As they pulled into the trailer park, Steve eased the car to a stop in front of Max's trailer. Gravel crunched beneath the tires, the soft hum of the engine dying down. Steve turned back to Max, eyebrows raised with an edge of impatience.
"This better be quick," he reminded her, giving a slight nod toward the trailer door.
Max rolled her eyes but gave a quick nod. "Twenty seconds." She pushed the door open and hopped out, closing it behind her with a sharp click as she hurried up the steps.
Dove leaned her head against the window, watching Max's silhouette disappear into the trailer. As the silence filled the car, her eyes drifted across the lot until they settled on Eddie's trailer, sitting vacant and dark. It was still strung up with the police tape fluttering like ribbons in the soft breeze. A pang of sorrow twisted her stomach as memories started to wash over her: late nights, laughter, secrets shared in the dim light. She could almost see Eddie's grin, his easy laugh echoing in her mind.
A few tense minutes later, Max appeared from the backyard, her steps quick and her face pale, as if she'd just seen a ghost. She practically bolted toward the car, her arms crossed tightly over her chest. Steve leaned out the driver's window, attempting a light-hearted tone, though his concern was obvious.
"That was longer than twenty seconds," he called, but as Max came closer, he caught the expression on her face, and the humor slipped from his voice. "Hey.. are you alright?" he asked, brows knitting together in worry.
Max's hand gripped the door handle, her knuckles white as she yanked it open and slid into the seat with rigid movements. "I'm fine," she muttered, her voice clipped. She avoided everyone's eyes, staring straight ahead as if daring herself not to look back. "Just drive."
Steve glanced at her in the rearview mirror, worry etched in his features.
"Did something happen?" Dustin asked, his voice laced with concern as his gaze fixed on Max.
Max shook her head sharply, her jaw clenched. "Can we please just go?" Her tone held a desperation, her gaze flicking uneasily to the trailer, as if whatever had rattled her was lurking there, watching her every move.
Dove and Steve exchanged a quick glance, both of them silently reading the unease in Max's posture. Without another word, Steve put the car in gear and pulled away from the trailer, the weight of unspoken questions heavy in the car. As they rolled down the road, the only sound was the hum of the engine, a stark contrast to the intensity brewing in the car.
Max gave quiet, clipped instructions from the back seat, guiding them through winding streets and unmarked turns that led them deeper into the outskirts of Hawkins. Each turn was sharper than the last, taking them further from familiar territory.
"Turn here," she said, her voice barely above a murmur. Dove glanced at her over her shoulder, confused.
"Here?" Dove questioned, glancing out the window as they veered off onto an overgrown path.
Max only nodded, her gaze distant as she stared out the window. The car was heavy with a strained silence, everyone too aware of where they were heading. Finally, they pulled into Roane Hill Cemetery.
As soon as Steve put the car in park, Max opened her door, slipping out and heading toward the far end of the cemetery with purpose. Her steps were quick and determined, as if she'd walked this path a hundred times.
"Max! Wait!" Lucas called, rushing out of the car after her.
Max turned to face him, managing a faint, forced smile. "Lucas, just wait in the car, okay?" she insisted, her voice a mixture of resolve and exhaustion.
But Lucas wasn't so easily deterred. He caught up with her, blocking her path gently. They spoke in hushed tones, their conversation barely audible over the whispering wind that moved through the cemetery's trees. Dove watched the exchange from the car, her heart heavy as she took in the vulnerability in Lucas's face and the way Max seemed to deflect, her posture trying to maintain strength she didn't truly feel.
Lucas pulled something out of his pocket—one of the letters Max had written. He held it up, his face pleading, gesturing toward the car as if begging her to reconsider, to lean on them just this once. Max's smile faltered, her gaze softening, but after a tense beat, she shook her head and turned away. With one last defeated glance toward the car, Lucas watched her walk off, the resignation clear in his posture.
When Lucas climbed back into the car, he was silent, his shoulders slumped as he closed the door. Dustin patted his shoulder in reassurance, though there wasn't much comfort he could offer. The tension hung thick in the air as they watched Max walk between the rows of gravestones, her figure gradually swallowed as she disappeared over the hill.
Dove's gaze drifted to the edge of the cemetery, where the trees grew thicker. The evening light cast long shadows, and something about the darkness between the trees felt ominous, as though it were alive, watching them. She shivered, tearing her eyes away and looking down at her hands, which were clenched tight in her lap.
A faint ticking sound echoed in her mind, cutting through Dove's thoughts like a knife. She straightened, the ticking growing louder and echoing in her ears. Dove turned, about to tell Steve—but he wasn't there. She glanced into the back seat, her pulse quickening. Dustin and Lucas were gone too.
The ticking escalated, growing louder with each passing second, filling the empty car like a sinister countdown. Panic flared in her chest, and she fumbled with the door handle, shoving it open and stumbling outside.
But the scene had changed.
The cemetery had vanished, replaced by an open, desolate field under a sky tinged with ominous shades of red. The ground was cracked and dry beneath her feet, a scattering of twisted, leafless trees silhouetted against a crimson-tinged horizon. A strange haze clung to the air, thick and oppressive, and the scent of decay clung to her, sharp and inescapable.
She spun around, trying to make sense of her surroundings, the ticking never ceasing. With each echo, the sound reverberated through her bones, pulsing in time with her racing heartbeat. She could hear distant, distorted noises—cries, snarls, sounds that made her skin crawl.
Ahead, standing stark against the bleak landscape, was a decaying house, twisted vines wrapped around what remained of its structure, anchoring it into the cracked, barren ground like roots from some nightmarish tree. The walls were incomplete, archways leading nowhere, and parts of a grand staircase floated, seemingly suspended in midair, leading up to an empty void. Shadows lurked in every corner, stretching and shifting in the blood-red haze that hung heavily in the air.
Her eyes roamed the scene, trying to understand this hellish landscape. Every step she took echoed, the ground beneath her feet sticky and thick, as if the earth itself resisted her movements.
In the distance, she saw him.
Vecna.
His figure loomed, his elongated frame emerging from the twisted roots that surrounded the ruins. He watched her, unmoving, his hollow, soulless eyes piercing through the darkness. A slow, chilling smile stretched across his face, as though he had been waiting for this very moment. The air seemed to tighten around her, the atmosphere charged with his presence, as if he could sense her every thought and fear.
Dove tried to take a step back, but her feet felt rooted to the ground. Her heartbeat pounded in her ears, mingling with the relentless ticking of that infernal clock. She didn't dare blink, her eyes locked onto Vecna's in silent terror, her mind racing.
"What do you want?" she demanded, forcing her voice to remain steady, even as her insides twisted with fear.
Vecna tilted his head, a sickening curiosity in his empty eyes. "What do I want?" he echoed, his voice low and dripping with a twisted sort of amusement. "I want what you want, Dove. To be free from all this pain, all this suffering." His gaze intensified, as though he could see straight through her. "You understand suffering, don't you? The feeling of being out of place. Of being lost. Alone."
Dove clenched her fists, refusing to let his words sink in, to let him worm his way under her skin. "I'm not lost," she spat, her jaw clenched. "And I'm not alone."
He let out a soft, almost pitying sigh. "Oh, Dove," he murmured, his voice slithering into her thoughts. "You carry such strength. It radiates from you, a power that could be.. limitless, if only you chose to embrace it. You could be so much more."
She shook her head, refusing to let the doubt creep in, but there was a flicker of unease in her chest, a sliver of fear that he'd planted without her even realizing it.
Vecna's smile widened, but there was no warmth in it. Only a promise of something dark and unrelenting. "You still don't understand. Soon, you will." He leaned forward, his eyes gleaming with a malevolent intensity. "You'll understand that there is no resisting the inevitable. You have a purpose, Dove. One you can not yet fathom. And when the time comes.. you will choose me."
Dove's body trembled, her mind racing, but she forced herself to stand tall, her eyes narrowing. "No. I'm going to kill you."
Vecna let out a low chuckle, his voice dripping with amusement. "Such fire," he said, almost admiringly. "But you'll see, in time. You can't fight the darkness forever. It's already within you, clawing its way to the surface. And when you're ready.. I will be waiting."
As the vision began to fade, his final words echoed in her mind, wrapping around her like chains. "You may resist, Dove, but soon.. I will make you understand."
Dove's vision shattered like glass, leaving her breathless and disoriented. She jolted back to the present, the harsh silence of the car settling around her. The shadows of the cemetery were still, but an undercurrent of dread pulsed through her veins.
"Hey," Steve's voice broke through the fog, his hand resting on her arm, steadying her. "You okay?"
Without a word, Dove pushed the car door open and scrambled out, her pulse pounding in her ears. "Something's wrong," she said, barely aware of how frantic she sounded. She didn't wait for an answer, her feet carrying her across the grass toward the direction Max had walked.
Steve, Dustin, and Lucas climbed out of the car, trailing behind her as she picked up her pace, nearly running now. The quiet of the cemetery pressed down on them, amplifying each hurried footstep as they weaved through the gravestones.
Dove's heart clenched as she spotted Max up ahead, sitting in front of a gravestone, her back to them. She seemed eerily still, her gaze fixed straight ahead. Dove slowed her approach, dread settling heavy in her stomach.
"Max?" Dove called softly, her voice trembling, but there was no reaction. Max didn't flinch, didn't blink. She sat there, silent and unmoving, like she was carved from stone.
The boys came to a stop behind her, exchanging worried glances. Dove took a shaky breath and reached out, resting a hand on Max's shoulder. She bent down to look into her friend's face, searching for any sign of awareness.
Dove's heart seized as she took in Max's lifeless expression, her eyes rolled back in her head, frozen in a distant, unreachable place. Panic flared hot and immediate.
"Max!" she cried, her voice breaking with fear. She shook her friend's shoulder, her grip tightening as if that alone could pull her back. "Max, can you hear me? Snap out of it!"
Her frantic shouts echoed through the quiet cemetery, cutting through the stillness as the boys rushed forward, alarm flashing across their faces.
"Max!" Steve yelled, his voice thick with panic as he shook her shoulders, trying to get any reaction from her unseeing eyes.
Lucas leaned in, his voice shaky but pleading. "Max, please, it's us. It's me. You've got to snap out of it!"
The dread sank deeper, pressing down on them all like a suffocating weight. Max's blank, glassy stare only seemed to mock their attempts. The cold, empty expression on her face mirrored every nightmare Dove had seen, every moment of horror they'd fought so hard to survive.
Steve's head snapped to Dustin, his face pale but determined. "Dustin, go call Robin and Nancy. Now!"
Dustin stumbled back, nearly tripping over the edge of the graveyard's path before scrambling toward the car. His footsteps faded as he sprinted away, leaving the others hovering around Max, each second stretching unbearably long.
Dove's hands clenched on Max's shoulders, her voice cracking as she shook her friend again. "Please, Max, please. This isn't real—don't let him win."
A few agonizing moments later, Dustin's footsteps pounded back toward them. He was breathless, clutching an armful of cassette tapes and Max's battered Walkman, his face wild with desperation.
Dustin gasped, shoving the tapes at them. "What's her favorite song?"
Lucas's brow furrowed in confusion. "What?"
"Robin said she needs to listen-" Dustin stammered, his voice breaking as he sifted through the tapes, fingers trembling. "It's too much to explain right now. What's her favorite song?!"
"K-Kate Bush!" Lucas cried, eyes darting to the tapes as he joined the frantic search. "It's the one she's always playing!"
Steve and Dustin tore through the tapes, their hands shaking, but Dove gripped Max's shoulders tightly, her own vision blurring with tears as she screamed, "Let her go, you bastard! Do you hear me, Vecna? Let her go!"
The desperation in her voice hung heavy in the air, a raw plea to the unseen darkness that clung to Max like a shadow. Dove's heart pounded, each beat laced with the terror of losing another friend.
Dustin's hands shook as he carefully placed the headphones over Max's ears. Lucas fumbled with the Walkman, his thumb hovering over the play button before he finally pressed it. The haunting, muffled melody of Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill" crackled to life through the headset, filling the tense air with its familiar, urgent rhythm.
They all paused, breathless, voices dropping from frantic shouts to soft, pleading murmurs. Dove knelt beside Max, her voice trembling as she called to her, gentler this time. "Max.. please, we're right here."
Steve hovered just behind her, his hand on Dove's shoulder, grounding both of them as he spoke to Max in a low, urgent tone.
"Max, please," Lucas whispered, his voice catching in his throat. "Come back."
For a moment, there was nothing but the song and their hopeful, desperate words. Then, Max's body began to rise, slowly lifting off the ground as though pulled by invisible threads. Her limbs hung limp, her face turned toward the sky, and the terror that gripped them all became palpable. They scrambled backward, tripping over each other in their haste, staring up in horror as Max floated midair, completely unresponsive.
"Max!" Steve yelled, his voice raw, as he reached out instinctively, fingers grasping at the empty space between them.
"Max, no!" Lucas cried, his face twisting with fear, his eyes locked onto her as she hovered above them, unreachable and hauntingly still.
Suddenly, Max's body jerked, her chest rising as if she'd taken a breath after being underwater for too long. She gasped, eyes snapping open as the grip Vecna held on her shattered. With a final, heart-stopping drop, Max plummeted back to the ground, landing with a heavy thud.
They all rushed forward, voices overlapping in a chaotic symphony of relief and disbelief as they scrambled to reach her. Steve's hand found Max's shoulder, gripping it firmly, while Dove knelt on her other side, her hands hovering just above Max's as if afraid she might break. Dustin and Lucas crowded close, each of them desperate to ground her, to remind themselves she was really back.
"Max," Lucas whispered, his voice raw and choked with relief. He pulled her into his arms, holding her so tightly it was as if he feared she might slip away again. "You're okay," he repeated, his words half reassurance, half plea.
Max's wide, frightened eyes darted from face to face, her breath still coming in shallow gasps. She clung to Lucas' arm, fingers digging in like a lifeline, as if letting go might send her floating back into that nightmare.
"I thought I lost you," Lucas murmured, his voice trembling, his face a mixture of terror and awe. His eyes were wet, the fear of what almost happened etched deeply in his expression.
Max's chest heaved as she tried to steady her breathing, her voice shaky but resolute. "I'm still.. I'm still here." She gasped, almost as if the words could anchor her to the ground. "I'm still here," she repeated, as if saying it enough times would make it real.
For a long, quiet moment, they simply sat there, huddled together in the cold cemetery, breathing hard, the enormity of what had happened settling over them like a heavy weight. Each of them felt the fragile nature of the moment, the silent gratitude coursing through them, mingling with the lingering dread. The relief of Max's return was tempered by the gnawing awareness that they had barely pulled her back from the edge.
As the silence stretched, Dove's pulse began to slow, her heartbeat gradually falling in rhythm with the steady breaths of her friends around her. But just as her muscles began to relax, a faint, insidious whisper slithered through her mind, sending a cold shiver down her spine.
"Dove.." Vecna's voice, deep and chilling, echoed inside her head, slithering through her thoughts like oil. She tensed, glancing quickly at her friends, but they were still focused on Max, oblivious to the voice that clawed its way into her mind.
"I warned you.. Refusal has a price.." Vecna's tone dripped with satisfaction, each word digging deeper into her resolve. "You may delay the inevitable, but you cannot protect them all—not without me."
A nauseous fear twisted in her stomach. Dove's hand moved instinctively to her wrist, her thumb brushing over the smooth metal of Steve's bracelet, grounding herself in the familiar feel of it as Vecna's voice wrapped around her mind like a cold, dark fog. She wouldn't let him break her down. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction of seeing her falter.
"Remember this, Dove," his voice echoed one last time, each syllable crawling through her mind, "your choices carry weight—weight that will crush everyone you care about."
Dove looked around, forcing herself to remain calm. Steve's gaze met hers, and though his eyes filled with quiet concern, he said nothing. She managed a weak smile, brushing away any lingering fear.
"Let's.. let's get out of here," she whispered. No one needed convincing; after what they'd witnessed, there was no comfort left in this place.