Escaping Her Mind

Chapter Six: The Memories of Maxine Mayfield Part Two

The scene unfolds in front of the group. It's the trailer park where Max lives with her mother, the same trailer park where Eddie Munson used to live. It's dark and looks as if it's the middle of the night. 

As the group looks around at the memory in front of them, Dustin's eyes can't help but glance over to the trailer where Eddie used to live. He sighs, his heart hurting as he remembers the death of his friend. 

"Steve, where are you going?" Nancy questions. Dustin looks back over to see Steve making his way up the stairs of Max's small rundown home. 

"I'm going inside." Steve says simply, gesturing to the house. 

"We can't interact with the memory, dumbass." Robin tells him.

"Robin." Nancy chides. 

"The window's open, dumbass." Steve retorts. 

"Steve." Nancy chides, looking over at him.

"She started it." Steve tries to defend himself to which Nancy shoots him a look. "Alright, fine, whatever." He says, putting his hands up in defense. "I'm going inside." He says and then he climbs through the window. 

Not long after, the rest of the group follows. They look around at the scene in the small rundown home. Max's mother is passed out with beer bottles around her on the couch. Memory Max is sitting in front of the small coffee table, doing her homework with her headphones over her ears and her walkman blasting music. Suddenly, the lights shut off. 

Memory Max groans, laying her head down on her homework for a moment before putting her pencil down and looking over at her mom. "Mom?" She asks, but the way in which she says it makes it seem like she knew that there was going to be no response. "Mom, the power's out." She whispers to herself. "Again." She grumbles, pushing herself off the floor and standing up.

Memory Max goes over to the couch where her mom is passed out and shifts through the beer cans on the small side table. She finds a cigarette lighter and flips it open, sparking the flame and grabbing a candle from the shelf. She lights the candle, places the lighter back where she found it, and places the candle on the table next to her homework. She sighs, looking down at her homework which she could barely see in the dark light. 

Memory Max makes the short walk across the room to the fridge and opens it up to reveal half a loaf of bread and two apples. Memory Max sighs, closing the fridge after deciding not to take anything. 

"No power and no food?" Nancy whispers. "I didn't know she was struggling this much." She says, looking over at the group but mainly at Lucas. 

"I, uh...I didn't know either." Lucas whispers, his eyes glued to Memory Max. 

Memory Max walks the short walk back to the living room, looking at her mom passed out on the couch with beer cans around her. Memory Max sighs, grabbing the beer cans and throwing them in the trashcan. The last one she grabs is half full. She puts it up to her mouth and takes a sip.

Placing the beer can down on the counter, she stares at the window. In the dark of night, she couldn't see out into the trailer park, she could only see her reflection staring back at her. A tear drips down her cheek as she stares at her reflection: she stares at her tired face, the bags under her eyes, her messy hair, the headphones over her ears. She stares at her reflection as she takes another sip from the beer can. She turns around, leaning against the counter and pulling the headphones from her ears, the beer can still in hand. She sighs, looking around. 

Then, there's a knock at the door. Memory Max turns her head in confusion, looking to the door. There's another knock at the door. Memory Max puts down the beer can and grabs a knife from the counter.