𝖕𝖆𝖗𝖆𝖓𝖔𝖗𝖒𝖆𝖑 || 𝘀. 𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘁𝗼𝗻

S4E4: Dear Billy

The roads are wet and dark on our drive to the school. Nancy parks at the front door and we get out, running to the doors, shoes splashing through reflections of pole lights in puddles.

Inside, Max stands in the middle of the hallway. The beam of her flashlight shines on the center of the wall. "It was here. Right here," she says.

"A grandfather clock?" Nancy asks for confirmation after hearing the bazaar story.

Max nods, still staring at the wall. "It was so real. And then, when I got closer, suddenly I just...I woke up."

"It was like she was in a trance or something," Dustin says. All of us are gathered behind Max in the hallway. "Exactly what Eddie said happened to Chrissy."

Max turns to face us. "That's not even the bad part." She goes back into Ms. Kelley's office and splays some folders across the table. "Fred and Chrissy, they both came to Miss Kelley for help. Uh, they both were having headaches, bad headaches that wouldn't go away."

Headaches. My heart speeds up. A wave of fear fills my stomach. I think back to my bad headache I had at Family Video, and the one I had when I went to sleep last night. I couldn't hardly go to sleep.

Max sticks her hands in the pockets of her jacket. "And then... Then the nightmares. Trouble sleeping. They'd wake up in a cold sweat. 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."

My eyes scan over the papers. Visions, nosebleeds, headaches. My breathing picks up.

"Vecna's curse," Robin says.

"Y/n?" Steve asks. "You okay?"

"Yeah," I force a lie out of my dry mouth.

"Chrissy's headache started a week ago," Max says. "Fred's, six days ago. I've been having them for five days. 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. And I just saw that goddamn clock, so... looks like I'm gonna die tomorrow."

It's been four days for me since I started having the symptoms. I have not seen a clock, or any other visions other than the one that lasted only a second.

Max is my priority right now. She's in more danger since she's in a later stage of the curse. When I see the clock, then I'll tell the others I'm going to die. Right now, I need to ignore it and focus on Max.

A door creaks from somewhere farther in the school.

Steve glances back at us. "Stay here."

He walks to the door and stops, looking around the room for a weapon. He grabs a tall metal floor lamp and holds it up like a bat. Quietly and carefully, he creeps around the doorframe, stepping into the dark hallways with his lamp.

The rest of us follow behind him, but keep our distance. Another door opens, the sound of it closer to us than the last. Whoever or whatever is coming grows closer. We stop in our tracks and Steve raises his lamp. I really wish I had my knives on me right now.

Something runs out from the corner of the hallway intersection and Steve screams. Dustin screams. I scream. Everyone screams at the top of their lungs. Steve raises his lamp and almost brings it down on Lucas, who is also screaming.

"It's me!" Lucas wails, holding his hands in front of his face to protect himself from Steve's lamp.

"Lucas?" Nancy asks in disbelief.

"Where the hell have you been?" I demand, clutching my heart from the heart attack I almost had.

"Jesus, what's wrong with you, Sinclair!?" Steve screams, throwing his hands to his sides.