𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑶𝑻𝑯𝑬𝑹 𝑺𝑷𝒀 - Dustin Henderson

013. The Flayed

THE GROUP SAT IN MIKE'S BASEMENT. El was using her powers to find her dad, "I found him."

"Where is he?" Max asked

"Woods," El answered.

"Woods?" Lucas queried, confused.

"He's with... Will's mom," she added.

"My... My mom?" Will chimed in, not expecting that.

"What are they doing?" Max asked.

"Ill... annoy. They're going to Ill-annoy," El answered, unsure how to pronounce it.

"Mike! Breakfast!" Mrs. Wheeler shouted down to them.

"Not now, Mom!" Mike called back out.

"Illinois? Illinois, like the state? The state of Illinois?" Mike clarified.

"Ill-annoy," El shrugged.

Max and Cindy took El into the bathroom to clean away the blood from her nose. Max cleans the blood with a towel until her eyes land on the red scar from Billy choking her. "Does it still hurt?" Max asked.

"Only when I talk," El responded in a husky voice.

"Well, it's a good thing you're not Mike, then. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And you'd be in constant pain," The two laughed but Cindy chuckled slightly, trying to join in but not in the mood all that much, she was still getting over last night.

"Cindy?" El's raspy voice said, turning to the brunette.

"Yeah?"

"Thank you for helping me," Cindy smiled comfortingly.

"Of course. I couldn't let anything happen to you." Once El turned away, Cindy relaxed her face, her face quickly switching back to a frown.

"Cindy? Are you okay?" Max queried.

Cindy exhaled slowly, "I'm just... I'm scared about my powers and what they might do if I lose control," she explained.

"You shouldn't have to feel bad, you were only doing what you needed to save El's life." Max said, grabbing Cindy's hand and squeezing it.

Cindy smiled warmly, getting to know these two girls has been interesting for her, she always knew she needed to branch out.

When the room went silent, you could hear the soft whispers of the boys outside, "she said she dumped your ass. That doesn't sound like a break," Will whispered.

"It wasn't! You guys do realize we can still hear
everything you're saying, right?" Max called out to them, and El laughed along with her, while Cindy stood awkwardly in the corner.

Two things Cindy hates the most, confrontation, not including beating the shit out of someone with her powers, and drama. She can't deal with it, it makes her uncomfortable, mostly because she's never had to deal with, she's never had any friends until she met the boys.

She just hopes her and Dustin don't break up so she doesn't have to deal with this herself. Right now all she wanted to do was get all of this over with so she could get back to Dustin. Although the issue with that is he isn't contacting them back, and it's freaking her out.

A knock on the door upstairs was heard throughout the basement and Mike shouts up to them, thinking it's his mom, "not now, Mom!"

"Mike, open the door," Nancy's voice answers instead.

Max, Cindy and El leave the bathroom and Mike goes upstairs and opens the door to Jonathon and Nancy.

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