CHAPTER SEVEN:
CHEAP WAYS TO GET HIGH

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   NANCY WHEELER WAS one hell of a woman. She seemed to be a self-righteous princess but Danny could tell that there was more than meets the eye with her. He didn't know what exactly it was yet but he had a feeling that he would eventually find out. If Nancy wasn't taken by Jonathan Byers, Danny would've attempted to get her but sadly, she was taken. Danny had no idea how Jonathan had managed to get with her or how Steve Harrington had managed to fumble her. She was out of both of their leagues, maybe even out of Danny's league. Nancy was one of a kind, and Danny was in awe of her. As he gripped the backseat as Nancy sped through Hawkins, driving like she was a race car driver and doing it perfectly, Danny couldn't help but admire her.

   The entire drive to the Holloway house, Danny stared in awe at Nancy Wheeler and Lucas furrowed his brows the entire drive at Danny. Danny was too in awe at Nancy to even notice Lucas's eyes on him and Lucas noticed that as well. Danny didn't take his eyes off Nancy until they arrived at the Holloway house. Everyone piled out of the car and headed to the front door where Nancy rang the bell once. Nobody came to the door so Nancy rang the bell again. When nobody answered, she stepped aside and looked at Eleven. Danny watched as Eleven stepped up to the door and nodded her head. Danny's eyes widened as the door swung open.

   Danny scoffed with a smile, "That's so fucking cool."

   The group filed into the house with Nancy and Jonathan leading. They all walked slowly as Nancy called out, "Tom? Heather?"

   Max wrapped her arms around herself as they got further into the house, "Jesus, it's freezing."

   For once that summer, Danny was glad that he was wearing his leather jacket. The house was colder than it should be even for summer in Hawkins. Danny could practically see his breath each time he exhaled. As soon as they stepped into the living room, however, Danny's breath hitched in his throat upon an awful, strong odor hitting his nose.

   Danny gagged, "Jesus, what the hell is that?"

   They followed the smell into the kitchen where it was so strong that Danny had to hold his breath to stop his head from throbbing. It was a strong mix of chemicals that was creating a strong odor. Danny was right when they entered the kitchen and saw empty bottles of chemicals scattered around. Nancy hurried over to examine them, "Oh, God, more chemicals."

   Jonathan picked up a bottle used to clean toilets and asked, "Are they guzzling this shit?"

   "Yeah, either that or they just went on one hell of a cleaning spree," Nancy suggested sarcastically as she examined the bottles as well.

   Danny walked over and grabbed another empty bottle of detergent. He examined it, turning it upside down and seeing it was completely empty. He brought it up to his nose, sniffing it before feeling his brain cloud, "Or they wanted a cheap way to get high."

   Everyone turned to him and gave him a strange look. Danny furrowed his brows and shrugged, "What? That's totally plausible."

   "I mean, yeah, it's definitely plausible but Will didn't eat chemicals last year, "Max pointed before she raised an eyebrow at Will. "Did you?"

   "No," Will shook his head. "This is something new."

   "Mr. Clarke, fifth grade. Posit," Mike started to explain as he looked at his friends. Danny furrowed his brows in confusion. Danny was never very good at science. "What happens when you mix the chemicals together?"

   Lucas and Will answered in unison, "You create a new substance."

   "What if they're making something?" Mike suggested.

   "In themselves?" Max raised an eyebrow. "I mean, come on, if you drink this crap, it'll kill you."

   Lucas nodded, "If you're human."

   Nancy started to head out of the kitchen and toward the dining room. As they entered the dining room, things got even stranger. They seemed to have had a dinner party before they chose to guzzle the chemicals. The table was covered in a couple of days old food on a white tablecloth that was stained with red wine. Danny grabbed a half-empty bottle still sitting on the table and took a sniff. It smelled like red wine, so he raised it up to his lips to take a sip before Nancy grabbed the bottle and set it back on the table before giving him a stern look. Danny held up his hands in defense before continuing to follow her with the rest of the group.

   Nancy leaned down as she noticed another red stain on the carpet. Danny gulped as he realized that wasn't another wine stain. Nancy agreed with him as she spoke, "Blood. Yesterday, Tom had a bandage on his forehead." Nancy picked up another empty wine bottle that was resting close to the stain. The bottle had another blood stain like someone had been hit with it. "He was attacked."

   Nancy continued to make her way slowly through the house, everyone following. They saw a crumpled-up rug beside a doorway that had another bloodstain right by the opening. Nancy grabbed the doorknob and slowly opened it up, the creaking only freaking Danny out even more and setting the creepy tone for the situation. The door led to the garage where an old rope was resting on the ground. Jonathan picked it up, "They must have tied them and taken them somewhere."

   "Mrs. Driscoll. She kept saying, I have to go back," Nancy explained, her eyes wide as she pieced everything together. "What if it's the flaying? What if it's taking place somewhere else? There must be a place where this all started, right? A source?"

   Eleven nodded, "Somewhere he didn't want me to see."

   "If we can find the source, then maybe we can stop him," Nancy suggested. Danny couldn't help but smirk at how smart Nancy was. "Or at least stop it from spreading or doing whatever the hell he's doing with those chemicals."

   "How do we find it?" Danny asked, furrowing his brows. "It could be anywhere."

   "Mrs. Driscoll," Will answered. "If she wants to go back so badly, why don't we let her?"

   Nancy nodded, "Okay, let's go to the hospital."

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Due to Nancy's aggressive driving which Danny still thought was incredibly attractive, they got to the hospital fairly quickly. The sun had set and darkness had settled upon Hawkins, which gave everything an eerie feel to it. Danny wondered if what was about to happen was going to be anything like the previous night. Danny exited the car with everyone before they followed Nancy and Jonathan who were rushing inside the emergency room doors. The emergency room waiting room was empty which was no surprise as Hawkins was a small town. Even when people were there, it was never for anything serious. They made their way toward the receptionist desk which they had to pass to get to the patient rooms. The woman behind the desk was chatting away to someone on the phone. Nancy eyed the woman and attempted to rush past her but the woman stopped all of them, demanding to know where they were headed.

"Oh... um... I was just going to visit my grandma again," Nancy stopped in her tracks and smiled at the woman politely. She then looked over her shoulder and gestured to the group. "And — And this... this is my family."

Danny smiled at the receptionist along with the rest of them. The woman's eyes narrowed at Lucas for obvious reasons. Danny looked at Lucas who smiled wide, "Extended."

Danny had to hold back a laugh. The nurse scoffed, "I don't care who they are. You know the rules. Two visitors at a time."

"Yeah, but —"

"Two."

The woman put the phone back up to her ear and shook her head before saying to the other person on the phone, "Girl, this child has lost her mind. She brought a whole zoo in here."

Danny turned to Nancy who ordered the children to stay in the waiting room while she and Jonathan headed to the elevator. Danny groaned but begrudgingly made his way toward the waiting room with the rest of the kids. Danny plopped himself down on one of the uncomfortable waiting room chairs. Will sat beside Danny while Lucas and Mike made their way to the vending machines. Max and Eleven chose to look through some magazines scattered around. Danny looked around, searching for some magazines to occupy himself with. He grabbed one of them, flipping through it. Danny sighed when he couldn't find anything to entertain himself with, in the magazine.

Danny stood up and made his way over to Mike and Lucas by the vending machine. Mike punched in some numbers to get a Kit Kat. Danny watched as the machine whirred and the Kit Kat started to move forward but stopped halfway. Mike immediately groaned and yelled, "Oh, come on, you piece of shit!"

Mike and Lucas started to hit the machine, slamming their hands against the side. The Kit Kat moved another inch but it wasn't enough to fall forward. Mike started to hit the machine even harder until Danny shoved his hand away, "Okay, okay, calm down, dude."

Danny gently pushed them back with his arm before going to the back of the machine and pushing forward. Danny was pretty strong, or at least stronger than Mike and Lucas so as he pushed the machine, the Kit Kat finally fell. Mike smirked as he quickly grabbed the Kit Kat. As he did, all of the candy fell from the machine. Danny instinctively flinched before all three of the boys turned toward Eleven whose nose had started to bleed. Danny smirked once more at her abilities, "So cool."

"Thanks," Mike nodded at Eleven as Lucas kneeled and started collecting the candy.

Danny helped pick up some of the candy as well. They collected all of it and brought it over to an empty chair, putting it in a large pile. Max and Eleven were sitting beside each other, squealing over magazines. Danny took a seat on the chair beside the candy pile and slouched, adjusting his leather jacket. He started to look around the waiting room just as a girl about his age walked in. She had beautiful curly brown hair and long legs. Her jawline was almost better than Danny's and her smile was like sunshine. Danny smirked at her and she smirked back at him. They continued to flirt with their eyes until Lucas noticed.

"Really, Danny?" Lucas scolded.

Danny tore his eyes off of the girl and turned to Lucas who looked annoyed, "You jealous, Sinclair?"

"No," Lucas scoffed. Lucas took a seat beside Danny and got close to him. Danny raised an eyebrow at Lucas. "This whole thing is dangerous and you're acting like it's some sort of fun game. This is serious. You could get hurt or even killed."

Danny furrowed his brows at Lucas. He observed Lucas's worried expression and leaned back slightly. Lucas seemed to be genuinely concerned and worried for Danny's safety. Danny couldn't help but wonder if Lucas was really genuinely worried or if he was just annoyed that Danny was involved because he hated Danny. If Lucas was worried, that would mean that he didn't hate Danny but then how exactly did he feel about Danny? Before Danny could question Lucas, the lights started to flicker just like they had the night before.

Lucas and Danny looked up at the lights along with the rest of the group. They all stood up and moved toward each other, huddling around. Danny felt a chill run down his spine as he remembered what happened the night before. His blood ran cold as Will announced, "He's here."

Everyone shared a look before rushing toward the elevator. The woman at the reception desk attempted to stop them as she scolded them, reminding them of the two-at-a-time rule but they ignored her. Mike pushed the button on the elevator multiple times but it was taking too long so they started toward the stairs. They started to climb the stairs, going as fast as they could. Danny's blood ran cold once more as soon as he heard screeching and deep growling. Danny let out a shaky breath, "What the fuck is that?"

Everyone ran even faster, practically sprinting up the stairs. They followed the sound and entered another floor. The hallway was destroyed and the lights had started to flicker even more. They continued to follow the screeching and found Jonathan attempting to get a door open. The screeching was coming from inside the room and Danny knew it wasn't Billy this time but something else, something not human. Eleven nodded her head, throwing the door off its hinges. Danny's eyes widened at the sight in front of him and he felt his stomach drop, "What the fuck!"

"Jesus!"

"Holy shit!"

In front of them was a monster on top of Nancy but it wasn't like the kind of monsters you see in movies. It was gigantic with multiple appendages and a slimy body. It had a large mouth with sharp teeth but it seemed to have no eyes. Danny took a step back, running into Lucas who placed a hand on his arm to steady Danny. The monster started to run toward them but Eleven threw it against the wall with her mind. She threw it against another wall and then at the ceiling as Nancy quickly moved to a corner, cowering with her head in her hands.

The monster continued to charge for them until Eleven used all her strength to push it out the window. Jonathan went to check on Nancy while the kids ran through the hospital, heading outside to where the monster had been thrown. When they got outside, Danny couldn't help but gag and feel his stomach churn at the sight of the monster turning into sludge before crawling its way toward a storm drain. It fell into it, leaving only a few bones behind that looked eerily human. Danny let out a shaky breath, his entire body growing cold, and wondering what the hell he had gotten himself into.

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