The System warned Thomas Wayne seconds before the world changed.He was halfway through dinner when the pressure hit sharp, sudden, like a spike driven behind his eyes. His fork clattered against the plate.
[PRIMARY EVENT TRIGGERED]
[Node Identified: The Girl Who Escaped]
Thomas inhaled slowly.Across the table, his uncle glanced up. "You okay, Tom?"
"Yeah," Thomas said quickly. "Just—forgot something.I'll be back".He didn't wait for permission.
He grabbed his jacket, stepped out into the cold evening air, and started running.The woods near Hawkins always felt wrong at night not dangerous in an obvious way no sounds of predators, no snapping branches but empty, like the world had forgotten to finish rendering this place. Thomas slowed as he crossed the tree line, every sense tuned outward.
[Presence Suppression – Rank C (Standby)]
The System hummed quietly, ready.Then he saw her.
She burst from the trees like a shadow given form small, barefoot, hospital gown torn and soaked, a jacket hanging off her shoulders like it didn't belong to her. Her breathing was ragged, every step forced blood streaked down from her nose.Eleven,Thomas's chest tightened. Seeing her in person was different. She wasn't mysterious or powerful in that moment.
She was terrified.
Flashlights flared behind her. Shouts echoed through the woods, dogs barked, their voices sharp and they were close too close.Thomas didn't think.
[Presence Suppression – Rank C (Focused) ]
The world dulled instantly. Sound softened, edges blurred slightly, like he'd stepped half a second out of sync with reality.He crouched low and hurled a rock deep into the brush to his left. It struck a tree with a sharp crack."Over there!" someone shouted.The dogs snapped toward the sound, dragging their handlers with them.Eleven froze when she noticed Thomas.
For a brief, terrifying moment, she stared directly at him.Her eyes widened something brushed against his mind not painful, not invasive, but heavy, like fingers pressing gently against a door.Thomas raised both hands slowly, palms open. Then he pointed not toward himself, but deeper into the trees, away from the lights."Go," he whispered she hesitated.
Then she nodded once and ran.Thomas stayed still as the search passed him by, breath shallow, heart pounding.
[Butterfly Effect Registered: Minor]
He released the skill only after the last flashlight vanished.
[Stamina -22]
Thomas sank against a tree, shaking slightly.
"That's close" he muttered but the System was already warning him again.
Deep beneath Hawkins, machines screamed.
Dr. Martin Brenner stood motionless in the observation room, hands clasped behind his back as technicians scrambled around him."She escaped containment" one said. "But that's not the issue."
Brenner turned his head slightly. "Then speak carefully" The technician swallowed. "We lost the trail again, Sensors recorded a localized null response. Same signature as the anomaly from months ago."
Silence fell.Brenner's lips curved not in amusement, but interest."So our ghost interfered," he said softly.
"Yes, sir."
"Then it's still here." Brenner's eyes hardened. "Increase surveillance. I want everything watched."
He paused."And prepare retrieval teams."
Thomas felt the shift before the sirens started.
It wasn't pain this time. It was weight like the future had suddenly become heavier.He was walking home when the System screamed.
[CRITICAL EVENT]
[Node: Will Byers]
[Risk Level: EXTREME]
"No," Thomas breathed.He broke into a sprint.The road was dark and empty when he reached it. Too quiet. A single bicycle lay abandoned near the trees, its wheel still slowly spinning.Thomas stopped short.
His heart sank, too late.The Byers' house loomed ahead, lights off, shadows stretching unnaturally across the yard. As Thomas approached, the air grew colder, heavier charged with the same wrongness he remembered from the Upside Down.Inside the house, a light flickered.Thomas swallowed hard.
[Sanity -3]
He stood there, fists clenched, as something shifted beyond reality.Somewhere, a boy was screaming.
somewhere else, a monster answered.Thomas closed his eyes."I won't let this end the same way," he whispered.The System pulsed once, silently.
[The story had begun ]
And it was no longer waiting for him to catch up.