𝐌𝐄𝐓𝐀𝐍𝐎𝐈𝐀, 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬

S4 - Chapter Four: Dear Billy

"Lily! Tell us what the hell is going on!"

Dustin's screaming is a distant sound in her mind, her brain spinning at the realisation that she had indeed figured out the commonality.

The sudden gasp from beside her jolts her back, Max heavily breathing, Lily asking, "Max. Are you okay?"

Max tries to regulate her breathing, Dustin questioning, "What the hell was that?"

The sound of the doors opening down the school hallway makes Lily head over to the room's door, Robin and Nancy walking at a fast pace towards her, "Hey! Lils!"

"Hey. Not to crush your guys' findings or anything, but Max had some sort of... hypnosis."

"Holy shit, seriously?" Robin asks, Max standing up and pushing past the three of them, walking down the hallway with her flashlight, the group following her.

"I saw this grandfather clock, I swear," she lets out, "It was here—"

However, she comes to a halt, staring at the blank wall at the end of the hallway, letting out a shaky breath as she says, "It was here. Right here."

"A grandfather clock?" Nancy double-checks.

"It was so real," Max says, continuing, "And then, when I got closer, suddenly I just... I woke up."

"It was like she was in a trance or something," Dustin tells them, "Exactly what Eddie said happened to Chrissy."

"It's like symbolism," Lily points out, Steve questioning her with a "What?"

"A race against the clock. It's like he's counting down towards something. And what we've learnt from Chrissy and Fred, that ending is..."

"Death," Dustin finishes, looking up at his sister in worry. Steve looks over at his girlfriend, asking the question, "What did you find in those files?"

Lily gazes over to Max, the pair sharing a knowing look as they power back to Ms. Kelley's office, the group surrounding themselves around the table.

Lily takes the three files and lines them up next to one another, "All of them have had the same symptoms — headaches, nosebleeds, sleeping difficulties, you can see them all listed here, almost the exact same order."

"And then," Max gulps, "They'd all start seeing things. Bad things. From their past."

"And I looked at other files in comparison," Lily explains, "It was just your typical high school troubles: grades, girlfriends, the classics. But these three? It's very specifically deeply traumatic events."

"These visions, they just," Max shakily speaks out, "They kept on getting worse and worse, until eventually..."

Robin looks up, stating, "Vecna's curse."

"Chrissy's headache started a week ago. Fred's six days ago. I've been having them for five days."

"Which means..." Lily says, not even being able to finish her sentence, Steve wiping his hand over his mouth in worry.

Max nods, sighing, "I don't know how long I have. All I know is that, for Fred and Chrissy, they both died less than twenty four hours after their first vision. And I just saw that goddamn clock, so..." She lets out a shaky breath, "Looks like I'm gonna die tomorrow."

Their troublesome thoughts get interrupted by a loud clang from in the distance, Steve turning back and telling them, "Stay here."

Before exiting the room, he grabs the lamp to the side of him, the five others staring at each other before unanimously agreeing to follow Steve down the hall.