There's No Place Like Hawkins//Stranger Things. SH

SIXTY NINE

Dear Billy

Steve looked over to his girlfriend while Dustin tried to shake Max out of her trance. "Babe?" Steve called, his voice wavering as he saw her collapse onto the floor. He rushed over to her, kneeling on the cold ground and cradled Cat in his arms. He rested her head in his lap, pushing her hair out of her face. "C'mon, Kit-Cat. Wake up. Please, I need you to open your eyes." Steve began to lightly shake her shoulders, hoping that the movement would wake her up. "Cat, please." He rested his forehead against hers as he continued to plead. After a few minutes Cat's eye fluttered open and she immediately buried her head in Steve's chest. A fresh wave of tears began to cascade down Cat's face while Steve held her tightly to him.

"What happened?" Dustin asked, looking over his shoulder at them. Max jolted out of her own trance, looking warily around at the others. "Is Kit okay?" Dustin looked back to Max, worry written across his face. "Are you okay?"

Max shook her head. "Did, did you see the clock too?" She asked Cat.

Taking a deep breath, Cat pulled her head away from Steve's chest. "I-" She could barely get the words out. "No. Something else happened." She shuffled out of Steve's grip, leaning her back against the wall. Her eyes glanced over to the filing cabinets, relief flooding over her when she saw that the rabbit had disappeared. "Just my stupid powers playing up." Cat mumbled, though she was unsure herself what was the true cause as to what she had just experienced.

"Wait- What clock?" Steve looked between Max and his girlfriend. He didn't believe that it was Cat's powers going haywire that put her in this state, but he wasn't going to press her to talk. Not until she felt like she was able to talk about it.

"The... the clock." Max stammered out. "In the hallway." It was then that Robin and Nancy ran into the room. Once the group had caught up with what each of them had found, Max led them all down the hallway, looking for the exact place she had seen the grandfather clock.

"It was here." She said as they turned a corner, their torches shining against the plain wall of the high school's corridors. Cat grabbed Steve's hand, squeezing it tightly. She could still hear the echo of the clock in her ears and it was making her feel highly unsettled. "Right here." Max added, her voice shaking.

"A grandfather clock?" Nancy questioned, sounding a tad sceptical.

Max nodded her head. "It was so real." She began to describe her experience of the vision. "And then, when I got closer, suddenly I just..." She paused for a second. "...I woke up."

"It was like she was in a trance or something." Dustin said. He looked between his friend and his sister. "It was like they both were."

Robin and Nancy followed his gaze to Catherine, who was almost clinging to Steve. "Wait, what happened to Cathy?" Robin asked.

"I had a freaky encounter with that stupid rabbit I keep seeing." Cat told them, her voice quiet. "It's fine, I'm fine." She said in an effort to convince both herself and the others. "It was just my powers messing up a little, that's all." Steve raised his eyebrow, turning his head to look at her. He wouldn't voice it to her, but he still didn't believe what Cat was saying.