"I know you guys are staring at me," Max says, turning away from the desk as she signed off on her final letter, she thought Will was the last one but she needed to write another, She couldn't let Alex go without a proper goodbye so she wrote the girl another page.
Dustin, Lucas and Steve all looked in a different direction pretending they weren't carefully watching her every word. Alex just kept looking at the girl, her usual walls breaking down in real time as cracks in her emerald eyes flooded with emotions.
"What, sorry?" Steve said, as if he hadn't even noticed the girls presence. At the same time Dustin muttered confusion.
"You said you needed something?" Lucas asked, now pretending to read a newspaper he picked up off the side table.
"Just hanging around," Steve said, throwing a tennis ball up and down, Alex rolled her eyes, they were the least subtle people in the world.
"How you think you eyes boring into the back of my head is protecting me from Vecna, I don't know," She commented, standing from her seat with a bunch of envelopes in her hand. She walked over and stood in front of them, all of the boys pretending she wasn't stood there.
Alex rolled her eyes, "I think it's worse if you don't look at her guys," she stated, earning a thankful look from Max.
Max sighed and looked down at her hands, shuffling the letters between her hands and passing the top one to Dustin, "for you," she said, placing it in his hands.
"For you," she placed a letter in Lucas's hands.
"For you," she placed it in Steve's hand.
"And for you," she put it in Alex's hands. The girl's letter was bigger than the others, Alex looked down at it in horror, realising that Max had been writing suicide notes when she was over there. Only that she wasn't killing herself, she was preparing herself to die.
Alex slipped her letter into the pocket of her jacket, trying to drown out the sounds of Max telling the boys what it was, they had attempted to open the letters, not understanding their purpose.
Alex looked up as Max looked to the floor, it almost looked as if she was willing herself to not cry. "It's um," Max mumbled, not meeting any of their eyes, "It's a fail safe. For after," her voice was weak, as if she'd given up hope, "You know... for, if things don't work out."
Alex looked down at the floor, the familiar feeling of tears welling in her eyes as she buried her face into Steve's shoulder, as if she was hiding from all the problems hurting towards them. None of this was happening, they were just in the basement, waiting for Mike to get home so they could surprise him.
But no matter how hard she tried, it all blurred into one thought.
Max is going to die.
"Wait, whoa," Lucas stuttered, jumping up and putting a hand on the girls shoulder, "things are gonna work out."
"No!" Max snapped, pushing his hand off her shoulder, "No, I don't need you to reassure me and tell me that it's all gonna work out... because, people have been telling me that my entire life and it's almost never true. It's never true." she said, her voice breaking a little, "I mean, of course this asshole curses me. Should've seen that one coming."
"Max," Alex said, stopping the girls rant, "I think we just need to figure out why you of all people," she suggests, "I mean, if you think about it. You, Fred and Chrissy all have one thing in common.... you were all getting counselling,"
The others all looked at the girl, not quite getting the relevance, it seemed like a coincidence and nothing substantial.
Alex rolled her eyes, was it really so hard to understand. "And Vecna is doing these spells or whatever-"
"HIs curse," Dustin corrected.
"Yeah, that," Alex rolled her eyes again, were the specifics really important, "He's making his attacks psychologically."
Okay, what does this mean?" Steve asked, trying to keep up with Alex's theory.
"Meaning, uh.... have any of you read this," she reached into her bag to show a book.
"Stephen King, nope not my genre," Dustin said, Alex groaned.
"Right, well in the book there is this clown called Pennywise, he kills these kids by preying on their fears," she looked to see if they were following, "Obviously everyone seeing Ms Kelly has some sort of trauma, if we apply the principal to Vecna..."
"He is preying on the kids with some sort of trauma, I mean Chrissy had family problems, it was in her file. And Fred, he was in a car accident, and well I..." Max trailed off but everyone knew where she was going.
Alex wrapped her arm around the girls shoulder and brought her in a little closer, knowing the girl needed comfort.
"If we go to East Hawkins, will your radios still reach Pennhurst?" Max asked, pulling away from Alex and asking Dustin.
"Uh, yeah, of course," Dustin nodded, throwing his radio up.
"Wait, why are we talking about East Hawkins?" Steve asked, not sure how Alex's revelation led to Max wanting to go to the opposite side of town. Alex looked at Max before a look of understanding flushed over her, maybe if Max made peace with her trauma...
~~
"No guys! Seriously! I'm not joking. I'm not driving you anywhere," Steve shouted to the two girls who had left the house.
"Steve, if you think I'm going to spend what is likely my last day of living in the armpit that is Mike Wheeler's basement," Max said, turning to face Steve while still walking backwards, "You're out of your mind, so take me where I need to go or tie me down, which is technically kidnapping of a minor, and if i live to see another day, Steve, i swear to god, i will prosecute."
Alex didn't bother to hide a laugh at her brothers shocked face, walking to the car door, only to find it locked.
"Open the door," Max said, staring at Steve directly, "I know a good lawyer," she commented, rather threateningly.
Steve shook his head but ultimately decided to just trust the girl, fishing his keys out of his pocket.
"Henderson, that super walkie of yours better reach Pennhurst," Steve told him, unlocking the doors and swinging himself into the drivers seat. Dustin took shotgun, talking to Steve about some random idea he had. Alex took the middle seat, so she was between Max and Lucas.
She realised the ginger wasn't in the vehicle yet, so she stuck her head around the side, "Max?" she called, the girl didn't respond.
"Max?" she said again, lightly pulling on the girl's jacket. Max flinched before sliding into the car beside the other girl, "Hey, you alright?" she asked, obviously she wouldn't be alright, that was a stupid question.
"As well as i can be for someone destined to die," Max responded, her voice weak as she put her head on Alex's shoulder, watching as Steve made the long drive to East Hawkins.
YOU ARE READING
Rhiannon // Max Mayfield
Fanfiction"We are like some sort of crackhouse Romeo and Juliet." "I hate you" "No you don't, you love me." "Says who?" ------------------------------------ Alex Summers is your typical popular girl, seems like she has it all; what if she had secrets, trapped...
