𝙁𝘼𝙇𝙇𝙄𝙉𝙂 𝙃𝘼𝙍𝘿𝙀𝙍 𝘼𝙉𝘿 𝙃𝘼𝙍𝘿𝙀𝙍 ༄ 𝙈𝘼𝙓 𝙈𝘼𝙔𝙁𝙄𝙀𝙇𝘿

15. Skull rock

When the group got back to the wheeler that night, Nancy and Steve had tried to get Mal to explain what she saw.

She didn't say anything. She just told them she didn't want to talk about it.

They finally stopped when she yelled at them to go away. She didn't want to talk about it, she didn't even want to think about it.

Mal didn't want to be mean or push them away, but she just really didn't want to talk about it. What she saw haunted her.

The event that made everything start. She saw it, Mal saw how she was taken away, how her childhood was taken away.

She tried to stay normal, but she couldn't. I mean, she saw a vision of her worst trauma, and saw shitty wrinkly monster wanted her.

So how was she supposed to stay calm and normal about that?

And that's why, later that night when everyone was going to sleep, she lay, awake in max's arms, on her bed.

Max spooned her girlfriend, holding her in her arms, playing with her hair. It calmed Mal down, when the both of them were awake just laying there.

But when everyone went to sleep, and it was just Mal left, she cried.

What she saw was in the past. Even vecna coming for her. She saw it yesterday, and there was no way of un-seeing it.

So she cried it out. She silently cried the memory of it out. Of course, crying didn't do anything. The memory of what happened with the Demogorgon and vecna, it would always be there.

So Mal ended up crying for nothing. It did help her fall asleep, however. But, crying did nothing for forgetting it. So she acted like she forgot it. She didn't want to draw attention to her, and they had bigger problems, so she acted like it didn't happen.

It wasn't very easy, though.

                                •••

Driving on the road the next morning, Mal sat looking out the window. Beside her was max, and behind her in the very back was Steve and Dustin.

The two were chomping on food, with Steve right in her ear. Mal wanted to grab the Pringles he was eating, and throw them out the window.

But she didn't. Instead, she sat there, halfway asleep, the only thing keeping her up was Steve chewing in her ear.

The calming music in the car was making her fall asleep. She firm get any sleep that night, and was exhausted.

"Not to be a wimp, but can I maybe sit in the car for this visit cause this is gonna totally and royally suck." Robin spoke up to Nancy, who was driving.

"It'll be fine." Nancy told the girl beside her.

"I just can't stand to see those dull eyes of Eddie's break again. I really, really can't." Robin said, Mal could tell she really felt bad for the guy.

"At least he can brink himself into feeling better." Steve spoke up, holding the pack of beers up.

"That's what my mom does." Max said from beside Mal, making the girl squeeze her hand.

"Why don't we give it a trial run?" Robin suggested. "Hey, Eddie. Uh, good news first this time. We got you some Dustin-approved junk food and that six-pack you requested, oh yeah, and we found vecna. Only the bad news is, he's in that other darker, much scarier dimension that we told you about and the gates closed so we have to way of getting to him like, he's entirely shut off to us, so basically, your screwed. And, no, I know that you were already screwed, but now you're like doubly, triply screwed. Oh, and vecna is tormenting the other child we have, but thank god she had powers, even though-"