Chapter Forty-Five: The Arcade

(MADMAX, Pt. 2)

***

Rowan was sitting on her bed, reading Carrie again and listening to Joan Jett's new album, when she was rudely interrupted by the slam of her door.

Jerked out of the reading zone, Rowan shouted, "Al! What the hell?!"

"Sorry Rowan, but I need to borrow some quarters for the arcade!" Alistair yelled as he ran to her desk and pulled out the top drawer, where she kept her hard-earned money from helping Aunt Aco in her schemes in a sock.

"Why the hell do you need my money?" Rowan demanded as she pulled off her headphones and turned off her music. "Don't you have enough from cleaning the windows of all the trailers this past summer?"

"Not enough!" Alistair yelled as he grabbed a couple of quarters. 

"Put those back! I earned that money!"

"I promise I'll pay you back!"

"Hey!" Rowan yelled as her brother darted out of the room. "Give it back, Alistair! I'm gonna kill you!"

"I'LL PAY YOU BACK!" Alistair shouted as he sprinted down the corridor and to the door, flinging it wide open as he ran for his bike.

"YOU BETTER!" Rowan screeched as she stood in the doorway. "And say hi to the other gremlins for me!"

"Sure!" Alistair yelled as he led his bike behind the trailer to Kerley and began biking to the arcade.

Rowan watched her brother's retreating back as she sighed in frustration.

"He better pay my damn money back," Rowan muttered darkly as she slammed the door close.

Aunt Aco chuckled from where she was sitting on the couch, a glass of red wine in her hand. "Ah, siblings. I remember when Percy and Quinn used to steal your mom's money for the carnival games when the fair was in town. She threatened to plunge their rooms into eternal darkness if they didn't pay her back."

"Let me guess. You stole my mom's money for the fair as well?" Rowan asked with an arched brow.

"Yes, but not for the games. I used that money to scam the con artists that rigged the games right back at them."

"Of course you did," Rowan muttered with a smile.

"It runs in the family, kid. You're just unlucky enough to be the sibling who's money's been stolen from," Aunt Aco said in a tone that Rowan supposed was meant to be consoling.

"Wow. Very reassuring," Rowan snarked as she made to head back for her room.

"Hey, kid. You did your homework, right?" Aunt Aco asked.

"Yep!" Rowan answered.

Her aunt raised a skeptical brow. "Really? You're not bullshitting me right now?"

"Nope. I finished it all, promise," Rowan assured, smiling.

Aco stared at her suspiciously, before she shrugged. "Okay. But if you didn't, that's on you, kid. And if you didn't, remember, if you have to copy—"

"Don't make it look obvious and tweak it so that it looks like my own," Rowan finished, the response automatic now. "I know, Aunt Aco."

Aunt Aco smiled, pride in her face. "That's my girl."

Rowan smiled, then turned and went inside her room, and immediately got back to reading and restarted her music.

She hadn't been lying; she had done her homework, and it was in her bag, ready for tomorrow. Plus, she'd also spent an hour on studying for the upcoming Chemistry test—ignoring the twinge of pain at remembering her Chemistry partner was not Barb anymore but someone else—and felt pretty confident in it and that she should reward herself with some reading and music.

As Rowan got herself reacquainted with Stephen King's best work—Firestarter, The Shining, 'Salem's Lot and his new book that came out last year, Pet Semetary, were closely tied for second—she thought of her brother, of Mike, Lucas and Dustin. Of Will. All five of them deserved to have a nice time at the arcade—even though she would murder Alistair if he didn't pay her back—after all the shit they went through last year, especially Will. The sweet, shy boy deserved to have a fun time with his friends, to put the horror and trauma of last year behind him and heal.

Deserved to have his episodes stop instead of have them constantly remind him of all the shit he went through in the Upside Down.

They all deserved to move on.

Not like it's gonna get easier these next couple of weeks, Rowan thought grimly. If she was counting the days correctly, then November 6, the day everything had went to shit, was only eight days away. She wouldn't be surprised if Will's episodes got worse these next few days the closer it got to that date. Honestly, the only good things that had come out of that horrific week were her, Nancy and Jonathan growing closer, her and Alistair finally able to use their powers (in private, of course) without being paranoid of Brenner taking them away, and Steve turning out to not be such an asshole, but still, Rowan would have much preferred if the Demogorgon hadn't taken Will away at all.

If it didn't, then Barb would still be alive. El would still be alive.

Guilt swarmed in Rowan's stomach, spreading through her system like a virus, infecting her with the memories of Barb's last moments, of the what-ifs of what she could have, should have, done, that she should have been stronger and faster and not so damn afraid.

Stop with the what-ifs, Graveswood, Rowan told herself as she forcibly shook her head. It happened. Barb's dead. El's dead. You can't change it. You have to live with it. You have to live with it.

Still, the guilt didn't fade after a long, long time, and only when Rowan had yawned for the fiftieth time and reread the same lines three times over did she decide to concede to the sleep weighing her down.

Sleep was somewhat easier now—with El being... gone and no one in the Upside Down, Rowan wasn't dream-walking into the telekinetic girl's memories and into that terrifying dimension. And with Brenner being gone, may he forever rest in hell, the nightmare of being taken away and experimented and tortured and turned into a weapon was also gone. The only nightmares that greeted her in her sleep was the ones borne from her guilt, and that nightmare of the massacre, of blood-streaked walls and maimed bodies in hospital gowns on the floor.

Still, Rowan felt hesitant to close her eyes, as if...

As if when she fell asleep, she would see something horrifying that she had only seen last year, when all the Upside Down shit had been happening.

I won't, Rowan told herself as she waved a hand and her lamp switched off, veins flaring blue before dying away and she closed her eyes. That shit is finished now. No one's in the Upside Down. Everyone is safe.

Everyone's safe.

That was, until she opened her eyes again and saw a hauntingly familiar landscape.

***

Alistair winced in sympathy as Dustin lost to the Dragon's Den after a valiant attempt at it that had Alistair believe his friend was going to beat the game, his other friends groaning in sympathy as his fellow curly-haired friend kicked the machine and yelled, "No, no, NO! I hate this overpriced bullshit! Son of a bitch! Piece of shit!"

"You're just not nimble enough," Lucas said, tone almost sympathetic, before he grinned. "You'll get there one day. But until then, Princess Daphne is still mine."

Said animated princess giggled and Alistair rolled his eyes; while he usually had faith in Lucas, if Dustin, the arcade king, couldn't manage to win at Dragon's Den, what hope did Lucas had in succeeding?

Said arcade king sighed and said, "You know, whatever. I'm still tops on Centipede and Dig Dug."

"You sure about that?" another voice said.

The five boys turned to see the seemingly only employee at the arcade—and apparently the owner of the video store next to the arcade—standing there, eating Cheetos; Keith, Alistair remembered his name was.

"Sure about what?" Dustin asked.

Keith didn't say anything, but he didn't need to as horrified realisation dawned on Dustin's face.

"You're kidding me," he breathed, before he began running to the Centipede and Dig Dug games as he muttered, "No, no, no, no."

Alistair followed, alongside Mike, Lucas and Will as Dustin yelled, "Move! Move!" before he arrived at Centipede.

"No, no, no, no," he said as he looked at the scores, then whirled to see the Dig Dug scores as he yelled, "Hey, no! No! No!", Alistair, Will, Mike and Lucas crowding around him.

Alistair's eyes bugged out of his skull as he saw who held the position of top score now as Will exclaimed, "Seventy fifty-one thousand three hundred points?!"

"That's impossible," Mike muttered as Alistair stared at the name beside the points: MADMAX.

"Who's 'MADMAX'?" Dustin demanded at Keith as the other four whirled to face the acne-riddled teen, just as eager to know.

"Better than you," Keith responded with a smirk.

As Dustin flipped him the bird and Alistair rolled his eyes at the unhelpful and mocking words, Will guessed, "Is it you?"

"You know I despise Dig Dug," came the immediate response.

"He's right. He hates all the games here," Alistair muttered as he crossed his arms; for a guy who worked in an arcade, Keith didn't really like any of the games in it. The curly-haired younger teen honestly believed Keith worked here for the arcade snacks.

"Then who is it?" Lucas inquired, Dustin following up with, "Yeah, spill it, Keith."

"You want information... then I need something in return," Keith said as he ate a Cheeto, and Alistair immediately realised what Keith wanted as the older teen looked straight at Mike.

His friends seemed to follow his line of thinking as they looked at Mike too, who immediately said, "No, no, no. No way! You're not getting a date with her."

"Mike, come on, just get him the date," Lucas said, obviously playing the devil's advocate in getting the information Keith was guarding as jealously as the dragon did in Dragon's Den.

"I'm not prostituting my sister!"

"But it's for a good cause," Lucas tried to reason.

"No!"

Lucas then turned to Alistair, who immediately said, "Rowan would murder him."

Lucas stared at Alistair, then agreed, "Yeah, she would."

"No, Mike and Al, don't get him a date for either Nancy or Rowan. Know what? He's gonna spread his nasty-ass rash to your whole families," Dustin said, to which Keith immediately took offence to it.

"Acne isn't a rash and it isn't contagious, you prepubescent wastoid!"

"Oh, I'm a wastoid? Nancy or Rowan wouldn't go on a date with you anyway. You make, like, what? Two dollars fifty an hour?" Dustin retorted.

Keith scoffed and sniped, "Nice perm."

"Oh, you're gonna make fun of my hair?" Dustin asked, sarcasm dripping from every word, and as his friends argued with Keith, Alistair rolled his eyes and turned to Will.

"Hey Will, you wanna play Pac-Man?" he asked, but froze when he saw Will wasn't there. 

 Panic sparked in his brain, flooding throughout his body as his head whipped back and forth, trying to look for their missing fifth member.

Where's Will?

***

Rowan sucked in a breath as her heart rate galloped inside her chest, as she saw the dark sky that boomed lurid crimson, the scarlet lightning and frequency of this hellish place making her blue-white electricity revolt inside her, the crumbling road and decrepit arcade sign, the vines crawling across the ground.

The Upside Down.

"No," she whispered as she stared in horror, hugging herself. "No, no, no."

She was back in the Upside Down, had dream-walked into it again. 

And she wanted nothing more than to wake up.

Rowan slapped herself in the face, only to still see the gloomy sky and ashy flakes. She slapped herself again.

"Come on!" she screamed. "Come on, wake up! Fucking WAKE UP!"

But she didn't. She was still stuck in the Upside Down.

At least I don't feel present, Rowan consoled herself; she could feel more than see that her body was hazy and not quite there, like she was a ghost. Still, being a spectator didn't stop the cold fear coiling around her spine, the urge to wake up and get the fuck out of here.

A clash of thunder roared, making Rowan jump out of her skin and spew expletives that would make a judgemental Christian drop dead from horror. When she got her heartbeat under control—though still too fast, given she had dream-walked back into the hell-dimension again—Rowan turned on her heel to see who the fuck was trapped here and therefore dragged her back into the place she very much rather not be in when she saw him and all her anger dissipated into pity.

Will.

This was an episode.

"Will," Rowan murmured, then smacked herself when she remembered that Will couldn't hear her or see her. Still, Rowan wanted to march up to the boy and hug him, especially when she saw the confusion and fear on his face, his face reminding her of how young he was, too young to have to endure a week in literal hell running from monsters and then experience episodes like this even a fucking year after.

However, because Rowan was watching Will, she saw as the confusion bled out and terror overtook his face, the whites of his eyes nearly swallowing up his irises as he stared at something in naked fear, trembling.

What— Rowan began to think as confusion took over her before she heard a rumble. She turned to see what had caused it, thinking it was the perpetual storm.

What she saw had everything inside her freeze up.

It was a black cloud, amorphous and shifting like shadows, yet it held a looming presence in this world, a presence that radiated malevolence and cruelty.

A presence that Rowan knew, deep in her bones, had seen Will.

"Will!" she shouted uselessly, but the boy was frozen, staring at the cloud as it began shifting into... something, its surface rippling and scattering before reforming, and as she watched she felt her heart pound inside her chest, faster and faster, reminding herself, I'm not here it can't see me I'm a spectator I'm not here I'm not here!

But then, a part of the cloud that Rowan felt could be its head turned in her direction and Rowan felt her pulse spike as fear drowned her, locking up her throat as electricity sparked along her skin and—

***

"Will!"

The boy jumped, gasping as he whirled and saw Alistair, eyes wide as he stared at Alistair, fear stark on his face.

Alistair's concern grew. What had Will seen?

"Will, are you okay?" Mike asked from beside Alistair, voice frantic. He, along with Alistair, had noticed Will disappear as well and found him outside the arcade, staring into nothing. Obviously going through another episode.

"Y-yeah, I just..." Will stammered as he looked back, before turning back to them. "I needed some air."

Alistair frowned. Did Will just... lie to them?

Mike didn't look convinced, but he only said, "Come on. You're up on Dig Dug. Let's take that top score back."

Will nodded, but before he could follow after Mike, Alistair grabbed his arm, the other boy turning to him.

"Hey, you sure you're okay?" Alistair asked. "You looked really scared."

"I'm fine, Al," Will murmured. "Promise."

Alistair wasn't convinced, but he decided to not push it.

"Come on. Mike's right; let's take that top score back together," Alistair said with a grin that Will returned with the ghost of one. Together, the two boys headed back inside to reclaim the top score from the mysterious Madmax.

Though Alistair couldn't dispel his worry over what Will had seen, that it had been really bad.

He didn't know how right he was.

***

Rowan woke up with a scream lodged in her throat. 

Her skin was clammy with a cold sweat, hair sticking to her forehead and neck. Her Mötley Crue shirt was plastered to her trembling body and her pulse raced inside her veins, racing alongside with the lightning crackling inside her body, faint sparks skittering against her skin, her chest heaving with shallow breaths and her heartbeat like thunder in her ears, icy fear still clinging to her.

Panting, Rowan felt the last remnants of her "nightmare" fade with reluctance as she looked around her room and saw no crawling vines, no ashy flakes, no rot on the walls, felt no wrong frequency grating against hers, before she buried her face in her hands, sparks dying and heartbeat settling back to its normal rhythm. 

But she couldn't erase the cloud from her head, the dark presence it had, full of such malice and evil.

And Will...

Rowan gulped. God, she had no idea that was what the young boy was seeing. She knew it was bad and heavily traumatic, but not this bad. No wonder he looked terrified after an episode. 

And Rowan had dream-walked into one.

Rowan shivered. 

But even through her fear, confusion was still in her, and she only had two questions in her head.

What the hell was that cloud-thing?

And why was it in Will's episode?

***

Heheheheh now we're getting into the episodes!! (and the plot...)

Yes, I took some inspo from the Nancy and Mike scene (except more angry because 1. these kids are kinda poor and 2. Rowan is shocked and angry that Alistair took her money because he HAD money from working all summer, why would he take HERS)

And yeah, Rowan's still feeling a LOT of guilt over Barb and El :( 

Yes, Rowan dream-walked into Will's "episode"! Except, since Will's technically not in the Upside Down, she's only a spectator... but that doesn't stop her from being scared out of her mind of being somewhat back there. Or when she saw the Mind Flayer...

Also... THANK YOU FOR 1K READS!!! I am still so stunned it's gotten there!!! Thank you all so so much!! <33333

Anyway, next chapter will be soon! And introduce the new characters at last!! I hope you enjoyed!

Please read, comment and vote!

GhostWriterGirl out!