Time seemed to move a mix between quicker and slower than normal. You, somehow noticed it but brushed it off thinking you were stressed or something similar, ‘cause, well… time goes faster when you have fun, right?

When, recently, going to sleep at night, you dreamt of nothing, which — granted, can happen. But, when saying “dreamt of nothing” people normally mean just… not remembering what they dreamt of. You dreamt, just of nothing, you DID dream, you CAN remember it. It was just the same black void, each time.

And then, after you thought about the “no-dream dreams” for a second too long, you started seeing … ‘cracks’. Subtle things, random objects being the wrong colour, wrong shape, or just… not there? You saw the sky literally crack, but… then you blink and, it’s like it never happened. Could just be stress, that’s what you tell the others, and sure, — you’ve been stressed — with the bittersweet sacrifice of someone you’ve grown close too and the thankful closing of the ‘Upside Down’-

… There. THERE it is, it’s EVERY time you even THINK about that dimension you FEEL something. You feel IT. Like a, sickly slimy sensation around your lips, always leaving when you stop thinking about anything remotely related to the Upside Down. A voice in your head — seemingly clearer than the rest of whatever lurks in there — always reminds you “it’s over” whenever the thoughts (and slimy feeling) starts, but… it seems off. The voice sounds distant? Like it’s acting like it’s YOUR voice but is coming from somewhere else, like an OUTSIDE — and not internal — voice?

Every touch ends up with …nothing. Trying to rub away the slimy sensation? It still feels like it’s there but there’s nothing on your hands and that voice becomes louder. Like it’s something ELSE trying to convince you? You can’t explain it, but you have never felt there was something SO wrong before.

And then, you noticed more and more, the colour of the thing that sparks electricity up the tower behind the WSQK station? It’s… a dark grey but, when you turn your back and then turn back around, it’s red. Will’s coming out — even if Vecna was going to use his sexuality against him? Wholesome and it shows he trusts the group enough to tell how he really feels, but… ‘Melvards’ is a…general store, doesn’t DO milkshakes, right, hasn’t done milkshakes in YEARS? “Getting lost in the woods”, wasn’t he sensitive about that, since… well, everyone THOUGHT he did? El’s nose NEVER bled — when thinking back on that moment, Mike said “El let him into her mind” ? — whenever she uses ANY of her powers, her nose ALWAYS bleeds, no matter HOW much or how LITTLE power was used. Looking closer, her lab tattoo was just …gone? And- the objects that were scattered around the military portal to the Upside Down, the ones that somehow would NOT let El use her powers? How did she use her powers to let him into her mind? It just … did NOT add up.

Your only idea is, it’s… your mind is blank? Why is it blank? The amount of voices that were there JUST a second ago, gone? You can’t THINK of anything no matter how hard you try, how hard you WANT too, silence. An eerie dull silence, like you have been STOPPED from thinking about anything entirely.

… The NEW feeling of a slimy blanket around you, your arms stuck by your sides even if they ‘physically’ aren’t by your sides? The… there it is again, that gross slime feeling around your mouth, and … when did you shut your eyes and WHY does it feel like you were dreaming? Not a “non-dream dream”, the whole closing the Upside Down, the whole El sacrificing herself, the whole …LIFE you have made AFTER everything … feels too perfect.

You wake up. Properly. ACTUALLY woken up. For a SECOND you think you’re having a nightmare, sure, after a traumatic event such as the Upside Down, it’s VERY possible, but. You haven’t dreamt in AGES, remember? Opening your eyes … the group, YOUR group, strapped by a black coating to some kind of fleshy wall, vines from the Upside Down in their mouths, all ‘asleep’…

… You have never felt SO awake.