The Long Game, Lucas Sinclair

the ghost of christmas triangles

◦☆＊★ ━━━━━━ ★＊☆◦

ONE MONTH LATER

DECEMBER 15

So Corey's parents were getting divorced, which was really fun (sarcasm).

After the events in the tunnels, after they'd all made it out and Billy's headlight had dimmed so that they could see again, Sam immediately passed out. It could have been a multitude of things that made her go unconscious — the fumes of the tunnels, the amount of running, the exhaustion, the anxiety — many, many things, but they took one look at her torso, and they quickly concluded that was the real reason.

Steve forced the kids to let him drive, claiming that none of them driving would happen ever again (little did he know that Corey would be starting Driver's Ed after December). He rushed them all to the hospital, this time with Sam laying across the four boys' lap instead of Steve, and it was much more enjoyable considering how light Sam was and how clingy Mike was being since Corey saved him.

Corey knew Sam hated hospitals, knew the last thing she would ever want is let anyone bring her to one and be treated. But this injury needed attention — Corey had seen it when they picked the unconscious Sam up from the hospital and rushed her to the Byers' house. There was way too much flesh missing to be considered normal, and way too much blood for any sane person to handle.

Sam was definitely not sane, so Corey knew this would be a problem.

Corey also knew Stephanie being called from home, discovering her little sister was in the hospital — in the same place her parents had been when they'd gotten the call — would be a problem. He knew Stephanie's anxiety was serious, because she'd forced Corey's father to drive her to the hospital; the same uncle she hadn't talked to in two years since he called her a word that started with a d and rhymed with Mike.

Yeah, Stephanie hated him the most.

So, when she ran into the waiting room with Corey's dad begrudgingly at her side, Corey's eyes widened greatly in shock. It was very hard to explain to Stephanie — and to his dad — what happened without crying, telling them the truth, or convincing them Sam was going to die.

Then, when they realized Corey's dad was a useless fucker who didn't know anything — the whole Party realized it, too, and it was very embarrassing to know that all of Corey's secrets were being unveiled right now — Corey's mom was contacted, all the way from Missouri, away on a business trip.

Somehow, Corey's mom had made it back to Indiana by the time noon arrived, which Corey didn't think was even possible. By then, Sam had been done with surgery, though still unconscious. She'd needed a "full-thickness skin graft," or whatever that meant (Sam would probably know if she was awake).

All Corey could notice was that Mike, Lucas, Max, Dustin, and Steve had all stayed for Sam. They'd stayed. After Will was no longer possessed, he, Jonathan, Nancy, and Joyce had even rushed over the hospital, worried about Sam as well. None of them even seemed to care they'd been sitting in the hospital for eight hours. It all made his heart swell in a way that felt good, but he simultaneously hated. It was too much emotion for one emotionally stunted kid to handle.

Then, everything just got even more hectic when Kathryn and Daniel Gray started going at it in the middle of the hospital waiting room.

It started when Corey's mom yelled at Daniel, wondering how he didn't notice Sam and Corey were missing for five days, and how he let Sam get in this state. It ended with everything being hashed out — Daniel's treatment of the kids, what he called them, Kathryn's lack of involvement to stop this, Daniel's cheating on Kathryn — everything. In front of everyone, too, so now everyone that Corey held dear but pretended not to, knew everything about Corey's home life — Sam's too, by association. It was embarrassing.