"if i only could, i'd make a deal with god."
ˏˋ°•*⁀➷
"WHERE DID YOU SEE THE CLOCK?" asked Cassie, putting a hand on Max's shoulder as they headed down the hallway. The girls had arrived a few minutes after Max's revelation about seeing a clock in the wall.
She turned around a corner, heading into a dead end. "It was here. Right here." she shone her flashlight onto the wall. It was intact— there was no clock cracking the wall down the middle.
"A grandfather clock?" Nancy repeated what Max had told them earlier. Since they'd left the office, Nancy's hand had secretively remained intertwined with Colby's.
"It was so real." Max choked out, staring at the wall as if the imaginary clock was still there. "And then, when I got closer, suddenly I just... I woke up."
"You never even walked down the hallway." nodded Colby, meeting her eyes when she turned around. "It was like she was in a trance or something."
"Exactly what Eddie said happened to Chrissy." said Dustin in a quiet undertone, looking at the group— excluding Max. Josh muttered something under his breath, cursing Dustin out.
But then Max turned around. Her blue eyes were wide and her hands were shaking. The flashlight reflected off the shiny floor and up to the ceiling, showcasing the tiles that were slowly crumbling apart. Even when Colby was a freshman, some of them were broken.
"That's not even the bad part." she whispered shakily, and everyone looked at each other, concerned. She led them back into the office so she could read through the files again, along with handing them off to each of the other group members.
"Fred and Chrissy, they both came to Miss Kelley for help." she began. "Uh, they both were having headaches, bad headaches that wouldn't go away. And then... Then the nightmares. Trouble sleeping. They'd wake up in a cold sweat. Then they started seeing things. Bad things. From their pasts. These visions, they just... They kept on getting worse and worse, until eventually... Everything ended."
"Vecna's curse." mumbled Robin. She glanced over at Josh, whose eyes were wide. He looked terrified.
"Chrissy's headache started a week ago." continued Max, her saddened eyes meeting everyone else's. "Fred's, six days ago. I've been having them for five days. I don't know how long I have. All I know is that, for Fred and Chrissy, they both died less than 24 hours after their first vision. And I just saw that goddamn clock, so... looks like I'm gonna die tomorrow."
"That's bullshit!" shouted Josh angrily, dropping the file back on the table. His hands were shaking just as bad as Max's had been. There was a loud noise off in the distance, and Steve and Colby looked at each other fearfully.
"Stay here." said Steve quietly, pulling Colby along with him. Steve grabbed a lamp while Colby grabbed the phone off the wall, ripping it off the cord. They could blame the robbery on someone else.
They crept down the hallway, and, disobeying the boys' command, the rest of the group followed them. Colby froze as he heard another loud noise, and then footsteps racing towards them. A boy rounded the corner and everyone jumped back, screaming in terror. Colby pointed the flashlight at him, revealing none other than Lucas Sinclair.
"It's me!" shouted Lucas, holding his hands out in front of him.
"Lucas?" said Nancy, leaning forward.
"It's me."
"Jesus, what's wrong with you?" panted Colby, dropping the phone and putting his hands on his knees.
"I'm sorry." apologized Lucas, panting as well.
"I could've taken you out with this lamp!" shrieked Steve, shaking the lamp in his hands before dropping it on the floor.
"Sorry, guys." Lucas held out a hand, running a hand over his face with his free hand. "Sorry. I was... I was biking for eight miles. Give me a second... shit... We've got a code red."
"What?" Steve shook his head, looking over at Colby, who looked back at him blankly.
"Dustin." breathed out Lucas, approaching the boys standing beside one another. "I've been with Jason, Patrick, and Andy, and they've gone totally off the rails. They're trying to capture Eddie, and they think you know where he is. You're in terrible danger."
"Alright." stammered Dustin, leaning back to avoid Lucas' spit. "Yeah, that definitely sucks, but we've got bigger problems than Jason now."
Lucas looked around, furrowing his brows together, following Josh's gaze back to Max. She looked down at the ground.
˗ˏˋ 'ˎ˗
"Okay, be honest. Uh... You guys understand any of this?" Steve was staring down at the copy of Weekly Watcher that was in his hands. Each boy was given one.
Colby shook his head. "Not much of it."
"No." Lucas shook his head. Josh, who was sitting beside him, hadn't bothered to look down at the paper at all. His eyes were trained on Max.
"Pretty straightforward." shrugged Dustin casually.
"Oh, straightforward, really?" Steve narrowed his eyes at Dustin, putting his hands on his hips and crumpling the paper in the process.
"What's confusing to you?" Dustin leaned forward, putting his hands on his knees. "So far, everyone Vecna has cursed has died, except for this old Victor Creel dude Nancy found. He's the only known survivor. If anyone knows how to beat this curse, it's him."
"That's assuming he was cursed, which we don't even know." Colby mumbled, looking down at the paper. "How can Vecna have existed in the '50s? It doesn't make sense. I thought El created the Upside Down?"
"Far as we know, Eleven didn't create the Upside Down." corrected Dustin, and Colby opened his mouth, as if to silently say that he was coming to a realization. "She opened a gate to it. The Upside Down has probably been around for thousands of years. Millions. I wouldn't be surprised if it predated the dinosaurs."
"Dinosaurs?" echoed Steve, rubbing his head. "What are we..."
"Okay." Lucas waved a hand at them. "But if a gate didn't exist in the '50s, how did Vecna get through?
"How's he getting through now?" added Colby, scanning his eyes across the paper again.
"And why now?"
"And why then?" Steve pointed at Lucas and Colby. "Just pops out in the '50s, kills one family, and he's like, 'I'm good.' And bam, he just disappears. Just... gone?" Steve waved his hand away from him. "Only to return 30 years later and start killing random teens? No, I don't buy it." he sighed, scoffing. "Straightforward, my ass. Honestly, Henderson, a little humility now and then, it wouldn't hurt you."
"Sorry." Dustin rolled his eyes, watching as Steve sat in front of them. Then his eyes trailed over to Max, who was in the corner. "Any idea what she's writing? Did she sleep?"
"I mean, would you?" whispered Josh, as if afraid she would hear him. He looked exhausted, as if he hadn't slept, either.
The door opened, scaring everyone in the basement and making them look up. They'd slept over the Wheelers, and although Mrs. Wheeler was slightly suspicious of the group coming into her house, she allowed them in.
"Okay, so... we have a plan." Nancy beamed, stealing a glimpse at a confident Cassie and Robin. They sat down, handing résumés out to each boy.
"Thanks to Nancy's minions," said Robin, pointing down at the résumé she was holding, "we are now rock-star psychology students at the University of Notre Dame."
"I'm now Ruth." Nancy pointed to herself.
"I'm Ruby." Cassie winked at Steve, who had his jaw dropped in amusement.
"And I'm Rose." finished Robin, looking disgusted by the name.
"Ruth?" Colby raised a brow at Nancy, who grinned and tilted her head.
"Nice GPA." whistled Dustin. Colby glanced down. It was a 3.9. Colby looked back up, rolling his eyes at Nancy's prideful smirk. It was a tenth of a point higher than his.
"Thanks." she gushed, smiling at the boy. "So we called Pennhurst Asylum, told them we'd like to speak with Creel for a thesis we're co-writing on paranoid schizophrenics..."
"To which they said no." finished Robin, leaning up against the wall.
"But we landed a three o'clock with the director. Now all we have to do is charm him and convince him to let us talk to Victor." added in Cassie, flipping through her own résumé.
"Then maybe we can rid Max of this curse." Nancy said, lowering her voice and being mindful of the girl writing.
"Yeah." Steve cleared his throat uneasily. "About that. We've been doing our Victor Creel homework, and, uh... we got some questions."
"Lots of questions." added Lucas.
"So do we." Nancy said. "Hopefully, Victor has the answers."
"Wait... Wait... Wait a second. Uh... Where's mine?" Steve looked up after sifting through the résumés. "And Colby's? Where are ours?"
"You guys aren't coming." scoffed Robin dismissively, rolling her eyes at the two boys that wanted to spend time with the girls they liked.
"Wait, not even I'm coming?" Colby pointed at his chest. "I can understand why Steve didn't make the cut, but me?"
Everyone knew Colby was a genius. That was easy enough to gather. Maybe he didn't wear glasses or spend his entire day with his face buried in a book, but Colby was a total nerd.
"I'll get us some outfits," Nancy smiled at the other girls, rushing up to her bedroom. It wasn't long before Colby got up and stormed after her.
"Nancy, you're out of your mind if you think I'm babysitting again." he argued as she opened the door to her bedroom. He shut it behind him.
"First, they're not babies anymore." Nancy jabbed a finger towards Colby, who backed up. "And Max is in real danger. She needs people around her."
"Yeah, yeah. But there's Steve." Colby pointed to the other side of the door. "Steve is the designated babysitter, and I know it makes him mad, but," he dropped the volume of his voice, "you'd rather spend time with my sister than me?"
"Oh, shut up." Nancy pushed him away, seeing how close he'd gotten. "I shouldn't have told you, and speaking of, you never gave me a response, so the fact that you're teasing me about it is-"
The door burst open and Robin and Steve entered the room. Robin gasped, immediately rushing over to Nancy's bedside.
"Oh my God, you have a Tom Cruise poster." she gushed, staring at the poster excitedly, before turning around at Nancy. "You have a Tom Cruise poster."
"That's old. It's just..." Nancy continued to scavenge around in her closet. "Can you please not touch anything? Where's Cassie, I need her to babysit you or something..."
"She's downstairs, keeping an eye on Max." shrugged Robin, looking through Nancy's music tapes.
"I can't do anything here, Nance." Steve whined, continuing the argument that Colby had started. Nancy groaned. "Maybe I can be helpful with this asylum director dude. I don't know. I could turn on my... my charm."
"Not the charm we need." Nancy knew exactly what kind of charm he was talking about— Steve's charm (or lack thereof) was flirting. He couldn't use that on a doctor.
"Ouch." winced Steve, putting a hand over his heart as he fell into Colby, who pushed him away.
"No, I just... I did a little digging last night..." While Nancy spoke, Colby watched Robin play with a music box, "and it turns out this Dr. Hatch is a distinguished fellow of the American Psychiatric Association," Robin began winding up the music box, "and a Harvard visiting scholar, okay? This is a lifelong student of the world. If we're gonna win him over," Robin opened the music box and soft music began playing, "we're gonna have to convince him we are too. That, like him... we are true academic scholars."
"Holy shit." Robin held out the music box for everyone to see, grinning. "There's a little ballerina in here!" she bit her lip, trying to contain her excitement.
"Academic scholar?" Steve raised his brows at Nancy sarcastically. "She's giving you an academic scholar vibe?"
"Steve, you can't be talking." laughed Colby, ruffling Steve's hair until Steve slapped his hand away.
"Yeah." Nancy squeezed her eyes shut. "No, but... she will." She held out a dress towards Robin.
"Oh, please, tell me you're joking." whimpered Robin, who was clearly terrified. The dress was anything but her style.
Robin, Cassie, and Nancy left not long after, Robin complaining endlessly about how uncomfortable she was in the dress. Nancy ignored her, although Cassie looked on edge, too. She usually liked to dress casually.
"I know you guys are staring at me." said Max without turning around. She wasn't wrong— all of the boys were staring holes into the back of her head. Especially Josh, who hadn't taken his eyes off of her in hours.
"What, sorry?" the boys all looked away, coming up with excuses.
"You said you needed something?" Josh said, almost standing up, before Lucas grabbed his arm and pulled him back down.
"Just hanging out." squeaked out Dustin with a high-pitched voice.
"How you think your eyes boring into the back of my head is protecting me from Vecna, I don't know." she muttered, before standing up and walking over to them with a handful of envelopes. They kept their eyes on the ground. "You can look at me now."
"Thank you." whispered Dustin, looking back up at the redheaded girl.
"Sorry. Sorry. Sorry." chanted Colby under his breath.
"For you." she handed an envelope to Dustin. "For you." she handed a letter to Steve. "This one is for you." she shoved an envelope onto Colby's hands. "You." she lightly placed one in Lucas' hands. "And, um, you." she hesitantly gave one to Josh, who looked up at her with pleading eyes. "Oh, and, um, give these to Mike, El, and Will. If you can ever get ahold of them again." she handed the rest of the stack off to Josh as well.
"What are you doing?" she demanded, looking at Dustin, who was starting to tear his envelope open. "No, don't. That's not for now. Don't open it now."
"Don't..." he trailed off, placing it in his lap. "Okay. I'm sorry. What is this?"
"It's, um... It's a fail-safe. For after. If things don't work out."
"Wait, whoa. Max, things are gonna work out." Josh assured her, fumbling with his letter, flipping it in between his fingers nervously.
"No!" she shouted, and he jumped back. "No, I don't need you to reassure me and tell me it's all gonna work out. People have been telling me that my entire life and it's almost never true. It's never true. I mean, of course this asshоlе curses me. Should've seen that one coming."
She walked over to the table, looking at Dustin's radio, which was laying down on the table. "If we go to East Hawkins, will this reach Pennhurst?"
"Of course. Yeah." he nodded assuringly.
"Why are we talking about East Hawkins?" asked Steve, before a look of realization crossed his face. "No. No. No!"
"Max, Max. Seriously. Seriously, I'm not joking. I'm not driving you anywhere." Max, right after Steve had said no, stormed out of the house and to his car. She would've driven herself there if she could get away fast enough, but Steve had caught up to her.
"If you think I'm going to spend what is likely the last day of my life in the armpit that is Mike Wheeler's basement, you're out of your mind." she growled, still heading towards the car. "Either take me where I need to go or tie me down, which is technically kidnapping of a minor." she stopped, glaring at Steve. "And if I live to see another day, Steve, I swear to God, I will prosecute." She reached for the door handle, but the car was locked. "Open the door."
"Uh, no." scoffed Steve, shaking his head.
"I know a good lawyer." she said seriously, staring Steve down.
Steve signed, rolling his eyes, before finally relenting. "Henderson, that super walkie of yours better reach Pennhurst."
They got into the car.
˗ˏˋ 'ˎ˗
"This better be fast, Mayfield." said Steve strictly when they arrived at Max's house. She lived across the street from Eddie, just like she said.
"Twenty seconds." she said under her breath as she got out of the car.
"That thing's got batteries in it, right?" Steve turned around in his seat, looking at Dustin, who was crushed in between the window and Lucas
"I'm not even answering that question." Dustin looked out the window. A few seconds later, he added, "Yes, it has batteries."
"Yeah, I got it." Steve waved him off, muttering under his breath.
"She's crazy, right?" Josh spoke up, sounding frantic. "She's a lunatic! She's not going to die. She's probably imagining it. She... she thought she was in a trance. She just zoned out. She got scared."
"Josh-" Colby started, but he was quickly cut off.
"Max isn't going to die!" shouted Josh, slamming his fist off the car before looking out the window.
Colby waited outside the car for a few minutes until Steve rushed out to him, grabbing the slightly shorter boy's shoulders.
"Josh!" he panted, pointing into the car. "Josh... he was... he was... possessed."
"What?" hissed Colby, wheeling around to try and look at Josh through the windshield. He did look startled.
The two older boys got back into the car, repeatedly inquiring Josh about what had happened, although he ignored them, staring ahead blankly. However, he continuously begged them not to inform Max.
A few moments later, she rushed back to the car, looking paler than usual.
"That was longer than twenty seconds." Colby tapped his watch, but stopped when he saw Max's terrified expression. "Hey, Max, are you okay?"
"I'm fine, just drive." she said, pushing Josh into the car and getting in herself.
Colby didn't like how scared she looked, and he'd often sneak glances back at her throughout the drive. She looked aggravated yet scared. It was a mixture. It made Colby uneasy.
They were getting closer and closer to the cemetery. It was where Billy was buried, quite obviously. They'd turned into a secluded section, and the boys parked at the bottom of a hill.
Max got out, heading up the hill, but Josh climbed out after her, chasing after her.
"Max!" he called out, sprinting after. "Max, wait, wait-"
"Get back in the car, Josh. For God's sake." she huffed, looking angrier than ever. "Can you just let me do this?"
Steve rolled up the window, letting the two teens talk. They saw Josh pull the envelope out of the back pocket of his jeans. He talked quickly and forcefully, although when he was done, Max just headed up the hill and left Josh staring up at her.
He got back in the car, taking back his seat in the middle and slamming the door behind him, bouncing his leg up and down and checking his watch repeatedly, about every thirty-five seconds (if Colby's math was right). Although, Colby was acting similarly. He didn't want to leave Max alone for too long.
Steve and Colby got out of the car, sitting on the hood. Eventually, the other three followed them, but they all sat in a comfortable silence. There was no noise coming from up the hill except for the noise of birds chirping. It was almost too peaceful. Max was sitting in front of Billy's grave, looking downwards.
"It's been a really long time." said Josh impatiently after a few minutes. "Please, let's go check on her, Steve. Right, Colby?"
Steve glanced down at his own watch and then looked at Colby, who nodded in agreement.
"You're right," agreed Steve, looking up towards Max again, "it's been way too long. We shouldn't have let her go up there by herself."
"Steve, just give her some time." said Lucas, who was sitting on top of the car.
"We have." snapped Josh, glaring at his other best friend.
"I'm calling it." added Steve, walking backwards so he was facing Lucas. "If she wants to get a lawyer, she can."
The three boys jogged up the hill. Dustin and Lucas sat on the car, not bothering to follow them. Colby was closest to Max, so he approached her first.
"Come on, Max. You can sue us. It's time to go." he said. When she didn't respond, he kneeled before her. "Max?" His eyes landed on hers. They were rolled back in her head, bloodshot and almost a tannish color. "Oh, what the hell-?"
"Max." Josh sat down on the ground beside her, grabbing her shoulder and shaking it gently. "Max, what the hell? Open your damn eyes, Max."
"Shit," Steve ran a hand through his hair, "this isn't funny. Max. Wake up. Max!"
Lucas and Dustin ran up the hill. "Guys!" They only ran faster as they heard the desperation in the other threes voices.
"What the hell do we do?" roared Josh, wheeling around on Dustin. "Come on, genius, use your brain!"
"Holy shit! Holy shit!" Colby put his hands on his head. "Dammit, dammit, Dustin, get Nancy, Cassie, and Robin! Call them, call them!"
Dustin fell to the ground, rolling down the hill before getting to his feet and sprinting back down to the car. Josh was shaking Max violently, trying to get her to open her eyes. Colby could hear Dustin shouting. He had jumped on top of the car, trying to get a better signal.
Colby hadn't felt this panicked in a long time. They'd never faced a situation like the one they were in. They couldn't communicate with Max. It wasn't like Will. She was right in front of them, but she was also unresponsive.
"Max!" screamed Josh, grabbing her face in his hands. "Max!"
"Wake up, come on, wake up!" Colby hissed, shaking her shoulder gently.
"Guys!" Dustin was running towards them, wheezing. He had a bunch of tapes and Max's Walkman in his arms.
"What is this?" asked Josh, letting go of Max's face and pointing down at the tapes. His hand was shaking so violently that Colby could only see the blur of his tanned Californian skin.
"What's her favorite song?" shrieked Dustin urgently.
"Why?"
"Robin said if she listens..." Dustin panted, before stopping. "It's too much to explain now. What's her favorite song?"
He dropped the tapes on the ground, and Josh shakily tried to find the right one. He searched frantically, before picking up Running Up That Hill by Kate Bush, holding it above his head. "Here, here! It's this one!"
"Put it in, dammit!" screamed Dustin, holding out the Walkman. Colby placed the tape into the machine and Steve put the headphones over her ears. They could hear the track playing faintly.
"Max! Max!" they screamed, hoping she could hear them. "Max, wake up!"
Suddenly, her legs unfolded. She seemed to be getting taller— or rather, she had begun floating up into the air. She was levitating eight or nine feet above them. Her arms spread out and her head tilted back towards the sky.
"Holy shit!" screamed Josh. He'd fallen back before quickly scrambling to his feet, jumping up and down as if trying to grab her and pull her down.
"Max!" the boys yelled in unison. She was twitching crazily, her hands reaching out for something she couldn't grab.
Colby covered his face with his hands. How were they going to get her back? They couldn't get her back. She was trapped-
And then, Max's floating body went limp. She gasped for air when she suddenly fell out of the sky and to the grass below. She began gasping for more air, crawling back into Josh's open arms, hyperventilating the entire time.
"Holy shit..." breathed Colby, panting. "Holy shit."
"I've got you." whispered Josh softly. "Jesus... Jesus Christ."
"I'm right here." returned Max weakly. "I'n right here."
jack
in case anyones interested, cassie's storyline is finally up! sorry for the wait, i've been writing them in order of colby, josh, and then finally cassie.
in case you were aware, cassie is the love interest of steve harrington (i feel like i've made that almost too obvious) so if you <3 steve harrington, that fic would probably be for you lmfao
(7/19/22)