╭── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──╮
THIRTEEN!
i'm your nightmare
╰── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──╯

───────── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ─────────

Fear, a deep petrifying version of fear. That was the only emotion Stanley Harrington was experiencing in this exact moment.

It was the first emotion that devoured his body when the blood thirsty monster dug it's razor sharp claws into his ankles.

It was the first emotion he saw reflected back to him as his baby sister clutched a loaded pistol in her hands as she chased after his dragging body.

It was the first emotion he felt was he was dragged into the abyss of unknown through a small opening at the base of a dying oak tree.

It was also the latest emotion he felt when his body finally decided to awake from its deep slumber.

It felt like time had slowed down immensely. Like it had been hours when the boy had last seen the normal version of our world.

In reality, it had only been a few long gruelling minutes when Stanley Harrington's eyes finally decided to shoot open. The sudden rude awakening that his weak body had given him, had caused a burning sensation to engulf his lungs.

The boy quickly coughed up whatever substance was clogging his windpipe, desperately gasping for the oxygenated air that he needed in that exact moment. He didn't care if the air was filled with dangerous chemical particles, he just wanted some air to calm his spiked nerves. He coughed so rapidly that his throat felt painstakingly dry to the point that if he were to cough again then his whole windpipe would shatter.

An uncomfortable dry feeling had taken over his throat and mouth, forcing him to swallow any saliva that formed in order to soothe the aches in the organ. A wave of disorientation, mixed with nausea, had struck his body suddenly. Causing him to endure another fit of harsh coughs.

This time, instead of being met with dry and painful wheezes, he experienced an invasion of a warmer substance. He couldn't pin point the exact substance until the overwhelming taste of iron had struck his teeth. The gross metallic taste made him realize that it was blood he was coughing up.

His suspicions were confirmed when he spotted the crimson red splotches decorating the back of his hand, indicating that it was blood.

Stanley was so disoriented, to the point that everything in sight looked hazier and darker than usual. When he forced himself to sit up, he had to tightly clutch the ground to make sure that he wouldn't topple over immediately. He gasped for some much needed air, tightly squeezing his eyes shut in order to focus on calming himself down.

After a few deep breaths, his disorientation and nausea began to subside but the pit in his stomach stayed. He was feeling better but still not great.

That's when he decided to open his eyes and his stomach dropped immediately. His eyes widened when he was met with the Upside Down version of the forest.

The boy didn't know how long he had been unconscious for as he had blacked out when the fleshing eating monster had dragged him into the Upside Down.

The fear that had been nipping at his soul for the last few minutes or so but had returned again and this time in a larger wave than before. He was now facing with the strike of the emotion that was practically eating away at his inner consciousness. His fear was also accompanied with the same sudden shot of adrenaline he had prior, kicking off his fight or flight reflexes again.

"Hello? Hello!" The boy jumped to his feet to begin searching the area for any source of human life.

"Wendy!"

"Nina!"

"Where are you guys?!"

"Wendy! Nina!"

Stanley called for the two girls in a panicked tone, not caring if his own vocal cords suffered the consequences of his straining. He also didn't care if anyone or anything else in this wretched place could hear him.

He was absolutely terrified and wanted someone to find him. He had woken up disoriented and alone in a strange place and had no idea how to get back to his sister. He needed to escape. He couldn't stay here any longer. He needed to find his way back home, to the world he knew.

The boy gently walked over each fallen branch or jagged rock in his way as he advanced further into the thick forest. He tried to stay as quiet as possible as he didn't want to alert the flesh eating monster hiding in the shadows of his location.

Stanley spoke too soon as his eyes immediately laid upon the blood thirsty demogorgan as soon as he entered an opening in the forest.

The monster in question, paid no attention to the teen boy as it was too focused on ripping apart a poor deer. Stanley stumbled backwards as slowly as humanly possible, making sure to analyze his surroundings as he didn't want to accidentally alert the monster.

The loud squelching sound of a wet log sinking in, filled the air and the boy immediately looked down to see if he had caused the sound. He was surprised to see that his own dirty Nike sneakers had not sunk into a wet log of any kind and were actually just flat on the slimy ground.

The boy then raised his head when he had spotted slight movement out of the corner of his right eye. He had caught sight of an older female in a brown jacket, carefully evacuating from the area. He didn't know if his mind was playing tricks on him or if the older female was indeed Nancy Wheeler.

"Nancy?" Stanley called in a hushed tone. His call didn't get across from the girl as the demogorgan had made it presence known to her.

Once the teen girl's feet sunk into the soaked log and made that disgusting squelching noise, the monster was immediately alerted. It had stood up from its dinner and turned towards its new victim. The older girl let out a scream before running as fast as she could away from the terrifying beast. The monster was not far behind due to its incredible speed.

Stanley Harrington watched the sight in shock before probably making the dumbest decision in life. He decided to run after them.

He was not the best state of mind but his own moral compass would not allow himself to stand around and listen to the screams of a girl being ripped apart by the demogorgan. He may of made the worst decision ever but in his mind it seemed right.

Which lead him to running at full speed through the thick forest.

───────── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ─────────

"Stanley! Stanley! Are you there? Can you hear me?" Wendy screamed in a panicked tone, allowing hot tears to run down her face.

To say Wendy Harrington was scared was an understatement.

She was terrified.

Terrified because she had no clue where her brother was. Terrified because she had no idea if Stanley was dead or fighting for his life in the Upside Down. Terrified because she had no way to get to him as the portal in the tree stumped had shut itself completely.

Every single ounce of painful and fearful emotions had taken advantage of the girl's damaged state in this moment, so she was a crumbled mess.

The girl was currently just sobbing her eyes out as she used her bare fingers to rip strips of bark off the tree, not caring if they pricked her or if they started to bleed.

She needed to find her brother.

"Wendy?" The girl turned around and was met with an out of breath Nina.

The older female was left alone in the forest to deal with her own crippling anxiety attack as Wendy had ran off at full speed in order to catch her brother. When Nina's nerves subdued, she quickly set off on foot to find the younger girl.

It didn't take very long as neither one was far from each other.

"He's gone......He's gone." Wendy sobbed, uncomfortably pressing her knees up to her chest.

"I know, I know but we'll find him." Nina assured, reaching her hand out towards the younger girl.

Wendy accepted the outreached hand with ease, allowing Nina to pull her up from the ground. She then wiped the thin layer of dirt off her hands by wiping them on her now stained jeans.

"Let's look for another way into the Upside Down." Nina pondered out loud.

Wendy complied happily before beginning to walk away from the useless tree stump. Nina followed behind the girl and the two teens walked in solemn silence together through the thick forest.

The two stayed together but refused to talked, focusing on their own tasks. Nina admired the foliage of the greenery and Wendy focused her attention on re-loading the empty barrel of the pistol in case of another intruder snuck on them.

There was no such thing as actual words they could exchange in this moment. They were both physically and mentally drained after dealing with that sudden attack but were even more on edge now that Stanley had been dragged into oblivion by that flesh eating monster.

"Nancy!" The two girls thoughts were cut off by a familiar male voice.

Wendy immediately recognized this voice as someone she belonged to. She had heard this person speak many times before and they have known each other for a plethora of time. They were definitely close to each other but she couldn't exactly pin point who this male was.

She quickly recognized the name, Nancy as their was only one Nancy in the entirety of Hawkins, Indiana and it was Mike's sister, Nancy.

But she had no idea what teenage male she was with. Maybe it was her cousin, Steve Harrington as the two were seeing each other or maybe it was someone as that she knew well.

"Nancy! Follow my voice!" The male voice became clear to Wendy.

It was Jonathan Byers, the older brother of her best friend, Will Byers.

She had no idea why the older Byers boy was looking for Nancy Wheeler as they have no relation to each other whatsoever but she trusted the boy, so she immediately pulled Nina along. She knew she would be safe if she found the older boy as he would protect her in case of damage.

It took a few minutes of wandering around the trees to find the Byers boy as everything looked the exact same in the dark. It was hard to walk through the thick forest when the batteries were draining in the flashlight and the light reflecting off the pale moon was dimming. The two girls were like headless chickens, stumbling through the forest.

Wendy sighed in relief, when she caught sight of teen walking in circles through the tree line. "Jonathan!" She called out.

The older Byers boy quickly spun around on the spot, holding his flashlight up to see who had just called him. He definitely didn't expect to see little Wendy Harrington and another girl, walking through the dark forest alone at night.

It was definitely a random sight.

"Is that you, it's Wendy!" Wendy called out, hoping he would recognize her but the boy already had as soon as he had shined the light on her.

It was hard to forget about the girl's appearance as he had been well acquainted with her for many years.

"Wendy, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at home or something? It's not safe out here." Jonathan pointed out, immediately stepping into the protective older brother persona.

"My brother.......he got taken by that thing. I can't find him." Wendy admitted, trembling with fear.

"Hey.....It's alright, it's alright. I'm sure he's okay. I'll help you look for him." Jonathan comforted.

"I'll help you look for Nancy too." Wendy promised and the older boy nodded.

"I'm Nina by the way. We haven't met yet and I know this is a bad time but hello." Nina spoke up for the first time in the last hour.

The girl had been so quiet as she had been so desperately anxious and afraid for Stanley that she wouldn't dare waste any of her energy on actually speaking.

"Hi." Jonathan awkwardly nodded.

"Nancy!" The older Byers boy went back to calling for the missing Wheeler girl.

Despite her disappearing out of thin air, he still circled around the trees in search of her as he can still somehow hear her voice.

"Stanley!" Wendy followed after him, wanting to find her missing brother too.

"Follow my voice! I'm right here!"

"Stanley! It's Wendy! Can you hear me?!" Jonathan and Wendy frantically circles through the thick tree line, screaming desperately for the missing teens, trapped in the Upside Down.

"Look! I found something!" Nina announced suddenly from the distance.

Jonathan and Wendy didn't even notice the teen girl wandering off on her own as they were too focused on calling for the missing teens in the Upside Down. The two had run over to see what Nina had found. At the base of a tree there was an opening of some sort that looked like it lead into the Upside Down.

Wendy was sure that it was a portal of some sort as the entrance was covered in the same slimy teal veins that she had seen previously in her visions of the dreaded place. The three all leaned in closer with their flashlights to get a peek at the place.

Suddenly, a hand shot out from the portal. Wendy immediately stumbled backwards with a shriek, accidentally taking Jonathan down to the ground with her. She definitely never expected to be jump scared like that and was absolutely freaked.

"Jonathan!" Nancy called, from the other side of the portal. She had somehow gotten stuck in the Upside Down herself, without the others knowing how.

"Nancy." Jonathan jumped back onto his feet and rushed over to grab the girl's outstretched hand.

The older boy began to tug as hard as he could to pull Nancy Wheeler out from the constricting hole in the base of the tree. Wendy and Nina immediately rushed over to help.

The Harrington girl grabbed Nancy's other arm to pull on as the older teen was able to somehow push her arm through the tight and extremely narrow hole. Nina had grabbed onto Jonathan's to keep the boy grounded, so he wasn't pulled into the portal in the tree.

It took a few tries but Nancy was finally freed from the restricting tunnel and she collapsed right into Jonathan's arms. The two gently embraced as the teen girl began to sob in appreciation for the rescue. Neither one cared that she was dirty and just embraced happily.

Despite the open portal most likely being dangerous, Wendy still cautiously approached the base of the tree. She wanted to peer into the open hole in order to maybe catch a glimpse of her missing brother. She didn't know if her older brother had found Nancy and followed after her to the exit or if he was actually still trapped in the Upside Down.

Either way, she was going to save the boy, even if she had to crawl through the slimy tunnel herself.

"Stanley!" Wendy called desperately. "Stan! Can you hear me? Are you there?!"

As soon as the boy heard his own name fall from his own sister's mouth and echoed through the Upside down, he immediately pushed his hand through the opening of the tree.

He cringed at the feeling of sticky slime covering his skin but he suppressed his own waves of nausea in order to take harshly grab onto his sister's sneaker.

The girl jumped upon contact but instantly cried in relief, once she had spotted the familiar beaded bracelet wrapped around the newcomer's hand. It was Stanley.

"Stan!" Wendy exclaimed happily, quickly reaching forward to grab the boy's hand.

Stanley interlocked his fingers with his young sister, so that it would be harder to break their embrace apart. "Pull me through!" He demanded, trying to squeeze his other arm through the narrow tunnel for Nina to grab.

Suddenly, a sharp set of razor claws had appeared out of nowhere and found their way into the soft skin of Stanley's calves, cutting his action off.

His legs were given a harsh tug and he was pulled back a foot or so into the portal. His body was now half in the Upside Down and half in the normal world. Wendy was also dragged down to the ground with him due to her fingers being tightly locked with his.

The boy let out a painful screech as the claws had buried themselves deeper into his flesh. He turned his head slightly to the side to catch sight of what had just latched onto his skin.

It was the demogorgan.

"It's that thing! Pull me through! Pull me through!" Stanley begged in a panicked laced tone.

He was afraid again. He had outrun the demogorgan already but it had come back again, not wanting to give up on the Harrington boy.

Wendy pulled as hard as she could on the boy's one arm to drag him through but the steel grip of the demogorgan made it seem impossible. She just looked like a small girl tugging on a stiff rope as her feet kicked at the dirt underneath her sitting figure.

Nina, Jonathan and Nancy had recognized the struggle in the girl and had quickly ran over to help pull the Harrington boy through the portal.

With each tug, the demogorgan had dragged the boy back into the Upside Down but with increased strength. The sensation of the sharp claws in his skin and his loud screams of pain made the scene much more unbearable for the teens to navigate.

It took all of the strength in the world in order to resist the demogorgan's attempts of recapturing Stanley Harrington but they were able to pull the boy through the portal and into the normal world.

Stanley fell face first into his sister, practically tackling the younger girl to the ground. The boy sobbed painfully and in some sort of relief in Wendy's embrace, who gently rubbed his back.

The once dangerous portal had caved in on itself, sealing itself off from the world.

The gate to the Upside Down had retreated but the impact it had on the five teenagers was remarkable.

Neither one of them will be the same again.

───────── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ─────────

After the crazy events of the night had subdued, the three exhausted had trudged home. It was actually unbelievable that they made it home one piece and made it to the right house. The three teens were all suffering in someway.

Wendy Harrington was more mentally traumatized than she had ever been in the past few weeks or so. More traumatized than the time she had thought she had seen her own best friend's body and more traumatized than the time she had witnessed nightmares of her past.

In this last week or so, she has had to experience more mentally draining situations than the average adult has. From searching for his missing best friend to learning more about her hidden past to accidentally stumbling upon an alternative dimension to something as easy as crash coursing on the idea of firing off a gun.

She had done it all, despite being a mere weak twelve year old girl. She didn't know how much strength could occur in her small body until today. She felt physically invincible but her mental state was reduced to pure mush.

Nina felt the same way. The older teen girl felt mentally incapable after every single situation she had gone through in the last week. She was lucky that she had the advantage of easily bottling up her emotions better due to the trauma she had remembered from the lab but this new world was too much for her handle right now.

The overstimulated of the outside world, mixed with the comeback of the Upside Down was too much for the teen girl to comprehend. She was so lost like a puppy separated from her own. She was practically clinging onto anything that controlled her from entering the territory of uncertainty.

But Stanley Harrington was the most physically and mentally drained of them all.

The Harrington boy had just witnessed Hell and back. Well, it was a different version of Hell but it was still something that felt like complete torture to the boy.

He went from, spending the day eating ice cream to almost being ripped apart by a mysterious monster in an alternate dimension.

It would of never crossed his mind that he would be face to face with death by the dark of the night. If he knew then he would of taken a rain check but he did luckily stumble out of the situation alive.

The only problem was that he was left with the physical wounds that engraved the skin of his legs and the mental wounds of fear that ate at his soul. He was definitely never going to be the same again.

He was already damaged from his mother's death but this sent him closer to the edge of his own well-being.

Wendy Harrington had reached the front door first of their house, opening it immediately to reveal the front foyer. The front foyer was left in the same messy state from prior, meaning their father had yet to return home from work. This gave them all a sigh of relief as they didn't have to deal with a flash of worrying questions as soon as they got home.

Each of them dropped their bags on the floor and kicked off their pesky sneakers. Stanley was the first one to leave the front foyer and he made a bee line for the kitchen with the intentions of making his comfort food.

The classic Stanley Harrington Nutella and whipped cream sandwich. It was so unhealthy and loaded with sugar but it always brought comfort to the boy in times of distress. If you saw him eating the sweet sandwich then you knew he was on the verge of a breakdown.

Wendy followed after the boy to check in on him, while Nina walked upstairs to the bathroom to clean off the dirt clinging to her skin.

When she walked into the kitchen, she quickly noticed the disoriented boy. He was fumbling through the cabinets, looking for the ingredients of his beloved sandwich.

"Stan....." Wendy called but received no answer.

He continued to have his back turned as he scanned each shelf of the cabinet to find the jar of Nutella that was lurking in the back.

"Stanley." She called once again.

"No!" Stanley exclaimed suddenly in an angry tone, catching the younger girl off guard. "I'm not doing this again! I almost died in there, Wendy!"

"But you didn't. You survived." Wendy pointed out, trying to appease his anger.

"But what if I wasn't lucky?!" Stanley questioned.
"What if that thing actually did kill me?! What were you supposed to do?! Huh?!" The boy had began to yell at Wendy in a condescending tone.

He was angry. He was fuming with anger.

Not at his sister but at the world. He didn't understand why the world was so cruel and would so easily let him slip through the grasps of life. He never wanted to die but it was almost too easy for him to succumb as if nothing would resist his fall.

"Stanley......I'm sorry. I just wanted to find Will, I never expected this to happen." Wendy apologized.

"This shit is crazy! You ever understand how crazy we sound right now! We were chased by fucking faceless demon in the forest that almost made me it's dinner in that strange place! We don't sound normal!" Stanley exclaimed.

"But we aren't normal." Wendy reminded.

"You're right, we're not normal. We haven't been normal since mom died. We've always been a bunch of freaks but after today, we've gone too far." Stanley began to explain.

"I'm done with all of this. I can't do this anymore. It's too damaging for me and.....for you. You're not your usual self anymore. Dad doesn't recognize you and neither do I. I think it'd be best if we just stopped doing this and go back to our normal lives. I'm done being bait for some mystical being and getting caught up in some shit that you and your friends are involved with. I'm out."

"Stan....." Wendy called.

"This discussion is over! We're not taking about this anymore and as your big brother, I forbid you from doing this. You understand?" Stanley begged.

"I understand." Wendy meekly nodded.

★ 𝐎𝐃𝐃 𝐄𝐘𝐄 ! stranger things fanfic ★
(© 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗲𝘆𝗲𝗼𝗻𝗯𝗶𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗱)