talk too much | max mayfield

43. ...

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✧･ﾟ: * Nosebleeds are actually totally normal.

It's really common.

I read in an article somewhere that it happens when you don't drink a lot of water, and it's kinda hard to stay hydrated when you're committing felonies y'know?

Or even when it's something as simple as your skin being dry, and when's the last time I really moisturized?

And this headache I have right now is probably just the dehydration thing again. And everyone was yelling so loud earlier. . .

"Nora?" A familiar knock at the bathroom door doesn't stop the blood from spilling out of Nora's nose, but at least now she has an excuse to stop driving herself to insanity.

The girl opens the door at Lucas' voice, only to shut it behind him immediately.

"Nora, holy shit," Lucas takes one look at the bloody towel Nora's holding up to her nose before he rummages through the cabinets of the bathroom to get a clean one for her. "Oh my God, oh my God."

"Yeah," Nora switches out the towels, and Lucas doesn't hesitate in taking her dirty one and placing it in the sink so it doesn't contaminate anything.

"Well, I'm sure it's nothing," Lucas reassures, he puts one hand up to where Nora's is on the towel and another at the back of her head to allow her to lean back, to help the blood stop pouring out of her nose. "Nosebleeds are totally common."

"Hm," Nora mumbles nasally.

"Listen," he says, still concerned, but also clearly having something else on his mind. "Your brother and the others are in the Upside Down-"

"Hm?!"

"But we know how to get them out, we just need to escape from here," he's quick to reassure.

Nora pulls both their hands away as she's sure the bleeding's stopped, and also is started to feel uncomfortable with their close proximity. She's supposed to be mad at him. But also this is no time for pettiness-

"Hey," Lucas takes on an even more concerned tone if that's possible. "You okay?"

"Just. . . a lot going on," Nora puts both towels in one hand as she sides the other to wash the bottom half of her face quickly.

"Yeah," Lucas nods, then opens his mouth as if he has something else to say. "Um, listen, Nora. . . I'm really sorry. . . about making the whole Annie thing and the kiss thing such big things, y'know? I was just. . . being annoying, I dunno what got into me."

"That's okay," Nora shakes her head distractedly, is Steve okay? . . . Will I be okay?

"Alright, cool, so, we have to get to the trailer park - I'll explain on the way - but while we're there, you have a Walkman or something right? To play music on?"

Nora stares blankly.

"I mean, just in case," Lucas gestures to the two bloody towels Nora's used up.

"Oh!" She shakes herself out of whatever's going on with her right now. "No, yeah, yeah, I have something."

"Alright, good. You ready to go then?"

"Yeah, yeah," Nora nods, then letting Lucas lead the way out.

What's my favorite song?

—

✧･ﾟ: * Dustin ties up a rope made of sheets while Lucas and Max drag out an old mattress to put under the giant hole in the wall.

Nora didn't want to worry everyone with everything already going on with her own issues, so she's mostly just been humming various songs in her head until she recognizes anything as her favorite.

"Those stains are, uh," Eddie and the others stare up from the Upside Down, waiting for the kids to make the trip safe to take. "I don't know what those stains are."

Dustin then tosses the rope up, and it magically stays in place even when Robin tugs on it.

"Here I go," Robin starts climbing through the hole. and as soon as she passes through the roof, she falls over onto the mattress.

Nora takes a step back, as to not be hit on impact, but flinches as she backs up into a table. She turns around to see if she knocked anything over, but suddenly finds herself in front of the desk in her old room.

When her and Steve moved out of their parents place, Nora shoved everything on and in her desk into her backpack - she was never one to leave behind good stationary - but as she surveys the sight in front of her, heart beating in her throat, she feels utterly confused at the scattered papers and books ahead.

This isn't happening. This cannot be happening-

"Eleanor!" A voice from downstairs calls her and Nora almost faints as she could recognize her father's voice from miles away.

She knows it's a trick. She knows it's Vecna. This isn't real. But-

She walks downstairs anyway. Her house in the Upside Down looks unnervingly similar to the one in the real world, but Nora notices the darker lighting, extra creakiness of the steps, and was that a vine on the wall?

"What's this?" He's holding up a photo. Of her and Max. They were in a photo booth. They shared their first real kiss when neither were being chased by giant monsters in the last photo of the strip.

"My girlfriend," Nora mumbles, tripping over her feet as she tried walking backwards.

Where can she run? The Vecna can get her anywhere. She doesn't even know her favorite song-

Her father's face twists up into something worse than anger as Nora scramble backwards still on the ground.

She collects herself and shoots up before she can look at whatever's become of his face. Her bike. It's lying out on the lawn. She sprints to it, but as soon as she puts her hands on the handles, she feels transported to a different place, a place she recognizes from Max's drawings.

"Nancy," she breathes out.

"Nora," the older girl reaches for her as she gets to the bottom of the strange stairs set up. "You alright?" She checks her over for any injuries.

"Not really," Nora wipes at the smudged mascara on Nancy's under eye while the girl looks just past her to a door.

Nora whips her head around, expecting the worse, but just trails behind in confusion as Nancy grabs her hand and leads closer and closer to the stain-glass window.

"Weird," Nora mumbles.

"Yeah," Nancy pushes open the door, and the two are immediately transported to a different scene.

"Weird," Nora whispers, staring at the poster family in front of them.

"Shh," Nancy stares at a little boy who's trailing behind the others.

a/n:
and then they find stuff out ab vecna's origin story, nora gets sad bc she's desperately in love w max and they're both ab to die, and i cry bc i cannot wait another month for volume 2.