A Threnody of Tears | Steve Harrington ✓

Chapter Nineteen

It had been the longest two days of Maggie Fulmer's life and everything still didn't feel real. It felt like a nightmare she simply couldn't wake up from. 

Her mind hadn't stopped going a mile a minute as she barely allowed herself a moment to breathe let alone grieve as each day passed, merely holding on tightly to the necklace around her neck whenever she felt an emotional moment come her way, a small K-shaped intent always pressed into her palm. 

Her worst fears had been realised once she had finally made her way back into the real world from the Upside Down, her trailer carved in two by the gate, a smoking ruin from the fire that the gate had started, and worst of all Peter Fulmer was nowhere to be seen. 

She knew that the odds were stacked against her, she knew that her Dad had most likely been sitting there in his chair when the gate had screeched its way through her home, but she couldn't help hoping that by some stroke of a miracle that he hadn't and that somewhere wherever he was, he was okay. 

The newest events in Hawkins had everyone running for their lives out of there, the road on the way out of town completely full no matter the time of day. It didn't help that local news station was merely feeding into their fears, spurring on their worries and panic whilst heavily focusing on Eddie Munson for all the wrong reasons. 

"It's been less than 48 hours since a 7.4 magnitude earthquake rocked the quaint town of Hawkins, 80 miles outside of Indianapolis, in an event that seismologists are calling "a natural disaster of near-unprecedented scale. The death toll now stands at 22. But with hundreds more filling Roane County hospitals and many more still missing, officials expect those numbers to rise. This is only the latest tragedy to befall this once-safe town. Most recently, a string of high school students were killed in a series of ritualistic murders, which have been linked to a local satanic cult known as "Hellfire." Eddie Munson, the leader of this cult and prime suspect in the murders, has been missing since the earthquake and is presumed dead." The reporter had read out, on one of the few times that Steve had forced Maggie to sit down and rest for a moment in the last two days, the TV playing in the background, only for the callous news report to spike her anger once more and ultimately her grief for the boy who would never be truly known by the town he had grown up in. 

Not only were both her Dad's whereabouts and Eddie weighing heavily on Maggie's mind, but Max's situation also would never leave her mind. She was alive, but barely, comatose with every limb broken. 

Although she hadn't known Max for nearly as long as the others, Maggie took the blow hard. Max had reached out to Maggie in a time of crisis and Maggie had done all she could to help her, yet just like with her sister she couldn't help her in the time she needed it most. Max's letter had stayed in Maggie's pocket the whole time since it had happened but Maggie didn't dare open it, terrified that once she did any traces of Max left would disappear. 

Despite everyone's best efforts, Maggie had also refused to go to the hospital to see Max, her guilt so immensely overwhelming that she couldn't dare to step inside that building. 'It should of been me', constantly pulsating through her mind. 

Steve had stuck close to Maggie's side throughout it all, refusing to let her grieve alone again as he did anything he could in her desperate search for her Dad's whereabouts and to calm her when everything got too much. The pair had sat in silence for ages in his car, arms locked, both too stuck in their own thoughts to even speak to one another, after all there wasn't really anything to say, the silence said it all. 

Eventually, Maggie had joined Nancy, Steve, Robin and Dustin in donating various items to help out any of those in need. Although she was mostly itching for the chance to head down to the High School again and search for any sign of her Dad and pin-up the new missing person posters she and Steve had gone to print.