Hawkins Unraveling

CH 15 : Plans and Revelations

"No way," Steve argued, just as quickly as he had argued with Max's plan.

"Not a chance," Eddie said firmly.

Robin smacked June's arm as soon as the suggestion left her mouth. "Like hell, June!"

"Do we have any better ideas?" June half laughed, half yelled. "He couldn't get Max, so he's coming for me. She's been playing her music, and I haven't even started. This could work-"

"And it might not!" Max disagreed vehemently. "I'm not saying I want to do this– I don't– but I've already been there. I beat him before. I can do it again."

"Yes, I get that," June protested weakly, fearful of her own plan, "but I-I'm there. Right now." She looked at everyone carefully, pleading with her expression for them to understand how deep she'd been sucked in. "I've seen enough visions. I've heard the clock's chimes, seen it, seen the spiders-" Her voice hitched. "He's played into all of my fears, and I...I'm there. Don't you get it? This doesn't even feel real. It feels like I'm just waiting for the visions to start again, like I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop!"

"You need music," Steve said firmly, coldly, striding forward toward June. "Where's your Walkman?"

"In the boat, in Lover's Lake," she told him, and she hated the way her voice shook. "It's not like I had time to drag it into the Upside Down with me when I went into the water after you."

"My mom has a Walkman, somewhere," Max said, moving like she was ready to sprint to her trailer.

"Does she have any Pat Benatar?" Eddie asked, moving with her. He looked extremely unsettled by June's proposition, but he at least tried to relax when he shot her a wink. "June's a fan of hers. Love is a Battlefield, right?"

June smiled faintly. "Nailed it."

Max nodded. "Yeah, I bet we have that somewhere." She moved to the door, Lucas, Dustin, and Erica at her heels. "We'll go look right now."

"Thanks, Max." The kids left, leaving just June, Steve, Robin, Nancy, and Eddie in Eddie's trailer. June held out her hands to them, trying one last time to get them to agree. "Look, guys, I just think-"

"I just think you're crazy!" Robin scolded her. "Are you asking to kick the bucket?"

"It's not like I want to do this, Rob," June told her fiercely, "but why is it okay for Max to do it instead?"

"It's not," Nancy said, "but he's already tried to get her once before. He'll probably think he can finish the job if we give him a second chance."

"She's a kid, Nancy!" June yelled, and the urge to cry was so strong. She'd been doing a lot of that lately with all of the stress, and she didn't know how to handle the added emotion. "And this shit is terrifying! She shouldn't have to go through that again."

"None of us should be dealing with any of this," Nancy fired back at her, "but there's no one else, so either we do something about Vecna to stop him or else your visions come true!"

June's throat tightened, and any argument she had to make shriveled up in her head before she could say anything. Those visions...that dark and destroyed Hawkins... She didn't want that, but it felt cruel to put all the pressure of preventing that on a young girl. And there was a part of her, the part that was paranoid and feeding into Vecna's terrors, that couldn't help but feel like her friends didn't trust her to handle things herself– that she wasn't good enough to play this role in stopping the bad guy.

June balled her hands into fists. "I swear to God, I won't play a damn minute of that stupid song," she promised vehemently. "I'll break that goddamn Walkman if you shove it on my head. I can do this. I will do this."