The Girl With the Red Hair

XV. Tragedy at Lover's Lake

"Max!" The two boys shouted her name repeatedly before Steve turned and motioned for Dustin and Lucas to come over, "Guys!"

"Shit!" Dustin exclaimed when he realized Max was in a trance.

"Max, you gotta get outta there! Can you hear me?" Benny shook her shoulder to try to wake her.

"Call Nancy and Robin! Go get 'em! Call them! Go!" Steve grabbed Dustin's collar and shoved him towards the car.

Dustin tumbled down the hill and ran to the car in a hurry.

"Shit! She's not waking up!" Benny ran his hands through his hair.

"Dustin, hurry up!" Lucas yelled to the boy who was standing on top of the car to get a better signal. Dustin hopped off of the car and grabbed a pile of music tapes from the car as well as Max's headphones.

"What- what is this?" Lucas furrowed his brows as Dustin dropped the tapes onto the ground.

   "Her song. What's her favorite song?"

  "What? Why?" Benny looked down at the tapes.

"Robin said that if she listens to- it's too much to explain right now! What's her favorite song!?"

  "It's- it's the Kate Bush one! Running Up That Hill!" Benny fumbled through the tapes.

  "Which one is that?" Dustin searched the tapes.

  "It's right here! I got it, I got it!" Benny picked up the cassette tape and shoved it into Steve's hands and he placed the tape into the cassette player.

   "Headphones! Headphones!" Steve pointed to Dustin and Dustin placed Max's headphones over her ears.

  "Now!" Dustin yelled to Steve and he pressed the 'play' button.

  "Wake up!"

"C'mon, Max!"

    "We're right here!" The four yelled desperately.

  "How long does this take to work?!" Benny turned to Dustin.

   "I- I don't know!"

    Then, to their horror, Max lifted off of the ground and remained in the air as the four boys screamed her name. They stood up and watched her. They couldn't do anything else to save her.

  "Max! Please!"

"Max!"

   Max suddenly fell, catching them all by surprise. Benny kneeled down next to her and she grabbed onto him as she gasped for air.

   "It's okay, we're here, you're okay," Benny assured her with his head resting on hers.

  "I thought we lost you," Steve breathed out.

"I'm still here, I'm still here," she panted, holding onto Benny as if he would disappear the second she let go.

—
The same night, the four boys were instructed to take turns keeping an eye on Max throughout the night while Nancy and Robin would get their sleep. None of them did as they were told until Benny awoke in a cold sweat in the middle of the night.

He'd had a dream about the night at Brimborn Sterlworks last summer. Billy was included in the dream. He kept repeating the fact that Benny just stood there as he was dragged. Benny knew that he was the ultimate reason for Billy's death. And he definitely felt guilty about it.

   When Benny woke up, he looked around the dark room and found the rest of the group sleeping. His eyes moved to the couch that Max was laying on before he fell asleep, and she wasn't there.