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the life of alina fairgrieves-byers
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. ✧ ・゜. +・o ✧
*this chapter contains a brief scene depicting child abuse.*
The Mind Flayer had been chasing them for about fifteen minutes now, a constant shadow trailing them as the car got farther and farther away from Starcourt Mall. It seemed determined to follow them to the ends of the Earth or further, seemed determined not to stop until it got its tongues wrapped around them, which was why it was strange, to say the least, when it suddenly turned, whirling back around to the way it came. Alina, who had been gripping Lucas and Will's hands nervously, wondering about the fate of her other friends and trying to resist the urge to jump right out of the car to go back for them, raised her eyebrows, her eyes widening. What was happening? Was the Mind Flayer giving up? She hadn't thought that would be something it'd ever do.
Especially when it came to her.
"It's turning around!" Steve announced; he'd seemed to have seen it, too. Nancy whirled around in her seat, her eyes narrowed in confusion like Steve was lying, but he was right. It was crawling right back the way it came. It was leaving.
"What?" Nancy asked.
"It's turning around!" he repeated urgently. Lucas shifted from beside Alina, looking as confused as she felt.
"Maybe we wore it out," he suggested.
Jonathan's hands tightened on the steering wheel. "I don't think so. Hold on." And then he twisted the steering wheel so hard it sent the passengers flying about, their elbows knocking into windows and heads colliding. Alina cried out in pain as Will accidentally elbowed her right in her sore ribs, and a scream tore loose from her throat as the car spun around again, like a merry-go-round going way above the standard speed.
And then the car righted itself, and they were driving back the way they came. Alina gripped onto Lucas's hand, and that was when the magnet tugged in her stomach, aiming right back where they were driving. She put a hand to it in surprise, and her eyes widened even more. Shit. Shit. Shit. El was most definitely in danger. Just like El seemed to read her facial expressions somethings, Alina could just tell that there was an issue. That the Mind Flayer had its grubby paws on her. Which meant...
