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𝗠𝗢𝗢𝗡𝗟𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧

𝓬𝓱𝓪𝓹𝓽𝓮𝓻 𝓽𝓱𝓻𝓮𝓮:
"𝚐𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝚑𝚒𝚖 𝚖𝚢 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎."

╚═════ ∘◦ ミ ☾ ◦∘ ══════╝

"YOU LOOK FUCKING stupid."

Just like she had said, Mackenzie had gotten up extra early to see Mike off before he left for California. Despite absolutely hating the fact that her alarm went off at three-thirty in the morning, she had managed to pull herself out of bed. She didn't change out of her pajamas, but she did pull on her jacket and her shoes. Mackenzie had then climbed out of her window and down the tree, making sure what she had for Will was in her pocket.

Upon arriving at Mike's house on her bike, she saw the boy in question leaning against his car outside. It was still dark, but through the light on the house, Mackenzie could see his absolutely ridiculous outfit.

It seemed like he had dressed in what he probably thought all Californians dressed in. Mike was clad in a floral visor, white sunglasses that were chained around his neck, a blue t-shirt, a yellow button-up shirt on top of that, gray shorts, and flip flops. Even in her tired state, Mackenzie had laughed immediately.

Mike rolled his eyes. "Wow, thanks, Kenzie. Like you could've done better."

"I actually could've done a hell of a lot better," Mackenzie replied. "But you won't get to see it, because I'm not going with you."

He immediately frowned at the sad tone in her voice. "I'm sorry you couldn't go, Kenzie. If it makes you feel any better, my parents had offered to your mom to buy your plane ticket."

She shrugged, a sad smile on her face. "I don't think it would've mattered. She was just so firm on me not going. I'm not sure why, though. She knows it was to visit Will." Mackenzie then reached into her pocket and pulled out the envelope that said Will on it. "Oh, give this to him, would you?"

Mike took it from her and looked down at the envelope. "What's inside?"

"A letter. Just tell him that he can read it whenever."

Mackenzie remembered sitting down to write the letter. It was the day when it was too late for any plans of her going to California to be made. She was so angry and upset, because all she wanted to do was see Will because she hadn't seen him in months, but no. The universe (well, more so her mother) was against her.

Therefore, she decided to write a letter. It also occurred to Mackenzie that the day Mike would land was Will's birthday, and she absolutely hated the fact that she wouldn't be there to celebrate with him like she had done every year. The least she could do was write him a letter as a sort-of present. So Mackenzie had sat down at her desk with a pencil and a piece of paper, and she had just wrote.

Dear Will,

Do you think I could fit in Mike's suitcase? Maybe if he shuffled some things around I could curl up small enough.

Words cannot even describe how much I hate that I couldn't come. I mean, my mom made a promise to the both of us that I could, but she just went and broke it. For whatever reason, she just kept saying no.

Things have been okay here. Still on the cheer team, which is great. I actually love it a lot. Hawkins High isn't the same without you, though. Being in a new environment, especially without you like it has been since we were three . . . it's scary. At least I got to stay in Hawkins. You had to move to a whole new state with a lot of new people.

I really wish I could leave this stupid town. Even with the whole Upside Down thing being over, it's still hell. It would be a lot better with you. But I understand that you had to go. After everything that happened to you and Eleven, it just makes sense.

Have a good spring break, honey. I'll make sure to tell Mike to give you an extra hug from me. Hope you don't third wheel too hard with Mike and El — but if you do, just tell Mike I'll smack him upside the head when he comes back. Threats from me usually work with him.

P.S. Happy 15th birthday ☺ I wish I could be there to celebrate it with you!!! Sorry that I wasn't able to send you a present, I wasn't sure if it would get crushed or lost on the plane ride. The next time I'll see you in person I will make sure to buy you an actual present (and no complaints, it's going to happen). I did include a picture of us that I found, though, so hopefully that will be a good enough present for a little while. Have a good day, make the most of it!

Love you lots,
Mack ♡

And the picture — Mackenzie was cleaning out one of her drawers when she found a Polaroid. It was of her and Will — obviously — about a month after they started dating. They were sitting at a diner in the same side of the booth. Chocolate milkshakes and a basket of fries were sat on the table, half eaten. It must've been a candid shot, because neither of them were looking at the camera. Mackenzie was laughing, her eyes squinted slightly shut. Will was looking over at her, nothing but amusement and adoration written all over his features. A moment of pure joy captured on film.

"Any other instructions?" Mike asked.

"Yeah, a couple," Mackenzie revealed. "Tell Jonathan I miss him lots. Um, squeeze El a little tighter for me when you hug her and say that Max and I aren't the same without her. And Will, well . . ." She let out a breath. "Give him my love."

Mike nodded at her once. "Will do."

Karen Wheeler then came out of the house. "Mike, you ready?"

"Yeah," Mike responded.

Karen then walked up to the two of them, smiling at Mackenzie. "Good morning, Kenzie. Here to send Mike off?"

Mackenzie grinned back at her. "Yep. Couldn't let him leave without saying goodbye."

"Oh, you two are so cute." She reached forwards and squeezed Mackenzie's shoulder. "I'm so sorry your mom didn't allow you to go, sweetie. I tried to talk to her, but she just refused."

"It's okay," Mackenzie reassured her, even though it really wasn't. "I gave Mike a letter I wrote to Will, so hopefully that'll be enough."

"Well, maybe Will can come here for the summer," Karen suggested, evidently trying to make Mackenzie feel better. "Wouldn't that be fun?"

"Yeah, it would."

Ted Wheeler then came out of the house, grumbling about how it was too early and that he needed some coffee. Karen rolled her eyes at her husband and looked back at Mike.

"We should go before your father changes his mind," Karen voiced. "Kenzie, you can come over whenever, even if Mike's not here. I'm sure Nancy would love to see you."

"Thanks, Mrs. Wheeler," Mackenzie said.

Karen smiled softly at her once more before rounding around the house to get in the passenger seat of the car.

Mackenzie let out a sigh and turned back towards Mike. Instantly, the taller boy leaned down and pulled Mackenzie into a tight hug. Mackenzie shut her eyes and hugged him back, resting her cheek against his chest while his chin rested on the top of her head.

"Be careful, okay?" Mackenzie told him, her voice slightly muffled. "Please say hi to them for me."

"I will," Mike stated. He picked up his chin and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "Bye, Kenzie. See you in a week."

"Bye, Mike."

The two untangled from one another. Mike gave her a fleeting grin before getting in the backseat of his car. Mackenzie stood off to the side, crossing her arms across her chest as Ted turned the car on. She watched as the car backed out of the driveway onto the street. Mackenzie gave a little wave to the car and continued to stand in the Wheeler's driveway as the car went down the street.

Mackenzie shook her head, feeling her heart sink to the pit of her stomach as the car went out of sight. She hated this. Of course she was happy Mike got to see Eleven, but the boy Mackenzie had wanted to see for months had been so close in her reach only for it to be snatched away from her hands.

She picked up her pink bike and got on. Mackenzie pedaled back to her house in the dark, the only light issuing from the street lamps. She was back home within five minutes and got off her bike, leaning it against the front of her house. Mackenzie walked to the side of her house and climbed back up the tree.

Mackenzie climbed in through her window and settled back onto her feet in her dark room. However, she immediately froze in her tracks upon seeing the stern figure of her mother sitting on her bed, looking tired and still in her pajamas, but anger was etched onto her features.

"Where were you?" Elizabeth instantly demanded, her voice quiet due to Megan sleeping in the room over.

"Mike's," Mackenzie answered simply, taking her shoes and jacket off before walking over to her bedroom door. "I was saying goodbye and giving him a present for Will."

Mackenzie opened her bedroom door and walked out, starting to descend down the stairs. She heard the squeak of her bed and footsteps, which meant that her mother was following her down.

"Do not walk away from me, Mackenzie," Elizabeth ordered. "You can't just leave at four in the morning."

She didn't respond. Mackenzie wandered into the kitchen and walked over to the cabinet. She heard her mother sigh.

"You're mad at me," Elizabeth announced.

"Really?" Mackenzie countered, still not looking at Elizabeth as she grabbed a glass from the cabinet. "Where'd you get that idea from?"

"I don't know, maybe it's because you keep sneaking out without telling me where you're going, and how you've been basically ignoring me for a week."

Mackenzie walked to the sink and started to fill her glass with water. "Maybe I wouldn't be acting in such a way if you kept your promise." Once her glass was filled, she turned off the water and looked at her mother. "You promised not only me, but Will, when he was here for Christmas that I would be allowed to go to California over spring break. Quite literally. Your exact words were Kenzie can go to California over spring break, I promise you I'll make it happen. Do you know what you didn't do? Make it happen. And do you know where I should be right now? California."

"Well, sorry if I don't want my daughter traveling to another state alone," Elizabeth argued.

"But I wouldn't have been alone! I would've been with Mike! You know Mike. And the whole other state had Will, mom. Will! Remember, he's the boy that I've been best friends with since I was three? Nothing about your excuses make sense."

"They're logical reasons—"

Mackenzie scoffed. "None of the responses you gave me have been logical. It's like you don't want me to be happy. Will makes me happy, and I'm truly myself around him. Haven't you seen that I've been off since he left?"

"Well, what if I told you that I didn't allow you to go because I don't like the attachment you have to Will?" Elizabeth admitted.

Mackenzie felt her entire body freeze. She almost dropped her glass, but thankfully, she managed to hold on. Her eyes widened as she stared a her mother. Elizabeth seemed to regret what she had said, pressing her shoulder further into the wall she was leaning on.

"You don't know the things he's been through," Mackenzie whispered, her voice slightly shaking. "As his best friend, I have seen him at his lowest. So God forbid I have an attachment to him, only because I don't want to see him get hurt." She walked towards the stairs. "Goodnight."

"Mackenzie—" Elizabeth began.

"Goodnight."

With that, Mackenzie climbed the stairs and went back to her bedroom with her mother, feeling absolutely sick to her stomach.

༻✦༺༻✧༺༻✦༺

IT WAS HARD to sleep last night after her argument with her mother in the kitchen, but nevertheless, Mackenzie had managed to fall asleep at around five in the morning. However, it felt like she had slept about five minutes when rapid knocking was heard at her door. Mackenzie groaned and rolled over in her bed, shoving her face into her pillow.

"Go away, mom," Mackenzie mumbled. "I don't want to talk."

"It's not your mom," a familiar voice admitted.

Mackenzie's eyes instantly shot open and she sat up in bed, staring at her door in confusion. "Max?"

The girl in question opened the door. Mackenzie's eyebrows knit in concern as she stared at Max. She looked panicked and her hair and clothes were slightly disheveled. Max walked into her room and shut the door behind her.

"I have news," Max admitted. "And you're not going to like it."

"What is it?" Mackenzie inquired, feeling her own panic rise up into her chest.

"We have to go to Dustin's first. Trust me, Kenzie."

Mackenzie nodded slightly. "Okay, just let me get ready."

Seeing how Max was clearly on-edge, Mackenzie got ready fairly quickly. She brushed her teeth and hair before putting her hair in a ponytail. Mackenzie then got dressed in a pair of jeans, a pink and white striped t-shirt, a denim jacket, and her pink Converse. She also grabbed her backpack of some things that she might need.

"Have you seen the news?" Max asked as they walked down the steps of Mackenzie's house once Mackenzie was ready.

Mackenzie shook her head. "No. You just woke me up. What happened?"

"A student from Hawkins High died. And I know who, and I know what happened."

"Then why are we waiting to get to Dustin's for you to tell me?"

Max looked over at her once they were outside by the bikes. "Because something else happened, and . . . and you're going to want to be sitting down when I tell you the news."

With that, Max got on her bike. She gave Mackenzie a look, urging her to get on her bike. Mackenzie, still hopelessly confused, got on her own bike. The two of them headed towards Dustin's house, which, like Mike's, was only five minutes away.

Once they got there, they left their bikes on the front lawn and walked up to the door. Max rang the doorbell, and a couple seconds later, Dustin answered the door. He looked in between Mackenzie and Max, his eyebrows knit together. Dustin let them inside, and leaving his sobbing mother in the living room, he brought them to his bedroom. He shut the door behind them.

"What's the matter?" Dustin immediately questioned. "Not that I don't want you see you two, but . . . why are you here?"

"Max apparently knows who died and what happened," Mackenzie answered. "Take it away, Max."

Max let out a deep breath. "When I was home last night, I went to go feed the dog at my next door neighbor's house. Eddie Munson lives across from me, and he pulled up to his trailer in that van of his. However, he wasn't alone. Chrissy Cunningham was with him."

Mackenzie's eyebrows raised. "Chrissy Cunningham? Like, ray of sunshine, head of the cheer team, Chrissy Cunningham? What the fuck was she doing with Eddie?"

"Maybe they're friends," Dustin suggested.

Mackenzie blinked at him. "That is I think the stupidest thing you've ever said. Jason Carver would throw himself off a cliff before letting someone like Eddie Munson even look at his girlfriend."

"You've got a point."

"Guys," Max cut in. "But this morning, I woke up to a bunch of cops coming into the trailer park. I went outside to investigate, only to see that Eddie was gone, and . . ." She gave a nervous glance to Mackenzie. "Chrissy was in his trailer, dead on the floor."

Mackenzie suddenly felt like she got punched in the stomach. She froze, her eyes widening and her heart beating faster. Her mind started to spin. Max's words rang throughout her head. Chrissy. Dead.

"No, no, that can't be true," Mackenzie insisted, her eyes filling with tears as she looked at Max, begging for all of this to be a lie. "Please tell me it's not true."

"I'm so sorry, Kenzie," Max responded quietly.

Mackenzie stumbled backwards, landing on Dustin's bed. She stared at the floor, heartbreak succumbing her entire body. Chrissy, the one who got her on the cheer team, the one who was patient with her, and quite possibly the sweetest girl Mackenzie had ever met . . . dead?

Dustin sat down next to Mackenzie on his bed and put an arm around her comfortingly. Mackenzie leaned her head against his shoulder, tears beginning to fall down her face. Sure, she wasn't that close with Chrissy, but they were still friends. It was hard to imagine a world that Chrissy's light wouldn't be in anymore.

"Chrissy Cunningham?" Dustin repeated incredulously. "You're sure it was Chrissy?"

"Yes, she was in her cheerleader outfit," Max replied, and Mackenzie let out a sob. Dustin pulled her in a little closer at that. "It was the same thing she was in when I saw her with Eddie."

"Did you tell all this to the cops?"

"No. No, but I — I can't be the only one who saw them together. I mean, they stood out."

"Eddie the freak with Chrissy the cheerleader?" Dustin continued. "Kenzie's right, that's weird."

"Exactly," Max agreed. "You know, his name's not in the news yet or anything, but I guarantee you, Eddie is suspect number one right now."

"That's crazy. Eddie didn't do this. No way. No way."

Mackenzie picked her head up, wiping away some of the tears off of her face. "Dustin, he was the last person seen . . . seen with her. It — it only makes sense."

Max nodded. "We can't rule it out."

"Yes, we can," Dustin argued.

"Dustin!"

"You don't know him like I do, you two. Okay? When we got to high school, Lucas made all his sports friends, and so did Kenzie. Mike and me? I mean, no one was nice to us. No one except Eddie."

"Okay, well, I mean, they said the same shit about Ted Bundy," Max voiced. "Yeah, he's, like, a super nice guy, but then he's murdering women on the weekend."

"So you're saying Eddie is like Ted Bundy?" Dustin inquired.

"That's not what she meant," Mackenzie let out, her voice thick from crying, and she sniffled. "Chrissy is . . ." She paused for a moment and swallowed nervously. "She's dead in Eddie's trailer, and that's not a good look for him."

Dustin looked up at Max. "Why haven't you told the cops this?"

Max crossed her arms. "I — I don't know."

"You don't know?"

Max hesitated for a moment before sitting next to Mackenzie on the bed. "After I saw Eddie and Chrissy go in the trailer . . . something else happened. I was trying to get the television to work again, but then the lights started to flicker. Then somebody screamed. It was Eddie, and he ran out of his house before driving away frantically. Nothing that weird or anything. I mean, Eddie always drives like a maniac and the power goes off at my place all the time, it's a piece of shit, but . . . this morning, I started to think back, and . . . I don't know. The look on his face . . . he was scared, you guys. Really scared. Maybe he was scared because, you know, he — he just killed someone, or, maybe um . . . maybe be — because . . . I don't — I don't know, maybe . . ."

"Something else killed her," Dustin finished.

Mackenzie slowly straightened up, all the pieces coming together in her mind as tears continued to drip down her cheeks. The lights flickering was a normal occasion to some, but to Mackenzie and her friends, it meant something else entirely. She suddenly got transported back into the hospital last summer, where the lights had started to flicker before Will announced that the Mind Flayer was there. And if Eddie truly looked that terrified . . . maybe Chrissy's death was by something that wasn't from this dimension, but a parallel one that had caused their lives to become a total hell ever since Will Byers went missing that fateful night.

"But that's impossible," Max insisted. "Right?"

"Not sure," Mackenzie answered quietly, dragging her palm against her cheek again. "It . . . it should be, but then again, we thought that before, too."

"There's only one person who knows what actually happened," Dustin stated.

Max nodded. "Eddie."

The three of them immediately stood up and got their backpacks, Dustin grabbing onto Mackenzie's hand and holding it tightly since she was still crying.

"Have you talked to anyone else?" Dustin asked to Max.

"No," Max replied. "I can't find Lucas or Nancy, and Mike's in—"

"California. Shit, shit, shit."

"Dusty, where are you going?" his mother cried.

"To see a friend," Dustin responded, opening the door to let Mackenzie and Max through.

"You heard the news, it's not safe."

"Good point, we'll be extra careful, thanks mom, I love you, bye."

Mackenzie sniffled again and tried to wipe off as many tears as she could. If something from the Upside Down was striking again and taking more people . . . God, they were so fucked.

☾     ★     ☽

JUST WATCHED THE TRAILER FOR VOL2 AND I FEEL PHYSICALLY ILL

anyways

when it was will's birthday at the roller rink and everybody forgot including the duffers :(

THE OWN DAMN WRITERS OF THE SHOW FORGOT ABOUT WILL'S BIRTHDAY AND EVERYONE FORGOT I'M STILL CRYING NOBODY SAID HAPPY BIRTHDAY AND HE DIDN'T SAY ANYTHING WILL MY BABY

bob newby would've remembered his birthday 😭✋🏻

ALSO WHY IS WILL SOBBING INTO JONATHAN IN THE VOL2 TEASER I'M SO SCARED OH GOD LEAVE HIM ALONE HASN'T HE BEEN THROUGH ENOUGH