³𝐆𝐎𝐍𝐄, 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐭𝐨𝐧 ✔

011-hospital visit

FOR OBVIOUS REASONS, CARLA FOUND HERSELF IN THE HOSPITAL THE NEXT DAY.

After the sauna events, she and the Party agreed it would be best if she sought out medical help for all the injuries that were now littered across her skin—the bruises on her neck, the gash on her head, the concussion she probably had, as well as any other damage that could have been done.

However, they were quite unsure on how to do it.

Carla, as well as everyone else, knew it wouldn't be easy to bring a girl who looked like hell into the hospital without explaining exactly why she looked that bad, and in that case, what were they supposed to say? The truth?

Was Carla supposed to tell them she was wanted by an inter-dimensional-creature? That she was attacked by a boy who wasn't really himself because he was being controlled by said monster?

And while Carla usually leaned towards honesty, they'd all be better off if they lied instead, to which they did.

So, Mike came up with a different story they could use to cover up her injuries.  They found her when they got there.

Basic, yet believable.

Following through with that story, Mike went over a small plan with the others to make sure everyone ended up where they needed to be—Carla in the ambulance, and the Party without too much questioning.

While Will called 9-1-1, the younger Wheeler instructed everyone on where to go, sending Max and Lucas up to show the EMTS where to go, him and Eleven staying in the sauna room with Carla, acting as if they'd been watching over her.  Under her brother and friend's watch, Carla pretended to be unconscious, so any further questioning would wait until she was safe and secure.

And when the ambulance finally arrived at the scene, Mike told a cover story with as much emotion as he could muster, "Me and my friends were going to try and convince my sister to let us swim here late—she and the manager have a thing going on—but when I got here, she wasn't out in the parking lot like she said she'd be.  When I looked for her....I-I found her knocked out on the ground.  I didn't get to see her attacker."

None of what he said was true—Mike didn't even know who the manager to Hawkins Pool was—but it wasn't like the truth was even an option.  He had indeed seen Carla's attacker, but he wasn't going to throw the Hargrove's name into the story.   While attacking someone was kinda in his nature, Billy wasn't himself when he did that to Carla.  He was under the Mind Flayer's influence and it would be hard to explain to anyone who didn't already know the story....or to people in general.

But, the EMTS didn't question Mike any further than that, and ended up taking his sister to the hospital, to which she now sat; trapped in an overly sterilized bed. 

Beside her, in a rather uncomfortable seat, sat Karen Wheeler, gaze set on her currently dozed off daughter. 

The moment Karen had received the call informing that her daughter was currently being stitched up inside the hospital, the mother had imagined the worst, and raced from her house without even hearing what had truly happened to her girl.

When her daughter didn't return home that night, Karen was quick to brush it off.  She assumed that Carla was spending the night at Steve's and had forgotten to call—it had happened before, and besides, Carla was always with Steve—but the moment she heard the voice of a paramedic, she couldn't help but start to fright.

The last time she'd received a call like that, Carla had been bleeding from both of her—some-what broken—wrists, gaunt-faced and unconscious. And while Karen had never admitted it, seeing that was one of the scariest moments of her life.  Her baby had almost died.