THE TOWER ━ stranger things

15.

chapter fifteen — the wheel of fortune

Mateo stared at the floor, feelings of grief and fear pulsed through him with a steady beat. He'd come to the conclusion, after tossing and turning all night, that he was in fact a terrible brother.

If it weren't for his constant pessimism his sister would've felt more comfortable with opening up to him about her visions – she wouldn't have easily thrusted herself into the void of chaos for people she hardly knew. He pushed her away and without any remorse or worry of what the repercussions would have been. And now he didn't even know where she was or what danger she might've been in.

He realized how foolish he was for discarding the oath he made to her when he held her small frame underneath the warm California rain when they were young, "You're my little sister, so that means it's my job to protect you at all times. You're my best friend and friends always look out for each other," he said as he held her face in his cold palms and mustered up his best smile; she fell off her bike and scraped her chin on the pavement and was bleeding generously. He made her hold a cloth over the skin as he frantically ran back inside to look for neosporin and a huge band aid. She cried into his shoulder after he put the bandage on, expressing both her embarrassment and fear. He just held her tightly like the loving big brother he was and whispered, "You're gonna fall from time to time but I promise when you do I'll be there to pick you right back up."

She fell far too many times to count after that and he reached a point where he stopped coming around to help her onto her feet, breaking his promise. However, there was room for redemption – it was his last glimmer of hope knowing there was some way he could help save his sister and his mom from whatever was going on in Hawkins.

"It can't be good for her to be in there this long." Mike's voice rang in his ears and suddenly the static of his thoughts faded away. Max argued against his words, urging him to relax and Mateo thought the comment was unnecessary; Mike had every right to be concerned for El.

If there was one thing he and the teen agreed on, it was that pushing El past her limits wasn't a smart idea. Even though he didn't have any powers he knew what it was like to have someone forcing him to exceed his boundaries. The body and mind could only take so much.

They started bickering about El's limits and he softly sighed, pushing his body off the floor and walking toward the trio in the other corner.

Nancy placed the phone she was holding back onto its hook and sighed as she shuffled over to Johnathan. Mateo watched the exchange, shoving his hands into his back pockets as he and Will listened to the oldest Wheeler's rationale on how there was a pattern to the flayed victims.

"But what about the source? I mean, did the Mind Flayer just suddenly stop infecting people?" She questioned, exasperation evident in her tone and face. "And even if the flayed are monsters now, why can't El find them?"

Mateo held his hand up to signal his interjection, "Well you said this thing operates as a hive mind right?" He asked and the three nodded their heads, leaning forward to listen intently to whatever theory he was about to disclose, "So if the flayed are now in a sense sharing the same mind as it, since we know it's controlling them, who's to say they don't also bestow its abilities? We know the Mind Flayer didn't want El to see where it was hiding when she saw Billy so don't you think it's doing the same for the others too?   If it's as powerful as you say and as I think it is, it already knows El would go searching for it. And think of it this way the flayed are basically zombies now -- their bodies are just hosts — so maybe she can't sense them because they're not consciously here. Maybe he was planning this the entire time." He said and his own words made goosebumps run along his skin.