𝒯𝒽𝑒 𝒩𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉 𝒲𝑒 𝑀𝑒𝓉

31. 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔰𝔞𝔲𝔫𝔞 𝔱𝔢𝔰𝔱 𝔭𝔞𝔯𝔱 𝔱𝔥𝔯𝔢𝔢

The poor door rattled against the weight of the two bodies slamming against it.

"Open the door! Open the goddamn door!" Billy yelled out, hitting the glass.

Two pained screams suddenly emitted from the sauna room and they both disappeared from the sight of the window, doubling over. Will rushed over to the thermostat, taping the glass and turning to Mike and Brad, "We're at 220."

"Brad, hotter." Mike muttered to Brad, his eyes staying trained on the door.

With a nearly inaudible sigh, Bradley nodded, wiping his nose before going to exert more force into his power. "Bradley, please." A sob on the other end of the door froze Brad in his place, "I-I can't... It hurts so bad. Please, I didn't mean to hurt him."

"Brad." Mike said, the warning in his voice evident.

Bradley blinked, his shoulders tensing for a minuscule second. He looked to the dark haired boy beside him, cowering slightly at the caution in his eyes.

He swallowed the lump in his throat down, drowning her screams out the best he could before heating the room up more with a push of his hand. He felt Y/n squeeze his hand assuringly yet even that couldn't break him from the thick stupor Iris' cries of pain held him in.

Max took a brisk step towards the door as their screams fell into pained sobs just below the window, leaving the six others to gape at her, watching as the girl neared the door.

"I didn't mean to hurt him, Max. He-He made me do it. He made us both do it." Billy cried out as Max appeared in the misty window, peeking into the room to see them collapsed to the ground, sweat trickling down their flushed skin.

"It's not our fault, I promise." Billy whimpered, his hands cuffed to his ear, his face scrunched up.

"What's not your fault?" Max asked.

"Tr-Tr... I... I hurt... I hurt..." Iris heaved, her chest falling up and down laboriously. Bradley clenched his jaw at the sound, resisting the urge to rush over and fling the door open, and pull her into his arms.

"We've done things, Max. Really... b-bad things." Billy choked out, "We didn't mean to."

"He made us do it."

"Who made you do it?"

"I don't know. It's a... It's a big... shadow monster."

The line of Will's jaw tightened and he ducked his head down as the others sent knowing looks to each other.

Max pressed a hand to the glass, her lip quivering, "It's gonna be okay. We're gonna help you both. You just have to talk to us, okay? Y-You have to talk to us." She sniffled, her voice cracking under the heavy weight of her words, of the promise that everything would be okay.

Brad felt the squeeze of Y/n's hand tighter than before and he turned to her, concern drawing his eyebrows together. Her hand was clasped to her neck, an austere glint in her eyes.

He turned to Will, a sense of panic arising through him just to find Will in the same position: his hand held to the back of his neck, eyes locked with Mike's, "I-I feel him... He's activated."