Complete Chaos

052

Julia and Steve weren't going to go to the Pennhurst Asylum. Steve was disappointed he had to stay with the kids and take care of them.

Nancy wanted to impress the director and make him believe they were true academic scholars. Nancy and Robin left Steve and Julia in charge of the kids.

Julia knew the kids were old enough to take care of themselves. They just needed someone to keep an eye on them in case they tried to do something dangerous, and knowing them, it was only a matter of how long they would last in the basement. The only one she needed to truly worry about was Melody.

Max looked over her shoulder as she was finishing writing down and said, "I know you guys are staring at me."

"What, sorry?" Dustin got Melody's stuffed bunny from the floor, acting as he wasn't paying attention to the redhead. The young girl whined. She didn't want the toy. She was not playing with it, but she didn't want anyone playing with it either. Dustin threw the bunny at Melody, not wanting her to cry.

"You said you needed something," Lucas said, pretending he was reading something.

"Just hanging out," Steve responded, throwing a baseball up in the air and catching it.

Julia was the only one that didn't act as if she wasn't looking at her.

"How you think your eyes boring into the back of my head is protecting me from Vecna, I don't know." Max walked up to them. Julia smiled at Max, and the smile that Max gave her back didn't reach her eyes.

Max stood in front of them. Julia and Melody were the only ones looking at her. "You can look at me now."

The boys apologized and looked at her, stopping what they were doing. "This is for you," Max said. She handed Julia an envelope. Julia's name was nicely written in the center of it. Max had a sad smile on her face. The young woman observed the paper.

Melody thought it was more food and moved her mouth toward it. Before she could chew it, Julia moved it away from her daughter.

"For you," Max handed another envelope to Lucas, avoiding eye contact with him.

She then flipped the envelope looking for the one with Dustin's name on it, and gave it to him. He looked at her curiously.

"And, um, you." Steve was the last one to get one. Max looked down at the last few letters she had in her hands.

"Oh, and, um, give these to Mike, El, and Will. If you can ever get a hold of them again." She handed them to Lucas.

Dustin and Steve looked at their envelope and flipped it to the back wanting to see what was inside.

"What are you doing? No, don't. That's not for now. Don't open it now," Max said quickly, making them stop.

"What is this?"

Max looked at the last letters she had in her hands and then said, "It's, um, it's a fail-safe. For after. If things don't work out."

"Wait, whoa. Max, things are gonna work out," Lucas said, trying to be optimistic.

Max was annoyed and tired of always hearing the same thing. "No! No, I don't need you to reassure me and tell me it's all gonna work out. People have been telling me that my entire life, and it's almost never true. It's never true," Max said, raising her voice.

Julia's heart ached for Max; she wouldn't know what to do in her place.

"I mean, of course, this asshole curses me. Should've seen that one coming.

Julia couldn't blame her for the way she was reacting.

Max walked toward the small table where the walkie talkie was. She grabbed it, inspecting it for a few seconds, then said, "If we go to East Hawkins, will this reach Pennhurst?"