[𝗘𝗣𝗜𝗦𝗢𝗗𝗘 𝗙𝗢𝗨𝗥: 𝗗𝗘𝗔𝗥 𝗕𝗜𝗟𝗟𝗬]

"IT WAS HERE," MAX SAYS, FLASHING her light at a empty wall, her friends and girlfriend behind her. "right here,"

"a grandfather clock?" nancy asks and max nods, remembering the chime of the clock and how it looked on the wall. "it was so real. and then suddenly when i got closer, suddenly i just . . . i woke up." max replies.

"it was like she was in a trance or something. exactly what eddie said happened to chrissy." sage said and rubbed max's back, but the red-head turned around, moving sage's hand away making the brunette furrow her eyebrows. "that's not even the bad part," max says.

the teens make their way back to the office so that way the mayfield teen can explain what she meant by that statement.

"fred and chrissy, they both came to ms. kelly for help," max began as robin and nancy looked at the papers. "uh, they both were having headaches, bad headaches that wouldn't go away. and then . . . then the nightmares. trouble sleeping. they'd wake up in a cold sweat. and then they started seeing things. bad things. from their pasts. these visions, they just . . . they kept on getting worse and worse, until eventually . . . everything ended." max continued.

"vecna's curse," robin said, looking up at the red-head. "chrissy's headaches started a week ago. fred's, six days ago." max began to list. "i've been having them for five days,"

sage let out a shaky sigh as she raised a hand to her mouth. the thought of max dying and ending up with broken bones scared her, but she couldn't help the feeling that she knew something bad would happen to max.

so she had to deny it.

"i don't know how long i have. all i know is that, for fred and chrissy, they both died less than 24 hours after their first vision." max continued on, tears threatening to escape her eyes. "and i just saw that goddamn clock, so . . . looks like i'm gonna die tomorrow." max concluded.

sage shook her head and turned to max, cupping her face gently. the mayfield teen looks at sage's dark brown eyes, leaning onto her touch as the wheeler teen wipes the tears away from max's cheeks. sage leans her forehead against the red-heads, sighing out deeply.

"nothing's gonna happen to you. i promise. i promise you, nothing is gonna happen." sage whispers to her girlfriend. max stares at sage, hands on her waist as she nods. "i promise . . . i . . . i —" a distant clang was heard causing the teens to snap their heads in the direction.

"stay here," steve whispers to the teens before grabbing the lamp as a defense weapon.

sage sighed as she watched steve, hands still cupping max's face. the wheeler teen was upset that she couldn't get the three words out of her mouth. it was like they were stuck in her throat and she has never truly felt love for anyone, but when max came in that all changed. she knew what the feeling was. her mother told her all about it but what confused her was that her mom and dad would never say it to each other, so sage thought it was a normal thing throughout her entire life. even mike and nancy believed it.

max slowly removed her hands from sage's waist, taking her hand instead and followed the teens outside of the office. sage lit her hand on fire, her eyes glowing and her face cracking just slightly as they all walked closer to the sound.

the sound of footsteps approaching rapidly was heard through the hallway, and steve raised the lamp ready to attack, but when the figure appeared everyone jumped back, screaming.

"it's me!" lucas shouts, breathing heavily with sweat on his face. "lucas?" sage asks as she puts out the fire on her hand, wiping off the blood from her nose. "it's me," lucas repeats.

"jesus, what's wrong with you, sinclair!" steve exclaimed. "i'm sorry," lucas apologized as he continued to try and catch his breath. "i could've taken you out with this lamp!"

"sorry, guys. sorry. i was . . . i was biking for eight miles." lucas pants heavily. "give me a second. shit. we've got a code red."

"what?" steve asks.

lucas walks over to the henderson teen. "dustin. i've been with jason, patrick, and andy, and they've gone totally off the rails. they're trying to capture eddie and they think you know where he is." lucas explains before pausing to take a deep breath. "you're in terrible danger,"

"all right. yeah, that definitely sucks, but we've got bigger problems than jason right now." dustin tells him before looking back at max.

lucas looks over at max and the red-head stands there awkwardly, squeezing sage's hand.

   SAGE READS OVER THE ARTICLE IN her hands as the rest of the teens, besides max, do the same.

"okay, be honest. uh . . . you guys understand any of this?" steve asks. "no," lucas replies.

"kinda," sage answers. "pretty straightforward," dustin also answers. "oh, straightforward, really?" steve asks the henderson teen. "what's confusing to you?" sage asks steve.

"yeah, so far everyone vecna has cursed died, except for this old victor creel dude nancy found. he's the only known survivor." dustin says. "if anyone knows how to beat this curse, it's him."

"yeah, that's assuming he was cursed, henderson, which we don't even know," steve informs him. "how can vecna have existed in the '50's? it doesn't make sense."

"as far as we know, eleven didn't create the upside down," sage says and passes lucas her article as he hands his to her. "she opened a gate to it. the upside down has probably been around for thousands of years. millions. i wouldn't be surprised if it predated the dinosaurs." dustin added on to what sage said.

"dinosaurs? what are we —"

"okay, okay. but if a gate didn't exist in the '50's, how did vecna get through?" lucas questioned. "oh, and how's he getting through now?" steve also asked. "and why now?"

"and why then? just pops out in the '50's, kills one family and he's like, "i'm good" and poof, he just disappears. just . . . gone?" steve says. "only to return 30 years later and start killing random teens? no, i don't buy it. straightforward my ass." the harrington teen adds with a sigh.

"honestly, henderson, a little humility now and then, it wouldn't hurt you," steve told dustin.

"sorry," dustin whispered.

steve sits down on a chair as dustin glances over at the mayfield teen sitting down on the other side of the room, writing something.

"any idea what she's writing?" dustin asks and motions to max.

sage, steve, and lucas look over at max. to sage, max looked really focused.

"did she sleep?" dustin asks. "i mean, would you?" lucas points out. "i wouldn't," sage says.

"i'm surprised you're not standing or sitting next to her, wheeler. you're her protector." steve says, looking at sage. "i would be, but she wants space and i'm giving her space," sage tells him.

the door suddenly opens and the four teens look over to see robin and nancy coming down the stairs together.

"okay, so . . . we have a plan," nancy tells the group of four. "thanks to nancy's newspaper minions, we are now rock-star psychology students at the university of notre dame." robin explained. "i'm now ruth," nancy says.

"and i'm rose," robin says. "ruth?" steve asks.

nancy shrugs with a small smile.

"nice gpa," dustin comments. "thanks. so we called pennhurst asylum, told them we'd like to speak with victor creel for a thesis we're co-writing on paranoid schizophrenics —" nancy began to explain. "to which they said no," robin quickly says. "but we landed a three o'clock with the director," nancy clarifies.

"now all we have to do is charm him and convince him to let us talk to victor,"

"then maybe we can rid max of this curse,"

"yeah, about that." steve cuts in. "we've been doing our victor creel homework, and uh . . . we got some questions,"

"lots of questions," lucas chirps.

"so do we. hopefully, victor has the answers." nancy says. "wait . . . wait . . . wait a second. uh . . . where's mine?" steve asks.

nancy gives him a look before heading back upstairs. robin and steve follow her.

sage sighs and leans back against the couch, rubbing her face.

a few minutes later steve comes back downstairs and squeezes himself between sage and dustin, sitting down on the couch. the four teens stare at max, watching her write.

"i know you guys are staring at me," max says.

"what?"

"sorry, what?"

"you said you needed something?"

"just hanging out,"

"i'm not even gonna deny it," sage says and crosses her arms. "how you think your eyes boring into the back of my head is protecting me from vecna, i don't know," max says to the four and gets up, walking over to the group.

sage watches max walk over to her while the boys continue to look away from max.

the red-head watches them then looks at sage making the wheeler teen laugh a little with a small shrug, a smile creeping up her lips.

"you can look at me now," max says after looking away from sage, a blush on her cheeks.

"thank you. sorry." dustin tells her as the three boys look at the mayfield teen. "sorry," steve apologizes. "sorry," lucas apologizes as well.

max sighs before beginning to hand the four envelopes.

"for you," she says as she hands one to dustin. the henderson teen looks at her confused, but takes it nevertheless. "for you," she gives one to steve and he takes it with a small smile. "for you," she gives one to sage and the brunette takes it with furrowed eyebrows. "and, um, you," she gives one to lucas who takes it, also confused.

"oh, and, um, give these to mike, el, and will," max says, giving three other envelopes to sage as she takes them. "if you can ever get a hold of them again," the red-head adds.

"what are you doing?" max asks as she sees dust j and steve go to open the envelopes. "no, don't. that's not for now. don't open it now."

"don't . . . okay," dustin says and stops what he's doing. "i'm sorry. what is this?" he then asks.

"it's, um . . . it's a fail-safe. for after." max replies to the henderson teen. "if things don't work out," she finishes off.

"wait, woah." sage says, sitting up. "maxine, things are gonna work out. i promised —"

"no!" max exclaims, catching sage off guard. "no, i don't need you to reassure me and tell me it's all gonna work out. people have been telling me that my entire life and it's almost never true."

the wheeler twin stares at max, a frown on her lips as she leans back on the couch.

"it's never true. plus, promises can never be kept, right? i mean, of course this asshole curses me. should've seen that one coming." max finishes off and let's out a deep sigh.

the red-head looks to her right and walks over to the small table, grabbing the walkie.

"if we go to east hawkins, will this still reach pennhurst?" max asked, turning around to look at dustin. "of course. yeah." dustin replies.

"why are we talking about east hawkins?" steve questions before noticing max's face. "no. no. no!" the harrington teen immediately denies.

the mayfield teen looks over at her girlfriend and sage did not hesitate to get up, grab her bag, and follow max out of the house.

"max, max. wheeler, get back here. seriously." steve says as he follows the couple outside. "seriously, i'm not joking. i'm not driving you anywhere." the harrington teen declares.

"steve, if you think i'm going to spend what is likely the last day of my life in the armpit that is the wheeler's basement, then you're out of your mind," max told the older teen. "so either take me where i need to go, or tie me down, which is technically kidnapping of a minor. and if i live to see another day, steve, i swear to god, i will prosecute." max continued then tried opening the car door, which was locked.

"open the door," max ordered as she turned to steve. "uh, no," steve replied. "i know a good lawyer," max said.

"still no,"

suddenly the locks came undone and sage opened the door, smirking at steve.

"forget i was here?" sage asked as max kissed her cheek and got in the car. steve scoffs. "she's got you are wrapped around her finger," steve said.

"i'm not complaining," the wheeler teen said with a shrug. "henderson, that super walkie of yours better reach pennhurst," steve says as he unlocks his car, getting in the driver seat.

sage gets in the car, shuts the door, and sees max looking out the window. it looked as if she heard something. the brunette reaches her hand out to max, grabbing her hand gently.

the mayfield teen looks over at her girlfriend and squeezes her hand tightly.

lucas glances over at the couple, fiddling with the envelope max gave him. the sinclair teen then looked down at the envelope, the name sage written down on the back, on sage's lap. his eyes traveled to a weird bump in the envelope. it looked like a ring. lucas let out a sigh and looked away, looking out his window.

soon enough, the five teens arrive at the trailer park and park right in front of max's tailer.

"this better be fast, mayfield," steve said, putting the car in park. "twenty seconds," max said as she let go of sage's hand, leaving the car.

"that thing's got batteries in it, right?" steve asked dustin, motioning to the walkie. dustin sighed. "i'm not even answering that question," the henderson teen replied.

steve stared at the teen before shaking his head.

"yes, it has batteries,"

"yeah, i got it,"

inside the trailer house, max places down four envelopes on the small table in front of her couch. once she was done, max stands up and swings her backpack over her shoulder before looking outside to see her mother hanging up clothes to air dry.

the mayfield teen goes to the back door and steps outside, heading downstairs.

"mom," max calls out.

the red-head adult turns her head to see her daughter walking towards her.

"hey, sweetie. i thought you were with your friends today." susan says, moving away from the clothes. "yeah, i . . . i was. i am." max says before standing in front of her mother.

"shouldn't you be at work?" the mayfield teen then asks. "oh, mister bradley let me off early. so i'm just catching up on some chores." susan replied, motioning to the clothes before looking back at her daughter.

"um, i . . . i left some letters inside. for you and . . . and granny and uncle jack. and dad." max told her mother. "if you can find him,"

"letters? i . . . i don't understand."

"uh, i just . . . um . . . with all the murders and everything, i . . . i know it's stupid, but i just started to think, "what if something happens to me?" " the teen tells the adult.

"max, baby, nothing is going to happen to you," susan tells her daughter. "i know. but if . . . if it did, i just . . . there's so many things i want to say and need to say. and . . . promise me you'll give the letters out, okay?" max says.

"max, you're scaring me,"

"i'm not trying to scare you,"

"is something going on, maxine?"

"no." max said. "is it, baby?" susan asked her daughter. "no. no, you're right. i'm sure i'll be fine. i'm being silly." max tells her mom.

"max. oh, sweetie." susan says before reaching over, hugging her daughter. "shh. it's okay. nothing is gonna happen baby."

max sniffles as she listens to her mom. "i promise. nothing you don't deserve."

the red-head teen looks up at the sky to see it has darkened with dark clouds. max's eyes then land on the clothes which were now covered in blood.

max tries getting out of her mother's grip but susan wouldn't let go.

"mom, let go of me," max says as she tries to move away. "mom? let go."

"maxine," vecna says as he drags his hand over max's back. "you think some letters are going to make things right?"

the mayfield teen slowly lifts her head to see vecna.

"you've broken everything. your time is almost at an end."

"let go!" max exclaims before falling back on the floor.

the mayfield teen looks up to see everything was back to normal. max sits up and looks around before she gets up, walking back to the car.

"hey, that was longer than 20 seconds," steve mentions as max ignores him. "hey, woah, whoa. you all right?"

"i'm fine. just drive." max replies and gets in the car since the door was already open due to sage standing outside of the car like all the other teens. "did something happen?" lucas asks as sage gets in the car, closing her door.

"can we please just go?"

sage opened her mouth to assure max that everything was gonna be okay, but she shut her mouth remembering what her girlfriend had said about reassuring her.

AUTHORS NOTE //

genuinely excited for y'all to read the letter with sage in the very last chapter ;)

bee <3