sean was disappointed, even though he had known this already. Of course, White was only staying until his car was fixed, and that would probably only be a week or so. But he was intensely curious about White, where he was going, why he was in no hurry to get there, why he had decided to stay at the garage.
It was nearly midnight by the time the game ended, and Yok and Gram both decided to crash there, as they usually did. “You can stay in Namo’s room; she’s at her mom’s this weekend,” Sean said, since they normally slept in the room that White now occupied.
“You don’t want to let us have your room, and you can stay in White’s?” Yok asked, grinning.
Sean slapped the back of his head and hissed, “Shut up!” before looking over to see if White had heard. If he had, he seemed oblivious to the point that Yok was making. “Forget you two. I’m going to bed.”
The best thing about Sunday mornings after D&D was that Gumpa always went out and bought breakfast for them afterwards. Sean woke to the wonderful smell of coffee and kicked on the other door to wake Gram and Yok before he remembered White. He went over to the door on the other side and knocked a little more gently. There was no response. “Hey, White? Are you hungry?”
When there was still no response, he wondered if White was already up, and slid the door open a bit to peek. He saw that White was still in bed, and was about to say something when he realized that White was seizing again. “Fuck,” he said, jogging inside and closing the door behind himself. He understood why White had been sure to tell them not to hold him down, because the instinct to try to do so was strong. He wanted to help, and hated the fact that there really wasn’t anything he could do. All he could do was stand there and look at his phone to check the time, even though he had no idea how long the seizure had already been going on. It looked so painful, as White’s body spasmed, one hand clutching at his chest.
This time, he sat up with a start when it was over and blurted out, “I don’t want to go in the bath!”
“What?” Sean asked, startled.
“What?” White echoed, staring at him. He blinked twice, then fumbled for his glasses. Sean realized he was probably very blurry. “Did I say something?”
“You said you didn’t want to go in the bath,” Sean said, frowning.
“Oh. Yeah, I’ve said that sort of thing before.” White folded his arms over his stomach, hunching in on himself. “Sometimes I see weird things, and . . . seizures can cause hallucinations. Please don’t tell anyone?”
He sounded so sad and plaintive that Sean responded automatically. “Yeah. Of course not. Uh, do you want breakfast? That’s what I came in here to ask you.”
“No, thank you. I’m not usually hungry after a seizure . . . but you can go eat. I’m going to lie back down for a little while.”
Sean nodded. “You’re sure you’re okay?”
“Yeah. Like I said, sometimes I have a string of them. I’ll probably have more today so I think I’ll just stay in bed. You can tell the others I said I was sorry that I wasn’t up to joining.”
“Okay,” Sean said, but changed his mind almost immediately after leaving the room. He ate breakfast with Yok and Gram, but rather than hanging out with them, he said that White wasn’t feeling well so he was going to stay at the garage. Yok made a suggestive comment, Sean smacked him, and they left laughing.
Sean grabbed a few books from his own room and the cheap, crappy laptop he used and knocked on White’s door. “Hey, can I come in?”
“Sure,” White said, and he looked a little puzzled when Sean came in with his things.
“I get that you’re not feeling well so you’re gonna stay in bed but you don’t need to stay here by yourself,” Sean said, plunking down on the floor and folding his legs under himself. “You can use my laptop if you want to use the internet, or pick a book.”
“Oh,” White said, and he looked somewhat surprised. “I actually have my own laptop. But . . . thank you. It’ll be nice to have some company.” //
~ ~ ~ ~
Sean had grown up in Hawkins, and like many of the kids there, he knew the surrounding area like the back of his hand. He had joined the search for something to do, but within an hour, he wished he hadn’t, and was sitting on a rock, staring at White’s phone as if he might magically figure out how to unlock it.
“Hey, Sean!” a voice called out, and he looked up to see Namo jogging over. He greeted her without enthusiasm but thanked her for coming out to join the search. She didn’t stay at the garage full time, but she crashed there at least a few times a week, so she knew White fairly well at this point. “Why would White have walked home through the woods? Didn’t he say he would call you?”
“Yeah,” Sean said. “And when Eugene and Nene left, he told them he was going to sleep at Todd’s. But for some reason he never tried to go in, and . . . fuck, Namo. I don’t know what could have happened. I never should have left him there.”
“No, hey,” Namo said. “This wasn’t your fault.”
“I couldn’t just get over myself for a few hours, couldn’t just chill out and stay at the party - ”
“Sean,” Namo said patiently, “there’s no way you could’ve predicted something like this would happen. I mean, you’re hardly the only one who left him there.”
“Yeah, I’m pissed at them, too,” Sean said, and Namo laughed quietly. Sean clutched at the phone. “It’s stupid, right? But I can’t help but wonder . . . what if he really did leave?”
“Leave Hawkins?” Namo shook her head. “C’mon, Sean. He wouldn’t have just left without his phone and his car. Where the hell would he have gone?”
“I know. That’s why I said it’s stupid. But I feel like a part of me is always just waiting for that. For him to decide he’s been here long enough and take off. Why would anyone want to stay here? And then I think, if I just told him how I feel . . . and now I might never get the chance.”
Namo sighed. “Sean. You’re gonna get a chance to tell him. Stop thinking about the worst. Let’s play it back, okay? Put yourself in White’s shoes. For some weird reason, you wanted to go to Todd’s party - ”
Sean gave a snort. “I mean, I know why he wanted to go. He’d never been to a party before. He likes to try things, you know, that he didn’t get the chance to do while his parents were breathing down his neck ‘cause of his seizures.”
“Okay, that makes sense. You’re White, you’re at a party for the first time. Was he drinking?”
“Yeah, but not a lot. I mean, he’d had a beer or three, Eugene said when I talked to her, but he definitely wasn’t drunk. Three beers over the course of four hours wouldn’t do a lot even to someone like White.”
“It wouldn’t interact with his medication or anything?”
“He doesn’t take any,” Sean said, and saw Namo’s look. He felt a little bad for spreading around White’s private business, but would have to get over it if it meant he could be found. “I know, it’s weird. He said that he’d been tried on lots of things but they had never helped, so in the end he didn’t take anything except muscle relaxants sometimes if he was having a bad streak. Which he hadn’t been.”
“Okay.” Namo mulled this over. “So you’re White, you’re maybe a little buzzed but definitely not drunk. Todd goes in with Ohm around midnight, but other people are still there, you’re having a good time just hanging out. Other people start to leave. You decide to just crash at Todd’s rather than call Sean, because you don’t want to bother him even though he told you to, because that’s the sort of person White is.”
Sean nodded. “Hates being a bother. But why didn’t he just accept a ride home from Nene and Eugene?”
“They live in the opposite direction. Gumpa’s garage is on the north end of town. It’s not really on the way to anywhere else. Again, he doesn’t want to be a bother. It’s late, the girls are tired, and they were probably drinking, too. Maybe he was trying to be responsible.”
“That makes sense,” Sean said, even though he didn’t like it. “So I’m White. Now I’m by myself at the pool, relaxing and a little buzzed, and I - what? Decide to go for a stroll in the pitch-black forest?”
Namo looked thoughtful. “Could he have had a seizure?”
“I mean, sure, but what would that matter? You saw them once or twice. He just lies down on the floor, seizes, and then gets back up.”
“He could’ve fallen in the pool or something, I guess.”
Sean sighed. “Listen, I hate Todd, but even I’m not going to suggest that he found White’s dead body in his pool and then decided to cover it up. Anyway, White always knew when he was about to have a seizure. He wouldn’t have stayed near the pool.” A sudden thought struck him. “Maybe that’s why his phone was on the ground, though. If he lay down to have a seizure and it fell out of his pocket.”
“That makes sense. He couldn’t have been confused and wander off afterwards?”
“He was never confused after his seizures.”
“I know that, but we’ve only known him six months, Sean. Didn’t he say at one point that his seizures were worse when he was a kid? And he’d never had alcohol before, so we don’t know if that could have been a contributing factor. I think it seems like the most likely explanation. Gumpa and the cops clearly also think so; that’s why we’re all out here.”
Sean couldn’t swallow down his anxiety. “But what if something happened? What if someone else did something?”
“Like who, like what? You think some rando happened upon him sleeping by the pool and abducted him? C’mon, Sean, this is Hawkins. What are the odds?” Namo gave him a whack upside the head. “You’re thinking worst-case scenarios again. He’s just lost in the woods somewhere. Give us a couple days and we’ll find him.”
“Yeah,” Sean forced himself to say, and prayed that she was right.
~ ~ ~ ~
Chapter Text
Staying at the garage was making Gumpa twitchy, even though logically he knew it was necessary that someone did. If White found his own way back, this was where he would go, so Gumpa had to be here in case that happened. Even so, as night fell, he was considering asking someone else to man the desk so he could go join in the search. It was supposed to start raining overnight. Any trails they might be able to follow could be lost. Logically, he knew that it didn’t matter who sat at the desk here and who searched, but the need to move was strong.
Sean showed up at the garage just as the sun set. “I’m just here to grab something to eat,” he said, not even looking at Gumpa.
“Don’t be so hard on yourself,” Gumpa said, knowing what Sean was thinking.
“Yeah, yeah. Namo already lectured me.” Sean grabbed something he could microwave and ripped open the box with far more violence than necessary. “She had to go home and check on her mom. I’m going to meet Gram and Yok and go back out once I’ve eaten.”
“Okay. I might see if someone else can wait here and then join you.”
There was a jingle of bells from the front desk, and Sean practically tripped over his own feet, running towards the door. But it was just Dan, still in uniform but looking a little sweaty and tired. “Oh, it’s you,” Sean said, uncharitably.
“Come on in,” Gumpa said. “You want a drink?”
“Yeah, please. Just water’s fine.”
“How’s it going in the field?” Gumpa asked, getting him a bottle from the fridge.
“Not great. We’ll keep searching overnight. I called the search and rescue team that’s closest. They’re going to send some people in the morning with some tracking dogs.”
“It’s supposed to rain,” Sean said anxiously.
Dan waved this aside. “It doesn’t matter to the dogs, they told me. But that’s not why I’m here.”
“Oh?” Gumpa felt a twist of anxiety, seeing the look on Dan’s face. It couldn’t be that they had found a body, if he was still talking about having more people join the search. But there were a lot of things he could have found that wouldn’t be promising signs.
Dan tapped the water bottle against the table. “Gumpa, I have to ask you a few questions.”
“Ask me?” Gumpa said, eyebrows going up.
“When did White arrive in Hawkins?”
Frowning, Gumpa said, “Early September. I don’t remember the exact date. I could check in my books if it mattered, since he brought his car in on that day.”
“Did he say anything about where he was coming from? Where he was going?”
Now Gumpa was getting an idea about where Dan was going with this. “No. And I didn’t ask. It wasn’t my business. He had his own car and mentioned he had graduated high school, so I assumed he was an adult.”
“Hia,” Sean said, then saw the look on his face and stopped whatever he was going to say. Instead, he turned to Dan. “What’s with all the questions? This is a waste of time. You should be looking for White, not interrogating Gumpa.”
Dan didn’t respond, so Gumpa turned to Sean and said, “Seems like we’re not the first people to file a missing persons report for White.”
“What?” Sean asked, then blinked. “Oh. Oh, fuck.”
Dan sighed, but took a drink of his water. “Back in May of last year, White Savate Pothiyakorn was reported missing by his parents in California. Turns out that White is only seventeen . . . although I’m sure you didn’t know that.”
“Sure didn’t,” Gumpa agreed.
“They also put in their report that their son has epilepsy, like you did. But they added something you didn’t mention, which is that he’s been diagnosed with schizophrenia.”
“What?” Gumpa was much more surprised by this than he was by anything else Dan had said. “I didn’t mention that because I had no idea. Again, not my business.”
“According to the report, White has hallucinations, which don’t always correspond with his seizures, and difficulty differentiating reality from fantasy. He’s had multiple episodes of psychosis throughout his childhood.”
Gumpa thought back to White saying his parents had always discouraged him from any sort of creative exercises that would involve using his imagination. “If that’s true, I never saw any sign of it while he was staying with me.”
“This is bullshit,” Sean said, fuming. “They’re just putting that on there so that if White was found and told people how awful they were, nobody would believe him.”
“Did he say anything to you about them being awful?” Dan asked.
“I mean, no, but they obviously were if they put that on there,” Sean snapped. He saw the look on Gumpa’s face. “Hia, tell me you don’t believe this.”
“I don’t know if I believe it or not,” Gumpa admitted. “If it’s true, it doesn’t mean I don’t care about White or that I’m angry with him for not telling us. A mental illness is just that - an illness. It’s nothing that we can blame White for. And I can see why he wouldn’t have mentioned it. I also see your point, Sean, that I can picture his parents lying about that on the report. But I do think that if it is true, it might explain why White vanished into the forest.”
Sean was still furious, and he turned to Dan and snapped, “So what? Are you going to call his awful parents, then?”
Dan spoke slowly, his words carefully measured. “At this exact moment, I have no technical obligation to do so. I can’t call them and say White is in Hawkins because I don’t know that White is in Hawkins. All I know is that White was staying with you up until a few days ago. At some point, I will have to report that, but I can put it off for a little while.”
Gumpa let out a relieved breath. “Thank you, officer.”
“When we find White, I’ll have to talk to him, and decide what to do from there. But there’s no point in worrying about that until we find him.”
“So why aren’t you doing that right now?” Sean snapped.
Gumpa squeezed Sean’s wrist and said, “Dan was doing me a favor by warning me about this, Sean. I’m grateful to him for that, and you should be, too.”
Sean scowled, but then nodded and muttered a thank you.
Dan sighed. “A few years ago, when I was White’s age, it would’ve helped me a lot if there was someone like you I could have turned to. Might have kept me from doing some pretty stupid shit. Even if the other cops don’t care, I appreciate what you do for the kids in this town. I’ll cover for you if I can, but there’s probably going to come a point where I can’t.”
With a nod, Gumpa repeated, “Thank you, officer.”
“I’m going to head out to coordinate the overnight search. I’ll keep you posted.”
~ ~ ~ ~
// “You want to be a rogue? Really?” Sean asked, unable to contain his surprise. At least the others seemed surprised, too. They had taken guesses at what character class White might choose, thinking he would go with something ‘classic’ like a wizard or maybe something gentle like a druid. None of them had guessed rogue.
White pushed his glasses up on his nose. “I read all the descriptions. It says rogues depend on their brains more than their muscles, so I want to be a rogue.”
“But rogues are like . . . thieves and assassins and stuff,” Gram said, still looking puzzled.
“So?” White was clearly confused by the fact that they were confused. “It’s just a game, right? You told me to play pretend so I’m pretending.”
Gumpa laughed quietly. “Let White play a rogue if he wants to play a rogue. You’re just all annoyed that he won’t have any healing spells.”
“Well, maybe a little,” Sean said, and he laughed, too. “What kind of rogue, then?”
“I guess I’ll be a thief. Can I be a treasure hunter?”
“Sure,” Gumpa said. “You should think about your character’s backstory. You don’t have to have it all ironed out now, but at least have some ideas about things like why you became a thief, if you have a family, whether or not you’re part of the thieves’ guild, et cetera. You can think about it while you put your character sheet together.”
White nodded and accepted the dice. He had good rolls, and the others helped him decide where all the points should go.
“What’s your rogue’s name?” Gumpa asked.
White was silent for a second, then said, “Black.”
“Black and White? Like the colors?” Yok asked, laughing.
“It’s his first time playing, don’t be a dick,” Sean said to Yok.
“Any ideas about the backstory?” Gumpa asked, making notes.
“I think he’s . . . from a rich background,” White said slowly. “He grew up that way. And he left home because he’s looking for someone.”
“Anyone in particular?” Sean asked, immediately intrigued.
“His brother,” White said. “He’s looking for his brother. They were separated when they were very young and he doesn’t know what happened to him, and nobody at his home would tell him. So now he’s looking for him.”
“That’s cool,” Gram said, impressed that White had come up with that off the fly. “Hia, we can do a lot with a backstory like that.”
“Who’s the DM here?” Gumpa asked, swatting Gram. “Let’s do a couple simple games to help him get used to playing before his backstory comes into it.” //
~ ~ ~ ~
By the time Sean got back to Todd’s, where he was meeting Yok and Gram, it had started to rain. That perfectly matched his mood, which could hardly have been worse. He ranted to Gram and Yok about Dan and about White’s parents. They immediately set about proving that his mood could have been worse by a) Yok defending Dan, and b) Gram pointing out that they didn’t actually know White’s parents were awful.
“I actually think it would explain a lot,” Yok said, speaking loudly to be heard over the rain. “I mean, if he had some sort of hallucination and wandered off into the woods - ”
“Shut the fuck up, Yok,” Sean said.
“Well, what do you think happened?” Gram asked.
“I don’t know, okay? I just know that White was acting perfectly normal all day and now suddenly he’s gone and everyone wants to make it his fault!”
“No one’s saying it’s his fault, Sean,” Yok said.
“I’m just saying, I think someone did something. I don’t think he just wandered off. If he went into the woods, maybe it was because he was hiding from someone, or running from something!”
“So you think someone or something did something terrible to White,” Gram said, “and your solution is that we should come back to exactly where it supposedly happened, in the middle of the night? Doesn’t that seem really stupid to you?”
“Go home if you don’t want to find him!”
“I’m not saying I don’t want to find him!” Gram was exasperated. “I’m just saying that you’re being totally irrational about this because you’re mad at yourself for leaving White at the party, and you’re taking it out on all of - ”
Yok suddenly grabbed Gram’s arm. “I think I heard something.”
“Oh, very funny, Yok - ”
“Shut up!” Sean hissed, because he heard it too, barely audible over the sound of the heavy rain. He could feel his hair standing up on the back of his neck. The noise was pitched low, something of a hum, something of a buzz. And then there was - chittering, terrible animal noises that made every nerve in his body snap to attention and order him to run.
“What the fuck,” Gram whispered.
Just as abruptly as it had begun, it stopped. They were left with nothing but the sound of the rain.
“Maybe we should - not be here right now,” Yok said.
Sean wanted to yell at him, but wasn’t able to. Something about that noise had generated a deep, aching sense of dread. He wanted to run, too. But he thought about White. About White encountering whatever had just made that noise.
A branch snapped. All three of them cried out, more surprised than anything else, and Sean swung his flashlight around to where the noise had come from and saw -
“White!” he yelled, a wave of relief washing over him. He ran over, saying, “Fuck, I’m so glad you’re okay, I thought - ”
Unthinking, he reached out a hand to caress White’s face, and -
“Ow, what the fuck?!” he blurted out, as White’s teeth sank into his fingers. He yanked his hand back, and White took a few steps back, eyes darting from one side to the other, looking for an escape route. “Hey, no, where are you going? White, whatever happened - you’re safe now, okay? Let’s get you back to the garage.”
White was silent and still for a long second. He looked around at where Gram and Yok had come up behind Sean, equally concerned. “White,” he whispered.
Sean had no idea why White was saying his name as if he had just remembered what it was. He didn’t care if this had something to do with his epilepsy, with schizophrenia, with anything. He just wanted to get White somewhere warm and dry and figure it out then. “Yeah, you’re okay, White. Let’s get you home, okay?”
After another excruciatingly long moment, White nodded. Sean reached out to him again, and he jerked away from Sean’s touch, but went in the general direction that Sean was shepherding him in.
“Wow, you gave us all a scare,” Yok said, trying to lighten the mood. “We thought maybe Todd had you stuffed in his closet.”
White didn’t respond, or even smile. He folded his arms over his stomach, a defensive gesture that Sean remembered seeing a lot during his first month at the garage, but not so much anymore. His chest ached as he wondered what the hell White had been through in the past twenty-four hours that was making him act like this.
“White!” Gumpa practically fell as he shot out of his chair as soon as they came through the door. “Thank goodness. I’ll call Dan - ”
“No, don’t,” Sean said, immediately thinking of Dan having to call White’s parents, when White was already so fragile. “Let’s just - wait until tomorrow, okay? Something’s wrong with him. He’s not talking.”
Gumpa frowned, but then apparently also thought of White’s parents, because he nodded. “Okay. I’ll grab some towels and dry clothes for him. You guys go get changed, too.”
Sean realized in that moment that White wasn’t wearing the same clothes that Sean had last seen him in. He was wearing a button-down shirt that Sean didn’t recognize, which was far too large on him, to the point where Sean couldn’t be sure if he was wearing anything else. Where in the hell had that come from? It had the logo of the factory outside town. Had he picked it up at Todd’s?
He ran to his room and quickly stripped out of his soaked clothes, throwing on a T-shirt and a pair of flannel pants before just as quickly sprinting back out to the main room of the garage. Gumpa had given White a towel which he was using to quickly rub down his hair. “Here, clothes,” Gumpa said, setting them down.
Without hesitation, White stripped out of the shirt, revealing that he was, in fact, wearing briefs. He pulled those down without a single shred of regard to modesty, and Sean had to turn away. Sure, he wanted to see White naked, but not like this. He was a little taken aback, because White had never seemed like the sort of person who would just throw his clothes off.
“He’s dressed, Sean,” Gumpa said, and although there was a hint of amusement in his voice, he was clearly just as concerned. Sean jogged over as White sat down on the sofa, arms again folded over his stomach. Gumpa sat down across from him, pulling over a chair. “White, can you tell us what happened? Where you’ve been?”
“No,” White said, and it might not have been an encouraging response, but at least it was a response.
“Okay,” Gumpa said, thinking along the same lines. “That’s okay, White. You don’t have to tell us anything. Are you hungry?”
After a moment, White nodded. Sean looked up and saw Gram coming back in, and said, “Hey will you grab him something to eat? There are a couple of Tupperwares of leftovers in the fridge.”
“Sure,” Gram said, taking a detour into the kitchen. He came back out with one of the containers and handed it to White. “Oh, I’ll get you a - or not,” he said, as White started using his hands to shovel the food into his mouth. “Fair enough; you’ve been in the forest all day. I’d be hungry too.”
Sean was again taken aback by how unWhitelike that was. White had always been fairly prim and proper, far more tidy than most boys his age. Even food that most people would eat with their hands, White still preferred to have utensils. He thought of that moment in the forest, when White had said his own name like he was hearing it for the first time.
“Hey, what’s that?” Yok asked, jogging over, and grabbed at White’s arm. White yanked it back forcefully and bared his teeth at Yok. “Fuck, man. No touching. I get it.”
“What is it?” Sean asked Yok, feeling another twist of anxiety. How had they found White but still somehow not found White?
“There’s a mark on his arm; I thought maybe it was a cut or something,” Yok said.
“White,” Gumpa said, keeping his voice even. “Can I see your arm?”
“No,” White said.
“If you’re injured, we should take a look at it, okay?” Gumpa said. “I won’t touch you. Just let me see.”
White huffed out a breath but then extended his arm. Sean blinked. It wasn’t an injury. It was a tattoo. Neatly printed numbers: 011. “Eleven?” he asked, as if that was what mattered.
“Eleven,” White confirmed, and pulled his arm back to go back to eating.
“What the hell,” Gram said.
Sean sat back, feeling like he had been kicked in the stomach. “You’re not White.”
White - or not!White - continued eating without looking up.
“Sean, what - ” Yok said, sounding hopelessly confused.
“No, I think he’s right,” Gumpa said, shaking his head. “This isn’t White. There are so many reasons why it’s not White but the tattoo really clinches it. He didn’t have that yesterday, and there’s nowhere in Hawkins he could have gotten it. Without his car, he couldn’t have gotten to the city where they could have done it, and even if he had, if it was fresh it would look different.”
“Are we sure it’s a tattoo?” Gram asked. “Maybe it’s just drawn on.”
Gumpa shook his head. “No, he was soaking wet. It would have smeared at least, if not washed away altogether.”
Sean thought back, absurdly, to their Dungeons and Dragons game. To White saying he had never been good at playing pretend, at making up stories, but then coming up with a character backstory off the fly. Because it wasn’t a story. It was real.
Hesitantly, he said, “Black?”
His head jerked up, eyes wide, and he stared at Sean before demanding, “How?”
“He told us,” Sean said. “White did. He told us about you.”
“I’m so fucking confused right now,” Yok said. “Are you telling me that White’s character’s backstory was real? That he really did have a brother that he was looking for, and he named his character after his brother? And that the brother in question just happened to turn up in the same forest White just went missing in?”
“That’s way out there,” Gram agreed. “Sean, don’t punch me, but is this maybe a different personality kind of thing? Like, he’s White sometimes and he’s Black sometimes?”
“That would explain that names being opposites,” Yok agreed.
“Yeah, but it wouldn’t explain the tattoo,” Sean argued.
“Maybe it’s just permanent marker,” Yok said. “I’ve drawn stuff on that’s stayed on through the shower. I don’t think we can say for sure until we actually clean it off, and I don’t think he’s going to let us do that any time soon.”
Gumpa sighed and pushed a hand through his hair. “Listen, it’s after midnight. I think what we all need to do right now is get some rest. You guys can crash here. For now, none of us should say anything. Regardless of whether this is White, White’s twin brother, or White’s alternate personality, if we tell the cops they’re going to call his parents, and - ”
Black’s head jerked around again. “No!”
“And no,” Gumpa agreed. “That’s the last thing he needs right now. Okay?”
“Okay,” Sean said, and looked hard at Yok.
Yok raised his hands in surrender. “Dan’s hot but he’s still a cop. I won’t say shit if hia says not to.”
“Good,” Gumpa said. “You kids go get some rest. C’mon, Black, I’ll show you White’s room. You can sleep there for tonight.”
“Should one of us stay up with him?” Gram asked.
Black scowled. “No.”
“I think he’ll be okay,” Gumpa said. “Black, that’s my door, over there, and Sean’s will be right next to yours. If you need anything, come get one of us. Okay?”
After a moment, Black nodded. “Okay.”
~ ~ ~ ~
Despite Gumpa telling the others to rest, and sincerely hoping that the teenagers would get some sleep, he doubted he would himself. He decided to stay on the sofa so he would know if Black came out of his room, and tossed and turned restlessly. He didn’t understand what the hell was going on, and felt like he was trying to put together a puzzle when half the pieces were missing.
He thought about what he knew now that he hadn’t known before. White really had run away from home, just as Gumpa had suspected, and his parents were looking for him - and lying to the police. Whether or not White had any sort of mental illness, Gumpa didn’t know, but he was almost positive that White didn’t have epilepsy. So either his parents had the worst doctor in the world seeing him, or they had lied on the police report.
What did White know, though? He had described it as epilepsy. Was he also lying? Or was he just trying to give a vague description because he didn’t want to get into the details? Or did White truly believe he had epilepsy because that was what his parents had told him?
The light in the kitchen went on. Gumpa sat up, frowning, to see if one of the kids had gotten past him, but the room was empty. A few seconds later, the light went off.
Since White didn’t have epilepsy, Gumpa decided it was unlikely he had schizophrenia, either. He didn’t know as much about it as Sean did - he was far more familiar because of Namo’s mother’s struggles with her mental illness - but if they lied about one thing, they would lie about others. They wanted to make White look vulnerable, but why?
Gumpa had immediately brought up White’s seizures because he wanted the police to take his disappearance seriously. But he didn’t think that White’s parents would have needed to do so. For one thing, they were his actual parents, with actual custody of him. But secondly, Gumpa was fairly sure they were rich. That was the other part of White’s ‘character backstory’ - that he came from a rich family. Gumpa was sure that was true because White’s behavior lined up with that. From the beginning, he’d had very little idea of what things cost. The few things he had brought with him were high quality. The way Gumpa and Sean went out of their way to fix broken things rather than just buying them new had puzzled him.
White had been brought up in a wealthy family, which meant that White’s parents didn’t need to lie in order to get the cops to take their case seriously.
The light on his desk went on, flickered twice, and then stayed on.
“Seriously?” Gumpa sighed, getting up. “On top of everything else, now the electricity is going to go on the fritz?” he asked nobody, and examined the lamp. The switch was still in the off position. He flipped it back and forth a few times, but nothing happened. Then the light grew more intense, and he backed up, wondering if the lightbulb was about to break.
It went off.
“What the hell?” Gumpa said to nobody.
Epilepsy, schizophrenia, lying parents - none of that explained where White was right now. None of it explained why White might have vanished into the forest rather than just calling for a ride home. And sure as hell none of it explained why his doppelganger was now sleeping in his bed.
White had been looking for his brother. He had said that nobody at home would tell him what had happened. But how the hell had that taken him from California all the way to Hawkins? The fact that Black had turned up exactly where White was, was one hell of a coincidence.
There was something he was missing. Probably a lot of things he was missing.
The desk light went off. A few moments later, the lamp by the sofa went on, then went off. Then the light in the hallway that led to the garage went on, then off.
“What is happening,” Gumpa muttered to himself, but followed the trail of lights anyway, because why not? He could see the light in his office was on now. He opened the door and went in. Nothing was out of place except for the fact that the light was on. So was the radio he kept behind his desk for slow days, although it was broadcasting static rather than the station he normally kept it tuned to.
Then, scaring ten years off his life, the phone rang. He flinched backwards and was glad nobody was there to see it. Swearing, he reached over and picked it up. “Hello?”
On the other end, he could hear static, electronic squeals, and - somebody breathing. Heavy, ragged breathing.
“Hello?” he said again, pressing the phone to his ear.
More breathing, and then a faint noise that was almost like a whimper.
“White?” he said, although he had no idea why he thought it was White.
“Hia?” a voice whispered, and Gumpa nearly jumped out of his skin.
“White? White! Where are you? Talk to me, White - ”
The electronic feedback intensified, and then there was a crackle of electricity. Gumpa yanked the phone away from his ear involuntarily and then dropped it. When he scrambled and picked it back up again, he could see that the receiver was entirely black. The phone was dead; he couldn’t even get a dial tone.
“White,” a voice said, and Gumpa nearly hit the ceiling. He looked over and saw Black standing in his office door. He pointed to the dead phone and said it again. “White.”
“Yeah,” Gumpa said. “What? Fucking hell, what is going on?”
Black frowned at him for a long moment. Then he held out his hand in front of himself, palm up. “Black.” He flipped his hand over so his palm faced the floor. “White.”
“What?” Gumpa said.
“Black,” he repeated, and made the same gesture. “White.”
“Listen, I have no idea what that means,” Gumpa said.
Black growled in frustration.
“Hia, what’s going on?” Sean asked, appearing behind Black in the doorway.
“I wish I knew,” Gumpa said.
Black turned to Sean and held his hand out the same way, palm up. “Black.” He flipped his hand. “White.”
“He keeps saying that,” Gumpa said. “I don’t know what it means.”
“Did I hear you shouting?”
“Yeah. The phone rang. I thought it was White on the other end. I thought I heard his voice, but then the phone - ” Gumpa gestured. Sean picked it up and looked at it, his frown deepening. “The lights were doing weird shit, too. Maybe I just need to get some sleep.”
“I don’t think White would have even had the garage’s number,” Sean said. “He would have called one of our cell phones.”
Gumpa lifted his hands in surrender. “I don’t know, Sean.”
Black made another noise of annoyance, almost a snarl. He grabbed Sean by the wrist and towed him back into the living room. Gumpa followed, curious, and was even more curious when Black started shuffling through the D&D figurines on the kitchen table, where the boys always left them despite Gumpa asking them to pick up after themselves.
“White,” Black said, and held out a figurine that was indeed the one Gumpa had given White after the first game.
“Yeah,” Sean said. “How did you know?”
Black didn’t bother to answer. Instead, he picked up the board Gumpa used for combat, with the grid to show everyone’s place in the room. He swept everything else out of the way and put it down, then put White in the center. “White, before.”
“Okay,” Sean said slowly.
Black picked both up, flipped over the board so it was upside down, and then put White’s figurine down again. “White, now.” He held out his hand, palm up. “Black,” he said, and flipped his hand over. “White.”
“He’s . . . upside down?” Sean said.
For a moment, Black seemed to think about this, then said, “Yes. Upside down.”
Gumpa remembered something. “Black, you seem to trust us a little more now. Can I see your arm?”
Black looked suspicious, but then nodded and held his arm out. Gumpa carefully inspected the three digits that were written there in ink.
“It’s a tattoo, for sure,” he said. “He’s not White’s alternate personality. He’s White’s brother.”
“Then where the fuck is White?” Sean burst out.
“Hiding,” Black said.
“What?” Sean was taken aback. “Hiding? From who?”
Black looked through the figurines and picked up the largest monster. He set it on the board next to White’s figurine.
“You’re fucking kidding me,” Sean said. “Black, how do we get to White? How do we get to wherever he is?”
Black shook his head.
“Black!” Sean raised his voice. “Tell me! Tell me how to get to White! He’s been looking for you - now you have to help me find him!”
Shaking his head again, Black backed up a few steps, arms folding over his stomach. Gumpa interceded, saying, “Sean, stay calm. Black’s clearly been through a lot. Let’s try to give him some time, okay? Shouting at him isn’t going to help anything.”
Sean swore, but at least he stopped shouting. Black sat down in the corner of the room, pulling his knees to his chest.
“Try to relax, Black,” Gumpa said. “You’re safe here. Get some rest and we’ll talk about it again in the morning.”
~ ~ ~ ~
Chapter Text
By the time dawn broke, Dan was left with only a dozen or so volunteers. The other police officers had decided that there was no point to this, and he didn’t have the authority to tell them otherwise. They were all convinced that White was just another juvenile delinquent who had run off, and they were wasting their time.
His radio crackled as the sun came up. “There’s been reports of a break-in at a house on the east side. I’ll send you the address.”
Dan sighed. “I’m with the search party.”
“Which means you’re the only one still awake and on duty right now.”
Dan thought about it, and decided not to argue. If White was lost, or confused, or even on drugs, he might break into a house to find a place to sleep. Easier to just go check it and see if that was what had happened. If he was lucky, White might even still be there.
He wasn’t lucky. A search of the house turned up nobody.
“Anything missing?” he asked the homeowner.
“Some food is all,” the man said, intensifying Dan’s suspicion that it could have been White. “Oh, and - yesterday when I came home from work, I took off my work shirt and tossed it over the kitchen chair. That’s gone, too. Weird, right?”
It wasn’t weird, Dan thought. It was a teenager looking for food and dry clothes. “You didn’t see or hear anything?”
“I wasn’t home. I work night shifts down at the factory - just came home half an hour ago and found the back door was broken.”
“Show me?” Dan said, and the man walked him over. Dan examined it quickly and decided it was a flimsy lock. Even someone younger or weaker than White probably could have jimmied it open. But why had he just taken some things and then run away? What was he afraid of? “Mind if I take a look around the back?”
“Feel free.”
Dan walked out into the backyard and took a deep breath, considering. Given everything he knew, he had to assume that White wasn’t acting rationally. There might not have been any reason for him to choose this particular house, or to run away from it. But it could also be that he had just been there, that he had been startled by the man’s return, and might still be nearby.
“White?” he shouted, walking into the forest. “White, are you out there? Can you hear me?”
Nothing but the noise of the water dripping off the leaves onto the forest floor.
There was a path, though, and Dan followed it. It was well-worn but narrow, probably an animal path rather than a human one. Still, a human was more likely to follow a path already made, he thought. He kept a keen eye on his surroundings as he walked, hoping to catch a glimpse of something, anything interesting.
In the end, what he found was a drainpipe. There was a scrap of cloth that had caught on the edge, torn free from whatever garment it had come from. A hospital gown, he thought, looking at the pattern. White wouldn’t have been wearing one of those.
Still, any lead was better than no lead, so he followed the drainpipe as it curved around and eventually went underneath a fence with a No Trespassing sign on it. Then he followed the fence until a building came into view and he realized where he was. Just outside the National Laboratory. It was about two miles outside of town, staffed entirely by outsiders. Nobody knew what happened there; Dan had heard talk of military operations and secret experiments. Probably bullshit, but he did find it curious that nobody who lived in the closest town actually worked there.
“Huh,” he said, looking down at the piece of fabric. He decided to go into town and ask a few questions.
“Oh, yeah, the lab’s been there about fifteen years,” his superior said upon Dan’s question. “Nobody knows what they do there. Top secret stuff for the government.”
“I think I heard that someone died there a few years ago?”
“Yeah, the town drunk decided to climb one of their fences and try to get pictures for the tabloids or something. I think he got electrocuted when he tried to hide in a closet. Something like that. It was all very hush-hush.”
Dan told him about the scrap of cloth he’d found by the drainpipe. “I’d like to go in and take a look around.”
“They probably won’t let you, but you’re welcome to waste your time.”
Dan sighed and thought about getting a few hours of sleep before deciding there was no time like the present. He got in his car and drove out to the facility. The man at the gate seemed disinclined to let him in, but Dan tried to be friendly and not make the man defensive. “I mean, I know he’s not in there, but his parents are pretty wealthy and influential, so I’ve just gotta check off the box, you know? Could you just do me a favor, maybe ask your boss if there’s anything he can do? It’ll be ten minutes, tops.”
A few minutes later, Dan was being introduced to a man named Techit, who was the head of security at the lab. He showed Dan over to where the drainpipe came out and said, “Nobody could’ve gotten in without us noticing. The whole area is covered by cameras, see?”
Dan glanced up and did indeed see the cameras. “Do you guys keep the footage?”
“For seventy-two hours.”
“Any chance I could take a look?”
Techit shrugged. “Sure, if it makes you happy.”
As they walked inside, Dan asked, “So if you don’t mind me asking, what is it that you guys do here?”
“Scientific research,” Techit said. “I’m not really the person to ask if you want more specifics.”
“I heard that the guy in charge is some kind of genius,” Dan said, even though he hadn’t heard any such thing, just to keep Techit talking.
It worked, as Techit said, “Yeah, Tawi has been running this place since day one. Whatever he’s doing for the government, they seem to like it.”
Dan watched the security footage showing the pipe’s exit, played at high speed. “That was both nights?” he asked, when it was over, and Techit confirmed. Dan didn’t say anything else, because that was obviously a lie. It had been pouring rain most of the previous night, but there had been no rain showing on the video. There was something they didn’t want him to see, but he knew there was no point in asking further questions. They had been prepared for this, and he wouldn’t get anywhere. “Okay. Thanks for your time. I really appreciate it.”
“Of course,” Techit said, and escorted him out.
After some thought, Dan decided to go back to his apartment for a few hours of sleep, and then see where Google could take him.
~ ~ ~ ~
Sean knew damn well that he wasn’t going to sleep no matter what Gumpa said. Since Black had apparently decided he was going to stay in the corner of the living room, Sean went into White’s room. He curled up in White’s bed, breathing in his scent from White’s pillow, and let himself cry where nobody could see him.
Around dawn, he finally dozed, and woke when someone knocked on the door. “Yeah,” he grunted.
The door slid open, and it was Yok, looking more serious than usual. He didn’t comment on Sean being in White’s bed, only saying, “Hia made breakfast. Are you hungry?”
“Yeah,” Sean said, rubbing both hands over his face. “Be out in a sec.”
Yok nodded and closed the door. Sean sat up and grabbed his phone, momentarily puzzled when there were two phones on the nightstand but then remembering that one was White’s. For the hundredth time, he studied it, wondering if it even mattered. What would White keep on his phone? It wasn’t like he had been texting anyone from the forest.
He went to his own room for a change of clothes and then out to the kitchen, where everyone was eating hungrily, including Black. Sean scowled at him for a moment, hating him for not being White even as he knew that was incredibly unfair.
“I’ve brought Yok and Gram up to speed,” Gumpa told him, handing him a plate. “I’m going to call Dan to see if I can get an update, and then we can decide what to do next after we’ve eaten.”
Sean nodded and started eating. Gram, apparently in an attempt to be hospitable, said, “How are you feeling, Black?”
Black shrugged and kept eating.
“This is crazy, you know that, right?” Yok said to Sean.
“No shit, Sherlock,” Sean said. “Do you have any reasonable explanation for what’s going on? Any non-crazy explanation?”
Yok thought about it. “I guess not. No matter how hard I try, I can’t get around the tattoo. I had to drive three hours to get to the place that did mine, and Gumpa’s right, they look different when they’re fresh. That tattoo is old, and White definitely didn’t have it. But I’m still not sure of the whole part where White called the garage phone from another dimension or something.”
“Yeah, I’m not sure about that, either,” Gram said.
Black looked up and held his hand out with his palm up. “Black - ”
“If you do that one more time, I’m going to stab you in the face,” Sean told him.
Black blinked at him, then said, “Fuck off.”
“Oh, you know that word?” Sean snorted. “We’re gonna work on your vocabulary.”
“Kids,” Gumpa said, coming back in. “Dan didn’t have much of an update. Nothing was found overnight. There was a break-in at a house on the east side that could have been White, but - ”
“No,” Black said.
“Apparently wasn’t?” Gumpa pinched the bridge of his nose. “Of course not, it was you. That’s where you got that shirt. And White seems to be inside my electrical system somehow. Dan said a search and rescue team was coming to look through the forest. I think we should keep an eye on the investigation. Yok - ”
“Oh, I’m all over it,” Yok said. “I get to stalk Dan and have you condone my behavior? Count me in.”
“The only reason I’m sending you is because if Dan catches you, he’ll think it’s just you being you, and not us trying to keep him from doing his job because we’re hiding White’s twin brother and don’t want his parents around,” Gumpa said, and Yok gave him a thumbs up. “Gram, I want you to try to talk to the other kids at the party. I know it’s a long-shot, but if White said or did anything unusual, I’d like to hear about it. Sean, stay here with Black. I’m going to go to the hardware store and buy some things. If White’s in the electrical system, let’s give him something to work with.” He paused and said, “I can’t believe that sentence just came out of my mouth.”
“Me neither,” Sean said.
They finished eating, and the others left. Black was staring into space, which for some reason annoyed Sean.
“Fuck, I have so many questions,” Sean said, shaking his head. He put White’s phone down on the desk and began trying different combinations. A bare second later, Black picked it up. “Hey!” Sean protested, but then watched as Black tapped the screen and handed it back. It was unlocked. “Now I have more questions. If you’re White’s twin brother, and you two haven’t seen each other since you were young, how do you know his phone code?”
Black frowned at him. Then he leaned over and took the phone again, locking it. Sean protested, thinking he was doing it to be petty, but then Black put in the passcode again. “B-L-A-C-K. Black. His code.”
Sean looked down at the phone, locked it, and put it in. “That’s a terrible passcode.”
Black shrugged. “You didn’t guess it.”
“Yeah, that’s true, huh.” Sean shook his head and started poking through the contents of White’s phone. Despite his hopes, there was nothing much of interest. The most recent text thread was from the day before the party, which was the group text where they talked about their D&D game. There were no phone calls. No e-mail. Sean tried his photos and saw he had taken some at the party, but the last one was only at eleven, long before White had vanished. There were a lot of photos, actually; he had noticed that White liked to take pictures of them. He found that he featured prominently in the collection and wondered if that meant anything.
While he did this, Black studied him intensely. “Evidence,” he said.
“What?” Sean asked.
“So he knows it’s real.”
Sean frowned at him, thinking of White’s ‘diagnosis’ of schizophrenia and wondering how all of this fit together. He went back to the homescreen and studied the icons. White had no social media. Yok had tried to introduce him to Instagram but he had never picked it up. His homescreen had boring things, probably standard, pre-loaded things, like the camera, music, chrome, email. Sean wondered about his laptop. He saw White on it in the evenings a lot, and he was usually playing games, but if he had kept any information about his brother, that would be where it was. He grabbed it from White’s room and sat down on the sofa. Black followed him, sitting on the floor and still giving him that intense glare.
It used the same password as his phone, so Sean didn’t have any trouble getting in. There was nothing open on it, but the desktop had an icon of a folder that was labeled ‘Black’.
“Well, that was easy,” Sean muttered, double clicking it. He was surprised to see that it was just a long list of text files, each one with a date for a name. There were folders for each year, and then the current dates were in the main folder. It wasn’t consistent. There wasn’t a file for every day; sometimes there would be three in a row but then another a week later. Sean opened the first one listed, from three days before White went missing, and felt like he had been kicked in the stomach. “It’s, uh. It’s to you.”
“Read,” Black said.
Sean nodded, then did so. “Dear Black. Today marks six months since I came to Hawkins. I feel like you’re so close and I just don’t know where to go to find you. It’s such a strange feeling. I can’t help but wonder if Mom and Dad were right and I really am just imagining things, remembering things that never happened. Maybe I really am crazy. I’m not sure I care anymore. I just want to find you. It’s hard to think about anything else sometimes.”
That was all that was in the file. Sean closed it and decided against reading the rest unless he had to, feeling like it would be an invasion of both White and Black’s privacy. “Why does he think you might not be real?”
Black’s lip curled. “Them.”
“Them?” Sean realized the answer of ‘who’ was obvious, if not the why. “Your parents?” he added, and Black nodded. “But why? Why would they tell him that?”
Black seemed to think about this for several long moments, trying to find the words. “They don’t want me to be.”
“What?” Sean asked.
“To them. I’m not real anymore.” Black shook his head. “They made me not real.”
“Okay,” Sean said, as if he understood.
“But to White. As long as I’m real. They can’t forget me. Can’t put me away. Can’t make me not real to them unless I’m not real to him.”
Sean decided he would dump this in Gumpa’s lap and let him figure out what the hell that meant. All he could tell was that there had been some world class child abuse going on. “Black, how do we get to White?”
“Gate,” Black said.
Sean frowned. “What gate?”
Black picked up a piece of paper and a pencil. “Black,” he said, holding the pencil on one side of the paper. Then he moved it to the other side and said, “White. Hold.” He handed the piece of paper to Sean, who took it, puzzled. “Hold tight,” Black said, then stabbed the pencil down through the piece of paper, making a hole in it. He pointed to the hole and said, again, “Gate.”
“Okay, I get it,” Sean said, nodding. “There’s two planes of reality. Us and wherever White is. Upside down or whatever. And there are paths between the two, called gates. So where do we find a gate?”
“Can’t,” Black said.
“I have to,” Sean said, frustrated. “It must be somewhere near where he disappeared, right? Whatever happened that night, he accidentally went through this gate. So if I can find the gate, go through, I can find him.”
“No,” Black said.
“Well, I have to try something! I can’t just leave him there!” Fuming, Sean headed for the door out to the garage, only to have it slam in his face. Perplexed, he pulled it open, and the knob was wrenched out of his hands as it slammed shut again. “What the fuck . . .”
He turned back to Black. A trickle of blood was coming out of his nose. He wiped it away and said, firmly, “No.”
Sean decided he had better sit down.
~ ~ ~ ~
Dan set his alarm so he wouldn’t sleep all day, and got up just before noon. He took a hot shower and made himself some food before sitting down at his computer. Although he really had no idea if the lab had anything to do with White’s disappearance, he was sure about one thing, which was that they were lying to him. It was at least something to do while the professionals searched the forest.
He had no idea what to expect when he typed ‘Hawkins National Laboratory’ into Google, but what he got definitely wasn’t what he would have guessed. There were some articles about when it had opened, but several puff pieces about Tawi. The lab was maintained by the Department of Energy, and as Techit had said, Tawi had been in charge of it from the beginning. A little digging showed that he had been involved in some very shady projects over the years, scientific research about the ‘limits’ of the human mind. Dan wasn’t sure what that meant.
There were also a number of articles about the death that had occurred at the lab just over three years previously. Dan looked up the name and was surprised to find that the man who had died was Sean’s father. Of course, he thought, that did make some sense. Hawkins wasn’t that big. Gumpa was a surrogate father figure to a lot of the teens who didn’t have a dad.
Despite his superior’s blase attitude about it, Dan immediately found the death suspicious, and so had several of the people who reported on it. The man’s family had been adamant that he wouldn’t trespass on the lab just to try to get a few photographs, and that the lab was covering up the actual reason for his death.
Dan scrolled through the article and found that Sean’s father had been working in town as a deliveryman, and had made regular deliveries to the lab, including one that day. A coworker said that he had seen Sean’s father after that delivery, but he could have been bribed or extorted. Nobody else had seen him, and his body had been found in an electrical closet at the lab the next day. The lab’s position was that he had come back after dark, snuck in to get photographs he could sell, hidden from security in the closet, and been electrocuted.
Dan pondered this. Had he seen something during his delivery that they hadn’t wanted him to see? Or had he been killed there in some sort of accident that would give them culpability they didn’t want to admit to? What, if anything, could that possibly have to do with White’s disappearance?
He thought about giving up, but decided to go to the second page of google’s results since he didn’t have anything better to do. Halfway down the page, he saw an article accusing Tawi of having stolen someone’s child. He did a double take and then clicked on it. It was from over a decade previous, not long after the lab had opened. A woman said that Tawi had approached her while she had been pregnant, looking for test subjects for his experiments. She had refused to sign her child away, but the baby had vanished after only a few hours after birth. The doctors told her he had died, but she refused to believe them.
It could have been a woman whose grief had rendered her irrational, Dan thought, and certainly the courts had thought so. But in context of everything else he knew about the lab, and White’s disappearance, it was highly suspicious. He wondered if he might be able to get in touch with her.
His phone buzzed, and he glanced at the screen to see that it was his superior, and picked it up. “Yes, sir?”
“You’d better head down here,” his boss said. “They’ve found a body.”
~ ~ ~ ~
“Hia, I’m freaking out,” Sean said, as soon as Gumpa came back into the apartment behind the garage, laden down with bags.
“Don’t freak out,” Gumpa said, setting them down. “What’s wrong?”
“That little bastard can move shit with his mind. I swear to God. And don’t give me that look as if I’m crazy when you just brought home two bags of lightbulbs to try to communicate with White on another plane of existence.”
Gumpa lifted his hands in surrender. “I believe you. What happened?”
“I wanted to go look for White and he wouldn’t let me. He kept slamming the door shut as soon as I’d opened it.” Sean turned to Black and said, “Show him.”
“No,” Black said.
“Listen, asshole - ”
“He doesn’t need to show me, Sean,” Gumpa said, because Black seemed feral and Sean was on the verge of hysterics and those two things struck him as a bad combination. “I believe you. Black, why didn’t you want Sean to go out looking? What else did I miss?”
Sean explained what he had found on White’s computer and what Black had said about his parents had tried to ‘make him not real’, whatever that meant. Then he showed Gumpa the piece of paper with a hole in it. “So these gates connect wherever we are to wherever White is, right? He must have gone through one the other night and now he’s stuck on the other side. But when I wanted to go look for one, Black wouldn’t let me.”
Gumpa turned to Black. “Why don’t you want him to go?”
“They’ll see you,” Black said.
“What? Who’s they?” Sean sounded like he was about to explode from sheer frustration.
“The bad men.”
“I swear to fucking - ”
“Sean,” Gumpa said firmly. “Why don’t you take some of these lights and start hanging them up?”
Sean grabbed a bag and stomped to the other side of the room.
Gumpa sat down across from Black, who stared at him. “Black,” he said, careful to keep his own voice calm. “White came here looking for you. He got here six months ago and from the sound of it, he stayed here because he felt like you were nearby. Which means you’ve been here in Hawkins for a while. Am I right?”
Black nodded.
“But you weren’t living in the forest, which means that someone was - keeping you. Somewhere. And now that you’re gone, they must be looking for you. Is that who you’re afraid will see Sean, if he goes out to look for the gate?”
Black nodded again. Then he said, “Not afraid. Just don’t want.”
Gumpa smiled despite himself. “Okay. You’re not afraid of them; you just don’t want them to take you back there. Right?”
Another nod. “Bad place.”
“Yeah, seems like it must’ve sucked,” Gumpa agreed. “But Black, we’re going to have to find a gate at some point if we want to get White back. You said he’s hiding. It sounds like he’s in danger. I’m sure you want to help him as much as we do. So if we can’t go out to where he disappeared and look for a gate, then what can we do?”
“I don’t know,” Black admitted, frustration written all over his face. He pulled his knees up to his chest, wrapping his arms around them. “Can’t go to the gate.”
“Are there more gates?” Gumpa asked, thinking about how terrifying that was, and how when all this was over he was going to need to have a beer and an existential crisis.
“Sometimes,” Black said.
“What makes them?” Gumpa asked, and Black shook his head. Gumpa searched for a different question, one that he might be able to answer. “Why are they there sometimes and not other times?”
“They open. They close.”
Gumpa almost asked why, but that question was basically the same as asking what made them, which Black either couldn’t or wouldn’t answer. “Can we find one when it opens?”
Black looked thoughtful. “Maybe.” He got up without prompting and went out to the office. Gumpa followed him curiously. He picked up the radio from where it sat on Gumpa’s shelf and carried it back into the apartment, then sat down and started fiddling with the dials, filling the room with static.
“Is that . . . what you’re doing? Finding a gate?” Gumpa asked.
“Looking,” Black said.
Gumpa decided he would be satisfied with that. He probably wouldn’t want to promise that he could find one either, in Black’s shoes. How did a radio help him look for a gate? Gumpa decided he was better off not asking that question. He joined Sean in hammering nails into the walls so they could hang up all the lights he had bought. A few moments later, he glanced over at Black and saw a trickle of blood coming from his nose, which Black impatiently wiped away. He remembered that White had had nosebleeds sometimes, too; he had seen them at least half a dozen times since his arrival in Hawkins. Were nosebleeds genetic? He didn’t think he had ever learned that in school.
When they were done hanging the lights, he stood back and tried to admire their work, as slapdash as it was. He and Sean stood in silence for a minute, the only noise the static from the radio.
“This is stupid, huh,” Gumpa said.
Sean lifted his hands in surrender. “I don’t know what the fuck is going on. White has a twin brother who can move things with his mind. You say you heard White on the phone last night and I believe you.”
“Oh, yeah, that reminds me. I have to plug in the new phone,” Gumpa said, digging in the bags.
He was just about to do that when there was a squeal of feedback from the radio. Both he and Sean winced, and then Sean clutched Gumpa’s elbow as the light closest to them came on. “White?” Sean shouted. “White, can you hear me? It’s Sean! Are you there?”
One light went off, then the next went on. Gumpa watched in fascination as one after another turned on and then off, down the chain.
“White,” he said, trying to stay calm. “Just stay where you are. That light is fine. Use that light. Can you - make it blink? If you can hear us, make it blink twice.”
He held his breath. The light blinked twice.
“This is - so fucking crazy,” Sean said. He choked out, “White, are you alive? Make it blink twice if you’re alive.”
The light blinked twice. Both Sean and Gumpa let out sighs of relief.
Before either of them could think what to ask next, the lights began to flicker. Not just one or two, but all of them, strobing randomly, nothing at all like what White had been doing. There was another harsh squeal from the radio. Black’s head jerked up and he shouted, “White, run!”
“What the fu - ” Sean started, and then he and Gumpa both saw it. The wall across from them was stretching, as if it was being pushed from the other side. Of course, Gumpa’s rational side said, that was impossible. Even if someone was on the other side, it was made of wood and stone. It shouldn’t be able to stretch like that. Yet it was, in the shape of two hands – no, not hands, hands implied human but these were anything but – and then the impression of what should have been a face, it was the right size to be a face but it was just blank –
Then, just as abruptly, it was gone. The lights were all off. The radio was quiet.
“Gone,” Black muttered, and rested his head against one hand. “Fuck.”
“Did he get away from - whatever that was?” Sean choked out.
Black nodded, and Sean let out another sigh of relief.
“Was that a gate?” Gumpa asked, thinking of how something on the other side seemed to have been trying to get through.
“Almost,” Black said.
“Did you . . . do that?” Sean asked hesitantly.
“No,” Black said, then amended, “sort of.”
Sean looked like he was about to devolve into hysterics again, so Gumpa quickly jumped back in. “What can you tell us, Black?”
“I tried to find one and almost opened one instead.”
Gumpa thought about that. “Okay. So could you do that again?”
“No,” Black said.
Sean was clearly about to start tearing his hair out, or possibly tearing Black’s hair out. “Listen to me, you telekinetic little shit! You need to open a gate so I can go get White right now. What about that is hard for you to understand?”
Black gave him a look that was somehow full of disdain. “Stupid.”
“What the fuck did you just call - ”
“Sean!” Gumpa pulled him back. “Listen, Sean, I know you’re upset. But you’re not helping the situation. Black’s proven he knows a lot more about this whole thing than we do. He’s just not very good at expressing himself yet. You shouting at him isn’t going to help him learn how to explain things to us.” He turned to Black and said, “And I know you must be frustrated, too. But try to understand how worried Sean is, and understand that calling him stupid won’t help things either.”
Black made a noise of disgust and started playing with the radio again.
Sean’s fists clenched at his sides.
“Sean,” Gumpa said quietly. “Take a walk, okay? Or go out to the garage and spend some time with the punching bag. Get yourself together.”
Sean nodded and stomped out of the room.
Gumpa sat down next to Black, who glanced up at him but then quickly looked away. “Black,” Gumpa said, “I know you want to get to your brother. I know you must be worried about him. Help us help him. Even if it doesn’t make sense, just say whatever you’re thinking. We’ll figure it out together.”
Not looking up, Black said, “Gates bring monsters.”
“Okay,” Gumpa said, trying to sound encouraging. “They can tell when one is opened?”
Black nodded, then shook his head, looking frustrated. Gumpa was trying to think of something else to say that might help, but then Black nodded again. “Not the gate itself. Us. Rightside up.”
“Okay, so when a gate opens, they can sense us on the other side?” Gumpa said, and Black nodded, this time looking more sure of himself. “And they want to come over here?”
“Food,” Black said.
“We’re food?” Gumpa asked, and Black nodded. “Okay. So our world is like an all-you-can-eat-buffet for monsters,” he added, and a tiny smile twitched at the corner of Black’s mouth. He thought things through. “They’ll know when a gate is opened because they can smell us, like predators, I guess. But White won’t be able to do the same thing. Which means the odds he would get through before they did would be pretty slim.”
“Can’t close,” Black said. “Don’t know how.”
“So you can open one, but you can’t close it afterwards?” Gumpa asked. Black nodded. “I can see why that’s a problem. Is there anyone who would know?”
Black looked over at this, his face creased with anxiety that he doubtlessly wouldn’t admit to. “I didn’t mean to.”
“Open a gate?”
“Open the gate.”
Gumpa frowned. “There’s one gate?”
“To start.”
Gumpa got it. “Okay. There were no gates. You opened the first gate. And now that, that destabilized things. Little gates are closing and opening that you can’t control. That’s what’s attracting the monsters, and that’s how White ended up over there instead of over here. And we can’t fix that because you don’t know how to close the gate now that it’s open.”
Black seemed to consider, then nodded again. “Yes.”
“And there’s nobody else who would know?”
“I don’t know what I did. How could they?”
Gumpa had to admit that this was fair enough. “Black, who is they? Who made you do this?”
Black shook his head.
Gumpa decided he had pushed hard enough for a little while. “Okay. Are you hungry?” he asked, and Black nodded. “Let’s get you something to eat.”
~ ~ ~ ~
Chapter Text
Sean was working on exhausting himself with the punching bag when Namo arrived. She had seen Sean like this before, although not for some time, and didn’t try to stop him. In fact, she held the punching bag steady so it wouldn’t swing back at him with his more vicious punches. Eventually, he gave up on venting his unending temper and grabbed a bottle of water from the refrigerator Gumpa kept in the garage. He wanted to tell Namo what was going on, but didn’t even know where to start.
Before he could say anything, Gram showed up with Eugene. Although Sean didn’t know Eugene well, he felt sorry for her as soon as he saw her. Her eyes were red-rimmed and swollen, and she greeted Sean by apologizing for leaving White at the party. “We should’ve just made him ride with us . . .”
“It’s fine, Eugene,” Sean said. “It’s not your fault. Nobody knew what would happen.”
Namo agreed, squeezing Eugene’s shoulder. “It’s not anybody’s fault,” she said, giving Sean a significant look.
Sean sighed and slumped into a chair, wondering how much Gram had told Eugene. The girls would undoubtedly think he was crazy if he told them even a tenth of what had happened in the last forty-eight hours. Namo asked if they could go into the apartment like usual, and Sean hastily said, “Oh, uh, let’s stay out here. Gumpa was up all night and he finally fell asleep on the sofa like half an hour ago. That’s why I came out to the garage.”
“Okay,” Namo said, hoisting herself up to sit on the counter. “I saw the search and rescue team get here this morning. A bunch of guys with dogs. They’ll be able to find him.”
“Yeah,” Sean muttered. He rubbed both hands over his face and then looked at Eugene, who was still trembling slightly.
Gram gave her a slight nudge. “It’s okay, Eugene. Just tell Sean what you told me.”
Sean remembered belatedly that Gumpa had sent Gram out to talk to other people who had been at the party, in case White had said or done something unusual. He frowned slightly but sat up, looking at Eugene expectantly. “Did something happen at the party?”
“No,” Eugene said. “I told you everything the first couple times we talked. It was something that happened yesterday . . .”
Namo hopped off the counter and put an arm around Eugene. “Just tell us what happened, okay? You already told Gram. Ignore Sean scowling over there and talk to me.”
A slight smile touched Eugene’s face. “Well . . . I went out with the search parties. I felt bad, you know? I know it wasn’t our fault and we couldn’t have known what was going to happen, but I wanted to help look for him. And I saw . . .” She shook her head. “I don’t know what I saw. It was big and fast. Some kind of animal, I guess? But it walked upright like a human.”
Sean thought of the monster trying to break into the garage through the gate, and wished they had actually been able to see it, not just an impression it made through the wall.
Gram interjected here to help Eugene out. “She saw it in the woods near Todd’s, so not too far from where White would have disappeared - and not too far from where we were the other night.”
Where we found Black, were Gram’s clearly unspoken words. But what went along with that was ‘where we heard some weird animal noises that scared the shit out of us’.
“It’s stupid, I know,” Eugene said. “It probably didn’t have anything to do with him disappearing.”
“No, it could have,” Sean said. “This might be the piece we were missing. We kept wondering why White would have gone into the woods instead of just calling me for a ride. Maybe something scared him.”
“Then wouldn’t he have just gone into Todd’s house, though?” Gram asked, frowning.
Sean sighed. “I don’t know.” To Eugene, he added, “You didn’t get a good look at it?”
“No, I ran as soon as I saw it,” Eugene admitted. “It chased after me, but I wasn’t too far from the road and it didn’t follow me that far.”
“Ugh,” Sean groaned, and leaned back in his chair. This discussion was stupid. There was too much he couldn’t tell the girls, and it was making things unnecessarily complicated. He wondered if Gumpa was making any progress with White’s telekinetic, barely verbal twin. He couldn’t think about much else beyond the fact that White was trapped somewhere with a monster and he couldn’t get to him.
The door to the garage opened again, with a jingling of bells that made Sean jolt to his feet. He saw that it was not the person he wanted most to see, and was in fact someone close to the bottom of that list. “Oh, it’s you.”
“Hello to you too,” Todd said. He looked uneasy, shifting from foot to foot, especially when he saw the girls. Then he said, “Look, I know you think I’m an asshole. Which is fine because it’s true. But I also know you think I don’t care about what happened to White, which isn’t true. I know I didn’t take it seriously when I should have. I really thought he’d just gotten sidetracked in the forest and you guys would find him by nightfall.”
Sean sighed, because he didn’t want to deal with Todd but at least he seemed to have his heart in the right place. “Okay. Great.”
“So I want you to look at something, and you might think I’m crazy or trying to fuck with you but I’m not, okay?”
Sean frowned, thinking of all the things he could say that would make someone think he was crazy, thinking of the fact that they had just been talking about Eugene seeing a monster in the woods. “Okay.”
Todd pulled out a tablet. “So the ring cameras don’t overlook the pool area, you know that, I told you that. But this morning, when it looked like White really might be in trouble, I took a look around. My car was in the driveway and the dashcam was pointed that way. It didn’t catch the whole area but it did pick up something.”
Going tense, Sean said, “Show me.”
Gram and the girls crowded over to look as well. Todd started playing the footage. “Time stamp at the bottom,” he said, and Sean’s gaze flickered down to see that it was at about one thirty in the morning.
“This is just after Nene and I left,” Eugene said. “He said he was going to finish his drink and then go in. Is that him?”
“Yeah,” Todd said, gesturing. Sean realized that on the left side of the footage, he could see feet. The pool chair itself was just offscreen, the camera catching only the very bottom of it. But then White stood, and for a brief second Sean could see all of him, looking perfectly normal and unhurried. He tossed what seemed to be an empty can towards the trash basket. It landed inside, and White smiled. Sean felt his heart ache to see that expression on his face.
Then his head came up. He frowned slightly, then shook himself and turned, walking out of the camera’s view.
“What was that?” Gram asked.
“It gets weirder,” Todd said.
“Where’s he going?” Sean asked. “It looks like he’s heading towards the back?”
Todd tapped the video to pause it. “Yeah, he is. I told him to use the back door when he came in, if he decided to stay the night. The front door has a chain lock but the back door doesn’t. But that’s not what I wanted you to see.”
He pressed play again. A bare second after White went out of view -
“Fuck!” Sean gasped, actually backing up, he was so startled. Eugene let out a small shriek and buried her face in Namo’s arm.
“What the hell is that?” Namo asked, leaning closer as Todd paused the video again. Right in the center of the frame was - Sean didn’t know what. A monster. It walked upright, like a human, but looked taller than any human Sean had ever met, and wasn’t wearing any clothes. It was hard to tell in the dim light, but the skin looked gray and tough, unlike a human’s skin, and in the brief second when it turned to the camera -
“It doesn’t have a face,” Sean said, feeling numb.
“Maybe it’s a guy in a mask?” Gram asked, recovering slightly.
“Way too tall,” Todd said immediately. “That’s what I thought at first, too. But you can see the top of the fence here and that thing is at least a foot taller.”
Namo squeezed Eugene’s shoulder. “That must be what you saw in the forest yesterday. I know you didn’t get a good look, but you said it seemed tall and human-ish but not human, right?”
Eugene nodded. “But what is it?”
A monster from another plane of existence, Sean thought. “Why didn’t he just run inside?”
“He couldn’t have, look at the angles,” Namo said, taking the tablet and rewinding to show the direction White had been walking and the direction the monster had emerged from the forest. “It would have intercepted him. He must have seen it and run in a different direction without crossing back into the camera’s view. He probably ran towards the driveway, maybe hoping he could hide in a car.”
“You already saw this thing?” Todd asked Eugene.
“When I was out looking for White, yeah. I wasn’t too far from your place.”
“Well, that’s comforting,” Todd said. He frowned at Sean and added, “I thought you’d say I was just fucking with you.”
Sean shook his head. “I’ve seen it too. And believe it or not, it’s not the craziest thing I’ve seen today. I guess you guys might as well come in.”
Now all three of them frowned, but they followed him down the hallway and into the apartment, with Gram stopping to lock the door to the garage. Gumpa actually had fallen asleep on the sofa, and Black was sitting at the kitchen table, still fiddling with the radio.
“What the fuck,” Todd said immediately. “You already found him? And just didn’t tell anybody? You asshole - ”
“Shut the fuck up,” Sean said. “That’s not White. It’s his twin brother.”
“White has a twin brother?” Namo asked, surprised. Black was now looking up as well, and scowling, clearly gearing up for either fight or flight. Sean had a feeling he knew which one Black would pick. “He never mentioned that.”
“Yeah, it’s a really long story,” Sean said. “Let me try to sum it up. They were separated when they were really young and then his parents gaslit White into thinking he had imagined having a brother, while Black was off, I don’t know, becoming telekinetic and opening gates to other dimensions. White went through one after the party, I guess while running from this monster, which came through either the same one or a different one. Hard to say, because it seems like the fabric of reality has holes in it right now. White’s on the other side of the barrier between the dimensions and talking to us through the lights. Any questions?”
“Um. Where do I start?” Eugene asked.
“Telekinetic?” Namo said at the same time.
“There’s two of them?” Todd said, looking at Black like he was wondering if Black might be more receptive to his flirting than White.
Black set the radio down and walked over, still glowering. “Who?”
“They’re, uh, friends of mine. Some of them,” Sean sighed. He saw the looks on their faces and said, “He’s not great at talking. We think he was probably pretty isolated? But honestly we don’t even know where he came from, or why he appeared at the same time White disappeared. And no he’s not an alternate personality. He’s got a tattoo that White didn’t have.” Not wanting to dwell, he said, “Hey, Black, look at this. Is this the monster that was trying to break into the garage?”
Black looked at the tablet, then nodded.
“I am made of questions right now,” Eugene said.
“Yeah, me too,” Sean said. “I’ve gotten more questions than answers over the last twenty-four hours. The primary one being how the fuck I can get to White and get him out of what seems to be a nightmare dimension.”
“Sean,” Gumpa said from the couch, sounding tired, “if you’re going to bring them in, just explain the whole thing. Start at the beginning.”
Sean groaned, but Gram bumped his shoulder and said, “I’ll help.”
“Yeah, where’s your third musketeer?” Todd asked, glancing around.
“Oh, Yok’s off stalking Dan,” Gram said, and both of the girls laughed. “Just not for the usual reasons. So last night, we went out to look for White . . .”
Gram told the story a lot better than Sean could have, given that he was overflowing with frustration and ready to punch somebody. But he had to pick it up after Gram had left that morning, explaining that yes, Black was telekinetic, and yes, White really had communicated with them through the lights, and yes, a monster had apparently tried to break through a too-small interdimensional portal in Gumpa’s living room. And yes, on top of all of that, Black was a sullen, uncommunicative son of a bitch who wouldn’t just open him a gate to the upside down so he could find White.
“Sean,” Gumpa said, without opening his eyes.
“Get fucked,” Black said, at the same time.
“See, why can you learn words when it’s telling me where to stick it but not when it’s explaining why you can’t just get me to White - ”
“Ignore him,” Todd said, sitting down next to Black. “He’s just an asshole.”
Black looked at Todd like he was something that had crawled out of a sewer.
Namo was frowning. “I mean, from everything you’ve said - aside from the fact that none of this makes sense and we’re probably all going crazy and I kind of want to check the carbon monoxide levels - ”
“I have sensors,” Gumpa said.
“ - it sounds like the real reason Black won’t open a gate to get us there is because he can’t close it afterwards, and we don’t want monsters around.”
“Yeah, you know what, I bet White doesn’t want monsters around, either!” Sean said. “But he’s over there with them anyway.”
“I have serious questions, though,” Gram said, frowning. “So let’s just accept, for the sake of expedience, that White came here looking for his brother and somehow could tell when he had gotten close, and that’s why he stayed here in Hawkins.”
“You think it wasn’t Sean’s charming personality?” Todd asked.
“I will cut you - ”
Gram ignored them both. “And then Black escaped on the same night that White went missing, which is a bit of a coincidence but really not that nuts in the fact of everything else going on. But escaped from where? Where the hell were you?”
“Bad place,” Black said.
“Could you please be a little more specific,” Sean said, wanting to bang his head against the wall, or possibly bang Black’s head against the wall.
“No,” Black said.
“That’s his favorite word,” Sean said to Namo.
Suddenly, startling all of them, Black slammed his hand down on the table. “My brother! Mine! You think I don’t want to find him? Fuck off!”
He grabbed the radio and stormed into White’s room, slamming the door behind him.
“He is getting better at articulating,” Gumpa said thoughtfully. “I don’t know that he was as isolated as we thought he was. It could be a combination of that and trauma from whatever happened the night he escaped.”
“That’s great, hia,” Sean said.
Namo squeezed his wrist.
“Yeah, yeah, I know. Fuck you, too,” Sean said, and got up. He walked over to White’s door and knocked.
“Get fucked!” Black shouted from inside.
Sean opened the door anyway, only to have it slam shut in his face. “Black, for fuck’s sake - ”
Gumpa got off the sofa and said, “C’mon, kids, let’s give them a little room. I’m going to get a map and see if we can plot all the places that we’ve run into the monster. Eugene, you know about where you were the other night? Great . . .”
Sean sat down and leaned the back of his head against the door, as Gumpa shepherded the other kids out. He waited until they were all gone before saying, “Listen, I’m sorry if I’m acting like you don’t care about White. Of course you do. It’s just driving me crazy that he’s so close and I can’t get to him.”
The door opened so abruptly that Sean nearly fell backwards. He turned around and saw Black scowling at him. “You left him.”
“I - ” Sean felt his stomach twist.
“You left him and that’s why you’re mad. Fuck you.”
Sean got to his feet. “I didn’t know what was going to happen.”
“I don’t care. Not my fault that you left him. Leave me alone.”
The door slammed again. Sean decided to lie down on the floor for a little while and wait for it to swallow him.
~ ~ ~ ~
// “Careful there,” Sean said, as White grabbed the first board. “They come loose sometimes and I have to nail them back down, so test them before you put any weight on them.”
“You’re really making me feel confident about this, Sean,” White said, as he cautiously grabbed the next board. It didn’t have any issues, and he kept climbing up, with Sean still standing below him in case he fell. But he made it up the makeshift ladder easily enough, and into the small treehouse that was tucked in the V of two large branches. Sean climbed up after him, and found him looking around and smiling. “This is really neat. I’ve never climbed a tree before. You said your dad built it for you?”
“Yeah, when I was seven,” Sean said. “We used to have sleepovers here, me and Yok and Gram. Still do sometimes, if it’s nice and we want to sleep outside.”
White settled down on the floor, leaning against one wall. “You three have known each other a long time, huh?”
“Yeah. Well, Yok and Namo and I all grew up together,” Sean said, also sitting down, admiring the way White looked in the sunlight and hoping he wasn’t too obvious about it. “We all lived on the same street when we were kids; Yok and Namo still do. We’ve known each other since we were in diapers. My parents tried to help look after them.”
“Oh?” White blinked at him.
“Well, you know, Namo’s mom has struggled a long time. Her dad took off before she was born, so it was just the two of them. Yok’s dad died when he was four, cancer I think. So I was the only one with two parents for a while. Mom joked about it but she always made enough to feed everybody.”
White pulled his knees up to his chest. “That was nice of her.”
“Uh huh. Then Gram’s family moved here when we were ten. He lives over on the other side of town, though. His dad is some kind of manager at the factory so they have more money than us, but not much.”
“And Gumpa’s been here a long time, right?”
“Oh, yeah. Gumpa’s parents and grandparents and possibly great-grandparents lived here in Hawkins. His grandfather opened the garage, I know that much. He was pretty good friends with my dad even though my dad was about ten years older. My dad loved motorcycles, you know? He passed that down to me. He and Gumpa talked shop all the time.”
White nodded. “It must be nice to grow up that way. With lots of friends.”
“I take it that you didn’t?” Sean asked, and White shrugged. Sean sighed. “Listen, White, I know Gumpa’s got this whole philosophy around the people who crash with him about not asking questions, about waiting for them to trust him. He was like that with me and it . . . really helped me out. So I know he’s not going to ask you anything. I guess I’m impatient compared to him, but you don’t have to answer any of my questions. I’m just curious.”
“Yeah, I know,” White said. “It’s just . . . hard to talk about.”
“You don’t have to.”
White nodded again. “Thanks.” He looked out the window, listening to the birds singing in the trees. “My parents . . . they had this image of who I was going to be. Their perfect son. I was going to do well at everything and make them proud, learn my dad’s job and . . . but I wasn’t like that. And the older I got, the more I didn’t fit into that mold, and the more upset that made them.”
“That sucks,” Sean said.
“Yeah.” White smiled slightly. “I ran away for the first time when I was nine.”
“Oh, yeah?” Sean asked, laughing as he pictured a pint-sized White with a suitcase on the curb.
“Yeah. They found me in an hour. I went through a real rebellious phase. I was angry all the time and kept acting out. Being sick like I was . . . it was hard for me. They kept me so sheltered.”
“They wanted to keep you safe,” Sean said, nodding.
“What? No,” White said, and Sean blinked at him. White shook his head and laughed quietly. “No, it wasn’t like that at all. When I was seven, I had a really bad seizure at this event my parents took me to. I don’t remember what it was, something fancy. And my mom was mortified. Even though the other people there, including the host, were trying to tell her it wasn’t a big deal, that I was sick and couldn’t help it, she was so embarrassed. After that, they never let me out much.”
“Wow,” Sean said.
“Yeah. It was all about image to them. The things I wanted didn’t matter. It was about the way I made them look.” White looked away, his smile fading. “They didn’t react well when I started acting out. I realized I was only making things harder on myself. I became perfectly behaved. I never complained. A year after I ran away for the first time, I asked them if I could have an allowance. I wanted to save up so I would have some spending money at college. My mom didn’t want to, but my dad thought it was a sign that I was getting more mature. He opened an account for me and gave me a weekly allowance. I spent a bit occasionally so they wouldn’t get suspicious, but mostly just saved and focused on studying. I wanted to graduate before I left home, to have my diploma so I could get a job. It’s really nice of Gumpa to let me stay while I decide what I want to do next.”
“You aren’t going to stay in Hawkins?” Sean asked, his chest tightening despite himself.
“I don’t know,” White said. “I don’t know what I’m going to do. I don’t know what I want to do. I’ve never really thought about that. My only goal was just getting away from them.”
Sean nodded, forcing himself not to panic. “Well, you did. So, you know. Good job.”
White laughed, and Sean thought about how beautiful he was. “Thanks, Sean. I appreciate it.” //
~ ~ ~ ~
Chapter 6
Notes:
Taking some liberties with Sean's dad in a way that is rather not Not-Me-esque, but it works better in this setting so I rolled with it. ^_^
Chapter Text
Gumpa felt a migraine building behind his eyes. He was getting too old for this shit. The time when he could pull an all nighter and just chug a few energy drinks to make up for it was years past. A two hour nap on the sofa hadn’t helped much, and the bickering of the teenagers was getting on his last nerve.
He couldn’t blame either Sean or Black for being out of sorts, but at the same time, he wanted to blame both of them. Neither of them was making even the slightest effort to see where the other one was coming from. Black at least had the excuse of being held in captivity for years. Sean was about to get a slap upside the head.
Gumpa knew that a large part of Black’s resistance to opening another gate had nothing to do with monsters - at least, not the one that had tried to break into the garage. It was because he was afraid the people who had been holding onto him would get him back. He didn’t want to admit it, but it was clearly true. And until he was willing to tell Gumpa who those people were, there wasn’t much Gumpa could do about it. Gumpa was used to waiting for kids to trust him. He wasn’t used to someone else’s life being on the line while he waited.
So they would deal with one problem first. The monster, which had now been seen or heard in three places, all of which were on the forest path between Todd’s house and the street that came out by the garage - and at the garage itself. If they could find and kill the monster, it would get rid of Black’s excuse that they couldn’t open a gate because of it.
He was thinking about that when Sean slumped out of the apartment. From the looks of it, his talk with Black hadn’t gone well. Gumpa was about to ask for details when there was a knock on the garage door. “I’ll get it,” Gram said, getting up from the chair he had dragged in.
Gumpa was a little surprised to see that it was Dan. With everything else going on, he had practically forgotten that the mundane law was still looking for White. It wasn’t as if they were going to find him, so he hadn’t been worrying about it.
Dan still looked tired, but more than that, he looked downcast. He saw the room full of teenagers and then said, “Gumpa, can we talk privately?”
Gumpa frowned but nodded. “This way,” he said, heading for his office. Sean followed him. “Sean - ”
“I want to hear what he has to say,” Sean snapped.
Dan sighed. “It’s fine, I think,” he said, and Gumpa closed the door behind them. “I wanted to let you know that they found a body.”
“A body?” Sean sounded confused. “Whose body?”
Dan looked at him as if he was an idiot, but quickly counseled his expression. “White’s, presumably. It matches his description, including the last thing he was seen wearing. One of the state police found him on the river bank.” He looked between the two of them, at Sean’s confusion bordering on rage and Gumpa’s tightly blank non-expression. “The going theory is that it probably had nothing to do with his epilepsy. He just lost his footing or a bank gave way.”
“What? No,” Sean said, shaking his head. “It’s not White’s body. White’s not dead. Hia, tell him that White’s not dead.”
Gumpa didn’t know what to think. On the one hand, he had seen the lights responding to them with his own eyes. On the other, White getting lost in the dark and falling in the river made a hell of a lot more sense.
“I’m sorry,” Dan said. “I didn’t want it to turn out this way.”
“He’s not dead,” Sean insisted.
Gumpa took a deep breath and steadied himself. No matter what was going on, the fact was that Dan wasn’t in the loop, and Gumpa wasn’t about to clue him in. “Have his parents been notified?”
“Hia - ” Sean protested.
Dan said, “By now, yes. The sheriff was going to call them. From the contact info we have, they still live in California, so they probably won’t be here until tomorrow. They’ll be responsible for identifying the body since they’re the ones who originally reported him missing - and he is their son, after all.”
“Hia,” Sean said again, more deliberately.
Gumpa squeezed his shoulder. “Will we - be able to see him? To say our goodbyes?”
“What the fuck, hia,” Sean said, clearly not having boarded the ‘we’re not telling Dan what’s going on’ train of thought that Gumpa was on.
“I’ll talk to the medical examiner tomorrow. I don’t think it would be a problem to arrange it.”
“Okay. Thank you, officer.”
“He’s not dead!” Sean shouted, pulling free of Gumpa’s restraining grasp. “Are you fucking kidding me? Are the cops in this town good for anything? When my dad died, you jack-booted thugs couldn’t wait to throw him under the bus and say it had been his fault even though everybody said he wouldn’t have done that, my dad never would have done that, and now you’re going to just tell me that White’s dead? Who are you covering for this time, huh? What aren’t you telling us?”
“Sean,” Gumpa said, feeling tears sting at his eyes. He shook his head and said to Dan, “I think you had better go. I’ll take care of Sean. Thank you, again. For looking for White.”
Dan nodded and left the office. Sean pulled free from Gumpa and kicked the office chair over. Gumpa sighed and decided to let him destroy the office if it helped. He went back out to the garage lobby, where the kids were waiting anxiously. Yok had joined them now, and as soon as the door was shut behind Dan, he said, “Hia, should I keep following him?”
“No,” Gumpa said. “Looks like he’s done what he’s going to do. They found a body in the woods that they’re saying is White’s.”
“But it isn’t,” Sean snapped, and stormed into the apartment. Gumpa followed him, with the rest of the teenagers following him like lost ducks. “Black! Get out here, Black! They’re saying White is dead but he’s not dead!”
The door to White’s room opened. Black stared at them.
“He’s not dead,” Sean said. “Tell me he’s not dead and I’ll believe you. Please, Black. Tell me he’s not dead.”
“They found a body?” Gram asked.
“In the river,” Gumpa said wearily. “It matches White’s description, including the last things he was wearing.”
The teenagers did not take this news particularly well. Eugene burst into tears. Gram let out a colorful string of swears while Yok sat down heavily in one of the kitchen chairs. Todd quickly turned away before anyone could see the expression on his face while Namo tried to reach out to Sean but was slapped away.
“No,” Black said calmly. He sat down and began playing with the radio.
“That’s what I’m saying!” Sean burst out, but some of the tension went out of his body. “He’s not dead. They’re covering up for whoever was holding onto Black, whoever’s responsible for these gates and the monsters and all that shit.”
“Dan wouldn’t do that,” Yok said.
Sean looked like he was about to punch Yok in the face, and Gram interceded. “He might have been tricked, Yok. He wouldn’t have any reason not to believe the state cops if they told him they had found White’s body.”
“Listen, I hate to be the rational one in any discussion,” Namo said, “and Sean, you may be right that they’re covering for someone, but . . .”
“We talked to him,” Sean said.
“Some lights blinked on and off. Sean,” Namo said gently, “please don’t do this to yourself.”
“You saw the monster!” Sean said, stabbing a finger at Todd. “It’s on fucking video!”
“Yes, there’s a monster, and I don’t know what it is,” Namo said. “White saw it and he ran. He ran into the forest and fell into the river and the current carried him out of our search range so we didn’t find him.”
“Could he swim?” Eugene asked tearfully.
Gumpa shook his head and sighed. “We were going to teach him this summer, actually. His parents never let him near the water because of his seizures. If he’d fallen in - ”
“I can’t believe this,” Sean said. “Hia, you saw the lights too. It wasn’t just that they were blinking. They were responding to us.”
“I don’t know what’s going on, Sean,” Gumpa said quietly. “But I think for now we should all try to get some rest. Tomorrow we’ll go see the body and see if it’s White’s or not.”
“I’m not going to go see some stupid body that they’re trying to pass off as White’s,” Sean snapped. “I’m going to go find him. I’ll find one of these gates and I’ll go get him and when I bring him back I’m going to make all of you apologize for giving up on him!”
“Sean - ” Namo protested.
There was a sudden electronic squeal from the radio, making all of them flinch. A burst of static which then faded away, and a thin, trembling voice. “ - seventeen. Wisdom, thirteen. Charisma, sixteen. Armor class, fourteen. Speed - ”
“Is that - ?” Gram managed.
Sean grabbed the radio. “White! White, can you hear me?”
“ - thirty feet. Plus four initiative. Hit dice - ”
“What’s he saying?” Todd asked.
“It’s his character stats,” Yok realized. “He’s reciting his character stats.”
“ - fast hands, uncanny dodge - ”
“White!” Sean shouted again. To Black, he demanded, “Why can’t he hear us?”
Black wiped away the trickle of blood coming from his nose. “He’s not here.”
“What? Earlier today, he could hear us - ”
“He’s not here,” Black repeated.
“I know what he means,” Gumpa said. “Remember, wherever White is, it’s a parallel of this world. Earlier, he was physically here in the room, just on the other side of the barrier. Now he’s somewhere else - probably hiding from the monster.”
“Try,” Sean said, sitting down across from Black. “Black, please try to help him hear us. Help me find him.”
Black closed his eyes and clutched at the radio more tightly.
“Attributes - deception, perception, stealth - ”
“Come on, come on,” Sean whispered, as the radio crackled and White’s voice faded in and out. The other teenagers had gathered around, as more blood trickled out of Black’s nose. “Come on, please - White, please, talk to me, tell me if you can hear me - ”
There was a high-pitched squeal and then Black said, softly, “White.”
“Black?” White responded immediately, his voice wavering. “Black?!”
“It’s me,” Black said, eyes closed.
“Are you real?” White asked. “I can’t see you - are you just in my head?”
“White, talk to me!” Sean shouted.
“He can’t hear you,” Black said. “Only me.”
“Black - ”
“Trying,” Black said. “I’m trying.”
Sean took a deep breath, and Gumpa gripped his shoulders but was relieved to see that he calmed down and nodded.
“White,” Black said, “where are you?”
“I don’t know!” White replied. “It’s cold and dark here - and empty - it’s like the real world but not - ”
“Where in the real world?” Black asked. “Where did you hide?”
For a few seconds, they didn’t hear anything. Then White sobbed, “I don’t know. I don’t know what’s real anymore. None of this is real - you’re not real - I’m crazy just like Mom always said - ”
“No,” Black choked out. “White. No.”
“I’m sorry,” White whispered. “I’m sorry. I don't know what to believe. I don’t know what’s real.”
Through the radio, they heard a terrible chittering, and then a growl.
“White, run!” Sean shouted, forgetting that White couldn’t hear him. “It doesn’t matter what you believe, run! That thing is coming! Go hide somewhere and I’ll find you! I promise, I’ll find you no matter where you hide! RUN!”
There was another squeal of feedback and then a crackle of electricity. Black dropped the radio, and Gumpa saw scorch marks on it. He swore quietly as he saw the blood dripping from Black’s nose. “Here, let me help,” he said, taking out a handkerchief. Black shied away from his touch. “It’s okay, Black. I’m not going to hurt you. Let’s get you cleaned up,” he said, and Black held still while Gumpa dabbed at his upper lip.
Sean turned to Namo, tears running down his cheeks. “Do you believe me now?” he demanded, and Namo lifted her hands in surrender.
“Why was he reciting his character stats?” Gram asked.
“To remember,” Black said. “That he’s real.”
“Did he hear me?” Sean asked. “At the end?”
Black shrugged. “I don’t know.”
Gumpa was afraid that Sean was going to fly off the handle again, but he didn’t. In fact, he seemed to have calmed considerably, and there was a resolute look on his face despite the tear tracks. “So here’s what we know,” Sean said. “White is out there somewhere. So is a monster. And the gates seem to open and close randomly because the barrier between the two worlds has been weakened. We’re not going to find a gate if we don’t go out and look for one.”
Black looked up, and it seemed like he might protest, but he only said, “They’ll be trying to catch the monster too.”
“Well, hopefully it’ll find them before it finds us,” Gram said.
“Should we wait until morning, at least?” Eugene asked.
Gumpa said, “Sean, I think that’s a good idea. I know you’re worried. But I also know you didn’t get any sleep last night, and it won’t do White any good if you fall in the river. At least get a few hours of sleep. Okay?”
After a moment, Sean nodded. “Yeah. Okay.”
~ ~ ~ ~
Sean let Namo and Eugene take his room, while Gram and Yok crashed in the room Namo usually used and Todd slept on the sofa. Sean stretched out on the floor of White’s room while Black took the bed. Much to his surprise, Black passed out almost immediately. Sean looked at him and saw trickles of blood coming from his ears as well. He had clearly pushed himself quite hard to get through to White on the other side, and Sean felt like a bit of an asshole for having yelled at him so much.
As exhausted as he was, he couldn’t sleep. He tossed and turned, thinking about everything that had happened. A theory was beginning to tease at his brain, but he was afraid if he told the others about it, they wouldn’t take it seriously.
They all knew he hadn’t handled his father’s death well. It would be traumatic for any young teenager to abruptly lose one of their parents, but the circumstances of Sean’s father’s death had made it far worse than usual. Sean knew damn well that his father wouldn’t have been stupid enough to sneak into the lab for a few photographs. He was positive that something had happened during his delivery that day, and that they had bribed someone to say he had been seen afterwards. They had killed him and then stuffed him in a closet and blamed him for his own murder.
But whenever Sean tried to say things like that, people got upset. He went to the police station every day for two weeks, insisting they investigate and find out what really happened. They treated him like a child and told him to stop reading conspiracy theories on the internet. The people in town laughed at his father being drunk and stupid.
Gumpa had helped him work through the worst of the rage, but he had never changed his mind about what had happened that day. When White had first disappeared, he hadn’t been thinking about that at all. But now that the police were actively trying to cover up White’s disappearance, it was on his mind again. They were going to blame White for his own ‘death’ the way they had blamed his father. They would say White had been a stupid, drunk teenager who had wandered into the forest at night and earned his own fate.
‘Who are you covering for this time?’ he had asked, but wasn’t it more likely that it had been the same people all along? Black had to have come from somewhere. The lab was such an obvious possibility that he was pissed at himself for not having thought of it earlier. Nobody knew much about what happened there. It was government property, and most people theorized that it was a development plant for weapons. But what was Black, if not a weapon?
They were doing the same thing now that they had done two years ago, and Sean wasn’t going to stand for it. This time he was going to expose them to the world.
Finally, he drifted into a doze.
He woke when the sun hit his eyes, and all but jumped off the thin blanket he had laid out onto the floor. Black didn’t twitch, and Sean left him to sleep. He left the room and took a quick shower to revitalize his brain, then started banging on the doors. A few minutes later, he had a surly gathering of teenagers. (He left Gumpa to sleep, as he had learned early on during his stay at the garage that waking him was a terrible idea.)
“Let’s pair up,” he said. “Then we can take a look at the map and each choose an area to search.”
“Sounds like a plan, but we have an odd number,” Yok said.
“No, we don’t, there’s six of us.”
Yok shrugged. “I didn’t figure Todd was actually gonna help.”
Todd flipped him off. “Yeah, I’m not going out monster hunting. Sorry-not-sorry. You want to buy a machete or something, I’ll pay for it, but other than that, count me out.”
“You’re really a useless prick, you know that?” Sean said to him, shaking his head. “Wait until you see all the stuff I’m gonna make you buy.”
“I’ll go with you and Namo,” Yok said, grinning.
“And I’ll go with Eugene,” Gram said.
Sean grit his teeth in frustration. He wanted three search parties. They had a lot of ground to cover. But he knew there was no point in arguing with Todd, or at least it would take more time than he wanted to spend on it. “Fine. But,” he added, “Todd, you know everyone in Hawkins. Get in touch with people who were part of the search party. See if anyone else saw the monster or anything else weird.”
“Sure,” Todd said.
Sean picked up a tire iron. “Let’s go.”
~ ~ ~ ~
Dan also slept restlessly, despite the fact that he had only gotten four hours of sleep the night before. He couldn’t stop thinking about the events of the previous day. He had seen bodies before, but never one so young. And to be fair, he had barely seen this one. The state police had it covered by the time he got there, so all he saw were the feet - one shoe on, one shoe off. For some reason that detail haunted him, as he thought of White running through the forest from who-knew-what, only to fall into the river. He wondered if they would ever find his missing shoe.
And when he managed to put that aside, he kept thinking about what Sean had said, about his fury and denial and his accusations of a cover-up.
Dan didn’t think one had been committed here. But he was less sure about Sean’s father.
After tossing and turning, he finally forced himself to get out of bed. He called his boss and asked if White’s parents had been notified. They had been, he said, and would probably arrive that night.
“I know his parents need to formally identify the body,” Dan said, “but his friends were asking if they could see him to say goodbye. Would it be all right?”
“Ask the coroner’s office. Makes no difference to me.”
“All right. Thank you, sir.”
He hung up and called the coroner, a man he had met a few times previously on the job. Wanting to make sure he had all the facts in case the kids had questions, he said, “The autopsy showed drowning as the cause of death, right?”
“So I’ve been told,” the coroner said.
Surprised, Dan said, “You didn’t do the autopsy?”
“Nah, the staties brought in some guy. Something about the river being on state-owned land so they had jurisdiction. Booted me out of my own office. What a night.”
Dan started to rethink his opinion on whether or not something was being covered up. “Has that ever happened before?”
“Not in the twenty years I’ve been here! And we’ve found bodies in the river before. It’s just because his parents are rich. His dad was a politician or something. They probably called in some favors because they didn’t trust us country hicks.”
Suspicious, Dan took a quick shower, grabbed something he could eat on the road, and drove to the town’s one medical facility, which rarely treated a serious injury and was used as a morgue when the occasion called for it. The closest hospital was hours away. He immediately noted that two of the state police were still there, standing by the door. He showed them his badge and explained the situation, and now wasn’t surprised when they immediately denied his request. “His parents requested that nobody see the body until they could confirm whether or not it was their son.”
“Uh huh,” Dan said, unimpressed. He was starting to wonder if there had even been a body at all. He certainly hadn’t checked a pulse, and the person beneath the sheet could have been anyone. “Hey, I had a couple questions for the officer who found him. Do you know where he might be?”
“Back home by now, probably.”
“How convenient,” Dan said dryly.
He was saved from possibly pissing off two men in the state police when his phone buzzed. He glanced down at it and saw that it was his boss. He thanked the men, if somewhat sarcastically, and answered it as he walked away. “Yes, sir?”
“We got a call about some animal attack in the woods,” the sheriff said. “Jeff and Nanon were out on a hunting trip. Nanon came back to town to get some beers, and found Jeff’s body when he got back. Maybe a cougar or something.”
Somehow, Dan resisted the urge to ask why the state cops couldn’t take care of it, since they were so special. He also managed not to point out that cougars were extirpated from Indiana. “Okay, if you text me the location, I’ll go check it out.”
A minute later, he got the text. He pulled it up on his phone and noticed that it was interestingly close to where White had disappeared - and nowhere near the river, where he had been found.
“No time like the present, I guess,” he said to himself, and headed out.
~ ~ ~ ~
Gumpa woke a few hours after the others had left, and found the note Sean had left him. ‘We split into groups and went out into the forest to see if we can find a gate. Don’t worry, we’ll stick together. Black was still sleeping when we left. We’ll keep in touch by text so don’t worry about us.’
He sighed quietly and went to make himself some coffee. He had just poured himself a mug when he heard a door open and turned to see Black. “Good morning,” he said. “The others are out looking for a gate. How are you feeling?”
Black’s shoulders were hunched in and his familiar glower was on his face. “Hungry.”
“Yeah? Me too. Let’s make some breakfast.” Gumpa opened a cabinet. “You know, when White was staying here, he did a lot of the cooking. He seemed to enjoy it, and he’s a lot better at it than I am. Hope I don’t disappoint.”
Black shrugged, but he poured himself a mug of coffee before sitting in one of the kitchen chairs.
Hoping he would be more at ease if Gumpa wasn’t looking at him, he continued to move around the kitchen while he spoke. “Since the police are lying and saying they found White’s body, they’re going to contact your parents,” he said, and glanced over as every muscle in Black’s body went tight. “Obviously I’m not going to tell them about you. But I guess I’m a little curious how much they know. You said they wanted to make you not real - that implies they knew at least something about what was happening to you, and they didn’t want White to ask questions.”
After a moment, Black nodded. “They knew.”
“Okay,” Gumpa said, keeping his tone encouraging despite how uninformative that statement was. “What did they know?”
Black started fishing through the roleplaying figurines. He came up with White’s, then another that was similar. “Me and White,” he said, and Gumpa nodded. “Too many.”
“They didn’t want two kids?” Gumpa surmised.
“Uh huh. But . . .” Black looked away. “I was bad.”
“You were bad?” Gumpa half-turned, seeing the way Black was staring at the table. “How so?”
Black shrugged. “White was good. I was bad.”
“How old were you?” Gumpa asked, and Black met this question with a blank stare. “You must’ve been pretty young, if your parents thought they could just send you away and White’s memories would be fuzzy enough that he’d believe them when they said you didn't exist,” he added, and Black just shrugged again, clearly not knowing the answer to that question. “Okay. So you weren’t the best-behaved toddler on the planet, and your parents, who will burn in hell, decided to get rid of you. But how? Who?”
“To make history,” Black said.
“What?” Gumpa was taken aback by this response.
“He said that. We would make history. I can do things normal people can’t do.”
“Well, that’s certainly true,” Gumpa said. “But I’m guessing you couldn’t do things like that when you were a toddler. So they must have done something to you.” He put a plate down in front of Black, and he began to eat hungrily. “Were there others like you?”
Black nodded, then said with a mouthful, “Gone now.”
“Gone where?”
Black shrugged.
“Who’s he?” Gumpa asked. “You said ‘he’ said that. Who’s he?”
“He called himself papa. Tried to make us call him that. I wouldn’t though. Fuck that guy.”
Gumpa laughed despite the situation. He thought things over while he ate, and while Black ate three times as much as he did. It seemed like Black - and other children - had been the test subjects of some mad scientist. “What were they trying to do? When you opened the gate?”
“Make contact.”
“With?”
“The monster.”
Gumpa blinked. “Why?”
“They’re stupid.”
Gumpa laughed again. “Okay. I have to agree with you there. But . . .”
His phone rang, and the person he had just been thinking about was on the other end. “Hey, hia,” Sean said. “I just wanted to check in. We haven’t found anything yet, but we just saw Dan out here.”
“Still?” Gumpa asked, surprised. “Huh. I wonder if he’s suspicious.”
“Maybe, I don’t know. Yok went to follow him again to see what he’s up to.”
“Okay. You’re not by yourself, are you?”
“No, Namo and I are still together, and Yok said he’ll stick close enough to Dan that he can scream like a little girl if he gets into trouble.”
“Good. Be careful.”
Gumpa hung up and looked at Black thoughtfully. “I want to tell you something, okay? And you don’t have to say anything, but just think about it. Just east of town, there’s a big building called Hawkins National Laboratory. Nobody really knows what goes on there. It’s run by the government. A few years ago, Sean’s dad died there. They said he snuck in and was trying to take photographs. But I don’t think that’s what happened.”
As he spoke, he got up and walked towards Sean’s room. Black sat at the table, very still. Gumpa picked up the framed photograph of Sean with his parents that he kept on his desk, and brought it back out to the kitchen. He set it down in front of Black.
“I think he saw something,” he continued. “I think he was making a delivery to that lab like he always did and something happened there that they wanted to cover up. And I think, maybe, that has something to do with whatever happened to you.”
Black stared at the photograph. After a long moment, he whispered, “I was bad.”
“I don’t think you were, Black. Can you tell me? What happened that day?”
Black reached out and took the frame, turning it facedown so he didn’t have to look at the photograph. A few tears slid down his cheeks. “I was mad at them. The guards, the men in coats. I tried to get away. And he . . . he tried to help me. He found me crying and put me in a box. Said he would carry me out and hide me.” Black impatiently wiped away the tears. “I was bad. It’s my fault.”
“No, hell no, Black,” Gumpa said. “He tried to help you because it was the right thing to do. And knowing that, it’s going to make things so much better for Sean. His dad died a hero, and the people who killed him are going to pay for it. It wasn’t your fault at all.”
For a long moment, Black was silent. Then he pressed his hand against his chest. “I don’t feel good.”
“What?” Gumpa was a little startled by this abrupt change of subject. “What’s wrong?”
“Chest . . . chest hurts. Can’t breathe. Can’t see.” Black was suddenly gasping for breath, and Gumpa caught him as he slid sideways out of his chair. He curled up on the floor, his body writhing. “White . . . White!”
“Holy shit,” Gumpa said, as he realized what was happening. Black was having a seizure, just like White did. But it wasn’t exactly the same. He hadn’t recognized the warning signs. And he wasn’t quiet. While White seized in silence, Black screamed his brother’s name. Gumpa tried to hold onto him, even knowing that he shouldn’t do that if it was an actual seizure. Because it wasn’t. It was something else.
Finally, it was over. Black stayed curled up on the floor, panting and crying quietly.
“What . . . what just happened?” Gumpa asked, feeling out of breath himself. “Is White okay?”
Black nodded and said weakly, “He got away.”
“But is he hurt?” Gumpa was putting pieces together and absolutely hating the picture he was left with. “Did that happen because White was hurt?”
Black nodded again.
“And does it . . . go both ways? If you get hurt, that happens to White?”
“Not always,” Black said. “Has to be bad. Bad hurt.”
Gumpa thought back to White’s first week with them, when he had been having episodes three or four times every day. Every time that was happening, it was because Black had been badly hurt? Then he thought about how White had said his seizures had been so much worse when he was younger, and nobody knew why that had changed. He thought he knew. Because Black had been torn away from his family, had been put in a lab and experimented on, and given his personality, had probably fought back. So they had hurt him. They had taken a little child and hurt him constantly until he learned the rules. When he stopped fighting back all the time, when they finally broke him, White’s ‘seizures’ had become less frequent.
“Holy shit,” he said again, staring at Black. “You poor fucking kid.”
Unthinking, he gathered Black in his arms. Black immediately panicked, and his teeth sank into Gumpa’s shoulder. He winced, but didn’t let go. “It’s okay, Black. I won’t hurt you. You’re safe now, I won’t hurt you.”
Black’s struggles eased as a sob tore through him. “I’m sorry, White. I was bad. You hurt because I was bad.”
“No, you weren’t bad,” Gumpa said, rubbing his back. “You weren’t bad at all, Black. None of this is your fault, and I know that White won’t blame you for it. We’re going to fix this, okay? Nobody is going to hurt you anymore.”
Black went limp in his arms, and Gumpa rocked him back and forth.
“It’s okay, Black,” he murmured. “It’s okay. You’re okay.”
“I want my brother,” Black whispered.
“I know. We’ll find him,” Gumpa said. Black snuffled and pulled away. “Better?” Gumpa asked.
Black nodded and wiped tears off his face. “Don’t tell.”
Gumpa smiled. “I won’t tell anyone, but you shouldn’t be ashamed of it. You’ve been through a lot. Everyone needs to cry sometimes.”
“No,” Black said, and Gumpa shook his head, laughing quietly.
~ ~ ~ ~
Chapter Text
“I think it was the same people who killed my dad,” Sean said abruptly.
Namo looked over from where she was inspecting a dent in the ground to see if it was a footprint. “What?”
Sean repeated himself, annoyed. He had thought most of the morning, as they explored the forest, about whether or not he wanted to say anything. When they had seen Dan, he had decided that he should. Dan was out here for a reason, and Sean wondered if he thought something was being covered up, too. “And I’m not being irrational. Don’t start.”
“Sean,” Namo said, giving him a look.
“Yeah. Sorry.” Sean looked away. One of the reasons Yok and Namo were still such good friends of his was because they had never suggested his father had actually died for the reason the authorities said. While other friends, other family members and even his own mother, had accepted the conclusion, Sean never had, and Yok and Namo had never argued with him on it.
“It makes sense,” Namo said thoughtfully. “We know Black came from somewhere, and it can’t have just been some dude’s garage. Pretty sure he wasn’t born telekinetic. Do you know how young the twins were when they were separated?”
Sean shook his head. “All I know is that it was young enough that they were able to convince White he’d never had a brother. Or at least try so hard to convince him that he thought he was nuts for remembering someone who didn’t exist.”
“Gross,” Namo said, and Sean nodded. “The lab is owned by the government, right? So who knows what they might be doing there. Researching stuff like psychic powers is crazy, but . . .”
“But you can’t really say that when it apparently worked,” Sean said.
Namo sighed and nodded. “Yeah.” She was quiet for a minute. “You think your dad saw something that day?”
“Yeah.”
They walked in silence for a long minute. Namo reached out and squeezed his hand. “Then we’ll figure out what happened and make sure everybody knows about it.”
Sean tried to smile. “Thanks, Namo.”
“But first we’ll find your boyfriend,” Namo added, in a teasing tone. “You better manage to ask him out after this. I’ll kick your ass if you don’t.”
“Are you kidding?” Sean said. “When we find him, I’m going to kiss him so hard he sees stars.”
Namo laughed. They walked hand-in-hand for a while, until the trail got too narrow and they had to go single file. “Ow, shit!”
Sean half-turned. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, I just tripped. Banged my shin on a branch.” Namo was wearing shorts, so the injury was easy to see. “Just a scrape.”
“You’re bleeding,” Sean said, pulling out a water bottle. “Let’s clean it up a bit.”
“Thanks.” Namo held still while Sean poured water on his sleeve, then used it to wipe away the blood. He went into his backpack and pulled out a small first aid kit. “You came prepared, I see.”
“We’re monster-hunting. And I don’t know what sort of shape White’s going to be in when we find him. I grabbed a few things from the garage - this, a flashlight, some rope - you know, the average monster-hunting kit.” He took out some gauze and taped it over the injury. “You okay to walk?”
“I’m fine. Don’t make a big deal out of it. What do these gates even look like, by the way?”
“Who knows?” Sean asked, trying not to feel discouraged.
“Didn’t one open in the garage the other day?”
“No, it was like the thing was trying to push through one that hadn’t actually opened yet. Weird, I know.”
Namo thought about this. “There has to be a pattern to it. A reason why they’re opening in some places but not others.”
“Yeah, that’s what Gumpa was trying to figure out with the map last night.” Since they were sitting down, Sean grabbed a stick and started drawing in the ground. “Here’s Todd’s place,” he said, making an x. “And here’s the garage. There’s not a direct path between them, but if you take this path here, it comes out only about a block south of the garage. And the lab is somewhere up here,” he continued, digging his stick into the ground.
“Okay, and that’s where the main gate has to be, right? The one Black opened by accident?”
“That’s my theory, yeah. And that’s what I don’t understand. The lab isn’t really near where any of the attacks are.”
“But that might not be significant,” Namo said. “It’s not attacking anyone over there because nobody’s over there. If you’re heading west from the lab, this area where the path connects Todd’s to Gumpa’s is really the first place you would be that there would actually be someone to attack. Gates could be opening in this empty space and we wouldn’t necessarily know about it.”
“True,” Sean said, and sighed. “Well, we won’t find one by sitting around talking about it.”
Namo nodded, and they both stood up. “Let’s spread out a little. Not split up - stay within sight. But walking right next to each is like only one person searching.”
“Okay,” Sean said, glad that she had suggested it. He had thought about it a few times, but figured she would veto the idea. “You can stay on the path, I’ll branch out a bit.”
“Sure.”
They called back and forth as they walked, so even though they occasionally lost sight of each other, they could keep track of where the other person was. About another half hour had passed, and the sun was high in the sky, when Namo called out, “Hey, Sean? There’s something weird over here!”
“Weird how?” he asked, jogging in the direction of her voice.
There was no reply.
“Namo?” he called out, speeding up. “Namo, where did you go?”
“Sean?” she shouted, and her voice sounded different, like it was coming from underwater. Sean stopped and looked around, bewildered. “Sean!”
“Namo!” he shouted. “Where are you?”
Then he saw it.
One of the trees, a large one, seemed to have opened to reveal its interior - if its interior was made of gooey, pulsating flesh. “Fucking hell,” Sean breathed out, reaching out to touch it despite his better judgment. It squelched underneath his fingers. “Namo!” he shouted into the mess. “Namo, are you there?”
“Sean!” she called out, and her voice was clearly coming from inside the tree.
“Fuck it,” Sean decided, and plunged his arm through. “It’s like if a cobweb was made of meat. What in the fuck . . .”
When he came through on the other side, he forgot about that. Everything was dark, even though it had been a bright and sunny day in Hawkins. He saw all the same trees, even the same path. But it was dark, and so much colder. He shivered involuntarily, looking around for Namo, but thinking about White, lost in this place.
Then he heard the growl.
Instinctively, he froze, pressing himself back against the tree. His head twisted around and he saw Namo doing the same, about a dozen feet away. Behind her, out of the darkness, loomed the monster.
It was tall. That was the first thing he noticed, and maybe that was because it was so difficult to take in anything else. The wrongness of it made it difficult to describe. Taller than a human, packed with wiry muscle, hands that ended in wickedly sharp claws, and a head that had no face. Only dark, leathery skin.
“Namo, run!” he shouted, and she dove forward just before its claws slashed through the tree where she had been standing. She threw herself back towards the gate. The monster charged forward and knocked her down, and she landed on her back. She saw the monster and screamed. Sean drew back and hit it upside the head with the tire iron as hard as he could.
The monster staggered, but only a few paces. Sean thought if he had hit a human so hard with a tire iron, he might have broken bones. But the monster barely seemed fazed. It turned to him, and its face opened like a star, revealing a terrible mouth underneath, brimming with razor sharp teeth.
Namo drew one leg up and kicked out fiercely, catching the monster in something like its knee. It took one step back, and Sean hit it with the tire iron again as Namo scrambled back towards the gate. Again, it barely seemed affected. “Go through, go through!” he shouted, and she tore apart the thin membrane that was closing over it. He turned to face the monster, holding up the tire iron. Then he was yanked backwards as Namo dragged him through the gate.
“Go, go, go!” she shouted, hauling him away.
“No! I have to find White!”
“You can’t find White if you’re dead now let’s fucking go!”
He scrambled after her and they ran full tilt through the forest until they were both out of breath. Finally, they came to a stumbling halt. Namo put her hands on her knees, leaning over and trying to catch her breath. Sean lifted the tire iron and smashed it into a tree. “Fuck,” he gasped out. “Fuck!”
“I’m sorry,” Namo panted. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”
Sean shook his head, gathering himself. “You were right. We weren’t equipped to take on that thing. Hopefully we’ll be able to find a gate that doesn’t have a monster right behind the wall. We found one. We’ll find another.”
Namo nodded. “Thanks.”
“Thank you. You saved my ass.”
Regaining some composure, Namo flipped her hair over her shoulder and said, “Yeah, well. I know I’m awesome. Anyway, you saved me first.”
“True.” Sean took a deep breath and said, “Come on. Let’s keep looking.”
~ ~ ~ ~
Dan didn’t have a lot of experience deciding whether somebody had been mauled by a cougar, but he was still annoyed when the state police showed up. At a first glance, he didn’t see how this death could be related to White’s disappearance. But them showing up and saying “we’ll take it from here” made him automatically assume that it was.
On the upside, this gave him a chance to ask the officer in charge a few questions. He wanted a little privacy, though, so he waited until they were done examining the scene and taking care of the body. When they went to transport it to the morgue, he followed even though he wasn’t invited. He waited outside the clinic, and each minute that ticked by made him even more suspicious. How much could they possibly need to do inside? Even if one or two people stayed behind to do the autopsy, the lieutenant wouldn’t be needed for that.
Nearly an hour later, the man finally came out, and Dan immediately jogged up to him. He decided to feign interest in the new case to start, to see if that got him anywhere. “So was it an animal attack?”
“Yeah,” the man said. “There was this guy who owned a bunch of exotic big cats and some of them got free. Happened a couple days ago.”
Dan had heard absolutely nothing about this on the news, and wondered how stupid this man thought he was. Pretty stupid, apparently, so he continued to play into that, asking, “Do the townspeople need to be concerned? Have the animals been apprehended?”
“Yeah, yeah. I’ll talk to your boss about it.”
“It’s strange that it wasn’t on the news, isn’t it?” Dan said, and saw that the man was getting annoyed. “Actually, a lot of strange things have been happening here lately. White’s disappearance - ”
“The kid who got drunk and fell in a river? Yeah, real strange,” the man said sarcastically.
Dan bristled despite himself. “Literally everyone at the party said White wasn’t drunk - ”
“Kids cover for each other all the time - ”
“ - but what I really want to know is why you guys insisted on doing the autopsy yourselves and won’t even let his friends in to do a preliminary ID while we wait for the parents to arrive.”
“He was found in our jurisdiction, so - ”
“But that’s bullshit,” Dan said. “I talked to our coroner. He said bodies have been found in the river before and you guys have never cared. So what’s so special about White? Why are you lying to me?”
“You’d better shut up if you know what’s good for you - ”
Dan grabbed him by the shirt and slammed him up against the wall. “Who are you covering for? What really happened to White? Is that even his body in the morgue?”
In a low, harsh voice, the man retorted, “You are going to get us both killed!”
He was looking over Dan’s shoulder. Dan twisted and saw a black sedan parked on the road next to the clinic. As soon as he looked at it, it pulled away. “What the fuck,” he said, letting go of the man’s shirt and jogging after it. “Hey! Hey, wait!” he shouted, even knowing that they wouldn’t. The car turned the corner and peeled away. When he looked back at the clinic, the lieutenant was gone. “Fuck!”
“What was that all about?” a voice asked, and Dan nearly jumped out of his skin. He turned to see Yok leaning on the handlebars of his motorcycle, grinning. “You want their plates? I took a picture.”
Dan ignored this. “When did you even get here? How long have you been - ”
“Oh, I’ve been following you since yesterday morning,” Yok said, much too casually.
Dan grit his teeth. “This isn’t a good time for you to be stalking me, Yok. Things are serious.”
“I know. That’s why I’m here, in case you need help.” Yok saw his skeptical expression and smirked. “Don’t be like that. I followed you all day yesterday and all of this morning and you never noticed me. This is my skillset!”
“That’s terrifying, thanks,” Dan said dryly, then sighed. “Why are you following me? Did you not believe I would actually look for White?”
“I did, but a lot of weird shit is going on, in case you hadn’t noticed. We thought keeping an eye on the law was a good idea.”
“Weird shit is an understatement,” Dan muttered.
Yok laughed. “You don’t even know the half of it. What were you trying to get out of that guy?”
“I want to know why they’re so intent on making sure nobody sees the body. They wouldn’t let our coroner do the autopsy. They’re saying it’s because of his parents, but . . .”
“But you don’t think that’s actually White’s body?” Yok immediately presumed, and Dan nodded. “No, me neither, so let’s go take a look.”
Dan sighed. “Yok, I can’t break into the morgue.”
“You just assaulted a state trooper. You’re on a roll. Let’s go take a look.”
“And if I do break into the morgue, I’m definitely not bringing you.”
“Yes you are. You don’t know White; how would you identify the body?”
“Yok, please - ”
“Dan, my friend is out there,” Yok said, his face suddenly serious. “He’s out there and he’s in trouble and there are people who don’t want me to find him. You know that these are the bad guys. You know that something happened to White in the forest that they don’t want anybody to know about, so they’re telling everyone he’s dead and they hope that we’ll stop looking. I’m not going to stop looking. I’m going to the morgue to check out that body, with or without you.”
Dan sighed. “Okay, fine. Just - stay quiet and follow my lead, okay?”
Yok agreed to do this, and he stayed quiet and followed Dan’s lead - which was being polite and trying to convince the men why they should be allowed in - for all of thirty seconds before he said, “Wow, this is stupid,” and pulled out a taser.
“Yok, for God’s sake - ” Dan said, as Yok jammed it into the ribs of the guard closer to him. The other guard lunged for him, and Dan instinctively punched him in the face.
“That’s more like it,” Yok said, winking at him as he opened the door to the morgue.
“You’re a menace to society,” Dan told him.
“Thanks, that’s sweet of you to say.” Now that they were inside the morgue, Yok was a little more somber. He glanced around, not sure what he was looking for. Dan took a deep breath and went over to the drawers, looking for the one that was labeled with White’s name.
“You’re sure you’re going to be okay?” he asked Yok.
“I’ve seen a dead body before,” Yok said. “My uncle. He died of an overdose while I was at school and Mom was at work. I found him when I came home.”
“That sucks, but it doesn’t actually answer my question.”
“Yes, I’ll be okay.”
Dan took a deep breath and pulled the drawer open. The body inside was covered with a sheet, and he pulled it down just far enough to see the head and shoulders. To his eyes, it looked similar to the one in the photograph Gumpa had given him. But he looked over at Yok, who was staring down at the body.
“It looks like him,” he finally said.
“Did he have any identifying marks? Birthmarks, tattoos?”
For some reason Dan was unsure of, Yok laughed shakily. “No. No tattoos, nothing like that. I wonder where his glasses are?” he asked suddenly, then said, “Never mind. It’s not important.”
Dan thought back to his odd preoccupation with White’s missing shoe. He felt bad for dragging Yok here, for making him see this, and worse for giving him hope that maybe his friend wasn’t really dead. “We should go.”
Yok took the sheet and pulled it back further. Dan was about to protest, but then something caught his eye. Yok immediately noticed it as well. “No autopsy, right?”
Dan nodded. There was no Y-incision; no incisions at all. No autopsy had been done on this body.
“Fuck it,” Yok said, in the tone of someone who had just decided something, and pulled out a knife.
“What are you doing?” Dan hissed.
“I’m checking to see if it’s really a body. What are you gonna do, interrogate him?”
“But what if it is?” Dan asked.
“What’s it matter? He’s not going to care.”
“Yok - ”
Yok plunged the knife down into the abdominal cavity of the corpse, and Dan flinched, resisting the urge to demand why Yok had decided to cut there instead of somewhere less terrifying, like the arm. But then Yok was pulling apart the two sides of the wound he had just made, revealing -
“Holy shit,” Dan said, as Yok pulled out a handful of foam.
“It’s not him,” Yok choked out, clearly crying. “It’s not him, thank fuck, I really thought - I really thought it was him at first but it’s not, he’s not dead - ”
Dan had so many questions that he wasn’t even sure where to start, not least of all was how they had produced such a realistic mannequin in such a short period of time. He pushed all of that back. “Yok, we have to go. We have to go, like, right now.”
Yok nodded and wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. He tossed the sheet back up and Dan pushed the drawer back in, and a few moments later, they were both jogging out of the morgue and back towards Dan’s car. Yok got in the passenger side as Dan dove into the driver’s seat. He started driving without even thinking about where he was going.
Finally, he said, “What the hell is going on?”
~ ~ ~ ~
// The first week White stayed at the garage, he had seizures every day, sometimes more than once. But by the time his car was fixed and he was settled in, they seemed to have stopped. “I told you, it’s like that sometimes,” White said. “They come in streaks like that. Hopefully I won’t have any for a while. I feel much better.”
“That’s good,” Gumpa said, and let it go at that. As much as White’s seizures were discomfiting to him, they clearly weren’t discomfiting to White. Gumpa had to admit that they didn’t slow him down much. He would just occasionally say, ‘Hang on, I’m going to have a seizure’ and then go lie down on the floor. Afterwards he would get up like nothing had happened and go right back to whatever he had been doing.
So even though Gumpa wasn’t fully comfortable around it, that was his problem, not White’s. Sean didn’t like either, and was more willing to express that, but after his first few questions with polite non-answers, he had gotten the picture. Sean’s primary concern seemed to be that the seizures looked painful, but White assured them that he couldn’t feel anything when he was seizing. Gumpa wasn’t sure whether or not that was the truth, but he wasn’t about to ask.
White helped him organize his inventory and made accounting spreadsheets and cooked dinner every day. Since he had decided he was staying for a while, he decided he wanted some extra belongings. He had ‘packed light’, he said, since he thought he would be on the road for a while. Gumpa gathered he had been driving for several months by the time he reached Hawkins, although White was always vague about the timing of it. Still, as far as Gumpa could tell, White had left home almost immediately after graduating high school, and had arrived in Hawkins at the beginning of autumn. He asked if there was a thrift store, and Gumpa took him to buy some extra clothes. White did his own laundry and usually threw in anyone else’s that needed to be done as well.
His second week in Hawkins was completely seizure free, and so was his third, and by then Gumpa was relaxing a little. White seemed to be relaxing, too, and although he still didn’t talk at all about his life back in California, he would occasionally talk about things that had happened on his trip so far. Sean was teaching him how to ride a motorcycle, and he was getting into playing D&D with the others, coming out of his shell a little bit at a time. White seemed fascinated with all the things that Sean did so casually, as if he had never worried about getting hurt in his life. He watched Sean take corners on his motorcycle, do parkour with his friends, and spar with Gumpa.
Gumpa had started teaching Sean how to box the same month Sean had come to stay with him. He had known Sean before - his father was a regular at the garage - and hadn’t had anyone else staying with him at the time. Sean hadn’t handled his father’s death well, especially not after his mother had all but shut down and left Hawkins despite his appeals to her that he didn’t want to leave. When he had said he would stay behind, she had responded with a listless, “Okay, if that’s what you want.” Gumpa had taken him in and started him boxing so he could have an outlet for all of his rage before it could consume him.
So when Gumpa noticed White watching one of their sessions, he said, “Hey, White. You want to try?”
“Can I?” White asked, clearly surprised.
“Sure,” Gumpa said. “You’re feeling okay, so why not?”
A tentative smile touched White’s face, and he nodded and hopped down from where he was sitting on the stairs to the garage’s upper level. Gumpa showed him how to put on the boxing gloves while Sean watched them. “Hey, Sean, come here and be his sparring partner so I can help him.”
“Okay,” Sean said, more eagerly than was necessary.
Gumpa hid a smile. “Okay, so hold your fist like this - thumb always on the outside, never tucked in - and put your feet slightly apart - there you go. You want to keep your footing as solid as possible. There’s different kinds of hits, so let’s start with a jab.”
White’s first jab had a lot more force than Sean had expected, and he took a step back to absorb it. “Nice,” he said.
Seeing that, Gumpa couldn’t help but wonder if White also had some rage that he needed to work out of his system. But if he did, it would be a while before he could do it. After fifteen minutes, White was clearly getting tired. “I’m not really used to this sort of thing,” he admitted, when Gumpa asked if he was okay. “I was never allowed to do any sort of sports. I had a very strict exercise regimen but it was never this intense.”
“That’s okay, White,” Gumpa said. “It might take you some time to get used to it. But I’m happy to teach you if you were enjoying yourself.”
“I was,” White said. He looked thoughtful for a minute before saying, “I never knew hitting people could be so much fun.”
Sean choked back a laugh. “That’s the spirit.” //
~ ~ ~ ~
Chapter Text
Sean was more than a little surprised that Todd actually came through. By midafternoon, he had texted Sean three different times with three different stories of people who had encountered the monster while searching for White, as well as the news about the man who had been killed in the forest. Sean took out their map and put all the new encounters on it. “It definitely stays in one area,” Namo said, looking over his shoulder. “That’s sort of typical for a predator, isn’t it? It has preferred hunting grounds.”
“Yeah.” Sean thought about this. “It’s a solitary hunter. Seems like there’s only one of them. Like a tiger or something. I wonder what it eats on the other side?”
“Well, if there’s predators in the alternate dimension, there must be prey,” Namo said, and Sean nodded. “It’s kind of like a negative image of our world, isn’t it?”
Sean nodded. “Like the Vale of Shadows.”
“The what?”
“It’s a dark reflection of our world. A place of decay and death, of monsters. It’s a plane out of phase, existing right next to us but undetectable.”
“Upside down,” Namo murmured.
“Yeah.”
“This is the nerdiest conversation we’ve ever had, by the way,” Namo said, and Sean gave a snort. “So what’s the monster, then?”
Sean thought about it. “I guess it’s a demogorgon. A demon of the underworld.”
“Okay, and how do you defeat a demogorgon?”
“Uh . . . fireballs, usually.”
“Nerd.”
Sean’s phone rang, and they both jumped. He glanced at the screen and said, “It’s Yok,” before tapping to accept the call and put it on speaker. “Hey, what’s up?”
“It’s not White,” Yok said, and Sean felt a weight go rolling off his chest. “The body, I mean. It’s not even a body, it’s some sort of realistic mannequin. They must have based it on Black. Dan and I broke into the morgue.”
“That’s a hell of a first date,” Sean said. “How much does Dan know?”
“Less than we do overall, but he definitely knows something that we don’t,” Yok said. “After we left the morgue, he said he wanted to go check something out. He forbid me from following him. By which I mean, he dropped me off back at my place and then took my bike.”
“What an asshole,” Sean said.
“Yeah, I just found it down by the station. I’m going to see if I can track him down.”
“Okay. Be careful.”
“You too.”
He had barely hung up when he got a text from Gram that read, ‘Eugene and I picked up some food and are going to swing by the garage. You should come back and eat.’
Sean was going to ignore that text, but Namo was looking over his shoulder and said, “Yeah, that’s a good idea. I’m starved.”
“We brought food,” Sean retorted.
“Yeah, I’ve had two granola bars and it’s four o’clock. Come on, Sean. We’ve been on our feet since dawn. Let’s take a break.”
Sean was going to keep arguing with her, but his stomach chose just that moment to let out a growl. She gave him a pointed look. He sighed and muttered, “Fine,” before they started walking again. They had ranged fairly far out, so it was about forty minutes before they got back to the garage. Gram and Eugene were already there, with the food, which he dove into. Gram greeted him and said Yok had told him what had happened in the morgue, and that he had relayed that to Gumpa. Sean nodded and asked, “Where’s Black?”
“He’s resting,” Gumpa said, and gave a slight chin tilt towards White’s room. “He had a rough day.”
“Rough how?” Namo asked.
“Two seizures.”
“What?” Sean asked. “Black has them, too?”
“Yeah. This morning, he had an episode very similar to the ones White had,” Gumpa said, and Sean frowned. “Unlike White, he didn’t recognize the warning signs. It doesn’t seem like he’d had one before. And he said that White was hurt.”
“White’s hurt?” Sean asked, going tense.
Gumpa nodded. “He’s okay, and I don’t know exactly what happened, but Black said that’s what caused the episode, and that it goes both ways.”
Sean stared at him blankly for a long moment. It was Gram who said, “So every time White had what we thought was a seizure, it was a, a psychic reaction to Black being hurt?”
“Seems that way,” Gumpa said, his voice carefully measured.
“Holy shit,” Gram said. He turned to Sean and said, “Didn’t he have like nineteen seizures his first week here?”
“Yeah,” Sean said, feeling sick. “He had two or three every day for a while, and then they stopped.”
“Because Black stopped fighting back, so they stopped hurting him,” Gumpa said, and Sean shuddered. “The impression I got from Black was that he could tell his brother was close by, and he kept trying to escape for about a week until he . . . stopped trying. Because of the punishments he was receiving.”
“Fuck,” Sean said, unable to think of any other word that appropriately described the situation.
“Escape from where?” Eugene asked.
“The lab,” Sean said, and looked at Gumpa. “It has to have been the lab, right?”
Gumpa nodded and said quietly, “Yeah, that’s where he’s been.”
Sean forced himself to swallow around the lump in his throat. “Hia . . . did Black say anything about my dad?”
“Yeah,” Gumpa said, and Namo tightly gripped Sean’s hand. “I’ll let him talk to you about it later. But yeah, it does sound like your dad must have seen him while he was making a delivery.”
Sean choked down a sob and tried to push that away. It wasn’t important right now. They would pay for it, but he had to focus on finding White. “Namo and I found a gate,” he said, and explained what had happened, what the other side had been like, and the brief look he’d gotten at the demogorgon. “We were trying to figure out if there was any pattern to where that thing was showing up, so we could avoid it.”
Everyone bent their heads over the map he had made, the cluster of marks that were different sightings. It looked like hieroglyphics to Sean. He didn’t understand it any better now than he had an hour previous.
“This thing is a predator, right?” Gumpa said. “Predators have habits. So far we only know of one actual attack besides you and Namo today, right? Those two guys hunting in the woods.”
“And White,” Sean said.
“We don’t know that it actually attacked White, though,” Gram said. “He could have just seen it and freaked out and run into the woods.”
“I guess,” Sean said dubiously.
Namo frowned and said thoughtfully, “Can’t a lot of predators smell blood? Like sharks. They can detect it in small amounts from pretty far away. Those two guys hunting in the forest had probably already bagged a few things by that time of day. And today, I tripped and fell and my leg was bleeding.”
“White wasn’t bleeding at the party, though,” Gumpa said.
Eugene let out a small gasp, and everyone turned to her. “He had a nosebleed,” she said. “It was about half an hour before I left, after Todd went in. He said he got them sometimes and it wasn’t a big deal, so I didn’t even think about it later.”
“Yeah, I saw him have them before,” Sean said, and thought of the way Black’s nose had been bleeding after using the radio. “Shit, hia, you don’t think - ”
“That it’s another connection between the twins? Yeah, I do,” Gumpa said. “Black’s nose bleeds when he pushes himself to use his powers. I bet White has a sympathetic reaction the same way he does when Black is hurt. That’s when Black opened the gate. That monster came out and - ”
“Went straight for White,” Sean said, feeling sick.
Namo squeezed his wrist. “This is good, Sean. We should be able to lure it into a trap this way.”
“And do what once we have it there?” Sean asked. Then his phone rang, startling all of them. He groped for it and said, “It’s Yok,” before answering and putting it on speaker. “What’s up, did you find Dan?”
“Sort of,” Yok said. “Fuck, I’m really worried. He went out to the lab. His car is parked on the street about a quarter mile away from their main entrance, so I don’t think he went in past the guards, you know? I think he thinks White is there and went in to try to find him.”
“Shit,” Sean said. “How long do you think he’s been in there?”
“If he went straight there after dropping my bike at the station, which I guess there’s no reason he wouldn’t have, then he would have gotten here over an hour ago now. Should I try to - ”
“No, hell no,” Gumpa said. “Stay with his car, wait and see if he comes back. Don’t even think about going in after him. The people at this lab will kill you if they see you. Promise me, Yok.”
Yok sighed. “I promise. But I - hang on.”
“What is it?” Sean asked, unable to hang on.
“There are a couple cars coming out at the main gate. A couple government Jeeps and a black sedan, which we saw at the morgue earlier. Hang on, I’m ducking behind Dan’s car.”
There was silence that all of them sweated through for several long moments.
“Okay, they didn’t see me. I’m going to follow them on my bike.”
“Yok, don’t - ”
“They might have Dan in there, I’m doing it,” Yok said, and hung up.
“Fucking hell.” Gumpa pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’m going to slap the shit out of him later. He has got to stop thinking with his dick about a guy who isn’t even interested. Okay.” Gumpa took a deep breath. “Let’s try to focus. We’re not prepared to fight the monster yet. But we might be able to keep it away from White.”
“How?” Eugene asked.
“Blood. As far as we know, it can’t teleport. So if we put some blood in a few places in the forest and then leave as soon as we’ve done that, it’ll track to the blood, not to us. That might keep it busy for a little while. I’m going to run some errands and pick up a few things that we’ll need if we actually want to kill this thing.”
“Don’t forget Todd’s paying,” Gram said, his mouth full.
Amused, Gumpa said, “Todd’s not old enough to buy some of what I want. I’ll have to invoice him.”
Sean said, “At least we can look for a gate while we’re out in the forest.”
Gumpa nodded. “But be careful. Don’t draw blood while you’re there; you’ll leave a trail. Do it here and bandage yourself up before you leave.”
“What do you want me to do?” Gram asked.
“Stay here with Black,” Gumpa told him, and Gram nodded. “We’re going to need to figure out where White is in the upside down if we’re going to find him once we’ve found a gate. If Black will talk to you, pick his brain on that subject. But if he keeps sleeping, let him. He needs to rest.”
“Okay,” Gram said.
Sean resisted the urge to go shake Black for information about his father. He knew that Gumpa was right, as frustrating as it was. “I’ll go check on him and see if he’s awake.”
Gumpa gave him a look.
Sean raised his hands in surrender. “I won’t bother him if he’s asleep,” he said, and went towards White’s room without another word. He slid the door open quietly and went in.
Black was in fact still asleep, curled up on his side, legs pulled up to his chest and arms tucked in. It was the same way White slept most of the time, and Sean’s throat ached. For two days, he had looked at Black as an imposter, an intruder. As not-White. Now he couldn’t stop thinking about everything that Black must have gone through. Of him having been yanked away from his family, experimented on and tortured. No wonder he hadn’t trusted them. No wonder he had difficulty communicating. He wasn’t not-White. He was White’s brother, his twin, who White had left home for and searched for desperately, even as unsure as he was that Black was even real.
He sighed and slumped down into a chair. “Sorry,” he muttered. “I’ve been a real asshole to you, I think.”
Much to his relief, Black didn’t suddenly reveal he was awake. He continued to sleep soundly.
“We’re gonna find him, Black,” Sean said, and got up and left the room. “Still asleep,” he said to Gumpa.
Gumpa nodded. “Okay. Let’s get moving.”
~ ~ ~ ~
Gumpa wasn’t a regular at the hunting supply store, but the owner knew him since he brought his car in for tune-ups. He stayed casual and chatted a bit about what had happened in the forest and how people thought there might be 'a cougar or something' straying close to the edge of town. The owner didn’t seem particularly concerned, saying the state police were bringing in people to take care of it. Gumpa didn’t want to seem too suspicious, but he bought a few traps, saying he was going to put them out behind the garage just in case. Since Gumpa’s garage was on the outskirts of town, this didn’t seem odd to the owner, who rang him up without complaint.
After that, he went to the general store to buy a few gallons of kerosene. He was thinking about what White might need once they found him. A hospital, probably, but could they trust the clinic in town? He bought a better first aid kit and several bottles of White’s favorite sports drink.
By the time he finished shopping, it was fully dark. He checked his watch and saw that it was about seven. He decided that it was close enough, drove to the clinic, parked, and waited.
His phone buzzed with a text from Sean. They had dropped their first blood sample and were now high-tailing it out of the forest. They would do that a few times in different places, every few hours, to keep the monster distracted. It was the best solution Gumpa had at the moment. He texted Sean back to remind him to be careful, and then his phone rang. He saw that it was Yok. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, yeah. They brought Dan back to his place and stayed inside for an awfully long time, over an hour. He’s unconscious, I think they drugged him. And I’m worried they might have bugged his place so I’m calling you from outside. I don’t want to leave him until he’s woken up.”
“Okay.” Gumpa relaxed slightly. At least they hadn’t killed Dan, presumably because he was a cop and that would attract too much attention. And Yok would be safe enough if he stayed at Dan’s place. “When he wakes up, bring him to the garage whether he wants to come or not. We need to know what happened in the lab.”
“Will do. Thanks, hia.”
Gumpa hung up. He waited outside the clinic for about half an hour before an expensive-looking car pulled in. He saw a middle-aged man and woman get out of it and head for the door. They were greeted by one of the state troopers. He continued to wait. It was only a few more minutes before they came back out. He got off his motorcycle and headed over, intercepting them on their way back to their vehicle. “Excuse me. Are you White’s parents?”
They both turned and gave him the same sort of look he expected they would give a particularly obnoxious insect. The woman responded, “Who are you?”
“My name is Gumpa. I own the garage here in town. I don’t know if the police mentioned it, but White was staying with me for a few months.”
“I see,” she said.
He could tell she was about to say something about how he had been sheltering a runaway, so he cut to the chase. “I want to know everything about when you sold Black to the lab.”
The man’s eyes went wide, but the woman’s mouth pursed and she looked even more annoyed. “I don’t know what White told you. He struggled for most of his life with his delusions, and - ”
“I wonder why that was?” Gumpa interrupted. “It can’t possibly be because he was right about everything and you lied to him. Anyway, don’t bother. I’ve met Black.”
“You’ve met - ” White’s father started.
His wife stepped on his shoe and loudly cleared her throat. “My family’s business isn’t yours, so I’ll have to ask you to leave us alone.”
Gumpa sighed. “Listen, I’m not going to push too hard. White’s dead and Black’s locked up so maybe it doesn’t matter. I’ve put most of the pieces together by myself anyway. There’s no point in asking why you did it. I guess the only thing I want to know is if there was something special about Black that led to them wanting him. If he was psychic beforehand.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” White’s mother said stiffly.
“Don’t you? You had to suspect, when White started having what you told him were seizures. You had to know it was because of what was being done to Black. And from the way he describes it, they started almost immediately after Black was taken away - not enough time for them to have turned him psychic with their experiments.”
With a thin smile, she said, “Are you listening to yourself? You really believe all these things?”
Gumpa didn’t dignify that with a response. “I guess while we’re at it, I’m a little curious as to why you chose to gaslight White into believing he’d never had a brother instead of just telling him that his brother had died. My guess is that it’s because Black’s entire existence was erased. White was young enough that you thought he’d believe it, but it backfired on you.”
White’s mother pushed past him and opened the car door. She said sharply, “We’re leaving.”
“I hope you’re satisfied,” Gumpa said, and she went stiff. “You only wanted one son. Now you’ve got none. So congratulations. I hope you’re really proud of yourselves.”
She got in the car and slammed the door. White’s father was frozen, momentarily stricken, before he turned away and got in the car as well. Gumpa watched them drive away and let out a breath. They had been upset. They really thought White was dead, had believed the show the lab had put on for them. Once they left town, he wouldn’t have to worry about what would happen when they found White.
~ ~ ~ ~
Dan woke up feeling like his brain was several sizes too large for his skull, and what’s more, like someone had installed a bowling ball that was rolling around in it. He tried to open his eyes and let out a faint groan. A cheerful voice drilled into his ears. “Oh, hey babe, you’re awake!”
“The fuh . . .” Dan mentioned trying to sit up. He immediately stopped and slumped backwards. A shadow fell over his vision and he tried again to open his eyes. This time he managed it, and saw Yok sitting next to him, his serious face giving the lie to his cheerful tone. “Yok . . .? What are you . . .?”
“I came over to make you breakfast,” Yok said, his tone casual. He was holding something in his hand. A wire. A small wire with something on the end of it. A battery? A microchip? “You look wrecked, babe. Rough night?”
“What . . .” Dan rubbed both hands over his face.
“Here, drink some of this,” Yok said, helping him sit up. Dan realized he was on his sofa, and that Yok was sitting on his coffee table. The room was a complete and total mess. Pills and empty bottles were strewn all over the table and the floor. “You’re hungover,” he added. “You need to rehydrate.”
As some lucidity returned to him, Dan saw that Yok didn’t look great, either. There were dark circles underneath his eyes, and he was paler than usual. He took a few sips of the drink that Yok handed to him, looking again at the wire Yok was holding. He suddenly realized what it was, and his gaze snapped to Yok’s.
Yok saw the coherency set in, and lifted a finger to his lips. “I’ll make you something to eat. Why don’t you go get some fresh air? It should help with the headache.”
“Yeah. That’s . . . a good idea.”
Yok had to help him off the sofa. His hand instinctively went to the place that he remembered the needle going in, and it was sore, like he had a bruise there. He continued to drink, realizing it was a bottle of sweetened tea, as Yok guided him outside and closed the door after him. Then he immediately turned and snapped, “What the hell, man? He’s not in the fucking lab, okay? If you’d trusted me and not shunted me off like some kid, I could have told you that! You could’ve gotten killed!”
Dan winced, because in retrospect, breaking into the lab hadn’t been the brightest of ideas. “How do you know White’s not in the lab?”
“I’m not going to tell you,” Yok retorted. “You’re not trusting me with information so I don’t trust you, either. I’m going to take you to the garage and let Gumpa sort you out.”
Dan lifted his hands in surrender. “I’m sorry, okay? You’re right. I at least should have told you where I was going. But I treat you like a kid because you are a kid.”
“I’m sixteen! My mom has been raising me by herself since I was nine. I’ve had a part-time job since I was twelve. My friend is missing! Just because you’re mad at yourself for being attracted to a minor is no excuse not to let me help.”
“That’s not it,” Dan said firmly. “I’m not attracted to you, Yok. You’re too young for me and I’m not having this discussion again. Let’s just head to the garage and share information. What time is it?”
“Eight thirty. And I’ve been up all night making sure you didn’t stop breathing and trying to figure out if the place was bugged, so you can’t blame me for not being in the best of moods. But I think pretty much everyone at the garage has been up all night so at least I won’t be alone in that. Come on. Let’s take my bike; they might notice if your car goes AWOL.”
Dan sighed and said, “How did you know I’d been drugged?”
“Are you kidding? I followed you to the lab, and then I followed them when they took you home, and then I saw the beer cans and pills all over the table like you’ve ever done drugs in your life. You wouldn’t even know where to get drugs. Shut the fuck up and get on the bike.”
~ ~ ~ ~
Chapter Text
Sean’s exhaustion was catching up to him. When they got back to the garage around dawn, he threw himself onto his bed and fell asleep immediately. He was woken by his phone buzzing, and fumbled for it, mumbling, “What.”
“Sean, it’s Yok.” Yok seemed to understand he had woken Sean, but his voice was tight with urgency. “You guys need to get out of the garage right now.”
“What? Why . . .” Sean sat up, rubbing a hand over his face.
“Remember how last night I said there had been a black sedan outside the clinic, and then at the lab? Now it’s outside the garage. Dan and I were coming over and saw it there so we just went past. They’ve figured out where Black is somehow. You guys need to go.”
“Yeah.” Sean was on his feet. “We’ll meet up with you,” he added, and hung up without saying another word. He got Gumpa first, relieved that he was already up, if still in the process of getting dressed. “The goons are outside, we have to go.”
“Wake the others,” Gumpa said, grabbing his keys. “I’ll watch out the front and stall if I need to.”
Sean nodded. He didn’t want to shout. What if they were listening? Instead he went to each door. Eugene and Namo were sleeping in Namo’s room. Gram had fallen asleep on the floor of Sean’s room, and Todd was on the sofa, which surprised Sean because he didn’t even know when Todd had gotten there. He woke all of them first, then went into Black’s room. He was awake, and from the looks of it, had been for a while. That didn’t surprise Sean completely, since he had slept so much the previous day. When he said, “The guys from the lab are here,” Black jolted to his feet as if he had been stung. “Don’t worry. We’ll get you out of here. It was really only a matter of time before they figured it out.”
After a moment, Black nodded and followed him. They met up with the others and headed into the garage proper, where their motorcycles were. Gumpa was peering out the window, and said, “The troops aren’t here yet. Let’s walk the bikes out the back and get to the road that way. Sean, you take Namo, Gram, you take Eugene. Todd, you rode your bike here yesterday?” he asked, and Todd nodded. “Good. You can take Black, then.”
“You don’t want to take Black?” Sean asked, surprised.
“No, I don’t,” Gumpa said, and didn’t explain why. Sean realized he already knew. If one of them was going to stay behind or do something stupid to keep the goons from following them, Gumpa would want to do it himself, and he wouldn’t want Black on his bike if he had to. “Go on, move. Once we hit the fork, we’ll split up.”
“Uh, where are we going?” Todd asked.
“Oh, right, you weren’t here yesterday when we talked about this,” Sean said. “We’ll meet up back where I used to live. The house is abandoned now; nobody will be there.”
“I’ll stick with you, then, because I don’t know where that is.”
Sean agreed with this because he didn’t want Black far away from him anyway. They carefully eased their motorcycles out the back door of the garage, walking them until they had reached the road. Then, behind them, they heard a shout. All of them hastily took off, revving the bikes up to top speed. They hit the fork in the road; Gumpa went left along with Gram and Eugene, while the other four went right, into town. Sean looked behind them and saw four tan Jeeps, two of which followed them while the other two followed Gumpa.
“Oh, fuck,” Namo said, as they came around a curve. Sean nearly braked out of instinct as they saw another Jeep coming that way, towards them and in the dead center of the road. Did they have room to get around it on the side? If he veered that much he might lose control of the bike, and Todd was a much less experienced driver than he was so he almost definitely would -
Out of the corner of his eye, Sean saw Black thrust one hand forward.
The Jeep went flying into the air, and its forward momentum still carried it while the two bikes went under it. Black lifted his hand with his middle finger up as it went over them and crashed back down onto the road. The other two Jeeps that had been following them squealed to a halt. “Go, go, go!” Sean shouted, as if Todd wasn’t already doing that.
The ride through town, to the somewhat poor district where Sean had lived with his parents, went by in a reckless flash. He’d never driven so fast in his life, and he was out of breath when they finally pulled to a halt. Black was, too; Todd helped him off the bike and took the helmet off him, and for the first time, Black was smiling. “That was awesome!”
“That was awesome?” Todd replied. “You threw a frikkin’ car with your mind, dude! That was the hottest thing I’ve ever seen.”
Sean managed a smile of his own. “White really liked riding, too.”
“Yeah?” Black asked.
“Yeah,” Sean said. “Come on, let’s get the bikes into the backyard.”
They quickly did so and went in through the back door, which was partially off its hinges. Dan and Yok were already there, and Yok greeted Sean with an embrace, then hugged Namo as well. Dan stared at Black, clearly thinking that they had already found White. Sean decided to let Gumpa deal with him.
“Where’s Gumpa?” Yok asked. “Gram?”
“They took the longer way. They’ll be here soon.” Sean saw that Black looked anxious and said, “Don’t worry about Gumpa, Black. He knows the road and bike trails in this town better than anybody. He’ll be able to lose them no problem.”
After a moment, Black nodded. He wiped away the blood that was trickling out of his nose. Todd handed him a Kleenex.
Like Sean had predicted, the other two bikes pulled up about five minutes later. They hauled them into the back and crowded into what had once been Sean’s living room. Yok gestured to Dan and said, “Well, I meant to bring him to the garage, but at least I got him to the rest of you, so now you deal with him, hia.”
Dan nodded to Gumpa, then said, “When did you find White?”
“We didn’t,” Gumpa said wearily. “This isn’t White. It’s White’s identical twin, Black. They were separated when they were young children, my guess is three or four years old. We know it’s not White because he has a tattoo that White doesn’t have.”
Dan blinked, but then nodded and turned to Yok, saying, “That’s why you laughed when I asked if White had any tattoos.”
Yok nodded. “Yeah.”
Gumpa started at the beginning and told Dan about how they had found Black, about the lights and the radio, about the monster. Dan looked skeptical, to say the least. Even seeing the still frame of the monster that Todd’s dashcam had taken, he couldn’t completely believe it. “Listen, a government conspiracy is one thing, but this - ”
He stopped short when the bottle of water he was holding exploded, and blurted out, “Holy shit!”
Gumpa looked at Black, amused. “Really?”
Black ignored him and snarled at Dan, “Help, or get out.”
Dan’s mouth worked soundlessly for several seconds.
Sean dropped onto the floor and said, “Now your turn. Tell us why you went to the lab last night.”
Dan let out a breath and steadied himself. The others sat down as well, in a loose circle. “While I was looking for White, I found a scrap of fabric caught on a drainpipe. It looked like a hospital gown. I followed the drainpipe and the other end is on the lab’s property. They let me in to look around and showed me security footage that I knew they’d faked because it didn’t include the storm that hit the night after he disappeared. Black used it to escape, broke into a house to change clothes and get some food, and then ran into you guys in the forest. That’s how I knew the lab was involved. But clearly there were a lot of pieces I was missing.”
“It’s not like you asked,” Yok said sourly.
“We wouldn’t have told him even if he had,” Sean replied with a shrug. “Nobody in this room trusts the cops.”
“I do,” Todd said.
“Shut the fuck up, Todd. You’re rich, of course the cops will do whatever you want.”
Dan clearly decided he had better not engage in that argument. “When I broke into the lab last night, I think I saw this gate you guys are talking about. It looked like . . . a rip in the fabric of reality. I didn’t get very close to it, though, before they knocked me out.”
“You saw that and you’re still questioning whether or not we were telling the truth?” Sean said.
“I didn’t know what it was. And you do realize how crazy all this sounds, right? But I’m here, and I’m willing to accept it and work with it because I don’t have any other ideas. So let’s try to keep all this straight,” he continued, getting out a notepad. “Twelve or thirteen years ago, the people who run the lab got hold of Black . . . apparently with parental consent. They took him to the lab and experimented on him to awaken some sort of psychic powers. White’s parents took him to California and tried to tell him that he’d never had a brother. Then last summer, White ran away from home. He followed this psychic connection to Hawkins but couldn’t figure out how to get to Black. And presumably didn’t say anything about all of this to you guys because he thought he would sound crazy.”
“That sounds right,” Gumpa said, nodding. “I think White is still half-convinced that he is crazy.”
“Then three nights ago, they were doing some sort of experiment and Black accidentally opened a gate between our world and this . . .”
“Upside down,” Yok told him.
“Sure,” Dan said, pinching the bridge of his nose.
“Black said that the man in charge was trying to make contact with the monster,” Gumpa said. “I asked why and he said they’re stupid.”
Sean laughed at that, unable to help it. “Classic Black,” he said, and Black scowled at him but didn’t argue.
Dan shook his head. “So he opened the gate. A monster came through. It found White at Todd’s. White ran and somehow went through a gate the other way and is now stuck on the other side. Meanwhile Black escaped during the chaos and you guys happened to find him.” He tapped the end of his pencil against the notepad. “You do realize what a massive coincidence that is, right?”
“I don’t think it was,” Gumpa said. “Black, you were looking for White, right?” he asked, and Black nodded. “You couldn’t find him because White had gone through a gate. But the most reasonable place to look would have been the last place White was before he went through - and that’s where we were looking for White, too.”
“Okay,” Dan said slowly. “So now White is in the upside down and can somehow communicate through the lights, the people at the lab have brought in the state police to cover up what happened and say that White drowned in the river, and a monster is attacking people in the woods.” He set his pen down. “I don’t like to admit it but I’m at a loss as to how to fix any of this.”
“One thing at a time,” Gumpa said firmly. “Our top priority has to be getting to White. There’s only so long he’ll be able to survive over there.”
“But just looking for a gate is completely hit-or-miss,” Gram said. “I don’t know if we can just keep wandering around hoping we’ll find one. We’ve been doing that for days now.”
Gumpa nodded. “I’ve been thinking about that too. Our best bet is to try to get in through the main gate. The one Black opened. Dan says it’s still there, so it must be more stable than the others.”
“The one that’s in the lab that kills people?” Eugene asked.
“Yeah, that one,” Gumpa said.
“I have a feeling they’re not going to just let us waltz through,” Yok said.
“I doubt it very much, too,” Gumpa said. “But Dan has seen the layout of the place, and Black can probably help us, too. But before we do anything like that, we have to know where in the upside down White is. He’s hiding from the monster, so we can’t just go in and expect to run into him.”
Sean looked at Black. “You found him before, with the radio. Can you do that again?”
“No,” Black said, then frowned. “Maybe.”
Sean took a deep breath, fighting frustration. As reasonably as he could, he asked, “What do you need to be able to do it?”
Black was silent for a long second. Then he said, “I need a bath.”
“What?” several people asked.
“It makes me stronger. It’s dark. Quiet. Weightless.”
“A sensory deprivation tank,” Dan realized. He saw the others looking at him. “When I was reading about some of Tawi’s previous work, those were mentioned. He theorized that being in sensory deprivation would amplify psychic powers.”
“Oh, well, let me pull one of those out of my back pocket,” Sean said sarcastically.
“It’s just a pool, right?” Todd asked. “We could use mine. My parents are out of town at a conference; that’s why I was having a party to begin with.”
“It’s not just a pool, dipshit,” Sean said. “Didn’t you hear him about the weightlessness?”
“It’s saltwater,” Dan said, nodding. “Humans are more buoyant in saltwater, and there’s nowhere near enough salt in Hawkins to create one.”
Todd shrugged. “So we’ll give him a pool noodle or two.”
“A pool . . . noodle?” Black asked, blinking at Todd.
“Yeah, yeah,” Todd said, smiling at him. “It’s like a little float you can put under your arms or neck to keep you above the surface.”
Black thought about that for a minute, then shrugged. “Worth a try.”
~ ~ ~ ~
// Sean loved it when their Dungeons and Dragons game ran late on Saturdays. It gave him an excuse to sleep on White’s floor, while Yok and Gram crashed in his room. There were plenty of other options, but nobody ever brought them up except for Yok’s occasional teasing. White seemed to like having him there at night, especially if he wasn’t feeling well.
Since arriving in Hawkins three months earlier, he had been feeling much better. The first week had been tough, but after that he had only had one seizure. Unfortunately, it had been at the D&D game, so the others had seen it. But they had reacted well, not making a big deal out of it. Sean was glad to have an excuse to stay in his room afterwards.
He didn’t need Yok’s teasing to tell him that he was falling in love with White far more quickly than he supposed was reasonable. He wasn’t sure what it was about White that he adored so much. White was so quiet and reserved so much of the time. He had grown up sheltered and seemed uncertain how to react in a lot of social situations, so he preferred to observe rather than get involved.
But there were moments. Moments when White experienced something for the first time, discovered the joy in it. Some of them were small things, like eating something messy and not worrying about manners or appearances, or when Sean had boosted himself up to sit on the counter in the kitchen and White had asked, “Won’t you get in trouble for that?” Some of them were big things, like driving a motorcycle, or going out at night and seeing the stars without light pollution. Those moments made White smile so brightly that it was like the sun had come out after a hundred rainy days. Whenever it happened, Sean felt his heart beating so hard in his chest that he was sure everyone nearby could hear it.
So it was a little terrifying. It had only been three months. He would keep it to himself, inasmuch as he was capable of keeping anything to himself, for now. And he would enjoy sleeping on White’s floor, getting to see him relaxed and unguarded.
Sometimes, of course, White was not relaxed. He didn’t always sleep well. Bad dreams, he said, and never wanted to talk about them. As Sean lay there after their game, he heard White begin to toss and turn. Then he was talking, low mutters. Sean tried to catch a few words but it was a language he didn’t know.
He decided to wait it out. He’d seen White have bad dreams before, and they usually went away without him needing to wake White. But this time his voice got louder, and he was speaking more clearly, and he sounded agitated. Sean sat up and asked, “White?” When this didn’t get a response, he leaned over and shook him by the shoulder. “White, wake up.”
White gasped and sat up abruptly. “I found him as fast as I could! Don’t be angry!”
“White, it’s okay,” Sean said. “You were just having a nightmare.”
“Was I?” White blinked owlishly at him, and then some coherency returned. He groaned and flopped backwards. “Sorry.”
“You don’t need to be sorry,” Sean said. “But you sounded upset, so I decided to wake you.”
“Yeah. Thanks. I was talking?”
“In some other language, yeah, so I have no idea what about.”
“Oh. Yeah, I talk in Russian in my sleep a lot. Weird since I speak English when I’m awake. My dad was a diplomat who worked mainly with Russia so I picked up a lot of it, but never figured out why I speak in it in my sleep.”
Sean shrugged. “Nightmares are weird.”
“That’s true.” White rolled onto his side, pillowing his cheek on his hand. “Hey. Can I tell you something stupid?”
Sean felt his heart start tap-dancing. “You can tell me anything.”
“A lot of the time, I dream about this big empty space. Just black, as far as the eye can see. It feels like it’s as big as the world. And I’m looking for someone. Sometimes I find them, sometimes I don’t. The stupid part? The floor of this big empty room has this thin sheen of water on it. So when I wake up, I always feel like my feet are wet.”
Laughing quietly, Sean said, “That sounds super annoying.”
“It is! I’ve spent so much of my life with imaginary wet feet!” White was laughing, too. “The wires are all crossed in my brain. The seizures are bad, the nightmares suck, but that! That is what I hate the most! That I spend so much time feeling like my feet are wet!”
Sean laughed harder. “It’s like a curse on par with ‘may you step on a lego’. ‘May you always feel like your feet are wet.’”
“It is,” White moaned, and they both snickered for another few moments. Sean loved the way White sounded when he laughed. “Don’t tell anyone that.”
“I won’t,” Sean said. He leaned his arms on White’s bed and said, “How about I tell you a secret in return?”
“You don’t have any secrets, give me a break,” White said, laughing again. “You wear your heart on your sleeve all the time. I bet there’s nothing you can tell me that Gumpa or Yok or Namo doesn’t know.”
“Hey, that! That is pretty accurate actually,” Sean said, and they both laughed again.
“Then just tell me something about you that I don’t know,” White said. “Like . . . what do you want to do when you’re done with school?”
“I’m going to be a mechanic,” Sean said, without hesitation. “You know, my dad took care of his own truck, he taught me since I was young. We would hang out here sometimes and Gumpa would teach me stuff, too. Maybe I’ll stay here and take over for Gumpa when he’s older. But maybe I’ll go to a bigger town or even a city and open my own garage, where there’s more people and I can specialize in bikes.”
White smiled. “You know, I really envy how fast you can answer that question.”
“I guess it must be different for you, huh?”
“Yeah. You know.” White rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling. “When I was born, my parents had big plans for me. My dad’s a diplomat for the government and I was going to do the same thing. But then when I got sick . . . things changed. They argued a lot about it, when I was in my last couple years of high school. My dad said I could still get a good job in the government even if it couldn’t be one so public-facing. My mom didn’t think it was worth the risk and thought they should just keep me home. They never actually asked my opinion on it.”
“The more I hear about your parents, the more I’d like to slap them upside the head,” Sean said, and White laughed. “But okay. So let’s think about it. What do you like to do?”
White glanced over at him and smiled. “I like to hang out with you.”
Sean’s heart fluttered in his chest. “If I could turn that into a career for you, I would,” he said, and White laughed again. “But hey, maybe I could. If I went to open my own garage, you could come do the stuff for me that you do for Gumpa, keeping the books and inventory and everything.”
“Maybe,” White said. “I know Gumpa doesn’t really need me to do all that, so it’s nice that he lets me. You’d probably need the help, though.”
“Hey!” Sean protested, and flicked his nose. White swatted his hand away, laughing. “Okay, maybe I would. How about it, then? Next year will be my last year in high school. You want to go to the city with me?”
“It’s a deal,” White said, and Sean wondered how White would feel about a spring wedding. //
~ ~ ~ ~
Gumpa had to admit to a bit of skepticism as they stood around Todd’s pool. Then again, he felt like the time for skepticism was long past. They were trying to mock up a sensory deprivation tank so a psychic kid could contact his brother on the other side of a dimensional barrier. Sure.
“Too cold,” Black said, sticking his hand in the water.
“I’ll turn the heater on,” Todd said. “It takes a little while, though.”
Sean turned to Black. “What else?”
“Has to be dark.”
“Maybe some safety glasses covered in duct tape?” Yok suggested.
“I have some of both back at the garage,” Gumpa said, trying to keep the sarcasm out of his voice. “Somehow I don’t feel like Todd’s family does anything for which they would need safety glasses.”
“Let’s just go buy what we need,” Gram said. “Todd’s paying, after all.”
“Wow, you guys are really bitter about the fact that I didn’t want to go out in the woods to hunt a monster with no face - ”
“Anything else?” Sean said to Black.
“A radio.”
“That might be harder to come by,” Yok said. “It’s a little outdated. Sure you can’t use Spotify?”
Black gave him a blank look.
“I have one,” Namo said. “We can swing by my place and grab it.”
“Okay,” Gumpa said. “Sean, take Namo to grab the radio. Gram, you and Yok can go to the store for the rest of it.”
It was nearly an hour before the pool had warmed up to what Black said was about the right temperature, and they had collected everything they needed. Gumpa had another moment of thought about how weird his life had gotten in the past three days, but pushed it aside. “So how does this work, exactly?”
Black seemed to think about it for a minute. “With the radio, I can hear him. Talk to him. With this . . . I can be where he is. See what he sees.”
Gumpa nodded. “Okay, since he can’t tell us where he is, that makes sense.”
“Here,” Todd said, heading Black a pool noodle. “Just tuck it under your neck. That’ll keep your head up and the rest of you will just sink into the water.”
Black nodded and stripped off his shirt. Todd didn’t bat an eyelash, and in fact seemed to enjoy the view. When Black started to unbutton his pants, Sean grabbed another noodle and whacked Todd upside the head with it. “Don’t stare, asshole.”
Todd flipped him off but looked away. Gumpa sighed and said, “Keep your underwear on so nobody has an aneurysm.”
“What?” Black asked, clearly not understanding what they were talking about.
“Never mind. Let’s just do this.”
Black nodded and waded into the pool. He took the pool noodle and went out to the deep end, tucking it under his neck. Then he immediately frowned. “No. Neck is bent funny.”
Gumpa could see that, since he was facing up but the rest of his body was sinking beneath the water. “Here, let’s try putting another one under your shoulders,” he said. Without waiting, Sean took one and kicked off his shoes, getting into the pool and bringing it over to Black. He helped him get it situated, underneath his shoulder blades in the back and coming out under his arms.
Black floated like that for a minute. “Not bad.”
“Here, toss me the glasses,” Sean said, and Yok did. He put them on Black’s face, and Black swatted his hand away before adjusting them himself.
“Not bad,” he said again. “Might work.”
“Go ahead and get out, Sean,” Gumpa said, and turned on the radio. A crackle of static filled the air. Black went quiet and still, his body unmoving except for small shifts with the water. Several long minutes trickled by.
“How will we know if - ” Dan started. Sean glowered and shushed him loudly.
The lights around the pool started to flicker. The one at the back of the house gave a loud buzz and then the lightbulb shattered.
“Shit,” Namo said, edging closer to Sean.
“Tree,” Black said.
Gumpa resisted the urge to say that this was possibly the least useful thing Black could have said. Keeping his tone encouraging, he said, “Okay, you see a tree. What else do you see?”
“Boards,” Black said. “On the tree.”
Sean sucked in a breath. “Do you see something in the tree? A little house?”
“Yeah,” Black said. “Going up,” he added, and Gumpa was a little fascinated by this because Black was clearly moving around wherever he was, some in-between space, yet his body remained still in the pool. The lights flickered again. “White.”
Sean was on his knees beside the pool, as close to Black as he could get without going in. “He’s there?”
“Yeah.”
“What else do you see?” Gumpa asked. He was pretty sure he knew where White was, but pretty sure wasn’t good enough. They needed to know.
“Sleeping bag. Pillow.” Black was quiet for a moment. “Pictures on the wall. It’s Sean. His dad.”
“The treehouse,” Sean said, nodding. “I took White there a few times. It’s actually a pretty clever hiding spot, all things considered.”
Gumpa nodded as well, relieved. “Okay, Black. Can you talk to him? Tell him that we’re coming?”
Black went quiet again. Then he said, “White.”
The radio crackled. Gumpa heard a quiet whimper.
“White, it’s me. Your friends are coming. Sean and Gumpa.”
Another moment of silence, and then a bare whisper. “Please hurry.”
“We will,” Sean said to the radio, as if White could hear him. “We’re going to find you as quick as we can, okay, White? Don’t go anywhere. Tell him to stay right where he is.”
“Stay,” Black said. “Stay here. Stay quiet.”
“Okay,” White whispered.
“We’re coming to get you,” Sean said. “Don’t worry, White, no matter what, we’ll find you - ”
Black suddenly flinched, making ripples rise in the pool. “No!”
“What?” Gumpa knelt beside Sean, looking at where Black had started to tremble. The lights began to flicker again. “Black, what’s wrong?”
“I can see - they’re looking for me - no! I won’t go back!” Black began to flail, and the pool noodle underneath his neck slipped free. His head went under the surface, and he immediately panicked, coming up sputtering. “No! You can’t take me back!”
“Hey, hey, easy!” Gumpa slid into the pool and swam over to him, trying to steady him. He fought, unthinking, and nearly pulled Gumpa under with him. Gumpa managed to get an arm across his chest and pull him back to the shallow end of the pool. “Easy, Black, you’re okay.” He pulled the shielded glasses off of Black’s face, tossing them aside. “You’re okay, you did so well, you were so brave.” He sat down on the steps of the pool, pulling Black against his shoulder. “You’re safe here. We’re not going to let them take you.”
Black clung to him, shaking, and Gumpa just held him for several long minutes. Finally, he said, “I’m cold.”
“Yeah. Let’s get you out of the pool, okay?” Gumpa carefully stood, and although Black trembled, he made it to his feet. Gumpa helped him back onto dry land, where Todd was waiting with an oversized towel. Gumpa wrapped Black up in it and helped him sit in one of the pool chairs. “Do you know why that happened?”
“Sean’s fault,” Black said.
“Hey!” Sean protested.
Black shook his head. “What you said. Made me think of him. When I thought of him, my mind took me to him, and I - saw him. Still looking.”
Sean muttered something unkind, but Gumpa was just glad that Black was up to needling Sean again. He smiled and smoothed down Black’s hair, then wiped away the blood that had trickled from his nose. “But you found White. That’s the important part. We know exactly where he is now, and we can go get him.”
“Yeah, um . . . how?” Namo asked, squeezing Sean’s shoulder.
“We’re going to split into three teams,” Gumpa said. “One team is going to sneak into the lab to go through the gate.”
“I really don’t picture them letting you do that,” Dan said.
“That’s why I said sneaking,” Gumpa said.
“It didn’t work out so well for me,” Dan said.
“I’m well aware of that, but things have changed since yesterday,” Gumpa said. “Something led to them coming to the garage, maybe because they saw Yok with you at the morgue, maybe because they saw Sean and Namo in the woods. Because of that, a ton of them are out in the field right now, scouring every place me and my kids have been associated with.”
Sean looked at Todd and said, “Good thing we hate your ass or they’d be here already.”
“I always knew your bad taste in men would come in handy someday.”
Sean flipped him off, and Gumpa continued, amused. “That means that the lab itself is lightly guarded right now, so we have a lot better chance of getting in. Even so, it’ll be dangerous. I’ll go, and Sean, I know better than to think I can talk you out of it, but it’ll just be the two of us.”
Gram nodded. “What do you want us to do?”
“If Sean and I are going to make it from the gate all the way to the treehouse - that’s what, Sean, maybe three miles?” he asked, and Sean nodded. “Then we’re going to need to make sure the monster is occupied during that time. Or better yet, that we’ve killed it.”
“So we’re monster bait?” Yok asked, sounding more enthusiastic about this than he should have.
“What are we supposed to do when it gets here?” Eugene asked, nowhere near as enthusiastic. “It’s not like any of us have a gun . . .”
“I have a gun,” Dan said.
“Then thank you for volunteering to lead that team,” Gumpa, who had absolutely intended to put Dan in charge of that team regardless, said. Dan sighed but nodded. “In addition to whatever firearms you have, I have the materials to make a bunch of Molotov cocktails and a few traps I got at the hunting store. My advice would be to try to make it step into the trap and then light it on fire.”
“Isn’t that stuff all back at the garage?” Gram asked.
Gumpa shook his head. “I stored it at Sean’s old place. I didn’t think the garage would be safe much longer, so I put it there after I bought it.”
Yok nodded and looked at Dan. “Let’s do that here. We know this area is already in the monster’s preferred hunting grounds. We can set up the trap on the path there. When it gets here, we run into the house, it’ll try to chase us, and boom! Demogorgon flambé.”
Todd groaned. “Well, I guess I’m with you guys, then, so I can make sure you don’t burn my house down. Parties, my parents expect. Arson, not so much.”
“That’s good,” Gumpa said. “Then Gram, Namo, and Eugene - you’ll stick with Black. Take him back to Sean’s old place. Make sure nobody tries to get to him. Run if you need to; don’t try to fight or hide from these guys.”
“I can’t take three people on my bike,” Gram pointed out.
Dan looked at Todd. “That sports car in the driveway yours?”
Todd sighed. “Yes.” He fished out keys and tossed them to Gram. “Not a scratch.”
“I’ll do my best to keep your car intact while on the run from government agents,” Gram told him.
“Everyone clear on the plan?” Gumpa asked, and there was a round of nods. He knelt down in front of where Black was sitting, still wrapped up in the towel. “Sean and I are going to go get your brother, okay? You just stay with Gram and the girls for now.”
Black nodded. “I’ll keep them safe.”
Gumpa smiled and gave him a hug. “You’re a good kid, Black. No matter what anyone else might believe.” He ruffled Black’s hair and stood up. “Let’s get moving.”
~ ~ ~ ~
Chapter Text
Sean took a deep breath as he and Gumpa dragged their bikes off the side of the road to tuck them away in the forest where they wouldn’t be easily seen. He looked up at the walls of the lab, looming above them, and wondered for the millionth time what had happened to his father the day he died. Gumpa squeezed his shoulder briefly, then gestured. Sean nodded and followed him through the woods to where the fence started.
Dan had given them a sketch that laid out the lab and what he had seen. Black had been able to contribute surprisingly little; Sean got the impression that he had never been out of a single area in the large building. They would have to rely on Dan’s directions, which Sean wasn’t thrilled about.
“Remember what we talked about,” Gumpa said, and Sean nodded. Gumpa took out a pair of bolt cutters and started cutting through the fence. A few minutes later, they slid inside. The lot seemed empty, but Dan had warned them that the whole thing was monitored by cameras. Unless there was no staff in the security office at all, they would be seen immediately no matter how stealthy they were.
But that was fine. They needed at least one guard to try to stop them, in order to get his security card. And that part of the plan, at least, went like clockwork. He came out of the door just as they were approaching it, and aimed a pistol at them. They both stopped and put their hands up, and when he got closer to them, Gumpa grabbed his wrist and twisted it to the side, then slammed him face first into the wall of the building.
“Where’d you learn to fight, hia?” Sean asked, as Gumpa grabbed the security card and let them into the building.
“I hate to disappoint you, but the most boring answer possible: I took tae kwon do classes starting when I was nine.”
“Oh, yeah. That checks out,” Sean said, and they jogged down the hallway.
They met another two guards and got past them, then three, and got past them, and Sean felt like everything was going pretty well when they opened the door that Dan said would lead them to the lower levels of the lab - the rooms where Black had been kept and experimented on, and the gate.
But on the other side of that door, there were six men, all with guns ready and aimed at them as they came inside.
“Fuck,” Gumpa said, which a distant part of Sean thought was pretty funny. He’d never heard Gumpa say that before.
“Hands up,” the man in front said. “Against the wall.”
“Wait, please wait,” Sean said. He hated to beg, but there was only one way this was going to work. “Please, I just want to go through the gate. I just want to get to White.”
“Do what I say and be glad I’m not shooting you right now.”
Sean somehow resisted the urge to ask if that was what they’d done to his father. “Please! I can’t just leave him there to die!”
“Against the wall. Now.”
“Better do as he says, Sean,” Gumpa murmured.
Sean half-turned, but then turned back and said desperately, “I’ll tell you where Black is.”
“Sean!” Gumpa hissed.
“Just let me go get White. That’s all I care about. You can go get your little lab rat back, it doesn’t matter to me! I just want to get White!”
“Sean, don’t!” Gumpa said, reaching for him.
Two of the men grabbed Gumpa and shoved him up against the wall. He struggled, but couldn’t get free.
“I’m listening,” a new voice said. Sean saw a man in a suit with a lab coat over it walking down the hallway. This had to be Tawi, he thought. He had never actually seen him before, and wanted to spit in his face, but reminded himself that they had to get to White, no matter what he had to do. “Where is Eleven?”
“His name is Black,” Gumpa gritted out.
Both Sean and Tawi ignored him. “If I tell you, will you let us go through the gate?” Sean asked. “Let us get White and then come back through?”
“Well, I feel like there are a few details we’d have to iron out first,” Tawi said. “You understand, I’m sure, why that’s not optimal for us.”
“You mean, I understand why you made a fake body and told everyone he’d drowned in the river? Yeah, I get it,” Sean said. “If word got out of what you guys had done - especially now that someone actually got killed by the monster you set loose - you’d be in big trouble. Easier to just let White die on the other side. But we won’t talk, I promise. We won’t say anything to anybody.” He swallowed hard. “White doesn’t even know Black is real. He thinks he’s crazy thanks to his parents. I can tell him that this was all just a psychotic episode he had. I can make him believe it.”
“Sean!” Gumpa protested, appalled.
“Just let me get him,” Sean said. “We’ll leave Hawkins if you want. You’ll never see our faces again.”
Tawi looked at him thoughtfully, then said, “No, I’d prefer if you didn’t. I’d rather keep an eye on you.”
Sean thought that what this meant was that Tawi wanted to be able to experiment on White, as well, and his connection with Black. But that didn’t matter because it wasn’t going to happen. “Okay. I’ll tell you where Black is. You’ll let me and Gumpa through, let us get White, let us come back through and leave the lab. And we won’t say anything to anyone. Right, hia? We won’t say anything.”
Gumpa gritted his teeth. “Fine.”
Tawi obviously didn’t believe this from Gumpa, but apparently decided that finding Black was more important, as Sean had figured he would. “All right. It’s a deal. Where is Eleven?”
“He’s at Todd’s. You know, the guy who held the party White disappeared from? He’s got that big house so we tucked Black away there after you guys found us at the garage.”
Tawi nodded and gestured to the man in charge of security. He got on his radio. Sean listened while he instructed the men in town to get what they needed and head to Todd’s house. Then two men came to escort Sean and Gumpa down to the gate.
“Put these on,” Tawi said, gesturing to a rack of Hazmat suits. Sean and Gumpa exchanged a glance, but did as they were told. Sean was wearing a backpack full of things they hoped they wouldn’t need, and Tawi looked through it but didn’t object to anything in it. In fact, he said, “You’ll be going further into the alternate plane than any of us have. I’ll be looking forward to your report afterwards.”
It took all of Sean’s self-control not to tell him to go fuck himself. He looked at the gate in fascination. It moved slightly, as if it was breathing. It looked like an open mouth of some terrible creature, ready to swallow him.
White, he reminded himself. Somewhere inside the belly of that beast was White.
“Come on,” Gumpa said, and the two of them went through.
Sean shuddered slightly as darkness closed around them. They walked in silence for several minutes before he stopped and took the helmet off.
“What are you doing?” Gumpa asked.
“You know these suits have trackers in them. Probably cameras, too. Fuck that. The environment can’t be that toxic if White has survived for almost four days now.”
After a moment, Gumpa nodded and began to take off the suit as well. Once they had gotten all the pieces off, they walked in silence for a few minutes before he said, “Nice going. You might have a career in acting.”
“Do you think Yok will be okay?” Sean asked anxiously. “I don’t give a shit about Dan and Todd, but I’m worried about Yok.”
“Well, if we’re lucky, those goons will show up just as the demogorgon does and we’ll have solved two problems at once,” Gumpa said. “But if not, I don’t think we need to be too worried. They’ll tear Todd’s place apart, but when Black’s not there, they’ll figure out pretty fast that we lied to them.” Gumpa looked over his shoulder at the gate, now barely visible in the distance. “We’ll have to find another way out of here.”
Sean nodded and took a bandana out of his backpack, tying it over his face. “Let’s go get White.”
~ ~ ~ ~
“Okay, this is all set over here,” Yok said, tucking the cloth into the last of the four bottles.
Dan glanced over at him and said, “The fact that Gumpa taught you how to make Molotov cocktails is more than a little terrifying, I want you to know that.”
“Fine by me,” Yok said briskly. “I prefer to be terrifying.”
Dan sighed. “Listen, Yok . . .”
“Hey, Todd, help me get the trap set up,” Yok said.
Todd came over from where he had been observing more than helping. “Why can’t you have the cop help you?”
“Well, he thinks I’m too young for this shit.”
Dan pinched the bridge of his nose. Todd rolled his eyes, helped Yok get the trap set up, and then said, “I’m going inside to find anything that might qualify as a weapon, mainly as an excuse not to be here for your lovers’ quarrel.”
“It’s not a - ” Dan started, before Todd was inside with the door firmly shut behind him. He sighed again and looked at Yok, who was studiously not looking at him while he examined the trap. “Yok, I’m sorry if I was harsh with you earlier. I don’t want you to think that you’re not someone worth dating. It’s just that you’re too young for me. And yes, I know that you’re pretty mature for your age and that, despite what all your arrests for vandalism might suggest, you’re more responsible than the average sixteen-year-old. But that doesn’t matter. And the fact that you can’t accept the fact that I can’t be interested in you at your age just shows me that you are still a kid.”
Yok winced at that. “I mean, I guess not taking no for an answer isn’t my most attractive personality trait.”
Dan smiled despite himself. “I know I’m only twenty-two but I’m the adult in the situation, okay? Which means that I can’t show interest in you. At all. I can’t say you’re attractive ‘for your age’, I can’t say ‘maybe when you’re older’, I can’t say anything. All I can say is that you’re a kid and I’m an adult and therefore nothing’s going to happen between us. And someday, when you’re older, you’ll thank me for that.”
Yok’s nose wrinkled. “Okay, but what about when I’m older?”
“Yok . . .”
“Yeah, yeah. I’m being immature again. I’m not taking it back, though. I’m gonna finish high school and maybe go to college and I’m gonna get super hot, Dan. Then I’m gonna come back and I’ll be twenty-two and you’ll be twenty-eight and it won’t be as weird.”
Amused, Dan said, “What did I just say about how I couldn’t say ‘when you’re older’?”
“Whatever. Super hot.”
Dan rolled his eyes and said, “I think it’s about time we lured in a monster, because fighting one of those seems preferable to this conversation.”
Yok laughed. “Okay. Let’s do it.”
Dan took out a knife while Yok went to get Todd from wherever he was hiding inside the house. He came back with a first aid kit, saw Dan and immediately said, “Not your hand, dipshit. Why do people in the movies always cut the palm of their hands? You might need that later. Cut the back of your arm.”
“Oh,” Dan said, feeling like an idiot. “Yeah, good point.” He made a cut on the back of his forearm, letting it bleed for a brief moment before he did his best to collect some of the blood in his opposite hand and fling it towards the forest. Then he let Yok bandage the wound.
“Now what?” Todd asked.
“It might be a little while,” Yok said. “I mean, it can’t teleport. White’s nose bleed was about a half an hour before it got here. From the description of what happened to Sean and Namo in the forest, I think it took about that long for them, too.”
“So I’m stuck with you assholes for even longer?” Todd asked, and sighed. “Oh well. At least I got to see Black shirtless.”
“You know he’s been, like, locked up in a lab for his whole life, right?” Yok said. “Maybe slow your roll a bit.”
“I think my roll has been very slow, thank you - ”
Dan sighed and tuned out their bickering. He sat down in one of the pool chairs, holding his gun and waiting. He went over the plan in his head, and thought it was a good plan, in as much as any plan about fighting a monster from another dimension could be.
They were prepared for its arrival, but none of them were prepared for the fact that Dan’s bullets didn’t even slow it down. He managed to fire three times before it lunged for him and he had to dive out of the way, but the creature didn’t seem to have even noticed.
“Over here, you ugly piece of shit!” Yok shouted, and the demogorgon turned at him and screamed. Yok paled, but his hands were steady as he threw the first Molotov cocktail. It hit the ground where the monster had been standing, but it was already gone, leaping at him. Dan had to roll to avoid being caught in the fire.
“Come on, come on!” Todd yelled, holding the door open. Dan scrambled to his feet, grabbed Yok by the collar and dragged him out of the way, towards the house. They all dove in and Todd kicked the door shut behind them.
They waited, panting for breath, for the sounds of the demogorgon caught in the trap. But it was silent.
“What happened?” Yok asked. “Did it run?”
“From us?” Todd sounded skeptical.
“Maybe it saw the trap,” Dan said. He cautiously opened the door and looked around. He didn’t see anything unusual. Even the water in the pool was still. He lifted his gun and took a few more steps.
“Look out!” Yok shouted, just before the demogorgon landed on his shoulders and carried him to the ground. His gun flew out of his hand and landed several feet away. He realized how stupid they had been. Of course the demogorgon had seen the trap, and had jumped over it - to the roof. Then it had just waited until they came out -
“Get the hell off him!” Yok charged forward with the baseball bat they had hammered a bunch of nails through. He swung hard and connected, but it barely made a dent. Dan got enough room to roll onto his back, but that was it, and he watched in horrified fascination as the thing’s face opened, revealing a mouth full of teeth -
“Yok, get down!” Todd shouted, and Dan heard a gun firing. Dan heard the impact of at least two of the bullets, but it still didn’t seem to make much of a difference. “Shit!”
Yok scrambled to his feet and brought the bat down again, this time taking a second to aim better and hitting the monster right on the back of its neck. It screamed and then released Dan, twisting itself around and charging at Yok -
“Fuck you, asshole!” Yok grabbed one of the Molotov cocktails and threw it, even though the demogorgon was only a few feet away. It hit the monster right in the abdomen, engulfing its torso in flames, and Yok recoiled from the sudden burst of heat. Seconds later, another one thrown by Todd broke at its feet.
“Down!” Dan shouted, and grabbed the pistol he kept in his ankle holder while Yok and Todd threw themselves to the ground. He shot the monster twice in the back of the head, and it staggered.
“Last one!” Yok called to them, before picking up the bottle and throwing it. The demogorgon swatted it aside with one hand, making it smash into the wall of Todd’s house. Todd swore and scrambled for the fire extinguisher. Dan fired his gun until it was empty, and the creature bounded into the woods and was gone.
“Holy shit,” he said, panting.
“Do you think it’ll die?” Yok asked, resting his hands on his knees.
Dan hoped so, but only said, “We did the best we could,” going for the second fire extinguisher and helping Todd put out the flames before the house could go up. “Gun, please,” he said, extending his hand to Todd.
“It’s empty,” Todd said, and handed it over.
“You’re a good shot.”
“My dad taught me.”
Dan nodded, checked the chamber for a bullet, and then tucked the gun away. Bruised, exhausted, and somewhat singed, the three of them sank into pool chairs. “Boy does Sean owe me for this,” Todd muttered. “My parents are going to have my ass when they see what a mess we made of the place.”
Yok groaned. “Do you ever, and I really mean ever, think about anything other than yourself?”
“You know what? I think I’ve actually been pretty helpful and accommodating since I wanted to help you guys find White, and - ”
“Stop talking,” Dan said. “Both of you. I’m not here to babysit.”
“Wow, ouch, Dan - ”
All three of them looked up as two cars pulled into the driveway. Yok glanced over at Dan, his jaw set unhappily. Dan and Gumpa had talked about this, and they had all known the plan. The fact that the goon squad was here meant that Sean and Gumpa hadn’t been able to get through the lab without getting caught - but apparently Tawi had accepted their deal.
“Their timing sucks,” Todd muttered. “They could’ve helped with the demogorgon, but no . . .”
Dan sighed and stood as eight men in army uniforms exited the cars and walked towards them. “Can I help you gentlemen?”
“Seems unlikely,” the man in front said, and Dan recognized him as Techit, the head of security. Without waiting for a response, he gestured to the house and said, “Search it. Top to bottom.”
“Hey, hey, hey,” Todd said, standing up. “You can’t just go into my house, what the hell - we have rights - my dad owns this whole town - ”
“Shut up, punk,” Techit said, which Dan had to admit Todd deserved. “Your dad doesn’t own shit compared to Tawi. If you’re hiding something, we’ll find it. You, you - ” he gestured to two of his men. “Make sure these three don’t cause any trouble while we’re searching.”
Todd sank back into his pool chair and stared glumly at the house while the men went inside, clearly intending to leave no stone unturned. “Dad is gonna have my whole ass,” he muttered. “You guys couldn’t think of anywhere better to do this?”
“I mean, it was Sean’s idea,” Yok said, reaching into the cooler and pulling out a soda. “That’s what you get for hitting on his boyfriend for three months.”
“If Sean didn’t want me to hit on White, Sean should’ve actually asked him out instead of pining for him in silence - ”
“I mean, you’re right that Sean should’ve asked White out, but there’s such a thing as bro code - ”
“Will you two please stop,” Dan said, cradling his head in his hands.
About ten minutes later, Techit came out of the house. He got on his phone, obviously wanting Dan and the others to hear what he was about to say. “Yeah, boss. I don’t think he’s here. We’ll keep searching, but he’s not in any of the obvious places. If he’s here, they hid him real well. Given what happened . . . yeah, that kid definitely lied to us. Uh huh. Yeah. I’ll take care of it.”
Techit hung up. He looked over the three of them, then gestured to Yok. “That one.”
“What? What, that one what?” Yok asked, as two of the men grabbed him by his arms and hauled him to his feet.
Dan shot to his feet as well. “What are you - ” he started, before another two men grabbed him. “Wait! Don’t - ” he managed, as the men holding Yok dragged him over to the steps of the pool.
“No!” Yok fought harder as they forced him down, but he wasn’t strong enough to get away from them. “Let me go!”
“I’ve got his arms,” one of them said, and the other grabbed Yok by the hair and pushed him under the surface.
“Stop!” Dan shouted. He pulled away from the men holding him, only to find Techit holding a gun, pointed directly at his face.
“Now,” Techit said, “you’ve got two choices. You’re either going to tell me where Eleven is, or you’re going to watch us drown your boyfriend.”
“You son of a - ”
“Up,” Techit said, and the men pulled Yok up. He gasped and struggled. “Where is he?”
“I don’t - ”
They pushed Yok down again. He fought harder, and a third man had to go into the pool to keep him from getting free, leaning on his back.
“Let him go!” Dan pushed forward, only to have Techit press the gun into his throat. “Fuck - ”
The men pulled Yok up again. He gasped and sputtered, but managed, “Don’t - don’t tell them, Dan, don’t you dare - ”
“He will,” Techit said, staring Dan down.
They pushed Yok under. He struggled. Dan couldn’t stop shaking. He didn’t know what to do. “Stop, okay - he had nothing to do with this, I’m the one who broke into your lab, if you want to hurt someone, hurt me - ”
“That’s what I’m doing,” Techit said, unflinching.
“Please,” Dan said, leaning hard on the word. He kept trying not to look at Yok, at the way his struggles were starting to get frantic, instinctual. “He’s been under over a minute already - please, don’t do this - ”
“Humans can survive three minutes without air. You’ve got time to think it over.”
“Fuck - I’ll tell you, okay? I’ll tell you, pull him up!”
“Tell me, and then we’ll pull him up.”
Dan felt tears sting at his eyes. “He’s at the house where Sean’s family used to live, before you killed his dad - ”
“Address.”
“Pull him up!”
“Address first.”
Dan swore and gave it to him. He signaled his men, who pulled Yok up and dragged him over to the stairs. He was coughing as if he couldn’t get a full breath in. Dan broke free from Techit and ran over to him, pulling him out of the water entirely and cradling him against his shoulder. Yok leaned into his embrace and let out a shuddering sob. “It’s okay, I’ve got you,” Dan said, smoothing down his hair. “I’ve got you.”
Techit was giving orders to his men. “You two, stay here with them,” he said, and turned back to Dan. “You and your friends are leading us on a merry chase. We were already lied to once, so I don’t trust that you weren’t lying to us now. How far is this house?”
“Maybe ten minutes,” Dan said, swallowing hard.
Techit nodded and turned to his men. “If we haven’t called in fifteen minutes and confirmed we’ve found the subject, shoot that one,” he said, and gestured at Todd.
“Hey!” Todd, who had been staying in his pool chair in the hopes he would be forgotten, protested. “Hey, why me?”
With a smile, Techit said, “You shoot the most expendable hostage first. That way we’ll still have Dan’s little boyfriend here to drown again, if we need to.”
“Asshole,” Todd said.
“Asshole,” Yok muttered. He looked up at Dan as the majority of the men left, only two remaining behind with their guns drawn. “You told them?”
“I had to,” Dan said. “Yok, I had to.”
Yok sighed and leaned his head against Dan’s shoulder. “Here I was hoping you’d have to give me mouth-to-mouth.”
Dan nearly cried from sheer relief that Yok was up to cracking jokes. “Some other time, maybe.”
As the cars pulled out of the driveway, Yok followed Dan’s gaze over to the two men left to guard them. “What are we going to do now?”
Dan didn’t know.
~ ~ ~ ~
Sean knew that although speed was important, stealth was also important. Their plan to keep the demogorgon out of the way was, he thought, a good one. But they didn’t know how long it would last. So they couldn’t go charging through the woods like bulls, as much as he wanted to. They jogged, as quietly as possible. He tried not to look around more than was necessary. The landscape was so creepy that he only wanted to orient himself.
It felt like years had passed by the time he saw the treehouse in the distance, the boards climbing up that were rotting and filthy. Despite himself, he broke into a sprint and practically threw himself up into the tree.
His greatest fear was that White wouldn’t be there, that the monster would have found him and he would have had to run away. His heart was in his mouth as he wriggled through the child-sized opening that served as a door.
Much to his relief, White was curled up in the corner, burrowed down into the sleeping bag. His skin was deathly pale, lips chapped, cheeks hollow, and his eyes were closed. Sean knelt beside him, shaking him gently. “White? White, can you hear me?”
White’s eyelids fluttered. Sean had to shake him harder before his eyes fully opened. He blinked, twice, and then his head lolled back.
Sean shook him again. “White! White, it’s me, it’s Sean. Can you talk to me?”
“Sean,” White said, and it came out as a hoarse whisper. His eyes opened again, fixed on Sean. “Are you real?”
“Yes,” Sean said, clutching White’s hand. “Yes, I’m real, I’m here. I found you and I’m here to take you home.”
White’s face creased with anxiety. “Can’t . . . I can’t . . .”
Sean realized why he was upset and said, “Not home like California with your terrible parents. Our home, White. The garage, with me and you and Gumpa . . . and Black.”
White’s eyes went wide. “Black?” he whispered.
“Yeah. Yeah, I met your brother, I met Black. He’s a jerk. Really not much like you. And he’s been so worried about you, White. He helped us find you.” Sean saw that White wasn’t growing any less distressed and thought he might be adding to his confusion. “Look, don’t worry about any of that for now, okay? I’m here, I’ll get you back to the garage. Can you sit up a bit? I brought something for you to drink.”
“I . . . don’t know,” White managed. Sean figured this was fair. He got an arm underneath White and lifted him slightly, moving White’s head so it was in his lap. His arms shook as he reached for the sports drink that Sean pulled out of his backpack.
“Let me help,” Sean said, and held the bottle to his lips. “Slow sips. You must be really dehydrated.”
“I found some water, but . . . tasted bad. Didn’t know if it was safe, so I only drank a little.”
“Probably smart. I don’t think anything here is safe. There you go,” Sean added, as White took a few swallows.
“Is this real?” White asked in a small voice.
“Yeah. I know it’s fucked up, but yeah, it’s all real. Don’t worry, just drink,” Sean said, and White took another sip. “Okay, that’s probably enough for now. Let’s get you out of here.”
White could barely move, so Sean had to unzip the sleeping bag and help him out of it. When White sat all the way up, he put one hand over his mouth like he was afraid he was going to throw up.
“You okay?” Sean asked. “We’ll take it slow.”
“I don’t feel good,” White managed weakly, and keeled over. Sean had to grab him before he could hit the deck. He checked White’s pulse and was relieved to feel it under his fingertips. After taking a deep breath, he decided to let White stay unconscious for now while he got him out of the treehouse. He dragged White over to the door, then called down to Gumpa.
“I’m going to lower him down to you,” he said. “He’s not strong enough to climb.”
“Okay,” Gumpa said. Sean carefully lowered White over the edge. The treehouse was a good fifteen feet off the ground, so he didn’t like dropping him, but with Gumpa right there, it was safe enough. He forced himself to let go of White’s wrists, and he fell like dead weight into Gumpa’s arms.
Sean hastily climbed down the ladder and said, “Where to, hia?”
“Most of the gates have been on the other side of town, so we’ll head back towards the lab. Hopefully we’ll be able to find one. Help me get White on my back.”
Sean nodded. White stirred and moaned faintly as he and Gumpa maneuvered him, and Sean stopped to give him a few more sips of the drink. “He’s in bad shape, hia,” he said anxiously. They had known they might not be able to get back through the lab, that it might take them time to find another gate. They had come prepared, with a backpack full of sports drinks and protein bars, two lighters, a knife, a first aid kit, and anything else they had thought might be helpful. Sean figured he and Gumpa could survive there for a few days or even a week. But White had already been here for four days, and he was clearly in need of medical care that they couldn’t provide, sooner rather than later.
“I know. Let’s just try to rehydrate him as much as we can.” Gumpa knelt down and Sean draped White onto his back. He stood carefully, his hands underneath White’s knees, White’s arms draped over his shoulders. It was precarious at best. “White, can you hold on?”
White stirred again. “Hia,” he mumbled.
“I’m here,” Gumpa told him. “Hold onto me, White. We’ll get you home.”
White was still for a long moment, and Gumpa was worried that he might not be capable. But then he slowly joined his hands together and let them rest loosely on Gumpa’s chest. “Tired.”
“I know, White. You just rest now and let me and Sean take care of you.” Gumpa looked over at Sean and nodded. “Let’s go.”
~ ~ ~ ~
Chapter Text
Dan spent several long minutes thinking about what their best plan might be. There was a fifty/fifty chance, he thought, that the two men might just kill them once Techit reported that they had located Black, rather than letting them go.
Two on three weren’t the worst odds he’d had in his life, but those two men had guns whereas Dan, Yok, and Todd had nothing. They would need the element of surprise at the very least, some sort of diversion or distraction.
What he had instead was a headache. Todd had started complaining loudly about the whole thing, about how he shouldn’t have involved himself and maybe should have just let White die in the upside down, about how pissed his parents were going to be, about how this was somehow all Sean’s fault. Yok was looking at him murderously, like he was considering whether or not the men guarding them would object if he beat the shit out of Todd.
He hated putting the two teenagers at further risk. For the demogorgon, at least they’d had a chance to plan first. Whatever they did now, there would be no chance to plan, no way for him to make sure the danger was focused on him.
“Ugh, this is so fucking stupid,” Todd said, pulling out his phone and swiping at it.
“Hey,” one of the guards snapped. “Put that down.”
“What? Are you kidding?” Todd rolled his eyes. “You’re holding me hostage at my own house and I can’t even look at babes on Insta - ”
“You’re such a dick, Todd - ” Yok said.
“You think we’re going to let you contact your friends and let them know we’re coming for them?” the guard asked.
“Oh, give me a break,” Todd said, still swiping. “Like I give a shit. I don’t even have Gram’s number, how the hell would I warn them - ”
“For fuck’s sake, kid, I’m telling you to put it down - ”
The guard started forward and reached for the phone.
At that moment, a shrill ringing went up from the house. Both guards twisted around, surprised.
Dan was surprised, too, but he recovered faster. He was on his feet before they could turn around, grabbing the pool chair in one hand and slamming it into the man closer to him. It wasn’t much of a weapon, but it was enough to make him stagger. The other guard turned to him, lifting his gun, and Yok jumped onto his back, grabbing his arms and making the shot go wide.
“Dan, here!” Todd shouted, grabbing the baseball bat and tossing it to him. He let it hit the ground so he could make sure he didn’t get the end with all the nails before grabbing it and using the momentum to swing around and bring it down on the arms of the man Yok was struggling with. He screamed and let go of the gun. Dan dove for it, but the first man he had hit tackled him, and they both went to the ground.
“I’ve got it!” Yok yelled, and wasn’t that a terrifying idea, Yok with a gun - but Dan realized quickly that Yok didn’t mean the gun, he meant the baseball bat, which Dan had lost his grip on. He swung hard and hit the guard in the side of his abdomen. He went flying backwards and rolled over to Todd, who kicked him hard in the face. Dan grabbed the gun and turned just as the second guard recovered from being hit, and fired twice.
For a few brief seconds, Dan and Yok just panted for breath. Then the shrill ringing stopped, and a cheerful ringtone played.
“Hey, Dad, yeah, sorry,” Todd said. “No, one of my friends opened the back door while the alarm was on. You don’t need to have them send anybody. What? Of course I’m on my best behavior, Dad! I’m hurt that you would even ask!” Todd laughed. “Yup, okay. I’ll see you in a couple days.”
Dan managed to gather himself enough to check pulses. None on the man he had shot. The other was still alive, but unconscious. “You can trigger the alarm on your phone?” he asked Todd.
“Yeah. Pretty neat, huh? Dad had our system updated and got me the app after I set it off one too many times sneaking in and out at night. I figured it would distract them for a few seconds.”
Dan nodded. “You know, you’re a lot smarter than you let most people realize.”
Todd just smirked. “Yok knew what I was doing. Didn’t you?”
Yok nodded, wiping blood off his lip. “I mean, not at first, I really was thinking about drowning you, but as soon as you took your phone out, I figured you were just acting like a spoiled, whiny brat to get them to lower their guard. Shit,” he added, and fumbled for his own phone. He tapped it quickly. “Gram? Gram, get out of there right now, get Black, get in the car, drive anywhere - ”
That was right, Dan remembered. The night wasn’t over yet.
~ ~ ~ ~
Of all the emotions Black tried not to feel, he hated fear the most. Over the years at the lab, he had pushed it down whenever it bubbled up, converted it into anger whenever possible. There was always pain - he was used to pain - and a hollow grief that sat in his chest, in his throat. He was used to that, too. But more than anything else, he hated the way being afraid felt, and he hated Tawi for making him feel it so often.
He sat in the shell of a house that had once belonged to a happy family but was now full of the same sort of aching sorrow that he felt every day. He pulled his knees to his chest and waited.
He was terrified, and furious at himself for being terrified, furious at the people who had made him this way.
“Don’t worry, Black,” Gram said for the tenth time. “I’m sure Sean and Gumpa will find him.”
Black wanted to believe that.
“How far is that treehouse, anyway?” Eugene asked, looking out the back window.
“Maybe half a mile,” Namo said, and gave a slight smile. “I remember when Sean’s dad built it. They spent hours selecting the perfect tree. We were seven, I think? Sean was very picky about it.”
Black thought of Sean’s dad, of the surprise on his face when he had seen Black crouched in the supply closet, of the sound of his breathing as he wheeled the box with Black in it down the hallway, of the way he had screamed when they had -
Gram’s phone rang. He frowned and said, “It’s Yok,” then picked up with, “Hey, is - ”
Gram went silent. Black didn’t need to hear the other end of the conversation because he could see it on Gram’s face.
“We have to go,” Gram said. “Let’s - ”
Black knew it was too late. He could feel it all the way down to his bones. He didn’t even have to look to know that they were here for him.
He got up and bolted towards the back, towards the woods.
“Hey, Black - !” Gram shouted after him, before he was out the door.
// “You’re a good kid, Black. No matter what anyone else thinks.” //
Black knew it wasn’t true, knew that he had never been good. He had said he would protect them, but now that the moment was here, he just wanted to get away. The truth was, he would do anything, sacrifice anyone, if it kept him out of the lab and got him back to his brother. He didn’t care about anything else. He would open a gate if he had to. Let the world flood with monsters. He should have done that to begin with. He never should have trusted anyone else, relied on anyone else -
He stumbled to a halt when he saw four men coming out of the woods, aiming their guns at him.
They had known. They had known he would run. He was surrounded.
“Fucking finally,” Techit said, and Black looked behind himself to see that he had a dozen men with him, that the three teeenagers who had tried to help him had been forced to kneel on the ground. “Tawi’s on his way, Eleven. This can go easy or it can go hard. Up to you.”
// “Get back downstairs, Eleven,” Techit said. “We can do it the easy way or the hard way.”
“He’s just a kid,” the deliveryman said, sounding bewildered. “What’s he even doing here?”
“This isn’t your business.”
Black clung to the man’s elbow, backing up slightly so he was behind him. The man had said he would get Black to safety. He had promised him. He had said ‘stay behind me’ and ‘I’ll take care of you’ and ‘I have a son about your age’.
“Listen, I don’t know what you guys are doing in here, but - ”
“Last chance, Eleven,” Techit said. “Get downstairs. Now.”
Black shook his head. “Won’t.”
“See, he doesn’t want to go,” the deliveryman said. “You can’t just keep him prisoner. Where are his parents? Did you - ”
The man’s body suddenly went rigid, and Black heard the buzz from Techit’s taser. He had been hit by it before, and he knew what it felt like, and screamed as the man’s body convulsed. Techit grabbed his arm and dragged him to his feet.
“Kill him,” Techit said to his men.
“No! No!” Black fought, his teeth sinking into Techit’s arm. Techit swore and pushed him away, backhanded him. Black saw stars and landed on the ground. He saw the deliveryman again, one hand stretched out, as if he was reaching for him -
And then his body convulsed again as they hit it with the stun gun, over and over -
“No!” Black screamed again, and his words shook the lab’s very foundations. “Stop it! STOP IT!”
“Get him out of here,” Techit said.
“No,” another voice said, and Tawi walked down the hallway. He was unbothered by the way Black’s screaming was making the walls crack, and knelt down next to him. “Eleven,” he said, calmly. “You need to watch this. You need to understand what you did.”
“No,” Black whispered. The floor stopped shaking; the cracks in the walls shed some dust and went still. He could taste blood in his mouth. “No, no, no . . .”
Tawi gently took his chin and turned it towards where the men were still standing around the deliveryman’s body, hitting it with their stun sticks. “This is what happens when you try to get away, Eleven,” he said. “Do you have anything to say for yourself?”
“I’m sorry,” Black sobbed. “I’m sorry.”
Tawi patted him on the back. “You won’t try to run again, will you?”
“No,” Black said, shaking his head. “No. I won’t run. I won’t run.” //
He wouldn’t run.
He was tired of being afraid.
“That’s a good boy,” Techit said, as Black turned and began to walk towards him.
“Tawi was right,” Black said. “I shouldn’t have run. I’m never going to run again.”
It was so easy. Maybe it shouldn’t have been. But Techit was right there. Black counted the men. Twelve, thirteen - sixteen total. Sixteen hearts beating all around him. Sixteen skulls standing almost in a circle.
They all went still. Black held them all in place, feeling the way their blood ran in their veins, the way their nerves sent signals to one another. It was so easy. A block here, a disruption there - bodies were so fragile. One by one, the men crumpled to the ground, their eyes and ears leaking blood.
He left Techit for last, and saw the fear on his face, the fear that Black had felt his whole life. He saw the way he struggled against it, the way Black had struggled against them. He saw the way he tried to reach for Black, like Sean’s father had reached for him, but for a completely different reason.
“Holy shit,” Gram whispered, as Techit collapsed. “Holy shit, Black.”
Black wiped blood off his upper lip. “Said I would protect you,” he said, but the world was suddenly growing very dim, noise rushing in his ears. His knees unhinged and they scrambled to catch him before he could hit the ground. “Tired.”
“It’s okay,” Namo said, squeezing his hand. “It’s okay, you saved us. Let’s get you back in the house so we can wait for - ”
“Well this is certainly a mess,” Tawi said, and Black shivered, fighting the urge to whimper. “Really, Eleven? Techit’s been my right-hand man for over a decade.”
Black thought very carefully about what he wanted to say. What came out was, “Eat shit.”
The three teenagers laughed, sounding on the edge of hysterics. Black could hear the sound of feet on the pavement. Tawi had brought reinforcements. Of course he had. Tawi was so meticulous. He wouldn’t have left anything to chance, especially not the retrieval of his most valuable asset.
“We won’t let you take him,” Gram said, even as these words sounded clearly ridiculous in the face of two dozen more men with guns, flooding the unkempt backyard with light from their flashlights, making clear targets out of everybody.
“Do you think they won’t shoot you?” Tawi asked, amused.
“You’re going to kill us anyway, aren’t you?” Namo’s voice was tight, and tears streamed down her cheeks. “The same way you killed Sean’s dad. How many people do you think you can get away with killing before people start to suspect?”
“I guess we’ll find out,” Tawi said.
“No,” Black said, and tried to sit up. His ears were ringing. “No. I won’t - won’t let - ”
The strength flooded from his arms and he sagged backwards into Namo’s grip.
“Don’t worry, Eleven,” Tawi said, with a smile that would have looked kind to anyone who didn’t know him. “You’ve worked hard today. Once we get you back to the lab, you can rest.”
“No,” Black managed. “No.”
The flashlights started to flicker.
There was a thump - and then a snarl.
Tawi looked up.
“Oh, no,” Eugene whispered. “The blood.”
Black looked at the bodies strewn around the yard, and the puddles of blood that had come from their ears and eyes.
“Let’s get him inside,” Gram said, as if completely forgetting about the men surrounding them with guns.
The demogorgon came bursting out of the woods, taking two men and tossing them aside like ragdolls. Black covered his ears as gunfire rang out, as the men emptied their pistols into a monster that didn’t even seem to notice. He saw Tawi backing up, his face drained of all color, screaming as the demogorgon took him to the ground. Even despite everything going on, Black felt a visceral sort of satisfaction in that.
Namo and Gram each grabbed one of his arms and dragged him towards the house while Eugene darted ahead to open the door, and he tried to get his feet underneath himself but couldn’t. Before they could reach it, the demogorgon jumped over them and landed between them and the door, blocking their way. All of them stumbled backwards, and Eugene screamed.
The gunfire had stopped. There was nobody left except them. Black was sitting on the ground with three teenagers he had said he would protect, exhausted and frightened - but free. He saw Tawi’s body not far away, the blood that had soaked his white lab coat, the blank eyes of a dead man. There was nothing he could do to Black anymore.
Black closed his eyes as the demogorgon approached. He thought about that night in the sensory deprivation tank, about the huge, black, empty space. About touching the demogorgon, connecting with it, and opening a door between their two worlds. At the time, he had been frightened, and that emotion had powered the gate. He wasn’t frightened anymore. He felt stronger than he had ever been.
“White,” he said softly, and immediately found his brother on the other side. He opened the door just as the demogorgon charged.
~ ~ ~ ~
As they walked, White stirred weakly against Gumpa’s back and murmured, “Black.”
“What is it, White?” Sean asked anxiously. “Are you okay? Do you want something to drink?”
He didn’t wait for a response before holding the bottle to White’s mouth and helping him take a sip. White managed to clear his throat and said, “Black. Need . . . need help.”
“We’re going to get you to help, okay?” Gumpa said, squeezing his wrist.
“Nn,” White said. “Black needs help. Please . . .”
Gumpa and Sean exchanged a look, both of them thinking about the many things that could be going wrong on the other side of the barrier. Sean said, “We’ll get to him as quickly as we can, but it might be a while before we can get out of here.”
White lifted a trembling hand and pointed. “That way. Gate. Black.”
Gumpa looked at Sean. Sean shrugged. “Okay, then,” Gumpa said, and took off at as fast a jog as he could go without worrying that White would fall off his back.
A bare minute later, White’s hand flopped back down to Gumpa’s chest, and Gumpa thought he had passed out again. He slowed, and Sean quickly outpaced him. Gumpa called after him, “Sean, wait - ”
“We’re going to my old house!” Sean shouted. “I know the way!”
Of course he would, Gumpa realized. That was where Black was, and this was the path between Sean’s old house and the treehouse his father had built for him. He could probably walk it in his sleep, regardless of what dimension they were in. He picked up the pace again, running after Sean.
Gumpa saw the old house loom into view in front of them, rotted, decaying. But in front of that, he saw something else. A pulsing, dripping mouth that led from one universe to the other.
In the lab, he’d had to steel his nerves and force himself to push through. Now he simply grabbed Sean’s hand so they couldn’t be separated and ran straight into it. They came out onto the other side in a shower of slime, and he was almost immediately knocked off his feet by the arm of the demogorgon.
“Hia!” Gram shouted, as Gumpa tried to take stock of the situation. Both he and Sean had been knocked down, and White had fallen from his back to land in a heap. Gram was standing in front of Namo and Eugene, who were on the ground, clearly trying to shield them. A few feet away from him was Black, who was standing with one hand outstretched, blood trickling from his nose and his ears. Between Black and the gate he had opened was the demogorgon. It was snarling and struggling, but slowly advancing on him.
Gumpa realized they had come out through the gate that Black was trying to push the demogorgon through, and thought that they were lucky it hadn’t killed them both. Black was clearly trying to immobilize it, but he wasn’t strong enough after everything else that had happened. Gumpa looked around for a weapon, any weapon, as if Gram wouldn’t have already grabbed it if there were one available.
“Black!” White cried out. He pushed himself up to his knees and flung himself forward, onto his brother. His arms locked around Black’s waist and he hugged him from behind, nearly knocking him over.
Black drew in a quick breath. He thrust his other hand out. The demogorgon was flung back against the gate. It screamed, and everyone had to cover their ears except the twins, who didn’t seem to notice. The gate wasn’t big enough for it to go through. Both of Black’s hands clenched into fists, and he suddenly jerked his arms wide.
The demogorgon was torn down the center, both halves flying to each side of the gate. Blood, or more of a rusty brown ichor, went everywhere, and they all scrambled backwards.
The gate pulsed several more times. Then Black slowly brought his hands back together, closing his eyes. The edges of the gate began to mend, and a few moments later, it was like it had never been there.
“Holy shit,” Sean said.
Abruptly, Black collapsed. Gram and Sean both cried out in alarm as he went down like a marionette whose strings had been cut. White landed half on top of him, and Gumpa hurried over. He was about to say something, but then he saw the look on White’s face as he stared down at his brother. Almost blank, jaw ajar, stunned.
Then he smiled, a smile full of relief and love and joy, the most beautiful smile Gumpa had ever seen. “Phi,” he murmured, and gently touched Black’s cheek. “I found you.”
He slumped down on top of Black, and his eyes closed, but that smile stayed on his face. Gumpa checked both of their pulses and found them reassuringly steady.
“Holy. Shit,” Sean said again, looking around at all the bodies. “What the fuck happened?”
“Uh, well,” Namo said, “a bunch of guys showed up, and Black killed them all. Then a bunch more guys showed up, and then the demogorgon showed up, and it killed them, and then Black killed it. That about sums it up.”
“Got it,” Sean said, then looked at Gumpa. “We need to get White to a doctor.”
“Yeah.” Gumpa managed to get his legs underneath himself. “Okay. You take White, I’ll take Black. Gram, is that car still here?” he asked, and Gram nodded and tossed him the keys. Before he could say anything else, there was a squeal of tires and a motorcycle pulled up.
Yok practically threw himself off his bike, running over to them. “Are you guys okay? Holy shit, that is a lot of bodies - White! You found White!”
Sean nodded and smiled for the first time in four days. “Yeah, and it looks like Tawi won’t be giving us any trouble, either.”
Dan walked over, looking at the bodies. “I feel like I should call somebody about this and I really don’t even know where to start.”
“Figure it out,” Gumpa said, hauling Black to his feet and then scooping him up. Black didn’t twitch or protest this rough handling. “Kids, you might as well go home, or at least go back to the garage. I know you’re all tired, so get some rest. I’ll call you once the doctor has seen to White. Dan, make sure they all get home safe.”
Dan nodded. Sean waved to the others before leaning over and carefully lifting White, carrying him against his chest like he was a small child. “Shorty,” he murmured, his tone full of affection, and Gumpa couldn’t help but laugh.
Ten minutes later, they were at the medical clinic, and he was talking to a very confused doctor. “Didn’t they find White’s body?”
Gumpa played stupid. “I don’t know. They didn’t let us in to see it, so I didn’t identify it as White. All I know is that we kept looking and found him in the forest and he’s in pretty rough shape. Oh, don’t worry about Black,” he added, gesturing to where he had plunked Black into a chair in the waiting room, and he was still unconscious. “He’s been looking for his brother for days and he’s just exhausted.”
“I didn’t know White had a twin brother,” the doctor said.
“Yeah, neither did we until White went missing and Black showed up to help find him,” Gumpa said, and saw that the doctor was still looking extremely skeptical. “Listen, doc, I don’t know what the staties were doing. But even if this isn’t White, it’s still a teenager who’s badly dehydrated and needs medical care, okay?”
After a moment, the doctor nodded. “Follow me,” he said.
“Sean, stay with Black,” Gumpa said, and Sean protested but then sullenly agreed. He knew that White was in the best hands around. Gumpa followed the doctor and they laid White down on the bed in one of the few rooms they kept for overnight patients. The doctor called over to a nurse, and Gumpa stood back out of the way while they worked.
About half an hour passed before White was in a hospital gown, under a heated blanket with an IV in. “Okay, he is pretty severely dehydrated, like you thought,” the doctor said. “We have to rehydrate him slowly to avoid complications. He’s pretty hypothermic, too, which isn’t surprising. He’s got some scrapes and bruises but no serious injuries. He’s really lucky; I don’t think he would have lasted another twelve hours.”
Gumpa nodded and said, “How long will you need to keep him?”
“Definitely through the night. We’ll see how his bloodwork looks in the morning and decide from there.”
“Okay. Can we - ”
The door to the room opened and Sean came in, barely holding onto Black’s wrist as Black pushed him aside and tried to charge into the room. “Sorry, he woke up and freaked out when he didn’t see White. Is it - ”
Sean was clearly about to ask if it was okay if Black came in, but Black managed to pull free of him and dart over to White’s bed. He examined his brother and let out a breath of relief, then climbed onto the bed with him.
“Ah, you can’t - ” the doctor said, and then saw the way White had turned towards his brother’s presence, even in his sleep. He sighed and said, “Just be careful of the IV, okay? Don’t dislodge it or let the line kink.”
“We’ll be careful,” Gumpa said.
“I’ll come check on him in a little while,” the doctor said, and left the room before things could get weirder.
Sean was helping Black get situated, pulling aside the heated blanket so he could get underneath it. He carefully moved White’s arm so the IV wasn’t in danger, as Black curled up and pressed his face into the crook of White’s neck. Gumpa smiled despite himself and said, “Sean, why don’t you get some sleep? I think I got about six hours last night so I’m in better shape than you.”
It was a sure sign of Sean’s exhaustion that he didn’t argue. He just walked over to the corner of the room where there was room to stretch out, laid down on the floor, and immediately passed out. Gumpa took off his jacket and draped it over him before turning back to the twins. Black’s eyes were still open, watching him. He got the blanket tucked around Black’s shoulders and gently smoothed down his hair. “Don’t worry about anything, Black. Sean and I will stay in here and one of us will be awake to keep you safe.”
After a moment, Black nodded and whispered, “Thank you, hia.”
Gumpa smiled and said, “Get some rest.”
~ ~ ~ ~
Chapter 12
Notes:
How many heartwarming conversations can I pack into one chapter? Let's find out!
Chapter Text
“You are not putting a dead body in the trunk of my car,” Todd said.
“For fuck’s sake, Todd,” Yok said. “It’s not your car. We went to Dan’s and got his car. Will you chill out, please?”
Todd flipped him off. Dan shook his head, exhausted from the drama of it all. He was glad he wasn’t sixteen anymore. Todd had whined and bitched enough when they had left him at the house to keep watch over the man Yok had hit with the baseball bat. He had still been unconscious, and they had handcuffed him to the pool ladder so he couldn’t go anywhere. Dan had thought it was prudent not to leave him by himself.
He was conscious now, and gave them both a glower as they examined the situation. “Let’s get the dead guy in the trunk,” Yok said, in a tone that Dan felt was far too blase about things.
“I’m not touching a dead guy,” Todd said.
“Just get his feet, you asshole.”
The three of them managed to get the man’s body into the trunk of Dan’s car. Dan uncuffed the other man and shoved him over to the car, putting him in the back and cuffing him to the seatbelt. “Okay, let’s get moving.”
Todd looked at Yok and said, “You guys better all be here tomorrow to help me clean this mess up before my parents get back.”
“I’ll think about it,” Yok said, getting in the front passenger seat. Dan shook his head slightly and got in the driver’s seat. Even though it was barely late afternoon, he was ready to go to bed and sleep for a week. He had taken the other kids home before heading back to Todd’s, and this was the last thing he had to do before taking Yok home.
He left Yok watching the man cuffed to the seatbelt in the back while he got the body out of the trunk and dragged it over to the rest of the bodies. Whoever investigated was sure to notice that he had been shot, not mauled or – whatever Black had done – but there was nothing Dan could do about that now. Then he went back to the car, uncuffed the remaining man, and shoved him into the backyard.
“What the fuck,” the man said, once he saw what was there.
Dan uncuffed him. “I guess this is a natural consequence of unleashing a monster from another dimension on the world. Something about scientific hubris? You’re just lucky that Black managed to kill it before it could hurt anyone else. There’s your boss,” he added, pointing to Techit’s body. “There’s his boss.” He pointed to Tawi. “And there’s the body of the thing that killed them. Now I suggest you get on the phone with whoever in the military or the government is responsible for your little science project and tell them they’ve got some cleanup to do. And while you’re at it, tell them they owe us a thank you for doing their damn job for them. Understood?”
The man was pale, staring around at the bodies. “I don’t . . .”
“This wasn’t a suggestion,” Dan said. “I’m leaving now. Whatever you do after this is up to you. If you don’t call your superiors, you’d better run. Because if they find out you survived this but didn’t inform them before a bunch of civilians could find out about it, I think they’ll be pretty pissed.”
After a moment, the man nodded. Dan gestured to Yok, and the two of them got back in the car.
“That was hot,” Yok said.
Dan sighed. “Yok . . .”
“Yeah, yeah.” Yok yawned and leaned back in the seat. “Take me home.”
Dan started down the road.
“Hey,” Yok said, “thanks for before. Saving my life and all.”
“You’re welcome,” Dan said.
Yok stared out the window. “But it wasn’t because it was me, huh? You would’ve done that for anybody. If they’d been drowning Todd in the pool, you would’ve done the same thing.”
“That’s my job, Yok,” Dan said. “To protect the people in this town. I take it seriously.”
“I know you do. Otherwise you wouldn’t have been involved in any of this.” Yok still didn’t look at him. “I guess maybe I thought I was special to you, but that’s stupid, huh? It’s not like you haven’t been ultra clear from the beginning. I’m a kid and you’re an adult and nothing’s going to happen.”
Dan said nothing.
“Well. Thanks for putting up with my silly teenaged crush,” Yok said. “Up here on the left. The last house.”
Dan pulled over and said, “Tell White I hope he feels better soon.”
“Yeah. I will.”
~ ~ ~ ~
Sean woke with a start as Gumpa gently touched his shoulder. “Oh, hia,” he mumbled. “What time is it?”
“Around eight PM. I need to stretch my legs, and I thought I’d walk a couple blocks and get us something to eat.”
“Okay. Lemme just splash some cold water on my face.”
Sean got up and found the clinic’s bathroom. He used the facilities and washed his face, wondering how long he had been asleep. He had completely lost track of time over the course of the extremely long, busy day. When he got back to the room, he asked Gumpa, who said, “I let you sleep for four hours. You can sleep more after we eat, if you want.”
“No, I feel better now. Starved, though. Don’t take too long.”
Gumpa smiled and tousled his hair, and Sean swatted his hand away. He sank down into the chair Gumpa had been in and pulled out his phone. Earlier that day, when they had split up from Todd’s, Gumpa had opened a group text with everyone. Sean saw that everyone in it had checked in upon arriving at home, with a couple comments about how they were eating everything in sight before going to sleep. Gumpa had also put in the text that White was okay other than being dehydrated and hypothermic, and was going to be at the clinic overnight. The last thing he had said was ‘I’ll text you all when he’s awake so you can come say hi.’
Sean put his phone away and looked over at the bed. Both of the twins were still sound asleep, White on his back and Black curled up next to him.
Gumpa returned with food, and they both ate hungrily before Gumpa kicked off his shoes and lay down in the corner where Sean had been sleeping, using his jacket as a pillow. Sean continued eating.
A few minutes later, White stirred, and Sean dropped everything and dragged his chair over to the side of the bed. “White?” he asked, gently touching his hand. “White, are you awake?”
White’s eyes fluttered open. He saw Sean and gave a sleepy smile. “Hey.”
Sean’s heart pounded in his chest, and he could only manage to reply, “Hey.”
“Where . . .” White looked around.
Sean was going to answer him, but then White’s gaze landed on Black. He frowned slightly, as most of what he could see was the top of Black’s head. He shifted slightly, half-shoving Black off of him. Black made a sleepy, disgruntled noise, rolling onto his back. White saw his face, his profile, and took in a quick breath.
“Black . . .?” he whispered.
Black’s eyes opened. He was scowling, as usual. But when he saw White, the scowl vanished. “White.”
“Are . . .” White’s voice trembled. “Are you real?”
Black reached out and rubbed a hand over White’s hair. “Real. Yes.”
“And . . . and everything I saw?” White could barely squeeze the words out. “In my dreams, when I had seizures . . . that was you? That was really you?”
Black nodded. “All real.”
“They hurt you . . .”
Tears started down White’s cheeks. Black reached out and thumbed them away. “They’re gone now.”
“Black,” White choked out, and pulled Black into an embrace. Black hugged him back just as hard, clutching at him while White buried his face in Black’s shoulder. “You’re real. I found you. I finally found you.”
Sean decided to fade into the background for a while. As much as he loved White and wanted to kiss him breathless, there was no place for him in this moment. He couldn’t begrudge them that after having been separated for so long. He quietly moved the chair backwards to give them some space. For a long time, they just held onto each other.
“I don’t understand,” White finally said, not letting go. “Why did they . . .”
He couldn’t seem to finish the sentence, but Black knew what he meant. “You were good. I was bad.”
“No!” White pulled away so they could see each other. “No, Black, you weren’t bad. You were never bad.”
Black said nothing.
“They told me . . . one day I woke up and you were just gone. I asked where you were and they laughed. Asked if my imaginary brother wasn’t around anymore. I didn’t believe them.” White impatiently wiped tears off his face. “I never believed them. Then I started having seizures. I tried to tell them that someone was hurting you. That we had to find you. They told me to stop talking about you, that you had never been real and I was too old for this now. They took me to a doctor and told me I was crazy. But I never stopped believing. I’m so sorry I couldn’t find you sooner. You went through so much.”
Black reached out and squeezed his shoulder. “You were just a little kid.”
“I know. I know.”
Black pulled him back into an embrace. “You went through a lot, too. I couldn’t open the gate. I thought they would find me. If I had just done that, we could’ve gotten you back right away.”
White managed a wan smile. “It’s okay. I wouldn’t have wanted to risk going back to the lab, either. I’m glad you found the others. I know they must have taken good care of you, because they took good care of me.”
Black nodded and said, “Yeah.”
The door opened and the nurse came in. “Oh, White, you’re awake,” she said, smiling. “I’ll get the doctor.”
“Thank you,” White said, then looked around. He saw Sean and smiled. “Sorry, Sean . . . I didn’t mean to ignore you.”
“It’s fine,” Sean said. “You two haven’t seen each other in a long time. I get it.”
White’s gaze landed on Gumpa, who had slept through all of this. “Is Gumpa okay?”
“Yeah. Just tired. None of us slept much since you disappeared. All the others are home now. They can come see you tomorrow.”
“I guess I missed a lot, huh,” White said.
“Yeah.” Sean was about to say something else when the doctor came in. He checked all the monitors and had the nurse draw some blood so they could check White’s electrolytes. He also took a quick look at White’s hands and feet, saying he’d had some mild frostbite. Black refused to leave the bed while all of this was going on, which Sean had to admit he found pretty funny.
Once the doctor was gone, Sean started telling White what had happened. He looked interested for all of thirty seconds, but then his eyelids began to sag. He fell back to sleep before Sean had even gotten to finding Black in the woods. Black was asleep, too, his cheek resting on White’s shoulder. Sean reached out and twined his fingers through White’s, careful of the IV, and settled in to wait.
Both twins slept the night through. Sean and Gumpa took four-hour shifts watching over them, and the doctor checked in periodically and assured them that White seemed to be recuperating well.
When the sun came up, the group text came alive with everyone wanting to check in. Before long, Yok and Namo were there with breakfast, and Gram and Eugene arrived ten minutes later, Todd a few minutes after that. Sean ate outside with them while Gumpa stayed with the sleeping twins.
About half an hour later, Gumpa texted them to say White was awake, but the doctor was seeing him. He was having a little something to eat but they should be able to come in soon. Another fifteen minutes after that, they were allowed inside and crowded into the room. White smiled and thanked everyone for looking for him. Even Todd said it was no big deal.
“When are you getting out of here?” Yok asked.
“Hopefully tonight, but maybe not until tomorrow,” White said. “I ate some breakfast but then threw up, and they said I wouldn’t be able to go home until I could keep food down. If I’m okay after I eat later, they’ll discharge me.”
“Dehydration is a bitch,” Gram said, nodding. “I’m surprised you aren't even sicker.”
“There was water over there,” White said, “so I did drink a little. But I tried not to drink much because it tasted weird.”
“If you drank water over there, I’m even more surprised you aren’t super sick,” Namo said. “I was over there for about two minutes and it looked like even the air was toxic.”
“Yeah,” White said, looking away.
“Hey, quit talking about it,” Sean said loudly, seeing that he wasn’t enjoying the conversation. “Come on.”
Gumpa shook his head, smiling fondly. “Do you guys have any plans for today? Shouldn’t you all be in school?”
“We couldn’t go to school while White was missing!” Yok protested.
“I know,” Gumpa said, amused. “I didn’t say anything about it while White was missing. But now White’s not missing, so shouldn’t you all be in school?”
“They have to come help me clean up my house,” Todd said. “Those government goons tossed it from top to bottom and my parents are going to be home tomorrow. You guys just had to use my place as party central so I expect compensation.”
The others continued to bicker while White listened and smiled quietly. Black woke up briefly, scowled, muttered something rude about them waking him, and fell back to sleep. After a while, White’s eyes were closed and his breathing steady. Gumpa shooed the group out of the room, telling them that yes, they should really go to Todd’s and help him clean up, and he would be disappointed in them if they didn’t. They moaned and agreed.
“I’ll go help out for a while, too,” Gumpa said. “Sean, you’ll stay here with the twins?”
“Obviously,” Sean said.
The group waved and trooped out. Sean sighed and slumped back in his chair, closing his eyes. A few minutes ticked by in silence.
“Hey, Sean?” White said softly, and Sean looked over, surprised, having thought he was asleep. “Can I tell you something?”
“You can tell me anything,” Sean said. “The more you tell me, the better.”
A faint smile touched White’s face. “There’s not a lot to tell about the last few days beyond that . . . they were really horrible. I was either running or hiding most of the time, and really afraid that I was going to die. And I kept thinking . . . I had to live. I had to get back, to find Black. I lived for that goal for over a decade, and . . .”
Sean reached out and squeezed White’s hand as his voice trailed off.
“But sometimes, you know, that wasn’t as motivating as it should have been, because I still didn’t know if Black was real. I didn’t know if any of what I was seeing was real. Or if I was finally going more crazy than I already thought I was. I thought sometimes, maybe this was my brain telling me to let go of this delusion that I’d had a brother. That if I could give up, I would get free. I know it doesn’t make a lot of sense.”
“Well, you were caught in a nightmare shadow realm, running from a monster with no face, so I don’t think I’d expect you to make a lot of sense,” Sean said.
White smiled again, this time a genuine smile, though it faded quickly. “And sometimes I really just wanted to die, especially towards the end. Because I’m so sick of feeling crazy, of being sick, of not knowing if I could trust myself. I was so tired, Sean. I don’t know if you can really understand what that’s like.”
“I can’t,” Sean said, shaking his head. “I know I can’t.”
“So I thought about you,” White said. “Every time I wanted to die, I thought about you. I just kept thinking about how upset you would be if I disappeared, how I didn’t want to leave you. How the thought of never seeing you again was one of the worst things I could think of. All those days, even when I was exhausted and hungry and scared . . . I kept thinking about getting back to you. That was what kept me alive.”
Sean managed, with effort, to swallow the lump in his throat. “Hey, are you okay to sit up?”
“What? I think so . . .”
“Good, because I need to hug you, like, right now,” Sean said, and White laughed quietly. He let Sean pull him into a sitting position, and then into an embrace. Sean wrapped his arms around White and hugged him as tightly as he could. White did the same, squeezing Sean around the waist, resting his face against Sean’s shoulder. “I was so scared that we wouldn’t find you, but I never would have stopped looking. I love you so much.”
White squeezed harder for a few moments. “I love you too.”
Sean pulled back far enough to lean in for a kiss without even thinking. He brushed his lips against White’s, and felt White tremble slightly. He pulled away to ask White if he was okay, but White pursued his lips, and they kissed again. They traded kisses back and forth for several long moments, and Sean made sure to be gentle, to be soft. White pulled away and leaned back into his embrace, resting his face in the crook of Sean’s neck. Sean held him, running his fingers through White’s hair. “Are you still tired?” he asked quietly.
“Mm hm,” White said.
“Okay.” Sean helped him lie back down. Black immediately shifted, though he didn’t wake, nestling closer to his brother. “Just get some rest. I’m not going anywhere.”
“Mmkay. Thanks. Hey, Sean?”
“Yeah?”
“My feet are dry.”
Sean laughed. “That’s great, White.”
White smiled at him and then closed his eyes.
A few hours passed. It was early afternoon when White woke up again, and the nurse brought him something to eat. He took a few bites and became extremely nauseous, and she told him not to push himself harder. White didn’t argue, even as it looked like he might have. Black woke while all this was going on, ate everything they brought to him, and then the remainder of White’s food as well.
“It must take a lot of energy to use your powers, huh,” Sean said thoughtfully. “Ever since you got here, you’ve eaten twice as much as White ever did.”
Black shrugged as if he had no idea how much he ate compared to others, which Sean supposed was fair. “I eat when I’m hungry.”
White lay back down, leaning against the bed, which was partially inclined. “I was hungry before I tried to eat and now I just feel sick. This sucks.”
“You’ll feel better soon,” Sean said. “Just get some rest.”
White made a disgruntled noise, which Sean found adorable, and then rolled onto his side. Black stayed sitting up, even though he was finished eating, and stared at nothing for several long minutes. Sean was thinking about asking if he was okay when Black said abruptly, “I saw your dad. The day he died.”
Sean’s head whipped up. He was about to demand answers, but then saw the look on Black’s face, the way his jaw trembled. He took a deep breath and said, as calmly as possible, “Tell me.”
After a moment, Black said, “I was angry with Tawi. I don’t remember why. Hate that. It was just a bad day. One of so many. So I tried to escape. Which I did a lot. But that time . . . was trying to get into a vent in the supply closet. And he came in. With the delivery. He saw me, and asked if I was okay, why I was there. I asked him to help me.”
Black fell silent. Sean felt tears stinging at his eyes and had to take another deep breath.
“He put me in a box. Told me he’d get me out. But they caught him.” Black folded both arms over his stomach, staring at his feet. “They made me watch them kill him. So I wouldn’t try to escape again. Which I didn’t, until White came to Hawkins.”
“Fuck,” Sean choked out.
Black hunched even tighter. “I won’t blame you if you hate me.”
“Hate you?” Sean was startled, and wiped his tears away. “Why would I hate you?”
“I shouldn’t have asked him to help me. Shouldn’t have even been there.”
“I mean, no, you shouldn’t have been there,” Sean said. “You should’ve been home, with your family, not sold off like some lab rat to a torture facility. I’m supposed to be pissed you didn’t want to stay and be tortured? I would’ve been trying to escape too.”
“Yeah. But . . .” Black’s fists clenched. “He didn’t know. That he’d be killed if we were caught. But I knew. I knew what would happen.”
Sean wiped away more tears. “Maybe that’s true. But . . . if he had known, he still would have helped you.”
“How do you know?”
Sean managed a smile. “Because he was my dad. He was my hero.”
Black looked at him, then away. Tears were trickling down his cheeks.
“So yeah, I know. And I know that wherever he is now, he must be really happy that you’re finally safe, that you’re not being hurt anymore.”
“I hope so,” Black murmured.
Sean had to get a tissue and blow his nose, and he cried for a little while longer, since Black didn’t seem to notice, and honestly Sean didn’t care. The relief of finally knowing what had happened was like a weight had rolled off his chest. He was still angry, and he knew that it would take time to really process it, but at least he finally knew.
“That was our fourteenth birthday,” White murmured.
“What?” Both Sean and Black looked at him in surprise.
White opened his eyes and looked at Sean. “I turned seventeen over the winter. But I didn’t say anything because you were in a really awful mood that day. I asked Gumpa if you were okay and he said it was the third anniversary of your dad’s death and just to let you be angry and not say anything. So that would have been our fourteenth birthday. I remember . . . I had a really terrible seizure that evening, and more over the next few days.” He looked over at Black, reaching out to squeeze his hand. “You shouldn’t blame yourself, phi. It wasn’t your fault. But even if it was . . . I think you’ve been punished enough.”
Black buried his face in White’s shoulder, and White hugged him hard. They held each other in silence for a long minute before White looked over at Sean. “Are you okay?”
Sean took a deep breath and said, “Yeah. I mean, I’m upset. But honestly . . . I always knew my dad had been killed because he saw something he shouldn’t have. So it’s not like it’s a huge surprise. And the people who killed him are dead now . . . they’re dead now, right?”
Black pulled away from White. “Techit. I killed him.”
“Okay. Good.” Sean leaned back in his chair. “I just need to think about what to do. Because there are so many people around here that I need to smack upside the head with this information, but I’m pretty sure we’re not going to want to tell everyone the details of the lab, and . . . I feel like I should tell my mother, but maybe she doesn’t deserve to know after she believed their bullshit.”
“It’s a lot to take in.” White reached out and snagged Sean’s hand to give it a squeeze. “We’ll talk about it and figure it out together.”
“Mm hm.” Sean kissed his palm, and saw Black rolling his eyes. “What’s your problem?”
Black looked at White, frowning slightly. “You like him?”
White smiled and nodded, then said, “I love him.”
Black made a disgusted noise. “Fine.”
“Hey, asshole - ” Sean started, before the door opened and Gumpa came in. “Hia, how’s it going?”
“Could be worse,” Gumpa said. “Todd’s place really is a mess, but they were making good progress when we left. I think it’ll be okay by the time his parents get back tomorrow.”
“I can’t believe you actually made them help,” Sean said.
Gumpa was clearly amused. “You don’t have to like Todd, but he really did help us out, you know. And Yok said that Todd kind of saved his and Dan’s asses last night.”
“Whatever,” Sean muttered.
White reached out and flicked Sean’s nose. “Don’t be like that. Todd’s nice.”
Sean opened his mouth to say for the hundredth time that Todd wasn’t nice, but Black beat him to the punch. “No, he isn’t.”
White frowned at his brother. “He’s always been nice to me.”
Black returned the frown with interest, then gave a snort and said, “Stupid.”
“Hey!” White protested, while Sean laughed and wondered if he should be worried about the fact that he and Black finally agreed on something.
“Todd acts nice,” Black said, “because he wants things. That’s not being nice. It’s pretending.”
“You can’t pretend to be nice to someone,” White said, exasperated. “You’re either nice or you’re not. Maybe he’s nice for his own reasons but he’s still nice.”
Black seemed to think about this for a few seconds, then shrugged.
White sighed. “Look at it this way, Sean - I don’t think I’ll be going to any parties without you for a while.”
Sean cringed, suddenly remembering what had happened right before White disappeared. “Fuck, I’m sorry. I never should have left you there that night.”
“I told you to leave me there!” White flicked Sean’s nose again. “Don’t be like that. None of this was your fault. If it had been any other night in the year, I would’ve just gone into Todd’s and slept on his sofa. Nobody could have foreseen that a dimensional portal would open and a monster would come out. Don’t be silly.”
“I mean, I guess, but . . .”
“Shut up,” Black told him, and muttered, “Stupid.”
“I’m gonna kick your ass, Black - ”
“Settle down, settle down,” Gumpa said, laughing. “I’m glad you’re feeling better, Black, but don’t taunt Sean. And Sean, it took Black about twelve hours to figure out how to push your buttons so I feel like you’d better work on your temper long-term, since he’s not going anywhere.”
Sean groaned, but Black’s gaze flickered to Gumpa uncertainly. White smiled and gripped Black’s wrist. “You don’t have to worry about anything, Black. Gumpa looks out for a lot of kids around here. It’s nothing new for him. He gave me a place to go and didn’t ask me any questions. We’ll be safe here.”
Black nodded and tucked his head into the crook of White’s shoulder. White reached around and squeezed the back of his neck.
“Since you’re awake, I can tell you the whole story now,” Sean said, before things could get more emotional. He knew he couldn’t really imagine how either of the twins felt right now, but he figured White still had a lot of questions. He managed to tell the story up to the point where they had left the garage when White fell asleep again. Black had seemingly been asleep for a while, if the way he hadn’t responded to Sean’s mild trash-talking was any indication.
Sean yawned and slumped down in his chair, letting his eyes close. He was looking forward to getting back to his own bed and actually getting a good night of sleep. Although he had been exhausted enough to sleep on the clinic floor, he was still tired.
He jolted out of the doze he had drifted into when he heard the door open, then Gumpa standing up, and a woman’s voice that said, “White! I can’t believe - ”
There was a sudden crackle of electricity in the room and then Black shouted, “Get out!”
Sean saw a man and a woman, middle-aged, standing just inside the room. Black had sat up, but White hadn’t. His eyes were open, and he was looking at his brother, not at his parents.
“You can’t - ” the woman began.
Gumpa hastily intervened, because Black had put one hand out but then his face creased in frustration. Calmly, Gumpa said, “Black, you worked very hard yesterday, and you’re tired. Don’t waste your energy on them. I’ll handle it.”
Black slumped backwards, curling back up with White. Sean looked between Gumpa and White’s parents and decided he wasn’t getting involved in this.
“I assume you’re here to try to take White home,” Gumpa said, still calm. White went tense but said nothing. “And I want you to think, really think, about what your options are here. Because you could do that. But White has met his brother now. He knows Black is real and you’ll never convince him otherwise. He isn’t going to just meekly let you drag him back to California and try to make him into your perfect son. He’ll try to get away from you every moment of every day. And that’s not even going into the fact that none of us would be inclined to let you take him, including Black, who you sold to a mad scientist who gave him superpowers. How do you think that’s going to work out for you?”
“How dare you talk to me like - ”
Gumpa cut her off. “You should also think about the fact that right now, nobody knows what you did, but it doesn’t have to be that way. If you try to take White, I’ll make sure that every media outlet in the entirety of America knows exactly what you did to both your sons.”
White’s mother folded her arms over her chest and scoffed. “They’d never believe you.”
“Well, no, that’s probably true,” Gumpa said. “But I don’t think I need to go into the details of the lab and the superpowers to just tell them that you sold your son to human traffickers who did horrible things to him. I can let their imagination fill in the gaps.”
“You don’t understand!” White’s father protested. “We did what we had to do. Black was just such a difficult child - ”
Black curled tighter, pressing his face into White’s shoulder.
“ - and he was always getting White into trouble! We had to do this to give White a good future without Black dragging him down! We only wanted what was best for White!”
Sean could see that Gumpa was working up to a whole speech on exactly why you couldn’t judge a person when they were only three years old, and if they had been afraid of having a ‘difficult’ toddler, they shouldn’t have had kids in the first place. But before he could say anything, White said, “No, you didn’t.”
“White - ”
White stared at them. “You never wanted what was best for me. You never cared about me at all. You only cared about yourselves.”
“White, you don’t - ”
White drew in a ragged breath. “I was in pain every day. I was hurt and confused and frightened. And you could have fixed that, you could have helped, but you didn’t. I’m supposed to believe you wanted what was best for me? All you ever cared about was looking good to your cronies, to putting on a show for everybody.”
“That’s enough!” his mother snapped. “You can’t speak to us like that.”
“I’ll speak to you any way I damn well please, and you can’t stop me,” White said. “Gumpa’s wrong about one thing. If you try to take me back home with you, I won’t try to get away. I’ll kill you. Do you understand?” He stared them down. “If I was strong enough to get out of bed, I’d kill you both right now, for what you did to my brother. And if I ever see you again, if you ever try to come near me or Black again for the rest of our lives, I’ll kill you. Is that clear?”
“White - ”
“Now get out,” White said.
He closed his eyes, pulling Black into an embrace. Black clung to him, burying his face in White’s shoulder.
“The door is to your left,” Gumpa said pleasantly, and managed to usher them both out while they were too stunned to protest. He closed it behind them, then leaned against it in case they decided to come back in.
“White,” Black managed, choking out a sob.
“It’s okay,” White said, hugging him tightly. “It’s okay, I’m here. No one is ever going to hurt you again. I won’t let anyone hurt you again.”
Gumpa gestured to Sean and then towards the door, clearly indicating that he thought the twins deserved a little privacy. Sean nodded and followed him out, looking around for White’s parents as Gumpa closed the door behind them. He didn’t see them, so turned to Gumpa and asked, “How did they know? I thought they believed the story the state police told them.”
“Yeah, I think they did. But by now the government will be involved in the cleanup. I mean, we left two dozen dead bodies in your old backyard. They wouldn’t want civilians stumbling upon that and asking questions. Dan texted me a little while ago to say that they had come to the station and asked him some questions.”
“What did he tell them?” Sean asked suspiciously.
“He told them the truth, and I would have, too,” Gumpa said, and saw Sean’s face. “Sean, this is more trouble than we can buy. My guess is that these people had no idea what Tawi was doing, and they won’t push too hard because they won’t want it coming to light. They’d rather cover everything up than pursue it.”
“Like they covered up my dad’s death?” Sean asked.
“Yes. And you and I can talk about that later. My point is just that, since White’s parents had close ties to the government, someone probably called and told them White had been found alive.”
Sean thought about this for a few moments. “I’m not really worried about White’s parents, but what about the people in the government? If they know even half of what Black’s capable of, they’re not going to let him go.”
“That’s true. But I think most of those people will be familiar with the concept of risk versus reward.”
That made Sean laugh. “You think so?”
“I do. I think they’ll realize that trying to force Black to do anything isn’t worth it. They might try to recruit him, and their tactics might get pretty dirty. I’m not saying it’s all going to be sunshine and flowers. Just that I think we can handle it, as long as we stick together. Okay?” Gumpa asked, and Sean nodded. “About your dad . . .”
“Black told me,” Sean said, and Gumpa was clearly relieved. “I guess he talked to you about it earlier? But I’m not angry with him. I know it wasn’t his fault.”
“Good,” Gumpa said, squeezing his shoulder. “I’m going to see if I can find the doctor. Let’s get the twins home.”
~ ~ ~ ~
// “Hey, look at what came in today,” Gumpa said, checking a box. White was sitting behind his desk, clicking away at the computer. In the week that he had been there, he had re-organized all of Gumpa’s finances, creating spreadsheets for him. Gumpa wasn’t particularly worried about his finances - the garage had been just barely afloat for years - but he knew that it helped White to have something to do during the day while Sean was at school. “One catalytic converter.”
“Oh?” White looked up, his face closed off, unreadable.
“Yup. Should be able to get it in and have you back on the road by tomorrow morning.”
“Oh,” White said again, then added, “Okay.”
It was a lackluster response to be sure, but Gumpa didn’t worry about it. He would let White have his thoughts while he did the actual repair. They had chatted some during the week since his arrival about how Gumpa had taken Sean in after his father’s death and his mother’s subsequent move back to her hometown. Sean hadn’t wanted to leave Hawkins with only two years of high school left, so Gumpa looked after him. White had met Namo, who stayed with him when it was impossible for her to stay home due to her mother’s mental illness and drug use. He knew that Gram crashed there often, when he needed a break from all his younger siblings, and that Yok and his mother had once stayed an entire winter with him because their heat had gone out and they hadn’t had the money to fix it.
White knew he was welcome to stay. Gumpa had made that as clear to him as possible without coming out and actually saying that. But he would, if it looked like White was going to force himself to leave.
For the time being, Gumpa focused on the car. He replaced the converter and gave it a full tune-up, which wasn’t difficult since it had been taken care of.
By the time he was done, Sean was home from school. He came into the garage as Gumpa was lowering the car back to the ground. “It’s all fixed?” Sean asked, his face tight and unhappy.
Gumpa nodded, not calling Sean out on his expression. “Yeah, it’s good to go.”
Sean left the garage without another word.
About half an hour later, after he was finished moving the car out of the garage and cleaning up the workstation, Gumpa went inside. Sean was at the kitchen table, doing his homework, and White was cooking. Gumpa couldn’t help but smile at that. He had never been much of a cook - and to be fair, most of what White made was extremely basic - so it was nice to have someone else doing the work. He knew that White wanted to feel like he was contributing, so he didn’t say anything about it.
“Um, hia . . .” White said, as he put a pot of water on the stove. “Is the car finished?”
“Yeah,” Gumpa said. “It’s really in great shape. Should get you wherever you need to go.”
“Wherever that is,” Sean said loudly.
Gumpa was amused despite himself. Sean didn’t have the experience he did, letting kids have a safe place until they felt like they could trust him, and he certainly didn’t have the patience. Despite the fact that Sean and White had been hanging out a lot over the past week, he was still clearly annoyed that there was a lot White hadn’t told him.
But what he said didn’t seem to hurt. In fact, White looked over at both of them and admitted, “I don’t have anywhere to go.”
“I know,” Gumpa said gently. White didn’t say anything else, and Gumpa saw that he needed the extra prompting. “White, you can stay here as long as you want to.”
White’s posture was tight and uncertain, his arms folded over his stomach. “You’re . . . sure you don’t mind?”
Gumpa smiled. “I don’t mind, White.”
“Can I pay you rent?”
“No,” Gumpa said. “I don’t charge Sean rent so it wouldn’t be fair to charge you. But I won’t argue if you want to keep cooking and doing the garage’s books, since he’s in school and you’re not.”
White nodded, and a small smile touched his mouth. “Thank you, hia.”
“So you’re staying?” Sean burst out, clearly having been holding back during this delicate discussion. “Really?”
White nodded again, his smile widening slightly. “If that’s okay with you, Sean.”
“Hell yeah, we’re gonna get you a bike and a character sheet - ”
For the first time since he had arrived at the garage, White laughed. //
~ ~ ~ ~
Chapter 13
Notes:
That's pretty much it for season one, my friends. Unlike the show we won't be skipping directly ahead to the events of season two, there's some in-between stuff I want to cover. Also an unavoidable original character because Not Me doesn't really have anyone who can be Dr. Owens.
Thanks for reading, everyone!
Chapter Text
White walked into the garage and took a deep breath for what felt like the first time in years, maybe the first time in his life. Before this moment, he had never walked into a place and had it feel like home. Because of his father’s job, they had moved frequently when he was young, and each place had been beautiful and elegant and dripped wealth from every surface. The garage was old, and a little shabby, and at the moment less tidy than it usually was. He had never been so glad to see a place in his entire life.
“Welcome home, White,” Gumpa said, and White nearly started crying. Gumpa could clearly tell, because he hooked an arm around White’s shoulders and drew him into an embrace. Then he reached out and pulled Black into the hug as well. “Welcome home, Black.”
That did make White cry, and he clung to Gumpa and his brother for a long minute before he regained his composure. When he pulled free, he distracted himself by looking around at what a mess the place was. “That’s a lot of lightbulbs.”
“Yeah,” Sean said, frowning. “How did that even work? In the upside down?”
“I don’t know, really,” White admitted. “I just noticed that when I got close to lights, they started to glow. I didn’t realize they were glowing on this side, too, until I heard Gumpa say something.”
“So you could hear us over there?” Gumpa said. “We couldn’t hear you.”
“Yeah. Really faint, like you were coming from underwater. But I figured out pretty quickly that you couldn’t hear me. Thus the lights.”
“You’re so smart,” Sean said, with hearts in his eyes, and White flushed but smiled. Black looked between the two of them and rolled his eyes. “So when Black was using the radio to talk to you, did you hear me? At the end?”
“When you shouted for me to run?” White nodded. “Yeah, I heard you. You told me that no matter where I hid, you would find me. And you did.”
Sean smiled, and Black scoffed and muttered, “I found you.”
“Dick,” Sean said, and flipped him off.
“Get fucked,” Black told him.
White hid his laughter in his sleeve. “I’m glad you two are getting along so well. My two favorite people.”
Black scowled at Sean. Sean glowered back.
“Black, you’re gonna have to get used to him,” White said, still trying not to laugh. “Sometimes I might even want to be alone with him.”
“No,” Black said.
“Listen up, shorty - ” Sean began.
This caused Black to immediately square up. “Oh, you wanna go, Sean?”
“Both of you cut it out,” Gumpa said mildly, and they both subsided immediately, which made White start laughing again.
“Here, let me show you what I mean,” he said, and leaned up to kiss Sean. Sean seemed a little surprised, but recovered quickly. White had never been kissed before the previous day, in the hospital, so he didn’t really know what he was doing. But he knew that he really liked it, that feeling Sean’s mouth against his made butterflies course through his entire body, that he wanted to keep doing it forever. He twined a hand in Sean’s hair and halfway forgot about their audience as Sean kissed him breathless.
“Ugh,” Black said with feeling, and stomped away. “Hia, what’s to eat? I’m hungry.”
White began to snicker again, and Sean pulled away and hugged him, and they both laughed. “I’m so glad you’re home,” Sean said.
“Me too,” White said, and kissed him again.
~ ~ ~ ~
“Hey, Dan, your frequent flier is back,” the secretary said, before he could even sit down.
He blinked at her. “You’re kidding.”
“Nope. Downtown at the barbershop.”
Dan groaned and left the office. He couldn’t even really believe it until he saw it - it being Yok, spray painting graffiti on the wall of the shop. He parked on the side of the street and got out of the car. “Really, Yok?”
Yok grinned at him. “What’s wrong, officer? I’m just creating beautiful artwork for our town.”
“Didn’t we talk about this?” Dan asked with a sigh. “I thought you were going to cut this shit out.”
“Technically, I never said that,” Yok said. “I acknowledged that nothing was going to happen between us. But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to get arrested by you anymore. I’m just a stupid kid, remember? Immature and stuff.”
“Yok . . .”
“I talked to Gumpa about it.” Unperturbed, Yok hauled himself up to sit on the hood of Dan’s car, gaining himself a glare. “You know, I might have been a little upset. You know what he said?”
Dan sighed again. “What did Gumpa say?”
“That he’d had his eye on you as soon as I started this whole thing. He was worried about me. Said that if you’d encouraged me or responded in any way he was going to take you out behind the garage and kick the shit out of you.”
Despite himself, Dan smiled. “That sounds like Gumpa.”
“Yeah. I bitched and moaned about it. But I guess if Gumpa agrees on the whole thing, I have to take the L, you know? But that doesn’t mean that I’m going to change.”
“Okay,” Dan said, because he couldn’t tell Yok how happy that made him. “Fair enough. But from now on, I’m not coming out here to pick you up unless the business owner actually complains. If the other deputies think you shouldn’t be committing vandalism in broad daylight, that’s their business.”
Yok pouted. “Rude.”
Dan shook his head. “How’s White doing?”
“He’s good!” Yok perked up. “He still gets tired really easily, and sometimes he has trouble breathing? Gumpa was talking about driving him to the city to see a specialist if it doesn’t go away in a few weeks. But overall he’s a lot better. Not just physically, but mentally. He’s a lot happier now that he’s got his brother back and, you know, knows he isn’t insane.”
“And Black?”
“Power-sulking every time Sean goes near his brother. It’s hilarious.”
Dan smiled. “I’m glad they’re both doing well.”
Yok nodded. “Thanks for helping us find them, Dan.”
“Get off my car,” Dan said, opening the driver’s side door.
Yok laughed and hopped to his feet. “Don’t forget I’m gonna get super hot!” he shouted.
“Go to school!” Dan shouted back, and drove away.
~ ~ ~ ~
“Thought I’d find you here,” Namo said, and Sean glanced up from where he was sitting with his legs folded underneath himself at his father’s grave. “How’re you feeling?”
“Okay,” Sean said. “I mean, honestly, I feel good about a lot of things.”
“You bring White here yet?”
“Yeah, we came last week. Black came, too. Wanted to say thanks.”
Namo nodded and sat down next to him. “You’re not alone. You know that, right?”
“Yeah. Sometimes I just like to come here by myself, tell him about what’s going on in my life. Nearly talked myself dry first time after the whole, you know, everything.” Sean gestured. “It was a lot to go over.”
“I bet.” Namo pulled her knees up to her chest. “Have you thought about what you want to say to your mom?”
“Oh, I’ve thought about it a lot,” Sean said. “I just can’t decide. I mean, I want to tell everyone. I want to have banners and posters made and rub everyone’s nose in it. But I’m worried about what will happen if I do. I mean, it’s not like I have proof. Obviously I believe Black, but who else is going to believe that whole wild story? And what happens if we start talking about it? So far the government seems to have decided they’re going to sweep this all under the rug, but that might change in a hurry if people start talking about it. I don’t want to put the twins in danger.”
Namo nodded. “That sucks. But it’s not why you don’t know what to say to your mom.”
“Well, that’s true,” Sean said with a sigh. “I just wish she had believed in him.”
“I know,” Namo said, then added, “but just because she didn’t, isn’t a reason for her not to know the truth.”
Sean shrugged. “Feels like it is.”
“Listen, Sean, I know you’re upset with her for leaving you here,” Namo said. “I would be, too. Who wouldn’t be? You don’t have to forgive her if you’re not ready.”
“I just think . . . what if I tell her and she decides to come back? I don’t know how I’d feel about that. How to rebuild that relationship. But what if I tell her she decides not to come back? It would be like her leaving all over again.”
Namo put an arm around his shoulders and pulled him into a hug. “You don’t have to decide now. But I think you’ll feel better after you talk to her.”
“Yeah, maybe. Or maybe I’ll feel worse.”
Namo changed the subject, seeing that Sean had been pushed far enough. “Speaking of parents, heard anything from White’s?”
“Nope. They seem to have decided that discretion is the better part of valor. That or they really just don’t give a shit. White says they probably went back to California and started telling everyone their son was studying abroad in some super exciting program. They’ll photoshop some pictures of him to impress all their friends and leave it at that.”
“Wow,” Namo said.
“Right? That’s what I said. But better that than the alternative, I guess.”
“As long as he’s okay with that,” Namo said.
“I think . . . it’s going to take him some time to work through it. He doesn’t really talk about it, even when I try to bring it up. Right now he’s so angry with them for what they did that it’s really all he can deal with. He knows he’s better off without them in his life so if he’s going to feel any sorrow over losing them, it hasn’t hit yet. And he’s dealing with the rage okay. You know, Gumpa got me through that, so he can get White through it, too. Although White’s not really up to wailing on a punching bag yet.”
“It’s been three weeks, is he really not back on his feet yet?” Namo asked. “I saw when we were there on Saturday that he mostly stayed on the sofa but didn’t really think much of that.”
“He still gets winded really easily. Gumpa’s worried that there might have been some sort of aftereffect from breathing in all that shit in the air over there, but he’s not sure if a doctor would know what to do with him. Still, he said if it’s not better by next week, he’s going to drive him to the city and see if they can do some tests.”
“That makes sense.” Namo saw Sean’s worried expression and bumped her shoulder against his. “I’m sure he’ll be fine, Sean.”
“Yeah. I hope so. And Black seems to be doing better, by which I mean he can let White out of his sight for about thirty seconds without having a panic attack.”
“Hey, better is better.”
“Yeah. Would you believe those two have their own language?”
Namo looked surprised, then thoughtful. “You know, I think I’ve read about that at some point. Twins developing their own language.”
“I looked it up after I first saw them doing it. Apparently it usually happens if the twins in question don’t have adults around a lot of the time, you know, if they don’t get a lot of input. Which sounds about right for White and Black. I asked White about it, because I was sort of curious how they still remembered any of it after being separated for so long. But he says that he would talk to Black in his dreams a lot. And Black said that when they had him looking for people - I guess a lot of what they did was having him psychically find people and eavesdrop on them - he always went to White first, no matter what, even if he wasn’t trying. And they would talk.”
Namo thought about this. “That’s why White thought he had hallucinations independent of the seizures, huh.”
“Yeah. Because Black would just randomly show up in his head, talking in a language he knew but nobody else did. Anyway, he says it’s not a full language, it probably only has about a tenth of what a regular language would have, if that. Just things they needed to say to each other.”
“Such as?”
Sean smiled slightly. “Black uses it a lot more than White, which seems to be so he can say things he’s embarrassed about without anybody else realizing. I’m ninety percent certain at this point that the thing he says most often is ‘I missed you’, which he just interjects into conversations at random.”
Laughing, Namo said, “That’s so cute.”
“Right? I think they’re going to be okay.” Sean stood up and offered Namo a hand, which she took. “And I will be too. Thanks for checking on me. But I’m okay, Namo. Really.”
~ ~ ~ ~
“What’s the difference between these?” Black asked, frowning at the group.
Amused, Gumpa refrained from pointing out that they had given him the descriptions to read, which he clearly hadn’t put the effort into doing. “Well, they’re all magic-users, like you asked for. Warlocks get their power from making a pact with some sort of entity - ”
“No,” Black said.
“ - and wizards are really like scholars of magic, academic - ”
“No.”
“ - so you probably want to be a sorcerer, whose magic is either inherent from their bloodline - ” Gumpa saw Black’s frown deepen - “or some other cosmic influence, exposure to otherworldly forces, et cetera.”
Black thought about this, then nodded. “Okay.”
Gumpa gave him the dice and recorded his rolls, then talked him through the rest of the decisions. “You’re gonna have to change your character’s name, White,” Yok said. “Otherwise we’re all going to end up really confused.”
“You think?” White blinked innocently. “I think Black should name his character White and we’ll see what happens.”
“Please don’t,” Gumpa said.
The others continued to chat while Black read down the list of spells and they occasionally helped him with words he didn’t know and definitions of things that weren’t clear. “Three cantrips and three spells to start,” Gram told him. Black nodded and began to jot things down.
After a few minutes, he handed the list over to Gumpa, who read it and began to laugh. Black scowled, and Gumpa said quickly, “I’m not laughing at you, Black. These choices are just very reflective of your personality, that’s all.”
“Well, what are they?” Gram asked.
“For cantrips: fire bolt, thunderclap, and chill touch. For spells: burning hands, ice knife, and magic missile.”
Sean groaned. “Not one healing spell? Not a single one?!”
Black gave him a disdainful look. “Why would I heal someone when I could have a missile?”
“I mean, he’s got you there, Sean,” Gram said, chortling. “Besides, sorcerers don’t have many healing spells at this level anyway.”
“But still! You’ve got all those slots! No ‘detect magic’? No ‘comprehend language’ or ‘disguise self’ or ‘light’ or ‘minor illusion’? Nothing that’s any good in a situation other than combat?”
Black shrugged. “No.”
Yok and Gram were both laughing so hard that they couldn’t talk. White, on the other hand, was studying his brother and frowning faintly. “Why did you hold the book so close to your face?”
Black looked at him like he was an idiot. “To read it.”
“Uh huh . . .” White took off his glasses and held them out to his brother. “Put these on.”
“What? Why?”
“Just do it.”
Black scowled at him but slid the glasses onto his face. He blinked and looked around the room. “Whoa.”
“Are you near-sighted like White?” Gumpa asked. “I guess that would make sense. I think there are environmental factors but eyesight is largely genetic. I’ll have to take you to the city to see an eye doctor so we can get you a pair, since I doubt your prescription will be identical to White’s.”
Black nodded, then stared at Sean, who bristled and asked, “What?”
“I didn’t realize you were so ugly.”
“You piece of sh - ”
“Black,” White said, giving his brother a light whap upside the head. He sulked. “Give me my glasses back. You don’t deserve to see if that’s what you’re going to do with it.”
Black shrugged but gave the glasses back. White shook his head and put them back on, while Gumpa wondered if he should institute some sort of punishment every time Black was a dick to Sean for no reason. Before he could say anything, Gram said, “So the whole time we were looking for White and dealing with everything, you couldn’t actually see more than two feet from your face?”
“I could see,” Black said, then admitted, “but things are blurry if they’re further away. What does it matter?”
Gram shrugged. “Just thinking of you facing down the demogorgon. Not quite as scary if you couldn’t actually see it.”
“It had just killed twelve people; I think it was scary enough,” Gumpa said.
“Yeah, I guess that’s true,” Gram agreed.
“I can’t believe we still haven’t heard anything,” Sean said. “Just . . . radio silence. Don’t they want to make sure we’re not going to tell people?”
“They know we’re not going to tell people,” Yok said. “I mean, who would believe us? They erased all the evidence. The most we can prove is that White has a twin brother who came out of nowhere but people just think he came from out of town to help look for White while he was missing and decided to stick around.”
“We could prove Black is telekinetic,” Sean said.
“But we’re not going to,” Gumpa reminded them, and Black’s nose wrinkled. The truth that Gumpa didn’t want to admit was that he had been contacted, only a few days after White had gotten out of the clinic. Some very stiff men in army uniforms had come to ask him questions, like they had asked Dan. He had told them that he would make sure the kids wouldn’t say anything, and they had made very clear to him that if anyone did, both twins would be in their custody before an hour had passed.
He had known that telling the gang about that would just freak everybody out. Since none of them were inclined to start telling people what had happened, he had just quietly reinforced that and said nothing about it. He wasn’t sure how long that would last, particularly with Sean, who was still dealing with finding out the truth about his father’s death. But for now, for as long as possible, he would be gentle about it.
So he said, “Sean, remember, the priority has to be keeping the twins safe.”
“I know,” Sean said with a sigh, and White squeezed his wrist. Black looked like he was thinking about saying something, but then decided against it. Gumpa knew what he was thinking - that he could protect them - but even though he wouldn’t admit it, he was terrified of ending up back in a lab.
With Tawi gone, it was difficult to say how much the government even knew about Black’s abilities. Both Gumpa and Dan had downplayed it as much as possible during their interviews, focusing on the connection Black had with his brother. Neither of them had mentioned Black’s ability to open gates to the upside down, or his telekinesis. Gumpa didn’t know how the government thought the demogorgon had died, and he hadn’t asked. He had no idea how much Tawi had documented. They probably knew everything, but there was no point in borrowing trouble.
“Hey, come on, guys, we had a rule,” Yok reminded them. “No serious talk on D&D nights. We’ve got a sorcerer in the party now; we’re gonna be unstoppable.”
“Not unless you add another healing spell we’re not,” Gram said, and all of them laughed, even Black.
~ ~ ~ ~
Even though Gumpa wouldn’t let him pay rent, White couldn’t tolerate not having a way to contribute. He knew that Gumpa hadn’t exactly been prepared to take care of three teenaged boys, especially not when the third was Black. Although he didn’t have to eat as much when he wasn’t using his powers, he still had a healthy appetite, and if he did use his powers, he would eat everything in the refrigerator.
So White began looking for a job. Most of the people in Hawkins worked at the factory, which he wasn’t interested in, but there were other places to look. Although there was very little in the way of retail, there were many small businesses that provided services to the community - a plumber, a carpenter, a barbershop, a dentist.
It was at the last that White found employment. The dentist’s office only had one person beside the dentist himself, an administrative assistant. She was pregnant and planning to leave work for quite some time, so he agreed to take White on. It wasn’t hard work, just answering the phone and scheduling appointments and making sure they had all the supplies the dentist needed. He worked three days a week, at what he supposed was a reasonable wage, not that he knew much about it. Gumpa still refused to take his money, but that didn’t stop White from doing the grocery shopping and occasionally snagging a utility bill before Gumpa could pay it.
He also still did a lot of the cooking, which Black hadn’t learned, and shared the chores with the others. Black spent most of his time doing the school work Gumpa had found for him. Although he could read and write, he was far behind in most other fields. Gram had brought some old textbooks he borrowed from his younger siblings and Gumpa thought that Black’s education was around a fifth-grade level. But he loved to read, and would dive into almost any subject they gave him, so he would catch up. The only exception was math, which Black immediately swore a vendetta against as soon as they got past basic arithmetic. Gumpa had to continuously bribe him to do his math homework, and never put in much effort. None of them wanted to force Black into things he hated, after what he had been through.
Sometimes the twins still couldn’t stand to let the other out of their sight, so it wasn’t unusual for Black to go to the office with him and sit in the back, reading, while White worked. White didn’t mind, but as the weeks turned into months, he was glad to find that both of them were getting better about it and Black stayed home most days. They would periodically call or text each other if they needed reassurance.
So White was alone in the office when the door opened and a man about his father’s age came in, dressed in a suit and tie. White greeted him politely and asked if he needed to make an appointment.
“Actually, I came to see you,” the man said, with a smile. “It’s White, isn’t it?”
“Yes,” White said, trying not to sound as suspicious as he felt.
The man introduced himself as Bret, and said, “I’ve been appointed by the government to take over at the lab.”
“I see,” White said.
Bret was still smiling, but at least it seemed like a friendly smile, not a fake one that set White’s teeth on edge. “Let’s be frank with each other, okay? I know that you have every reason not to want me or anyone who works with me within a hundred miles of you. And I won’t push if you tell me to get lost, but I’m here for a reason.”
White felt like he probably knew what that reason was, but was too polite to tell him to get lost. “Oh?”
“Let me tell you a few things, okay, White? First of all, the government didn’t have any idea what Tawi was doing. They’re pissed as all hell, and that’s why they covered everything up rather than trying to get anyone in this town in trouble for what happened in the spring. But you have to understand that his work has vast implications.”
“I do,” White said, nodding.
“So the government wants to continue that work. Of course, we’re going to take every precaution. The gate that Black created has been sealed off. Everyone involved will be an adult who fully understands what they’re agreeing to.”
Getting a little sick of the spiel, White said, “And you want me to be one of those adults. Which is a problem, since I’m not.”
“You’re a special case,” Bret said. “You’re right. The new scientists very much want to speak to you. You were on the alternate plane longer than anybody else. What you saw, what you experienced, could be integral. And you don’t know exactly what you were exposed to. There could be lingering effects you’re not even aware of yet.”
White thought about that, because he knew that Bret was right. He still wasn’t wholly well, even though it had been six months since his stay in the upside down. Sometimes he had visions as if he was still there. He got cold very easily, and his endurance was much lower than it had once been. They had tried to teach him how to swim over the summer and he had barely been able to do it for more than a few minutes without getting winded. Gumpa had taken him to two different doctors, one of whom said it was all in his head and the other of whom said it sounded like exercise-induced asthma and had given him an inhaler which didn’t help.
“I have conditions,” White said.
“Of course,” Bret said. “Mind if I take notes?”
“Please do.” White handed him a pen and a pad of paper. “Firstly. Nothing invasive without another discussion first. They can interview me. Do bloodwork, x-rays, whatever scans they want. But anything beyond that, I won’t agree to unless I understand exactly what it entails and what they’re looking for.”
“Sounds reasonable.”
“Secondly, I’m not going to the lab. I will never set foot there. And I don’t want you coming to the garage, either. Everything will take place on neutral ground.”
Bret tapped the pen against the counter for a minute, then said, “This town has a medical clinic, and they would have a lot of what the scientists would need anyway. Would that be acceptable?”
White nodded. “That sounds good.”
“Okay. What else?”
“I’ll be compensated for my time, and you’ll work around my schedule.”
“Naturally.”
White thought about it for another moment, then said, “Last and most importantly. In exchange for this, none of you, nobody associated with that lab, will ever contact my brother. You’ll never ask him anything. You’ll never go near him. I will have that in writing signed by government officials before I answer a single question. You want to know more about the other plane, the monsters that live there, okay. But my brother is off limits and we won’t be discussing any of what was done to him.”
Bret looked at him pensively. “Do you know what’s truly interesting about your brother?”
White said nothing.
“He survived. Most of Tawi’s test subjects didn’t, you know. Most of them died within months of the original experiment. The longest besides Black lasted five years. Black made it thirteen, and with none of the other deleterious effects, such as chronic fatigue and failure to thrive. Do you think that was because of you? That’s what Tawi theorized, after you came to Hawkins and Black nearly killed himself trying to escape and get to you. That Black could somehow draw on your strength, that you could share the burden with him. Isn’t that fascinating?”
White was silent for a few seconds before he looked up and met Bret’s gaze. “My brother is off limits. I don't care how fascinating you or any of your scientists find him. If you touch him, I’ll burn that lab to the ground along with every scrap of research. And if you mention him one more time, then this deal is off and you won’t get a thing from me.”
“Fair enough,” Bret said with a nod. “I’ll have a contract drawn up. Can I have your cell phone number?”
“Here.” White jotted it down and gave it to him. “Text me. If Black finds out I’m doing this, he’ll lose his mind. And that’s nothing compared to what Sean would say. So no phone calls.”
“Agreed,” Bret said. “That works better for me, too. I’ll have the contract ready by Friday.”
~ ~ ~ ~
Chapter 14
Notes:
all right, my fellow ToddBlack fans, you've been very patient with me XD
Chapter Text
Friday afternoon, White got back to the apartment after his shift and found it empty. He went into the garage and found Gumpa with his arms in an engine. “Hia, where’s Black?”
“He’s at Todd’s. And Sean is at Namo’s helping her fix some things up.”
White made a face that he hoped Gumpa didn’t see. He didn’t completely approve of Black’s relationship with Todd, and wondered sometimes if this was how Sean had felt when Todd had been flirting with him. Black liked to go to Todd’s because he had a large TV on which Black could play violent video games, a drumset he could take his aggression out on, and as much junk food as he could eat without his brother’s disapproving glances. But mainly Black went to Todd’s to have sex, which White had no right to object to and yet for some reason still did.
It was all Yok’s fault; he was the one who had casually said, “He wants to bone you,” when Black had been expressing confusion that Todd came over to hang out with him. Black didn’t even know what that meant, which had left White in the unenviable position of having to explain things to his twin. (Fortunately, Black had gotten some education at the lab, so he didn’t have to give him the full ‘birds and the bees’ talk, but still had to explain that yes, Todd wanted to have sex with him, and exactly what that meant.) He had been surprised when Black had mulled it over for a day or two and then decided that he was quite all right with this and in fact wanted to get to it immediately.
“I know Black is behind his age group in some ways, especially academically,” Gumpa had said, when he had sensed White’s concern. “But he’s still got the hormones of a seventeen-year-old. I don’t think you’re going to have any luck if you try to convince him this is bad for him.”
White knew that. And in some ways, maybe it was best that it was Todd, who viewed sex as a fun extracurricular activity that didn’t require any sort of emotional attachment. Gram had asked once if Black and Todd were boyfriends now. Todd had laughed and Black had scoffed. “Friends with benefits?” Gram had suggested, to which Black had said that Todd wasn’t even his friend, and Todd laughed harder.
None of this had been comforting to White at all, who had cornered Todd to give him a shovel talk and remind him that Black had grown up in a lab and there was a lot about the real world he didn’t understand and maybe Todd should take it slow. “Dude, I tried to take it slow with him,” Todd had said. “I swear to God. I was like ‘this is fun, maybe second base is far enough for today’ and Black was like ‘if you don’t take off all your clothes right now I’m going to beat the shit out of you’.”
White could easily picture this having happened exactly as described, but it still didn’t make him feel better. That might have been because of his relationship with Sean, which was so special. He couldn’t picture having sex with someone just because it was fun, or because he had hormones. He had sex with Sean because he loved Sean.
But he knew that Black wasn’t like him in a lot of ways, because they had grown up so differently, and Gumpa had pointed out that maybe he was worrying about Black’s relationship with Todd because that was easier than worrying about Black’s future in general. Which was probably fair, but didn’t mean he was suddenly going to be fine with Black being at Todd’s.
At the moment, however, it worked out for the best, since White needed to talk to Gumpa alone. “Can we talk?”
Gumpa gave him a slightly surprised look, then said, “Sure.” He grabbed a towel and began to clean his hands off before sitting down. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah. Someone came to see me at Khun Wai’s office on Tuesday.”
Frowning, Gumpa said, “Someone?”
“He’s in charge of the lab now. They want to interview me and do some tests, since I was in the upside down for so long.”
Gumpa nodded. “What did you say?”
“I said yes if they met specific conditions. He just sent me the contract and I wanted you to look it over.” White put his backpack down and pulled out his laptop, opening it so he could pull up the pdf that they had sent him. It had come with a text that said that if it was satisfactory, send back a time to meet at the clinic, sign it, and begin tests.
“Okay,” Gumpa said, and began reading it over. He didn’t seem particularly surprised by anything that was in it. “Do you think they’ll abide by it?”
White didn’t have to ask which part he was asking about. “I don’t know. I think some of them will. Some of them are obviously more interested in the alternate plane and everything than in Black’s abilities. I figure every scientist or government agent who doesn’t come after him, because they got to talk to me, is one less we have to worry about later.”
“That makes sense.” Gumpa turned from the laptop to study him. “You’re okay with doing this? Really?”
White was silent for a few minutes before he said quietly, “There’s something wrong with me, hia. We all know it; we just don’t talk about it. I didn’t come back the same. Maybe they can figure out what’s wrong . . . help us fix it.”
Gumpa reached out and drew him into an embrace, hugging him tightly for a few moments. White relaxed into it. “Have you been having those visions again? I told you to tell me about them when they happened.”
“I know, but . . .”
Gumpa sighed. “But you don’t want to be a bother, no matter how many times we’ve told you that’s stupid. Okay. And I assume the reason you’re telling me this now is because you don’t want Black and Sean to know?”
“You know they would just freak out. But even I’m not so stupid to do it without telling anyone.”
That made Gumpa smile slightly. “Good. You’re going to let me know every time you’re going to be meeting them beforehand. And afterwards, you’ll tell me what they did and if they said anything useful. Okay?”
“Yeah, okay,” White said, and Gumpa hugged him again.
~ ~ ~ ~
Black’s visits to Todd’s house always started the same way. Todd asked, “Hey, what’s up?” and Black would respond with ‘movie’ or the name of the game he wanted to play or sometimes skipped straight to ‘take off your clothes’. Todd always seemed a little amused by this but willing to indulge Black in whatever he requested, which was one of the reasons Black liked him. Other people always wanted to talk about why he wanted to do things. Todd just provided whatever he needed.
This time, for the first time in months, was a little different. Todd asked what was up and Black said, “punching bag,” and Todd frowned faintly, as if this was not what he had expected. To be fair, although Black had seen the little gym in Todd’s basement, he had never requested to use it before.
Fortunately for Black, Todd’s frown vanished quickly, as he shrugged and said, “Sure,” before beckoning for Black to follow him. Black went downstairs and immediately located the punching bag. “Hey, hey,” Todd said, as he hit it the first time. “Put the gloves on before you hurt yourself, dumbass.”
“Oh. Yeah.” Black had used Gumpa’s punching bag many times, and he always insisted on this too, no matter how much Black thought it was silly. He accepted the gloves from Todd and went back to beating the shit out of the punching bag. Todd brought him a drink and then sat on the stationary bicycle without using it, playing on his phone instead.
After a while, Black had worn himself out, and was sweaty and tired. He peeled his shirt over his head and draped it over the bars of the bicycle. “Wanna shower?”
“Sure,” Todd said, swinging his legs over the side of the bike. “Or we could go in the pool.”
Black shook his head. He didn’t like water. Todd had offered to let him use the pool a few times, and he had even tried it, but he just didn’t like the feeling of water against his skin.
“All right,” Todd said, as easy-going as ever.
A while later, Black was fully worn out and feeling at least somewhat better, dozing on the sofa in Todd’s living room with his legs draped over Todd’s lap. He was jolted out of his nap when the door opened, and Todd said, “Hey, Dad.”
“Hey, how was school?” Todd’s dad asked. Black kept his eyes closed, so nobody would think he was going to take part in this conversation. He didn’t like to hear the other teenagers talking about or with their parents; it only reminded him of his own. Todd seemed to get along well with his dad, but he was often out of town on business. Black had asked once why this was, since Todd’s family owned the factory and therefore most of their business would be here. Todd had shrugged and said that he owned other businesses, too.
“Is Black staying for dinner?” Todd’s father asked.
“Yeah, I told Mom already.”
“Okay. You two behave yourselves,” he said, and then left the room.
Black was thinking about going back to sleep, but Todd said, “I think he thinks you actually like me.”
“Fuck off,” Black muttered.
Todd laughed and squeezed his knee. “Hey. You okay?”
Black opened his eyes and scowled. This was the sort of conversation he didn’t like to have, the kind of conversation he could normally rely on Todd not to be interested in.
When he didn’t answer, Todd said, “Do you wanna talk about it?”
“No,” Black said.
“Okay,” Todd replied, and squeezed his knee again. “Movie?”
“Yeah.”
Todd grabbed the remote and pressed whatever combination of buttons got the television to magically display something with loud explosions.
“I’m worried about White,” Black said.
Without missing a beat, Todd turned the television back off. “Why?”
“He still doesn’t feel well. And it’s not . . .” Black struggled with words. They were still so foreign to him, so much of the time. He had gotten a lot better after watching the others for six months, but had trouble articulating some things. “Not physical. He deals with that. We make sure he takes it easy. It’s this. This connection he has in his mind.”
“The one with you?”
“Nn. With the upside down.”
Todd rubbed at Black’s knee thoughtfully. “Is he still having those visions that I’m not supposed to know about?”
“Yeah. I think so. He doesn’t always tell me.” Black growled. “Stupid.”
“You’re the same way, though,” Todd said, and Black shot him a glare. “What? You are! You didn’t come over here to use my punching bag because the one at the garage isn’t as good. You did it because you don’t like to let them see you upset. Especially White. Why should he be different?”
Black thought about this for a minute and decided the best response was, “Fuck off.”
“I don’t think it’s that weird, or that it’s stupid,” Todd said. “You both want to protect each other. And you’re not the kind of guy who likes to let people see you when you’re not at your best. It’s not a big deal. You should just talk to him.”
Black didn’t respond to this. For all that he and White were close, and sometimes couldn’t stand to let the other out of their sight, there were things that were hard to talk about. White hated the fact that he hadn’t gotten to Black sooner. He hated the fact that he had been the ‘good’ son, the favored one, who his parents had kept. And Black couldn’t talk about White’s time in the upside down without thinking about the fact that he was the one who had opened the gate, unleashed the monster. He couldn’t stop thinking about the fact that if he hadn’t been so afraid of going back to the lab, they could have rescued White right away. How could they talk about that?
“Listen, can I be the asshole for a minute?” Todd asked, and Black gave a snort. “They’re probably just flashbacks. I know that nobody will dare say that to White because his parents gaslit him into thinking he was hallucinating for his whole life and nobody wants to tell him he’s seeing shit that isn’t there. But he’s got every damn right to a little PTSD after what he went through.”
Black growled at him, and Todd lifted his hands in surrender. Black hated the fact that Todd had a point, and he knew it was something all of them had thought, and certainly something White had thought himself. He still woke up sometimes and asked Black, “Are you real?” He had spent so long not trusting himself. When he had first started having brief visions of being in the upside down, he had brushed it off as something that was all in his head. It was Black who hadn’t agreed, who felt like there was something else going on. But was that something he actually knew? Or was he just worried about his brother? Sometimes he didn’t trust himself, either.
“It’s only been six months,” Todd said. “You two should take it easier on yourselves.”
“Get fucked,” Black muttered.
“Again?” Todd grinned at him. “Aren’t you tired?”
Black smiled despite himself. “Asshole.”
“That’s why you like me so much,” Todd said, and Black had to admit he agreed.
~ ~ ~ ~
Yok swung the door to his house open on a Saturday morning and saw Sean standing there, and immediately asked, “Hey, what’s up, is everything okay?”
“Yeah, as okay as it ever is,” Sean said. “Black had bad dreams, worse than usual. He’s in one of his clingy moods.”
Yok nodded and stood back to let him in. Over the months, both Sean and Gumpa, but especially Sean, had learned that it was best to clear out and give Black some space when he was in these moods. He became hypervigilant and reacted to everyone as if they were a threat, even if intellectually he knew they weren’t. Sean had been offended by it at first, but he knew that Black just couldn’t help it. He and White had talked about it and he had learned not to take it personally. But it still wasn’t comfortable for any of them.
“Have you eaten?” Yok asked, and Sean shook his head. Yok gestured him into the kitchen.
Yok’s mother was at the sink, doing the dishes, and she looked up when Sean came in and smiled. She turned off the water and dried her hands before signing, ‘Long time no see.’
“Yeah, it’s good to see you too,” Sean said, signing awkwardly. He was out of practice. Both he and Namo knew the basics of sign language, since they had been at Yok’s house so much as children, but he hadn’t seen her in quite some time.
Yok noticed and corrected one of the signs he made, and smiled somewhat ruefully. “I remember when you used to come around all the time. You, me, and Namo, we were like three peas in a pod.”
“Yeah,” Sean said, feeling bad even though he supposed he shouldn’t. It wasn’t like he had chosen to move further away. His father had died and his mother had hauled stakes and he had ended up staying at Gumpa’s. Namo’s family situation wasn’t stable, and Yok’s mother could barely afford to feed her own son. Sean didn’t want to be a burden on either of them, and Gumpa had offered as soon as had heard that Sean’s mother was planning to leave but Sean didn’t want to go. For a while, Sean had shut everybody out, even the friends who tried to stand by him. But Yok wasn’t given to take no for an answer from anybody, so even though Sean now lived on the other side of town, he had come by the garage all the time. Sean realized he had never thanked Yok for that, although he was sure that Yok would say that was just what friends did.
Yok also wasn’t prone to melancholy, so he shrugged this off and said, “Let’s eat,” and grabbed a box of cereal from a cabinet.
Sean nodded and signed his thanks to Yok’s mother, who smiled and signed back, ‘You’re always welcome here, Sean.’ Feeling strangely guilty, he bent his head to his breakfast as she turned back to the dishes.
“So what’s up?” Yok asked, mouth full. “Don’t you usually just go into the garage if Black is objecting to your existence?”
“Yeah,” Sean said, and felt more guilty. “I want you to help me out with something.”
“Mmkay,” Yok said, unbothered. “What?”
“So you know how after we found White, some military guys went and talked to Dan and he told them what had happened?” Sean said, and Yok nodded. “I want to ask him about it. But not at the station where people can hear. I want to go by his place, but I don’t know where he lives.”
“Oh, sure,” Yok said.
“Sorry,” Sean said.
“Why?” Yok asked.
“I shouldn’t just come around when I want something.”
Yok looked thoughtful for a moment, then shrugged. “It’s not a big deal. We started hanging out at Gumpa’s because he had the room, and Namo was over there a lot of the time anyway, and it’s closer to Gram’s house than we are over here. It’s not like you’ve been ignoring me for years and are only coming for a favor. Where we hang out isn’t important. Try not to worry about shit so much.”
Sean nodded. “Thanks.” He shoveled more food into his face to give himself an excuse not to say anything, then thought of something he wanted to say anyway. “Is it gonna be awkward for you? Seeing Dan?”
“Nah. I’ve got no shame,” Yok said, laughing. “He won’t arrest me anymore. He probably won’t be surprised when I knock on his door. What do you want to ask him about?”
Stirring his cereal, Sean said, “I know we can’t say anything about everything that happened. But I want to at least be able to tell my mom what happened to my dad. As it is now . . . I could tell her, but she wouldn’t believe me. I mean, all we have is Black’s word for what happened, and obviously I believe him, but . . .”
“Your mom was really fucked up that whole thing, huh,” Yok said.
“Yeah. Anyway, I thought, sure, the army obviously wants to cover up their terrible experiments and evidence of another plane of existence and all that shit. But maybe this one thing they won’t care about.”
Yok looked skeptical, but shrugged and said, “Okay.”
Sean felt pretty skeptical about it too, but he had to start somewhere. Keeping the twins safe had to be the priority, but he wouldn’t be able to rest until he had figured this out. He didn’t want to worry White or Gumpa so he would deal with it on his own.
Half an hour later, he was at Dan’s house, which was quite small but fairly nice, with a stone fireplace and actual art on the walls. Yok immediately noticed this, going in without Dan inviting him (in fact, Dan’s greeting was a dry, ‘really?’ before Yok pushed his way inside) and beginning to admire it. “I’m going to study art at uni,” he told Dan.
“I didn’t ask,” Dan said.
“Hang on, is this work in progress?” Yok asked, seeing an easel in the corner. “Dan, are you an artist? You’ve been holding out on me - ”
Dan sighed. “Yok, why are you here?”
“Oh, I’m here to harass you,” Yok said cheerfully, “but Sean had a question for you or something.”
Dan turned to Sean, seeming to resolve to ignore Yok entirely. “What is it?”
“It’s about those guys from the government who talked to you after we found White.”
“I told Gumpa everything I told them,” Dan said.
“I know. But I want to know if they left you any contact information.”
Warily, Dan asked, “Why?”
“Because I want to contact them,” Sean said impatiently.
“Yes, I gathered that,” Dan said. “But this isn’t something you can take lightly.”
“You think I don’t know that?” Sean asked. “They murdered my father. They left White in the upside down to die so he wouldn’t be able to tell anyone what happened to him. I’m pretty fucking aware that this is serious. But my mother still thinks my dad got himself killed and I want to be able to at least tell her, if nobody else, what happened that night.”
“They won’t allow it,” Dan said. “I don’t see how there’s any point in asking.”
“If they don’t, then they don’t,” Sean said. “But I have to start somewhere.”
Dan studied him seriously for a few moments. “Do you really want to kick a hornet’s nest here? Do you have any idea how lucky we are that they let this go as much as they did? That they haven’t tried to take Black back into custody, with White along with him? I had to sign a pound of paperwork, nondisclosure agreements, et cetera, and I’m sure Gumpa did too - ”
“Gumpa did?” Sean asked, surprised. “Did he tell you that?”
Frowning, Dan said, “Well, no, but I’d be shocked if they hadn’t contacted him. The rest of you are minors, so they wouldn’t bother you unless you got out of line, but given that they contacted me, I’m sure they also spoke to him.”
Sean put that aside for a later conversation. “But my dad’s death doesn’t have to have anything to do with that. I don’t care if they reveal all the details. They can classify as much of it as they want as long as they’ll issue some sort of statement saying he didn’t break in and his death wasn’t his fault.”
Dan still looked skeptical. “Look. The guy in charge did leave me a card so I could contact him if anything else happened - ”
“So they could come shove it under the rug, presumably - ”
“ - and I’ll give it to you on the condition that you promise me that all you will do is ask them if there’s any way you can explain things to your mother. No threats, no bribery, nothing stupid. Just ask and if they say no, let it go at that.”
“Sure. Fine.” Sean saw that this wouldn’t be good enough. “Okay, I promise,” he added, with no intention of keeping that promise. Between himself and Dan, he knew which one of them cared more about White’s safety. He would keep that as his top priority, but he wasn’t going to let this go without a fight.
Dan went over to a desk and withdrew a card. “Take a picture so I can keep the original,” he said, so Sean took out his phone and did so. “Be careful.”
~ ~ ~ ~
Gumpa had always wanted kids. He hadn’t yet met the right person to bring his own into the world, but he had never minded looking after any kids in the area who needed looking after. His parents had had the same habit, and many of his best friends in his own teen years had been kids who hung out at the garage because of it. As the years had gone by, most of them had left for bigger cities. He kept in touch, but his life was here.
One of the few friends who hadn’t moved after had been Sean’s father. Although almost a decade older than Gumpa, he had been at the garage a lot when he was young, and they had always shared a love of motorcycles and engines. When he had died, Gumpa had had his suspicions, but didn’t know who to bring them to. Unlike Sean, he had never been sure. He didn’t see the man through rose-tinted father-worship glasses, the way Sean did. People could do stupid things when they were desperate for money, and although Sean didn’t know it, his parents had been having financial problems for years.
So he hadn’t said anything, had kept his doubts to himself. When Sean had showed up at the garage crying because his mother had decided to move back to her own hometown across the country, he didn’t even think twice before offering to let Sean stay with him. All his friends were here; his father’s grave was here. He was adamant that he wouldn’t go with his mother, no matter what she said.
Gumpa had been surprised when she hadn’t put up a fight, when she had replied with a listless, “if that’s what you want.” Sean had been less surprised, saying they had been fighting ever since his father’s death, and he hid his devastation well, but Gumpa still saw it.
To be honest, Gumpa had been a little suspicious of how well Sean had taken the fact that what had happened to his father would have to remain a secret. He knew that Sean loved White, that he would protect him at the cost of his own life, but the fact that he had just accepted that he couldn’t say anything and moved on was a surprise to Gumpa.
But six months had gone by since then, and they were creeping towards the fourth anniversary of the man’s death, so Gumpa wasn’t particularly surprised when Sean came into the garage and asked, “Can we talk?”
“Sure,” Gumpa said. He had been in the garage all day, hiding from the twins. Black had woken in a foul temper and dragged White over to the armchair in the corner, his favorite place. White had coaxed him into putting a movie on so they weren’t just sitting there in silence, but Black was still glowering, all but hissing and spitting, at anyone who came near them.
Gumpa was glad that Sean had learned not to take that as personally as he had at first. Truthfully, Black trusted Sean with White’s welfare more than he trusted anyone else, even Gumpa. He had seen firsthand that Sean was willing to risk his own life to keep White safe. When he had moods like this, he even apologized afterwards, in his own Black sort of way - usually by pushing White into Sean’s lap when he was done clinging, and walking away with a scowl on his face.
So Gumpa hoped it wasn’t about that, but still wasn’t thrilled when Sean said, “Did government people come talk to you after we found White?”
“Yes,” Gumpa said evenly. “Why do you ask?”
“Why didn’t you tell us?” Sean asked, frowning at him.
Gumpa sighed. “Because you would have wanted to know what they said, and knowing what they said would have upset you, and would have especially upset the twins. Which was that if anyone said anything, they would come take the twins back into custody.”
Sean’s back stiffened. “They said that?”
“Yes. But we already knew that, didn’t we? So why tell you that someone had come here to make threats?” Gumpa shook his head. “After White was back on his feet, Black started asking him if they should leave. He wanted to know things like how much money White had saved up and if there was anywhere else they could go. He knew that they weren’t safe here, and that none of us are safe as long as they’re here. White and I talked him out of it, but if he’d known about that, I don’t think we would have been able to.”
Sean was still scowling, but he accepted Gumpa’s logic. “He really would have left?”
“You know how afraid he is that they might take him back to the lab. As long as they know where he is, he’ll always be afraid of that.” Gumpa thought back to White’s agreement with the people who were now running the lab. He didn’t think it meant anything, and he was pretty sure White didn’t think it meant anything, either.
“Okay, well . . .” Sean sighed. “I want to talk to them about my father.”
“Talk to them?” Gumpa asked.
“Yeah. I mean. I know we have to keep all of this a secret. We can’t tell anyone about the fact that they tortured kids and created someone with superpowers, or that they opened a portal to another dimension and unleashed a monster that killed someone. But I can’t just sit on knowing they killed my dad and not doing anything about it. The guy who killed him is dead now. They could just say he was some psycho that the lab employed. I don’t even care if people know the truth as long as they know my dad didn’t get himself killed doing stupid shit.”
“And you want to just ask them if it’s okay for you to tell people that?” Gumpa asked, feeling skeptical for numerous reasons.
“I want to ask them to take fucking responsibility! I can’t just tell people. Nobody would believe me. They need to tell people.”
“Sean,” Gumpa said with a sigh, “what makes you think that they’re going to be willing to do that?”
“I won’t know until I try,” Sean said. His fists clenched at his sides and he said, “What am I supposed to do? Anything else puts White in danger. This is the only thing I can think of that won’t, so I’m going to do it.”
“Since I’m clearly not going to talk you out of it, just do me a favor and don’t go by yourself, okay?” Gumpa asked. “If they agree to meet with you at all, do it somewhere public.”
Sean nodded. “I’ll be careful. Thanks, hia.”
Gumpa sighed again and squeezed his shoulder. “Come on. Let’s go check on the twins.”
~ ~ ~ ~
Chapter Text
White was more nervous than he would have admitted, although no more than he had expected, as he entered the clinic. Before he could go to the check-in desk, he saw that Bret was waiting for him there. He smiled and thanked him for coming before escorting him into the back. There was a private office waiting for them.
“First things first, let’s get those pesky legalities out of the way,” he said, and produced a copy of the contract. White set it in front of himself and began to read. Somewhat amused, Bret said, “It’s the same one we e-mailed, I swear.”
“And I’m supposed to take your word on that?” White didn’t look at him. “I’m not an idiot who’s going to sign something without reading it first. I’ll be able to do that much more quickly if you don’t interrupt me.”
Bret lifted his hands in surrender. Something about the way he did the gesture was familiar to White, and he frowned slightly, wondering if they had met before. But he didn’t know the man’s face and hadn’t known his name. He shook it off and went back to the contract, reading it thoroughly before signing it. He didn’t have much faith that they would abide by the terms, but at least he could hope.
“Okay,” Bret said. “Let me get the doctors.”
White noted the plural and wondered how many it would be. It turned out to be three, which wasn’t as bad as he had feared. One of them was an older woman, old enough to be his grandmother, who smiled at him and said, “Let’s get the physical portion out of the way first.”
It was the most thorough medical examination he had received in his life. Every inch of his body was studied. They took blood and did x-rays, swabbed his throat and had him pee in a cup, did an ekg and an eeg. They also asked a lot of questions about how he was feeling in general. When he mentioned that he was having trouble breathing, they asked a dozen more questions about that. They asked if he was willing to do some exercise to see if he had issues so they could listen to his lungs, so he did some jumping jacks until the wheezing started. They listened and frowned intently, looking at the x-rays and murmuring to each other.
Then they sat down with him and told him to go over everything that had happened. He took out some notes he had made over the past few days, wanting to make sure he remembered things properly. He described his first glimpse of the demogorgon, how he had turned and run into the woods and gone through the gate while trying to find a place he could hide. He talked about what it was like there, how he had come to the conclusion that it was a negative image of their own world and managed to make his way to the garage.
The thing they found most interesting was that he had been able to manipulate electricity from the other side, even to the point where he had made Gumpa’s phone ring and tried to get through. They asked dozens more questions.
But that was nothing compared to when he talked about first hearing from Black. This was a subject he didn’t want to go into much detail on, but he did feel that being able to communicate between the two planes was important. They already knew from Gumpa and Dan’s description of the events that it had happened, so there was no purpose in trying to hide it.
Even so, he continually had to shut them down when they asked questions that weren’t allowed. How long had he been able to psychically communicate with Black? Did he remember if it had been before Black had been taken to the lab? Had Black contacted him from the lab? Had he been able to see Black or only hear him?
Every time, White said politely, “We agreed not to discuss my brother.” They tried to coax him around, saying it was relevant to what he had gone through in the upside down, to which White said, “It isn’t. The fact that he was able to contact me and get my location is how I got out of the upside down. It doesn’t have anything to do with what happened while I was there.”
He was so annoyed by it that even though he had been planning to tell them what he had seen in Sean’s old backyard, between Black and the demogorgon, he decided against it. If they wanted to see what it looked like when someone ripped a demogorgon in half, they could figure that out on their own. He said he had passed out while Gumpa had been carrying him, after directing them to the gate, and didn’t remember anything else until waking up in the hospital.
After he had finally gotten through all that, he told them about the visions.
“I’ll just be minding my own business, and then I blink, and I’m back there again,” he said. “Standing in the same place I was in the real world, only in the upside down.”
One of the doctors hmmed and then said, “It could just be psychological. Some flashbacks wouldn’t be unusual.”
“I’m aware of that,” White said evenly. “But I don’t think they’re flashbacks because I have them in places I never went in the upside down. A couple weeks ago, I was at my friend Gram’s house, and went to use the bathroom, and suddenly everything looked like the upside down. But I never went to Gram’s house when I was there. How would I know what it would look like?”
“That’s a good point, but even so . . .”
The three doctors quietly discussed it for a few moments, which annoyed White, since he was sitting right there. But he reminded himself that he had come here for their expertise. After their discussion, they asked questions about how often it happened, and when, if there were times or places where it happened most often.
“And then suddenly you blink and then you’re back in the real world?”
“Sometimes.” White felt uneasy, but continued, “but a lot of the time I don’t ‘come back’, so to speak, until someone from the real world talks to me or touches me.”
“That’s usually what happens?”
“I’m not alone much anymore. Nobody really wants that. The few times that’s happened it’s been while I was at work, and yes, I would come out of it on my own. But it lasts a lot longer if nobody interrupts me.”
“Minutes? Hours?”
“The longest has been about five minutes, I think.”
They asked a few more questions and then told him they were done for the day. He was exhausted, trembling slightly as he got to his feet.
“Do you need a ride home?” Bret asked.
White startled, having nearly forgotten he was there, sitting in the background except for during the physical examination. “Ah - no, thank you. Gumpa said he would pick me up this time.”
Bret nodded and gave him a friendly smile. “Same time next week, then?”
“Yeah,” White said, and headed out of the clinic. Finding a day and time to do this without anybody catching on hadn’t been as difficult as he had been worried about. In the mornings, Sean was at school and Black was at his own version of the same thing, while White worked three days a week. He had simply told them that the dentist had decided to open a fourth weekday, and he would be working in the morning. It was Monday, which was the day the garage was closed, so it was easy enough for Gumpa to give him a ride each way. His biggest concern was leaving Black alone at the garage, even for such a short period of time. But Gumpa had pointed out that someday they would have to get used to that idea, so he had reluctantly agreed.
He texted Gumpa and waited, and it was less than ten minutes before Gumpa arrived. “How was it?” he asked.
“Honestly?” White tried to smile and failed. “It was awful. Half of it was being poked and prodded and the other half was being interrogated. They weren’t mean about it, but it was . . . it was a lot. And before you ask, they didn’t say anything useful. Some of the tests will take a few days to come back, so they said they’d go over the results with me next week.”
Gumpa nodded. “How are you feeling?”
“Like I want to have a cup of hot tea and curl up in the corner with my brother.”
Gumpa smiled and tousled his hair. “I think that can be arranged.”
White got on the bike behind Gumpa, and they drove back to the garage. Once inside, Black looked up as if he could tell something was wrong. He frowned at him while Gumpa went to make the tea. “You’re upset.”
“Yeah,” White said. He didn’t want to lie to his brother, but didn’t exactly have to - just leave some things out. “I don’t really feel well.”
Black’s frown deepened. He got up and pressed his hand against White’s forehead. “You’re cold,” he said, which didn’t surprise White, as he felt cold most of the time these days. He pulled White over to the armchair in the corner, which was big enough for both of them, and tugged him down onto it. “Hia, blanket.”
“Yes, sir,” Gumpa said, quietly amused. He got a blanket and even tucked it in around them.
White rested his head on Black’s shoulder, listening to his heartbeat. For no reason at all, like it always happened, panic welled up in his throat. “Are you real?”
“Real,” Black said, squeezing his hand. “Yes.”
White took in and then let out a shaky breath, trying to relax. He felt a vicious hatred in his gut at his parents for doing this to both of them. But he knew that anger wasn’t a useful emotion, had tried to work most of it out against Gumpa’s punching bag. He took another deep breath, reminding himself that his brother was here and they were okay.
“Crybaby,” Black said, when he saw White’s tears.
“I know,” White said, laughing slightly. He couldn’t be upset because the word itself, spoken in the language the two of them had developed together, meant so much to him. He didn’t mind being a crybaby if it meant that Black still remembered that word. In the same language, he said, “I missed you,” and Black responded in kind. White felt his breathing steady out a little more as he leaned against his brother. By the time Gumpa came over with the tea, he was asleep.
~ ~ ~ ~
Sean was a little surprised when the first part of his plan went smoothly. He called the number on the card and spoke to a secretary, giving his name and saying he was from Hawkins and wanted to speak to whoever was in charge of ‘managing’ the issue. She took his number and he hung up without any real hope. But twenty minutes later, she called him back. They preferred not to have discussions over the phone. Their representative would meet him in Hawkins. She texted him a location along with a date and time - two days away, a Sunday morning, at the medical clinic in town.
That was only semi-public, so after some thought, he asked Namo if she would go with him. She gave him a hug and thanked him for asking her and ‘not being a stupid man about it’. He told Gumpa he was going as well, and that Namo was coming with him.
He expected a stiff military man, so he was surprised when he was greeted by a man in a suit without a tie and a friendly smile. He introduced himself as Bret, the ‘new manager’ of Hawkins National Laboratory. Sean could immediately see that his purpose was to make people feel like this wasn’t a government operation, that he was open and approachable. He looked vaguely familiar, and Sean wondered if they had hired a local.
They sat down in the office. Namo squeezed his hand, and Sean said, “I want to talk about my father’s death.”
Bret nodded. “Of course.”
Sean took a deep breath, trying to keep steady. “I know that there are things we can’t tell people. I don’t want to put the twins in any danger. But there are people who deserve to know the truth about what happened that day, especially my mother. Nobody would believe me if I told them, so I wanted to ask you to issue some sort of statement about it.”
Bret nodded again, as if this was about what he had expected. “Sean, let me be frank with you. The details of your father’s death can never go public because they’re related to the experiments on Black.”
“I know that,” Sean said. “Like I said, I know there are some things that need to stay quiet. Nobody needs the whole truth. I just want it to be public that he didn’t break in. That he was killed during his normal delivery, and that he didn’t do something stupid and get himself killed.”
“Like an accident?” Bret suggested. “Let’s say, he was making his delivery and was exposed to a toxic chemical the lab was making. The lab didn’t want the liability so his death was covered up.”
Sean blinked, startled that he would suggest such a thing, that he would be accommodating of the request at all and not just laugh him out of the office. “Uh, yeah. Something like that would be okay.”
“You’re surprised,” Bret said, with a smile. “But truthfully, Sean, I’ve been expecting this conversation for a while. I reviewed the files thoroughly when I took over management, and Dan had mentioned your father’s death, while trying to help Black escape, during his debriefing. I was a little surprised it took you this long to reach out.”
“You guys made it pretty fucking clear that we weren’t allowed to say anything.” Namo spoke for the first time, and she sounded pissed. “When that asshole Tawi showed up, he said he was going to kill us all just for knowing about Black, let alone saying anything about him.”
Bret sighed. “Tawi’s actions were . . . regrettable, in a lot of ways. You have to understand, there’s been a complete change in management. I was brought in to clean things up, to get the relevant data from the lab, and then close it down when that became possible.”
Sean thought about this. “Okay, but you could’ve reached out to me at any time. You knew where I was and what had happened. You could’ve taken responsibility for my dad’s death, but you didn’t. So don’t try to convince me that you’re the good guys.”
“No,” Bret said, smiling slightly, “I didn’t figure I would be able to. Especially considering that, while I prepared for this discussion, I reached out to my superiors. They are willing to take responsibility for your father’s death, as an accident, like I just described. They’re willing to issue formal compensation in a wrongful death settlement. But it won’t come for free.”
Sean tensed, and Namo squeezed his hand, hard. “What does that mean?” she asked.
“It means that in return, you need to do something for us. There’s information we would like, questions we have about Black, the answers to which are not in Tawi’s files. Obviously he’s not going to speak to us, and it seems doubtful that White would, either.”
“Questions,” Sean said. “Like what?”
“Black was an outlier in Tawi’s studies. The only success out of dozens of attempts. Tawi’s theory was that he and White had a prior psychic connection which increased his abilities. So we have questions such as, were they able to psychically communicate before Black was taken to the lab? At what point did they make contact while Black was at the lab, and what did that look like? How severe an injury did Black need to have before White had a reaction? And so on.”
Sean said nothing.
Bret could clearly see what he was thinking, and said, “Let me assure you, we have no intention of trying to take Black into custody unless it becomes absolutely necessary. The risk is too high, and to be honest I doubt we would get much out of him. Tawi’s records make it clear that he was recalcitrant from day one. If he couldn’t be managed as a five-year-old, I doubt we’ll have any better luck now that he’s seventeen and has superpowers.”
That made Sean smile despite himself. “You think?”
“Then if you want the answers to these questions, it’s because you want to try again from scratch,” Namo said. “You want to find new test subjects, focusing on twins. You want us to get answers so you can torture little kids.”
“That’s a deliberately inflammatory way of putting it,” Bret said. “I’m not Tawi. Any child who became a test subject would be well-treated.”
“And we’re supposed to take your word on it?” Namo asked.
“My word is all I have at the moment. I suppose you could make arrangements to check on them but I’d have to talk about that with my superiors.”
“What did the failures look like?” Sean asked abruptly. “You said Black was the only success. What happened to the kids who failed?”
Bret sighed again. “That’s classified.”
“That’s what I thought you’d say,” Sean said. He glanced at Namo, and she squeezed his hand. “Then with all due respect, you can take your offer and shove it up your ass. My dad died trying to protect a kid being hurt. I can’t even imagine what he’d say to me if I gave you information to help you hurt more kids, just so I could tell people a watered-down version of how he actually died.”
Bret didn’t look surprised, only saying, “It’s a one-time offer, Sean. It won’t be made again.”
“You think I don’t know that?” Sean asked, standing up. “Go to hell.”
He left the clinic with Namo still holding his shaking hand. Once they were outside, they walked in silence for several minutes before she said, “I’m sorry, Sean.”
“Yeah. Well.” He let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. “I’m not really surprised. It was just . . . never mind. It was stupid.”
“Of course it wasn’t stupid,” Namo said. “You knew there was only a small chance that it would work, but you had to try. I get that.”
He stopped where he had parked his bike. “I’ll give you a ride home.”
“You’re sure? I could come over to Gumpa’s with you.”
“And watch me wail on a punching bag for an hour? I think that would be pretty boring. Besides, didn’t you say you had a project you needed to finish?”
“Yeah,” she said with a sigh. “A paper for lit class. Okay, but call me if you need to talk. You promise?”
“I promise.”
Sean dropped her off, but didn’t go back to the garage. Everyone would be able to tell he was upset and he didn’t want to talk about it. He drove out to his father’s grave instead, sitting down next to him and bitching heartily about the evil people who had infiltrated their town. After a while, he fell silent, feeling miserable and not knowing what else to say.
He wasn’t particularly surprised when he heard footsteps behind him. He glanced over his shoulder to see White, and sighed. White walked over and bowed to the grave before sitting down next to Sean, who said, “Namo called you?”
“Yeah. She told me what happened.” White reached out and laced his fingers through Sean’s. “I’m really sorry, Sean. But . . . thank you.”
“Nothing to thank me for,” Sean said with a shrug. “Honestly, I wasn’t even really thinking about protecting you or Black. I was thinking about how furious my dad would be if I went along with it.”
White smiled slightly. “Yeah. I wish I had met him.”
“Me too.”
They sat in silence for a minute. White leaned against him, resting his cheek on Sean’s shoulder. “What are you going to do? I wouldn’t blame you if you wanted to keep pushing.”
“I don’t know,” Sean said. “I just . . . don’t know.”
“That’s okay. You don’t have to know right now.” White rubbed his thumb over Sean’s knuckles. “I had another vision a couple days ago.”
Sean tensed. “Was it bad?”
“Yeah. I was at the office so nobody was there to snap me out of it. I thought . . . maybe I was really back there. Maybe I was stuck and wouldn’t wake up. And, you know, I was scared, obviously . . . but I didn’t panic. Because I thought even if that was true, you would find me. I knew that no matter what, you would find me.”
Sean had to swallow the lump in his throat before he could speak. “Damn right.”
White leaned up and pressed a kiss against the corner of Sean’s mouth. “I really love you, Sean.”
“I love you too,” Sean said, putting an arm around him and pulling him close. “Thanks for telling me about the vision. I know you don’t like to talk about them.”
“Yeah. I just hate making people worry about me.”
“I get that, honestly. I don’t like it, either. But we’re gonna figure this out, White. Okay?”
White nodded and smiled. “Okay.”
~ ~ ~ ~
For several weeks, White came and went from his meetings with the doctors who had taken over Tawi’s work. His first set of results showed a mildly elevated white blood cell count but nothing else. They did more bloodwork, checking for a dozen different things. His difficulty breathing puzzled them, as his x-rays were normal and his lungs sounded clear when he wasn’t having trouble. He told them about the doctor he had seen who had given him the inhaler, which they said sounded reasonable even though it hadn’t worked.
They also asked him many more questions about what he had seen in the upside down, and he got some answers from them as well. The gate Black had opened was still there. They had sealed it off, but the upside down continued to try to break through. They had to go in every day and burn the new growth back.
“Black opened and closed a gate to bring you back through, didn’t he?” the doctor asked. White had gathered by this point that each of the three doctors had a specific role. The woman was a medical doctor, in charge of the physical portion of his examination. The other two men were scientists digging through Tawi’s research. One seemed to be in charge of researching the upside down, and the other in charge of trying to get answers from him about Black no matter how many times he refused to answer them.
This one seemed relevant, however, so he nodded and said, “Yes, that’s what happened.”
“Do you know how he opened the gate?” the man asked, and saw White’s jaw tense. “Anything you can tell us, White. It’s not about Black. It’s about the barrier between the two worlds.”
White sighed but nodded. “The way he described it was like . . . he made a psychic connection with something on the other side and then pushed. The first time, at the lab, it was because Tawi forced him to make contact with the demogorgon, because he had encountered it in the void before and Tawi wanted to know more about it.”
“The void?”
“The . . . the space between minds. Where Black went when he was trying to find people.”
He didn’t want to give more information than that, but fortunately, the other man nodded, so White presumed Tawi had documented this. “He saw the demogorgon there?”
“Yeah. I don’t know how or why that happened so don’t ask me. But Tawi wanted to see it again, to study it. Black reached out to it, found it in the void, and it attacked him. He panicked and pushed it away from him and that’s how the gate opened. Then later, he used his psychic connection with me to open one again.”
“And he closed it afterwards?”
White nodded. “But again, I don’t know much about that. He says he just did it. He wanted it to close so it closed.”
The scientists convened for several moments, and when they came back, they thanked White for answering their questions.
“Can I ask something in return?” he asked, and they nodded. “After Black opened the main gate, it seemed like gates nearby the lab were just opening and closing on their own. I went through one; that’s how I got stuck on the other side. But Sean found one as well, and I think there were others but I’m not sure.”
“We don’t really know how that happened yet,” the man said apologetically.
“I didn’t figure you did. I just wanted to know if it was still happening.”
“We don’t think so. There haven’t been any reports of it. It seems to have stopped when we sealed the gate off.”
White wasn’t sure that made sense. The gate didn’t seem to be a physical thing, or at least not only a physical thing. The other gates that had opened hadn’t been physically connected as far as he could tell. But he reminded himself that he wasn’t here to help these people. What they did or didn’t find out about the other world made no difference to him.
“We’d like to do something called a bronchoscopy,” the woman said the following week. “It means that we put a little tube down your throat that has a camera on it, to look at the inside of your lungs and take some samples.”
White didn’t love the idea of that, but they certainly hadn’t found any explanation for his difficulty breathing so he understood the purpose of it. “Would I need to be sedated?”
“It can be done under local if you’d prefer, but a lot of people find it uncomfortable. Typically, we would recommend general anesthesia, but we can do it here at the clinic.”
White thought about that. He didn’t like the idea of being sedated, but was afraid if he wasn’t, and it hurt or he panicked, Black would have a reaction and know something was going on. “Okay, let’s do that. How long will I be out?”
“Only about half an hour. It’s a brief procedure. Someone is picking you up?”
White nodded, and they had him sign a consent form before taking him into a private room. Afterwards, he felt a little woozy and nauseous. The doctor said, “We’re done for the day, but you might want to sit quietly for a bit before you leave. If you got in a car right now, you might throw up.”
“Yeah,” White said. He didn’t bother to point out that Gumpa would pick him up on his motorcycle. The idea of trying to hold on during the ride made him think about passing out.
“I’ll stay with him,” Bret said, and sat down in the room’s uncomfortable chair.
The other doctors left while White focused on breathing slowly. The nausea faded, and he said to Bret, “You don’t have to wait.”
Bret shrugged. “It’s fine. I have a son about your age, you know. I can’t just leave you by yourself when you’re not feeling well.”
Still feeling a little out-of-it, White said, “I mean, you don’t have to be nice to me. I don’t care. You can’t convince me that you’re a good guy who just happened to get this job as a liaison between the government who covered up the death of my boyfriend’s father and threatens my brother with institutionalization if we tell anyone about it, and the victims of that government.”
“I see Sean told you about our meeting,” Bret said, sounding a little amused.
“I would’ve said the same thing even if he hadn’t. You came into my life talking about the vast implications of Tawi’s work like it wasn’t based on torturing my brother. You and your superiors might not have done that, but you still want to profit off of it. I’m doing this because I want to know what’s wrong with me, and hopefully get it fixed. I’m not doing it for any of you. We’re not going to be friends, Khun Bret, so you can cut the bullshit.”
Bret lifted his hands in surrender. “I actually am a pretty friendly guy. But okay. I can see you’re not in the mood.”
White thought about throwing up on him.
~ ~ ~ ~
Chapter 16
Notes:
This is the last of the 'interlude' chapters - after this we'll be going into the events of season 2. Hope you're all enjoying the fic!
Chapter Text
The bronchoscopy came back normal. Everything they did, normal, normal, normal. On another set of bloodwork, his white blood cell count was back in the normal range, and they said he’d probably just had a mild virus when the first set of labs was drawn. Meanwhile, the visions were happening more often, several times a week, whereas in the first few months after his stay in the upside down, there had only been one a week if that.
“We’d like to do something called an fMRI,” the doctor told him. “It’s different from a regular MRI because it looks at your brain during activity.”
“Sure,” White said, too tired to argue.
The doctor hesitated. “Well, the problem is that this facility isn’t equipped to do that. You’d have to come to the lab.”
White shook his head. “I’m not going to the lab. I’m sure there’s another hospital somewhere that can do it. If we have to drive a few hours, I’m okay with that. But I’m not going to the lab.”
They didn’t particularly like that, and came up with a number of objections, the main one was having to involve other people and risking somebody else asking uncomfortable questions. White held firm, reminding them that it was in the contract that he wouldn’t go to the lab, and if they had a problem with that, they would just have to deal with it.
“The fMRI might be able to tell us why you’re having these visions,” one of the doctors said.
“Just like the bronchoscopy told us why I’m having trouble breathing?” White asked, resisting the urge to say that he was beginning to doubt any of these people could figure out anything.
That night, however, watching Sean mope and pick at his dinner, he had an idea. For the first time, he used the number that Bret had given him to call with questions or concerns, and said, “How badly do they want this fMRI?”
“Pretty badly,” Bret said. “Why?”
“I’ll go to the lab,” White said, “if your superiors will agree to issue the statement about Sean’s dad’s death.”
“Hm,” Bret said. “Yeah, they might agree to that. I’ll pass it up the chain and see if I can get an answer for you by the next time we’re scheduled to meet.”
“Thanks,” White said, and hung up.
When he got to the clinic on the next testing day, Bret wasn’t there. That didn’t bother White, as Bret often wasn’t there when he arrived, and would come in about halfway through or towards the end for a status update. It was only the first session that he had stayed the entire time. So White sat patiently and answered their new questions, told them about the visions he’d had over the previous week. They wanted to know if anyone could observe him while he was having a vision instead of immediately snapping him out of it, but unfortunately, he said, he apparently didn’t look any different when he was having one. To this point, nobody had been aware they were interrupting one when they did.
It had been over an hour, and they were clearly running out of questions and frustrated with the ones he wouldn’t answer, when Bret came in. White immediately got to his feet and demanded, “What did they say?”
Bret shook his head, and White’s stomach twisted. “Sorry, White, they didn’t go for it. They said they’ll just find a hospital they can do the fMRI at.”
“Then I’ll refuse to go there,” White said.
“White, you already agreed to that before you had this idea,” Bret said. “If you go back on that, you’ll end up in more trouble than it’ll be worth. This just isn’t something they want to put a spotlight on. The only reason they’re going to do it is if you agree to answer questions about Black.”
“Of course,” White said, feeling bitter anger well up in his throat. “Thanks.”
“I’m just the messenger,” Bret said, lifting his hands in surrender.
“Oh, yeah?” White’s jaw tightened. “You must be so proud of yourself to have landed this job. To get to play messenger for the people who murdered someone but won’t admit it unless they get to torture a kid. Congratulations.”
“White . . .”
“You said you had a son, didn’t you?” White said. “About my age. How do you think he would feel about you doing this job?”
After a moment, Bret huffed out a quiet laugh. “He probably wouldn’t be surprised, to be honest. He’s not naive about his old man.”
Disgusted and somehow even more angry, White just pushed past him and headed for the door.
Bret called after him, “Same time next week. We’ll have the fMRI set up by then so be ready for a long trip.”
“Get fucked,” White said, because Black was right. Sometimes those truly were the most appropriate words to say.
~ ~ ~ ~
“You ever think about removing this?” Todd asked, running his fingers over Black’s tattoo.
Black glanced over at him. It was late, one of the few occasions where Todd was staying at the garage rather than hanging out at his place. Black had been so worried about White lately that he didn’t like to leave, so he hadn’t seen Todd in over a week. Todd had showed up at the garage without an invitation. For some reason, White seemed annoyed by this, even though Black wasn’t. It was a strange feeling, Todd checking in on him, but he didn’t mind it. When White hadn’t said anything, Sean had said that White could stay in his room so Todd could spend the night.
“No,” he finally said. “It wouldn’t mean it hadn’t happened. White wants to get one to match.”
“Oh, yeah?” Todd asked, kissing the tattoo, then the palm of Black’s hand.
“Yeah. Wants to change mine so it’s 011.1 and then get one of his own that’s 011.2.”
“That’s cute,” Todd said. “So you’re the older twin?” he asked, and Black nodded. “Yeah, that checks out. You seem like the older twin. Hey, can I ask a question?”
“Can I stop you?”
“You don’t have to answer it.”
“I don’t answer a lot of your questions.”
“That’s true.” Todd laughed and kissed his hand again before letting it fall back to the bed. He rolled onto his stomach so he could rest his chin on his arms. “I’m just curious about what the hell you did as a three-year-old to make your parents think you were so awful.”
Black looked over at him. “Seriously?”
“Yeah, seriously.”
“This is why White and Sean don’t like you,” Black said. “Questions like that. Fucking rude.”
“I said you didn’t have to answer.”
Black stared up at the ceiling. “Good. I’m not going to.”
“Okay.”
They lay in silence.
“Look, I’m sorry,” Todd said. “I shouldn’t have asked.”
“You’re right.”
Todd looked at him thoughtfully. “You know, I think you’re angry with me for the wrong thing. You’re angry with me for prying. But honestly, I shouldn’t have suggested that they were in any way justified when they gave you up. That was shitty of me.”
Black hadn’t thought about it that way. “Oh. I guess.”
Todd sighed and leaned over to give Black a kiss on the mouth. It was gentle, softer than Black would have expected. It made something deep inside him ache fiercely. “You didn’t deserve that. You know that, right?”
Black pushed him away. “The only reason I hang out with you is because you don’t say shit like that, so cut it the fuck out.”
“Okay, okay.” Todd flopped backwards. “Whatever.”
“My turn for a question,” Black said, making a decision he’d been waffling on for a while. “Can you give me some money?”
“Sure,” Todd said. “How much do you need?”
“I don’t know. How much can you give me?”
Todd frowned at him. “I mean, I have plenty, but if I’m going to give you anything over five hundred bucks, I want to know what you want it for.”
Black wondered how far five hundred bucks would get him. Not very far, he didn’t think. “I want to be able to leave if things go bad.”
“Leave Hawkins?” Todd didn’t sound surprised.
“Yeah. These visions White keeps having. They might be because he’s still close to the gate. I want to be able to get him out of here, if I have to. And he won’t go without Sean so I’ll be stuck with his obnoxious ass. White’s used up most of what he saved before he left California, and he spends almost everything he makes at the dentist. And I don’t.” Black had to stop and swallow hard. “I don’t trust those people at the lab. I know they’ve threatened to take me back and I won’t let them. I’ll never go back there. So I have to be able to escape.”
Todd nodded. “Yeah. That makes sense. Okay - I’ll make a deal with you,” he said, and Black arched an eyebrow. “If you can give me a week or two to whine at my mom until she lets me access my trust fund, I can give you, probably a couple hundred grand.”
“Holy shit,” Black said. “Seriously?”
“Yeah. It’s for my future, you know?” Todd smirked. “But, if I do that, you have to promise me you won’t leave without saying goodbye.”
Black thought about it. Then he nodded. “Okay. I promise.”
“Okay.” Todd leaned in and nuzzled at his neck, then bit his ear. That was more in line with Todd’s usual behavior, and Black relaxed slightly. He twined his hand in Todd’s hair and rolled them over, and they didn’t talk much more after that.
~ ~ ~ ~
It took a little bit of effort to get White out of town for his fMRI without Black noticing. Sean was at school the whole time, so he wasn’t a problem. But Black’s relationship with his school work was nebulous at best. White told him that he was helping the dentist with a project to reorganize the supply closet and would be home from work later than usual, and Gumpa had to keep a sharp eye on Black and distract him in the garage to make sure he didn’t decide to go find White at the office.
After all the work that took, Gumpa was admittedly a little annoyed when White came home from the next session so upset that it seemed unlikely they would be able to hide it from anyone, least of all Black. He pushed that aside as White sank down onto the floor of the garage and asked, “What’s wrong?”
White impatiently wiped tears away. “They’re done.”
“Done? What?” Gumpa was startled. “What does that mean, done?”
“It means, they’ve done all the tests they wanted to do and asked me all the questions they wanted to ask,” White said. “No more regular sessions. They might call me back periodically if they think of something they missed, and I’m supposed to call them if I develop new symptoms, but . . .”
Gumpa wasn’t sure what to say, because the obvious - ‘but they haven’t fixed you yet’ - was more than a little rude and clearly already on White’s mind. He settled for the more general, “What happened today?”
“We went over the results of the fMRI. Apparently mine are identical to someone with severe PTSD. So.” White swallowed hard. “It really is just all in my head.”
Gumpa sighed. From the beginning, he had wondered if that might be the answer, but nobody was going to say it out loud, even after White had posed the theory himself. It was Black who had insisted it was something else, something different. “Listen, White. I know that’s upsetting to you, mostly because of the garbage cans that called themselves your parents. I know that I can’t really get that. But I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing.”
White tried to smile. “That’s what Bret said, too. He even offered to set me up with a therapist on the lab’s payroll, someone that knew all the details, that I could be honest with.”
“That might not be a bad idea,” Gumpa said.
“No,” White said, shaking his head. “I don’t trust those people. If I’m going to get therapy, I’d have to talk about Black, and I don’t want them knowing anything about Black.”
Gumpa nodded and accepted that. “Then we’ll sit down together and we’ll come up with a version of the events that a therapist would believe, like the fact that you got lost in the forest and nearly drowned. It’ll get better, White. It really will.”
“I just - ” White could barely choke the words out. “I did all this for nothing. I let them study every inch of me like some lab rat, answered every question that wasn’t about Black and answered a few of them, too. And in the end there’s nothing wrong with me.”
“Hey,” Gumpa said. “Just because you aren’t actually getting transported back to the upside down doesn’t mean there’s nothing wrong. PTSD is an illness, White, just like asthma or cancer. It’s nothing you should be ashamed of. What happened to you was horrible. It makes sense that it’s taking you some time to recover from it. We’ve ruled out a lot of things and now we know what we’re dealing with, so it wasn’t for nothing, White. And for what it’s worth, I think it was pretty fucking brave of you to go through all of that.”
White wiped more tears away and nodded, letting Gumpa pull him into an embrace. “I guess I’ll tell Sean and Black now that it’s over and they can’t freak out. I mean, they will freak out, but not as badly.”
Gumpa laughed and tousled his hair. “Yeah. You’ll feel better once they know. But if you don’t feel up to going in and seeing Black yet, want to help me with the wrap for this bike?”
White nodded again. “Thanks, hia.”
By the time he went into the apartment, he was much calmer, and it was no longer obvious that he had been crying. Black was immersed in a book about natural disasters, and he greeted his brother but didn’t notice anything wrong. White went into the kitchen and started cooking, which seemed to further calm his nerves. Sean got home from school about an hour later, and White greeted him with a generous kiss. Sean also greeted Black with his usual, “What’s up, shithead,” to which Black replied, “Fuck off,” their typical way of exchanging affection.
“I want to talk to both of you about something,” White said, and both Sean and Black looked up, going on high alert. “It’s not bad.”
Black’s eyes narrowed, but Sean sank down onto the sofa and said, “You gonna tell us where you’ve been going on Mondays, then? ‘Cause I know it’s not the office. Wai’s daughter is in our class and told me he’s not open then.”
“You knew?” White was clearly surprised, and to be fair, Gumpa was, too. He wouldn’t have expected Sean to have just sat on that. He really was growing up in a lot of ways. When Sean just gave White an unimpressed look, White rubbed a hand over the back of his head and said, “Yeah . . . I’m sorry I lied to you guys. I just didn’t want to upset you. I’ve been seeing a doctor.”
Sean nodded. “I thought that might be it, because I couldn’t think of much else you wouldn’t want to tell us.”
“A doctor.” Black was still glaring. “From the lab?”
“Yeah,” White said, and Black’s scowl deepened. “They were the only people who could really look into why I was having those visions, having trouble breathing, since we’re not allowed to tell anyone else. I didn’t say anything about you, Black.”
“Do you seriously think that’s what I’m pissed about?” Black waved this off. “I know you didn’t. But those people can’t be trusted.”
“I know,” White said. “I never set foot in the lab itself. I set down rules ahead of time and made them put it in writing, and Gumpa always knew where I was and picked me up. I was careful, Black. But I had to know.”
“What did you find out?” Sean asked.
“Everything was pretty much normal. My, uh, my brain scans show signs of PTSD. So, it turns out I’m just having flashbacks, I guess.” White was sitting with his arms folded over his stomach, posture tight with anxiety. “At least there’s nothing physically wrong with me.”
“No,” Black said.
White and Sean both looked at him expectantly, but he didn’t say anything else.
Gumpa could tell that Black was having trouble finding words. That still happened sometimes, particularly when he was stressed. “Why ‘no’, Black? What’s wrong?”
Black shook his head, frustrated. “I don’t trust them.”
“None of us trust them,” Sean said, rolling his eyes.
Gumpa waved for him to be quiet. “Black, I know that you don’t like them being anywhere near White, and that’s fine. But I think they did pretty thorough work. They wanted to know if there were aftereffects of being in the upside down as part of their research. Do you think they’re hiding something? Or do you just think they’re wrong?”
“Yes,” Black said.
“I guess it’s true that we can’t be sure they were honest about the results of the tests and stuff,” Sean said.
“I think they were,” White said. “They wanted to find something. For me to still be connected to the upside down, so they could study that connection.”
Black growled. “You shouldn’t believe them. You’re not crazy and you shouldn’t believe people when they tell you you’re crazy!”
“Nobody said he was crazy,” Gumpa said firmly. “PTSD is an illness.”
“No!” Black said. “You don’t see things that aren’t there. Don’t believe them!”
Gumpa sighed, seeing how this was all tied up with the perfectly justifiable knot of rage that Black held for their parents. Of course he wouldn’t want to accept this conclusion any more than White had. But his reaction was clearly painful for White, who was curling up tighter, shrinking into himself. First the scientists told him that what he saw wasn’t real, now Black insisted that it was, and White couldn’t trust himself. Like always, White couldn’t trust himself.
Surprisingly, it was Sean who intervened, although he did it in his typical way. “Black, would you shut the fuck up? You’re only making him feel worse.”
Black looked at White, stricken, and White wouldn’t meet his gaze. In fact, White said raggedly, “I’m sorry. If I hadn’t believed Mom and Dad - ”
“You never believed them,” Sean reminded him. “This is totally different, okay?”
Seeing that the twins were on the verge of falling apart, Gumpa interceded. “Sean’s right. What your parents did was reprehensible, and they are to blame for it, nobody else. I know that it’s hard for both of you, that you were separated for so long, that White didn’t know what to believe and couldn’t trust himself. White, you don’t have to apologize for that.”
After a moment, White nodded. Sean reached out and squeezed his hand. Black said nothing.
“But,” Gumpa continued, “this is different. White went through something extremely traumatic. It’s not unusual that he’s still recovering, both mentally and physically. Black, I understand you’re trying to help, but I want to ask you something and I want you to really think about it, okay?”
Black glanced at him, scowled, and looked away.
“Why are you saying this isn’t true?” Gumpa asked him. “Is it because of something you know about the upside down, about the lab, about your brother? Is there a specific reason you feel like these visions are White’s mind being momentarily transported back to the upside down? Or is it just because you feel like, if White really does have a mental illness that causes him to see things that aren’t real, that makes your anger at your parents less valid? That somehow, suddenly, they were right to lie to him?”
Black choked something out that didn’t come close to actually being a word.
White let out a breath and relaxed slightly, as if he suddenly understood more about his own complex feelings. “You’re real,” he said, reaching out and gripping Black’s hand tightly. “Phi, you’re real. But this isn’t. And it’s okay that this isn’t. It doesn’t mean you’re not.”
“I just want you to be able to trust yourself,” Black managed.
“I know,” White said, and smiled slightly. “That would be nice, wouldn’t it? So let’s work on figuring out how to get me better so I don’t have flashbacks anymore.”
Black nodded, and pulled White into an embrace, hugging him tightly. White hugged back just as hard.
~ ~ ~ ~
Black was sulking, not that he would have admitted it, when his phone buzzed. He looked down to see he had a text from Todd which read, ‘Wanna come over? I have something you asked for,’ with an emoji of an eggplant. Black scowled at the screen. Emojis were hard enough to understand without them being that random. “Why is Todd texting me an eggplant?”
Sean choked on a mouthful of his soda and Yok and Gram both started laughing. Black glowered at them, but was pleased to see that White, at least, looked as clueless as he did. “What’s the joke?”
“Send him a peach!” Yok shouted, chortling.
Sean threw a pillow at him. “It’s his dick, Black. The eggplant is his dick.”
“Why?” White asked, blinking owlishly.
“It just is,” Yok said, still laughing. “That’s what the emoji means. I don’t know who decided that. An eggplant is a dick, a peach is an ass, those little drops of water are - ”
“Please stop,” White said. “I don’t think I want to know.” He turned to Sean and added, “Thank you for not using those emojis with me.”
“You’re welcome,” Sean said.
Gram chimed in with, “Don’t let Yok fool you. He’s not a sexting expert. Despite how slutty he acts, he’s never even made it past second base.”
“It’s not my fault that the dudes in this one-horse town don’t appreciate me,” Yok said. “Just wait, when I get to college, I’m going to make up for lost time.”
“Just as long as you’re not still holding a torch for Dan,” Sean said.
“Well, my current plan is to get super hot and experienced in college and then see how I feel about it,” Yok said.
Annoyed with all this talk about people he absolutely didn’t care about, Black stood up and said, “I’m going to Todd’s.”
“I’ll bet you are,” Gram said, and he and Yok started laughing again.
White, however, looked anxious. It had only been a few days since his last appointment and the discussion that he and Black had had afterwards. They hadn’t talked about it since then. Gumpa had said he was going to do a little research to see if they could find a therapist who wasn’t really far away. White had mentioned he would need to figure out what he could and couldn’t tell said therapist, but they hadn’t gone into detail.
Black was too angry to talk about it. He knew that Gumpa was probably right and he was overreacting, but he just couldn’t handle it. And seeing White curled up in Sean’s lap, clearly feeling like Sean provided the safety and comfort he needed, was making Black grind his teeth. Eggplant or no eggplant, he needed to get out of the garage for a while. So he said, “I’ll be fine,” to White’s anxious look, and stalked out of the garage.
He greeted Todd with, “Take off your clothes.”
“Slow down, cowboy,” Todd said. “I only put the emoji in the text in case my mom decided to read my texts later. She’s a snoop, you know? That’s not actually why I texted you.”
Black blinked at him. “What? Then why?”
Todd gestured for Black to follow him, which he did, up to Todd’s bedroom. Todd took an envelope off the desk. “So, there are apparently limits on the trust fund, and I can only take out fifty thousand dollars at one time. I figured you would probably just want it in cash, so you don’t have to worry about it being traced.”
Black accepted the envelope and peeked inside. Some of the tension left his shoulders, and he nodded. “Good.”
“You’re welcome,” Todd said, amused. “Should I take off my clothes now?”
“Yeah,” Black said.
Some time later, they were sprawled out on Todd’s bed, and Black’s stomach growled. “You hungry?” Todd asked, unnecessarily in Black’s opinion. He didn’t wait for an answer, either, adding, “Let’s order some pizza. My parents are out of town.”
“Again?” Black asked. Admittedly, he knew very little about what parents were supposed to be like, but he had noticed that Todd’s parents were out of town a lot, especially his father.
“Yeah, Dad had some meeting in Chicago and my mom went with him. He’s been super busy since he got that new job over the summer. The consultant gig, I think I told you about it.”
Black shrugged. It was possible that Todd had, but he hadn’t bothered to remember. “Pizza,” he said, as this had priority.
Todd laughed. “Actually, that reminds me,” he said, and Black scowled, as this sounded like something that might delay the arrival of the aforementioned pizza. “My dad wanted to know if you were looking for a job. You know, because White has one, and you’re clearly not in school, so he thinks you graduated early, like White did.”
“No,” Black said.
“I mean, I know you don’t want a job,” Todd said, rolling his eyes. “But you do clearly want money. They’re always hiring at the factory, you know. It could be part-time if you wanted.” He saw Black’s face and said, “I think he’s just offering because, you know, he thinks we’re a thing. A couple. He knows I’m going to start learning about how to run the factory after I graduate high school. Mom mostly manages it while he’s got all his side gigs. I think he’s got this romantic idea about how we might run it together.”
“Yuck,” Black said.
Todd laughed. “Yeah, maybe. And I get that you haven’t exactly thought about your future a lot. Would it be that bad, though? You guys can’t sponge off Gumpa forever. White knows it; that’s why he got a job here. If you’re settling in for the long-term . . .”
Black thought about that. White had talked a little about maybe moving to a larger city after Sean graduated high school, where Sean could open his own garage. But he also seemed to really like Hawkins, so he was on the fence about it. Black was in favor of it, in favor of getting away from the lab, taking refuge in the anonymity of a crowd. Part of what White seemed most worried about was whether or not they would have enough money. He didn’t have to work here forever, and although Todd clearly didn’t mind the gift of an envelope full of cash, Black’s pride was a little stung at the thought of asking him for more. “Yeah, maybe.”
Todd smiled, and Black noted, not for the first time, that Todd had a very nice smile. “I’ll give you his number so you can call him, you know, man-to-man. He’s a really nice guy, you know. He’ll take good care of you. Lemme see your phone, I’ll enter him as a contact.”
“Okay.” Black handed it over, watching Todd tap the screen. “What’s his name?”
“Hm?” Todd glanced up. “Oh, his name is Bret.”
~ ~ ~ ~
Chapter Text
For the first year he had been in Hawkins, Dan had found it pretty boring. There was never really a lot to do. In fact, the town having three deputy sheriffs in addition to his boss had seemed like overkill to him. Sometimes he wondered if they were busier than he was, but it certainly never seemed like it.
Then, White had vanished and Black had appeared from the lab and for five days, Dan’s life had been absolute chaos. Now he had no problem that he could sit with his feet up and scroll on his phone for large parts of his shift.
(It helped that he had made a conscious decision to start ignoring Yok’s misdemeanors, and Yok had never escalated, because he was smart enough not to want a permanent criminal record just so he could flirt with someone who wasn’t interested. Dan wouldn’t have admitted it out loud, but he sometimes missed arresting Yok.)
So the call that came in one late spring morning was the first he’d had in a while that sounded like an actual crime might have been committed. Although the majority of the people who lived in Hawkins worked for the electronics factory, there were some people who ran their own businesses. Of those were several farmers who lived on the outskirts of town, where they had room. They all had a rivalry with each other that was sometimes friendlier than other times. When one came in claiming that another had poisoned his crops, Dan took it seriously. He drove out to the farm to take a look.
Something awful had definitely happened to the crops, although he had no idea what sort of chemical might have made an entire field rot in one night.
“He’s gone too far this time,” the farmer fumed. “Just because I undercut his prices by fifty cents - ”
“Have you ever seen anything like this before?” Dan asked, shielding his nose from the stench.
“No! What the hell did he do - ”
“I’m going to go talk to him, ask a few questions, okay?” Dan said. “We’ll get this figured out. I’ll call you when I find something.”
The farmer thanked him and gave him the address of the rival farmer. Dan got in his car and shook his head, backing out of the driveway. It wasn’t a long drive, as the two farms were fairly close to one another, both on the southeast end of town. But as soon as he got out of the car, he could smell the same rot here that he had at the other farm.
Dan looked around, seeing the way it spread all across the field, back to where the forest started, and muttered, “What the hell?”
~ ~ ~ ~
“Hey, what are you doing after school today? Not homework, presumably,” Gram asked, leaning against Yok’s locker.
Yok laughed. “On a Tuesday? I can’t imagine why you’d think so. What’s up?”
“Want to come help me babysit? My dad’s working a late shift and mom is out of town visiting her sister.”
“Do I get paid?”
“Free snacks.”
“Yeah, I’ll be there,” Yok said, laughing.
“Thank God. My little brothers found this weird tadpole and they’re obsessed with it. I need a new victim for them to chatter to.”
Yok laughed harder. “I’m flattered. You want to ask Sean and White? I think they could use a break. From life in general, but from Black specifically.”
“Don’t say that where White can hear you; he’ll kick your ass.”
Yok shrugged. “Listen, I know the relationship between the two of them is complicated as all hell, and that White would rather die than go four hours without seeing his brother. But I also know that Black’s constant glowering is going to send White around the bend pretty soon. He might like to have a couple of kids tell him about a tadpole.”
“I’ll bring it to D&D this weekend,” Gram said.
“Okay, sure,” Yok said with a snort.
Twenty minutes later, he was at Gram’s, eating snacks and listening to a very serious eight-year-old explain to him that this was a major scientific discovery. “It’s a tadpole,” Gram said, groaning.
Yok thought about this and said, “Yeah, but aren’t tadpoles usually underwater?”
“Exactly!” the ten-year-old jumped in. “This is a terrestrial tadpole. Which are very rare! And there are no known species of terrestrial tadpoles in North America, so - ”
“Major! Scientific! Discovery!” both boys chanted in unison.
“Well, that’s great,” Yok said, smiling. “You better think about what you’re going to name it. I hear that if you discover a new species, you get to name it.”
“Oooooh,” both boys said, and then immediately began quarreling over what the name should be.
Gram sighed and slumped onto the sofa. “Why couldn’t I have sisters?”
“Hate to tell you this, Gram, but when we were kids, Namo was the one most likely to be playing with bugs in the dirt,” Yok said, laughing. “She would have absolutely been all over a terrestrial tadpole she could keep at home.”
“Guess I should’ve called her to babysit, then,” Gram said.
Yok laughed and examined the tadpole in the enclosure which normally held the kids’ tortoise. “He’s kind of a cute little guy, huh? Wonder how big he’ll get.”
~ ~ ~ ~
It was a normal evening at the garage, or at least as normal as evenings there got. They had finished dinner about a half hour previous. Sean was at the kitchen table, doing his homework. Black was washing the dishes, one of the few chores he could be trusted to do with a minimum of bitching. Gumpa was on the sofa, watching television. White was on his laptop, surfing the internet, periodically relaying funny things he found to Sean and Black, texting with Gram and Yok about some tadpole he should come over and see.
“Done,” Black said, setting the last dish on the rack, “Hia, what are you watching?” he added, wandering out of the room. White watched him go, and was relieved to see that Black seemed more relaxed than he had been over the past few weeks. Although he certainly hadn’t taken the news of White’s PTSD diagnosis well, he seemed to have come to terms with it on his own, without a lot of further discussion which White absolutely didn’t want to have.
White had done a little research on PTSD, noting a few other symptoms he had - hypervigilance, a trait he certainly shared with Black, along with emotional lability and difficulty planning for the future - and had decided that he thought the diagnosis was accurate. But when he thought about going to a therapist, the idea was daunting. What could he possibly tell them? How could he make the story make sense without getting in trouble with the lab? Or if he did tell the real story, what were the odds a therapist would actually believe him?
“Be right back,” Sean said, dropping a kiss on the crown of White’s head as he got up. White glanced over, seeing him heading towards the bathroom.
He thought about it again. Telling a therapist he had been split up from his twin brother was easy enough. He could say his parents had gotten a divorce, had each taken one of them. But how could he explain the gaslighting that had followed? No sane parent would try to convince one of their children that the other wasn’t real.
Of course, he thought, some people were insane. So he supposed that he could tell the therapist that whichever parent had taken him had been so upset about the divorce that they had decided to pretend the other half of the family had never existed. But then he started thinking about the seizures, the visions he’d had of Black, far away, hurting, desperate. How could he explain that to a therapist? But how could he not? Experiencing Black’s suffering from a thousand miles away had shaped his entire childhood.
He sighed and closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose.
When he opened them again, he was in the upside down.
His hands began to shake. He reminded himself that this wasn’t real. He had spent a lot of time in the garage while he was in the upside down. It was just a flashback. It wasn’t real and nothing here could hurt him.
Outside, he heard a rumble of thunder.
Without thinking, he stood up and walked over to the door. He could see dark clouds and something on the horizon glowing red. He opened the door and went outside. It was bitterly cold, and his arms crossed over his stomach. He looked down the road that led to town and saw - something. He didn’t know what it was. Something massive and dark and ominous. Something evil. He couldn’t move. He felt frozen in place. He couldn’t take his eyes off of it.
“White?” Sean said, and White startled. Suddenly, everything was back to normal. But he was standing outside. “What are you doing out here?” Sean asked, obviously worried. “Were you having a vision?”
“Yeah,” White said hoarsely. “Yeah, I - ”
His voice broke off. He couldn’t finish the sentence. Terror was still filling his throat and freezing his lungs.
“Come inside,” Sean said, getting an arm around him and steering him back into the garage. Both Gumpa and Black looked up as he ushered White over to the sofa. Black frowned and Gumpa turned off the TV. “He had a vision,” Sean explained, unnecessarily. “White, why did you go outside?”
“I thought I - saw something,” White said. “It felt like it was looking for me.”
“Like the demogorgon? When it was hunting you?” Gumpa asked.
“No. Something else. Something . . . different.” White fought to find the words to describe it. “The demogorgon was, was an animal. A predator. Yeah, it was scary, but . . . this was evil in a way the demogorgon wasn’t. It felt like a storm was coming. I felt . . . frozen. I couldn’t move.”
“Well, there’s probably lots of evil things in the upside down,” Sean said.
“Yeah, but he shouldn’t be seeing ones now that he didn’t see then if this was a flashback,” Black snapped.
“That’s true, yeah,” Sean muttered.
White nearly choked on what he wanted to say. It felt so real. He couldn’t help but think back to being a young child, to having nightmares, visions of his brother undergoing terrible torture, trying to insist to the adults around him that he wasn’t seeing things, he wasn’t making things up. He had a brother and his brother was suffering. This was the same but it wasn’t. How could he know that his mind wasn’t just playing tricks on him?
The truth was, as terrifying as these visions were, he wanted them to be real. He would rather have a connection to the upside down than a mind that couldn’t be trusted. He had tried to accept it, but wasn’t sure how.
“Do you want to call the lab?” Gumpa asked.
White shook his head. “I don’t trust them. Black was right; I never should have talked to them at all. Whatever’s going on, let’s figure it out ourselves.”
Sean reached out and squeezed his shoulder. “I mean, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to say you’re psychic, you know? That was what that guy from the lab was going off about. How you and Black were psychically connected before he was taken to the lab, and that’s why the experiments worked for him when they didn’t for so many other people. So you’re connected to Black. Maybe now you’re connected to . . . something else.”
“Well, that’s a horrifying idea,” White said, with a wan smile. “Thanks, Sean.”
“I know you still prefer that to the alternative,” Sean pointed out.
“True.” White’s smile became slightly more genuine, because Sean did know him so well. “Maybe we should . . .”
His voice trailed off before he could tell them his stupid idea which was bound to upset them. Gumpa said, “What is it?”
“If I’m connected to something over there, maybe you should stop trying to interrupt my visions,” White said. “You could tell this time, right, Sean?”
Sean nodded. “I mean, I couldn’t think of why else you might have stood up and walked outside and just been staring blankly into space, yeah.”
“So maybe I should try to find it. Then once we know more about it, we can . . . I don’t know. I didn’t get that far in my planning.”
“Kill it,” Black said. “I open a gate and we kill it.”
White nodded. “Yeah.”
“Okay,” Gumpa said, “but this sounds risky. If we notice you having a vision, you’ve got thirty seconds to try to figure out something useful about this whatever-it-is before we bring you out of it. At least for now. If that doesn’t work, we can talk about leaving you there for longer, but let’s not take any risks we don’t have to.”
With another nod, White said, “Okay. Thanks, hia.”
~ ~ ~ ~
Dan spent all of Friday and most of Saturday in the fields and woods around Hawkins. He had realized early Friday that the rotting field wasn’t an isolated problem. A woman who lived on the northeast side of town had come to the station with a truck full of rotting fruit, saying that whatever the farmers were doing had spread all the way up to her.
“Probably just because of the late cold snap,” Dan’s superior said, not looking up from his phone.
Dan, who had long since written his superior off as a lazy son of a bitch, said, “Well, I’m going to go take a look if that’s all right with you.”
“Sure. Have fun.”
After plotting out the two points, Dan began to walk the various routes between them, and found more than one patch of rot. He followed the paths as straight as he could, venturing out of Hawkins and into the forest that surrounded it. Here and there, every hour, he found patches of rotten undergrowth and trees.
On Sunday, he sat down with a map and marked everything he had found. What had been a little fuzzy while he was out in the field was beautifully clear there. The rot was occurring in a loose circle. Concentric circles, he realized, with the patches spread further out on the outskirts but denser at the center - the National Laboratory.
“Fuck my life,” he muttered, and took out the card he had given them. He gave his name and explained there was an ‘incident’ he wanted to discuss with them. Ten minutes later, the same woman he had talked to called him back and asked him if he could go to the lab. They would be expecting him at the front gate.
He drove over and was let in, and a man met him just inside and introduced himself as Bret, the new manager and the liaison between the government agency in charge and anyone from the town who had questions. Dan frowned at him for a few seconds, and then the recognition set in. “You own the factory, don’t you? You’re Todd’s dad. I think we’ve met before.”
“Oh, probably, I meet most of the new deputies when they get brought on,” Bret said casually. “Thanks for looking out for my kid back then. He spoke highly of you.”
Dan couldn’t picture Todd speaking highly of anyone, but nodded and said, “He’s a smart kid.”
“He is! Much smarter than his old man. Anyway, the powers-that-be wanted a local in this position, and we’ve done a lot of government contracts, so they reached out to me. Let me show you to my office and we can discuss your concerns.”
“Thanks,” Dan said, and followed him. They went up to the top floor - Bret said he liked having the best view - and he showed him the map and pictures of the rotten fields and trees.
Bret frowned at the map, then said, “It’s a neat pattern. Almost psychedelic.”
Dan stared at him. “Is this a joke to you?”
“No, no, sorry. It’s not a joke. I just don’t understand what it has to do with me.”
“Whatever’s happening, it’s spreading from this place, from this lab,” Dan said, gesturing to the concentric circles.”
“That’s impossible,” Bret said calmly. “The last burn was two days ago.”
Dan frowned. “The last burn?”
“That’s right, I suppose you wouldn’t know anything about it. Let me take you down there and show you.”
They went all the way back down, into the basement. Dan had seen the gate once before, but it still unsettled him - a pulsing, gaping maw that led to a terrible world. Now, at least, there was a layer of polycarbonate glass between him and it. Huge banks of computers had been set up to monitor it. Even so, he looked at the way the vines were crawling out of it, as if they were trying to invade the real world, and shuddered slightly.
“So we do this every three days,” Bret said, gesturing to one of the men, who was getting dressed in a Hazmat suit. Dan watched as he went through a double gate system so the room wasn’t exposed to the upside down, and went through with a flamethrower, burning back all the new growth. “See? It’s contained.”
“This is supposed to be comforting?” Dan said. “That thing is clearly trying to infest our world and I’m supposed to be comforted by the fact that well, you’re containing it, by going through and burning it to ashes a few times a week?”
Bret sighed. “It’s contained. Whatever’s happening to the crops, it’s not related, I assure you.”
Dan thought about this, then said, “Convince me.”
“Excuse me?” Bret arched his eyebrows.
“I said, convince me. Have the scientists go out there, take some samples, run some tests, whatever it is you guys do. Explain to me how a bunch of dying plants forming a circle around your lab has nothing to do with that,” Dan said, stabbing a finger at the gate.
“I think you’re misunderstanding something,” Bret said. “You can express your concerns, but you can’t actually give me any orders.”
More angry than he wanted to admit, Dan said, “Let’s just say for one second that I’m right and you’re wrong. What’s going to happen when this rot reaches the actual town, not just a few fields at the edges? What do you think people are going to say, and more importantly, what am I supposed to tell them? The truth?”
“Is that a threat?” Bret asked.
“It’s a question,” Dan said. “It’s been over a year since the gate was opened. If you and your ‘government agency’ haven’t taken Black back into custody by now, it’s because someone way above your level decided the risk wasn’t worth the reward. So you can threaten all of us with that, but I don’t think it’s a card you actually want to play. Which means if this rot reaches beyond the edge of town and more people start to notice, people are going to find out the truth whether you want them to or not. So convince me that this has nothing to do with that gate, and I’ll go tell our farmers that it’s because of the late cold snap.”
Bret sighed. “We’ll do some tests.”
“Good. I’ll wait to hear from you.”
~ ~ ~ ~
By the time their D&D game on Saturday rolled around, White had had two more visions. The first was short. He was at the office, and had barely been in the upside down for ten seconds before the office phone rang, jolting him out of it. But the second happened at night. He was tossing and turning and suddenly in the upside down. He could hear the rumble of thunder from outside. He followed it, and saw the monster on the horizon.
It was huge, not just in size but in presence. Even though it had no eyes, he could feel it watching him, its stare pinning him in place like a butterfly to a board.
It dissolved into shadows, and the shadows were suddenly everywhere. Despite the fact that it had been his idea to find out more about it, he panicked, running back into the garage and into his room. It was empty, despite the fact that Black had been sleeping there when he had gone to bed. He slammed the door behind himself, and abruptly was back in the real world. Black was sitting up, clearly having noticed White’s absence. “White.”
“I can’t breathe,” White choked out, his chest and shoulders heaving.
“It’s okay,” Black said, getting his wrist and tugging him down onto the bed. He pulled White against his shoulder, holding him tightly. “It’s okay,” he repeated, in their own language.
White shuddered, but managed to calm down enough to take a few deep breaths. He leaned into his brother’s embrace until the shaking stopped.
“It’s so hard to describe,” he complained at breakfast the next morning. “All I can put into words is that it’s an evil shadow.”
“Yeah, that’s not super helpful,” Sean agreed. “I don’t know how to kill an evil shadow.”
“Fireball,” Black said, and Sean gave a snort.
That evening, while they were waiting for Gram, who had texted and said he would be about fifteen minutes late, Yok said, “If you’re having trouble describing it, could you draw it?”
“I’m not much of an artist,” White said.
“Well, sure, but it seems like this thing isn’t art,” Yok said. “Here, I have some stuff with me. Give it a try.” He dug in his bag and brought out a sketchpad and a case with some charcoal in it, then handed those over to White. He accepted them, feeling unsure what to do with them for a few seconds. But it was a shadow. The medium seemed right. He closed his eyes, picturing what he had seen in the upside down, trying to put it on the paper.
“Okay, I don’t like that at all,” Sean said. White opened his eyes and saw he had drawn something that looked a lot like a spider, looming over the road away from the garage, massive in comparison to the building and the trees. “What the fuck is that?”
“Is that what it actually looks like?” Gumpa asked, studying the drawing.
White nodded. “Yeah.” He thought about it, then added, “It’s not solid. While I was watching it, it dissolved into shadows. Almost like black dust. And it’s in everything.” He stared out into space as if he was back in the vision, thinking of how sure he had been that it was real, that these were facts. “In the trees, the vines, even in the demogorgons.”
“Demogorgons? Plural?” Sean asked.
“What?” White startled back to himself. “Sorry. I’m not sure I’m making sense.”
“I mean, you’re not making any less sense now than you did when you were talking to us through lightbulbs,” Sean said dryly. White managed a smile. “Okay. So we’re after a shadow monster. Black, do you know anything about them?”
Black shook his head. “We only made contact with the upside down a few weeks before I left. I didn’t go exploring.”
They were still talking about ways one might kill a shadow (with all of them strongly favoring fire) when Gram came in. “That tadpole has little legs now.”
“Oh? Cute!” Yok said.
“It’s not cute, Yok! It’s disgusting,” Gram said, dropping into a chair. “Arm and Pol are trying to convince Mom that it should be allowed to wander the house. What is wrong with them?”
Sean snickered and said, “When you were eleven, you ate a worm. Kids are stupid.”
“You dared me to eat that worm, dipshit,” Gram said.
“You still did it.”
“Can I see the tadpole?” White asked, pushing his glasses up on his nose. “It sounds interesting. You said they couldn’t figure out what species it was, right?”
“Yeah, I guess it doesn’t match anything native and they’re convinced they’ve found a new species in our trash can. I told them it was probably shipped here in some food packaging or something as a larva but they’re ignoring my wisdom.” Gram tapped at his phone and showed a picture.
“Whoa, it’s gotten a lot bigger in a week,” Yok said. “What are they feeding it?”
“Everything, including and especially my favorite cereal.”
White studied the little amphibian, presuming it was an amphibian, on the screen. For some reason, it made him feel uneasy. He was clearly the only one that felt that way, as the others joked around about it. After a moment, he decided not to say anything. He was having a lot of issues right now; he didn’t want to admit he was afraid of a baby frog. “Yeah, it’s cute,” he said, without much feeling.
“Pol wants to bring it on for show-and-tell on Tuesday, so that’ll be fun,” Gram said, rolling his eyes. “Maybe if I’m lucky, it’ll escape and I won’t have to look at it anymore.”
“You’re so mean,” Yok said, laughing. “Be a good big brother. Black, you’d be fine if White let a tadpole wander around, right?”
“No,” Black said, and everyone laughed.
~ ~ ~ ~
Black didn’t figure he would have a lot of time for Todd, given everything going on, so on Monday after school, when White had gone into Sean’s room and looked like he wouldn’t be out for a while, Black said, “Hia, I’m going to Todd’s,” and hopped on his bike.
“Hey, what’s up?” Todd greeted him as always.
Black realized he didn’t have an immediate demand, that he had really just come over to spend time with Todd. The others called it ‘hanging out’ and he didn’t really know what that meant, but figured he would give it a try. “Let’s hang out?”
Todd looked a little surprised, and then a slight smile touched his mouth. “Okay, sure,” he said, and let Black in. He thumped down on the sofa, and Black joined him. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah. I guess.” Black didn’t want to talk about White’s visions. He felt a strange reluctance to let Todd get involved in this, although he couldn’t have said why. He tried to think about the sort of things the others said when they showed up at the garage. “Gram’s brothers have a tadpole.”
For some reason, it looked like Todd was trying not to laugh. “Okay?”
Black frowned at him. “I told you something that happened. Now you tell me something.”
“Okay, sure.” Todd was smiling broadly now. “Uh, let’s see. I aced my history test.”
Black nodded, frown fading. “Gumpa taught me how to do a transmission flush.”
“That’s cool,” Todd said. “I’ve never learned how to do anything like that. Yesterday, my mom mixed up a tablespoon with a teaspoon and made a dish so hot even my dad couldn’t eat it.”
This wasn’t as hard as he had thought. Black said, “White doesn’t like spicy food. He’s a baby. He never makes anything spicy.”
Todd laughed. “So you like spicy food, then? Me too. Maybe next time my mom makes something spicy but edible, you can come over for dinner.”
Black nodded. He had eaten at Todd’s place before, but he had never specifically been invited. For some reason, this felt different, and he wasn’t sure why. He looked away and said, “I might not be able to come around much for a while. White’s not feeling well.”
“Oh?” Todd frowned slightly. “What’s wrong?”
“If I wanted you to know, I’d tell you.”
“I could come by the garage.”
Black shook his head. “It’s not safe.”
For a moment, it seemed like Todd might question this, but then all he said was, “Don’t forget the promise you made me about leaving town.”
“I haven’t,” Black said. He still wanted to leave town, to get somewhere further away from the lab, but now he was thinking about the fact that if he did that, he wouldn’t see Todd anymore. That shouldn’t have been a problem, but it was.
He was thinking that maybe he should just tell Todd that he should come with them when the front door opened and Todd’s father came in. He looked a little flustered, compared to how he was normally. Todd noticed, too; he looked somewhat surprised, moreso when his father said, “Oh, you’re home.”
“It’s four thirty on a Monday,” Todd said, the unspoken ‘where else would I be’ hanging in the air.
“Yeah, I know. Listen, I have a business partner coming over for a quick meeting. It’s important. Confidential.”
“Oh. Okay.” Todd stood up, then looked at Black and said, “That means we have to go.”
That was news to Black, but he didn’t know much about how real families worked, so he stood up as well. “I guess for tonight we can go to the garage.”
“I’ll follow you on my bike so I can come home later,” Todd said.
Black nodded, and left without waiting. A few minutes later, they were back at the garage. He parked his bike and decided he wanted to ask. “What was that all about?”
Todd sighed and pushed a hand through his hair. “Some of my dad’s side gigs aren’t always on the up-and-up, you know?” he said, and saw that Black didn’t know what that meant. “He’s a criminal, Black. My dad’s a criminal.”
“Oh,” Black said. “What does he do?”
“Drug trafficking, mostly. My guess is someone’s shipment wasn’t to their liking and he got wind that they were planning to come to the house to rake him over the coals for it. That’s why he wanted me out of there. He thinks I don’t know, but I’ve known for like three years now. He thinks he’s super smooth but sometimes he’s really obvious.”
Black thought about this. “Does your mom know?”
“Oh, yeah, a lot of it’s tied up in the factory,” Todd said. “You can’t be a drug trafficker if you don’t have a reason to do a ton of shipping.”
“You wanted me to work there?”
Todd looked away. “He wouldn’t have had you do anything like that. And honestly, I didn’t figure you’d actually entertain the idea. Anyway, you don’t have to, if you don’t want to.”
“I don’t,” Black said, and Todd nodded. Black saw the way he kept glancing over his shoulder, the way he shifted from foot to foot. “Will your dad be okay?”
“Yeah. I mean, probably. It’s not the first time shit like this has happened. He can take care of himself.”
Despite Todd’s words, he was obviously worried. Black didn’t like seeing him like this. He wanted to go back to Todd’s and punch his father in the face for making him worry like this. But he had a feeling that would only make things worse. He made a mental note to punch Todd’s father later, at a more opportune time, and focused on distracting Todd. If only he knew how to go about that. He thought about it for another few seconds, then said, “Pretend you just got here.”
“What? I did just get here,” Todd said.
“Okay. What’s up?”
“You know what’s up, we just . . .” Todd’s voice trailed off as he realized what Black was trying to do. He wasn’t actually asking, but it was Todd’s greeting, to be answered with Black’s demands. Black was reversing it, letting Todd know that he would provide whatever Todd needed, without question. Todd smiled slightly and said, “Let’s watch a movie.”
“Okay,” Black said, and opened the door to the garage. “Hia, I’m home, Todd is with me. Is White out yet?”
“No,” Gumpa called out from the kitchen.
Black made a disgusted noise. “They’re cuddling,” he muttered. “They always cuddle for like an hour.”
“I like cuddling,” Todd said. “I think we should cuddle. Can I lie down with my head in your lap?”
Black wanted to say no on general principle, but he had made the offer, and Todd had always supplied him with whatever he requested. “Okay.”
He grabbed the remote and sat down on the sofa, and Todd flopped down on his back, resting his head on Black’s lap and turning it to the side so he could see the television. Without really thinking about it, Black reached out and grabbed Todd’s hand, twining his fingers together and resting their hands on Todd’s chest. He saw Todd smile slightly, and turned on the television before he could comment on it.
A little while later, Sean and White finally emerged from Sean’s room. Sean took one look at them and said, “That’s so cute, I’m gonna puke.”
“Fuck off,” Black told him, resisting the urge to pull his hand free. He thought it might upset Todd.
White laughed quietly and said, “Sean, come help me make dinner.”
The food was ready only a few minutes after the movie was over. It felt weird to have Todd at the kitchen table, but not bad. Black liked having ‘family dinners’, as Gumpa called them. Todd being there shifted the dynamic slightly, making it a little less White-centric, but Black didn’t mind as much as he had thought he might. He thought again about maybe asking Todd to come with them if they had to leave.
Todd’s phone rang as he and Black were doing the dishes. He grabbed it and answered. “Hey, Dad . . . okay, thanks for letting me know.” A long pause, then he said, “When I feel like it,” and hung up.
Black thought about this and asked, “Want to stay the night?”
“Thanks, but no. I won’t sleep well unless I’ve seen that everything’s cool.”
Black nodded and said, “Okay.”
~ ~ ~ ~
Chapter Text
Sean woke to find the space beside him empty, and patted the cool mattress for a few seconds, mind still foggy from sleep. Of course, it wasn’t unusual for him to wake up by himself. White often slept in Black’s room, especially if he had been having bad dreams. He and Black shared a room more often than he and Sean did. But Sean remembered that White had fallen asleep in his bed last night, and threw back the blankets.
“White?” he called out, leaving his bedroom. He slid the other bedroom door open, and saw Black still asleep in bed. Black usually stayed up later and got up later than the others, since he neither went to school nor opened a business. Sean thought that was the reason White had slept in his room the previous night, because Black hadn’t been planning to go to bed for a few hours.
Black startled awake at Sean’s voice, pushing his hair out of his face. “What?”
“White wasn’t in bed,” Sean said, then kept walking. The kitchen was empty, which was the place he was most likely to find White in the morning, and the bathroom was, too. He heard voices from the garage, and went out to see White sitting on the counter. “Fuck, you scared me,” he said.
White blinked at him and said, “Oh . . . I’m sorry. I woke up early and couldn’t fall back to sleep, so I stayed up. Gumpa was up early, too, so he said he would show me how to check an alignment.”
Sean sighed, and Black came stumbling out, still only wearing his boxer shorts. He saw White and relaxed. “Fuck. Too early.”
“It’s after nine,” Gumpa said, amused. Black flipped him off and slumped back into the apartment, no doubt intending to crawl back into bed.
“It is?” Sean realized he hadn’t looked at the time when getting up, too worried about White’s absence. “I must have slept through my alarm.”
“I turned it off,” White said. “I’m sorry, you just looked so tired, and I know you haven’t been sleeping well. I wanted you to stay home with me today.”
“It’s fine.” Sean leaned over and kissed his forehead. “I don’t mind skipping for a day. And I’m glad you didn’t just sit by yourself, worrying. Come on, I’ll make you some breakfast.”
“Okay.” White hopped off the counter, and Sean grabbed his hand before heading inside. His heart was still racing in his chest, and he hated how frightened he felt. Something was wrong with White, and he couldn’t fix it, didn’t even know where to start. “I had another vision this morning,” White said, and Sean glanced over as he steered White into a chair and then headed over to the coffee maker. “It was different from usual.”
“How so?” Sean asked.
“I wasn’t in the upside down right away. I woke up, and I was thirsty, so I got up to get a drink. I was in the kitchen, in the real world, but . . . I could still hear the thunder, see that red glow on the horizon. The back door opened by itself, and it was upside down on the outside, but still real world on the inside. I felt . . .” White had to stop and swallow hard before he could continue to speak. “I felt drawn to it. I had to go outside and look. And then it saw me. I could feel it seeing me, coming to get me. I ran back inside and slammed the door.”
“And it was still right-side-up inside?” Sean asked.
White nodded. “Then when I looked out the window, it was normal outside again. I tried to go back to bed but couldn’t sleep, and I was afraid my tossing and turning would wake you, so I got up.”
“You could’ve woken me,” Sean said. “In fact, I wish you had.”
“I know. I just . . . wish I wasn’t causing so much trouble for everyone.”
“Hey,” Sean said. “None of this is your fault. You know that.”
“Yeah. I guess.”
Sean put some bread in the toaster before leaning over to kiss him. “Listen, if I’m going to skip school, we’re going to make it count, okay? So I’m gonna make you some breakfast and then we’re gonna cuddle all day.”
“All day?” White asked, smiling slightly.
“All fucking day. I won’t let you go for a minute.”
“Okay. I’d like that.”
They ate breakfast together, and Sean steered White over to the sofa. He found some terrible daytime television to watch. White lay down with him, resting his head on Sean’s chest, and after a little while, he dozed. Sean texted updates to Yok and Gram, who had both asked if there was a reason he wasn’t in school.
Black got up a little while later and scowled at the fact that White was comfortably snoozing in Sean’s arms and unavailable for him to cling to without disturbing him. He sat down with them, and watched White instead of the TV.
“Maybe we shouldn’t wait,” he finally said.
“What?” Sean asked.
“I could open a gate. We could go look for whatever this thing is.”
“Oh.” Sean shook his head. “I was thinking about that last night, actually. But if this thing and White are connected . . . we don’t know what will happen once a gate is opened. What if it comes and gets him before we manage to find it and kill it?”
Black’s face creased in frustration. “But how long should we wait? He’s getting worse.”
“I know,” Sean said. “Maybe you’re right,” he added, which he didn’t love saying to Black, but there it was. “We can talk about it with him this afternoon, okay? Let’s just let him sleep for now. He’s barely slept in days.”
Black nodded. White was normally a light sleeper, so the fact that he had slept through this conversation, coming from right next to him, was a sign of how exhausted he was. “Okay.”
They watched TV in silence. Just after noon, White stirred and sat up, rubbing both hands over his face. Sean had to take a moment and remind himself not to sound anxious, knowing that his anxiety would only make White’s worse. “Hey, feeling better? You on this side with us?”
“Yeah,” White said. He blinked slowly at Sean, then looked around. “Where are my glasses?”
“Here,” Sean said, handing them to him. “Are you hungry?”
White shook his head, but Black said, “You should eat. I’m going to order some pizza.”
“Okay,” White said, then added, “My wallet is probably still in the jeans I was wearing yesterday.”
“I don’t need it,” Black said, which made both Sean and White frown as he picked up his phone and wandered away, clearly not intending to ask either of them what they wanted.
That was hardly Sean’s first priority. He waited until Black had returned and said, “Since when do you have money?”
“Todd loaned me some.” Black sat down and stared at his twin intently. “Enough to leave. If we wanted to.”
“Leave?” White sounded surprised. “Do you think that would matter?”
“Maybe. What’s happening might be because we’re still so close to the gate.”
Sean let out a breath. He didn’t want to leave Hawkins. His friends were here. His childhood home. His father’s grave. He still hadn’t made any progress in exposing the lab for murdering his father. But White’s safety had to take priority. If the financial barrier to getting him out of Hawkins was gone, then Sean couldn’t think of a single reason they shouldn’t leave. “How much did Todd give you?”
“Enough,” Black said.
Sean sighed. “Black, you grew up in a lab. Do you even know how much the average rent in a city would be?”
“No. That’s why I asked Todd.”
White was frowning slightly. “Okay, but why don’t you want to tell us? Is this a pride thing? You don’t like having borrowed money from Todd?”
Sean looked at Black expectantly. He glowered at both of them and said, “He gave me fifty thousand bucks, okay?”
Both Sean and White choked. “Holy shit,” Sean said. “He really does like you.”
Black growled at him. “And that’s why I wasn’t going to tell you. Because you’d say dumb shit like that.”
Sean glanced at White, and they came to a tacit agreement that they would have to deal with Black and Todd’s non-relationship at some other time. “Okay,” he said. “Yeah, I mean, that would last long enough for us to find jobs, I guess. It’s not a bad idea, White.”
“You’re still in school,” White pointed out.
“I feel like my education is a much lower priority than getting away from a shadow monster in an alternate dimension. There are jobs that don’t require a high school diploma.”
“Kids,” Gumpa said from the doorway, where he had apparently been listening for some time. “It’s not that I think this is a bad idea. But before Sean completely gives up on the idea of finishing school, why don’t we do a test to see if it would even work? Maybe just take a few days to drive out of town and stay somewhere else and see if White still has visions?”
“That seems reasonable,” White said, ignoring the way Sean and Black were still scowling. He further annoyed them by saying, “Let’s do it this weekend, okay? So Sean doesn’t miss as much school. We can leave Friday and drive as far as you want.” He saw them glaring and said, “I’m the one having issues, so I get to decide.”
“Fine,” Sean muttered.
White shook his head at both of them and stood up. Black immediately asked, “Where are you going?”
“To the bathroom,” White said, voice amused. “Is that still allowed?”
Black flipped him off. White laughed and went towards the bathroom.
Gumpa sat down next to them and said, “Sean, I don’t blame you for liking this idea. But think carefully about it, okay? I know you don’t feel like it, but you’re still a kid. I hate the idea of you giving up the last few years of your childhood to take off for the city and find a way to get by.”
“I don’t want to have to,” Sean admitted. “I’m just running out of other ideas.”
“I know. Like I said, I get why the idea is appealing.”
Sean nodded and looked at Black, half-expecting that Black was going to say that Sean didn’t have to go with them. But Black was staring pensively out into space, clearly thinking about other things entirely, possibly pizza, possibly the boyfriend he didn’t want to admit he had. Sean shook his head and sighed, getting out his phone to see if anything interesting was happening at school.
Abruptly, Black stood and walked over to the bathroom. “White?” he called out, and rapped on the door. Sean didn’t think it had been that long since White had gone into the bathroom, but apparently Black’s instincts were correct, because White whipped the door open a second later, pale and shaking.
“Hey, you okay?” Sean asked, despite the fact that White obviously wasn’t okay.
White took a deep breath. “We have to call Gram.”
“What?” Sean blinked at him. Of all the responses he had expected, that wasn’t one of them.
“That little frog thing his brothers found - ” White swallowed hard and leaned against the doorframe as if he couldn’t hold himself up. “I just saw one in the upside down. Hopping around outside.”
“Fuck, seriously?” Sean fumbled for his phone, then hesitated. Gram would be in class at this time of day, and he might get in trouble if his phone rang. But he decided they didn’t have any choice.
Surprisingly, Gram picked up on the first ring. “What’s up?”
“That tadpole your brothers were feeding is from the upside down,” Sean said. “Can you grab it and bring it to the garage?”
“Well, I’d love to,” Gram said, “but the fucking thing escaped when they brought it to show and tell.”
“Shit,” Sean said.
“Yeah, I’m at the elementary school right now helping them look for it. Pol is just about hysterical. It’s from the upside down? Of course it is. I’m never going to let them leave the house again.”
“We’ll come help you look,” Sean said, and hung up without another word. “So much for pizza,” he said. “It escaped.”
~ ~ ~ ~
White felt more uneasy than he wanted to admit as they rode their bikes to the school. Gumpa had pointed out that they shouldn’t leap to conclusions. If there were predators like the demogorgon in the upside down, then there had to be prey animals, too. They didn’t have any evidence that this thing was dangerous, and it was only about the size of a large toad at this point.
What White was thinking about, and he knew Black was thinking about it too, was that they didn’t know how it had gotten to their world. The gate was sealed off, Bret had told White. They burned back any new growth. So how was any sort of animal from the upside down in Hawkins? He thought back to when he had talked to the scientists about it, how they had said that gate being sealed off was preventing smaller gates from opening, and how he had doubted the logic of that. What if that had still been happening this whole time?
“Hey, thanks for coming,” Gram said, waving as they got off their bikes. It was just the three teenagers; Gumpa had stayed behind at the garage as he was in the middle of helping a customer (and also waiting for their pizza to be delivered). He had said he would finish up and meet them there as soon as he could. Yok and Namo were with Gram, and they exchanged greetings quickly.
“So what happened?” Sean asked.
Gram rolled his eyes. “Arm insisted on taking it out of the cage so he could let his classmates look at it up close. Someone asked to hold it, freaked out when he realized how slimy it was, and dropped it. The damn thing ran off and apparently it’s pretty fast.”
“How do we know it’s still in the school?” White asked.
“That’s what I said,” Yok chimed in, shaking his head.
“Listen, I didn’t start looking because I knew it was a monster from the upside down,” Gram said. “I started looking because my little brothers called me in hysterics. I figured I would poke around and if I didn’t find it, oh well, at least I tried. But I think odds are good that it’s still in here somewhere, because it hates sunlight and it’s really sunny today.”
“Fair enough,” Sean said. “It may be long gone, but it may not be. Let’s at least try to do a thorough search. Let’s split into pairs.”
Black nodded and grabbed White’s wrist, clearly intending to be his partner rather than Sean. Sean rolled his eyes and gestured to Namo, who smiled slightly and said, “We’ll take the cafeteria and the offices.”
“Okay, Yok and I will take the classrooms, then,” Gram said. “Lucky it was an early day and the kids are gone.”
“Then we’ll take the bathrooms and the gym,” White said. He waved for Black to follow him, and they checked each of the bathrooms. White shook his head as he checked behind the toilets, wondering why this was his life now.
When he left the bathroom, Black was behind him, but as soon as the door shut behind them, the lights flickered and he was in the upside down. He looked around, taking a deep breath. He didn’t see Black, but he said, “Black, I’m having a vision . . . don’t snap me out of it yet, okay? Let me see if I can figure anything out . . . I’ll call for you if I need help.”
Whether Black could hear him or didn’t notice he was having a vision, White didn’t know, but nothing changed. He took a few hesitant steps forward. There was a door at the end of the hallway, and he could see the red glow through the small windows, the storm that was still raging in the upside down. He pushed through them and went outside, looking around for the monster.
It loomed up behind the school, easily four times as tall, the shadows coalescing to give it form.
“What do you want with me?” White asked, fists clenched by his sides. “Why won’t you just leave me alone?”
The monster studied him intently, and he felt like he was being dissected by it. He wanted to stand his ground, but he found himself looking around for his brother, for Sean, for anyone.
It moved. The shadows rushed toward him.
“Black!” White shouted. “Black, wake me up!”
He couldn’t move. His legs were frozen, feet rooted to the ground.
The shadows surrounded him.
~ ~ ~ ~
Gumpa pulled his bike up to the school and was greeted by possibly the last thing he wanted to see - White, standing outside, while Black was shaking him and shouting in his face. Gumpa ran up and asked, “What’s happening?”
“He won’t wake up!” Black’s voice was as close to panic as Gumpa had ever heard it. “Hia, he won’t wake up!”
Gumpa took White’s shoulders in his hands and tried to assess his condition. His eyes were halfway shut, but Gumpa could only see the whites of them, like they were rolled all the way back in his head. He was standing as stiff as a board, shaking with fine tremors. “Call Sean,” he said, and shook White, hard. “White, can you hear me?”
White heaved for breath. His fists were clenched at his sides, so tightly that it looked painful.
“What happened?” Gumpa asked Black.
“We were looking for that thing - he started having a vision - he even said so, and I walked - with him - out here - then he shouted for me to wake him up, so I said his name, I shook him, but he won’t wake up - ”
Sean came running up. He practically shoved them both out of the way, taking White’s face in his hands. “White, look at me! Wake up, please, you have to come back - ”
The others were arriving, with Yok, Gram, and Namo forming a loose circle around him. Gram was holding a shoebox, and from within it, Gumpa heard a little squeal.
White suddenly gasped for breath, eyes snapping all the way open. His hands came up and clutched at the front of Sean’s shirt.
“White?” Sean asked, voice trembling. “White, can you hear me?”
“Sean,” White whispered, and then burst into tears. Sean pulled him into a tight embrace, burying his face in White’s shoulder. Gumpa let out a sigh of relief, and glanced over at Black, who was still shaking. He got an arm around Black’s shoulders and gave him a quick hug, hoping to reassure him.
“What the hell just happened?” Namo asked.
“I don’t know,” White choked out.
“Let’s get you home, okay?” Sean said soothingly. “You can tell us about it when you’re ready. You need to sit down and rest right now.”
Gumpa turned to Yok and Gram and said, “Bring that thing to the garage, too. I’ll find something to put it in. Sean, you’ll take White? We can come get his bike later. Let’s get going before we draw more attention.”
Ten minutes later, they were back at the garage. Sean steered White over to the sofa, sat him down, and wrapped a blanket around him that he immediately shrugged out of. Gumpa decided to give them a little space, listening but not interfering. Black, who was clearly halfway out of his mind with worry, paced around the room.
“Just tell me what happened, White,” Sean said.
“I’m sorry,” White whispered, a few more tears escaping.
Sean wiped them away with his thumb. “You don’t have anything to apologize for, White. Take a few deep breaths, okay?”
“I should’ve had Black wake me right away - ”
“I should’ve woken him right away,” Black mumbled, loud enough for Gumpa to hear, but not White.
“Just tell me what happened,” Sean said again.
“It got me,” White whispered. “The shadow monster. And I can - feel it now. I feel it - everywhere. All through me. I don’t know what’s going to happen to me. I’m so sick of this. I just want it to be over.”
He started to cry again, and Sean pulled him into an embrace. He gave Gumpa an anxious look.
Gumpa pulled up a chair. “White, I know you’re scared, but you’re not alone. We’re going to figure this out.”
Sean nodded and hugged White tighter. “I will never let anything bad happen to you,” he said. “Whatever’s going on, we’ll fix it, I will fix it.”
There was a quiet noise behind them, and Gumpa looked over to see that the other teenagers had arrived. He gestured for them to follow him into the garage, to give White some privacy with his brother and his boyfriend. They were all worried, so he told them briefly what had happened, although he still wasn’t sure of a lot of the details. White had had a vision, and it was bad, worse than usual, and they’d had trouble bringing him out of it. That much, Gumpa knew. But he still wasn’t sure why. What did White mean by ‘it got me’?
“Wanna see the little bastard?” Gram took the lid off the box and showed Gumpa what was inside.
Gumpa peered in. “It’s gotten a lot bigger, hasn’t it?”
“Yeah, it molted,” Gram said. “Shed its skin. It’s almost twice the size today as it was on Saturday.”
Gumpa grabbed a metal toolbox and dumped out what was inside. Then he looked at the creature and felt a little sorry for it. “Why don’t you get some dirt or grass or something to put in here with it.”
“Sure,” Yok said, although he sounded a little skeptical. “It’s probably hungry by now, too. Pol said it eats like crazy.”
“It can stay hungry a little longer,” Gumpa said.
They quickly put together what he hoped was a decent environment for a lizard from the underworld, and he closed and locked the box, setting it on a table in the garage.
Back in the apartment, Sean was still holding onto White, whose eyes were closed, cheek resting on Sean’s shoulder. “Has he eaten yet?” Gumpa asked Sean, knowing that the pizza had come after they left.
“Breakfast around nine, but nothing since then,” Sean said.
“Okay. Let’s all have something to eat, okay?”
Gumpa managed to coax the teens to sit around the table, thinking about what, if anything, they should do next. “White, do you want to call the lab?”
“No,” Black said sharply. Fortunately, White was shaking his head, so Gumpa didn’t feel the need to argue with him.
“I get not calling the lab about White,” Namo said, “but should we have them come up pick up that little whatsit?”
“That’s a good question.” Gumpa looked at White and said, “You’re sure you saw one in the upside down?”
White nodded. He was clearly calming down a little, because his voice was steady when he said, “And that makes sense, given that Gram’s brothers had done some research and found out there’s nothing like it that’s native around here.”
“How did it get over here?” Yok asked. “I thought they said the gate was sealed off. None of those little gates seem to be opening anymore.”
“We can’t trust anything those assholes say or do,” Sean said. “Maybe the gate is sealed off; maybe it isn’t. Maybe they went through and took some samples to do tests on and that thing escaped from the lab itself. I don’t think we should tell them fuckall. As long as that thing doesn’t seem dangerous, we don’t need to involve them, and if it does become dangerous, we can set it on fire.”
“Agreed,” Black said, then because he couldn’t simply agree with Sean without making a smart remark, he muttered, “for some reason.”
Sean was smart enough to let that roll off him. Instead, he said to White, “How are you feeling? Is the food helping?”
White nodded. “I’m sorry I got hysterical.”
“You have earned the right to some hysteria,” Namo said, and everyone nodded.
White tried to smile. “Yeah, I guess. But now I feel okay, just tired. Maybe I overreacted.”
“I don’t know,” Sean said. “You’ve seen some pretty scary shit and been through a lot. I don’t think you would have freaked out like that for no reason. I mean, you said the shadow ‘got you’, but what does that mean?”
“I don’t know,” White said, and mumbled, “I’m tired.”
“Why don’t you lie down for a while once you’re done eating?” Gumpa said, and White nodded. “We’ll take turns staying with you. If he gets up and seems to be having a vision, snap him out of it immediately, call the rest of us if he doesn’t wake up.”
“I’ll go first,” Sean said immediately, surprising nobody.
They ate the rest of their very late lunch in silence. Sean shepherded White back to his room and closed the door behind him.
“Hia, what do we do?” Black asked. “I can take him out of town. But I feel like - ”
He couldn’t finish the sentence, but Gumpa knew what he was saying. It felt like it was too late. That something had happened on the field outside the school that changed things. He felt the same way too, even though it was impossible to explain why. “Even if we did, it would be a temporary solution at best, and it’s hard to believe that it’s going to help. So let’s focus on fixing the problem, not avoiding it.”
“Look, I get why you don’t want to call the lab,” Gram said, “but shouldn’t we call somebody?”
“Like who?” Namo asked. “I don’t think there’s an authority around who fixes this sort of problem.”
“We stick to the original plan,” Gumpa said firmly. “Even though White wasn’t able to find out much about this thing, we need to get into the upside down, find it, and kill it. But even then, Black, I feel like the lab needs to be notified. This sort of thing could continue to happen until that gate is finally closed. You could close it.”
Black said nothing. The teenagers glanced at each other and Namo finally said, “Look, I met with that guy from the lab, and I don’t think they’re actually interested in closing it. They’re still studying it, and everything over there. Even if Black was willing to go there, which I get that he’s not, they’re not going to just let him walk in.”
“But he doesn’t have to,” Yok said. “The gate has two sides. He could approach it from the upside down. Close it there, then open himself a new one somewhere else to come back over here. After, you know, we’ve killed the monster and everything.”
“Well, that plan sounds wildly ambitious,” Gumpa said dryly.
“It does,” Black said. “I like it. Let’s do it.”
Gumpa couldn’t help but smile. “I guess I’ll go buy what we need for some Molotov cocktails. You kids stay here. Don’t leave the garage, and don’t let anyone in.”
He felt nervous leaving them, but he did feel like there were things they were going to need. Fortunately, it didn’t take long. Since the incident now almost a year previous, he had been stockpiling. He didn’t trust the lab any more than the others did, and the fact that the gate was still open - and that they clearly had no intention of closing it - made him nervous. If another demogorgon showed up, or something worse, he wanted to be ready. And it was clear that whatever this shadow monster was, it was much, much worse than the demogorgon.
There was only so much kerosene he could buy at one time without the people in town being suspicious, so he had slowly been laying in supplies and keeping them in Sean’s family’s old house. It was a little dilapidated, but the walls were still solid. He covered the things with a tarp in case of rain and didn’t worry about it.
He picked everything up and then went to the grocery store as well, since it seemed like he might not get a chance for a while, and White had been doing most of the shopping for over six months now. He made sure to grab as many of White’s favorites as he could remember.
When he got back to the garage, Sean was at the kitchen table, resting his forehead on both hands. He looked up as Gumpa came in and said, without waiting for him to ask, “Black wanted to sit with him for a while.”
Gumpa nodded and started unpacking the groceries. He had seen the other three teenagers clustered in the garage on his way in. “You should’ve gone out to sit with the others.”
Sean shook his head. “I just needed a minute.”
Since the obvious reason for this was that Sean didn’t want to cry in front of his friends, Gumpa just squeezed his shoulder and said, “Help me with this, then.”
They unpacked the groceries, and Sean smiled slightly when he saw White’s favorite snacks. He was about to say something when the door to White’s room opened and he came out, along with Black, who had a hand wrapped around White’s elbow. White blinked at them slowly and said, “Hey, hia. Hi, Sean.”
“How are you feeling?” Gumpa asked. “Any better? That wasn’t a very long nap.”
“I couldn’t sleep,” White said. “I tried, but . . . I feel weird.”
“Weird, how?” Sean asked, as Black steered White into a chair, frowning faintly. When White just blinked at him, still looking a little dazed, Sean pressed a hand against his forehead to check his temperature. “You don’t feel warm, but maybe let’s check your temperature anyway,” he said, and went to get the thermometer. Black stood behind White, his hands curling around the back of the chair.
Gumpa only had an old-school thermometer, as he rarely bothered with such things, so White had to keep it in his mouth for a full minute. Sean sat down beside him, twining his fingers through White’s, while Gumpa watched the time.
“Do I have a fever?” White asked, while Sean squeezed his hand tightly.
“Uh, no,” Gumpa said, frowning at the thermometer. “You’re actually a little cold. Do you feel cold?”
White shook his head, then said, “I mean, I’ve felt cold for almost a year now, but now I actually don’t anymore . . . I just feel a little fuzzy, like I’m still half-asleep.”
Sean took the thermometer out of Gumpa’s hand and clearly disliked the reading of ninety-five degrees on the nose. “I’m going to run you a hot bath, okay? That should help you feel a little better.”
He left the room, and Gumpa coaxed White into drinking some tea, even though he said he wasn’t thirsty. He also didn’t seem to be hungry. In fact, he didn’t seem to be much of anything, just staring blankly into space if Gumpa wasn’t actively engaging with him, which made Gumpa more anxious than he wanted to admit. Black let go of the chair and began to pace again.
“Okay, bath is all ready, let’s warm you up,” Sean said, and waved for White to follow him. White did so, and Gumpa saw him go into his room, then come out a minute later with a towel wrapped around his waist. But as soon as he got to the bathroom door, he hesitated. “What’s wrong?” Sean asked.
“I just feel . . .” White went silent, staring into the bathroom. Gumpa saw that his hands were trembling, his breath coming a little faster than normal. “Scared. I don’t know why.”
“It’s okay,” Sean said. “I’ll stay with you, okay?”
White nodded and walked into the bathroom, then leaned over and gently touched the water. He pulled his hand back immediately. “Too hot.”
“Too hot?” Sean was surprised. “I tested it. It seemed okay to me.”
White shook his head.
Gumpa squeezed his shoulder and said, “White, we’ve got to get your temperature up.”
“No,” White said, his voice suddenly firm and confident. He turned to Gumpa and stared at him. “He likes it cold.”
Gumpa felt the hair stand up on the back of his neck. “What?”
White stared at him, expression blank.
Sean was considerably less reserved. “What the fuck does that mean? Who’s he?”
White blinked several times, and then his forehead creased, the blankness disappearing. “I don’t know,” he whispered, arms folding over his stomach.
“The shadow monster,” Black said flatly.
White nodded, his breath hitching in his throat.
Gumpa thought about this, and said, “You said you could feel him all through you. Does that mean . . . inside you?”
“I think so.” White’s voice wavered. “It’s hard to explain.”
“Well, if you’re not getting in the bath, then come sit down,” Sean said. White allowed himself to be steered back into his own room to get dressed, but only put on a pair of boxer shorts. Sean tried to make him put on a shirt, but he balked, reiterating that he wanted to be cold. It looked like Sean was going to argue, but Gumpa waved for him to let it go. They sat down around the kitchen table, except for Black, who continued pacing.
“So this thing, this shadow monster, he likes it cold,” Gumpa said, determinedly staying calm despite White’s blank look. “How do you know that? Does it tell you that?”
White shook his head. “No. I just . . . know. I know things now . . . things I never did before.”
“Like what? What else do you know?”
White’s forehead wrinkled slightly. “It’s hard to explain. It’s like old memories in the back of my head, only . . . they’re not my memories. Some of them, I don’t think they’re old memories at all. They’re now-memories. Like I’m seeing through someone else’s eyes.”
“Can you describe these now-memories?” Gumpa asked. “Tell us what you’re seeing?”
“It . . . it’s hard to find the words for it . . . it’s like . . . growing, and spreading . . . killing . . .”
White’s voice trembled again. Sean tightly squeezed his hand and gave Gumpa an anxious look.
“I don’t know,” White said, and a few tears slid down his cheeks. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”
“You don’t have to be sorry, White,” Gumpa said. He saw Sean frowning, and asked, “What is it?”
“What if you didn’t have to use words?” Sean asked. “You drew the shadow monster when you were having trouble describing it. Maybe you could draw these now-memories, too.” Without waiting for a response, he said, “I’ll go see if Yok and Namo have any art supplies with them.”
~ ~ ~ ~
Chapter 19
Notes:
All right, let's kick things up a notch!
Chapter Text
After waiting almost two days and hearing nothing from the lab, Dan was getting annoyed. He thought about what he should do next, if anything, and called the same number. When he tried to give details, the person answering stopped him, saying she wasn’t cleared for the security necessary for the conversation. He should follow up exclusively with Bret.
A trip to the lab seemed useless, but after some thought, Dan decided to swing by the garage. If something weird was happening with the gate, it seemed likely that the twins might be affected by it, or at least know something about it.
When he arrived at the garage, he was a little discomfited to find the ‘closed due to a family emergency’ sign up, and the door was locked. He knocked, and a few seconds later it was opened by - well, not the last person he wanted to see, but still someone he was uncomfortable seeing. “Oh, hey, Dan,” Yok said, and stood back to let him in. “What’s up?”
Seeing both Gram and Namo hanging out, but neither Gumpa or the twins, Dan said, “I feel like maybe I should be asking you guys that question. Is something going on?”
“Yeah, it’s been a real shitshow of a week so far and it’s only Tuesday,” Gram said, sounding glum.
Dan was about to ask for more detail when the door to the apartment opened and Sean came into the garage lobby. He frowned at Dan, but then turned to the others. “Hey, we thought White might try drawing again since he’s having so much trouble verbalizing. Do either of you have any art stuff with you?”
“I mean, I always have art stuff with me, but it’s expensive,” Namo said, and Sean gave a snort. “I could go home and get some - ”
“I’ll go,” Yok said, hopping back to his feet. “You guys can catch up with our favorite deputy sheriff.”
Dan wanted to make a comment about how Yok didn’t need to flee the room when he showed up, but thought better of it. Instead, he looked at Sean and said, “Is White okay?”
“Never better,” Sean said, sounding somewhat pissed for no reason that Dan could really ascertain. Sean had never liked him, and he wasn’t sure if that was because Dan was part of the police force that Sean unilaterally hated for never believing him about his dad, or because Dan had been the unfortunate one to deliver the news after a body had been found, and not believing him that it wasn’t White’s. “Why are you here?”
Although Dan would have rather talked directly to Gumpa, he had a feeling he wasn’t going to get past Sean without at least a bit of explanation. “There’s patches of rot through the forest and fields on the east side of town. I thought it might be coming from the lab, although they’ve assured me that it couldn’t be. I wanted to check in and make sure the twins were okay.”
Sean huffed out a sigh. “Fine, come in, then.”
Relieved, Dan followed him. Gumpa greeted him cordially, if with a bit of surprise. The twins didn’t react to his presence. White was sitting at the kitchen table in only his boxers, staring blankly into space, and Black was pacing back and forth.
“I guess the first question is how much Yok has already told you,” Gumpa said.
Dan frowned slightly. “Nothing. We haven’t talked in months.”
“Wow, really?” Sean was clearly quite surprised at this. “I mean, he told us he’d stopped carrying a torch and wasn’t stalking you anymore but none of us completely believed him.”
Since Dan hadn’t wholly believed it for the first few months either, he couldn’t get offended by that. “So what’s going on?”
Gumpa offered him some coffee, and they went into the living room so they wouldn’t disturb the twins. Sean came with them, although he frequently cast anxious glances in White’s direction. It took a while to tell him the whole story, and then he told them about the rot and what had happened at the lab. “It seems clear that somehow, the upside down is leaking,” Dan said. “I don’t know how, but there’s no other explanation.”
“Yeah. It’s small now, but it’s only going to get worse.” Gumpa shook his head. “But the twins are adamant that they don’t want the lab involved. They don’t trust those people and I can’t blame them.”
“I mean, it’s a new guy now, but . . .”
“But he’s answering to the same people so it comes to the same thing,” Gumpa said, and Dan sighed and nodded. “Right now we’re trying to get more information. White is connected to this thing somehow, to the point where he says he can see through its eyes. But he’s having such a hard time putting what he sees into words. Thus the art supplies.”
“I didn’t know White’s an artist.”
“He’s not,” Gumpa said, “but the drawing he did of the monster was pretty decent. It’s like he channels it somehow, which I prefer to think about as little as possible.”
“Yeah, that’s fair.” Dan mulled this over. “None of this will end until that gate is closed. But the people in charge . . .”
“Clearly don’t want it closed,” Gumpa agreed. “Black was talking about going in and closing it from the other side.”
“From the upside down?”
“Yeah. He can open and close gates, so he could in theory open one here, travel to the lab in the upside down, close that one, then come back here, back to the real world, and close this one behind him. It’s the best idea we’ve had so far.”
That sounded awfully dangerous to Dan, although admittedly he couldn’t think of anything else. He was about to ask about traveling through the upside down when the door opened and a group of teenagers came in. “Hey, White, how are you feeling?” Yok asked, and Black glowered at him. “I brought you some crayons.”
“Crayons?” Sean asked.
“He’s not an artist, Sean. What was I supposed to bring him, watercolor?”
Sean scowled, but didn’t argue. Yok put down what looked like an old elementary school pencil box, filled with crayons, and a stack of paper. Gumpa walked over to White, who was staring at these items blankly. “Just give it a try, White. See if you can show us what you’re seeing.”
White looked at the paper for a long moment. Then abruptly, he grabbed a crayon and started scribbling. Dan looked over to see what he was drawing, and couldn’t make heads or tails of it. It was just lines, two dark lines with the space in between them filled in with a lighter color. White’s arm moved jaggedly for several long seconds before he simply swept that piece of paper off the table, grabbed another, and continued doing the same thing.
Sean picked up the paper he had discarded. “What the fuck?”
Frowning, Black sat down next to White. “This is what you’re seeing? In your now-memories?”
“Uh huh.” White tossed aside the second sheet and grabbed a third.
“But . . . what is it?” Yok asked, looking at the second sheet with a frown.
“This is what it is,” White said, and continued to scribble, pressing down on the paper so hard that he made indents.
Since he had said he couldn’t find the words to explain it, Dan figured that was fair, although he had no idea what they were supposed to do with this. A fourth page followed, then a fifth, then a tenth. They shuffled through them, some of them more enthusiastically than others.
“Wait,” Namo said, grabbing a page. “Hang on. These two connect. Look at this.” She put two of the pages side-by-side, so they could see the way one dark line continued onto the next. “It’s not a bunch of little pictures. It’s one large picture.”
“Let’s spread them out,” Gram said. “Sean, help me move the sofa.”
Sean quickly squeezed White’s shoulder and said, “You’re doing great. We’ll figure this out, okay? You just keep doing what you’re doing.”
As a child, Dan had always liked jigsaw puzzles. This was the largest and most intense one of his life. Black stayed with White and periodically brought them new piles of paper, as they continued to organize them into one picture. Dan didn’t have any idea what they were making, but they definitely connected.
During a brief lull, while Black had taken the crayons away from White because his hand was cramping, they studied what they had made so far.
“It’s like a maze, or a road?” Gram asked.
“It sort of branches and forks, like lightning,” Dan said, frowning.
“You think it’s that storm?” Namo asked, looking at Sean.
“No, he talked about the storm and kept saying it was red,” Sean said. “This is all blue and some sort of dirt color.”
“Maybe it’s roots,” Yok said. “He said it was growing and spreading.”
“And killing,” Dan said, thinking of the fields of rotten plants, thinking of his map with all the patches of rot marked down. “He said it was killing. I’m going to go check something out. You guys stay here. Don’t talk to anyone from the lab. I’ll be back in a few hours.”
~ ~ ~ ~
By the time White had finished drawing, the entire apartment was covered in pictures. They were taped to every surface, going up onto the walls and sometimes even the ceiling. White was clearly exhausted, and Black dragged him to the armchair, pulling him into an embrace. “Hia, blanket.”
“No,” White mumbled. “No blanket. He likes it cold.”
“He can fuck right off,” Black said.
Gumpa gently interceded, saying, “Let’s let him be chilly for now. It won’t hurt him.”
Sean slumped down onto the sofa, now pushed back against the wall, with a sigh. He couldn’t blame Black for being in one of his clingy moods, as much as he wanted to cling to White himself. The others sat down as well. Gumpa ordered them some food. The sun had just set, and Dan had been gone for hours. Yok had mentioned this several times, and Gumpa had tried to call him but gotten no answer.
“What if he went to the lab?” Gram asked.
“Then we can’t do shit about it now,” Sean said.
“This is what he gets for treating us like kids,” Yok muttered.
“You are kids,” Gumpa said, pinching the bridge of his nose.
Gram’s phone rang, and he looked at it and sighed before answering. “Hi, Pol, wha - yes, I will remember to feed it. Yes, we’re taking very good care of it. No, I won’t bring it home yet. It was getting too big for that tank anyway. You can’t keep it anymore. Sure, go tell Mom I’m the worst brother in the world like she wasn’t practically on the ceiling when you showed her that thing.” He hung up and said, “Guess I better actually feed it, though.”
“Grab whatever,” Gumpa said, gesturing vaguely at the kitchen.
Gram went into the kitchen, then left the apartment, heading into the garage. But he came back almost immediately. “Guys . . . it’s gone.”
“Gone?” Sean’s eyes went wide. “Gone, how?”
“I put it in a metal toolbox,” Gumpa said. “It can’t have gotten out.”
“Come look if you don’t believe me,” Gram said. Sean and the other teenagers followed him out to the garage, while Gumpa clearly decided that he wanted no part of this and would stay with the twins. Sean looked around and saw that the toolbox was on the floor and the lid was open. The lock looked busted.
“It must’ve like . . . slammed himself against the lid until it jolted free,” Namo said, though her tone was dubious. “But the garage was all shut. It’s got to be in here somewhere.”
“Let’s have a word for how comforting that isn’t,” Sean muttered.
Gram tore open a bag of chips. “Hey, Dart,” he called out, and then muttered, “Don’t blame me; I didn’t name it.” In a louder voice, he called out, “I have snacks for you! Are you hungry, buddy?”
“I’m so glad I’m an only child,” Yok said.
Gram shook the bag. “Come on out now, you little turd!”
“Guys,” Namo said quietly, and held up something that Sean couldn’t recognize at first. It looked almost like a large piece of plastic wrap. Then he saw the way it was dripping. “It molted again.”
“Fuck, how big is it now?” Sean asked.
“Well, we may never find out,” Yok said, “because I think it chewed through the door.”
They all walked over to look at the front door of the garage. Sure enough, there was a hole that went all the way up to their knees. Sean looked at that and said, “I hate how much it had to chew up before it could get out.”
“Same,” Yok said. “Hard same.”
From outside, they heard something screaming. Sean swore and pushed the door open, then froze. On the road just outside the garage, the creature - what had once been a tadpole but was now more like a medium-sized dog - was pinning something to the ground and gnawing on it.
“It’s a rabbit,” Gram whispered. “I’ve heard them get caught before.”
Sean was about to say that this was as creepy as fuck, but then the monster looked up at them. Something about it was vaguely familiar, but it didn’t click until its face opened, revealing the maw underneath, just like a demogorgon.
“Shit!” Sean backpedaled, nearly knocking Yok over. The four of them scrambled back into the garage. Gram and Yok grabbed a shelf and shoved it in front of the hole in the door. “Shit, what the fuck!”
Namo was peering out the window. “It’s not coming this way. Still eating. I think it was just trying to warn us off from stealing its dinner.”
“Well, that’s fantastic,” Gram said, his voice shaking. “I guess now we know what a baby demogorgon looks like. Does Gumpa have a gun?”
“A shotgun, yeah, he bought it after all this last winter and started keeping it under the counter - ”
Sean moved in that direction, but Namo said, “It’s running off now. I think we spooked it.”
“Fuck,” Gram said. “I hope it doesn’t think my house is home.”
“It was heading east, out into the forest, so I think you’re probably okay there,” Namo said.
Gram let out a sigh of relief. Sean said, “There goes my appetite,” and headed back into the apartment. “Hey, hia, it’s a baby demogorgon, and it’s gone! So we’re in great shape there.”
“What happened?” Gumpa asked, in the tone of a man who absolutely did not want to be asking that question. The others explained it to him, and he frowned and said, “I think that’s a problem we should probably tackle in daylight. Even the adult demogorgon really never ventured into town; presumably there’s plenty to eat in the forest. This is something we might defer to the lab on, but I’ll wait until Black’s awake and we’ve heard from Dan before we call them.”
Sean nodded and looked over at the twins. Black was clearly sound asleep, but White’s eyes were open. “Hey, White. You awake over there?”
“Yeah.” White’s voice was hoarse. “Can I get up? I’m too hot.”
“Sure.” Sean hated the fact that even just cuddling with Black was making him feel too hot, but he wasn’t about to argue with him. “You want to take a cool shower? I’ll sit with you while you do.”
“Okay. Thanks.”
Black grumbled as White got up, and his eyes opened. White quickly reassured him that he was feeling okay, but being in the chair was too warm for him, and he was going to cool down a bit. Sean promised to stay with him, and Black clearly didn’t like it but agreed.
White wanted the water almost ice cold, but Sean gently coaxed him to have it a little warmer than that. It still would have been uncomfortable to shower in, he thought, but White seemed relieved to duck under the stream. “Being too warm almost seems painful for you, huh,” he said, when White finally emerged.
“Yeah. Can we stay in here for a bit? It’s just . . . a lot, out there.”
“I bet.” Sean couldn’t imagine how White felt to have everyone staring at him, waiting for answers.
White sat down on the edge of the tub, not bothering with a towel. The fan was still on, and the room was cooler than the rest of the garage, filled with people and appliances. “It’s like . . . I can feel everything he’s feeling, and even just room temperature here is uncomfortable. It’s so much colder over there.”
“Yeah, I guess that makes sense,” Sean said thoughtfully. “He’s used to the upside down, so he wouldn’t be acclimated to our temperatures.”
“And it seems worse because . . .” White chewed on his lower lip for a few minutes. “Some of him is in the upside down. But some of him is here, too.”
“Here, like, at the garage?”
“Here at the garage, and . . . in me.” White’s voice cracked. “It’s like he’s reaching into Hawkins more and more. And the more he spreads, the more connected to him I feel. And the more I can see these now-memories. At first I just felt it in the back of my head. Like when you have a dream and you can’t remember it unless you think really hard. Now it’s like . . . now I remember. I remember all the time.”
Sean thought about this for a few moments, desperate to come up with anything that might be comforting to White. “Maybe . . . maybe that’s good. You’re like a spy now. You’re spying on the shadow monster. If you know what he’s seeing and feeling, maybe that’s how we can stop him.”
White’s eyes went wide. “You really think so?”
“Yeah, I really do. If anyone can do it, it’s you.”
“What if he figures out I’m spying on him? What if he spies back?”
“You won’t let him,” Sean said.
White’s face crumbled, and he drew in a ragged breath. “What’s going to happen to me?”
“We’re going to fix this,” Sean said. “We’re going to figure it out. I don’t care what I have to do, but we will fix this. Okay?”
Wiping away some tears, White nodded shakily. “Thanks, Sean.”
“You don’t have to thank me. Whatever you need, I’m here.”
“I know.” White managed a smile. “I wouldn’t be able to do this without you.”
Sean pulled him into a hug, and held him for a long minute. “Too warm?”
“A little. But don’t let me go.”
~ ~ ~ ~
“I really think it is,” Yok said.
“I mean, you might be right.” Namo squinted at the wall, then held her hands out to frame a certain section of the puzzle White had created.
“What are you thinking?” Gumpa asked, setting down a tray of mugs. It was far too late in the day for teenagers to be having coffee, now well past the dinner hour, but he had a feeling that none of them would be getting much sleep.
“Hia, do you have a map of Hawkins and the surrounding area?” Yok asked. “On paper.”
“How old do you kids think I am?” Gumpa asked, smiling. “A map on paper? Who still uses those?”
Namo laughed, and Yok flipped him off but he was laughing, too. “Fine, I’ll use my phone, I just thought that might be too small.” He pulled his phone out and tapped at the screen several times, then held it up against the wall. “See, it is!”
“Damn, you’re right!” Namo’s eyes were wide. “Hia, look at this shape - it’s the same as Lover’s Lake, on the south end of town.”
Gumpa looked over, a little surprised, and then automatically looked to his right. “Which means that this one over here - ”
“Is Lake Jordan!” Yok said excitedly. “Right! These pathways aren’t roads, but they act like roads. They don’t go over or across water. So if that’s Lake Jordan, then this over here - that’s the Ino River - see it?”
“Oh, yeah!” Gram hopped off the sofa and walked over to examine. “This whole thing is a map!”
“So what does that mean?” Namo wasn’t quite as excited as the others. “Everything he’s drawn this whole time is just a map of Hawkins?”
“This is what the shadow monster is seeing,” Gumpa said, thinking back on everything White had said over the past eight hours. “It’s spreading through Hawkins, along these pathways.”
Yok’s eyes went wide. “I think I know what Dan figured out. He was investigating those rotten fields, right? So the patches of rot he was seeing must correspond with these lines.”
“Well, that’s great, but where the hell did he go?” Gram asked.
“I don’t think he went to the lab,” Yok said. “He told us not to call them, so he presumably didn’t want them to know what he had figured out.”
“He did seem pretty pissed that they’d brushed him off,” Namo agreed.
“I’ll try calling him again,” Gumpa said, and half-turned and nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw that White had emerged from the bathroom. He was again dressed in nothing but boxer shorts, but Sean was behind him with a hand around his elbow. “Oh, White. How are you feeling?”
“Better,” White said. He was clear-eyed for the first time that day. “I think Dan is in trouble.”
“What?” Yok twisted around.
“Did you have another vision?” Gumpa asked.
“No. I don’t think I’ll have them anymore because - right now, everything is half-vision. I can just think about it and see what the shadow monster is seeing. Sometimes it’s harder not to do that.” White’s voice trembled, but he remained resolute. “So if I can see what it’s seeing, then I can use that, and I saw Dan. It looked like he was caught in some vines. In the upside down.”
“Where?” Yok asked. “Do you know where?”
White closed his eyes for a few seconds. “I think so.” He walked over to the table and picked up another sheet of paper, then fished around for the crayons. Black walked over from where he had been lurking in a corner, staring at his brotherly intently. White started to draw, and the picture looked the same as the others. “Here.”
“Let’s compare it,” Namo said, and Yok practically yanked it out of White’s hands. The two of them walked around the huge map they had laid out, looking for something that matched.
“Are you okay?” Black asked White.
White nodded. “I think - I don’t know what’s going to happen, but if it’s going to try to use me to see into the right-side-up, then I’m going to use it right back.”
“Good,” Black said, and although he wasn’t smiling, some of the lines of tension in his face had eased.
“Here!” Yok shouted. “It matches over here. Where is this?”
Namo was looking around. “It’s not far from Lover’s Lake, so somewhere on the south side of town. Somewhat east, I think?”
“The fields,” Gram said. “If he was trying to investigate the rot, he’d go back to where it started.”
“Then let’s go - ” Yok hastily put down his mug of coffee and grabbed his phone.
Gumpa grabbed him by the collar. “Hang on. I don’t have a problem with going, but let’s try to be organized about it. White, I think you should stay here - ”
White shook his head. He was already pulling on a T-shirt. “Dan looked for me when nobody else besides you guys cared. If I can help him, I will. I might see something important.”
Gumpa sighed but didn’t want to waste time arguing. “Okay, but your bike is still at the school; you’ll have to ride with Sean,” he said, and White nodded. “We’ll all stick together. I know it would be faster to search if we split up, but let’s not forget that there’s a demogorgon out there now which seems like it’s growing pretty fast. Now let’s go.”
~ ~ ~ ~
All in all, it hadn’t been the best idea Dan had ever had.
Looking at White’s drawing, it looked like Hawkins. He could see the shape of it in the lines, the way they curved around the bodies of water, the way they stretched out from the lab. And those lines matched the patches of rot he had found.
The gate was sealed off. Dan had seen that with his own eyes. It couldn’t move forward.
But what about down? The most likely source of any plant contaminant was the ground. What if the upside down had slowly been spreading underneath them, and none of them knew it?
He grabbed a shovel and started digging. It took nearly an hour, but he broke through and found a thin membrane that reminded him of the gate. He poked at it gingerly, and it broke apart. He crawled down through it and found himself standing in a tunnel, easily tall enough to accommodate him, wide enough for two or even three people to walk abreast. White particles which reminded him of ash, floated through the air.
“Holy shit,” he said, and tied a bandana over his mouth. Was this the upside down? Had he gone through a gate? Was this whole thing a gate itself?
He took a flashlight out of his belt and shined it around. The walls seemed to be covered with thick, black vines. It was the same growth he had seen them burning back in the lab. What had Gumpa told him White had said? That the shadow monster was in everything - including the vines. “Like a hive mind,” he said to himself. He looked down. The same vines were on the ground, although more sparsely. He could walk without stepping on them as long as he was careful. He was going to take this path all the way back to the lab, come out through their gate, and then dare them to tell him that this wasn’t a problem.
He’d have to be careful, though. It would be easy to get lost. He would have to mark each intersection. He took out the pad he used to give tickets and tore a strip of paper off, dropping it as he decided which way to go.
But he had barely walked for five minutes when one of the vines on the ground curled around his ankle. He stumbled, and in trying to keep his balance, put one hand out to the wall. As soon as he touched it, he recoiled in disgust, as the vines had a slimy, viscous feel to them. But by then it was too late. More of the vines wrapped around his forearm, pulling him against the wall. He cried out despite himself, as they slowly - but not slowly at all - coiled around him like snakes.
No matter how much he struggled, it was useless. He found himself pulled to the wall, covered in vines, unable to move. “No, no, fuck!” he panted, trying to calm himself down. He had to be smart, had to think. There was a knife in his pocket, but he couldn’t get to it. The vines had covered his face, giving him just enough room to breathe. He came to the horrible conclusion that it hadn’t wanted him to die - at least, not quickly. It had buried him in a layer of slime and pulsating flesh, as if it intended to digest him.
“Fuck,” he whispered again, almost unable to believe what had happened so fast. How stupid could he have been? He hadn’t even told the others where he was going. Now he seemed doomed to a horrible, prolonged death. He couldn’t think of a way out.
Minutes trickled by, terrible, gruesome minutes. Despite himself, he kept struggling. He knew he would only exhaust himself, but he couldn’t give up. Time stretched and pulled in funny ways, and he had no idea if he had been in the tunnel for hours or only seconds.
Then he heard something he wouldn’t have expected - voices. Young voices. He tried to call out, his voice muffled by the vines.
“Over here, I see him!” Yok shouted, and Dan had never been so glad to hear Yok’s voice in his entire life. Hands were pulling and tugging at the vines, and then suddenly, Dan was free. He practically collapsed against Yok, heaving for breath. Yok patted him on the back and said, “Hey, you’re okay, I’ve got you.”
“I’ve never been so glad to see anyone in my life,” Dan panted. “How did you find me?”
“White saw you,” Yok said. “It’s kind of a long story; let’s get the hell out of here.”
Dan nodded and glanced around. He saw Sean, Gram, and Gumpa, but not the twins. “Where’s White?”
“Up top with Black and Namo. We didn’t want the twins down here,” Sean said. “But we didn’t want them alone, either.”
Dan nodded again. “Thanks for the save.”
“Come on,” Gumpa said, gesturing. “Sean, if anything moves, set it on fire.”
“Copy that,” Sean said.
A few minutes later, they were back at the tunnel entrance he had created. He felt weak and wobbly, and didn’t object to Gumpa giving him a boost. Black and Namo grabbed his wrists and pulled him out of the tunnel with a grunt of effort. He took a deep breath of the fresh night air, pulling the bandana down.
“Are you okay?” White asked.
Dan nodded. “What does it mean, that you saw me?”
“Well . . . I can see through the shadow monster’s eyes. And it’s in all the vines. It controls them. So I saw you, where you were and what happened to you.”
That was too weird for Dan to think about much, so he just nodded again and said, “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome,” White said.
Dan watched the tunnel entrance while Gumpa boosted the three teenagers out, then jumped up so they could pull him out as well. He felt like there was probably something else he should be saying. What did you say to the person who had saved you from a slow, agonizing death by way of supernatural horrors?
Before he could think of anything, he heard the crunch of tires on a dirt road and they all turned. Several white vans were pulling up. They didn’t have a logo, but Dan was sure they had come from the lab - which became more clear after Black took several steps backwards and then tucked himself away behind Gumpa.
“Boy, these guys are late for everything,” Yok said, rolling his eyes. Dan couldn’t help but chuckle, thinking back to when Techit and his men had showed up conveniently after they had finished fighting the demogorgon. He looked around for an authority figure, but it was just a dozen men in hazmat suits, who began shepherding them away from the tunnel entrance.
“I guess they actually did run tests after all,” Dan said, watching them unload several flamethrowers from the back of one of the vans.
“Feels like they’re vastly underestimating the scope of the problem,” Gumpa said, clearly thinking about White’s map, back at the garage. “But they probably don’t have any interest in our opinion of that, so let’s get moving, kids.”
They took a few steps back towards where they had parked their bikes. Dan was about to say something about going back to the garage with them to regroup (and hopefully use their shower) when someone took his arm. “Deputy, how long were you in the tunnel?”
Since he couldn’t claim he hadn’t been, thanks to the fact that he was covered in slime, Dan said, “An hour or so.”
“You should come back to the lab to be decontaminated - ”
“Why?” Sean asked, scowling. “You guys said there was nothing wrong with White afterwards so clearly being in the upside down isn’t actually dangerous - ”
“This isn’t your concern - ”
Dan was wondering if he was going to have to break up a fight when he saw the first few men jump into the tunnel, and heard the roar of flamethrowers.
Instantly, White’s body went rigid, and he screamed. Everyone’s head whipped around. Dan had never heard anybody scream like that, a noise of absolute agony. Sean caught him as his knees buckled.
“Wh - ” Black took a step towards him, but then clutched his chest and went to his knees, panting for breath. Gram and Yok both grabbed for him and helped him to the ground, and he rolled onto his side, into fetal position.
“What the fuck,” Dan said, involuntarily.
“Hia!” Sean looked over at Gumpa, his face a picture of raw terror. White was shaking and convulsing in his arms. Dan had an abstract thought that it was a seizure, and didn’t White have epilepsy? Except then he remembered that White didn’t have epilepsy, he had a psychic connection with his brother, and he was fairly sure that people having seizures didn’t scream like that -
“What’s going on?” one of the men in hazmat suits asked, but didn’t wait for an answer. Instead he called for two of his colleagues. “Get the stretcher, let’s get him back to the lab - ”
“He’s not going to your fucking lab!” Sean shouted, and then White had a convulsion so intense that Dan thought he might actually break something. “Stop! You’re hurting him!”
“We’re not - ”
“You are! Stop burning the vines!”
All the men from the lab looked taken aback, but then one of them gestured, and a moment later, the sounds from the tunnel stopped. Thankfully, White stopped screaming as well, but it died away to quiet whimpers and sobs instead, and his whole body was still shaking. Black’s body relaxed as well, even as he panted for breath.
“Let’s get him to the lab,” one of them said again.
“He’s not - ” Sean started.
Gumpa cut him off, his jaw tight. “Sean, we have to. This isn’t a problem we’re going to be able to solve. You and I can go with him and make sure he’s okay, but we can’t bring him back to the garage like this.” He half-turned, as the men began getting White onto a stretcher, despite the fact that Sean was still protesting. “Gram, Yok, Namo - you may as well go home for now. Get some rest, stay by your phone. Dan - will you go with Sean and White? I’m going to drop Black off somewhere safe, since he can’t go to the lab.”
Dan nodded. “I’ll look after them.”
“Thanks.” Gumpa got his hands underneath Black’s arms and hauled him up. His head lolled; he seemed to have lost consciousness. White had clearly passed out as well. “Sean, just try to stay calm. I’ll meet you at the lab soon.”
Sean nodded and wiped tears off his face with one hand, the other still clutching at White’s shirt. He turned to the men from the lab and said, rudely, “Let’s go, if we’re going.”
~ ~ ~ ~
Chapter Text
Sean’s heart was racing as he jumped out of the van that he had bullied his way into by saying, “If he’s going to your fucking torture facility, I’m not leaving his side for one second, do you fucking understand that, you jack-booted thug?” Nobody had seemed to want to argue with him. It was a good thing, too, because on the way to the lab, White had woken up and gone into an immediate panic. Sean managed to soothe him, but he was still clearly terrified as they wheeled him into the lab.
“Heart rate is 180,” someone said, as they stuck monitors to him. “O2 sat ninety-four. Temp is - 106.2.”
“Fucking hell,” Sean said, clutching at White’s hand.
“Sean, it hurts, it hurts,” White sobbed. “It’s burning.”
“Where does it hurt, White?” one of the doctors asked.
“All over,” White managed. “It hurts everywhere.”
Another man, this one in a suit, hurried up. “Dan, you need to go through decontamination - ”
“I told Gumpa I’d stay with White until he got here,” Dan said firmly. “I was only there for an hour. Like Sean pointed out, if you were all so sure that White was okay despite spending a week there, you shouldn’t have any issues with me having been there an hour.”
It looked like an argument was going to break out, but instead White choked out, “I’m pretty clearly not okay - ”
“Hey, hey,” Sean said, squeezing his hand. “We know. They’re assholes and dumb as rocks on top of it. But we’re going to figure out what to do, okay?” He looked at the doctor and said, “You’re going to figure out what to do.”
“This way,” the doctor said, without responding to Sean’s thinly veiled threat.
“Cool him down,” Sean said.
For a moment it looked like the doctor might say he knew how to do his job, but then he turned to a nurse and said, “Let’s get a bag of chilled saline.” To Sean, he said, almost patiently, “We can’t just dump him in a tub of ice. We’d risk him going into shock that way. I understand his temperature is too high, but we have to be careful.”
Sean nodded, because being careful sounded good, and this doctor seemed to have at least half a brain. “Okay.”
They got White into a room and hooked up an IV. They took blood samples and an EEG and an EKG, as well as a chest x-ray with a machine they wheeled into the room. “He’s going to need an MRI and you won’t be able to go with him for that,” the doctor said.
“Then let’s wait until we’ve seen the other results,” Sean said, as if he had any idea how to make medical decisions.
“Sean, we need it. This clearly has something to do with his brain. We can sedate him if you think he’ll panic.”
Sean choked back a sob and said, “Yeah. Okay.” He sat down next to White and took his hand. “They’re going to give you something to knock you out for a bit while they do the rest of their tests,” he said, and White looked up, tears trickling down his cheeks. “I know it’s scary. I won’t be able to go with you but I’ll have my eyes on you so they can’t do anything shady. Okay? You don’t have to do it if you don’t want to.”
“Just make it stop,” White said. “Please, whatever they have to do, just make it stop hurting.”
Sean nodded and squeezed his hand. He watched the doctor take out a vial and a syringe. A few moments later, White’s eyelids were fluttering. Sean watched the monitors as his heart rate slowed to 150, then 120, and continued to drop slowly. “Is that okay?”
“That’s fine, Sean. A resting heart rate in someone your age shouldn’t be anywhere near that high.”
His temperature was coming down as well, although not as dramatically. Sean walked with the doctor and watched White’s feet, the only part of him he could see, while he got the MRI. Dan stayed with him as well, although he didn’t say anything. They had just finished that when Gumpa arrived, and Dan let himself be ushered away to be ‘decontaminated’, whatever that meant.
White was still unconscious when they settled him down in a room. The doctor said he was going to look over all the results and talk to the other doctors and come back in a bit to go over their plan of action. Sean slumped down in a chair and tried to stay calm. Gumpa reached out and squeezed his shoulder.
About half an hour later, the door opened and Bret came in, and Sean reflexively scowled. Gumpa, on the other hand, blinked and said, “Khun Bret?”
Sean was surprised. “You know this asshole?”
“Everyone in town knows this asshole,” Gumpa said, which Bret didn’t look offended by. “He owns the factory. You didn’t recognize him? He’s Todd’s dad.”
Sean went from surprised to stunned. “Todd’s dad manages the lab? And we’ve just been letting Black go over there all this time?”
“I mean, I’m clearly just finding out about this,” Gumpa said, more amused than Sean felt was appropriate.
“You don’t need to worry,” Bret said, with a slight smile. He pulled up a chair and sat down, keeping his voice pitched low, since White was unconscious. “For one thing, Todd doesn’t know I took this job, so it’s not like he’s been lying to Black. And he hasn’t told me anything. I ask him all the time, you know, how’s Black doing? What’s going on in his life? How’s his brother? And Todd doesn’t tell me diddly squat. Typical for a kid his age, I guess.”
“Okay, I’m glad I don’t have to murder Todd in his sleep, but Black might not see it the same way,” Sean said.
Bret lifted his hands in surrender, and of course that gesture was familiar; it was identical to the way Todd did the same thing. “I’ll let them hash that out. What happened tonight?”
“Why should we tell you anything?” Sean retorted.
Gumpa reached out and squeezed Sean’s wrist. “Sean, this is way beyond our ability to handle. I don’t like what the people here have done, but we can’t fix all of this ourselves,” he said, and before Sean could continue to protest, he began describing the events, beginning that afternoon outside the school. It was hard to believe that only about eight hours had passed since the encounter on the field.
“So out of curiosity, when were you planning to call us?” Bret asked, when Gumpa was finished with the story.
“Quarter to never,” Sean said, before Gumpa could say anything. “What the fuck have you guys done? Uh, let’s see, tortured Black, which resulted in this gate being opened.”
“You know that wasn’t the people who are here now. Those people are gone.”
Sean didn’t let that deter him. “Then you faked White’s death so nobody would know what you had done, then sent goons after us who nearly drowned Yok and then were pretty much inches away from killing Gram, Eugene, and Namo, just for knowing Black existed. Then you threatened to take Black back to be tortured more, and oh, let’s not forget the part where you murdered my father and refused to take responsibility for it.”
“Sean,” Gumpa said quietly. “You’re not wrong, but bring it down a bit.”
Sean was about to protest, but he saw that Gumpa was looking at White, not at Bret. He clearly didn’t want to wake him or upset him. That was fair. Sean figured that White was going to be upset enough when he realized where he was.
Bret sighed. “Okay, listen. I’m going to go make some calls and wake a bunch of people up and upset them. The doctors will keep reviewing the tests and probably do a bunch more. If you two need anything, let someone know. I’ll have someone waiting out in the hall.”
That sounded suspiciously like that they weren’t going to be allowed to leave, but Sean decided to burn that bridge when he got to it. “Can we have some coffee?”
“Sure. I’ll have some brought in.”
Sean scowled at him as he left, then looked over at the monitors. His temperature had come down, and was in fact dropping low again. His heart rate and breathing both seemed normal. “Seems like he’s feeling better. Can we leave?”
Gumpa sighed. “Let’s at least get the results of all the tests they did first. I know you don’t want to be here and I don’t blame you. It’s possible they’re going to be completely useless. But I don’t think our original plan will work - we need to kill the shadow monster and close the gate. We can’t kill the shadow monster if doing that will hurt White. So let’s at least let them put their heads together and see what they find out.”
~ ~ ~ ~
Black woke with a start, feeling pain echoing all throughout his body. He mentally flailed back for the last thing he remembered, which was the vans pulling up. He had ducked behind Gumpa, then felt ashamed of it but hadn’t been willing to move. What had happened after that? Panic coursed through his body. Was he at the lab? Had they gotten him? This didn’t look like the lab, though, it looked like -
“Hey, are you awake?” Todd asked, and leaned over to press his hand against Black’s forehead. Black stared at him. “You still feel a bit feverish.”
“What happened?” Black asked hoarsely. “How did I get here?”
“Gumpa brought you over and asked if I could keep an eye on you.”
Black was about to ask why, then he was about to ask where White was, and then he realized he knew the answers to both those questions. He remembered White screaming, and -
“They took him to the lab,” he said, nearly choking on it.
“Hey,” Todd said, grabbing his hand. “They had to, Black. He was having some sort of episode, Gumpa said it was way worse than it’s been before. He said Sean went with him, and you know Sean won’t let anyone hurt White. By now, Gumpa is there with them, too. He knew he couldn’t bring you there so he brought you here, but if you want to go, I’ll take you. Say the word and we can go right now.”
Black shook his head automatically, then hated himself for it. He wanted to be with White, he should be with White, but the idea of setting foot back in the lab terrified him. He was completely convinced that if he did, he would never get out again, even though he knew that was irrational. Sean and Gumpa had taken care of White when Black had been unable to help him. They would be able to do that again.
“Okay,” Todd said. “We don’t have to go. Just let me know if you change your mind. Hey, why don’t you check your texts? I’ve heard it buzz a few times so you probably have updates.”
Black nodded, taking a deep breath. He took out his phone and saw that Gumpa had opened a group text with all of them. The first text was from nearly an hour previous and just read, ‘I got to the lab and I’m here with White and Sean. White’s been sedated and he seems to be resting comfortably now.’ He frowned and asked, “How long was I unconscious?”
“It’s been about an hour and a half since Gumpa brought you here, which I guess was maybe fifteen minutes after you passed out,” Todd said.
The next text was from about five minutes later. ‘They’ve done a boatload of tests and they’re going to look at the results and let us know what they think.’
Yok asked, ‘Is Dan okay?’
‘Dan’s fine. They cleaned him up and they’re debriefing him now, whatever that means.’
‘I think it means he’s in trouble,’ Namo said.
Uncharacteristically, Yok said nothing to that.
About half an hour later, Gumpa texted again. ‘White’s asleep now, which is apparently different from being sedated, according to the doctor. They’re going to let him sleep for now while they review all the results. Sean’s asleep, too. All of you should get some rest and we’ll talk in the morning.’
Black glanced at the time and saw that it was almost midnight. He was used to being up this late, but none of the others were. Since Todd was looking at him expectantly, he said, “White’s asleep now. They ran some tests.”
“That’s good, huh?” Todd said. “Do you want to try to get some sleep, too?”
The idea of lying in bed, staring at the ceiling with nothing to think about except how afraid he was, sounded like hell. Black shook his head.
“Listen, I’m gonna say something that nobody else will dare say to you, but I think you’re going to find really comforting, okay?” Todd said, and Black frowned at him. “Those guys at the lab - they’re not good guys. Sure, they’re different guys, but they’re all in this for money, right? They might not be psycho like Tawi but they still can’t be trusted. But they’re not gonna let anything bad happen to White. Not because they care, or because they’re decent people, but because he’s the only test subject they have. They’ll want to do everything they can to keep him alive because you can’t capitalize on a test subject once they’re dead. You know?”
Black let out a breath. It was comforting. Not sugar-coated, or vague, but solid and real and accurate. Todd was right in that nobody else would have dared refer to White as a test subject, but it helped - maybe more than it should have. Todd really did know him better than anyone else, except White himself. Black realized he was grateful that Gumpa had brought him here, instead of leaving him with the others. “Yeah. Thanks.”
“So let’s just try to chill. We can put on a movie so you’re not just staring off into space thinking about what’s going on with White. Maybe you’ll get some sleep, maybe you won’t, but at least you won’t just be tormenting yourself.”
“Okay,” Black said.
“You hungry?” Todd asked, and Black realized that he was. “Come on, let’s go downstairs. Mom’s asleep by now and Dad’s pulling an all-nighter at whatever drug deal he’s supervising, I guess. We can use the TV down there as long as we’re quiet.”
Black nodded again. Todd extended a hand to him, and pulled him to his feet, then gave him a quick kiss on the mouth. Black leaned into his embrace, which seemed to surprise Todd, but he wrapped his arms around Black and hugged him tightly.
“White’s gonna be okay, Black,” Todd said. “I know you want to protect him, but your brother’s tough as nails, you know?”
At this, Black managed a smile. “I know.”
~ ~ ~ ~
Gumpa meant to stay awake so he could keep an eye on White, but after a while, he dozed despite himself. Sean was sound asleep, sprawled out on the floor. Dan was off doing whatever cops did after they poked their nose into a government conspiracy. White was asleep as well, and his breathing was steady, color was good. His temperature had dropped back down to well below normal, but at least he seemed comfortable.
He woke just after dawn when a doctor came in. Without saying anything to Gumpa, he started checking the monitors and then fiddling with the sensors on White’s forehead and temples. “What are you doing?” Gumpa asked.
“We’re going to run another EEG to see how he’s doing,” the doctor said.
Gumpa didn’t even really know what an EEG was for, and he didn’t want to betray his ignorance, so he stood and went to the door. The guard outside immediately stepped into his path, cementing Gumpa’s feeling that he wasn’t just there to get them what they needed. “Can I help you, Khun Gumpa?”
“Where’s the bathroom in this place?”
“There’s one in the room, in the corner there. You won’t need to leave.”
Gumpa sighed. “Okay. How about some coffee?”
“Of course.”
He went back in and used the facilities, by which time the doctor was gone. About fifteen minutes later, Bret came in. Gumpa couldn’t help but give him the side-eye. In a way, he wasn’t surprised that Bret had been tapped for this role. It was common, if unspoken, knowledge in Hawkins that Bret was involved in a lot of shady business. Gumpa was old enough to know that the government’s idea of fighting crime in a lot of situations was just to take a cut. The factory made electronics, and had some government contracts, and Gumpa could see why they would want a local in this position. Bret was the obvious choice.
But he still didn’t particularly like it. He didn’t believe Bret when he said Todd was in the dark. Bret might believe that, but Gumpa didn’t. Todd was smart, a lot smarter than he let most people realize. He would know his father was the obvious choice to take over the position, too. If Bret had suddenly started taking more trips, working longer hours, it wouldn’t have taken Todd long to put two and two together.
That being said, Gumpa genuinely believed that there was real affection between Todd and Black, despite how much the two of them seemed determined not to realize that. He didn’t believe that Todd had just been associating with Black to try to get secrets for his father. He didn’t really know how Todd felt about any of this. There was a part of him that wished he had left Black with the others, rather than taking him over to Todd’s, but he hoped that he had been right about Todd and that Todd would keep Black safe. If not, well, Black was able to protect himself.
“The committee wants to go over everything,” Bret said.
“We’ve got a committee, now?” Gumpa stood and pushed his hair out of his face. Then he leaned over and gently shook Sean. “Hey, Sean?” he said, and Sean blinked at him blearily. “White’s still sleeping, but the doctors are having a meeting. Can you stay here with him while I go talk to them?”
“Mmkay,” Sean said, hauling himself to his feet.
Gumpa took his cup of coffee and followed Bret. They walked through a set of double doors and down a long hallway, into a conference room with about a dozen men and women sitting down at a long table. Gumpa reminded himself not to be intimidated. These people might be doctors and scientists, but at the moment, he was one hundred percent certain that he knew more about the situation than they did.
This was emphasized a moment later when they said that most of the tests had come back normal. His white blood cell count was high again. His MRI still showed the abnormalities they would expect to see in someone with PTSD, although since he had been sedated, it looked a little different. His EEG showed abnormal brain waves, but it was obvious that none of them knew what that meant.
“Listen,” Gumpa said, after ten minutes, “what happened last night was because you set fire to the tunnel.”
“How so?” a woman asked, pushing her glasses up on her nose.
Gumpa sighed and turned to Bret. “Tell me I didn’t go over everything with you in detail last night just so they could make me do it all again today. Didn’t you take notes or record it or something?”
“We’ve heard the recording, Khun Gumpa,” the doctor who had been treating White the previous night said. “But we have questions. Can we go over it again?”
“Sure. Fine.” Gumpa gulped down some of his coffee. “How far back should I start? With Tawi fucking everything up, or with Tawi getting ripped apart by the monster he created?”
Bret cleared his throat, seeing the doctors look discomfited. “Start with White’s symptoms after he returned from the alternate plane.”
“The symptoms he told you about and you documented in great detail?” Gumpa asked. “Sure, why not? I don’t have anything better to do with my time. It’s not like I have a business to run.”
Several of the doctors looked outright offended at that, so Gumpa started giving the details before one of them could tell him that his garage was nothing compared to their lofty work of torturing children and not understanding the results. They stopped him frequently to ask questions, which irritated him. Bret had to chime in a lot as well, because Gumpa didn’t know all the details of when White had been meeting with the doctors.
Finally, he got to when things had changed a few days previous, the new visions, the shadow monster. He detailed what had happened outside the school and the obvious conclusion that White and the shadow monster were now psychically linked, so hurting one hurt the other. The doctors conferred and muttered to each other a lot.
“So how long has this been going on?” one of them asked. “This psychic link you’re referring to.”
Frustrated, Gumpa said, “I told you, probably ever since he got back from the upside down, but something changed yesterday, after the episode he had at the elementary school.”
“Why weren’t we notified immediately?”
Gumpa was glad that Sean wasn’t here for this discussion. “White gave you three months to figure out how to help him, and what did you do for him? Nothing.”
“These are new symptoms,” one of the doctors protested.
“He told you that something was wrong, and you said it was all in his head,” Gumpa retorted. “Why the hell should he have bothered to tell you when it got worse? Why should he have believed that you actually cared about helping him? We can’t trust a damn word you say. And now you’re telling me to give you time to figure this out, but can a single person in this room actually tell me what’s wrong? Why am I explaining everything to you? I’m a mechanic, for fuck’s sake. You created this problem, or at least your predecessors did, but none of you can do a damn thing to fix it.”
“Gumpa,” Bret said, “we’re trying our best, okay?”
Gumpa was torn between telling them that he didn’t believe that or telling them that their best wasn’t good enough. “Are you, though?”
“Just give us some time.”
“What if I say we won’t? You had three months. I let you bring him here last night to stabilize him, and now he’s stabilized. Maybe we want to figure out the rest on our own.”
The doctors looked uncomfortable. Bret said, “I’m sorry, but you know we can’t allow that.”
“So we really are your prisoners now,” Gumpa said. “Just like Black was afraid would happen if we ever set foot in here. I know that you can keep me here, keep all three of us here, smooth it over with law enforcement, find an excuse. So I’ll give you twenty-four hours to figure out how to help White. If we’re still here after that, I’m - ”
“You’re going to what?” one of the doctors asked, with a hint of a sneer. “You can’t do anything.”
Gumpa stared at him. “I’m not going to. Black will tear this place apart brick by brick to get his brother back. And I’m pretty sure that you don’t have anything that can stop him. So think about that, okay?” He was about to leave, but then a thought occurred to him. “None of this is ever going to stop until we close that gate. Black can do it. Maybe we should start with that.”
More uncomfortable silence sat around the table.
“Right,” Gumpa said, with a sigh. “You don’t want to close the gate. I can see the implications. Travel is one, I guess. If you can travel in the upside down, and gate out of it, you could get into any secure facility in the world. Information . . . when you’re in the upside down, you can hear what’s going on in the real world, but they can’t hear you. And if I can figure out those two things, I’m sure you guys have thought of a dozen more possibilities. There are countries and governments that would kill for this information. If you can figure out how that gate works, you’ll be the richest people in existence. And I can see that that’s far more important to you than the lives of two teenaged boys.”
“Listen, you’re talking about choices that are way above the level of anyone sitting in this room,” Bret said. “We can’t just do what we want, but we’ll try to help White, okay? You said you’d give us twenty-four hours. Let’s start with that and re-negotiate from there.”
“Sure,” Gumpa said, as if he believed they would change their minds about anything. He stood up and said, “I’m going to go check on him. If you figure anything out, let me know.”
~ ~ ~ ~
Chapter Text
Yok tossed and turned most of the night, unable to sleep. He kept thinking of the way his heart had nearly leapt out of his chest when White had said that Dan was in trouble, of the way Dan had looked at him when Yok had pulled him free. Over the past year, he really had done his best to try to get over Dan. Maybe they would be something someday, when he was older, but what was the point in wasting his time pining after him for now? He was going to get hot and experienced and then come back - and then Dan had nearly died and now Yok was lying in bed, terrified and sort of hating himself for it.
As soon as the sun came up, he leapt out of bed and grabbed his phone, pulling up the group text. ‘So are we gonna go get this demogorgon or not?’
‘How is that our problem?’ Namo replied immediately, proving that he wasn’t the only one who hadn’t slept.
‘What, you want to let the lab catch it?’ Yok asked. ‘So they can experiment on it and probably clone the little bastard?’
‘Fuck,’ Sean put in the group text.
Since Sean was clearly up, Namo immediately asked, ‘Hey, how’s White?’
‘Still sleeping,’ Sean said, then added another text. ‘Gumpa is meeting with some bigwigs right now to go over the results of all the testing they did, so hopefully we’ll know more soon.’
‘Keep us posted,’ Namo said.
‘About the demogorgon,’ Gram now put in, so he was up too. ‘We’re the ones who let it escape. I feel like we should at least try to find it.’
Glad that he wasn’t alone in this, Yok said, ‘Gumpa has all the stuff for Molotov cocktails at the garage. Meet me there.’
‘Be careful,’ Sean texted.
Yok got up and got dressed. His mother was in the kitchen, and he greeted her with a smile, which she returned. “Breakfast is on the table,” she signed.
“Thanks, Mom.” Yok shoveled the food into his face as quickly as possible. Fortunately, she was used to this, so she didn’t find it suspicious that he was in a rush. He supposed it was a Wednesday, and she probably figured he was on his way to school. When he was done eating, he tapped her shoulder to get her attention and signed, “I’m heading out, love you!”
“Love you too, have a good day!” she replied.
Yok grabbed his bag and got on his bike. He was the first one to the garage. They all had a key, but he was surprised to find that it was unlocked. Things looked slightly different from when they had left, he thought, and he frowned. He nearly jumped out of his skin when Gram arrived. “I think those goons were here,” he said. “It wasn’t locked up when I got here.”
“Typical,” Gram said. “What do they care if someone steals Gumpa’s shit?”
“Why haven’t we set that place on fire yet?” Yok asked, and shook his head.
“It’s really kind of amazing Sean hasn’t, all things considered,” Gram said. “I mean, when they basically told him they wouldn’t say shit about his dad unless he agreed to spy on the twins for them, I thought he was going to go ballistic.”
“Me too,” Yok said. “I guess that’s what love does to you, huh.”
“So it would seem,” Gram said.
Namo showed up and greeted them, and they looked around for Gumpa’s things but couldn’t find much. “Maybe he’s not keeping it here,” Namo said.
“Shit, that’s right!” Yok said, feeling stupid. “He’s stashing it all at Sean’s old house. He didn’t say much about it but I got the impression he’s always been a little bit worried that those assholes would boot him out of his own place if need be. And they were clearly here last night, so that’s probably a good thing.”
“At least we can grab the shotgun,” Gram said, going behind the counter.
“Do you know how to use a shotgun?” Namo asked.
“No, but I’d rather have a shotgun I don’t know how to use than no shotgun at all.” Gram sighed. “Safe’s locked, though.”
“Namo, have you got any bobby pins?” Yok asked.
“Oh, just because I’m a girl, you think I’m the one with bobby pins?” Namo asked, then immediately pulled one out of her hair, where it was helping hold up her messy bun. “You’ll pay for that later.”
Yok managed to finesse the safe open and grabbed the shotgun and a box of shells. He handed it over to Gram, since he was the one who had wanted it, thinking that he would prefer the Molotov cocktails anyway. The demogorgon hadn’t seemed to care much about getting shot, but it hadn’t liked being set on fire.
They went over to Sean’s old house, a place that always made Yok depressed. He had such vivid memories of spending time here as a child, with Sean and Namo. He remembered Sean’s mother, who had always been kind and gentle, and Sean’s father, who had joked around with them and helped them build the treehouse and taught him how to ride a bicycle. Neither he nor Namo had dads in their lives. Long before Gumpa had been looking out for them, Sean’s dad had been taking care of them.
“Hey,” Namo said gently, seeing him pause in the doorway. “You okay?”
“Are any of us okay?” Yok responded, and she sighed but didn’t argue. “I just . . . hate coming here. I can’t say it when Sean’s around, but . . . they destroyed this family and got away with it. I want to do something about it but I know Sean is prioritizing the twins’ safety and that’s his choice to make. I can’t decide that for him. But . . .”
“It’s not just that, though,” Gram said, sitting on one of the crates that Gumpa had brought in. “It’s that he can’t prove it. Even if he was willing to risk the twins’ safety and say something, nobody would believe him.”
Namo shifted from foot to foot. “Can I tell you guys something, and you’ll promise you won’t tell Sean?”
“Sure,” Yok said, then added, “I promise,” and Gram echoed him.
“We went and met that guy from the lab, right? The one who said that if Sean gave him info on the twins, the lab would take responsibility for his dad’s death. And I might have . . . recorded the conversation.”
Yok’s eyes widened. “Shit, really?”
“They obviously weren’t going to agree to do what he asked,” Namo said. “But I thought they might admit culpability, so yeah, before we went into the clinic to talk to the guy, I turned my phone on to record. Caught the whole thing.”
“You’ve been sitting on that for months?” Gram asked.
“Because I didn’t want to put Sean in the position of keeping White safe or getting justice for his dad,” Namo said. “He’s so torn up about it. He doesn’t really let any of us see that, but I know he thinks about it every day. So I thought, I would wait for now. In a year or so, when he’s graduated, when he and the twins have moved to a city where they can hide, they can be safe - I would give it to him then. And then all this shit happened.”
“That’s not a bad plan, actually,” Yok said. “I know Sean’s thought about that a lot lately. Going to uni in the city, working as a mechanic part-time to afford an apartment or something. I’m sure White could find a job there, too.”
“It feels weird, doesn’t it?” Gram asked. “I mean, I know I’m probably going to go to uni in the city, too, but . . .”
“That’s growing up, I think,” Namo said, with a smile that was somewhat rueful.
“Yeah, but what about Gumpa? If we all leave Hawkins, he’ll be here by himself.”
Yok laughed. “Don’t worry about Gumpa. We aren’t the first teenagers he’s taken under his wing and we won’t be the last. When my mom and I stayed there that winter, when our heat was out, there were two other kids there. They grew up and went to the city, although one of them came back and Gumpa is still friends with her. He’ll always have people to look after. That’s just the way he is.”
“That’s true, yeah,” Namo said, her smile now more genuine. “And even if we all go to different places, we’ll still be friends afterwards. You can’t rescue someone from an alternate dimension and fight a demon and then not be friends forever afterwards.”
“Right?” Yok laughed again. “Speaking of which, we should get moving. Let’s go find a baby demogorgon.”
~ ~ ~ ~
While Gumpa was in the meeting, Sean was slumped in the chair next to White’s bed, arms folded over his chest, glaring at the guard outside the door. He hated the fact that he knew White didn’t want to be here for this exact reason. They obviously weren’t planning to let White leave, just like White had feared would happen. Sean was wondering if Black knew he was here yet, and what he thought of it.
He was wondering what was taking Gumpa so long when he heard a faint noise from the bed. He looked over and saw that White’s eyes were open. He was staring blankly at the ceiling, and Sean said, “Hey, you. How are you feeling?”
White slowly looked over at him. The blankness in his face was disquieting. Sean had expected him to be upset that he was at the lab, given how long he had resisted going there - and for good reason. Instead he just blinked at Sean several times before he said, “Okay. Warm.”
“Bad warm or good warm?”
“Too warm.” White started pushing weakly at the blanket that was covering him.
“Hey, let me help, okay?” Sean lifted the blanket off him and tossed it over one of the other chairs. “Are you in any pain?”
“I feel . . . sore. Like . . . leftover pain.”
“That’s not so bad, considering yesterday,” Sean said. “Are you hungry?”
“Thirsty. Can I have something cold?”
“Sure.” Sean got up and walked over to the guard. “Hey, you heard him. Go fetch.”
The guard gave him an extremely unamused look, but walked down the hallway. Sean saw him go through the double doors, and saw another guard waiting there.
“Where’s Black?” White asked.
“I think he’s demogorgon hunting with the others,” Sean said. “That ought to be good for him. Help him blow off some steam.”
“And . . . Gumpa?”
“He’s meeting with whatever blowhards run this place.”
“About me?”
“Yeah. Don’t worry, okay? We’re going to figure this out.”
The guard came back in with a box of soy milk. Sean tested it to make sure it was actually cold before handing it to White. He sipped it slowly, staring off into space.
Apparently the guard had also told somebody that White was awake, because six doctors crowded into the room, although Gumpa pushed his way in first and insisted on checking in with White to see how he was feeling before he would let them talk to him. Sean scooted backwards slightly, letting Gumpa put himself between White and the doctors. Bret was there, as well, and Sean scowled at him, making a mental note to find out what Todd knew and kick his ass if necessary.
The doctor who had been there the night before, who introduced himself as Sam, took the lead. “Your temperature has dipped below normal. Let’s get the blanket back - ”
“No,” White said. “He likes it cold.”
Sean knew that Gumpa had told Bret everything the previous night, and he had just been in a meeting with these doctors for over an hour. They had no right to look so discomfited, and Sean said irritably, “The shadow monster exists on the upside down, where the temperature seems to average a lot lower. It doesn’t like being warm. If he doesn’t want the blanket, leave him the fuck alone.”
“Sean,” Gumpa said quietly.
Sam asked White a lot of questions, some about how he was feeling, and others about if he knew the date, recognized the people in the room, could name the president. “Do you remember what happened?”
Still with a blank expression, White said, “I remember they hurt me.”
“The doctors?”
“No. The soldiers.”
“The soldiers hurt you?” Sam asked.
White stared at him coldly. “They shouldn’t have done that. It upset him.”
“He should be upset,” Sean snapped. “You hear me, you asshole shadow monster? You should be fucking upset.”
“Sean,” Gumpa said again.
“We’re going to try something, okay?” Sam said. He gestured at the door, and a guard came in, wheeling a cart with him. On it was a tank, which seemed to be holding a piece of the vines they had seen in the tunnel. It was still moving, like it was trying to escape, despite the fact that it had been cut off. The guard took out a propane torch, turning it on to a tight flame.
As soon as that flame got within six inches of the piece of vine, it began to squirm and twist and gave a thin squeal. Simultaneously, White gasped and clutched at his chest. “Hurts - ”
“Where does it hurt, White?” Sam asked.
“My - chest - ”
The guard moved the flame a few inches closer. The piece of vine convulsed and White cried out. The monitors started to beep as his heart rate spiked.
“Cut it out,” Sean snapped.
“Just a little longer,” the doctor said.
The flame touched the vine, and the outside of it began to smolder. White screamed, his body going rigid.
“That’s enough!” Gumpa shouted, grabbing the guard’s wrist and yanking the flame away from the vine. The guard pulled back as if he was going to fight, but fortunately, Sam waved him aside. Gumpa said, “You’ve proven your point. Which was actually my point, because I already told you what would happen but you just had to check because you’re a doctor and I’m just a mechanic.”
White fell back against the bed, crying quietly. “Sean - Sean - ”
“It’s okay, I’m here,” Sean said, smoothing back his hair. “They won’t do anything like that again.”
His phone rang, and he winced, because he already knew who it was without even looking. When he picked up, Black immediately snarled, “What the fuck are you doing over there? You said you wouldn’t let them hurt him! You’re supposed to be taking care of him!”
“Yeah, I know,” Sean said. “They didn’t fucking listen when Gumpa and I told them he’s connected to the shadow monster and just had to fucking prove it. He’s better now. Do you want to talk to him?”
“I want to talk to them,” Black snapped.
Sean tapped his phone. “You’re on speaker.”
“If you make my brother hurt again I will burn that lab to the ground, do you understand me?” Black spit out. “The next time I feel you hurt him, I’m going to come to the lab and get him out. I’ll tear the whole place apart if I have to. Don’t you hurt my brother!”
He hung up without saying anything else. Gumpa sighed and said to the assembled doctors, “I did tell you. Black’s only going to let him stay here so long. So now that you’ve done your little experiment, do you have anything helpful to say?”
Sam sighed as well. “Our best guess right now is that it’s some kind of virus, which is causing this neurological disorder. Now, when a typical virus attaches itself to a host, it duplicates, right? It spreads, essentially hijacking the host. A virus is alive. It has an intelligence. That’s not unusual. What is so unusual here is that the virus, the infected hosts seem to be communicating. It has some sort of hive mind intelligence, and it’s connecting all the hosts. The good news is, a virus can be cured. We’re going to continue to run tests, and we’re going to see what we find.”
“Super reassuring,” Sean muttered, as they bustled out of the room. White simply went back to staring off into space.
An hour passed. Sean paced, and insulted the guard, and periodically cursed the whole place out. Gumpa was clearly worried, although he was more settled. “Doctors always take forever, Sean. As long as White’s not getting worse, let’s give them a chance.”
Sean wanted to agree with that, but he felt like White was getting worse. The way he was just staring, completely out of it, was bugging him. His chest ached with fear as he wondered if they’d be able to stop this, if White would go back to normal afterwards, or if this damage was permanent.
“This way, deputy,” a voice in the hallway said, and Dan walked in. He was wearing scrubs, and his hair was still damp.
“How’s he doing?” Dan greeted them, when White didn’t respond to his entrance.
“He’s stable for now,” Gumpa said.
There were no more chairs in the room, so Dan sat down on the floor. “Have they figured anything out?”
“Nothing that we couldn’t have told them,” Gumpa said. “White’s connected to the shadow monster. It’s all one hive mind. He collapsed like that because they started burning the vines back.”
Dan looked over his shoulder. “They must be scheduled to do another burn at the gate soon. Bret told me that they do it every three days. They obviously didn’t do it yesterday or White would have felt it. Which means it’ll be today or tomorrow.”
“They better fucking not until they figure this out,” Sean said.
“I’m with you there, but . . .”
Dan’s voice trailed off, and Sean thought about what he didn’t want to say out loud. The truth was, the people in charge had no idea what to do. White’s psychic powers were something they knew nothing about. He had refused to answer any questions about them, and even if he had, all he would have been able to tell them about was his connection with Black. They knew it was there and had even planned to try to duplicate it, but so far the scientists in charge had studied it very little.
“I don’t get what changed,” Dan finally said. “We know he wasn’t connected to it before yesterday. They’ve been doing those burns and he hasn’t reacted.”
“He said it ‘got’ him,” Gumpa said. “Whatever that means.”
Sean said, “It’s in the vines, and he said it was in the demogorgons - ”
“Plural?” Dan asked, alarmed.
“Yeah, that’s what he said. And now it’s in him. I think it can’t come to our plane - maybe can’t tolerate the climate or maybe it just doesn’t fit through the gate because it’s so fucking huge. So it, it infects things in the upside down and then sends them here. Yesterday is when White actually got infected.”
“He was connected to it before that,” Dan said. “Ever since he’s gotten back from the upside down, he’s been having these visions, but he only saw the shadow monster for the first time maybe a week ago, right? So what changed?”
“That’s when the fields started rotting too, isn’t it?” Gumpa asked, and Dan nodded. “And when Gram’s brothers found the baby demogorgon. Maybe everything just started happening because that thing, whatever it is, was ready. It must have taken time to carve out all these tunnels - to get to the point where it could quickly reach wherever in Hawkins it wanted to go.”
“That’s true,” Dan said. He looked over at White, who was just staring at the ceiling, not engaging in the conversation at all. “White, what are you thinking about?”
“What . . .?” White asked, blinking slowly.
“You okay?” Sean asked, squeezing his hand.
“I’m . . . more him than me,” White said. “I’m sorry.”
“You don’t have to be sorry,” Sean said, swallowing down another wave of fear. “Yesterday evening, he said that he was seeing through its eyes a lot more - that it was getting to the point where he had to concentrate if he wanted to see through his own. I think that’s why he’s so out-of-it now.”
Dan muttered something that sounded like a curse.
“That’s how he found you, though,” Sean told him. “He was just zoned out like this and then he suddenly looked at me and said you were in trouble. Because he was seeing through its eyes. So it’s not necessarily a bad thing. It’s like he can spy on what it’s doing.”
“Which, if the others are out demogorgon hunting, might not be a bad thing,” Gumpa said.
“As if we could leave to help them if we needed to,” Sean said.
“I could, I think, if things get bad,” Dan said. “You’re not wrong that they’re not going to let any of you out, but I’ve been thoroughly debriefed.”
“Yeah, how’d that go?” Gumpa asked.
“I got a formal reprimand for poking my nose into their business. It’s a black mark on my record - means it’ll be difficult for me to get a promotion. Fortunately, I’m not ambitious. But if it happens again, I’ll be fired.”
“What bullshit,” Sean said. “You only did that because they brushed you off.”
Dan sighed. “But they didn’t brush me off. It’s clear that they actually did listen and run tests and that’s why they showed up last night. I was frustrated that they weren’t returning my calls, and I don’t trust them because of their past behavior, but that doesn’t change the fact that I went way over the heads of everyone involved and took matters into my own hands. I would’ve died in that tunnel if it weren’t for White, so it’s hard to say that the reprimand wasn’t deserved. Don’t worry about it, okay, Sean? I can take care of myself.”
“I’m not worried,” Sean snapped. “I’m pissed off.”
“Well, that’s fair,” Dan said. “My point is just, if I wanted to leave at this point, I could do so.”
“Bully for you,” Sean muttered, and turned back to White, stroking his hair. “Hey, White, look at me. Talk to me. What’s going on in that head of yours?”
White focused on him. It seemed to take a long time. “Sean.”
“Yeah, it’s me.”
“I love you.”
Despite everything going on, Sean smiled. “I love you, too.”
“Don’t let me go.”
“I won’t,” Sean said, squeezing his hand. “I’ll never let you go, White. Just get some rest. Zone out if it’s too hard to stay focused. I’ll be right here.”
White nodded and closed his eyes.
Sean rested his head on his hands and waited.
~ ~ ~ ~
“So where do we want to do this?” Namo asked, looking at the row of Molotov cocktails they had created. “I don’t think we should do it here. There are other houses on this street; someone will notice.”
“How about the junkyard?” Gram asked. “It’s on the east side of town. There’d be plenty of cover there.”
“Oh, yeah, good thought,” Yok said.
They packed everything up and carefully loaded it onto the two bikes. Namo climbed on behind Yok, and they drove out to the junkyard. There was someone who worked there, but he was easily bribed to go away. Yok told him they had fireworks they wanted to set off, and he didn’t ask any questions.
“Let’s use that,” Gram said, pointing to an old bus. “We can put these sheets of metal up the sides so the little bastards won’t be able to climb.”
“We can set the traps here,” Yok said, dumping a box on the ground.
“Looks good,” Namo said.
Yok’s phone buzzed, and all of them automatically checked their phones, but it wasn’t the group text. “What’s up?” Gram asked, seeing Yok’s eyes go wide. He could feel his cheeks flushing pink, too, which didn’t help. Gram immediately grabbed his phone, despite his protest, to see that Sean had sent Yok a picture of Dan. Dressed in scrubs, looking worried, his hair damp - Yok could practically feel himself starting to salivate.
“Wow,” Namo said, glancing at the picture and laughing. “Sean wanted to make sure you saw that, huh? For good reason. That man looks hot with wet hair.”
“I don’t think you’re supposed to be encouraging this,” Yok said, even though that certainly hadn’t stopped Sean.
“Listen, Yok, there’s nothing wrong with you thirsting after that,” Namo said. “The problem started where you thought he might actually date you before you turn twenty.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Yok said, because he’d heard all of that already from Gumpa. He had to admit that Gumpa had made some good points. Someone Dan’s age would want to have discussions about things that Yok was nowhere near deciding yet. Did he want kids? Did he want to stay in Hawkins? What were his plans for the future? Yok had no idea about a lot of that.
“It’s not the fact that you’re six years apart that’s the problem,” Gumpa had said. “It’s where those six years fall. If you were twenty-six and he was thirty-two, there wouldn’t be any problem. But Dan is at a completely different stage of his life than you are. He’s got experience you don’t and a serious relationship for him would be impossible with someone your age. When you’re done with school and you’re really thinking about what you want out of life, that may change. And you may find that your vision of the future is completely incompatible with his. That’s a big part of why this wouldn’t work. You need to get those life experiences, Yok. You need to know what you want out of life, not just what your hormones want.”
Yok couldn’t argue with that, so he’d decided everyone was right. He would go to college, make some friends, date some people, figure out what his career would look like. Because the truth was, he wanted to be an artist, and he probably wouldn’t stay in Hawkins. He didn’t want to grow up and work at the factory and spend most of his wages on a rundown house and just enough food to get by. He wanted a real job, a good one, so he could get his mother a nice place and take care of her. Dan might not want to leave Hawkins. He might be happy here.
He stared at the picture and then said to the others, “Okay, but I’m still gonna jerk off to this picture.”
“Why do you think Sean sent it to you?” Namo asked, and then handed him the bag full of traps. “Let’s get to work.”
~ ~ ~ ~
Minutes trickled by and turned into hours. The doctors came in frequently. They did an EEG every hour, and at one point took White to get another MRI, for which Sean went with him. Gumpa kept the group updated by text, and they periodically mentioned how their monster-hunting was going. He had a separate text open with Black, to give more details. Black didn’t respond often, just an occasional ‘ok’, but he did say ‘thanks for bringing me to Todd’s’, which was noteworthy in and of itself. Black rarely thanked anybody for anything. So despite Gumpa’s misgivings about Bret, he was glad that Black was in a place where he felt safe.
It was well into the afternoon when White suddenly looked over at Sean and said, “I saw something . . . the shadow monster. I think I might know how to stop him.”
Sean practically jumped to his feet. Dan, who had been dozing in the corner, startled awake.
“I need to see my map,” White said.
“I’ll see what we can do.” Gumpa stood up and walked over to the guard. “So if I said we need to go back to the garage, I’m guessing you’d have to check that with your superiors.”
“I would.”
“Then call them. Get Bret down here since he’s apparently in charge.”
Bret came in about five minutes later, and Gumpa explained that White had seen something through the shadow monster’s eyes, and needed to see his drawings, so they had to go back to the garage. Bret smiled and said, “Oh, that’s okay, you don’t have to, we took pictures of all of that.”
“You did what?” Sean asked.
“You broke into my place?” Gumpa asked, unsurprised but still wanting to register a complaint.
“We didn’t break in, actually. We used White’s key.”
Gumpa glanced over at White, thinking about how he was now in a hospital johnny, how they had presumably stripped him and taken all his belongings when they got there. “Of course you did. Can we just see the pictures?”
“Let’s go to the conference room. We can spread them all out there.”
Sean turned to White and asked, “Hey, how are you feeling? Do you think you can walk?”
White nodded. Sean helped him out of bed, and White had to lean on him, but he seemed steady on his feet. Bret handed him some slippers, which he put on, and they trooped down the hallway. Sean thought about what an odd sight they must make - White in his hospital johnny while Dan was in scrubs, then Bret in his suit, with Sean and Gumpa both in their regular street clothes. He wished they had brought something to change into.
Bret showed them into a large conference room and had someone bring a folder full of photos. They were glossy eight-by-tens which seemed hot off the press. It took a little bit of time to assemble them, but it was easier now that they knew what they were looking at. Gumpa explained to Bret how to interpret it, showing him the shapes of the various lakes.
“Here,” White said, and tapped a photo. Sean looked over his shoulder and saw that it was a larger cavern than most, with multiple tunnels feeding into it.
“What’s there?” Gumpa asked.
“I don’t know,” White said. “I just know . . . he doesn’t want me to see there. He keeps blocking me from it. So there must be something important there.”
“Then let’s have some people go take a look,” Bret said.
~ ~ ~ ~
Chapter Text
Despite Dan’s opinion on the morals and ethics of the lab, he had to admit that as a military operation, they were a well-oiled machine. He offered to go down into the tunnels but was told he wouldn’t be necessary. So he watched as a dozen men grabbed guns and got dressed in the hazmat suits.
“Okay, I have to ask,” he said to Bret, as he watched the men get ready. “If you’re so sure White wasn’t harmed by a week in the upside down, why bother with all that gear, which would be a hindrance in a combat situation?”
Bret shrugged. “A lot that happens here isn’t my decision, you know. These guys - they’re military. They’ve been told that what’s down there isn’t harmful. But, well, you’ve seen it now. Would you want to go without protective equipment?”
“Have to admit that I wouldn’t,” Dan said. He watched in silence for another minute. “Have you guys figured out what happened yet?”
“Oh, yeah - I meant to show you. Come on,” Bret said, and waved for Dan to follow him. They went past the glass wall, towards the gate. Dan noticed that they had drilled through the floor, and there was now a lift to go down through it. He climbed on, and Bret pressed the button to take them down.
The gate didn’t stop at the floor. It kept going, and going, into a huge cavern underneath. It was easily two stories tall and ten feet wide, and vines came out all around it. The tunnel led away in every direction. Behind the sticky threads that shielded the gate itself, there was a bright red glow, and Dan saw lightning flash. “Son of a bitch.”
“Yeah,” Bret said, rubbing a hand over the back of his head. “This cavern wasn’t here before. They did a geological survey before building the lab. Which means that since the gate couldn’t go forward, it pushed down, and dug all this out. Somehow.”
“We have to close it,” Dan said. “Black could do it.”
“Do we actually know that?” Bret said. “Black created a gate one tenth this size, and closed one that was probably smaller. Do we actually know he could close this?”
“I guess not. But I feel like it’s worth a try.”
Bret hit the button to take them back up to the lab itself. “It’s not my decision.”
“You could advocate for it.”
“All I’m supposed to do is report the facts. But we only found out about this,” Bret gestured to the enormous gate, “yesterday, and reported on it. So maybe they will decide to close it. It’s been a year and we haven’t figured out even the slightest way to open or close them at will. Black is the only one who can, as far as I know.”
Dan thought about that. He knew that Black had opened the gate by making a psychic connection with something on the other side. It made sense that they hadn’t been able to replicate that, with such limited ability to study Black. He remembered what Sean and Namo had said, their theory that the lab intended to try to recreate Black - or at least, a more pliant version of him. He didn’t want them to ever be able to do that, but at least it might keep Black himself safe.
“We’re ready to go down, sir,” the leader of the soldiers reported, once Bret and Dan were safe behind the glass.
Dan watched the monitors as the men descended. “You could still advocate for it.”
Bret smiled slightly. “You know I’m gonna lose this job, right? You think the people I report to are thrilled with me right now? That all this happened right underneath my nose?”
“You had no way to know,” Dan said, a little surprised.
“Maybe I couldn’t have gotten all the details, but I still shouldn’t have been taken as off guard as I was. I was supposed to convince White that we were trustworthy, that he could talk to us, so if he had any new symptoms, he would tell us.”
“Nobody would’ve been able to do that,” Dan said.
“You know, I thought about it afterwards, and maybe I could’ve. I thought White wanted the truth, so that’s what I tried to give him. But White really just wanted to be validated. To be told he wasn’t crazy, that what he was seeing was real, that this was a disease, even if it couldn’t be cured. I could’ve told him that, could’ve made some shit up, so when it got worse, he would come back here.”
Dan thought about that. “But you really did think it was all in his head, didn’t you.”
“Sure. That’s genuinely what it seemed like. Three months of tests and we never found a damn thing. I told him what I thought was the truth, but we were wrong. It would’ve been better if we had just lied to him.”
Dan sighed. “For what it’s worth, I think White will be grateful that you didn’t.”
“Maybe. But that doesn’t change anything in the grand scheme of things.”
“I guess it doesn’t,” Dan agreed, and watched the last soldier descend through the floor.
~ ~ ~ ~
Gumpa’s series of texts in the group chat about how White had seen something he thought might stop the shadow monster resulted in a lively discussion while they waited for a demogorgon, but it trailed off as the sun began to set. Yok leaned his head against the wall of the abandoned bus, closing his eyes. It had already been a long day, and it didn’t look like it was anywhere near over yet.
‘My phone’s about to die,’ Gumpa reported. ‘None of these assholes have a charger I can borrow. Any further updates will come from Sean, but don’t worry about me.’
“Why doesn’t he just run home and get a charger?” Gram asked.
“You know why,” Namo said. “They’re obviously not letting them leave.”
“Ugh,” Gram said. “Are we gonna have to break them out of there?”
“Unlikely,” Yok said. “I don’t think Black is gonna need our help.”
Gram gave a snort and Namo agreed. Black had been mostly silent in the group text, which wasn’t unusual. He rarely texted at all, except with his brother and apparently Todd. He had periodically entered a threat into the group text, but that was it.
“I still can’t believe Gumpa brought him to Todd’s instead of leaving him with us,” Gram said.
Yok laughed. “What, you’re saying you wanted to deal with him when he woke up and realized White was being held prisoner at the lab? I think Gumpa was doing us a favor.”
“Well, I mean, yeah,” Gram said, “but still. I think Gumpa keeps thinking they’re actually a couple.”
“You think they’re not?” Namo asked. “You know what Sean told me a couple weeks ago? That Black and Todd were actually cuddling.”
“No,” Yok and Gram said in unison.
“Uh huh. They were watching a movie and Todd’s head was in Black’s lap. They were holding hands.”
“Wow,” Yok said, laughing. “Pics or it didn’t happen.”
“That’s what I said, but he told me he was afraid if he pointed his phone at them, he’d lose a finger,” Namo said, which Yok had to admit was likely. “I don’t think Black and Todd are as weird a couple as the rest of you seem to think they are.”
“I mean . . .” Gram searched for the words to describe both Black and Todd, a lost cause as far as Yok could tell.
“Listen,” Namo said. “We don’t like Todd very much, but the reasons we don’t like him either mean nothing to Black, or are something he actually likes. For starters: Todd’s rich. That pisses us off because we’ve lived in this town our whole lives and watched everyone here be poor while Todd’s family has all the money. But it also means Todd can spoil Black and give him basically anything he wants, which after a life of complete deprivation must be incredibly appealing to Black.”
“Fair enough,” Yok said.
“Todd’s arrogant, which again, pisses us off, but you can see why Black might like it, because arrogance stems from confidence, and confidence is incredibly attractive, especially to someone who’s insecure.”
“You gonna call Black insecure to his face?” Gram asked, amused.
“I am not,” she said, and both boys laughed. “And I know the thing that Sean and White both hate most about Todd is that he’s not serious about relationships, about sex. But imagine how that is to Black. Todd is someone who won’t make any demands of him. Who won’t pressure him or expect things that Black isn’t willing or maybe even able to give.”
“I mean, that’s fair too, but now it does seem like things are getting serious,” Yok said.
“Well, then you get into the reasons why Todd actually likes Black,” Namo said, “and that’s because Black is an asshole.”
Gram and Yok both laughed again. “Okay?” Gram said.
“Todd’s not a good guy, and he knows that. He’s self-aware. He knows that he’s arrogant and spoiled and that most people in this town don’t actually like him. Most of his friends aren’t actually friends; they’re just the teenage equivalent of groupies. People who hang around him because he’s rich and throws good parties. And Black is the complete opposite of that. He never does anything he doesn’t want to do. He spends time with Todd because he likes spending time with Todd. It doesn’t bother Black that Todd’s not a good person because Black isn’t a good person.”
“Oh, say that to White’s face,” Yok said.
“I would,” Namo said, “because White knows it, too. Yok, you weren’t there, but Gram, you shouldn’t have forgotten that when Techit and his guys showed up at the house, Black bolted. He was completely willing to leave us there to die if it meant he didn’t go back to the lab. And I don’t blame him for that! I get that. The only reason he changed his mind is because we were already surrounded; that’s when he chose fight over flight.”
“Seems like fight over flight would be Black’s default,” Gram said thoughtfully.
“And it is, in every situation except the possibility he might go back to the lab,” Namo said. “Which, again, is completely fair. But you’ve heard Black talk, especially right after he got here. His parents gave him up because he was bad. White was good and he was bad. He got Sean’s dad killed because he was bad. White ended up in the upside down because he was bad. He has completely internalized the narrative that he’s a bad person and bad things happen because of him.”
“But that’s different from him actually being a bad person,” Yok pointed out.
“I didn’t say he’s a bad person. I said he isn’t a good person. Those are two different things. Black’s kind of a neutral person, really. He’s inherently selfish. He looks after himself and White to the exclusion of all others. And I don’t want you to think I’m being judgmental. I don’t blame him for that. He’s never had anyone take care of him or be kind to him in his life. Of course he’s selfish. It doesn’t really bother us, does it?”
Yok thought about how they had all learned to get along with Black when he was in one of his clingy moods, letting him have space, how Gumpa let him get away with not doing math because nobody wanted to force him to do things he didn’t enjoy, how nobody commented when he insisted on having the remote control because he’d had so little control over his own life. “No.”
“Right. But I don’t think Black gets that. I think Black sees Todd as a person more on his level. Someone who won’t inevitably be disappointed in him someday because of who he is. My point is just that Black completely accepts Todd as he is and likes him and spends time with him anyway, and he’s probably the only person like that in Todd’s life. So of course Todd’s going to respond to that and eventually want an actual relationship with Black.”
“This is complex,” Gram said thoughtfully.
“Oh, yeah. They all need therapy,” Namo said.
Yok laughed. “Next to them, my crush on Dan seems positively well-adjusted.”
“Your crush on Dan is totally normal. He’s a hot authority figure with handcuffs.”
“Did I mention he’s an artist?” Yok said.
“Only seven hundred times since you found that out, thanks,” Gram said.
They chatted and bickered amiably while the last of the daylight faded away. Then they took up watch. Gram had stolen a steak from his parents’ freezer (moaning that he was going to be in so much trouble) and they had used it to set the traps.
“There it is!” Yok hissed, grabbing Namo’s arm. The demogorgon entered the clearing slowly, cautiously. Much to their relief, it was still the same size as it had been the evening before. Although odds seemed good that it was going to molt again soon, it hadn’t done it yet. It sniffed at the trap from a safe distance.
“Why isn’t he taking the bait?” Gram asked.
“Maybe he’s already eaten a lot today?” Namo said.
Yok elbowed Gram and said, “Should’ve put some of your cereal out here. Isn’t that what your brothers were feeding it?”
“Man, shut up,” Gram said.
There was a clank outside, and they all looked up to see a second demogorgon jumping onto the top of one of the junked out cars. “Shit, there’s two of them,” Namo said.
“Fuck, White used the plural, remember?” Yok said. “When he was talking about the shadow monster. He said it’s in the vines, in the demogorgons - ”
“Shouldn’t we have seen others by now?” Gram asked.
“Not if they’ve mostly been keeping to the forest,” Namo said. “We only knew about this one because your brothers found it when it was still a slug. And until two days ago, they were much smaller, so no, I’m not surprised nobody’s seen them.”
The first one sniffed the steak. The second looked at the bus.
“Shit!” All three teenagers scrambled backwards from where they had been pressed against the windows to watch what was going on. A few seconds later, they heard a thunk from above them. “Oh, shit, is it on top of the bus?” Namo asked.
“If it is, it’s gonna regret it.” Yok grabbed one of the Molotov cocktails and lit the fabric. “Boost me,” he said, walking over to the emergency exit on the top of the bus. Gram knelt and made a stirrup with his hands, and Yok stepped into it.
There were now two demogorgons on top of the bus, and both of them turned and looked at him as soon as he emerged. One of them let out a high-pitched screech, and Yok took a quick glance around to see that there were now three more on the ground. He grit his teeth and threw the Molotov cocktail as hard as he could.
Both of the demogorgons dodged, and they were fast, much faster than Yok would have expected. He had to throw himself back into the bus as one of them charged him, face open to reveal the gaping maw underneath. He landed hard, knocking the wind out of himself.
“Eat this!” Gram shouted, firing the shotgun up through the emergency exit while Yok tried to catch his breath. There was a thump and then a squeal, but then the second demogorgon appeared where the first had been. Gram fired again. Outside, there were thumps as the demogorgons threw themselves against the bus.
“Shit, shit, shit,” Yok panted, as Namo tried to help him up. He was beginning to realize that they were really in trouble. A dozen Molotov cocktails wouldn’t help them if they couldn’t hit their target. They scrambled backwards, away from the emergency exit, and Namo screamed as the windshield at the front of the bus shattered. She and Yok both grabbed a Molotov cocktail and threw it at the front of the bus. It stopped the demogorgons, but the fire caught at the front, and Yok thought that they might have only succeeded in trapping themselves on the bus.
Gram was trying to reload the shotgun, but he was unfamiliar with it, and it was taking him valuable seconds. One of the demogorgons leaned through the emergency exit. Yok watched the saliva drip from its mouth in horrified fascination.
Then, suddenly, it looked up. A second later, it sprang away. The thumps from outside the bus stopped.
“What the fuck?” Namo asked.
Yok took a deep breath. “Boost me,” he said again, and Gram helped him through the top. He watched as half a dozen demogorgons vanished into the forest.
“We couldn’t have scared them off,” Namo said.
Yok shook his head. “They’re going somewhere.”
Gram let out a breath. “Then I guess we better follow them.”
~ ~ ~ ~
Bret’s radio crackled, and Dan’s head jerked up. He realized that he had been holding his breath, waiting to hear something. “We’re at the first junction,” the soldier reported in. “Following the map and heading southwest.”
“How far do they have to go?” Dan asked.
“Only about a half mile. This hub that White pointed out is actually fairly close to the lab.”
Dan thought that was a little disconcerting, but he didn’t say anything. He watched the monitor as the cluster of white dots that represented the soldiers moved through the tunnels until they made it to the hub.
“I don’t see anything,” the soldier said. “It’s just more of the same. Though it’s foggy here. Visibility is poor.”
Bret frowned and said, more to himself than to Dan, “What did White want us to see here?”
“Sir,” one of the technicians said, “I think we have a problem.”
Dan looked at the monitor, at the cluster of white dots, at the tunnels that branched off every way from the hub. In those tunnels, he saw red dots. First just a few, then several in each tunnel, moving closer to the hub. “What the hell is that?”
Bret grabbed his radio, “Soldier, you have incoming - ”
That was when the screaming started.
~ ~ ~ ~
Sean was waiting impatiently, fighting the urge to pace because he wanted to stay at White’s side and hold his hand. He was lying down again, staring up at the ceiling. Sean checked his phone to see a few updates from Yok and Namo and Gram, who were setting up the junkyard to lure the demogorgon into a trap.
Suddenly, White sucked in a breath. “I’m sorry,” he whispered.
“What?” Sean looked up, and Gumpa looked over as well. “White, you don’t have to be sorry. You - ”
“He made me do it,” White said, tears starting down his face. “I told you. They upset him. They shouldn’t have upset him.”
“What?” Gumpa asked. “What do you mean?”
Gumpa sounded confused, but Sean’s blood had run cold. He thought of White asking ‘what if he spies back’, of White saying ‘I’m more him than me’. “The spy,” he whispered.
“I’m sorry,” White said, leaning against Gumpa’s shoulder. “I didn’t want to, but he made me.”
Sean ran to the door and grabbed the guard. “Call down to Bret, have them pull those guys back!” he shouted, and the man gave him a bewildered look. “It’s a trap, pull them back!”
“It’s too late,” White said. “We have to go. Sean, we have to go!”
~ ~ ~ ~
Dan felt sick, watching each white dot vanish off the monitor, one after another, as the soldiers were taken down. The camera footage was blurry, frenetic, unable to catch much in the dark, foggy tunnels. But he thought he knew what was happening, having heard Gumpa’s secondhand description of the young demogorgon that had gotten loose.
“The fuck,” Bret said, clutching at his radio.
Dan just kept watching the monitor. Watched as all the red dots entered the same tunnel. The tunnel that led back to the lab. “It was a trap.”
“A trap?” Bret was trying to catch up, clearly unable to comprehend what had just happened.
“That thing is inside White. That - that’s not White upstairs anymore. It’s just the monster.” Dan grabbed his phone, ready to call upstairs to see what was happening. But then he saw claws grabbing the side of the hole in the floor. The demogorgon pulled itself up and examined the glass wall between them and it, and threw himself against it.
“It - it can’t get through,” Bret said, trying to sound confident. “That’s polycarbonate. It can’t get through.”
Two more demogorgons emerged and joined in the effort.
A crack appeared in the pane of glass.
“Are you sure?” Dan asked.
Bret slammed his hand down on a red button.
~ ~ ~ ~
“It’s a trap, pull them back!” Sean yelled, and then there was a sudden flash of red light. He looked up to see that a light on the ceiling was now blinking. It was joined by the high-pitched whoop of an alarm. “Oh, fuck - ”
He ran back into the room, no longer caring what the guards did. “We have to go,” he said to Gumpa, who nodded. Then he looked at White, saw the terrified look on his face, saw that it was White, his White - but knowing that he wasn’t alone. “We have to knock White out.”
“What?” White’s eyes went wide, and Sean saw something in his face change, saw that shift from his frightened boyfriend to the thing underneath his skin. “No, you can’t - ”
Sean addressed Gumpa instead of the monster, because he didn’t have time for anything else. “Anywhere we go, that thing will be able to use White to see and hear us. We have to knock him out.”
“No!” White shouted. He looked at Gumpa. “No, he’s lying! He’s lying! Don’t let him!”
“Fuck,” Gumpa whispered, but he nodded to Sean.
“Where did they put - ” Sean pulled a drawer open, then another, and found a vial and individually wrapped syringes. He tried to stay focused, but it was growing difficult. He could hear gunshots somewhere else in the building. They weren’t close yet, but they were getting closer. And White had started to thrash and scream, forcing Gumpa to pin him to the bed before he could get away.
“Do you know how much to give him?” Gumpa asked.
“I saw them do it yesterday. I won’t give as much, though, just in case.” Sean drew the liquid out of the syringe and ran back over to White. “Hold onto him,” he said to Gumpa, who nodded and wrapped his arms around White, pinning his arms to his sides. White screamed louder, and it wasn’t White at all, but Sean knew he was still in there somewhere. Or at least he hoped that he was. “Don’t be scared, White. I won’t let anything happen to you.”
He slid the syringe into White’s arm and pressed the plunger down. White fought for another few moments, but then his eyelids fluttered, and he sagged backwards, into Gumpa’s arms.
“I’ve got him,” Gumpa said, lifting White over his shoulders in a fireman’s carry. “Let’s go.”
~ ~ ~ ~
Black was exhausting himself using the punching bag in Todd’s basement when he suddenly felt his entire body shudder. He stopped, leaning against the wall, trying to put a name to that feeling. He was still so bad at words, and even worse when he was stressed. “White.”
“What’s wrong?” Todd asked, hopping down from where he had been sitting on the exercise bike like usual.
“I don’t know. It’s not like earlier,” Black said, remembering when White’s pain had ripped through him. “It’s just. Something’s wrong. White’s wrong.”
“White’s wrong?” Todd asked.
“I need to find him. I need - ”
“You want me to take you to the lab?”
No, Black thought, he didn’t. That was the last thing he wanted. He fished his phone out of his pocket and called Sean. It rang several times and then went to voicemail. He tried Gumpa and got the same result. “Something’s wrong.”
“Hey,” Todd said, squeezing his shoulder. “Come on. I’ll take you.”
I can’t, Black thought, but he couldn’t get the words out of his mouth. White needed him. Something was wrong with White. He didn’t have any choice. “Okay.”
~ ~ ~ ~
Bret and Dan were both running full-tilt down the hallway. Bret slapped at the elevator button and Dan said, “Stairs! We can’t wait, where are the stairs?”
“Fuck - ” Bret gestured for Dan to follow him. They went down a hallway and he pushed open a fire door. “This way. We’re in the basement, so one flight to get out, but - ”
“But White and the others are on the third floor,” Dan said, and charged upwards. He left Bret behind, no longer caring about what happened to him. When he got to the third floor, it was still quiet. The guards were gone, having rushed away to do whatever soldiers did when their base was invaded. He slammed through the double doors and nearly ran into Gumpa and Sean coming the other way. “Is he okay?”
“We knocked him out,” Sean said. “So he couldn’t - ”
His voice broke, but Dan got the idea. “This way,” he said, and then went back towards the stairs. He stopped in his tracks when he heard the gunshots, and they came out into another hallway to see two soldiers backing up, firing on three demogorgons that didn’t seem slowed down in the least. “Fuck!”
“Here, this way!” Sean yanked open a door and they ran the other way. Dan had no idea where they were in the lab. They hadn’t been allowed to explore. He had seen very little of it, and the others had seen even less. He had no idea how to make it to an exit, and they couldn’t use a window from this height.
“Stairs,” Gumpa said, seeing a door. Sean ran ahead and held it open for Gumpa to run through, and Dan slammed it shut after them.
They made it down one flight before hearing gunshots below them, so they exited on the second floor. Dan wondered if they could make it from a window at this height, but didn’t want to try. Even if they made it, what then? None of them had a car here. He, Sean, and White had gone in the vans. Gumpa had joined them later but had been on his motorcycle. Even if they made it outside, there was no guarantee that would be safer.
They opened a set of double doors and found half a dozen bodies. Sean swore shakily, but Dan, at least, was glad of it. He leaned down and picked up a heavy-duty machine gun off one of the bodies, checking it to see if it still held ammunition. Then he picked up a pistol as well, going to tuck it into his belt before remembering he didn’t have a belt because he was still wearing scrubs. “Take this,” he said, handing it to Sean, who looked sick. “It’s not hard. Point. Squeeze.”
Sean nodded, and from down the hallway, they heard more gunshots. “If only shooting them seemed to make a difference.”
Dan didn’t have a good response to that. The door at the other end of the hall burst open and a man ran through, only to have a demogorgon leap on top of him. He let out a shrill scream as it began to tear him apart, and Dan froze, unable to help it.
“In here!” someone hissed, and he was yanked through a doorway. Sean and Gumpa hastily followed him. Bret slammed the door shut behind them and locked it. Dan was about to thank him when he saw that they were in a security office. There was a whole wall of cameras, showing the entire facility. It seemed like every hallway, every intersection, was filled with either demogorgons, dead bodies, or both.
“Holy fuck,” he whispered.
The lights flickered and then went out.
~ ~ ~ ~
Yok felt like they had been walking for far too long, stumbling after the demogorgons in the dark, hoping that they were too intent on wherever they were going to stop and ambush them. Gram had the shotgun, and both he and Namo had a bag of Molotov cocktails, but it was clear at this point that they were woefully outgunned. He and Gram only had one hand free, because they were walking their motorcycles with them. They had talked about leaving them at the junkyard, but didn’t want to risk being unable to make a quick exit.
“This way, I think,” Gram said, examining the crushed underbrush like some sort of expert.
Ahead of them, they heard faint screeching. Yok felt a chill go down his spine. It sounded distant, but it took all his willpower to go towards that sound instead of running away.
They emerged from the trees as they came over a rise and stared down at the building that was now roughly a mile away, looming large out of the darkness.
“Oh, no,” Namo breathed out. They all stared at the lab, watching as floor by floor, the lights inside went out.
~ ~ ~ ~
Chapter Text
Bret slammed down a set of blueprints on the table, lit by a flashlight he had grabbed from a cabinet. “Okay, so this is our closest exit, on the side here,” he said, pointing. “But the problem is, with the power out, it won’t open. The locks are fail secure.”
“What does that mean?” Sean asked, his voice tight and thin with fear. Gumpa squeezed his shoulder reassuringly, but cast a worried glance at White. He was still unconscious, and Gumpa had set him down in the security office’s lone chair.
“It means, when the power goes out, the building goes on complete lockdown,” Bret said. “No one gets in, no one gets out.”
“Well, that’s good for the people in town, if the demogorgons are all trapped here,” Dan said. “But less good for us. How do we get the power back on?”
“We need to reset the breakers,” Bret said, then added, “which are in the basement.”
Dan nodded and picked up the machine gun he had taken off a body. “Okay. Can you talk me through it?”
Bret nodded and handed him a radio. “That part isn’t hard. Once the power’s back on, we’ll need to manually reboot the computer system and unlock the door. Which I do know how to do, fortunately; I got basic training on the computer system in case of emergencies.”
“Can you do that from in here?” Gumpa asked.
“I can. But then comes the real problem. If we don’t want to leave the door unlocked, someone has to stay behind to lock it.”
Dan opened his mouth, then grimaced. “I’d offer, but I can’t, if I’m going to be the one who goes and resets the breakers.”
“Yeah. That’s what I figured you’d say.” Bret let out a sigh. “Listen. Tell my son - I’m sorry for being such a fuckup.”
“Hey,” Gumpa said. “Don’t say shit like that. You can sit tight in here. We’ll get help and come back and get you.”
Bret looked dubious, clearly wondering what ‘help’ they planned to get, and Gumpa had to admit that was fair. He had no idea what their next move would be after getting out of this godforsaken lab, and the hard truth was that the door between Bret and the monsters probably wouldn’t hold out once they realized he was inside.
“I’m going,” Dan said, holding the radio in one hand and the gun in the other. “I’ll meet you at the exit.”
Gumpa nodded. “Be careful.”
Dan opened the door as quietly as possible and slid into the hallway. Gumpa closed it and locked it behind him.
“You know,” Bret said, laughing softly, “I was really excited when I got this job. I’ve always been kind of a petty criminal, you know? My wife handles most of the big stuff. I knew they only picked me because they wanted a local in the role, and I’m pretty sure half the reason was because Todd was involved in what happened last year. They knew he was in touch with the twins and thought I’d be able to get information from him. Even so, I thought, this was my ticket to a higher level. To make friends in the government. Establish connections. Turns out that all I managed to do was fail worse than usual.”
“That wasn’t your fault,” Gumpa said, even though he didn’t really feel sorry for Bret at all. “I don’t think anyone could have succeeded in that job.”
“Maybe not. But if I can do one thing right, maybe Todd will forgive me someday. He really loves Black, even if he can’t say it yet. I can’t let White die here.”
“This is bullshit,” Sean said suddenly. “You just want to die a hero so you don’t have to face all the terrible things you’ve done. You want to know who really died like a hero? My dad, who tried to save Black and got murdered for it. I’m going to tell Todd that you’re a piece of shit.”
Bret smiled slightly. “I think he already knows that, Sean, but thanks for bringing me back to earth.”
The radio crackled. Dan said, softly, “Okay, I made it to the basement. Now what?”
~ ~ ~ ~
When Todd pulled up to the lab, Black got out of the car and stood for a long moment, staring at the darkened windows.
“Hey,” Todd said quietly, after he had stood there for nearly a full minute. “You don’t have to go in. Let’s try to call them again.”
Black nodded. Todd stood next to him, tapping at his phone. Black didn’t think he was going to get a response. He could tell that something was wrong. He could feel it. But he couldn’t move. The idea of going back into the lab frightened him too much. His breath was coming short and fast, and sweat was prickling at his skin. His hands were shaking and he was rooted to the ground.
When Todd didn’t get an answer, he looked up at the lab, and he was frowning, looking far more worried than Black would have expected. “I could go in - ”
“No,” Black bit out, and his hand tightened on Todd’s shirt, which he hadn’t even realized he had been holding onto.
“Black, we can’t just stand out here - ”
From about a dozen feet away, Black heard the crunch of leaves. He wheeled around, one hand coming out in a defensive move, only to see Yok emerging from the trees, walking his bike with him. “Oh, Black?” he said, clearly surprised to see him there. Given Black’s adamant wish never to go to the lab again, that made sense. Gram and Namo appeared behind him. “What are you guys doing here?”
“Black felt like something was wrong, so I drove him over, but we haven’t gone in yet,” Todd said. Black folded his arms over his stomach, trying to keep the panic at bay. “We just got here a minute ago. What are you doing here?”
“We were following the demogorgons, yeah, plural,” Gram said.
There was a faint screech from the lab. All of them twisted around.
“We need to go in,” Namo said. “Sean’s in there, along with Gumpa and White.”
“Namo, I don’t disagree, but we couldn’t fight off a handful of those things and we have no idea how many are in there,” Yok said. “We need to come up with a plan. Has anybody talked to Sean? Do we know where he is in the building?”
“He’s not answering his phone,” Todd said. “Neither is Gumpa.”
“Gumpa’s phone died so that’s no surprise, but - ” Namo looked up at the lab. “Sean might have silenced his, depending on what was going on.”
Or Sean might be unable to answer, Black thought. They needed to go inside. He needed to find White. But he couldn’t. He couldn’t move.
There was a sudden loud hum. “Hey, power’s back on,” Yok said, as each floor began to light up again.
“So what now?” Gram asked, and Black didn’t know.
~ ~ ~ ~
Sean didn’t like the feeling of a gun in his hand, and he really had no idea how to use it. But he insisted on going first as he and Gumpa crept through the hallways. Gumpa was carrying White, so his hands weren’t really free even though he had White slung over his shoulders. So Sean peered around each corner, holding the gun out in front of himself as if it would slow the monsters down.
The radio Bret had given them crackled softly. “Stay where you are for a second. The west stairwell isn’t clear.”
“Copy that,” Sean said, giving Gumpa a look that was more anxious than he wanted to admit. Bret had said that one of the advantages to him staying behind was that he would be able to guide them and Dan out, but it was still nerve-wracking.
“They’re heading towards you. Back up and go into an office,” Bret said.
Sean found one and rattled the knob, then another. “They’re all locked,” he whispered.
“Okay. Hang on a sec, I’m going to try something.”
Sean had no idea what that meant, and he hated having to trust Bret to guide them. Then he heard a strange noise above them, almost like a hiss.
“That worked.” Even over the radio, Bret sounded relieved. “I turned the sprinklers on, on the third floor. They’re going towards the noise. I’ll let you know when the stairwell is clear. Dan, you stay where you are for a few seconds too, in case some of them come towards you.”
“Copy that,” Dan said.
Sean looked over at Gumpa, at White’s unconscious face. He realized that they had forgotten White’s glasses, or maybe they had fallen off his face at some point. He couldn’t remember the last time he had seen White wearing them. Had they even made it to the lab with him or had he lost them in the field?
That made him think of the field, of the van, and he wondered where they were going to go once they made it out. The only vehicle they had was Gumpa’s bike. Bret had given them his car keys and described his car, but how quickly would they be able to find it? Were there any monsters on the outside? The fact that Gram’s brothers had found a demogorgon proved that they weren’t just in the tunnels. Did it even matter if Bret stayed behind and locked the doors?
“Okay, you’re clear,” Bret said.
Sean opened the door to the stairwell and took a deep breath before he began to go down.
~ ~ ~ ~
Black paced in tight little circles as the teenagers discussed what sort of plan might possibly succeed. Black could have told them not to bother. There was no way to plan when they didn’t have any of the relevant information. They had no idea what was going on inside the lab. All they knew was that the power had been out, and nobody was answering their phones, and they had heard the faint screeching of monsters. It was clear that the gate had been breached, but what did that actually mean?
He had to go inside. He had to find White. But he couldn’t. He couldn’t force himself to do it and he hated himself for that.
Just as he was about to tell the others to shut up, a side door burst open and Sean came running out with Gumpa and Dan behind him. Black’s heart leapt into his mouth, because for a second he didn’t see White. Then he realized that Gumpa was carrying him. “White!”
“Sean!” Namo and Yok both yelled at the same time, pulling him into an embrace. Dan slammed the door shut behind them, and Black heard the thunk of an electronic lock.
“What happened?” Gram asked.
“Where’s my dad?” Todd asked at the same time. Black blinked at him, not understanding why he would ask that.
“We have to go.” Gumpa’s gaze skimmed quickly over the group and saw Todd’s car. He yanked the passenger side door open and dumped White into the seat. “Gram, take Sean on your bike - we’ll meet back at the garage.”
Sean and Gram both nodded, but Todd asked again, “Where’s my dad? Hey! Hey, what happened, where’s my dad?”
“Why would your dad even - ” Yok began.
“Go!” Gumpa shouted, and the four teenagers quickly scrambled for the bikes. Todd started towards the lab, and Gumpa grabbed him by the wrist. “He stayed behind to lock the doors after us, so the monsters can’t get out.”
“What? No!” Todd tried to pull away. “No, we can’t leave him here, we have to - ”
“We can’t, Todd, I’m sorry,” Gumpa said, and grabbed the car keys out of his hand. “Black, get in the back. Dan, get Todd in the back.”
“No!” Todd lunged for the building, and Dan grabbed him around the waist, dragging him over to the car. “No! Dad!”
“What the fuck,” Black bit out, staring at him.
“Later!” Gumpa shouted. “In the car, Black! Now!”
Black scrambled to obey almost automatically, diving into the back and trying to crane over to see White, far more concerned about him than he was about Todd, especially given that he had no idea what Todd was even talking about. Dan shoved Todd into the back and got in after him. Black had to grab Todd as he tried to climb over him and get out.
Gumpa peeled away from the lab with a screech of tires, and Todd finally gave up, leaning forward with his head in his hands.
“What the fuck,” Black said again. “Hia, what the fuck!”
“We’ll explain everything once we get back to the garage,” Gumpa said. He was breathing hard, and looked almost shell-shocked. Black decided he shouldn’t push, as much as he wanted answers. At least they had gotten White out of the lab. He waited impatiently during the ten minute drive back to Gumpa’s.
The others, having left first, were already there. Black saw they were putting Molotov cocktails down by every door and window, and approved. Todd slumped into a chair and didn’t look at any of them. Gumpa carried White inside and laid him down on the sofa, and Black demanded, “What happened?”
“I’m going to give you guys the really short version so we can get to deciding what to do,” Gumpa said. “That thing is inside White. It took over his body, pretended to be him, and tricked us into thinking it was a good idea to send a bunch of soldiers down into the tunnel. Then it sent a few dozen adolescent demogorgons through the gate and killed pretty much everyone in the lab. The new manager of the lab, who happens to be Todd’s dad, stayed behind, locked into the security office, to use the cameras to guide us out and then lock the doors after us so those things can’t get into town.”
“Wow, I have questions, but first and foremost I feel the need to point out that those monsters can get out of the tunnels somewhere other than the lab, because there were like five of them at the junkyard earlier,” Gram said.
Sean’s jaw clenched as he dragged a chair over to the sofa and sat down next to White. “Even so, if he hadn’t been guiding us away from the monsters on our way out, we never would’ve made it. So it wasn’t for nothing.”
Namo was frowning at Todd. “That guy we met before is your dad? The one who tried to force us to spy on the twins if we wanted the lab to admit they killed Sean’s dad?”
“Yeah, that sounds like him,” Todd said with a sigh. He saw most of them were staring at him, including Black. “What? My dad’s a criminal. Please tell me that you guys knew my dad’s a criminal.”
“What kind of criminal?” Dan had made a detour to the fridge and gotten out a ton of drinks, which he dumped on the table.
“Seriously?” Todd looked frustrated. “He’s a fucking drug dealer. I’ve known that since I was like eight years old; how did you not know this?”
Black didn’t know what to say. Gumpa cracked open a soda and said, “In fairness, most of the adults in town are at least peripherally aware of that.”
“I wasn’t,” Dan said, sounding offended.
“What, are you thinking about filing a police report?” Todd asked with a snort. “Like your boss and his boss and all the other deputies, for that matter, don’t know and get paid to look the other way? You never would’ve made it in Hawkins, by the way, in a year or two they would’ve found some excuse to transfer you. Cops like you don’t last very long here.”
“Wow,” Dan said, clearly unable to think of anything else to say.
Black stared at Todd. “How long have you known?”
“That my dad worked for the lab?” Todd sighed. “He got the job over the summer. I figured it out some time in the fall. He was gone a lot more often than usual, especially during the day, but my mom wasn’t, which meant it wasn’t factory business. He’s always had his side gigs, but then he was - really interested in you. Like. He’s literally never been interested in one of my boyfriends before, but he was always asking about you.”
“He mentioned that,” Gumpa said, and squeezed Black’s shoulder. “He also mentioned that you didn’t tell him anything.”
Black shook Gumpa’s hand off. “I don’t give a fuck what you did or didn’t tell him. I give a fuck what you didn’t tell me. You fucking lied to me.”
“I didn’t lie, I just - didn’t tell you everything,” Todd said. “You didn’t tell me everything, either. There’s lots of shit you don’t tell me.”
“Don’t fucking try that!” Black shouted. “That’s completely different! Me having shit I don’t like to talk about has nothing to do with the fact that you let me come to your house not knowing that your dad worked for the people who tortured me!”
“I couldn’t tell you!” Todd protested.
“Why the hell not?”
“Because if I told you, you wouldn’t have ever wanted to see me again!” Todd shouted back. “And I didn’t want that to happen because I’m in love with you, you fucking idiot!”
Black stood with his mouth ajar, stunned.
Sean slammed his hand down on the table. “How is this important right now? Can you two do this literally any other time?”
“Hey,” Namo said quietly. “It is important, because if we don’t trust Todd, then he needs to go. Like, right now, he needs to go.”
Black swallowed hard, tried to say something, and failed. Because he did trust Todd, or at least he had trusted Todd up until about thirty seconds previous, and he’d had no idea that not trusting him would hurt this much.
“Black, I never told them anything, and I never would have let them hurt you,” Todd said. “And I can prove that, because you know as well as I do that if my dad and his superiors had known that not only were you thinking about leaving town, but that you actually had the money to do it, they would’ve yanked you out of this garage so fast your pants caught fire, risk or no risk. They never would have allowed that to happen. But they didn’t do anything like that because they didn’t know I’d given you the money, because I didn’t tell my dad shit.”
Black still couldn’t think of anything to say. He was so bad with words so much of the time, and now they seemed to have completely deserted him.
“Listen,” Gumpa said, “I get that this is a lot to unpack, for both of you. But Sean’s right that this really isn’t the time or place. I’m fine with Todd staying. Black, is that okay with you?”
After a moment, Black gave a jerky nod. It was all he could manage.
Gumpa turned to Todd. “Your dad may still be okay, Todd. He was locked in the security office. It’s also possible he might not be okay, but we just aren’t going to know until we can get to him. So I need you to focus on that, not on everything else. Okay?”
“Yeah,” Todd said, pushing his hair back out of his face.
Silence sat in the room for a long minute. Yok finally broke it, saying, “Is White okay?”
“He’s sedated,” Gumpa said. “We can’t trust him. If he knows where we are, that thing will come kill us.”
“What does it want?” Gram asked. “Just to kill everyone?”
“White said it was evil. Pure evil,” Sean said, not looking up. “So yeah, my guess is that it just wants to kill everyone.”
“So how do we stop it?” Namo asked, and added, “How many of those baby demogorgons were there? Not that they’re really babies anymore, I guess.”
“Let’s call them demo-dogs,” Yok said. “You know, ‘cause they’re dog-sized demogorgons.”
“Sure,” Gumpa said. He glanced at Black, noticing that he was still just standing there, not contributing. Black didn’t look at him. “And there are dozens. Way more than we can handle. It’s basically an army.”
“His army,” Sean murmured.
“What?” Namo asked.
“It’s his army. All of this is really just the shadow monster. He’s in the vines, in the demogorgons. Maybe if we stop him, we can stop his army, too.” Sean stood up, looking a little more focused. “The doctor said it was like a virus that infected White. Everything else is infected by it, too. It’s inside everything. And if the vines feel pain, then so does White. Which means, so would all the demo-dogs.”
“A hive mind,” Dan said with a nod.
“Right. And this,” Sean said, grabbing the picture White had drawn of the shadow monster, “is the brain. It controls everything. If we kill it, then we kill everything it controls.”
Black nodded. “We need to kill it. I want to kill it.”
“But how?” Yok asked. “I don’t think guns are gonna work on this thing.”
“We don’t know that,” Gram said.
“I mean, no, because we don’t know anything. We don’t know what we’re dealing with here.”
“No,” Sean said, and looked at White. “But he does. If anyone knows how to destroy this thing, it’ll be White. He’s connected to it. Yesterday, he really did use that ability to find Dan and save him. Earlier, at the lab, he warned us that we were in danger. He spent most of today, just - just zoning out, seeing what it was seeing. He said ‘I’m more him than me’. If it has any weaknesses, he’ll know.”
“I thought we couldn’t trust him anymore,” Namo said, although she reached out and squeezed Sean’s wrist. “You said he’s a spy now.”
Gumpa nodded and said, “But he can’t spy if he doesn’t know where he is.” He reached out and pulled Black into a half-hug. Despite the fact that people were watching, Black leaned into it. “I’ve got an idea.”
~ ~ ~ ~
Chapter Text
Gumpa took several deep breaths before explaining his plan. They needed to talk to White, so they needed a space that he wouldn’t recognize. Somewhere he had never been, and preferably somewhere small, so they could remove all identifying features.
“There’s nowhere here we could do it?” Dan asked, looking around the garage. “We could tack paper up over the walls or something.”
“White’s been here a year and a half; he knows every inch of this place,” Gumpa said. “It’s too risky; we might miss something that would give him a clue.”
“I know where we can do it,” Todd said. He had clearly gotten in control of himself and put his thoughts both about his father and Black out of his mind. “We have a little shed by the pool that we just use for storage. White’s never been inside. We can hang up some tarps and stuff to hide the windows.”
Gumpa thought about it, then nodded. “Okay. Sean,” he said, and Sean jumped to attention. “Go into the garage, find some cords we can use to tie him up. We’re not leaving anything to chance.”
“Okay,” Sean said, and headed out.
“Grab my phone charger too!” Gumpa called after him. “I think I left it on the counter.”
“Okay!” Sean repeated.
“Is that my shotgun?” Gumpa asked, gesturing to where Gram had set it down by the door.
“Uh, yeah, we broke into your safe,” Gram admitted.
“Did you grab both boxes of shells?”
“No, only one.”
“Go get the second, and pack up these Molotov cocktails,” Gumpa said, and the teenagers hastened to obey. “Dan, do you have any weapons besides the ones you grabbed at the lab?”
“Just my sidearm, which is at the station, since I wasn’t expecting to use it when I left that day. I don’t think it would do us much good. Oh,” he said, suddenly realizing, “I still have the baseball bat we pounded all the nails through, when we were getting ready to fight the demogorgon last time.”
Yok opened his mouth, undoubtedly to make some sort of joke about Dan’s use of the words ‘pounded’ and ‘nails’. Gumpa gave him a look and he closed his mouth.
“Can you stop by and grab it on the way to Todd’s?” Gumpa asked.
“I can, but I don’t have a car here.”
“Oh, right.” Gumpa thought about their available vehicles, and what might happen after they had gotten some answers out of White. “I assume if you knew how to ride a motorcycle, you would’ve said so,” he added, and Dan nodded. “Okay. You can take Todd’s car, along with Todd. I’ll take White’s car and bring the twins with me. Yok, Gram, Sean, take your bikes - Namo, you can ride with Sean. That way we’ll have a variety of vehicles available depending on what happens.”
Gumpa tossed the keys to Dan, who nodded and gestured to Todd. “We’ll go first and meet you there,” he said. Todd stood up and followed him out of the garage without looking at any of them, especially not Black.
They loaded up everything into the trunk of White’s car before Gumpa carried White out to it and put him in the back. Sean leaned over and kissed White on the forehead before heading for his bike with Namo in tow.
“Black,” Gumpa said, seeing that he was standing by the car, just staring at his brother. “Let’s go.”
Black nodded and got in the front passenger seat. He put on his seatbelt and then leaned forward, elbows on his knees, head on his hands.
Gumpa had wanted a chance to talk to Black alone, even though he wasn’t in the mood for it, and he said, “Listen, I know you’re going through a lot right now. I know you’re worried about White. I’m worried about him, too. But I want to talk to you about Todd for a few minutes.”
“Why?” Black asked, scowling. “So you can tell me I’m overreacting?”
“Of course not,” Gumpa said. “You’ve got every right to be pissed and upset. I just want to clarify a few things since we had to go over everything really fast and then Todd threw a love confession in your face. Okay?”
Black folded his arms over his chest and said nothing.
“For starters, I only found out about this when we got to the lab. Sean and White had both met Bret in his role as the lab manager, but neither of them had ever met Todd’s dad, and my guess is that he gave them a fake last name so they wouldn’t realize. So please don’t be upset with Sean or White. Neither of them were hiding anything from you.”
After a moment, Black nodded.
“Bret did tell us that Todd had never told him anything, and I think that’s true. In fact, Bret thought that Todd didn’t even realize that he worked at the lab, which obviously wasn’t true. It seems like Bret’s role was coordinating between the scientists and the people in the government who were supervising, as well as outreach to the people in town who they wanted to keep track of, like White - and like you.”
Black still said nothing.
“Those people aren’t the ones who hurt you, but from the questions they asked Sean, they’re clearly planning to try to duplicate the experiment, which means that if they had known what Tawi was doing, more than likely they would have been fine with it. Bret was clearly well aware of that and didn’t seem to have a moral objection to it, so presuming he survives this, I’m going to kick the shit out of him.”
Gumpa hoped that would be met with a smile, but Black just continued to stare straight ahead.
“I don’t know exactly what Todd did or didn’t know, but I want you to keep a few things in mind, okay? First of all, Todd isn’t responsible for his father’s actions. You can be mad at him for keeping secrets from you, for lying by omission, but you can’t be mad at him for the fact that his father took this job. That’s not fair to him. Okay?”
“Nn,” Black replied.
“And you do have every right to be angry with him. It’s up to you whether or not you want to forgive him for not telling you. I get that he had his reasons, and his reasons even have some validity to them. But he still shouldn’t have kept that from you. So it’s completely reasonable of you to be angry and upset.”
Black said nothing again.
“Which brings us to my most important point, which is that Todd being in love with you doesn’t give you an obligation to love him in return. Maybe you do. But that’s up to you. Just because Todd loves you doesn’t mean you have to forgive him. It doesn’t mean you have to be okay with what he did. That’s not how love works. I think Todd was telling the truth, and I think he does care about you, a lot. But that doesn’t make what he did okay. It doesn’t mean the slate is wiped clean. Okay?”
Black wiped tears off his cheeks and said, “Okay.”
Gumpa reached out and squeezed his shoulder. “Try not to worry about it for now. I wanted to talk to you about it because it seems likely you and Todd will have to work together until this is resolved. But just think of it like a working relationship for now. You two can iron out the rest of it once we have White back.”
“Okay,” Black said again.
The rest of the drive passed in silence. When they got to Todd’s house, he had opened up the pool house, and he and Dan were both throwing stuff outside. Gumpa laid White down in a pool chair and said to Black, “Let’s get to work.”
Gumpa was taking no chances. He didn’t want to just cover the windows. They put up tarps and sheets over every wall. They brought a chair for White to sit in from the house, because Gumpa thought the feeling of a pool chair would be too distinctive, and then they covered it with newspaper. They made sure that absolutely nothing was visible.
“Are you ready?” Gumpa asked, depositing White in the chair. Both Black and Sean nodded. Gumpa ushered the rest of the crew outside. Sean took the cords he had found at the garage, from old computers and televisions and phones, and tied White’s wrists and ankles to the chair. Gumpa wished there was something they could tie the chair itself to, but there wasn’t. They would have to rely on Black if things got that desperate.
“Okay, here we go,” Gumpa said. Todd had found a bottle of ammonia in their cleaning supplies. Gumpa poured some of it onto a cotton ball and held it underneath White’s nose.
White jerked back suddenly, his eyes opening. He looked around the room, looking first confused and then edging towards panic. Sean immediately knelt in front of him and said, “Hey, White,” running his hand over White’s hair. “How are you feeling?”
“What?” White looked around again. He saw Gumpa and Black, then demanded, “Why am I tied up?”
“It’s just to be safe, White,” Sean said.
“Where am I?” White yelled, and there was nothing in his voice that sounded like the White they knew. “Why am I tied up?”
“It’s okay, just relax - ” Sean tried.
“Why am I tied up?” White shouted even louder, and the lights began to flicker. Gumpa could hear the buzz of electricity in the room as White began to struggle against his bonds. Sean pulled him into an embrace, wrapping his arms around the whole chair in an attempt to keep him still. “Why am I tied up? Let me go! Let me go! LET ME GO!”
Gumpa looked at Black. He was staring at his brother, and he looked sick.
Sean just kept holding onto White. His struggles started to ease as it became clear that he wouldn’t be able to get away, and he gasped and sobbed, begging to be let go. Gumpa saw tears running down White’s cheeks, and he finally slumped against Sean’s shoulder.
Gumpa pulled the other chair over and sat down as the room went silent. “Do you remember the day you first came to the garage?” he asked, and White stared at him. “It was so obvious to me that you were running from something, but there was so much back then I didn’t know. Even though you didn’t tell me, you still trusted me to take care of you. You let me give you a place to stay and you let me help you. And even after all this has happened, I’m still so glad that you did. I just want to help you, White. I need you to trust me now, like you did back then.”
White just stared at him. A few more tears escaped, but he said nothing.
“Do you remember the first time I brought you to the treehouse?” Sean asked, pulling back so White could see him. “It was such a special place to me. Still is. You’re the only person I’ve ever taken there. And you told me about your parents, about how they treated you. It was the first time you trusted me enough to tell me anything about where you came from. Later, you teased me because I didn’t have any secrets. You said I wear my heart on my sleeve, and I do, you’re not wrong. But you told me your secrets anyway. You trusted me. Because you knew how much I love you, even though you couldn’t say it back, not then.”
White let out a quiet sob. He tried to speak but couldn’t.
Black knelt down in front of him. For a long minute, he tried to come up with something to say. But all he managed was, “White. I’m here. I’m real.”
White stared at him. His chest and shoulders heaved for breath. But when he spoke, it was a harsh whisper. “Let. Me. Go.”
“Fuck,” Sean swore, turning away.
White’s face twisted, and then he said something else, a word Gumpa didn’t know. Gumpa frowned, because he recognized it, knew he had heard White say it before, but didn’t know what it meant. He saw Black’s eyes go wide and realized that it was something from their own language. Before he could ask, White’s head tilted back and he began screaming and struggling to get free. Gumpa hastily grabbed him as the chair began to rock back and forth. “White, stop, it’s okay,” he said, even though ‘okay’ was the last thing it was. “I’ve got you. Just try to breathe. It’s okay.”
His words didn’t seem to be getting through, but finally, White slumped against his shoulder, breathing hard. “Let me go,” he whispered. “Let me go.”
Gumpa heard a bang, and startled slightly, then realized it was the door opening so Black could leave. He was confused, but a second later, Namo came in. “He wants to talk to you outside, hia. I’ll stay with Sean and White.”
“Okay,” Gumpa said, a little relieved. He went outside as Namo gave Sean a hug and asked, “What does that word mean?”
Black swallowed hard. “It means ‘help me’.”
Gumpa could see why he was upset, as it couldn’t have been easy to hear, but it was a positive sign in his opinion. “He’s still there. He wants to be able to talk to us, but that thing isn’t letting him. So what do we do? You didn’t call me out here just to tell me what he said.”
“I’m going to go into the void,” Black said. “I can try to talk to him there.”
“Will that work?” Gram asked.
“I can always find him there. Always.”
Gumpa let out a breath. “Okay. What do we need to do? Will you need to use the pool again?”
“No. I only had to do that last time because he was on the other side. I just need somewhere quiet but with a radio for background static. And a blindfold.”
“Then let’s do it.”
~ ~ ~ ~
For years, at the lab, Tawi had given Black pictures of people or recordings of their voice and asked him to ‘find’ them. Black would close his eyes or sometimes they would put him in the bath, and he would go into the void. Those people would be there, whoever he was looking for. But before he found them, he always found White. No matter what else happened, he would open his eyes in the void and White would be there.
In the void, he saw people as they were in the real world. If White was sitting at his desk a thousand miles away, when Black found him in the void, he would be sitting at his desk. If he was in the shower a thousand miles away, when Black found him in the void, he would be in the shower.
So when Black opened his eyes in the void, to see White tied to a chair that was covered in newspaper wasn’t surprising. But that was the only thing that was normal.
When Black had suggested going into the void, it had been his hope that White would be alone there. That the shadow monster couldn’t go into the void for whatever reason. He didn’t know whether or not that was true. He could reach the upside down in the void - he had first seen the demogorgon there - but usually only if he was in the sensory deprivation chamber. So he hoped that maybe, there would only be White.
For a second, he thought maybe there was. But then he saw the expression on White’s face, the fear, and he knew that he was wrong.
“You can’t be here,” White said. “Black! You can’t be here!”
“What?” Black asked, a little startled.
Lightning flashed in the distance. There was an ominous red glow building on the horizon. Black could see the shadow monster looming. But that wasn’t what was frightening. What was frightening was the change in his brother. When the lightning flashed, Black could see the thin lines of shadowy smoke that connected White to the monster. When the lightning flashed, White changed, and suddenly Black wasn’t looking at his brother at all.
“I’ve been waiting for you,” the monster said, and reached out to him.
Unthinking, Black thrust a hand out. He knew, without question, that to let the monster in White’s body touch him would be to be infected. White’s body froze, twitching slightly as he fought against Black’s telekinesis.
“No,” Black said. “White. No.”
White shuddered. “Phi,” he said, and in their own language, “Phi, help me.”
“Tell me how,” Black said. “Tell me how to kill it.”
“I can’t,” White panted, his whole body shaking. “He’ll know. You have to get out of here. In the real world you’re safe. Here - ”
Here, White was a bridge between the real world and the upside down, and the monster was going to travel over that bridge and take Black, too.
Suddenly, White was the monster again. He smiled and said, “Don’t you want revenge, Black? Imagine what the two of us could do together. Imagine how strong you would be. Nobody would ever be able to hurt you again.”
“Shut the fuck up,” Black said. He could feel White’s body starting to break free, and pushed harder, tasting blood in his mouth.
“You wouldn’t have to be afraid anymore,” the monster whispered. “Aren’t you tired of it? Of constantly being afraid that they’ll take you back to the lab? You would never have to worry about that again. The two of us together would be unstoppable.”
“No,” Black said, and searched for words. “You would be unstoppable. But I would be gone. I’m not stupid. I can see what you are. I don’t want to be under anyone’s control. Not them. Not you. So give me my brother back, or I’ll kill you.”
The monster took a step forward. Black struggled to hold it in place. He had never tried to use his powers on White. He couldn’t explain why it didn’t seem to be working.
“Black,” the monster whispered, and his hand was only an inch from Black’s face, reached out as if to deliver a loving caress.
“White!” Black shouted, unmoving, refusing to give way. “Tell me how to kill it!”
White’s eyes went wide. He stopped for a long second, trembling as he fought with the monster for control. Then he shouted, “Black, get out!” One hand was already reaching out. He thrust the other forward, and even though it didn’t touch Black, he was thrown backwards.
“Whoa!” Gumpa caught Black as he skidded across the room on his ass, gasping for breath. “What happened?”
“He threw me out.” Black held back tears. White hadn’t been able to tell him anything, even though it was clear that he was fighting so hard. “That thing was there. It wanted to take me too, so White pushed me out of the void.”
“He can do that?” Gumpa asked, then waved this off. “Never mind. Did he tell you anything?”
“No.” Black wiped the blood off his upper lip impatiently. “No, he was too worried that it would take me.”
“At least it didn’t.” Gumpa smoothed a hand over Black’s hair. “It was a good idea, Black, even though it didn’t work. We’ll come up with something else. There has to be some way to communicate with White. We’ll - ”
The door to the room opened and Sean came in. He frowned at Black, then said, “What does this mean?” and tapped his phone. It played a short clip, only a few seconds, only a few words, in the language that Black and White had made up together and never forgotten.
Black’s eyes went wide. “He said that?”
“Yeah. Just now. Namo had the idea to record him while you were in the void with him, in case he said anything.”
“Fuck - ” Black struggled to his feet. White had always been smarter than he was. He had known that in the void, the monster would be distracted trying to get to Black. In the real world, White had had a few seconds to deliver a message without the monster realizing. “It means ‘close the door’.”
“Close the door?” Gumpa asked, frowning.
“He means gate. We didn’t have a word for gate but we had one for door. He’s telling us to close the gate.”
Sean grimaced. “I can think of a few obstacles, but - ”
“But at least it’s a plan.” Gumpa helped Black to his feet. “Let’s gather the others and iron out the details.”
~ ~ ~ ~
“Should we have someone stay with White while we talk about this?” Dan asked, as Gumpa gestured for everyone to come into the house.
“I’ll ask Namo if she’ll stay with him,” Sean said.
“I’ll go too, she shouldn’t be alone in there,” Yok said. “You guys can make the decisions. Just let me know where you want me.”
Dan hated how mature and reasonable that was, as Yok went into the little pool house and shut the door after him. He shook that thought off and turned back to Gumpa, who explained that White had told them that they had to close the gate. “That must cut the connection off,” Dan said, and Gumpa nodded.
“Two main problems,” Sean said. “Firstly is that between us and the gate, there’s an army of demo-dogs, which is arguably worse than an army of assholes with guns.”
Gram nodded. “We thought he might be able to go in from the upside down, but that won’t help us now, I guess.”
“And secondly, if we close the gate, that kills his army.”
“I thought that was the point,” Dan said.
“It is, but if we’re right about this, and it kills the whole army, White is a part of that army now,” Sean said. “Closing the gate will kill him, too. And - ” Sean had to stop and clear his throat. “I think he knows that. He’s telling us he’d rather die than have this thing inside him. But - ”
“But obviously that isn’t Plan A,” Gumpa said, squeezing Sean’s shoulder.
“He likes it cold,” Black murmured.
“What?” Dan asked.
“That’s what White kept saying. He likes it cold. The void was cold. It’s never been cold before. It’s usually just - a non-temperature, like being in the bath. But this time it was cold. We keep giving it what it wants.”
Gumpa nodded. “If this is a virus, and White is the host - ”
“Then we need to make the host uninhabitable,” Sean said. “We need to burn it out of him.”
“And once we’ve done that, we can close the gate,” Gumpa agreed. “But to do that, we have to get to it.”
“We need a diversion,” Dan said. “The hole I dug into the tunnels is probably still there. If we can get down into the tunnels and to that hub, we could set it on fire. That should lure the demogorgons away from the gate itself.”
“Good idea,” Gumpa said. “You can take Yok, Gram, and Namo with you to watch your back. I’ll go with Black.”
Black shook his head. “You should go with Sean. White’s strong now. I think he’s using my powers.”
“He can do that?” Dan asked.
“We’ve always sort of thought he might be able to, if he wanted to, but we’ve never tested it,” Black said, with the unspoken, ‘because we were both so fucked up about it’ heard loud and clear. “But just now, in the void, he was using it. I couldn’t use my powers to hold him in place because he was using them, too. He pushed me out of the void. He shouldn’t have been able to do that. Before anything else, we need to get this thing out of White, so hia, you should go with Sean.”
“You can’t go by yourself,” Sean said.
“I won’t,” Black said.
Dan wasn’t sure what he meant, and then remembered Todd, who had been sitting in uncharacteristic silence. He nodded and stood. “I’ll go with Black. I need to find my dad.”
Sean’s eyes narrowed. “Do we trust him?”
“It doesn’t matter,” Black said. “This is what we’ve got.”
Gumpa took Black by the shoulders and asked, “Are you sure?”
Black nodded. “I’m sure.”
“Okay,” Gumpa said, and let out a breath. “Okay, then I’ll go with Sean and White. Todd will take Black to the lab. We’ll need to - ”
There was a sudden, strange noise, a spitting sound that happened twice before settling into a steady hiss. Dan frowned, looking around, and he realized that it was a sprinkler system going off.
“Shit,” Sean said, noticing at the same time. “Do you think White can hear that?”
“It’s just a sprinkler,” Dan said.
“Give me a break! Nobody else around here is rich enough to have a perfectly manicured lawn with a sprinkler system!” Sean whirled on Todd. “Turn it off!”
“I can’t!” Todd’s eyes were slightly wide, and he shook his head. “It’s automated - I have no idea how it works.”
“Shit,” Sean said again. “Has he ever heard it go off before? Think, you asshole!”
“Maybe, I don’t know,” Todd said. “He’s only been here a few times - ”
The door to the pool house burst open and Yok shouted, “Hia, Sean! Get in here!”
That answered that question, Dan thought. In fact, Sean and Gumpa had barely taken a few steps before Dan heard a screech in the distance.
“Fuck,” Todd said.
“Everyone into the house!” Dan shouted. He grabbed the gun from where he had propped it up against the wall. Sean ran into the pool house with Gumpa on his heels. Yok and Namo came out, and Dan waved them into the house. He saw Yok grab the baseball bat on his way in, and approved. In the pile of things they had removed from the pool house, Dan remembered he had seen a rifle. He quickly grabbed it and checked to see if it was loaded.
Gumpa emerged from the pool house with a limp, unconscious White in his arms, and Dan was glad that they’d had the foresight to bring the vial of sedative with them from the lab. “Sean, grab my shotgun,” Gumpa said, and Sean did so and headed into the house.
Dan was the last one in, closing the door behind them and shoving a chair underneath the knob. He turned with the rifle in one hand as Gumpa dumped White onto the floor for lack of a better option, and took his shotgun from Sean. Dan held the rifle out to Sean. “Do you know how to use this?” he asked, without much hope. Sean had obviously never held a pistol before, but Dan thought it was possible he might know how to use a rifle, since they were used for hunting.
“What?” Sean asked.
“Can you use this?” Dan asked, emphasizing each word.
“I can,” Todd said.
Dan realized he should have asked Todd first, because Todd did know how to use a gun. He’d found that out when they had fought the demogorgon the first time. Todd had said his father had taught him, and at the time it had seemed like an innocuous comment. Looking back on it, Dan thought about how it should have been a red flag, that Todd’s father had taught him how to use a handgun with such proficiency at sixteen years old.
But there wasn’t time for that now. He tossed the rifle to Todd, who caught it and checked to see if it was loaded with the ease of familiarity, then pressed it to his shoulder.
“How long?” Yok asked, his voice tense. He was holding the baseball bat. Namo was standing slightly behind him, a Molotov cocktail in one hand and a lighter in the other. Sean still had the gun that Dan had given him earlier, although his hands were shaking. Gram had found a lamp and unplugged it, which was probably stupid but better than holding nothing. Black was -
“Where’s Black?” Dan asked.
Everyone looked up and around.
“Oh, shit,” Gumpa said.
Outside, there was a screech, and then a thump, and then a noise that was uncomfortably like a splatter.
“Shit,” Gumpa said again.
A demogorgon the size of a dog crashed through the window. No, Dan realized, half a demogorgon. The bottom half, he noted, as if that mattered.
“Is that all you’ve got?” Black screamed into the night sky.
“For fuck’s sake - ” Gumpa lowered the shotgun and went to the front door, opening it as Black tore two more demogorgons into pieces. “Black, let’s not tempt fate, okay? We need to get moving before it can send reinforcements.”
“Get fucked,” Black snarled. Dan could see splashes of blood - though it was a much darker color than human blood - all over his shirt.
“Black!” Gumpa yelled, and Black’s hands went to his side, his expression changing from rage to the sulky defiance of a child. “We have to go. We can coordinate the rest by phone. White will be out for a while.”
“We can’t go back to the garage,” Sean said. “We still have to go somewhere he doesn’t know.”
Dan took out his keys and said, “Use my house. He’s never been there. I have a fireplace.”
“Thanks.” Gumpa caught the keys that Dan tossed to him. “Text me the address.”
Dan nodded. “There’s a spare room that has a fold-out bed in it. I use it when my parents are visiting. It’s just a metal frame, so you ought to be able to use that. Here, take these, too,” he added, taking his handcuffs off his belt.
Yok opened his mouth. Dan gave him a look, and he closed it.
“We can take our bikes,” Gram said hastily. “Namo, ride with Yok. Dan, you can ride with me.”
“Good idea,” Namo said.
“Sean, get White,” Gumpa said, and then turned to Black and asked again, “Are you sure?”
“I’m sure,” Black said, then let out a breath and said, “Take care of my brother.”
~ ~ ~ ~
Chapter Text
Gumpa’s mind raced as they drove away from Todd’s house, thinking over everything they would need to do. It wasn’t really enough that each team had their objective; this would have to be carefully timed.
Fortunately, Dan’s place was only a few minutes away. He pulled up in front of it and breathed for a few seconds.
“Hia?” Sean said, and he sounded very young and frightened. “What now?”
“Let’s just sit and think for a minute,” Gumpa said, and got out his phone. He had plugged it in at Todd’s, but it was old, and charged slowly. It had twenty percent and that wouldn’t last more than a few hours. Hopefully things would be over by then. He pulled up the group text and began to type instructions, wondering if Black would even stop to check his phone before he charged in. He might not, but Todd probably would. Gumpa realized he wasn’t in the group text and muttered a curse. “Sean, do you have Todd’s number?”
“Ugh,” Sean said, then added with a sigh, “Yes. Back when the first disaster struck, he was talking to people in town for me, so I added him.”
Gumpa had Sean read it to him so he could add him, then finished typing out the instructions. “Okay, let’s go in.”
Dan’s place was nice, but that didn’t particularly surprise Gumpa. He was sure that police officers were paid a lot more than he earned. He thought about what Todd had said, about how Dan wouldn’t ‘make it’ as a police officer in Hawkins, and wondered what would happen to him after this was over.
Although it was nice, it was still small. The second bedroom was basically a closet and the kitchen was similarly narrow. The living room only had an armchair and a shelf with a television on it. Gumpa lay White down in the chair and he stirred weakly. Gumpa held his breath. They didn’t want to risk running out of the sedative, so they had given him a fairly low dose. But after a moment, White went still again.
“Okay,” Gumpa said. “Let’s get to work.”
~ ~ ~ ~
After a hurried discussion, shouting from the backs of the bikes, Dan’s group decided to go to Sean’s old house. There were still supplies there, supplies that they would need. Since White wouldn’t be with them, they were no longer restricted to going places he wouldn’t know. They drove to the other side of town and dragged the bikes behind the house, just in case.
“That is a lot of flammable liquid,” Dan said, as Yok pulled a tarp away from a pile in the corner.
“Yeah, he’s been laying it in since the last disaster, just in case,” Gram said. “Let’s pack it up.”
Dan nodded and checked his phone. He was unsurprised to see that the group text had a message from Gumpa. “Gumpa sent some instructions,” he said, and all of them grabbed for their phones.
‘We’ve reached Dan’s place,’ Gumpa said. ‘We have to be careful with the timing. First step is to get this thing out of White. Then Dan’s group will set the fire in the tunnels. Then and only then, Black, should you go into the lab.’
‘You’ll let us know once White is safe?’ Yok, who apparently both read and texted faster than Dan, asked.
‘Of course.’
‘What if we don’t get cell reception in the tunnels?’ Namo asked.
Without waiting for Gumpa to answer, Gram added, ‘We can’t wait to go down and set up. I think we should be ready to set the fire as soon as White is free.’
‘We don’t want this thing to guess what we’re doing,’ Yok said.
“Will you three stop?” Dan asked, annoyed. “I agree with you and I have a solution so just let me type it in the damn box.”
Namo giggled and said something in a low voice that Dan didn’t catch but suspected had something to do with his age. He ignored her.
‘Gumpa, do you still have the radio you used at the lab? I have mine. If so, we can use those.’
‘I do,’ Gumpa said, much to Dan’s relief. ‘Let’s test them.’
Dan grabbed the radio off his belt. A few minutes later, they had confirmed that they still worked, even though Dan and Gumpa were by now on opposite sides of town. They should work in the tunnel, he thought, because the men who had been killed in the tunnel had had radios that worked until the end.
“Let’s pack all this up and get moving,” he said.
~ ~ ~ ~
The ride to the lab was mostly silent. About halfway there, Todd said, “Listen, I’m sorry. I should have told you.”
“No shit,” Black said, then shook his head. “I don’t want to talk about it yet.”
“I get that, but - ”
“But we have to trust each other right now,” Black said. “I know. That’s why I don’t want to talk about it. I don’t want to think about it. I want to pretend it’s yesterday.”
Todd sighed, then nodded and said, “Okay.”
Black folded his arms over his stomach, trying not to shake. The truth was, he was still terrified of going back into the lab, even knowing that everyone there was probably already dead. He could take care of himself. There was nothing to be afraid of, but he was afraid. “We’ll find your dad first. We should have time while we wait to hear from Sean.”
“Okay,” Todd said, then frowned. “You want to go in before Dan and the others have set the fire?”
“We don’t even know that there are any demo-dogs left inside,” Black said. “They cleared the building. There’s no reason for them to stay there.”
“Other than to guard the gate,” Todd said.
Black wasn’t sure that the monster was going to bother guarding the gate. He thought of all the times in the past two days that he (and Sean) had been clear that their goal was to kill the monster. Closing the gate wouldn’t do that. It would only cut the monster off from the real world, from White, from its army. So it might not see the point. If Black wanted to go to the upside down and kill it, he didn’t need to use the main gate. He could just create his own.
Truthfully, it bothered him somewhat that this wouldn’t end in killing the shadow monster. That was what he wanted to do. But at this point, he thought, White’s safety had to come first. They had to make sure this thing could never get to him again.
Todd pulled up out front of the lab and turned the car off. “You ready?”
He wasn’t. But he never would be. He got out of the car.
Todd did as well, then said, “Hang on, we have a text from Gumpa. He doesn’t want us going into the lab until after the others have set the fire.”
“You want to find your dad or not?” Black asked.
“I mean, yes, but - ”
“Then shut up. Gumpa worries too much.”
“Whatever you say.” Todd walked to the back of the car and opened the trunk, pulling out the rifle. “Have to find something better than this once I’m inside, but from the sound of it, that won’t be difficult.”
“Uh huh,” Black said.
Glancing over at him, Todd said, “Listen, let me do any heavy lifting up front, okay? Save your strength to close the gate. From the sound of it, that’s going to take a lot of energy.”
“Okay,” Black said.
“Guess you’ll have to open the door, though,” Todd said, trying to pull it open and finding it locked. Black nodded, and Todd stepped to the side so Black could force it open. Once that was done, they waited to see if the noise was going to be met with a swarm of demogorgons. It wasn’t, so they ventured inside. Or at least, Todd ventured inside. Black stood there for a long minute, taking a deep breath. It was for White. He could do this because it was to save White. He curled his hands into fists and walked into the lab.
The hallways were filled with dead bodies lying in pools of blood. Todd stepped over to one and picked up a much larger and more impressive gun. “Now that’s what I’m talking about.”
“Do you even know how to use that?” Black asked.
“I know how to point it in the direction of my enemy and release a lot of bullets.”
That sounded good enough to Black. “Where’s the security office?”
“I don’t know,” Todd said. “I’ve never actually been here. Remember, my dad didn’t know I knew he had this job. Dan said it was on the second floor, and we know Gumpa and Sean came out the exit that was closest to it. So this way, I guess,” he added, and started down a hallway.
Black followed him, trying to keep his breathing even. It was the smell that bothered him most of all. The smell of disinfectant, of starched uniforms, of gunpowder, all covered over with the smell of blood. It smelled like the lab he remembered, but painted over with something even worse. Every time they turned a corner, he expected to see Techit, holding the taser he had always wielded with such proficiency during Black’s many escape attempts. He expected to see Tawi, with that kind smile that screamed ‘lie’.
“Stairwell over here,” Todd said, and eased the door open carefully. “You okay?” he asked, then saw Black’s face. “Yeah, stupid question.”
They started up. Black was beginning to rethink this plan. He should just go wait by the gate. Wait to get the call from Sean, close it, and then leave. He didn’t want to explore this place. Who gave a fuck about finding Todd’s dad? He was probably already dead. Black couldn’t breathe in this building. He just wanted to get out.
But the truth was, he had to wait, so he might as well stick with Todd. He decided that the second they got the call, they were going down to the gate, whether they had found Bret or not.
~ ~ ~ ~
As they finished packing everything up at Sean’s old house, Yok couldn’t help but look around wistfully. Namo squeezed his wrist as she jammed the last container of kerosene into a backpack. Seeing this, Dan frowned and asked, “You okay?”
“Yeah,” Yok said. “I just don’t like coming here. I guess you wouldn’t know, but . . . Sean, Namo, and I all grew up together. Namo’s dad has never been around, and mine died of cancer when I was four. Sean’s dad was kind of an auxiliary dad to all of us, long before we started hanging out at the garage and Gumpa looked after us. It’s just . . . hard, sometimes. Thinking of what those people did to Sean’s family.”
Dan nodded, understanding, and Namo said, “They’ll pay for it.”
Frowning, Dan said, “Tell me that you’re not going to do something stupid.”
Namo gave a snort and said, “Pretty sure everyone who would stop me is dead by now.”
Seeing that Dan wasn’t going to drop it, Yok hastily said, “Let’s head out. I think we have everything we need.”
This didn’t stop Dan, who said, “Namo, what - ”
“You wanna ride with me, Dan?” Yok continued, smirking at him. “Namo can ride with Gram. She won’t mind, if it gives you the chance to - ”
“Let’s go,” Dan said quickly, heading outside. Namo and Yok both chuckled, and Gram shook his head at both of them.
They made another stop at the garage for a few more things they would need before heading out to the field. Much to their relief, the hole was still there, undisturbed. It looked like the people from the lab had set up a variety of instruments to monitor both it and the tunnel, but Yok figured nobody was watching the results now.
“Back your car a little closer,” Gram said to Dan. “We can tie the rope to it.”
Dan nodded, then swore. “I gave Gumpa my keys.”
“Oh, right,” Gram said. “I guess we’ll just see if it’s long enough with your car where it is.”
They tied the rope to the back of Dan’s car, which was the end closer to the hole. When they stretched it out, it fell into the tunnel, although only by about six feet. Yok jumped down without waiting for approval, and heard Dan swear at him. “I think it’s okay!” he shouted. “I have to jump a bit but I can reach it from the ground down here.”
“Okay,” Namo called back, and they began lowering their supplies down. Yok took them, careful not to touch the vines. Then the other three jumped down.
“Watch the vines,” Dan said, even though they were all already doing so. Yok figured that was fair, since they had nearly killed him. He took out the map that Yok and Namo had drawn at the garage, using White’s pictures. “This way.”
It was slow going. They had to walk single file, and they wanted to stay quiet even though it seemed unlikely that the vines could actually hear them. In some places the vines were so thick that they had to tiptoe.
It took about twenty minutes to reach the hub. Yok wondered how Sean and Gumpa were doing with White. He checked his phone and saw, unsurprised, that he had no bars.
The hub was absolutely covered in vines. “As soon as we step in there, it’s gonna know,” Gram said.
Yok saw the dead bodies of at least a dozen men and shuddered. He was suddenly aware of what a stupid idea this was.
Dan seemed to have suddenly realized that as well. “Listen, you guys,” he said. “Leave the supplies with me and head out. I’ll take care of it from here.”
“Are you kidding?” Namo asked.
“I’m not. This is dangerous. You guys are just kids. It’s my duty to protect the people of Hawkins, so this is my job. You don’t need to stay with me.”
Yok let out a breath. “Dan, we’re not doing this for you. Not even me. We’re doing it for the twins. They’re our friends, even though Black sometimes doesn’t seem to have figured that out yet. This has a much higher chance of success if we all work together. I know you want to protect us, but we’re not going anywhere.”
Dan sighed. It looked like he was about to say something else, but then the radio crackled and Gumpa’s voice said, “We’re getting started.”
“Should we - ” Namo said.
“No, let’s wait for now,” Dan said, clearly giving up on getting them to leave. “Like Gram said, we can’t step in there without it knowing. We’re here; we’re ready. Once that thing is out of White, we’ll douse it, set it on fire, and run like hell.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Yok said, and they settled in to wait.
~ ~ ~ ~
After some thought, Sean decided that he didn’t think a fire was enough. “We have a couple space heaters at the garage, right?” he asked, and Gumpa nodded. The garage was huge and drafty, and so he used one in his bedroom in the winter, to heat it up before going to sleep, and had one in his office as well. “I think I’ll go grab them. You’ll be okay for a few minutes?”
“I’ll be fine. I can dose him again if it looks like he’s going to wake up,” Gumpa said.
Sean grabbed White’s keys and headed out to the car. He took a few deep breaths before racing off to the garage.
When he got back, Gumpa had dragged the bed out of the spare room and laid White down on it. His ankles were tied to the frame with phone cords, and his wrists were handcuffed to it, above his head. He was still unconscious. Sean felt tears rise to his eyes, looking at White, who seemed so small and fragile, only dressed in the hospital gown, tied to the bed. He forced himself to look away and started setting up the space heaters. Gumpa had brought in several armloads of firewood from out back and was getting some of it piled up in the fireplace.
“Close all the doors,” Gumpa said. “We need to keep the heat concentrated to this area.”
Sean nodded and closed the door to the bedrooms and the bathroom. It wasn’t a large house, so it wouldn’t take long to heat up. He struck a match and started the fire. Gumpa turned the space heaters on.
“What’s the time?” he asked, seeing Sean check his phone.
“Quarter after eight,” Sean said.
Gumpa picked up the radio. “We’re getting started.”
“Copy that,” Dan said a moment later.
Sean texted Black the same thing and got no response. He put it in the group chat as well, just in case. One degree at a time, the room began to heat up.
~ ~ ~ ~
When Black and Todd reached the security office, they saw that the door had been broken down, practically torn apart. Even in the dim light, Black saw Todd go pale. “No, fuck, no,” Todd said, running inside. The room was empty except for some damaged electronics. “Fuck!”
“Blood,” Black said, pointing to a few spots on the floor.
Todd looked at it and swallowed hard. “That’s not a lot. Maybe he got away.”
Without replying, Black started walking. He saw more splotches a few feet down the hallway, and followed the trail, thinking things over. Bret had been in the office with all the cameras. He had known they were coming. Maybe he had run before they tore the door open.
As he went around another corner, he saw a bloody handprint on a door. “Todd,” he called out, and Todd quickly ran over. He saw the handprint and burst through the door. Black saw that it was another stairwell. That made sense; he’d been trying to get out of the building. One of the doors was probably unlocked.
Todd was already half a level below him, and as Black descended, he heard Todd shout, “Dad!” He came around the corner of the stairwell to see Bret sitting on the floor, leaning against the wall. There was blood on the floor, and Black looked down to see a large gash in his leg. He had fastened his belt around his leg to slow the bleeding.
“Todd?” Bret asked, his voice weak. “What the hell - ”
“It’s okay, don’t try to talk.” Todd shrugged out of his jacket and draped it over his father. Black felt bitter anger well up in his throat, seeing Todd gently examine the wound. “We’re going to get you out of here, okay? Let’s find an office to lock you into. Black came to close the gate.”
Bret’s gaze flickered up to Black. Black returned it with a glare.
“It’s bigger than it was,” Bret said.
Black said nothing.
“Black, help me with him,” Todd said.
“No,” Black said.
Todd’s jaw tightened, but he didn’t argue. Neither did Bret, who said, “Black, he didn’t know. Don’t be angry with him - ”
“Fuck, Dad, of course I knew,” Todd said. “Are you serious? You’ve never given a shit about any of my boyfriends before. You think I didn’t catch on the minute you started asking questions about Black? Give me a break.”
Bret winced. “Guess I’ve been a shitty father in a lot of ways.”
“I never cared about that,” Todd said. “Boyfriends came and went. You didn’t care about them because you knew they didn’t last long. I should’ve told Black but I didn’t so he’s rightfully pissed off at me, and we really don’t have time for any of that right now. Let’s get you on your feet.” He got Bret’s arm and placed it around his shoulders, pulling him upright. Black watched in silence as he helped his father hobble down the hallway and found an empty office. “This’ll do for now.”
“Todd, you can’t go down there. All the monsters - I saw on the cameras - there’s dozens of them at the gate.”
“I know,” Todd said, “but someone has to fix this.”
Bret looked at Black, who was standing in the doorway. “Someone will.”
“He’s not going by himself,” Todd said. “Can you really ask him to be alone in this place? I have to stay with him and watch his back. It’s not up for discussion, Dad. There were so many better ways to do this, but you were never interested in any of them because you wanted to be a big, important crime boss, so here we are. Black’s not going alone.”
“Todd,” Bret said, and his voice trembled. Finally, all he said was, “I’m sorry.”
“Yeah, me too,” Todd said. He left the room. Black leveled one last glare at Bret before he closed the door and used his powers to lock it from the inside.
They went down to the basement.
“Which way?” Todd asked.
Black kept walking without answering.
“Hey,” Todd said, jogging to catch up. “Hey, what’s wrong?”
Black didn’t want to answer. Everything was wrong. Why should Todd even need to ask? But what came out was, “It’s not fair.”
“What?” Todd was clearly perplexed by this answer. “What’s not fair?”
Turning to face him, no longer caring if anyone could hear, Black said, “He’s a bad person. He’s a criminal.”
“Yeah,” Todd said.
“My dad is a diplomat, did you know that?” Black asked, and from the way Todd blinked, it was clear that he hadn’t. “Tawi told me that. My dad works for the government. He works hard to improve the lives of the people in America. So why - ” His voice caught. “Why does your dad love you so much? It’s not fair!”
Todd looked away. “I guess it’s not.”
“He loves you and you love him back. I don’t understand!” Black felt tears running down his cheeks and hated himself for it. “If he’s such a bad person, how can he love you so much?”
“Because people aren’t - well, they aren’t black and white!” Todd retorted. “I mean, seriously, what kind of names are those? What the fuck is wrong with your parents? My dad’s a bad person, yeah, he’s a drug trafficker and a petty criminal, he’s jealous of my mom, he’s selfish and insensitive and a liar through-and-through. But he loves me because that’s what people do! People love their kids! I don’t give a shit if your dad was a diplomat. I wouldn’t care if he discovered a cure for cancer! He’s still the worst, along with your mom, because he didn’t love his kids, and that’s not because of you!”
Black hastily wiped the tears away. “I was - ”
“No, you weren’t! You weren’t bad! If you say that one more time I’m going to lose my shit. Because they didn’t just not love you, they didn’t love White either!”
“They kept him,” Black said.
“Yeah, they did,” Todd said, “because they wanted a life-sized model they could parade around at parties and show off to their friends. They didn’t love him! They tortured him almost as much as Tawi tortured you! They took you away from him and then they told him he was crazy and controlled every aspect of his life because every time you got hurt, he got hurt. They just watched him suffer for thirteen fucking years! When they could have stopped it at literally any time! What your parents did to the two of you had nothing to do with you!”
Black couldn’t think of anything to say.
“My dad’s a criminal and I’ve been a spoiled brat most of my life, but he still loves me, and that’s not weird,” Todd said. “That’s really not that weird at all. You weren’t bad, Black. It doesn’t matter why they picked you and not White to give away. It doesn’t matter at all.” He let out a breath and looked at Black expectantly, and Black still said nothing. “Fucking hell. Let’s just get this over with.”
This, Black could deal with, so he nodded and started down the hallway again.
~ ~ ~ ~
Sean had never really minded the heat. Ever since he was little, he’d preferred his room warm. He would go out on summer days and not be bothered by the temperature; he would work in the garage full of equipment without feeling the need to try to cool down. But by the time fifteen minutes had gone by, even by his standards, the room was growing oppressively hot. Sweat was starting to drip down his face and soak through his shirt. He peeled it over his head and tossed it onto a chair. “Should we wake him?” he asked, seeing the sweat beading on White’s forehead as well.
“I don’t think so. If he can sleep through this, all the better.” Gumpa had dragged in a kitchen chair and was sitting next to White, but behind the space heaters. He had taken his shirt off as soon as they had started the fire. Even though he was further away from the heat sources, he was sweating heavily as well.
“Okay.” Sean put his hand over White’s chest to check the temperature. White was between the fire and the space heaters, and that part of the room was hot to the point that Sean didn’t even want to leave his hand there for more than a few seconds. Sean wondered how much heat a person could survive, and for how long. It wasn’t the sort of thing they had ever learned in science class.
Gumpa’s hope that White would sleep through it was dashed when he gave a sudden gasp, and his eyes opened. “What - what’s happening? Where am I?” He began to struggle. “Let me go! It hurts!”
“It had fucking better!” Sean snapped, wiping sweat off his forehead. “You’ve had White long enough! Get the fuck out of him!”
“No! It hurts!” White screamed, pulling at the restraints. “It hurts! It hurts!”
Gumpa swore softly. Sean knew it was hard to see White like this, but he was so angry that he didn’t care. He grabbed the dial on one of the space heaters and cranked it up to the maximum setting. “Sean!” Gumpa protested.
“Get out!” Sean yelled, as White screamed. “Give him back!”
“No!” White’s body bowed, his back leaving the bed entirely. “No!”
Sean grabbed one of the logs on the fire by its unburned end and yanked it free, sending sparks everywhere. He climbed onto the bed, pinning White down. “Listen to me, you son of a bitch! I will set this bed on fire with both of us in it before I let you have him! I will kill us both before I let you have him now get the fuck out of my boyfriend!”
“Sean!” Gumpa shouted, but before he could say anything else, the chain of the handcuffs snapped. White lurched upright and grabbed Sean around the throat with both hands, squeezing hard, with more strength than White should have had in his body. Sean dropped the log onto the hearth, both hands going to White’s fingers, trying to pry them free. “No, fuck!” Gumpa swore, grabbing White by the wrist and trying to loosen his grip.
For several long seconds, seconds which felt like an eternity, Sean couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t look away from White, from the look of sheer hatred on his face, directed at him. It was so hot that he thought his skin was burning, but the pain from seeing that look on White’s face was worse.
“Let him go!” Gumpa yelled, and grabbed the log Sean had been holding. One end of it was still smoldering, and he pressed that into White’s forearm.
White screamed, and his body spasmed so hard that Sean would have fallen if White hadn’t been holding onto him, his fingers digging cruelly hard into Sean’s neck. For a few seconds, Sean’s vision danced with spots, going black around the edges.
Then White’s fingers loosened, and Gumpa dragged Sean back off the bed. White’s mouth opened, but this time he didn’t scream. He was eerily silent as what looked like black smoke poured from his mouth. His whole body was tight and rigid as it swirled around him, a small tornado with White at the center.
Abruptly, it broke free. A mass of shadow darted away, breaking through Dan’s back window and vanishing into the night.
White’s body went limp, hitting the bed with a thud.
“Holy shit,” Gumpa said.
“White,” Sean choked out, patting his cheek. White was drenched with sweat, pale and unresponsive. Gumpa hastily turned the space heaters off and then helped Sean drag the bed away from the fire. Cool air was flooding in through the broken window, and Gumpa threw the door open as well, creating a cross breeze. “White, hey, look at me, open your eyes. Please, White, please.”
White remained still and silent. Sean checked his pulse and found it steady, if quite rapid, but he knew that might not mean anything. Just because White’s body was alive didn’t mean that White’s mind was intact.
“White, please, open your eyes,”Sean said, feeling tears starting. “White. I love you. Look at me.”
White’s eyelids fluttered. Sean caressed his cheek with his thumb, and a second later, White’s eyes opened. Sean realized he was holding his breath.
“Sean?” White murmured, and Sean nearly burst into tears. “What . . . what happened?”
“It’s okay,” Sean said. “You’re okay now, I’ve got you. Hia - cut his ankles free - ”
Gumpa quickly did so, and Sean gathered White into his arms, letting White rest his head against his shoulder. He knew there was probably a lot to talk about, and he didn’t even know how much White remembered, but for the moment, all he wanted to do was hold him.
“Where’s Black?” White murmured.
“Black went to close the gate,” Gumpa told him.
“What?” White asked weakly. “But . . .”
“Don’t worry, White,” Sean said, holding him tighter. “I have a feeling your brother is going to be just fine.”
~ ~ ~ ~
Chapter Text
Dan’s radio crackled. All of them went tense.
“It’s done,” Gumpa said, his voice a little choked up. “It’s out. He’s okay.”
“Copy that,” Dan said, sounding a bit unsteady himself.
Yok grabbed the radio from him and shouted, “Fuck yeah!” into it, and a ripple of laughter went through the group.
“Let me contact Black and make sure he’s ready before you get started,” Gumpa said.
“Copy that,” Dan said again.
Yok realized he was crying, leaning his shoulder against Namo, who was crying, too. Gram reached out and pulled them both into a hug.
“He’s ready,” Gumpa said. “It’s your move.”
Each of them grabbed a gallon of gasoline or kerosene and hastened into the hub. The vines reacted immediately, squealing and trying to grab them as they doused the walls and the floor and even the bodies. But they moved quickly, too quickly to be caught.
“Would you care to do the honors?” Dan asked, taking out the lighter as they retreated into the tunnels.
“This thing nearly digested you,” Yok said. “I think I’ll let you have this one.”
A faint smile touched Dan’s face, and he nodded. “Get ready to run,” he said. He flicked the lighter and threw it into the hub.
They ran.
~ ~ ~ ~
By the time Black got the first text from Sean, saying they were getting started, he and Todd were standing at the door to the basement room where he had opened the gate. Todd had peeked inside and seen that there were at least a dozen demo-dogs waiting, just shuffling around. “Guess we’ll wait,” he murmured, and Black agreed.
It wasn’t until about ten minutes later, when his chest started to feel tight and his vision began to blur, that he realized they had overlooked a crucial problem with their plan. “Oh . . . oh fuck,” he murmured.
“What is it? What’s wrong?” Todd hissed.
“White . . . White hurts. I hurt.” Black clutched at his chest. “It hurts. Todd, it hurts.”
“Shit, okay,” Todd said, and glanced around. “Let’s find a place where you can sit down.”
Black wanted to argue that they should stay by the gate, but pain was starting to lance through his chest, and his limbs were going weak. Todd ushered him away and found a small office, closing the door behind them.
“Fuck, Black!” Todd tried to keep his voice low, despite his obvious concern as Black’s knees unhinged. He curled up on the floor, his entire body writhing. He couldn’t breathe through the pain. He was choking on the air already in his lungs. Todd tried to brace him, but he jerked free without meaning to.
He had been hurt before, and hurt badly, many times. He had endured all manners of torture. But this pain was worse than any he had ever felt before. He knew he couldn’t scream, so he shoved his forearm into his mouth and bit down hard, tasting blood.
“Fucking hell, Black - ” Todd said, sounding helpless and afraid. Black had never heard him sound like that before.
It would be over soon, Black told himself. It couldn’t take long. It would be over soon.
But the pain continued to build, and the world went black around him. Somewhere distant, he could hear White screaming, as clearly as if they were in the same room.
Abruptly, it was over. His body went limp, and he lay on the floor, panting and crying.
“Shh, I’ve got you.” Todd gently smoothed down his hair. “You’re okay, I’ve got you.”
Black sobbed quietly, wishing that Todd wasn’t there to see him cry, but somehow still glad that he was. He pressed his face into Todd’s hand as Todd wiped away the tears.
His phone buzzed. He knew what it said without having to look. “It’s over.”
“Did it work?” Todd asked.
“Yeah. Help . . . help me up.”
He could stand now, even though his legs were trembling. White was okay. And as long as White was okay, then Black was okay. He felt hot, though, and his body was drenched in sweat. He pulled his shirt over his head and tossed it aside without caring what happened to it.
His phone buzzed again. Todd picked it up and held it out to him. He saw Sean’s two texts, the first telling him what he already knew, and the second saying, ‘Are you ready?’
‘Yeah,’ Black texted back. Then to Todd, he said, “Let’s go.”
They went back to their posts outside the lab that held the gate. The demo-dogs were still there. Black counted, slowly. One minute went by. Then two.
Then the demo-dogs began to scream, and a few seconds later they jumped back into the tunnel and were gone.
“Let’s do this,” Todd said, and opened the door for him.
~ ~ ~ ~
With the roar of the fire at their back, Dan needed no incentive to run like hell, but forced himself to keep pace with the teenagers. Yok was actually quite fast, but Namo and Gram weren’t, and Dan didn’t want to get ahead of them. He wanted to get to their exit before the demo-dogs showed up, but if they didn’t, he needed to be with the others.
Yok was at the front, clinging to Namo’s hand and half-dragging her along, with Gram behind them, and Dan bringing up the rear. So he saw it quite clearly when a vine lashed out and caught Yok by the ankle, and he went sprawling to the ground with a cry of fear. Namo stumbled as well and caught herself against the wall, where vines grabbed both of her wrists, and she screamed.
“Fuck!” Gram, quick thinking, grabbed Yok under the arms and hauled him up before the vines could encircle his body. But even though he pulled hard, he couldn’t get him free. “I’ll hold him, get Namo!”
Dan nodded and took out the knife had grabbed while at Todd’s house. They had all poked around the house for weapons, and Dan had found that the very rich family had excellent kitchen knives. He sliced at the vines holding Namo’s wrists while she kept moving her feet around to keep them from being ensnared.
“Help Gram!” he shouted, and she nodded and grabbed onto Gram from behind, adding her strength to try to pull Yok free.
“No, stop!” Yok yelled. “When Dan cuts me free, the momentum will knock both of you over and they’ll grab you! Just hold still and don’t pull me!”
Dan was impressed with Yok’s ability to think so clearly under pressure, and started trying to free him. But by now there were multiple vines involved, and his feet were practically encased. No matter how much Dan cut at the vines, new ones just snaked around him, around his calves and his knees. And the longer Gram and Namo stood in one place, the more likely it was that the vines would grab them as well.
“Namo, fire!” Dan shouted. Namo fumbled for her backpack, pulling out one of the Molotov cocktails. “Let Yok go, I’ve got him!”
Both Gram and Namo let go, so she could quickly get the bottle and Gram could pull out one of the lighters. Seconds later, it smashed just to the side of Yok’s feet. The vines screamed, and they shouldn’t have been able to do that but they did, and shied away, loosening enough that Dan was able to drag him free, although one of his shoes was left behind.
“Go! Run!” Dan shouted, and both Gram and Namo took off with Yok and Dan close behind them.
~ ~ ~ ~
“Whoa,” Todd said, staring at the gate as the lift took them down, eyes wide with something like awe. Then he said, “Think I should snap a pic for my Insta?”
Startled, Black laughed. “You’re such an asshole.”
“C’mon, let’s take a selfie,” Todd said, and Black laughed harder. Todd smirked at him as he stopped the lift, leaving them about halfway between the ceiling and the floor, and Black realized that a lot of the tension had gone out of his body. Todd really did know him, better than anyone except White. “Hashtag no filters.”
“Filter this,” Black said, and flipped him off. That made Todd laugh. “I’m still mad at you,” Black added.
“Yeah, that’s fair,” Todd said.
Black turned to the gate, staring at it. He still remembered the day he had opened it so vividly, the panic and fear that had quickly turned into elation, and then just as quickly into fear again.
// “Today is a very special day,” Tawi said, walking with Black towards the sensory deprivation tank. “We’re going to make contact.”
“Make contact?” Black asked.
“Yes,” Tawi said. “You’re going to reach out to what you saw last time. The thing you said wasn’t human. We’re going to contact it.”
“I don’t want to,” Black said.
“I know it’s frightening,” Tawi said, smiling at him. “But you’re very brave, aren’t you, Eleven?”
Black said nothing. There was a time, he thought, when he had felt brave. A time he had been willing to take risks and try to escape. But it hadn’t been like that for a while, not since they had killed the deliveryman in front of him. He didn’t feel very brave at all anymore. But he also understood what Tawi wasn’t saying, which was that no matter how afraid he was of the monster, he should be more afraid of Tawi.
So he let them get him suited up and lower him into the tank. He had gotten used to the feeling of it over the years, but never liked it.
When he opened his eyes, as always, there was White. He was sitting in a chair that looked like it was meant for the outdoors, and was holding a can in one hand with a label that Black didn’t recognize. His head was turned towards someone else, indicating that he was talking to them.
“You look like you’re having a good time,” Black said.
White’s head turned slightly towards him, and he smiled, and gave the barest hint of a nod to indicate that yes, he was, but he couldn’t say anything right now because there were people around. Black reached out and gently touched his brother’s shoulder before he continued walking through the void. White faded out in the distance behind him. Black was glad that he was somewhere safe, that he was having fun. For most of their lives, every time he had seen White in the void, he had been unhappy. Things had been different since he came to Hawkins. He was close, so close that Black could feel him even if he couldn’t get to him. That was frustrating, for both of them, he thought. But at least White was happy.
He turned his attention to the monster.
It was far away at first, but he walked steadily across the empty plane, feeling that thin sheen of water on his feet. As it loomed up before him, hunched over the carcass of some animal that Black didn’t recognize, he felt his heartbeat start to thud in his veins.
“Don’t be frightened, Eleven,” Tawi said, clearly monitoring his vitals. Black could hear him through the speaker in the suit, although as always, he was a little tinny. “Just reach out to it. That’s all you need to do.”
Black took a deep breath and steeled his nerves. He reached out for the shoulder of the monster, the least dangerous looking part.
But the instant he touched it, it whirled around, and its face opened to reveal a circular mouth with glistening fangs, dripping saliva and blood from whatever it had been eating. Black screamed involuntarily. It lunged at him, and he thrust one hand forward and knocked it backwards.
What happened next was never very clear to him. He was in the void, and he pushed, and pushed hard, throwing the monster as far away from him as he could and trying to throw himself out of the void at the same time. Then he suddenly wasn’t in the void anymore. He was back in the tank, and the glass had shattered and the water was flooding out onto the floor and taking him along with it. He inhaled a mouthful of water and coughed hard, scrambling frantically to try to find a flat surface.
He could hear screaming, and a noise like a crack, and he looked up to see a chasm opening in the wall before him. Concrete and plaster fell away as it opened, revealing something horrible underneath, something that pulsed and breathed and looked like a mouth that was going to swallow the world.
Things were falling. Parts of the ceiling, the platform above him where the scientists stood. Everything was chaos. People were shouting orders and running around, and Black realized in that instant that he had, perhaps for the first time since coming there, been completely forgotten.
He bolted. Tawi, crouched underneath a control panel, shouted, “Eleven, get back here!”
But Black didn’t slow. This might be his only chance. His chance to escape, to find his brother. He threw everything and everyone out of his way that tried to get in it, and ten minutes later, burst out into the cool night air. He was only wearing a hospital gown, and his feet were bare. And he knew he hadn’t gotten far enough away. He had made it this far before, but there were fences all around -
He spotted the drainpipe. Water had to go somewhere, he thought, so he used his powers to yank the cover off and climb down in.
Another ten minutes after that, he was free.
He ran, and ran, and ran, until there was a stitch in his side and his lungs felt hot and angry with him. Finally, he slumped down onto the ground, hiding behind a fallen tree, hoping against hope that nobody would have been able to follow him this far.
He closed his eyes and tried to go into the void. It wasn’t optimal. The insects in the forest didn’t make background noise he was used to, and he had nothing to cover his eyes with. But he only had to find White, nobody else. He should be able to do it.
But when he made it into the void, White was gone. //
Black looked at the gate. He had opened it. He could close it. He had closed one before. This one was bigger, but that didn’t matter. What mattered was that closing this gate would save White. That meant he could do it.
Seeing him become serious, Todd did so as well, half-turning so he could watch the tunnels. “I’ve got your back,” he said. “Let’s get it done.”
Black nodded and held his hands out in front of him, even with each side of the gate, and began to draw them together.
~ ~ ~ ~
Dan sprinted ahead as he saw the rope dangling down into the tunnel so he could get there first. When Gram reached it a bare second later, Dan was already kneeling with his hands cupped in a stirrup. Without hesitation, Gram placed his foot in Dan’s hands and let Dan throw him upward. He grabbed the rope and began to pull himself to the surface.
“Go, go, go!” Dan shouted, waiting for there to be enough room on the rope to give Namo a boost. Not far away, he could hear the screeching of the demo-dogs. They didn’t have much time.
“Do we have any Molotov cocktails left?” Yok asked, facing the tunnel so he could watch Dan’s back.
“I used the last one,” Namo said, which didn’t surprise Dan. It had been a mad dash over the mile and change that had brought them back to the tunnel’s exit. They’d had to stop to burn back the vines repeatedly when they had tried to grab one of the party.
“Shit,” Yok said.
“We’re almost there,” Dan said. “Namo, go!”
Namo nodded and took a few steps back so she could get a running start. Her sneaker landed in Dan’s hand and he threw upwards with all his might. Shorter than the others by several inches, she only barely managed to grab the rope, but she got it and began pulling herself to safety.
“You’re next, Yok,” Dan said, and Yok nodded and didn’t argue. But Dan immediately realized there wouldn’t be time. Namo had barely pulled herself up enough that the bottom of the rope was level with her waist when the first demo-dogs charged around the corner.
“Fuck,” Dan gasped, and he pointed the gun, but only got off a few shots before it clicked dry. “Fuck!”
He grabbed Yok, not knowing what he could do but try to protect him with his own body, and for the barest of seconds Yok’s face was pressed against his shoulder -
And then there was a rush of wind as the demo-dogs charged past them, not even slowing. They rounded the tunnel’s curve and were gone.
“What the fuck,” Yok managed, lifting his face but making no move to leave Dan’s arms.
“The lab,” Dan said. “Black’s started closing the gate. They’re going to go try to stop him.”
Yok relaxed against him, and for a second Dan thought he might suggest doing something extremely stupid, but all he said was, “Then the rest is up to Black.”
Dan nodded. “Let’s get out of here.”
At least, he thought, Black wasn’t alone.
~ ~ ~ ~
Inch by inch, the edges of the gate crawled closer to each other.
Black had hoped he might be able to close it quickly, but it had immediately become obvious that this wasn’t the case. It felt like he was trying to move two continents towards each other. He could taste blood on his upper lip that was trickling out of his nose. His head throbbed and all sound had faded into the background. He forgot about Todd, about Todd’s father, about the lab, about the demo-dogs, about everything that wasn’t forcing those two edges towards each other.
He was abruptly reminded when he heard a sharp crack to his right, and knew without looking that the demo-dogs were here, that Todd was trying to hold them off.
Close, he shouted at the gate. Todd was on his own. Black wouldn’t be able to shift a millimeter of his focus until the gate was gone.
On the other side, a faint shape in the red glow and dark gloom, the shadow monster reared its head and began to push through.
“No!” Black thrust a hand out, shoving it back. They had theorized it couldn’t survive on this side, and maybe it couldn’t, at least not for long. But one of the legs still came through, a column of shadow heading right for Black. He screamed, trying to force it away from him. His ears were ringing. His vision was going dark around the edges. All he could taste was blood. The gate had stopped closing. The monster had stopped moving. Everything was strangely still.
~ ~ ~ ~
Sean had carried White out into Dan’s backyard, to escape the stifling heat that was still dissipating inside. Gumpa had joined them, and they were sitting on the ground for lack of a better option, both of them exhausted, with White resting against Sean’s shoulder. There was nothing they could do but wait.
White stirred and suddenly pulled in a breath. “Black.”
“Is he okay?” Gumpa asked.
“He . . . he needs help. Needs me.”
Sean thought back to when they had fought the first demogorgon. How Black had been struggling to hold it back until White had grabbed onto him, and then his powers seemed to suddenly intensify. Then he looked at Gumpa, anxious. Even if they put White in the car right now, it would be ten or even fifteen minutes before they could get to Black.
Gumpa seemed willing to try, though, because he stood and said, “Sean, get him up.”
“Nn,” White said. “Don’t need to. Just - let me focus. I can’t be with him here, but I can be with him there.”
“What?” Sean asked.
“The void,” Gumpa said. “They can always find each other in the void.”
Sean nodded. “White, what do you need? Black had to have static on in the background. And a blindfold.”
“Just . . .” White squirmed around slightly, with his limited strength, so he was lying in Sean’s arms with the back of his head in the crook of Sean’s elbow. “Don’t need static. The night sounds are enough. Cover my eyes.”
Sean put his free hand over White’s eyes, feeling how hot his skin still was. He looked at Gumpa, who reached out and squeezed his shoulder.
“Don’t worry,” White said. “I’ll be fine.”
~ ~ ~ ~
Black had no idea how long he had been trying to close the gate. It could have been minutes. It could have been centuries. All he could hear was a dim roaring in his ears and occasionally the sharp sound of gunfire. He knew that they couldn’t hold out much longer. Todd would run out of ammunition and then the demo-dogs would kill them both. But he couldn’t close the gate while he was still holding back the shadows.
“Black,” a voice whispered.
He was in the void. White was standing in front of him. He was still wearing the hospital gown, and his skin was reddened and angry. He looked like he had lost a lot of weight in the past few days. But he was smiling.
Black didn’t understand. He knew, somehow, that he wasn’t seeing White like he was in real life right now. White wouldn’t have the strength to stand after everything he had been through. Yet here he was. And Black was the one in the void as he was in real life - shirtless, blood streaming from his nose and ears, hands outstretched in front of him.
It took him a minute to realize that he hadn’t gone into the void to see White. White had gone into the void to see him.
“Let me help,” White said, in their own language, and embraced him.
Abruptly, Black was in the real world again. He felt new strength coursing through him, even as each breath burned at his lungs. He screamed in rage, not just his own rage, but White’s, feeling it in every vein. Every moment of the last few days was now etched into his mind, as White had struggled helplessly, hopelessly, against the monster that had taken him over and used him to hurt people. Black’s pain was nothing compared to White’s.
Together, they forced the monster back through the gate. The edges began to move towards each other again. He took one side and White took the other, pushing those two continents against each other, moving them a centimeter at a time over the vast gulf. They pushed the shadows back over and over again.
A few minutes or a century later, the two edges of the gate met. They began to fuse together, leaving only a bright red line, the glow from the storm on the other side. And then, finally, that was gone as well.
The strength flooded out of Black. He was dimly aware of arms catching him as he headed towards the floor.
“You did it,” Todd murmured, smoothing his hair back. “You did great, babe.”
Black felt darkness coming for him. But it was a comforting darkness. It wasn’t cold. He closed his eyes and let it take him.
~ ~ ~ ~
Gumpa watched, trying to stay calm, as White lay still in Sean’s arms. Blood trickled from his nose. One minute went by, then two. Then White pulled in another sharp breath. He reached up and gripped Sean’s wrist, moving Sean’s hand from his eyes. “It’s done,” he said, and a few tears escaped. “It’s finally over.”
Sean pulled him into an embrace, and Gumpa wrapped his arms around both of them. He didn’t have to ask if Black had been successful; he knew White’s reaction would have been much different if he hadn’t been. Tension drained out of him, and he suddenly realized how tired he was.
They sat there for several long minutes, just breathing. Gumpa knew he had to get up, but his legs felt unnervingly weak.
Sean’s phone rang. He fished it out of his pocket and said, without surprise, “It’s Todd.” He tapped the screen twice. “Hey, you’re on speaker, what’s going on?”
“It’s closed.” Todd’s voice trembled slightly. “Black collapsed and won’t wake up. He’s bleeding a lot. Not just from his nose but from his ears and even his eyes. And my dad is hurt real bad. His leg got all torn up. Can you - ” He nearly choked on the words. “Can you come pick us up, hia?”
“Sure,” Gumpa said. “I’ll be right there.”
He managed to stand. White’s eyes were now closed, and when Sean gently caressed his face, he didn’t stir. Between the two of them, they got White up and back to the car. “I’m going to drop you two off at the garage,” Gumpa said. “Oh, call the others.”
Sean nodded, slumped into the passenger seat, and called Namo. Much to both their relief, she picked up immediately. He told her that the gate was closed, and heard cheering on the other end. “How are you?” Sean asked.
“Bumps and bruises,” she said. “Yok sprained his ankle and can barely walk; that’s probably the worst of our injuries. You?”
“Okay. White’s passed out. Todd called from the lab and said Black did too. Gumpa’s dropping me and White off at the garage and then he’s going to go pick up Black.”
“Okay. We’ll see you back at the garage, then.”
Sean hung up and closed his eyes. He was nodding off by the time Gumpa got back to the garage. They carried White inside and lay him down on his bed. Sean lay down next to him and was asleep immediately. Gumpa quickly checked on White’s injuries - raw marks from the restraints as well as the burn on his arm where Gumpa had hit him with the log - and found them fortunately superficial. He grabbed a soda from the refrigerator and headed back to the car.
He didn’t see anyone when he got there, and jogged down to the basement through the first stairwell he found. “Todd?” he called out, since he had no idea where to go. “You down here?”
“Yeah, over here!” Todd called back, and Gumpa headed down the hall. He found Todd and Black in a room with a bunch of computers and equipment he didn’t recognize. From the massive hole in the floor and the shattered glass wall, he assumed that this was where the gate had been. Todd was sitting on the floor with Black’s head in his lap, gently dabbing at the blood on his face with the hem of his shirt. He looked up and said, “I thought about taking him upstairs but didn’t want to drop him.”
That amused Gumpa, who knew that Todd was hardly athletic. “I wouldn’t have expected you to carry him anywhere. Let’s go find your dad.”
“This way,” Todd said.
Gumpa scooped Black up and followed Todd back to the first floor. He led them to an office, where Bret was slumped in a corner, pressing a wad of fabric against his obviously injured leg. Gumpa grimaced and said, “Can you get him up? I’ll take you guys to the clinic.”
“Is the gate closed?” Bret asked.
Todd nodded. “And all those demogorgons just dropped dead once it shut, too.”
“Good. Okay.” Bret let out a breath. “I appreciate the offer, Gumpa, but I have to stay here. There’s a lot of clean-up to do.”
“Yeah, starting with your leg,” Gumpa said.
“I think I can have that taken care of here.” Bret limped over to the desk and picked up the phone. He hit several buttons and then Gumpa heard the sound of an intercom clicking on. Bret spoke into the phone. “Attention all employees. The lab is now secure. Please report immediately to the first floor lobby for a head count.”
He hung up, and Gumpa said, “You really think anyone is left?”
“The soldiers’ job was to fight, and they’ll all be gone,” Bret said. “But the scientists - a lot of them would’ve hidden and waited. Closets, cabinets, et cetera. If any of them are left, they can take care of my leg so I can do my job.”
“Those things broke into the office where you were,” Todd said.
“I know, but I think that was because they could smell the blood. That’s what you guys said about the demogorgons, right? That they could smell blood. I was already injured when I went in there, although at the time it was minor. I think - ”
Gumpa heard footsteps in the hallway. He looked out to see two women in lab coats, one supporting the other, coming down the hallway. “I’ll be damned.”
Bret managed a smile and said, “We did train for this, you know.”
“Guess so.” Gumpa hoisted Black up a little better and said, “C’mon, Todd. I’ll take you back to the garage.”
Todd shook his head. “I’m going to stay here and help my dad.”
“I’m fine, Todd,” Bret said. “You should get some rest.”
Todd let out a breath. “Okay, well, what I actually mean is, ‘I’m going to stay here and make sure my dad handles everything the way we want so we don’t have to worry about these assholes coming after Black again’.”
Gumpa gave a snort, as Bret looked somewhat nonplussed by this statement. “I’ll leave you to it, then. But if you need a ride, call me.”
“I will. Thanks, hia.”
Gumpa carried Black out of the lab and put him in the passenger seat. He checked his pulse and found it reassuringly steady. There was a smear of blood left on his neck from one ear, but Todd had cleaned him up otherwise. Gumpa squeezed his hand and said, “You’ll never have to go back there again.”
He drove home. When he went inside, Dan was lying on the sofa. It looked like he had tried to stay awake to wait for them, but hadn’t been able to. Gumpa poked his head into Sean’s room and saw Namo, Yok, and Gram all sprawled out on the bed, sound asleep. He saw some scrapes and bruises on them but overall they looked okay. He smiled slightly and went into White’s bedroom. Both Sean and White were still asleep as well. White’s ankles and wrists were now red and raw from where he’d been trying to escape the restraints, and Sean had marks on his throat which would surely turn into dark bruises. Gumpa made a mental note that he wouldn’t be in school for a few days.
After Black had badly taxed himself the first time, finding White in the upside down, killing the demogorgon, both opening and closing a small gate, he had slept for nearly twenty-four hours. Even so, Gumpa was worried. He’d seen Black bleed from the ears before, but never the eyes. He hoped that there was no permanent damage.
When he laid Black down on White’s other side, White unconsciously moved towards him, pressing his cheek into Black’s shoulder. And after a moment, Black turned as well, resting his face against the top of White’s head. He let out a slow sigh and his body relaxed.
Gumpa smiled again, thinking that it looked like they were going to be all right.
~ ~ ~ ~
Chapter Text
White woke slowly. He was warm. It felt nice.
He opened his eyes and looked around, seeing that Black was pressed up against his right side and Sean cuddled into his left. He was still wearing the hospital gown, and his skin felt tender. He thought it felt like a sunburn, which he’d only had on rare occasions, and presumed it was because he’d been overcooked the night before.
It would have been nice if he didn’t remember, he thought. If the moment the shadow monster took control, he had just been - somewhere else. Unconscious. Unknowing.
But it hadn’t been like that at all. It had been what seemed like endless hellish hours trapped in his own body, unable to make it move, make it speak, fighting for every inch. He had only won a couple of times. Once had been at the lab, to warn them, and that had been because the shadow monster hadn’t been expecting it. And then to tell them to close the gate.
Every moment of it was crystal clear in his memory, but it was over. He was free. The gate was closed. They were safe now.
His stomach rumbled slightly, and he realized that he couldn’t remember the last time he had eaten. He was thirsty, too. His mouth felt glued shut. His wrists and ankles stung and the burn on his arm throbbed.
He tried to sit up, and his limbs were in surprisingly good working order. He supposed that although the last few days had been terrible, nothing had been physically wrong with him. The pain he felt had always been the pain of other creatures he had been connected to.
Black slept on, undisturbed, but Sean stirred as soon as White sat up. His eyes opened and he said, somewhat hoarsely, “Hey. How are you feeling?”
“Hungry,” White said. “Thirsty. Sore.”
“Warm?”
“A little. But not uncomfortably so.”
“I’ll get you something. Don’t try to get out of bed,” Sean said, and when he saw White was going to protest, he said, “Stay with your brother.”
White nodded, understanding that Sean didn’t think he was weak; Sean was just worried about Black. He lay back down, and Black immediately nestled closer, pressing his face into the crook of White’s neck.
Sean came back a few minutes later with a drink and some snacks, which amused White, because clearly nobody had been cooking. “Let me check your temperature,” he said, and White made a face at him but obeyed. It was just a little above normal. Sean frowned but said, “That probably makes sense, given last night.”
“Yeah, whose idea was it to roast me alive?” White asked, smiling fondly as Sean handed him some painkillers and the box of soy milk.
“Uh, it was kind of a group idea. Black started it but then Gumpa and I worked out the details.”
“It fucking sucked,” White said, swallowing the pills and then reaching for the food.
Sean was still, as White tore into the snacks. “You remember it?”
“Yeah.” White glanced up at him. “I remember everything. It couldn’t - make me not exist. It was just like I was trapped in my own body.”
With a shudder, Sean said, “That sounds awful.”
“It was. But you saved me.” White finished a mouthful and then kissed Sean on the cheek. “I knew I could count on you.”
Sean nodded and squeezed his hand. “I think it’s really over now.”
“I think so. I feel . . . different.”
“Different how?”
White thought about it as he ate. “It’s hard to explain. Ever since getting back, I always felt like part of me was still in the upside down. I don’t feel like that anymore. After I was reunited with Black, I thought, you know, I would finally feel right. I would feel okay. But I didn’t, and I think that was why. I finally feel . . . whole.”
Sean leaned over and kissed him on the temple. “I’m glad.”
“So tell me the details, now,” White said. “I remember what the monster was awake for, but I was unconscious a lot of the time, plus you did all your planning where I couldn’t see. Also, did Todd nearly get us all killed by being a rich prick with a sprinkler system?”
That made Sean laugh. “I didn’t think you would recognize it. You haven’t really been over to his place much.”
“Honestly, I don’t remember if I’d ever heard it before. But I’ve heard sprinklers before, because, you know, my parents and all their friends were rich. And I knew that Todd’s was the only place in town that could possibly have one.”
Sean started with when they had first knocked White unconscious, back at the lab. White listened in interest, wincing when he heard how Black had reacted to finding out that Bret was Todd’s dad. “Wow,” he said, when Sean got to Todd’s confession of love in front of everybody.
“Right?” Sean asked, and laughed, then continued the story. White looked at Black’s sleeping face and found he was hoping, for some reason, that Black and Todd would work things out. He didn’t get their relationship a lot of the time, but he thought it had gotten more serious lately, and he thought that, against all odds, Todd made Black happy.
By the time Sean had finished his part of the story - saying he would have to hear from the others about what had happened after they split up - they could hear noise out in the apartment. Sean went to get him another drink, and then the others came in to say hi and tell him they were glad he was okay. He thanked them for all their help, and as usual, they said he didn’t need to thank them.
Black slept through all of this, and by the time everyone had gone through the whole story, White was feeling tired again as well. He might not have been through as much physically, but mentally, he had been struggling.
“Just sleep if you want to sleep,” Sean said. “It’s not a big deal.”
“Mmkay,” White said. “Then when I wake up, I need a shower. Gumpa can stay with Black for a little while. I feel grimy.”
“I can probably help with that.”
“I bet you can,” White said, smiling. Sean laughed and then kissed him.
~ ~ ~ ~
Black woke up feeling like his brain was several sizes too large for his skull. He muttered something rude underneath his breath, trying to get his eyes to open. White said, “Hey, are you awake over there?” and his words drilled into Black’s brain.
“No,” Black decided. He leaned more heavily against his brother, who smelled like soap. White’s skin felt cool, in a good way, like he was finally a normal body temperature again. “Ow,” he added, for good measure.
White squeezed his hand. “Hey, Sean, could you bring Black something to drink and some painkillers?”
“Okay,” Sean called back.
Black didn’t care about a drink, but painkillers sounded good, so he let White help him sit up and coax him into taking the pills. Then he fell back against the pillows and closed his eyes, trying to keep his breathing steady. After a while, the pain began to fade and he slid back into sleep.
When he woke again, it was to the smell of food. He groaned slightly, trying to sit up. “Hey, take it easy,” White said. “They can bring us some food if you’re hungry.”
“Uh huh,” Black said. He was starving, in fact; his stomach felt like a black hole. A few minutes later, Gumpa brought him a bowl of soup and he began to eat hungrily. “How long?”
“About eighteen hours,” White said. “It’s six PM. You can go back to sleep after you eat, if you’re still tired.”
Black nodded, because he was. He ate three bowls of soup before relaxing back against the pillows. Sean was sprawled in a chair in the corner, reading a comic book, and Black glowered at him. “Go away.”
“Wow, rude,” Sean said, turning a page and not looking up.
Noting the dark bruises on Sean’s neck, Black asked, “What happened to you?”
At this, the comic book dipped slightly. “Let’s just say that you were right when you said Gumpa should go with me.” He put down the book and added, “It’s my turn for the dishes,” and walked out of the room without another word.
Black glared after him, but was secretly glad that Sean had given them privacy as he requested. There was a part of him that wanted to go back to sleep, but he had to talk to White first, and he wouldn’t have blamed Sean if he didn’t want to leave White alone. “Are you feeling okay?”
White nodded. “Yeah. I feel better than I have in a long time, actually. Maybe since they took you away.”
That made sense to Black. For him, them being reunited had filled the hole inside him. But for White it had been different. White had still been partly lost in the upside down, pulled back there by the monster he had somehow been connected to. “Okay. That’s good.”
White smiled. “You can get some rest. I’m okay.”
“I know. But . . .” Black forced the words out. “I’m sorry. I should have been there.”
“What?” White blinked at him. “When?”
“In the lab. When you . . .”
“Oh.” White sighed. “Black, I couldn’t have asked you to go.”
“I know that. You didn’t ask me. Nobody asked me.” Black gave a short, bitter laugh. “I guess that’s not true. Todd asked me. He said he would bring me there as soon as I woke up at his place. He knew I should go or I’d regret it later.”
“That’s stupid,” White said. “It was perfectly reasonable of you not to want to go back there.”
“Was it? It was just a place. Tawi’s dead. Techit’s dead. Everyone there who hurt me is long gone. It was just a building that I couldn’t set foot into, and because of that . . .”
“Because of that, what?” White asked. “Tell me. Explain to me what the horrible consequences were because you didn’t go to the lab with me.”
Black frowned. “You were by yourself.”
“No, I wasn’t. Sean and Gumpa were with me. And you’ve said before that even though you won’t say it to his face, you trust Sean more than anyone else in the world, when it comes to taking care of me.”
That made Black’s scowl deepen. “That’s not the point.”
“What is the point, then? Do you think you could’ve stopped that thing? That you would’ve known I was setting a trap? You wouldn’t have. Nothing would have changed if you were there. Maybe it would’ve been a little easier to get me out, but that’s all. And maybe things could’ve gone even worse if you were there. Maybe that thing would have gotten a hold of you. We don’t know what would have happened if you had been there but odds are it wouldn’t have been any better. I’m glad you didn’t force yourself to go to a place you were terrified of just to sit with me while I stared into space for eight hours.”
Feeling annoyed and frustrated that White wouldn’t just accept his apology, Black said, “It was stupid to be terrified.”
“I wouldn’t say it was stupid. I wouldn’t even say it was irrational. They really were going to try to keep me prisoner and they didn’t even try to hide that from us. Maybe Tawi and Techit were gone, but they had been replaced by people who were trying to do the same things. So it completely makes sense that you didn’t want to go there. Besides, you went there when it mattered.”
Black supposed he couldn’t argue with that. “Fine.”
White smiled. “It’s going to get better from now on, Black. I know it.”
Black lay back down and stared at the ceiling, thinking about the people who were never going to let him go. “I hope you’re right.”
~ ~ ~ ~
For the next few days, Gumpa did his best to keep everything lowkey. Black was still in bed for most of it, though by the end of the first day, his headaches were fading. White was weak as well, although doing better than his brother. Gumpa managed to pry the two of them apart long enough to take White to the clinic and have the burn on his arm looked at, telling the doctor it had happened when White had brushed up against a piece of hot equipment in the garage. It was a fair bet that the doctor didn’t believe him, but he had definitely reached the point of not wanting to know.
Sean stayed home from school, but Yok, Gram, and Namo all went back. After school every day, they came to the garage to give him his homework. They took down all the pictures that White had drawn and threw them away, putting the furniture back where it belonged. Everyone spent a lot of time on the sofa, not talking about what came next. Dan went back to work, although he called twice to check in. Todd went back to his house, and didn’t call. Gumpa knew that he was giving Black space, and he hoped that Black knew that, too.
On Sunday afternoon, Gumpa heard a knocking on the garage door and went to answer it. He found Bret standing there, leaning on a crutch and holding several manila folders. “You here to tell us that we’re not going to have any more problems?” Gumpa asked.
“Something like that,” Bret said.
“Then come on in.” Gumpa locked the garage door after him and gestured for Bret to follow him into the apartment.
Black and White were curled up in the armchair, while Sean sat at White’s feet, hand wrapped around his ankle. The other three teenagers were sprawled on the couch. There was a movie on, but nobody was really watching it.
As soon as Bret came in, everyone scowled at him, and he lifted his hands in surrender. “I have a few things for you.”
Gumpa dragged a chair in from the kitchen for him, and one for himself as well. He sat down as Bret handed manila folders to Black, White, and Sean. “What are these?” Sean asked, not opening it.
“Those are new identities for you,” Bret said, and Sean’s eyebrows went up. White looked startled as well, while Black kept scowling. “So should you decide to go to the city, you’ll be able to do it with names nobody will be looking for. Sean, I got one for you as well because if anyone wants to find White, you’re the first person they’ll look for.”
Sean nodded. White opened the folder and leafed through. “Wow, a school record and everything. You’re thorough.”
“Didn’t figure it would be fair otherwise,” Bret said. He held up the last folder. “This is a copy of my last report to my superiors. I’ve told them that Black died closing the gate.”
“They believed that?” Gumpa asked.
Bret smiled slightly. “I guess we’ll have to wait and see, but I think I did the best I could given the circumstances. It’s not exactly unreasonable to say that Black could’ve had an aneurysm from that much effort. He was bleeding from every hole in his face at the end. Todd thoughtfully took a picture while he was unconscious to put in with the report. He looked pretty dead.”
Gumpa thought back to Todd’s semi-panicked call to him and wondered when Todd had thought about this. “Wouldn’t they want an autopsy report or something?”
“Of course. I made sure to include one.” Bret shook his head, still smiling. “Of everyone left in the facility, there were two medical doctors. One of them you might remember as the one who treated White when he got there. And everyone who survived agreed that under no circumstances should that gate ever be opened again. If that meant making our superiors think Black was dead, they were on board. Sam helped me falsify the autopsy report using some of the ones from Tawi’s previous test subjects as a template.”
Gumpa nodded and let out a breath. With a picture and an autopsy report and a believable story, they really might buy it. Black really might be safe from them.
“I thought I would be all dramatic about it and come in and give you an official death certificate,” Bret said, “but that turned out to be impossible. Black Pothiyakorn was erased the day he went to the lab, so there’s nothing to issue besides this.”
He held out the report. Black didn’t reach for it, so after a moment, White took it instead. “How much of this was Todd responsible for?” he asked.
Bret smiled. “My son is clever but he’s only eighteen. He wanted to make sure my superiors thought Black was dead, but I took care of all the details. Actually, he also wanted them to think you were dead, White, but I thought it was more important for them to have a believable story.”
White nodded. “Thank you.”
“No need.”
Abruptly, Namo spoke up. “I want to talk about Sean’s dad.”
Bret sighed. “I figured you would, but at this point, there’s really nothing I can do about that. I submitted the report this morning, and I’ve already heard through the grapevine that I’ve made a lot of people very unhappy. I was thinking about taking a trip out of the country before they could come haul me in for a hearing.”
“I know you can’t do anything about it, but . . .” Namo was tapping at her phone.
A moment later, Bret’s voice came not from him sitting in the room, but from the phone. “Sean, let me be frank with you. The details of your father’s death can never go public because they’re related to the experiments on Black.”
“I know that,” Sean said on the recording. “Like I said, I know there are some things that need to stay quiet. Nobody needs the whole truth. I just want it to be public that he didn’t break in. That he was killed during his normal delivery, and that he didn’t do something stupid and get himself killed.”
“Like an accident?” Bret suggested. “Let’s say, he was making his delivery and was exposed to a toxic chemical the lab was making. The lab didn’t want the liability so his death was covered up.”
Bret’s eyebrows went up as soon as he heard the first sentence, and when Namo stopped it a few seconds later, he was smiling. “You recorded that whole conversation, huh?”
“You bet your ass I did,” Namo shot back, then looked at Sean, who seemed stunned. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, Sean. I just figured - until you guys left town and the twins were safe, we couldn’t really do anything with it. Once you were in the city, I was going to give it to you.”
After a moment, Sean nodded. “Thanks,” he said, then added, “You’ve always been the smart one.”
“Obviously,” Namo said.
“Frankly, and I don’t mean to rain on your parade, but I still recommend waiting,” Bret said. “It’ll take a little while for the heat to die down. Here in Hawkins, the twins are safe enough as long as they’re never seen outside the garage together. Black can still come and go as long as White is here. You can tell everyone that Black went back to school, or wherever you said he was before White went missing and Black came to help look for him. But if you release this, it’ll be whacking a hornet’s nest with a stick at a time that those hornets are already pretty pissed off and looking for scapegoats.”
“That’s why I brought it up,” Namo said. “I don’t need your permission to do something with it, but since you’re the criminal here, I thought you might know the best way to go about it.”
That seemed to amuse Bret. “Wait about a year. Wait until the twins are settled in the city under their new names and the government has closed the investigation into what went so horribly wrong here as if the answer isn’t obvious. Then make a dozen copies of it. Send it to every media outlet in the country with a letter explaining what the contents are. Maybe include some of the previous articles about Sean’s dad’s death for context. You can say it was me on the recording since I’m already screwed anyway. That’s the advice you’ll like. Want the advice you won’t like?”
“Lay it on us,” Namo said, glaring at him.
“Cut out any mention of Black. They’ll come down a lot harder if you don’t, and frankly, the general public will never believe most of that shit anyway. If the government denies it, a lot of people will think it’s bullshit if you get into the psychics and the gate and all that. A lab doing weapons testing accidentally killing a worker is a lot more believable, so leave it at that.”
Namo looked at Sean. After a moment, he nodded. “I never needed people to know the whole truth,” he said. “I just wanted them to stop dragging his name through the mud.”
White reached down and squeezed his shoulder. Then he looked at Black. “Phi, are you okay with all of this? Do you have any questions?”
Black shook his head. Gumpa wasn’t sure which question he was answering.
White seemed to think it was the second, because he said, “Okay,” and then to Bret, again, “Thank you.”
“I’ll walk you out,” Gumpa said, so he could get rid of Bret and see how Black was feeling. Once they were out of the apartment and back in the garage’s lobby, he said, “Are you really fleeing the country?”
Bret checked his phone. “Plane leaves in ninety minutes. Todd packed a bag for me since I’ve been at the lab for the past four days straight.”
“Are you coming back?”
“I don’t know,” Bret said. “I hope so. But it won’t be for a long time. I really can’t overstate how many people I’ve managed to piss off in the last week. Todd’s upset about it but he won’t say anything,” he continued, then added, “Will you look after him, Gumpa?”
Gumpa nodded. “Of course.”
“Thanks.”
Bret turned and left the garage without another word. Gumpa locked the door after him and watched him go, before he shook his head and headed back into the apartment. White and Sean were both looking through the folders that contained their new identities while Gram and Yok were telling Namo how badass she was.
“Black?” Gumpa said. “Are you okay?”
Black looked up at him, and for a moment, Gumpa thought he wasn’t going to say anything. But then he nodded. “I miss him,” he said, and didn’t bother to specify who he meant because everyone in the room already knew.
“I know,” Gumpa said. “I never said you couldn’t forgive him, Black. Only that in the end, you had to decide on your own.”
Black nodded again. He tucked his head against White’s shoulder and fell silent.
“Black,” Gumpa said quietly, “you’re going to be okay.”
“Thanks, hia,” Black mumbled, and closed his eyes.
~ ~ ~ ~
Black made it another two days before White, of all people, lost his temper. “I swear, will you please stop moping around and just go see him? If I see you sitting in that armchair just sighing one more time I’m gonna beat the shit out of you.”
“Hey,” Black said, on general principle.
White raised a fist.
“Fine,” Black groaned, then admitted reluctantly, “I don’t know what to say.”
“You’ll figure it out,” White said, and all but pushed him out of the garage. Black flipped him off, huffed to nobody, and went to get his bike.
It was a Tuesday afternoon, and school was out, so he supposed Todd would probably be home. This was the time of day he typically went to see Todd, around the time that Sean got home from school and he and White would often vanish into Sean’s room for an hour (or more). So he steeled his nerves and rang the bell, still without any idea of what he would or should say.
Todd opened it a few seconds later, and he was wearing one of those terrible outfits where the top two buttons of his shirt weren’t done and Black wanted to tear it the rest of the way open. He smiled when he saw Black, but the smile quickly faded. “Hey,” he said. “What’s up?”
The opening left every possibility in the world. Black knew that whatever he asked for, Todd would do his best to provide. If he just said ‘take off your clothes’ they could leapfrog over the entire issue - but it wouldn’t be the same afterwards. It would go back to how it had been in the beginning, just sex, just an outlet for his hormones and sometimes his rage.
“I was going to ask you to come with us,” he blurted out.
Todd blinked. “What?”
“That day when your dad threw us out of the house and we went back to the garage. I was thinking about the money you gave me and how White wasn’t feeling well and how we might have to leave. And I thought, if we left, I wouldn’t see you anymore. I didn’t like that. I thought, if we could bring Sean, maybe we could bring you, too. Maybe you could come with us. You probably would’ve said no, and then it never actually came up, but I wanted you to know that I was going to ask you.”
Todd ducked his head slightly, and now he was smiling again. “Thanks.”
“I’m still so bad with words,” Black continued. “You said you love me and I can’t say it back because I don’t really understand that word yet. I don’t know what love actually looks like. White and Sean love each other so much and we don’t look like that. I don’t know what the word for the way I feel is.”
“That’s okay,” Todd said. “You don’t have to say it.” He let out a breath, then said, “You wanna come in?”
Black nodded and stepped inside. Todd closed the door after them.
“Is your dad gone?” Black asked, following him into the living room.
Todd nodded. “He didn’t tell me where he was going for safety reasons. I don’t know when I’ll hear from him again.”
“What about your mom?”
“At the factory. Like usual.”
Black looked at Todd and wondered if, really, Todd was actually a very lonely person. “I’m going to teach you how to play Dungeons and Dragons.”
“You’re going to what?” Todd asked, laughing.
“It’s what we do together. All of us. Like a family. It’s pretty stupid. Not your style at all. But we do it together so you’re going to learn, too.”
“Okay,” Todd said, running a hand through his hair. “Yeah, okay.”
“I thought . . .” Words escaped him again, and he grit his teeth, frustrated with his own inadequacies. “I thought, if I knew a secret, and it was something I knew you should know, something you would want to know, deserved to know, but if you did know you wouldn’t want me to come here anymore . . . I wouldn’t tell you.”
“No?” Todd said.
Black shook his head. “You were wrong and you should have told me. But I can’t be angry anymore because I know that in your shoes I would’ve done the same thing.”
“Okay,” Todd said, then added, “I really am sorry.”
“I know,” Black said.
“I would’ve said yes,” Todd added. “If you’d asked me to go with you. It would’ve been a terrible life decision. My parents would’ve been furious. And I wouldn’t have cared at all.”
Black smiled. It felt a little strange, but he didn’t mind. Maybe he and Todd didn’t have to be like Sean and White. Maybe they could just be like themselves, and maybe that was love, too. “Pretend I just got here.”
Todd laughed. “Okay. What’s up?”
“Let’s eat junk food and watch a movie and then I’ll fuck you stupid.”
“That sounds great,” Todd said, and kissed him.
They didn’t get to the junk food or the movie until quite some time later.
~ ~ ~ ~
Chapter 28
Notes:
I can't believe it's finally finished! Thank you for reading my monster AU!
Chapter Text
Sean emerged from his bedroom to find Namo sitting at the kitchen table, doing her homework. He supposed he should probably be doing the same thing, although it was difficult to motivate himself. The identity that Bret had created for him had graduated from high school the previous year, so if he wanted to go to university, he would be able to.
“Hey, where’s White?” Namo greeted him.
“He fell asleep,” Sean said.
Namo grinned and said, “Wore him out, huh? I’m surprised you’re not still in there cuddling.”
“We cuddled for a half hour. I need something to eat.” Sean opened the fridge and rooted around, then sat down at the kitchen table with Namo. “How’s your mom?”
“Having a crisis,” Namo said briskly. “Aunt Jackie is there with her and called the doctor. She told me I should go somewhere quiet so I could get my work done. I’ll probably stay here tonight.”
Sean nodded and squeezed her wrist before he opened his backpack and pulled out his textbooks.
“How about yours?” Namo asked. “Have you talked to her yet?”
“No,” Sean said, and she gave him a look. “I don’t even want to call her. She can find out the truth when the story breaks in the news like everybody else.”
“Sean,” Namo said, and he refused to look at her. Gumpa had already been nagging him about this, and he didn’t want to hear it. It was his decision to make and everyone else needed to stop getting involved. After a moment, Namo sighed. “Listen. I’m not going to pass any judgment on you or on your mom, but you need closure. If she doesn’t want to hear it, it’s gonna hurt like hell. But you can’t just not tell her.”
“The hell I can’t,” Sean said.
“It’s not about what she needs. It’s about what you need. Which is to put this whole thing behind you. You’re making plans for the future, Sean. You can’t have this dragging you down. And if you want any possibility of a relationship with her, ever, then you can’t just let her find out from the news.”
“What if I don’t?” Sean said. “What if I don’t care?”
“You don’t care now. But you don’t know that you won’t care in ten years. You don’t know that you won’t want her at your wedding, that you won’t want her to meet your kids if you decide to have them. You’re not promising a relationship with her. You’re just keeping the door open.”
Sean sighed. “I was talking to Gumpa about it yesterday. He was telling me that maybe I thought my father was perfect, but nobody’s perfect. And most people don’t entirely know their parents. I was only fourteen. If they’d been having financial problems, martial issues, I wouldn’t have known about it. My mom might have had more than one reason to think my dad would do something so stupid. But . . .”
His voice trailed off. Namo prompted, “But?”
“But she left me,” Sean said. “I can’t forgive her for that.”
Namo reached out and took his hand, squeezing it hard.
“She didn’t even fight to keep me with her,” Sean said, feeling tears sting at his eyes and hating the fact that this still hurt so much, years later. “I just wanted to stay here, with my friends. I’d already lost so much. The idea of losing you and Yok was . . . I couldn’t deal with that. So she just decided to haul stakes and leave me with Gumpa. And don’t get me wrong, I’m so grateful to him for taking me in and helping me through the worst of that. But . . .”
“But it was a shitty thing to do,” Namo said. “I totally get that. I mean, from one person to another, I sympathize with her, because life here must have been rough after your dad died. But when you have kids, the kids have to come first. It wasn’t fair of her to decide to leave even though you didn’t want to, and it sure as hell wasn’t fair that she went without you.”
Sean nodded and said nothing.
“You don’t have to forgive her for that, Sean. You don’t have to be okay with it. Not now, not ever if you don’t want to. But I think until she knows, you’re always going to be thinking about how she’ll react. There will always be this part of you that wants to tell her. Maybe she’ll react badly. Maybe she’ll be a huge bitch about it. Maybe she’ll cry and apologize and you’ll feel terrible because she wants you to forgive her but you’re not ready yet. And whatever her reaction is, you don’t have to be cool with it! But you can’t deal with that reaction until it’s over. You need to get through this, Sean. We can handle it however you want but it needs to be done.”
Sean sighed and fiddled with his pencil. “Well, I can’t tell her over the phone, and I’m not calling her. But I guess if you or Gumpa wants to call her and tell her that I want to see her and I have something to tell her, I won’t stop you. If she decides not to come, that’s the end of it, though.”
Much to his relief, Namo nodded. “That seems fair. I’ll talk to Gumpa about it.”
Sean flipped open the book and stared down at his math homework, which seemed ridiculously insignificant compared to everything else. “And I don’t want to be the one who tells her because I’ll just end up trying to rub her face in it. Maybe Black can tell her. He’s the one who was there.”
“He’ll rub her face in it twice as hard,” Namo said.
“Yeah, probably,” Sean said, not willing to say that this would be a bad thing.
“Maybe Gumpa can explain it to her,” Namo said. “She’ll take it better from another adult, anyway. I’ll talk to him about that, too, as long as you promise you’ll at least see her while she’s here, once she knows.”
“Fine,” Sean said. “I guess.”
“You’re gonna feel better once she knows, Sean,” Namo said. “I promise.”
~ ~ ~ ~
“Hey, hia?” White said, and Gumpa looked up from the paperwork he was doing, ordering parts for a car a customer had brought in earlier that day. He noticed immediately that White looked a little anxious, his arms folded over his stomach. “Can we talk for a bit?”
“Sure,” Gumpa said, pushing the paperwork away. He had a feeling he knew what this was about, and why White was looking anxious. It had been a particularly celebratory weekend at the garage. Yok had gotten his acceptance letter into his top school and was over the moon about it. Gram had gotten accepted as well, and was talking about his future legal career. They had talked about Sean wanting to move to the city and open his business. The anonymity and the safety it would bring.
During all of this discussion, White had been notably less than enthused, and had spoken very little. Sean had noticed this, and asked twice if he was okay, but White had said that he was, put on a smile, and tried to get into it.
White pulled himself up to sit on the counter, and Gumpa noted, not for the first time, that he seemed much healthier now. He was stronger, and no longer got tired so easily or had trouble breathing. Gumpa didn’t understand the science of it at all, but he was glad that White was feeling better.
“Um . . .” White seemed more uncertain than he had been in a while. “I just . . . Sean and I are trying to plan ahead, and Black wants to do that, too, but I don’t really . . .”
“White,” Gumpa said patiently, “just spit it out.”
“I don’t want to leave,” White said in a rush, just as Gumpa had suspected. “I know that the city will be safer. I know that the whole point of Bret getting us those fake identities was so we could go to a place where nobody would know us. I know that I don’t actually want to work as a secretary at a dentist’s office for the rest of my life and I should go to college now that I have the chance. I know all of that but the idea of leaving Hawkins makes me - scared. I think about it and my stomach hurts and my chest locks up but it’s not a physical thing, it’s not - I don’t know. I don’t know how to describe it.”
“It sounds like a panic attack,” Gumpa said, keeping his tone as even and nonjudgmental as possible. “Which I don’t think would be particularly weird. You’ve been through a lot.”
White relaxed slightly, seeing that Gumpa didn’t think he was out of line. “I never had a home before I came here. Just places that I lived. Black never did, either. This is my home now and I don’t want to leave.”
Gumpa nodded. He thought about what he wanted to say, what White needed to hear. He’d been thinking about it since he’d seen White’s lack of enthusiasm the night before, wanting to make sure his advice wasn’t colored by his own emotions, the undeniable urge to cling to these three boys who were more like his sons than any of the other kids who had come and gone.
“First of all,” he said, “there’s nothing wrong with how you’re feeling. You’re allowed to feel however you want. Sometimes our feelings are irrational and we have to make sure that even though we’re allowed to feel however we want, we shouldn’t always allow those feelings to dictate our actions.”
White nodded.
“It’s been almost two years since you left California, hasn’t it?” Gumpa asked, and White nodded again. “Hell of a wild ride.”
That made White laugh slightly. “Yeah.”
“And those two years came on top of thirteen years where your predominant emotions were pain and grief,” Gumpa said. “You went through so much, White. You never really had a childhood. Wanting to stay where it’s familiar, where you found comfort, that’s not strange at all.”
“But?” White said. “I hear a but coming.”
Gumpa smiled. “There’s a but and then there’s a but to that but,” he said, and White laughed again. “But, you shouldn’t stay here forever. You’re really smart and you could have a great career doing almost anything you want. Sean really wants to be a mechanic and I just don’t have the volume to take on someone full-time. Black will go wherever you go, but he’ll also want to stay with Todd, who definitely isn’t going to stay in Hawkins forever. Your fear is perfectly understandable, but you can’t let it rule you.”
White nodded and folded his arms over his stomach again.
“Now, here’s the but to that but,” Gumpa said. “Just because of everything I just said, doesn’t mean you have to do that right now. You’re coming off the tail end of another incredibly traumatic event. Frankly, it’s probably not a good idea for any of you to be making major life decisions right now. If you want to take a year or two to stay here, work for Wai, save up a little money - that’s not unreasonable either.” He put his hands on White’s shoulders. “I’ll say today what I said back at the beginning. You can stay here as long as you want.”
White pressed his face into Gumpa’s shoulder, and Gumpa hugged him tightly. “Thank you, hia,” he said, his words muffled. “Thank you for giving me a place I can call home.”
Gumpa held him for a minute, then without letting go, said, “Leaving home is part of growing up, and growing up can be frightening sometimes. But this will always be your home, White. Whether you become a doctor or a lawyer, or if you just run Sean’s garage for him or work for a dentist, if you get your own place here in Hawkins or go to Indianapolis or New York or the moon, this will always be your home.”
That made White cry, and he clung to Gumpa for several long minutes, while Gumpa smoothed down his hair and rubbed his back. Finally, he pulled away and said, trembling, “I don’t want to hold the others back.”
“White, you guys are kids. You don’t have to be in such a rush. Success, whatever your version of a successful life looks like, can come when you’re ready. Just talk to them, White. You know they’ll both understand.”
White wiped the tears off his face. “Black will tell me I’m a crybaby.”
“Black would feel better if he cried more often.”
“That’s probably true, huh?” White smiled slightly and accepted a tissue to blow his nose. “I’ll talk to them.”
“Okay. Want to help me with inventory?” Gumpa asked, and White nodded.
~ ~ ~ ~
It had been six weeks since everything had settled down, but somehow Dan wasn’t surprised when he heard a knock on his door and opened it to find Yok. “Hey, everything okay?” he asked, immediately worried.
“Everything’s fine,” Yok said. “Geez, can’t I visit you?”
“I’ve discouraged it at every opportunity.”
“Yup.” Undeterred, Yok elbowed his way into the house. Dan shook his head and hid a smile. “Anyway, I wanted to come tell you some very important news that’s completely unrelated to government conspiracies, demons, dark planes of existence, et cetera.”
Dan looked at him expectantly.
Yok held up a letter with a grin. “I got the scholarship to Art Institute of Chicago! Now I can actually afford to go there.”
“That’s great, Yok!” Dan said, enthusiastic despite himself. “Congratulations.”
“Thanks,” Yok said. “I’m really looking forward to it. The guy I had the interview with said a lot of really great stuff about my portfolio. Not just, you know, that it was all amazing, but some good critique and shit. I think I’m going to learn a lot there, so, you know. Step one of ‘go to college and get super hot and experienced’ is complete.”
Dan smiled. “What about the others?”
“Namo decided that college debt is for suckers, so she’s going to community college in Indianapolis and she’ll probably come home on the weekends. Gram got into Northwestern, so he won’t be far from me. White hasn’t said much yet. He’s still pretty freaked out about everything that happened, and I think he might stay here another year before he tackles the idea of school.”
“I thought the twins wanted to get out of Hawkins and move to the city,” Dan said, surprised.
“Well, Black wanted that. He thought it would be safer to be in a place where nobody knew them. And Sean’s talked for a while about moving to the city to work as a mechanic, but he never planned to do that right after graduating. I do think they’ll do it in a year or so, but really I think White doesn’t want to leave. The garage is like a security blanket, you know? It’s the first place he’s ever had someone looking out for him.”
Dan nodded. “That does make sense. Black’s okay with it?”
“I don’t know if they’ve talked about it yet, but he’ll do it if that’s what White wants. And it’s not like he has any idea what to do with his future. Can’t really blame him for that. Apparently, Todd gave his mom a hard pass on taking over the factory from her. She said he could use the money in his trust fund as startup capital for whatever business he thought suited him. So I think Black is going into a career as a professional sugar baby.”
“I’m pretty sure you shouldn’t say that to his face.”
“Oh, come on, you don’t think it would be funny?”
“I think you need to improve your self-preservation instincts.”
“Yeah, that’s fair,” Yok said comfortably, and Dan shook his head, still smiling. “I think Todd was originally planning to do that right away, but if he finds out the twins aren’t leaving, he’ll probably stay in Hawkins for a while longer. I think he’s going to some boring business school and he can’t possibly give an actual fuck about it. What about you?”
“What about me?” Dan asked.
Yok gave him a disappointed look. “Dan.”
Dan sighed, because he knew what Yok meant. He’d been trying not to think about what Todd had said over the past six weeks, because he knew it was true. “I don’t think I’ll be living in Hawkins much longer.”
“What are you going to do instead?”
“I don’t know,” Dan said. “Go home for a while, help my parents on their farm, think things over. It’s strange to think about changing careers. Ever since I was a kid, I always wanted to be a cop.”
“Gross!” Yok said brightly.
Dan rolled his eyes but couldn’t blame him. For a long time, he had been willfully blind towards the way other police officers could be. He had written his boss off as lazy but never thought of him as corrupt. Now it seemed like everyone here just turned a blind eye to Todd’s family’s crimes, and the worst part was, he doubted it was better anywhere else.
“Look,” Yok said, “you’re not like those assholes. You became a cop because you wanted to help people, and there’s lots of careers where you can help people. You could be a firefighter, or a doctor, or a social worker - even if you have to go back to school. I think it would be worth it.”
“Yeah,” Dan said. “I’ll think about that. Thanks, Yok.”
“Very mature of me, right?”
“Get the hell out of my house, you little punk.”
Yok laughed and headed for the door. “Don’t forget I’m gonna get super hot!”
Dan doubted very much that he would forget. “I’m moving out of Hawkins!”
“I’ll find you,” Yok said, and with a wink, he was gone.
~ ~ ~ ~
When Gumpa told Sean that he had talked to his mother and she was going to be there the following weekend, Sean didn’t know how he felt about it. Or maybe, he thought, it was that he had so many feelings that he didn’t know how to sort them out and prioritize them. White asked, on the morning of her arrival, “Are you nervous?”
“No,” Sean said, honestly. He was a lot of things, but nervous wasn’t one of them. But he did feel the sort of anxious tension he felt when he was ready to pick a fight. He still had no real idea how his mother was going to react to this news, and was trying to brace himself for all the possibilities, which was leaving him very confused.
The minutes after her arrival turned out to be more awkward than anything else. Sean’s mother went in for a hug and Sean stepped back, which led Namo to hastily greet her and ask how she had been. She looked hurt at Sean’s reaction, but he didn’t care. He had wanted a hug from her more than anything for the first few months after she had left. He didn’t want one now.
So when she had briefly answered Namo’s question, Sean said, “This is White. My boyfriend,” in the most challenging tone he could muster, daring her to disapprove.
To his disappointment, she only smiled at White and said, “It’s nice to meet you.”
“It’s nice to meet you, too,” White said, the picture of perfect politeness. “This is my twin brother, Black,” he added. Black had insisted on being here for this, and it had taken several hours and a lot of threats to get him to agree not to open with a graphic description of Sean’s dad’s murder.
“You two must be new to Hawkins,” she said.
“I’m not,” Black said.
Her face creased in a frown, and Gumpa said hastily, “Why don’t we sit down?” and began ushering everyone over to the kitchen table. He started pouring everyone tea. Namo squeezed Sean’s wrist. White pinched Black’s arm.
“So Gumpa says you’re graduating soon,” Sean’s mother said.
Sean felt his throat get tight and snapped, “I didn’t want you to come for a social visit. You’ve had plenty of chances to visit and you’ve never taken them. A phone call on my birthday each year doesn’t count for shit. You’ve been gone for four years. And you walk in here and that’s the first thing you have to say to me?”
“Sean,” Gumpa said quietly.
“No, don’t ‘Sean’ me,” Sean said, and he suddenly just couldn’t handle it anymore. All the emotions were bubbling up in his throat and the primary one was rage. “I kept telling you guys that I didn’t want to do this but you insisted that I do so why don’t you just take it from here,” he added, and stood. “I’m going to my room. Don’t come get me until she’s gone.”
“Sean,” his mother protested, but he walked away.
A few seconds later he heard White say, “I’ll go with him,” but he kept going without turning around. White caught the bedroom door before he could close it and eeled his way in. Sean decided to allow this, mostly because White actually hadn’t insisted that he do this. White had stayed decidedly noncommittal, only saying that Sean should do whatever he thought would make him happiest in the long-run. Sean supposed that White understood what it was like to have parents you couldn’t forgive.
“You want to listen?” White asked, and Sean shook his head. “Are you sure? Black might say something worse than you could even think of.”
When Sean shook his head again, White just said, “Okay,” and tugged Sean over to the bed, letting Sean lie down with his head in White’s lap.
Black didn’t get much of a chance to say anything, because two minutes later, he came into the bedroom and said, sulkily, “Gumpa threw me out.”
“What’d you say?” White asked.
“Nothing. He just didn’t like the look on my face.”
Since the look on Black’s face had probably threatened unbridled violence, Sean figured that was fairly reasonable of Gumpa. He wondered if he should thank Black for being ready to square up, but decided that was unnecessary since that was one of Black’s main personality traits. He closed his eyes and waited for it to be over.
Half an hour passed. There was a tap on the door, and Black opened it. Namo poked her head in. “She’s leaving, Sean. Are you sure?”
“Yeah,” Sean said, knowing his answer wouldn’t change because of whatever her reaction had been. If she had cried, been apologetic, wanted to reconcile, that wouldn’t make her abandonment of him less painful. It wouldn’t make him ready to see her.
Namo slid the door shut for a few minutes, and then came back. “Okay, she’s gone.”
“How’d she take it?” White asked, since Sean didn’t.
“Pretty well. It didn’t really seem to click for her until after we played the recording, but she accepted it after that. Gumpa answered all her questions. She wanted to see you, to apologize, but . . .”
Namo trailed off. Sean scowled at her and said, “But?”
With a sigh, Namo said, “But Gumpa told her the truth. That you were more angry at her for leaving than for not believing in him, and that in the end the fact that you were right and she was wrong didn’t change anything. That as hard as it was for her to deal with what had happened, it was just as hard for you, and she left you here to deal with it by yourself. He got pretty heated by the end, to be honest. I think he’s always been upset about it but never wanted to let you know that.”
Sean nodded, because that made sense to him. Gumpa had seen him at his worst, had helped him work through his rage and his grief. He had never let Sean see his own, but Sean knew that Gumpa had been grieving. He was old enough now to understand how hard it must have been for Gumpa to get him through that. “I’ll go talk to him.”
“We’ll stay here,” White said, grabbing Black’s wrist.
Sean found Gumpa in the kitchen, cleaning up. “Um . . . hey.”
Gumpa turned to him and smiled. “How are you feeling?”
“Terrible,” Sean said, and Gumpa squeezed his shoulder. “I made you deal with this by yourself. I’ve been making you deal with my shit for four years, and I couldn’t even - ”
“Hey,” Gumpa interrupted. “Don’t be like that. It’s fine, Sean. It had to be done, but in your shoes, I wouldn’t have wanted to do it either. You had at least one civil exchange with her and honestly, that’s more than she had any right to expect of you. You didn’t make me deal with anything. I didn’t have a problem doing it. Any of it.”
“Not even the worst of it?”
Gumpa shook his head slightly. “You were a handful, sure, but you weren’t out of line. You were grieving and you were in pain. I offered to let you stay here because I knew that someone needed to help you and there weren’t many people you would accept that from. I’m glad you let me help you, Sean. Don’t worry so much.”
Sean felt his throat tighten again. “You’re really amazing, hia.”
Gumpa laughed. “I don’t think I’d go that far.”
“You are, though. Because you’re right; I wouldn’t have accepted help from many people. You did it in a way that didn’t feel like charity or pity. You saved my life, you know. So, um, if I’ve never said this before, thanks. For taking care of me.”
That made Gumpa smile, and he pulled Sean into a hug, holding onto him tightly. “You’re welcome, Sean.”
~ ~ ~ ~
The day after high school graduation, Gumpa threw a party at the garage. Although he and White had both attended the ceremony itself, Black hadn’t been able to. In the long run, White didn’t really think not being able to both be in public together would be a big deal. It only meant that Black wouldn’t be able to visit him at the dentist’s office anymore. He had been back to work for over a month now and neither of them seemed to have any issues with it, which had been a relief to him.
Even so, Gumpa couldn’t let the ceremonies proceed without both twins. So he held a party at the garage for just those who were in the know, most of whom were graduating teenagers anyway. Dan was invited but chose, wisely, not to attend.
Everyone was excitedly talking about their plans for the future, which made White cringe slightly. At least this time, Sean seemed to pick up on his vibe and not talk a whole lot about going to the city. Black didn’t either, mostly because he spent three quarters of the party making out with Todd in a corner.
After the party was over, Todd decided to stay the night. White was a little annoyed about that, but figured that it was probably fair that Todd should be there for the discussion, or at least part of it. Todd and Black were firmly a couple at this point, so if Black was going to stay in Hawkins, that would affect Todd’s futures, too.
Still, White didn’t want him there for the first part, the vulnerable part, so he said, “Can I talk to the two of you? Privately?”
Black frowned at him, and Gumpa hastily said, “Todd, come help me clean up the kitchen.”
“I don’t know how to clean anything,” Todd said.
“Then this is a great time to learn,” Gumpa said, scruffing him like an unruly puppy and hauling him away.
Black wrinkled his nose in Gumpa’s direction, but didn’t protest. Sean, for his part, looked worried. “What’s up? Are you okay?”
“I am, but . . . I wanted to ask you two something. I mean.” White had rehearsed this conversation in the shower a dozen times, but still found the words difficult. “I know everyone’s excited about going to the city, and I’m really grateful to Todd’s dad for getting us those fake identities so we can go and be safe there, but . . . but I like it here. In Hawkins. At the garage. At least for now.”
“Oh,” Sean said, and looked somewhat relieved. Whatever he had been worried about, he clearly found this nowhere near as bad. “Okay. I mean, I never planned to leave right after I graduated anyway. I’ve still got a lot to learn from Gumpa. I figured I’d stay another year or so before I went to a bigger place and got a job somewhere full-time while I saved up to open my own place.”
Black, however, was frowning at him. “The city would be safer.”
“I know,” White said. “I really do know that. It’s just . . . it’s a little hard to explain. The thing is, Black, when you came here, I had already been here. They knew me, and I was missing, and you were all trying to find me. So obviously you were going to stay here. But when I showed up . . . I was a stranger. They didn’t know me at all. But Gumpa still took me in. He let me stay here without asking questions, and he took care of me in a way that nobody ever had before. This is the first place I’ve ever been happy.”
“Oh,” Black said, then nodded. “I remember thinking that. Seeing you in the void - that you looked happy. You were so close and we couldn’t get to each other and I was frustrated - but I was still glad.”
“I’m just not ready,” White said. “I’m not ready to leave. I know that logically, going to the city probably wouldn’t change much. I’d still be with both of you. It’s the people that made me happy, not the place. But . . . I want to be taken care of a little longer. And I’m not worried that it might not be as safe as the city, because I know that you’ll both protect me.”
“Obviously,” Sean said, squeezing his hand.
White looked at Black, waiting for his response. Black shrugged and said, “Sure.”
“Sure?” Sean said. “That’s all you have to say? Sure?”
Black scowled at him. “White knows I’ll protect him. What else is there to say?”
White smiled, feeling the tension ease out of his spine.
“I like it here too,” Black muttered, and then turned and marched out of the room. “Todd! You have to stay in Hawkins. Your dumb business school can wait!”
“What?” Todd called back, confused, and White hastened to explain before Black could give him an abbreviated version and confuse him even more. Todd rolled with this admirably, saying he was sure there were options for online classes or he could just wait a year and sponge off his mother until then. “Besides, Black, I get that you were thinking about going to the city, but that was mostly to get White away from the gate, right? Which isn’t a problem anymore. Plus those assholes think you’re dead now, so it’s not like they’re looking for you.”
“Yeah,” Black said, then added to White, “It’s fine. Don’t worry so much. You’re still a crybaby.”
“Yeah,” White said, laughing at the fact that he had predicted Black’s response so well. Sean slid an arm around his waist and scowled at Black, who glared back, and that made White laugh harder.
Gumpa walked into the living room, wiping his hands on a dishtowel, and said to White, “Everything okay?”
White nodded and said, “We’re going to stay with you a little longer, hia.”
“Okay,” Gumpa said, smiling. “That sounds good to me.”
He reached out and tousled White’s hair. White smiled, because he always enjoyed it when Gumpa did that, like a big brother or a father, someone older who looked out for him. Sean’s arm was around his waist, hand tucked against his hip, and he enjoyed that too, the reassurance and the intimacy of it. And then there was Black, who was standing a few feet away, not touching him, but warm and solid and real. His brother, who was real and right in front of him. White had never felt so safe.
~fin~
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