everything is not okay

✧

usually full of people regretting how they've spent their last day of the weekend doing nothing, and then, the next day was Monday, and they'd have to wait six days until they can try again to enjoy their Sunday, only for them to waste it, again.

But in Hawkin's Indiana, there were three kids and a teenager, hiding in an old school bus while waiting for a monster to show. And not so far away, there were three other kids and two adults. They sat around in a hospital room, waiting for the chief of police and the doctor to come back from sending soldiers in dangerous tunnels to burn it down after a thirteen-year-old possessed boy had told them to.

"I always feel like somebody's watchin' me . . . and I have no privacy!"

Rue bopped her head to the song by Rockwell and Michael Jackson that blasted in her ears, blocking out any other sound in the room. Her lips sync to the lyrics, using two fingers as drums on her lap.

"I always feel like somebody's watchin' me . . . tell me is it just a dream?"

Rue was in her best mood with the beat of the rock song, pulling her away from all her worries. Sure, she may look a little crazy as she danced to herself in a chair. But who cares?

"I always feel like somebody's watchin' me (Hee-hee-hee!) And I have no priv - "

Her headphones were pulled away, and she turned her head at Mike Wheeler, who had an incredibly annoyed look on his freckled face.

"What the Hell?" she scoffed, feeling her good mood bubbling away.

"I've been trying to talk to you."

"Go talk to a wall," she went to grab her headphones, only for Mike to move his hand away, leaning back on the chair so she wouldn't reach. "What's your problem?"

"You're my problem."

"I didn't even do anything!"

"Exactly!"

"Are you hearing yourself?"

"Are you hearing yourself?" He snapped back before sighing. "I want to have a conversation without arguing."

From what Rue knew, she expected Mike to ignore her the whole time. She watched as Mike gingerly gave her her headphones back.

"You look nothing like your dad, now that I see you two together," he said.

She furrowed her eyebrows at the comment that came out of the blue. "I look more like my mom," she told him.

The boy nodded, and they fell into silence for a few seconds before Mike spoke up again, his voice a lot softer than it would usually be around her. "Rue?"

"Yeah, Mike?"

"Why is there a "two" on your back? Did you choose it or did it just come with the jersey? And why is it written 002?" he asked.

Rue tilted her head in confusion, "What?" she muttered, "why are you- why are you asking this?"

"I'm bored," he huffed, leaning back on the chair before sitting back up. "We've been here all day."

The girl blinked a few times before answering, "I chose it."

"Why?" He leaned closer as if he's heard the most interesting thing in the world.

Rue let out a small snort at his action before shaking her head, "It's a long story,"

"I have time."

Rue sighed, thinking back to her mom, "Okay, fine," she smiled, shifting so she could face Mike better, "My mom had this tattoo on her wrist — it was a double o and then a two at the end — like on my jersey — "

"Why did she have that tattoo?"

"Oh, I don't know . . . she never really told me why she got it. But by the look of her eye, it meant something to her and it was a big part of her life. She only told me she got it back in her crazy teenage years before she met my dad — and then — I don't know," she shrugged, "The number kind of stuck with me ever since I laid eyes on it."

Mike listened to every word intensely. "Right, and you don't know how she got it?"

"No,"

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, Mike, I'm pretty sure. Do you want to ask her yourself or something?"

He cringed, shaking his head.

Mike leaned closer, so no one else would hear what he had to say. If someone did, they would take Rue to another room to do tests on if she was blood-related to a test subject from the lab. But that was if he was correct.

"Could your mom do things?" he whispered, "could she do strange things?"

"What?"

"Answer my question."

"I — I don't know — " she stammered, leaning away from him. "Why does it matter?"

"I just want to make sure."

Rue stared at his brown eyes, which were filled with curiosity as he talked low. She wondered if she should tell him about the paranormal activities that happened to her after the crash, even during it. "Well . . . " she started, her mind thinking back to all the times she spent with her mother.

A sad smile crawled on her face as she saw her mother's beautiful face in her mind. Rue bit her tongue and tried not to cry, and that was when she realized she's never taken the time to mourn for her mom. God, she missed her.

Suddenly, she remembered the way things casually floated around the house, or how her mom always knew what Rue was thinking before she said it, or those conversations they'd have without even having to physically speak to each other. And then, the nosebleeds they'd both get every once in a while.

Her lips parted, and she looked back at Mike, who stared at her expectantly. "My mom, she — she —" she blinked, thinking about what she about to say, "She— she— she was . . . different,"

"Different?"

"Yes."

"How?"

"I — she," her lips quivered, and Rue looked down at the tiled floor. Why was this so hard? Why was it so hard to talk about it all of a sudden? It wasn't hard telling Max, or her dad, or Jonathan. Why couldn't she spit it out?

Will suddenly started to stammer, choking up in sobs. "I'm sorry," he cried, making Joyce sit up from cuddling with Bob and lean closer to her son.

"What? What do you mean, sweetie?" Joyce asked.

Will turned his head towards her, his lips quivering, "He made me do it."

"Who? Who made you do what?"

"I told you," Will said through gritted teeth. "They upset him. They shouldn't have done that, they shouldn't have upset him."

Joyce started to shake at her son's words, her mouth was ajar, and Mike's eyes widened in fear. "The spy," he said. "The spy!" he repeated, running out of his seat and down the hall.

Rue could hear him scream at the guards, and her dad ran out to get him.

Rue stood up and walked closer to Will, watching as he cried.

"Will — talk to me, you gotta help me understand." Joyce started to grip Will's shoulders.

"It's too late. We should go — now!" He hissed.

Rue jumped when Will grabbed her wrist, pulling her down to him. "They're almost here," he murmured, looking straight at her with want in his dark eyes. "They're almost here, and they're gonna get us."

His words were saying one thing, but the Whisper in her head was telling her he was attempting to warn her. Rue couldn't grasp it, though. Something else was blocking her from doing so.

Abruptly, alarms started to go off. "We're too late!" Mike screamed from the hall before he burst into the room with Bob right behind him.

"What's going on?!" Joyce started as Rue kept looking at will, trying to understand what he was telling her.

"He knows — the gate — about you — you're in danger — close the — leave — gate — he knows — " was all she could make out.

"We're under attack." Mike exclaimed.

Will's grip was getting tighter, hurting Rue. His pupils dilated, then going back to normal, making her skin crawl.

"We need to put Will asleep." Mike said.

Will didn't seem to like that idea as he let go of Rue's arm and began to scream.

Her eyes widened, and she ran off to grab her bag and bat. Then, watching as Mike and Will yelled at each other before loud PANGS echoed from the hallway outside.

"Those are gunshots!" Bob shouted, running over to pull Rue closer to him, and Joyce held a screaming Will down on the bed.

"Will! Will! Listen do you know who I am!?" she asked, only for her boy to stare. "Do you know who I am?!"

Will sat there staring at her for several seconds before answering. "You're — you're mom!"

Rue's heart was pounding in her ears, and she shook in fear as the gunshots continued.

Joyce pursed her lips before looking at Bob. "Hold him down." He nodded, moving closer to the boy who started to kick under his grip.

"No! No!" Will shrieked when Joyce got closer to him with the needle. "Let me go! Let me go!" He started to scream. Mike and Rue watched with wide eyes at everything that happened before them.

Will began to calm down then went limp in Bob's arms. Jim and Dr. Owens burst into the room, out of breath.

Growling came from the halls. Hopper turned around to see and Rue peeking her head out, watching as the door started to fall apart. Adrenaline flood's her system. It pumps and beats like it's trying to escape. "What the fu—"

"We gotta go! We gotta go," Jim said, rushing over to grab Will.

Rue felt like her heart was going to explode, and she felt the paralyzing hurt spread through her body. She needs to move. Rue needs to run with everyone else. But watching as the holes on the door started to grow, she froze with fear at whatever was behind it.

"Rue, come on, let's go," Bob wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her away.

Everyone was running down the other hall. Yellow emergency lights flashing on and off as they all stumbled through the corridor. Rue was tripping over her feet, still trying to process everything that was happening.

Jim Hopper, who was in front of everyone, suddenly stopped. Loud gunshots made her whip her head around, one of the soldiers from the halls shooting at something. Just before she could see what it was, Bob pulled her into the room everyone else ran into, which happened to be the security room.

"Oh my god," he said.

Rue turned around to see what he was talking about. Around ten security camera monitors showed dogs roaming around the halls, pools of blood at every corner, doctors, soldiers and scientists on the floor, either dead or slowly dying.

Her hands shot up to her mouth, and she looked away, "I think I'm gonna be sick,"

"What the hell are those?" Bob asked.

The lights flickered for a few seconds before everything shut off. Rue's breath hitched as all power of the lab shut down.

（ ₊˚. ✰┊📼 ! ）

"Look — this is us, and this is the nearest exit." Dr. Owens said, pointing at the blueprints of the building. "But even if we somehow make it there, there's no way out."

Rue stood in the back of the room, next to Will's sleeping body. She bit on her nails in anticipation, only for her to stop when she realized they were painted with sky blue polish. Rue frowned, remembering the girl who painted them. She wondered what Max could be doing, maybe laying in bed watching T.V. Rue wished they hadn't separated the way they did.

She felt horrible for lashing out at her a few days ago. Rue wished she could go back in time and stop herself from doing so. She wished she could stop herself and her dad check on the Byers or agreeing to play along to the stupid scavenger hunt.

She wanted to get the hell out of this place, but first, she wanted to know what was happening. She felt like she was the only one who didn't know what they were dealing with.

"The locks are fail-secure." Dr. Owens said to Hopper.

"Fail secure?" Joyce spoke up for the first time in a while.

Rue stepped up from the back, standing next to her dad, who stood with the chief police and the doctor. "It means if there's a power outage, the building goes on full lockdown," she said, "right, dad?"

"Yeah, you're right," he smiled.

"Can it be unlocked remotely?" Hopper asked, pulling his eyes away from the father and daughter.

Dr. Owens sighed, shaking his head. "With a computer sure, but somebody's gotta reset the beakers."

"Where are the breakers?" Jim asked, standing straighter from leaning on the table.

"The basement, three floors down," Owens said.

Hopper turned around, grabbing his gun about to walk out before Bob stopped him.

"Hey, where are you going?"

"To reset the breakers," Hopper shrugged.

"Okay," Bob laughed, "then what?"

"Then we get the Hell out of here!"

"No, then the power comes back on," Bob said, "If you wanna unlock the doors, you have to completely reboot the computer system. Then override the security codes with manual input,"

"Fine, how do I do that?"

Rue leaned on her bat, "You need to know BASIC, I think,"

Jim ran his hands down his face, "I don't know what that means," He groaned, sick of the Newby's using words he clearly didn't understand.

"It's a computer programming language," Mike spoke up.

"Alright, teach it to me."

Bob scoffed, "Shall I teach you French while I'm at it, Jim? A little German?" he sarcastically spoke, then turning around. "How bout you doc? Do you speak BASIC?"

Dr. Owens opened his mouth, then closed it, and he sighed, "No."

"Fine, I'll do it myself."

Rue's eyes widened, and she looked up at Bob, "No, you won't!"

Bob smiled softly, not questioning the way she had responded to his thought, "I got this," he breathed, then looking up at Hopper, "I got this."

"Bob, no," Joyce said, moving up to him, wrapping her arms around him.

"It's okay," he said, gripping her tightly. He pulled Rue into the hug, "It's gonna be okay," he whispered to the two girls. "Remember, Bob Newby, superhero," he muttered to them, making them both chuckle sadly.

Rue's eyes stung as tears filled them, "I'm going with you," she spoke confidently, making her dad shake his head.

"Uh — no you're not," Mike said, walking closer to her. "No you're not." he repeated when she gave him a: yes I am, look.

"Don't tell me what to do."

"Rue — " Bob started agreeing with Mike, "Rue, you're not coming," he said from behind her, making the girl turn around.

She felt like the air had been punched out of her lungs, "I'm not letting you go out there with those things alone!"

Bob smirked sincerely at her, cupping her cheeks. "Ruth," he sighed, wiping away the tears that slipped down her freckled cheeks. "I'll be fine," he reassured, then placing a kiss on her forehead. "Cross my heart."

Rue trapped her lower lip between her teeth. Swallowing thickly, she nodded, "Cross my heart."

Bob kissed her forehead again before walking out of the room with Hopper.

She ran a hand through her hair in distress. She couldn't believe that her dad was willing to go out there. Her mind raced with possible ways of him getting killed. She wasn't ready to lose another loved one. He was her last one. He was her last piece of Family.

She slowly moved to the back of the room where Will was, trying to calm herself down as her sight became blurry with tears. Rue wiped them away with the back of her hands when Hopper walked back into the room with a walkie at hand.

Seconds turned into minutes. And Rue felt as if her heart was going to break her rib cage from how hard it was beating. Her nails were digging into the palm of her hands, and she noticed how her feet trembled.

Joyce walked up to her. She hesitated for a moment before engulfing her with a warm hug. "He'll be okay," she passed her hand on Rue's head, then playing with her short hair. "He'll be okay."

Rue and Joyce broke apart from their hug as the lights started to flicker then turning back on. Everyone moved over towards the monitors to see if they could find Bob.

"He made it," Mike breathed, a smile crawling to his lips as he turned around towards Rue, who had a hopeful smile.

"Okay, Bob, can you hear us?" Dr. Owens started to talk into a microphone.

"Loud and clear, doc," Rue heard her dad's voice, making her let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. She rushed closer to the monitors as if her life depended on it, gripping the table as she watched her dad use the computers. "Open sesame," Bob's voice blared through the speaker, then a buzzing noise boomed from outside the room.

"Son of a bitch it did!" Hopper cheered.

"Alright, I'll meet you outside," Bob said.

Dr. Owens told him to stop, "Wait, hold on. West stairwell isn't clear anymore."

The words echoed through Rue's head. She saw one of those dogs roaming around the stairway her dad needs to use. She watched as he went back to the computer.

"What the hell is he doing?" Dr. Owens muttered. The sprinklers started to go off by another hall, grabbing the monster's attention, and it ran off. "Okay? Okay! That worked!" Owens grinned. "Now, get out of there," he yelled into the mic, "Go, go!"

Everyone in the room started to move around, getting ready to run. Yet Rue still had second thoughts, crewing on her lip, she fidgeted with her bat. Mike noticed and walked up to her, nudging her shoulder, "You're gonna be okay," he told her. But, it wasn't herself she was worried about.

Hopper walked out of the room first, gun and Will at hand. Then Mike, Rue and Joyce. Rue tightened the straps on her bag, then lifted her bat, ready to hit anything that came near her and beat it to death.

Once the four finally made it to the lobby. Hopper and Mike ran outside, while Rue and Joyce lingered inside by the front doors.

Rue's jaw became tight, and the longer she waited, the more she worried.

"Come on, Bob," Joyce mumbled from behind her.

Fire in the form of water stung Rue's eyes, threatening their attack. She heard him before she saw him, "I have to run, faster! Come on, I can do it." Her teeth crunched over her lip harder than before. Salty blood filled her mouth.