Chapter 30

022

• 𝐃𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐖𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 •

─────✧･ﾟ: *✧･

☄. *. ⋆ Stella, each breath she took hitching, sat slumped against the wall on the bathroom floor while her girlfriend worked stitches on the open wound.

“Deja vu, huh?” Stella joked through a wince. Max didn’t reply, and Stella knew it wasn’t just because she was focused. She reached up a hand, brushing it against Max’s arm. “Hey, it’s okay. It’s not your fault, and I’m fine.”

“I know, I just…” Max paused. “Maybe if I just trusted you and El, this wouldn’t have happened. God, I’m sorry,” she sighed through the last part, sniffling and putting her focus back on Stella’s arm.

“Cali.”

Max looked up at her.

“It’s okay.”

A small exhale, and Max seemed to believe it enough to at least take off some of the guilt. A small bit. She leaned forward, taking a closer look at Stella’s shoulder before wincing. “I think it’s dislocated.”

“Great,” Stella deadpanned, then tensed as she readied herself. “Just do it.”

Max’s face twisted in discomfort, her hands moving to Stella’s should while the brunette took a towel and bit down on it.

“You sure?”

“Go,” Stella told her, voice slightly muffled by the fabric between her teeth.

Max, knowing Stella wouldn’t want a countdown, took a deep breath before pressing into Stella’s shoulder. It clicked into place with a loud pop, the sound mixing with the blend of a cry and a groan out of Stella’s mouth.

Panting, the Harrington took the rag from between her teeth while her girlfriend whispered a ‘sorry’.

“Don’t be,” Stella shook her head, right hand holding her shoulder. Max turned around, ripping open the packaging for a bandaid and pressing it against Stella’s cheekbone where the punch had broken skin.

“Thanks,” Stella whispered, then took Max’s outreach hand and stood up with her. They pushed open the door, finding Eleven sitting dumbfounded while Mike questioned her. “Illinois? Like the state of Illinois?”

Eleven shrugged timidly. “Ill-annoy,” she tried, the word sounding foreign from her mouth. Blood dropped down from her nose, and Stella made her way over to take El’s hand. “Come on.”

Once shut with El and Max in the bathroom, Stella took a seat on the edge of the bathtub while Max cleaned up Eleven.

“Why would Ms. Byers and Hop be going to Illinois?” Stella muttered, her feet tapping with no particular rhythm.

“Who even knows?” Max sighed. “It just proves that they have no idea what’s going on over here.” Her eyes settled on the ring of a bruise around Eleven’s neck. “Does it still hurt?”

“Only when I talk,” El replied, hands gently touching the marking left by Billy’s vice grip. Max let a smile creep onto her face. “Well, it’s a good thing you’re not Mike, then. ‘Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.’ You’d be in constant pain.”

Mike started talking– Stella chuckled at the irony of the timing –about where everyone was. The Harrington herself was hooked on the fact that Dustin was missing in action. Where was he? Was he still upset about the whole Suzie-being-made-up thing? Stella hoped she wasn’t.

When she tuned back in, the topic had switched to Eleven and their break up. “She said she dumped your ass! That didn’t sound like a break,” Will said, his voice a hushed whisper of a shout.

“It wasn’t!” Max finally interjected. “You guys fo realize we can still hear everything you’re saying, right?”

The three girls burst into giggles, Stella slipping off of the edge and collapsing into the tub. “Shit!” It only made the others laugh harder.

–

☄. *. ⋆ “It was the same thing. The exact same thing that happened to Will last year,” Nancy rambled an explanation to what had happened to some old lady named Mrs. Driscoll. It certainly seemed the hive mind was back in full effect– and Ozzy and Billy weren’t the only ones.

Nancy continued, displaying charts she had from the hospital. “And look, look at the body temperatures.”

After reading over the numbers, Will pulled back. “He likes it cold.”

“Okay, so this crazy old woman who was eating fertilizer–” Mike started, Nancy interrupting to correct him on the name. “Mrs. Driscoll.”

“Right, yeah, Mrs. Driscoll. What time was this attack?” He asked, and Stella immediately knew what he was thinking, scooting closer to Max until they were pressed together and she couldn’t anymore. Nancy repeated what she had said earlier, her tone holding some annoyance at her brother. “Last night.”

“Yeah, but what time last night?”

“Around nine.”

At the news, Jonathan glanced at his girlfriend, voice somewhat lower. “You waited all night to call?”

Nancy stammered a moment, her eyes avoiding landing on Jonathan’s. “I was waiting for the doctors to run some tests.”

Will expressed his own disappointment at his brother. “You weren’t there?”

Stella felt like this had turned in to a little sibling reunion for everyone except her. Even Billy was involved. She started to wonder what Steve was up to. Maybe if she weren’t here, they’d be practicing together. What she’d give to be playing right now…

“Well I’m here now aren’t I?”

Nancy scoffed. “Hallelujah!”

A tense quiet blanketed them for a moment, a soft ‘ooh’ of a wince from Lucas and Stella holding back an unnecessary “damn” that she ended up saying anyway. Nancy stammered, trying to save the moment. “Um, so, wha– what time was your… sauna test?” She asked, all the kids replying with the same words Nancy had. “Around nine.”

“Well, that proves it. That proves my theory!”

“She’s flayed,” Mike confirmed. “Just like Billy.”

“Flayed?” Jonathan echoed. Mike tried to explain it in the briefest way possible. “The Mind Flayer. He plays people. Takes over their mind. Once they do that, they basically become him.”

“It’s like what happened to Will last year, now it’s Billy and Oscar and Mrs. Driscoll and… probably even more.”

“Heather,” El sat up. “Billy was doing something to her. She was scared. She was screaming.” El started to shake her head, face twisting as she remembered what she had seen. “Bad screams.”

“What’s a good scream?” Lucas’s tone was a contrast to the demeanor of the rest of the room.

“Max and Stella said–“

“Doesn’t matter.”
“Nothing.”

“I’m sorry. I’m lost. Who is Heather? And Oscar?” Nancy seemed taken aback, and Stella wasn’t sure if it was because of Ozzy, or that they didn’t know who he was. Stella nodded. “Oscar Rollway. His parents work with–“

“The Holloways,” Nancy finished for her. Stella became more confused. If Nancy already knew, why was she asking? “Yeah…?”

“You guys mean Heather Holloway?”

Nods came from around the room. Nancy and Jonathan’s heads snapped to each other. “Tom.”

–

☄. *. ⋆ After flooding out of the backseat that Max, El, Lucas and Stella all forced themselves into, they stood in front if the Holloways’ red front door. The doorbell led to no response, only for them to all look to one person.

Once Eleven managed the door open, they all hesitantly stepped inside. Nancy was the first to dare say a word. “Tom? Heather?”

Max hugged her arms. “Jesus, it’s freezing,” she shuddered. Stella suddenly wished she had brought a jacket solely to hand it to the shivering girl beside her. Instead, she opted for warming up her hand, then reaching to hold it around her girlfriend who then sighed contentedly. “Thanks.”

Nancy audibly sniffed the air, and it was only then that Stella’s nose caught on to the burning stench that was so obviously some chemical of some sort.

“Do you guys smell that?” Nancy had asked, but Stella had a feeling the answer was pretty clearly on her face.

Small groans of disgust bounced around the room when they turned the corner to find various cleaning products haphazardly thrown around the counter. “More chemicals.”

Jonathan made his way over and observed the product in his hand. “You think they’re guzzling this shit?”

“Yeah, either that, or they just went on a hell of a cleaning spree,” Nancy said while Stella kneeled, grabbing an empty bottle of window cleaner. The top was entirely unscrewed, and Stella’s lips pulled back unwillingly just at the thought of consuming such a thing.

“But… last year. Will didn’t eat chemicals,” Max pointed out. Then, to Will, suddenly curious to if she had missed something, “Did you?”

“No.” Will shook his head. “This is something new.”

“Mr. Clarke,” Mike suddenly blurted. “Fifth grade. Posit.” He looked between Will, Lucas and Stella. “What happens when you mix chemicals together?”

“You create a new substance,” all three of them replied, catching on.

“What if they’re making something?”

“In themselves?” Max spoke up. “I mean, come on, if you drink this crap it’ll kill you.”

“Yeah, if you’re human,” Lucas challenged, but Stella’s brows dipped, mind trying to connect the dots. “What’s the Mind Flayer even trying to make in this human-non-human-whatever mixing bowl?” Her lips upturned, her hand gesturing to all the chemicals in front of her as she kicked a stray empty container. Nancy’s eyes followed the rolling container until it stopped, then turned her head further to the other room.

They all followed Nancy, finding themselves in the same dining room where Max, Stella and El had seen them just a couple of days before. The tray of cookies remained uneaten on the table along with some amount of the dinner on each plate. Whatever happened was just after the girls left days prior.

Nancy crouched, hand brushing over the deep red stain on the carpet. It interrupted the pattern that the rest of the rug had, the inky splotch of scarlett almost blending in with the sea of vermillion, but clashing. Stella muttered a “holy shit” under her breath, Nancy sparing a glance. “Blood.”

“Yesterday,” Nancy started, “Tom had a bandage on his forehead.” She reached for the bottle nearly a foot away, taking it in her hand and observing the dash of blood that stained the label. “He was attacked.”

“It was Billy,” Stella spoke up. “Or Heather. Maybe both of them.” She turned, moving to the cookies she had denied. “It must’ve been right after we left.” Her eyes scanned over each one, noting how not one had but a nibble taken out of it. “Like… right after.” She shuddered at the thought of them just barely missing it.

Nancy continued further down the hall, sight fixed on the ground, particularly at the blood they now saw on the carpet beside where another rug was tampered with. Nancy hesitantly pushed open the door and followed the trail-like blood stains.

They reached one more door, this one entirely closed. Something about it was either warning them away or keeping a secret. Stella knew it was inevitable they’d find out which one it was anyway.

It seemed to be the second option. On the floor in the garage lay a rope, no ties made in it and seemingly a scrapped piece.

“They must’ve tied them,” Jonathan figured. “They must’ve taken them somewhere.”

“Mrs. Driscoll.” The lightbulb was practically visible over Nancy’s head. “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.”

“Yeah. Like– like the court during practice,” Stella voiced the first reference that came to her mind. Which always happened to be basketball. “Where everything happens, where it’s prepared for the game!

“Somewhere he didn’t want me to see,” El raised her brows, recalling the way Billy faded from view once he noticed her.

“If we can find the source, then maybe we can stop him,” Nancy theorized. “Or at least stop it from spreading, or doing whatever the hell he’s doing with those chemicals.”

“And one more thing.” Stella stepped forward, standing out of line. “We get them back. We get Ozzy back.”

Silent but curt, determined nods came from the people around Stella. “The Mind Flayer… whatever he’s doing, it’s…” she took a breath. “It’s draining my powers every time.” The feeling of the vacuum for her strength came back to her. The agony on the bathroom floor, the headache, it was the hive mind last year, but now it was clear. It was all just the symptoms of her powers being stolen. The Mind Flayer’s actions broke in, caused chaos and ransacked her house while they stole her powers from her. “We need to stop it.”

The faces of her friends all turned worried, which she knew was coming. She always hated that look when directed at her. She looked at Max. She couldn’t hate it if it was Max.

El’s voice came from behind her. “How do we do it?”

“Mrs. Driscoll,” Will spoke up, everyone turning to him, just realizing he was behind everyone at the door. “If she wants to go back so badly, why don’t we let her?”

And everyone was thinking it. That would work. They just needed to put it in order.

–

☄. *. ⋆ Stella was positive they looked conspicuous storming right past the front desk lady at the hospital. From her time there after her run-in the year before with a ‘mountain lion’, she knew it was two visitors at a time, maximum.

But they tried anyway, not getting far before the lady shouted at them rather than the phone she was on. “Woah, woah, woah, woah, woah! Excuse me!” She stood. “Where do you think you’re going?”

Nancy stopped at the lead, causing everyone to halt and turn like she did. “Oh! I… I was just going to visit my grandma again,” she lied, her tone casual as if she didn’t know she was blatantly ignoring the rules. “And this…” she glanced at the herd of kids behind her. “This is my family.”

Stella took her hand from Max’s, instead bringing an arm around her. Much more familial, in her opinion. The obvious label of a rule-breaker– no, she didn’t care about that, a stupid rule-breaker –was bad enough, she didn’t need incest claims against her. Ew.

“Extended,” Lucas grinned.

“I don’t care who they are,” the lady didn’t seem to believe it but obviously paid it no mind. It was against the rules either way. “You know the rules. Two visitors at a time.”

Nancy tried to argue, only for the woman to cut her off with a repeat of the number.

The others wandered to the waiting room, but Stella immediately turned to Nancy. “Nance. Let me go!”

“No,” she declined without any consideration. “Jonathan and I will go.”

“Jonathan?” She pulled back. “What’s Jonathan gonna do?”

Nancy shot her a look.

“Look, I’m the one with the super cool powers, okay?” Stella’s hands gestured to herself, face and voice trying hard to persuade Nancy. Nancy leaned over, looking to El.

“Hey, no. Fire is literally its one weakness!” The shorter girl jumped in front of Nancy’s view. “I should go!”

“You said it yourself– your powers are getting weaker,” Nancy reminded. “If we took either of you, it should be her.”

Stella’s chest tightened just hearing it. She suddenly felt as if she were slapped in her face. It hurt worse from Nancy than her father. “No! Don’t do that! I’m not some disadvantage!”

Nancy’s face softened just the slightest bit, and Stella couldn’t tell if she melted and yearned for the thought of maybe being comforted for once, or if she recoiled and wanted to scream at the thought of being pitied.

“Just go. I’d hate to hold you back,” she walked to the waiting room without a word, dragging herself along like she now felt Nancy would have to. A broken leg that posed as a liability.

A burden.

–

☄. *. ⋆ Stella had managed to get lost in her brainstorming for new basketball tactics and in Max’s familiar, comfortable scent. But like most good things for her over the past two years, it was short-lived. And like many of these instances, she was brought out of her thoughts by a nerve-inducing itch in the palm of her hand.

She was honestly more annoyed in that moment. She had finally gotten the self-hating little whispers out of her head and managed to focus on something else. Now she had to disrupt the very cozy position she had melted into, had to sit up from her slump against Max’s shoulder despite the chair’s armrest in the way.

She looked to her black lined hand, awfully tired of this happening so often again. She missed the few months of peace she was granted.

The small, short flicker of a lamp made her perk up, her senses shooting into action.

“You okay?” Max’s soft voice brought a temporary wave of relief over Stella, but she snapped back and realized this wasn’t something she just needed to forget about. “That light,” she pointed out immediately. She didn’t want Max to worry, but lying to her simply wasn’t an option in Stella’s head. “Something’s wrong.”

“Ess,” Max turned over Stella’s hand, noticing the black veins that had already been checked by the brunette. Stella nodded, mind trying to decide between telling Max to stay here and bringing her with her. She wasn’t sure which was safer– leaving her here, but where Stella wouldn’t know if she was safe, or bringing her with her into possible danger, but with Stella to protect her.

“Stay here.” Stella glanced over her shoulder. “Stay with El.” She knew she’d be safe with Eleven.

“Ess, don’t–“

“Don’t follow me!” Stella shouting quietly, running past the desk lady while she bent down to search a cabinet.

“Ess—!”
“Don’t leave El!”

─────✧･ﾟ: *✧･

i gotta get these chapters out faster 😭

i have shows likeee all the time for the next few weeks so im writing with every free minute i get yall

i finished this chapter in the car on the way home from a show actually lmao

thx for reading!!!