*ੈ✩‧₊˚
✧.* ┊SPARKS FLY ┊✧.*
💥. *. ⋆ — act two. possessed
CHAPTER SIXTEEN — ❝ it gives you character ❞
MAISIE FLINCHED AS JIM BARGED INTO THE ROOM, his presence giving her the slightest feeling of safety before she saw the look on his face. She then noticed the man standing behind the chief, making her feel wary again. She still didn't trust Dr.Owens, not after doing absolutely nothing to help Will.
Jim's eyes went to the unconscious boy and the needle that was lying on the floor next to the door. He sent a quick look to Maisie with narrowed eyes before looking at Joyce again. The loud inhuman growling made the man turn around in haste, watching the door closely. Maisie turned as well, looking at the doors as they banged against something, two holes appearing on each side.
"We gotta go. We gotta go," Jim said, going over to help Joyce free Will from his restrains. He grabbed the boy and started leading the group away from the room.
The group ran through the pristine, white halls in panic, screams echoing in the halls. Maisie watched in horror as one of those monsters tackled a man into the hallway in front of them. She was about to see what would happen to the man, when her attention was caught by gunfire behind her, which made her flinch. She was then roughly pulled into a room by Mike, who had a scowl on his face.
Maisie jumped when Dr.Owens closed the door, trapping them inside a lab with killer monsters inside. Suddenly she felt too hot. Aaron's hoodie was fitting her too tightly and the air in her lungs wasn't nearly enough. Her heartbeat was racing and she felt like she was sweating.
Oh no.
She couldn't be having an anxiety attack, not right now. She slowly backed away in a corner without anyone seeing and tried to calm herself down discreetly, not wanting to bother the others.
Five things you can see? Aaron's voice echoed in her head, and Maisie suddenly felt glad that he'd been by her side a few times when she'd had these kinds of episodes in the past. She tried to take a deep breath as she looked around the small room, brown eyes flickering over everything she could spot.
Will asleep on the table next to her, Bob looking at the cameras, Mike staring at Will with concern in his eyes, documents on the shelf beside her, and the flickering lights.
Four things you can touch?
The wall, the floor, Aaron's hoodie, the table Will was lying on and a gum wrapper on the floor next to her boot.
Three things you can hear?
The monsters' screeching coming from the monitors and through the walls, her erratic heartbeat pounding in her ears and an echo of a woman's scream.
Two things you can smell?
Blood and sweat. A nice combination.
One thing you can taste?
Fear.
-ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ-
The air was cold as Aaron walked beside Max, listening to Dustin and Lucas talk about what had just happened. The cold breeze made him shiver, and he instictively hugged himself tighter, his hands tightening around his green hoodie.
"You're positive that was Dart?" Lucas guestioned, his eyebrow rising in suspicion.
"Yes. He had the same exact yellow pattern on his butt," Dustin said back, already sick of all the questioning.
"He was tiny two days ago," Max said, confused, but it came out as more of an accusation than a statement.
"Well, he's molted three times already."
"Malted?" Steve asked from beside the curly-haired boy, saying something for the first time since Lucas started talking about Dart.
"Molted," Dustin corrected swiftly. "Shed his skin to make room for growth like hornworms."
"When's he gonna molt again?" Max asked urgently.
"It's gotta be soon." Dustin didn't look back. "When he does, he'll be fully grown, or close to it. And so will his friends."
"Yeah, and he's gonna eat a lot more than just cats," Steve murmured, making Lucas step up and stop beside Dustin.
"Wait, a cat?" He put his hand out, stopping Dustin from leaving. "Dart ate a cat?" His accusation laced with his angry voice made Aaron grimace.
"No, what? No." Dustin denied fast, shaking his face. Aaron smiled in amusement as he watched his brother lie, terribly, might he add.
"What are you talking about?" Steve asked, oblivious to the situation.
"Yeah, he ate Mews," Aaron continued, now hiding his smile as he made himself look more sad, wiping his dry cheek with his hand for more of a dramatic effect.
Max looked up at him. "Mews? Who's Mews?"
Aaron didn't get to answer before Steve looked at the girl and shrugged. "It's their cat."
"Steve!" Dustin protested, but didn't get to say anything more before Lucas pushed him back.
"I knew it! You kept him!"
"No!" Dustin weakly denied. "No. No, I.. No, I..."
"This is painful to watch," Aaron mumbled to Steve and Max as he lit a cigarette. The two nodded at him while keeping their eyes on the two kids.
"He missed me. He wanted to come home," Dustin tried to explain.
"Yeah I bet it was nice to come home to the thing. 'Hello, dear. I'm home from school, but oh my, you've killed my cat! But I'll just ignore the fact that you're a dangerous lizard-monster and hope you don't kill my brother or my mother next,'" Aaron said, shaking his head as she exhaled the smoke.
"Yeah, I call bullshit," Lucas said and nodded to Aaron's direction.
"I didn't know he was a demogorgon, okay?" Dustin yelled, turning so he could look at Aaron, too.
"Oh, so now you admit it?" Lucas yelled back.
"Guys, who cares? We have to go," Max groaned, motioning forward with her hands.
"I care!" Lucas yelled at her and turned back to Dustin. "You put the party in jeopardy! You broke the rule of law!"
Aaron slightly turned his head to Steve. "You know what the rule of law is?" he asked, muttering.
"No," Steve murmured back. "Do you?"
"No idea," Aaron said and turned back to watch Dustin scream his lungs out at Lucas.
"So did you!"
"What?" Lucas asked, now confused.
Dustin then flashed his flashlight in Max's face, making her jump back a little in surprise. "You told a stranger the truth!"
It was Max's turn to butt in. "A stranger?" she scoffed and walked closer to the two.
"You wanted to tell her, too!" Lucas yelled.
"But I didn't, Lucas, okay? I didn't tell her!" Dustin took a step closer to his friend. "We both broke the rule of law, okay? So we're even. We're even." A low screeching noise came from the distance, but no one paid any mind to it.
"Great, let's go then," Aaron said, clapping his hands as he turned to leave.
"No, no! We're not even." Lucas yelled, making Aaron groan and turn back. "Don't even try that. Your stupid pet could have ate us for dinner!"
"That wasn't my fault!"
Aaron was greatly enjoying watching this unfold. Nothing fun ever happened in his life, and he was craving some drama. Usually Maisie told him all the funny shit she'd hear either from Will, or overhear at work, but either way, he enjoyed the way her face lit up when telling him everything she could remember. But now that they were in this weird place... Aaron shook his head and got rid of the thought. He was going to make it up to her and apologize for his rude words. She was understanding, she wouldn't hold a grudge. Maybe he'd even have the courage to finally tell her that he was—-
"Hey guys?" Steve's voice brought him back to reality. Aaron looked back to see his friend facing the other way, pointing the flashlight somewhere far away. Aaron turned away from the kids and walked over to Steve, trying to see what he was talking about. Just as he squinted his dry eyes to get a better look, Steve turned and yelled "Guys!" again, making Aaron glance at the kids as well.
The schreeching came again, and this time they all heard it. Steve began leading the group away from the spot and towards the noise. The only ones who didn't immediately follow were Max and Aaron.
"No, no, no. Hey, guys, why are you headed towards the sound?" Max asked loudly, staying put.
"You never go towards the sound," Aaron yelled in desperation, waving his hands around.
They watched the three boys disappear into the woods quickly.
"Hello?" Max then yelled, her hands moving dramatically. "Hello? Shit," she cursed and turned to look at Aaron.
"Let's just stick together and try not to get killed," he mumbled without looking at her. He grabbed her arm and started leading them where Steve, Dustin and Lucas went.
They caught up to the other three in no time after having ran through the woods in panic, screaming when an owl had landed on a tree not far from them, scaring the absolute shit out of the two. But nevertheless, they made it out to catch up with the boys, who were standing at the edge of the hill, looking down at the mist.
"I don't see him," Dustin shrugged.
Lucas put on his binoculars and looked around. "It's the lab." He put them back down. "They were going back home."
"Fucking hell," Aaron whispered and leaned his head back with a slight groan.
-ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ-
The silence had given Maisie plenty of time to get over her little anxiety attack, but she couldn't get herself to get off the floor. Or to open her mouth and talk. Or to even look away from the pink wrapper she was now playing with. Her breathing had gone back to normal and she felt fine, but she also felt the anxiety bubbling under the surface, waiting to explode like a ticking timebomb.
tick, tick, tick.
"Look, this is us, and this is the nearest exit." Dr.Owens told Jim and the others while drawing on the map. "But even if we somehow make it there, there's no way out."
"Well, how about we go through the doors." Maisie's raspy voice echoed in the room, her first words in an hour.
The two men turned to her, Jim nodding in agreement, while Sam only looked at her for a second before looking away.
"The locks are fail secure," he explained.
"Fail secure..?" Joyce mumbled, confused.
"If there's a power outage, the building goes on full lockdown."
Maisie finally stood up from the floor and walked up to them. "Well that's incredibly stupid."
"Can it be unlocked remotely?" Bob asked, obviously knowing what Dr.Owens was talking about.
"With a computer, sure, but somebody's gotta reset the breakers."
"Where are the breakers?" Jim looked at him, his tone getting lower.
"Breakers are in the basement, three floors down." Sam said, Jim inmediately taking off and walking towards the door.
"Hey, where are you going?" Bob asked sharply, turning around.
"To reset the breakers."
"Okay, then what?"
"Then we get the hell out of here." Jim answered, like it was obvious.
"No, then the power comes back on. If you wanna unlock the doors, you have to completely reboot the computer system, and then override the security codes with a manual input." Bob ranted, and if Maisie wasn't feeling so shitty, she would have laughed at the chief's face.
"Fine, how do I do that?"
"You can't. Not unless you know BASIC." Bob scoffed and shook his head.
"I don't know what that means," Jim spit out, and this time Maisie did let out a loud mocking laugh, that Mike had to shut up by slapping his hand on her mouth.
"It's a computer programming language," the boy said as Maisie shoved his hand off.
"Try and teach it to me." Jim took a step towards Bob.
"Oh my god," Maisie snickered, making Jim finally turn to her.
"What?" he grit out, jaw clenched.
She smiled and waited a little for dramatic effect. "It's like super hard."
Bob turned to her, excited. "You know BASIC?"
Maisie's face fell a little at his joy, and she winced a little. "No, I tried to learn it at school, but it was so hard I cried and quit. I only know like two things maybe, if even that."
"Oh," Bob sighed and turned to Jim. "So, shall I teach you French while I'm at it, Jim?" He scoffed. "How about a little German?"
"Sassy. I like it. You should be like this more often Bob, it gives you character." Maisie smiled and gave him a thumbs up, to which he replied with a confused look before he turned to Dr.Owens.
"How about you, Doc? You speak BASIC?"
The man rose his hand and shook his head. "No," he sighed.
Bob scoffed. "Okay, I got this." He nodded to himself and then turned to Jim. "I got this," he assured.
"No, Bob," Joyce whispered and went closer to the man, her eyes glossy.
"It's okay," he whispered back and held her as she wrapped her arms around him. Maisie watched with a gentle smile as her mother was finally recieving the love she deserved.
The girl wished that Bob would be a long-term thing, since she liked how it felt like to have him around. It felt like it was supposed to feel. It felt right. Like they were a real family. The feeling was so foreign, that Maisie had to frown. Was it wrong that this was the first time she'd ever felt like they were an actual family? One with a father and a mother—- who were happy and made the kids happy. It didn't feel right to feel that way only now.
"It's gonna be okay. Remember, Bob Newby, superhero," he assured Joyce as they broke apart, making the woman chuckle lightly. He then looked over Joyce's shoulder at Maisie. As he saw the concerned expression on her face, he sent her a grin, making her feel slightly better. Only slightly. She could still feel the anxiety in her stomach, almost like a warning. Like something bad was going to happen.
And then Maisie was watching Bob and Jim leave the room to grab walkie-talkies. Her head had started to hurt and she realized she was really hungry. Then, as she really thought about it, she realized she couldn't remember the last time she ate. As nausea hit her, she had to go sit down by the table her brother was lying on, back in the same corner as before. She shut her eyes and tried not to think about the throbbing pain in her head. Her concentration was cut off by Mike, who sat down in front of her. She slowly opened her eyes and looked at the boy.
"What?" she eventually asked, her voice low and raspy.
"You don't have to pretend to be fine, you know?" He rose an eyebrow.
Maisie scowled. "What the hell are you talking about, Michael?" She then quickly stood up, putting her hand on the wall to support her as the nausea hit her again, making her dizzy. "I'm fine. Perfect, even."
Mike grabbed her hand and pulled her back down. "No, you're not." He then got guiet, not talking for several seconds. "You wanna talk about it?" he asked hesitantly.
Her face softened, and she took a deep breath to calm down, realizing that she was being a dick. "Not really, but thanks, Michael." She sent a genuine smile at him, and it seemed to make him relax, at least slightly.
Maisie took notice how he didn't leave after she ended their conversation, and to be honest with herself, she enjoyed his company. He wasn't talking because he knew she didn't need it at the moment, he just sat there with her. Maisie sighed and leaned her head back against the cold wall, the act giving her the slightest bit of comfort for her throbbing head.
-ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ-
After the third time of Lucas accidentally stepping on Aaron's shoes and almost making him trip, the older boy stopped walking completely. He grabbed Lucas by his jacket and pushed him to walk in front of him. He was getting sick of Steve's shortcuts, as they were once again walking through the woods, sticks hitting him in the face and him almost tripping on every single rock on their path. Aaron would have been fine with just carefully walking straight down the hill they were on, Max agreeing with him, but Steve had decided they go his "quicker" way. Aaron had then murmured that their crew had a clear dictatorship, earning a hum of agreement from Max and a scoff from Steve.
They were approaching the edge of the woods and Aaron was about to open his mouth to ask Steve about their plan, or the inexistence of one, when they heard a voice call out.
"Hello?"
Steve stopped immediately, making Dustin run into his back. The older teen looked back and mouthed 'stay quiet', to which Max rolled her eyes.
"Who's there?" the booming voice called out again, and Aaron furrowed his eyebrows. That voice sounded a lot like the one he'd heard multiple times in the morning when he'd slept over at Maisie's house. He turned to Steve and pulled him closer to him.
"It's Jonathan," he whispered in his ear, and Steve turned to him with a serious look.
"You sure?"
"Positive." Aaron nodded.
The two teens then continued their walk towards the voice, now sure that it wasn't a threat of any kind.
"Who's there?" Jonathan yelled, yet again.
Aaron pointed his flashlight at him when they finally walked out of the woods. "You know, you'd think that when someone doesn't answer to that guestion, you'd stop asking it. But I guess not." He acknowledged Nancy with a quick nod, hiding his surprise to see both of the teenagers there.
Of course the first person the pair took notice to was the brunette teen, who was leading the group of kids.
"Steve?" Nancy and Jonathan asked in unison, shock evident on their faces.
"Nancy?" Steve asked back, confusion and hurt in his voice.
"Jonathan." Dustin joined in, his face scrunched up.
The group watched Nancy and Jonathan advance on them, the former looking confused, while the latter looked simply out of it. They began walking towards the two as well.
"What are you doing here?" Nancy asked, her eyes set on her ex-boyfriend.
"What are you doing here?" Steve fired back.
"We're looking for Mike, Will and Maisie." Nancy explained, and at the sound of her name, Aaron's heart dropped along with his face.
"Please tell me they aren't in there?" Aaron asked desperately, pointing his flashlight at the lab.
"We're not sure," Nancy furrowed her eyebrows, a frown pulling at her lips.
"Why?" Jonathan asked, keeping his eyes on Aaron, who didn't even get the chance to open his mouth before the screeching came again, this time much closer and louder.
They all turned their heads towards the sound, which was coming from inside the building. The same building, where Maisie, Will and Mike were currently in. The monstrous sound was longer this time, giving them all a terrible feeling. Aaron's heart was pounding, and he could only hope that the last time he saw Maisie wouldn't turn out to be the last he saw her alive.
-ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ-