OUTCASTS • Eddie Munson

Running Up That Hill

Lucas' eyes darted down as he rushed to pick up a piece of paper from the table to make him look busy as Max turned to him.

"You said you needed something?" He questioned, trying to play off why he was looking at her.

"How you think your eyes boring into the back of my head is protecting me from Vecna, I don't know." She told him as she gathered up her work from the desk she was sat at. She stood up, walking over to the group as she rifled through what looked like a stack of envelopes.

The boys made out like they were uninterested in her coming over to them, purely for the fact that they didn't want Max to feel as though she was being stared at.

Ellie smiled at Max as she made eye contact with her, before she looked to the boys again.

"You can look at me now." She told them.

"Thank you." Said Dustin, as Lucas and Steve apologised.

Max took a step forward, holding an envelope out to Dustin, "For you." she told him.

Dustin gratefully accepted the envelope.

"For you." She said to Steve, handing him one too, and finally one to Lucas. "Oh and, um, give these to Mike, El and Will." She told Lucas, handing him another three envelopes. "If you can ever get hold of them again."

Dustin began to open the envelope, causing Max to panic. "Hey! What are you doing?" She exclaimed as Dustin looked up in alarm, "That's not for now, don't open it now."

"Oh, uh, okay." Dustin responded, resealing the envelope as best as he could and trying to shake the fact that he felt like a toddler being told off by his teacher. "I'm sorry, what is this?" He asked her, holding the letter in the air.

"It's uh..." she paused, trying to put what it was into words, "it's a fail safe. For after. If things don't work out." She told them.

Ellie stopped breathing momentarily as she realised that these letters were Max's goodbyes.

"Wait, woah, Max, this is going to work out." Lucas told her, before quickly being interrupted by Max shouting "No!"

"No! I don't need you to reassure me right now and tell me it's all going to work out, because people have been telling me that my entire life, and it's almost never true."

Everyone in the room took their eyes away from Max as she spoke those words, a clear indicator that they all knew full well that she could be right.

"It's never true." Max finalised, repeating it to them, and to herself, ensuring that she wouldn't get her hopes up. "I mean, of course this asshole curses me. I should've seen that one coming."

Ellie wished she knew Max better so that she could feel comfortable trying to talk to her, but if she snapped like that to Lucas, she could only imagine how Max would react to her trying to speak.

Max inhaled deeply, before she glanced around the room, her vision targeting a walkie on the side table. She grabbed it, returning her gaze to the group of boys. "If we go to East Hawkins, will this still reach Pennhurst?" She asked.

"Of course." Dustin told her.

"Wait, why are we talking about East Hawkins?" Steve's eyebrow raised as he spoke.

Max didn't respond to him, merely giving him a look of urgency.

"No, no, no!" He shouted, each 'no' getting more decisive as he spoke.

Max gave him a sarcastic smile and turned tail, almost running up the stairs. The whole group moved without hesitation, all following after her. Ellie had already pulled a cigarette out of her packet, lighting it the second they got outside.