The room was completely silent, so was the rest of the trailer, which meant no one was home, no one except two redhaired girls, one of which laid quietly in her bed, or at least it seemed for a moment. She tossed and turned, her head thrashing from left to right, then suddenly, with a gasp, her eyes shot open. She quickly sat up and looked around realizing she was in her most current room, not his.
She looked beside her seeing no one there, setting her off into a panic. She threw the covers off herself and hopped out of bed leaving the room. As she made her way down the short hallway she could see Max standing ahead of her, dressed in her same clothes from yesterday, at the stove finishing up on a meal she was making.
"Hey sleepyhead." The older girl said. Bailey came up beside her and hugged onto her feeling Max run her hands against Baileys tangled hair. "You alright?" She asked rubbing the smaller redheads back. "You had another nightmare didn't you?" Bailey nodded and rubbed her eyes as her head began to pound. "Your head hurting again?" She nodded. Max pursed her lips out of worry. "Alright, go sit down and I'll grab you some Tylenol." The little girl nodded once more and went and sat at the kitchen table.
Before she gave Bailey her pain killers she grabbed a plate and piled scrambled eggs onto it then grabbed two Eggo waffles from the toaster, placing the plate of food in front of her daughter. The little girl didn't hesitate and started to dig into her food.
"Well jeez, I didn't forget to feed you last night did I?" She chuckled.
"No, I'm just a growing child, I need my food." She told Max.
"Sure." She placed a pill and a cup of water next to Baileys plate so she could take it. "Slow down a bit so you don't choke." She rubbed the top of Baileys head then turned to clean up the mess she left behind from cooking.
Bailey looked up at the older girl watching her walk, but it wasn't right, there was clearly a lot of discomfort. The little girl immediately understood what happened and could only stare at Max sadly, she was already in pain these past few days, she couldn't imagine what she was feeling at the moment, she had to be in absolute agony, but she didn't show it, because she was good at hiding it, she's always been.
She scanned the countertop finding no sign of another plate, not even a bit of food left over. Max didn't make anything for herself.
"Where's your food?" Bailey asked. Max froze for a moment then finished on the dishes.
"We didn't have enough." She told Bailey.
"But you need something to eat too."
"It's fine Bails, I'm not hungry anyway." She knew it was likely Max didn't have an appetite, she was probably too sick to her stomach, still trying to recover from the night before.
"You can have some of mine." The little girl offered, she got out of her chair and picked her plate up.
"No Bailey, you keep eating, I'm fine." The older girl said taking the plate from Bailey and sitting it back down on the table.
"But-"
"Bailey." Max said, her tone of voice stern. "I'm not gonna argue over this." The little girl went quiet then sat back in her seat and looked down, no longer having the appetite for food, she felt bad, felt guilty for eating, seeing Max had gotten absolutely nothing, seeing her in pain.
She wanted to help her, she wanted to badly, but she knew she couldn't, because Max saw it as an obligation to keep Bailey safe, to keep her well taken care of at the cost of her own health. She shouldn't have to deal with any of it, she shouldn't have to keep suffering.
Bailey wanted to get help for Max, but on the other end of things, she couldn't trust anyone, Max wouldn't trust anyone, no matter how hard you pushed, not even the police. There was only one person in this world that Max would ever trust her life with, the only person Bailey knew could do wonders for Max, but she was gone, she was far away. Bailey can only hope that one day, for whatever reason, El will come back to Hawkins, and she can save Max from all that she goes through.
Max turned and found the little girl sitting there staring down at her lap, not laying another finger on the rest of her food. Max sighed and took a seat in the chair across from the girl, shifting uncomfortably in her seat. "Hey." She said to Bailey, but the girl didn't answer. Max went and rested her head on the table, reaching a hand out to Bailey to get her attention. "Bails." The little girl finally looked up at Max, staring into her pained eyes. "I know. I know you're worried about me, but I really am fine. I am. I know, a lot goes on, but I always find a way out of it, I always do."
"But you're still getting hurt." Bailey said. The older girl inhaled deeply.
"I know, but I'm still alright. I'm fine." Bailey shook her head, she didn't want to listen to Max's lies anymore, she was done.
"No. It's not okay Max."
"I know Bailey, but I'm gonna be oka-"
"No!" She said slamming her hand on the table causing Max to jump. "No you won't!" She whimpered, tears welling in her little blue eyes. "You're never fine because you're always in pain. You're always hurting! No one should be hurting as much as you do." Max could only sit and stare at the little girl watching the tears trickle down her red cheeks. "You don't deserve this."
"Bailey I...I'm sorr-"
"No! Don't say it! Stop saying that! Stop saying you're sorry! You're not supposed to be sorry!" By now Max was frozen, she was gone, full shut down, it was like a black out, but no violence involved. "This isn't your fault. There's nothing to be sorry about." Bailey looked back at Max noticing her blank staring. She reached up and placed her hands on her cold cheeks looking closely at the older girl waiting for Max look at her, but nothing. "Say something. Please, say something." She said quietly.
Suddenly sirens rang from outside making both girls jump. They looked to the door then at each other before scrambling to exit the house.
The two girls stood outside in the porch watching police cars rush down the driveway and skid to a stop in front of their house. Maxs heart began to pound realizing they could be here for her, but how did they find out? Did Ms. Kelley tell them? Was it the principal? A friend? Even then, why so many? Bailey came close to Max and wrapped an arm around her, the older girl resting her hand on her shoulder in return.
From ahead they watched each officer rushed out of their cars and into the house across from theirs, the Munsons. Max relaxed, relieved they weren't here for her, but a new suspicion was raised, what was happening? Whatever it was, something was off, very very off.
"Stay here." Max told Bailey. The little girl obeyed and stayed in her spot while Max walked off.
The redhead slowly approached the home across from hers, staring into the open door. As she got closer she could see the chief of police knelt over what looked like a body, examining it. When Max was close enough the chief stood up and stepped away from his spot, finally showing the teen the mangled body of Chrissy Cunningham. She grew pale, her heart dropping to her stomach and her ears began to ring.
"Hey!" She jumped and turned meeting face to face with another officer. "You can't be out here. Get back inside." He said harshly. Max turned and looked at the body one last time. "Back inside!" The officer commanded. The redhead looked back up at him then finally pushed past to go back to her trailer.
"What happened? What did you see?" Bailey asked. Max grabbed the little ones shoulders and turned her towards the door.
"We need to go."
[Lenora, California]
El sat in an airport chair, her brother Will squeezed next to her. She watched him rub his hands together, an excited smile on his face, on top of it being his birthday, it was like the best present he could get, he looked more excited than El did. In a way, El was almost dreading the entirety of spring break. Sure, they were going to the roller rink today, but after that what else? It was a small town in the middle of a desert. He probably wanted to do nothing more but make out with her, like they used to. What about that exactly was enjoyable? To El it was tiring after awhile, but she only kept going because she thought it was the only way to show you loved someone, but in the end, she had a lot of questions about that too.
The doors ahead opened and a line of people started to pile out and into the airport. The two started to look around waiting, one more anxiously than the other, then of course, one of the last people to leave the flight was Mike. El and Will stood up at the same time, waving to the tall boy.
Upon reaching them he let go of his things and brought El tightly into his arms soon laying a long kiss on her lips. When they pulled away she motioned a bouquet of flowers to the brunette.
"It's a gift. I hand picked those for you in Hawkins." He said. "I know you like yellow, but now I'm realizing it's too much yellow. I know you also like purple so I got purple as well. So kinda like, a 70/30 split kind of thing." He rambled on. El looked down and looked at the card attached to the flowers reading "To El, From Mike." Her smile slowly dropped but she tried to push it off her shoulders.
She noticed Will come up behind her wanting to greet Mike as well and moved out of the way to let him do so. With a bright smile on his face he reached out for a hug, but least expected, Mike stepped back, "Hey, how you doing?" He said nonchalant, giving his friend a pat on the shoulder. Els brows furrowed watching this interaction, seeing as her brothers smile left his face completely.
"Hey Mike." Jonathan stepped up, his lids hung heavy as if he just woke from a nap.
"How you doing?" He responded.
"Good man."
"Great, uh, what's that?" He said motioning to the gift Will had brought for him.
"Um, it's nothing, just this painting I've been working on." He pushed. El stared at him knowing that he was very clearly lying, Will had been working on it for so long, preparing it and making sure it was just right for Mike, all to call it nothing?
"Cool." Mike said plainly, he looked like he couldn't care less. El could only stare at Mike in disbelief.
"That's a rad shirt man. Ocean Pacific?" Jonathans friend Argyle questioned.
"Oh, Mike. This is my friend Argyle." Jonathan stepped in.
"Oh hey." Mike said, no interest in his voice. Out of nowhere Argyle quickly came forward and looked over Mikes shoulder at the tag in his shirt.
"Oh no no no. It's a shitty knockoff." He said pulling away from Mike. "But don't sweat it, I'll get you the good threads out here." Mike didn't respond and just stood there, staring at Argyle. "I heard a lot about your sister." He switched. Mikes brows furrowed.
"Uh, okay, should we go?" Jonathan pushed.
"Yeah, this is kinda awkward man." Argyle said obliviously.
"Yeah, so awkward." Mike exaggerated. He grabbed his bag and turned to walk away, wrapping an arm around El to bring her along.
"So what do we have planned for today?" Mike asked El.
"First, we're going out for breakfast, then after that we're going to Rink-o-mania" El told him.
"Cool, rink-o-mania. What is Rink-o-mania?"
"It's the most fun place in Lenora, there's games, food, milkshakes, and skating." She said. Suddenly she began to think about Max. Maybe she would've had fun here, her and Bailey. El remembers listening to her talk on and on about how much she wanted Max to teach her, maybe El could've made the effort to reach out, but then again, not a single person answered the phone when she called. That only made her even more concerned.
"Cool, maybe we'll meet some of your friends." Mike assumed. El furrowed her brows.
"Mike, we don't-"
"Yeah, but we might not see them." Will jumped in. "But maybe a different time." He pushed, El looked at Will, growing confused. El nor Will had any friends, at school the two of them typically kept to themselves, they were what people say as the weird Byers twins, and now Will was seen as more than that.
[Max]
"Chrissy Cunningham?" Dustin said with disbelief. "You're sure it was Chrissy?"
"Yes, in her cheerleader outfit. Same thing she was in when I saw her with Eddie." I told him. I paced back and forth, I felt sick to my stomach after what I had seen. Her body, it was so, destroyed and mangled, how could that even happen to a human. I didn't know exactly who to go to for this, so Dustin was my best bet. "Did you tell all this to the cops?"
"No. No, but I can't be the only one who saw them together, I mean, Bailey did, right?" I asked her, she nodded and took a seat on the floor, crossing her legs. "They stood out. Like, really stood out."
"Eddie the freak, with Chrissy the cheerleader?" He clearly wasn't hearing me.
"Yes, Dustin, exactly. His name isn't in the news yet or anything, but I guarantee he's a suspect now."
"That's crazy. Eddie didn't do this. No way." I raised my brows and pressed my lips together, it was clear to Dustin. "No. Way."
"Look, we can't rule it out,"
"Yes we can."
"Dustin,"
"You don't know him like I do Max. When we got to high school, Lucas made all his little sports friends. Mike and me? I mean, no one was nice to us. No one except Eddie."
"That doesn't change anything Dustin. Yeah, you think you know someone, but you don't always know them. You don't know what they're thinking, what goes on in their head." I swallowed hard, my hands starting to ball up.
"Max. I know, but you could be overthinking this-"
"I'm not overthinking!" I shouted, slamming my hand on Dustins dresser. Him and Bailey jumped making me freeze. I realized what I had done. Why can't I keep control of myself? Jesus christ Max.
I sighed and walked over, taking a seat on Dustins bed. "Okay, yeah, I may be overthinking. In the end, we can't presume anything. But this doesn't look good for Eddie." Dustin didn't respond. I looked down at my shoes. "I think there's something bad going on, like really bad." I probably shouldn't be saying such a thing in front of Bailey, but I really didn't have a choice, I mean, there was no point in trying to hide it anymore anyways, she's seen enough, and it's clear that she won't believe any lie told to her, at least, she won't let them slide like she used to.
"Well no shit, what do you think we've been going on about? Someone just died."
"No, I mean, more than that you asshole." I stopped and took a deep breath before I got heated. "...When we got home we saw Chrissy and Eddie go into his trailer, later on something else happened." I explained the entire story of what both Bailey and I had seen last night, but I was trying to figure out whether or not I should add in what happened to me. "It was nothing that weird or anything, I mean, Eddie always drives like a maniac, and the power goes of at my place all the time, it's a piece of shit but..." I hesitated. "This morning, I started to think back, and...I don't know. The look on his face. He was scared Dustin. Really scared. Maybe he was scared because, you know, he just killed someone, or..." I froze thinking hard about it. "Maybe um, maybe because...I don't know...maybe,"
"Something else killed her." I nodded.
"But, that's impossible, right?" My heart started to beat out of my chest, I was hoping deep down we didn't have yet another supernatural case on our hands.
"I don't know." Dustin started. "It should be."
"But there's only one person who knows what happened." Bailey said, Dustin looked down at her then at each other realizing she was right.
"Talked to anyone else?" He asked, the three of us hurrying down the hall.
"No. I don't know where Lucas is, and Mike is in,"
"California, shit, shit shit."
"Dusty where are you going?!" Dustin's mom asked frantically.
"Just visiting a friend." Dustin answered quickly.
"You heard the news, it's not safe!"
"We'll be careful. Thanks. Love you. Bye!"
[Lenora, California]
"Bitchn' right?" El asked as the three of them received their roller skates.
"Yeah, it's bitchn' alright. You must come here a lot." Mike said.
"Yes." Will said.
"No." El answered at the same time. She looked at him.
"Well, El doesn't come a lot, but it's a big party place." He lied. El pursed her lips then looked forward wondering what could've possibly gotten into Will.
The three of them went on and sat down at a nearby bench and slipped their shoes off to put on their roller skates. El looked down noticing the flipflops Mike had on for what he probably thought would be summer weather. "Oh, I forgot, you need socks." She told him.
"Oh shit." Mike panicked.
"They sell them over at the counter." Will motioned.
"Oh." Mike quickly got up and walked off leaving the two siblings. El dropped her things and turned to Will already looking for answers.
"Why are you lying?" She asked him.
"What?" He questioned obliviously.
"Why are you lying to Mike? You're friends with Angela and Stacy? You come to parties here all the time?"
"I have been to a party here El."
"For Joyce's work, but that's it."
"Okay so, I asked for vomit green and I got vomit green, isn't that awesome?" Mike chirped, sitting back down between the two siblings.
No one said anything leaving Mike to put his socks on in a dreadful silence. El stared at her brother as he turned her attention away from her and Mike and went to continue on with his shoes. She inhaled deeply scared of what this could become of, Mike was the one who taught El that friends don't lie, and surely he'd be upset is he found out Will had been lying to him this entire time he's been here.
"Wow, I suck at this." Mike said getting into the rink hand in hand with El, Will stalled behind the two of them. "I'm like Bambi on ice." He joked. El chuckled having no clue what he was talking about.
"You're doing great." She said.
She went on and put her eyes forward her mind drifting to somewhere else, someone else. What if she were the one here? What if El was there, in Hawkins with her. She'd know if she was okay or not, she would know she was safe. But there was this burning in the back of Els head that told her she wasn't, when Mike said she was distant, she knew that she was trying to push people away, like she used to, something was wrong.
El could only feel guilty now, she was here enjoying herself while Max was back in Hawkins, possibly getting hurt, she could be hurting herself, or worse, someone else was hurting her.
[Max]
I stumbled off my bike as we reached the parking lot of family video and went to park it on a nearby rack, Bailey and Dustin coming up behind and parking their own. I turned and went for the doors but stopped when Dustin called for me.
"What Dustin?" I said harshly, I didn't mean to, but this situation is way too serious to just stop and chat.
"What happened?" I furrowed my brows, but soon I realized he noticed something.
"What?" I questioned.
"You're walking weird. Did you get hurt?"
"It doesn't matter, we have bigger things to worry about." I said. I didn't let him ask anymore questions went and entered the store, him and Bailey following quickly behind me.
"Hey, Steve." We approached the front desk, both Robin and Steve there, looking up at the tv.
"Have you guys seen this?" He said motioning to the screen.
"How many phones do you have?" Dustin urged.
"Dude someone was just murdered."
"This is serious Steve." Bailey said, her head reaching just above the counter.
"how many phones do. you. have."
"Two. Why?" He finally answered.
"Technically three if you count Keith's." Robbin added. I looked to Dustin.
"Three works." I said. He nodded. Dustin then threw his bag on the countertop and hopped on, scooting himself over.
"Dustin, what are you doing? My tapes dude!" Steve exclaimed.
"My pile!" Robin said. Bailey went to jump on as well but I grabbed on to her.
"Nope." I said dragging her around to the opening.
"Aw come on!" We met everyone else around at the computer, Dustin taking a seat and beginning to type away like he knew what he was doing.
"What are you doing?" Steve asked coming up next to Dustin.
"Setting up base of operations here." Dustin said with a dismissing tone.
"Base of operations?" Robin questioned.
"Get off." Steve told him.
"I need it!"
"For what?"
"Eddies Friends' phone numbers."
"Your new friend you think is cooler because he plays your nerdy games?" Good god, looks like someone's jealous.
"Seriously, you guys, maybe on a Monday you can play around but it's Saturday. Our busiest day." Robin said.
"Robin, I promise whatever this shit is, it's way more important than your job." I told her.
"What's so important about calling Eddie's friends anyway? Is it really an emergency?"
"Correct." Dustin answered, he stopped typing and turned to me. "Can you fill them in while I do this?"
"Fill us in on what?" Robin asked. I inhaled and turned to her and Steve, of course I'm the one to do it. Dustins just lucky that this is serious enough that I won't punch his new teeth out.
[Lenora, California]
"Mmhm, mine's definitely better than yours." Mike said after tasting Els milkshake.
"No it's not." She said with disbelief. She looked at Will sitting across from her quietly sipping on his milkshake, he clearly wasn't having fun. This really upset El, this was supposed to be fun for all of them, especially Will because it was his birthday.
"Milkshakes?! Yum!" Someone else said. El and Will looked up in horror as Angela rolled up to their table, her friends behind her. "Where oh where have you been hiding this handsome thing?" She said eyeing Mike.
"This...this is my boyfriend, Mike." El said growing timid, never has Angela just approached them out of nowhere, she had to be up so something.
"Oh, well that's a surprise, I would've thought he was a close friend of yours." Angela said looking to Will, he looked down fully understanding what she was implying.
"It's really cool to finally meet some of Wills friends." Mike said, Angela scoffed.
"Friends? Yeah! So cool." She said looking over at Will, a devilish smile growing on her face. "Come on, friend, lets skate."
"Sorry, I wanted to finish-" Will started, holding his milkshake in his hand.
"I'll hold that for you." The boy behind Angela said, practically snatching the drink from Wills hand.
Angela reached down and grabbed onto Wills hands and brought him to stand up, dragging him off with her friends. El stood up from her seat and watched with terror knowing something bad was about to happen. For a moment she looked back down at Mike seeing if he had noticed too, but the boy only sat there obliviously drinking his milkshake. El looked back up to find her brother, there he was being pulled into the rink by Angela, fear written all over his face.
"Why are you so nervous? We're just having fun." Angela told Will, reading the scared look on his face. From her seat El watched the two of them, but soon her eyes caught something else, one of Angelas friends coming around with a camera ready.
"No..." El said. Mike quickly jumped up from his seat and looked into the rink confused.
"What? What happened what's wrong?" He questioned.
"Will, he hasn't told you everything. He's having problems here." El told him.
"Problems? What kind of problems?"
Suddenly the music stopped and the sound of a microphone squeak came through the speakers. "All right everyone." The Dj in the booth said. "This next song is dedicated to Will, the local fag." Their eyes widened as they looked out to the center of the rink where Will stood by himself, a spotlight shinning down on him.
"Go home fag!" Someone shouted at him.
"Queer freak!" Someone else said. Everyone in the rink began to circle the boy, his heartbeat picking up, tears beginning to well in his eyes.
"Aw, little faggot's gonna cry!" All the people circling him began to hold hands and link together.
El looked back over to the booth and saw both Dj's dancing to the music. She huffed and rolled her way over ready to end this herself before it got too far. "Hey!" She said up into the booth. "Hey! Turn it off! Turn it off now!" She yelled to him.
"Sorry, can't hear you!"
"I said turn it off!" She pushed.
"Turn it off? If you say so!" He clicked a button and the music switched off. From up ahead she watched the group of skaters part, leaving Will in the center. "Wipeout." The Dj said into the microphone.
Angelas friend from earlier rushed up to Will then suddenly, spilled his milkshake onto him causing him to slip and fall over, a ruckus of laughter coming from the entire building. El's jaw dropped as she saw her brother lay there, possibly hurt. She quickly hurried down from the booth and to the rink. "Didn't you see the sign queer? No food or drinks allowed in the rink." Angela said to him before skating away, leaving Will to be laughed at.
"Will. Will!" El called to him making her way through the rink. Will looked at her then quickly scrambled to his feet to escape all the eyes on him.
"Move! Get out of the way!" El said trying to push through a crowd of people. "Will!"
[Max]
"Hey guys, I might have a lead." I said slamming the phone down.
"Seriously?" Dustin said turning to me.
"Yeah. Apparently, Eddie gets drugs from some guy named Reefer Rick. And sometimes Eddie crashes there."
"Sounds promising." Robin said. "So where does this Reefer Rick guy live?"
"See, that's the thing, no one knows. He's more of a legend than someone that people actually know."
"Last name?" Dustin asked.
"I don't know that either."
"Bet the cops know his last name." Steve butt in as he sulked over some random girl he discovered has a boyfriend.
"Huh?" Dustin said.
"Cops. I mean listen, if this Reefer Rick is actually a drug dealer, I guarantee you he's been busted at some point. I mean, he's in the system."
"The cops? Really Steve? That's your suggestion?"
"I think they should be filled in on what we know, what's going on."
"You think Eddie's guilty don't you?" Dustin accused. I sighed again dragging my hand over my face. I decided this might turn into another bickering situation that I wasn't in the mood for and turned to rest my elbows on the counter behind me, Bailey sat on the surface next to me with her legs crisscrossed.
"Whoa, I believe in innocent until proven guilty, all that constitutional shit." Sadly that term goes for everyone. I bet if it were the other way around Bailey and I would be in a safe place right now. Probably wouldn't even had met Neil and his psychotic son. Then again, I'm not even sure my parents would have legal custody of me.
Jesus Christ I had a miserable childhood.
"I just, you know," Steve continued. He clapped his hands and rubbed them together. "don't think we can rule it out."
"That's precisely what we're trying to do here Steve." I told him getting a little heated.
"And maybe we'd have a little bit more luck if you spent less time trying to find a girlfriend and more time trying to find Eddie." Dustin snapped.
"Well, somebody has to attend to the customers." Steve said.
"Especially when they're babes right?" Robin flirts with a smirk and a wink.
"Hey, not fair. Okay? I attend to all customers equally. Babes and non-babes alike. We've got a very big selection in here. It can be super overwhelming for people." I scoffed followed by an eyeroll.
"Yeah, it can be." Robin said, realization in her voice. She sped past me and sat down at the computer.
"What are you doing?" I asked.
"Maybe we don't need a last name." She typed into the keyboard, a bunch of names showing up on the screen. "Twelve Ricks have accounts here."
"That's a lot of Ricks." Dustin mumbled.
"No shit?" I said in mock surprise.
"So, let's narrow it down." Robin continued. "Rick Alderman's latest rentals are Annie and Dumbo. What are the chances a drug dealer has a family?"
"Not likely." Dustin said. I scoffed.
"Say that after you meet my real dad." Everyone stopped and turned to me. I pursed my lips realizing I probably should've kept my mouth shut. "Continue." I pushed. It took a moment but eventually everyones attention went back to the computer. "Alright, Rick Conroy. Sixteen Candles, Teen Wolf, Romancing the Stone."
"No." We all said. Robin continued down the list going through all the Ricks and their cheesy movies.
I turned back to check on Bailey. She sat quietly on the counter digging snacks out of my bag that I had packed for her earlier and munched on them, pretending to feed some to her bears. She insisted on bringing both of them with us, MadMax was luckily small enough to fit in my bag, the other one though, the one Will had given her before he left, was bigger and harder to put away, when I tried it's head was left sticking out the top of the bag. I could've just said no to her bringing them, but I didn't want to, especially since all of this could be super scary for her, and in the end, she's still a little girl. In a way, I'm glad, I'm glad because she still has a childhood, not a good lot, but she's still living in one, she still plays and runs like one should, despite all that happens. And that's what upsets me about her being a little girl. There's always so much going on, my mom and step-dad drinking and arguing, all the crap with my real dad, Hawkins, Billy...Me.
"Bingo." Dustin said, knocking me out of my thoughts. I must've zoned out again.
"Lipton?" I questioned looking at the screen.
"Spelled like the tea. 2121 Holland Road." Robin said.
"That's out by Lovers Lake. Middle of nowhere." Dustin said, grinning.
"The perfect hiding spot." Robin said, doing the same.
We hurried out of the store, it would be a long drive to Reefer Ricks house so we needed to get going now. I helped Bailey into the back of Steve's car then got in myself leaving Bailey between Dustin and I. When I got in I flinched and quickly shifted my weight.
"You alright?" I looked up at Steve, he sat turned to me, his eyes meeting mine.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Robin jumped in the passenger seat next to Steve, but his eyes stayed on me.
"Are you sure?" He asked.
"What? What's wrong?" Robin questioned looking back at me. I started to tense up, I could feel my nails begin to dig into my palms.
"Yes, I'm fine, let's just go." I pushed trying to keep it together.
"Max if there's something wro-"
"Nothing's wrong! Just fucking drive!" Everyone jumped as I bursted. I quickly stopped realizing just how fast I lost myself. I went and sat back in my seat and looked down at my shoes.
"Um Steve, let's just, uh...let's just go." Dustin said. It took a minute but soon Steve did so, pulling out the parking lot.
Suddenly I felt a pair of little hands pull my headphones over my head, the music in my Walkman starting. I looked over at Bailey, her little blue eyes still just as bright as ever. She went and slipped herself under my arm and wrapped her little arms around me.
Even though she was still a little girl, she knew too much, more than she should.
[Lenora, California]
"Not there?" El questioned as Mike came out of the mens bathroom.
"No." Mike snarked. He turned and sped away El quickly following behind.
"Mike." She called catching up to him. "Mike." She repeated.
"What?" He practically snapped, turning to his girlfriend.
"Why are you so mad?"
"I don't know, maybe because Will has been lying to us the entire time we've been here. He was being a douche. He ruined the day for you and me." Els face scrunched at Mike.
"You and me? What about Will? This was supposed to be for him too, he wanted to be with his friend."
"Yeah, except he hasn't done anything but mope around, sighing and rolling his eyes."
"Because you're not interested in anything he had to say Mike, it's not his fault that he wasn't laughing or smiling, but that's because you could do nothing but pay attention to me!" El snapped back.
"But that's because you're my girlfriend El!"
"And what about Will?"
"We're friends." He said quickly. "We're friends."
"Yeah, but he used to be your best friend Mike. But you rarely talk to him now, you didn't even tell him happy birthday." She said getting choked up.
"What?"
"It's his birthday Mike! You didn't even know it was his birthday..."
"Well, then, I-I guess he should've reached out, I don't know." He pushed. "Why am I the bad guy?" El stared up at him in disbelief, she didn't even want to look at him anymore because of how disgusted she was. "Look, let's...let's just find him, okay?"
"I'll find him. You can just go home." El snarked. Finally she pushed past him and desperately went to search for her brother, ignoring Mikes calls from behind.
After a few minutes, she found no sign of Will assuming he tried to catch a ride home, that was until her eyes caught a door ahead of her that read "Employees only." She decided that before she left that it would be her best bet, making her way to the door.
When opening and entering the office, she looked down at the floor to find her brother sobbing, trying to wipe the spilled milkshake off of his shirt. "Will." She said quietly, shutting the door behind her. He looked up at her unable to contain himself from releasing more tears. She slowly walked over to him and took a seat next to him, bringing the crying boy into her arms.
After time passed, the two of them sat next to each other in silence. El didn't say anything understanding that Will probably wanted time to recollect before the two of them left. From outside the room El could hear a group of laughter coming from close by. She stood up from her spot and peeked out the window of the room finding Angela and her friends standing close by, all of them looking at a video playing on the camera used to record Will and breaking out into laughter. El grew furious, her face scrunching back up. They had gotten away with enough already, it was time El did something about it.
"El, El where are you going?" Will called as she left out the door.
She stepped out, her eyes looking directly at the group before her, practically burning holes into all of them. With no hesitation she walked over, the groups attention being pulled to her.
"Angela." She said. The blonde girl turned to her.
"Oh look, it's the queers weird twin." One of the girls said. El ignored her and continued on.
"What you did to my brother was horrible. You ruined his day. I want you to say sorry to him." She demanded.
"Or what? You gonna cry to your police officer daddy? Oh wait." She said mockingly. Her and her friends laughed again then turned to walk away leaving El to stand there. She grew angrier than before seeing them walk away harm free after what they did. She wouldn't allow it.
She took off after the group, one target specifically in mind. She passed by a random guy who hadn't put his skates on yet and snatched one from his hand. "Hey!" He called. She didn't listen. Then, as she sped up, she started to get closer to her. Then closer, and closer, and closer until,
"Angela!" She called. She turned to El with a smile that was quickly wiped off her face as a roller skate came in impact with her nose, causing her to fall back and crash to the ground with a loud cry.
"Shit, Angela, are you okay!" On of the guys asked. They helped her sit up, a large gash on her head was visible.
El's eyes widened as she watched blood leak out from the other girls forehead, her cries beginning to fill the building. She looked down at the skate in her hand seeing the blood that was left behind on one of the wheels, finally coming to El's mind that she had hit Angela harder than planned.
"Oh, oh my god." Will said coming up behind her, sounding on the verge of puking.
"El..." Mike started, standing next to Will. "What did you do? What did you do?!" El listened to the words coming out of Mikes mouth, something jogging her memory. It was a terrifying scene, causing her to tense up, someone else coming to her mind.
"What have you done?"
[Max]
It was dark out and we were just now pulling up to this Refer Rick guys house. The second we pulled into the dirt driveway Dustin just about jumped out. Everyone else did the same, me practically hauling myself out of Steves short car. From behind me Bailey started to make her way out but I turned and stopped her.
"I want you to stay here in the car." I told her. Given the fact that we were at a drug dealers house, I don't think she needs to see any shit go down.
"But I wanna go." She said.
"No, I want you to stay here."
"But why?"
"Because I said so."
"Because isn't an answer." She said harshly, pushing her face close to mine. I looked down and sighed then looked back up at her.
"Because is my answer." I grabbed her and kissed her forehead before setting her back in the car and closing the door.
"Eddie! It's Dustin!" He said banging on the front door.
"Great." Steve mumbled. I turned my flashlight on and started looking around the dark house.
"Look, we just wanna talk okay?!" I stepped down from the porch and shined my light through the window. The place was dark and empty. Not a sign of life in there. "No cops. I swear. We just wanna help!" He pounded his fist on the door. "Rick! Refer Rick!"
"Don't scream that." Steve told him, embarrassment clear in his voice. I rolled my eyes.
"Rick!"
"He's not here."
"He could be high." Dustin reasoned.
I walked off and down the side of the house and rounding the corner, leaving the group behind. Down the hill sat a large rusted out shed, one individual light shining down on the door. It was freaky, looked like something straight out of a horror movie. There was no way I was going down there alone.
"Hey guys!" I called. The three of them rushed up to my sides to see what I saw.
We walked down to the old house and started to look around it, peeking into widows but finding nothing but a bunch of junk. "Hello?" Robin said, peeking her head into the door. "Anyone home?" No answer. She opened it letting us follow her in. I stopped at the opening and stared forward at the boat sitting in the middle of the small room, it looked iffy, it was actually really freaking me out.
"Gah!" I jumped feeling something at my side, I looked down to find my kid standing next to me. "Jesus!"
"Did you find anything yet?" She asked casually.
"I told you to stay in the car." I said sternly.
"Sorry, but I can only let you go so far before you need my supervision." I stared at her for a moment in disbelief, soon scoffing and rolling my eyes.
"Just...stay close to me dork."
"No problem chief." She chirped. I sighed.
I stepped into the shed with Bailey stuck to my side like a fungus. I looked around with my flashlight then came over to a desk, looking closely at it, there were all kinds of fast food wrappers and beer bottles all over.
"What are you doing?" Dustin asked as Steve picked up an oar, beginning to poke at the tarp in the boat. "What the hell are you doing?"
"He might be in here." Steve answered.
"Then take the tarp off dummy."
"If you're so brave then you take the tarp of, dummy." I rolled my eyes and turned back to the desk as Robin came over.
"Someone was here." I said.
"Definitely. Probably heard us coming and got spooked and ran." Robin said. I watched a drop of blood fall onto the desk, my brows forrowed, I looked down beside me and found Baileys nose bleeding.
"Oh shit." I knelt down in front of her and looked around for something to wipe her nose off with, but there was nothing around so I resorted to using the sleeve of my shirt.
"Gross." Bailey said.
"It's all we got kid." I said.
"Well don't worry, Steve will get him with his oar." Dustin chirped sarcastically.
"With all these beers, he probably didn't run. He probably passed out right outside somewhere." Bailey said. Robin and I stopped and looked at her for a moment.
"Well you're just the cutest little thing aren't you?" Robin said.
"Cute's basically my name." She said smiling up at Robin showing her newly lost bottom teeth, one of her two front teeth was fully grown in now, the other tooth as only halfway down.
"I know you guys think you're being funny," Steve started. "but considering everyone in this room has nearly died a hundred times," I mean, that's my life on a daily, whether or whether not I'm involved in this shit. "personally, I don't find it funny, in the slight-" Steve was caught off guard by loud wailing. I jumped away and grabbed onto Bailey as the guy I once knew as my weird neighbor jumped out from under the tarp with a glass bottle in hand, grabbing Steve and shoving him up to the wall, the broken bottle aimed at his throat.
"Woah! Woah! Woah!"
"Eddie. Eddie! Stop! Eddie!" Dustin nearly screamed. Eddie froze and looked back at the four of us, the bottle still to Steves throat. "It's me. It's Dustin." He panted. "This is Steve. He's not gonna hurt you, right Steve?" Eddie looked back at Steve, his eyes threatening him.
"Right. Yeah." Steve pushed out.
"Steve, why don't you drop the oar?" Steve didn't object and did so, only for Eddie to bring the bottle closer to ripping his throat.
"He's cool. He's cool!" Dustin exclaimed, in attempt to assure Eddie.
"I'm cool man, I'm cool." Steve repeated.
"What are you doing here?" Eddie asked through gritted teeth. So it talks.
"We're looking for you." Dustin said.
"We're here to help." Robin added.
"Eddie, these are my friends. This is Robin from band." He motioned to her, she did a small awkward wave. "And this is my friend Max, the girl who beat the shit out of those football players, remember? You know, MadMax?" I scoffed.
"You did what?" Steve questioned getting the bottle pushed closer to him, making him flinch back.
"And this is her dau-sister Bailey." Dustin stammered. My heart jumped for a second, the last thing I needed was for yet another person to know I was a teen parent. A violent one even. "Eddie. We're on your side." Dustin said as if he were spelling it out to him. "I swear on my mother. Right guys?"
"Yeah, we swear. Totally swear." I said. Eddie turned back to Steve who was still held hostage under the broken bottle.
"Yeah, Dustin's, Dustin's mother." He stammered out. Eddie stared at Steve making the suspense build, but finally, he let go, everyone sighing in relief. Eddie walked away and took a seat beginning to shake. I knelt down in front of Bailey and placed my hands on her sides.
"You alright?" I asked her. She nodded. "Okay." I nodded and brought her close to me.
"Eddie." Dustin said softly, carefully approaching him. "We just want to talk. Okay?"
"We wanna know what happened." Robin said, kneeling down next to Dustin.
"...You won't believe me." Eddie said quietly. I immediately knew that feeling, the tone he had in his voice, I already knew that he saw some messed up shit.
"Try us." I said.
-
"Her body, just, like, lifted up into the air and, uh...And she just, like, hung there. In the air." Eddie went quiet, shutting his eyes tightly and swallowing hard, as if he were trying to stop the images from popping up. I felt it. "Her bones started to snap." Eddie continued. "Her eyes man...It...It was like there was something, like, inside her head, pulling." I shriveled up in my seat and shut my eyes tightly, just thinking of how that could possibly feel. "I...I didn't know what to do, so I...I ran away...I left her there." We all sat in silence taking in all the info he gave us, it was broken by a small scoff. "You all think I'm crazy, right?"
"No. We don't think you're crazy." Dustin started.
"Don't bullshit me man! I know how this sounds."
"We're not bullshitting you." I told him.
"We believe you." Robin assured. Eddie looked down rubbing his face with his hands.
"Look," Dustin started. "what I'm about to tell you might be a little...difficult to take."
"Okay." Eddie said, as to signal for him to continue.
"You know how people say Hawkins is...cursed? They're not...way off. There's another world. A world hidden beneath Hawkins. Sometimes it bleeds into ours."
"Like ghosts and shit?"
"There are somethings worse than ghosts." I said.
"These monsters from this other world..." Dustin continued. "...we thought they were gone. But they've come back before. That's why we needed to find you."
"If they're back again, we need to know."
"That night, did you see anything?" Robin asked.
"Dark particles maybe?" I added, trying to remeber as much as I can from past experiences.
"It would almost look like dust, swirling dust." Dustin said.
"No man, there was nothing you could see or, uh...or touch." He stopped and shook his head. "You know, I tried to wake her man. She couldn't move. It was like she...she was in a trance or something."
"Or under a spell."
"A curse."
"Vecna's curse." I furrowed my brows but then realized they turned this into some kind of Dungeons and Dragons reference.
"Who's Vecna?" Steve asked.
"An undead creature of great power."
"A spell caster." Eddie said quietly.
"A dark wizard..." He trailed.
We sat there quietly. Although it was stupid they were always getting these things from a board game, it has occurred to me how close these monsters from then game were to the real thing. And whatever, whoever, this new monster is. I'm not ready to see what it has in store for us.
8226 words. I can confirm that Max is not ready for what is in store. - Author
1/16/24