[𝗘𝗣𝗜𝗦𝗢𝗗𝗘 𝗧𝗛𝗥𝗘𝗘: 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗣𝗢𝗟𝗟𝗬𝗪𝗢𝗚]

THE FIVE TEENS RUN OUT OF THE room to chase after the creature, dart.

"oh shit!" dustin shouts and runs out the of the av room, accidentally falling over max. lucas falls over max's leg and groans. "where'd he go?" lucas exclaimed. "what was that?" max asked.

"dart!" sage replied then helped the red-head up off the floor. "what?" max looked at her. "you let him escape!" mike cut in. "why did you attack him?!" dustin asked the wheeler boy.

"come on!" mike ignores dustin and chases after dart, everyone following him besides dustin. "don't hurt him. don't you hurt him!" dustin shouts at the wheeler boy. "dustin, be quiet!" sage shouts at him as she chases after her twin.

minutes pass by, the six teens still trying to find the creature.

"east is clear. no sign of dart." mike speaks into his walkie before heading upstairs. "where'd you go, you little bastard?" the wheeler boy whispers to himself.

just as mike walks past a hallway, a girl with short curly hair walks in after hearing mike's voice. the teen looks both ways before heading the opposite way mike went.

dustin looks around the hallways until seeing mister clark. the henderson boy gives the teacher a salute and the teacher returns it.

"west is clear, too. will? sage?" dustin says into the walkie-talkie. "south is clear. lucas?" will says in reply. "anything?" sage asks.

lucas looks side to side then kicks a door open to a classroom. "excuse me! mister sinclair!" a women gasps in surprise. "s-sorry, i was looking for study hall." lucas immediately apologizes then walks out of the classroom. "bye!"

"nothing here, man."

sage sighs and turns to look at will, "i'll look around more. you'll be okay on your own, right?" the wheeler girl asks her best friend. "yeah, i'll be fine." will nods in reply.

"great," sage smiles before hugging him and walking off.

as sage walks around she looks around the school, in restrooms, lockers, and classrooms. twenty minutes later and sage still doesn't find anything . . . . until she feels an odd sense.

like a connection.

the wheeler girl picks her head up at the sensation, glancing around with her eyes. "dart?" sage asks lowly, slowly walking forward.

as sage walks forward — the connection only getting stronger with each step. sage takes a turn and suddenly, a body collided with sage's body causing her to fall.

"ow," sage mumbles and grabs her side. "max was that y —"

as the wheeler girl looks up she sees a girl, who is obviously not max, with short curly hair. the girl stares at sage with a wide eye expression making the wheeler girl stare back at her.

"e-eleven?" sage whispers as she slowly realized who it was. "sage?" eleven whispers back and sits up from the floor, pulling sage up with her.

"eleven! oh my god it's you." the brunette girl said happily, tears pooling her eyes as she brings her friend into a hug. "sage," eleven mumbles and wraps her arms around the wheeler girl.

"where have you been? no, i shouldn't ask that. that's private. how have you been?" sage asked the girl then pulled away from the hug, standing up straight and helping eleven up. "i've been . . . good . . ." the girl replied slowly, smiling.

"that's amazing! oh, you look so pretty . . ." the brunette girl said then cupped eleven's face, stroking her thumb over her cheek. "did you feel it?" eleven then asked, smiling more when sage rubs her thumb over her cheek.

"the connection?" sage asked making eleven nod. the wheeler girl smiled. "yeah . . . i felt it."

"h-how? you're like me."

"i, uh, well . . . it's a long story. i'll be sure to tell you soon. very soon." sage replied then took her hands away from eleven's face. "when's soon?" eleven asked with a frown.

"whenever we see each other again,"

"SAGE!!" mike shouted from the walkie.

sage smiled widely at eleven. "you wanna see him?" eleven smiled but it fell just as quick as it came. "i can't . . ." she replied softly.

"what? why not?" sage frowned at eleven's answer. "i can't say." eleven told her. "but don't tell him you saw me." the girl continued.

"he can't know,"

"SAGE, COME ON!!" mike shouts again.

sage sighs and nods in understanding. "i understand, but i have to go . . ."

eleven nods. "i hope we see each other again." sage smiles sadly. "me too." the two girls hug each other tightly one last time.

"don't get caught," the wheeler girl whispers in eleven's ear making the girl nod.

the wheeler girl pulls away then kisses eleven's head, and walks off to where mike is. "you're gonna break my ear drums next time." sage tells her twin in the walkie. "whatever. meet in in the gym. now." mike orders his sister.

sage rolls her eyes and jogs to where the gym is. she pulls the door open and walks in to see mike walking into the boy's locker room.

"mike!" sage calls out and runs after the boys locker room, walking in. mike turns around and sees his sister. "sage, finally." the wheeler boy whispers. "oh, shut up." sage mumbles.

the two twins walk further in together and mike picks up a mop. they both turn a corner and walk into the actual locker room, looking around before an object clatters against something.

mike presses his back against the locker and puts a hand in front of his sister so she does the same. the wheeler boy takes a few deep breaths before revealing himself, yelling.

max turns around to see mike. "what the hell are you doing?"

sage, hearing max, shows herself and stands next to her brother. "what are you doing? why are you in here?" mike asked and put the mop down. "looking for dart." the red-head replied with a shrug as if it were obvious.

"this is the boys' room."

"yeah, so?"

"so you should go home!"

mike throws the mop down on the floor and walks out of the locker room. sage glances at max and the red-head walks over, takes her hand, and leads her out of the locker room.

"why do you hate me so much?" max asks mike, still holding hands with sage. "i don't hate you." mike simply responded. "how can i hate you? i don't even know you." he added on.

"yeah, but you don't want me in your party!" max interjected. "correct." mike said. "why not?!"

"because you're annoying!"

"mike!" sage said and glared at her brother.

"also, we don't need another party member. i'm our paladin, will's our cleric, dustin's our bard, lucas is our ranger, sage is our fighter, and el's our mage." mike explained, ignoring his sister.

"el? who's el?" max asked. sage winced at the name and bit her tongue to stop her from saying anything. "someone. no one." mike answered.

"someone or no one?"

"she was in our party a long time ago. she moved away, okay?" sage quickly answered nicely for the red-head. mike nodded then began to walk off. "she was a mage?" max asks, dropping her skateboard and skating towards mike, still holding sage's hand. "well, what could she do? like magic tricks or something?"

mike ignored her and scoffed lightly.

"well, i could be your zoomer." max said. "that's not even a real thing." mike told her. "it could be," sage told her brother and grinned.

"yeah," max smiles then let go of sage's hand, going back on her skateboard and skating in circles around the twins. "see? zoomer?"

"mind-blowing." mike said sarcastically. "come on, you know you're impressed." max smirked.

"he's impressed. just too scared to admit it." sage told the red-head. "oh, yeah? like you can do it." mike said to his sister. "i can actually! i go over to her house and practice." sage said and stuck her tongue out at her brother.

"that's where you go?!"

"mhm."

max smiles then continues to skate around circles. "i don't see any tricks. you're just going around in a circle." mike commented.

"it's so easy, you try it." max told mike. "no!" mike immediately declined. "why not?" sage asked. "i don't know." mike answered.

"so, then you admit it's kind of impressive?" max asks with a grin. "i think if i spent, like, all day practicing, i could do that." mike simply told her in reply.

"i would give you a million bucks if you could." sage told her brother and nudged him a little. "okay, you're making me dizzy." mike told the red-head. "please just stop."

"i'll stop when i join your party."

"come on, just stop."

"it's a simple question. am i in or out?"

sage smiles widely at max and looks at her brother to see he's smiling as well. "so? what do you think?" sage asks him.

"i'll think about it." mike whispers in sage's ear so max wouldn't hear.

the wheeler girl smiles then looks back at max just in time for her to fall back on the floor. sage gasps and immediately runs towards the red head, grabbing her hand to help her up.

"jesus! are you all right?" mike asks and follows his sister, taking max's other hand. "yeah, yeah. i think so." max replied. "are you sure?" sage asks in worry as her and mike help max up.

"yeah," max answered sage.

"what happened?" mike questioned. "i don't know. it's was just like a magnet or something pulling on my board. i know that sounds crazy." max answered before going to get her board.

mike slowly looks at his sister but she shakes her head. "don't be stupid. i wouldn't do that." sage whispers to her brother making him nod.

el what were you thinking, sage thinks to herself as she watches mike run to the gym doors.

   MINUTES LATER PASS AND THE SIX teens continue to be on the search for dart. sage and will were currently back to searching for dart together since mike and max wanted to search for the creature alone.

will and sage walk into the boys bathroom slowly and look around their surroundings. will stares at a stall and walks towards it, slowly opening it.

sage follows him and sees dart. "guys," will says into the walkie. "we found him."

"where?" dustin asks. "in the bathroom by mister. salerno's." will replies. "copy that!" mike says after will answers.

will looks down at the creature as sage keeps staring at it. "it's okay . . . we're not gonna hurt you." will cooes gently at dart.

dart then screeches at the two teens. will jumps and drops his walkie, grabbing sage's hand before she can do anything to dart, and runs off. the two make it out of the bathroom and breathe heavily. suddenly, the lights flicker and in just a small second — the teens were in the upside down.

sage squeezes will's hand and looks to her right to see a shadow crawling through the halls as it growls at them. sage doesn't hesitate to run away with will as the shadow comes closer.

sage quickly uses her telekineses to slam the door open that leads them outside. will and sage run outside to the field before will slowly comes to a stop, making sage slow down.

"will?" sage asks the byers boy, breathing heavily. the byers boy slowly turns around to face the school, seeing the shadow form into a monster.

the wheeler girl slowly turns around to face the school and lets go of will's hands.

"go away!" will begins to shout, catching sage off guard. "go away!" he repeated as the shadow gets closer. "go away! go away! go away! go away!"

"go away! go away!"

sage gasps as the shadow gets closer. she immediately goes to make a barrier around her and will, but it was too late for the byers boy.

"shit. no, no, no, no, no!" sage screams as she sees the shadow inserting itself into will.

"will!" sage shouts before the shadow breaks through her barrier, wrapping itself around her throat causing her to choke.

AUTHORS NOTE //

i hope you guys enjoyed this chapter !!

bee <3