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Chapter 011 ♰ Father, Further
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This wasn't how Sydney usually spent her Saturday nights. 'This' meaning: building a sensory deprivation tank out of a kid's paddling pool and salt in a middle school gymnasium, with her father, the chief of police, Joyce Byers, Nancy Wheeler, Jonathan Byers, a kid she used to babysit and his friends, and a girl with telekinesis. Who, of course, was going to use aforementioned sensory deprivation tank to contact the boy she was supposed to be babysitting, via a kind of purgatory in her mind, into a parallel dimension. But, when in Hawkins...
After the paddling pool was full and a suitable temperature, Hopper, Matt and Jonathan started emptying the bags of salt into the still water. Dustin—a boy genius, apparently—kept checking the water density with eggs. If they sunk, they'd empty another kilo of salt granules. When the egg finally floated, Dustin, Lucas, and Mike exchanged vigorous handshakes and excited smiles. Sydney shared an amused glance with Toby, who was already rolling his eyes at their childish enthusiasm.
"I can't believe this is happening," Toby muttered to her. They were both knelt by the pool, and Mike was tuning a walkie-talkie so the static was loud enough white noise for El. "Like...what would we usually be doing right now?"
Sydney delicately traced a pattern in the water with her fingernail. "Catching a movie...listening to music so loud Matt screams at us..."
"Much more normal."
"You gotta admit," said Sydney, head moving to nod reassuringly at Eleven as she fixed a pair of goggles over her head—Joyce had stolen them from the chemistry lab and blackened them in layers of duct tape. "This is pretty cool."
Toby watched as El stepped into the water. "That's one way of describing it."
Eleven submerged herself into the water, the pink smocked dress billowing around her lithe body as she extended her arms out like a crucified martyr. Everyone fell into an apprehensive silence, kneeling round the circular pool with bated breaths. El was barely in there for ten seconds before a surge of electricity sent the gymnasium's lights flickering and extinguished them with a volatile hiss.
