chapter twenty-eight
the flayed
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RUE DIDN'T GET ANY SLEEP that night. She was pacing around in the basement, and she found herself walking down the street a few minutes later. With the soft sounds of crickets, she sat on the curb before the Wheeler's house.
She softly pulled on her hair and dropped her head to her knees. Rue was scared. The sauna test didn't go as any of them planned, and now El was hurt. She couldn't shake off the dark and overpowering feeling she's gained from when she stood before Billy. She couldn't forget the way he had let her take over.
What was he playing at? Why didn't he fight her? Why was he willing to get to El but leave her without a scratch? And what is that stupid Whisper she hears? Why did it come back? And why couldn't she stop hearing the overlapped murmurs?
Her palms cupped her ears, it was an attempt to make them stop, but they wouldn't.
Rue felt sick, and at the same time, she felt something pulling her. She didn't know what, she didn't know where. But there was something — and that something was pulling her to go somewhere. And she ached to go, but she fought against it. Rue wasn't going to leave her friends, not now. Not when they needed her — or more Rue needed them.
She looked up at the sound of rustling. Rue panicked, only thinking the worst as her heart dropped, and she felt shivers down her spine.
"It's me," a voice said, and Rue turned to head to find El slowly walking towards her.
Rue let out a breath she didn't know she was holding, smiling softly at the girl who sat next to her. "Hey," She whispered, thinking that if she spoke any louder, her voice might crack, and she'd burst into tears.
"Hi," Eleven grinned, and she gently laid her head on Rue's shoulder. "Are you okay?"
Rue chuckled lightly, "Shouldn't I be asking you that?"
El shrugged, looking at the stars. "Maybe. . ."
"How's your throat?"
"It's fine, just hurts when I talk."
Rue hummed, nodding.
El frowned, lifting her head and looking at the girl she could call sister. "I'm scared, too,"
"I never said I was—"
"You're bad at hiding your feelings."
Rue looked away, "I used to be really good at that," she mumbled, staring at the moon. Her green eyes trailed towards the stars that helped the moon glow the night sky. A small smile rose on her lips — she was the moon to Max's stars — as they would say.
El shifted in her spot, "Rue, what did you do to Billy?"
"I — I don't know. . ."
"Did you know your mom used to have um — Tele — Telepathy?"
Rue glanced at El, who had a tired look on her face, yet the girl was willing to comfort Rue despite her need for sleep. "El. . ." she trailed off, "This whole — power thing. . . I don't think I can handle it like you can."
El tilted her head in confusion. "What do you mean?"
"It's hard! I have these abilities I barely know how to control, and I put anyone I'm around in danger because of them," She sighed, shaking her head, "You're a fighter, El — you are always to save the day and always ready to fight — I'm not! I don't like fighting or hurting people. And I've hurt so many people! I just — I'm a lover, not a fighter. And with these powers, I feel like I have to do something with them — I feel like I'm not the person who should have them. . . I feel that one day. . . these powers are going to take over me."
After Rue finished her rant, she surprised herself by not having a single tear run down her cheeks. But the weight of having these abilities was putting her under pressure.
El didn't know what to say. She's been around her own powers all her life, and since she was young, she's been taught how to use them and never felt the way Rue did. El wrapped her arms around Rue, hugging her like she always did, but this time, the hug lingered longer and it was tighter. The hug of El's arms told everything that Rue is — body, brain and soul — that El was with her.
Rue held her tightly, her fist bunching the back of El's shirt. "You're the best friend anyone could ask for," she sniffed. Rue could never get tired of El's hugs.
El grinned as they pulled away, "Will you be okay?"
Rue didn't answer, wiping her cheeks. Her eyes were closed as she took slow breaths. She looked at El with a smile, "She'll be fine, she just needs time to realize what she's capable of," she said.
The smile on El's face faded away at the look of Rue. Her usual light green eyes were dark - like they were when she talked to Billy a few hours ago. Her hair was lighter with the smallest hint of glowing gold, while her hands became warmer with a light blue ray of light circling her fingers. But once she blinked, it all went away and Rue was rubbing her eyes.
"Sorry," she mumbled, "I — I don't know where that came from."
El pursed her lips, beginning to stand. "We should sleep."
"Yeah — definitely."
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"I found him," El breathed, a bandana around her eyes as she searched for Hopper.
They had tried calling him — and just like it was a few days ago when Rue tried — there was no answer. They called Joyce — also no answer. Dustin was still missing, and Steve wasn't answering his phone either.
Max sat up from next to Rue on the floor. "Where is he?"
"Woods," El said, "He's with . . . Will's mom."
"My — my mom?" Will stammered as he leaned forward. He shared a glance with Rue before asking, "What are they doing?"
"I'll. . . annoy," El mumbled, and everyone shared a look of confusion when she said, "They're going to I'll annoy."
"Mike! Breakfast!" Mrs. Wheeler called, knocking on the basement door.
"Not now, Mom!" He yelled before looking back at the girl who gingerly took off her blindfold. "Illinois? Illinois, like the state? The state of Illinois?"
El shrugged, "I'll annoy."
Rue looked at Max when she felt a hand on her knee. Max smiled at her with a blush on her freckled cheeks before leaning to her ear, "I'll be right back," she whispered, giving Rue's knee a soft squeeze before she stood up, leading El to the bathroom.
Rue blinked a couple of times, trying to get the lovestruck smile off her face. It had barely been twenty-four hours since they had admitted their feelings, and the two were a mess.
The second the door locked, Mike stood up and started pacing around the basement. "Something's not right. I can't get Hopper off my back all summer, now all of a sudden he's hiking with Ms. Byers to Illinois?"
"He is an adult, he's free to do whatever he wants." Lucas shrugged while Will sighed, his head in his hands while he stared at the floor.
"And Dustin's M.I.A, too?" Mike ignored his friends, thinking out loud. "I mean this can't be a coincidence."
Rue frowned as she stared at Will. He looked miserable. Maybe it was because they were wearing the same clothes as yesterday, or maybe it was because Alex wasn't by his side. Rue didn't know what had happened between them. She knew Will tried calling Alex, only for him not to answer.
"The bottom line is, they're not here!" Lucas exclaimed. "It's up to us."
"Up to us to do what exactly?" Mike asked.
"Find Billy and stop him."
Rue scoffed, putting down her book. "Okay yeah, that's a really nice idea, but even if El could find him again, then what?"
Lucas turned to Rue, "We burn the shit out of him and make sure he doesn't escape this time,"
"Okay, then what?"
"Then we win."
"No! We don't! We don't win. You guys have dealt with this thing three times now, and you never win! It just keeps coming right back."
"Yeah, we don't just have to stop Billy we have to stop the Mindflayer," Will mumbled, nodding his head slowly.
"How in the hell do we do that?" Mike scoffed.
"I don't know," Lucas said.
"Maybe El does," Rue chirped, "She's really smart . . . especially at math."
Mike turned to the bathroom, where Max and El were still in. He crossed his arms, scowling. "What are they still doing in there?" Mike asked, and Lucas got up to stand next to him while Will and Rue stayed on the couch.
"I don't know," Lucas shrugged, "Girls just like hanging out in the bathrooms,"
"Why?" Mike asked.
"I mean, I don't know."
"They're conspiring against me," Mike made up his mind.
Rue sat up, faking a gasp. "They are? Without me?"
Will rolled his eyes, "That's what you're concerned about, Mike?"
"It's not my main concern," Mike turned to him, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "It's just a sub-concern."
"I thought it was already over!" Will snapped.
"It's not over," He said defensively. "We're just taking a break,"
"She said she dumped your ass! That doesn't sound like a break to me!"
"You're being ridiculous — "
"No, no," Rue shook her head, "He's got a point. If you didn't notice — I'm a girl, too. I think she's over you and you're just an obsessive person that doesn't let things go."
"Rue's right!" They all heard Max's voice through the door, "You guys do realize we can hear everything you're saying right?" she said, then they heard muffled giggles of the two girls.
"Conspiring," Mike said, making Lucas, Will, and Rue roll their eyes. Lucas punched Mike's shoulder in a way to tell him to shut up. No one cared anymore. At this point, Mike had gotten annoying. And they had bigger things to focus about.
Someone was knocking on the door again, and Mike rolled his eyes, "Not now, Mom!" he yelled.
"Mike, open the door!" Rue heard Nancy's voice, and she jumped up to open the door for her. Nancy and Jonathan! How could she forget?
She was grinning with relief as she unlocked the door and pushed it open. Once it was, her mouth dropped at the sight of the three people standing before her. "Alexander?"
He cringed from behind Jonathan, rubbing the back of his neck. "It's just Alex,"
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Rue stood under Jonathan's arm, which was wrapped around her shoulder in a comforting way. She watched as Nancy set several papers on the table before them. "It was the same thing - the exact same thing that happened to Will last year," Nancy shook her head, explaining what she had seen the night before. "And look at this," Nancy pointed at the papers she placed before the kids.
Will leaned forward to find temperatures. He picked up the first page, furrowing his eyebrows. Will looked up at Nancy again, "He likes it cold."
"Okay, so this crazy old woman who is eating fertilizer—" Mike started, thinking that his sister and her boyfriend were wasting his time.
Alex shook his head, " Her name is Mrs. Driscoll,"
"Why are you even here?" Mike asked, suddenly getting defensive. "I thought you said you didn't believe us?"
Alex's face flushed, and he glanced anywhere but Mike and Will. He looked up at Nancy, who gave him a sympathetic smile and said, "He's Mrs. Driscoll's neighbour. . . Alex and his family are somewhat close to her since she's all alone. They invite her for dinners and stuff — um so when she went to the hospital, they were visiting when I was there and —"
"Basically, I saw the whole attack when it happened, okay?" Alex huffed, fiddling with his thumbs. He sighed and looked up at Will, "I'm sorry."
Will sat up from where he was, and a smile cracked on his face. "It's okay,"
Mike looked between the two, scrunching his nose before he looked up at his older sister. "Okay, so! Mrs. Driscoll. What time was this attack?"
"Last night," Nancy said.
"Right, but what time last night."
"Around nine,"
Rue felt Jonathan stiffen, and he held her tighter as he looked at Nancy, "You waited all night to call?" he asked in disbelief.
"You weren't with her?" Will exclaimed?
Jonathan scoffed, "Well I'm here now, aren't I?"
"Hallelujah," Nancy said sarcastically, and all the kids made a face at the shade Nancy was throwing.
"Um, so wha — What time was your sauna test?" Nancy asked, trying to go back to the task at hand.
"Around nine," they said together.
"Well, that proves it!" she clapped her hands, "That proves my theory. She's flayed, just like Billy."
Rue looked at Nancy, "So more than one person can get flayed?"
"Apparently — yeah,"
"Heather," El said quietly. "Billy was doing something to her — she was scared. She was screaming — bad screams."
Lucas furrowed his eyebrows, "What's a good scream?"
"Max said — "
"Doesn't matter," Max cut in quickly, shaking her head.
"I'm sorry," Nancy interrupted, "Whose Heather?"
"She's a lifeguard at the pool," Max answered.
"Heather Holloway?" She asked, and when Max nodded, she looked at Jonathan. "Tom."
It all happened so fast. Jonathan was pushing Rue up the stairs while Nancy told everyone to hurry to her car. Everyone was confused, but they followed the older teenagers without questions.
They had no idea who "Tom." was, but he probably had something to do with everything. The kids piled into the car, forcing each other to make room. "Move!" "No, you move!"
Rue had quickly jumped into one of the seats with El and Max while the four boys got stuck at the very back of the car.
They all sat in silence, waiting for Nancy to drive. She turned around to face them, "Seat belts," she told them, and they hurried to click them on as Nancy pushed out of the Wheeler's driveways.
The car ride wasn't the most comfortable, but not the worst. Rue leaned her head on the window, half asleep to the mumbles of Alex and Will's continuous apologies behind her and the wheels of the car on the pavement.
Max sat between Rue and El, tapping along to a non-existent beat on the legs. She turned to Rue to ask if she knew what song she was making a beat to, but the question had slipped from her mind when she saw her. Max watched Rue with almost heart eyes and grinned when she saw Rue's face so content and comfortable despite what horrors were about to happen.
Max noticed her admiring got weird when she felt a nudge on her shoulder. She turned to look to her left, and she saw El staring at her with a quirked eyebrow. Eleven began to smirk, continuously nudging Max's arm, making her blush and mutter to her to stop.
Her blush only darkened when she felt Rue's head lean on her shoulder. She looked down to see Rue lazily looking up at her, "Is this fine?" The tired girl asked.
Max grinned at her, "Of course," she said, wrapping an arm around her waist, and Rue shuffled closer with a sleepy smile.
Nancy was probably going ten times faster than the speed limit, and they only knew that with how many times Jonathan had told her to slow down. But Max didn't care as Rue's hands moved around her middle, warm and soft. In seconds her body is mildewed to her own, sharing her body heat as she shares her heart. Max could never let another close to her like this, but Rue's so different. And she knew that since the night of Halloween. There's an innocence to her, naivety perhaps, but she's the only flower in the field for her eyes.
Once the car had come to a stop before the Holloway's house, Max didn't want to wake Rue up. She seemed calm and relaxed, and Max knew Rue didn't get much sleep from the bags that were now fading under her eyelashes.
She frowned as everyone hurriedly got out, and she knew they had to leave. Max softly tapped Rue's shoulder, trying to wake her.
"No," Rue mumbled, pulling herself closer to Max and blocking the sunlight from her eyes.
Max chuckled and began to gently shake her shoulders. "Rue,"
"No," she said again, lazily waving her hand in the air. "Just go without me," Rue pulled her arms away from Max with her eyes shut closed. She turned to lean on the door instead so Max could leave, but the car door opened, and Rue fell out.
She tiredly groaned when she felt the pavement hit her right cheek and shoulder. Rue lazily rubbed her eyes from the ground, deciding if she should stay there and sleep or get up and confront the asshole who opened the door. Rue sat up — not having the energy to stand — and she squinted at the sun as she stared up to find Mike and Will staring down at her, both of them trying to hold back a laugh.
Max got out of the car and hit both the boys in the back of the head, making them stop laughing and rub their heads. "Assholes," She muttered, shaking her head.
"Come on, Sleeping Beauty," Max smiled, sticking her hand out to help Rue up.
Rue looked up at her, flustered by the nickname. Then taking her freckled hand and standing up. Their fingers interlocked as they walked up to where everyone else was, Nancy and Jonathan rapidly knocking on the door to see if anyone was home.
After a few minutes with no answer, everyone stepped back and looked at El. The girl pursed her lips and moved her head swiftly, and the door opened for them with ease.
Everyone piled into the house, which was quiet and abandoned. And cold. Rue's sneakers tapped on the hardwood floor as she walked through a few halls. What Rue wanted right now was to go home, take a bath, wear some PJs, eat some pasta - then cuddle with Max Mayfield, listening to Africa by Toto, her new favourite song thanks to Will.
"Tom? Heather?" Nancy called as she led the group of kids with Jonathan.
"Jesus, it's freezing," Max muttered the longer they walked around the house. She held Rue's hand tighter and stepped closer to her in search of warmth.
When they got to the living room, Jonathan stopped and said, "Do you guys smell that?"
They all began to sniff the air and earned a nose full of strong chemicals and chlorine. Alex began to cough, and Will pat his back as they followed Nancy towards the kitchen. The smell had gotten stronger, and they all groaned at the sight of the cause of the stench. All over the counters were opened cleaning supplies and bottles. It was all a mess, and the kitchen was nearly destroyed.
"Oh, God. More chemicals," Nancy keened.
"You think there guzzling this shit?" Jonathan asked, picking up an empty bottle of cleaning powder.
Rue gasped, "Are they trying to kill themselves?"
"Either that or they went on a hell of a cleaning spree," Nancy told her.
"But last year, Will didn't eat any chemicals," Max pointed, looking at Will, "Did you?"
He shook his head, "No," he mumbled, "this is something new."
"Mr. Clark. Fifth grade. Posit," Mike began to say, looking at his friends in a way to help them remember the class. "What happens when you mix chemicals together?"
Lucas nods with Will, "You create a new substance."
"What if they're making something?" Mike asked.
"In themselves?" Max gaped, "I mean if you drink this crap, it'll kill you."
"Yeah, if you're human," Lucas added.
Rue turned to him, "You don't think they're human?"
"Well, if they're possessed by the Mindflayer they're sure far from it."
Nancy started to walk out of the kitchen into the dining room, and everyone followed her. Rue noticed the food on the table, which was beginning to smell bad and go old. They watched as Nancy leaned down to look at something on the carpet, "Blood." She said, pressing her fingers on the stain. "Yesterday. . . Tom had a bandage on his forehead."
Max pulled Rue closer as she stepped towards Nancy and pointed at the bottle a few feet away from them. "There."
Nancy picked up the empty bottle of wine, inspecting it for a few seconds and remarking the red stain on the label. "He was attacked," She stood up and walked some more, everyone close to her trail. Nancy pointed out a crumpled rug by a doorway that had more blood on it. Nancy walked where her feet led her, and she opened the door, which ended up to the garage.
There was a rope lying in the middle of the floor. Jonathan picked it up and turned to his girlfriend and the kids. "They must have tied them up — they must have taken them somewhere."
"Alex," Nancy said suddenly, making the boy jump and turn to her. "What was it that Mrs. Driscoll was saying last night? Do you remember?"
Alex went pale for a moment, "She — she said something about having to go back? Yeah — she said "I have to go back," I'm sure,"
Nancy nodded and smiled at him in a way of saying thanks. "What if the Flaying — it's taking place somewhere else? There must be a place where all this started, right? A source," she theorized.
"Somewhere he didn't want me to see" El nodded.
"If we can find the source, maybe we can stop him," Nancy suggested, "or at least stop it from spreading or doing whatever the Hell he's doing with those chemicals."
"How do we find it?"
"Mrs. Driscoll," Will spoke up, "If she wants to go back so badly, why don't we let her? We let her take us to the source."
Nancy and Jonathan locked eyes for a few seconds before deciding. "Let's go."
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3830 WORDS
you guys are gonna hate me
but then you'll like me again