Blood - Lucas Sinclair

The Bathtub (Part 4)

One long and awkward phone call later, everyone shoved themselves into cars and drove quickly to the school.

Everyone split up quickly. Jonathan and Hopper were getting salt, Mike and Nancy were getting hoses.

That left Dustin and Lucas to get the pool set up in the gymnasium while Joyce took the girls to get El ready for the bath.

Dustin and Lucas struggled to get the pool set up. Different directions were yelled along with some curse words. Finally, after a while of fighting and swearing at each other they finally had it set up. Just in time too.

***

Nikki and El sat across from Joyce as she taped a pair of goggles with duck tape.

The entire plan for this bathtub is that El will be able to do this by herself so Nikki could conserve her energy in case they really needed her help. Still, Nikki didn't really like the fact that was doing this by herself but she knew better than to argue with her sister about something like this.

"This will keep it dark for you." Joyce said taping on the last strip. "Just like in your bathtub."

Joyce looked at the two girls and sighed at their nervous faces. "You two are very brave girls. You guys know that, don't you? Everything you're doing for my boy...for Will...for my family...thank you."

El and Nikki looked at each other. Both of them felt like they didn't really help much. Especially Nikki, who had only made sure El didn't lose her energy when searching for Will.

Joyce grabbed El's hands and squeezed them gently to try to comfort her. "Listen. I am gonna be there with you the whole time. And if it ever gets too scary...in that place, you let me know, okay?"

"Yes." El answered quietly.

"Ready?" Joyce said grabbing on of Nikki's hand.

"Ready." El replied trying to sound confident. El took Nikki's hand and the girls followed Joyce to the gym where everything was still getting set up.

"Right there!" Lucas shouted at Nancy, holding a thermometer.

Hopper and Jonathan started grabbing bag after bag of salt and dumped it all in the water. The boys sat on the side of the pool dropping in eggs to test if it could float. After a few tries, it worked and everything was ready.

Nikki stood next to El as El took over her shoes and socks. Next she took off Mike's watch and gave it back to Mike. She put on the goggles and tried to get rid of her nerves. Nikki watched as El took Hopper's and Joyce's hands and stepped into the pool.

Nikki immediately started to feel guilty that El had to do it this way. It gave Nikki a bad feeling.

She sat next to Lucas as El started floating on her back. Silence over took the group as all eyes were on El waiting for something to happen, the only noise to be heard was the static coming from the walkie talkie.

The lights flickered until they went out completely. Everyone waited in anticipation, wondering what was going to happen next.

Nikki felt a pit form in her stomach and knew that nothing good was going to happen from this. She took a deep breath to try to ignore it and focus on El but it was very difficult to do.

"Barbara?" El said quietly making everybody shift in place.

Lights flickered again, only this time, it made people become more nervous.

"What's going on?" Nancy asked Mike.

"I don't know." Mike shrugged in response. Nancy looked to Nikki who also shrugged.

"Is Barb okay?" Nancy asked El in a louder voice. "Is she okay?"

"Gone." El said quietly before getting louder. "Gone. Gone."

Joyce quickly tried to comfort the girl but El continued to get louder.

"Gone. Gone!"

Nikki felt her heart break for her sister. She wanted nothing but to get her sister out of there. She started to shiver from being scared and she a pair of arms wrap around her.

"It's okay." Lucas said to her but she couldn't tear her eyes away from her sister. "It's okay."

Soon Joyce finally El to calm down but that didn't stop Nikki from letting some tears slip.

"Castle Byers." El muttered making everyone hold their breath. "Will?"

Joyce gasped. "You tell him...tell him I'm coming. Mom is coming."

Hurry. A weak voice came from the radio.

Everyone looked at each other with shock.

"Okay." Joyce became a stuttering mess. "Listen, you tell him to...to stay where he is. We're coming. We're coming, okay? We're coming honey."

Whimpering was heard through the radio then El shot up quickly with a gasp. Joyce Joyce wrapped her arms around her and calmed her down. Nikki walked over to the two and grabbed El's hand to let her know she was there.

After a while, the groups split up again. The kids themselves in the bleachers and Lucas found El a towel. El rested her head on Mike's shoulder as Lucas wrapped the towel around her.

Nikki sat in back of El, next to Lucas, not wanting to get to far away from her sister. With her tired Nikki was up to protect her and their friends.

And she was willing to do that at all costs.

Authors note
One more episode and then it's season two. What are you excited for in the second book?

Love ya!! ❤️❤️❤️