SUMMERTIME SADNESS | Max Mayfield

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE: i'll fucking kill you.

Steve stopped the van as they aprroached Victor Creel's house. Lexi hugged Nancy as Max, Lucas and Erica waited for her. "Be safe." Nancy nodded. "You two." The four walked out of the van and looked up at the house.

The group soon split up. Erica waited on the playground and the other three were in the house, looking for Vecna. Lexi soon found him and told it to Max and Lucas. 

Max putted her shoes back on and took her headphones off. "Hey! Asshole! I'm here. No more music. No more games. Do you hear me? What are you waiting for, huh? Come on! Do you want me or not?"

"I know you can hear me. I know you can read my thoughts. Even the worst ones. Maybe mostly the worst ones. I thought about what you said. About how I wanted my brother to die. I thought you were just trying to upset me. To anger me. But you weren't, were you? You were just telling the truth. Billy, he made my life living hell. Every chance he got. So, sometimes... When I would lie in bed at night, I would...I would pray...I would pray that something would happen to him. Something awful. I knew that he drove too fast, so I would imagine him crashing. Dying in that stupid car. I just... I wanted him out of my life. Forever. I wanted him to disappear. The day that he died...I think that's why I just stood there. Watched. Not because I was scared or... weak. But because... I didn't know if he deserved to be saved. And I've tried to forgive myself. I've tried, but... I can't. I can't. So now... Now, when I lie in bed at night... I pray that something will happen to me. That something terrible will happen to me. So that's why I'm here. Because... I just want you to take me away. And I want you... To make me disappear."

Max's words hurted Lexi. She knew, the redhead wasn't doing great, but she had no idea how bad it is. "Max? Can you hear me? Max! Max!" Lucas walked to her. "He has her." Lexi realized and Lucas signaled it to Erica. 

Lexi paced for some time, but stopped, when she heard the stairs crack. "Shit. Jason? You can't be here right now, man." He looked at Lexi, but she shook her head and quietly pulled out her gun. "The hell have you done?"

"Jason. You need to leave." He demanded. "Is this what you did to Chrissy?" Jason was horrified at the sight of Max and Lexi couldn't blame him. "Just listen, Jason. You need to go, man." Jason crouched in front of Max. "Hi. Can... Can you hear me?"

"Jason, don't touch her." Lexi wanted to just shoot him, but she had to wait for the right moment. "I'm not messing around." Lucas took a step forward, but Jason quickly pulled out his gun. "Hey. Hear me? Hey, back up! Back up! Not another step."

"Wa... Wait. We... We don't have to do this. We don't have to do this." Lucas raised his hands in defence. "I hope you're right. Is there anyone else in the house?" Lucas looked at Lexi, who putted her finger to her lips, to tell him, to not tell Jason about her. "No. No."

"Turn around. Turn around!" He shouted and Lexi began to take silent steps towards Jason. "Okay, okay. Relax, relax." Lucas did as he was told. "And put down your flashlight. And empty your pockets. Empty your pockets!"

"Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay." Lucas nodded. "Now, this is what's gonna happen. I'm gonna back away to the top of the stairs there. Then I'll watch as you wake her up from whatever the hell this is." 

"I can't. Jason. If I wake her too soon, we all die." He tried to explain. "No. You don't wake her up right now, you die, Sinclair. Just you." 

"We call him Vecna. He lives in another dimension. That's why you can't see him." Lucas began to explain. "And Eddie Munson and his... his Hellfire acolytes, what, you all summoned this Vecna?"

"No, no, you're not listening. Just listen. There... There's no cult. There never was." By now, Lexi was standing right behind Jason, waiting for his decision. "You expect me to believe that?" He scoffed. "It's the truth.

"Then why was Chrissy at Eddie's trailer?" He asked. "She was buying drugs." Lucas answered. "Liar!" Jason shouted and Lexi winced. "Okay. Okay. Chrissy... She was seeing things. Terrible things. Things Vecna forced her to see. She was scared. She just needed help."

"That's how I know you're lying. If Chrissy was scared, if... if Chrissy wanted help, she would've come to me! Not Eddie! Not that freak! Never!" He kept shouting. "You're wrong about Eddie."

"No. But I was wrong about you. I never should've let you in the door." He raised his gun again. "And I never should have knocked. I thought I wanted to be like you. Popular. Normal. But it turns out, normal's just a raging psychopath."

"You have five seconds to wake her up. Four. Three." Jason began counting, until he felt something touch his head. "You have a gun pointed at your head. Drop your gun, or I'll pull the trigger." 

"You're not gonna do it." He denied. "Drop it, or I'll fucking kill you!" She shouted at him. "I thought that redhead was your friend, you were always together, and now you're trying to kill her."

"You don't know what you're talking about, now drop the gun." The gun clicked and he started to crouch to put the gun down. But that didn't last, he kicked her feet and Lexi fell. Lucas immediately attacked him as Lexi gained her balance back. 

Jason tried shooting the gun a few times at Lucas, but he dodged everytime. Lexi quickly found her gun again and pointed it at Jason, who was fighting Lucas. She tried to point it at Jason, but since the two boys kept fighting, it was impossible to shoot just Jason and not Lucas.

She walked to them, but Jason noticed her. "You again." He quickly punched her in the head, knocking her out, before he kept fighting Lucas.

Lexi opened her eyes with a terrible headache. She looked next to her and saw Jason punching the shit out of Lucas and Max levitating. She quickly took her gun in her hand and shot him in the leg.

Jason screamed and Lucas helped Lexi up as they both ran to Max, but it was too late. Max's arms and legs began to snap as her eyes bled. Lexi let out a scream as Max dropped to the floor. 

"We need a doctor! Call an ambulance! Hurry! Call an ambulance!" Lucas shouted, when Erica ran to them. "Lexi..." Max said. "Yes, yes I'm here. I'm here." She held her in her arms. "I... I can't feel or... ...see anything."

"I know. I know. It's okay. We're gonna get you help, okay? Just... Just hold on." She tried reassuring the girl. "Lexi, I'm scared. I'm so scared. I'm so scared." Max cried. "I know. I know. I know."

"I don't wanna die. I'm not ready." She whimpered. "You're not gonna die. Hang on. I'm not gonna let you die." Lexi cried. "I don't wanna go! I'm not ready." Max cried. "You're not gonna die! Just... Just hang on! Max. Max! Max! No, no, no, Max. Stay with me. No. Stay with me! Don't go, Max. Max, stay with me. Just look at me, Max. Max, look. No. Stay with me, Max."

She took Max off of her lap. "What are you doing?" Lucas asked her. "I'm not letting her go." She answered and began to tried doing CPR. "Max, come on. Max! Max, please!" She gave up as she ad no more strengh in her.

But suddenly, the floor began to rip and Lucas helped Lexi to take Max away. Jason got ripped in half and the blonde collapsed on Max's chest. She cried, until she felt a heart beat. "Max?"