8. wheeler sisters' investigative experience

As the group's about to share the details to Clemency, Amanda ran to her in a hurry, making the group stop and look at the panting young lady. "Clem, boss is looking for you..." She said with concern in her voice, as Clemency hurriedly followed her back to Wyatt's Cafeteria.

Clemency got scolded for always leaving work or going to work late as seen in her records, and her getting fired as a result, but in perfect timing, Nancy showed up at her work, but with the look on Nancy's face, she just knew there's more she will have to worry than getting fired.

"Where's Jonathan?" Clemency worriedly asks, as Nancy sighed and looked at her, as Clemency immediately realized and nodded.

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"Hi." Nancy greeted at the front desk of the hospital, while holding a bouquet, as the woman at the front desk looked up at her and grunted. "Uh, we're here to see Doris Driscoll. I think she was admitted last night." Nancy unsurely says.

"Name and relation?" The woman asked as the two looked at each other, nervously, then back at her. "Uh... Nancy... Driscoll." Nancy stammers, as Clemency stepped in. "Nancy Driscoll and Clemency Driscoll, we're her granddaughters." She blurted out as Nancy looked at her sister with a nervous look and an awkward smile.

The woman believed them, and gave the two a visitor pass with their fake names on it, as they hurriedly went to the old woman's room. Nancy quickly looked at Mrs. Driscoll's records, as Clemency stood as a look out, looking over the door in case someone would come in as her sister looked for any information they might need. Suddenly, the monitor started beeping rapidly, getting the sister's attention, as they looked over to the woman who is now starting to cough, and seemingly having a hard time breathing, as they noticed the abnormally high heart rate of the old woman. "Nancy, somethings wrong, 151 beats per minute?" Clemency says, as they looked at each other, worryingly.

As the woman started screaming frantically, and the lights started flickering, the two stood there, and Clemency froze in fear, as Nancy hurriedly and repeatedly presses on the nurse call button, as Clemency looked over Mrs. Driscoll and gasps. "Nancy!" She yelled and pointed at the old woman, as the girl turned her attention to her then onto Mrs. Driscoll, as Nancy, is taken aback by the sight of the old woman, now filled with black veins, and still continually screaming, a familiar sight to her, as she had witnessed the same from Will previously as they took the mind flayer out of him.

As the hospital staff finally came to sedate Mrs. Driscoll, the two hurriedly left the room, and looked at each other, still in shock. They both knew exactly what this could mean, but questioned if it really is what they think it is. The woman's heart racing at an abnormal rate could be explained and she could have just been going into cardiac arrest, but the way the old woman looked, the way she was frantically screaming, and the flashing lights? But, they both question if their suspicions are real, the gate is closed, and the creatures could not get in anymore. Or could they.

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Nancy decided to call Jonathan. "Jonathan?" She asked on the phone, as Clemency listened closely. "Do you realize what time it is?" He asks as Clemency roll her eyes.

"Listen to me, okay?" Nancy sternly says, as Jonathan interrupted her. "It's 6:00 a.m. and, uh, I had a late night with Fagin and the gang, so-"

"Me and Clemency are at the hospital with Driscoll." She interrupted, as Clemency pursed her lips, and could not stop fidgeting. "What?" Jonathan asked.

"She's been sedated for a few hours and the doctors are still running tests." Nancy informed, in which Jonathan did not want to hear any of it. "Nancy, please tell me you're joking."

"It's not a joke. And, yes, I know I'm insane and irrational and out of touch, but can you save your lecture, because I really don't give a shit right now. I just..." Nancy desperately told Jonathan, and sighed, and looked over to Clemency, looking back at her, worriedly. "I need you yo put me on the phone... with your brother..." She sternly says, making Jonathan confused. "What?"

"Jonathan... please." Nancy, ever so desperately told Jonathan, as he looked at the house, seeing he was all alone. "He's not even here." He says, which made the sisters panic, and look at each other. "Where is he? Is he safe?"

This made Jonathan realize the seriousness of the situation, and slowly got worried by the second."Why wouldn't he be safe? Nancy...? Why wouldn't he be safe?"

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Jonathan immediately met up with the two as they went to Clemency and Nancy's house, assuming the kids, and most importantly, Will is in there, in which they turned out to be correct, as they all gathered in the basement to fill them in to what they knew.

"It was the same thing, the exact same thing that happened to Will last year. And take a look at this. Look at the body temperatures." Nancy says as she gave the kids Mrs. Driscoll's record of her vital signs, and pointed at it, and it is 95 degrees fahrenheit, which is dangerously low, and in the normal human body, hypothermia can occur. "He likes it cold..." Will recalled, looking at Nancy.

"Okay, so this crazy old woman who was eating fertilizer-" Mike says, making Clemency squint her eyes at her brother. "Mrs. Driscoll." Nancy corrected, making Mike roll his eyes and did not really care. "Right, yeah, Mrs. Driscoll. What time was this attack?"

"Last night." Clemency says, as she crosses her arms. "Right, but what time last night?"

"Around 9:00." Nancy states, making Jonathan furrow his eyebrows at her, for not calling much earlier. "You waited all night to call?" He says, making Clemency purse her lips, as her sister stammers, "We were waiting for the doctors to run some tests."

"You weren't there?" Will asks his brother in disbelief, as Nancy, disappointingly looks down. "Yeah, and I stood in his place instead." Clemency sarcastically said and smiled at Jonathan, as he looked over at her. "Well, I'm here now, aren't I?" He says in defense, making Nancy scoff. "Hallelujah!" She sarcastically says, making the rest look at her.

"Uhm, so, what- what time was your... sauna test?" Nancy continued. "Around 9:00." The kids said in unison, as the sister's looked at each other and nodded, as Jonathan looked at them in confusion. "Well, that proves it. That proves my theory." Nancy says in realization.

"She's flayed, just like Billy." Mike says, as Clemency pursed her lips and tilted her head, questioningly. "Flayed? What do you mean flayed?"

"The Mind Flayer. He flays people. Takes over their mind. Once they do that, they basically become him."

"It's like ghost possessions... but worse?" Clemency says, trying to understand it better, as her brother nodded. "Yeah, basically."

"If there are two flayed-" Lucas says. "We have to assume there are more." Will continued, as a look of realization grew across Eleven's face. "Heather..." She says, looking over to Max as she looked back at the girl. "Billy was doing something to her. She was scared. She was screaming... Bad screams." Eleven recalled, as Lucas looked over to her. "What's a good scream?" He asked, but Max interrupted Eleven before she could explain. "Doesn't matter."

"I'm sorry, I'm lost. Who is Heather...?" Nancy says, interrupting the kids rambling. "She's a lifeguard at the pool." Max informed, making Nancy exclaim. "Heather Holloway?" She asked the kids, as they nodded, making Nancy and Jonathan look at each other, and Clemency's mouth agape. "Tom.." The two said in unison.

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Finally reaching the Holloway's household, Nancy rang the doorbell, but nobody seemed to answer, so they knowingly looked at Eleven to open the door herself. Deep down, Clemency feels like this is a bad idea, and they're breaking into someone's home in broad daylight, but oh well.

As Eleven opened the door and the group cautiously walked in, the house felt cold, and a scent of chemicals was fuming.

The group walked around, until they reached the kitchen and the source of the smell, which is a ton of different types of cleaning products, made them wince from the strong odor, and made Clemency feel sick and dizzy. "You think they're guzzling this shit?" Jonathan asked, as he grabbed one of the bottles, as Clemency grimaced from the thought.

"Yeah, either that or they just went on a hell of a cleaning spree." Nancy continued. "But... last year, Will didn't eat chemicals... Did you?" Max says, and looking over to the boy. "No.." He says in response.

"And if he did, he would have been dead by now..." Clemency stated, pursing her lips as they all slowly nodded. "And.. this is something new." Will added.

The group proceed to theorize on their case on hand, as they continued to roam around the house, eventually discovering bloodstains on the dining area's carpet, and on a wine bottle on the floor, as Nancy grabbed it, she recalled seeing her boss with a bandage on his forehead, the last time she and Jonathan saw him, realizes he might have been attacked.

The group proceeded to head to a small hallway upon noticing an oddly placed thin Carpet, and going further, Nancy noticed bloodstains by a slightly opened door, and they immediately walked in, and saw a closed door.

Walking inside, there they saw ropes that could have been used on the victims. This is when the group realizes that the victim must have been taken somewhere else, where the flaying takes place. Will suggested, that if Mrs. Driscoll wanted to go back to where the flaying took place, then let her go back, for them to be able to follow her.

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As the group reached the Hawkins hospital, heading their way to Mrs. Driscoll, the woman at the front desk, suddenly stopped them, saying only two people at a time. Jonathan looked at Clemency, who looked back at him, raising her eyebrows.

"You, look after the kids, okay?" He says, as he and Nancy walked off, leaving Clemency with her mouth agape. "Hey!" She yelled as the woman at the front desk shushed her, making her glare, and inhale sharply, and sat at the bench.

She noticed the tension between Mike and Eleven, and walked over to her brother, and grabbed some of their snacks they got from the vending machine. "Hey... You and your girlfriend still aren't okay?" She asked, while picking her favorite chocolates from Mike and Lucas' hands, as the two looked over to her, picking behind them

"Don't worry, we already have a plan." Lucas says, as Clemency slowly nodded. "What is your plan then?"

"I'll distract Max, then he goes to talk to El-" Lucas says, as Mike interrupted him. "But don't tell them, okay?" Mike sternly asks as Clemency hummed in response, leaving the kids.

As Will stood up from his seat and approached Clemency, as Mike started talking to Eleven. Clemency looked at Will and softly smiled at the boy. "Hey kid." Clemency says, as Will smiled back.

"Where have you been going these past few months?" Will asked out of curiosity as Clemency looked at him, surprised.

"I just heard from Mike... well, before he was always around hanging out with El... that you always leave the house, hanging out with a friend." He says, and Clemency nodded, and lightly chuckled.

"It's just a good friend of mine... and why are you even curious about that?" She wondered, and the kid chuckled back. "Nothing... I just realized that everyone who's always out of their houses these few months seems to be meeting with a significant other, you know. Just curious if you have one too." Will says, softly smiling at the older girl, shaking her head at him.

They are suddenly interrupted by the sudden flickering of lights, as the group all gathered, in fear, and looking over to Will, she notices him feeling the Mind Flayer, currently activated. "He's here..." Will says, as the sudden realization made Clemency's eyes widen. "Shit-" She says as the kids looked over to her, and she looked back, in terror, and just had this strong feeling in her gut, that made her feel sick. "Nancy and Jonathan... They are in danger..." She says, feeling her heart sink, as she looked over to Mike and Will.

The group immediately went looking for them, even if the lady in the front desk stopped them and reminded them of the rule of only two visitors at a time.

‧₊˚

Upon hearing the monstrous sounds in a closed door, Eleven immediately flung it off, us they all gasped from the sight of a gory, much more disgusting, and big creature towering over Nancy, and turning it's direction to them, and shrieked loudly at the group.

They have seen unearthly creatures before, but nothing like this, making all of them look at it in sheer horror and more fear than ever before, as it launched towards them, but Eleven used her powers, as she smacked the monster in all corners of the room, as Clemency peeked inside, trying to see if her sister's hurt in any way, until Eleven finally flung the monster towards the glass window, shattering it, as the monster fell into the hard ground.

The kids hurried out of the hospital, as Clemency and Jonathan approached Nancy, with tear filled eyes, comforting her, and helping her off the ground, as they followed after the kids, but as the group reached there, they witnessed the creature escape through the metal drain, leaving a few bones behind.

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