Trust - Lucas Sinclair

The Flayed (Part 1)

The group had decided to go back to Mike's house after the whole Billy thing. It was a terribly quiet ride back due to people still being in shock because of it.

The moment they got back to the house, however, they all immediately to call Hopper to see if he could help them. After many phone calls to the cabin with no answers, they looked to El and the void to find him.

They found her a bandana to have over her eyes and she quickly got to work to find him.

The rest of the group sat around her, waiting impatiently for her to say something. Except for Nikki, who has said nothing since Billy. She was laying down on the couch with her head pounding, and her back aching every time she moved.

Lucas was never too far from her. He had gotten her a bag of ice for her head and sat beside her on the floor.

"I found him," El announced making everyone except Nikki lean in.

"Where is he?" Max asked.

"Woods," El said quietly. 

"Woods?" Lucas questioned.

"He's with Will's mom," she said slowly making Will's eyes widen.

"My mom?"

"What are they doing?" Max asked.

"Ill...annoy. They're going to Ill-annoy."

A banging on the door made some of them jump. "Mike! Breakfast!" Karen yelled through the door.

"Not now, mom!" Mike yelled back before turning back to El. "Illinois? Illinois, like the state? The state of Illinois"

El took off her blind fold and gave a small shrug. "Ill-annoy." She looked over to her sister, who still had some dried blood on her forehead. Nikki had barely even looked at her since Billy, she honestly couldn't even blame her. Nikki knew something bad was going to happen, she ignored her warning and like many other times before, Nikki was right.

"Come on," Max's voice pulled El's gaze away from her sister. Max held out her hand and El grabbed onto it and let her pull her out of the chair she sat in.

Without letting go of El, Max walked over to Nikki and said/did the same thing.

"I'm fine here," Nikki said in a scratchy voice. It made her head pound even more.

"We gotta get your head cleaned up," Max answered sympathetically.

Nikki sighed and grabbed her outstretched hand loosely. Max helped her get up before the girls went to the bathroom and closed the door behind them.

Max sat Nikki on the ledge of the bathtub as she got a wash cloth. She turned on the water and ran it under the faucet when she found the right tempature.

"Okay," Max sighed, squeezing out all of the extra water before turning to El. "You first."

El let Max clean the blood under her nose and the other scrapes she got from Billy.

Once Max was done with El she turned to Nikki, who looked like she was about to pass out from pain which didn't surprise either of the girls.

"Umm, Nikki?" Max called, making Nikki hum in response. Max looked at the injuries, her cheek already had a nasty bruise coming in from where Billy punched her. The back of her shirt had spots of blood due to her getting kick into the wall. And, of course, it was hard to over look the hand print that has bruised her neck, reminding them all of how close she was to death. "Is there anything I could do to help?" Max asked, not wanting to make the girl uncomfortable.

Nikki shook her head. "I'll be fine," she tried to shrug it off, though there wasn't much movement.

"Does it hurt?" Max asked, looking at the hand print on her neck.

Nikki tried to fake a smile. "Only when I talk."

"Well, it's a good thing you're not Mike or Lucas, then," Max joked, hoping it would lighten the mood. "Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. You'd be in constant pain."

El and Max broke out into laughter as they continued to joke about Mike and Lucas/just boys in general.

Nikki sat on the bath tub half listening to them talking, half trying to figure out what to do now. She rested her still pounding head on the cool wall and felt the pit in her stomach start to stir up again.

Great. Just what we needed. More fun.

***

"Something's not right," Mike said, pacing the room enough to make Lucas a little dizzy. "I can't get Hopper off my back all summer, now all of a sudden, he's hiking with Will's mom to Illinios? and Dustin's MIA, too? I mean, this can't be a coincidence."

"What does it matter?" Lucas let out an exasporated sigh. "The bottom line is, they're not here. It's up to us."

"Up to us to do what exactly?"

"Find Billy and stop him."

"Okay, yeah, that's a really nice sentiment," Mike responded sarcastically, "but even if El could find him again, and that's a pretty big if, then what?"

"We burn the shit out of him and make sure he doesn't escape this time."

"Okay, then what?" Mike rushed the words out.

"Then we win."

"No, see, that's the problem," Mike stopped pacing to look at him fully. "We don't. We don't win. We got the Mind Flayer out of Will before and he just came right back. We don't just have to stop Billy, we have to stop the Mind Flayer."

"How in the hell do we do that?"

"I don't know."

"Maybe El and Nikki do," Will spoke up, making the boys turn to the closed bathroom door.

"What are they still doing in there?" Mike wondered, getting Lucas to stand next to him.

"I don't know," Lucas thought of all the injuries Nikki had gotten just a few hours before. However, he didn't want to bring it up so he just went with: "Girls just like hanging out in bathrooms."

Lucas offered Mike some of his cereal he had for a snack but got it pushed away. "Why?" Mike asked, annoyed.

"I mean, I don't know." Lucas shrugged.

"They're conspiring against me."

"That's what you're concerned about now?" Will hissed. Lucas knew where he was coming from, the Mind Flayers back and Nikki and El could have died, Mike worrying about his ex-girlfriend and her friends conspiring against him doesn't seem so important.

"It's not my main concern," Mike tried, but failed to defend himself. "It's just a sub-concern."

"I thought it was already over," Will whispered.

"It's not over, okay? We're just taking a break."

"She said she dumped your ass. That doesn't sound like a break."

"It wasn't!" Max muffled voice entered the conversation. "You guys do realize we can still hear everything you're saying, right?"

Some giggles surfaced before only muffled words were heard from them.

"Conspiring," Mike whispered. "I told you, they're conspiring."

A knocking from the basement door made them drop the conversation.

"Not now, Mom!" Mike yelled. The response was from someone they were not expecting to hear.

"Mike, open the door," Nancy rushed and worried voice made the boys know that she too knew something was going on the Hawkins.

Authors note

Hello! Sorry, again, for leaving for a long time but I got another chapter out! Yay! See you next time.

Love ya!!❤️❤️❤️