Hearts on Fire

Chapter 16

Thirty minutes passes by and Max comes out running. "Start the car!! Start the car!!! Hurry up Steve and start the damn car!!" Yelling out as she quickly hops into the back seat,"DRIVE!!! GO!!" Steve quickly stepped on the gas pedal making everyone sink back into their seats.

It was now nightfall and we parked the car at Hawkins high. Everyone started walking towards the gym and walked through the hallway until reaching Ms.Keller'a office. Using the stolen keys, Steve unlocked the door and all of you walked in. Max started going through the file cabinet and pulled out some papers. Shining the light on for her, she began to read through the papers. "Wait... they all had the same symptoms as I do. Headaches, nightmares, nose bleeds... two have already died. Fred and Chrissy. She wrote my name on this paper, I've experienced these things too for five days now." Max explained but then she became very still, she was completely zoned out and her eyes were blank. Shaking her shoulder you call out her name,"Max? Max! Max! Hey, something is wrong! She's not responding!" You continued to shake her until she finally came back and blood dripped out of her nose. "What happened? What did you see?" Steve asked her all worried. Explaining that she too heard a clock ticking and it was all dark and cold. "Come on, let's go before someone catches us." Putting the papers back in the file cabinet all of you leave the door and start to walk out into the hallway towards the exit, until you hear a loud thump and someone touches your shoulder. Screaming you swing your arm and someone yells "ow! Shit! It's me! It's me! Lucas!" Apologizing for hitting him you ask why the hell he would sneak up on you and how did he find where you all were.
"Listen, I've been leading them away from you. They're trying to find Eddie. Jason and his friends, I know they went to your house and it was too late for me to warn you but this time I wanted to let you all know and help." Lucas explained.

Once leaving Hawkins high you all made your way back to your house, everyone was tired and Dustin fell asleep on the couch. Placing a blanket on top of him, you moved a curl from his face and admired how cute Dustin looked and gave him a kiss on his forehead and saw him smile.
"Do I have to be sleeping for you to give me a kiss?" Steve commented as he took a seat at the end of the couch which caused Dustin to move and put his feet in Steve's lap. "Ugh, gross!" Swinging Dustin's legs off him and getting up,"Steve, leave him alone. He's sleeping." You snarled at him seeing that Dustin started snoring. "Max, you can sleep in my room with me. Lucas and Steve, the two of you can sleep in my mom's room. My little sister's room doesn't have a big bed, Robin but you can sleep there if you'd like?" Walking the boys over to the room, Lucas jumped on the bed and quickly fell asleep. Steve gave you a thank you and you closed the door, showing Robin your little sister's room. She said it was perfect and then both you and Max walked into your room,"Can you not close the door all the way, please?" Max asked and you agreed. Taking off your shoes, you sat on the bed allowing Max to settle in it first.

"Can I ask you something? Personal..? It's okay if-" Max asked as you turned off the lights and only left one lamp on. "No, it's okay. You can ask me anything, you can trust me." Laying next to her and turning your body to face her.
"When you were in the dark place... I know you said you didn't see Vecna but he talked about your dad. Did you see your dad there or just his voice..?" Max just looked up at the ceiling and you replied to her,"I heard his voice, my dad. Yelling at me. Seeing a shadow I thought it was him and the reason why I started running but then I heard a different voice. It called out to me and I knew it wasn't my dad." "Do you miss him? At all?" Max asked and you gave her a no. "He wasn't a good father nor a good husband to my mom. Actually, he died... four months ago. That's when the nightmares and headaches began but once I met Eddie it all stopped. He made me feel safe, I was no longer alone in my thoughts." Turning to look at you Max started to cry, and you brought yourself closer to her and hugged her. "Max, it's okay. You're okay. Sshh..." rubbing her back to try and calm her down,"I just. I saw him. Billy... he was there with me and he talked to me and how I wanted him dead but that's not true... yeah he wasn't a nice guy but he was still my brother." Max said with a shaky voice.
Once she finally calmed down, she fell asleep in your arms and you looked up at the ceiling feeling your eyelids start to become heavy.