Symptoms

Max walked inside the councilor's house looking back at the three guys sitting in Steve's car watching her. The wooden door closes—leaving the guys to only imagine and hope she gets the answers to these deaths.

Dylan leaned his head back on his chair cracking his knuckles as he heard Dustin put his head in between him and Steve.

"Okay, she's in." Steve stated, Dustin pursing his lips and nodding "I'm missing collarbones, not eyes." He sarcastically responded

"Sooo? We gonna talk about it?" Dustin continued, as Dylan's eyes perked curiously.

"Huh? Sorry, talk about what?" Steve asked

"Your temporary insanity today when you basically threw yourself at Nance?" Dustin commented.

"That's not what happened." Steve defended himself, looking at Dylan to come to his aid. Dylan simply shrugged, not having much to say as Dustin was correct and Dylan still knew about Steve's apparent feelings for Nancy.

"Pretty sure that's what happened." Dustin replied slightly hitting Dylan's arm "That's what happened right?"

"Uhhh well, kinda..." Dylan trailed off, as Steve gave him a look of disbelief "Look all I'm gonna comment on is it was a little.... a little?"

"Sensual." Dustin finished

"Ok! No, it was nothing sensual, or sexual, or anything. Alright. I don't still have a thing for Nance." Steve rambled

"Never said you did." Dustin smirked

"Okay you turned that around; you were obviously implying that." Steve replied.

The car went silent for a moment before Steve took a breath. "I was trying to protect a friend. A friend, Henderson. Okay?" Steve raised his voice as Dustin didn't seem to care. "I don't want to find her with her eyes sucked out of her skull by this Vecna creep."

"You're like bright red right now." Dustin laughed pointing at Steve's face. "He's like bright red." Dustin laughed as Dylan tried his best to mask the small smile on his face.

"I don't want to talk about this, I swear I'll punch you so hard your teeth will fall back out." Steve exclaimed as Dustin's smile dropped turning to look at the man. "Woah, too far."

Dylan's smile grew slightly bigger as he contained it under a cough "Yeah, Steve. What's wrong with you?"

Steve looked at Dustin with a bit of guilt and Dylan with annoyance. "Not cool. Sorry." He apologized

"It's cool. It's okay." Dustin accepted the apology as the two fist-bumped.

Dylan shook his head slightly chucking under his breath. Looking back at the house, not seeing Max walking out wondering what the girl was doing, and how much longer this was going to take.

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Dylan saw the girl start to quickly make her way to the car, positioning something in her pocket as her face was a bit ghostly. She looked back at the house multiple times—each time she walked a bit quicker until she ran up to the car door.

"Here. She comes. Here she comes." Steve muttered as Max jumped in the seat next to Dustin not taking her eyes off of the women's house.

"What did she say?" Dustin asked

"Nothing, just drive." Max replied

Dylan looked at her suspiciously through the front car mirror "You stole something, didn't you."

"Huh?" Max responded

"What? What did you-" Steve was cut off as Max's voice grew louder "Steve drive!"

The man pushed the gas pedal speeding out of the neighborhood, the tires screeching across the road.

The group had left with no further answers, but they did leave with a key.

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The four started their drive to Hawkins High School, Max had stolen the councilor's keys to her office, getting them full access to all her files and documents. Max hadn't answered many questions except for how she got the keys, so the boys left her alone.

The car was silent until Dustin's SuperCom was heard from the backseat. The static squawking as a familiar voice echoed. *Dustin? It's Lucas. Do you copy? *

Dylan jerked his head around leaning against his seat as he faced Max and Dustin. Dustin fumbled with the SuperCom extending the wire before quickly turning it on. "Lucas? Where the hell have you been?"

*Just listen! Are you guys looking for Eddie? * Lucas questioned. Dylan could hear the boy's heavy breathing and anxious tone.

"Yeah, we found him, no thanks to you." Dustin sneered. "Dustin!" Dylan scolded, as he took Dustin's SuperComm. Not getting a fight from the boy.

"Lucas? What's going on." Dylan asked

*Dylan! Hey! * Lucas greeting was full of excitement before he toned down once again *Wait. You guys found Eddie? *

"Yeah, he's at a boathouse on Coal Mill Road." Dylan answered.

"Don't worry! He's safe!" Dustin yelled.

*You guys know he killed Chrissy, right? * Lucas protested.

"That's bullshit!" Dustin commented once again.

"It's all a big misunderstanding; Eddie didn't do anything." Dylan explained as he felt Dustin reach over a pat his shoulder, with a proud smile.

*Then why do all the cops say he did it? * Lucas asked

Dylan then felt a smaller hand grab the SuperComm out of his hand, Max leaned on the car in between Steve and Dylan. "Lucas you're so behind it's ridiculous, okay? Just meet us at the school. We'll explain later." Max ordered.

Lucas was silent for a moment, as Dylan simply assumed it was because his ex-girlfriend had just talked to him. *I-I can't. * Lucas's tone said otherwise. He seemed scared and he didn't even know about the whole situation with the upside-down *I think some really bad shits about to go down. *

"What are you talking about?" Max worriedly questioned, tucking the loose piece of hair behind her ear "What bad shit?"

There was no reply, as it was plain static playing back at them.

"Lucas?" Dylan asked, "Are you there?"

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HENDERSON RESIDENCE

Lucas took a breath, it was nice to hear Dylan again, and it was nice to know Max was still willing to talk to him. It wasn't pleasant however to find that his friends had found something out, he didn't want to assume so quickly. But if Dylan and Max were there even after the two avoided them like the plague, something was wrong.

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HAWKINS LIBRARY

Robin sat in the basement of the library the area colder then upstairs as there was a yellow ambience with the cheap lightbulbs, her hand turning the dusty machine to illuminate a new slide showing a newspaper as Nancy Wheeler hovered up over the girl.

"Okay, so Victor claimed this exorcism failed, but it angered the demon, which then murdered his family, removing their eyes." Robin glanced at Nancy trying to decipher the woman's expressions

"Victor believed he was spared as punishment."

The convenience of life, but the punishment of insanity

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HAWKINS HIGH SCHOOL

   Breaking into a school for the second time in his life wasn't that surprising to Dylan, doing it to get files from a councilors office was. The hallways were dark and a bit eerie as Steve had the only light source which was Dustin's flashlight. Their pace was quick and as quiet as possible before the SuperComm began to buzz and screech.

*Dustin, do you copy? * Robin asked

Dustin extended the wire for a better connection, breathing heavily from the anxiety of breaking in "Yeah, I copy."

Dylan tuned in to hear what Robin had to say, the tone of her voice seemed like they had figured something out.*So, Nancy's a genius, Vecna's first victims date back all the way to 1959. Her shot in the dark was a bull's—eye. *

"Okay, that's totally bonkers, but I can't really talk right now." Dustin sputtered his voice echoing through the hallways which only quickened the pace of everyone.

*Wait, what are you doing? * Robin questioned

Dustin looked behind him to only see Dylan who raised his eyebrows, silently telling Dustin to answer. "Uh, Breaking and entering a school to retrieve confidential and extremely personal files." Dustin said as Dylan shrugged, that was one way to tell them.

*Can you repeat that? * Robin asked

"Just get your ass over here, stat." Dustin nagged "we'll explain everything." __________________________________

Dylan was right behind Max as the girl put the keys into the handle, unlocking the door, every sound increasing their anxiety.

Dylan walked into the councilors office, taking note of everything he saw, a desk with plastic flowers and papers scattered over it. The peach brick-colored walls having inspirational posters, some about anti-drugs, bullying, and sexual assault.

It was always interesting to Dylan how the councilor's office seemed covered in good moral behavior yet whenever they had the chance to actually help, they looked away. "It's like a mini-Watergate or something." Dustin mumbled

"Hey, Steve." Dylan called his brother's attention to the sign about drugs and how they can affect your brain. "Should've listened to that one."

Steve furrowed his brows. "I never took drugs........willingly" He stated

Dylan smugly smiled "Of course you didn't." He responded sarcastically, remembering what Steves Marijuana confession.

Max quickly opened the drawer full of files, rummaging through them swiftly. "Holy shit."

"You found it?" Dustin asked as the three guys walked closer to her, looking at the file in her hands.

"Yeah, and not just Chrissy's file. Fred was seeing Ms. Kelley too." Max said.

The room grew tense, as it seemed they were starting to get closer to figuring this out. Dylan bit the inside of his cheeks, he started to crave the taste of smoke once again knowing he couldn't have them at this time. His headache seemed to come back as it started to lock down on its usual rhythm. Anxiously looking around the room

Hoping he wouldn't see anything again, wishing that maybe this time they may finally go away on their own.

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Max peered down at Chrissy's file, seeing her symptoms that were written down.

— Severe Headaches

Max felt her stomach drop thinking about the number of pills she had taken as her head sometimes felt like it was going to explode

*Nosebleeds

The amount of blood that had dripped on her clothes and papers.

"Can I see Fred's file?" Max asked

"Yeah, sure." Steve responded handing the girl the file as she quickly opened it placing Chrissy's aside as Dylan picked it up.

Dylan looked down taking note of all the symptoms. It would make no sense that he was going through the same thing—he started having headaches before he got his first bike, and the first time he had a nightmare was when he slept in a real bed, as for his nose bleeding that was simply daily. He then looked down at the girl who seemed to have spaced out.

Did Max go through this as well?

— Past Trauma

Billy's death flashed through Max's mind

Cindy's death

It felt intoxicating to be reminded of this once again.

Linda Brenner.......

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"Dylan, what is it? Max?" Steve questioned as he looked at the two teenagers who seemed to be blankly staring at nothing.

Dylan's hands shook as his grip on the file grew tighter. Steve placed his hands on Dylan's shoulder looking at the boy, as his nose began to bleed.

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Dylan felt the world around him stop as he saw Max Walk out of the room, he quickly followed the girl

"Max!" He yelled next to her as the girl nervously continued to walk not hearing him. "What...?" he mumbled

In a second the girl was gone, as Dylan was now in an empty school hallway, the lights dark and deep as a blue hue surrounded him.

"Dylan...." A sweet voice whispered as he stopped in his tracks. He stopped breathing. His blood ran cold.

He slowly turned around seeing the faceless women in front of him. Speaking for the first time. Her blond hair was plain in the light and her clothes old. Dylan felt himself stuck looking at her, not knowing if he couldn't look away himself or if something was stopping him.

*Tick*

Dylan saw her nails begin to grow, her skin and cuticle ripping apart at the pace. the sound was chilling.

*Tick*

The pace matching the sound of the distant clock he had once heard in Eddies trailer

*Tick*

Her nails were sharp and dirty. Different than her usual ones.

*Tick*

She raised her hands, holding her sons face gently, Dylan felt her cold hands on his face the old blood dripping on his skin.

*BOOM*

She shoved her nails into the sides of Dylan's head, before the boy could scream in pain his mind flooded with visions of when he was in the lab.

The time his number 013 was tattooed on his wrist, he saw everything, His face being buckled and held against the seat harshly as an assistant did the job, his father watching. He could hear the sounds of his younger self-crying; he looked to be 2 maybe 3?

The days before he had escaped the lab, being a prisoner. He watched. This time it wasn't hazy nightmares—it was like a movie a horror movie. He felt himself grow sick watching his younger self which he didn't even recognize be covered in the fresh cuts he only knew as scars before.

He saw the large bat he would be tormented with, now realizing why he never liked them...

Why he never liked his room door fully closed.... watching as he lay down in cold dark rooms.

Why he didn't like soft wet foods...... as workers tossed slum at him.

It seemed that Dylan understood that he hadn't escaped the lab, it had followed him contradicting every day of his life, his fears, his habits.

Then it grew silent, a deathly eerie silence. Dylan looked in front of him as at the end of lab's white hallway, he saw someone —the same height— the same age. Wearing a hospital gown, his eyes were dark as the boy stared at Dylan.

He had blood splattered across his face, as his hands were also covered in it, the red liquid dripping down on the white floor. Flesh underneath his fingernails.

Dylan looked at the boy's wrist 013

He quickly looked closer at the boy's face, paler than ever, as he was close to skin and bones, he looked deathly.

It was him. Dylan