FAMILIAR ↳ STEVE HARRINGTON

seventy.

Christine Wheeler walked towards the tent that was pitched in the corner of the cemetery, her heartbeat accelerating as she felt the incessant urge to just go home. Christine was not someone who took death very well, the mere thought of someone close to her dying scared the life out of her. Her most rational fear that she could place was something so inevitable and common that it couldn't even be considered a fear, more like an existential dread.

Attached to her was Steve Harrington, the boy not a big fan of funerals either, remembering his grandfathers where he saw his dad cry for the first time, one of his first shows of vulnerability. But Steve would do anything for Christine, and he cared about Max. There was no body, the family deciding to have the procession at the gravesite where they would show his headstone. There was something so unsettling about a funeral without a body, paying respects to someone who wasn't even present.

Christine took the dreaded step into Max Mayfields eye line, the red headed girls face changing from sad to somewhat relieved. Something about bearing the weight of this loss on her own was quite hard to picture for her. Christine gave her a soft smile, her hand lifting the slightest bit to give her a wave. Max gave her a small one back, managing a smile on her lips that had been forced into a frown all day. Christine made her way over to the girl with Steve, the boy giving Max an apologetic look as she saw him too. She still felt thankful that they were there, none of the rest of the group had showed up. The only people that had showed up were Max and her mom, and Billy's dad, the preacher, and now Christine and Steve. Billy wasn't a big figure in the town like the men from the newspaper or Jim Hopper, he didn't mean much to many, and no one knew what he did for the town in his final moments. Nobody knew about his sacrifice, his attempt to make what he had been forced to do...right. Max hadn't expected anyone to show up, Lucas , Mike, Will, El, and Dustin hated Billy. Why would they come to his funeral?

"Max I-" Before Christine could fully speak the speaker clicked on with music, somber and chilling music that really set the mood. Max gave Christine her own apologetic smile, turning away from her and towards the preacher who was beginning to speak. Christine stood to her side, Steve wrapping his arm around her shoulders to show that he was there. He felt a hint of disappointment in him at the fact that no one else had showed up, none of the other kids. It hurt even him, so he couldn't imagine how Max was feeling right now.

Throughout the service Steve kept his eyes glued to the ground, only lifting them every few minutes to look at Max and Christine. Max was holding a stoic look, something like anger hidden behind her eyes, resentment. And Christine was unreadable, the girls eyes stuck on the headstone that read William Hargrove.

Max felt a tear come to her eye during the prayer, a sniffle breaking loose from her cold and detached demeanor. This was Billy, he was not a good person, but he was her brother, and the guilt inside of her was eating her alive. She had wanted this, she had dreamed of this for a long time, so why was there no satisfaction?

Christine heard the sniffle, her eyes opening at the sound. She saw the single tear drop down Max's face, the younger girl too quick to wipe it away. Christine caught her hand on the way down, knitting their fingers together and giving them a squeeze. Max looked up at the girl who had reclosed her eyes, the younger girl not feeling quite so alone for the first time all week. She looked past Christine to Steve, who was there, who had actually showed up, a man who hated Billy with his entirety. She knew that he wasn't there for Billy but that he was there for Max, and for the second time in days she didn't feel so alone again. Maybe nobody else would show up, maybe no one else would care because Max's problems were easily lost to the great big drama of everything else that goes on but it was a relief to know that at least  somebody would care. At least somebody cared.