CHAPTER TEN.
different forms.

—

it's dark outside when they pull up to the entrance of hawkins hospital. they park near the emergency room doors and get out quickly.

nancy takes three deep breaths outside of the automatic doors, before turning to everyone else.

"just follow my lead and act natural."

nineteen's back goes ramrod straight and she moves closer to max. max would probably know what to do.

they walk in, following nancy, who leads them confidently to the front. there's a woman at the desk, talking on the phone animatedly.

the group barely slips past her when the woman stops them.

"whoa, whoa, whoa! excuse me!" she stands up as they all turn to her.

"where do you think you're going?" her tone is accusatory and nineteen feels her face heat up in embarrassment.

nancy cringes but turns back to her with a fake smile. "oh, um... i was just going to visit my grandma again." she looks to the rest of the group. "and-and this..."

"this is my family."

as everyone else smiles awkwardly, including nineteen, the lady sends a very obvious look towards lucas and the boy himself smiles wider. "extended."

"i don't care who they are. you know the rules. two visitors at a time." the woman in glasses replies.

"yeah, but-" nancy starts.

"two!" the woman says back, holding up two fingers. she then picks up the phone again, talking into it as if the group isn't even there. "girl, this child has lost her mind. she brought a whole zoo in here."

jonathan and nancy sigh, looking at each other. "you guys stay out here, we'll be right back."

"i'll listen if you need anything." nineteen offers. nancy nods and turns, walking down the hallway with jonathan in tow.

nineteen turns to her friends with a sigh, them all standing awkwardly and staring. max looks over the three boys before letting out a big sigh and turning away to a table with magazines. nineteen and eleven follow after, picking up magazines of their own. they're pretty boring, but they have cool pictures and pretty colors.

she tries to push everyone else out and focus on nancy and jonathan just in case they need her. they're still in the elevator, but she listens nonetheless.

that is, until she hears a small 'psst' in her ear. she turns around and sees will on the opposite side of the room looking at her intently. her eyebrows come together as she lays down the magazine and walks to him. he's sitting in one of the waiting room seats against the wall with his hands folded in his lap.

"how are you feeling?" he asks once nineteen stops in front of him. she sighs and sits to his left.

"better. i really want to sleep, though."

will chuckles, looking to the table beside him and picking up a magazine of his own. it has the word 'BOMB' printed across the top in bold letters along with a drawing of a woman's face split in two. nineteen leans forward to look at it in interest.

"oh, come on, you piece of shit!"

nineteen looks up with wide eyes, will doing the same.

their candy from the vending machine seems to be stuck. she glances at will, who has opened the magazine and began reading, ignoring mike and lucas.

then, there's another loud noise and nineteen watches all of the candy from the slots fall to the bottom. she instantly looks over to eleven, who's wiping the blood off her nose.

"thanks." mike calls. eleven doesn't reply, but instead pretends to be interested in her magazine again.

nineteen looks back down at the art magazine, trying to read with will but only getting so far before he turns the page, unaware that she's trying to read. she simply hums and goes back to looking at the pictures. pretty pinks, yellows, greens, and blues seemed to jump out at her from the page.

"blue?" will says after a moment. she lets out a hum without looking up.

"since you've heard the mind flayer now, do you think you can find him?" he asks, looking to her hesitantly. nineteen meets his eyes and chews on her bottom lip anxiously.

"i don't know. i can try. but i'm scared."

"that's okay. we're not gonna make you. i was just wondering."

nineteen nods and lets out a sigh, leaning back in her chair. the mind flayer was a constant in the back of her head. she simultaneously wants to hear him and would also rather scream than hear a voice like that in her head again. she almost wishes she didn't have powers.

she closes her eyes in shame at the thought. if she didn't have powers, her friends could potentially be dead.

eleven comes and sits at the end of the row once lucas seems to grab max's attention. she flips through the magazine briefly before mike makes his way to the chair beside her.

both will and nineteen look up as he turns towards them despite two seats resting between mike and nineteen. she turns her head towards him stoically with narrowed eyes as his eyes flicker to the side repeatedly. she raises an eyebrow as he clears his throat. will starts to stand up beside her and she looks to him in confusion.

he wants to be alone with her.

'over my dead body.' she almost says, quoting hopper, but instead thinks of her sister. el really cares about mike and it would be a shame for that bond to break. she looks to will, then mike, before sighing and standing up, walking to the vending machine.

her and will examine what else is left at the bottom, before grabbing a packet of skittles and walking over to another table. he opens up the magazine he had and begins looking around again. nineteen rips open the skittles packet before looking over the page. will tilts it so that she can see better. she brings the packet to her lips and dumps half of the contents into her mouth to eat.

she vaguely hears lucas and max walking over and sitting down beside mike and eleven, but her eyes are trained to the magazine as a new picture attracts her eye.

"pretty." she runs her finger over the picture to show will. "i've seen that before." she comments through her mouthful of candy. "is that ab-strat?"

"it's abstract." will responds. "in art, it's shapes, colors, ideas... all in different forms. it exists more in thought as opposed to reality."

reality. different forms. existence. like the mind flayer.

nineteen blinks. the mind flayer. nancy and jonathan.

is anyone here?!

nancy! nineteen gasps, dropping the packet of skittles and watching them scatter across the ground.

her friends look up with a start. she gasps just as the lights flicker.

"what is it?" eleven asks. will looks up at the lights, too. his hand reaches up to his neck and nineteen feels the chill run down her spine.

"he's here." he whispers, and just like that, a monstrous shriek rings throughout the hospital that only she seems to hear.

—
I AM 100% MOVING AWAY FROM THE WILL THING. sorry. i don't feel right writing about a gay character even if i didn't realize he was gay when i started these books. i know it will be weird reading what you have and still seeing them as a romantic couple so i'm hoping to evolve that into a sibling relationship. again, sorry and i hope you guys understand.