𝑁𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝐿𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝐹𝑒𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠 || 𝑆𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑦 ||

Seventeen | The Aftermath

A day later

Mike's POV

We all sat in my basement, all of us beside Lucas, who stayed at the hospital with Max. We have a lot of things to do before we can bring everyone back into Hawkins. For the first time in two weeks, the sun was out, and the sky was blue. It was a miracle. We were going to try and get as much done as we could possibly get done today.

"Well, a couple of people could clean up all of the monsters, and some can fix any damage that had been done." Nancy said, and we all nodded our heads in agreement. The last thing I want to do after my friend fell into a coma is clean up monster guts. We should get at the least one day to ourselves and cope with everything that has happened in the last twenty-four hours.

"Mike, Will, Dustin, Eleven, and Joyce, you clean up the north side Hawkins and Jonathan, Nancy, Steve, Hopper, Argyle, and I can clean up the south side." Karen suggested. I glanced at Nancy, who obviously didn't like the idea of Jonathan and her cleaning up monster guts together. Karen looked at Nancy and Jonathan before saying, "On second thought, Joyce, you work on the south side, and Jonathan, you work on the north side."

"No, no! Mrs.Wheeler I'm fine with working on the south side!" Jonathan argued.

"I think you'd be better working on the north side." Karen argued back.

*****
Lucas's POV

A day and a half has gone by, and doctors are already saying she isn't going to make it. It's unbelievable that they're trying to give up that quickly. I know for a fact Max is going to wake up. It does not matter how long it takes, but I know she'll wake up. She's an extremely strong girl. She can survive this.

I gripped onto Max's cold hand stronger and did a silent prayer. I looked around the room to see cards from everyone, flowers, and a brand new Walkman. My family visited every once in a while to check up on me, but besides that, no one else came. I get it. They're all trying to fix Hawkins so everyone can go back to whatever was left of their home.

Max was wrapped in a neck brace, both legs in casts, and under her eyes were still red. Even when she does wake up, she won't be the same. We're not even sure if she'll ever be able to see again. What if she is brain-dead? She won't remember her friends, family, who she is, and she won't remember me.

I thought about what happened before we went to the Creels house, we kissed. I never even got the chance to ask what we were. Were we dating?

Every once in a while, Max would move the tiniest bit, but nothing else. But every time she did that, I still got excited, only to get heart broken over and over again. All I know is that I'm not going to give up on her, no matter what happens.

*****

Steve's POV

We've all been dealing with monsters for about five years now, and no matter what I still yet so disgusted by cleaning them up. They're either extremely slimy or felt as if they've never put on lotion in their entire life. They smell even worse than a dumpster, and the heads are always so creepy.

We have filled about ten trash bags so far and still have many more to go. Each sidewalk had about seven monsters on each.

"Hey, uhm, are you okay?" I asked Nancy, "I know yesterday was horrible, and we never got the chance to talk."

"Yeah, I'm fine. Are you?" Nancy replied.

"Yeah, yeah." I said while picking up a Demogorgon and throwing it into a bag, "You were amazing yesterday."

Nancy's cheeks turned a strawberry pink, "You were, too." She looked at me, "Max is going to be okay, Steve. She's really strong." Nancy interlocked her hand into mine, rubbing the top of my hand with her thumb.

"I dunno, Vecna has never failed when snapping someone's bones, I know he didn't fully snap them, but he still got her very good. Yesterday, the doctors even told us that she's not going to make it. I'm scared, Nance, she's only fourteen, she's had a horrible life. Just when her life was just starting to get better, this creepy old man tries to kill her and snaps her bones. I just wish there was a way that she could have survived."

"Trust me, we all do."

"Maybe if I did something different, maybe if I was there with Lucas, she would be alive."

"Don't start blaming yourself for what Vecna did, Steve. This was definitely not your fault. You couldn't control this. There was no possible way you could."

*****

Dustin's POV

As we were picking up the demo-bats, I figured it was time to tell them the bad news. "Hey, guys? Yesterday, while I was in the Upside-Down with Eddie, we grabbed the demo-bats' attention, and well, Eddie.." I felt hot tears in my eyes, Mike and Will both started tearing up.

"He..died?" Will asked, and I only nodded. They both walked up to me, and we all hugged through our tears. "Did..he tell you anything?" Mike asked.

"He told me that I now have to run the club, and how for the first time he didn't run." I wiped my eyes before trying to continue cleaning up the streets.

Out of all the things that happened in the war, we didn't need to lose two people, two amazing people.