CODE LEAVE ME ALONE
✧･ﾟ: * Nora groans at the sound of radio static waking her up in the morning.
"Do y-you. . . cop. . . Code re. . .d- repe- Nora. . . Copy? Co- red. . ."
After the voice doesn't give up for awhile, Nora slides out from her bed, Max and El shifting on her left, and grabs the radio.
"Shut. Up."
Nora goes back to the bed and Max puts her arm around her abdomen, keeping her in place.
The phone starts ringing and Nora sighs as she rolls out of Max's grip and falls to the ground.
"I'm sleeping! Go away!" She yells into the phone. She's about to slam it into the receiver but Mike on the other end catches her attention. "What are you talking about?"
"What?" Max slowly looks up, opening her eyes against the harsh light.
"What did he say?" El also looks over.
Nora sets the phone down with a confused face. "It was Mike. He wants us to come over. Apparently, it's important, and it could be a matter of life and death, whatever the hell that means."
Max sighs, "they'll just keep calling we don't go."
"We should go," El agrees.
Nora groans and goes to her dresser to take out clothes for the girls. "This better not be a prank."
—
✧･ﾟ: * Once the girls got to Mike's house, they go down to the basement and Will immediately starts explaining upon seeing them.
"I didn't think it was anything at first. I mean, I think I just didn't want to believe it. The first time I felt it was at Day of the Dead."
"Power went out that night too," Mike points out.
"And then I felt it again at the field near Nelson Farm the next day," by now everyone was sitting on the couch and floor, looking up at Will on a stool. "Then again, yesterday, outside Castle Byers."
"What does it feel like?" Max asks curiously.
"It's almost like. . ." Will tries to think of the right words. "Y'know when you drop on a roller coaster?"
"Yeah."
"Sure."
"I guess."
"Mhm."
"No."
"It's like. . . everything inside your body is just sinking all at once, but. . . this is worse. Your body. . . it goes cold and- and you can't breathe. I've felt before. Whenever he was close."
"Whenever who was close?" Max leans forward slightly.
"The Mind Flayer."
"I closed the gate," El straightens up.
"I know," Will nods. "But. . . what if he never left? what if we locked him out here, with us?"
"How does that work?" Nora frowns. Not this again.
Will gets up and grabs a piece of paper from a shelf, along with a box of crayons. The group follows as he sets them down on a small table. He draws out a messy sketch of the Mind Flayer, pressing hard with the crayon.
"This is him. All of him. But, that day on the field, a part of him attached himself to me," Will wipes his hand across the drawing, staining his hand in the process. "My mom got it out of me, and Eleven closed the gate. But, the part that was still in me, what if it's still in out world?" Will flips the paper over and smacks his hand to it, now staining the blank side. "In Hawkins."
"I don't understand," Max speaks up. "The Demodogs died when El closed the gate. If the brain dies the body dies."
"The brain didn't die though, did it?" Nora furrows her brows.
"We can't take any chances," Mike agrees. "We need to assume the worst. The Mind Flayer's back."
"Yeah, and if he is he'd want to attach himself to someone else. A new me."
"A new host," Lucas says, making everyone share worried glances.
"How can you tell if someone is a host?" El questions.
Nora pauses for a moment. "Billy."
Max rolls her eyes, "no."
"You have to admit it," Nora sighs. "It was weird."
"What about Billy?" Mike questions the two as if it's an interrogation.
Nora rolls her eyes at his aggressive tone as Max explains. "Last night, Eleven saw something in that void that had to do with Billy and one of the lifeguards at the pool, Heather. El said she looked terrified and was screaming for help. Apparently, she ditched work that day, and we found them both at Heather's house, having dinner with her parents. Nothing out of the ordinary."
"It was really weird," Nora continues. "He was acting strange. The whole situation was just. . . off. I don't know, it's not much, but it's all we've got."
"It wouldn't hurt to check it out," Will looks around at the group, all nodding while Max just looked annoyed. "Anyone up for a poolside stakeout?"
"Let's check it out," Mike nods.
—
✧･ﾟ: * The group watches Billy sitting on the lifeguards stand from behind a car in the parking lot. Billy has on a long-sleeves shirt and a towel draped over his legs.
Max grabs the binoculars from Lucas first and looks through them. "I don't know. He looks pretty normal to me."
Nora gives her an annoyed look as Lucas scoffs at his girlfriend. . . ex-girlfriend?
"Normal? How many times have you seen him with a shirt on?"
"It's all a little weird," Nora emphasizes.
"More than a little," Mike intervenes. "Nora said he was in a tub with ice. The Mind Flayer likes it cold. Plus everything else-"
"But he's lounging at the pool," Max argues. "Which is, like, the least Mind Flayer thing ever."
"Not necessarily," Will shakes his head. "The Mind Flayer likes to hide. He only used me when he needed me. It's like. . . you're dormant. And, then, when he needs you, you're activated."
"Okay, so, we just. . . wait until he gets activated," Max states.
"No," Mike disagrees. "What if he hurts someone?"
"Or kills someone," Nora adds and quickly frowns after.
"We can't take that chance," Mike nods. "We need to find out if he's the host." Mike walks away from the group at that.
"Where are you going?" El calls after him.
"I have an idea," He explains and then motions to Will and Lucas. "Boys only."
"Seriously?" Max scoffs.
"Just trust me on this one!"
"Typical," Nora says.
a/n:
unpopular opinion: i don't really like billy tbh ❤️