Trust - Lucas Sinclair

The Sauna Test (Part 1)

"What are you looking for?" Max asked Nikki who was looking through Max's comic book collection.

"Well at first I was thinking about reading one about a hero I already knew," Nikki held a Wonder Woman comic in one hand. "But then thought maybe I should try a new one." She held a Green Lantern comic in the other.

"Either way their both great choices," Max sighed getting on her bed while Nikki cleaned up the little mess she made. "I'm always so surprised that you like comics. No offense or anything, but I never placed you as a superhero lover."

"Well, if I'm being honest, I didn't expect that either," Nikki shrugged walking over to Max's bed. "I started reading them because I knew Lucas like them and I figured it could give us something to talk about. But the more I read them the more I liked them. So now I just read them for my own enjoyment."

"That's good," Max smiled. "Do things that you like."

"Well it's kinda hard to figure out what I like since I grew up the way I did. So now I'm trying, like, fifty different hobbies to figure it out. And I like a few of them, others I hate. But, you know, I'm still trying to figure things out. Still trying to find out what kind of person I want to be."

"It's fine to be like that," Max said kindly. "A lot of people our age still don't know who they want to be. But your lucky, cause you've got a great group of friend and a great boyfriend who doesn't try to stop you from doing all those things."

"Yeah," Nikki giggled as a smile stretched across her face. "I guess I did get pretty lucky with that, uh?"

The sound of a door opening made the conversation stop as El stepped out of the bathroom.

"There you are," Max moved over on her bed to make enough room for El. She grabbed the comic books that rested on the bed and held them up. "Maybe you can help us choose what to read. Which one?"

"I don't know," El sighed, getting under the covers.

Max noticed the girl's saddened mood and put down the comics. "Hey, there's nothing to worry about anymore, okay?"

"It doesn't make sense," El shook her head, trying to find some answers.

"What doesn't make sense?"

Everything, Nikki responded in her head.

"Heather," El responded quietly. "The blood. The ice."

"Heather had a fever, so she took a cold bath, but she's better now. That has to be it. I don't know where that blood came from, but we saw her. We all saw her. She's totally fine," Max looked over at Nikki for reassurance. Nikki didn't know how to feel.

She couldn't get over that sense of deja vu she had when she looked at Billy. She could swear she had seen it before.

But where?

"What about Billy?" El's question snapped Nikki out of her thoughts.

"What about him?" Max's eyebrows scrunched together.

"He seemed wrong."

Max chuckled lightly. "Wrong is kind of like his default. But it's nice to know he's not a murderer, because that would've totally sucked."

Silence fell over the girls for a few second until El's eyes landed on the comic books in front of Max. "Who is that?" She asked pointing at the Wonder Women comic.

"See, this is why you can't just hang out with Mike all the time," Max said grabbing the comic book and flipping it open. "This is Wonder Woman. AKA Princess Diana. She's from Paradise Island, which is, like, this hidden island where there are only women Amazon warriors."

Max continued to teach El about Wonder Woman, but Nikki just wasn't into it that night.

She thought back to everything that happened today. Nothing made sense in anyway.

I really need to talk to Lucas, Nikki thought as she stared up at the ceiling.

***

Do you copy? This is a code red. I repeat, this is a code. Max. Do you copy? This is a code red.

Nikki groaned, starting to wake up by the noise and the movement beside her. She felt Max reached over her to grabbed her radio.

"Shut. Up," Max spoke into the radio before turning it off and throwing it back on the floor. Max and El laid back down as Nikki really started to wake up.

Something's happening. She thought as the phone began ringing not too long after.

"You've got to be kidding me," Max scoffed as Nikki got out of the bed.

"I got it, Max," Nikki said reaching for the phone. "Hello?"

Nikki! This is Mike. Please, do not hang up. Mike's voice came through the receiver. Something happened, something bad. Our very lives can be at stake.

"What going on?" Nikki asked wanting answers. "Is everyone okay?"

Everyone's fine. Just come over to my house. We'll explain everything.

"Mike."

Hurry.

The line went dead, leaving Nikki confused as ever.

"What did he say?" Max asked, noticing the girl looking tense and worried.

Nikki looked back at the two girls who were waiting for their response. "We have to go, right now."

***

"Try Dustin again," Mike looked over to Lucas who has been trying to get through to their friend for over fifteen minutes.

"He's not answering," Lucas shrugged in defeat.

"So, try him again," Mike instructed.

Lucas sighed and pressed the button on his radio before speaking. "Dustin, do you copy? I repeat, this is a code red. Dustin?"

Static filled the air.

"Shit," Mike mumbled under his breath.

Authors note
I am so excited for this episode! I love it so much. It's probably one of my top three episodes of the entire series, so updates might be coming quickly for this episode.

Love ya!!❤️❤️❤️