𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐝𝐲 ⟿ s. harrington

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐫

WE CAN END THIS NOW !

☀︎

INSIDE THE BUS, MAX AND DUSTIN HAD LOOKED TO ONE ANOTHER IN HORROR. They were just kids and everything around them had been falling apart. Steve had been outside the bus, prepared to take on Dart by himself and Alex was losing a piece of herself right before them.

Dustin couldn't bring himself to look to Alex and kept his eyes on Max. "What if she dies?"

Max wasn't sure any of her words good comfort him in anyway. She barely knew Alex, and even if she liked her now, she knew if she told him she would be okay, and she didn't survive, he would blame her for the false hope. Instead, Max searched for a means of helping Alex. "She hates when it's hot, right?" When Dustin gave her a nod, she gestured towards him with her head. "Give her your jacket."

Each of them had pulled their weight off Alex, working quick to yank their jackets off of themselves. Before Dustin could get his arm free, Max took it upon herself to pull it off him and throw each of their jackets on top of Alex. As she had struggled under the heat, Max had pinned the jackets down with her hands to make sure Alex had no means of freeing herself for the cold.

Standing back, ideas had raced through Dustin's mind causing Max to call him back for help. Shaking his head, he looked around before spotting something that gave him a clear and dangerous idea. "She hates the heat," he called over to Max as he fell to his hands and knees. Sitting out in the open had been Steve's abandoned lighter and he snatched it up for himself.

Standing up, Dustin flicked it on and instantly Max shook her head. "Oh, no way! You're not setting your sister on fire!"

"I'm not," he yelled back. "Listen, she hates the heat and it's a small flame, sure, but I know my sister. And I know she's fighting that thing in her head right now. We have to help her out. This could help send her over the edge."

"Or you burn the shit out of her," Max tried to reason.

Shaking his head, he was not taking no for an answer. This was his sister and he had already felt he lost a bit of her this year. There was not a chance he was willing to lose any more when he knew he could do something about it.

Dustin forced himself to look at his sister, taking in the horror he knew would be burned into his mind forever. The black veins, the way her eyes squeezed shut and sobbed in pain, throwing her body around for a means of comfort and escape. He swallowed hard. This was his moment to save her and he couldn't back down.

The jugular vein was his biggest opening of burning the thing inside her. He was hesitant for a moment before his hand shot out, the flame dancing around her neck causing her veins to bubble and burn in pain. She had let out a scream as the pain had become all too much to handle. That sick feeling inside her could no longer be held back as she couldn't hold it in. Her mouth had shot open and every bit of darkness that ran through her had shot out in a black, smoky cloud.  As the piece of the Shadow Monster had escaped, it had fled out the cracked bus window and into the night time air.