Max pointed the flashlight to the wall "It was here. Right here"

"A Grandfather Clock?"

She took a deep breath  "It was so real. And then, when I got closer, suddenly I just.

"Max, come on."

"Max?"

"I woke up."

"It was like she was in a trance or something."

Madison began to catch on with Dustin, worry filling her eyes. "Exactly what Eddie said happened to Chrissy."

Max's voice quivered. "That's not even the bad part. Fred and Chrissy both came to Ms. Kelly for help. Uh, they both were having headaches, bad headaches that wouldn't go away. And then the nightmares." Trouble sleeping. They'd wake up in a cold sweat. Then they started seeing things. Bad things. From their pasts. These visions, just kept on getting worse and worse, until eventually, everything ended"

Robin looks at the papers,

"Vecna's curse."

Max held in tears, not wanting to cry in front of her sister. "Chrissy's headache started a week ago. Fred's, six days ago. I've been having them for five days."All I know is that Fred and Chrissy, they both died less than 24 hours after their first vision. And I just saw that goddamn clock, so looks like I'm going to die tomorrow."

Madison knelt on the counter and grabbed her file. Only three matched up, Past trauma, Nose bleeds, and nightmares.As she is about to open her mouth, A noise is heard in the distance.

"Stay here."

Steve walked towards the door with a lamp in his hand. However, the rest of the group didn't listen and followed behind. Madison touched the pocket knife in her pants, ready to take it out. He raised his weapon, suddenly everything stopped.

" It's me, Its me"

Madison is the first to speak up. "Lucas?"

"JESUS WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU SINClAIR!" Steve yelled

He is catching his breath. "I'm sorry.

Steve threw the lamp against the wall. "I could've taken you out with this lamp!"

"Sorry, guys.Sorry.I was biking for eight miles. Give me a second. Shit!"

Lucas takes a few minutes to catch his breath, he places his hands on his knees. "We've got a code red."

Madison furrowed her eyebrows "What?"

"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."

"Yeah, that sucks, but we've got bigger problems than Jason now."

Lucas made eye contact with Max, now understanding the situation

-------------------------------------------

The Next day:

"Okay, be honest. Uh, do You guys understand any of this?" Steve asked.

"No,"

"Pretty straightforward." Dustin said.

"Oh, straightforward?"

"Straightforward?" Madison mumbled, agreeing with her boyfriend.

"What's confusing to you? So far, everyone Vecna has cursed has died, except for this old Victor Creel dude Nancy found. He's the only known survivor. If anyone knows how to beat this Curse, it's him."

"That's assuming he was cursed, which we don't even know. How can Vecna have existed in the '50s? It doesn't make sense." Steve pointed out.

"Far as we know, El didn't create the Upside Down. She opened a gate to it. The Upside Down has probably been around for thousands of years. Millions. I wouldn't be surprised if it predated the dinosaurs."

Steve scoffed. "Dinosaurs? What are we - Okay.

Lucas joined in the conversation now. "Okay, Okay. But if a gate didn't exist in the '50s, how did Vecna get through?"

"How's he getting through now?" Madison asked

"And why now? And why then? Just pops out in the '50s, kills one family, and he's like, "I'm good. And poof, he just disappears. Just gone? Only to return 30 years later and start killing random teens? No, I don't buy it."

Steve points the newspaper at the young boy "Straightforward, my ass. Honestly, Henderson, a little humility now and then, wouldn't hurt you."

He sits down on a chair crossing his legs.

"Sorry"

The three focus their attention on Max, Madison is still looking the newspapers

"Any idea what she's writing?" Dustin asked

"Did she sleep?"

"I mean... would you?"

Nancy and Robin went down the stairs. Nancy being the first to speak. "Okay, so we have a plan."

Madison let out a sigh of relief. "Finally"

Nancy passes three files from the University of Notre Dame, one labeled Rose, and one labeled Ruth,

  " Thanks to Nancy's minions, we are now rock-star psychology students at the University of Notre Dame." Robin said.

Nancy has a smile on her face "I'm now Ruth."

"And I'm Rose." Robin replied.

"Ruth?"

"Nice GPA." Dustin complimented.

"Thanks"

"So, we called Pennhurst Asylum, and told them we'd like to speak with Creel for a thesis we're co-writing on paranoid schizophrenics." Nancy continued.

Robin cuts her off."To which they said no."

"But we landed a three o'clock with the director."Nancy concluded.

"Now, all we have to do is charm him and convince him to let us talk to Victor."

"Then maybe we can rid Max from this curse"

Madison swallowed a lump in her throat in response

Steve cuts in "About that. We've been doing our Victor Creel homework, and, uh we got some questions. "

"Lots of questions."

"So do we. Hopefully, Victor has the answers." Nancy said.

Steve closed the file folder noticing there was two instead of three.

"Wait a second. Uh Where's mine."

He followed the three ladies. "You guys are out of your minds if you think I'm babysitting again."

Nancy turned around to face him.

"First of all, they're not babies anymore. And Max is in real danger. She needs people around her."

" I know but why does it have to be me"

Madison had enough already, she lets out a sigh. " I don't know, maybe because Max is in danger. So will you stop complaining already."

Robin raised an eyebrow at Nancy

"Oh my God, you have a Tom Cruise poster. You have a Tom Cruise poster."

"That's old. Can you not touch anything?"

"I just can't do anything here,Nance. Maybe I can be helpful with this asylum director dude. Steve snapped his fingers. "I don't know. I could like turn on my charm."

Madison joined in once again. "Not the kind of charm they need."

"Ouch," Steve muttered.

"No, I just... I did a little digging last night, and it turns out this Dr. Hatch is a distinguished fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and a Harvard visiting scholar, okay? This is a lifelong student of the world. If we're gonna win him over, we're gonna have to convince him we are too. That, like him...we are true academic scholars."

"Holy shit there's a little ballerina in here." Robin whispered excited.

Steve lets out a scoff, pointing directly at Robin "Academic scholar? She is giving you an academic scholar vibe."

Robin closed the music box and rolled her eyes

"No, but she will"

Nancy grabbed a pink long-sleeve top with ruffles and buttons while Madison grabbed a tie-dye skirt. Slight fear fills Robins voice.

"Oh, please, tell me you're joking."

---------------------------------

They stare at Max who is writing something. She turned her head" I know you guys are staring at me."

"What, sorry?"

"You said you needed something?"

"I just got here."

"Just hanging out."

Max let's out a sigh

"How you think your eyes boring into the back of my head is protecting me from Vecna, I don't know."

She stands up and walks toward them with a pile of letters and gives one to her sister. Madison looked at her, worry in her eyes.The boys were still pretending to not see her standing in front of them.

Max got their attention. "You can look at me now."

They replied with Thank you and sorry.

"For you."

She passed a letter to Dustin.

"For you"

She passed a letter to Steve.

"And, um, you."

The final letter is given to Lucas.

"Oh, and, um, give these to Mike, El, and Will. If you can ever get a hold of them again."

Steve and Dustin start to open theirs

"What are you doing? No, don't. That's not for now. Don't open it now. Don't Okay."

"I'm sorry. What is this?" Dustin asked

"It's, um it's a fail-safe. For after. If things don't work out."

"Wait, whoa. Max, things are going to work out." Lucas tried to reassure

"No! No, I don't need you to reassure me and tell me it's all going to work out. 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. "

It is silent, Max walks over to the small table and grabs a Walkie. "If we go to East Hawkins, will this reach Pennhurst"

"Of course."

"Yeah."

"Why are we talking about East Hawkins?"

"No."

Max walked out the door.

"No.No! Max, Max.Seriously.Seriously, I'm not joking. I'm not driving you anywhere."

"We're running out of time here. So just take her where she wants to go." Madison snapped

"If you think I'm going to spend what is likely the last day of my life in the armpit that is Mike Wheeler's basement, you're out of your mind. 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, Steve, I swear to God, I will prosecute."

"Open the door."

"Uh, no"

"I know a good lawyer." Max informed him.

Madison crossed her arms, her eyebrows are raised

"We do".

Steve pointed to Dustin. "Henderson, that super walkie of yours better reach Pennhurst."

A/N: Running Up That Hill is stuck in my head. Thanks Max. I love this episode, I even own the jacket