mad max goes way above the speed limit

. ✧ ・゜. +・o ✧

After school, Alina biked home with Lucas, Mike and Dustin. She enjoyed this new routine, giving her more time to talk to her friends and also to discuss the project she was planning with Mike, who also agreed to the idea. Still, Alina couldn't help but notice that Dustin and Lucas had conveniently forgotten to tell Mike that they had invited Max trick-or-treating. She wouldn't tell him, either, because she knew it was unlikely Max would come after the fiasco from earlier, and because Mike had been in such a mood lately. It was the Anniversary Effect, the stupid doctors at the Lab would say, and although Mike didn't have the level of trauma she and Will did, Alina figured the same thing still applied. Eleven. He missed Eleven.

She did, too, and, when she looked at Mike, she could almost picture the girl on the back of his bike, arms around his waist, looking around in awe like she'd done last year, the first time she'd really gotten to explore Hawkins.

The only difference between Alina and Mike in their missing Eleven was that Mike thought she was still alive. Even though Eleven had died right in front of them, Mike assumed that because they hadn't found a body, it meant she was still out there, even confessing to having seen her that same night.

Alina knew he was just in denial. She, very rationally, had told him that her body most likely had been transported into the Upside Down, but Mike still wasn't having any of it. So, Alina had dropped the topic and didn't speak about her death again. But she could tell that Mike was still waiting for her to come home.

It was ironic, because sometimes Alina didn't want to believe Eleven was dead, just like her dad. But she knew that the first steps in recovering from the traumatic experience were accepting that they were—even if she sometimes found herself wandering the woods, looking for them.

"What?" Mike's voice suddenly pulled Alina out of her thoughts, and she blinked, entering reality again and finding that he'd turned, staring at her with confusion. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

She'd been staring at him for the past couple of minutes, she realized, and quickly, Alina cleared her throat. "Anniversary Effect," she blurted. "Or whatever that stupid doctor said. Sometimes I think I can still see them. El and my dad, I mean. And it gets worse closer to the day they died, apparently."

"Sorry, Al," the other three boys gave their sympathy, and Lucas turned to look at her with his concerned eyes again. She looked down at her wheels to try and avoid it.

Dustin sighed, changing the subject, something Alina was grateful for. "I still can't believe we were the only ones who dressed up today. Really, everyone dressed up last year."

"I know," Lucas groaned, then turned to Alina. "Hey, we never thanked you for dressing up today, too. That was really cool of you."

"Yeah," said Mike. "Thanks, Al."

Alina smiled. Well, at least her friends hadn't forgotten her completely.

They biked on in silence for a minute or so, and then Alina heard the whine of a car engine behind her. They were biking on the road, but she figured the car would slow down enough for them to be able to bike away, so thought nothing of it until Dustin's worried voice broke through the quiet air. "Hey, guys?"

Alina turned around to find a car going full speed, right towards them. For a moment, she froze, the only movement coming from the constant motion of pedaling she couldn't stop.

And then she screamed.

"Go, go, go, go, go!" Lucas yelled, and the four party members immediately started pedaling faster, the previous silence being filled with screams. Alina's calves burned, and she was uncomfortably reminded of the time she'd been chased by the bad men from the Lab.

"Mike, you need to haul ass!" shrieked Dustin at Mike, who was falling a little behind. Mike let out a yelp and immediately began pedaling faster. As the car grew closer and closer, the four of them realized they had no chance of outrunning it, and veered to the right quickly. Alina ended up overdoing it and crashed her bike into a tree, toppling off and falling into a pile of leaves. "Shit, shit, shit!" Dustin yelled, as both him and Lucas fell as well.

Alina let out a groan. She'd skinned her knee when she fell, and now it oozed blood. The sight of it made her queasy, and she was reminded of the nightmare she'd had last night. She looked away, feeling ill. If she got this affected over a little blood, she thought wryly, she should be glad she hadn't begun getting her period.

"Holy shit!" Dustin stood up, and Lucas helped Alina to her feet. Out of breath, Dustin pointed at the car, which was now driving away, still way over the speed limit. "Was that..."

Alina squinted at the retreating car, remembering the flash of red hair she'd seen just before they'd turned away. She exchanged a worried glance with Lucas, who confirmed it for everyone.

"Mad Max."

Then he crouched down, watching with a wrinkled nose as Alina rolled up her pant leg, revealing her wound. "Al, are you alright?" he asked. "That doesn't look good."

"No, I'm not alright!" Alina looked at the car, which was now just a speck in the distance. "Who was driving that car? Why were they trying to kill us?!"

"I don't know," said Lucas, looking shaken up. Alina could barely hear him over the roaring in her ears. Almost instinctively, she laced her hand into his and squeezed, the comforting weight of his hand in hers immediately soothing her. It had almost a year since she'd done that.

It was a couple of seconds before Lucas squeezed back.

When Alina got home, Joyce and Jonathan were both at work, but Will was home, eating an apple. Alina knew one of them would be back soon. Joyce hated when Will was home alone after what had happened to him last year, even if he was with Alina. After dropping her bag in her room and bandaging her wounded leg, as well as washing the skeleton makeup off her face (she'd reapply it later) Alina told Will what had happened, her friend's eyes widening as she told the story.

"No way," he said after she was finished. "Why would anyone want to kill you guys? I mean, this isn't last year, when you had the bad men and the Demogorgon on your tail." Alina noticed the way he flinched when he said Demogorgon, but decided not to comment on it. She didn't want to trigger a relapse.

Alina shrugged. "Maybe they didn't want to kill us. Maybe whoever was driving Max was high. Maybe they didn't even see us." She tapped her fingers on the table, chewing on her lip. "I'm kind of worried about her now."

"Well, why don't you go talk to her?" Will suggested. "You told me yesterday that she wanted to hang out in the arcade with you. Maybe she'll be there."

Although Alina wanted to work on writing the notes for Will, she knew he was right. She didn't want to spend her entire night worrying about what Max's home life was like. "Well, she might not even be there," she said, stroking Skywalker, who'd leaped onto her lap. "But I guess I'll try. I'll be back later, Will. You okay on your own?"

"I'm good," Will smiled. Alina gave him a thumbs-up and headed back outside. She was almost a little afraid to get on her bike, which was stupid, because the chances of the exact same thing happening again were less than zero. Remember, she thought to herself. Face your fears, because they always turn out to be more stupid than you think. The thought propelled her to hop on.

Face your fears, Alina.

It had been almost a year and Alina was still afraid. Gritting her teeth, she pedaled harder. Don't be weak. There's no point. Just keep pedaling. Going even faster now, Alina let out a whoop of exhilaration as she flew down a slight hill. The wind pressed itself against her face, but Alina just smiled. Don't be afraid.

She made it to the arcade in record time, and when she got off her bike, she checked out her reflection in the window at the arcade. Her hair—still in two buns-- was sticking up a little, and she flattened it down before heading inside, passing Keith, who was sitting at the register, handing out prizes to people who redeemed their tickets, and heading straight to the Dig Dug machine. Sure enough, Max was standing there, clutching the controls so hard her knuckles were turning white, her icy stare locked on the pixels.

"Hey," she said. Max startled a little but kept her hands on the controls. Alina watched her go. Her expertise in the game blew Alina away as she watched the points rack up. She could see now how she'd managed to get 750 000 points. It must have come easy.

"Hey, Alina," said Max. "Are you okay? I'm so sorry."

"We're all okay," said Alina, leaning against the screen as Max's points continued to rise. "I just cut my knee a little, but I'm fine. I was just checking on you. Who was driving that car?"

Max groaned. "My asshole step-brother Billy. He's a piece of shit, but he wasn't actually going to hit you. He was just trying to scare me."

"He really scared us," said Alina. Her throat was still a little sore from the screaming she'd done. "Was he like, high or something?"

"No, that's just how Billy is," said Max, grimacing, letting out a soft curse as she misstepped, and the game ended. She'd almost reached her top score. Finally, she whirled to face Alina. "I'm really sorry." Biting her lip, Max perked up. "Hey, I did promise to teach you tricks for Dig Dug, didn't I? Well, come on." She gestured Alina to the controls. "Let's get going."

Alina grinned, inserting a coin into the machine. Max smiled back as the game began, and the two girls spent the next hour playing. With Max's help, Alina was able to go from six hundred and thirty thousand to seven hundred thousand, successfully surpassing both Dustin and Lucas on the scoreboard, but still leagues behind Max. She let out a chuckle when she saw it. "Oh, they're gonna be so mad when they see this."

"I know," said Max brightly. "Isn't it awesome?"

She and Alina high-fived, and Alina grinned, adrenaline shooting through her like she'd just run a marathon. It was really nice to be hanging out with a girl. Alina realized she hadn't done that for a year. It wasn't that she didn't like girls in general, it's just that she preferred sticking beside her friends. And most girls already knew Alina, and if they wanted to be friends with her, they would've spoken up long ago.

But Max actually seemed to like her, and, looking at the scoreboard once more, Alina thought they might be friends now. It was strange. She'd gone eleven years without making a single friend, and then she'd made five, and then a year later she had two more. Alina, who'd previously thought she was going to grow up friendless, was pleased with these additions. It made her feel like maybe she was worth something. Maybe she was special after all.

After purchasing two over-priced pretzels from the stand outside, one for each of them, and scarfing them down, still gloating about beating Dustin and Lucas in Dig Dug, Alina bid her goodbyes to Max. "Don't forget about the notes for Will!" she called out to Max, waving, before hopping on her bike. Max smiled and nodded.

"I won't!" she called, and Alina sped off, grinning wildly. It was Halloween, it was 1984, and she'd just made a new friend. And tonight she would go trick-or-treating for the first time in her life with friends. Things couldn't be better, right?

Well, that's what she was thinking right before her entire body seized with pain, and the world around her flickered again. For the third time in the past week, Alina Fairgrieves disappeared.

. ✧ ・゜. +・o ✧

a/n: the max/alina friendship you guys have been waiting for is officially here :))

'till next time <3