𝐎𝐍𝐋𝐘 𝐈𝐍 𝐇𝐀𝐖𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐒

twenty-four

sam definitely did not expect to spend her july 4th in hopper's cabin. she had to stay the night there not knowing if billy would try to smother her and max while they slept. the only things they grabbed when they ran home were some clothes and necessities.

not long after the three girls had gotten ready and eaten breakfast, everyone else showed up. immediately pulling out a phone books, calling on the phone, and el sitting in her room quietly trying to find anyone she could.

out of boredom, sam began to braid max's hair. not that the two could do anything to help out. max found it relaxing when sam did her hair. it felt like she was a little kid again.

sam in efforts to try and cure her boredom again, brought a box of tissues and a glass of water for el. very quietly entering and exiting to try not to break her focus.

"it can't be good for her to be in there for this long." mike said, pacing around the room.

when sam joined lucas on the couch, max replied. "mike, you need to relax."

"what if she gets brain damage or something?" mike asked. "oh shit. is that, like, a real thing?" lucas asked. "no, its not. he made it up. mike doesn't know what he's talking about." max responded. mike growing frustrated at the red head. "oh, and you do?" mike snapped. "no, i just think el knows her own limits." max replied. "everyday, they are bumping heads." sam mumbled, getting up to join nancy, jonathan, and will in the kitchen.

"yes, from the hawkins post. i...i called a couple days ago about the-yes, yes, um...i was just...following up to see if anything else had gone missing, or if-okay. um, sorry to bother.." nancy spoke, the man in the phone growing more irritated, eventually hanging up the phone.

"who's next?" sam asked. "there is no next. unless you want to start calling random people's homes." jonathan replied. nancy frustratedly flopping her pen pad down on the counter. "it doesn't make any sense."

"what part of this makes any sense?" jonathan asked. "there's a pattern, okay? a consistency to their behavior." nancy sighed.

"exactly. they've been feeding on these chemicals since this started, which was probably earlier this week." sam added.

"and, and, what, they just stop out of the blue?" nancy agreed. "maybe they have all the chemicals they need. maybe they've all turned into those...things." will interjected.

"but what about the source?" nancy asked.

sam shook her head. "there's no way the mind flayer just went radio silent and stopped infecting people."

"and even if the flayed are monsters now, why can't el find them?" nancy continued. "what if it's because they aren't an image to follow anymore?" sam wondered aloud, going over to the sink to clear her thoughts. the faint sounds of mike and max's arguing.

"okay, can you guys settle an argument for us?" max asked, pulling everyone's attention over to the counter.

sam steadily moved over to the group of people, leaning against the wall listening. "who do you think should decide el's limits? mike or eleven?" max asked.

"the way that you frame that is such bullshit!" mike spat. "it's not bullshit, mike. this is your whole problem. and it's also precisely the reason why she dumped your ass." max snapped, earning sam's full attention.