𝑵𝒐𝒕 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖. || M. Mayfield ||

Chapter 25: Papa

"Y/n? You awake?" I hear Max asking, while tapping my arm, before I open my eyes, "Yeah, yep, do you need anything? If you're hungry we could-" I sit up, facing her, as she interrupts me.

"It's not that, I was just thinking of how Vecna uses my memories against me, but.. only my darkest memories." she says, as I furrow my eyebrows.

"Same with Chrissy and Fred, right?" she asks, as I nod, trying to understand where this was going.

"It's like he only sees the darkness in us. So, I thought I could just run in the opposite direction, run to the light, and maybe he won't be able to find me there," she says, glancing every now and then to the windows.

"And how would you do this, like, how would you find the light? Do you know?" I ask in confusion, while staring at her.

"I'm not sure. But it's my mind, not his, right?" she asks again, looking in my eyes, as I nod, "Yeah, I mean, normally that's how he attacks," I answer.

"So I should be able to control where I am. I just need to... push him away, find a happy memory and hide there, hide in the light," she explains.

"And you have a precise memory you could think of?" I ask, as she nods before smiling, "Yeah, it was a time when I was the happiest," she says, as I smile back at her.

"Ooh, I bet I was there, right? Am I right?" I say, leaning forward with a smile, as she looks at her right with a chuckle.

"That's really presumptuous of you," she smiles, looking back at me, "But yeah. Maybe you have been there," she says, as I sit closer to her.

"The moment you start to lift, I'm summoning Kate Bush, alright? I'll not waste a second," I say seriously, as she chuckles, "Okay, deal,"

"Deal," I say, putting my hand forward, with a smile, as she grabs my hand shaking it, while we both smiled, before I pull her in a hug as she chuckles.

"I love you, like, a lot," i whisper before kissing her cheek, as she smiles widely with her arms wrapped around my neck, "You don't know how much you make me happy, I'm so thankful for having you," she says, as I smile before we pull away.

"Whatever happens, I will not let you die, I promise," I say as she smiles, "Isn't this the second time you told me this?" she asks, getting closer to my face.

"Maybe," I answer before closing the gap between us with a slight peck on her lips.

"So much for avoiding angry hicks," Robin comments as we enter the shop full of people.

"Let's be... fast," Nancy says as we all agree, "We should," I say, looking around, as Robin nods, "Yep,"

"Definitely," Erica says while walking away, before we get in separate paths.

"How many of these do you think we need?" Robin asks, holding a fuel can before putting it in the cart.

"Maybe six," I say, grabbing other cans and putting them in the cart, as she does the same before stopping and staring in front of her.

"Hey, what's wrong?" I ask her, before following her gaze and noticing Vickie, "Ooh, go talk to her," I say, as she keeps staring at her.

"What are you gonna do? Stand and gawk?" Steve joins, trying to encourage her too.

"You both shut up," she says, not detaching her sight from the other girl, before stepping forward.

"Ah!" I guy shouts, grabbing Vickie shoulders from behind as she yelps, while Robin steps backwards hesitantly.

We watch Vickie turning around to the boy, as me and Steve glance at each other, feeling bad for Robin.

The other two start kissing, while Robin looked at them in disappointment, as I put my hand on her shoulder, "Come on, Robin," I say, trying to pull her somewhere else to distract her from them.

Then Vickie looks towards our direction, Robin quickly run away, as me and my brother call for her, "Robin! Robin!" I sadly look at Steve before following Robin's tracks, just to get lost in the crowd of people, not seeing her anywhere.

"Ugh, shit," I mumble while looking around, before noticing Jason holding Nancy's shotgun while they glared at each other.

"Oh, hell. Not now," I say in disbelief, before rapidly walking up to Nancy.

"Let go." I hear Nancy sternly saying, as he doesn't let go of the shotgun while I approach them, before tightly grabbing his wrist.

He loosens his grip, as they both look at me in surprise, "Harrington, what are you doing here?" he asks, putting down his hand as I let go of him.

"This doesn't concerns you." I say as he stares at me with his red eyes, holding a gun, while Nancy stays silent beside me.

"Since when do you hang out with Nancy?" he asks again as I glare down at him, "Are you deaf? I said this doesn't concerns you." I repeat, while Nancy quietly taps my arm as I glance at her before looking back at the guy, noticing the obvious tension in the air.

"They were right, you're only friendly with the people you like. Like with that Max girl, huh?" he says, as he starts getting on my nerves, while I step forward, "What about her?" I ask, glaring right in his eyes as angriness filled my body.

Just as he opens his mouth, Nancy cuts him, "We should leave now," she says, pulling my arm back while sending me a fake smile, hoping I would take the hint.

I glance at her and glare back at him, before walking away with a frown as she follows me, "Tell the others we'll leave," she whispers as I nod before she walks away.

I notice Max, as I quickly walk to her,
"What happened?" she asks in confusion, looking at me, noticing my expression.

"It's Jason, we have to leave," I briefly explain as she nods, letting her rapidly walking in front of me, while I cautiously look back, checking if someone could be following us.

We get outside of the shop, meeting the others, "Let's go!" Steve says, as we run behind the shop to the camper, after I grabbed some bags from them.

Steve quickly opens the van's door, "We gotta go," he tells Eddie, Lucas and Dustin who stayed in the vehicle.

"Your old friends are here," Erica says, she says, as Robin follows her.

"Shit,"

"Let's go! Let's go!" Dustin shouts, as I enter the van after Nancy and Max, and I close the door behind me.

"I'm going! I'm going! Sit down!" Steve shouts, as we all sit in our previous seats before he accelerates, leaving the shop.