Chapter Forty Six

Earlier...

Max needed to know that Jaime was okay. Every fiber in her body was screaming for her to follow her sister back home to Billy, to be there when she found him because there was no way to predict how he was going to react, and it was so obviously a trap. She had let her go though, she had allowed Jaime to leave with little to no resistance and now Max was kicking herself.

"Is she there?" It wasn't the first time Max had asked El and it certainly wouldn't be the last.

"No." El said sadly, removing the blind fold to look at Max. "She'll be okay."

How did El know that? Max had seen how close Jaime and El seemed to have gotten, which she found unspeakably weird, that didn't mean that El could predict what was going to happen to her though. Max wanted to say all the fears that were swimming around her head, she wanted to let it all out, but none of them would get it. Yes Will had been Flayed and gone missing but this was different. Jaime could be killed by their step brother, by a person who was technically flayed but still a person. If everything went wrong Max could end up losing Jaime and Billy and that scared the shit out of her.

"I think there's another way." Spoke El her gaze fixed on Max. She was the first true girl friend she had ever had and she was determined to help her no matter the cost. "We can't go to Billy, but I think there's a way for me to see where he's been."

Before Mike even spoke Max knew he was going to have some kind of problem with El's idea. He was so concerned with El's well being it bordered on neurotic and it was getting on Max's last nerve. Did Mike really not understand the danger that her family were in? Did that mean nothing? El was Max's friend and of course she didn't want her to get hurt but Jaime was her sister and Billy was, well Billy, as far as she was concerned they were number one priority.

"You don't have to do this."

The cold scoff left Max's mouth before she even realised it had come from her, instantly drawing both Mike and El's attention to her scowling face. "What about my sister?"

"She didn't have to leave. She knows he's dangerous." Mike shot back a scowl of his own forming.

Max's eye widened in disbelief. Was Mike really saying that if anything happened to Jaime it was her own fault? "So she deserves to get hurt? To die? Is that what you're saying, Mike?"

"That's not what I mea-"

Max didn't care what Mike did or didn't mean though and before he could even finish she had moved to the furthest point of the couch ignoring him all together. The pair of them had been butting heads all summer it felt like and Jaime had been right, it was beginning to give Max a migraine too.

"I can do this. He can't hurt me in there."

A beach. As the Void disappeared around her falling body El realised she had landed on the soft, wet sand of a beach. The sound of waves curling up the shore line filled the air, dotted with the soft squawking of the many gulls that were spread up the beach.

"Are you okay?" Mikes voice said piercing the otherwise quiet beach.

"I'm okay..."

"What's going on?"

"I'm on a beach."

Getting to her feet El looked around her confused why Billy had taken her to a beach. So far it made no sense, and it definately wasn't the source.

"What else do you see?"

This time it was Max's voice that carried through and it pushed El to investigate further. Taking a few steps down the shore line something came into view that she hadn't noticed at first. Within a large flock of gulls there was a woman, a beautiful woman in a white dress, her hair billowing in the salty breeze. "There's a woman. She's...Pretty. I think she's looking at me."

Infront of El the woman had began waving wildly, a wide smile on her face, she looked truly happy. "Woo!" She cheered, clapping her hands together even though she was holding her sandles in them.

No this woman was not looking at her, there was someone else here with them. Following the womans line of sight El turned to look behind her just as a boy carrying a surf board ran past her, making all the gulls fly upwards in a flurry. "There's a boy."

The boy ran up to who El assumed was his mother practically bursting with excitement. "Did you see that?" Dropping the board onto the damp sand he ran into his mothers awaiting arms, his eyes shutting when she pressed a kiss to the top of his head. "That was at least seven feet."

"I don't know what it was, but it almost gave me a heart attack."

As El watched the little boy beg his mother for ten minutes more she still wasn't any closer to figuring out why she had been sent there. Maybe the Mind Flayer was trying to throw her off? Maybe it wasn't Billy who had sent her there at all? Nothing about it made any sense, up until the woman said the boys name.

"It's Billy."

"It's California." Max said. "It's a memory."

A distant rumble distracted El from watching little Billy running back into the waves and drew her attention further down the shore line. How had she never seen it before? The darkened sky filled with ominous crackles of light could only be the source. "I think I see it. The source." She might not have been able to see her friends face but she was certain they would be full of relief and fear. They needed to find the source to save Billy, and possibly Jaime, but at the same time destroying the Mind Flayer was going to be anything but simple.

Taking a deep breath El began her long walk down the beach towards what she was sure was the source. It wasn't long before the delighted laughter and squeals from a young Billy disappeared into nothingness and the once tranquil atmosphere was replaced with a dark one. Above her head electricity cracked, and the salty breeze from further up the beach was replaced by a sand filled gust. If there had been any doubt in El's mind that this was where the source was they were now definately gone. There was nothing good about this place.

"Hey! Billy, stop!" A man shouted angrilly from the heavy cloud of sand. "What the hell is wrong with you? What did we talk about, huh?"

Walking closer still El could make out the baseball uniform that a young Billy was wearing, and the matching yellow caps both he and the man were wearing. Without a shadow of a doubt it was Billy's dad, and he was nothing like his mom. There was an anger in his voice that even frightened El, it was nasty and cold. Hopper had shouted at her before, they had had more arguments than El could count, but he had never sounded like Billy's dad did.

"What did I raise, a pussy for a son?"

As Billy's dad yelled at him it suddenly dawned on El that Max had never mentioned her step dad to any of them. They all knew each others parents except for Max's, and El was beginning to understand why. When she had slept over at Max's this hadn't been the Neil she had seen, in fact he hadn't looked away from the television set for longer than a few seconds, she never would have guessed this was what he was truly like.

"Leave me alone!" Screamed Billy, running into the turbulant sand storm.

Not wanting to lose him El broke into a run and headed into the storm without stopping to think whether it was a bad idea or not, all she knew was she needed to find the source and she wasn't there just yet.

A whirl wind of sand surrounded her, whipping at the skin of her face and arms as blue and red lights flashed with loud cracks around her. Just ahead of her El could see Billy again, this time he was sat at a table and both his mom and dad were with him.

"Where were you last night? Where were you?"

Billy's dads voice dominated everything around them, it boomed over the lightening and wind, making everything around it insignficant. As she watched the memory play out before her El realised that it must have been exactly how Billy felt; his dad was exactly like the storm she was currently walking through except she couldn't get hurt. Billy had been living like this since he was young, and then Max and Jaime had had to endure it once their mom had married him and none of them had known what was going on. All three of them had hidden it so well and the ugly truth she was being presented with had El aching with guilt and pity for all of them. How had none of them known?

"Is he bothering you?"

Moving further through the storm El was presented with an older looking Billy, the kindness that had once brightened his eyes completely gone as he flicked his attention between a faceless boy cowering on the floor and a red haired girl. Before she could get a closer look at the boy on the ground Billy had leapt on him and was hitting at him wildly as the red haired girl looked on. She looked so familiar especially as her lips curved into a smile.

"What's you name?" Billy asked, getting off of the faceless boy before he dealt one last kick to his ribs.

"Jaime. Jaime Mayfield."

The memory faded away as El mentally kicked herself for not instantly recognising Jaime. The red hair was a dead give away, and if it hadn't been the smirk she had worn as Billy hit the faceless boy should definately have been. Max had said that Jaime and Billy had known each other before their parents got married but El hadn't realised just how long they had known each other, no wonder they were so close.

In the inky blue haze another memory began to form just as Billy's dad's voice pierced through the wind. "Billy, come over here, I want you to meet these two." Out of the blur walked the same red haired girl from the previous memory and an even younger red haired girl. "These are your new sisters. Their names are Jaime and Maxine."

"Max." The older of the two girls corrected without hesitation. "She likes to be called Max."

El was obviously witnessing the first time all three of them had been formally introduced, what she didn't understand was why Billy and Jaime were acting like they didn't know each other. Neither of them looked at each other, both opting to stare blankly ahead, and Jaime had Max's hand held tightly in her own. Did Jaime already know what Billy's dad was like?

Without warning the memory was gone giving El no chance to try and make further sense of it and another had popped up in its place. This time there was only two figures, a boy and a girl sat closely together.

"Stay still."

There was no second guessing this time, that voice one hundred percent belonged to Jaime and as El crouched down beside the two it became clear that the memory was somewhat recent. Jaime and Billy looked just as they did presently, Billy was even wearing the leather jacket that Jaime had left her house in, upon closer inspection though El noticed the dark crimson blood splattered down the leather.

Gently tilting Billy's chin upwards with her left hand Jaime dabbed delicately at his nose with the other, making him flinched every few seconds. "I said to stay still." She said pointedly but the hand she was nursing him with remained gentle.

"I am still, Mayfield!" Billy snapped.

With a roll of her eyes Jaime paused her clean up job, sitting back on her heels so she could look at Billy properly. "You want me to fix this or not, Hargrove? I don't care either way."

That was the Jaime that El was accustomed to, the harsh, bitchy girl who bit at anyone who came to close to her, but she had seen the softness. Not only had she just seen it with the way she was cleaning up Billy but she had also seen it directed at her. Jaime didn't know El but she had shown her alot of kindness, and no she felt like she was seeing more of what Jaime was really like.

Returning to Billy's battered and bloody face Jaime went back to wiping away the blood. "It wasn't your fault." She whispered, her eyes flicking from her task to Billy's eyes.

A lump caught in El's throat and an overwhelming urge to wrap her arms around the two of them consumed her. Billy's mom had left him, abandoned him with his monster of a father, he had had no one to turn to, and then alone came Jaime. The entire situation reminded her so much of she and Hopper; he had stepped in and shown her what love was when she had most needed it, and Jaime had done that for Billy whether she realised it or not.

"I hate him." Again Jaime whispered, but this time her eyes refused to make contact with Billy's.

Taking a quick swig from the bottle of beer he was holding Billy let out a sadden scoff. "Me too."

"Who's there?"

The sound of Billy's voice coming from behind her had El turning away from the memory and squinting into the inky storm.

"I said, who's there?"

Pushing through the powerful winds El followed the sound of Billy's voice. It wasn't long before she could just about make out the shadowed silhouette of a building and the round orbs of lights. She had made it this was the source, she could feel it. As she got closer still Billy's voice turned into pained screams that had the hairs on her arms standing on end. This was where it happened. This was where he had been flayed. This was where the Mind Flayer was.

The wind abruptly stopped. Suddenly all the mania of the storm was gone and El was in a clearing, just like a hurricane she was in the eye of the storm.

"I think I found it. The source."

"Where, El? Where are you?" Asked Max.

Just beyond Billy's car was the literal sign they had all been waiting for, this was why El had wanted to try her plan. "Brimborn...Steelworks."

A/N/ The chapter I've been struggling so much with is finally here! I desperately wanted to do this justice and I hope I did (that's why it took me so long, sorry) I just hope you all stuck with me in these long waits and I can't wait to hear what you think, so keep those comments coming in :)