Chapter Thirty-Two: Glitch

No one said a word. Annie and Max were sharing wide-eyed looks at Mike's confession. Annie then looked over at Lucas and Will to gauge their reactions, and saw that they both pretty much knew by now.

Lucas was smiling, but Will had a sort of unreadable expression on his face.

The noise of a door opening caused everyone to turn and look at El coming out of her room.

"What's going on?" she asked when no one said anything. Annie was chewing on her bottom lip and tried to suppress the excited squeal she wanted to let out.

Mike loved El, and that's why he was so scared and worried about her. It was cute.

"Nothing. Nothing," Mike said, breaking everyone out of their trance.

"Just family discussion," Lucas said, and Annie could hear the smile on his face with how he talked.

"Oh." Annie tried so hard to keep the laughs in, and had to disguise one as a cough (which hurt). El looked around at each person before adding on, "I found him."

"Found... who?" Nancy asked.

"Billy."

All the good was sucked out of the room in an instant. Everyone froze for a second before Nancy took charge and decided to try and get El's set up moved back out in the living room.

They moved the television set back where it was. Annie decided to help clean up, grabbing a plastic grocery bag and picked up all of El's tissues with a clean one. Just so she wouldn't have to deal with it later.

When it was all set up, everyone took seats around the living room, all surrounding El who was sat on the floor in front of the static filled screen.

"What's he doing now?" Max asked once El took the blindfold off.

"Sitting in his room," she said, then went off to grab a glass of water. Annie went with her, grabbing the glass and filling it for her. "Thank you."

Annie smiled and nodded. "No problem," she whispered. It hurt to speak any louder than that.

El looked down at Annie's neck and asked the question everyone (except for Max) had wanted to ask her. "Who?"

She blinked rapidly, stopping the tears that threatened to spring up. "My friends. The ones I told you about at the pool yesterday?" El nodded. "They were flayed. Found me at the hospital. And now they are part of the monster."

It was an awkward second where Annie stared at her hands and El looked at the girl. El broke it by setting her glass down and pulling Annie into hug. Neither girl needed to say anything, they just sat like that for a moment.

When they pulled apart, El walked over to another part of the kitchen and picked up a box of Lucky Charms. She stared at it for a second, then looked out on the others in the living room. Annie walked over to her and put a careful hand on El's shoulder, but the girl didn't jump.

"You okay?" Annie asked. El looked at her and nodded, setting the box down. She left the kitchen, Annie following, and they overheard Nancy's questions about the source.

"Billy knows it," El said. All eyes went to her. "Billy's been there. To the source."

"Yeah but-"

"It's a trap. I know. We can't go to Billy. But I think there's another way," El said. "A way for me to see where he's been."

Everyone nodded and let El get her set up going again. She turned on the television to the static channel. As she went to sit down, Mike crouched down next to her and whispered something.

Max turned her head to look at Mike, then shook it when she heard him. He was telling El she didn't have to do this and all that. Annie didn't mind, she thought it was kind of sweet that he was looking out for her- it all started to make sense.

Annie and Max sat in front of the coffee table, opposite of where El was. They were leaning on it, as if to try and see something. Maybe it was to make sure El was doing okay. But they had to watch.

El tied the blindfold around her head and now it was the waiting game.

Annie and Max moved up to the couch after realizing this would take a second. Will and Lucas squeezed in next to them and they all sat and waited.

Max found Annie's hand between them and took it, giving it a squeeze. Annie returned the gesture.

Suddenly, El started to breathe heavy. "El?" Annie whispered, leaning forward a bit.

The girls breathing just got more erratic. "Something's wrong," Mike said from his position to El's right. He could see her face, and clearly it showed distress.

"El?" Max tried, louder than Annie. Still nothing.

"El, are you okay? Are you okay?" Mike asked, leaning forward slightly.

She took in a deep breath and let it back out before answering. "I'm okay." It came out soft, but sure.

"What's going on?" Mike asked.

"I'm... on a beach," she said. Her voice remained soft and quiet.

Annie tilted her head. A beach? Lucas voiced her thoughts. "Okay, I may be dense, but the last I checked, there weren't any beaches in Hawkins."

"She must not be in Hawkins anymore, but why?" Annie asked, her voice steadily getting stronger.

Max looked at the brunette, then turned to look back at El. "What else do you see?" she asked.

There was a long pause before El answered again. "A woman. She's... pretty. I... I think she's looking at me."

Annie's eyebrows drew together. "In a good way or a bad way?" she whispered, not entirely thinking El would hear. But she remembered El being terrified last time someone "saw" her in there.

"There's a boy," El said. Another long pause. "It's Billy."

Max's grip tightened, so Annie put her other hand on top of their joined ones. "It's California," she said. So this wasn't in Hawkins, but why? "It's a memory."

"I think I see it." The bad part. "The source."

For minutes on end, El sat there in silence, panting. When it started to get heavier, everyone started to sit on the edge of their seats. This was one time Annie wished she'd know what was going on. Sitting in this silence was killing her.

"I think I found it." The words made everyone perk up. "The source."

"Where, El? Where are you?" Max immediately asked.

A pause. "Brimborn... Steelworks." Johnathan sprang up from the chair and hurried over to the kitchen. Nancy got up after him and they met behind the couch with the yellow pages in his hands.

Johnathan flipped through it quickly while trying to find the steelworks. "Here it is... Found it. 6522 Cherry Oak Drive." The source.

"That's close," Nancy said.

"El... El, we found it. Get out of there," Mike said. "Get out."

She didn't answer. "Give her a second," Annie whispered when she saw Mike getting tense.

But it took longer than a second. El's breathing got heavier. "Oh my god," Mike whispered, getting out of the chair and crouching down.

"What?" Will asked.

"There's too much blood coming out I..." He trailed off and started to call out El's name.

She wouldn't respond. She kept breathing harder and harder. Annie was squeezing Max's hand. "What's wrong? Why can't she hear you?" Annie asked in her scratchy voice, her own eyes getting watery. "Mike, do something!"

But he was too scared to physically disturb her. He's never done it before, he doesn't know how she'd react or if it would mess things up even more.

"No!" El pulled the blindfold off as she scream, scaring everyone else at the same time.

"El, you're okay, it's- it's okay," Mike said. She found him and held onto him tight as he pulled her in for a hug. She kept crying, freaking everyone out even more.

"El, what happened?" Max asked, her own voice unsteady. "What happened?"

Annie's hand never left Max's and they both squeezed each other's for dear life. In this moment, everything could be at stake. Something awful happened in there and it might not end too well.

A/n: okay, so I'm finally gonna try and get around to finishing up season 4 for this book! Luckily I have a few more chapter before that becomes a worry