chapter thirty-one!
CASSIE LOVED TO ARGUE WITH STEVE. It was like a special talent of hers to get on his nerves to the point his face turns bright red and veins pop out in his forehead. She always found it amusing, and this time was no exception. Max insisted on taking a little field trip, one that Steve automatically shut down. Max was going to leave with or without him, and Cassie loved to egg on his frustration. It was such an amazing source of happiness in the midst of everything horrible happening.
"Max. Max, seriously," called Steve as he followed Max out of the Wheelers basement. Dustin and Lucas were behind him, and Cassie was already headed to her car, ready to take Max if Steve wouldn't. "Seriously, I'm not joking. I'm not driving you anywhere."
"Oh, but I will Stevie-poo."
"No, Cas, you won't."
"Steve, if you think I am going to spend what is likely the last day of my life in the armpit that is Mike, Wheelers basement, then you're out of your mind," argued Max, making Cassie nod rapidly in agreement. "So, either take me where I need to go, or you're going to have to tie me down. Which is technically kidnapping a minor. And if I live to see another day, Steve, I swear to god, I will prosecute."
Max stopped at Steve's car, pulling on the doorhandle. The door didn't budge, and Cassie almost laughed at the look on Max's face when she looked back up to Steve. "Open the door."
"Yeah, Stevie. Open the door."
"Uh, no," replied Steve in disbelief.
"I know a good lawyer," said Max, her expression not changing. Cassie nodded along, backing her up. She wasn't aware of any lawyer besides the one the blonde had in California when she hit a kid across the head with a textbook and almost got put on probation. Cassie wouldn't exactly call him a good lawyer, he was more mediocre at best.
Steve must have bought into this, however, because he scoffed as he pulled the keys out of his pocket and unlocked the door. He looked over at the car and to Dustin, "Henderson, that super walkie of yours better reach Pennhurst."
Dustin nodded as he climbed into the backseat, Lucas beside him in the middle with Max on the far left. Cassie was grateful she was stuck in the front seat, but already missed her car. Riding in something besides her beautiful Mustang felt like a betrayal.
The only conversation made the entire ride was Max telling Steve where to go, and him and Cassie arguing over the radio. Cassie didn't even mind the music being played on the radio, she just loved to see the agitated look on Steve's face as he slapped at her hands for touching the controls. Cassie felt even more accomplished when she heard Max let out a small chuckle from the back.
Steve was just ready to get Cassie out of his car by the time that he arrived at the trailer. Cassie was thrown around in her seat as Steve sped into the driveway before stopping abruptly. Steve didn't bother turning around as he put the car and park, "All right, this better be fast Mayfield."
"Twenty seconds," muttered Max as she climbed out of the car.
Steve turned around and looked to Dustin, who held the walkie like it was his child. "That things got batteries in it, right?"
Cassie snorted. Dustin looked at him in bewilderment, shaking his head lightly, "I'm not even going to answer that question," he told him. Steve gave him an annoyed look, turning back around in his seat with a huff. Dustin rolled his eyes, "Yes, it has batteries."
"Yeah, I got it."
Cassie leaned back in her seat, slouching slightly as she tapped her fingers on her denim pants. It had been more than twenty seconds already, and Cassie wanted to jump out of the car already and find her sister. Steve looked over at her, annoyed by the tapping. Cassie ignored him.
"Jesus, Cas. Stop that," he said, slapping her hands. He looked at her knuckles, still wrapped but the swelling have gone now significantly. He could see a few spots where the blood seeped through, but could figure that they scabbed over at sometime during the night. "How's the hands feel?"
"Like I punched a brick wall," she commented with a mocking look of awe on her face. "Which is crazy, I have no idea why they feel like that."
"Okay, no need to be an ass," muttered Steve. Lucas looked up at Cassie through the rearview mirror, tilting his head towards Steve as a suggestion to tell him that she was cursed. He sent her a pointed look, urging her on. She shook her head, opening the passenger door and stepping out of the car.
"I gotta get some air," she muttered. Eventually everyone else got out too, finding the same conclusion the longer they awaited in the car. Cassie began to pace as Max didn't come out, "I'm gonna go get her."
"No," said Dustin, "Give her time."
"Time to what? Get murdered?" she retorted, taking a step towards Dustin. Dustin frowned, shaking his head. Cassie let out a sigh, running her hands through her hair in worry. Dustin walked around to the other side of the car to Steve, leaving Cassie with her thoughts. Only moments later, Lucas approached her, placing a hand on her shoulder.
"You should tell them," he muttered, not loud enough for the others to hear. Cassie went to protest, but Lucas stopped her, "If you don't soon, I will. I'm not just going to sit by and watch you let yourself get killed. You mean too much to all of us."
Cassie stared at him for a moment, then nodded. "I will," she whispered, "After Nancy and Robin get back, I'll tell them all. Just- Max stays the priority, okay?"
"What?" asked Lucas, a frown growing on his face. Cassie sighed as Lucas shook his head, "You're both the priority. We're going to save you both."
"I hope so, Lucas," she started, her words rushed and honestly half-assed, as she tried to get on with her point. "I just- I need you to promise me, that if it comes down between saving me or saving Max, you save Max. No hesitation, Max lives."
"Cassie..."
"Promise me," she demanded.
"I- I can't do that Cas," said Lucas, his eyes beginning to water.
"Please, Lucas," she pleaded, "Max has so much to live for. She- she's good, and kind hearted. She deserves to live. You know that, Lucas. If only one of us can live, save her. Please. Promise me."
"I... I promise," nodded Lucas, hesitantly. Cassie smiled in appreciation and relief and squeezed his arm in thanks. Cassie turned back to where she awaited Max's return. Lucas stares at the side of her head, Cassie ignoring the eyes on her. Lucas already regreted saying that. He knew he couldn't promise it. None of them could promise it.
Cassie began to grin as she saw Max walk around the house and back towards the group, but the smile quickly fell as she saw the distraught look on her sisters face. Cassie stepped forward, her eyes searching for visible injuries or surrounding dangers.
"Hey, that was longer than twenty seconds," scolded Steve. Cassie shot the older boy a glare. Steve noticed the startled look on Max's face as she climbed in the car, "Hey, whoa, whoa, whoa. You all right?"
"I'm fine, just drive," insisted Max. Cassie returned to her passenger seat spot and turned around to look at her sister. She could recognize the fear in her eyes, the look on her face.
"Did something happen?" asked Dustin, looking across Lucas at the redhead.
"Can we please just go?"
Cassie met her sisters eyes, and for once Max didn't look away. Max gave her a single nod, making the blonde give a tight-lipped smile and turning back around in her seat as Steve sped out of the driveway.
━━━━━━━☆☆━━━━━━━
It wasn't long into the ride that Cassie realized where Max was leading them. She dug into her pants pocket almost immediately, grabbing her prescription nerve pill and subtly slipping it into her mouth. Cassie hadn't been back to Billy's grave since the funeral, nor did she really have any desire to. It was too much, too soon, despite it having been over eight months since his death. She'd been told that she should, at least for some closure, but Cassie believed that closure was some made-up bullshit and that going back would just hurt her even more.
She could feel her chest hurt and her hands grow sweaty as she saw the cemetery come into view. She leaned her head back on the seat, closing her eyes as the panicking feeling sat in.
"Turn here," said Max, Cassie biting the inside of her cheek until she tasted blood.
Dustin looked from Max to Cassie, then back to Max, "Here?"
Cassie didn't even have to look to know that Max nodded in confirmation. She could feel Steve's eyes look over to her, as if he was scared she was just going to protest. Cassie pursed her lips, but didn't say anything.
The car hadn't even been put in park when Max hopped, closing her door behind her. Steve stared at her expectingly, as if he was waiting for her to follow. Cassie looked out the window, avoiding both his stare and the graveyard to her left. She was surprised when Lucas too climbed out of the car and ran after Max, but she felt pride for her friend.
Dustin too left the car, but didn't follow after Lucas. Instead, he leaned against the car. He looked at Cassie for a moment, as if he wanted to say something, then looked away. Lucas came back a moment later, looking slightly dejected. He sat himself on the hood of Steve's car, staring longingly to where Max now sat at Billy's grave.
Steve stared over at Cassie every few seconds after that. Cassie could tell that he wanted to say something, and part of her just wanted him to stay silent. But the feeling of his eyes boring into the side of her head was too much for her ignore, so she tuned to him with an unimpressed look. Steve looked away, pretending he hadn't been looking. Cassie rolled her eyes, "You got something you wanna say, Steve?"
"No, no," he denied, shaking his head. "It's just..."
"It's just what?"
"It's just... you've been strangely quiet today," he said, not bothering to hide the worry in his tone. Steve saw a lot himself in Cassie, most especially in the fact that they both sucked at expressing how they felt. Neither of them liked to talk about their pain, and instead it usually came across as anger. But no matter how bad things got, Cassie always talked. She made jokes, sarcastic remarks, or just said the stupidest, most irrelevant thing ever. Cassie was never really silent. The only other time he could think of her being so quiet was when Billy died. He hated to think about the way that Dustin had found her afterwards, and he hated thinking of that being repeated if they couldn't save Max. But he could tell that there was more than just that on her mind. "Is something going on in that little head of yours?"
"Personally, I'm great. It's the idea of my sister dying that actually has me in a bad mood," she remarked, sending Steve a sarcastic grin.
Steve shook his head, "No, I know you, Cas. There's something else."
"Yeah, but given the current circumstances, it's nothing of importance," she told him, honestly. Her being cursed wasn't important, not when Max's life was on the line. Cassie had survived months like this, but Max was likely to die that very day if they didn't figure something out. Max came first.
"Promise me you'll tell me when this is all over, then?" asked Steve, and Cassie smiled at the irony of his sentence. She wrapped her arm around his, leaning over the center console to lean her head on his shoulder.
"Yeah, I promise."
Steve could practically hear her heart pounding out of her chest, and it amazed him at how well she was hiding her fear. He was the only person to have ever witnessed her having one of her attacks, and it was clear she had grown almost expert at hiding them. He could feel her hands shaking, but didn't say anything as he leaned his head back on hers. Cassie was his sister, in every way that it mattered. He would never try to replace Billy, but Cassie held a special place in his heart that not even Dustin could reach.
The two remained like that for almost ten minutes while they waited on Max to return. Steve could tell that Cassie was beginning to worry and looked down to his watch, deciding that the redhead had had long enough. "All right, it's been long enough."
He tapped Cassie on the arm to let her know to get up before opening his car door and climbing out. Cassie got out as well, standing beside of Dustin as Steve began to walk away. Dustin looked over at her, almost lovingly, and she walked a few steps away.
"Steve, just give her some time," said Lucas, making the older boy turn around.
"I have, all right Sinclair?" replied Steve, "I'm calling it. She wants to get a lawyer, she can."
With that, Steve walked away. Cassie nodded to herself, taking in a deep breath before following. Dustin caught her arm before she could get far, pulling her back. Cassie gave him an irritated look and pulled her arm away from him. "Cassie, just wait."
"No, Dustin," she denied, "Now isn't the time for your shit."
Cassie didn't bother looking back as she climbed the hill towards Max, Dustin calling after her with a pitifully sad voice. Cassie wasn't far behind Steve as she approached her sister. Her heart dropped when she saw Steve squatted beside her with his hand on her shoulder. She sped up, falling to her knees beside of her sister.
"Max? Max!" pleaded Cassie, too scared to even touch the girl. Her voice shook in a way that she would have normally hated but was to worried to even notice in the moment. "Max, wake up. Max!"
"Max, c'mon, wake up!" said Steve, shaking her shoulder. He turned back to where the boys waited at his car, "Guys!"
Dustin and Lucas come speeding up the hill, Lucas falling next to Cassie. Cassie reached forward, grabbing Max's face in her hands as she blinked back tears, "Max, please."
As soon as her skin makes contact with Max's, Cassie lets out a gasp. For a split second, she can see Max running. She was in the cemetery, but it was dark and stormy and covered in vines. As soon as if happened, the sight was gone. Cassie recoiled, and she was momentarily glad the focus was on Max because no one noticed the blood dripping down Cassie's nose. She wiped it away, then reached for Max's hand.
Cassie looked around. She was sitting on the ground, the dead grass below her scratching her the part of her ankles exposed by her pants leg riding up. Her back was against stone, and everything was darker than it had been seconds ago. She turned her head, only to see Max staring back at her with wide eyes. "Oh, shit. Max."
"Cassie? What-?" whispered Max, her voice laced in confusion. She scooted away, her eyes wide. "You're not Cassie."
"No, Max. It's me. I don't know how I'm here either. One second I was in the cemetery trying to wake you up, then I touch your hand and I'm here, fucking hell," said the blonde, all in one breath. Max let out a breath of relief, then looked down at their hands that neither of them noticed where intertwined. Max moved to peer around the stone, looking back in the direction she had came. Her hand didn't leave Cassie's.
"You cannot hide from me, Maxine."
Cassie sucked in a breath at the sound of that familiar voice. Max stood up, pulling Cassie with her as she took off into a run. Cassie was caught off guard by the movement, and her hand was ripped from her sisters suddenly.
"Oh, shit!" yelled Cassie at the sudden chance. She was back in the cemetery, and not in Max's head. Lucas and Steve were still screaming at Max to wake up, not even noticing the mental absence of the blonde beside them. Cassie could faintly hear Dustin screaming for Robin, and she could only hope they had figured something out.
Cassie shook, her whole body overcome by trembles. The whole world seemed to spin around her, and Cassie felt her legs carry her a few feet away from the group had huddled, her stomach emptying it's contents onto the grass. Cassie fell back onto her knees, blood pouring from her nose as she kneeled over and threw up. "Oh, god."
Cassie pulled herself together quicker than she knew she could, almost crawling back over to Max. She latched back onto the redhead's hand, the urge to help her sister overcoming her fear in the moment.
"Cassie!" screamed Max, spinning around as she called out for her friends, for her sister. She jumped as Cassie appeared beside her, their hands intertwined once again. "Oh, shit."
"Yeah, oh shit! This is fuckin crazy, Max," shouted Cassie. A burning red light reflected off the side of her face, making the two girls turn around to face the glowing red. Cassie frowned as Max began to walk towards it, consequently pulling Cassie along with her. "Whoa, whoa. Don't follow the scary red light."
"Where else do we have to go?" muttered Max, effectively shutting Cassie up. "Still don't know how you are here. Are you like, my conscious or some shit?"
"Max, if I am your conscious, I have some serious concerns," replied Cassie, honestly. Max nodded in agreement to the statement, the two remaining quiet after that.
The two walked through the new terrain, the ground covered in vines and squishy beneath their feet. They made their way towards what seemed to be the remnants of a house. There was a floating door, and that dumb grandfather clock. Max and Cassie shared a look at the familiar chime.
"What are you doing here, Max?" asked the daunting voice.
Max stepped on something, causing a crunch below her feet. Both girls looked down, Cassie jumping back at the sight of several baby spiders spilling from the egg. The movement pulled her hand from Max's.
"Shit," she cursed to herself, then confusion grew on her face a the boys in front of her searched through cassettes. "Whoa, what are we looking for?"
"Her favorite song, what is it?"
"Uh, it's something Kate Bush," explained Cassie in urgency, ignoring the nausea growing in her stomach. Cassie shook her head, trying to ignore the ringing in her ears and the growing dizziness. "I-I can't remember the name of the song!"
"I know it!" exclaimed Lucas, flipping through the cassettes before stopping at a Kate Bush tape. He pointed to the first song on the tape, handing it to Dustin who held the cassette player. "It's this one!"
"Give it to me!" said Steve, grabbing both the tape and the player. He slid it in easily, Dustin gently placing the headphones over her ears.
"Now!" screamed the curly hair boy, making Steve hit play instantly. Cassie waited for Max's eyes to fly open, and for her to fall into their arms and be okay. The boys continued to scream and shout at the girl, begging her to wake up. Cassie reached for her hand once again, ready to send herself back to wherever the hell she was, however the hell she did, in hopes of saving Max. Maybe, if she was there, she could keep her safe. Before her hand could even touch Max's, the redhead began to float up into the air. Cassie fell backwards, as did the boys.
Cassie closed her eyes, unable to watch. She didn't want to hear the sound of her sister's bones breaking, she didn't want to see her fall to the ground lifeless. Cassie was pulled to her feet by Dustin, who kept an arm around her to hold her up. Cassie hated to admit it, but she was grateful. Her legs were like jelly, and the world spun around her. She held onto his arm for support.
"Max!" shouted Cassie, her voice cracking. "Max, you shithead!"
"Max!" cried the boys.
"You bitch, you can't die!"
"Max!"
"Max!"
"I am so going to kill you, Max!"
The four teens screamed desperately for their friend, Dustin and Cassie not letting each other go for a single moment. This couldn't be it. Cassie couldn't live without Max; she didn't want to live without Max. They'd been through too much together for it to be over now.
Cassie let out a scream as Max dropped to the ground.
"Jesus, Max!" cried Cassie, as she cried over her sister. Much to Cassie's relief, Max was very much alive, and all of her bones were still very much intact. Max gasped for air, holding onto Lucas tightly. Lucas held her to his chest, crying with her as the dread slowly left everyone. Max was alive. Max was okay.
"I thought we lost you," cried Lucas as he held her tighter. Cassie grabbed Max's free hand, holding it to her chest in relief. Cassie doubted if she would ever let Max out of her sight again.
"I'm still here," breathed Max, and the words were like music to Cassie's ears. "I'm here."
Dustin was kneeled over on his knees, one hand on each of the girls shoulders as he too caught his breath. Steve rubbed Max's back, still shaking from the events that just unfolded. Cassie felt Max's hand squeeze hers back, Cassie's eyes meeting her sisters. Max stared at her, her eyes wide and partially confused. Cassie shook her head, squeezing her eyes shut. She knew there was going to be a conversation to come, and she didn't even know where to begin.
But, oh was she fucked.
a/n: yall we speeding
through this season
ngl. im kinda proud fr
also, cassie is going
through it so bad its
not even funny. but it
kinda is LMFAO
-maddie