bound to you [max mayfield]

prologue.

prologue.

the smell of hot popcorn and sweet candy lingered through becky's living room as she sat there on the leather couch with her older sister, bending over her knees to slip on her white flats that had hand painted blood splatters on them. becky was in full costume, hoping the fake blood on dress her had dried enough to not stain the couch, while her sister sat comfortably in her halloween themed pajamas.

"emilia—you're sure you don't wanna trick or treat one last time?" becky proposed to the older girl with a hopeful smile, sitting up, to which emilia rolled her eyes at.

"trick or treating is for babies." emilia states with a head shake, knowing her sister wouldn't take offense.

"goo goo, gah gah, then, because i'm getting free candy." becky mocked typical baby noises, emilia laughing at her younger sister.

as if timing was perfect, a nock at the front door echoed through the living room.

becky excitedly stood up, rushing over to the door, expecting to find her friends waiting for her. she'd been waiting for them to come meet at her house for a bit now. and when she opened the door to find a boy who she assumed was her age dressed in a micheal myers outfit, she was entirely disappointed.

"trick or treat!" the kid said, definitely not having the voice of a thirteen year old boy. "cool costume." he complimented, "carrie?"

becky forced a smile and a simple head nod as emilia walked behind her, grabbing the bowl that sat at the tall table near their door.

emilia smiled down at the kid, handing him a full size kit-kat bar. "happy halloween." she wishes, and he lets out a quick thanks before heading off down their front lawn to meet with his group of friends, who were all matching in ghostbusters outfits.

"someone didn't get the memo." becky mutters to herself as if he could hear her from there, closing the door disappointingly.

she would've left the house by now to go look for them, but her parents made her swore to not walk alone, and her younger brother had already left with his friends. rumors of the town curse seemed to be more prominent each year. and, they also seemed to become more ridiculous. which means becky had less and less freedom the more her parents felt a pushback.

becky sat there for at least another half hour before her friends arrived. by that time, she wasn't much in the halloween spirit. and they didn't seem to be too interested in her anymore.

the girls she dubbed her friends were all dressed in cute, girly costumes that the boys at their school would definitely be talking about on monday. becky would have called their costumes revealing, but didn't want to be harsh or a prude. though, the girls weren't too quiet on their opinion of her carrie choice.

"so, like, where is carrie from?" one asked with a slightly teasing undertone. "is she, like, supposed to be cute?"

becky would go on to explain the book from which carrie was from, or even try to compare her costume to the film version that came out a few years ago, but it seemed as though the girls had lost interest too fast, going on to another conversation topic that becky was merely interested in.

eventually, she began to wonder from her friends, walking down the packed streets of her neighborhood, feeling alone.

she paid most of her attention to everything that was in front of her, but nothing would have prepared her from the immense jumpscares she was about to endure.

it was the same kid in the micheal myers costume from earlier, though this time, he was jumping out from a bush, holding a huge fake knife and screaming, "ahh!"

becky could've sworn she'd seen him several times again that night, and he never seemed that scary. maybe it was because she was so deep in thought and it caught her off guard.

it worked though, becky was definitely scared. and soon the only thing she could hear were loud laughs and her own screams.

"holy shit! you should've seen your face— that was priceless." becky heard, opening her eyes, happy, disappointed and shocked. happy that she wasn't really about to be murdered, disappointed that it scared her that badly, and shocked to find the kid she'd been calling a boy all night was actually a really pretty girl.

the girl took her mask off, her bright red hair falling past her shoulders, still laughing, which caused becky to giggle in the slightest at how dumb this all was.

and all becky could say through her laughs and head shakes were, "are you following me?"

she watched as the girl in front of her shrugged, "i don't know. do you want me to?" it came out naturally and quickly, not giving becky enough response time to comeback with something just as witty.

becky just grinned at the girl, nodding with a, "rebecca."

she took that as her formal introduction, responding with, "maxine," before she slid her fake knife to her left hand, sticking her right one out. "but, everyone calls me max."

"everyone calls me becky." becky added on, later, "i don't know why i said rebecca, only teachers call me that." she chuckles a little bit, sounding sort of nervous. quit acting like that, she scolded herself in her thoughts.

honestly, max found this quite cute.. but, she would never tell her that.

"i, uh, saw you walking by yourself," max starts again, hoping to ease the sudden awkward silence, pulling her hand away from the girl in front of her, "and wanted ask if you'd wanna hang with me and my friends." she explains, turning to find her group of nerds, as she so lovingly dubbed them. "they're right over there."

becky looked over to where max was pointing, seeing the same group of ghostbusters themed costumes, before turning her attention back to the girl with an accepting smile, "i'd love to join you guys."

the two began to walk back over to the group, max striking up conversation about her costume and how much she loved the carrie books, thinking becky had the best costume on the whole block.

and thus began the beautiful friendship of becky and max. it was also the start of a very long, very heartbreaking journey.

because, little did becky know, that by the time their junior year came around just three years later, she would've wished she had never met max.

authors note!:

eeekkkk!! so excited for chapter one!! i hope to have it out very very soon!! i've just been so busy with work and moving, but once i've worked my last shift, i can put a ton more energy into my writing again!!

also, big big thank u to my writing bestie karissa!! thank u for letting me run my ideas and drafts through u a gazillion times— you're the best haha!!

- love, amari <3