'tis the damn season

Thirty-Five: Run (feat. Ed Sheeran) (Taylor's Version) (From The Vault)

"There's a heart on your sleeve, I'll take it when I leave, and hold it for you" 

Nancy and Robin just left for their appointment at Pennehurst, taking a radio with them in case of emergencies.

I head back downstairs to the basement, seeing Lucas, Steve and Dustin, all sitting on the couch staring at the back of Max's head.

"What are you guys doing?" I ask, keeping my voice down so Max doesn't hear me.

"What do you think she's writing?" Lucas asks, keeping his voice equally as quiet.

"You know, I can feel your eyes burning into the back of my head right, guys?" Max asks from across the room.

All four of us look away from her when she says this. I take a seat next to Dustin on the arm of the couch, picking up a magazine from the coffee table, while the boys find things to occupy themselves so Max doesn't think they were staring at her.

I hear Max's footsteps come over from the desk and eventually stop in front of us. "You can look at me now," she says, and all of our eyes fell onto her.

The first thing I notice is the dark circles around her eyes. She probably didn't sleep a wink last night. Other than that she looked just as confident as normal. She was hiding inside herself though. That much was obvious.

In her hands, were a stack of envelopes, that she started handing out to each one of us. I took the envelope she held out for me, with my name written on it.

"Can you give this to Mike?" she asks, handing Lucas a second one. "And these are for El and Will," she says passing me two more, with their names on it.

"Okay," I answer, confused, glancing to my right to see Steve and Dustin about to open their envelopes.

"No, don't open them!" Max says quickly, making the two of them freeze. "They're for... you know after. In case things don't work out," she explains.

Lucas just scoffs. "It's going to work out Max. We don't need any goodbye letters."

Max shrugs, nodding in agreement. "I know, it's...just in case."

I noticed she still had a few letters in her hand, but weren't handing them out to us. "Who are those for?" I ask, gently.

She looks down at her hand, sighing heavily before answering. "My mom and grandparents and stuff," she mumbles. "So I uh... I'm going to need you to take me to my house so I can drop them off," she says, more confidently.

I glance over at Steve, whose already looking at me with worry in his eyes.

"Max, I don't know that that's such a good idea right now," I say, standing up from the couch, following her back to the desk, as she starts putting on her coat.

"Well I think it's a great idea right now," she argues, walking past me towards the stairs.

My eyes widen when she walks upstairs without another word. Steve, Dustin, Lucas and I hurry after her, following her through the Wheeler's kitchen and out the front door.

"Max, no way are we leaving!" Steve calls after her. "We're supposed to stay here, and wait to hear from Nancy and Robin."

I didn't have to see her to know she was rolling her eyes at him. "Steve, if you seriously think that I'm going to spend what is likely the last day of my life, in the armpit that is Mike Wheeler's basement, you're wrong," she says, walking towards his car.

"Max, please, we're just trying to keep you safe okay?" I say, as we reach her.

She turns around quickly, staring daggers at the two of us. "If I live to see another day, technically what you're doing is considered kidnapping a minor and I swear to god, I will prosecute," she says, pulling on the backdoor's handle. The door is locked.