MAX

HAWKINS POLICE STATION

"I believe there was, and may still be, a Russian spy presence here in Hawkins!" Murray states his face serious

"Russian spies!" Hopper laughs as he pours coffee in his mug.

"Are the spies in cahoots with the aliens? Or how do they fit in here? I'm confused." Callahan asked with an amused face. Murray ignores the humor in the room and continues with his theory's "I'm talking multiple reports now. Multiple reports, okay? Of Russian children in Hawkins!"

"Children? What are you talking about?" Hopper asked his face grew serious

"Two, to be exact, a girl that is no where to be seen and a boy that's living in Hawkins right now, both with psionic abilities!" Murray says

  "Psionic?" A police officer asked

   "Psychic." Murray enlightened him

"Chief, remember the Harrington boy that made that kid pee himself and like float?" Callahan brought up still mocking Murray

"That was a prank." Hopper stated as he grabbed a donut, which was quickly taken out of his hand and replaced with an apple by Flo.

  The two officers started arguing whether it was a prank and who did it, until Hopper mocked them and turned to Murray.

"You have 5 minutes. Not a second more." Hopper says as he walks to his office

_________________________________

Hopper rested his feet on the desk an apple in his hand.

"I talked to a Big Buy ex-employee, who said some little girl shattered the door with her mind." Murray brought up

"I heard that story. Did you hear the one about the fat man with the beard who climbs down chimneys?" Hopper replied sarcastically

Murray sighed "then last month a co-worker of Ted Wheeler's claims some Russian girl with a shaved head was hiding in his basement, and a friend of the son with a scar on his face was close to the family often staying over, probably to spy! Ted now denies this."

Hopper took a bite of the apple before spitting it out and throwing it away, "oh, wow. That's a surprise."

"But it connects!" Murray says

"Enlighten me." Hopper responded

"This boy, spy's on the town and its families until he has enough information to tell the Girl, which is some kind of Russian weapon right? Barbara sees this girl and tries to help her, perhaps." Murray explains as hopper just nods along smoking a cigarette. "But before she can, the Russians find them, take them—"

"Wait, you're telling me Barbara Holland was kidnapped by Russian spies?" Hopper asked

"Kidnapped. Killed." Murray replied

"Killed?" Hopper says

"Don't you get it, Jim?" Murray says his face annoyed

"No" hopper bluntly says

"This has potentially international implications. I'm talking a full on Russian invasion right here in Hawkins!" He's voice raises, as hopper starts clicking his machine to get Murray to stop talking.

"Do you have any proof of this girl? I mean, has anybody seen her recently? And how do you know for sure the Harrington kid is a "spy" has he done anything, really?"  Hopper says

"No! But these are separate!" Murray yells as Jim before getting cut off by the phone.

"Oh hold up." Jim answers it, something about Merrill's pumpkins being poisoned, probably something dumb. But anything to get out of this conversation with Murray.

"I'm sorry, I've got to run it's an emergency!" Hopper says as he stands up fast.

"You gave me 5 minutes!" Murray complained

"Yea, you know what? I like your alien theory a lot better. And you want my advice, how about you try leaving an innocent kid alone, and stop bleeding these people dry, go home. All right?" Hopper seriously said making sure Murray knew he wasn't playing.

"I am not bleeding anyone....dry-" Murray tried defending himself

"Listen to me. Go home." Hopper finished, walking out of the station.

________________________________ HAWKINS MIDDLE SCHOOL

"Meet the human brain!" Mr Clarke says placing a fake brain on his desk

The party was all seated together in the same spot, listening to Mr Clarke intently.

"I know, I know, it doesn't look like much. A little gross even, right? But consider this. There are a hundred billion cells inside of this miracle of evolution-." Mr Clarke continued the only people really listening to him being the party.

Dylan sat right next to Dustin in front, he could feel himself slightly dozing off, he liked science but when he was really tired it could be a boring subject. Dylan didn't want to sleep though, he found sleeping like a chore.

Especially since his visions have been getting worse. Every night he would experience a nightmare about his life in the lab, most night he'd wake up shaking covered in a cold sweat. He didn't want that to happen in school.

The door then opened, the principal with a girl. This awakened Dylan,

"Ah, this must be our new student." Mr Clarke said as he pointed to a girl with ginger hair in a red jacket.

Dylan wasn't all into fashion but he found it was too much red for the eye.

"Alright. hold up. You don't get away that easy. Come on up, don't be shy. Dustin drum roll." Mr Clarke said as Dustin got his notebook and started tapping on it, Dylan rolling his eyes at the stupidity, he felt the embarrassment.

"Class, please welcome, all the way from sunny California, the latest passenger to join us on our curiosity voyage, Maxine!" Mr Clarke said excitedly

"It's Max." The girl quickly said

"Sorry?" Mr Clarke questioned

"Nobody calls me Maxine it's Max." Max said as she made her way to her desk.

"Madmax." Dustin and Lucas simultaneously whispered.

As max sat down, Will, Dustin, Lucas, and Mike all turned to look at her, Dylan did a double take seeing his friends just staring at her.

"Guys! Turn around, what are you stalkers?" Dylan said as his friends quickly turned around.

______________________________

The party was outside during break behind a fence, watching Max just ride on her skateboard, Dylan was resting along side the brick wall, just listening to his friends debate this girls identity.

"Theres no way that's Madmax." Mike said

"Yea. girls don't play video games." Will added

"And even if they did, you can't get 750,000 points on Dig Dug." Mike replied

"But her name is max!" Lucas said

"So what?" Mike asked, Dylan found it amusing how much Mike was trying to convince them Max wasn't MadMax.

Dylan felt tired of just watching this girl and decided to go up and talk to her.

"What do you think Dylan?" Dustin turned around to look at Dylan before he was met with nothing but a brick wall "Dylan?"

"Where's Dylan?" Mike asked worried "Shit! 10 o'clock!" Lucas said as the boys sprung around seeing their friend walk over to the girl.

__________________________________ "Hey!" Dylan said as he walked over to her

She stopped skateboarding and looked up at him "Hey?"

"I'm Dylan, and those guys behind me are Mike, Dustin, Lucas, and Will." Dylan said as he pointed to his friends.

"Those your friends?" She asked

"Yea, you grow to love them." He laughed as she laughed with him.

________________________________ "What are they laughing about?" Mike asked his eyebrows furrowed

"I don't know!" Dustin and Lucas yelled

_______________________________

"It was cool talking Max, but I gotta go." Dylan said

"Yea, and if you could give this to your friends." she reached into her pocket pulling out a note handing it to Dylan.

The boy gently took it, opening it, STOP SPYING ON ME CREEPS. Dylan laughed before placing the note in his pocket, nodding

Max then walked to the door, Dylan yelled for her.

"Max!" The girl turned around looking at him."You skate pretty good, it's impressive!" The boy complimented.

Max thanked the boy a slight blush on her cheeks before walking inside.

Dylan then walked back to his friends who ran up to him asking him questions

"Are you crazy!""What did she say!""What's that paper?""Tell us what she said!" "What did you say about us??"

Their voices clamored together as Dylan hushed them up. "Shut up, shut up. Here it's for you guys." Dylan handed them the note

The boys opened the note, Dylan hiding his smile.

"Shit!" Dustin expressed

Mike then gave Dylan an annoyed look which Dylan just smirked at.

"William Byers? Your mother is here." The principal said behind them towards Will,

As Will walks away with the principal Dylan noticed his state like he was dreading going. They all peer behind a brick corner watching Will get in his car.

Dylan was just worried about his friend and what he was going through especially with his "episodes"______________________________

HOLLAND RESIDENCE

Dylan was walking with Steve and Nancy for Dinner at Barbara house, support for her parents. Dylan had talked to Barb a couple of times and her parents liked him but he still felt like he was intruding

"Are you sure it's a good idea for me to go?" Dylan asked Nancy

"Yea, they know who you are and plus I thinks it's a good idea for them to have a kid in their house, I read it could help people." Nancy said her voice filled with doubt as well

"Yea you'll be fine." Steve comforted his brother, placing a hand on his shoulder.

Dylan also knows he's coming for other reasons, Steve doesn't want him alone at the house and the Wheeler's, of course they don't want to say it to him but they probably feel anxious letting him in the house. After the lab came and told them about "the Russians or whatever, and that he was slightly involved." Which is bull but at least they didn't stop him hanging out with Mike.

Steve pressed the doorbell twice the door opening before he almost pressed a third time.

_______________________________

They all sat around the table a bucket of KFC chicken in the middle. Dylan wasn't complaining though he liked KFC.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't get to cook. I was gonna make that baked ziti you guys like so much, but I just forgot the time and before you know it, oh my god it's 5 o'clock" Mrs. Holland chuckled

"It's fine, it's great." Nancy says

"Right. I love KFC." Steve agreed as he shoved food in his mouth.

"Yea, it's good Mrs. And Mr. Holland." Dylan said as he ate some mashed potatoes.

Mrs holland smiled a Dylan "You know it's been so long since I had a kid at my house, it's nice." She said

Dylan smiled politely in return looking at Nancy who gave him a *I told you* look

"So, I noticed a "For Sale" sign out in your yard. Is that the neighbors or...?" Nancy asked

Mrs holland looked at her husband "You wanna tell them." She asked

"Go ahead." He replied

"We hired a man named Murray Bauman. Have either of you heard of him?" She asked

Which Steve and Nancy both shook their heads, Dylan could I sworn he heard a police officer talk about how much of an idiot he is but he paid no mind.

"He was an investigative journalist for the Chicago Sun times." She states looking at Nancy with a smile."Anyway he's freelance now and agrees to take the case!" She said excitedly

"That's.....that's great!" Steve said

Dylan just looked at his food, it hurt to keep another secret, just letting her parents descend into madness looking for their kid that they're never gonna find. "What exactly does this mean?" Nancy asked

"It means he's gonna do what that lazy son of a bitch Jim hopp-" Mr holland raised his voice before his wife placed her hand on his arm calming him down."Sorry......what the Hawkins police haven't been capable of doing, it means we have a real detective on the case."

"It means...." Mrs holland voice shaking "we're going to find our Barb."

"If anyone's gonna find her it's this man, he already has leads, by god he's worth every last penny." Mr holland said.

Dylan couldn't look at them, they had so much hope in their eyes, selling all of their belongings to this man to find their daughter, and they'll never even know she's dead because no one's allowed to tell them, to put them at peace.

"Is that why you're selling the house?" Nancy asked her face burdened.

"Don't worry about us sweetie. We're fine. More than fine. For the first time in a long time, we're hopeful." Mrs holland replied her face bright and happy.

"Excuse me. I'll be right back." Nancy stammered as he got up and went to the bathroom.

Dylan fiddled with his fork, watching Nancy leave. he watched his Brother take a big bite out of his chicken, grease around his mouth

"It's finger-lickin good." Steve said stupidly

Dylan then sat up quickly the table looking at him. "Excuse me as well, drank a lot of coke."

"Of course honey, there's another bathroom at the end of the hallway to your right." Mrs holland said

Dylan walked over stopping at the bathroom Nancy was in, he could hear her crying."Nancy?" Dylan asked, he heard her stop crying

"I-I'm fine Dylan just go back to the table." Nancy said her voice trembling.

Dylan was about to walk back to the table, but he couldn't just leave her. So he used his powers and unlocked the door. It creeped open and he saw Nancy sitting on the bathtub ledge.

He walked in closing the door, and wiped away the blood trailing down his nose.

"I forgot you could do that." Nancy said

"Did I tell you about the time, Steve passed out when he was like 15 from bumping his head, and I just um laughed because I thought he was pretending." Dylan chuckled sitting next to Nancy.

The girl looked up her mascara semi smudged"What?" She said a smile tugging at her lips

"That day Steve was pretending to pass out all day because we were playing, but unfortunately he hit his head and really did pass out except I didn't know it was real and so I laughed, like "good job Steve that was amazing! Bravo!" Dylan clapped as he told Nancy the story, while she was giggling.

"He was fine, didn't even get a concussion, or maybe he did, is that why he's so stupid?" Dylan asked Nancy as she started laughing out loud

"The moral of that true story was Steve got hurt and it was unfortunate, and I laughed, but that doesn't make it my fault, it's not Steve's either, things just happen and we can't control them." Dylan told Nancy as she looked at him thinking hard on the words he just said.

She nodded as Dylan hugged her, she hugged the boy back and wiped away her mascara. The two came out of the bathroom and before Dylan could walk back to the table Nancy stopped him.

"Hey Dylan, thanks........I'm glad Mike has a someone like you." Nancy said smiling at the boy, he smiled back and they continued their way to the table.

________________________________

Steve was driving home. Dylan in the passenger seat, they had just dropped off Nancy. And they were now riding in silence, before Steve broke it.

"So, what did you and Nancy talk about?" Steve asked his brother who was zoned out, Dylan couldn't stop thinking about Barb and how she's never gonna be able to live her life, when there are other people who deserve to die....

"W-what?" Dylan asked

"What did you and Nancy talk about? I saw you two walk back together laughing." Steve repeated

"nothing much just stuff like. toys." Dylan said

Steve wasn't convinced so he persisted."Come on, toys? Really? You don't have to hide anything, unless you're trying to make a move on my girl." Steve chuckled

"It's not me you should be worried about." Dylan mumbled. Referring to Jonathan

"What was that?" Steve asked his eyebrow raised

"I said, we were talking about cars and such." Dylan said louder

Steve parked his car in front of their house and they got out."Dylan, I know when you lie, alright just tell me the truth."

Dylan walked in the house annoyed "You wouldn't understand."

"What are you talking about? Of course i will un-." Steve started placing his keys on the table

"No! Steve you won't!" Dylan yelled as he stood in the living room. "Alright, you don't know how it feels to be guilty! You don't know how it feels to be weird or different! Like everything's your fault!" Dylan continued his emotions spilling out

"Woah, Dylan calm down what's going on?" Steve tried to reason with him.

"No matter what YOU do no one cares! You could bully someone! You could yell at someone! You could do anything! And no one would care because you're a Harrington, perfect! Good looking! Amazing!" Dylan teared up, looking at his brother angrily.

"Dylan...what? you're a Harrington too!" Steve said he's voice raising. Stepping towards Dylan

Dylan backed away "No I'm not." Dylan picked up photo frames around the room. "I'm not in any photo! No matter how many A's I get at school it's never hung up on the fridge, when guest come over I have to stay in my room!" Dylan was now crying, he'd always kept his feeling hidden, but after going to Barbs house he broke.

"Barb was taken from a good family! Parents that actually care about her, a community that doesn't view her as a freak! A monster! A f@ggot!" Dylan just looked at Steve who was speechless his eyes glossy but not dropping.

Dylan just pushed past Steve and ran to his room closing it behind him something he's never done, he's always left it slightly open, nothing felt different to Dylan he wasn't panicking and his room didn't look any smaller or different.

With that he just went to Bed.

_______________________________

Dylan opened his eyes, he was in a white room, with lab equipment and a large one way mirror, he couldn't move, only look. It was all so vivid like he was really there.

Dylan jumped as a woman appeared in front of him she wasn't facing him, he could only see her blond wavy hair, her blouse with orange flowers, and her straight cut jeans.

She felt very familiar "Mom?" Dylan mumbled

The women then turned around to face him, she had slender green eyes that you could never forget, and she looked like him or he looked like her.

"Mom." Dylan said a smile on his face

The woman then froze up, looking at Dylan with tears in her eyes gasping for air. She couldn't breathe and her eyes started to bleed along with her nose.

"Mom, mom, Mom!" Dylan screamed for her, trying his best to move but he couldn't, he couldn't even look away

"Mom!"

MOM!

________________________________

Dylan then shot awake screaming"MOM! MOM!" Steve came running in his room, like he had been sitting by his door, waiting. And grabbed his shoulders"Dylan! What's wrong!"

Dylan was breathing heavily, looking at his brother before he broke down in his arms. Grabbing at Steve shirt, trying to hide from the world.

"I-i s-saw her S-Steve." Dylan trembled

"Saw who?"Steve rubbing his brothers back in an attempt to calm him.

"My mom, my real mom.......I Think I hurt her."