-003/Trisha Henderson POV-
"Let me out, you bitch!" yelled Billy. "Let me out! I'll fucking gut you!"
Max grabbed my arm and pulled me closer to her.
Seeing her brother act this way hurt her...
"Let me out!" he yelled and took the bar away.
Lucas shot a rock with his wrist thrower and it hit Billy in the face...
The lights began to flicker...
Billy was roaring... black vines all over his body...
He tried to open the door...
"He can't get out, can he?" asked Max.
"No way" said Lucas. "No way"
But the door was opening more and more with each hit...
Until he managed to get out...
El raised a lifting bar and threw it at Billy.
"Don't kill him!" I begged her.
Billy was fighting back... he threw the bar back at her.
I pushed her out of the way and Billy began choking me.
"Billy" I whimpered... I touched his face, he was crying... "I love you"
His grip softened, but his face was still in agony... Mike hit him with a metal bar.
"Go to hell you piece of shit!" he yelled and tried to hit him again.
Max was by my side, seeing if I was okay.
Eleven managed to use her powers to lift him.
"Do not hurt sister!" she screamed and pushed him outside.
"Trisha" said Max and looked at my throat... "Are you okay?"
"Billy" I managed to get out. "Where is he?"
"He's gone" she said. "He ran away"
"He's in there" I cried. "He's still in there, Max"
"I know" she said. "I saw"
~
I was hugging myself in another sweater of Billy. He left way too many of them at my place...
El was looking for Hopper, so he could help us.
"I found him" she said.
"Where is he?" asked Max.
"Woods" said El. "He's with... Will's mom"
"My mom?" asked Will.
"What are they doing?" asked Max.
"Ill-annoy" said El. "They're going to Ill-annoy"
"Mike! Breakfast!" it was Mike's mom...
"Not now, mom!" yelled Mike. "Illinois? Illinois, like the state? The state of Illinois?"
"Ill-annoy" repeated Eleven.
I went with El and Max into the bathroom, to clean the blood on El's face.
"Does it still hurt?" asked Max to me.
"Only when I talk" I said.
"Well, it's a good thing you're not Mike, then" she said. "Blah, blah, blah, blah. And you'd be in constant pain"
The boys were bickering... we could still hear them clearly.
"Boys" I sighed.
"Not now mom!" we heard Mike yell.
"Mike, open the door" it was Nancy.
~
"It was the same thing, the exact same thing that happened to Will last year" said Nancy, after explaining what happened at the hospital. "And look at this. Look at the body temperatures"
"He likes it cold" said Will.
"Okay, so this crazy old woman who was eating fertilizer..." began Mike.
"Mrs. Driscoll" said Nancy.
"Right, yeah, Mrs. Driscoll" said Mike. "What time was this attack?"
"Last night" said Nancy.
"But what time last night?" I asked.
"Around 9:00" she answered.
"You waited all night to call?" asked Jonathan.
"I was waiting for the doctors to run some tests" she said.
"You weren't there?" asked Will.
"Well, I'm here now, aren't I?" said Jonathan.
"Hallelujah" said Nancy.
"Ooh" said Lucas, I could feel the awkwardness...
"Um, so, what... what time was your... sauna test?" asked Nancy.
"Around 9:00" we all said.
"Well, that proves it" said Nancy. "That proves my theory"
"She's flayed, just like Billy" said Mike.
"Flayed?" asked Jonathan.
"The Mind Flayer" said Mike. "He flays people. Takes over their mind. Once they do that, they basically become him"
"If there are two flayed..." said Lucas.
"We have to assume there are more" finished Will.
"Heather" said Eleven. "Billy was doing something to her. She was scared. She was screaming. Bad screams"
"What's a good scream?" asked Lucas.
"Max said..." began El.
"Doesn't matter" interjected Max.
"I'm sorry, I'm lost" said Nancy. "Who is Heather?"
"She is a lifeguard at the pool" I said.
"Heather Holloway?" she asked and looked at Jonathan.
"Tom" they said in union.
~
We drove back to Heather's house...
No one opened, so El opened the door with her mind.
"Tom?" said Nancy, it was freezing inside the house... "Heather?"
"Jesus, it's freezing" said Max.
"Do you guys smell that?" I asked.
We went to the kitchen and saw all sorts of chemicals lying around...
"More chemicals" said Nancy.
"You think they're guzzling this shit?" asked Jonathan.
"Yeah, either that or they just went on a hell of a cleaning spree" said Nancy.
"But last year, Will didn't eat chemicals" said Max. "Did you?"
"No" said Will. "This is something new"
"Mr. Clarke, fifth grade. Posit" said Mike. "What happens when you mix chemicals together?"
"You create a new substance" said Lucas and Will in choir.
"What if they're making something?" asked Mike.
"In themselves?" I asked.
"Trisha's right" said Max. "If you drink this crap, it'll kill you"
"Yeah, if you're human" said Lucas.
Nancy saw something and we walked into the living room.
"The table" I said and they looked at me. "It's exactly the same as last time"
"Blood" said Nancy and she touched the carpet. "Yesterday, Tom had a bandage on his forehead"
She took a bottle of wine that was on the floor. "He was attacked" she said.
We walked to the garage...
We found rope...
"They must've tied them" said Jonathan. "They must have taken them somewhere"
"Mrs. Driscoll" said Nancy. "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"
"Somewhere he didn't want me to see" said Eleven.
"If we can find the source, then maybe we can stop him" said Nancy. "Or at least stop it from spreading or doing whatever the hell he's doing with those chemicals"
"How do we find it?" asked Eleven.
"Mrs. Driscoll" said Will. "If she wants to go back so badly, why don't we let her?"
~
We went to the hospital, where we were stopped by the lady at the reception...
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Excuse me!" she shouted. "Where do you think you're going?"
"Oh, um..." said Nancy. "I was just going to visit my grandma again. And... and this... this is my family"
"Extended" said Lucas.
"I don't care who they are" said the lady. "You know the rules. Two visitors at a time"
In the end Jonathan and Nancy went to visit Mrs. Driscoll.
I sat down, trying to get my mind off of Billy.
But it wasn't really working.
Not only Billy, but I was thinking about Dustin. I hoped he was with Steve, because I had no idea where my little brother was...
"You okay?" Max sat down next to me.
"How are you holding up?" I asked and took her hand.
"Scared" she admitted. "Billy was really doing better with you. He... he was almost like a real brother"
"We'll get him back" I whispered and squeezed her hand. "I'll get that thing out of him. Promise"
"You are so cool" she suddenly said. "I mean... not only your powers. But you changed a dick like Billy into becoming a decent dude. And you help me..."
"Of course" I said. "You are my friend, Max"
"I'd like to think you're more than that" she said. "Like a sister"
I hugged her and she wrapped her arms around me.
"Like a sister" I smiled.
~
The lights began to flicker and Will stood up.
"Will?" I said and everyone looked at him. "What's wrong?"
"He's here" he said.
"No time to waste" I said and we passed the lady at the reception.
The elevator wasn't working, so we took the stairs.
We saw Jonathan trying to open a door, but I opened it for him.
"What the hell" I said when we saw the monster.
"Jesus" said Mike.
"What the f..." said Max.
El threw the monster around with her powers, before giving it a final push outside.
"Go" I said to Jonathan while the kids and I went outside to look for the monster.
But it was dissolved and going into the sewers...
~
Eleven tried to find others we thought wereinfected.
"It can't be good for her to be in there for this long" said Mike.
"Mike you need to relax" said Max.
"What if she gets brain damage or something?" said Mike.
"Oh shit, is that like a real thing?" asked Lucas.
"No, it's not" said Max. "He made it up. Mike doesn't know what the hell he'stalking about"
"Oh, and you do?" asked Mike.
"No, I..." said Max.
I looked at a picture of me and Billy. I knew how to find him now. I could... butI had to admit sister was better at this than me...
"Okay, can you guys settle an argument for us?" asked Max suddenly and went toNancy, Jonathan and Will. "Who do you think should decide El's limits? Mike orEleven?"
"The way that you frame that is such bullshit" said Mike.
"It's not bullshit, Mike" said Max. "This is your whole problem"
"Language, both of you" I scolded.
"Sorry" they both said.
"But it's the reason why El dumped your ass" said Max.
"El dumped you?" said Nancy and I at the same time.
"Yeah, because she is conspiring against me" said Mike. "She's corrupting her"
"No, enlightening her" said Max. "The fact is, she's not yours. She's her own person, fully capable of making her own decisions"
"She's risking her life for no reason" said Mike.
"For no reason?" said Nancy and she looked at me, she knew I was hurt. "Mike, the flayed are out there doing God knows what"
"Killing, flaying,..." said Lucas.
"Transforming into monsters" said Will. "Billy being one of them"
"And El's not stupid" I said. "She knows her abilities better than any of us"
"Exactly, thank you" said Max.
"And she is her own person" said Nancy. "With her own free will"
"Exactly" said Max. "El has saved the world twice and Mike still doesn't trust her"
"You wanna talk about trust, really?" said Mike defensively. "After you made Eleven spy on us?"
"Wait what?" asked Lucas.
"Oh, she didn't tell you this?" asked Mike.
"No" said Lucas.
"Your girlfriend used El's powers to spy on us" said Mike.
"No, no, no I did not make her" said Max. "It was her idea. And why are we even talking about this, seriously?"
"Yeah, who cares?" asked Will.
"I care" said Lucas.
"Yeah, I guess girlfriends don't lie, they spy" said Mike.
"We were just joking around" said Max.
"Wouldn't it've been so funny if I was taking a massive shit or something?"asked Mike.
"You weren't" said Max.
"But what if I was?" asked Mike.
"Then gross!" she shouted.
"Seriously?" I asked. "Mike, get to the point already"
"I'm just trying to demonstrate how careless Max is with Eleven's powers" hesaid. "In fact how careless all of you are. You're treating her like some kindof machine when she's not a machine, and I don't want her to die looking for the flayed when they've obviously vanished off the face of the Earth. So can we please just come up with a new plan because I love her and I can't lose her again"
Author note:
I added a theme song in the characters for Trisha!
It'll be of use in a few chapters...
-Amara