The Girl With the Red Hair

XI. The Hospital

  
"It was the same thing, the exact same thing that happened to Will last year," Nancy informed the six kids of her experiences. Her and Johnathon had urgently showed up to explain their thinking. "And look at this. Look at the body temperatures," she motioned to the piece of paper she brought that referred to Mrs. Driscoll in the hospital.

     Max, El and Will were seated on the couch while Benny was sitting on the arm of the couch, next to Max. Lucas took the armchair beside the couch again and Mike was leaning against the wall.

    Will leaned forward and pointed to the 95, "He likes it cold."

    "Okay, so this crazy old woman who was eating fertilizer-" Mike started off, but was quickly interrupted.

    "Mrs. Driscoll," both Nancy and Benny corrected Mike's manners.

   "Right, yeah, Mrs. Driscoll. What time was this attack?"

"Last night," Nancy repeated the words she had said shortly after she arrived.

    "Right, but what time last night?" Mike crossed his arms.

   "Around 9:00."

"You waited all night to call?" Johnathon turned to her.

     "I was waiting for the doctors to run some tests," Nancy avoided eye contact with her boyfriend.

    "You weren't there?" Will looked at his brother in disbelief.

    "Well, I'm here now, aren't I?" Johnathon threw his hands up.

   "Hallelujah!" Nancy scoffed.

   Lucas winced, "Ooh."

     "Um, so, wha- what time was your... sauna test?" Nancy stuttered with her head in her hands.

   "Around 9:00," the kids answered her in unison.

"Well, that proves it. That proves my theory," Nancy grinned.

   "She's flayed, just like Billy," Mike confirmed.

"Flayed?"

  "The Mind Flayer. He flays people. Takes over their mind. Once they do that, they basically become him," Mike elaborated.

    "If there are two flayed.." Lucas looked around the room.

   "We have to assume there are more," Will nodded.

  "Heather," El breathed out. "Billy was doing something to her. She was scared. She was screaming. Bad screams."

    "What's a good scream?" Lucas looked at her skeptically.

   "Max said-"

  "Doesn't matter," Max quickly dismissed, earning a quiet chuckle from Benny who got elbowed in the ribs lightly by the girl.

   "I'm sorry, I'm lost. Who is Heather?"

  "She's a lifeguard at the pool," Max replied.

  "Heather Holloway?" Nancy furrowed her brows. El nodded.

   Nancy and Johnathon looked at each other, "Tom."

    "Tom?" Benny repeated.

  "Tom Holloway. Our boss-" Johnathon began.

    "Ex boss," Nancy corrected sternly.

  "Right, ex boss. He was acting.. weird the other day," Johnathon nodded.

"We need to get to the Holloway house before something happens," Nancy looked at everyone in the room and motioned for them to follow her out of the house. She lead them to the car that was parked in the driveway and was the first to get in. Johnathon took the passenger's seat and El, Max, and Benny were quick to get in the backseats, leaving Lucas, Will and Mike to sit in the trunk.