lost love

chapter 56

-july 3rd 1985-

-reader's pov-

nancy carefully steered her car up the holloway's driveway before parking the vehicle up. we all piled out before heading up to the front door, nancy pressed the doorbell and we waited.

she pressed it again, and we waited again until we grew very impatient too quickly and all eyes turned to el, mainly because she was in the centre of the group. she flicked her head slightly and the door suddenly opened. revealing a dark, entrance to the house, it was only lit with dim lamps, very much unlike the other day.

nancy took lead as we headed inside, we all gazed around the eery house and absorbed every last detail.

"tom?" nancy called out, breaking the deafening silence, "heather?.. jesus, it's freezing."

the group slowly stumbled into the living room. "do you guys smell that?" nancy inquired. we all sniffed to try and get a scent of what nancy was talking about.

we followed the strong smell and it led us to what looked like a dishwasher, except it had been pulled out of the wall and many cleaning liquids were poured and located on top of it.

"oh, god." nancy said as we all inspected the dishwasher with confused and curious faces, "more chemicals." we then all walked closer to the dishwasher to find that a chunk was missing from it and all of the cleaning supplies had been.. nibbled and gnawed at??

jonathan picked up one of the chewed bottles before inspecting it, "you think they're guzzling this shit?"

"yeah," nancy agreed, "either that or they just went on a hell of a cleaning spree."

"but, last year," max piped up, "will didn't eat chemicals, did you?"

"no, this is something new." will answered.

"mr clarke, fifth grade. posit." mike announced, "what happens when you mix chemicals together?"

"um.. it makes a new colour?" I tried, fully knowing that I skipped half of fifth grade.

"no," lucas and will sighed, "you create a new substance."

"exactly, what if they're making something?" mike said.

"in themselves?" max furrowed her eyebrows, "I mean, come on, if you drink this crap, it'll kill you."

"yeah, if you're human." lucas replied before a low pulsing noise became detectable in the near distance.

we exited the kitchen and stalked around the dinner table to find a blood stain and a bottle of wine on the patterned carpet.

"blood." nancy whispered as she knelt down to get a clearer look, "yesterday, tom had a bandage on his forehead." she then proceeded to pick up the wine bottle which was also stained with a deep red blood, "he was attacked." she realised, now back up on her feet.

nancy then turned to look at the doorway, we all followed her gaze to find that she was looking at a creased rug that lay by the door.

we moved along through the house, noting and pointing out any clues that we found. until we reached one particular door, the door to the garage.

nancy cautiously opened it before heading inside with us following in her footsteps shortly after. there was a pile of ropes dumped on the floor.

"they must've tied them." jonathan said, "they must've taken them somewhere."

"mrs driscoll," nancy realised with wide eyes, "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."

"somewhere he didn't want me to see." el added.

"if we can find the source, then maybe we can stop him." nancy continued, "or at least stop it from spreading or doing whatever the hell he's doing with those chemicals."

"how do we find it?" el inquired.

"mrs driscoll," will announced, "if she wants to go back so badly, why don't we let her?"

—————————

as a group, we all walked into the hospital, to be met with the receptionist gossiping on the phone.

perfect, we could all just easily slip past her and everything would be great, until-

"whoa! whoa! whoa!" the receptionist exclaimed, putting the phone down, "excuse me! where do you think you're going?"

"oh, um.. I was just going to visit my grandma again, and- and this.. this is my family." nancy faked.

the receptionist shot lucas a look.

"extended." he grinned cheesily.

"-I don't care who they are," the receptionist continued, "you know the rules. two visitors at a time."

"yeah, but-" nancy tried but was cut off.

"two!" the receptionist snapped before returning to the phone, "girl, this child has lost her mind. she brought a whole zoo in here." she muttered into the phone.

———————

I lazily watched from my seat as mike inserted a coin into the vending machine. he tapped at the buttons and the machine began to create a whirring sound but then mike's kitkat paused just as it was about to fall.

"oh come on, you piece of shit!" he cried out in defeat whilst thumping the machine along with will and lucas.

"dumbasses." I uttered whilst jerking my head to the side, causing most of the candy to fall down.

"thanks." mike praised before kneeling down to grab a handful of the sweets.

"whatever, dork." I playfully replied before making a packet of m&m's fly up into my hands. I noticed el put her magazine down before walking over to me and taking the spare seat beside me.

"hi." she beamed up at me with big, expectant eyes.

"hm, let me guess, you're here for the m&m's?" I questioned jokingly.

"maybe." she grinned a mischievous smile before I opened the packet and offered her one, she gratefully accepted it.

I popped one of the chocolate's into my mouth before speaking up, "god, I really hate hospitals."

"hm, why?" el inquired whilst taking another sweet.

"I dunno, just.. think of all the sicknesses and stuff here.." I began, "hospitals are like, the main place where you catch all these sickness bugs, surely?"

"oh, are you scared?" el asked teasingly.

"n-no, just-" I stammered, "just a little weirded out—"

"awww, don't worry sweetie, I'll keep you safe," el poked fun before making sloppy kissing noises.

"oh, come on, stop!" I giggled as el leant over and planted multiple kisses upon my cheek, "it tickles!"

after a little while, she stopped and pulled back before giving me a loving smile. which was one I returned with lovestruck and dreamy eyes.