𝟎𝟏𝟎 ᵐⁱᵏᵉ ʷʰᵉᵉˡᵉʳ ˣ ᵒᶜ

022

"Doesn't matter"

"I'm sorry, I'm lost. Who is Heather? And who is Hallie?" Nancy asked.

"Hallie's my friend" Delilah told her, sadly."And Heathers a lifeguard at the pool".

"Heather Holloway?" Nancy asked and they all nodded. Nancy and Jonathan looked at each other "Tom" they said at the same time.

They all crowded into Nancy's car.

"Seatbelts" she told them.

"There's a monster on the loose flaying people, and you're worried about seatbelts" Delilah asked but Nancy gave her a look in the mirror that said 'don't argue'.

Nancy rung the doorbell, no one answered. El used her powers to open the door. They let themselves in.

"Tom? Heather?" Nancy called.

"Jesus, it's freezing" Max mentioned.

"Do you guys smell that?" Nancy asked.

The smell guided them to a room where multiple empty bottles of cleaning chemicals were on the table. "Oh.Oh, God" Nancy sighed. "More chemicals".

"You think they're guzzling this shit?" Jonathan asked.

"Yeah, either that or they just went on a hell of a cleaning spree" she responded.

"But last year, Will didn't eat chemicals. Did you?" Max asked Will.

"No" Will shook his head "This is something new".

"Mr. Clarke, fifth grade. Posit. What happens
when you mix chemicals together?" Mike asked.

"You create a new substance" Will, Delilah and Lucas said in unison.

"What if they're making something?" Mike asked.

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

"Yeah, if you're human" Lucas told her.

They walked into the dining room and noticed a half eaten meal on the table and an empty wine bottle on the carpet followed by a blood stain.

"Blood. Yesterday, Tom had a bandage on his forehead" Nancy lifted the wine bottle revealing a blood stain on it "He was attacked".

They followed the blood marks on the carpet all the way up to the basement door. There was rope on the floor.

"They must have tied them. They must have taken them somewhere" Jonathan realised.

"Mrs. Driscoll. 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" Nancy paced.

"Somewhere he didn't want me to see" El added.

"If we can find the source,then maybe we can stop him.Or at least stop it from spreading
or doing whatever the hell he's doing
with those chemicals" Nancy told them all.

"How do we find it?" Delilah asked.

"Mrs. Driscoll" Will spoke "If she wants to go back so badly, why don't we let her?".

Nancy brought them to the hospital where the receptionist was speaking on the phone, they were hoping to sneak past her but she caught on to them. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Excuse me!
Where do you think you're going?".

"Oh, um... I was just going to visit my grandma again. And... And this is my family" Nancy smiled sweetly.

The woman eyed Lucas with uncertainty he smiled at her and raised his hand "Extended".

"We're dysfunctional" Delilah shrugged.

"I don't care who they are. You know the rules.
Two visitors at a time" she told them.

"Yeah, but..." Nancy protested.

"Two" the woman held up two fingers at her before continuing to talk on the phone "Girl, this child has lost her mind. She brought a whole zoo in here".

Jonathan and Nancy went alone, leaving everyone else in the waiting room.

"Oh, come on, you piece of shit" Mike smacked the vending machine. Lucas joined in.

Delilah watched from the sidelines and used her powers, making everything from the machine come out. Mike smiled "Thanks".

Delilah smiled and nodded.

Mike sat next to his ex girlfriend on the hospital waiting room chairs. "Hey".

"Hi" she barely took her eyes away from the magazine she was skimming through.

"Does your species like M&M's?" Mike asked her with a smile.

"Who doesn't?" She held her hand out letting him tip them into her palm.

"I didn't get to say it outside starcourt but i like your new jeans, they're cool. They suit you"  he complimented.

"Thanks" she smiled and he smiled back.