Billy's gone.
Ruby Buckley's world ended with him.
But Hawkins isn't done with her yet.
When strange deaths begin again, Ruby is pulled into the heart of the storm. Between shadowy nightmares, the town's newest outcast, and someone she was never s...
( songs for the chapter ) i can't go on without you // kaleo the scientist // coldplay
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Ruby's fingers trembled as she kept shaking Max's shoulder, gentle but desperate.
"Maxi, please. Come back to me," she whispered, her voice breaking apart mid-sentence. Tears gathered, spilling down her cheeks unchecked.
She had already lost one best friend. She wasn't built to lose another.
Not again.
Not in two days.
Max was there, breathing, blinking, and yet somehow not.
Her stillness, her unfocused eyes, terrified Ruby in a way she couldn't name. It was like Eddie had described Chrissy.
And if all of their symptoms lined up as well, the headaches, the nightmares, the flickers of something watching, then it meant the curse was spreading. Fred. Chrissy. Max.
And Ruby, standing just behind her in line.
The thought made her stomach drop.
Somewhere deep in the back of her mind, a sound began to echo, faint, rhythmic.
Tick.
Tock.
Tick.
Tock.
For half a heartbeat, Ruby saw it, the warped shape of a grandfather clock hovering in the dark behind her eyes. Then it vanished when she blinked.
She forced a breath, shaking her head as if to scatter the image away. Hallucination. Stress. That's all.
"Max, come on," Dustin's voice cut through, high and trembling.
Ruby swallowed, deciding, for now, to keep what she'd seen to herself. They didn't have the luxury of her paranoia. They needed Max.
"Max?" Steve knelt beside them, his tone hushed. "Hey, c'mon, kid. Wake up."
Ruby brushed the hair from Max's face with shaking fingers. "Maxi, please. I'm begging you." Her voice was wet and uneven, but steady enough to carry. "I know you can fight this. Come back to me."
And then, Max gasped.
The sound tore through the silence like glass shattering. Her body jolted upright, lungs heaving.
"Holy-" Ruby cried, pulling her into her arms. "Max, thank God-"
Steve was already leaning in, one hand braced on her shoulder. "Hey, hey, easy. Max, are you okay?"
Max blinked, eyes wild. "What the- I was just in the hallway-"
"What are you talking about?" Dustin stammered, looking from her to Ruby. "You were sitting here the whole time."
