heart of glass

✧

almost in slow motion — cutting through the air, and the first thing that hit the glass were the poorly knocked in nails on the edge of the bat. First, the glass only cracked, thin lines stretching away from where the bat had it. The bat got pulled back before it hit the window again at the same weak spot. The glass shook before it shattered into pieces, crashing to the tiled floor of the store. The sound echoed through the empty mall, and an annoyed "Rue!" was heard seconds after.

Booming footsteps became louder. The girl panicked and swiftly shoved the bat with nails into the arms of the boy next to her.

Nancy Wheeler had bags of candy in her arms as she stood before them, tapping her foot on the floor, clearly bothered. They were supposed to be stocking up for their trip to Illinois. Jonathan said that it would be a long one, and they should grab stuff to eat and things for the kids to entertain themselves with on the ride there.

Alex had said that it was a horrible idea to be taking things they couldn't afford, and that he didn't have enough money on him to pay for the items. Everyone ignored him.

"He obviously did it," Rue pointed at Mike and the bat in his hands. His mouth dropped as he glared at her.

"I did not!" He exclaimed.

Rue turned to him, "Yes, you did!"

"You literally just—"

"You're the one with the weapon!" She shot back, "That's suspicious, don't you think?"

Mike rolled his eyes, his face slowly turning red with anger as Rue kept looking at him with a smug grin. "You're a piece of shit."

"And you have a small dick."

"You don't even have a dick!"

"Yet mine's still bigger than yours!"

"Guys, stop it!" Nancy cut in, her chest rising as she glared between the two. She was stressed out, and everyone was. But as Nancy glared at the broken window to the record store and the two arguing kids, she was at the brink of snapping. "Here," She gave Rue the bags of snacks that were in her hands and took the bat from Mike's hands. "This is mine now."

"But—"

"No! Go get whatever you wanted and meet us in the car as fast as possible," Nancy said sternly, giving them one more dirty look before spinning around and hurrying towards Will and Max, who were waiting for her with tubs of ice cream they've taken from Scoops Ahoy despite Alex's protests.

Maybe Nancy had a point, with a monstrous flesh-monster, and the Flayed hunting them down, Rue and Mike's arguing was childish. However, the sound of a road trip to safety was welcoming, and they had almost forgotten all about it. Rue swung the plastic bag of stolen candy and chips over her shoulder as she gave Mike another look before stepping into the record store, the boy close behind.

"Your dick isn't bigger than mine," She heard Mike mutter as their shoes crunched on the glass. Rue chuckled as she blindly walked to the cash register, trying to find the light switch.

"Why? Do you want to compare?" Rue said sarcastically, flicking the light on so they could see. When she spun around, she noticed Mike's face turning bright red, and he was frowning at her as if he tried to find an answer. "I was kidding," she finished, walking past him when a record caught her eye.

"I knew that!"

"Sure you did," Rue teased. The girl beamed at the sight before her — it was Michael Jackson's Thriller album on a cassette. She already had it as a record disk at home, but as a cassette, she could listen to it one her walkman — a walkman! Yes. Rue grabbed the cassette from the shelf before walking further down the aisle to grab a new walkman and batteries.

Rue had a small skip to her step as she walked back out of the store, where Mike was already waiting for her. "What did you get?" She asked him, stuffing her stolen items in the bags Nancy gave her.

The two began to walk out of the mall to find everyone else stuffing everything they've bought into the car trunk. "I got ABBA," he said, waving the C.D in her face.

"There was ABBA?" Rue gasped, stopping in her steps to look back at the store. "Tell them to wait — I just—"

"Rue and Mike! We're leaving!"

"But I need ABBA!" Rue told Jonathan.

"You don't need ABBA," He shook his head, and there was a hint of a smile on his face as he took the bags from Rue's hands and walked back to place them in the car.

"But—"

"Let's go! We've got a long ride ahead of us," He pleaded.

Mike nudged Rue's shoulder, waving the C.D in her face with a smug grin before he got in the car. Rue gave him a bitter smile, but once he was out of her sight, she flipped him off with both hands. "Asshole," she grumbled, and the night breeze brushed her hair from her shoulders. — "I got ABBA," She mocked him quietly, opening the car door and squishing her way between Will and El to sit next to Max.

"Is everyone ready?" Nancy turned around to face the kids after Jonathan got into the passenger's seat.

The kids, who half were paranoid and looked out the windows nervously to see if they'd spot the monster stomping their way towards them again — and the other half were tired and ready to leave to the safe house and sleep their fears away, nodded at Nancy giving her the green light to go.

Nancy smiled at them, and Rue knew she meant it in a way to comfort them, to tell them everything was fine. But it gave Rue a headache, and she leaned her head on the window, feeling the cold glass on her forehead. It eased the pain slightly, but it was still there. Maybe she was just tired. Rue has never pulled an all-nighter before - and she barely got sleep the night before either. Does your head hurt when you're tired?

Nancy put the keys in to turn on the car. But instead, the vehicle stuttered. She pushed the key deeper, turning it again, but the car continued to sputter and wouldn't turn on. Shit.

"What's going on?" Jonathan asked, checking his watch nervously.

"I don't—" Nancy kept turning the key harder, but the car only trembled and made an empty sound. "I don't know!" She turned the key again before she gave up and hit the wheel.

"Didn't your mom just buy this car?" Lucas asked, looking over the two tubs of mint ice cream on his lap.

"Yes, I'm sure it's fine," Nancy mumbled, gripping on the wheel.

"Did you leave the lights on?" Will inclined.

Her knuckles turned white. "No. . ."

Lucas narrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "Do we have gas?"

"Yes!" Nancy yelled in frustration, annoyed with all the questions that clearly weren't going to help.

"Nance, calm down," Jonathan told her, his hand on her shoulder as he watched Nancy repeatedly try to turn the key.

"I am calm!" She stressed before pressing a button to pop open the hood. Nancy got out of the car, and Jonathan followed her closely to see what was wrong.

They were sitting ducks. Stuck and unable to leave. Just great. "Rue, what's wrong?" Max whispered, her freckled hand on Rue's shoulder as she looked at her. Rue had her eyes closed, and her face scrunched up as if she were in pain. Her lips were quivering, and her face had paled a few shades lighter.

"She's just upset she didn't get ABBA," Mike's voice was heard from the back of the car, where he sat uncomfortably with Lucas and Alex and everything they had bought.

Max glanced at Mike, shaking her head, "No," she said, "She looks hurt."

El leaned forward a little to look at the girl herself from over Max's shoulder, and it was true. Her eyes were shut tightly, and there was a frown on her lips. El had seen this before - and she began to sweat. This can't be happening. They were so close. El put her hand on Max's freckled shoulder, pulling her away from Rue. "I think—"

"He's here," Will huffed, a shiver running up his spine as he finished what El was about to say. He had his hand on the back of his neck, and his eyes were wide.

The kids in the car looked between each other, and that sweet rush of relief that they had surrounding them was fading away. "What do you mean?" Alex asked, poking his head between El and Will's to look at Rue. He raised a brow at the sight of her, "Maybe she just needs to use the bathroom."

"No," Eleven said, "Back when Billy found us, he hurt her mind. . . I think Billy found us again."

"Rue?" Max turned to her again, her hands on her shoulders.

"Hmm?" The girl hummed in response, slowly opening her eyes. She looked around the group of her friends. "What?" Rue asked, rubbing her eyes. "What is it?"

"Didn't you hear?"

"Hear what?" Rue narrowed her eyebrows. "Sorry, did you guys say something? I just had a little headache."

El's theory was proven to be true when there was a loud revving of heard outside. Bright headlights shined through Nancy's car window, and the kids stared at the car across the parking lot like deers in front of headlights.

Max looked over Rue's head to see Billy's Camaro parked far away — but not far enough for her not to see through the windshield. "Shit." She muttered when they all heard the car's engine rumble loudly.

Rue spun around to look out the window, she squinted at the bright headlights, but instead of staring at the driver, her green eyes trailed to who had just walked into the parking lot, a few feet next to Billy Camaro. "Oh, come on!" She groaned, throwing her head back on the seat after she noticed Skylar's figure slowly limping towards the car. "We can't catch a break, can we?"

It was silent in the car, nothing but the unpatterned breathing of the kids. If they weren't scared before, they sure were now. Loud banging from the window caused all of them to scream and turn to look at the other side of the car. Nancy and Jonathan were knocking on the windows, calling them to get out of the car and back into the mall. No one knew what Billy could do, and he could run them down easily.

Will pushed open the door and helped El out, then Max grabbed onto Rue's hand, pulling her out of the car. Alex, Lucas and Mike stumbled out of the car from the back, and they all ran back into Starcourt mall.

The big glass doors shut, but that didn't stop everyone from running. Jonathan picked El up, and they ran further into the mall until they made it back into the food court. They looked around, scared and shaking as they panted in fear. They had been in the mall for too long, and if they didn't leave any minute, the monster would find them again.

"What are we going to do?" Alex asked, his hands in his hair, "I saw what Sky did to Rue! I don't know about you — but I don't want that happening to me!"

Rue rolled her eyes and sat on one of the tables. "Could you stop bringing that up?" She whined, placing her hands on her forehead. Her fingers were so cold despite the sweat on her palms that grew from her fear. Rue lowered her head, long her amber strands of hair covering her face as she scrunched it up in pain. There was a throbbing pain, and she felt like she was burning up.

"Well! We're dead! That's it. . . it was good knowing you guys."

"Alex, shut up. We're not dead."

"First of all — I was being sarcastic. Secondly, tell me, Mike — how are we going to get out of this one?"

There was silence and then footsteps. Mike had reached to take one of the walkie-talkies from one of the dead Russians, and he switched it to the channel Dustin said he was going to be in, trying to call for help. "Scoops Troup, do you copy?" Mike yelled into the talkie. "We're trapped in the mall and need help with emergency transportation."

Rue sat up when she couldn't hear anyone talking anymore. She reached up and ran a hand through her hair, brushing away the strands that were sticking to her forehead. She saw Lucas and El sitting two tables away from her, where Lucas was stretching out his wrist rocket, practicing for whatever time he'd need to aim and shoot something. El watched him silently.

Mike was pacing around the food court, the walkie talkie still in his hands. His voice echoed, and so did his footsteps as he kept trying to reach Dustin.

She glanced across the food court to spot Will standing under Jonathan's brotherly arm — the two were talking to Alex while Max chatted with Nancy.

Rue huffed, it's been a long night, and she just wanted to go home and sleep. And as if her prayers had been answered, Jonathan jogged to the tables, beaming at the three kids. There was something about his smile that gave Rue hope that he had come up with an idea.

"We just need an ignition cable," He panted, his eyes wide as he looked down at Lucas, Rue and El. Jonathan pointed to the crushed car El had flipped into the pizza parlour earlier.

"I don't think that still works," Lucas told him, putting his stuff back into his bag before zipping it shut.

Jonathan rolled his eyes, "We just need the cable!" he said before running towards the car. Nancy, Max, Alex and Will had already climbed onto the counter, trying to push the car over.

Rue slowly stood up, curiously following Lucas and El, and as Will's sneakers squeaked over the counter, leaving dry bits of mud, she couldn't help but think that she would never order from that pizza parlour again. In fact, she thought as she spun around on her heels, spotting the scattered bodies laying over their own pools of blood thanks to El, she hoped that they would shut down Starcourt mall for a good two weeks to profoundly disinfect everything. Or maybe they should burn it down — Rue didn't want to come back knowing people have died here.

Lucas and Mike had joined everyone else on top of the counter, using whatever strength they could master to roll the car over.

"Come on! Use those muscles!" Rue teased, standing next to El as they watched the group. 'Shut up, Rue!' She heard one of them say, but she couldn't tell who since they were all grunting and panting loudly. The car creaked and was pushed slightly to its side, but it barely moved an inch.

Rue got on her toes, trying to see everyone's faces. Their arms were shaking, and she could only imagine how their feet must be slipping on the counter. The car barely moved before it fell back to its position, causing everyone who pushed to groan in annoyance.

"Let me try," El told them, sick of hearing them pant and murmur. She limped forward, not letting anyone answer. She stuck her arm out like always, lowering her head in focus. The sound of low-frequency vibrations filled Rue's ears as she watched El. However, the brunette wheezed, blood rolling down her nose as the wavering sounds increased until they disappeared completely. Nothing happened. That was weird. El's powers never failed her before, and she had flipped the car over about an hour ago. Why can't she do it now?

El staggered back, nearly tripping over herself as she wiped her nose. Her mouth was ajar, and her eyes were wide in shock. El hid behind Rue.

"Can't Rue just stick her arm through and grab it?" Alex sighed, leaning on the side of the car as he looked up at Will.

"No, I've got a better idea," Mike shook his head, hopping off from the counter.

"We're on a time limit here!"

"I know! Relax, will you?" Mike yelled from across the food court. He explained to everyone his plan as if they have never failed him before. (Que sarcasm). He said that if they used a couple of the metal ballots found around the food court to separate tables, they could roll the car over. Nancy was his supporter as she bossed everyone to collect the polls. The group gathered behind the car again, and they pushed with the polls. And to everyone's surprise, it worked. "Told you," Mike stood up, "physics."

Mike's plan going right was the last thing in everyone's kind as Jonathan pushed himself out of the pizza parlour and told Nancy to pop open the hood so they could start leaving and act like their delay never happened.

Rue looked away from Nancy and Jonathan arguing about where the ignition cable could be - clearly neither of them knew much about cars, Nancy was telling him off, and Jonathan frantically searched through the cables in the engine. A hand gripped onto Rue's shoulder, and she spun around to see El dizzily try to hold herself together. "El are you okay?" Rue asked, and Eleven nodded, humming something Rue couldn't hear, but she followed the girl who led her towards a garbage bin next to a decorative plant.

They were illuminated by hues of purple from the closest store before them as El dug through the garbage. Rue narrowed her eyebrows at her strange antics, "What are you doing?"

"I need to make sure. . ." That was all Eleven said before she pulled out a red can of coke. She placed it on top of the garbage box and lowered her head. Her fingers curled over the rim of the bin tightly, and blood quickly rolled down her nose as she focused. The same sounds of vibrations filled Rue's ears, and she expected to see the can get crushed — just like El had taught her to do — but it didn't. The can didn't even move or tip over. It stayed put.

El let out a breath that sounded mixed with a sob. When she looked back at Rue, there were tears in her eyes as her ears began to bleed. "They're gone," Rue heard El's voice in her head, and it sounded dreadful. "They're gone — it's gone! I'm weak." Rue's mouth opened slightly, and she stared at Eleven in shock.

This was what Rue feared. Eleven not being able to save everyone - turning to her and begging for the help she didn't even know she could offer. Rue was in denial, and she wouldn't believe it — it just didn't make sense. "They can't be," She told her, and El choked on a sob, "That's — that's impossible! How—?" Rue's teeth chewed on her lip until she tasted blood. "I'll give you mine," she said quickly. Rue Newby was so fast to give away her powers. She wanted to get rid of the abilities — nothing good came with them — nothing but pain. Hell, Rue would have never wanted them if she knew she would have all this pressure on her, or if she knew the Mindflayer would desire to use her as a weapon. El was used to the pressure on her back — maybe she didn't even feel it because she was a natural hero. Rue was not. "I'll give you mine like my mom gave them to me, I'll—"