Strängely Lïvïng [ST]

E X O R C I S M

The teens rushed the girl into the house as fast as possible, missing the fact that the Hargrove boy was gone when they came in.

"What the hell do we do?!" Steve shouts over the girls screaming.

Her body thrashes against him, her sling burning against the rope tied tightly against her wrists.

"Put her on the chair," Tony responds, stumbling to pull out a book. "Kids, go to the corner."

"I can help," Mike argues. "Let me—"

"MIKE," Lucas shouts, pulling him back into the corner, "now is not the time to argue. You can help Frankie by staying the hell out of the way and not getting hurt!"

He goes to argue, but stops himself at the sound of the girl's loud sobs. Turning his his head, he shifts his eyes to glance at her. In a split second, he's in the corner with the others, huddling for protection.

Maybe thirty minutes in, and people start to arrive.

The Byers family were expecting to come home to finally be able to rest after everything that happened. Instead, when Nancy opened the door, they were met with the sight of things being thrown, yelling, and Frankie tied to a chair.

This looked all too familiar.

"FRANKIE STOP! YOURE HURTING YOURSELF! JUST LET IT HAPPEN!" Steve begs, in tears at this point.

He's been forced to watch as Frankie fights against her restraints, bruises forming on her wrists and ankles from tugging against the hard rope. Not to mention the random marks and bruises forming all along her body as Tony tries to read the Latin bible to her.

"Stop, tony! You have to stop! It's not working– y-you— you're hurting her!" Steve begs, trying to snatch the book from the ghosts hands.

"STEVE! Snap out of it, sir! That is not Frankie anymore. You must stay strong to get back!" Tony shouts, flipping through pages of the Bible.

"LET ME OUT! LET ME GO! LET ME OUUUUT!" Frankie howls, tears and blood streaming down her face.

The kids are all crowded in the corner, covering their eyes and ears in pure terror.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!" Joyce screams, grabbing their attention.

"There's no time to explain!" Steve tells her. "We're doing an exorcism on Frankie."

"This couldn't wait till later?!" Nancy questions, rushing over.

"She'll fucking die if we wait! She's dying! We have to hurry this shit up, but nothings working!" He sobs, bent over in front of Frankie's chair.

"You have to talk to her!" Tony yells. "You have to remind her why she should be strong and come back."

"SHE ISNT COMING BACK!" The voice leaves Frankie's mouth, but it certainly isn't Frankie.

Steve flinches at this, as does everyone else in the room.

The entire time, Will stares wide-eyed at the girl. He wanted so badly to come back to her with apologies for him forgetting her. To tell her how a little bit of him was there when they kissed again.