[𝗘𝗣𝗜𝗦𝗢𝗗𝗘 𝗦𝗜𝗫: 𝗘 𝗣𝗟𝗨𝗥𝗜𝗕𝗨𝗦 𝗨𝗡𝗨𝗠]

SAGE AND ELEVEN LOOK AROUND THE beach they are on before mike speaks up.

"guys, are you okay?" he asks. "are you okay?"

"we're okay," eleven replies softly.

"what's going on?" the wheeler twin asks. "we're . . . on a beach." sage replies. "okay, i may be dense, but the last i checked, there weren't any beaches in hawkins." lucas comments.

"what else do you see?" max then asks.

eleven looks over to see a beautiful woman. her hair was blonde, skin was clear. the woman was wearing a white sundress with a flower on it. in one hand her hand and sandals were being held.

"a woman," el replies. "she's . . . pretty. i . . . i think she's looking at me."

the woman waves over at the direction of sage and eleven. "woo!" the woman cheers. "yeah!"

sage looks over and sees a young boy running out of the water with a surfboard in his arms.

"you did it!"

"there's . . . a boy." sage says slowly, still trying to process what's happening.

"did you see that?" young billy asks his mother, smiling widely. "yeah, i saw that!" his mother replied and kissed his head. "that was at least seven feet," billy said. "i don't know what it was, but it almost gave me a heart attack."

"ten more minutes?"

billy's mother stays quiet for a moment before nodding at her son. "yeah, okay, ten more minutes,"

"okay," billy runs back to his board and picks it up from the sand. "but any longer than that, dad's gonna be mad, okay?" his mom says.

"okay!"

"that's not a good sign," sage whispers to herself as she watches young billy go back in the water.

"billy!" his mother calls out before he could fully enter the water. "watch out for rip currents!"

"i know."

"it's billy." sage finally said to the party.

"it's california. it's a memory." max says, realizing where sage and eleven were at.

the girls watch billy go back into the water before rumbling was heard in the distance.

"i think we see it," eleven says. "the source."

sage and eleven walk towards the source together, holding each other's hands tightly. it didn't take long for the two to get closer to what seemed to be a storm.

"oh, this is scary," sage whispered as dust particles came into view.

she was still scared of the upside down.

"hey! billy, stop!" a man shouted.

el and sage look forward to see a man grabbing young billy by the shoulders.

"what the hell is wrong with you? what did we talk about, huh? you gotta slide!"

told you. not a good sign. sage thought to herself knowing where this was going as her and eleven walk towards the memory.

"i know," billy stammers out. "wait. afraid you're gonna get hurt, is that it?" the man asks.

"no."

"well, what then? what? what did i raise, a pussy for a son?"

"leave me alone!" young billy runs off away from the man, who seemed to be his father.

"hey! that's right, run! like you always do!"

sage feels herself get dragged by eleven as the hopper teen starts running, following billy. sage flips off billy's dad as she follows eleven into the storm, still chasing billy.

"where were you last night? where were you?" billy's father asks his wife. "i told you, i was with wendy." billy's mother replies to her husband.

"stop lying to me!"

"i'm not lying to you!"

"you saw him again, didn't you?"

sage stops then points at the memory so eleven can see it.

the man has a tight grip on billy's mom as she tries to escape it.

"didn't you?!"

"get away from me!"

the woman shouts and shoves him away. "i said, get away!"

"you — you whore!" the man shouts. "stop it!" billy shouts, shoving his dad. "don't hurt her!"

"no!"

"don't hurt her!"

billy's dad shoves billy to the side causing the woman to gasp.

"you bastard!" the woman screams before the man lands a punch on the woman.

"mom!"

sage pulls eleven away from the memory then sees another one.

"i don't understand. why not?" young billy asks his mother over the phone. "please, mom, don't do this. please come home. no. how long? how long?! i miss you."

eleven turns around with sage just to see another memory.

"get back here!" teen billy shouts, chasing after a kid and knocking him down to the floor, punching him over and over. "get up! what, are you scared to fight me? you scared? get up and fight me, pussy! pussy!"

"billy," a man says causing the girls to turn around once again. "come over here, i want you to meet someone."

sage squints her eyes to get a better look and sees billy's father standing next to a young red-head girl. her face softens up when she realizes who she is. it's max.

"this is your new sister. her name is maxine."

"max." the mayfield girl corrected.

"shake her hand. i said, shake her hand."

"who's there? i said, who's there?!" older billy screams making eleven and sage look in the direction of billy screaming.

sage sees a car light and walks towards it with eleven as the screaming continues. the girls make it out of the windy storm before over looking at the scenery.

they look around, up, down, side to side — taking in the surroundings.

"i think we found it," sage says to the party. "the source."

"where, guys? where are you?" max asks.

sage looks around will el then sees the building.

"brimborn . . . steelworks." eleven answers.

johnathan gets up and rushes over to the book, grabbing it, and bringing it back over to the party while flipping the pages.

"here. okay, uh, steelworks, steelworks . . . uh,"

nancy goes by his side just in time for him to find the page.

"here, steel. uh . . . found it. 6522 cherry oak drive." johnathan announces. "that's close," nancy tells her lover.

"el, sage, we found it. get out of there. get out." mike tells the girls.

sage and eleven close their eyes slowly focusing on getting out of the memories and the void. visions go through their heads as they fall back into reality.

the girls take their blindfolds off, panting. sage looks around to see that everyone is gone. el gasps softly as she also looks around.

"mike?" eleven calls out softly.

"max?" sage whispers, looking around then quickly gets off the floor.

"el, is this normal?" sage asks the hopper teen, starting to get scared. "mike?" eleven calls out again before looking up at sage, shaking her head as an answer to her question.

"max?" sage calls out again, tears pooling in her eyes. "max!"

"mike?" eleven raises her voice, getting up from the floor and clinging onto sage.

"max! mike!" sage shouts.

"mike!"

"max, please!"

"they can't hear you," billy says making the girls look over at el's room. the hargrove teen walks out making the girls gasp. "you shouldn't have looked for me. because now i see you."

billy puts out his cigarette and slowly walks towards the two, scared girls.

"now we can all see you,"

"no," sage whispers, shaking as her and eleven back away from the blond. "you . . ." billy points at eleven. "let us in." he says, walking closer.

"and now . . . you two are going to have to let us stay."

the girls back up more, trying to get away from billy.

"you . . ." billy points at sage. "are very powerful. and we . . . dislike that."

"w-why?" sage asks in a stutter, a tear falling out of her eye. "because you can FUCKING KILL US ALL IN LESS THAN A SECOND. you have abilities that no one else seems to have, and we can't let you live with them . . ." billy screams at her causing her and eleven to jump back.

"don't you see?" billy asks. "all this time, we've been building it. we've been building it . . ."

the girls sob as they back up into the kitchen counter. sage moves away then pulls eleven with her, backing away more.

"for you two. all that work . . . all that pain . . . all of it . . . for both of you." billy walks closer to the two as they sob into each other arms, terrified.

"and now it's time. time to end it. and we are going to end you two. and when you guys are gone we are going to end your friends."

"no!"

"and then we are going to end . . . everyone."

"get away!" sage screams and throws billy back.

the two girls rip their blindfolds off, screaming in terror. eleven grabs onto mike and hugs him tightly, sobbing into his arms.

"el, you're okay. it's — it's okay."

max rushes over to sage and brings her into her arms. sage looks at max, cupping her face before hugging her tightly, sobbing.

"never again, never again, never again," sage sobs into max's shoulder, clinging onto her. "you're okay. you're safe. i'm here. i'm here." max assures the wheeled twin, stroking her hair.

AUTHORS NOTE //

so . . . we're almost done with season three !!

bee <3