sunshine | m.w.

six.

the party looked at the lights, the sudden buzzing startling them as they continued to flash. will then touched the back of his neck, and sophia tensed. "he's here." will whispered as he shuddered. sophia grabbed mike's hand as the group then walked past the woman at the front desk, who started yelling at them about the two at a time rule. they ignored her easily as the sudden roars of a monster rang in sophia's ears. they all ran until the roaring was as loud as could be, causing eleven to knock down the door. sophia's eyes widened with fear, biting her tongue to hold back a scream. "jesus," mike said under his breath, holding sophia close to him. max shuddered as she stared at it with fright. "what the f--" the creature suddenly started to shriek as it ran towards them, making eleven pull up her hand and slam it into the wall, making sophia jump back as she continued this with the opposite wall, the ceiling and then the floor. she let go of it, stumbling back as sophia inhaled sharply. the creature wailed and ran towards them, then making el scream and throw both arms up and throw it out the window. the kids looked at each other with shock before el shoved jonathan into the room, yelling "go!" at him to help nancy. she then ran, with the party following her from behind. when they ran outside, eleven threw her arms up to stop them from running, now in front of the disgusting looking monster in front of them. it started making his way into the sewer, leaving body parts behind as sophia turned around behind her to then hurl into a trash can.
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"it can't be good for her to be in there this long," will claimed, pacing around the room. "will, you need to relax." max rolled her eyes. "what if she gets brain damage or something?" will ignored her. "oh, shit, is that like, a real thing?" lucas asked, suddenly concerned about the whole ordeal. "no, it's not. he just made it up. will doesn't know what he's talking about." max scoffed. "oh, and you do?" "no, i just.." "i'll go check up on her," sophia mumbled as she left the room to sit next to eleven. she could sense a fight going on and didn't want to be part of it. mike ended up joining in the conversation, slowly getting involved in the fight as nancy and jonathan discussed something. the three arguing teens walked up to them. "okay, can you guys settle an arguement for us?" will asked. "who do you think should decide el's limits? will or eleven?" mike rubbed his eyes as he looked at the red-head. "the way that you frame that is such bullshit," he defended his friend quickly. max rolled her eyes. "it's not bullshit, mike! this is his whole problem! and it's precisely the reason why she dumped his ass! you act the exact same way with sophia!" she snapped. mike scoffed at her. "i do not! i let sophi make her own decisons!" he yelled back. "wait, el dumped you?" jonathan asked will. "yeah, because she is conspiring against me. she and sophia are corrupting her!" will hissed angrily as he waved a hand towards max. "no, enlightening her. the fact is, she's not yours. she's her own person, fully capable of making her own decisons." max growled, her fury increasing. "she's risking her life for no reason!" will yelled. nancy glared at will with disbelief. "for no reason? will, the flayed are out there doing god knows what!" she started. "killing, flaying, transforming into monsters." lucas listed, making nancy nod. "and el's not stupid. she knows her abilities better than any of us." max nodded in approval as she stared at will with a smirk. "exactly, thank you." "and she is her own person." "exactly." "with her own free will." "exactly. el's saved the world twice and will still doesn't trust her." "you want to talk about trust, really? after you made eleven spy on us!?" will retorted, causing the female to look away. lucas stared at her in disbelief. "wait, what?" "oh, she didn't tell you this?" "no!" "your girlfriend used el's powers to spy on us." he growled, making max shake her head. "no, no, no. i did not make her, it was her idea! and why are we even talking about this, seriously?" max snapped. "yeah, who cares?" jonathan put in. "i care!" lucas huffed. "yeah! i guess girlfriends don't lie, they spy." will hissed angrily. "we were just joking around!" "wouldn't it've been so funny if i was taking a massive shit or something?" "you weren't." "but what if i was?" "then gross!" "seriously, will?" "i'm just trying to demonstrate how careless max is with eleven's powers. in fact, how careless how all of you are! you're treating her like she's some kind of machine, when she's not a machine, and i don't want her to die looking for the flayed, when they've obviously vanished from the face of the earth. and i love her, okay? i- i don't want her hurt." lucas smiled at him, but max rolled her eyes. "god, why is everything blamed on me? sophia was there, too! she was curious about it just as much as i was!" "can you leave sophia out of it? she clearly explained to me that she didn't suggest it!" "neither did i! mike, what the fuck are you even jumping in for? it's just sophia, ok-" "stop bringing up sophia in this, goddamnit! okay? she isn't some item that needs to be mentioned everytime we talk about something! i know i fucked up with her once, alright? i don't need you to shove that in my face. i just want a chance with her, and you know how bad she wants to help el, even if she gets killed. so can we please just come up with a new plan because i love her and i can't loose her again!" a wave of silence washed over the room, followed by a few proud smiles coming from lucas and max. both sophia and el walked in, with sophia clearing her throat to break the silence. everyone turned towards both of them. "what's going on?" sophia asked softly, fiddling with a strand of her hair before setting it behind her ear. "nothing! nothing. just a family discussion." mike exclaimed, his cheeks flushed red. "oh," sophia mumbled softly. the two made eye contact before mike hesitantly looked away from her. el finally spoke up as she looked over at nancy. "i found him." nancy looked at her. "found.. who?" she asked. el only stared at her, giving her the answer with only that single stare.

the static hissed on the tv as eleven took deep, gasping breaths as she focused. sophia watched her anxiously, her hand on her shoulder. suddenly, eleven's breathing became rapid as she yanked off the blindfold. "el-- el what's wrong?" the female was panting heavily and max spoke up. "what's he doing now?"

"and that's not normal, right?" nancy asked max as eleven got water in the kitchen. "billy staying in his room for the fourth of july? no, that's not normal." sophia's leg was bouncing up and down as she nodded towards max. "he wants us to find him." nancy was swaying back and forth, her arms crossed as she spoke up again. "yeah, that's what i'm afraid of. if we go to billy, then the rest of the flayed know where we are." she stated, her arms falling on her side. "it's a trap, i agree. we'll be ambushed." mike put in. "we won't be suprised," lucas finally stated. "we'll know that their coming, and we'll kick their flayed butts." he stated with confidence. max looked at her ex-boyfriend. "you mean el will kick their butts." sophia gave her a dirty loo. "max, she can't do this by herself! stop putting pressure on her!" she snapped at the female. nancy and mike nodded. "it's too risky." mike stated. "yeah, and unneccesary. killing the flayed won't stop the mind flayer. we have to find out where it's coming from. we have to find the source." "billy knows it." everyone turned to see eleven walk inside, and sophia's eys washed over with curiousity. "billy's been there. to the source." will looked at her. "yeah, but--" "it's a trap. i know. we can't go to billy. but i think there's another way. a way for me to ssee where he's been." will and eleven shared a long stare before sophia nodded. "okay, el. we trust you."

eleven turned the televison on, sitting down in front of it as will leaned down next to her. "el, i know you think you have to do this, but you don't. it's just, you've only done this before once. and your mom, she loved you, and wanted you to know what happened. and billy's mind is-- is sick, diseased. the mind flayer is in him." el looked at will, her eyes wide but soft. "he can't hurt me. not in there." she stated gently. "we don't know that," will stated cautiously. eleven sighed as she took his hand and stared at him affectionately. "mike. i need you to trust me." she stated softly, but firmly. they both turned to max, who was listening in on their conversation. she gave will a look that said trust her, and they turned back to each othe before he nodded. "yeah. just, be careful." he then turned away from her, causing el to turn back to the television and put the blindfold back on.

they sat in silence for awhile before eleven started to whimper, her breaking quick. sophia slid to her side, looking at the others. "something's wrong." she stated as they all stared at her with worry. "el, are you okay?" the female whispered softly. "are you okay?" the female sighed softly. "i'm okay." she stated, causing sophia to sigh with relief. "what's going on?" she asked. "i'm... on a beach." "okay, i may be dense," everyone turned to lucas as he started to speak. "but last i checked, there weren't any beaches in hawkins." "i don't remember if there were any in new jersey..." sophia stated softly before max looked at eleven. "what else do you see?" she asked. the brunette shook her head before answering. "a woman," she said quietly. "she's... pretty. i... i think she's looking at me." she stayed silent for a moment before talking again. "there's... a boy." silence. "it's billy." she finally said. sophia looked at max, who was looking at nothing. "it's california. it's a memory." the red-head said gently. sophia looked back at eleven, still trying to process everything. "i think i see it. the source." eleven said again. "in california? but.. that's too far!" sophia exclaimed. "no. it...it's somwhere else." eleven stated before she stopped talking again.

"i think i found it. the source," eleven was panting, as if she just pushed her way through somewhere. "where, el? where are you?" max asked anxiously. sophia gave her a look of sincerity. "max, she's figuring out. just hold on." she assured her, looking back at eleven. "brimborn.. steelworks." sophia whipped her head around as she watched jonathan sprint his way to the kitchen, grabbing the phonebook as he made his way back as nancy looked over at the book. "here. uh, okay, steelworks, steelworks.." he flipped through the pages before landing on a page. "here, steel. uh..." he scan through the page before putting his finger on something. sophia stood up and jogged over to them, reading the page. "found it. 6522, cherry oak drive." jonathan stated. sophia nodded rapidly. "that's close." she stated. will turned to look a eleven. "el, el, we found it. get out of there. get out!" he cried. his voice was anxious and demanding, but eleven stayed put. she suddenly threw off her blindfold, screaming "no!" as will jumped out of his seat, going over to her as she hugged him tight. "el, you're okay. it-- it's okay." the female then burst into tears, sophia running over to her as she tried to calm her down.

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jesus christ this one sucked-- i'll try and make the next one better. please vote and have a nice day!