Chapter 6: nightmare
"Every now and then I get a little bit terrified."
•
Hot breaths fanned onto Eve's neck as Max kept her arm wrapped around her, in her own dreamland. Eve's skin was hot, sweat evident from the moonlight glistening through the curtains as her eyebrows stayed in a furrowed position.
She was boiling hot, yet her dream was freezing cold. She appeared to be in the upside down, the air wasn't breathable. It was cold and toxic and made Eve's hairs stand on end as she looked around.
"Max?" She called out into the darkness, "Mike?"
"Eve!" She heard a boys voice shout. She looked over to where it came from and ran over to see Will Byers staring up at the mind flayer, screaming at the top of his lungs for it to go away. She started running at him, shouting at him to run when she froze.
She watched as a girl appeared, grabbing Will's arm and pushing him out of the way.
It was herself.
"No!" She screamed as she saw Will vanish and herself start to absorb some of the mind flayers power.
"It's just a dream," Eve mumbled, "You're dreaming," She cried quietly as she watched herself run into the forest. She turned towards the mind flayer, not following after herself. And rather than running away from it like she had in the past, she ran towads it.
"What do you want!" She cried as it got closer to her and she ran at it, "Tell me!"
It didn't answer as it got closer and closer, putting her into a whirlwind. She turned around in a circle, feeling like she was in the eye of a tornado as wind gusted around her
She heard different voices speaking to her as she turned around, each one getting louder than the next.
"We'll kill you."
"Fag."
"We'll kill your family."
"We'll kill your friends."
"Max open the door!"
"Hold her!"
"Get off!"
"It's for your own good."
"Stay away from her."
"You're no daughter of mine."
Eve froze at the last one, her dad appearing from the gusts of wind as he stared at her, "You're no daughter of mine."
The words repeated over and over again as the wind got stronger and stronger.
"No daughter of mine."
"Get the fuck out!"
"No!" Eve shouted as her dads voice resonated through her ears, repeating the soul crushing words that had scarred her. Her hands came up to her ears as she cried and pressed her eyes closed tight.
"No daughter of mine."
"Eve?"
"Dissapointment!"
"Eve!"
"Get the fuck out!"
"Eve, wake up!"
"No!" Eve screamed as she jumped awake, only to feel arms around her. She looked up to see Max hugging her close and muttering sweet nothings that she was okay. The sudden pull back into reality caused the Harrington girl to break down in tears, her breaths coming out short as she turned and hugged Max tightly, scared she'd slip from under her fingers.
"Max..." Eve cried quietly, Max just shh'ed her and hugged her closer before pulling away. She turned to see if Eleven was awake, but she wasn't. The girl was clearly a deep sleeper. Max grabbed Eve's hand in her own softly and pulled her out of the room and to the back porch to talk.
"You haven't had a nightmare in months," Max says to her girlfriend as Eve sits on the edge of the wood on the porch, "What happened?"
"I... I don't know," Eve cries quietly, trying to stay calm after that horror or a nightmare, "These last couple days, i keep getting this feeling that something bad's going to happen. It's like the first month after everything happened all over again, Max. I'm paranoid, I can't sleep... I keep thinking about what happened like its a flashbak. I can't handle it."
"You need to tell your parents Eve," Max says with a sigh as she rubs Eve's arm, holding Eve's hand with her free one.
"Max..." Eve goes to argue, shaking her head. But Max cuts her off, not letting her be so hard on herself and believe the whole world is against her.
"Maybe they can help!" Max argues, putting on a smile in hopes of making Eve feel better.
"That's not a good idea-" Eve starts again, thinking about if she should tell Max the details about what happened when her parents found out she liked girls.
"Your mum trained as a nurse, right?" Max continues, ignoring Eve's comment as she thinks to herself, "She's gotta know something right?"
"Max-" Eve tries to cut in again.
"Or know someone else who could know something." Max ignores her.
"No, it's not that-"
"And your dad! He-"
"Max" Eve shouts. "We're not talking to them."
"Why not?" Max asks with a confused look as Eve pulls her knees up to her chest.
"we're not on speaking terms. hell, not even on being near each other terms." Eve finally admits to Max, avoiding eye contact as she stares down at the dying grass near her feet.
"What do you mean?" Max asks with furrowed brows, not looking at anything other than her girlfriend's face.
"My dad hit me and kicked me out after you left." Eve blurts out quickly before letting out a breath, Max chokes on air at the revelation, mad that her dad would do that, and upset Eve didn't tell her earlier.
"Eve why didn't you tell me?" Max asks her as she takes her hand in order to comfort the silently hurting Harrington.
"I'm telling you now, aren't i?" Eve says with a small smile, before seeing Max's serious look and dropping the smile, "Because I didn't want that burden on you," Eve says, "you'd just blame yourself."
"Burden?" Max asks confused. "You think you burden me?"
"No, I just didn't want it to ruin the perfect night we had," Eve smiles as she takes Max's hand, "I'm focusing on the good, you should too."
"Eve..." Max goes to argue.
"Focus on the good.... for me." Eve begged, purosefully ending the conversation and resting her head on Max's shoulder as she closed her eyes. Max sighed as she held Eve's hand tighter, putting her other arm around Eve in an embrace. Max closed her eyes too, knowing Eve had her own ways of dealing with things and Max just had to accept she didn't like talking about how she felt.
"Okay."