Forever [Max Mayfield X Reader]

Chapter 3: The Case of the Missing Lifeguard

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July, 1, 1985.

We are walking towards Max's house. "It's gonna start pouring soon. We should be at the mall or, like, watching a movie or something." Max said. "You don't believe me?" El asks. "I believe you saw some super weird stuff, totally." Max reply. I looked at my left wrist, and the vein change into black again. Recently the veins on my wrists was changing to shade of black, and the black shade kind of spread a little on your vein, but I didn't think as a big of a deal, because it would just go back to normal again, it always does. "What happend to your wrist? Why is it black?" El asks. I looked at her. "Oh, it's nothing. Don't worry about it." They looked at me with a worried look. "Seriously, it's fine." I said. "Anyway, you said Mike has sensed you in there before, right?" Max said. El nodded as a response. "So maybe it was just like that. Maybe Billy just... sensed you somehow." Max said. "But the screams." El said. "Yeah, I know, but here's the thing... When Billy is alone with a girl, they make, like, really crazy noises." Max explained. "They scream?" El asks. "Yeah, but, like... happy screams." I said. "Happy screams? What is happy screams?" El asks. "It's like, when a girl and a boy really like eachother and they have--" I cut off Max. "Max! No, stop!" I said. "I'm-- I'm just gonna lend you my mom's Cosmo." Max said, and we finally arrived at Max's house, and noticed Billy's car is gone. "He's car's gone." Max said. Max looks at El. "You really wanna do this?" Max asks.  El nods.

We come inside the house and walk towards Billy's room, we open the door and we entered the room. "Why do I get the feeling we're gonna find all kinds of wrong in here?" Max said. "'Cause we are." I reply. We looked around the room, and Max opens his bedside drawer, and found some... magazines. "Ugh! Gag me with a spoon." Max said.

We went inside Billy's bathroom, and looked around. El and I found a bath tub, full of empty ice bags. "Max?" El said. Max came towards the bath tub, and looked. "Ice. It's just ice. It's probably for his muscles or something. He works out like a maniac." Max says, and grabbed one of the bags. "Yeah, it's kind of suspicious." I said. "What? How?" Max asks, and looked at me with a confused face. "The mind flayer... He like it cold." I replied "It's probably just nothing." Max said. El turned around, and looked at the cabinet under the sink, one of the handle was covered in blood. El opens the cabinet and finds a trash can. She grabs the trash can and placed it on the sink. El was speechless. "El, what is it?" I ask. El grabs a lifeguard fanny pack from the trash can. She places the fanny pack on the counter, and she grabs a yellow whistle that was covered in blood from the trash can. She turns to us, with a trembling breath.

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We're at the Hawkins public pool. We're walking towards the counter. "Excuse me." Max said. "No one in the water until 30 minutes after the last srike. And don't try and argue with me. You wanna get electrocuted, go climb a tree." The manager said. "Yeah, we don't care. We're not here to swim." I reply. "Or get electrocuted." Max said. "We found this." El said, and pulls out the fanny pack we found earlier, and shows it to the manager. The manager looked at us. "Does that belong to anybody here?" Max asks. "Oh  yeah. That's Heather's. I'll get it back to her." The manager replied. "We could give it back to her." El said. "You could. 'Cept she's not here. Bauled on me today." The manager replied, and get back the reading. We looked at eachother. The manager looks at us again. "What is this? You girls want a reward or something?" The manager said. "No. We're just... Good Samaritans." Max replied. I turned around, and saw a board that says. 'MEET YOUR '85 SWIM SEASON LIFEGUARDS'  wall. And there was a picture of Heather. "Hey, look." I said, and pointed at the wall. We walk towards it. "Heather." I said. "Do you think you can find her?" Max asks El. El snatches the picture of Heather off the wall.
We went straight to the shower room and turned on every shower. Once we're done, El sat down on the floor, and Max and I sat on the bench. El puts on the goggles that she covered with duct tape, and we put Heather's picture infront of El.
El started finding her.

"What do you see?" I ask El.
"A door. A red door." El replied.

A few moments later. El took off the goggle and started gasping. "What happend? El!" Max asks. "El, what happend?" I ask. We're rubbing her back to calm her down. She was panting.

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We arrived at the house that El kept saying. "Is this it?" Max asks. El nods. We left our bikes on the street, and walks towards the house. We ring the doorbell a few times, but they didn't hear us, so, El used her powers to unlock the door. The door slowly creaks. We entered the house. And walk the hallway. We look at the pictures that was in the hallway. It was Heather's house. "This is her house." I whispered. "What?" El whispered. "Heather's house." I reply. Then we heard a woman laughing at the dining room. We walk towards the room, where the voices are coming from.

We went to the dining room, and saw the woman and man that was in the picture earlier in the hallway. And we saw Billy.
They all started at us. "Max." Billy said. "We didn't mean to... barge in." Max said. "We tried to knock, but... maybe you didn't hear us over the storm." I said. "I'm sorry, who's dripping all over my living room right now?" The man asks Billy. Billy chuckles. "I'm sorry. Janet, Tom, this... is my sister Maxine, and her friend Julia." Billy replied Tom. Billy stands up and walks towards us. "Oh!" The woman said. "What on earth are you doing here? Is something wrong?" Billy asks Max. I was confused. Why is he being nice? "We just wanted to make sure everything was okay." Max replied. "Okay? Why wouldn't it be okay?" Billy asks. "Where is she?" El asks, in a stern voice. Billy looks at El. "I'm sorry. Where is who?" Billy asks El. Then suddenly a woman came in to thi dining room. It was Heather. "Well, they're a little burnt, I'm sorry--" Heather got cut off by looking at us. "Heather! This is my sister Maxine and her friend Julia!" Billy introduces us. Billy looks at El. "And, I'm sorry, I did not quite catch your name." Billy told El. "El." El replied. "El. Now, what is it you were saying, El? You were looking for somebody?" Billy asks El. El looks at Heather. "I-- I saw... -I saw you--" El got cut off by Max. "Your manager. At the pool. He said you guys didn't come in to work today, so we got worried." Max said. "Heather wasn't feeling so hot today, so we thought we'd take the day off to nurse her back to health." Billy replied. Billy looks at Heather. "But you're feeling just fine right now, aren't you Heather?" Billy asks Heather. "I' feeling so much better." Heather replied. Billy looks at us again. "Do you girls want a cookie? They're fresh out of the oven." Heather asks us. "Actually... we have to go." I said, and we started to go back to the front door. "Are you guys sure you don't want to stay?" Heather asks us. "Uh... no. We have to... uhh.... nevermind. Bye!" I said. "Oh, I'll walk you guys to the door." Billy said, and followed us to the door. We walk towards out bike. I pull my raincoats sleeve and looked at my wrist. It was black again. But of course I ignored it. I looked back to see Billy. He was staring at us... that's weird. We grab our bike and started to bike to Max's house.

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Thats the end of s3 chapter 3