[𝗘𝗣𝗜𝗦𝗢𝗗𝗘 𝗢𝗡𝗘: 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗛𝗘𝗟𝗟𝗙𝗜𝗥𝗘 𝗖𝗟𝗨𝗕]

SAGE WHEELER'S EYES BEGAN TO slowly open. when her dark brown eyes fully opened, her vision was a bit blurry. her hands went up, and rubbed her eyes as she sat up on her bed, yawning.

but when sage moved her hands away from her eyes, her heart dropped.

there was dust particles floating around her room as vines were around her room. sage glanced around her room, tears forming in her eyes. she was in the upside down.

"no, no, no, no!" sage panicked and got off her bed, immediately rushing to her door. the wheeler twins hands gripped her door knob, but when she twisted it and tried opening it, her door didn't open. "no . . . no, no! open!"

sage pounds on her door harshly, sobbing loudly and shaking in fear.

"max! mike! nancy!" sage screamed before going to her window, trying to open it, but it wouldn't open up either. "MAX! SOMEBODY HELP ME!" the wheeler twin screams again, giving up on trying to open her window.

suddenly, loud footsteps were heard in the distance. sage whimpers and tries to light her hands on fire. nothing. the wheeler twin looks at her hands in panic. her powers were gone.

"no, no," sage cries, sliding down the wall, curling up into a ball. "sage . . ." a deep, low voice speaks as the footsteps get closer.

"leave me alone. leave me alone." sage whispers, hugging her knees. "you can't hide from me," the voice speaks again before something pounds on her door causing sage to flinch at the sudden action.

"i said, leave me alone!" sage shouts, tears streaming down her face. "leave me the fuck alone!" the wheeler teen immediately closes her mouth when she hears growling.

sage sobs quietly, hugging her knees tighter before another pound is on her door. then another. and another. and another until it becomes rapid. the brunette sobs loudly, shaking in fear as she screams.

"sage! sage, wake up!"

sage jumps up from her bed, gasping for breath. mike looks at his twin sister in worry, his hand on her back, rubbing it. the wheeler twin on the bed looks around her room seeing it was normal. the brunette turns her head to look at her brother and hugs him tightly, shaking.

"i got you. i got you." mike whispers as he holds his sister. "you're okay,"

the brunette pants heavily before releasing her brother. sage rubs her face, trying to calm down. mike stares at his sister in worry then grabs her arms, slowly pulling her out of bed.

"come on, let me make you breakfast," mike says and keeps her up right before walking out of sage's room with her. "you don't have to, mike," sage says, following her sibling.

"i'm doing it anyway,"

the twins go downstairs to the kitchen together still in their pajamas due to the fact that it was only four in the morning, and school didn't start till around eight.

"it's four in the morning, mike," sage points out then hops on the counter. "okay . . . then we'll just have a snack, yeah?"

sage chuckles a little before getting tossed an apple. the brunette catches it with ease and bites into it while mike grabs a banana. mike hops up on the counter next to his sister, and looks at her seeing she's staring into space.

"you've never had nightmares before," mike mentioned and bit into his banana. "yeah, i know. i honestly don't even know if it was a nightmare, though." sage told her brother. "it felt surreal . . . like if it's true sight all over again." the brunette bites into her apple again.

"true sight?" mike asked. "what did you see?"

"i was . . . back in the upside down. i was in my room in the upside down." sage answered, shuddering slightly. "it was terrifying."

"what else?"

"i heard footsteps and — and a really deep voice." sage told him. "i never heard it before just in case you ask about it," she added in.

"how did you —"

"we're twins, mike,"

mike chuckles with a nod, "right."

sage gives her twin brother a soft smile before biting into her apple again, chewing on it. the two siblings sit in the kitchen in comfortable silence as they eat their snacks.

"i missed this," sage suddenly said.

"what?" mike asks, looking at his sister. "us. you know, our bond." sage tells him.

"when eleven came back, all you ever wanted to do was hang out with her and i felt so . . ."

". . . left out?"

"no, i felt sad. we were growing apart, mike. we stopped talking, we argued more and it was about the most stupidest things ever, and it was awful. i hated it so much. and it's still kinda like that. we don't talk as much." sage explained and looked at her sibling. "i missed you . . ."

mike stares at his sister. "i missed you too, sage," the older wheeler twin said, smiling softly.

sage leans over and rests her head on mike's shoulder before moving away, jumping off the counter and throwing her apple away.

"will you be okay, now?" mike asked, also getting off the counter and throwing his banana away. "i think so, yeah," sage replied with a nod.

"all right. call me if you need anything, okay?"

the brunette nods at her sibling before mike ruffles his sisters hair, walking away. sage watched her brother walk off then let out a sigh, walking upstairs to her own room.

sage went to her desk, opening her drawer and taking out a piece of paper with a envelope. she then grabs a pen and begins to write letters to eleven and will as a distraction, and because she needs to write back to them both.

"THE HELL ARE YOU DOING? IT'S TEN after." nancy says as she barges into mike's room, ready for school. "oh, shit. shit!"

"you have thirty seconds or i'm leaving you both here cause y'all are twins, okay? thirty seconds." nancy orders the older wheeler twin.

"thirty seconds, mike!" sage shouts, putting on her black jacket over her hellfire shirt. "okay, i have to find my pants." mike replies.

sage scrunches her face before throwing his hellfire shirt in his face as he struggles putting his pants on.

"i thought you weren't apart of hellfire," mike says to his sister, seeing her shirt. "i'm not. i just like the shirt." sage replies with a smile and walks downstairs, looping a brown belt through her blue jeans loops, clasping her belt together.

the younger wheeler twin goes through the pantry, grabbing bread for mike and putting them on the counter just in time for him to come downstairs. mike grabs his backpack, swinging it over his shoulders then grabs the bread.

"michael, i know your dnd club is tonight." karen tells her son. "hellfire," mike says, going to the toaster and toasting his bread. "why don't you just call it the high school dropout club?" ted asks his son making sage laugh a little.

"perfect name,"

"i want you home no later than 9:00." karen informs her son. "i'll try," mike tells her mother, staring at the toaster. "no trying. you need to go to bed early tonight."

"why?"

sage looks at her brother as if he were stupid before shaking her head, and walking to the front door of the house.

"it's a 6:30 flight, michael." ted tells his son. "yeah, i know, but —"

"no buts. nine or no california." karen warns. "and no sweetie pie," sage says from the front door, blowing kisses at her brother.

"mike!" nancy shouts suddenly from next to sage causing the brunette to yelp in surprise. "let's go!" the older wheeler teen waves the car keys in the air as sage swings her backpack over her shoulders, giving mike a look to hurry.

"jesus. how am i gonna survive a whole week without you guys?" mike asks sarcastically before popping his toast out of the toaster and grabbing it into his hands, walking to the front door.

"nine," karen tells her son one last time.

the three teens walk out of the house and straight to the car.

"remind me, when do they become reasonable human beings again?" ted tells his wife.

"nancy, mascara!" sage tells her older sister as she sits in the backseat. "mike, grab the mascara from the compartment," nancy tells mike.

mike sighs then tosses the her twin sister the mascara, allowing her to put it on quickly.

the teenagers make it to hawkins high and jump out of the vehicle, heading straight for the gym for the prep rally the school was having.

mike and sage find dustin, walking through the crowd on the bleachers, and standing next to him, watching the cheerleaders do their thing.

dustin then suddenly speaks when max walks in. sage looks over at her girlfriend and smiles softly at her, wrapping her arm around her waist.

"look, i'm not saying that my girlfriend is better than yours," dustin tells mike. "it's just that suzie's a certified genius."

"you do realize el saved the world twice, right?" mike points out to his friend. "and yet you still have a c in spanish." dustin fires back.

mike turns his head to look at dustin making the henderson teen make a face at him.

"okay, let's shut up now, okay?" sage says to the boys and turns to look back at the performance just in time for it to finish.

"and let's here it for your tigers!" the announcer says through the microphone.

the basketball teams runs into the gym and everyone cheers for them. lucas follows behind the team and sage, mike, max, and dustin clap for their friend.

"good morning, hawkins high!" jason says into the microphone. the audience cheers loudly.

"first off . . . hey. first off, i'd like to thank each and every one of you." jason says. "without your support, we wouldn't be here. give yourselves a big hand."

everyone claps and lucas, down on the court, smiles and waves at sage and max. max doesn't do anything, but sage gives lucas a small wave back. lucas smiles softly at sage but it falls quickly as he tries forgetting about it.

"and of course, of course, i have to give a special shout-out to the best and the prettiest fans of all time, the tiger cheer squad."

everyone cheers again as the cheerleaders wave their pompoms.

"chrissy . . ." jason says and pats his chest, smiling at his girl. "chrissy, i love you, babe."

the crowd awe's as chrissy blows a kiss to her boyfriend.

jason steps back and begins to speak into the microphone again. "you know . . . i think i can speak for all of us when i say it's been a tough year for hawkins. so much loss. and sometimes i wonder "how much loss can one community take?" in dark days like this, we need something to believe in. so, last night, when we were down by ten points at half to christian academy, i looked at my team, and i said, "think of jack. think of melissa. think of heather. think of billy." " at the mention of billy, eyes turn to max in an instant.

sage rubs max's back and glares at the blonde looking at her girlfriend. the girl looks away quickly as max leans onto sage.

" "think about our heroic police chief, jim hopper. think about every one of our friends who perished in that fire. what did they die for? for us to lose to some . . . some crap school? no. for us to return home with our heads hung low in defeat? no! no. let's win this game. let's win this game for them." and that's exactly what we did!" jason finished off and the crowd cheers.

"we embarrassed those candy-asses in their own house, and now tonight, tonight, we're gonna bring home the championship trophy!"

the crowd cheers again and dustin and mike look at each other in disbelief.

"tonight?"

"how is this possible?"

"they call it a tournament. you win one game, you go on until there's one team left." max tells the two. "well, shit, you guys have a problem," sage mumbled.

"i don't get the big deal. just talk to eddie. get him to move hellfire to another night." lucas tells his friends as they walk outside. "just talk to eddie." dustin repeats. "why don't you just talk to your coach and get him to move the game." mike suggested to the sinclair teen.

"i think that's a great idea, mike," dustin says.

"thank you, dustin,"

"this is the championship game." lucas said. "and this is the end of eddie's campaign," dustin said to his friend. "a semester of adventuring has led to this moment, and we need you."

"yeah, and the tiger's don't. you've been on the bench all year." mike mentions as him, lucas, and dustin walk inside the school. "that's not the point," lucas told him.

"please, arrive at the point,"

"if i get in good with these guys, i'll be in the popular crowd, and then you guys will be too."

"has it ever occurred to you that we don't want to be popular?" mike asked lucas. "you wanna be stuck with the nerds and freaks for three more years?" lucas questions them.

"we are nerds and freaks," dustin points out.

"but maybe we don't have to be. look, i'm tired of being bullied. i'm tired of girls laughing at us. i'm tired of feeling like a loser. we came to high school wanting things to be different. right?"

mike and dustin nod.

"so now we have that chance. i skip tonight, that's all out the window. so, i'm asking you guys, as a friend, just talk to eddie. get him to move hellfire. come to my game. please."

the boys stay silent and the bell rings. lucas sighs then walks inside his class, leaving mike and dustin standing outside his class with frowns.

"shit!" dustin whispers, walking off.

AUTHORS NOTE //

season four baby !!

bee <3