Into The Vale of Shadows // Max Mayfield

II; xv. just the facts

chapter fifteen
just the facts

     RAVEN SAT FAR from the group, hugging her knees as she watched them interact, yelling over each other trying to connect their small pieces of the story to make an even bigger picture. Raven fiddled with the aglet of her shoelace, head resting on her knees, trying to block out this feeling that kept gnawing on her heart, paving it's way to her core to cause much more havoc within her.

     She stared blankly at the floor tiles, tears forming in her eyes, wiping them away before they could even fall. Raven shook her head, taking a deep breath in to compose herself, she's been doing it for a couple of times now, but nothing seemed to work.

     It was much more dreadful than how she'd expected. She wondered if Max can feel it too, but Max looked well, active amongst the group, acting like nothing happened, and it pained Raven to witness.

     Raven can't seem to understand. Max was giving these signals, she's looking at her the same way Raven does, eyes that were filled with admiration and longing. Maybe that was just Raven seeing things wrong, one that's supposed to be a gesture of friendship, misread as another meaning with much high hopes. Raven felt stupid for assuming such thing, of course it all was nothing like what she thought it was, it was just her making things up, and hoping for it to be the reality.

     And speaking of friendship, the confession she'd made was risking it all. Raven wondered if they were still friends, or Max would ignore her for the rest of their lives, she wished not, she hoped not. But it wasn't far from impossible, it was the one closest reality, and it had feared her.

     "Raven, sweetie," Joyce called, snapping Raven out of her thoughts and have her attention directed to the woman, "You okay?"

     Raven forced a small smile, nodding before she shifted in her seat. "Yeah, yeah . . . Gorgon was just telling me something."

     Do you want me to release some happy chemicals while I make you forget about it? Gorgon asked out of concern, and it made Raven's face light up even the slightest.

     "No, thank you," she whispered.

     "Why don't you come and join us here, sweetie." Joyce gestured to the rest of the group, Raven took a look at them to see everyone looking at her, she met each and every glance in the room, all except Max's.

     "I'll be with you in a bit," she responded. Raven took deep breaths in and out, trying to compose herself before she approached the group, settling beside Robin who was stood with Sid.

     "About time you joined us." Mike rolled his eyes, making Raven huff and cross her arms. Raven bit the inside of her cheeks to help surpass her negative feeling, to keep herself together. "The Mind Flayer is building this monster, here in Hawkins," Mike explained, "Top stop El, to kill her and pave a way into our world. It almost killed her with one tiny piece if it. And to also take Raven and Gorgon."

     "What?!" Raven stood up straight, eyes wide with her arms unclasped. "Me and Gorgon? Take me and Gorgon? Why— why us?"

     "Didn't really tell why," El answered, voice still weak, but there was a sense of strength into her tone.

     "Why didn't you guys tell me?"