Chapter Nine: You fucked me over
"I'm the kind of guy who never used to cry. The world is treating me bad, misery."
•
That night, everyone decided to go home and get a nights rest to calm down and think about what had happened. Eve, of course, didn't have a home to go to, but she didn't want to go to Max's for obvious reasons, and she didn't want to see Eleven. She walked down the road, her backpack on her back as she walked around the dark streets of Hawkins. She was downtown, near where the old shops were.
She was looking down at the ground as she walked, singing 'Goodbye Yellow Brick Road' quietly as she continued to walk down the road. She was sad, but not in a way of wanting to cry out forever, but in a way where her head felt cloudy and she felt like the world was weighing her down.
"Harrington!" Eve heard a voice shout, she looked up to see the one and only Lily H standing a little ahead of her. Eve smiled wide at the sight of her best friend.
"Lily!" She screamed, and ran at her best friend quickly, the two girls laughing loudly as they hugged, "How was Texas?"
"It was amazing," Lily gushed, "My mom sent me out to get some milk from seven eleven," she told her friend, "What are you doing out so late?"
"Walking back from Mike's," She tells the girl who rolls her eyes.
"Still hanging out with the nerds?" Lily asks.
"Yeah," Eve nods.
"And Max?" Lily continues.
"What about her?" Eve snaps at her friend, making Lily raise her hands in surrender.
"Touchy subject? What did you guys have an argument?" Lily asks, "You guys were so close, everyone started thinking you were lesbians."
"I like guys, why would I date a girl?" Eve lied, "That's so gay."
"Thank god," Lily breathed out, "Thought you were one of them."
"Never," Eve says through a fake smile, "Steve's expecting me home, so I better go," She lies, "See you soon, though?"
"Yeah," Lily smiles, "Bye Eve, I missed you."
"Missed you too," Eve gives Lily a hug before walking again, off to find somewhere to spend the night.
-
When Eve arrived at Mike's the next morning, everyone was listening to Eleven, who was explaining how Hopper wasn't home last night. No one said a word to her as she placed her bag by the stairs and walked into the bathroom, sorting out her hair quickly. She'd ended up sleeping on a park bench, which she didn't mind all that much.
"We need Hopper," Mike said to the group as Eve walked out of the bathroom
Max rolled her eyes at the boy as Eve sat down next to him, "we don't need hopper," She told them, "We can deal with Billy on our own."
"Cause that worked so well last time," Eve muttered, making Max send her a look of sorrow, She ignored it of course.
"Spy," El spoke up, "I'll spy."
"I'll turn on the static," Mike spoke after, getting up as El went to find bandana, leaving the rest of the teens in an awkward silence. El sat in front of the television moments later and put the bandana on ready to find her father
They all watched in silence as El sat looking into the void.
"I found him." She told the group
"Where is he?" Eve asked softly.
"Woods," El mumbled, trying to listen to what hopper was saying, "He's with... Will's mom."
"My... My mom?" Will asked, worry building inside of him as he worried for his mother. He knew they were up to no good, they had to be.
"What are they doing? Max asked with furrowed brows.
"Ill... Annoy?" El spoke, uncertainty in her voice, "They're going to Ill-annoy," She tells them.
There was a knock on the door leading to the basement shortly followed by Mike's mother shouting, "Mike! Breakfast!"
"Not now mom!" He shouted back, before turning back to Eleven who was taking her bandage off, "Illinois? Like the state?"
El shrugged her shoulders, not knowing her self, "Ill-annoy."
"Come on, let's get you cleaned up," Eve says, getting up and heading into the bathroom. El and Max follow behind, worried for the conversation that was bound to arise. They had hurt Eve badly, and Eve wasn't going to be so forgiving.
Eve wetted a wash cloth as Max perched herself on the counter, El just watching as Eve turned to her and pressed it to her nose.
"Does it still hurt?" Max spoke up, looking at El's bruise on her neck.
"Only when i talk." El told her as Eve pressed the washcloth harder into her skin.
"Good you're not mike then, you'd be in constant pain." Max says, making El smile as Eve rolled her eyes.
"What do you have against Mike?" Eve snapped at the two, "It was harsh to dump him, you need a justified reason and it shouldn't have been for such a small reason."
"Because you know all about that," Max defends herself and El, who looked like a sad puppy, realising how Eve was right.
"Yes," Eve agreed with her, "I do."
"I didn't mean for you to get hurt," Max told her.
"What did you seriously think was gonna happen?" Eve snapped at Max, a look of completely confusion on her face, "Billy and I would have a tea party? No!"
"It was stupid," Max says to Eve, "And I'm sorry."
"But this is it," Eve begins, "Are you? Because after i screamed and screamed for you to let me out, you just stood there-"
"Eve-"
"I'm not finished," Eve shouts, "Then when Will and Mike try to help, you both stop them! Why? Oh yeah, to get the mind flayer out of me."
"We had to try," Max whispered as El nodded.
"News flash!" Eve shouted, "It didn't work. And my powers ended up saving all of you from Billy. Who, as you know Max, I am terrified of," She shouts as tears start to form, "I opened up to you, I trusted you, and you fucked me over," She continues, "You fucked me over," She repeated.
"I wanted to help!" Max argued.
"You wanted me to die, too? Huh?" Eve screamed at her.
"Guys," El spoke quietly, scared of the two.
"Of course not!" Max yelled back.
"Who's the liar now!" Eve shouted.
"Im not lying!"
"Guys!" Mike yells, entering the bathroom, Nancy and Johnathan beind them. Eve turns to look at them as Max and El were already facing them.
"We need your help," Nancy says to them, making Eve's brows furrow in concern as they all left the bathroom.
-
"It was the same thing," Nancy explained, pacing up and down the small area as she talked, "The exact same thing that happened to Will last year. And look at this." Nancy passes Eve a file, Will and Mike looking over her shoulder, "Look at the body temperatures.
It didn't take a doctor to know that the body temperature was below average, it was too cold.
"He likes it cold," Eve whispers, dropping the paper onto the table for others to observe.
"Okay, so this crazy old woman who was eating fertilizer-" Mike begins, trying to make sense of the situation, when Nancy cuts him off.
"Mrs. Driscoll," She corrects.
"Right, yeah, Mrs. Driscoll," Mike carries on, "What time was this attack?"
"Last night," Nancy affirms.
"What time last night?" Eve asks, catching onto what Mike could be asking about.
"Around nine," Nancy tells her, making Johnathan give her a confused look.
"You waited all night to call?" He asked his girlfriend, upset by the news. Nancy froze for a scond, coming up with an excuse quickly.
"I was waiting for the doctors to run some tests," She tells him.
"You weren't there?" Will then asks his older brother, whose head shoots to look over at him.
"Well, I'm here now, aren't I?" Johnathan replies.
"Hallelujah," Nancy says sarcastically, making Eve smirk as Lucas raises his eyebrows and makes a fake noise of pain. Nancy ignores it as she continues, "Um, so, wha-- what time was your... sauna test?" She asks after rubbing her head.
"Around nine," They all spoke in unison.
"Well, that proves it," Nancy says with wide eyes, "That proves my theory."
"She's flayed," Mike says, making Eve sigh and look at the ground, "Just like Billy,"
"Flayed?" Johnathan asks, confused at the new terminology.
"The mind flayer, it flays people, turns them into it. Take over their mind, Once that's done the person basically becomes him," Eve speaks up again, making the group look at her, "I don't play D&D, I did my own research."
"Dr Owens told you specifically not to do that," Max said to her.
"Well he also tried to turn me into a lab rat and sent me into the tunnels where I almost died. Twice," Eve argues back to Max
"Guys," Lucas says to both the girls, before going back to the real problem at hand, "If there are two flayed..."
"We have to assume there are more," Will finishes with a deep sigh.
"Heather," Eleven finally speaks up, "Billy was doing something to her, "She was scared," El whispers, recalling what she'd seen, "she was screaming. Bad screams."
"What's a good scream?" Lucas asks confused.
"Max said-" El began, but Max cut her off.
"Doesn't matter," She says with a fake smile.
"I'm sorry. I'm lost. Who is Heather?" Nancy asks the girls.
"She's a lifeguard at the pool," Eve says biting her nails as she recalls any time Heather was acting suspiciously.
"Heather Holloway?" Nancy asks, turning to Johnathan as they both spoke the name of her father, "Tom."
"We have to go," Nancy said to them all, "Now!" She yelled, rushing out to the car with everyone following. Lucas, Max and Eleven got into the seats behind Nancy and Johnathan at the front, meaning Mike, Eve and Will had to sit in the back.
"You've gotta be joking," Eve muttered as Will got in.
"Welcome to my world, " He said to her as she got in, Mike following. Eve sat next to Mike as the car started and Nancy reversed quickly.
The sudden start along with no seatbelt caused Eve to fall into Mike who grabbed her hips and pulled her up again.
"You okay?" He asks her, not letting go over her sides as she fixes her messy hair. She looks over at him with a smile.
"I'm fine, thanks, Wheeler," She told him, making him smile, before catching two girls behind Eve glaring at him, which made him gulp as the car headed off. This would be a long journey.