(Tw for this chapter; abuse and self harm)

Max didn't know where she was going, she just needed to get away from Mike. She still didn't want to go home but figured she should soon or else she would get in trouble for "disappearing".

Eleven was coming to Hawkins. It was simple news, news that she should be happy about. Her best friend was coming back. But she couldn't be happy about it with knowing that it had caused her to lose her safe spot, her only sense of comfort.

And she knew that El returning would also mess up her and Mike's growing friendship. Even if Mike swore it wouldn't or Max would try to keep it, it would get ruined. Somehow, some way. She couldn't help but think El would get jealous if she found out they had started becoming closer and that she would prevent them from talking to each other anyways.

Max didn't know if Mike had any intentions on trying to keep their friendship but she figured he didn't because once El would return she would become the only thing he would care about, he would probably completely forget all about Max and her awful home life.

She knew he wasn't trying to hurt her in any way and she understand why she couldn't come over anymore but it broke her, tore a hole in heart. She would now have to remain stuck at home or wander around in the dark whenever she wanted to get away. She was trapped now.

Without any comfort or place to feel safe she wasn't sure if she would be able to last. She had dealt with it fine before she got comfort from him and she realized maybe she had started to depend on him too much.

She really thought he would always be there and that she could go over to his house whenever and she couldn't believe she had been so naive. They were barely even friends so she was angry at herself for having ever thought that.

It had been a temporary thing like most good things in her life. Only the bad things have become permanent, like Neil and her growing depression.

When she had finally stopped running away from her problems and new worries she looked around to try and figure out where she was. She knew she couldn't be too far from the arcade.

She noticed she was by the quarry, the same quarry Mike and his friends thought they saw Will's dead body at a few years ago. She looked out into the water, studying it's darkness since it was only illuminated by the stars that were shining through the clouds. It had become quite cloudy and the moon was no where to be seen.

The place had an eerie feeling to it and Max got the chills which frightened her more than she would have liked. She quickly turned away from the water and headed back into the town, wanting to be anywhere but there.

She had stopped again when she got to her house. She sat down against the house by her window, not wanting to go in and listening for any signs of danger. She could tell Neil was home still because she heard his angry mutterings here and there and the sound of someone chugging what she could only guess was alcohol.

She brought her knees up to her chest and hugged them. She rested her chin on top of them as she stared ahead into the light of their neighbors house. She felt sorry for herself, knowing whatever kid that lived next door had a better life than her.

Max thought to herself, wondering why all this bothered her so much. She and Mike had only barely became friends so why did it matter to her so much if she couldn't get comfort from him anymore or if their friendship fell apart?

It took her a while but Max eventually found her answer, the root of all her feelings about this. She had quickly and unbelievably fallen in love with Mike, the caring Mike that had comforted her and made her feel safe. The Mike that treated her like a friend rather than an enemy.

This shouldn't be happening though she told herself. She shouldn't like Mike, let alone be falling in love with him. She was falling fast and she had never done that before, she didn't think she was capable if it. She didn't want to be like her mother and just fall in love with whoever showed kindness to her. That was how you got your heart broken.

Max knew she was being naive in a way but there was nothing she could do to change her feelings. It made her wonder what the hell Mike was doing to her, what the good side of him was doing to her.

She wanted to scream. She didn't want to believe it but the more she thought about it the more it made sense. She felt the only reason why she felt this way was because of his sudden kindness towards her and she had a bad habit of growing attached to whoever showed her kindness because there haven't been a lot of those people in her life.

She hated it. He was Mike Wheeler, the boy who had hated her since they met and that she had grown to hate in return. She couldn't understand how a few nights could change all of that. Maybe not for him much, but definitely for her.

All this only made her feel worse about Eleven's return. She felt she would get in the way of their relationship without trying to or she would somehow tear them apart.

She didn't want to do that of course since she knew Mike was happy with her but she felt like it was just her bad luck that she would somehow say or do something that would cause them to break up.

She needed to stay away from Mike. Maybe that would help. If she didn't talk to him she couldn't say or do anything she would regret.

Once she had finally got out of her head she looked up to notice it had started raining. The weather just had to match her mood, didn't it?

She sighed as she got up and climbed into her room through the window after opening it. She didn't want to risk going through the front door and she didn't want to be noticed anyways.

She honestly wished Neil would just pretend she didn't exist instead of abusing her and treating her like absolute shit. She would be able to handle that a lot better.

But unfortunately you never got what you wanted. Something she had learned many times before.

She took her shoes off and climbed into her bed, just wanting to sleep. She didn't want to stay awake to be tortured by her thoughts.

She was so mentally tired and had an awful headache that was making it hard for her to actually fall asleep.

She pulled her covers closely to her body, wanting to hug something to give her at least a little sense of comfort. It was so different sleeping alone than with someone.

She cursed out loud to warn herself to not let her thoughts go back to Mike. She squeezed her eyes shut and scrunched up her nose in concentration as she tried not to think about anything and from the pain her headache was causing.

She hoped Neil wouldn't walk in anytime soon, she definitely wouldn't be able to handle that at the moment. Luckily he didn't and she eventually fell asleep.

She fell into a light sleep and had quite a few nightmares but it was still sleep nonetheless and she would rather be asleep than awake to try and deal with all her problems.

Unfortunately it was ill lived because Neil walked in a few hours later to find Max passed out on her bed. "Maxine! When did you sneak back home, huh?!" He asked harshly and loudly, his voice startling her awake.

She clung tightly onto her blanket as if it would protect her. She didn't meet his eyes, too scared too. She didn't want to deal with him, she just wanted to sleep and be left alone.

"Answer me," he warned in a threatening tone as he took another step into her room.

Max bit her lip before saying quietly, "a few hours ago." She couldn't will herself to speak any louder, all her confidence and fierceness had disappeared within the last few days.

"And where were you when you were gone?" He then asked. It was obvious he was thinking poorly of her, like she had been at a party of something of the sort.

"Just the arcade," she replied, which wasn't much of a lie since she had in fact spent most of her day there.

She finally looked up at him to see him nod a little bit, as if trying to decide whether or not to believe her. After a moment he let out a scoff, "When are you going to learn to stop lying to your father?"

Max felt her fists clench up more with the blanket between her fingers and her jaw clench up at him calling himself her father. "I wasn't lying," she said back a little more loudly than the first time.

"Where were you last night?" He then asked her with a warning gleam in his eyes. He knew she had been gone last night and she didn't have a good lie for that.

"I went on a night walk," she answered. She knew it was an awful lie but it was the only one she had at the moment and that was better than nothing.

"A night walk?" He questioned, almost in a challenging tone as he narrowed his eyes at her and took another step closer to her.

She nodded back and said firmly, "a night walk." She figured a beating was inevitable at this point but that wouldn't stop her from trying to get him to believe her lies.

"Do I have to ask you again when you will learn to stop lying?" He questioned harshly as he rose a hand, about ready to hit her.

She quickly let go of her blanket and brought her arms up to cover her head as she broke, starting to cry.

Neil was a bit taken back, never before had Max cried. She had always been tough before. He stopped out of pure shock.

"Please don't hit me. Please don't," she begged in between sobs as she shook her head vigoursly.

Neil found her vulnerability to be amusing and had gained a sense of pride in knowing her had officially broke her. That he had finally won.

But what he didn't know was that he hadn't been the one to finally push her over the edge. That had been Mike, Neil was only pushing her closer to death than she had already been.

"You're pathetic," is all he said before he forcibly grabbed her arms and pulled them away from her face before snacking her hard across the face.

She cried out in pain and brought a hand up to where he had smacked her, placing it protectively over the spot that was now sore.

Neil laughed maniacally at her before going to try and hit her again when she quickly moved away and got off the bed, opening her dresser drawer and pulling out a sharp shard of glass that she had had in there.

Neil gave her a confused look as she brought the shard up to her arm, starting to pierce her skin with it. "Do you want me dead? Because if so I can go ahead and kill myself right now, in front of you. Is that what you want?!" She exclaimed through hysterical sobs.

Neil was speechless. He opened his mouth to reply when Susan finally came in and spotted where Max had started to cut herself, her arm already covered in blood.

"Max!" She exclaimed worriedly as she rushed over to her and quickly took the shard out of her hand and putting it into one of her apron pockets.

Max looked up at her mom as she whimpered from the pain a little, starting to feel weak in the knees. "Would you care if I died?" She asked in a small voice before everything turned black.

***

Okay so I kinda hate this chapter but I needed to get something out. Anyways: cliffhanger! So cliche right? Hope you look forward to the next chapter lol