Miracle {Hysterical Sequel} COMPLETE

Codeine For Your Troubles

Max went to the kitchen as fast as she could. The sound of crying was nothing but a warning sign that her life was about to get even worse. The person at the door wasn't Barbara, it was actually the last person she expected to see that night. Joyce.

"What happened?!" Susan obviously knew Joyce, but she didn't think they were close enough to come to each other in times of need.

"Is Jane here?" Joyce was trembling, not because of the cold.

"No darlin', sorry..." Susan looked back at Max who was being anxiously quiet. "Do you know where Jane is?"

"No, what happened?" Max pulled out her phone, texting Jane.

"Jane and Hopper got in a fight when she came back from the arcade -" Joyce tried to explain while crying.

"Okay, okay. Come in." Susan led Joyce inside and gestured for her to sit at the table. "Do you want coffee?"

"No, thanks..." Joyce rubbed her eyes. "I just don't know what to do! She ran away, and I don't blame her. Hop loves that kid, I swear. He just...he's so overprotective that he's emotionally hurting her."

"I can understand that." Susan sat at the table and looked at Max, seeing her on her phone. "Are you texting Jane?"

"Yeah, she could be at Dustin's place. Dustin is a good person to run to. He'd take in a stray possum." Max made a joke to keep her emotions regulated. Realistically, she wanted to scream.

"I went to Dustin's on the way here. She's not there. I called Steve, she didn't show up there either." Joyce's head was filling with the darkest thoughts. Jane could of gotten in a car with a stranger, she could of been that naive.

"Robin's, maybe?" Max suggested, typing faster. She was spamming Jane, before trying to call her.

"I didn't think of that, I should go check." Joyce stood up. "Where does Robin live?"

"By the old Shell gas station. The house has a big tree in the front yard, Halloween decorations still in the tree. You can't miss it." Max said while spamming Jane's phone.

Jane didn't pick up until Joyce left, what a convenience. "WHY ARE YOU CALLING ME?"

Max didn't appreciate the tone. "Where are you?!"

"Is Joyce there?" Jane clearly didn't want to be found.

"She just left, she's worried to the point of crying. What happened?" Max looked up, seeing her mom looking at her intensely. She really wanted to know what happened. Max gave her a shrug, implying she didn't know yet.

"My dad, he's so stupid!" Jane huffed and broke down crying. The familiar voice trying to comfort her gave Jane's location away. Max sighed in relief. She would be totally fine.

"Jane, I'm going to need some clarification..." Max insisted. "What happened?" She might agree with Jane if she knew the situation.

"He got mad at me..." Jane's response was bland.

"Okay, and?" Max wanted a reason.

"And he overreacted! He broke our computer!" Jane's crying became muffled, she must of been huddled into Barbara's shoulder.

"Are you serious?" The hairs stood up on Max's neck. Suddenly it felt like Neil's presence was in the room. "Why would he do that?"

"Ask Will... I'm NOT going home." Jane declared passionately.

"Okay...well, are you at Robin's house?" Max wasn't sure.

"Yeah..." Jane sniffled.

"Joyce is on her way there...I think you should talk to her. Tell her how Hopper is making you feel. You don't deserve all that shit for doing normal stuff...you were doing normal stuff, right?" Max still needed to know why Jane was being so harshly punished.

"I didn't even do it, it was Will!" Jane claimed her innocence.

"What did Will do?" Now Max was really concerned.

"He was searching things that are bad, and I got blamed!" Jane hissed, it sounded like she might resent Will. At least in the moment.

"Uh...mkay..." Max did not want to know that, now her imagination was running wild. "Talk to Joyce, I'll talk to Will... alright?"

"Okay..." Jane seemed fine with that idea. All she really wanted was Will to confess. So for once she wouldn't be labeled the bad kid.

Max hung up and immediately got her mom's attention. "She is at Robin's, so that's good. Apparently she got blamed for something Will did, it really upset her." Max started dialing again. "I'm going to talk to Will, see if I can get him to help the situation."

"Well why blame that girl if she ain't do nothing?" Susan scoffed and went to her coffee machine. "I'd be hurt too, you need to put some trust in your kids."

"Mhm..." Max tried to go to her room with one hand, while waiting for Will to pick up. It took longer than usual, he must of been feeling guilty already.

"Yeah?" Will didn't start off with a hello because he knew this wasn't a casual call.

"What happened with Jane?" Max could practically hear Will cracking under his own anxiety. "I was talking to her so, don't say nothing."

Will gulped and hesitantly started trying to explain, but he just ended up stumbling. "I- it's just this- and Nathan suggested- I was just thinking about doing this thing-"

Max tried to decode the stuttering, but she couldn't. "Slow the hell down, all I got from that was something about Nathan and doing something...you didn't search up porn, did you?"

"Ew, no!" Will tried to calm down before defending himself again. "Nathan was just suggesting something to me, and I wanted to look into it."

"Okay...but clearly it was something wrong, Jane got in a lot of trouble for it. Why didn't you confess?" Max loved Will, he was a refreshing person to be around. However, she didn't always have to agree with him. This was one of those times where she disagreed.

"I was t-thinking about it." Will couldn't even lie properly. "I've never been in trouble like that before..."

"Well, you still did whatever you did. I think you need to confess and apologize to El. She doesn't deserve punishment because of what you did." Max was confident that she could get Will to confess, he was easily swayed to do the right thing.

"Oh, I know..." Will hated himself for letting Jane take the consequence of his action. "But Hopper was REALLY pissed. I'm actually kind of...scared? I've never seen him mad enough to break something." Will didn't think Hopper was abusive in the traditional sense. Hopper just struggled to communicate his feelings and it led him to act abusive.

"That's an obstacle for tomorrow. Right now you need to apologize and confess. At least to Joyce." Max compromised. "Just tell me, what got Hopper so mad?"

Will let silence take his place for a full minute. Then he had to speak again since Max wouldn't. "You have to promise not to judge, get mad, or say anything I already know."

Max suddenly didn't want to know, but she was too deep to pull away from the truth. "What was it? I don't think I could freak out even if I wanted to. I'm over freaked."

"I have been overwhelmed more than usual... Mike still haunts my mind, Jane and Hopper are always tense, Jonathan is never around anymore..." Will paused to see if Max wanted to judge now, but she had nothing to say over normal things. "Nathan suggested I take some codeine to help ease the stress, so I was looking into it."

That news gave Max emotional whiplash. She did not see that coming. "You are thinking about taking drugs?"

"Don't phrase it like that!" Will was horrified when he heard it being said back to him like that. "codeine is a common medicine they use to treat coughing. It has mild sedative qualities. Really, it's not much different than taking any other common drug. Like Advil."

Max was intrigued by his statement. He had a point. Everyone technically takes drugs. Advil clearly wasn't going to make her relax over Lukas but, maybe codeine could. "Maybe don't confess, sounds like it'll be more trouble than good...just apologize."

Will became suspicious. "Why'd you change your mind?"

"Because I'm down to try it too." Max figured she could only gain from a mild sedative. She'd get sleep, she'd stop worrying even if just for a minute.