CHAPTER FIVE:
VECNA'S CURSE

🤍🥀

LIZ WISHED SHE could say she had never broken into the school before but that would be a lie. She held a flashlight while walking beside Max, Dustin, and Steve in the dark hallway. They were going to Miss Kelley's office to look at her files to see what Chrissy was talking to Miss Kelley about. What they were doing was very illegal but desperate times called for desperate measures. Before they had gotten to the school, Lucas had finally contacted them on Dustin's walkie-talkie. Dustin explained what they were doing and ordered Lucas to meet them at the school, so they were also waiting for Lucas to show up.

Nancy and Robin had also contacted them. According to them, Vecna's victims dated all the way back to 1959. Liz wondered how that could possibly be considering Eleven didn't open the gate until 1983 and why Vecna had waited so long to start killing again. Dustin ordered them to meet them at the school.

As they got to Miss Kelley's office, Max unlocked it before pushing the door open and rushing in. She went straight for the filing cabinets as Dustin started rambling, "It's like a mini Watergate or something. Hawkinsgate."

"Wait a second, didn't those guys get caught?" Steve questioned.

"Let's maybe not compare this to Watergate," Liz said to Dustin.

"Holy shit," Max gasped.

"Found it?" Liz asked.

"Yeah, and not just Chrissy's file," Max explained. "Fred was seeing Miss Kelley, too."

Liz furrowed her brows. She stepped closer to Max and looked at the names on the two files. Max held the flashlight over the files and one of them said Fred's name. Liz thought it must've been a coincidence since why would two of Vecna's victims both have been seeing the same counselor?

Max sat at Miss Kelley's desk and started looking through the two files as Dustin and Liz held a flashlight over her. Max looked through Chrissy's first, flipping through the papers and reading the information. Liz couldn't help but feel bad letting Max go through Chrissy's counseling notes. Even though Chrissy was dead, the things you say to counselors are usually private and intimate. Max requested Fred's file, which Steve handed over to her.

Liz watched as Max flipped through Fred's file as well. She started to compare notes between the two files. Liz watched her and noticed she had a knowing look on her face like she had just figured something out. Dustin noticed it as well as he asked, "Max? What is it?"

Max didn't reply as she continued to stare off into space. Liz furrowed her brows and leaned down, looking at Max's face. Something was wrong. It was like she was spacing off but it was more than that. It was almost like she was in a trance. Liz gently placed a hand on Max's shoulder, "Max? Max? Are you okay?"

Max wasn't responding to her. Liz looked at Steve and Dustin before starting to shake Max's shoulder, "Max? Max." Liz felt her heart rate rise as she grew nervous, wondering what was happening to her best friend. Liz looked at Steve. "What's going on?"

"I don't know," Steve replied before starting to shake her and call out her name. "Max. Max!"

"Max, come on!" Dustin called out, shaking her.

Liz pulled the chair out and kneeled in front of Max. Her eyes were open but they seemed to be glazed over. Liz continued to shake Max, "Max! Max! Wake up!"

As Liz continued to yell at Max, the sound of Robin and Nancy's feet pounding against the linoleum in the hallway echoed into Miss Kelley's office. They threw the door open and furrowed their brows in confusion upon seeing Max in a trance and Liz yelling at her to wake up. Liz placed her hands on Max's cheeks, "Max, please! Max! Max!"

Max gasped and the glaze over her eyes went away. Liz sighed in relief and she used her thumbs to rub Max's cheeks. Max looked at Liz who had wide eyes and furrowed brows. Max noticed that Liz looked scared and worried, "Liz?"

Without removing her hands from Max's cheeks, Liz asked her, "What happened?"

"The clock," Max said as she looked around the room. Liz removed her hands as Max looked around at everyone. "The grandfather clock."

Nancy narrowed her eyes in confusion, "What?"

Max quickly got up and headed into the hallway. She led them down a dead-end hallway and shined her flashlight at the white brick wall, "It was here. Right here."

"A grandfather clock?" Nancy asked.

"It was so real," Max assured them. Liz stared at the wall, wondering why Max would be hallucinating a clock embedded in the wall. "And then, when I got closer, suddenly I just... I woke up."

"It was like she was in a trance or something," Dustin explained to Nancy and Robin. "Exactly what Eddie said happened to Chrissy."

Liz shook her head, not wanting to believe that Max had just experienced the same thing that had killed Chrissy, "No, no, this isn't like that."

"That's not even the bad part," Max continued. She made her way back to the office, the others following her. She opened up the files again and showed everyone. "Fred and Chrissy, they both came to Miss Kelley for help. Uh, they both were having headaches, bad headaches that wouldn't go away. And then... then the nightmares. Trouble sleeping." Max let out a shaky breath as she explained the symptoms they were experiencing. "They'd wake up in a cold sweat and then they started seeing things. Bad things from their pasts. And these visions, they just... they kept on getting worse and worse, until eventually... everything ended."

"Vecna's curse," Robin nodded.

Liz knew where Max was going with it before she said it but Liz still didn't want to believe it. She couldn't believe it, "Chrissy's headaches started a week ago. Fred's, six days ago. I've been having them for five days." Liz shook her head as she took a deep breath. "I don't know how long I have. All I know is that, for Fred and Chrissy, they both died less than twenty-four hours after their first vision." Max started to tear up. "And I just saw that goddamn clock, so... looks like I'm gonna die tomorrow."

A large clang from the hallway made them all jump. Steve went toward the office door and grabbed a lamp before telling everyone, "Stay here."

Liz furrowed her brows and scoffed at her brother, "What the hell is a lamp gonna do, dumbass?"

Steve ignored her and went out into the hall. Liz went over to Max with a concerned look on her face. Liz was worried, extremely worried. If Max was truly cursed then she would be dead within the next twenty-four hours, "Why didn't you tell me that you've been dealing with all this stuff? I'm your friend. Your best friend. I could've helped you."

Max shrugged, "I didn't wanna talk about it or bother you."

"You wouldn't be bothering me," Liz assured her. "I've been trying to help you for months."

"I didn't want your help!" Max argued. At the raising of Max's voice, everyone went into the hall, leaving the two exes to talk. "If I wanted it, I would've asked."

"You've been pushing me away for months!" Liz raised her voice. "Ever since we broke up, you've been pushing me away and I've been trying to do everything I can to help you! If you would've just let me in —"

"It wouldn't have prevented this, Liz!"

"You don't know that!"

Both girls went silent. It was dead silent besides the sound of rushing footsteps slamming against the linoleum. Liz and Max went into the hall just as someone rounded the corner prompting everyone to scream. When Liz finally noticed it was Lucas, she sighed in relief and placed a hand on her chest. Liz also noticed that Max had grabbed onto her arm. Liz and Max looked at each other for a moment before Max let go.

"It's me!" Lucas yelled. "It's me."

"Jesus, what's wrong with you, Sinclair?" Steve yelled back prompting Lucas to apologize. "I could've taken you out with this lamp!"

Steve threw the lamp on the ground as Lucas took deep breaths and explained, "I was... I was biking for eight miles. We've got a code red."

"What?"

Lucas went over to Dustin, "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. You're in terrible danger!"

Dustin nodded, looking uninterested, "All right, yeah, that definitely sucks, but we've got bigger problems than Jason right now."

Everyone looked at Max. Liz let out a shaky sigh. She had lost hope for destroying Vecna and clearing Eddie's name but now that Max's life was on the line, everything was different. Liz couldn't afford to not have hope. Even if Max kept pushing her away every chance she got, Liz was going to be there for her and fight for her. Max wasn't going to let Liz end up like Fred and Chrissy. Liz was going to do everything in her power to stop it from happening.

🤍🥀

[ 1.5K WORDS ]

a shorter chapter but it's starting and I'm gonna make it painful as hell for y'all haha I'm so excited to write max's season 4 arc and how liz copes with all of it