"Which one?" Max asked El as she walked in the room. You laid on the bed beside Max as El sat beside you. Max was showing her two different comic books to choose.
"I don't know" she said tired, but she still seemed upset about the whole Billy case.
"Hey, there's nothing to worry about anymore, okay?" Max said.
You had to admit yourself it was really strange how Billy was acting today, he just seemed super out of the ordinary.
"It doesn't make sense" El said. "Heather, the blood and ice"
"Heather had a fever, so she took a cold bath, but she's better now. That has to be it" Max tried to explain to her. "I don't know where that blood came from, but we saw her. We all saw her" Max said looking at you. "She's totally fine"
"What about Billy?" El asked.
"What about him?"
"Are you kidding me Max, he was super weird today. You and I both know he's an asshole but why would he act like that today? He seemed super wrong" you told her.
"Wrong is kind of like his default" she told you.
"But it's nice to know he's not a murderer,
because that would've totally sucked" she said turning back to El.
You sighed but told yourself to forget about it. You leaned against Max's shoulder as you got comfortable in the bed. Max willingly patted your head and you both laughed.
"Who... is that?" El asked looking at the Wonder Woman comic.
"See, this is why you can't just hang out with Mike all the time" Max said.
"Yeah, Wonder Woman is kinda like you El, a badass" you told her. She smiled.
The rest of the night you guys talked about comics until you all passed out. In the morning you were woken up to your loud stupid walkie talkie. You shot up from the bed half asleep when you heard Lucas's voice coming through your walkie, your eyes not even open.
"Do you copy? This is a code red" he kept repeating.
"Mmmm go away I'm sleeping" you murmured super tired, your messy hair covering your whole face.
You turned off the walkie and slammed your head back on the pillow, trying to go back to that dream. But then, the damn phone rang.
"Holy shit! On a Saturday in summer! What an asshole" you shouted into your pillow.
Max shot up from her bed and rushed to her phone super annoyed with Lucas.
"We're sleeping, leave us alone" she said into the phone.
She was about to hang up but she listened to what the guys were saying. You kept your head on the pillow but you tried to listen in on the conversation.
"What did they want?" you asked her tiredly, face still in the pillow.
After Max told you and El what Mike told her, you all grabbed a quick breakfast and hopped on your bikes heading to Mike's house. You were still annoyed with Mike when he left El and when he called women 'species'. But he explained that your lives were in danger so you decided to forget it and listen.
"The first time I felt it was at the theater" Will explained. He said he felt a sensation that meant danger.
"That's when the power went out" Mike said.
"And then I felt it again at the field near the Nelson farm the next day" he kept saying. "Then again yesterday outside Castle Byers"
"What does it feel like?" Max asked him.
"It's almost like...You know when you drop
on a roller coaster?" Will asked you guys.
"Sure"
"Yeah"
"No" El said.
"It's like everything inside your body is just sinking all at once, but... this is worse" he said.
"Your body...it goes cold and... and you can't breathe. I've felt it before, whenever he was close"
"Whenever who was close?" Max asked.
"The Mind Flayer" he said.
"I closed the gate" El said.
"I know, but...what if he never left?" Will said.
"What if we locked him out here with us?"
You all looked at each other with confused expressions.
"That day on the field, a part of him attached itself to me. 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 our world? In Hawkins"
"I don't understand. The Demodogs died when El closed the gate. If the brain dies, the body dies" Max said.
"We can't take any chances" Will said. "We need to assume the worst, the Mind Flayer's back. And if he is, he'd want to attach himself to someone again. A new me"
"A new host" you said.
"How can you tell if someone is a host?"
You and El looked at each other and you both thought the same thing. Billy.
After explaining to the guys what you and the girls saw, you all biked to the public pool. It was nice and sunny today but you were all rushing to see if the monster was in Billy. You all stopped behind a car and looked through the gate. You saw Billy sitting on his tower wearing sunglasses and a long sleeved shirt which was odd.
"He looks pretty normal to me" Max said.
"Normal? How many times have you seen him with a shirt on?" you told her.
"I mean, it's a little weird" she said. You saw she didn't want to believe that there was something wrong with Billy. He might've been an asshole but she cared about him.
"More than a little, he was in a tub with ice. The Mind Flayer likes it cold" Lucas said.
"But he's lounging at the pool, which is, like,
the least Mind Flayer thing ever" Max said.
"Not necessarily" Will noted. "The Mind Flayer likes to hide, he only used me when he needed me"
"Okay, so we just wait until he gets activated"
"No, what if he hurts someone?" Will said.
"Or kills someone" you said backing him up.
"We can't take that chance, we need to find out if he's the host" Mike said.
He then got up from his kneeling position on the ground and started to go toward the locker rooms.
"Where are you going?" you asked him.
"I have an idea, boys only" he said.
Lucas and Will followed him but you got up in disbelief.
"Mike seriously?" you started to say.
"Just trust me on this one" he reassured you and ran to the men's locker room with Will and Lucas.
You sighed and went back behind the car with the girls. After a long while, Mike and the guys came back and explained the plan to you guys. You were going to lure Billy into the locker room and lock him in the sauna. You were going to set the temperature up super high and hopefully burn the Mind Flayer out of him, just like they did to Will last year.
Everyone set off to get supplies. You and Mike went together to get chains to secure the door.
"Just when I thought it was going to be a great summer, this whole monster shit comes back" you said laughing as you and Mike searched for chains in a closet.
"Where were you?" he asked.
"What?"
"Where were you? You've been a member of the party forever and what you just run off on us, where were you this whole time?" he asked you seriously. You raised your eyebrows at him and looked at him super surprised.
"Where was I? Where were you? I mean, you lie to your girlfriend and you just don't even see her anymore, I mean come on!" you shouted at him. "And you're asking where I was. I was there for her when you weren't. And where is Dustin right now? Huh? You say I ran off on you guys when you and El just leave when Dustin just came home from camp. I mean, can you just explain all of that to me Mike?"
He looked down at his feet.
"Yeah uh, yeah you're right" he said, he looked embarrassed. You sighed.
"Can you just tell me why you left El? Because, that girl is my sister, if you hurt her, I'm gonna have to hurt you" you said.
"Alright alright" he raised his hands. He knew you could pick up a good fight. "Hopper threatened me and then told me to not see El anymore"
You raised an unamused eyebrow at him "Seriously Mike?"
"It's the truth!"
"Okay even so, that shouldn't stop you from seeing her"
"He's the Chief of Police! What was I supposed to do?" he exclaimed.
"Exactly! The Chief of Police, not of teen romance. I know this man, he doesn't even know how to settle with romance at our age, you shouldn't have stopped seeing her, let alone lie to her" you said.
"I know I know, I messed up" he sighed.
"Go find her and talk to her, I'm sure she'll understand" you patted him on the back.
He smiled and left to talk to El.
You grabbed the chains that were in the closet and went off into the men's locker room. The sun was already setting, people were leaving and you guys were getting ready. Will put a dummy inside the sauna and taped a walkie talkie on it, that's how Mike was going to lure Billy inside. You gave Lucas the chain, he was going to lock the door with them.
You, Mike, Max, Lucas and Will all hid behind the wall as you waited for Billy to get trapped. You heard him rushing through the halls trying to find Mike, which Mike was really doing was talking in his walkie, luring Billy into the sauna. When he was inside, you heard El force him inside and close the door with her mind.
"Now!" you heard her shout.
You all came out from behind the wall and Will slid in a pole through the door handle and Lucas chained the door close, secured so Billy wouldn't escape. Billy banged on the door but it wouldn't budge.
You all stayed a good distance away from the door. You saw Billy looking at you all but when his eyes landed on you, they burned into yours. He then turned to Max.
"Max! Let me out of here!" he shouted banging on the door.
"Let me out" he shouted. "You kids... You think this is funny? You kids think this is some kind of sick prank, huh? You little shits think this is funny?"
Eleven stood in front of you guys protectively. You stood beside Mike and you tensed up even more whenever Billy threw himself at the door.
"Open the door! Open the door! Open the goddamn door!" he would yell repeatedly.
Will went up to the thermostat. "We're at 220"
It had to be hot enough. It had to be enough for the Mind Flayer to come out. You saw Billy was super sweaty and he fell onto the floor and he cried.
"It's not my fault. It's not my fault, Max, I promise you, it's not my fault" he said.
Max walked slowly up to the window on the door.
"What's not your fault, Billy?" she asked.
"I've done things, Max. Really...b-bad things. I didn't mean to, he made me do it" you heard him cry.
"Who made you do it?" she asked him.
You were super worried for Max, you weren't sure it was safe for her to be so close to the door.
"I don't know, it's like a shadow, like a giant shadow. Please, Max" he begged.
"What did he make you do?"
"It's not my fault, okay? Max, please. Please, believe me, Max, it's not my fault. I tried to stop him, okay? I did. Please believe me, Max" he cried.
You saw how much this impacted Max. A tear shedded from her eye and she placed a hand on the window.
"Billy, it's gonna be okay, it's gonna be okay. We want to help you. You just have to talk to us, okay? I believe you, Billy" she talked to him.
You felt Will tense beside you and you turned to him. His eyes opened wide and he reached to the back of his neck.
"I feel him, he here" he said cautiously to you.
Oh shit.
You and Mike looked at each other with blank faces, but thought the same thing.
"Max, get away from the door" you simply said, still looking at Mike.
"What?"
"Get away from the door!" you turned and yelled at her.
Billy broke the glass window on the door with his hand and he tried to reach for Max, but she moved just in time. You grabbed her hand pulled her with you and the group as Billy kept trying to break down the door.
"Let me out, you bitch! Let me out! I'll fucking gut you! Let me out!" he shouted.
He then threw himself multiple times at the door till it broke down. When he got out, you all watched him with widened eyes as El stood in front of you guys. You watched him carefully, his veins popped out and they were super dark and sickly looking. Billy stood bigger and he looked stronger.
Eleven then started to use her powers and threw him across the room with her mind. As she did, you and the group moved to not get hurt.
She threw him once more but this time it was super close to you guys. The group moved away but you rushed to the opposite direction they did, splitting you guys up. You stood alone on the other corner.
Billy was on the floor and Eleven was gaining on him with her mind. She had her arms stretched out, hurting him with her mind as she got closer to him. But the Mind Flayer inside of Billy was stronger. He reached out, grabbed El's wrist and threw her to the other side of the room, hitting her head against the wall as she fell to the ground. She didn't get up.
Your eyes widened and you were about to run to her when you saw Billy turn to the party. He was about to attack them, you were behind him and you were desperate to do something.
You then saw the metal pole from before and quickly grabbed it. You gripped it tightly in your hand as you went up to Billy and swung it at his back, twice.
"Y/N!" Mike yelled.
Billy didn't flinch though. He turned around and looked at you furious. Those same eyes just seemed to want to kill you.
You raised the pole to hit him again but his hand shot out and gripped your throat. Your breath was lost as his fingers dug into your airway, the pole slipped out from your hand and you gripped his arm. He raised you up in the air, your feet leaving the floor as he held you up by the throat.
"No!" the group yelled.
"Let her go!" Mike shouted.
They were about to go to him and attack him but he slowly turned to them, you in his hand. They all froze in place as Billy warned them, if they tried to fight him he'd kill you.
You tried to hit him, to get out of his grasp but you couldn't breath at all. Your legs shook beneath you and you gagged and choked for a breath as your eyes became bloodshot red. The group wanted to do something, to help you, but if they did, Billy would crush you in his hand and kill you. They could only watch you suffer.
Your eyes were about to close as you were about to exhale your small breath of air, but Eleven got back up from the ground and used her powers. She finally got strong enough from the hit on her head and she threw Billy to the wall, tears in her eyes from watching you get hurt.
You felt his hand loosen from your throat as she did and you dropped to the hard ground and you choked for a breath.
"Y/N!" Mike yelled.
He, Lucas, Will and Max all rushed over to you. Mike held you up on his lap as Lucas helped him from beside.
Your red eyes were wide and seemed to be searching something as your breathing was rapid. You were shaking violently, you almost died. It seemed like you were short of breath, you couldn't inhale all the way in. And then you started to hyperventilate.
Lucas saw your hand was shaking so he grabbed it in his and squeezed tightly.
"Y/N, it's okay, just breath" he reassured you. He breathed in and out, encouraging you to do the same.
Your red eyes met his and you tried to follow his breathing pattern. You saw Max was crying beside him. Her brother almost killed her best friend, how could she not feel awful.
Your eyes searched the room and you saw El still fighting with Billy with her powers. You heard her scream and she threw him through the brick wall.
Mike handed you over to Lucas as he went to help El. Lucas held your hands as you leaned onto him.
"It's alright, just keep breathing" he kept saying.
Seeing El crying and falling into Mike's arms made your breathing go faster. You weren't sure if she was okay, or hurt. Everything just seemed to happen so fast. You were having so much fun the other day with her and Max, how did it go from that to almost choking to death. The tears threatened to spill, and they did.
Lucas then helped you sit up as your breathing calmed down a bit.
"She okay?" Mike asked worried, holding El as they stood in front of you.
You tried to tell him you were fine, but you couldn't speak. Your throat was burning and it burned like hell, you held a hand to your throat and you looked to Lucas.
"I'm sure she's okay" he reassured him, still holding your hand.
You felt big dark bruises on your neck from Billy's fingers. More tears came out. The summer that started out great had just turned into a deadly one.