Alexithymia | STRANGER THINGS [ON HOLD UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE]

twenty one | the flayed

After several long seconds of the five of them just waiting for El to say something, El finally said, "I found him."

Max asked her, "Where is he?"

El told them, "Woods."

In turn, Lucas asked her, "Woods?"

Then El said, "He's with... Will's mom."

As he leaned forward from where he was sitting on the couch, Will asked her, "My– My mom?"

With her eyebrows now furrowed, Max asked her, "What are they doing?"

Then El said, "Ill... annoy. They're going to Ill-annoy."

It was then that Karen knocked on the door and yelled, "Mike! Matthew! Breakfast!"

While Matthew only rolled his eyes at his mother, Mike turned his head and yelled, "Not now, Mom!" Then he turned to look back at El and asked her, "Illinois? Illinois, like the state? The state of Illinois?"

After taking the makeshift blindfold off of her head, El said with a shrug of her shoulders, "I-Ill-annoy."

* * *

While Matthew absentmindedly continued to run his fingers over the bruises that were left behind from when Billy had chosen to choke the hell out of him after their failed attempt of getting the Mind Flayer out of him, Mike said, "Something's not right. I can't get Hopper off my back all summer, now all of a sudden, he's hiking with Will's mom to Illinois? And Dustin's MIA, too? And don't even get me started on Valerie. She's been here– at my house– since the start of summer and now she-she's just gone? I mean, this can't be a coincidence."

In turn, Lucas asked him, "What does it matter? The bottom line is, they're not here. It's up to us."

Then Mike asked him, "Up to us to do what exactly? Do nothing and watch as he almost kills Matt again?"

While Will took a quick glance over at Matthew, who was currently wincing to himself as his fingers moved over the bruises on his neck, Lucas told him, "Find Billy and stop him."

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

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

Then Mike asked him, "Okay, then what?"

Lucas replied, "Then we win."

It was then that Mike told him, "No, see, that's the problem. 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."

With a shrug of his shoulders, Lucas asked him, "How in the hell do we do that?"

Mike replied, "I don't know."