teenage tragedy (Max Mayfield)

4. fourteen

Cammie woke up in a bed. She was wearing pyjamas, now, and she could see the morning sun through a gap in the curtains. Max's curtains.

Cammie shot up in the bed, stumbling shakily as she got out of Max's room and hurried down the hallway. She needed to see Max, make sure she wasn't cursed, and that they'd gotten Nancy out. Something would've happened for them to move Cammie to Max's trailer and a lot of time had passed, hours had passed.

"Max? Max? Nancy? Steve?!" Cammie rasped, voice cracking.

"We're here," Max appeared at the end of the hallway, holding her hand out. "We're all here. Safe," Max said.

Cammie almost collapsed against Max when she reached her, chest heaving with sobs as memories of the void came flooding back to her. She could see Nancy, Robin, Eddie, Steve, Dustin, Lucas and Erica watching her break down and she cried even harder, realising that this was going to be one of the last times she'd ever see their faces again because she didn't know how to come back.

"Hey, hey, hey, we're okay. We're all safe. It's okay," Max whispered, sitting on the floor and pulling Cammie into her lap as Cammie sobbed, burying her face in Max's neck. "It's okay. You're safe. I've got you, Juliet. You and me, forever, remember?" Max whispered.

The words that had once healed the cracks in Cammie's heart shattered her into pieces again, her head spinning as she gasped for air.

She was going to die. She was cursed. She was fifteen and she would never see sixteen or graduate high school, or learn how to drive or have a legal drink, or fight for the right to marry Max, or be around to see her friends create lives of their own without the upside down hanging over their heads anymore.

Cammie would never laugh with Steve about stupid movies or cuddle him after nightmares or after another girl broke his stupidly massive heart. She would never talk to Robin about the best new movies out or give her advice about her crush on Vickie. She would never have a girl's night with Nancy again, would never play D&D with Mike, Dustin, Lucas or Will again. She'd never get to see Will come out, or see Eleven heal from her past, or buy drugs from Eddie again.

She would never see Max do anything. She was going to destroy Max when she left her in a way that was all too similar to the way Billy left her and that made Cammie's stomach lurch, head spinning as she got to her feet and stumbled to vomit in the kitchen sink.

Steve grabbed Cammie's hair before Max had even stood up again, Nancy grabbing a bottle of water out of the fridge while the others looked panicked.

"You're okay. Get it all out," Steve said, rubbing Cammie's back.

Cammie took a deep breath, closing her eyes as she moved away from the sink now her stomach had settled. Her chest was still heaving with sobs, but her head was hurting too much for her to keep crying without it resulting in her passing out. She had to focus on her breathing and she would be fine.

"Here," Nancy offered her the bottle of water.

Shaky hands grabbed it and Cammie unscrewed the lid, taking a small sip between sobs. She did this for a few minutes, taking deep breaths as Steve continued to rub her back. Everyone was hovering around her like she was going to collapse at any minute and they all looked terrified.

Cammie finished the water bottle and wiped her cheeks with her hands.

"Okay?" Steve asked quietly.

Cammie shook her head.

"Callum... He showed me... Vecna," Cammie said, voice cracking.

The others all shared looks and Nancy took a deep breath.