Worlds Apart

The creature’s claws cut through my sweater, just inches from my skin, colliding with the tree behind me as I dropped to the ground. On my hands and knees, I turned and scrambled desperately over the slimy leaves as fast as I could.

Run, run, run, run, RUN, I chanted over and over, willing my trembling, aching body to put it into second gear. Bark splintered and I heard fabric tearing; the thing let out a furious screech, realizing I’d escaped its attack. I’d have screamed with it if my heart wasn’t in my throat.

Finally, miraculously, I got my feet under me and stood fast, taking off back the way I’d come. My fight-or-flight was in full swing. I ran blindly, desperate to put as much distance between myself and that demonic monster as I could. Which meant leaving the Upside Down.

Find the tree with the hole, I ordered myself, beginning to scan the forest around me as I ran. I was moving too fast to really look, but I couldn’t slow down. There was no way I’d look back at that thing again, but the leaves squelching ominously behind me assured that it wasn’t done hunting me.

Was I even going the right direction? Had I already passed it? There was no way to get my bearings; it all looked the same in this dismal, faded world.

“Help!” I gasped as I ran, scanning the forest ahead of me for Barb. She’d been here just moments ago, how far could she have gone? “Barb, help me!”

The only sound besides my ragged, terrified breathing was crunching leaves and twigs beneath my feet and the uneven, blundering gait of the monster in my wake. Barb didn’t answer me. Had I even really seen her, or had she been a figment of my imagination?

No, it had been something. Maybe it was Barb, maybe it was just my subconscious making a last-ditch effort to keep me alive, but something had been replying to me. Whatever it was, I needed it to make another appearance now.

“Help me!” I cried out again, ignoring the burning in my lungs and the ache of my tender ankle. None of that mattered; I couldn’t let that thing catch me. “Help! Please help! God, someone, help me!”

“Allison!”

My entire body reacted to my name and I spun mid-sprint, nearly falling to the ground at my sudden about-face. For a second I panicked, ready to come face-to-face with the creature, but the forest around me was empty.

There was no way I’d outrun it. It had crossed the clearing to me in just a few long strides. Hobbling and disoriented, I wasn’t moving quick enough to fully lose sight of it like this. So where the heck was it?

Somehow, it was even more terrifying not knowing where that thing was. I turned in a full circle, now looking for both the monster and whoever had just called my name; I was alone. Cautiously, I called out, “Barb? Where are you?”

“Allison?” the voice called again. That definitely wasn’t Barb, the voice was too deep. Distorted and far off, but certainly not my best friend. Immediately my stranger-danger training kicked in, and I hesitated before I answered.

You are in the middle of another dimension being chased by a monster with teeth-flaps for a face. Strangers are the least of your concern, said a voice in my head that sounded suspiciously like Barb for a moment.

Okay, that was a good point.

“Help!” I shouted again, turning slowly again to look for someone, anyone. “Help me, I’m lost!”

“Follow my voice!” the person shouted from behind me. I spun around, grimacing as I started up again – my ankle was killing me – but set off at a decent clip. “Allison, I’m right here, just follow my voice!”

Was that... no way that was Jonathan. It sounded like him, but my inner thoughts had sounded like Barb just now. Was it just my sheer, blind terror letting me hear the people I wanted most to try and comfort me? Probably, but I wasn’t complaining; hearing their voices had soothed just a bit of the panic.

“Where are you?” I called, slowing a bit as I looked around for the creature once again, just in case. The trees were empty and silent now, so I took a chance and turned instead to looking at the trunks of the trees I passed.

One of them had to have the hole I’d crawled into, but where? Was I even in the right spot? For a second, I paused and considered turning back. Maybe the voice had been a trick – could the creature imitate sounds? Was it luring me into a trap? I hesitated, the thought alone enough to send a paralyzing shiver of fear down my spine.

But when I heard my name again, from just up ahead of me, I pushed that possibility aside. Creature or not, I had to try to get out of here. If it was a trap, at least I could say I’d died trying.

“Jonathan?” I called out, examining the tree trunks and straining to listen for another shout. From behind me, a branch snapped. Going still, I took a breath and slowly turned my head to look back.

The creature must not have spotted me. It was a couple dozen yards away from me, sniffing over a tree I’d passed not too long ago. I sucked in a breath, frozen on the spot again, praying I could blend in with the trees around me.

Then, from just behind me, Jonathan’s voice shouted, “Allison, I’m right here! Just follow my voice!”

The creature whipped around and let out another raucous screech and this time I yelled with it, whipping around and taking off in the direction I prayed was right.

“Jonathan! Help me!” I cried, trying to look at the trees as I passed, definitely sure I could hear the monster racing behind me. Then, like a beacon, a golden flicker of light caught my eye from a few dozen feet away.

There was my escape!

“Allison, I’m here! I’m right here!” Jonathan called out; he must’ve found the hole I’d come in through. The light was glowing against the gray bark and slime it cut through, and his voice was loud and steady. “I’m here, right here!”

As the creature screeched, just behind me now, I threw myself down again. Its claws slashed the air above me and bark rained down as they connected with the tree I’d just passed. Scrambling, half sobbing, fully terrified, I surged across the slimy forest floor and dove for the trunk.

My hand plunged through the thick wall of slime as I tried to push myself out after it, fingers reaching desperately on the other side for help. A warm, sure hand took my own and slowly, steadily, I was pulled back through the tree trunk.

Jonathan fell back and I collapsed on top of him with a shuddering sob. Immediately he wrapped his arms tight around me, holding me to him as I cried. Only once I’d started to catch my breath did I remember what I’d been running from.

“The - the creature, it – it was right behind -” I gasped out, trying to turn around and pull free from Jonathan to get to my feet. “We need – we have to -”

Jonathan’s arms tightened, holding me in place, tucking me back to the safety of his chest. “It’s okay, hey, it’s fine. Take a breath for me, okay? The hole sealed itself up. Nothing’s coming through.

He let me turn just enough to see that, sure enough, the trunk was solid once again. The moment I realized that creature wasn’t about to dive through and drag me back, I let myself fully collapse against him.

"See?” Jonathan soothed, one arm firm around me, while his free hand gently pushed my slime-slicked hair away from my face. When I managed to meet his eyes, he gave me a small, assuring smile. “You’re safe, Allison. I promise. I’ve got you.”

--

At some point in my run through the woods, I’d lost my bike, flashlight, and bag all in different spots along the way. Jonathan had somehow managed to find them all and corral me back home – all my things in tow.

Which hadn't been too difficult until the last half a mile, when the adrenaline and terror had finally begun to subside. By the time we reached my block, I was limping heavily and hanging off Jonathan, fully feeling everything I’d been through the last twenty-four hours.

To his credit, he was handling the whole interdimensional monster thing pretty well. I’d spent our half-hour trek out of the woods in tears, babbling about the faceless demon that had been chasing me. If he thought I was losing my mind, he was at least kind enough not to say so.

As Jonathan dumped my bike in the driveway, I hobbled up to the front door and gingerly worked my converse off as best I could. Considering I was coated head to toe in supernatural slime, I didn’t know how big of a difference taking my shoes off would make. I was the one cleaning up whatever mess I made later, though, so I wanted to try.

Jonathan was at my side a moment later, taking hold of my arm to help me limp into the house. I steered us into the kitchen and then motioned down the hall. “Can you make sure Dustin’s door is locked? I don’t want to wake him. Last door on the left.”

Only after assuring I was okay to stand on my own, Jonathan crept down to Dustin’s room. Instead of just pulling the door shut, though, I saw him hesitate, and then lean in. The light flicked on for a moment, and then Jonathan was hurrying back towards me.

“Dustin isn’t in his bed,” he reported; panic ignited in my chest once again. Immediately I snapped on the lights in the kitchen, and shouted,

“Dustin!”

Jonathan flinched in surprise and whirled to look back down the hall in alarm. “What about your mom and stepdad?! If they see you like this -”

“Don’s gone ‘til Sunday and my mom could sleep through a war. Dustin!”

When I didn’t get a response, I made to start down the hall but the moment I did, pain blossomed fresh in my tender ankle and I stumbled. Jonathan caught me easily and held me steady as I got my balance back.

“Hey, okay,” he said gently, keeping his hold on me as I went to pull away and make for my brother’s room. “I don’t think he’s here. So before you go getting ...” he pulled a hand off me and made a face at the slime that stuck to his skin, “whatever this is all over the house, let’s think. If Dustin weren’t home, where else could he be?”

Dead in a ditch, in some kidnapper’s white van, stuck in a parallel universe running from demons with teeth flaps for a face, I immediately thought. When Jonathan saw the panic in my eyes, he settled both hands on my shoulders and coaxed, “at the Wheeler’s, or the Sinclair’s. And, he’d call if he wasn’t coming home right?”

His eyes flicked past my head, and I turned around hopefully. The message light on the answering machine was lit up! I hit play – pulling a face at the slime that stuck to the button – and held my breath as the tape started up.

“Hey, Als, it’s me. Dustin. Your brother. Your only brother, in case you forgot that I’m one of a kind and irreplaceable... um, so since there’s no school and we’ve got... all this um, stuff... going on, I was gonna ask if I could stay at Mike’s tonight. Since you didn’t answer, I’m taking your silence as a yes. If you’re mad at me about that, remember, only brother, you love me a lot, I’m the light of your life. I’ll call you tomorrow, please don’t be mad, I love you!”

Relief flooded through me; I braced an arm on the counter as I finally started to breath again. Not having him here wasn’t ideal, but at least I knew where my little brother was. Hopefully, he’d be safe with his friends and Eleven. Maybe she’d be able to protect them from whatever was out there.

“Thanks,” I said finally, turning back to Jonathan. Though he gave me a smile, I didn’t miss the shimmer of pain in his dark eyes. He’d been able to walk me through my panic so easily because he’d probably done the same thing when he couldn’t find Will. “I’m sorry. I know how much you -”

“Hello, Ally? We’re sorry to bother you so late, Mrs. Holland sniffled into the phone. The answering machine was still playing through the tape, and there was apparently one more message. My heart gave a painful flutter as my breath caught in my throat. We’re just so worried about Barbara. She hasn’t come home, and we’ll be going to the police in the morning. I just... I was hoping you might know where she is. If Barbara is upset with us, or there’s a problem, we can work through it, we just want to know our daughter is safe. Please just call us back as soon as you can, we’ll be by the phone all night.

Now the tape clicked off, and the kitchen fell silent. The little flicker of relief I’d felt with Dustin had gone out with Mrs. Hollands pleas. Suddenly, the weight on my shoulders doubled, and I felt my knees buckle.

Jonathan’s arm went around my shoulders and he tucked me close again. “C’mon, we’ve got to get you cleaned up,” he murmured, slowly coaxing me into moving again. I winced with each step, but the pain from my ankle was dulled now from the ache in my chest. I wanted to call Mrs. Holland back, but what would I say? The police had laughed at me the other day when I’d tried, why would Barb’s parents be any different?

“Allison?” Jonathan prompted, pulling me out of my thoughts. When I met his eyes he asked, “which is your room?”

Oh, right. Here and now. Taking a breath, I nodded to the door on the right, and he eased it open for me and let me go in first. Doing my best not to shed slime on my things, I limped to my dresser and delicately pulled pajamas out of the drawer. My bed squeaked from behind me and I whirled around with a gasp.

Jonathan froze, eyes wide at my reaction. “I’m sorry, I can get up, I just wanted to get out of your way -”

“No, no, you’re fine,” I promised, a hand fluttering to rest over my heart. “I’m sorry. I’m just – I'm a little jumpy.”

He nodded and glanced to the door, asking me, “will you be alright cleaning up? I can come with you -” he stopped abruptly, cheeks tinting pink, and rushed out, “I meant – not come with you in the shower, but while you’re undressing – no,” he stammered; for the first time all day, I actually laughed out loud.

“I get what you’re trying to say,” I promised him. “I’ll be okay. Just... don’t leave yet, okay?”

“I’ll be right here,” he promised, clearing his throat and ducking his head as I limped past him. I sat my clothes on the counter of the bathroom and went to shut the door, but hesitated. For a moment, I willed myself to just shut and lock it like I always did, but I couldn’t.

I don’t want to be locked in where Jonathan can’t get to me, I realized, a lump of panic rising in my throat. On edge again, I leaned out and immediately felt relieved; I could see him on my bed from the bathroom. Swallowing down the fear, I called to him, “um, I’m just, I’m gonna keep the door open. Just a little. Okay?”

“Yeah, of course. Call out if you need anything,” he said, looking over and offering a small smile. I gave a nod, leaving the door open just a few inches. Feeling as safe as I could, I shuffled over and turned the shower on to let it warm up while I shed my slime-coated clothes.

For the first time, I got a glimpse of myself in the mirror and nearly gasped out loud.

I, for one, was absolutely coated in slime. My hair was slicked down and tangled with twigs, leaves, and things I didn’t want to think about. My face was just as bad, with a bit of blood from my split lip and a couple scrapes on my cheek and chin.

As I peeled my sweater off – or, what was left of it – my entire body protested at the movement. At first, I thought I must’ve banged myself up worse than I realized; bruises mottled my arms and torso. It was only when I caught the dark outline of a hand did I realize some of these had come from Don.

Just another monster, I thought bitterly, turning away to start working my leggings off. Which, of course, turned out to be the hardest part. Between my determination not to get slime on more surfaces than necessary, and my throbbing, swollen ankle, I nearly took myself out peeling the damn things off.

Panting, exhausted, and much more sore now, I dragged myself into the shower and sat in the tub, too worn through to stand. All but collapsed under the water, I leaned against the tiles and let the warm water sooth my aches as much as it could.

The moment I closed my eyes, though, I was back in the forest, in the terrifying, endless gray of the Upside Down, the monster roaring as it raced after me. My eyes flew open and I whipped my head around, half expecting to find it towering over me. Heart hammering in my chest, I carefully peeked around the curtain; the bathroom was empty.

Letting out a shaky breath, I slowly got to my feet and set to work cleaning myself up. Half an hour later, I finally dragged myself back out, dressed in my sweater and pajama pants, and limped to my room.

Much to my surprise, I found Jonathan perched on my bed, with an old blanket of Dustin’s laid out at his feet. He saw me look between him and the floor as I sat beside him, and said quickly, “I hope this is okay, I found it in your hall closet. I just – I don’t... I didn’t want -”

“To be alone,” I finished; Jonathan nodded, and we shared an understanding smile. “Yeah, of course. Dustin’s got a whole cot in the garage somewhere we could dig out, or -”

“No, no. This is fine,” he promised, nodding and getting to his feet. He grabbed something off my nightstand and then knelt in front of me, starting to unwrap an ace bandage. “Found this too. Compression helps keep the swelling down, that’s what you need.”

Gingerly, he rolled my pajama pants up a bit and settled down so he could rest my heel on the top of his knee. As he began to wrap, I tried to will the blush off my cheeks; it was hopeless. I was smitten. After our fight at the cemetery, my hopes of being close to Jonathan had disappeared. I thought for sure after all that had happened, friendship – or anything else – was off the table. But here he was, dead of night, wrapping my sprained ankle after rescuing me from the woods.

Which, brought up a good question...

“How did you find me out there?” I asked softly, watching him work.

He didn’t look at me, and I thought maybe he hadn’t heard my question, until he let out a breath and admitted, “I was worried about you.”

There was more to what he wanted to say, but for a moment we fell into a silence that felt too heavy to interrupt with words. We were quiet as he secured the wrap, fixed my pantleg, and finally stood. He grabbed my bag off my desk, and only when he sat next to me again did I find my voice.

“Why were you worried?”

Jonathan let out a slow breath as he turned to meet my stare; his dark eyes were burning with guilt. “I was an ass to you. I jumped down your throat when you were just trying to talk with me, and I shouldn’t have said what I did.”

“No, no,” I said quickly, resting a hand over one of his as I shook my head. “I was out of line. You were right. We were at Will’s funeral, and it was wrong of me to come bothering you about other things. I should have been more sympathetic to what you were going through.”

Granted, I was trying to find out more about the thing that kidnapped his brother and my best friend, but he didn’t know I thought Will was alive. There was no way I’d try to tell him that me, my little brother, and his equally-little friends were convinced Will was stuck in an alternate dimension, because a girl with mind powers blew up a radio talking to him.

Yeah, that wasn’t gonna fly. Except, the look on Jonathan’s face...

“What is it?” I asked, a little spark of hope igniting in my chest. Was there a chance he might not think that was so far-fetched?

Jonathan looked away, pressing his lips together, trying to mask the growing disquiet taking over. The hand resting on his gave a squeeze, and reluctantly he looked back to me. “It’s... nothing. Nothing. I’m just tired, and it was a long day -”

“Jonathan.” He cut off, the apprehension on his face doubling, and I urged, “you can trust me.”

“Look. This gonna sound – just don’t - don’t think I’m like crazy, alright?” he prefaced; I blinked up at him and gestured to myself.

“You helped me escape a giant, faceless monster by pulling me out of a slimy tree trunk that magically closed itself up. I promise you, you can’t tell me anything right now that’d make me think you were crazy.”

“Alright, that’s fair... okay. “Yeah, that’s fair,” he chuckled quietly. As he took a breath, though, the smile faded from his face. “Look. The thing is...” he dropped his voice and leaned a little closer. “I... I’m not so sure it was Will that we buried.”

The spark of hope began to burn a little brighter within me. Not wanting to freak him out, I forced myself to give a calm nod. “Okay, what makes you think that?”

Realizing I hadn’t immediately written him off as insane, he turned to face me and began to talk quickly, voice rushed, hands waving about animatedly.

“The other morning, I found my mom in Will’s room, surrounded by lamps, right? She said he was trying to talk. That he’d turned the lights on, and-and talked to her on the phone.”

“She told me about the phone,” I assured, stopping his explanation of that. He paused his rambling and frowned, so I added, “I went by the other night, just to check on her.”

His brow furrowed as he thought back; I remembered why he hadn’t been there the same moment he asked, “you did? Where was I?”

“You were...” I glanced away and added quickly, “um, you were out. At the... the party.”

“Oh.” Jonathan cleared his throat. I kept my eyes fixed on the wall across from me. “Look, about that -”

“It’s fine,” I shrugged, not wanting to fight with Jonathan again. “You don’t need to explain.”

Jonathan nodded, and said simply, “I don’t need to, but I want to. I didn’t - I wasn’t stalking Nancy. I went out looking for Will. Mom was having a breakdown, my little brother was missing... I didn’t want to just sit at home. So I was gonna go through the woods, see what evidence I could photograph.” He let out a breath and a hand came up, scratching the back of his neck. “When I saw them all at the party... I just didn’t get it. How could they be having a good time? How could something so normal be happening while my life was falling apart? It's – it's dumb, I know, but -”

“No, I... get it,” I admitted, my eyes falling to my lap as I began to nervously pick at the hem of my shirt. I felt Jonathan turn to me in surprise, but I didn’t look up. “When dad died, my world just stopped. It felt like everything was frozen, and there was nothing but grief and heartache. We buried him the weekend after he passed, and then Monday, I had to go back to school. And sitting there with everyone laughing about the movie they’d seen, or talking about what they were gonna have for lunch, doing algebra and writing an essay just... it felt -”

“Surreal.” Now, I looked up at him, and I smiled just a bit in agreement. He nodded, and to my surprise, he reached out and took hold of my hand. “I took those pictures because I saw a bit of a world I couldn’t be a part of, that I couldn’t imagine, and I wanted to capture the moment. I – I wasn’t creeping on Nancy. The pictures of her... I shouldn’t have taken them. But they were nothing more than that. I swear.”

The intensity of his last few words settled deep within me as I gathered my thoughts. I studied him a moment before agreeing, “no, taking those pictures, it wasn’t cool. At all.” Jonathan ducked his head, nodding solemnly. “But... I’m glad that was the only reason.” He looked up at me again, surprised; my voice went so quiet I barely heard myself admit, “I... thought you liked Nancy.”

“No. I don’t. At all,” he promised without hesitation; butterflies fluttered in my chest. The two of us shared small, sweet smiles, before Jonathan broke the brief silence by asking, “Something happened when you went to visit my mom the other night, didn’t it? You saw something.”

The smile slid off my face. To be honest, I’d completely forgotten what we’d been talking about. Now, his question pulled me back to the chaotic events of the night, and a shiver of unease raced down my spine.

“There was something outside Will’s window,” I told him quietly, half afraid that if I spoke too loud, I’d summon the creature into my room. “I left totally freaked out, thinking I was losing my mind. Then I saw that thing in the picture with Barb. A couple days ago, I went to Steve’s house hoping to find something about where she’d gone, and I saw the monster again.”

Jonathan gave me an exasperated stare and asked incredulously, “so after seeing this faceless creature twice, you thought you’d go back alone in the dead of night to find it?”

“To be fair, I thought I’d be home way before dark,” I defended, and then added a little softer, “I wasn’t planning to go alone. I... I was gonna ask you to come with me, but you kinda...”

“I was a jerk to you,” Jonathan finished, nodding when I tried to argue. “No, I was. You were right, you’ve been kind to me through all of this, even when I haven’t deserved it. Which is why I wanted to come apologize. I couldn’t find you, and Dustin said you left to go do a project or something -” I rolled my eyes “- so I went to find you.”

For a moment I studied him, genuinely perplexed. “How did you find me? I didn’t tell anyone where I was going.”

Jonathan gave me a small smile; in answer, he turned to dig through my bag. After a moment, he pulled out the patched-up picture of Barb, smoothing it out on his leg as best he could. “You sort of did, though. When you showed me this at the cemetery.” He studied the photo a moment, and slowly reached up to tap the figure of the creature in the corner. “When you showed me her photo, I didn’t get it at first. I didn’t get why this was the picture you were confronting me about. So I took another look.”

To my surprise, he reached into the inner pocket of his jacket and pulled out a smaller, cropped photo. As he handed it to me, he said quietly, “the night Hopper came by to tell us about... about the body, my mom said she was talking to Will through the lights, and this thing came out of the wall. Some faceless monster that Will was hiding from...”

At some point, I’d stopped breathing. My mouth was stuck hanging open as my fingers traced the figure in the photo. It was the monster. No doubt about it. Jonathan had enhanced the photo somehow, focused on the figure I’d seen, and sure enough: it was the monster.

“I thought my mom was crazy that night,” he murmured, head hanging down, the guilt in his voice nearly palpable. “But then I saw that figure, and after I enhanced it... it was exactly like she’d described. like I said, I was worried about you. When Dustin said you’d left, and I couldn’t find you here, I thought about what you were trying to show me. When I saw that thing in the picture with Barb, I had a pretty good idea of where to start looking. I was about ready to give up when I found your bike, then I heard a scream...”

“You came looking for me,” I realized, torn between being incredibly touched he’d been so worried he tracked me down, and terrified that this monster was becoming undeniably real with every passing second.

Jonathan nodded again, smiling a bit when I finally tore my eyes away from the creature and looked up to him once more. My heart skipped several beats; I hadn’t realized just how close we were to one another.

Then, slowly, Jonathan leaned even closer. A hand came up tentatively, and only when I shifted towards him did he rest his fingers against my cheek. His gentle touch tipped my head up, angling me towards him, and our eyes fluttered shut as his lips pressed softly against my own.

The kiss was sweet and gentle, lingering only for a few moments before we pulled apart. My heart was pounding painfully against my chest, and the smile that took over my face was so painfully wide I had to look half insane.

Jonathan met my grin with one of his own, and before I knew it we were both laughing and shifting towards one another again. This time, Jonathan tucked me gently into his embrace and I buried my head against his chest.

Then, somehow, he maneuvered us onto the bed and under the covers in just a few simple moves. After gently tangling our legs – minding my tender ankle – and tightening his arms around me, Jonathan went to lean back and turn off the light. He paused, and when he felt me look up he met my gaze and asked softly,

“Is this okay?”

In answer, I stretched up to press a chaste, fleeting kiss against his cheek that had his face flushing crimson. As he fought another painfully-wide grin, I nodded and curled back into his embrace.

“Perfect.”