Friday Night Movie

Chapter 4

Max started stacking chairs up against the gym doors to hopefully slow Vecna down and maybe buy her a little extra time. She had a giant stack in front of one of the doors and she was going back to grab another chair. But when she turned around, all the chairs she had stacked were gone and instead, it was the front door of the Creel house. It slowly creaked open and Max couldn't breathe. "You can't hide from me, Max." an ominous voice said that could only belong to Vecna. Max looked around and realized what she had to do. She had to go to another happy memory.

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She started thinking of her and El's sleepover that they had after going to the mall. But then she heard Vecna's voice. "You think I don't see everything?" and now instead of the sleepover, she saw her friends. Her friends who were in trouble. Eddie and Dustin fighting off the bats, Robin, Nancy, and Steve being held captive by the vines as they fought for breath, Hopper running away from the demodog. "You thought you could trick me? You thought your friends could stop me? I see them. I see your friends. Just as clearly as I see you. I can feel them. I can feel them dying." Vecna continued. 

Max opened her eyes but she wasn't in Hopper's cabin. She was in the same place she was when she closed her eyes. "It's time, Max." No no no no I am not dying. God no I can't. She heard Dream a Little Dream of Me continue playing only this time it was disturbingly distorted. Max hated the way it sounded. She turned around and frantically looked for any other way out. She was backing up when she heard him. "It's time." was all Vecna said before sending Max flying back, slamming her into the cinder block wall of the gym. Max cried out in pain at the force of the impact. She saw Vecna walking towards her and she knew this might be it. There was nothing else she could do.

"You are brave, Maxine. Much braver than your brother. But in the end, you are weak and fragile just like him. Like all the rest of them. And you will break." Vecna said. And then he raised up his clawed hand that Max had seen once before. She was waiting for Lucas to play her song but nothing. This was it. She was gonna die. But then all of a sudden, Vecna got pulled back by this strong force. 

Max fell to the ground and she tried to catch her breath. She looked up to see what had happened and she did not expect what she saw. Eleven. She had Vecna dangling in the air. El then threw Vecna into some wooden bleachers, knowing it would give them some time. Not much time, but some. She then ran over to Max to make sure she was ok. "Max, are you ok?" El asked sounding extremely worried. All Max could think to say was "Huh?" Max didn't understand how any of this was possible. El repeated her words in the same soft but worried tone, "Are you ok?" Max managed to say yeah before asking further questions. As she felt over El's face, pinching and squeezing it gently, she asked, "Are you... are you real? Di- did I make you?" El grabbed Max's hand and squeezed it tight and said, "I'm real." Max was still dumbfounded and asked how. "I piggybacked from a pizza dough freezer." Ok now that definitely did not make things easier to understand. "What?" Max said. As El was about to explain, they heard wood creaking and El turned around and stepped from behind the streamers. They saw Vecna pulling himself up and cracking his neck. "Stay back." El said.

Max watched from in front of the streamers as El and Vecna walked up to each other. Vecna said something to El but Max wasn't focused on trying to figure out what it was. She was trying to figure out a way to get both her and El out safely. Vecna threw multiple splintered boards at El which she very easily diverted with her powers. But when she turned back, Vecna was already prepared with his next move. He threw El back with his powers and then picked her up and threw her somewhere else. Max watched, horrified, as she saw her best friend be tossed around like some ragdoll. That's why when Vecna had his back turned, Max ran up behind him to try and stab him with one of the splintered pieces of wood. But Vecna sensed her and threw her back into a table knocking her unconscious.

When Max woke up, she was back in Vecna's red soup mind world place. She was being held up and restrained by vines around her wrists and ankles. She looked around and saw Vecna talking to El. Max was scared. She was so scared. She started crying. When Vecna came back over to her, he said, "Don't be afraid. Try and stay very still. It will all be over soon." As he lifted his clawed hand up, El watched in horror. But just as he was about to sink the claws into Max's skull, he stumbled back and doubled over in pain. And that's when Max knew: she wasn't gonna die. Nancy, Robin, and Steve had done it. It was then that she heard Running Up That Hill and that was her cue. She ran like never before towards the portal back to reality. As she was running, the world that was around her started to disappear. And soon she was back. And Lucas was holding her in his arms. 

She was crying. She was crying so much. She was scared but relieved to be back. "They did it." Lucas said. "You're safe now. He's dead." Max realized he was right. She was safe. Lucas and Max sat there for a long time. Lucas told himself he was never gonna let anything hurt Max ever again. He was gonna protect her no matter what.