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“Oh my god, Max!” Will’s voice came out in a shriek, a clear contrast to how he was whispering before.
“You know I’m right!” Max cackled, before it dissolved into a laughing fit that Will joined, albeit him trying to muffle his laughs beforehand. Their giggles were so loud it sounded as if they were rolling around on the floor in laughter - it couldn’t be that funny, whatever they were on about.
“Uughh, I don’t even- how would I know, Max?” he groaned after the giggles grew softer and gave way to coughs on her end.
“Oh there is no way you didn’t look in the changing rooms last year! You, Mike, junior p.e. class together… locker rooms together?” she wiggled her eyebrows at him.
“Are you picking up what I’m putting down, my dearest Will?”
“Unfortunately, yes. But no!” he sat upright, attempting to glare at her through his restrained grin. She raised an eyebrow at him, prompting him to spill it.
Will sighed, unable to resist one of Max Mayfield’s looks. “I couldn’t look properly, not in front of everyone else. But…” he lowered his voice to a whisper, “I could, kind of, tell by the print,” Max gasped, faux scandalized.
“He was definitely big, and he has grown like 3 inches this year… so.”
They wore twin smirks, and Max’s only grew more when she realized how tall Mike already was last year - he was by no doubt equivalent to a lamppost now.
“When did Subway introduce the foot-long dick, dude?”
Will shrieked once again, except this time he couldn't even try to contain the insane laughter that erupted from his mouth.
The floor surrounding them was a mess, clothes spewed hazardly across whilst makeup littered the spaces between in a way that seemed purposeful. Lace tanks and boldly coloured belts and paint-stained flares and boatnecked shirts; glittery lipgloss and intoxicatingly shimmery highlighter and vibrant eyeshadow.
It looked like the magazine covers of the inherently feminine volumes found in salons. A teenage girl’s room, obviously Max’s - so why did Will fit into it so well?
That was all El could see with her view obscured by the partially-closed door. A door El had seen numerous times - plain, but adorned with a piece of paper painted with ‘MAX’S ROOM, GET OUT!’ screaming at you with bright red pigment. Stray stickers that were peeling off stuck the paper to the door - definitely Lucas’ stickers, by the way that they were distinctly all DnD and basketball. Two things that Max hardly ever drabbled in (nor dribbled in).
The red splattered on the white pages was so visibly Max, so it made sense that she wanted small tokens of her boyfriend in her space.
It was so innocently cute in comparison to Max’s brash attitude that it made El wonder why doing that never once crossed her mind - everyone reiterated to her that she was so sweet, an angel after everything she’s been through.
She peeked in closer, narrowly avoiding the floorboard that always creaked.
Really, El shouldn’t be spying through the doorcrack (could you even class this as spying on them?) but after she heard Mike’s name…
Well, she was only at Max’s house because she wanted some advice about the gift he gave her for her birthday - the birthday that was put on her birth certificate, at least - it was only right that she didn’t have to interrupt their conversation for a few more moments than she intended to. Their phrasing confused her, though. Why would they be talking about her boyfriend in the locker rooms when he was in junior year? And then whispering about Subway?
“Shut up, you’d totally order that foot-long if it came with your boyfriend.” Will said through giggles, voice playful but edged with an almost breathy tone.
“Oh no babe, he makes up for that with girth.” A smack echoed through the space between the cracked door and hallway, “MAX!”
Although she had just been slapped on the arm, she still laughed, face sunkissed and sunny-eyed. It was good to see her smiling after her face was permanently settled into a frown for the better half of high school. So good that it kind of infuriated El that it wasn’t her who made her grin so childishly like that.
“Don’t act like you’re not a dirty dog too, Byers! I know damn well you’re withholding information about Mike and his junior,”
“His junior? Oh my god Max, you’re literally merging brain cells with Lucas.”
“I’ll have you know I have far more brain cells than that idiot, but whatever. Anyways,”
“You so are,” Will muttered, earning a playful glare from Max before she continued her speech.
“You literally shared a house with him for a year and a half. And Mike is over at yours now more than he is at his own house, and we both know,” she paused, scooting over to him to whisper something in his ear.
He frowned but a pretty pink blush still bloomed over his cheeks, eyes sparkling with the glitter that was currently laid next to Max’s thigh.
“Don’t talk about her like that…”
Her? Who?
“But yeah.” His hand came up to his neck to fiddle with the gold charm on his necklace, as he seemed to be contemplating something in his mind. “I’ll try… see…” the blush deepened whilst Max’s smile grew wider, glossy lips stretching over her teeth.
“Yes, thank you! I want exact measurements so I know for sure that he doesn’t, unfortunately, have tiny dick syndrome.” Her hand clasped over his free hand, fiery locks spilling over their intertwined hands. “But trust me, he will go crazy over the size dif-”
El stepped forward, pushing the door open.
They both looked up at the same time, hands pulling away from each other - the clash of their bracelets made Will giggle, a sound that was slowly turning sour in El’s mind.
“Hey El,”
“El! Hi,” Will smiled, bunny teeth slightly poking out of his lips. Glossy?
“Hi.” She smiled back at him, before turning to Max.
“I need to talk to you, Max,” the ginger’s eyes quickly darted to Will, dimming ever so slightly it could be blamed on the afternoon sunlight that bled through the curtains changing angle.
“Oh, okay. I’ll see you later, Maxine,” He exaggerated the syllables, voice verging on teasing. He glanced back at El, mouthing see you back at home.
“Whatever, William.” She teased back, before waving him off with a dismissive hand, clearly joking.
His soft laughter slowly faded out, until it was only the soft blowing of the curtains and the girls’ twin breathing filling the room. Max patted her hand on the carpet, an indication for El to sit down, whilst also gathering a few pieces of clothing and plopping them into a distant corner of the room.
El followed the hand, sitting criss-cross-applesauce on the floor; she noted that the space was still warm from where Will was sitting on it.
“I wanted to talk to you about Mike.” Blunt and straight to the point, as always. Hopper said it was a valuable quality but didn’t make her any less of a ‘little shit’, tackling her to the floor in a fit of giggles.
She groaned and threw her head back, “Why are you still with him, anyways?” El giggled and purposely blocked out the memory of Max and Will whispering about him in a way that did not sound negative. It just confused her, really.
“So, he got me a birthday present. He was only a day late, but… Nevermind, it doesn’t matter. I like the present he got me but it is gold jewellery, not silver, like what I wear. I know gold is more expensive than silver so I do not know if he just wanted to spoil me, a bit more, you know?”
Max nodded her head, listening to her talking with a frown painted onto her features.
⋆⭒˚｡⋆
The mall was always crowded, but today more than ever. The remnants of Winter had finally gone – April’s whips of chill slipping into May’s comforting warmth – and it seemed like everyone had the same idea of shopping for Summer.
After the disaster of Starcourt, then the ‘earthquake’ which led to an almost 2 year-long quarantine, Hawkins was left barren with a dwindling population and the same 4 shops that only sold shitty pornos, or magazines from their freshman year.
But after Vecna had finally gone, and the quarantine was released, Hawkins had desperately grasped at some sort of normalcy – this apparently meant rebuilding Starcourt. With a budget that came from ‘investment from the government’ (hush-money) the town mayor insisted on building a giant mall again. Maybe for nostalgia, or just inspiration from the Russians. So much for the Cold War.
Covering up the piles of controversies and giant cracks in the earth with a glorified version of Hell.
The closest thing you could consider as Hell after the Upside Down, of course.
No, the newly rebuilt Starcourt had managed to make the fluorescent overhead lighting even more blinding, and the stores even more glamorously ugly, along with raking in a swarm of tourists. Tourists before the original Starcourt disaster were rare – even rarer for the next 2 years – yet every single person within a 40 mile radius to Hawkins seemed to appear in this mall after their controversies. Maybe the racks upon mannequins dolled with hideous jumpsuits and frilly sweaters really do it for the general American person.
El walked beside Mike, hand in hand, as he rattled off about some writing competition he urgently needed to do for his college portfolio to the rest of the group - all of whom could not care less.
“I’m just saying! I could be writing right now, and actually focusing on college stuff, unlike you guys,-”
“I’ll have you know I am certainly ready for college-” Dustin interrupted, another tangent about the practicality of having packed for college 4 months in advance on the tip of his tongue before Max sent him a stern look, promptly shutting him up.
“-instead of walking in a sweaty mall we’ve already circled 5 times today!”
El sighed – Mike did have a point, but the mannequins were all so vibrant and full of life that it made her want to circle it another 10 times just to bury memories of the dead Hawkins from not even 2 years ago. The flourishing of the lilies on her windowsill and the rays of sun blooming onto her face made all those memories seem more distant, like it was another lifetime where she had nothing, unlike now.
Gone were the days of hiding from the government, now she just wanted to focus on pretty clothes and shopping with her boyfriend. And her friends.
“Guys, we literally graduate in a month. We have 3 months of Summer ahead of us, stop talking about college!” Lucas exclaimed, earning hums of agreements in reply; and a tsktsktsk that was probably from Max directed towards Mike.
He grumbled, but shut up anyways, gripping ever so slightly more onto El’s hand. She smiled – batting her eyelashes when looking up at him – and stepped a touch closer to his body. “Can we go get food, please?”
“I second that, I am staarrviinggg man.”
Mike didn’t seem to make any change in his direction, still heading towards the shops instead of the food court.
“Yeah, same.” Will said from behind her and Mike, where he had fallen into step with Max and Dustin.
Mike suddenly switched his route, making El stumble slightly.
“I hope this place is adequate for all of you picky assholes, because I am not going through all those people again, Jesus."
It was a simple burger place, weirdly optimistic for its collective 2 customers inside, with flashy red stripes on the sides of where it was slotted between two boldly coloured shops. The sign, ‘BEST BURGERS’, had LEDs that could blind you from a mile away, the white flashes not gentle on the eye at all.
Nobody seemed to complain though, the hunger settling in their stomachs speaking more than their mouths.
“Two cheeseburgers - no, no gherkins for both - yeah, fries too. Why would I pay the same amount for no fries, dude?” Mike settled his arms on the counter, ordering for the both of them. The way his sleeves were rolled up made it so El could see the way his veins protruded and lightly flexed as he raised his forearms to slide the cash to the cashier.
What a good boyfriend, paying for the both of us. She smiled, taking his arm into hers when he had finished talking to the bald-headed man.
He glanced down at her, down to the face which was radiating with a smile and fluttering eyelashes. His eyebrows furrowed, jaw twitching as if he was debating saying something, before diverting his attention towards the right of him. Oh, Will.
“You wanted no pickles, right?” He asked, the crease in the middle of his eyebrows smoothing out when Will just giggled, eyes sparkling with quiet adoration.
“Obviously, Mike.”
Is Will not ordering for himself? She looked back towards where Max was ranting to the cashier, who looked more sleep deprived to be bothered than anything, back to where Will was walking towards a table.
Waking towards a table with Mike-
She hadn’t even noticed when his arm slipped out of her grasp, the space where he occupied now a cold whisper of something ugly rising into her throat.
Right…
“El, do you not have any of that change Hopper gave you earlier?” Red hair filled her vision, along with blue eyes and a blossoming tan that made her freckles deepen like the starry constellations at night.
“I can give you some of my fries if not, you know.” She smiled, but El was too preoccupied with staring where Mike had his defined forearm slid over Will’s shoulder. Where his deep voids of black for eyes stared into doe ones, hazel with gold shimmering from the sunlight. Where his lips formed into a lazy, boyish grin directed towards another pair of pink lips which weren’t hers.
Crowded into a body that wasn’t hers.
“Um… Yes, I have some.” She mustered up a restrained smile, before not-so-subtly stomping to the counter where the worker was perched.
Max had quickly scraped down all of her food into her mouth in a matter of minutes, urging Will to do the same, before promptly dragging him into a store that looked far too pink and sparkly to be anything meant for him. El just clamped up the envy that threatened to spill out of her mouth when Max hadn’t even spared a glance her way.
Now that left her with Lucas, Mike and Dustin, the two of which were in a heated discussion about… the difference between alphas and enigmas?
She quickly tuned out that conversation, her attempts at understanding whatever an alpha was with questions towards Mike gone unnoticed. Lucas was sipping his coke, sparing glances every so often to the store that Max and Will had gone.
She cleared her throat, “What shop is that?”
He startled, almost dropping his can of coke on the sticky table, eyes darting to where El sat.
“Uh,” he stumbled over his words, blush rising on his cheeks, “It’s just an… underwear store.” He grinned, the pink still sitting high on his cheekbones.
“I think Max wanted Will’s advice on what to get, since you know, artists’ eye.” She frowned – she hadn’t even asked him why Will had gone with Max yet.
“Probably for Wheeler though…” He muttered, the mumble falling deaf on her ears.
Her doe eyes fluttered wider at him, the question of how he knew she was going to ask that still unanswered.
“I knew you were gonna ask,” he laughed, “You looked at Will’s spot about 15 times whilst asking what shop it was,”
The grin adorning his face was easy to love, and El almost understood why Max was always so endeared by his nerdiness with the sun making his dark eyes sparkle even more. He bumped his elbow into hers – “There’s something else you wanna ask as well, right?”
She hummed, eyes dashing to Mike before quickly looking back at her half-eaten burger, lettuce awkwardly poking out of it and meat that had lost its steam.
“Why…” She paused, eyebrows furrowing at the thought. “Why did Mike pay for Will’s food today? He gets the same allowance as me.”
Lucas almost looked taken aback by the question, as if nobody had even thought to ask something like that to him before.
“I mean, he’s always done it. Even when I first met them in second grade.” He nestled his head on his propped up fist, looking Mike square in the head.
“I remember when we went to the arcade one day and Will had ran out of quarters super quickly, and Mike was already giving him half of his share. Man, Will had tried to give him the left over cash for like, 3 weeks, before Mike had taken it back and then bought him a tiger plushie immediately!”
He laughed as if it was funny, as if it hadn’t made El spiral into her memories of Mike doing nothing like that for her before, ever.
“First day of middle school, right, and Mike had literally bought him a whole box of art supplies. I’m talking good quality paints, brushes, the whole lot. And he had the audacity to say it was a first day of school present - Dustin and I’s present was a handshake! The dude was-”
El slowly tuned him out, his voice only a constant reminder of how much better Mike was of a friend to Will, than a boyfriend to her.
“You should’ve seen Will’s reaction, though. Pure gold-”
What the fuck is Will doing with my boyfriend?
⋆⭒˚｡⋆
Purple blossoming into blue, red lacing the edges like the dark hues of petals. A galaxy of stars, constellations shaped like the molars of another person and the stars sucked on by the tainted pink of a tongue.
Hickeys littered the tan neck of Will, the unmarked expanse of skin from yesterday now bruised.
Will had hickeys. On his neck.
The neck that Mike was always sniffing about, hand grasping the back of it more often than not.
“Damn Byers! What feral dog got a hold of your neck?” Max gasped, arm slinging onto his shoulder whilst she inspected his neck.
Her usually free amber waves weren’t cascading down her back today, and instead twirled up into a bun with a million bobby pins grasping at her scalp. Her cropped shirt left her stomach exposed and her shorts low enough to show a slither of red lace, matching the enticing red of her bra strap not covered by the shirt.
Will’s shirt covered much more, only leaving a slither of tan stomach open to the air – a peak of white lace still made itself known, jeans low waisted and cheeky.
El decided not to look into that.
“Seriously, Will!”
A blush painted Will’s cheeks with pink, hues similar to a ripe peach.
She grinned up at him, before they both broke into a fit of giggles.
“Taking my advice, huh?” She winked, her free hand grasping at his waist, cinching in the tight fabric even more.
Lovers’ Lake was scarcely filled, too late in the day for kids and not late enough for moonlight hookups, only leaving Max, Will and El along with a few odd couples making out at the edge.
The sunset dripped honeyed golden onto the water whilst the clouds drifted off, their pathways in the sky leading them elsewhere.
It was objectively beautiful. Spring was settled in and the flowers were all in full bloom - but El couldn’t help feeling like all of those flowers were laced with disgusting envy on their petals, poisoning her with unadulterated jealousy.
Jealousy towards Will, of all people.
Mike probably didn’t even give him those hickies.
“Guys!” Dustin’s voice echoed off the lake, water bouncing with each exclamation. “You didn’t start without us, right?!”
Max’s bored expression said everything. “Start smoking with the rocks and used condoms? Oh sorry, we couldn't help ourselves.”
That earned a groan from Dustin, and an ‘ew, gross’ from Will – Lucas, however, was too busy eying up the lace that peaked out from Max’s denim shorts.
And Mike?
El glanced at him, his practically black eyes rimmed with chocolate brown and narrowed ever so slightly.
She did not want to know what his gaze was stuck on.
“Whatever, Maximus!” She scoffed, holding back a retort, “Do not fret, ladies and gentlemen, as it is I who holds the most important goodies of tonight!”
He smirked devilishly, rummaging in his backpack – the backpack that was overstuffed with god-knows-what – before holding out a small white packet.
He held it up for the whole world to see as if he was the King holding up the newborn heir.
Grin highlighted by the golden sunlight, he motioned for the group to step closer, "Courtesy of our dearest Steve,” his voice dropped to a whisper as if it was something much more illegal than weed, “Weed, my friends!”
He exclaimed the last part, previous whispers abandoned for his energetic antics.
“How’d you convince Steve to give you this, man?” Lucas grabbed the packet, inspecting the rolled-up joint with caution.
“Christ, it’s not arsenic,” Max muttered, making Will snort in the quiet of the lakeside.
Lucas ignored her in favour of opening the bag, pulling it out.
“Just my charm, I suppose.” He grinned before snatching the joint out of Lucas’ fingers.
The high of the weed came in subtly, before that was all her senses could feel and a raging hunger brewed furiously in her stomach.
El laid on the sand, mind swimming with the whispering heat of late-May and nothing. Her brown waves sprayed out on the ground and she had half the mind to flopping it onto her face so the sand didn’t get in the strands, before it just fell back onto it anyways. That made her giggle.
Max was ranting at Mike about nothing, both sat on the sand far too seriously for the weed numbing their senses, whilst Will sat behind Max, braiding her hair clumsily.
Lucas appeared out of nowhere, tackling Max into a half-hug, half-wrestling her whole body. The shrieks of the ginger girl were loud, making Mike back up with playful disgust.
El laughed, staring back up at the sky. She wondered if Mike would surprise attack her like that – nothing but unadulterated love and purity in his eyes whilst tickling her. Maybe she should do that, straddling his middle and tickling his sides and making him say I love you over and over again because she needs him to say it before she lets him go. Give him a kiss that turns into twenty more and then she slides down lower on his torso before-
“Ohmynughshhgosh!!!! Mike, let-” Will shrieked, thrashing around on the floor whilst Mike smirked mischievously, not letting up his antics that made Will scream like that.
She sat up, squinting at the both of them through the fog in her mind. Mike had Will pinned to the floor, one hand enclosing two wrists and the other hand ravaging at Will’s waist.
“If you don’t stop right, now- ohnshdbd” His laughter turned into screams, making Mike promptly stop, the both of them breathing heavily and bright-eyed, faces twin with blush.
“Fine, fiiinee..” Mike grinned suspiciously, earning a raised eyebrow from Will.
“Thank yo-” He cut himself off when Mike grabbed his waist and heaved him up into the air, one hand lowering down to the back of his upper thigh.
Will’s hands scrambled, gripping on Mike’s shirts for dear-life.
“Ohmygod,ohmygod,ohmygod!”
Oh my god. Shut up. It repeated in her head, looping over and over until she wanted to slam her head into the ground and take Will’s head down with it, too. Or maybe squeeze her fists a bit too hard and make his head explode, showering the room with his blood.
Her face didn’t show any of her thoughts though.
“Looking at our dearest William and Micheal I see, El?” Dustin’s voice was loud, but the two in question didn’t even glance their way. El looked up at him – frown glued onto her raspberry chapstick lips. She hummed, before looking back down at her nails that were chipped with lavender nail polish.
The haze of the weed in her mind wasn’t enough to blur out the jealousy, clearly. It wasn’t enough for Will to back the fuck off, too.
“Yeah, I was so confused with how touchy-feely they are at first, too!” Voice cheery and cheeks flushed by the weed, he sat down next to El on the crumbling sand.
The wind was the only sound that surrounded the two, along with the faint whistling of Dustin’s breathing. She looked at his expression – dazed, blissed-out with relaxation – and wondered how he could be so content with how things are. His girlfriend was in Utah, away from him and his funny attitude and hazelnut curls, and he still seemed so at peace.
El’s back straightened, “How do you deal with it?”
“Deal with the devil, my friend?”
She giggled, before her eyes turned downcast and the frown settled back on her features. “Deal with being so far away from Suzie?”
He looked at her, gaze so open and good-hearted, and she almost wanted to take her words back so he didn’t have to think about the distance between him and his girlfriend.
He looked up at the sky, the approaching twilight painting the sky in deep purples and blues. “I mean, being physically away from her is hard, obviously.”
He paused, glancing at Max and Lucas who were wrapped up in each other's embrace. “I look at couples who can hold hands and do stuff together and I’m like, damn, I wish.”
“But then I remember how much I love Suzie. Because even though we’re not physically together in our dingy town and being screamed at by her Mormon parents for looking at each other for more than 5 seconds,” El smiled at this, remembering the 3-inch rule that felt so long ago.
“I’m not far away from her, mentally, you know?”
She looked into his eyes, trying to figure out how he was able to do that with her, through the blue lenses that felt like an open-book so many times except this one.
“Yeah, we might not be able to kiss and stuff, but… I don’t care about that since she gets me, and I get her. I can tell her everything and she can tell me everything and it is just pretty awesome.”
She tried to recall any of the times Mike had taken interest in her hobbies - or even when she did. When the walls between them didn’t feel like a great big barrier separating their minds and souls and instead a mere stepping stone in their relationship.
It all came blank.
“You and Mike are like that, right?” She nodded numbly, hardly even processing the words that made her want to slice her head open. And maybe Will’s too.
That wall between her and Mike was Will, afterall.
“Yeah.”
Dustin bumped her arm, holding out the joint for her. “Loosen up, El!” She grabbed it, appreciative of the distraction for her mind.
“THE NIGHT IS STILL YOUNG!” Dustin screamed, earning a multitude of ‘shhh!!!’s and ‘Jesus Christ, Dustin!’s from the group.
⋆⭒˚｡⋆
Jealousy was hard to contain when you felt it at every waking moment of the day.
When you woke up in the morning and the source of your jealousy was standing there, with cute little shorts and a shirt that clearly wasn’t his, making breakfast.
When he gives you a sunny-eyed, bright smile that competes with the sun for how purely beautiful it is, and passes you a stack of perfectly misshapen pancakes.
When he kisses your cheek goodbye and wishes you good luck with your studies before he goes to school.
When he hugs you so tightly when he gets back home, asking a multitude of questions that range from ‘Is maths still a pain?’ to ‘Did you eat lunch today?’ and passes you his sandwich from lunch – that he purposely saved since he already knows you didn’t eat – before even taking his shoes off.
When he drags you out of the house to go hang out with your friends, insisting that you need vitamin D to deal with the headache that maths is.
When he bandages up the cut you get from falling off of Max’s skateboard, giggling as you complain about how she forbade you from using your superpowers to skate.
When he walks you back home because you’re tired, even though he’s probably going to go back out when you fall asleep.
Jealousy was hard to contain when the source of it was so perfect. When he has everything you have ever wished for because he just has it.
And now, snuggled up to her boyfriend on the couch, he had the audacity to wish for more. To look up at the twilight sky and wish on a shooting star, its shimmering gold sparkling over the horizon, for her boyfriend.
To be the one to kiss him, hold his hand, make him hold the shopping bags, stroke his hair, swap spit with, tug at his hair, scrape his back, take his fingers, take his-
Take his future. Simultaneously, take her future with Mike.
Rag her hair and cut open her stomach, digging through her organs one-by-one till he found the future she was meant to have with her love and squeeze it in his greedy, paint-stained fingers. Squeeze it so hard all of the blood in it splattered over the walls, rain her soul in shattered dreams and bloody jealousy.
Because no matter how good-hearted he seemed, no matter how much of an angel he seemed to be, he was a devil at heart. His soul was tainted by sin and crushed guts.
Maybe that’s what he thought of her, too.
El was his sister. The kindest, most loving of people to ever grace this earth even after all the horrors she had been through. The girl who had only ever wanted a family, a home, someone to love.
But that didn’t stop her from pouncing at him, almost animalistic and face filled with rage, rage, so much rage, tearing up at his legs with scraping nails and screeches uttering sickening words.
Now, looking up at her face, the face painted with a guilt-ridden expression, from the ground and blood covering his skinned legs, all she seemed to be is the devil.
Hands covered in blood – his blood – and hazelnut doe eyes and ruffled brown waves and princess pink lips and an expression of pure horror.
Horror at what she had done to him. Horror at her hindbrain, all reason thrown out like how she threw him to the gravelly ground. Or maybe, only horror at the screams being shouted by Mike, big hands covering his bloodied legs and body positioned protectively in front of him.
As if El was a monster.
She isn’t a monster.
She isn’t.
Is she? He glanced back up at her, but her face was now disfigured, blurring into a man who could only be described as his father.
Maybe he was envious of her, but not for this. No, not for the way she turned into something he couldn’t even recognise as his sister.