EPISODE FOUR
dear billy.

A GASP left nova's lips as she woke up, coughing slightly she looked at the group who were staring at her with wide eyes. "nova! jesus christ. are you okay?"

robin and nancy had just got to the door as they looked at nova with a frown, seeing everyone crowded around her.

"a clock." she whispered, they frowned. "what?" max asked as she held her sisters hand. "i saw...a clock. out there." her shakey hand pointed to the door as she stood up.

she walked towards where the clock was, the group following but she frowned when she noticed it wasn't there anymore. their flashlights pointed at the empty wall as she sighed.

"it was here. right here." she spoke, tears filling her eyes. "a grandfather clock?" nancy asked as nova nodded. "it was so real..." she whispered.

"and then, when i got closer, suddenly i just...i heard a voice, then i woke up." she whispered, they all shared a look.

"it was like she was in a trance or something." dustin spoke up. "exactly what eddie said happened to chrissy."

"that's not even the bad part." she turned around slowly to face them. they all made their way back to the office as she began to explain.

"fred and chrissy, they both came to ms. kelly for help. uhm...they were both having headaches, bad headaches that wouldn't go away. and then...then the nightmares. trouble sleeping...they'd wake up in a cold sweat. then they started seeing things. bad things. from their pasts...and these visions, they just...they kept on getting worse and worse, until eventually...everything ended." she spoke, her voice breaking as tears filled her eyes.

max shook her head as she knew what nova was about to say, "vecna's curse." robin said, not sure on where nova was going on this.

"chrissy's headache started a week ago...fred's six days ago. i've been having them for five days." she spoke, their eyes widened at her words, steve's hand going to his mouth and they seemed to piece it together as she spoke.

"i don't know h-how long i have. all i know is that, for fred and chrissy, they both died less than twenty four hours after their first vision...and i just saw that goddamn clock, so." she waved her arm about as a tear rolled down dustin's cheek.

"looks like i'm gonna die tomorrow."

all of a sudden, a clang could be heard outside and they all jumped as they turned around. "stay here." steve spoke before walking out, not before grabbing a lamp.

they all shared a look before going after him as steve had his lamp raised. all of a sudden, lucas popped out and they all screamed as steve went to attack him, "it's me! it's me!" he screamed loudly, "lucas?" nancy exclaimed.

"it's me!" lucas sighed, out of breath. "jesus! what's wrong with you, sinclair?" steve yelled, "i'm sorry!" lucas spoke between gasps for air as relief filled nova's body.

"i could've taken you out with this lamp!" steve continued, "sorry, guys...sorry." he breathed. "i was biking...for eight miles. one second." he pointed at them before taking a minute to catch his breath.

"we've got a code red." he spoke as they all frowned, "what?" steve asked as lucas walked over to dustin.

"dustin. i've been with jason, patrick and andy, and they've gone totally off the rails! they're trying to capture eddie, and they think you know where he is! you're in terrible danger!"

"all right. yeah, that definitely sucks, but we've got bigger problems than jason now." dustin sighed as he pointed at nova.

lucas' eyes landed on her, and just by taking one look at her face, he immediately knew something was wrong. he watched as her lip trembled and tears filled her eyes before she quickly made her way towards him and flung her arms around him.

"what's wrong? what's happened?" he wrapped his arms around her back. nova didn't reply, she didn't know how to say to the boy she love—liked—that she was going to die tomorrow.

THE GROUP had stayed over mike wheeler's basement overnight and whilst nova sat at the desk, scribbling away all night, they had explained to lucas everything they knew, beginning to now.

she ignored what was going on and what they were saying as she continued to write the letters, finishing billy's last, she sealed it up, before she stopped. "i know you guys are staring at me."

they all jumped up and pretended to do something else, "what? sorry?" dustin asked, "huh? do you need something?" lucas asked. "we're just hanging out." steve said. max rolled her eyes at them.

"how you think your eyes boring into the back of my head is protecting me from vecna, i don't know." she gathered up the letters and stood up, walking over to them.

she blinked at them when they continued to look around as if they weren't looking at her. "you can look at me now."

"thank you."
"sorry."
"sorry."

she sighed slightly and let out a breath, "for you...for you, one for you, max...and, uh, one for you." she handed them each an envelope as they frowned, "oh, and...give these to will and el, and mike if you can ever get a hold of them again." she handed them to lucas.

she stood back awkwardly and they began to open them as she frowned, waving her hands about.

"wait, what are you doing? don't open that. that's not for now." she snapped as dustin jumped, chucking them envelope out of his hands. "don't...okay. sorry."

"i'm sorry...what is this?" dustin asked with a frown. "uh...it's, um. it's a fail-safe. for after...if things don't work out." she spoke slowly. max shot up from her seat and shook her head. "what?! no!"

"wait woah. nov. things are gonna work out—" lucas began with wide eyes, "no." she stopped him. "no, i don't need you to reassure me and tell me it's all gonna work out. because people have been telling me that my entire life and it's almost never true...it's never true."

"i mean, of course this asshole curses me. should've seen that one coming." she scoffed slightly and looked down.

they all stared at her with wide eyes as she turned around and grabbed the walkie talkie. "if we go to east hawkins...will this still reach pennhurst?" she asked, remembering she overheard robin and nancy were going there.

"of course." dustin said, shrugging. "why are we talking about east hawkins?" it seemed everyone except max was confused on what was in east hawkins.

"no...no! no!" steve shook his head when he realised nova wanted to go there.

she rolled her eyes and grabbed billy, susan and her mom and dads letter before heading up the stairs. "i need to go to our place first."

they all chased after her as she walked out to steve's car. "nova! seriously! i'm not joking. i'm not driving you anywhere."

"steven, if you think i'm going to spend the last day of my life in mikes basement, aka, my least favourite person on this planet, then you're out of your mind. so either take me where i need to go, or tie me down, which is technically kidnapping of a minor. and if i live to see another day, i will prosecute." she snapped, trying to open to door and realising it was locked. "open the door."

"no!" he scoffed, "i know a good lawyer." she didn't. he looked at her and she glared. he sighed and unlocked the door as she smiled.

"henderson, that super walkie of yours better reach pennhurst." he said as he got in the car.

as nova was about to get in the car, she heard a clock chiming, and slowly turned around, before closing her eyes and getting in the car.

the drive was awful, nova was seated in the middle of max and lucas, and he kept staring at her the whole time as if that would protect her.

they arrived at nova and max's trailer, and nova quickly got out, ignoring steve telling her to be quick. she flipped him off in response and went inside. she made it to the sofa and coffee table and set out the letters.

susan. dad. mom.

she sighed and stood up to go when she saw susan outside doing the laundry. she raised her brows and walked over. "susan?"

"hey, nov. i thought you and max were with your friends today?" she asked as nova walked over, "we were...we are. i just came to say...wait, shouldn't you be at work?" she asked.

susan smiled warmly. "oh, mr. bradley let me off early. so i'm just catching up on some chores." she pointed as nova nodded with a small smile.

"uh...i left some...some letters inside. for you, uhm...my dad, and...my mom if you can even find her..." she spoke slowly.

"letters? i don't understand..." susan frowned as nova sighed, "uh...i just...um. w-with all the murders and everything, i...i know it's stupid, but i just started to think, 'what if...something happens to me'?" she said as susan sighed.

"nov, sweetie. nothing is going to happen to you." she began with a chuckle, "i know. but if...if it did. i just...there's so many things i want...that i need to say. and..." her voice cracked as she spoke, "just promise you'll give the letters out."

"nova...you're scaring me." she spoke slowly. "i'm not trying to scare you." she whispered back, "is something going on, nova?"

"no." she immediately shook her head. "no. you're right. i'll be fine. i'm just being silly." she put on a fake smile. "but...thank you for...everything." she smiled as she hugged susan.

"it's okay...nothings is going to happen, darling." susan hugged the girl who had grown to be her daughter.

"...nothing you don't deserve." she spoke as nova's heart fell. the sky has turned dark and she could barely see. she struggled against susan's grip and tried to pull away, "let me go...let me go." she whimpered.

"nova." a dark voice said as it stroked her back, "you think some letters are going to make things right? you've broken everything." memories of billy's death and seeing the clock filled her mind as she looked at who was in front of her. vecna.

"your time is almost at an end." vecna spoke as she widened her eyes, "let go!" she screamed, falling back onto the ground.

she opened her eyes and it was back to normal, except susan wasn't there. she scrambled up from her position on the floor and ran out of the garden and towards steve's car who was stood outside.

"that was more than twenty seconds! wait, are you okay?" he asked with wide eyes. "please can we just go." she spoke hurriedly.

"did something happen?" lucas asked worriedly as she got inside, "can we please just go?" she snapped as steve drove off hurriedly.

you know what the next chapter is :))))