HEART FLAYER | b. hargrove

CHAPTER 031.

July 3rd, 1985

"I found him." El said, a blindfold around her eyes and the tv static on in the Wheelers' basement. "He's in the woods. He's with... Will's mom."

Arwen listened as she stood further back away from everyone. El explained that their dad was safe and going to Illinois with Joyce. A tiny bit of relief was felt, but Arwen still had puffy eyes and a raw throat from the night before. Along with the exhaustion as a mixed result of no sleep and using her powers. She headed to the tiny basement bathroom and El followed behind her. They helped each other wipe the blood from their faces in silence for a moment.

"Does it hurt?" El asked, looking at the hand-shaped bruise forming on Arwen's throat.

The elder sister shrugged. "When I talk, yeah. But I'll be fine."

"Arwen, I -"

"It's okay, El." She forced a smile and placed a hand on her sister's face. "I'm okay. Or I will be... once Billy is. And once the Mind Flayer is gone."

When the girls came out of the bathroom, they were greeted by the presence of Jonathan and Nancy among the rest of the group. 

"Nancy?" Arwen said in surprise, her eyes widened at the girl. "Long time no see."

"Arwen?" Nancy smiled a little as she approached to give the girl a hug. "Are you okay?" She asked as she pulled back and noticed the injury on her neck. Arwen waved her off, inviting her to explain why the two of them were there.

Nancy went on to talk about a crazy old woman who was eating fertilizer that she'd been doing a newspaper report on. They all talked for awhile and came to the conclusion that the attack at the hospital involving the old woman happened at the same time as the sauna test when Billy had attacked them. 

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

"She's flayed, just like Billy." Mike concluded as well.

"Flayed?" Jonathan asked.

"The Mind Flayer. He flays people. Takes over their mind. They basically become him." 

"If there are two flayed..." Lucas began.

"We have to assume there are more." Will finished.

"Heather." Arwen said. Everyone turned to look at her as she just stared down at the floor, her arms crossed. 

"Heather..." El breathed. "Billy was doing something to her. She was scared... she was screaming..."

The words made Arwen's skin crawl and she shifted uncomfortably.

"Who's Heather?" Nancy asked.

"She's a lifeguard at the pool." Max answered.

"Heather Holloway...?" Nancy turned to Jonathan and they both just say 'Tom' at the same time. 

They begin to explain briefly that their boss at the newspaper, Tom, is Heather's father and had been also behaving strangely the day before. So that was their next clue to investigate. They all pile into Jonathan's car, with Arwen squeezed into the trunk with will and Mike. They arrive at the Holloway house once more and she tried not to think too much about what happened there only a couple days before. How strange Billy had been towards her.

"What happened to the tree...?" Jonathan asked as they stood outside of the home.

"Oh. That was me. Don't worry about it." Arwen responded and cleared her throat a bit, ignoring the bit of pain she felt as a result and went to ring the doorbell. But no response.

Eleven used her powers once more to open the door and they all headed inside. They call out to Tom and Heather, but are met with no reply or sign of life. They note how cold it is inside of the house and the almost toxic smell. As they enter the kitchen, it's littered with emptied cleaning materials and a complete mess.

"This is something new." Will explained about the flayed people drinking chemicals this time around.

They discuss it for a moment and the strangeness of the whole thing before exploring the house more. Blood is found on the rug in the living room and Nancy noted that Tom had a bandage on his forehead the other day. There's a wine bottle laying on the ground with a bit of blood on it. They follow the trail of blood out into the garage, where they reason that Billy must have tied them up and taken them somewhere.

Thinking about Billy doing any of this makes Arwen feel sick. But she had to remind herself that it isn't really him doing all of this. 

"Mrs. Driscoll..." Nancy said. "She kept saying 'I have to go back.' What if the flaying is taking place somewhere else? There must be a place where this all started, right? A source."

"Somewhere he didn't want me to see." El confirmed.

"If we can find the source, then maybe we can stop him. Or at least stop it from spreading or doing whatever the hell he's doing with those chemicals."

"How do we find it?" Arwen asked, feeling empty and sad but also filled with determination and hatred towards the Mind Flayer. They had to stop this.

"Mrs. Driscoll," Will began. "If she wants to go back so badly, why don't we let her?"

Satisfied with the plan they'd come up with, they all return to the car and head to the hospital. The receptionist is very firm on only allowing two visitors to see Mrs. Driscoll, so Jonathan and Nancy go, leaving the rest of them in the lobby.

Arwen absently stared at the wall in front of her, completely lost in thought. Not even the sound of Mike and Lucas banging on the vending machine could break her out of her thoughts. Arwen felt intense anxiety brewing in the pit of her stomach as she hoped and prayed silently to herself that they can figure this out and can save Billy and the other flayed people. She finally looked over at Will, who was sat in the chair to her right. 

"How are you doing, Will? I know the Mind Flayer being back must be... hard on you." she spoke to him in a hushed voice, trying not to let the others hear their conversation.

Will shrugged and gave her a weak smile. "I'm alright. A part of me is thankful it's not me being possessed this time, as selfish as that sounds..."

Arwen shook her head, her brows scrunched together as she looked at him seriously. "Don't worry. It's not selfish at all. I'm glad it's not you, too."

"But it's Billy. And you care about him."

"Yeah... that's definitely not ideal either." she agreed with a forced half-smile. "But he'll be okay. I won't rest until he is."

That's when the lights began flickering and the kids and Arwen all looked at each other. Arwen and Eleven's eyes met and they nodded once. They all took off to go find Nancy in Jonathan, knowing in their guts that something was happening. They ran up the stairs to the floor Mrs. Driscoll was supposed to be on and searched frantically for the couple as lights continued to flicker like a strobe. They found Jonathan outside of a closed door, banging on it with something and fighting to get in.

Eleven blew the door open with her powers and they found a monster cornering Nancy in a small room. 

Arwen and El both take turns throwing the creature against the walls before Arwen let out a scream, feeling like her throat may rip open entirely as she did so and tossed the monster out of the window.

Jonathan checked on Nancy while the rest of them ran back down and outside of the hospital to the parking lot. There, they watch as the monster dissolved into almost liquid and slip into a sewer grate. 

"Fucking disgusting." Arwen remarked.