Chapter Seventy-Nine: Its Going To Be Max

We didn't get very far from the library before the hair on the back of my neck stood up, and I felt another series of visions coming on.

"Guys, its happening again." I warned. I closed my eyes, attempting to put all of my focus on what was to come. I was asleep the first time, and the second time caught me by surprise, but maybe if I focus and I know that its coming, I can control the strength of quality of the visions and save myself a lot of pain. 

"What do you see?" Nancy asked, glancing at me from behind the wheel. I shook my head.

"Nothing yet. Just give me-"

I heard the clock chime yet again, and then suddenly I was standing in the Hawkins High School hallway, looking at that very same grandfather clock, this time lodged in the wall. I slowly turned my head to see that it was Max standing beside me.

"Max?" I asked. She jumped, looking over at me.

"Are you actually here right now?" She questioned. I slowly shook my head.

"No. I'm in the car with Robin and Nancy. We're on our way," I explained, "Just hang in there-"

The vision ended and I opened my eyes, yet again wiping my bloody nose as if it were second nature at this point.

"Who is it?" Robin questioned. I looked at them with wide eyes.

"Hurry up and get to the school," I said worriedly, "I think its going to be Max." 

~~~

We pulled into the parking lot at lightning fast speeds, ripping the doors open and running in to join the others. We found Max standing at the end of one of the hallways, facing the wall, and after a few seconds, Dustin and Steve ran up behind us. 

"Where did it go?" Max asked. I stepped up beside her, putting a hand on her shoulder. 

"It wasn't real," I told her, "Not in this world at least."

"There was a grandfather clock," She said, "It was here. Right here."

"A grandfather clock?" Nancy repeated.

"It was so real. And then when I got closer, suddenly I just...I woke up."

"It was like she was in a trance or something," Dustin reported, "It was just like what Eddie said happened to Chrissy, and what's been happening to Riley every time she sees the visions."

"Yeah, well, that's not the only consistency," I said, turning around to look at the others, "The grandfather clock, the eerie chime that comes from it, that has been in all of the visions I've seen. I didn't see Chrissy's version, but I saw Fred and Max's. Same clock."

Max turned around too.

"That's not even the bad part."

~~~

We headed back to Ms. Kelley's office and Max showed us their files.

"Fred and Chrissy, they both came to Miss Kelley for help. Uh, they both were having headaches," My eyes widened as I remembered Max giving me pain medication earlier, "Bad headaches that just wouldn't go away, and then...then the nightmares. Trouble sleeping. They'd wake up in a cold sweat. And then they started seeing things. Bad things from their pasts, and these visions they just kept on getting worse and worse until eventually...everything ended."

"Vecna's curse." Robin finished.

"Chrissy's headaches started a week ago," Max explained, "Fred's, six days ago. I've been having them for five days." I put a hand over my mouth. "I don't know how long I have, all I know is that, for Fred and Chrissy, they both died less than twenty-four hours after their first vision, and I just saw that freaking clock, so...It looks like I'm gonna die tomorrow."

She let out a shaky breath and I stepped forward, wrapping my arms around her. Much to my surprise, she let me, wrapping her arms around my waist and hiding her face in my shirt.

"We're gonna figure this out," I whispered, combing her hair back, "And whatever happens, whatever you see next, I'm gonna be with you the whole time, and Vecna's gonna have to kill me before he can lay a finger on you."

We all heard a distant creak, which kind of sounded like one of the doors to the school opening. I pulled away from Max, squeezing her shoulders before plopping my duffle bag down on the desk. I unzipped it, taking out my trusty fire axe and slinging the bag over my shoulder again. Steve grabbed a lamp that sat beside the door, following after me.

"Stay here." He told the others. We shared a look, nodding as I slowly opened the door, leading the way cautiously out into the hallway. Naturally, everyone followed us out of the office, but at least had the common sense to stay behind us, seeing as we were the only ones with weapons at the moment.

There was another banging sound, and we heard rapid footsteps approaching down the hallway, so Steve and I tightened our grip around our weapons when all of a sudden, who else but Lucas Sinclair came shooting around the corner. We all screamed, jumping in opposite directions, and I let my axe fall, putting a hand on my forehead. 

"ITS ME!" Lucas shouted.

"Lucas?!" Nancy called.

"Its me."

"Geez, what's wrong with you, Sinclair?!" Steve scolded.

"I'm sorry."

"I COULD'VE TAKEN YOU OUT with this lamp!"

"Sorry, guys. Sorry," He panted, "I was biking for eight miles." He held up a finger. "Give me a second. Crap."

I fished a canteen out of my duffle bag, holding it out to him. He accepted it gratefully, lifting it up in thanks before taking a long swig from it and handing it back to me.

"Is there anything you don't have in that bag?" Steve asked me. I shook my head.

"Not really, no."

"We've got a code red." Lucas reported, once he caught his breath.

"What?" He walked past us, going to stand in front of Lucas. 

"Dustin...I've been with Jason...Patrick, and Andy, and they've gone like totally off the rails. They're trying to capture Eddie and they think you know where he is. You're in terrible danger."

"Alright, yeah, that definitely sucks," Dustin replied, "But we've got bigger problems than Jason right now."

He turned around, looking at Max, and Lucas followed his gaze, coming to stop on his ex-girlfriend.

"Yeah," I said, causing him to look at me, "You're kind of way behind. Let us explain." 

~~~

We explained everything to Lucas and then headed back to the Wheelers to spend the night in their basement, seeing as there wasn't exactly room in Steve and I's apartment for all of us. Everyone settled in for the night, agreeing to let Max have the couch so that she was in a central location where we could all see her.

Everyone else spread out around her, with me offering to set up camp on the floor right beside the couch, just in case we needed me. This seemed plausible, seeing as we'd probably be getting about the same amount of sleep.

Due to the long day, everyone else fell asleep pretty quickly until it was just Max and I left awake. She was sitting up on the couch with her knees folded up to her chest, and I was sitting on the floor with my back against it. Steve was asleep with his head in my lap, and I was entertaining myself by lightly combing my fingers through his hair. 

"You guys seem happy," She said quietly, prompting me to turn my head to look at her, "In spite of everything." I nodded.

"Yeah, I think we are," I agreed, looking down at him, "I mean, at this point...I don't know what I'd do without him. He's always there for me, whenever I need him."

"Yeah." I looked back to her.

"You have people like that too, you know," I assured her, "You have all of us. We're not gonna leave you alone, you know that, right?"

"Yeah...I know." She agreed. I nodded, turning to Steve again. "Part of me...part of me wishes you would. I mean...when it comes to caring about me, I know I don't make it easy on the best of days...and now I'm gonna go off and die and I just kind of wish there was something I could do to...save you all the pain."

"You're not gonna die," I told her, "You're actually not difficult to care about, and anyone whoever made you think that is going to have me to deal with." She chuckled.

"Um...can I ask you something...kind of personal?" I turned towards her again, angling my upper body so that I was facing her as much as I possibly could.

"Of course you can." She nodded, avertin her eyes to her knees.

"With your Dad..." She trailed off. "Was there anything that he did or...that you wished he would've done to...I don't know...soften the blow?"

"I don't think you can soften the blow," I told her, "Not really...I mean, the greif of losing someone its just...its kind of the consequence of loving them. I guess it only makes sense that such a strong emotion with such high highs would also come with some of the most painful lows."

"Yeah," she whispered, "I was afraid of that."

"But..." I continued, prompting her to perk up, "My dad had written a letter to Eleven and I. He didn't intend it to be the last thing he said to us, but we found it afterwards and...I don't know, just having some piece of him, something to remember the way he talked and how he thought, especially how he thought and felt about us it...its one of my most prized possessions. Its the same with El's letters, its like...having something that she touched and put her own thoughts into it makes it feel like she's still here."

"So you think I should write letters?" She questioned.

"I think you should try to get some sleep, because we're gonna get some answers and you're gonna be just fine," I told her, "But...I guess it wouldn't hurt to have a fail-safe. Especially if it'll give you peace of mind, getting to say everything you want to say to the people you care about."She nodded. "I think Mike's mom keeps stationary int he desk."

She stood up, stepping over all of the sleeping bodies on the floor until she reached the desk, stopping once she did to turn around and look at me again. 

"Thank you," She said, "I...I totally get why the boys always say that you're their favorite teenager."

I chuckled at this.

"Yeah well, between you and me...you're my favorite kid, don't tell them." I whispered. She laughed, making her way over to the desk and sitting down in front of it. I sighed, biting my lip and looking down at Steve to see that his eyes were open and he was looking up at me. I raised my eyebrows.

"Eavesdropping, Harrington? That's low." I whispered, so only he could hear me. He just looked at me with an expression I could only describe as pure love. 

"I am so in love with you." He whispered back. I smiled, picking his head up off of my lap and moving to lay down beside him. He pulled me to lay my head on his chest, just as I always did, and he wrapped his arm around my waist and pressed his lips against my forehead.

"I love you too." I said quietly. "I hope you always know that."

"I do, Barbie." He replied, already drifting back to sleep. "I do."

~~~

The next morning, bright and early, Robin and Nancy headed back to the school to consult with the school paper employees while Steve, Lucas, Dustin, Max and I stayed at the Wheelers. Despite the fact that I knew Max was Vecna's latest target, I still chose to go home and get the police scanner so that I could monitor the dispatches and make sure nothing caught us by surprise. The boys were reading through the Victor Creel articles we'd printed off for them, and Max was still sitting at the desk, like she had been since we talked, writing letters to all of her loved ones. 

"Ok uh...be honest," Steve said after a while, "Do you guys understand any of this?"

"No." Lucas answered.

"Pretty straightforward."

"Oh, straightforward, really?" He asked skeptically.

"What's confusing to you? So far, everyone Vecna's cursed has died, except for this old Victor Creel dude Nancy found. He's the only known survivor, if anyone knows how to beat this curse, its him."

"That's assuming he was cursed, which we don't even know." Steve pointed out. "How can Vecna have existed in the '50s? It doesn't make sense."

"I mean, there are humans that existed in the 50s that still exist today," I theorized "Maybe Vecna isn't some evil eternal being, maybe he ages just like we do."

"Plus, as far as we know, Eleven didn't create the Upside Down. She opened a gate to it. The Upside Down has probably been around for thousands of years. Millions. I wouldn't be surprised if it predated the dinosaurs."

"Dinosaurs? What are we-"

"Wait, but if a gate didn't exist in the '50s, how did Vecna get through?" Lucas asked. 

"How's he getting through now?" Steve added.

"And why now?"

"And why then?" Steve continued. "He just pops out in the '50's, kills one family, and he's like 'I'm good'? And poof, he just disappears, just...gone? Only to return 30 years later and start killing some random teens? No, I don't buy it. Straightforward my-Honestly, Hendrson, a little humility now and then, it wouldn't hurt you."

I looked at Dustin, shrugging in agreement as Steve lightly pulled me out of my chair and sat down in it before pulling me into his lap.

"Sorry."

"These are all very valid questions," I agreed, wrapping my arm around Steve's shoulders, "And hopefully, Victor Creel will have at least some of the answers. "

Dustin peered around me, looking at Max in the back of the room.

"Any idea what she's writing?" He asked. "Did she sleep?"

"I mean...would you?" Lucas asked. I nodded in agreement, glancing back at her before looking at Steve, who was already looking at me. This only lasted a second though, as Nancy and Robin came bounding down the basement stairs. 

"Ok, so," Nancy looked at Robin, a smile on her face, "We have a plan."