Bloody Nose {Max Mayfield x OC}

I Wish Bactine Could Numb Emotions as Well as Skin

I woke up, my sinuses dry and slightly burning. My leg aches from pain, which is still bad but more subdued.

It was still dark, I could only guess about early morning. Light of the twilight skies showed through the sheer curtain across the room.

Max still had her arms around me. Her nose and mouth were buried into my scalp. I can feel the girl's warm breath spreading along the back of my head, which sends a sensation that mildly relieves my dry senses. I enjoy this.

Despite the longing of another person's touch being fulfilled, all I can feel is confused.

I almost died.

I almost died again.

I was almost torn to shreds by some hell-walking creature that wears no eyes, only sharp teeth that smelled of rotting bile and a evil heart.

The ironic part is that I actually thought I was safe. I thought that although Hawkins is some boring hillbilly town, that means I was going to get a break. But no.

I thought the only dangers were flashbacks from my first encounter with death. That first encounter that I vowed to never utter again. The PTSD of it all was supposed to be my only problem.

However I'm sleeping in a town that lives with creatures that stalk the night. Creatures as memorizing as they were deadly.

Then there is the lab. The building that turns innocent children into experiments that can do destructive things with just a lift of a hand.

The place traumatized poor kids just like El. Now she flinches even at the smallest noises, the smallest light flickers.

Yet, for whatever reason that's not the thing that haunts my mind. Not the demogorgon-things, or the gate, the lab, or El.

Despite all of that, what truly catches me off guard is the girl breathing on my scalp. The redhead that is holding me so tight as if as soon she's loosens her grip, I'll slip away.

That's what confuses me.

Why would someone like Max care about me slipping away? Why would her grip on me feel like she needs this as much as I do? Am I reading too much into this? I probably am because this isn't the feeling that should be felt between us. I still can't help but wonder if Max has held Lucas like this.

Through all of the questions, confusion, and pain, I drift back to sleep.

-

I'm suddenly in a humid indoor pool. The pool is in the old Middle school I used to attend, where everyone thought I was weird and I could only hang out with outcasted kids who were a lot older than me.

These kids were fucked up all of the time. The boys in the group would leer at me and I would start covering up more in hopes to veer away the attention.

The girls would shoplift lipstick and tank-tops. Curse out adults and just authority in general. I never fully "rebelled", however I wasn't exactly a good kid. Though, I think I lost that title a long time ago.

However, I am back in this cursed Middle School that I want to burn down.

Burn the bullies.

Burn the leering boys.

Burn the blind faculty.

Burn myself.