(3) Till Death Do Us Part (Max Mayfield/ (Fem) You)

-Chapter 11: Flashlights and Ringing-

We approach the house and its broken windows, boarded up with wood. Broken wire fences, overgrown grass, shattered lightbulb at the front porch. It's literally the house of nightmares.

The others walk ahead, but I stay back with Max as she looks around, confusion and fear etched in her face. "Max?" I ask, snapping her to look at me. She offers me a small smile before walking ahead, leaving me to follow. "It's locked." I mumble before Dustin peeks at the boarded up window. "Should I knock, see if anyone's home?" He asks. Robin scoffs and I turn to see the wheels of mischief turning in her head. "Robin....?" I question as she bends down and picks up a brick. "No need. I found a key." She says, smirking. I grin at her, stepping aside as she hauls it at the glass of the door, shattering it into pieces. "Not even surprised that it came up in your head." I say to her as she rolls her eyes, reaching in and opening the door.

The door opens with a loud screech, the sound echoing through the empty house. I wince at the sound, not enjoying how eerie it is. Lucas walks to a switch at the wall and flicks it. Not surprisingly, the lights do NOT turn on. Wow, I'm totally shocked.

"Looks like someone forgot to pay their electric bills." He says, still flicking the switch. I roll my eyes, taking a flashlight from Dustin's backpack. "Where'd everyone get those?" He asks, confused. I smirk, chuckling. "Do you need to be told everything? You're not a child." Dustin says. I walk away, investigating the way the wallpaper peels off the walls, or how the house seems to be in the middle of daily life. The dining room has plates on the table, cups around the surface while cutlery scattered around. "They just left everything." Nancy says, seeing what I do. "I guess a triple homicide isn't good for resale value." I mutter, making Nancy nod before Max's voice floats through the silent air.

"Hey, guys?" She says. I turn, making my way back into the main hallway where we find Max staring at a grandfather clock. "What's up?" I ask. "You all see that, right?" She asks, nodding to the clock. "Yeah." Dustin and Steve say. "Is this what you saw in your visions?" I ask her. She just stares at it blankly as we all watch her and the clock. "I mean, it's just a clock....right?" Steve asks, looking at us. I shrug, not really knowing if it is. He continues to babble on as I look at Max who is still staring at the clock. I touch her hand, making her jump slightly and look at me. "You alright?" I ask, tilting my head. "Y-yeah. I'm fine." She says as Nancy speaks. "All I know is the answers are here...somewhere. Okay, everyone stays in groups of two. Robin, upstairs." She says, claiming my friend as Robin salutes, following the girl upstairs.

I grab Max's hand, making her look at me before nodding. We head off in a different direction as I hear Steve sigh loudly. Probably because he's stuck with the two other boys. "Was that a sigh?" Dustin asks "No, I did not sigh."

"Why'd you sigh?"

"I didn't sigh. Just...come on, dude."

I chuckle at their little banter as Max and I enter another room nearby. I admire a large shelf of books while Max sits at a piano, randomly pressing at the keys. "I wonder what secrets this piano holds." I joke, walking to her. She raises an eyebrow at me as I hear Kate Bush blasting through her headphones. "You can hear me, right?" I ask. She nods, rolling her eyes but pausing the song. "Yeah I can. Maybe I'm just pretending I can't." She says, smirking. "Ha. Ha." I say, sitting beside her. "I wish we had a longer loop." I mutter, looking at her walkman. It would help if we didn't need to rewind it so often. I mean, longer for Max to not have to make herself vulnerable. "Forty-six minutes isn't bad." She says, shrugging. "I think there are bigger concerns...like...what if, by listening to this over and over, I get sick of it, and suddenly it's not my favourite anymore?" She says.

"Will it still work? Or will Kate Bush, like, lose her magic power or something." She asks. "Kate Bush? Never." I say, smirking. Max laughs, leaning on her elbow. "Right, I should've remembered you like Kate Bush too." She says.