like i can \/ nancy wheeler

xxi. running up that hill

"if i only could, i'd make a deal with god."
ˏˋ°•*⁀➷

"WHERE DID YOU SEE THE CLOCK?" asked Cassie, putting a hand on Max's shoulder as they headed down the hallway. The girls had arrived a few minutes after Max's revelation about seeing a clock in the wall.

She turned around a corner, heading into a dead end. "It was here. Right here." she shone her flashlight onto the wall. It was intact— there was no clock cracking the wall down the middle.

"A grandfather clock?" Nancy repeated what Max had told them earlier. Since they'd left the office, Nancy's hand had secretively remained intertwined with Colby's.

"It was so real." Max choked out, staring at the wall as if the imaginary clock was still there. "And then, when I got closer, suddenly I just... I woke up."

"You never even walked down the hallway." nodded Colby, meeting her eyes when she turned around. "It was like she was in a trance or something."

"Exactly what Eddie said happened to Chrissy." said Dustin in a quiet undertone, looking at the group— excluding Max. Josh muttered something under his breath, cursing Dustin out.

But then Max turned around. Her blue eyes were wide and her hands were shaking. The flashlight reflected off the shiny floor and up to the ceiling, showcasing the tiles that were slowly crumbling apart. Even when Colby was a freshman, some of them were broken.

"That's not even the bad part." she whispered shakily, and everyone looked at each other, concerned. She led them back into the office so she could read through the files again, along with handing them off to each of the other group members.

"Fred and Chrissy, they both came to Miss Kelley for help." she began. "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." mumbled Robin. She glanced over at Josh, whose eyes were wide. He looked terrified.

"Chrissy's headache started a week ago." continued Max, her saddened eyes meeting everyone else's. "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 that goddamn clock, so... looks like I'm gonna die tomorrow."

"That's bullshit!" shouted Josh angrily, dropping the file back on the table. His hands were shaking just as bad as Max's had been. There was a loud noise off in the distance, and Steve and Colby looked at each other fearfully.