𝐀 𝐃𝐈𝐅𝐅𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐀𝐆𝐄 - 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝟒 ✔

DEAR BILLY

"Jesus! What the hell was that, Charlie?" Steve nearly yells at his sister who seemingly just snapped out of a trance. Though, when he saw her face contorted with genuine fear, he grew concerned. She was basically trembling and Steve's hands on her shoulders showed him how truly terrified she was. 

But when the doors of the school burst open, both Nancy and Robin ran down the hall to where she sat. Not just those two, though, both Max and Dustin came out of the office with concerned faces, signaling for the rest of them to follow her. 

"It was here." Max stated, pointing toward the wall that, even for Charlie, once held a clock. For some reason, the two of them were seeing the exact same clock on the exact same wall. 

"A grandfather clock?" Nancy questioned, her voice laced with suspicion. In all honesty, she didn't really believe Max due to the fact that there was obviously not a clock on the wall, and there never was. But she really tried her hardest and continued going along with what she was saying. 

"I saw it too." 

All eyes were suddenly on Charlie. Even Max's. "It was so real." Charlie continued, shoving her way through the people that surrounded her and making her way toward the wall. She started feeling around it just to make sure that there wasn't any traces that something could be there, finding nothing. 

"And when you got closer, you just-- woke up?" Max asked, keeping her eyes focused on Charlie. She was wondering how the both of them were seeing the exact same thing, though, nobody else was. Charlie answered with a quick nod, causing the both of their shoulders to slump in slight fear. 

"It was like she was in a trance or something. Exactly what Eddie said happened to Chrissy." Dustin speaks, referring to Max. Steve nodded, aware that the same thing happened to Charlie. 

"That's not even the bad part." Max says quietly, turning around to face the group. Charlie's head dropped, fully aware of what Max was talking about. She was scared. "Fred and Chrissy, they both came to Miss Kelly for help." Max states as she began walking back to the office. And when the group finally made it in there, she began talking again. "They both were having headaches,-"

"-bad headaches that wouldn't go away." Charlie finished for Max, the youngest Harrington's arms crossed as she stood aside. Everyone kept their vision on the papers, though, allowing Max and Charlie to continue speaking.

"And then-- then the nightmares. Trouble sleeping. They'd wake up in a cold sweat." Max struggled to speak, though, when she finally got it out, Charlie's head slumped as Steve turned toward his younger sister. 

"Then they started seeing things." Charlie spoke softly, her voice seeming so fragile that it would break. "Bad things from their past. And these visions... they just-- they kept on getting worse and worse until eventually.. everything ended." Charlie paused multiple times not only to catch her breath, but to assure she wouldn't cry. The clock wasn't the first vision she had, and in all honesty, it scared her. 

"Vecna's curse."

"Chrissy's headaches started a week ago. Fred's, six days ago. I've been having them for five days." Max struggled to get out once again, turning her head toward Charlie for an answer as to how long she'd been having hers.

"Five." 

Steve's hand suddenly went across his jaw, a wave of worry overcoming him. "Why didn't you tell me?" His voice was quiet and gentle with his fragile younger sister, causing tears to rise to her eyes. 

"Because I couldn't." Her voice was fragile, seeming as if the wrong thing could just make it break. Steve just nodded softly, not wanting to push her any farther to the edge as she roughly wiped away her tears.