an appointment at the dentist

. ✧ ・゜. +・o ✧

 "YOU'RE DEAD, WHEELER!"

Alina's feet pounded against the leafy ground, her hands clutching a stitch in her side. Her run was erratic and desperate, and she crashed through the trees with the force of a hippopotamus, a gasp of pain tearing itself from her lungs as she crashed into the branches. Nevertheless, she persisted, even as the stitch got worse, her tongue sandpaper in her dry mouth.

"Move it, Mike!" Dustin yelled from up ahead. Surprisingly, he was the fastest of the three, bolting ahead in this high-speed chase, while Alina came just behind him, Mike trailing them both, and Troy and James not too far behind. "Mike, Al, come on, run!"

Branches snapped across their faces, opening gashes, and a dull pain throbbed in Alina's legs, her breath leaving her in desperate gasps. She couldn't breathe, but fear was propelling her forward, especially when she thought of James and his lighter. She'd always thought the two of them were crazy—they had extremely low sympathy levels and had stooped low enough to make fun of a boy who they believed was dead—but never to this extreme. She'd never thought they would end up chasing them, on with a knife and the other with a tool used to burn things. Or people. Whatever was preferred.

Alina could hear the grunts of the boys chasing her, and tried to run faster. She'd always preferred riding her bike to running, and usually by now her stamina would be shot, but fear was a powerful mean of adrenaline, and although Troy and James were immature assholes who thought "loser" was a cutting insult, they were people to be feared now. She had no idea what Troy would do with a knife.

I have a knife, she thought to herself, but she didn't risk stopping to take it out of her belt. Instead, she shouted encouragement to Mike, who was slowly catching up. "Come on, run, Mike!"

The forest whipped by them as they ran, until it finally began to disappear, the trees clearing into a cliffside. Hawkins Quarry. Where Will's fake body had been found.

Mike and Alina had just caught up with Dustin when he let out a groan of pain. "Cramp!" he yelped, holding his stomach and slowing a little. Alina was cramping up, too, what had been a simple stitch in her side turning to a knife that pierced with each shaky breath, but she didn't stop.

"Just keep going!" Mike begged, and after a second, Dustin began to run again. "Keep going!"

"Come on, Dustin, we can lose them!" Alina shouted herself, the words broken by her heavy pants. The three were just about to head around the path when another figure ran out to meet them. James. He'd looped around without them noticing, and now the three of them were trapped in the middle.

They all stopped in their tracks. "Shit!" Dustin groaned, immediately scrambling for a weapon. Mike bent down, picking up a rock, Dustin found a large stick, and Alina went for her switchblade, which was definitely the best weapon out of the three, only to find her belt empty of any weapon.

Troy smirked at her when he saw what she was looking for, and held up her switchblade alongside his own knife. "Looking for this?" he asked, pocketing it. Dim horror dawned on Alina as she realized she must've dropped it in the chase.

With her chest still heaving, Alina bent down and picked up a rock, just like Mike. Dustin just sighed, holding out his stick, and said: "This would be a great time to use your powers, Al!"

But Alina had no energy to spare, and her abilities never came on command anyway. She tried, for a second, to bring her energy forth, but when she realized all she was doing was holding her breath, she exhaled and prepared to fight.

"Stay back!" Mike cried breathlessly. "Don't come any closer!" He knew it was an unfair fight, as two rocks and one stick were nothing against a knife. But him, Dustin, and Alina were not going to go down without a fight.

The two bullies did not listen to Mike's advice, and so Mike tried throwing his rock at James. It missed the boy by several inches, clattering to the ground, and also relieved Mike of his only weapon. Well, shit. Now only Alina and Dustin were armed.

James even laughed. "Nice throw, numbnuts."

"What are you doing?" Alina's voice was practically a whimper. "What do you want from us?"

Before either of the two had a chance to respond, Dustin let out a war cry and launched himself at Troy, swinging his stick at his face. Troy easily dodged the blow, and in less than a second had Dustin in a headlock, knife to the throat.

"Dustin!" Alina screamed, before James came up behind her, his footsteps eerily almost silent on the gravel. She spun around just in time to dodge his outstretched arms and threw her rock, just like Mike had done. James ducked under the blow, and, with a practically inhuman growl, ran at her, wrestling his arms around her neck just like Troy had done with Dustin.

"No!" Mike yelled. "Let them go! Let them go!"

James grinned down at Alina, who was now his captive—no matter how much she writhed and tried to jam her elbow into his stomach, she couldn't get free—and held the lighter up to her. He clicked it, and Alina watched with panic as a blue flame dance on the tip, the heat coming off of it warming her face. James clicked it off and pressed it against her cheek, the same side his own had been burned.

"Stay back!" Troy was ordering, Dustin whimpering within his grip. "Or I cut him!"

"And Midnight Girl goes up like a torch," added James. The cold metal of the lighter against Alina's cheek sent shivers down her spine. One click would ignite her face, her cheek becoming the top of a human match.

"What do you want?" Mike asked, his eyes going from Dustin to Alina in horror.

"I want to know how you did it," said Troy, while Dustin let out another whimper. Alina wanted to snap Troy's neck for the way he was making Dustin afraid, for the threats he dared make on them, the fact that he had the audacity to hold a knife to his neck. Then she was ashamed that she couldn't do it, couldn't even move out of the grip of a middle school bully who'd probably stolen his father's cigarette lighter. Not even her powers were coming in handy right now, stubbornly refusing to show.

"How I did what?" Mike questioned.

"I know you did something to me," said Troy, venom laced in his tone. "Some nerdy science shit to make me do that."

"You mean, piss your pants?"

Dustin must've really been panicking now, for he decided to tell the truth. "Our friend has superpowers, and she squeezed your tiny bladder with her mind!" he blurted, his breath still coming in shortened gasps although the pants from the chase had worn off.

"SHUT UP!" James yelled. He looked down at Alina. "And I want to know what the hell Midnight Girl did to me. How she burned my goddamned face. And if someone doesn't answer soon, she's getting a taste of her own medicine."

Troy laughed at that, bringing the knife closer to Dustin's exposed neck. "I think I should save Toothless here a trip to the dentist," he said mockingly. "Help him lose the rest of his baby teeth."

Alina's heartrate skyrocketed at that, and she looked down at her feet. And James's, which made an idea come to her head. Maybe... just maybe...

Without prior warning, she suddenly stomped down on James's toes, hard. James let out a shriek, his grip on her loosening, and Alina shoved her way out of his grasp. Unfortunately, she overshot it a little, and fell onto the dusty ground, a rock slamming into her cheek. She just had enough time to bite her tongue in pain when she was hauled up to her feet again by a furious James, who cracked her across the face.

Alina let out a cry of pain, her whole body shifting at the blow and suddenly she wasn't here in the quarry, suddenly she was in her house four years ago, cowering away from Linda and the switch. But she could never run far enough. She was always there. Always watching. Always waiting until they were alone.

"Stop it!" Mike's voice brought Alina back to the present, where she realized she was crying, tears streaming down her cheeks, the cool lighter pressed into her face again. "Don't hurt her! Let them go! Let them go!"

"We'll let them go, sure," smirked Troy, who'd burst into laughter after James had smacked Alina across the face. "But first, it's your turn." He brandished his knife at him for emphasis.

"My turn for what?"

"Wet yourself," Troy ordered.

"What?"

"Jump." With a jerk of his chin, Troy gestured to the edge of the cliff overlooking the quarry. There was water below, but they were too high up for it to do anything. It might as well have been pavement for all the padding it'd provide. Troy continued. "Or Toothless here gets an early trip to the dentist. And Midnight Girl gets badly burned."

The severity of his words dawned on Alina. This was already going too far. "No," she managed to cry out, although the whole left side of her face stung when she did so. "He'll die if he jumps!"

"We'll see," said Troy. "You never know. Maybe he'll just end up going home with a couple of broken bones. Well, more than a couple. It's a pretty big drop."

"No," Dustin writhed in his grip. "No!"

"Mike, don't," pleaded Alina. Tears streamed down her face as she spoke. "Please. I'll find a way out of this. I'll use my p—"

"I'll cut him right now!" Troy screamed, holding the knife even closer to Dustin, who was beginning to sob in fear.

"All right," said Mike, "just hold on! Hold on!" he began to move towards the edge of the cliff.

"Mike, don't do it!" Dustin yelled. "I don't need my baby teeth, Mike!"

"Mike, don't!" Alina begged, fear for him and Dustin overriding her will to live as well as her struggle to not get burned. "Please. I don't mind getting burned. Please, you know I can help. You know I can use my p—"

Yet again, her words were cut off, but this time by James pulling her hair, snapping her head back. Mike moved closer to the edge of the cliff. He was shaking, but he kept moving forward, even as Dustin and Alina pleaded for him to step back.

"Mike, seriously!" Dustin shouted. "Don't!"

Mike got even closer, his black hair blowing in the wind. As Alina peered at the cliff, there was no doubt in her mind now that the fall would end his life instantly. She writhed even more in James's grip, her cheek still stinging from his blow, but the boy's grip was iron.

Mike reached the edge of the cliff, peering over, his body shaking. Frantic tears spilled from Alina's eyes as she tried to escape James, but the boy just held onto her harder, pressing the lighter into her cheek. Mike kicked some rocks, and Alina watched as they tumbled off the cliff into the water deep below. She didn't want to see Mike do the same thing.

"Mike!" Dustin's cries were getting louder now. "Don't do it! Seriously, don't do it, man! Seriously, don't!"

"Mike, please!" Alina pleaded. "Please don't, you can't, we'll find another way out of this, I promise! Just step away from the edge! Mike!"

James glanced at Mike at the edge of the cliff, beginning to chew his lip in worry. "Troy," he said, "I don't think this is a good idea, man." He didn't let go of Alina, but his grip was beginning to loosen, and finally, finally, in her panic, Alina could feel the itch starting to come. But she would have to wait, even though she had little time to spare.

"Mike, don't!" Dustin and Alina both yelled at the same time as Mike made no movement to come back to them. He was so close now. If he even leaned forward, he'd find himself tumbling into the watery depths below.

Troy wasn't daunted by James's advice. "DENTIST'S OFFICE OPENS IN FIVE..." he held the knife closer to Dustin. "FOUR... THREE..."

Now. As James's grip slackened a little bit more, Alina took the opportunity to grab James by the wrist, sinking her burning hot energy into his pale skin. James cried out in pain, letting go, and Alina sprung forward, each step a marathon as she tried to reach Mike.

"TWO..."

"Mike!" Dustin screamed, an agonizing sound. Alina wasn't going to make it in time. She wasn't going to make it in time.

"ONE!"

Mike jumped.

. ✧ ・゜. +・o ✧