Regular People [Elmax]

Chapter 19 - The Flayed

"I found him"

El was in the void, watching Hopper swat files away from around his face. She could hear him talking to Will's mom but couldn't see her or anything else for that matter. Just her dad.

"Where is he?", Max asked figuring she should be the one to talk to her.

"Woods"

"Woods?", Lucas questioned.

"He's with...Will's mom"

"My- My mom?"

"What are they doing?", Max continued to ask useful questions as it seemed no one else was.

"Ill annoy. They're going to Ill-annoy"

"Mike! Breakfast!", Mike's mom yelled from the top of the stairs.

"Not now Mom!", Mike yelled back, "Illinois? Illinois, like the state? The state of Illinois?"

El shrugged her shoulders, not really understanding the question, "Ill-annoy"

"Yeah okay they're going to Illinois but where are they now?", Mike asked getting a little frustrated.

"Woods-"

"Which woods El?", he raised his voice, almost yelling at her.

El looked shocked, she was trying her best. She still wasn't the best at communicating and even if she was she had no clue which woods they were in or where they were specifically in those woods. It was frustrating enough for her without Mike yelling.

"Hey, why don't we go get you cleaned up", Max interjected, gesturing to El's bloody nose.

El nodded and they both got up and went into the bathroom in Mike's basement. Max locked the door behind them and grabbed a washcloth from the side of the sink, ran it under cold water and gently started dabbing off the blood from under El's nose. She couldn't help but drift her eyes to El's neck, the bruise from her fight with Billy was seemingly getting worse. 'She must be in a lot of pain', Max thought.

El noticed Max looking and carefully caressed her fingers over the bruise, tilting her head up to see it better in the mirror. She hadn't seen it yet, it looked worse than it felt.

"Does it still hurt?", Max asked, concerned.

"Only when I talk", El reassured her.

El seemed slightly off, must've been Mike yelling at her. 'No one needs that, especially someone who is only trying to help.'

"Well it's a good thing you're not Mike then. 'Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah' and you'd be in constant pain"

They both chuckled. Max loved moments like these, where they could almost feel like two normal girls, two badass normal girls mind you but normal all the same. She hadn't felt like a normal girl since before the Skatepark incident, it was nice to just be two badass girls bitching about the annoying boys in their lives.

"Max, can I-"

"Shhh, listen", Max could hear Mike and Lucas talking about them outside.

"I don't know. Girls just like hanging out in bathrooms", they heard Lucas say, obviously responding to something Mike said.

"Why?", Mike asked with a sassy tone.

"I mean, I don't know"

"They're conspiring against me!", Max had to fight the urge to laugh at that.

"That's what you're concerned about right now?", Will said in disbelief.

"It's not my main concern, it's just a sub-concern"