far too young to die ✰ m.w.

CHAPTER FIVE

"It's not my main concern. It's just a sub-concern."

"I thought it was already over. She told me you guys talked about everything."

"We did, but now she's mad at me because of what I said to you."

"I told you I don't care about that anymore."

"Okay, well, maybe you should tell her that, because she won't talk to me until she knows that we're good."

"You guys do realize we can still hear everything you're saying, right?" Max said in a loud enough voice so that the boys knew she was talking to them. She didn't get a reply, causing the girls to laugh again.

From the bathroom, they could hear more knocking on the basement door.

"Not now, Mom!" Mike yelled to whoever was knocking.

However, the voice that responded didn't belong to Mrs. Wheeler, but to Nancy. "Mike, open the door," she said in a serious tone.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

Nancy had come with Jonathan, and after the kids had told them all about Billy and the test they had conducted the night before, the two of them told them all about Mrs. Driscoll, an elderly woman that had called The Hawkins Post and reported diseased rats eating the fertilizer she kept in her basement. Nancy and Jonathan had gone to investigate, and had come back the next day to find Mrs. Driscoll herself in the basement eating fertilizer. The day after that, Nancy had gone to the hospital to visit Mrs. Driscoll, where she witnessed something strange yet familiar.

"It was the same thing," Nancy explained, "the exact same thing that happened to Will last year. And look at this. Look at the body temperatures."

She pushed a piece of paper towards the younger teenagers. This paper had listed the vitals of Mrs. Driscoll that had been recorded at separate times. The body temperatures in particular were lower than what was typical for a human being.

"He likes it cold," Will remembered.

"Okay, so this crazy old woman who was eating fertilizer-" Mike began.

"Mrs. Driscoll," Nancy interrupted him.

"Right, yeah, Mrs. Driscoll. What time was this attack?"

"Last night."

"Right, but what time last night?"

"Around 9."

"You waited all night to call?" Jonathan asked his girlfriend.

"I was waiting for the doctors to run some tests."

"You weren't there?" Will asked his brother.

"Well, I'm here now, aren't I?" Jonathan responded defensively.

"Hallelujah!" Nancy said sarcastically.

"Ooh," Lucas said in a pained voice in reaction to Nancy's retort.

"Yikes," Emily said. "Someone's in trouble."