'tis the damn season

Twenty-One: Delicate

"My reputation's never been worse so, you must like me for me"

I probably looked like a zombie as we all walked out of the mall together. It had only been about ten minutes since everything went down, and yet it was still replaying over and over again in my mind.

I could hear the screech of the mind flayer in my mind, Max's scream when Billy was ultimately killed, the fireworks going off—one after another after another.

I walked with Will under my arm as we stepped back out into the parking lot.

My heart sank when I saw all kinds of helicopters hovering over us. There were all kinds of black cars and vans in the parking lot now, with men all dressed in black like they were part of the SWAT team or something. Their guns were all pointed at us, forcing our hands up in surrender, shocked at the sudden amount of people here.

"Keep your hands where we can see them!" Someone shouts, making me flinch.

Could this day get any worse?

"Hey! It's okay, it's just the kids, they're okay!" Someone I didn't recognize says, getting out of one of the cars.

Unlike everyone else, he was dressed casually, in a plaid shirt and jeans. "Dr. Owens!" Will shouts.

I recognized the name.

Everyone put their guns down, and so we were able to rest our arms, my heart rate returning to normal now that I knew they weren't going to hurt us.

Dr. Owens gave the men the signal to move inside. "They're just going to take a look around. Is there anyone else inside?" He asks, coming up to us.

"You have to get them to go down to the base under the mall, my mom and Hopper and Murray are all down there. They closed the gate," Johnathan says.

"How can we get in?" Owens asks.

"Through the elevator, it's a storage room around back," Steve explains.

Everything felt like a blur. Dr.Owens said something about playing the destruction of the mall off as being a fire, and that they were going to have the regular police come after they'd figured everything out inside.

I was listening, but not really. It wasn't long before the fire trucks, and ambulances were here. I stood with Will watching the fire department shoot water over the mall, at a fire that had been purposely lit by Dr.Owens and his team.

My eyes gazed emotionless over the parking lot full of people. There were even news vans here now, with people reporting the scene. After the day we'd had, I just wanted to leave. It was over now, and I wanted to try and forget about the past couple of days as best as I could, and I wanted to start now.

I wasn't paying attention when one of the paramedics came up to us. "Somebody told me you need to be looked at hun," she says, looking at me.

"What?" I ask, not meaning to be rude.

"Yeah she does, she was in a car accident earlier," Will answers for me, pointing to the destroyed cars across the parking lot.

I don't want to leave Will by himself. "It's okay, I'll be fine," I say, shaking my head, not letting go of Will's shoulders.

Will steps out of my grip. "I'll go sit with Johnathan and Nancy, I'll be fine. You need to be looked after," he says, walking away before I can even argue with him.

"Come over here," the woman says, guiding me to the ambulance where I saw El was sitting. "Have a seat here, I'll just grab my kit."

I sit down on the back of the vehicle, my legs dangling over the edge while El sits quietly next to me.