˗ˏˋ MADMAX ! ˎˊ˗
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THE STREET LIGHTS were flickering as Matilda ran down the pavement. Her feet smacked the road, leaving footprints in the slime that spread across it. The sky was engulfed in red and a thick smoke began spreading above her.
Matilda didn't dare to look back, she just kept running. She didn't know where she was headed but she didn't care. Matilda was met with the end of the street, and halted so she wouldn't fall off the cliff that seemed to be created.
Then she did what she feared most, and turned to face her death.
A giant, spider-like shadow was looming over the small girl. Her breathing became heavy as the creature hovered in the sky. "Get out of my head!" She screamed at it, tears starting to fall from her eyes. When it failed to disappear, she yelled again.
"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!"
So it did. ( For now? )
Matilda opened her eyes and sat up in her bed, throwing the covers on the floor. She had completely forgotten Steve had spent the night, so he ended up covered with her blankets when she swiped them off the bed.
She hopped down, almost stepping on the blanket mound. The movement caused Steve to stir awake, groaning as he removed the covers from himself in confusion.
He looked up to see Matilda pacing around her room with her head in her hands. "Bells?"
The girl shrieked in surprise, but calmed a little when she saw it was just Steve. He was staring up at her, lazily rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "Hey! I'm fine, everything's good. Why would it not be? No, I'm fine! I'm not gonna die, I'm okay!" She rambled, alerting Steve that she was in fact, not fine.
"Hey, hey." He said while standing and walking over to Matilda. "What happened?"
She continued pacing, her head down. "Nothing! Nothing. I'm just freaking myself out. Nope! Nothing is wrong."
The boy furrowed his brows and grabbed her arms, stopping her from walking. "Matilda."
Matilda finally looked up at him, her eyes puffy and her upper lip stained with blood. Her skin was paler than usual, her eyes dull. Regardless, her face was full of emotion, which hurt Steve's heart more than he was willing to admit. Her bottom lip started to wobble, as if it was going to burst at any moment.
"Oh my God." Steve pulled her into a hug, prompting Matilda to cry even more.
"Why are they back? I don't want anything else to happen!" She sobbed into his chest, tears staining the white cotton Steve wore. He held her close, one hand on her back and one cradling her head.
"It'll be okay, I promise."
"No, Steve, it won't be. The last time this happened, someone died. My best friend! And I couldn't save her." She choked out.
Steve pulled back from their embrace and held her biceps. "Listen, Bells. We aren't going to let anything happen to you. I won't let anything happen to you." He reassured.
Matilda hastily wiped the tears from her cheeks and left Steve's grasp to get a tissue for her nose.
"Let's hope so. Because I was the only one in that dream."
Three knocks echoed through the room, causing the girl to jump. "Matilda! Can I come in, I have an emergency!"
The two people inside shared a confused look. "Uh, yeah, Dustin just a minute!"
He didn't give her a minute. Dustin burst through the door, watching as Matilda quickly slammed her window shut. She turned to face him with a smile and clasped her hands behind ther back.
"What was that about?"
"What was what about?" Matilda smiled.
Dustin narrowed his eyes. "Was there someone in here?"
"No!" Matilda started away from the window, while Dustin went towards it. "Dustin!" He got to the window, not seeing the boy who was pressed up against the house.
"Okay..." He turned to face his cousin again, curiousity behind his eyes. "Do you have any quarters?"
"Dustin, I'm not giving you money for the arcade. I'm already driving you!"
"But I can't find any!"
Matilda rolls her eyes. "Look harder!"
She began to push him out of the room, shaking her head. "Matilda!" He whined.
"Out!"
The day went by fast in the Henderson house, and Matilda was already driving Dustin to the arcade. She parked her light blue Porsche 928, seeing Mike and Lucas pull up on their bikes at the same time.
"Thanks." Dustin mumbled, gathering his things.
"What was that?" Matilda tilted her head with a smug smile gracing her lips.
"Thanks!" Dustin emphasized and began to open his door.
"Hold on!" Dustin stopped at the sound of Matilda's voice. "Here." She dropped a handful of quarters into the boy's hand. His eyes lit up, a big smile appearing. "Make sure to share!" She yelled as he hopped out.
"Thank you!" Dustin called back, bounding over to Mike and Lucas.
She could see him showing off his new influx of quarters to them, smiling as he did so. She smiled too, happy to be of any help to the boys. Matilda backed out of her spot and began to head back to the house.
At least the kids were doing okay.
⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆
The next morning, Matilda made a very large cup of coffee. Coffee had been her best friend, graciously helping her the mornings when she only had gotten a few hours of sleep. She didn't sleep at all the night before, and she had bags under her eyes to show it.
She barely spoke to her aunt or cousin, and when she did it was only small remarks.
She was awake enough to drive to school, and dropped Dustin off on her way. Matilda pulled into her usual parking spot and dropped her head onto the wheel, sighing as she did. She snatched her bag from the backseat and stepped out of the car. Slamming her door shut, she made her way across the parking lot.
A loud car horn was sounded, alerting the sleep deprived girl that she was about to be run over. Matilda stepped out of the way, a dark blue Chevy Camaro speeding past her.
"Watch where you're going, asshole!" She called as she flipped him off.
She held the strap of her backpack as she watched him hastily park. Matilda narrowed her eyes at the blond boy who stepped out of the drivers side. He was clad in denim with a cigarette sitting in his mouth.
A young redheaded girl stepped out of the passanger side, skateboarding away.
The boy threw his cigarette over his shoulder and made eye contact with Matilda. He smirked, noticing her— and the other girls behind her— staring at him.
He walked over to the girl he almost ran over, the other students behind her gasping and whispering as he did so. "Well hello there, princess. Glad I didn't run you over back there. You're much too pretty for that."
Matilda crossed her arms, unimpressed with the new kid's horrendous attempt at charming her. "Maybe go ahead and do it next time." She scrunched her nose and turned to walk away.
"Hey!"
Matilda rolled her eyes and slowly turned back.
"Yes?"
"The name's Billy. Billy Hargrove." He extended his hand, causing the group of girls still watching them to gasp once more.
"Matilda." She replied, not bothering to shake his hand. She once again turned and made her way to the school, leaving Billy standing there with his hand still extended. He cleared his throat and shoved his hand in his pocket, walking towards the school as well.
Matilda made her way to class, sliding into a seat next to Jonathan. "You look like hell." He remarked.
"Oh, thanks." The girl turns to him, "I try." She replies, sending him a sarcastic smile.
Nancy strolls in soon after, sitting in front of Jonathan. "Matilda," She starts as she turns to her friend. "Oh my God, you look terrible."
"So I've heard." Matilda grumbles.
"Anyways, who's the new guy?"
"Who?"
Nancy rolls her eyes. "The new guy! You talked to him in the parking lot?"
"Oh, yeah." Matilda hums. "Billy Hargrove. Seems like a douche." She states, not caring to talk about him.
"I'll say. He almost ran you over." Nancy scoffs.
Jonathan turned to Matilda, eyes wide. "What?"
"It's not a big deal, please."
"Matilda, you—"
"It's not. A big deal." Jonathan and Nancy share a concerned look and face forward.
Class went by fast for Matilda, mostly because she was dozing off every few minutes. The bell rang, making the tired girl jump slightly. She followed Nancy and Jonathan out, mindlessly accepting a party invitation from Tina. She looked at the bright orange paper; a Halloween party.
"You're coming to this." Nancy shoved an extra paper to Jonathan. "You too, Tilda."
Matilda groaned, not in the mood for a party this week. "Come and get sheet-faced." Jonathan read from the invitation. "No, I'm not."
"Me neither. I'd rather sulk in my room."
"I can't let you two sit alone on Halloween! That's just not acceptable." Nancy replied, looking over to her friends as they walked through the hall.
"Well, you can relax. I'm not gonna be alone. I'm going trick-or-treating with Will." Jonathan replied.
Nancy looked to Matilda, her eyebrows raised.
"And I'll be happily watching movies! Alone." She smiled.
"All night?" Nancy looked at both of them.
"Yeah." They said in unison.
"No, no way. You're gonna to be home by 8:00 Jonathan, probably listening to The Talking Heads and reading Vonnegut or something. And Tilda, you can watch movies any night!"
Jonathan shrugs. "Sounds like a nice night."
"You guys! Just come. I mean, who knows, you might even, like, meet someone." She looked at Jonathan. "And I'm sure Billy is going." Nancy nudged Matilda's shoulder as she opened her locker, who gagged at the name.
Suddenly Nancy shrieked, alerting Matilda to look up from her locker.
Steve had grabbed Nancy and spun her around, receiving a slap on the arm from the girl. "Oh my God, take those stupid things off!" She giggled, referring to the sunglasses sitting on the bridge of his nose.
"I missed you." Steve said softly, grinning at his girlfriend.
"It's been like an hour!"
"Tell me about it."
Jonathan and Matilda looked at each other, disgust written all over both of their features. Couples. They snuck off, leaving the lovebirds to do whatever it was they did.
"I thought we'd never get away!" Matilda said dramatically, holding her books in one hand and placing the other on her forehead.
"Tell me about it." Jonathan mocked, causing Matilda to laugh loudly. Unknowingly to the pair of friends, Nancy was watching them walk away.
And so was Steve.
⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆
Matilda sat in front of her mirror, putting on light makeup. She really didn't want to go to the Holland's tonight, but Nancy had told her she absolutely had to go.
"Matilda! Your friends are here!" Claudia yelled from the living room. The girl pulled on her converse and made her way out the front door, walking down her driveway with her arms wrapped around her stomach. She flung open the back door, sliding into the seat behind Nancy.
"Hey, Tilda."
"Hey." She said quietly, immediately looking out the window.
Steve looked over his shoulder, his eyes full of concern. He turns to Nancy, who just shrugs. He sighed and took his foot off the brake, driving them to their dinner plans.
They arrived after a short car ride, with Nancy and Steve stepping out right away. Matilda stayed back for a moment, collecting her thoughts. "I'm fine. I'm fine." She whispered to herself.
Her door was opened for her, Steve bending down so they were at the same eye level. "Bells." He said quietly, Matilda lifting her gaze to meet his. "Did you sleep last night?"
She bit her lip to stop herself from crying. "No."
Steve's eyes were full of empathy, searching Matilda's as she spoke. "You know you can always call, please, I'm worried about—"
"I know. Now let's go." She said quickly, pushing her way out of the car. Steve shut the door behind her and caught up to Nancy.
All three teens noticed the For Sale sign in the front yard, but no one bothered to say anything. "Okay. Ready?" Steve said as they stood before the door.
"Yeah." Nancy responded.
"Okay." Steve reached out to ring the doorbell.
They were greeted by Barb's mother, Marsha, and were quickly led to the dining room table.
"I'm so sorry I didn't get to cook." Marsha said as they were all sat and eating. "I was gonna make that baked ziti you guys like so much, but I just forgot about the time, and then before you know it, oh my God it's five o'clock!" She laughed.
"It's fine. It's great!" Nancy replied, giving Marsha a sweet smile.
"Right, I love KFC." Steve added.
"Mhm!" Matilda hummed, her mouth full of food. She felt like she hadn't eaten in days.
"So..." Nancy started, "I noticed a For Sale sign out in your yard. Is— is that the neighbors' or..."
Marsha looked to her husband. "You wanna tell them?"
"Go ahead." Marsha looked back to the teens, ready to spill.
"We hired a man named Murray Bauman. Have any of you heard of him?" They all shook their heads, halting from eating.
"No."
"No, I don't think so."
"He was an investigative journalist for the Chicago Sun-Times."
"He's pretty well known." Mr. Holland hands Steve a small business card.
"Anyway, he's freelance now, and he agreed to take the case." Matilda's eyes widened at the woman's words.
"Oh, that's... that's great." Steve said, handing the card to Nancy. "No that's really, that's great, right?"
Matilda felt her cheeks starting to become hot. "Um, what exactly does that mean?" Nancy asked.
"Means he's gonna do what that lazy son of a bitch Jim Hop—"
Matilda almost lunged at the man, but a hand on her leg stopped her. She had grown closer to the man over the past year, and he became almost like a father to her. After the events of last fall, the girl struggled a lot and sometimes went out on walks in the middle of the night. It was just to clear her head, and sometimes she would walk by the Harrington residence and be caught by Steve as she tried to sneak by.
But there would be times where Jim Hopper had found her wandering the streets and offered to drive her back home. In these mostly silent rides, Hopper felt for the girl, and would sometimes take more shifts at night just in case Matilda decided to go out. She felt such a strong connection to him, and would defend his honor at any time.
Marsha cleared her throat, and her husband bit his tongue. "Sorry. What the Hawkins police haven't been capable of doing. Means we have a real detective on the case."
"It means," Marsha started, "we're going to find our Barb." She smiled softly.
"If anyone can find her, it's this man. He already has leads. By God, he's worth every last penny."
"Is that why you're selling the house?" Matilda asked, her leg starting to bounce.
"Don't worry about us sweetie. We're fine. More than fine. For the first time in a long time, we're hopeful." Martha nodded, her eyes shining with hope.
"Excuse me, I'll be right back." Nancy spoke, standing from the table and walking out.
Matilda watched her go. Her gaze went to her food, staring at it. "It's finger lickin' good." Steve remarked, the Holland's laughing lightly in agreeance. Matilda's leg continued to bounce and her bottom lip began to tremble as she held her head down.
Steve's gaze went to the girl, his hand still resting on her leg. He moved his thumb gently back and forth when he noticed her other leg bouncing, in attempts to calm her down.
It seemed to work, because Matilda's leg began to calm down and stay still. Nancy moved back into the room and spoke out, "I'm so sorry, but we have to get going. Uh, we have to work on a school project."
The Holland's didn't think twice and nodded their heads.
"Thank you for the dinner." Steve said, wiping his hands.
"It was great." Matilda added, quickly standing and heading to the front door.
Nancy watched as Matilda fled by her, and quickly followed. Matilda made her way out of the house, fast walking to the car. She tried to open the door but it was locked, causing the girl to become more frustrated.
She turned around and leaned on the car, closing her eyes as hot tears rolling down her cheeks.
"Tilda?" The girl opened her eyes, seeing Nancy standing in front of her and Steve standing a little behind. She quickly embraced Nancy, beginning to sob.
"It's not fair. They're never going to know what happened to Barb, which shouldn't have even happened in the first place! God, when will it stop." She cried into Nancy's shoulder. Nancy began to rub her friend's back.
"I know. It— we just..." Nancy trailed off, not knowing the right words. Steve watched his best friend as she began to crumble before them. He felt helpless.
He wanted to give Matilda the world, but the world was turning against her.
"Let's get you home." Nancy said as she turned to Steve, nodding her head towards the car. He grabbed his keys from his back pocket and ran to the driver's side. Nancy helped the crying girl into the backseat, deciding to stay there with her.
Matilda rested her head on Nancy's shoulder, sniffing quietly. After a few minutes of driving, she spoke up. "Nancy?"
"Hm?"
"I... I had another dream. A couple nights ago."
Nancy's eyes widened as she met Steve's gaze in the mirror, but she stayed silent.
"There was this, giant shadow thing in the sky. I was running from it, but I don't remember why. I tried, I tried to get it to leave but it wouldn't. It just stayed there... watching me."
"Wow."
Matilda exhaled. "Yeah."
"Was... was anyone else there?" Matilda shook her head, afraid that if she said the words she would begin to cry again.
Nancy nodded and the rest of the car ride was silent. They pulled up to the Henderson house, and Matilda opened the door. "Thanks for the ride. I'll see you guys tomorrow." She began to walk up the driveway.
"Bells!" Matilda whipped around, seeing Steve's window was rolled down.
"Please try to get some rest tonight?" He looked at her, his eyes glimmering. She couldn't quite place what his expression was, but it wasn't one she had particularly noticed before.
Matilda pressed her lips together and nodded briskly, turning on her heel.
She really needed to get shit-faced.
original authors note !
i'm back!! i'm literally so hyped to start season 2. also... s4 vol2 comes out in less than 24 hours and i'm stressing tf out. anyways, i hope you enjoy!!
i'll still be on my writing grind today so expect a few chapters :)
stay cool <3
( july 2022 )
『 MATILDA ! 』
lumosstarr