Trust - Lucas Sinclair

The Battle of Starcourt (Part 8)

An unnerving silence hung in the air after the Mind Flayer had crumpled to the floor, dead. Everyone seemed to be shocked that it was dead and they were alive.

However, the silence became slightly panicked when they heard Nikki fall to the floor a few seconds after it.

"Nikki!" Lucas cried out, running to the lower floor as everyone followed behind him.

When he got to the bottom floor he was met with the sight of Max crying over the sight of Billy's body and El trying to comfort her, while looking worriedly at Nikki.

As Lucas got closer to her, he realized how bad everything must have been for her. Her face was paling more and more by the second and the only thing that brought color to it was the blood starting to dry under her nose and the dark circles under her eyes. Her shirt was torn at her side and bloody where the Mind Flayer had scratched her.

"Nikki?" he croaked out as he sat beside her and pulled her into his lap.

She didn't look to be breathing. He checked her pulse and it was beating too slowly and seemed to be slowing down.

Then the real panic set in.

"Nikki," he tried to shake her awake as he felt tears prick his eyes. "Nikki, come on, you gotta wake up. Come on, please."

The others stood around him as he continued to try to get a response from her.

"Nikki, please, I need you to wake up. Please," he chocked back a sob as he checked her pulse again.

He waited silently for a few seconds, wanting to feel a beat even if it was one.

It never came.

He let the tears that were pooling in his eyes escape as he brought her closer to him.

"I'm so sorry," he whispered and kissed her forehead.

He stayed like that for a few minutes until Mike cleared his throat.

"We have to go," Mike said, not looking at anyone but the fire that had started to spread quickly.

Lucas didn't want to leave her. He wanted to stay with her, not caring about the fire.

El must have realized this because she put a hand on his shoulder trying to comfort him, even though she also had a tear stained face.

"We have to go," El sniffled, reaching out her hand to him. Her face spoke silent words. If not for us, then for Nikki.

Lucas nodded, laying Nikki back down on the floor and grabbing El's hand. They stood up and joined the group that was waiting from them to leave.

El wrapped an arm around Mike as they walked to the exit of the mall. Before leaving the building Lucas gave one last look back to Nikki a few feet away from Billy and the Mind Flayer.

The battle was done, but they lost too much to call it a victory.

***

Lucas felt numb.

As he sat in the back of the ambulance, his mind was thinking of everything and nothing at the same time.

He thought back to everything that has happened in the last few days.

He remembered Nikki and how she acted after the cabin. She seemed to fidget more. She tried to keep them all together whenever she could. She became more worried. She never things were going to happen.

She knew this was going to happen, Lucas realized, making his heart break more. He rested his head in his hands.

He looked over at the mall, where smoke was coming out of the broken ceiling from the fire.