back [madwheeler]

chapter five

silence grew louder in the room and max began to feel herself tense up, all the attention was on her, but she didn't want to bring it all up right now, at least not in front of everyone.

after a minute of thinking, the unlikely spoke up, "i'm sorry," el spoke quietly. max looked up shocked, did el just say sorry? max looked at her with wide eyes, shocked that she had apologized, "i-uh-um- thanks?" she replied. she was not expecting el to be the first one to speak up, "but- that... it's not the reason i'm upset," she admitted, clenching her hands, "i couldn't care less about what happened, it's fine, really,"

"then what was it?" lucas asked putting an arm on his friend. max and will looked at each other, she didn't want to say anything right now or start this all late tonight, she would tell them first thing in the morning. not much could change overnight, right?  as will and max silently disputed over what to say, they noticed el was starting at them with wide eyes, as if she knew something. max drew her attention away from the smaller boy when she noticed the expression on the telekinetic girls face, did she know?

the group was then interrupted when a shout was heard, "el time to go home," chief hopper shouted from upstairs. "holy shit it's already nine, we were playing d&d for longer than i thought," mike said looking at his digital watch. the group began to slowly say goodbye, still shocked over what happened. when the boys weren't paying attention, will quickly drew all his attention to max. "you had another episode didn't you?" he whispered to her. max slowly nodded at him, still keeping her attention at her lap. "max you had two-three? episodes today, that's a lot, i went through only that much per every two weeks or a month, we have to say something,"

"tomorrow," she said looking at him, "we can tell everyone tomorrow, with the chief," will nodded then looked at el, "she knows somethings up, go try and talk to her for minute," he said, "do you think she'll talk to me?" max replied almost amused, "again, she already knows somethings up,"

max looked at him who gave her a nod of approval, here goes nothing, she thought standing up. she began to walk over to el who was mid conversation with the boys. will was probably right, she was obviously connected to the upside down somehow if she had the power to close the gate, she must have some sort of sense of what's going on.

when max's presence was noticed, the group turned their attention to the red haired girl. "um-el can we-" max wasn't even half way through her sentence when another call for el was heard from upstairs.

she nodded max to follow her. making their way to the corner of the room el spoke up, "you had a vision," she stated looking at her dead in the eye. yup, well she definitely knew.

"at first i thought it was just dreams, but it was different today," max explained slowly, "there's activity, we have to tell my dad and the boys," el informed her. max nodded, " tomorrow was the plan," she explained.

"this is important, promise me you'll tell them," el said looking at the boys who seemed very interested in their conversation, especially mike. "i don't really have a choice," said an almost amused max. el smiled lightly, "friends don't lie," she stated. (a/n i apologize that was very cringy, ew) and with that, she turned around and waved her final goodbyes, giving mike a little extra.

well then.

el was nice to her.

the upside down dreams are serious.

el talked to her.

well

fucking

then.

as the kids regrouped the boys quickly began interrogating max again, "el talked to you," dustin said shocked, "what were you guys talking about?" lucas butted in, "guys-" will tried interrupting when mike cut in, "why aren't we talking about what happened the fucking bathroom-"