HAVEN - stranger things.

xi. CREEL HOUSE.

xi. two for one!

wendy carmichael was the first to start running up towards steve and max once she heard steve yelling for max to wake up. she could feel her chest tighten at the thought of vecna finally taking max from them.
"max?!" wendy rushed to the girl's side, but it was no use.

max was in another trance, her eyes had glazed over and wendy felt her heart sink.
"wake up max!" wendy shook her shoulder, she refused to let this happen.

the group of four called out to the redhead in attempts to break her trance, but nothing was working. steve grabbed dustin and began barking orders at him.
"call nancy and robin! go!" steve yelled frantically.

wendy had completely forgotten about nancy and robin's side mission, she just hoped that they gathered enough information to save max mayfield's life. dustin henderson fell throughout the cemetery as he made his way to steve's car.
wendy carmichael felt her skin grow cold and her heart rate picked up—she couldn't handle another loss. her heart had been completely shattered and she had only recently repaired the pieces from billy's death. to lose max would completely devastate her. it would be the same feeling as losing susie.

wendy backed away, she didn't quite grasp the fact that she was experiencing a panic attack in the moment. steve's horror filled eyes darted from max to wendy. he didn't know how to help her with the problem at hand. wendy looked at steve, she knew that he was considering helping her at the moment but she rapidly shook her head. max's life was more important than her freak out.

dustin henderson stumbled towards the group, collapsing to the ground with max's walkman and some casette tapes. wendy took in a few deep breaths, she needed to help.

"what is this?!" lucas was confused.
"what's her favorite song?" dustin panicked, robin and nancy had made a discovery.

"why?!" lucas questioned.
"robin said if she listens—it's too much to explain now, what's her favorite song?" dustin yelled at lucas.

wendy rejoined the group, steve pulled her closer to him, he could see that she had regained her composure but he knew that they were going to have a conversation if max survived.

the group of four sorted through the casette tapes, searching desperately for max's favorite song.
"it's right here! got it!" lucas exclaimed, finding the right tape.

they frantically tried to pop the tape into the walkman, and dustin placed the headphones on her ears.
"now!" dustin ordered.

steve pressed play and wendy hoped that kate bush could be the one to save max.
"max?! can you hear us?" wendy kept her hand on the girl's shoulder.

then, wendy's heart sank. she remembered what eddie had said, how chrissy levitated in the air. the eighteen year old's eyes welled with tears as max mayfield began to rise from the ground, hovering above them. the boys continued to shout and scream, but wendy was frozen in place.

unbeknownst to them, max recounted all of her memories with her loved ones as she tried to escape vecna's lair. she remembered her fun times with lucas—catching the candies in her mouth. she remembered shopping in starcourt mall with eleven, trick or treating with lucas and dustin, patching up wendy's wound and naming her as a sister, the silly photoshoots she had taken with eleven, eating dinner and laughing with the carmichael sisters, movies with the boys, her first kiss with lucas. all of it was just what she needed to survive and it gave her motivation to fight. her friends were her motivation, they were her anchors.