Chapter Six
🕰️
Time is Ticking

𓆩♡𓆪

"It was here. Right here," Max pointed to middle of the green and orange wall. Olivia, Nancy, and Robin made it back to the school and Max was trying to explain to everyone what she had seen.

            "A grandfather clock?" Olivia repeated.

            Max nodded slowly.  "It was so real," She shuddered. "And then when I got closer, suddenly I just... I woke up."

            "It was like she was in a trance," Dustin recounted.

            Olivia widened her eyes and looked to her right at Dustin. "That's exactly what Eddie said happened to Chrissy," She added.

            Max turned around to face the others. "That's not even the bad part," She gulped.

            Max then leaded to them Miss Kelley's office, showing them Fred and Chrissy's files. Olivia had only been to Miss Kelley's office a few amount of times before. A pang of guilt ignited inside of Olivia from looking at such personal information, but Steve was quick to assure her that this was the only way they could help Max and try to understand what was happening to her and how to fix it.

            Everyone huddled around Max, listening intently to what she was saying. "Fred and Chrissy, they both came into Miss Kelley's office for help. They both were having headaches, bad headaches that just wouldn't go away."

            Olivia froze at Max's words. Nancy folded her arms and exchanged a worried glance with Robin, remembering what Olivia had told them at the library. Bad headaches.

            Robin glanced to her right where Olivia was sitting next to her. "Headaches," Robin mouthed to her, extremely worried for the Henderson girl who was Robin's best friend. "Tell them," Robin added quietly, putting a comforting hand over Olivia's. Olivia shook her head, not wanting to put more stress on everyone. Robin sighed. Ever since they first met, Robin was quick to learn that Olivia always put others first before herself, and while that was admirable about her, she needed to take care of herself for a change.

            Noticing this small interaction, Dustin speaks up. "Tell us what?"

            Knowing Olivia wasn't going to answer, Robin decided to answer for her. Olivia having bad headaches was too big of a coincidence and everyone needed to know. "Back when we were at the library, Liv was telling me and Nance that she was having a bad headache."

            "And she was in a sort of trance, too," Nancy spoke up.

            Dustin hesitated and visible worry washed over him. "Liv, why didn't you tell us this?"

            "I didn't want to worry anyone," Olivia said honestly, shrugging her shoulders. "And I thought it was just a bad headache."

            "But I'm your brother," Dustin argued, a little disappointed that his sister hadn't informed him on this new information. He wasn't angry, just disappointed. "Remember, we made a pact all those years ago that we wouldn't keep secrets from each other."

            "I'm sorry, Dusty. I didn't think anything of it," Olivia sighed.

            "Max, what were the other symptoms Fred and Chrissy had?" Robin questioned.

            "Nightmares. Trouble sleeping. They'd wake up in a cold sweat. Then they started seeing things. Bad things from their pasts. These visions... they just kept getting worse and worse until eventually... everything ended," She trembled with fear as she spoke.

            "Vecna's curse," Robin concluded.

            "Liv, have you been experiencing any of these other symptoms?" Dustin asked with hesitation.

            "I've been having nightmares about Chrissy... and trouble sleeping," Olivia mumbled quietly.

            "How long have you been having these headaches?" The red head asked.

            Olivia tilted her head. "They just started today. Why?"

            "Chrissy's headaches started a weeks ago," Max explained. "Fred's, five days ago... I've been having them for five days. I don't know how long I have... or how long you have, Liv," She quavered, gesturing to Olivia. "All I know is that, for Fred and Chrissy, they both died less than 24 hours after their first vision. And I just saw that goddamn clock," She chuckled bitterly. "So... looks like I'm gonna die tomorrow."

            "And it looks like I'm gonna die in five or six days," Olivia pulled her knees closer to her chest and Dustin pulled an extra chair over to sit next to her. The thought of loosing Olivia scared him. Scratch that, it terrified him. And the same with Max.

            "No!" Steve said suddenly, his voice breaking a little. He had been quiet the whole discussion, unsure of what to say. He really wished Olivia had told him about this. Tears started to glisten in his eyes but he was quick to wipe them away. "T-there has to be some way that we can break the curse. We just, we need to figure out how we can save the both of you. I'm not letting you guys die." Steve was willing to do anything to figure out how to break Olivia from the curse. He couldn't loose her.

            Olivia stood up and walked slowly over to Steve until they were only a few inches apart. "I want to figure this out too, Steve. But how?" She asked. "You heard how Eddie described what happened to Chrissy. Maybe Victor Creel figured out a way to survive, but I'm not sure we can with so little time."

            A tear rolled down her cheek and the couple leans their foreheads against each other. "I love you, Liv. You're my world. I will do everything in my power to keep you and Max safe," Steve stated with determination.

            "I love you too, Steve," Olivia sniffed. She leaned her head into Steve's shoulder and let the tears fall, not wanting to pretend to be strong anymore.

            A distant sound of the door opening outside of Miss Kelley's office startled them. "Stay here," Steve ordered the group and grabbed a tall lamp from the desk before leaving Miss Kelley's office.

            Of course, the others, including Olivia ignored Steve's order and scurried behind him with their flashlights. Once they were all in the hallway, Olivia covered her face with her hands and clutched on to Dustin's shoulder, automatically preparing for the worst. Steve began to raise his lamp as they inched closer. When a figure suddenly appeared in front of them, she let out a scream along with the others and clutched on to her brother's side more.

            "It's me! It's me!" A familiar voice shrieked.

            Olivia hesitantly let go of Dustin and marched a few steps forward. "Lucas?!" She asked in disbelief. "Not cool. You just about scared me to death! All of us!" She exclaimed, waving her hands in the air to emphasize her point.

            "What's wrong with you Sinclair? I could've taken you out with this lamp!" Steve shouted frustratedly, shaking the lamp to make his point.

            "Sorry guys," Lucas panted. "I... I was biking for 8 miles. Give me a second," The boy paused for a minute and catched his breath before speaking up again. "We have a code red."

            Lucas stepped closer to the Henderson siblings. "Dustin, Liv. I've been with Jason, Patrick, and Andy and they've gone like, totally off the rails. They're trying to capture Eddie and they think that you and Liv know where he is," He warned, still panting. "The both of you are in terrible danger."

            Olivia and Dustin looked at each other before turning back to Lucas. Olivia put her hands on her hips and shook her head disapprovingly in a way that a mother would scold her son.

            "Alright, yeah, that definitely sucks but we've got bigger problems than Jason right now," Dustin heaved, looking at his sister worriedly then looked behind him at Max. The usual cheerful boy was oddly sad, thinking about the fate of his sister and his friend terrified him, and unless they could figure out how to break the curse, he wasn't going to ever stop worrying.

𓆩♡𓆪

            The next morning, everyone decided to meet up at the Wheeler's House. Olivia didn't know what it was, but there was something comforting about the Wheeler's home. Maybe it was from those long weekends she would spend watching Dustin and the rest of the party have D&D campaigns in the cozy basement, or maybe it was sleepovers with Nancy or maybe the late nights she spent babysitting little Holly and the warmth that was provided by the lovely and kind Karen Wheeler (maybe not so much Mr. Wheeler) to the home. Whatever it was, the Wheeler Household was like a second home to her.

            True to his words, Steve never left Olivia's side since she told everyone about having headaches and nightmares. As sweet as it was, it was a bit creepy having him watch her while she was asleep, or at least trying to sleep.

            Currently, Olivia sat in between Lucas and Dustin on the couch in the Wheeler's basement, trying to look deeper into the Victor Creel case and finding some answers.

            "Okay. Be honest. You guys understand any of this?" Steve asked cluelessly, scanning over the old newspaper.

            "Pretty straightforward," Dustin shrugged with Olivia nodding her head beside him.

            "Oh, straightforward, really?" Steve retorted.

            "What's confusing to you?" Dustin quizzed. "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," Steve exhaled. "How can Vecna have existed in the 50's? It doesn't make sense," He rubbed his temple in frustration with unanswered questions that were racing in his mind.

            "As far as we know, Eleven didn't create the upside down. She just opened a gate to it. The Upside Down has been around for thousands of years. Millions. I wouldn't be surprised if it predated the dinosaurs," Dustin guessed.

            Olivia zoned out a bit as the boys continued firing questions back and forth, not really paying attention to their discussion. Her eyelashes began to flutter when Dustin snapped his fingers in front of her face. "You alright, Liv?"

            "These questions are just making my brain hurt," Olivia answered. Looking passed Steve, Olivia's eyes landed on Max who was sitting on a desk faced away from them, writing intently. "Any idea what she's writing?" Olivia whispered so Max wouldn't hear her, but loud enough for the boys to hear her. "Did she sleep?"

            "I mean, did you sleep Liv?" Lucas queried.

            Olivia shrugged sheepishly in response before turning to Dustin. "You know, I hate lying to mom like this. For all we know, I could die in a few days from now and I don't like keeping it from her."

            "You know that keeping mom away from this we'll be safer for her," Dustin whispered. "I hate lying to her too, but it's for the best. And I promise, we are going to find a way to break this curse, together. You're my best friend, Liv, and there is no way I am loosing you, alright?"

            Olivia wiped a tear from her eye at Dustin's comforting words and nodded. The sound of footsteps marching down the stairs interrupted their discussion. Everyone turned around to see Nancy and Robin with a look of hopefulness in their eyes. "Okay, so... we have a plan," Nancy informed them.

             Nancy handed Dustin and Steve some files. "Thanks to Nancy's newspaper minions, we are now rock-star psychology students at the University of Notre Dame," Robin explained.

            "I'm now Ruth," Nancy stated.

            "And I'm Rose," Robin chipped in.

            Nancy then handed a file over to Olivia. "And Liv, you are now Rachel."

            "Rachel?" Steve looked at Olivia with a grin, quirking his eyebrows.

            "Nice GPA," Dustin complemented, looking over Nancy's resume.

            "Thanks," Nancy chirped. "So we called Pennhurst Asylum, told them we'd like to speak with Victor Creel for a thesis we're co-writing on paranoid schizophrenic's—"

            "To which they said no," Robin frowned.

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

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

            "Then maybe we can rid Max and Liv of this curse," Nancy finished.

            Steve turned his head around at Max before facing Nancy again. "About that... we've been doing our Victor Creel homework and we got some questions."

            "Lots of questions," Lucas emphasized.

            "So do we," Nancy nodded. "Hopefully, Victor has some answers."

            "Wait, wait, wait a second...." Steve shuffled through the files. "Uh, where's mine?"

𓆩♡𓆪

            "Nancy, you're out of mine if you think I'm babysitting again!" Steve complained as him and Olivia entered Nancy's room. "And if you think I'm letting Liv out of my sight—"

            Nancy turned around on her heel, facing Steve and interrupted him. "First of all, they're not babies anymore, and Max is in real danger. She needs people around her. Second of all, I know your worried about Liv, but we won't leave her side the entire time," She promised.

            "I know, but why does it always have to be me? Liv is supposed to be my partner in crime," Steve huffed. "Look, all I'm saying is that I think Liv would be safer here. Maybe it's not a good idea for her to go out."

            "Can you guys please stop talking about me like I'm not in the room?" Olivia folded her arms with a heavy sigh and took a seat on Nancy's bed. While it had only been less than 24 hours since they figured out she was cursed, she was tired of everyone acting like she was so fragile.

            Before the Steve or Nancy could reply, Robin entered the room giddily. "You have a Tom Cruise poster!" She said to Nancy. "You have a Tom Cruise poster," She repeated, wiggling here eyebrows.

            "That's... old, can you please just not touch anything?" Nancy asked irritably. Robin ignored the girls comment and continued to dig through Nancy's room, finding everything amusing.

            "I can't do anything here, Nance," Steve continued to say. "I don't know, maybe I could be helpful with this asylum director dude. I could turn on my like, charm."

            Nancy shook her head. "Not the kind of charm we need."

            "Ouch," Steve crossed his arms and leaned forward against the dresser.

            "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. This is a lifelong student of the world and if we're gonna win him over, we're gonna have to convince him that we are too. That like him, we are true academic scholars," Nancy explained. "And that's precisely why need Liv. She's good with people."

            "I don't know, I mean, maybe Steve's right," Olivia sided. "I know I'm supposed to be this Rachel, but the last thing I want to do is let you guys down. I'm not exactly in the right head space right now to talk to an academic scholar. Plus, I don't want to leave Dustin and Max really needs me right now."

            "What?" Nancy frowned, her expression faltering. "But Steve will be here. And we could really use your charm, Liv. I mean, everyone loves you."

            "That is true," Steve hummed. "You are lovable, Liv."

            Olivia blushed and could feel her cheeks heating up. "I'm not so sure about that. I'd be a stuttering mess. I think I'm better off if I stay here. And I don't think you'll need me, Nance."

            "Holy shit, there's a little ballerina in here," Robin grinned amusingly, holding up the music box on Nancy's dresser.

            "Academic scholar?" Steve pointed accusingly to Robin. "She's giving you an academic scholar vibe?"

            "No, but, she will..." Nancy dug through her closet before showing a pink top decorated with lots of ruffles which Olivia found cute.

            Robin wrinkled her nose in disgust. "Oh, please tell me that your joking."