mercy ; peter ballard

24. s u n s e t z

april 27, 1986

after the 'earthquake', the grey skies and dusty air stayed. however, the movement of the upside down came to a crawl and so did vecna. he was still weak from the fight. they speculate that he is recharging before his next big move.

they had no idea where to find him or how long they had to prepare, but it wasn't looking too good for hawkins's heroes. the skies grow darker, the air feels thicker, and more of the upside down seeps in every day.

the town tried to return to normal, but it will never be the same. the event drove a large number of residents away. many townspeople blame the earthquake and some blame eddie munson and his 'demonic and homicidal' club.

eddie was an innocent caught in the crossfire. it took everything in bea not to get up and scream at the people accusing eddie just because he was different. because he didn't fit their perfect narrative. because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time and was a kid who didn't know what to do. because they needed a scapegoat to cope with the horror of hawkins. it wasn't fair that he sacrificed everything for a town that didn't give a rat's ass about him.

max was still in the hospital. bea visited so frequently that the nurse at the front desk no longer require her to show her id every time she came in. some times she was with the sinclair siblings or some of the kids, other times it was just her.

bea sat in the chair next to her, holding her hand. she would be just watching her heart monitor to assure herself that she was still alive.

"um, ma'am?" the young nurse called from the doorway.

bea stood up, walking to the door. "is everything alright, lacey?"

the nurse had a solemn look. "so, you know how...i am pressing the doctor to retest her...to see if there is any progress."

bea's eyes began to tear up. she knew that look and tone. she crossed her arms over her chest. her fingers gripped her upper arms, trying to stop herself from sobbing.

"and?" she asked, voice cracking a bit.

the nurse wanted to cry seeing her reaction. this was one of the hardest parts of the job. the nurse opened her mouth, but she couldn't form the words. she closed her mouth, just shaking her head.

"i'm sorry. her broken bones and limbs are taking longer than we expected to heal. it's like something's preventing them from healing at its normal rate and...they don't know if or when your daughter will wake," the nurse said, voice quivering.

bea looked down at her shoes. she wanted to scream, but she couldn't. she would've told the nurse that max wasn't her daughter, but she had more important things to worry about in that moment. they didn't know. no one did.

there was a chance she wouldn't wake up. even if she did, would she just be a shell of a person? eleven and bea couldn't find her. maybe she was gone forever.

she nodded her head and sucked in a breath, "thank you, lacey. i'm gonna go sit with max for a minute, then i'll be out of your hair."

"again, i'm so sorry. i was really hoping to give you good news, but..."

"it's okay, lacey," bea gave her a sad smile. "it's not your fault."