The Strangest is Yet to Come

07.

so i've just realised that i've forgotten to put any warnings in chapters. i'll try and remember to do them cause i know some stuff can obviously be triggering but my memory is honestly terrible!

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For this journey, Samantha sat in the trunk with Mike and Will. Her cousin was messing around with one of Holly's toys that had been left in the car while he was distracted, Samantha could talk to Will undisturbed.

"Hey," she gently knocks her knee against his, "How're you doing with all of this?"

He glances towards the front, seeing that Jonathan is engrossed in a conversation with Nancy. "I'm okay," he nods, picking at the skin on his fingernails, "I'm worried too."

"Yeah? Well that's understandable."

"I'm scared that It's going to get one of us. That it might get my mom or Hopper."

"Where is your mom anyway?"

He shrugs, "Eleven said that the two of them were on their way to Illinois."

"The state?"

He nods again and she wraps her arm around his shoulder, bringing him into her side, "We're going to stop this. We're going to find out where he's hiding, where he's doing the flaying and we're going to stop him."

Granted, she wasn't quite sure how they were going to do that but she's sure that they'd come up with something. If they were good at anything, it was coming up with a quick plan.

The large hospital building is practically in darkness when they pile out of the car and as they head inside, Samantha groans quietly when it's the same nurse from the previous night who was on the desk.

Hearing her, Nancy looks over her shoulder, instructing them to keep walking.

For a brief moment, it seemed as if they've managed to sneak on by, that she's too distracted on the phone and Samantha nods reassuringly at Eleven, who looks the most nervous out of them all.

"Excuse me!"

Shit. They were so close.

She stands from behind the desk, "Just where do you think you're going?"

"We uh, we were just going to visit our grandma again. And this," Nancy gestures to the rest of the large group, "This is our family."

"Extended," Lucas adds quickly when the nurse's eyes zero in on him.

"I don't care who they are," she snarks, "You know the rules. Two at a time."

"But we were just-"

"Two!" she snaps and they all start looking at each other, trying to decide who was going to visit Mrs Driscoll.

"You two should go," Samantha says quietly, reassuring both Nancy and Jonathan when they look at her, "This is your story. Your source."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes," she laughs, "Besides, I think it's my turn to be the babysitter, don't you?"

And so they split; Jonathan and Nancy going up to wards while the rest of them got comfortable in the waiting room.

Samantha finds the closest chair and picks up one of the magazines on the table beside her, taking a quick look towards the nurse who was watching them closely.

Max and Eleven were stood by one of the pillars chatting, Mike and Lucas at the vending machine while Will was sat on his own.

The magazine entertains her for a few minutes but reading about the actor Sean Penn quickly got boring and so she tosses it back on the table, noticing that the kids had all swapped places.