Victoria POV
After walking in on him in the cabin screaming the number eleven I could tell something was really bothering him. I was afraid to ask any questions because he has told me several times not to and I was starting to push his buttons...well, I mean I think I started to quite a while ago but the guy seemed to been dealing with enough so I decided I would stay quiet this time. I also suspected that something else was wrong since he changed his mind about taking me home. Which I wasn't going to complain about, but I was a little nervous to see what that meant for me...and I needed to feed my cat.
We left the Cabin, driving back onto the highway towards back into town. I looked out my window, trying to maybe figure out where we were headed to now. As he drove I felt his eyes on me, catching him glancing at me a couple of times. I just kept my head low, still not speaking.
He sucked in a deep breath, letting it out as he spoke. "So, um... are you doing okay?" He asked.
He wreaked of awkward. I only looked over at him for a moment, trying to understand the question.
"Um... I mean considering the circumstances, I think so." I stuttered slightly.
"You're taking all of this a lot better then most would." He scoffed, letting the silence take over once again for a moment. "How's your arm?"
"N-not good. It hurts like hell..." I said nervously as I looked down at it, seeing it was starting to bleed through the bandage a little bit. "This doesn't look like a normal bite..."
Hopper nodded slowly. "Yeah, well it wasn't from a normal creature, kid."
"But, it's not just my arm where the pain is. It's my whole body in these throbbing bursts. In the station earlier it all washed over me and wouldn't go away." I said, looking to him, waiting an answer.
"I've dealt with one of these bastards, not to spook you, but there is no telling what these things can do." He said in a low tone. "Maybe one of the kids will know something. We'll figure something out."
I couldn't help but scoff. "Kids?"
"Trust me. These kids have been through it...." He trailed off. "I've already said too much. Just hang in there. We'll clean that up when we get to Joyce's"
Yeah, that was reassuring. Putting my life in the hands of kids? And why was everything a secret? How is what he told me too much already, I barely know anything. My mind was racing with questions.
The pain was growing in my arm. It throbbed like wild, and the burning was slowly growing again with every bump we hit in the road. I got this odd feeling as if something was moving slightly in my warm where the monster's mouth was as odd as it sounds. I took a deep breath, looking up to face the road, trying not to think about the pain I was in.
We pulled up to a small grey house, Hopper could barely put the car in park before Joyce and a young boy came running up to the truck.
"Hopper! Where the hell have you been?" Joyce yelled as he opened the door.
"Where have you been? I called you like fifteen minutes ago." Hopper said, motioning for me to get out of the truck.
I stumbled out, walking around to the other side, meeting eyes with the boy with black hair that was beside Joyce. He looked me up and down, cocking his head at me to say hello. I did the same back as I stood behind Hopper.
"Oh- well, I... I didn't even notice. I called the station like ten times." She stumbled over her words. She didn't look well.
Hopper looked at the boy and back at Joyce. "Why the hell is Mike here? Where are your other little friends?" He said. "Shouldn't you be home?"
"Dustin, Lucas and Max are at the school. I'm helping Will." The child who apparently goes by Mike said to Hopper, seeming a little offended. "And who is this?"
Hopper rubbed his face in frustration. "Why are they at the school?- and this is Victoria. She had a run in with one of the labs mishaps this morning." He said, starting to follow Joyce inside.
Mike stopped Hopper, standing in front of him. "What? What do you mean?"
"One of the monsters-"
"A demogorgon?" His eyes widened with fear, taking a step back. "No, no we killed it." He said in a panic.
"Yeah, well I guess it has friends." Hopper shoved past him, grabbing my arm, dragging me behind him into the house.
"Okay, I want to warn you..." Joyce said as we walked into the house. It was freezing, all the windows were open, and no offense, but it was a mess. It looked like what was a child's coloring all up the walls and covering the ground. "Something is seriously wrong with Will."
Hopper looked around, nodding his head. I stepped in, trying my hardest to not step on any of the paper. Hopper and Joyce started talking about the coloring pages as I walked throughout the house, in complete shock of all the pages. It looked like a huge map. I noticed as I walked deeper into the house the burning started getting worse and worse. It was something in this house. I could feel it. I flinched in pain, once I approached a door at the end of the hallway. I stopped and peaked in the doorway, seeing another young boy. He was sitting with his back facing me. I stood there, saying nothing.
He turned his head slowly to face me. The throbbing increased as he turned. Once he was fully facing me I thought my heart was about to beat out of my chest. I had a sick feeling looking at this kid. What was with him? He looked horrified and very sick.
"You." He whispered out in a shaky. "He chose you." He said after.
"...What? What do you mean? Who chose me-" I stepped closer to the boy, as soon as I stepped into the room I collapsed to the floor in pain with a loud yelp in pain.
I felt as if my body was on fire, and as if my arm was falling off. Hopper, Joyce and Mike ran into the room, Hopper squatting down beside me, propping me up against him.
"Will, what did you do..." Mike said sternly.
"I-I didn't do anything..." The boy stuttered, obviously confused.
"Victoria, honey, where does it hurt? Is it your arm?" Joyce said, holding my face to look at her.
My body felt as if it would burst into ashes at any moment, there was no explaining the pain. My eyes met Will's, he was staring me dead in the eye with no emotion. Something kept me staring at him, I couldn't look away. It was such an odd and terrifying feeling.
"Get her away from Will." Hopper said in a Grim tone.
"Jim-" Joyce snapped as if she was offended.
"No, Hopper is right." Mike agreed with him.
Hopper picked me up with one arm under my legs and the other on my back. As soon as Hopper started to carry me out of the room I felt relief. What the hell did that kid do to me? Hopper laid me on the sofa gently. I held my arm in pain, catching my breath as I felt the burning going away as I laid there.
"What the hell was that?" Mike said.
"Language." Joyce said, pacing around the room. "I don't know... It happened at the station didn't it? That wasn't Will. He would never-"
"No, Will wouldn't. But whatever is fucking with his head would." Hopper sighed, sitting on the edge of the couch beside me. I looked at me with sadness. "That thing didn't just bite her."
"You just now figured that?" I laughed, trying to make light of the situation.
Hopper ignored my joke, scooting closer to me where I laid, gently taking my arm and rolled the sleeve up of his coat, started to unwrap it again. I didn't try and stop him, I let him do his thing. I winced in pain a few times as he did so, he would stop for a moment and look at me every time I did, waiting for me to give him a nod before he would continue. He took the bandage off, exposing the wound. It was worse now to no surprise. I felt myself starting to choke up with tears as I stared at what didn't look like my arm anymore.
"It's gotten worse." Hopper said under his breath.
"How is that even possible? It hasn't even been an hour." Joyce said, hearing the fear in her voice as well.
I glanced up at Mike who was only staring at he wound with no expression, meeting eyes with mine, giving me a look as I stared at him. I'm not quite sure what the look was for, but it was... for something? I think.
Hopper continued to stare at it, my eyes went back and forth from Hopper and my wound, waiting for him to say something. I looked back at my wound as I started to feel the odd feeling of something moving, as if my skin was actually crawling. And It was.
Something moved under my skin where the wound was. I jumped up, sitting up on the couch, holding my arm as far away from me as I could, hitting Hopper on accident in the process. "Oh, fuck! Did you see that? There is something inside of my arm, Hopper!" I shrieked in horror.
My biggest nightmare. Bugs under my skin.
"Whoa, calm the hell down." Hopper said, grabbing my arm, pulling me back into him. "Sit still."
"No, we need to-" I started to struggle in his grip, feeling panic wash over me as I started to cry.
I was embarrassed as hell, not only had I caused a scene several times since the twenty minutes of being here, but now I was having a mental breakdown. How cute is that?
Hopper tightened his grip on my good arm, his other hand on my wounded arm, pulling me close, looking me in the eye. "Hey!" He barked, getting my attention. "Calm. Down." He said quietly to me.
My breathing slowed down a bit as I looked him in the eye as he spoke. I relaxed in his grip a little bit. I forgot for a moment where I was at, shaking myself out of it once he looked back down to my arm. I sniffled up my tears and watched him examine my arm. After a second it was quite obvious that something was under my skin. Finally, Hopper let me go.
"Yeah, something is definitely in there. That's probably why it's getting worse." Hopper said, standing up.
"Well what do we do? Should we take her to Owens?" Joyce said in panic. "This still doesn't explain why she flipped out when she was next to Will."
"Its the mind flayer." Mike joined in.
I couldn't keep up with all of these terms and people they kept bringing up. I was already lost.
"Okay, that's enough of that shit." Hopper said in annoyance, standing over me.
"No, its not shit. Its inside of Will, that's where all this came from." Mike explained, pointing to all of the pictures that covered the floor and walls. "It has to be inside of her too. That's why-"
"You are talking about a child's game, Mike. Enough!" Hopper snapped. He took a deep breath, looking at Joyce who stood at the other end of the room. "We... need to cut it out of her."
I felt a pit form in my stomach, standing to my feet, stumbling. There was no way. No way.