The Dive, Part 2

3rd Person's POV

"I didn't kill you."

His gaze had this certain hold on her, even to this day, it was as if he could see right through her.

"I didn't mean to." She pulled her hand away from his grasp, "It was an accident."

His fingers trailed up from her chin to cup her cheek, thumb swiping at the tears she didn't realise were flowing, "Is that why you're crying?"

"I was in love with you J-Josh." She let out a sob.

"You know I don't like it when you lie to me darling."

"I'm not lying, Josh, I swear-"

"I loved you, and you killed me."

"No-"

"That is why you carry around all this guilt. You can't stand the dark. Why? Because it reminds you of me."

She flinched away from his touch.

"Because that's what you did to me. It makes you feel like a corpse, not being able to see anything, not being able to hear anything. It suffocates you."

"No." She whimpered, cowering away from him.

"You feel like you can't breathe. It makes you really want to stop breathing. So you won't have to feel like that anymore."

She shook her head.

"Be careful what you wish for Valerie, because that's why I'm here."

She deserved it. She knew she deserved it, "No."

"You'll know what it's really like to be a corpse, and you'll know it's far worse than anything you've ever imagined."

Her foot caught in a branch and she fell backwards.

She looked up expecting Josh to be staring down at her, but instead saw this creature.

Considering this thing was from the upside down, it seemed almost human. But it was so far from it.

His sickly, almost rotten frame easily towered over her. It was like a man turned inside out, the revolting veins that covered him adding color to his otherwise pale self.

"It is time, Valerie. Time for you to join me."

That voice chilled her to her core. She had never heard it before, and yet immediately knew who it belonged to.

She pulled herself up on her feet and took off.

Chrissy. Fred. Max.

Despite the impending sense of doom coursing through her, she found herself wondering if Max was okay. She better be.

The forest seemed never ending as she ran through it. It was all the same, everywhere she looked.

"You cannot hide from me, Valerie."

She couldn't give up. She couldn't end up like them. But there was no escape.

Her legs eventually gave in, she fell on her knees, panting.

"Eddie!" Her movements were frantic, she couldn't take it anymore, "Eddie, where are you? Please..."

Suddenly a soft red glow fell on the right half of her face.

It was all foggy, there was nothing to see beyond it. Except for the occasional flashes of lightning. Something was telling her to go towards it, and so she did.

As she was walking through the fog, she could faintly hear creatures chittering in the distance. She walked a bit further, the fog had cleared. It was... terrifyingly breathtaking.

It was a sight not even the best of her nightmares had been able to come up with, and yet it was mesmerising to look at.

She made her way to a broken staircase, that led nowhere. It was that noise again. The heavy chime of a clock. She looked up to see it floating mid air, just above the stairway. It must've been the grandfather clock Max saw.

She looked around, only to find a door floating just like the clock. It all looked like broken pieces of a house.

"What are you doing in here, Valerie?"

There wasn't anywhere to run to, she'd learned that by now. So she didn't bother.

A crack underneath her step however caught her attention, she pulled her feet back only to release thousands of spiders from a now broken egg. It startled her into taking a few steps back, until her back hit a pillar.

"Come back to me."

She turned around to see Chrissy. Her body covered in thick vines, keeping her in place. Eyes, and any signs of life within her gone. She had never seen anyone look truly as dead and lifeless as Chrissy before.

Fred was here too, so was the boy from last night.

Max was safe.

But the panic settled in again. She could be one of them. She will be one of them.

"How do you like them, Valerie?"

She turned around to face him. There was no escaping this.

"Would you like to join them?"

"You're not getting away with this." She grit out.

He tilted his head, "I already have."

A vein wrapped itself around Valerie's foot and pulled her down.

"Shit-" she dug her nails into the ground as it dragged her away and shoved her onto one of the pillars. The vines wrapped itself around both her arms, and then her throat.

She kept replaying the things Josh said to her. She didn't want to become a corpse. She didn't want to die, not now, not ever.

She would miss her mother. She would miss Mike, Lucas, Will, Max and El. She would miss Robin and Nancy. She would maybe even miss the fucked up town of Hawkins.

She didn't wanna leave Dustin behind. But she knew Steve would take care of him for her. Eddie would too. And although she would never admit it to anybody, she would miss him too.

As Vecna inched closer to her, she found herself closing her eyes and taking it all in.

"She's got a smile that it seems to me, reminds me of childhood memories-"

"What the fuck?" She struggled to look up, but there was an opening of sorts. Like a portal.

"Come on, Valerie."

Dustin. She could hear Dustin.

"We're right here."

Nancy.

"They can't help you, Valerie."

The vines around her neck tightened, she let out a strangled gasp.

"You know you belong here, with me."

"You fucking c-coward... you aren't even really... here."

"Oh, but I am, Valerie." He raised his arm above her face, "I am."

This was it. She could feel it happening.

She looked towards the portal again. They were right there.

She thought about the countless nights she spent babysitting Dustin and his friends.

She thought about the sleepovers and shopping dates she had with Nancy.

She remembered bonding with Max, over her teaching Valerie how to ride a skateboard.

Robin and Steve, well, she practically spent every minute of every day with them.

She even thought of the last annoying few days she spent with Eddie. She... didn't regret them.

She thought about how her friends were still screaming out her name, and how they still hadn't given up on her.

She thought about how they were standing right there, and how she was going to atleast try to run to them, even if it ended up being the last thing she did.

[A/N: Ok I've been very very busy and im sorry. It's been a while since you've gotten to read an actual chapter, but im here now.

Also, 1k. 1k reads in just 4 chapters. 🌻 sunflowers for all of u because ily.]