"What are you waiting for, asshole? Hmm? I'm right here." Max spoke out as she held up her lantern in the attic. To be truthful, Eve hated the feeling of being in there, opting to stay by a wooden beam as she held her arms over her chest.
The whole plan felt rushed and flawed - if one person went down they were all following quickly - the risk was too high.
"I know you can hear me," Max continues, "I know you can read my thoughts. Even the worst ones... Maybe mostly the worst ones."
Eve watched as Max put the lantern down, taking off her Walkman and headphones, before sitting down on the little rug on the floor.
It felt like Max's safety blanket had been discarded, and she was now in danger - the thought of it made Eve feel sick.
She moved closer to Lucas, the boy sensing the scared girl behind him. He put out his arm for her, and she held onto it tightly, both of them needing it as they worried for the girl in front of them.
"I thought about what you said," Max said quietly, "about how I wanted my brother to die. I thought that you were just trying to upset me. To anger me. But you weren't, were you? You were just telling the truth."
Eves eyebrows furrowed as she moved closer to Lucas, the sound of shuffling making Max look over for a second, her eyes already watering as she looked at her friend and her ex girlfriend.
Her eyes went back on the lantern, thinking to herself... if Eve could open up, so can I.
"Billy... he, he made my life living hell... at every chance he got," Max continued on, her voice thick as she felt back tears, "so, sometimes... when I would lie in bed at night I would- I would pray..." she sniffed, "I would pray that something would happen to him. Something awful. I knew that he drove too fast so I would imagine him crashing... Dying in that stupid car. I just... I wanted him out of my life. Forever."
Eve's breath haltered for a second, she knew what it was like to want that person gone. She knew what Max was going through, and she made her go through it alone.
"I wanted him to disappear," Max admitted, "the day that he died... I think that's why I just stood there. Watched. Not because I was scared or... weak. But because... I didn't know if he deserved to be saved. And I've tried to forgive myself... I've tried, but, I can't. I can't."
Max was silent for a moment, Eve closing her eyes as she took a deep breath.
When her eyes opened once again, Max was still silent, and both Eve and Lucas shared a look of worry.
They waited a couple moments, both walking closer to her quietly.
"Max?" Eve whispered, leaning closer to the girl, when it hit her.
Max's eyes were white.
"Max!" Eve yelled then, jumping down in front of her and shaking her shoulders, "can you hear me?"
"Max!" Lucas joined in, yelling too as his hands waved in front of her face.
Max's breathing picked up, worrying Eve even more as she held the girls face on her hands.
"I fucking hate this plan, Lucas," Eve said to the boy, still holding Max's face, "I don't trust it."
"Eve-" Lucas started, but Eve shook her head.
"Where's the Walkman?" She asked him, standing up, "I don't trust it. This is not about to happen."
"Eve you know the plan, as soon as she lifts we put on Kate Bush, right now it's not worth the risk," Lucas said to her, making Eve shake her head.
"I'm not letting her get to that stage Lucas," Eve said, grabbing the torch and heading to the window, "She's not dying. Not today."
"If it's not her, it's everyone else," Lucas said to Eve as he watched her turn the torch on and off, "we can't stray from the plan."
She then signalled to Erica, letting her know phase three could begin. The sooner Max was out of there the better.
Eve turned back then, looking at Lucas who was sat with Max, she shook her head looking away.
"I can't look," she whispered, going back to the wooden beam and facing away from the girl, trying to hold back tears - the overwhelming feeling returning tenfold.
Eye breathed out then, closing her eyes as Lucas went to the window, using his own torch to try and signal to Erica, trying to get an update of some sort.
"Ah, shit," she heard Lucas say, making her eyes open, her worry growing for Max.
Her heart stopped when she heard footsteps.
"What the hell have you done?"
Jason.
She froze in her spot - the murderous jock finally finding one of the kids he had turned the whole town against.
"Jason," Lucas said, confirming to her the voice she had heard, "you need to leave."
"Is this what you did to Chrissy?" She heard Jason ask, assuming he was seeing the trance Max was in. She understood - he was hurting and he wanted to know what had happened to his girlfriend, but him being there was not good for anyone.
It was better that he thought Eve wasn't there. It gave them an upper hand.
"Just listen, Jason," Lucas began to plead with the boy he had once called a teammate and a friend, "you need to leave."
"Hey, can... can you hear me?" Jason asked, his voice soft as he tried to speak to Max. It made Eve nervous, if Eddie did something drastic, there was a chance Max wouldn't wake up.
"You can't be here," Lucas stressed to the boy, knowing the dangers himself, "I'm not messing around, Jason-"
"Hey," Jason tried again.
"Jason!"
"Hey!" Jason suddenly yelled, and Eve heard a commotion, making her flinch, "Not another step."
"Wait... wait... wait," Lucas breathed, his tone seeping with fright, "we- we don't have to do this. We don't have to do this, man-"
"I hope your right," Jason says; and Eve heard a gun click - her eyes widening and her heart dropping. A simple fight had just become deadly, and she was not prepared to see her friends die.
"Wait-" Lucas whispered again, terrified, a gun staring him down with a deadly glare.
"Is there anyone else in the house?" Jason asked him then, making Eve's eyes shut as she hoped to god Lucas was on board with the plan she had come up with in her head. He was a smart boy, but with a gun to your head you can't exactly think clearly.
There was silence for a second.
"No," Lucas shook his head, "no."
Eve's eyes closed for a second, thankful for Lucas' answer.
"Turn around." Jason then spoke.
"What?" Lucas whispered.
"Turn around!" Jason yelled, making Eve flinch.
"Okay, okay, relax. Relax."
"And put down your flashlight." Jason continued to yell, clearly getting more and more frustrated as time passed - he was in front of a boy he thought had a part in his girlfriends death, it was fair that he was so upset.
"Okay! Okay!" Lucas whispered, putting it down on the floor quickly.
"And empty your pockets," Jason said, making Eve look up at the ceiling. She had to do something - she had to help Lucas before this went too far, "Empty your pockets!"
She heard coins hit the floor, and a couple little thumps.
"Now this is what's gonna happen," Jason spoke up once more, "I'm gonna back away to the top of the stairs there... Then I'll watch you wake her up from whatever the hell this is."
"I can't," Lucas said to him, "Jason... if I wake her too soon... we all die."
"You don't wake her up right now... you die, Sinclair."
Eve's heart dropped as she heard a gun cock.
"Just you."
"Jason!" Eve suddenly yelled, coming out of her hiding place with her hands up. The jock's head snapped over to her, his gun following as she took a deep breath, "Jason-"
"Eve Harrington?" Jason asked quietly, "you're... you're in on all of this?"
"Jason... Jason just listen..." Eve said to him slowly, "this wasn't Lucas, it wasn't either of us that did this to Max, or killed Chrissy... we call him Vecna... he lives in another dimension. That's why you can't see him."
"And Eddie Munson... and his Hellfire acolytes, what, you all summoned this... Vecna?" Jason asked her, his gun still held up.
"No, you're not listening!" Eve yelled to him, "there's no cult! There never was!"
"You expect me to believe that?" Jason asked her, tilting his head slightly.
"It's the truth!" She stressed to him.
"She's telling the truth!" Lucas nodded his head, making Jason glance at him for a second.
"Then why was Chrissy at Eddie's trailer?" Jason asked them.
"She was buying drugs!" Eve snapped at him.
"Liar!" He yelled at her, shooting just above her head, making her scream as she jumped away, her hands now shaking as Lucas looked at Jason in shock.
"She's telling the truth," Lucas said to him quickly, making the gun go back in his direction, "she was seeing things... terrible things. Things Vecna forced her to see... she was scared."
"No," Jason shakes his head.
"She just needed help," Eve agreed quickly with Lucas.
"See that's how I know you are lying," Jason said to him, "If Chrissy was scared... if- if Chrissy wanted help, she would've come to me! Not Eddie! Not that freak, Never!"
"You're wrong about Eddie," Lucas said, shaking his head.
"No," Jason shook his head, "but I was wrong about you. I never should've let you in the door."
"And I never should've knocked," Lucas responded, gaining confidence as he slowly lowered his hands, "I thought I wanted to be like you. Popular. Normal. But it turns out... normals just a raging psychopath."
"You have five seconds to wake her up," Jason threatened, Lucas staying silent, "four... three-"
Before Jason could count any lower, Lucas charged at him, ducking just as Jason shot his gun. He tackled the jock to the floor, the gun going off one more time as the boys began to fight.
Eve looked from the gun on the floor and over to Max, who was still clearly in a trance. She wasn't lifting upwards, and her face wasn't showing any pain.
Eve breathed for a second as Jason punched Lucas around the face, when she heard a snap.
She looked down at the floor.
Jason had stepped on Max's Walkman... he had broken it...
He had broken Max's only way out of Vecna's trance.
"You fucker!" Eve screamed, her hand shooting outward and allowing black mist to shoot at Jason - the action threw him into the wall, his back hitting it harshly as he yelled, falling to the floor as he stared at Eve.
"You're a witch!" Jason yelled to her.
"You're a murderer!" Eve yelled back at him angrily, grabbing the gun on the floor and aiming straight at Jason.
"Eve- Eve-" Jason said quickly, putting his hands up as Lucas crawled away, holding his chest where he'd been kicked.
"Shut up!" She screamed at him, shooting above his head just like he had done to her, making him flinch, "you've ruined everything!"
Eve was crying by now, angry tears streaming down her face as it set in that she was going to lose the person that she loved.
"Everyone you know and love is dead. You know that? You try to act like some hero, but you've fucked it all up!" She cried out, hands shaking as she held the gun tight.
"You've killed max," She then whispered, another tear falling - she felt like she'd been punched in the stomach, the realisation setting in.
"It's not too late," Jason shakes his head quickly, before looking over at Lucas, who was still sitting in pain, "Lucas, wake her up from your satanic sacrifice!" He snapped.
Lucas held back the need to laugh - Jason was really trying to order him around while a gun was pointed at his head.
"Satanic?" Eve whispered, "you think this is the work of the devil or some shit?"
She was so sick of Christian's thinking they knew everything, of thinking their religion could dictate other peoples lives. That a book most of them had not read front to back dictated the way the world should live.
Jason stayed silent.
"What is it they say in the bible... an eye for an eye?" She asked, her head tilting.
"Eve-" Lucas groaned, deciding now what's the time to step in before Eve did anything she'd eventually regret.
"You killed max. I kill you." Eve said simply, ver voice coated in anger, sick of the sight of the scared boy in front of her.
"No-" Jason shakes his head.
"You don't want to do this-" Lucas tried, standing up quickly and making his way towards her. She was crying silently, tears refusing to stop falling.
"Bye, Jason," Eve whispered, before she pulled the trigger.
"No!"
Nothing.
"What?" Eve whispered, pulling the trigger over and over again.
The gun was out of bullets.
"No!" She cried, before suddenly being rugby tackled by Jason, now no longer afraid of the girl who had every intention of killing him.
"Eve!" Lucas yelled.
Eve's back hit the ground harshly, making her yell out as Jason punched her round the face, her hands moved up, pushing on his shoulders, the mist reappearing as he was pushed back, giving her enough time to stand up.
Lucas then decided to intervene, running at Jason and punching him around the face several times.
Eve went to help him, wanting Jason gone, when movement happened to her right.
Her head turned, her eyes widening as her heart started to drop.
Max's body was beginning to lift off the ground.
A/N
Unedited
:)