Byler- The Unwanted Return of Everything (And How It Finally Ends)

The Feeling of Life

The man stared at her. "You mean all the devil stuff with the earthquake and everything?" The devil stuff? Earthquake? Max had no idea.

"Yeah, that." She figured he had to be referring to the same thing as she was. "When exactly did all that end?"

The man thought about it. "Hmmm... I think it'd have to be... nineteen-eighty-eight." Three years ago. That was quite a while.

"Okay," said Max. "Thank you. I just had to..." Max trailed off as her mouth opened in surprise. She watched as a familiar face exited a car in the parking lot. "I've gotta go," Max said to the man. She hid on the side of the building and watched El go inside. Well, at least I know she's still alive.

Max approached El's car slowly. She couldn't let her see that she was there since Max was still trying to figure out what was going on. She needed the entire group. El, Lucas, Will, Dustin, and even Mike. And if Max's intuition was right, everyone was probably off at college somewhere and she had no idea how to contact them.

In a split second, she devised a plan. Was it a good plan? She couldn't be sure of that, but she really hoped it would work out.

Phase one, she tugged on the handle to the backseat of El's car. To Max's satisfaction, it opened. She knew El wasn't all that good at keeping doors locked. So far, so good.

Max crawled inside the car, looking for a piece of paper and pencil. She looked through music tapes, tissues, trash, and other stuff that was randomly thrown around in the backseat. Luckily, she spied a sparkling pink pen. She grabbed it as well as a napkin and started to write out her note.

El-

The Upside Down is back. Don't worry, I'm an old friend, here to help. I can't give you any more information right now. Please write the contact information of Lucas Sinclair, Mike Wheeler, Will Byers, and Dustin Henderson on this napkin (as well as your own) and place it at your front door.

Thank you!

-M

Max decided to give her the 'M'. She wouldn't reveal her entire identity right away, but the 'M' seemed appropriate, so as to not make it seem so mysterious and scary. Max hoped El wouldn't read the note and immediately throw it away. If she did, Max would simply have to reveal that she was alive, which she wanted to wait for until everyone was here, in the same spot. It just made more sense to her. The plan was going great.

The knock at the window nearly gave Max a heart attack. She turned and gasped. El was staring back at her, wide-eyed. Plan failed. Maybe this would be easier anyway.

El opened the door, seemingly in shock. "Max?"

Max waved. "Hi?"

El's face crumpled as she pulled Max out of the back of her car and embraced her. "Oh my god, aren't you dead?"

Max laughed. "Apparently not, huh? I mean, I'm standing here right now."

El grabbed her shoulders, looking into her eyes with intensity. "How? How'd you get here?"

"I- I woke up in the Upside Down and crawled through a gate in the woods. Some guy told me the Upside Down problem was fixed three years ago, but it's back now, El."

El cringed. "Jane, please. I'm not Eleven anymore."

Jane. Her real name. Max would have to get used to that. "Sorry. Jane." Max shook Jane's shoulders. "What're we gonna do?"

Jane shook her head. "I don't know. I mean, are there any immediate threats?"

"I don't think so, but I bet there's some on the way. Nothing good happens when there's an Upside Down gate involved. Something could come through at any moment."

"Yeah, I feel like we need backup, however great of a team we are." Jane smiled, Max had missed her so much. She almost remembered Jane looking for her. Reaching out to her in her mind, Max could never reach back. She was reaching now, and she'd finally got to her.

"I was thinking the guys," Max said. "Are they at college?"

Jane nodded. "Yes. I'm at college too! Community college!" Jane put her hands on her hips, proud of her accomplishment.

"That's awesome!" Max said. She looked around. "You think we could get all the guys to come back to Hawkins? We should call them."

Jane thought. "I mean, I don't know if they'd really wanna deal with this stuff again."

She had a point. If Max was in their situation, she'd probably have a hard time wanting to come back. "Fine. How about this? We don't tell them what's going on. I make the call, to make it super mysterious, and then once they're all here, we spring the conflict on them."

Jane tilted her head. "Sounds mean."

"But it'll work." Max punched her friend's arm. "Come on. It'll be fine."

Jane sighed. "Fine. Get in the car." She paused. "Front seat this time. I can't believe you broke into my car!"

"I can't believe you left the doors unlocked!"

The two friends drove home, Jane catching Max up on recent events. Lucas and Dustin were going to the University of Indiana together. Lucas still played basketball. Mike was going to Harvard, but he didn't talk to anyone much anymore and nobody really knew why. Jane and him had broken up after the whole Upside Down thing ended. Will was off at college in California, and he had a boyfriend now, which was not as surprising as Jane had expected it to be to Max. Max had always kinda guessed Will liked guys.

Jane drove down another street. She kept her eyes on the road as she spoke, careful. Apparently, she'd only gotten her license a couple of months ago, and she was very determined to keep it.

"Why are you wearing sunglasses?"

Max laughed at the question. "You might wanna pull over before I show you. I don't want you to crash."

Jane raised an eyebrow. "It's gonna make me crash?"

"Out of surprise, you know?"

"Oh, yeah." Jane pulled over and turned to Max. "Show me!"

"Okay, get ready," Max said. She pulled off her glasses. "Boo!"

Jane's eyes widened. "Oh my god! Can you see? How are you seeing me right now? You don't have any eyes!"

Max shrugged. "I'm not actually sure, but isn't it creepy? I feel like a zombie or something."

Jane laughed. "You are a zombie! You're dead!"

Max wasn't sure. She didn't feel dead anymore. She'd felt dead when she woke up, but now she felt very much alive. And ready to take on the world. She couldn't wait to get everyone back together.