The Deal [Eddie Munson] 1

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Max gasps, turning and looking around at all of us. "God, Max, are you okay?" I ask her, and she's looking around like she can't believe what just happened to her. She doesn't answer, she just stands up, running out of the room. Dustin, Steve, and I look at each other before running out and following her.

She goes to the end of the hallway, flashing her light at the wall. She looks at it confused, taking deep breaths. Robin and Nancy run in, coming up behind us.

"I saw a grandfather clock, right here in the wall." Max says, and I frown, not understanding what she's talking about. "It was here. Right here."

"A grandfather clock?" I question, and she nods, looking like she was remembering something. "It was so real. And then, when I got closer, suddenly I just.. I woke up."

I can hear the frightened tone in her voice, and I turn toward Robin and Nancy. "It was like she was in a trance.. exactly like what happened to Chrissy." I say, stopping the tears from forming in my eyes.

"That's not even the bad part." Max continues, and I know we're all looking at her confused. "Follow me." She says as she makes her way back to Ms. Kelley's office.

We all follow her, and I stand next to her as she shows us the two files side by side. "Fred and Chrissy, they both came to Miss Kelley for help. Uh, they both were having headaches, bad headaches that wouldn't go away. And then, then the nightmares."

I think back to the first day that I got back in town, Max told me that she was having nightmares.

I opened her door to see her sound asleep, which means it was the perfect time to scare her. I run and jump on her bed, shaking her body, and she pops up screaming loudly.

But it wasn't a normal scream, she was actually screaming out of fear, and her eyes were watering. "Max! Max it's just me!" I say, and she finally makes eye contact with me and her body relaxes.

"Jesus fucking Christ, Samantha! You can't just do that!" She yells as she places her hand on her forehead as she calms down.

"Are you not excited to see me?"

"I am. I'm sorry, I was just having a nightmare and you scared me." She says as she finally pulls me in for a hug. My face scrunches up in concern at her answer. "You're still having nightmares?" I question.

While I was gone, Max was constantly telling me about how she had nightmares. I thought they stopped as she hasn't talked about them in a while, but maybe she didn't want me to worry.

"No. It was just one random one. I'm fine." She reassures me, and I nod my head, pulling her in for another hug. My little sister is one of the most annoying people on the planet, but I adore her, and I really fucking missed her.

"Trouble sleeping. They'd wake up in a cold sweat. Then they started seeing things. Bad things. From their pasts. These visions, they just... they kept on getting worse and worse, until eventually... everything ended." She continues, and Robin looks up at her.

"Vecna's curse." Robin answers.

"Chrissy's headache started a week ago. Fred's, six days ago. I've been having them for five days. I don't know how long I have. All I know is that, for Fred and Chrissy, they both died less than 24 hours after their first vision. And I just saw the goddamn clock, so.. looks like I'm going to die tomorrow." Max says, and I run my hand through my hair, knocking the shit off of the desk.

"No! Absolutely not. Vecna is not getting you. No! There has to be a fucking solution to this shit. I'm not losing you too." I say, walking out of the room in frustration. I hit a nearby locker in frustration, the tears now falling down. I can not lose my sister too, she's all I have.