Tʜᴇ Fʟᴀʀᴇ ꕥ Lɪᴢᴢɪᴇ Jᴏʜɴsᴏɴ

sᴇʀɪᴇs ᴏɴᴇ ꕥ 13

"This damn thing is heavy," Dustin said as he and Lizzie rolled the kiddie pool into the school gym.

Yeah, that's right. That's where they had gone. Hopper knew how to get into the school salt supply that was usually for icy days, but they had all decided that it was best to set up the sensory deprivation tank in the gym.

Anyway, Dustin and Lizzie were in charge of setting up the pool, and so they did.

Lizzie smiled, she did remember bobbing for apples in this very pool on Halloween a few years back.

"How does this even work?" Dustin asked, pulling the sides up only for them to collapse in on themselves.

"It won't work until it gets filled up, dummy!" Lizzie laughed.

"Oh... oh yeah," Dustin said. "It- it just looks better, okay?"

Lizzie laughed. "You're such a idiot!"

"But you like it, right?"

Lizzie laughed, but before she could answer-

"Lizzie?" Joyce came into the gym. "Can you... come with me?"

"Yeah," Lizzie shrugged, saying to Dustin. "Nancy and Mike are getting the hose, could you find them so we could fill it up?"

"Yeah," Dustin nodded.

Lizzie sighed and followed Joyce to one of the science labs, where El was sitting. Joyce had protective goggles covered in duct tape to keep it dark.

"This will completely block out the light, I think," she said to the small girl. "Just like in your... bathtub."

And as she looked up at the two young girls, sitting across from her, she knew she had to say something. "You know... you two are both very brave girls. You know that, don't you? Everything you've both done and that you're still doing for my boy... for Will... for my family... thank you."

She turned to Lizzie. "I've always admired you for being so outspoken, Lizzie... the world needs more girls like you."

Lizzie smiled. "Thank you."

Then Joyce moved to El, and took one of her hands with her own. "Listen. I am going to be there with you the whole time. And if it ever gets too scary... in- in that place, you just let me know, okay?"

El gave an inexplicable nod. "Yes."

Joyce leant forward. "Ready?" She whispered.

When the three girls got back into the hall, they saw Mike, holding two hoses into the pool, Nancy working the taps and Lucas with a thermometer, yelling. "COLDER!" to Nancy. Then, a second later. "WARMER!"

Then, finally. "RIGHT THERE!"

Then came the salt. Hopper and Jonathan, each with a penknife, slit all the bags and let the crystals fall in.

"Check it," Hopper finally said after a lot of bags.

They checked it using eggs. If the egg floated, then it was ready. This one sunk.

A few more bags of salt.

"Again," Hopper asked.

Sunk.

More bags.

"Now?"

This egg floated.

Then, the final touch was for Mike to put his supercom with the static sound on the trolley next to the tank and for El to go into it.

She took off her socks and Mike's watch then Lizzie handed her the duct taped goggles.

Hopper and Joyce helped a blind El into the pool, and then she lay down, floated, and focused on her senses.