Chapter Twelve: Left Alone for Two Hours


Clara took a deep breath as they pulled up to Ms. Kelly's house. She looked over at Steve, shaking her head.
"You know, I'm-I'm thinking this isn't such a good idea." He nodded and went to take off, but Max disagreed.
"No, Clara. We have to know what happened and you'll talk to Ms. Kelly while I snoop. It's that easy. I mean, we were hanging out and you had a panic attack and I suggested you finally talk, that's the story."

Clearing his throat, Steve managed to stop the red-head.
"Hold on, Max. If Clara doesn't feel comfortable, she doesn't have to do it. That was the deal."
"She wants to save her boyfriend," Dustin chimed from the backseat. "She'll do it."
"I don't have a boyfriend, Dustin."
"Yeah right."

Deciding that an interrogation from Steve and Dustin was worse than talking to the school psychologist, Clara climbed out of the car, slamming the door behind her. Max was on her heels as they headed up Ms. Kelly's porch.

Before Clara could change her mind, Max pressed the doorbell. A few moments later, Ms. Kelly opened the door.
"Max. Clara. Hi."
"Hi," Max said. "I'm so sorry to bother you over break, but do you have a minute to talk?"
"Um, yeah, of course. Of course." Grabbing Clara's hand, Max dragged her inside, casting one last look over her shoulder at the boys.

Taking a seat across from Ms. Kelly, Clara tried to ignore the clicking clock that seemed to echo through the house from their silence.
"What brings you girls here?" Ms. Kelly asked, pulling her notebook onto her lap. Max elbowed Clara, who hesitantly spoke up.
"It's just, with everything that's happening. With all the murders, it's, um…"
"It's making everything worse again," Max finished for Clara.
"Well, you've experience trauma, and when you keep your feelings, your pain, bottled up the way both of you do, it doesn't take much to trigger them again. So now, when it rains, it storms."

God, Clara hated when the woman talked. It usually took a lot for people to get on Clara's nerves. But Ms. Kelly had achieved what so few had done. Speaking in metaphors, thinking she knew how they were thinking.
"Yeah, we know," Max muttered, looking away for a moment. "Can I use your bathroom?"
"Sure."

As Max left Clara, the older girl squirmed uncomfortably in her seat. Ms. Kelly directed her attention on Clara.
"Do you think you're ready to talk more?" she asked.
"About what?" Clara asked.
"Anything," Ms. Kelly said. "The mall fire, your kidnapping, Billy, any of it."

No. No fucking way did Clara wanted to talk about Billy or the fake story she, Hopper, and Will had perfected about the upside down.
"My sister was killed," she blurted out, a sob catching in her throat. "Last night."
"I know," Ms. Kelly murmured gently. "I saw on the news."
She never talked to me; you know? I mean, we're twins and from the moment I managed to get home years ago until the night she died, she didn't talk to me."
"And how did that make you feel?"
"I feel like I failed her."
"Oh, Clara, no. You didn't fail her."
"You can't tell anyone anything right?"
"Not unless it's harmful to you or to someone else."
"Well, she's dead so I guess it's not harmful to anyone."

Ms. Kelly nodded, leaning closer to Clara.
"She told me she was buying drugs," Clara confessed. "And when I tried to stop her, she just accused me of taking them and then she hugged me, thanked me for always caring, and then I never got to say anything else. I'll never get to say anything else. Not to her. Not to Billy."

And there was the kicker. The piece of the puzzle she should have never added. Ms. Kelly must have been having an absolute field-day. First Clara refused to talk in their sessions, cursed the woman out, and now was pouring out her heart. How dumb could she be.
"And it's normal to feel this way," Ms. Kelly comforted.
"Clara!"

Clara jumped at the sound of Max coming to the stairs calling her name.
"Steve is outside to pick us up. You ready?" Clara stood, brushing her hands nervously on her pants.
"Come see me anytime, Clara," Ms. Kelly said. "You too, Max. I'm always here for you." Clara nodded but didn't speak as she followed Max out the door to the car. The girls climbed into the backseat, Max ordering Steve to drive.

They hit the man road and Clara jumped again as Dustin's walkie-talkie started going off.
"Dustin, do you copy? It's Lucas. Do you copy?" Dustin fumbled with his walkie before holding it up to his mouth.
"Lucas? Where the hell have you been?"
"Just listen! Are you looking for Eddie?"
"We found him, no thanks to you."
"You found him?"
"A boathouse on Coal Mill Road. Don't worry. He's safe."
"You guys know he killed Chrissy, right?"
"That's bullshit," Clara snapped. "Eddie tried to save Chrissy."
"Then why do all the cops say he did it?"

Climbing over Clara, Max grabbed the walkie from Dustin.
"Lucas, you're so behind it's ridiculous, okay? Just meet us at school. We'll explain later."
"I… I can't. I think some real bad shit's about to go down."
"What are you talking about? What bad shit?"

The line went silent, and Max tried to get Lucas back.
"Lucas? Lucas?" When there was no response, she tossed the walkie back to Dustin. "Idiot," she grumbled.

They had just broken into the school when Dustin's walkie went off again.
"Dustin, do you copy?" Robin asked.
"Yeah, I copy."
"Great, so, Nancy's a genius. Vecna's first victims date back all the way to 1959. Her shot in the dark was a bull's-eye."
"Okay, that's totally bonkers, but I can't really talk right now."
"Why? What are you doing?"
"Well, breaking and entering school to retrieve confidential and extremely personal files."
"Can you repeat that?"
"Just get your ass over here, stat. We'll explain everything."

Looking over at Clara, Steve gave her a tense smile. He imitated Robin's voice.
"We leave them alone for two hours." She shook her head, a smile playing on her lips as Max pushed open the door to Ms. Kelly's office. She and Clara immediately started rifling through folders as Dustin looked around.
"It's like a mini-Watergate or something," he remarked. "Ooooo, Hawkinsgate."
"Didn't those guys get caught?" Steve asked.

Pulling out a file, Clara breath hitched. "Holy shit," Max exclaimed.
"You found it?" Dustin asked.
"Yeah," Max said. "And not just Chrissy's file. Fred was seeing Ms. Kelly too." Clara started flipping through Chrissy's file, seeing the symptoms. They were even more alike, trouble sleeping, headaches. Nightmares.
"Can I see Fred's file?" Clara asked, voice shaky. Steve nodded, passing it to her. He was suffering the same along with nosebleeds. She looked over to Max who was staring at the file with an unreadable expression.
"What's wrong?" Steve asked, rubbing Clara's shoulder gently.

Getting to her feet, Clara moved away from him. She rushed out of the room, stopping when she heard the unmistakable clicking of a clock. She tried to run from it, stopping when she saw a clock embedded into the wall.
"Clara?" Max asked nervously from behind her. The red-head had followed after her and was wide-eyed at the clock in the way. "What's going on?" Clara sank to her knees, squeezing her eyes shut tightly.
"You gotta run, Max," she whispered. "And you can't ever stop."


End of Episode 3! I'm not that happy with how I've ended it, but I think moving forward, it'll be good! I hope you are all enjoying! This is by far my favorite fanfiction I've written and I'm glad all of you are willing to go on this wild ride with me! See you in Episode 4.
All rights belong to the Duffer Brothers and Netflix!