Risky Business ｡ Stranger Things

18 : The Town That Dreaded Sundown

Will's painful screams echoed against the cold walls of Hawkins Lab. The sound clawed at Prue's skull, sinking into her skin and tangling around her bones. She had never heard anything like it, and it brought hot tears to her blinking eyes. The Owens siblings weren't in the medical room that mimicked a hospital room, but both stood close to the entrance, peering into the room. Grey's face was pale, his skin littered with gooseflesh.

"What's happening? What's wrong with him?" Grey asked, his eyes pleading for answers. Prue shook her head, unable to answer as more screams broke into the hallways.

"She says he feels like he's burning. Check for burns!" Prue picked out that voice as her father's, as echoes of movement and cries bled into the hallway.

"I don't see anything," another member of the medical staff replied, fingers fanning over Will's ghoulish white skin. The young Byers boy continued to groan and wriggle with pain. And as much as Prue wanted to look away, her curiosity compelled her to watch.

"Where does it hurt the most, Will?" someone questioned frantically. The beeping of the monitors shrieked, increasing in speed. Joyce was crying in Bob Newby's arms and Mike Wheeler was motionless with fear and confusion.

"Everywhere! EVERYWHERE!" Will screamed, his voice loud like thunder and rippling with pain. That was enough for Prue, who staggered backwards and pressed her back against the hallway wall, forcing her eyelids closed. She wanted to yell that clearly, something was hurting him inside, but she didn't know what was really happening with poor Will. Hell, she didn't know what was happening in this town! Finally, there was silence and Grey stepped away from the doorway, moving closer to Prue still using the wall for support. The sound of a door being closed jolted Prue's eyes open and Dr Sam Owens was marching towards his children, with tear-streaked cheeks and flashlights resting at their feet. Sam looked beyond angry, his thick brows pulling together as he jerked his head, guesting for Prue and Grey to follow him. Reluctantly, the siblings followed, both feeling burdened with shame and embarrassment. Away from prying eyes and straining ears, Sam flung around to face his rebelliously stupid children.

"What the hell are you two doing here?" While his voice low, it was poisonous and deadly.

"We—" Grey tried but failed to string a sentence of words together with his father staring at him so intensively. He looked to his older sister to feel the void.

"We... wanted to know what was happening with you and your work," she offered, with Grey nodding along in support. "We were worried, just like Mum," she added, believing that would soften her father's anger, but much like his daughter, his anger was ruling and more often than not, unfaltering. Though, his anger was never quite as stormy as his daughter's.

"So, you broke into the lab?" Sam pinched the bridge of his nose with his fingers. "What on earth would propel you to break into the lab?"

"We found redacted government documents and your Letter of Offer in the shed after that day at the pumpkin farm," Prue explained and Sam sighed heavily, before pointing a finger at his daughter.

"I told you to leave all of this alone. That it was just routine and none of your concern!" he bellowed, not worrying about possible eavesdroppers now.

"You actually never said those particular words..." she admitted before her mind had the common sense to lock her tongue behind her teeth.

"Prudence Anne Owens, now is not the time for your sarcasm!" he hissed, his shoulders tense and nostrils flaring with rage. Prue had never considered her father to be a scary or violent man, but she had never seen him this angry before and it awoke a new fear in her blood.