[𝗘𝗣𝗜𝗦𝗢𝗗𝗘 𝗙𝗢𝗨𝗥: 𝗪𝗜𝗟𝗟 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗪𝗜𝗦𝗘]

AFTER SCHOOL SAGE WAS AT HER locker getting her stuff so she can head to will's with her brother, mike. just as she put her stuff away lucas came over.

"hey, max, sage. have you seen dustin? we're supposed to meet after class." lucas asked as he walked over. "i haven't. sorry. i gotta go though. bye max, lucas." sage said and quickly walked off seeing as he brother was waiting by the door.

max ignored lucas and slammed her locker shut, walking off.

"max!" lucas called out and followed her outside of the school. "hey, max! hey, where you going? come on! we've gotta go look for dart!"

"yeah, good luck with that," max simply told the dark-skinned boy, continuing to walk off. "what is wrong with you?" lucas asked as he kept following the red-head to wherever she was going. "what is wrong with me? what's wrong with you?" max repeated.

"i don't understand."

"no! i don't understand!" max raised her voice and turned to face lucas. "you guys act like you want me to be your friend but then you treat me like garbage!" max told him.

"that's not true!" lucas defended. "yes, it is! you go and hide in the av club, keeping secrets like we're in second grade or something. you know, i thought you guys wanted me in your party. especially sage . . . she seemed like she was the only one who actually wanted me there." max said, her voice getting softer.

"we do! sage does! but it's . . ."

"but what?"

"there . . . there are just things. things we can't tell you, all right? for your own safety."

"my own safety?" max scoffed at lucas's words.

"yes!"

"because i'm a girl?" max asked him. "what? no!" lucas said. "did you keep secrets from el?" max then questioned. lucas gave max a weird look. "how do you know about el?" lucas asked her.

"did you?" max repeated. "that was different. trust me. okay? that was just . . . just different." lucas tried explaining. "okay. you know what? forget it, okay?" max said, giving up. "i don't wanna be in your stupid party anyway. i'm out. tell sage that for me please. have a nice life."

max turned around and then began walking off again.

"max!" lucas shouted, his arms in the air. "you still stink, by the way!" max implied as she walked. lucas sniffed his arm and sighed. "oh shit!" he whispered to himself, walking away.

"that kid you were talking to, who is he?" the blond teen asked the red-head, opening the car. "no one." max said. "no one?" billy repeated.

"he's just a kid from my class." max quickly said then got in the car, the blond following right after her. "why was he talking to you?" billy asked after he lit his cigarette.

"it was just about a stupid class assignment," max answered. "then why're you so upset?" billy asked his step sister. "i'm not!" the red-head defended.

"he causing you trouble?"

"why do you care?"

"because, max, you're a piece of shit, but we're family now whether you like it or not, meaning i'm stuck looking out for you," billy told her.

"what would i ever do without —" max began to say, throwing her hands in the air before billy caught her wrist. "hey! this is serious shit, okay? i'm older than you. and something you learn is that there are certain type of people in this world that you stay away from, and that kid, max . . ."

billy pulled his step sister closer by the wrist as he added onto his sentence, "that kid is one of them." he pulled her closer harshly. "you stay away from him, you hear me? stay away." billy demanded before throwing her back to her.

max stared in front of her and let out deep breaths, holding back tears that wanted to escape her eyes.

SAGE AND MIKE WHEELER MADE IT to the byers house and began banging on the door.

"hello?" the twins asked. "will!" mike called out. "mrs. byers?" sage called out.

soon enough the door has opened making the twins sigh in relief. "hey," the twins said softly in unison. "hey, mike, sage," joyce said and smiled at the twins. "is will here?" mike asked.

"you know what? now is not really a good time." joyce tried to say. "is he okay?" sage then asked making the byers woman sigh and walk out of the house. "yeah. you know, he's . . . he's just not feeling real well. he's laying down, so i'll tell him you stopped by, okay?" joyce told the twins.

"it's about the shadow monster, isn't it?" mike quickly cut in before joyce could go back inside. the byers woman slowly looks at the wheeler boy then opens the door, allowing them to walk in.

sage and mike immediately head towards will's room to put their stuff down. sage puts her backpack on will's bed before heading to look at the drawings that were around the house.

"what is this?" sage asked as she stepped around the room. "i don't know," mike replied as he looked around as well. "hopper's figuring that out right now, guys." joyce said as she walked in.

"it's so cold in here," the wheeler girl mumbled to herself and crossed her arms. "mrs. byers?" sage then asked. "yes, sweetie?" joyce replied.

"do you have a blindfold?"

joyce nodded then quickly went into the kitchen, getting a blindfold out of the drawer. "what's the blindfold for, honey?"

"just . . . just something," the wheeled girl tried saying. "i'll be at castle byers."

sage then walked out of the house, closing the door behind her and ran to where castle byers was. by the time sage made it to castle byers she was out of breath. she crawled into the castle then sat down on the mattress that was there.

the brunette wrapped the blindfold around her eyes, tying it secure behind her head. sage let out a deep breath and took the walkie that was next to her, changing the channel to where it was only static being heard in the background.

once she got it to be static she put her hands to her sides and let out a deep breath. sage focused on the background and the image of the person she wanted to see in the void.

it took a couple of minutes but eventually sage's eyes snapped open to reveal she was in the void. sage let out a smile.

"i did it," she whispered to herself and looked around the void before hearing someone. "sage?" eleven asked when she saw sage.

"el!" sage smiles widely and ran towards the girl with open arms. eleven opened her arms and caught sage, hugging her tightly. "what are you doing here?" eleven asked the wheeler girl.

"i needed to see you. check up on you." sage answered before letting go of eleven. "and i needed to tell you what's going on." sage added on. "what's . . . what's going on?" eleven asked.

"there's something going on with will . . . and me." sage began. "we can go into the upside down together which will's doctor, owens, says are these episodes. but me and mike and lucas and dustin think it's true sight. you're connected to the upside down right? i was wondering if you could help us . . ." sage told the girl.

"i don't . . . i don't know, sage." eleven said softly while looking at the wheeler girl. "i can't leave my home. hop will get mad." eleven added.

"hop? you're staying with hopper?"

eleven nodded making sage sigh. "it's okay, el. we'll figure this out eventually. i hope you're doing well, though. i really miss you and so does mike and the guys." sage told eleven with a sad smile. "i miss you guys too." eleven smiled.

"it was so nice to see you again," sage mumbled before hugging the girl again. "i'll miss you so much . . . until next time, yeah?"

"until next time. bye sage."

"bye el . . ."

sage took the blindfold off her head and let out a deep breath, quickly grabbing a napkin from her pocket, and putting it to her nose as she crawled out of castle byers. the wheeler girl held the blindfold in one hand as she ran back to the byers house with a bloody nose.

the brunette ran into the cold house almost immediately shivering from the cold. "jeez i forgot it was cold in here,"

"what were you doing?" mike asked his sister when he noticed the napkin was up her nose. "i was checking up on someone," sage said.

"checking up on who?"

". . . max?"

"seriously?"

mike threw his arms up dramatically and let them hit his thighs when they came back down.

"what?" sage asked him. "that sounds a little creepy don't you think?" mike told her. "well . . . yeah but . . ." sage tried speaking.

"it's creepy."

"yeah, okay, it's creepy."

AUTHORS NOTE //

kinda a short chapter because i didn't realize it was gonna be short, but i made it work out anyway! hope you enjoyed this chapter !!

bee <3