The closest place for them to go after leaving Eddie's trailer was Maxine's house across the small road that ran through the trailer park. They made sure to put back everything where it had been before they went there, even though it was unlikely the police would be going back there any time soon.
Nancy and Adira were shaking from what they had experienced. Steve was comforting Nancy while Eddie had his arms wrapped around Adira, whispering sweet things into her ear in an attempt to calm her down, though nothing really seemed to be working. Other than Eddie's soft whispers to his girl, none of them had spoken a single word as they left the trailer, it was clear that Adira and Nancy were too freaked out to explain what had happened to them that night so they all decided that they would go over to Maxine's house and get some sleep and then talk about it all tomorrow.
When they had got back to the house, they checked over Steve and Adira's wounds more carefully and made sure that they were all wrapped up properly now so that neither of them would bleed out over night. Adira's wounds were much worse than Steve's but they had finally pretty much stopped the bleeding and given her a bunch of pain killers to try and numb the pain.
Nancy and Erica got the two couches while Robin and the boys slept on the floor around the lounge room. Maxine and Adira had gone into Max's room like they always did when they had sleepovers. Max pulled back the blankets and turned the fan on before she laid down in bed, her headphones pulled over her ears, obviously not planning on falling asleep.
She expected Adira to come and lay down next to her but was surprised to see that Adira had sat down at her desk, a pen and paper in hand. Adira rubbed her eyes tiredly and stared at the paper in front of her for a while, trying to decide if she should write the letters or not. But finally, she decided that she was going to write letters to the people she cared dearly about.
"What are you doing?" Maxine asked her in confusion, pulling her headphones off her ears and then placing them around her neck so that she could hear Adira's response. Adira turned in the chair to face Max who was wearing pj shorts and an oversized shirt, her hair thrown up into a bun.
"Just some letters," Adira replied softly. Max was surprised to hear that. Did Adira really think that something was going to happen to her? Max nodded her head and then pulled her headphones back up over her ears after Adira turned back around and began writing.
The first person that she wrote to was her brother, then Max, Eleven, Robin and Nancy, then Eddie and finally Lucas, Dustin, Will and Mike. She spent hours writing the letters, there wasn't much writing in many of them, she didn't really know what to say... she just told them the things she thought she would want them to know if things went south for her.
She tucked the paper into a neat pile and then grabbed a blank piece of paper and wrote 'only read if I kick the bucket or I'll kick your ass - Addy' on the front and placed it neatly on the top of the pile before finally making her way back over to the bed and laying down next to Maxine who pulled one side of the headphones off her head.
"Do you think something bad is going to happen to you?" Maxine asked her carefully, her eyes holding a certain sadness as she looked over at the girl who she viewed as an older sister. Maxine couldn't imagine what it would be like for her to lose Adira. Adira had been the first person to talk to her when she got to Hawkins and the first person to befriend her... even when Adira had first found out that Billy was her brother, she hadn't made fun of Max or tried to stay away from her despite how annoying she found the Hargrove boy.
Not to mention the fact that Max pretty much hadnt gone a single day since when she first arrived in Hawkins to now, without talking to Adira. She doubted she could ever be closer with someone than how close she was with Adira.
Adira gave her a small smile, not wanting the girl to worry too much about her.
"I'm not too sure Max... nobody knows how all of this is going to turn out in the long run, I mean, I hope that we all get out of this alive, but there is no guarantee ya know..." Adira whispered softly, not wanting to scare the girl, but also not wanting her to think that everything was all just going to turn out perfectly, "but don't you worry about anything okay. All I know is that I'm going to do everything that I can to protect you all."
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The teens all crowded together in the loungeroom, waiting for Nancy and Adira to explain what they had seen last night. The two girls had explained pretty much everything up until the part where Vecna had shown Nancy something that Adira didn't see, "he showed me things that haven't happened yet... The most awful things. I saw a dark cloud spreading over Hawkins. The whole town was on fire. Dead soldiers and this... this giant creature with a gaping mouth, and this creature wasn't alone, there were so many monsters. An army. And they were coming into Hawkins.. into our neighbourhoods... our homes. and then, he showed me my mum, and holly, mike, and they... they were all..." it was taking everything inside of her not to break down as she explained what Vecna had shown her
"Okay, but... he was just trying to scare you, Nance. Right, I mean? It's not real." Steve tried to explain to her, telling her that Vecna was just playing mind games on her like he had been doing with others this whole time, he was just trying to freak her out when in reality, she had nothing to worry about.
But Adira and Nancy doubted that that was truly the case. They had seen so much that night, why would Vecna show Nancy that, just for it to be a lie? He had shown them his backstory and what had lead up to him becoming the evil prick that he was today
"Not yet." Nancy said firmly, forcing herself to look away from her lap and over at Steve who was sitting opposite to her on the other couch, she knew what she had seen, and she knew that it was real, "but there... there was something else. He showed me gates. Four gates. Spreading across Hawkins... and these gates, they looked like the one that is inside of Eddie's trailer. But these gates they... they didn't stop growing. And this wasn't the upside-down Hawkins. This was our Hawkins... Our home."
"Four chimes," Maxine suddenly spoke up, her eyes widening slightly as she began to piece some of the pieces together and figure out what it means. They had been missing one of the major clues this whole time. The rest of the room all turned their heads to look over at Max who was standing in the doorway, leaning against the door frame with her headphones wrapped around her neck and her arms crossed over her chest, "Vecna's clock. It always chimes four times. Four exactly"
"Holy shit, you're right," Adira muttered out, instantaneously picking up on what Max was trying to say to them, "I can't believe that it was right in front of us this whole time."
"I heard them too..." Nancy muttered out as she remembered hearing the four chimes throughout her vision that Vecna had forced her to see.
"he has been telling us his plan this whole time," Maxine states, a look of annoyance and disbelief on her face as she looked around the room.
"First Chrissy, then Fred and then Patrick... and you. Four kills. Four gates," Adira muttered out, a worried look on her face as she glanced over at Maxine
"The end of the world," Lucas muttered out sadly as he looked over at Maxine. He didnt want anything to happen to her, he loved her more than he cared to admit.
"If that's true... he is only one kill away," Dustin said, shaking his head slightly. They were doomed, Vecna had practically already won. Dustin began to think about ways that they could work their way around this, but nothing seemed to be coming to mind. He looked between Lucas and Adira to see if maybe they would have any ideas, but they looked just as complexed as he felt.
"Oh Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ," Eddie began to rant as he buried his head in his hands and began to freak out. He couldn't believe how fast his life had changed. He had gone from playing DnD in the basement of the school with his friends and trying to graduate, to watching two people get murdered, being accused of those murders, fighting monsters and finding out that the end of the world may be approaching. He ran his hands through his hair and began to tug on his locks, rocking back and forwards as he tried to remain calm
"Alright, so we just need to make sure that nothing happens to Max," Adira said with a small nod, but she knew that it was practically impossible. Maxine couldn't just stay awake and listen to music for the rest of her life... she had to fall asleep eventually, or maybe she would grow tired of the song... or maybe Vecna would somehow figure out to overpower the music
"It's not that easy," Robin muttered out to Adira who had begun to pace the room, a panicked look on her face as her dark brown locks swayed slightly. She couldn't lose Max... they had to figure out a way that they could keep the red-haired girl safe from Vecna. But there were no clear resolutions right now.
Robin stood up and walked over to her, placing her hands on Adira's shoulders to try and get her to calm down. Adira stopped pacing and looked up at Robin, her tired eyes meeting with Robin's pretty blue ones, "holy shit Adira, when was the last time you got some fucking sleep?" Robin asked, her voice racked with concern
"I don't know... I'm fine. Don't worry about me," Adira said as she shook her head softly, trying to give Robin a smile but failing miserably, "there is just so much going on right now, I can't get to sleep." Robin shook her head in concern, she hated seeing Adira like this... and she hated that there was nothing that she could do to help her feel better right now.
Robin led her over to the long couch where Eddie and Steve were sitting, "Steve move over dingus," Robin said quickly. Steve looked up at her with an annoyed look before rolling his eyes and moving over so that there was enough room for the two girls between him and Eddie.
Adira sat down on the side closer to Eddie and then Robin sat down between Adira and Steve. Adira let out a small yawn and then rested her head down on Eddie's shoulder, allowing herself to relax slightly. Eddie leant his head on top of hers and carefully wrapped his hand around hers, "its alright Adira, I'm sure we will figure this all out alright. We will come up with a plan to make sure that what Nancy saw won't come true... We will find a way to keep Max safe and kill Vecna," Eddie tried to calm her, but not even he could believe the words that were coming out of his mouth, so why would she?
"Try em again. Try em again," Steve said to Max and pointed over to the phone. Max nodded her head and then walked over to the phone, grabbing it and dialling the Wheeler household.