hargrove. [ BILLY HARGROVE 2 ]

xii. CHAPTER NINE

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Chapter Four: Dear Mary

     Max walked with the group of five behind her, going to the hallway as fast as she could. She stopped, shining the flashlight on the wall where the clock had been. She was shocked to see it wasn't there. 

     "It was here," Max said, all of them looking at her. "Right here." 

     "A grandfather clock?" Nancy asked. 

     "It was so real," Max said, shaking her head slowly. "And then, when I got closer, I heard..." Max trailed off, shaking her head. "She looked so upset to see me. Like she knew what was going to happen to me. She kept yelling at me to wake up." 

     "Max, come on," Dustin said, shaking his head at her. 

     "I'm telling the truth! It was her!" Max told them, turning to face them again. "She was real! The clock may not have been, but it was her!" Billy stared at her, his hands twitching as he didn't want to believe it. 

     "Max?" Steve began to ask. She stared at him, shaking her head. 

     "It was like she was in a trance or something," Dustin said, making them move on from the topic. He didn't even want to entertain the idea. "Exactly what Eddie said happened to Chrissy." 

     "That's not even the bad part," Max said, turning to face all of them. "Follow me." She walked past them to the office again, Billy staying behind as he stared at the wall. Steve noticed him stopping, turning to face him. 

     "Hargrove," he said, making Billy look at him. "Come on." Billy nodded slightly, walking with Steve to the office. Max had the files laid out again, beginning to explain them to everyone. 

     "Fred and Chrissy, they both came to Miss Kelley for help," she started, shoving their files apart. "Uh, they both were having headaches, bad headaches that wouldn't go away. And then... Then the nightmares. 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." 

     "Vecna's curse," Robin said, looking up at her. 

     "Chrissy's headache started a week ago," Max began, her breath shaking. "Fred's, six days ago. I've been having them for five days. I don't know how long I have." Billy looked at her, not knowing she'd been having all this trouble while he was gone. "All I know is that, for Fred and Chrissy, they both died less than 24 hours after their first vision. And I just saw that goddamn clock, so..." She breathed out, holding back a sob. "Looks like I'm gonna die tomorrow." 

     "No, you're not," Billy said quickly. 

     "Billy-"

     "We'll figure it out, Max! You're not dying!" he snapped at her. She sucked in a breath of air, dropping her head. There was a squeak somewhere in the school, all of them looking in the direction of the noise. Billy wiped his mouth, looking at all of them. "Stay here." He started to walk out of the room, then turned and grabbed the lamp from the wall. He walked out, holding it up in defense as he crept towards the noise. The rest of the group walked out after him slowly, being as quiet as possible. The noise got closer, Billy raising the lamp as the person screamed, everyone else screaming as they shined their lights to see Lucas standing there screaming. 

     "It's me! It's me!" he yelled, all of them breathing heavily. 

     "Lucas?!" Nancy asked, pointing her flashlight at him. 

     "Motherfucker, Sinclair!" Billy yelled. "I could have taken you out with this lamp!" 

     "I'm sorry," Lucas panted. "I'm sorry." He breathed heavily, putting his hands on his hips. "Sorry, guys... sorry. I was just-" He gasped. "I was biking for eight miles. Give me a second. Shit. We've got a code red."