Me, Myself, and Her

Chapter Thirty

Chapter Thirty: The Way I Loved You

A/n: you are not ready for this chapter...

They arrived at the Holloway house, the second time Annie, Max, and El have been there this week.

It felt wrong. Even thought Nancy rang the doorbell twice to confirm no one was home and El let them in, Annie felt all kinds of wrong.

They walked into the house, following Nancy as she made her way in. "Tom? Heather?" Nancy called out, going further. Everyone continued to follow her lead.

Max wrapped her arms around herself, Annie doing the same. "Jesus it's freezing," Max whispered. Annie nodded in agreement, but she didn't think the goosebumps on her arms were just from the cold.

They stopped in a room, the living room perhaps, and Nancy asked, "Do you guys smell that?" Everyone sniffed, taking in the chemically smells.

The older teens turned and led the kids into the kitchen. The smell hit them all head on, and they all saw a load of cleaning products. "Oh god. More chemicals," Nancy said.

Johnathan walked over and picked up an empty can of something. "You think they're guzzling this shit?" he asked.

"Well, you said Mrs. Driscoll was eating fertilizer. And I doubt they went on much of a cleaning spree," Annie said as she shrugged her shoulder.

"But last year Will didn't eat chemicals. Did you?" Max pointed out, looking at Will for her question.

"No," he answered. "This is something new."

Mike shook his head, thinking. "Mr. Clarke, fifth grade. Posit. What happened when you mix chemicals together?"

"You create a new substance." Will, Lucas, and Annie remembered that class. (It was back when Annie still cared to learn and still enjoyed a class with her friends.)

"What if they're making something?" Mike asked, getting to his point.

"In themselves?" Max grimaced at the thought. "I mean, come on, if you drink this crap it'll kill you."

Annie shook her head. "Not them. They're not human anymore. They're a part of the Mind Flayer," she said.

Everyone was silent as Nancy turned to look out at the rest of the house. As she walked out of the kitchen, Annie realized they were walking into the dining room, where she had seen the Holloways and Billy days before.

It was set up the exact same. Same food, same pan of cookies that Heather offered. Annie almost gagged at the thought of them being taken just after the girls left them.

If they had stayed for a moment longer, would they have stopped it? Or would they have become victims, too?

Nancy kneeled down on the carpet. "Blood," she said. "Yesterday, Tom had a bandage on his forehead." Then she looked at the wine bottle on the floor next to the stain. She picked the bottle up and stood straight. "He was attacked."

Annie couldn't keep the memories away at this point, thinking about how Tom and Janet- Mr. and Mrs. Holloway looked so normal that night. That Heather and Billy probably attacked them to be flayed.

The group followed Nancy as she walked the path they must've taken with the Holloways. Rugs were crumpled and carpets were stained by blood. Out in the garage, Johnathan squatted down and messed with some rope.

"They must've tied them," he said, looking up at the others. He stood. "They must've taken them somewhere."

"Mrs. Driscoll," Nancy brought up, the attention turning to her. "She kept saying... 'I have to go back.' What if the flaying, it's taking place somewhere else? There must be a place where all this started, right? A source."