Pressing the elevator buttons harshly, the kids all soon noticed that it wasn't going to work. The lights went on and off as River let out a deep breath. "Come on." She muttered, leading them all to the stairs as they ran up.
El had pushed past the girl aggressively, and she ran ahead of all of them. Approaching a door that Jonathan was pounding, El burst it open, as the rest stood behind her.
"Jesus." Mike exclaimed, quickly reaching for Rivers hand and grabbing it as she stayed quiet in shock, panting.
"What the fu-"
El had let out a scream as she slammed the creature they watched against the wall various times, before screaming and putting up both hands and flying it out, against the wall.
"Go!" El yelled, as the kids all ran down the stairs to the front, to watch the red slimy substance go through a drain.
˗ˏˋ✦ ✦ ✦'ˎ˗
"Does it hurt bad?" Mike muttered, the wet rag he held being pressed up against her head, wiping the dry blood.
"Yeah." She answered softly, her voice being slightly scratchy as she spoke, while he leaned onto the counter she sat on, nodding back before backing up and washing the rag again. She swung her legs lightly, watching Mike awkwardly dry his hands and glance at her wrists that contained brutal red marks.
Grabbing her wrist softly, he studied it before Nancy walked over, tossing a black roll of bandages to Mike, along with actual bandaids. "Bandaids on her forehead, bandages on her wrists. Let's go, Mike. El's about to start." Nancy ordered, sending Mike a firm nod before she sent River a small smile, walking back to the couch.
"Alright, here.." Mike muttered, wrapping the bandages around her wrists softly, causing her to sigh as he finished, looking up at her and thinning his lips before backing up, nodding.
"You should be good now, R." He smiled, before helping her off of the counter, causing her face to burn. It was rare when he called her that, and she liked it.
As the two walked over Mike sitting on a seat as river sat nearly behind El, they had seen the girl, who was breathing rapidly as she wore the blindfold, before throwing it off.
"What's he doing now?" Max asked, glancing at River who was staring at El. El only slowly turned, as the T.V continued to make noise behind her, before she got up to drink water after informing them.
"And that's not normal, right?" Nancy spoke up, as Max shook her head quickly.
"Billy staying in his room on the fourth of July?" She looked down as she spoke, "No that's not normal."
"He wants us to find him." Will nodded, as River sighed.
"Yeah that's what i'm afraid of." Nancy started, "If we go to Billy, then the rest of the flayed know where we are."
Mike stood up, his leg brushing against River's back as he walked off, causing her to glance up at him. "It's a trap. I agree, we'll be ambushed." He stated, nodding rapidly in agreement.
"We won't be surprised." Lucas shrugged, "We'll know when they're coming, and we will kick their flayed butts." As he spoke, he nodded with a smile, as Max scoffed.
"You mean El will kick their butts." She disagreed as River shook her head.
"No." She softly spoke, causing them to look at her. "We."
"Either way, it's too risky." Mike gave River a weak shrug with a frown.
"Yeah, and killing the flayed won't stop the Mind Flayer." Nancy agreed, "We have to find out where it's spreading from. We have to find the source."
"Billy knows it. Billy's been there. To the source." El spoke up, walking forward.
"Yeah, but-" River was going to protest before El looked to her, staring blankly as she nodded.
"It's a trap. I know. We can't go to Billy, but I think there's another way. A way for me to see where he's been."
El turned on the T.V, staring at it before looking down at her blindfold before shutting her eyes, sliding it on.
The group watched closely, and River backed up, sitting next to Max quietly, sending her an uneasy glance, only to earn a firm nod from Max, who grabbed her hand.
El had suddenly started whimpering after a few seconds, causing them to all sit up in panic. "Somethings wrong." River muttered, glancing around at her friends, growing even more worried.
They continued watching El's whimpers, and everyone stayed quiet, their shaky breaths being the only thing heard along with El's whimpers.
"El. Are you okay?" They questioned rapidly as her breaths slowed down, and she nodded.
"I'm okay."
"What's going on?" Mike asked, as El's cries stopped for a minute.
"I'm on a beach."
"Okay. I may be dense. But the last I checked, there weren't any beaches in Hawkins." Lucas spoke softly, as River nodded in agreement, keeping her eyes on El.
"What else do you see?" Max asked, after glancing at Lucas.
"A woman. She's pretty." The words that left El's mouth gave River a sort of nostalgic feeling as she gulped, remembering that her first interaction with El practically revolved around that word. "I think she's looking at me. There's a boy.."
"It's Billy." El nodded as she confirmed who it was, causing Max to look down.
"It's California, it's a memory."
Speaking up again, El took a short, calm breath as she sat still. "I think I see it. The source."
˗ˏˋ✦ ✦ ✦'ˎ˗
It had been a while, and they were still watching El.
River still held onto Max, and took one hand away to fiddle with anything that might calm her nerves even in the slightest bit. She of course reached for her bracelet, and Mike had been looking towards the nervous girl, staring before they heard El.
"I think I found it. The source." El informed, breathing heavily.
"Where, El? Where are you?"Max demanded, loudly as everyone glanced at the redhead.
"Brimborn...Steelworks." She uttered in response, causing Jonathan to rush over to the phone book.
"Here, okay, uh, steelworks, steelworks." He muttered to himself quickly, flipping the pages as Nancy watched. "Uh..Here, steel. Uh..Found it! 5533 Cherry Oak Drive." Jonathan pointed, as River glanced back at them just like the others.
"That's close." Nancy commented.
"El, we found it. El, get out of there." River warned, letting go of Max's hand as she leaned forward. "El!" She repeated frantically.
They watched in silence as El continued to breath heavily, and it wasn't long until she threw her blindfold off, with a scream, as tears ran down her face. "No!" She screamed, reaching for anyone.
River had stepped up forward, rushing over to the girl as the others watched. El stared for a minute, still crying, it was obvious she was reaching for Mike, but he didn't do anything, so River did, pulling her into her arms.
"El, you're okay. Everything's fine, okay? El." River reassured, as the girl continued to cry, gripping her arms tightly with slow nods in between her cries.
A.N
short and it sucked
BUT i'll publish next chapter tmrw
morning 🏃♀️
YOU ARE READING
𝐭𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐬, 𝐦𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐫. ►
FanfictionIn which he was her best friend before everything happened. "I know you love skittles. So I specifically didn't bring them."
