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𝗕𝗘𝗧𝗧𝗬

chapter five:
worst fears coming true

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"RENNY, DO YOU copy? This is a code red. I repeat, this is a code red. Renny, do you copy? This is a code red."

Serenity groaned, burying her face further into her pillow. She had taken Max and Eleven back to her house after Heather's, and they had all fallen asleep together in Serenity's bed. None of them had anywhere to be, so Serenity didn't set her alarm clock. Besides, they were all pretty exhausted from running around and trying to find Billy and Heather, so sleeping in was for the best.

That, unfortunately, wasn't the case.

Max reached over to Serenity's bedside table, grabbing her Walkie. "Shut. Up."

She put down the antenna and shut it off before rolling back over, closing her eyes again.

"Hey," Serenity protested, sitting up in her bed and yawning. "Lucas doesn't play when he says it's a code red."

"I don't care," Max mumbled. "Sleep."

As if on cue, Serenity's phone in her room then started to ring. Max groaned in annoyance and rolled over again. Serenity pushed her covers off of her and stood up, stretching her arms above her head and letting out a yawn. She walked up to her phone and picked it up, raising it to her ear.

"Hey," Serenity greeted. "Why are you so frantic so early in the morning?"

"Something happened, Renny," Mike told her. "Something bad. Our very lives can be at stake."

Serenity's eyebrows knit in concern. "What do you mean?"

"Just come over to my house. We'll explain everything."

"Mike—"

"Hurry," Mike urged before hanging up.

Serenity stared down at her phone as it played dial-tone, worry settling inside of her. She slowly placed it back down in the receiver before walking over to her closet and pulling the door open. If her kids needed help, she was going to answer immediately. Mike sounded panicked on the phone, too.

Eleven picked her head up from the pillows. "What did he say?"

"We have to get to Mike's," Serenity answered, pulling a red t-shirt off of her hanger. "He said something bad happened."

Max sat up, rubbing her eyes tiredly. "Seriously?"

"Seriously." Serenity held onto her shirt as she walked over to her dresser, pulling open a drawer and grabbing a jean skirt and a black belt. "He sounded urgent. Come on, up."

Serenity tucked her red t-shirt into her jean skirt and put the belt around her waist, also slipping on her pair of black high-top Converse. She twisted the two front pieces of her hair away and pinned them back to get them out of her face. Eleven and Max got ready as well, borrowing a couple things from Serenity's closet.

Once they were all ready, they got in Serenity's car, who drove them over to Mike's house. Her heart raced against her chest in worry, wondering what on Earth was so bad that Lucas had to call a code red. Code red's were strictly for emergencies — they had made that very clear when they developed the system.

Serenity pulled into the Wheeler's driveway and parked her car, getting out and going over to the door that led to the basement. She knocked, and a couple seconds later, Lucas opened the door. Mike and Will were waiting on the couches for them. Serenity stepped inside to the room that she had been in so many times before, and Lucas shut the door behind them.

She was now suddenly hit with the realization that this was the first time that Mike and Eleven were seeing each other ever since Eleven broke up with him at the mall. Oh God.

"Hey," Serenity began softly. "What's this bad thing you were telling me about? I know code red's are only used for, like, emergency emergencies."

Will sighed. "We'll tell you."

They all spread around the basement, sitting in a circle around the coffee table that was there, so Will could explain what was going on. Serenity sat on the edge of the armchair, her elbows resting against her knees with her hands clasped together while her ankles were crossed. She listened attentively to what Will was saying, which was that he was feeling . . . strange, lately.

"I didn't think it was anything at first," Will admitted. "I mean, I think I just didn't want to believe it. The first time I felt it was at Day of the Dead."

"Power went out that night, too," Mike stated.

Serenity remembered. She had been at Scoops with Steve after dropping the kids off, and he had flipped the light switch up and down rapidly before the lights eventually turned back on.

"And then I felt it again at the field near the Nelson farm the next day," Will continued. "Then again yesterday outside Castle Byers."

"What does it feel like?" Max asked.

"It's almost like . . . you know when you drop on a roller coaster?"

"Sure," Mike replied.

"Yeah," Max added.

Eleven shook her head. "No."

"It's like . . . everything inside your body is just sinking all at once, but . . . this is worse," Will revealed. "Your body . . . it goes cold and — and you can't breathe."

She stared at the boy sadly — he had gone through too much for someone at such a young age. They all had, but especially him. Couldn't the world just give him a break? He had enough terrible things happen to him.

Will nodded. "I've felt it before, whenever he was close."

Serenity frowned. "Who?"

"The Mind Flayer."

She immediately froze in her chair, fear running through her veins. Serenity remembered Will that day on the field and his screams echoing from the shed. No, no no no — this couldn't be happening. Panic rose up in her chest and her mind started to spin. This was over, it was supposed to be over, they shouldn't have to deal with this anymore. Her nightmares were at an all time low, she didn't feel the same terror as she had, she was doing better—

And it all comes crashing down.

"I closed the Gate," Eleven argued.

"I know, but . . . what if he never left?" Will questioned. "What if we locked him out here with us?"

Will suddenly stood up and looked around for a moment before grabbing a piece of paper and a black crayon. He walked over to one of the tables, and Serenity stood up from her chair, putting her shaking hands on her hips as she stood behind Will at the table. The kids were scared, she knew they were. She had to push down her fear to be there for them. For their sake.

After all, that's what she had done ever since Will went missing. She was practically an expert now.

"This is him," Will said. "All of him." He scribbled hard on the piece of paper with the crayon, drawing a messy rendition of the Mind Flayer, unlike the more detailed one that he had drawn back when the Mind Flayer inhabited him. "But, that day on the field, a part of him attached himself to me." He wiped his hand across the piece of paper, and the black residue from the crayon stuck to his palm. "My mom got it out of me, and Eleven closed the Gate." He flipped the paper over, hiding the drawing and presenting them with a blank canvas. "But the part that was still in me, what if it's still in our world?" Will then smacked his hand on the paper, and Serenity flinched a little, watching as a black handprint stuck to the paper. "In Hawkins?"

"I don't understand," Max voiced. "The Demo-Dogs died when El closed the Gate. If the brain dies, the body dies."

"We can't take any chances," Mike responded. "We need to assume the worst. The Mind Flayer's back."

Serenity really wanted nothing more than to curl up into a ball in the corner and hide away from the world. God, she fucking hated this. Out of everywhere on Earth, the Upside Down decided to terrorize Hawkins? Not that she wished this upon anyone else, but it was just strange. Hawkins was such a small town.

"Yeah," Will softly agreed. "And if he is, he'd want to attach himself to someone again. A new me."

"A new host," Lucas noticed.

Serenity suddenly felt a chill go up her spine, and she straightened up, looking between Max and Eleven with wide eyes. All the arrows were pointing right at him, even though Serenity felt a little bad that she was accusing Max's brother. But the bathtub full of cold water and ice, the bloody whistle, how he just so happened to be eating at Heather's house, how he was acting so strange . . . it didn't seem like Billy. Just like Will didn't seem like Will when that monster was inside of him.

"How can you tell if someone is a host?" Eleven inquired.

Serenity looked at Max. "We have to go back."

"Go back?" Will repeated in confusion. "Renny, what do you mean go back?"

"To the pool." Serenity smoothed her hands down on her skirt. "We have reason to believe that Billy is the new host for the Mind Flayer."

Lucas blinked at her. "What?"

"Max and El will explain on the way," Serenity told him. "Come on, let's go."

Serenity opened up the door, leading the way outside. Her kids followed behind her as she walked up the driveway, pulling her keys out and unlocking her car. She settled herself into the driver's seat. And, for once, she didn't have to break up an argument over who got the passenger seat. Apparently, the situation was way too serious for them to worry about something so stupid as a passenger seat.

The kids climbed into her car, and Serenity started it, putting on her seatbelt. She reversed out of the driveway and drove down the street in the direction of the pool. As she drove, Max and Eleven told the boys everything they had discovered. How Eleven saw Billy leaning over Heather on the ground when she found him with her powers, how the bathroom had a bathtub full of ice and Heather's bloody whistle, how Heather was dragged down into the bathtub when Eleven tried to find her, and how Billy was acting a little strange when they saw him having dinner at Heather's house.

Serenity felt like she was spinning out of control, and she had to blink a couple of times so she could focus on the road. It should've been nice, driving to the pool on a nice summer day with some people who meant the absolute most to her, but no. That just wasn't how the universe worked in Serenity's world. Instead, she was driving to go see if a monster from a horrible parallel dimension was actually back.

She parked in a free spot in the pool, which was a little hard to find because it was such a nice day, and the pool was always busy in the summer. They got out of the car and stood at the front. Max had some binoculars lifted up to her eyes that Mike had brought.

It was a little hard to see for Serenity because Billy was kind of far away and it was through a fence, but he was sitting on his lifeguard stand. However, he wasn't just in his usual lifeguard trunks with nothing else. This time, he had a long-sleeved swim shirt, a towel over his legs, sunglasses covering his eyes, an ICEE cup in his hand, and the umbrella was tilted to shield him from the sun.

He likes it cold.

"I don't know, he looks pretty normal to me," Max admitted.

"Normal?" Lucas repeated incredulously. "How many times have you seen him with a shirt on?"

"He's right," Serenity agreed. "Billy always has his shirt off at the pool. And he never has the umbrella blocking him from the sun."

Max shrugged. "I mean, it's a little weird."

"More than a little," Mike argued. "He was in a tub with ice. The Mind Flayer likes it cold. Plus everything else you saw—"

"But he's lounging at the pool, which is, like, the least Mind Flayer thing ever."

"Not necessarily," Will revealed, and they all looked at him. "The Mind Flayer likes to hide. He only used me when he needed me. It's like — like you're dormant. And then, when he needs you, you're activated."

"Okay, so we just . . . wait until he gets activated," Max suggested.

Mike shook his head. "No. What if he hurts someone?"

"Or kills someone," Will stated.

"We can't take that chance. We need to find out if he's the host."

Mike then pushed himself off from leaning against Serenity's car and started to walk away.

"Where are you going?" Eleven called after him.

"I have an idea," Mike answered. "Boys only."

Serenity scoffed. "No fucking way."

"Just trust me on this one."

Serenity watched as Mike, Will, and Lucas walked away. Honestly, she felt like she was drowning, and right now, it felt a whole lot easier to just swim down.

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PROTECTIVE MOM RENNY COMES BACK NEXT CHAPTER LFG