[chapter four: dear billy]
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THEY STOOD behind the girl as she stared at a dead end. "It was right here. Right here." She pointed her flashlight at the empty wall.
"A grandfather clock?" Nancy turned towards M/n and Gabe.
"That's what it sounded like." M/n nodded as he continued to look at Max in concern.
"It was so real.." The clock chiming played on repeat in her head.
"And when i got closer.. I woke up."
"It was like she was in a trance or something. Exactly what Eddie said happened to Chrissy." Dustin explained.
Max turned around, the flashlights pointed towards her. "That's not even the bad part."
They went to Miss Kelley's office where Max showed them the files of the other victims.
"Fred and Chrissy, they both came to Miss Kelley for help. They both were having headaches, bad headaches that wouldn't go away. And then.. the nightmares. Trouble sleeping, they'd wake up in a cold sweat, then they started seeing things. Bad things, from their past. These visions, they just kept on getting worse and worse, until eventually.." "everything ended." m/n finished as he rubbed his temple, trying to get the images of Chrissy and Fred's broken bodies out of his head.
"Vecna's curse." Robin said.
"Chrissy's headaches started a week ago. Fred's six days ago. I've been having them for five days." Everyone stayed silent in shock.
"I dont 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." They looked up at her. "And i just saw that goddamn clock, so.." she breathed in shakingly. "Looks like im gonna die tomorrow."
Suddenly a loud clang echoed out of nowhere, they all went silent as they looked in the direction of where the noise came from.
Steve turned back to the group. "Stay here.." He walked away to investigate.
"This moron.." Gabe muttered as he followed after the male, grabbing a lamp on his way out.
As Steve and Gabe both walked out into the hallway, Gabe holding the lamp up, just about ready to swing at whoever was walking towards them.
The rest of the gang walked out into the hallway despite being told to stay, they stood behind the two guys as loud clattering echoed from the adjacent hallway. It sounded like the noise was getting closer, Gabe raised the lamp higher until someone finally came from around the corner.
Lucas screamed, causing both Steve and Gabe to shout as well. This freaked everyone out as well. A light shone onto Lucas' face as he held out his hands desperately to prevent himself from getting beat up with a lamp.
"It's me!!" He shouted.
"Lucas?" Nancy questioned.
"It's me!" He breathed out in relief as Gabe put down the lamp with a big exhale.
"Jesus, what's wrong with you Sinclair?!" Steve screamed
"Im sorry.." he panted.
"I could've taken you out with this lamp!" Gabe held the lamp up once again to emphasize.
"Sorry guys! Sorry.." he continued to try and catch his breath while apologizing.
"I was biking for eight miles.." he held up a finger, "give me a second.. shit."
He turned towards his friends after a few seconds. "We've got a code red."
"What?" Steve asked
Lucas walked towards Dustin who was standing next to M/n.
"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!"
Dustin paused to take all of that in. M/n stepped in.
"Okay, that definitely sucks guys, but we've got bigger problems than Jason right now?" They looked towards Max, this brought Lucas' attention to his ex.
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They were down in Mike's basement reading news articles about the whole Victor Creel ordeal. Steve was not understanding any of it. Dustin tried to explain some of the lore from what he understood about the upside down to Steve, but Steve was just not comprehending.
"But if a gate didn't exist in the 50's, how did Vecna get through?" Lucas questioned.
"Oh! And how is he getting through now." "And why now?" "And why then? Just pops out in the 50's, kills one family, and he's like, "im good" and poof, he just disappears. Just.. gone? Only to returned 30 years later and start killing random teens? No I dont buy it." Steve looked down at the article.
"Straightforward, my ass. Honestly, Henderson, a little humility now and then, wouldn't hurt you." Steve sat down on the couch. "Sorry." Dustin responded as he rolled his eyes.
M/n who just ignored Steve's entire rant looked up at the girl across of him who was sitting at a desk, her back turned towards the rest of them as the faint sounds of scribbling were heard.
Dustin noticed as he looked over aswell. "Any idea what she's writing?" This caught the attention of the rest of the guys.
"Did she sleep?" Dustin asked. "I mean, would you?" Lucas answered.
The door suddenly opened, the three people descended the stairs. Gabe behind Nancy and Robin. "Okay, so.. we have a plan." Nancy and Robin glanced at eachother before looking at the rest of them.
"Thanks to Nancy's newpaper minions, we are now rock-star psychology students at the University of Notre Dame."
"Im Ruth" "And im Rose."
"Ruth?" Steve questioned Nancy who just shrugged.
M/n looked at the little folder Dustin was holding. "Nice GPA." He looked up at nancy, impressed.
"Thanks." She smiled. "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." Gabe added.
"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." "And then Maybe we can rid Max of this curse." Nancy looked over at the teen from across the room.
"Yeah, about that. We've been doing out Victor Creel homework, and we got some questions." "Lot's of questioned." Lucas nodded.
"So do we. Hopefully, Victor has the answers."
"Woah woah— wait a second.. where's mine?" Steve looked at the folders in confusion.
"Oh, if you think im gonna take care of these kids without you then you're wrong." Gabe sat down next to Steve with a smile as he wrapped his arm around his shoulder.
"What?" Steve looked like he was gonna explode rn.
"Yeah, you're the mom.. and im the dad." Gabe grinned as he looked over at the teens who tried to hold in their laughs.
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M/n had switched spots with Steve, now sitting next to his brother on the other couch while Steve sat with Lucas and Steve. While Gabe and M/n were studying the news articles, the rest were looking at Max.
"I know you guys are staring at me." She spoke, all of the guys pretending to do something and play dumb.
"What?" "You said you need something?" "Just hanging out."
M/n smiled in amusement. "How you think your eyes boring into the back of my head is protecting me from Vecna, I don't know." She got up and walked over to where the rest of them were at. They continued to look away and not acknowledge her presence which she noticed.
"You can look at me now."
"Thank you. Sorry."
She sighed as she began passing out letters in envelopes. From Dustin all the way to M/n. He looked at the envelope that was being handed to him, he was going to take it before he retracted his hand. "No." He shook his head. "Please M/n, just take it." "No, im not going to take it, whatever's in there you can—" "Please." She whispered.
M/n felt his 'tough' exterior crumble as he reluctantly grabbed the envelope and looked at his name written on it.
She looked at the rest. "Oh and um, give these to Mike, El, and Will. If you can ever get ahold of them again." She held them out to Lucas.
Steve and Dustin tried to look inside of the envelope but Max stopped him. "No, dont. That's not for now. Don't open it now."
"Dont.. Okay." Dustin went to go put it away before holding it up again. "Im sorry, what is this?"
"It's uh. It's a fail-safe. For after, you know, if things dont work out." Max shrugged as M/n threw his back on the couch, flashbacks of Billy began to cloud his mind even though he had been trying to push those thoughts away. He still takes that as a failure, like he could have done something.
"Wait, whoa. Max, things are gonna work out—"
"No!" She interrupted him. "No, I dont need you to reassure me and tell me it's all gonna work out, because people have been telling me that my entire life and it's almost never true. It's never true." Max snapped. Everyone sat in silence.
"I mean, of course, this asshole curses me. Should've seen that one coming." She inhaled shakingly as she turned to her right, looking at the radio on the table. She walked over to it. "If we go to East Hawkins, will this reach Pennhurst?"
"Of course, yeah." "Wait, why are talking about East Hawkins?" Steve asked.
They all turned to look at Steve who began to shake his head profusely.
She left with a bag over her shoulder, the rest following after her.
"Seriously, im not joking, I'm not driving you anywhere."
"Fine, then Gabe will drive me."
Gabe shrugged as he pulled out his keys but Steve grabbed them from his hand. "No he isn't. We're not going anywhere."
"If you think im going to spend what is likely the last day of my life in the armpit that is Mike Wheeler's basement, then you're out of your mind. So either take me where I need to go or tie me down, which is technically kidnapping of a minor— and if I live to see another day, Steve, I swear to god, I will prosecute." She walked over to his car and tried to open it but it was locked, she looked over at steve with a blank expression on her face.
"Open the door."
"Uh, no." He shook his head.
"I know a good lawyer." She stared at him seriously before he gave in.
He scoffed while unlocking his car. "Henderson, that super walkie of yours better reach Pennhurst."
Steve tossed Gabe's keys to him who almost began juggling before he managed to grab them with his hand, he looked over at M/n who shrugged before they began to walk to Gabe's car. M/n rubbed his forehead, wincing as he heard the low echo of a clock chiming. He looked over at Max who was looking behind her before getting into the car.
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They parked beside's Max's trailer, the same trailer park where Chrissy died. M/n leaned back to try and rest his eyes. It was fine for a few seconds but then his head started to hurt. Like a dull ache. He hoped it was nothing and it wouldn't be another body.
"Your time.. is almost at an end."
He shot up in his seat which startled Gabe. "What? What's wrong?!" Gabe asked his brother. M/n looked around before looking at Max who was speed walking towards Steve's car.
M/n looked over at Gabe who sighed out sadly.
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They once again parked at the cemetary, the place Billy was burried. M/n tried to actually rest a little, he has been hearing gunshots, rapid firing. Even though there is no signs of people shooting them from anywhere, he couldn't help but get a really bad feeling for Will and the rest.
It had been a few minutes where he did manage to rest for a bit, the aching in his head had passed by now. Things seemed pretty okay, and he was relieved that nothing seemed to be happening.
Then he heard rumbling, like it was about to rain.
"Is it raining?" M/n asked as his eyes were still closed. He almost felt a smile rest on his face, thinking about the rain while taking a short nap in the car to calm down his anxiety-filled thoughts.
Gabe looked over at his brother in confusion as he looked around. "Uh no? It's still bright and sunny?"
M/n opened his eyes in confusion. He rubbed them for a second to get used to the light and looked around. Sure enough, it was bright and sunny. Not a single stormy cloud in sight.
"What? But i swear I heard—" He paused. He heard the same clock chiming.
"What? Heard what?" Gabe worried.
M/n began to breath heavily as he opened the car quickly. This caught the attention of everyone chilling by Steve's car as they watched the male bolt out of the car and towards Max who was sitting in front of Billy's gravestone.
"Max! Max!" M/n crouched down in front of her and gasped slightly when he noticed how her eyes were rolled to the back of her head. She was in a trance.
Steve checked his watch and looked back at them. Gabe walked over to them in confusion. "Guys, something's wrong." Gabe told the rest of them as they turned to look at him.
"What?" Lucas asked.
"I dont know, M/n just ran out of the car, he asked if it was raining?" Gabe said in confusion, not really knowing what to say. "But, it's bright out?"
"Exactly that's what I—" "MAX! MAX WAKE UP!" They all immedietaly look over at M/n who was snapping and clapping in Max's face, he shook her shoulders pretty violently while she had no reaction which alarmed everyone else.
"GUYS! GUYS!" M/n shouted as he continued to try and snap Max out of her trance. They all ran over, looking at her state. They all began to try and snap her out of whatever was happening to her.
Steve grabbed Dustin's collar. "CALL NANCY AND ROBIN!" Dustin scrambled to the car.
After a few minutes Dustin came back with Max's walkman. "What is this?" Lucas asked.
"Her song! What's her favorite song?!" "What— Why!"
"Robin said if she listens— it's too much to explain. What's her favorite song!"
"it's uh— um.. Running up that hill by Kate Bush!" M/n shouted frantically. The rest of them attempted to find the song desperately.
When Lucas finally managed to get his hands on it Dustin ushered Steve to quickly press play. The song began to play.
"Max! Max we're right here!!"
Max began to float up into the air. They all froze and stared at her in shock, she floated up so high that they couldn't bring her back down unless they all stacked on top of eachother.
"Max!" They called out to her. But their voices were faint.
Vecna reached his hand out to Max's face. Her life with the party flashing in her mind. Her time with Lucas, Dustin, El, M/n, Mike. She closed her eyes as a tear fell from her cheek. Suddenly her eyes opened wide, reaching for Vecna's neck and ripping some of the flesh. She fell to the ground while Vecna backed away.
She immediately got up and began running to the opening where is showed her floating body while everyone called out to her.
Vecna glared at her runnign figure. Rubble began to fall down onto the ground to create more obstacles for her. It was beginning to be too much for her. That was until somebody shielded her body with theirs.
She looked up at M/n who looked at her with a smile. "I got you." She gasped, tears runnign down her cheek as he grabbed her hand and guided her to the opening while rubble continued to fall around them.
It was so close, she could hear everyone more clearer. M/n pushed max in front of him, she gasped.
Max gasped, falling from the air to the ground. Lucas grabbed her and held him against his chest as he wrapped his arms around her.
Max hyperventilated as Lucas just held her and comforted her. Gabe held M/n who looked pretty faint after what he just did, blood running down his nose as he tried to catch his breath.
"I thought we lost you.." Lucas gasped.
"Im still.. Im still here.." Max held his arm.
M/n sighed as he closed his eyes to rest against his brother, his breathing had calmed down and he was glad that Max was safe, for now.
But he couldn't help but feel horrible, something was about to go down. And it was going to be affect everyone.
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Author's Note
Sorry this took me so long to post, school starts next week and im trying to pretend that it isn't, Ill try to post tomorrow but we'll see.