CHAPTER NINE.
BURN THE WITCH

☆ミ ☆彡

WARNING: Bullying, extremely negative/damaging thoughts, attempted murder?

SHE HATED THE SMELL OF TRASH. Absolutely despised it. It never failed to make her gag. So when she found out that she, Max, and two-fourths of the party would be drawing sticks to see who would go into the dumpster behind the school to look for Dart, she turned around and began walking away from Lucas and Max. The redhead had stopped her by her shoulders and dragged her to where Mike was waiting with Challan whining the whole way.

Mike, as usual, wasn't too thrilled to see the two girls. But he couldn't complain, they were willing to jump into the dumpster and look for Dart. Well, Challan wasn't willing but if this is what she had to do to make friends, she would do it. But she wouldn't like it.

Fortunately for her, she hadn't drawn the short straw. Instead, it was Lucas who did not want to get into that dumpster, which she could understand. They helped him in and he began digging around. Challan didn't envy him in the slightest.

The three outside the dumpster held onto long sticks, which they would use to poke around the trash bags that Lucas would throw down to them. Challan began contemplating if having friends was really worth it.

"Stop being a baby and do it already!" Mike said in exasperation.

"This is so disgusting. Is this really necessary?" Max asked.

"I think I'm gonna throw up," Challan mumbled and Max rubbed her arm comfortingly. The Logan girl had already gagged a couple of times so Max was sure she probably would throw up.

Dustin rounded the corner of the building, stopping in front of the three and looking at them in confusion. "What the hell's going on?" He asked.

"What do you think? We're looking for Dart," Mike replied.

Lucas began throwing trash bags out of the dumpster and Challan quickly moved away from where they were landing. She pinched her nostrils shut to keep from breathing in the smell.

"Jesus!"

"Ugh!"

Lucas hopped out of the dumpster and landed in front of them in a crouched position. He stood up completely and looked over at Dustin. "Well, well, well. Look who finally decided to show up. After I drew the short straw. Real convenient," he spoke.

"You stink!" Max criticized, moving away from him and standing next to Dustin who smiled at the redhead with a dopey look in his eyes. Challan kept her fingers firmly pressed to her nose, refusing to let go.

"Hi, Max," Dustin greeted, that look still on his face.

"Hi," she said, sounding a little confused.

"Where's Will?" Dustin asked, noticing that his friend wasn't there.

"He'll be here," Mike replied.

"Are you just gonna stand there?" Lucas tossed Dustin a stick, "Or you gonna help?"

The five then began poking through the trash bags on the ground. A cockroach scurried out of one of the bags and Challan squealed, releasing her nose as she ran away from it.

"That's disgusting!" She exclaimed.

"It's just a cockroach," Mike shrugged, rolling his eyes as he continued pushing around the trash. Challan scowled at him, a wave of nausea hitting her full force. She moved away from the group, rushing off to the grass as vomit began to come up and out of her mouth.

She gagged and heaved as she threw up more and more of her breakfast.

"Ew!"

"Gross!"

"Yuck!"

"Are you okay?" Max asked, making sure that Challan's hair didn't fall into her face or into the throw-up that was coming out of her mouth. Challan heaved again, nothing coming out this time. After a moment, she took a deep breath and nodded.

"Sorry," she muttered and Max shook her head.

"I think you should go to the nurse," Lucas suggested and Challan nodded.

"I'll come with you," Max said, preparing to come with the girl who shook her head.

"No. It's okay. I'll be fine. Keep looking for Dart."

"Are you sure?" Max pressed, frowning.

"Yeah, I'm sure." She sent the group a smile before walking away from the dumpsters and towards the school. She took a deep breath, releasing it slowly in hopes of stopping any more nausea. She was so embarrassed. Her body was against her. She shook her head angrily.

Challan hadn't made it into the school, being stopped by the last people she wanted to see.

"Hey, hag!"

Challan had quickened her pace, not wanting to come face to face with her tormenters. But Abigail and her lapdogs had other plans. A hand wrapped around her mouth and she was yanked backward and away from the school. She tried to wrestle herself out of the person's grasp but the boy was stronger than her. Another boy grabbed her legs and they led her away. Challan kicked and screamed into the person's hand but no one could hear her.

She was taken to a semi-secluded area of the school. A very familiar area. It was the very area that Challan would go to at the break they got after lunch and read. It was the one place where she could hide and be left alone.

"Does this spot look familiar?" Abigail questioned as Challan was pushed against a tree. Lilly and one of Abigail's other female friends pulled out rope and walked over to her as the two boys held her against the tree.

"What are you doing? Let me go!" Challan screamed as the girls began wrapping the rope around her body, binding her to the tree. "Stop!"

"Remember when I asked you the best way to kill a witch? We decided that burning was definitely the way to go," Abigail spoke. Challan began to squirm in her spot, unable to break free.

One of the boys pulled out a metal bottle and began throwing liquid onto her. She flinched away from it. "What is that? What are you doing?" Challan shouted.

"Gasoline of course." It was a lie, the liquid was actually water but Challan didn't know that. The boy continued to douse her in the fluid, Challan too distressed to realize that it didn't smell like gasoline.

"What?" She exclaimed, violently moving around in the ropes in an attempt to loosen them. Abigail pulled a lighter from her pocket, flicking it open and lighting it.

The blonde turned to her friends, "Shall we burn the witch?" The group cheered loudly in response. Tears began rolling down Challan's cheeks, a wave of terror crashing into her.

"No, no! Please don't! Stop! Abigail stop!"

Abigail walked closer with the lighter and Challan attempted to move away from it. "Stop it! Stop!"

"You can scream all you want, no one's gonna hear you. And even if they did, they wouldn't give a shit about you anyway. No one cares about you. No one loves you and no one ever will. You're a useless and worthless piece of shit that will never amount to anything in your life. You will always be a sad, pathetic, loveless loser that everyone hates," Abigail said with so much venom and hatred.

More tears cascaded down Challan's face at what Abigail said. The words ricocheted around in her head and repeated over and over again. She squeezed her eyes shut, hoping it would make the pain of her words stop or even hurt less, but it didn't. The longer she stood there, the words echoing in her brain, the more the pain of them intensified. The more she started to believe them.

"You're better off dead," Abigail continued. The killing blow.

"Time to burn, witch."

Challan's eyes remained closed, the tears continuing to fall down her cheeks. The lighter was mere centimeters away from her face.

"There!" An unfamiliar voice called from a distance, Challan barely hearing it.

"What the hell are you doing?" A familiar voice called after. Challan's eyes opened and Abigail jumped away from her. Max, Lucas, Dustin, and Mike ran over, an unfamiliar kid following behind.

"Untie her!" Max yelled.

"Make me," Abigail retorted.

Max charged at her, shoving the blonde away and beginning to untie the ropes. Lucas was right on her tail, yanking at the ropes that bound Challan to a tree. Once they had untied her, Max pulled Challan away from the tree and into a hug.

"You're okay, you're okay, you're okay," Max whispered, stroking Challan's hair as she cried loudly.

"It was just a joke," one of the boys said.

"Yeah, we weren't actually going to burn her."

"It's just water," another said.

Max turned to look at them all, walking forward to get in Abigail's face as Lucas wrapped a protective arm around Challan's shoulder.

"You're fucking psychopaths. And you're not getting away with this," she told the girl.

"I'm surprised you're not happier. I mean, you're the one who wanted to find out for yourself if she was a witch. I wanted to see if she would burn like one," Abigail shrugged carelessly.

Challan's eyebrows furrowed in confusion at the blonde's words. "You bitch," Max spoke through gritted teeth.

"Oh, you didn't tell her, did you? About how the only reason you even wanted to talk to her is because you didn't believe me when I told you she was a witch so you wanted to befriend her and find out for yourself," Abigail continued.

Max turned to look at Challan, whose face morphed into an expression of hurt. This couldn't be true, could it? Max wanted to be my friend for me, right? "That's not true," the redhead denied. Challan shook her head. She didn't believe her because it made sense. She had been right all along. Max never truly wanted to be her friend.

"Challan, it's not true," Max repeated, her eyes pleading.

"You said, 'I'm gonna talk to her and find out for myself if she's a witch'. You wanted to know for sure." The blonde was enjoying herself, weaving her own little tale about the conversation she had with Max on the redhead's first day. For the most part, it was a lie but it's not like Challan knew that. Abigail turned to her friends, "Didn't she say that?"

"Yup."

"Sure did."

"That's not what I said. Stop twisting my words," Max angrily said. She looked at Challan who was looking at Abigail, trying to discern if the blonde was telling the truth. It was Abigail. Abigail lies. She's a horrible person who would lie about this. Right?

Abigail ignored Max and turned to Challan, "You didn't really believe she wanted to be your friend, did you?" She laughed callously. The tears returned to Challan's eyes as she looked at Max in betrayal.

"Fuck you," the redhead seethed, her eyes burning into Abigail's face.

"Is she telling the truth?" Challan asked Max who was shaking her head.

"No! Let me explain," Max replied and Abigail interrupted.

"Sorry, you had to find out about it this way, hun. But at least you know that you have no friends and you never will." That was the final blow that made Challan break down, tears falling freely from her eyes and she turned away, eyes meeting Lucas's who looked at her with a mixture of sadness and confusion. Max went to lunge at Abigail but was stopped by Dustin and Mike.

"What's going on here?" A deep voice asked. The kids all turned to look at the teacher who was approaching, the unfamiliar boy from before with him. They all froze, this wasn't going to be good.

••••

Gregory. That had been the boy's name. He was in the eighth grade, though Challan didn't have any classes with him. He happened to see Abigail and her friends dragging Challan away and when he saw Max and the others, who he had seen Challan previously hanging out with, he told them immediately. He knew what would happen would be bad and would feel guilty if he had just kept it to himself.

Challan was sitting outside of the principal's office, her parents' angry shouts from inside being heard. Principal Coleman had called them, along with Abigail and her posse's parents, informing them of the situation. Her parents left work quickly, coming to the school after hearing what had happened to their daughter.

Max, Lucas, Dustin, Mike, Abigail, Lilly, Gregory, and the three others that were with Abigail sat outside of the office as well, having to relay the events from their perspective. Max was sitting across from Challan desperately trying to get the girl to meet her gaze. But Challan's eyes remained on her hands in her lap. Max needed to explain, she had to explain.

The party looked at each other, then at Challan and Max, then at each other again, over and over. It was dead silent amongst the kids, nobody saying anything. Time passed by slowly, all of the students filtering in and out of the principal's office to tell him what had happened. After it was done, Max, Gregory, and the party were told to go to class. Abigail and her friends had been suspended, and Challan's parents would be pressing charges.

Challan walked between her parents to the school's exit. The two adults were speaking but she wasn't listening, her mind replaying the events over and over in her head. Challan wasn't sure why, at the moment, her mind was focused on the fact that Max had only been pretending to be her friend. She was sure that once she wrapped her head around the fact that her life had been threatened not even an hour ago, she would have an emotional breakdown. But for now, all she could think about was what Abigail had said about Max. She needed to get her priorities in check.

"Challan!"

The three Logans turned at the sound of Max's voice. Behind her were Dustin, Lucas, and surprisingly Mike.

"Go talk to your friends, we'll meet you in the car," her mother said, with a smile. Challan wanted to tell her mom that none of them were her friends. She wanted to tell the woman that she didn't want to talk to any of them. But Hadiyah had already started walking away with Theodore.

Max came to a stop in front of Challan, who crossed her arms.

"I don't want to talk to you," Challan spoke.

"Just let me explain," Max started.

"There's really nothing to explain, Max. I get it. You're just like everybody else."

"I'm not! What Abigail said wasn't true. Not completely," Max defended.

"So, it was partially true? What part was the lie? You wanting to find out if I was really a witch or you pretending like you wanted to be my friend?" Challan asked.

"I did want to be your friend. I want to be your friend. Yes, I was curious about what Abigail and other kids were saying but that's not the only reason that I talked to you," Max explained.

"No, just the main reason. Got it." Challan turned away from the redhead, who grabbed her arm and turned her back around.

"No! No. I just, I, I don't know. I..." Max trailed off and Challan scoffed. The tears came to Challan's eyes again but she didn't let them fall. She couldn't.

"I wanted to know more about you. Yes, the witch thing made you sound interesting but—" Challan's scoff made Max frown and run a frustrated hand through her red hair. "That came out wrong. I didn't mean it like—"

"I have to go, Max," Challan said, walking to the exit again. Lucas, Dustin, and Mike watched as Max chased after her. The two girls were outside now, the three boys trailing behind.

"Challan! Wait! Please! I'm sorry! I know how this sounds but, I swear this isn't the reason I wanted to be your friend. I wanted to be your friend before I even found out about the witch thing!" But Challan continued walking. "Please Challan, don't be mad." Max shouldn't have said that. She knew she shouldn't have said that. Challan could be mad if she wanted to be. She should be mad at what Abigail told her, even if it wasn't completely true.

And the thing is, Challan was mad. She was very angry and hurt because Max lied. She pretended like she was different when she was just like everyone else in that awful town.

She stopped abruptly, making Max halt. She turned to face the redhead. "Don't be mad? How can you even say that to me?"

Max's face dropped and Challan felt the tears that were pricking her eyes intensify. She refused to allow them to fall. "This whole time, you just wanted to see the witch for yourself? What, you thought you'd get close to me and see me cast spells or something?" She asked Max.

"N-no, it's not like that," Max denied, shaking her head vigorously.

"Then what is it like, Maxine?" Challan snapped.

Max sputtered, completely at a loss for words. Hearing Challan use her full name told her that she was really upset. Upset because of her. She had to fix this, but she didn't know how. "Chal—"

"You know, I was so excited that a new student was here in Hawkins. I thought that I could finally have a friend, as pathetic as that sounds. Someone who didn't know about all of the stupid rumors surrounding my family. Who would get to know me for me. I thought... I hoped that you were different. But you're not. You're just like everyone else. But at least other people here can be upfront about thinking I'm a freak. You pretended to be my friend just to see how much of a freak I really am. Sorry to disappoint," Challan interrupted.

Max opened her mouth to speak but Challan began walking again. She turned back to face Max unexpectedly, her voice thick and the impending tears in her eyes ready to fall. "You said you didn't believe in witches. You lied. You lied and pretended to like me and you pretended to be my friend. I'm so stupid."

"You're not stupid! And I wasn't pretending! I am your friend." Max's eyes were pleading again, begging Challan to believe her. She sounded sincere, but Challan couldn't trust that she was being honest. Not anymore.

"Well if this is how friends treat each other, then I think I'll just stick to not having any," Challan said with finality. Challan sent Max a final glare before abruptly turning on her heel and stalking away, leaving Max standing outside of the school.

"I'm sorry," Max whispered, watching Challan walk away, the shorter girl too far to have heard her words.

The walk to the car felt painstakingly long as Abigail's words repeated over and over in Challan's head. She desperately tried to will them away to no avail. The tears she had been trying to hold back trickled down her face against her will. The words only got louder and louder, piercing into her brain like threaded needles and weaving their way through the organ until they were ingrained there, with no chance of coming out.

No one cares about you.

Challan brushed away the tears from her eyes as her parents' car came into view.

No one loves you and no one ever will.

Challan wiped more of her fallen tears briskly before making her face completely neutral. She opened the car door and slipped into the backseat, quickly pulling on her seatbelt. Neither of her parents said a word as her father started the car and pulled out of the parking lot.

You're a useless and worthless piece of shit that will never amount to anything in your life.

Challan closed her eyes and leaned her head against the window. She attempted to think positive thoughts, trying to lift her spirits but nothing worked. Nothing could stop the venomous words that Abigail spat at her.

You will always be a sad, pathetic, loveless loser that everyone hates.

She squeezed her eyes shut tighter, willing herself not to start crying again.

You're better off dead.

Maybe Abigail was right.

••••

I know, I suck. Giving you guys a cute Chalmax (it's been decided that this is their ship name) moment and then ripping it away in the next chapter. But I love me some angst.  Also, I really enjoy writing this book, it's a whole lot of fun and I hope more people find, read, and enjoy it. Please vote, comment, and support, it gives me the motivation to actually write.