Thread: Coffee and Contemplation | tempted halo

How many years had I been here? How much time had I lost? How much of my life had been wasted to this land of desolation? All these questions bore the same answer. I didn't know. Despite each tick for what I assumed was a day, lightly engraved on the side of a building I had found refuge in, I had long ago lost track. In a land of darkness, there was virtually no concept of time. There was no moonlight, and no sunrise or sunset. Just darkness, at every second, of every minute, of every hour, of everyday. I had only my own body to reference the lapses in time. My hair, no longer shaved to my scalp, now fell way beyond my shoulders. My breasts had grown, two fleshy lumps protruding from my chest. My body had stretched, my legs and arms longer, a fact I knew simply by marking my height with a wall and a rock. But in this wasteland, who knew if my body had even developed through time, or through radiation. Although the constant feeling of ailment had passed long ago, I wondered day in and day out if I would one day collapse suddenly, lifelessly. With every night I closed my eyes, allowing my mind to drift to sleep, I always awoke in surprise amazed at my ability to live through another night. Despite the unfamiliarity of the foreign city I had awoken to on my final return to Upside Down, if I wanted a chance at finding Hawkins again, I had to keep moving. We walked endless miles on these dark streets no longer sheltered and afraid of the dangers that may await us out in the open. At times there were new landscapes, new ruins, and new challenges, but as time morphed in and out of what I assumed was night and day, not even the most terrifying of creatures could stop my journey. And there were plenty of them. It was a rude awakening discovering such vast array of different beasts and critters but with every world came most any source of life. If Upside Down truly were a reflection of our own world, surely it came with an abundance of creepy crawlers. Perhaps the most surprising in this barren universe was not the actual beings that roamed these shadowy lands, but moreso their absolute determination to survive. Upside Down certainly had food, even fauna, though it was scarce and most of it was rotten and stale. It was kill or be killed, and eat or be eaten there was no other option. Though, with resources so slim, you begin to develop a lack of need lack of need for food, lack of need for sleep, lack of need of compassion. Upside Down was a lonely place. Upon falling trapped within the confines of this empty space, I wondered how long my young mind could withstand the lack of companionship. Bound to a laboratory for my entire life, my resilience for human contact was strong. I had so little healthy interactions with people that I had already grown accustomed to the loneliness. The Lonely had become my best friend from a young age. But even the sad four white walls and a bed provided by the Department of Energy were more comforting than a life of darkness. Despite my childhood consumed by isolation, I had never felt more alone than I did in this twisted universe. I did not know God, but if I had, I would have prayed every time I closed my eyes prayed that he would send me someone something to fill the growing hole in my heart. My soul, already so withered by the conditions of the forlorness, was falling weaker and weaker. My will to live shrivelled like a grape in the sun even a raisin having more vivacity than I. Though, it seemed that the God I did not know had heard the prayers I did not pray. Somewhere among the rubble of this otherworld, I had stumbled upon a desolate institution. From the outside, it looked like everything else an abandoned building torn to shreds in the deplorable conditions of Upside Down. But as I entered the building, I felt the creeping sensation of The Lonely even stronger than before. The type of feeling that leaves you physically ill. Before I could even enter the building, I immediately curled over, my hand barely catching the outside wall before I began to hurl the contents of my empty stomach. The vomit, little in quantity from lack of food, spilled on the decayed garden pit beside the entrance door. I had felt ill many times in Upside Down, but I had rarely become so ill that I expelled bile. Taking a deep, suffocated breath in, I dry heaved a couple more times before biting my tongue. One more breath in, and I forced myself back up again. My hair, now falling just below my shoulders, barely escaped the contamination of my own bodily function. I moved it out of my face, looking ahead of me as I crawled past the broken door. Entering the facility, my jaw dropped. The hair on the back of my neck stood up as I looked at the wonders ahead of me. This wasn't just any ordinary building shambled and in ruins this was a library , filled with shuffled papers and abandoned tables. Though my gasp was a soft one, it echoed throughout this hollow space. The space, like a maze of different rooms, was filled with books. With bookshelves ceiling-high, the majority of books, stacked together one after the other, were still intact. In complete amazement, I rose my hands to the shelves, delicately grazing my fingertips along the spines of several of many thousand novels. Abruptly, the bookcase shook instantly causing one of the books to fall from a shelf above me. The novel fell splat on it's back the sound of condense paper smacking the floor echoed throughout the room. Startled by it, I jumped back slightly the sound of scattering claws following the shaking of the bookcase. I looked around, my heart racing as I searched for the culprit. Something was moving. I was surely not alone. Despite my wandering eyes, I found nothing around me. I became too distracted by the book before me. Even among the dark, it's eerie cover called out to me. Crouching down to pick it up, it read Where The Red Fern Grows , the cover depicting a boy is a dark forest, accompanied by two trusted Coonhounds. The moment my fingers came in contact with the book, I was launched into a vision. I was suddenly back in Hawkins back on Mirkwood. It was a dark Friday night something I could sense solely from the expectation of the weekend. It was cold out, but despite the frisky weather, I could see Jim Hopper roam the forest freely. He was confident in his trail, moving freely through the trees until he met his destination a small wooden dropbox. Lifting open the boxes lid, the Chief of Hawkins Police Department gave a smile. The smile was weak, but it was genuine the first smile I had ever seen to grace his lonely face. He placed inside the box two frozen eggos, a screwdriver, and a book, Where The Red Fern Grows . Snapping back to reality, I opened my eyes to see the same book in my hands. I became overwhelmed a feeling I had not had since I had become trapped in this world. A single tear shed from my eye. It fell from my lid, streaming slowly down my cold cheeks. Bringing one hand up to my face, I pushed the tips of my fingers into my frigid flesh. I lowered my hand before me, looking down upon the single tear that had now transferred to my index. In the dark of night, my face lit up radiating like a teenager being asked to prom. This was much more than a tear... This was emotion, compassion. But more than anything, this was hope . A boisterous bark cut the silence like a jab to the heart. I jumped, my body nearly falling backwards as I looked up from my hand to the room before me. My eyes widened. Sitting before me, just a couple meters from my feet, was the pupil responsible. It was not a beast, nor was it a person. It was a product of Upside Down one that resembled that of the dogs on the cover of the book. The small creature was nearly hairless, with a bulging forehead and a toothy mouth that protruded from his jaw. His long rat-like tail was wagging back and forth behind him as he sat upright. He stared at me with foggy eyes, with nothing but a screwdriver held comfortably in his deformed mouth. He stood from his position, moving his pudgy wolf-sized body calmly over to me. Dropping the screwdriver at my feet, he bowed his head to me and licked my leg. Panting, he looked up at me, tail still wagging and his long paws tapping lightly on the ground in anticipation. I stared blankly at him, wondering if this apparent friendly creature was truly real, or just a figment of my lonely imagination. Picking up the tool, the mutated canine jumped up and down ready to play. A small smile, weak though genuine just like Hoppers, graced my face. I flung my arm forward, launching the screwdriver across the empty hall. The dog flung into action, barking once more as he bolted for the item. Disappearing into the darkness, there was silence again. Moments went by and he did not return. I waited, and waited, but still, nothing. Feeling The Lonely creep back again, my head dropped down my eyes stared at the ground below me. The illusion, just short lived. Though, as I glared down at my own two feet, a screwdriver rolled on the ground before me. Eyes lighting up again, my head shot back up, and lay the same canine, drool dripping from his gums, just waiting for me to throw the tool again. From that moment forward, He was Redbone - the Coonhound of Upside Down. All the years Dr. Brenner spent courting me into death had failed to make me immune to the concept. He failed to make me void of any compassion like he had. He may have played the role of my father, but he certainly wasn't, and that was blatantly apparent in my enormous sense of love for animals. This same emotion was what lead to his ultimate demise. Death and how ironic that truly was. That same unconditional admiration for life is ultimately what allowed me to survive Upside Down for so long. Despite even the most monster of monstrosity, I still always found a way to empathize with their pain. These were creatures of a disastrous dimension a parallel to the real world drained of absolutely all presence of light. There was no good in this place only bad. But somehow after all the time I spent here, I realized somewhere down the line that bad did not equate to evil. These monsters that roamed this strange Earth were dangerous, but they were not evil. In fact, evil only walked the streets in a world of hope and tenderness. Evil fed on the intentions of good people. It required good to exist. But without any existing good in Upside Down, evil could not exist for evil could not know how to exist. Evil crept on vulnerable souls. It fed on the insecurities of human flaw. Evil was constantly thirsty, not in its quest for blood, but in its quest for innocence. For in all my unique experiences, there was only one evil I had ever known... and it wasn't the Demogorgon. Doctor Martin Brenner, who I had once referred to as Papa since the day of my birth, leaned in to comfort me. Eleven. He said, not even bothering to have given me a name that carried dignity. Will you trust me? At that moment, I thought I did. I had instilled all of my childish love into the only parental figure I had ever come close to seeing. He courted my ego, he reassured my feelings... he manipulated me in every way. Without so much as a single word, I looked up at him, my head adorned with that dreaded electrode cap , used only to hurt me into complying. Even with that blasted contraption on, I still looked at Papa with eager eyes. Without so much as a single word, I lowered my chin into a weak nod. He smiled at me, the same empty smile, void of any true paternal feelings. He reached over into a box that had been set on the cold, steel table before me, and he pulled out a stray cat. My stomach sank in that moment, pitting down to my knees. I felt a wave of nausea hit me like a ton of bricks. My panicked eyes darted straight for Papa, searching for answers amid increasing anxiety. But I was returned with no such answers... only that same, cold, empty smile. The memories of Hawkins Indiana were painfully drifting from my scattered mind. Although the moments I shared with its citizens would never leave me, I found my ability to recognize many of its physical features weakening. I had seen so many tattered buildings, streets, and city sweeps in Upside Down, that among this never-ending abyss, they all began to look the same. I convinced myself that when I did find Hawkins again, I would remember it. It would be like a lightbulb illuminating in a dark room for the first time. An epiphany. I would see it, in all of its dusted debris, and I would just know . With every mile I travelled, I felt the reality of Hawkins, even if inverted within this world, was closer and closer. Though, I wondered if that was just my own delusion. A sort of fantasy I had created just to keep whatever shred of sanity I had left. There was a familiarity with the forest I had just entered. Although its misty air and looming trees looked like virtually any other assortment of Upside Down vegetation, something about this strip of land felt comforting. Redbone began to bark, throwing himself forward and darting suddenly into uncharted territory. I gasped, yelling after him as I chased him down. Though, my screams would be distorted in sound, fading in and out with every tree that I passed. I could barely keep up with his unstoppable speed, and within moments. I had lost him. There was dead silence again as I spun my body around and around in attempt to locate him. I failed, miserably, until I heard his faithful bark again. Despite the sound echoing in virtually every direction, a gut-feeling lead me straight to his location. He continued to bark, even as I approached him. He was standing at the edge of a mountain. Any step closer and he would have fallen overboard. I slowed my tracks, looking around me as that same feeling of familiarity consumed me. I knew this place. I didn't recognize it, but I knew that I knew it. I knew that at one time long ago, I would have recognized it. But I couldn't pin point, I couldn't see it. Redbone continued to pant, a sort of display of panic I had rarely seen in him. It was a strange mix of excitement, and fear. The sort of emotion you would expect from a human, not an animal. He crept the edge more and more, his front paws grasping as the crumbling rocks that fell from the side. He barked again, urging me to come closer. I did as he wanted, taking another step forward before my head loomed just enough over the crater to see what was below. Feeling short of breath, it was as if the entire world stopped moving but my mind was still spinning. I was thrown into another vision, but this time, it was no connection to the present-world, but from the past. I was lodged into my own memory. As I looked over the edge to the ocean of black goo hundreds of feet below me, it suddenly came to me. This was no ordinary forest this was Mirkwood. This was not just any lake, it was the lake. We were in Hawkins. We were home. Bark. Bark. Bark. Howl. Those were the last sounds I could hear before launching myself over the cliff. Leaving everything in Upside Down behind as my feet left the shadow's Earth for the last time, my body soared over the precipice as I fell for my inevitable death. There was nothing but darkness below me, and even with a bed of blackness that reflected water in real-time Hawkins, I had virtually no guarantee that emerging myself in the equidistant slime would allow me enough strength to open another portal. The jump was suicide. Nothing that went over the cliff ever came back out. But despite that fact, I no longer had anything to lose. I could accept an eternity in Upside Down, or I could push myself past my limits and take the chance. Hope was a dangerous instance of emotion, but I relied on that feeling more than anything else in this turmoil world. It took just seconds for me to reach the bottom, a large pool of black fluid. I hit the water hard the strike taking all of the wind from me on impact. I had never felt physical pain in Upside Down, not until today. As if every bone in my body had broken, I was limp in the water. The black goo came to life upon impact, like my presence had initiated an awakening. It grabbed me with its slimy strings clawing at my figure and swallowing me whole. It pulled me deeper and deeper into it, my entire body now submerged in black. Within moments, the breath I had left in my lungs had parted I could not hold it anymore. I gasped, but nothing but slime was sucked into my mouth. I swallowed the toxic content, my body now launched into a full blown panic as I began to drown. Becoming surrounded by flashing memories of past and present, I was flooded with emotions. Among the black's suffocating hold, I became deprived of all of my senses. Silence. Darkness. Nothing more. The compressions kick-started my heart, while the air forced the fluid in my lungs to exudate from my mouth. In just a few moments, I erupted from my momentary coma. My body suddenly jerked upwards, rising like a demon amid an exorcism. It was almost paranormal, the way my back arched and my head rolled back. But even in this contorted position, slime began spewing from my mouth. In came in outstanding quantity, cascading out of me like a waterfall. As the fluid ceased just seconds into spilling, I whipped my body to the side, nearly jutting over your husky frame. Instinctively rolling over, my hand grasped your shoulder with extraordinary force using you as a crutch as my other hand held me above the muddy grounds. I took a loud, demonic gasp before heaving once more. My stomach steeply depressed, causing me to hurl violently into the puddle below me. After all the contents of my stomach exited my body, I took a deep, raucous breath. The sound of my first gasp of air was not only triumphant, but slightly disturbing. It sounded as if I had not breathed air in days, months, even years. I remained in a near fetal position in front of you, my hand somehow holding on to yours. During the expulsion of the remnants of Upside Down from my body, I had somehow managed to slide my hand down your arm to interlock it with your own hand. The rain continued to pour over us, washing away all of the muck I had carried with me in the descent. Despite my heart beating and my lungs breathing, it was not enough to keep my knees from buckling. My entire body trembled fiercely, the sort of violent shaking one would expect from hypothermia. Though, my skin was flaming to the touch. My skin was no longer fleshy in colour. It was not a standard tan, or pale white. With Upside Down completely void of sunlight, my skin had dulled to a gray undertone. My body still in complete shock, my muscles ceased and I collapsed on to you. My backside sunk against your front, melting into your arms as I curled myself into you. Clenching on to the uniform that made you Chief, my eyes finally opened. My chest inflated and collapsed back and forth, trying desperately to breathe while I became overwhelmed with emotion. For a moment I lay speechless, taking in the feeling of rain beating soothingly on my face. Another flash of lightning lit up the sky around us. I blinked several times, having to flicker my eyelids in order to clear the water around my eyes. My eyes opened a little more with every flutter, finally widening enough for you to see my dark browns had lifted to a hazel color, with soft olive green speckled around the pupils. I opened my mouth, as if to speak again, but the sound of roaring thunder interrupted my thoughts. The slime had swiftly deteriorated, the pouring rain having washed away all of its thick, goo-ridden texture. I lay in your arms, but an exposed woman now, not some alternate creature. Over a full foot shorter than your tall brutish form, my petite figure cherished the comfort of your big embrace. Completely buck naked, the only decency covering my body was the dark of the night and the mass of my chocolate brown, aberrant hair over 3 feet in length. Although high in volume, the hair was soaked through, shriveling its size. Barely enough to cover my bare breasts, their lush breadth was enough to confirm a complete maturation. I was no longer the little girl from November of last year. In just the six months that had elapsed, I had blossomed into a svelte young woman. Jim ... My voice just a whimper as I tried to inhale enough air to even squeeze a voice out of my lungs. I- I exhaled, my tongue bating against the back of my throat as my esophagus found the strength to speak. I'm Home . Little did either of us know, in just short of an hours time, the phone in James Jim Hopper's home would ring. It would be Joyce Byers in near hysterics calling from the hospital. Will would have had a grand mal seizure, and he would be comatose .