Salt To The Wound (A Stranger Things Story)

Season 5- Chapter 7: Lasting Effects ( Max POV

Max witnessed a lot of horrible things in her life but seeing Lucas die in the way he did, was probably the worse, she also believed that she could of saw the signs earlier. She believed that it was pretty obvious he was under the curse, and she could've saved him, and she blamed herself for that.

Even though Max was in her senior year, she felt like she was back to her sophomore year, back when everyone was still here, when she shut them all out. Now, she was doing the same thing, she even requested to not be put in classes with her friends. Although she had one class with Will, that was it. She still talked to them, but not really, it was mostly basic conversations. She was drifting further and further apart from her friends, and no one would be able to stop that.

She realized when she was on the bus that, Lucas' parents had no clue he was gone. "Holy shit," she whispered to herself, and El, who was sitting next to her, eyed her. "Lucas' parents don't know, they were out of town," Max said and El sighed. "I'm going to tell them," Max said and El nodded. She got off the bus at the next stop.

She sped walked over to Lucas' parent's house and she had her entire mind planned out. She knew exactly what she wanted to say, how she wanted to say it, but as soon as she knocked on that door, all of her thoughts disappeared.

She was face-to-face with Lucas' mother and all the thoughts, the words, and the situation she had planned, all disappeared. She looked at his mother and saw Lucas in her which almost made her start crying then and there. "W-w-we need to talk," she struggled to say, and Lucas' mom nodded.

"So how's my boy?" She asked, handing Max some tea. She smiled but Max then gave her a serious look. "About that," Max said then she began to grow the same serious look. "I'm sure you heard about the uhm...incident...that happened around a month back?" Max said and Lucas' mom then put a hand over her mouth, not prepared for what Max would say. "He's gone," Max said, her voice breaking when she said gone. "No," Lucas' mom said, she then began crying into her hands. Max exhaled and stood up, she looked at Lucas' mom one more time before leaving.

Max walked into her house and looked up. She suddenly got memories of her and Lucas painting the house together, the many good memories that the two had together. When she walked around the house, it was as if Lucas was still there. She could hear his voice, she could hear him talking directly to her, hell, she could see his ghost. She believed that he was actually there, and nothing was telling her otherwise. She was looking at him, talking to him, breathing the same air as him, at least that's what she believed.

She woke up, thinking that Lucas would be in the bed right beside her, deep down, she knew that he was gone. But it was as if her heart and mind were telling her otherwise. She felt disappointed when Lucas wasn't there but she shook it, telling herself she was crazy. When she went to cook, she grabbed two plates. She didn't realize this.

By the time she was done cooking, she realized she made enough for both her and Lucas like they used to, she exhaled and called El to help her eat everything.

After El left, she opened up her computer. She searched up 'why do I still think my dead friend's here?' She typed into the search bar and the first thing she saw was denial. She then decided to find out the exact definition of it. Turns out she still believed Lucas was here because she was going through grief, she shut her computer and saw Lucas sitting right in front of her. She looked at him, wishing he was real, she then shook her head and left the room.