LVI

"HOLY SHIT!"

Eleven opens her eyes and drops her hand. The trunk crashes to the ground. She turns and looks at Max, who is gaping at her with wide eyes.

"How…?! How did you…?!"

She smiles sheepishly again and wipes the blood with the sleeve of her coat.

"Do you believe me now?"

Max moves her head up and down with excessive force.

"Yeah, sure, but… is that blood?"

Eleven shrugs. "It's a side effect." At the still shocked expression of her friend, she asks: "Max, are you… scared of me?"

This seems to snap her out of her sudden trance. "No!" she replies without hesitation, even with a little annoyance tainting her voice. "Of course not…! It's not… I'm surprised, yes, but you're my friend." As if that weren't enough, she drops her backpack to the ground and reaches out to take Eleven's hands in hers. "You're my friend, El," Max assures her in a whisper. "That's not conditional."

Eleven takes a deep breath to try and control her tears. "I… You're it, too," she mutters, her voice cracking. "My friend."

Max surrounds her in her arms. Eleven rests her chin against her shoulder.

For a moment, everything, absolutely everything is fine.

As they part, Max smiles at her with sincere affection.

"Thank you for trusting me with this. And, sorry for not believing you…" she says with a slight grimace, but Eleven just shrugs; she respects Max's skeptical nature. "I promise I'll keep it a secret."

Eleven nods. However, although this may have been the most difficult part, she still has something else to tell her: "Max, I told you all this because… I want to help you."

The confusion on her friend's face is evident.

"I read Billy's mind the other day," she confesses. "I understand… why he is the way he is. And I would like… to tell you about it."

"You were in Billy's head?" Max asks, stunned.

Eleven nods her head again. "I wanted… I want to help you," she justifies herself.

Max sighs. "El, while your… skills are awesome, I don't think it's right to do something like that."

Eleven bites her lower lip, doubtful. Yes, she figured Max would disagree with her methods, but there's something else her friend should know: "Max… I did it for you," she admits. "But… from what I saw… I don't think you're the only one who needs help."

Max inhales a large breath of air as she takes her hands in hers once again. She then takes her back to the fallen log.

"Tell me everything."