CHAPTER 26: MAD MAD

All these people think love's for show,
But I would die for you in secret
— Peace, Taylor Swift

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 　　 *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

November 4th, 1994: Junkyard

DAPHNE COULD THINK OF A LOT OF WAYS SHE WOULD LIKE to spend her Sunday night, but hauling metal sheets from one end of a junkyard to another was certainly not one of them. She huffed under her breath as she tossed another metal sheet over her shoulder, snapping a nail as she did so. God, what a waste of a manicure.

Steve and Max were helping her, while Dustin and Lucas were having a rather heated argument at the other end of the junkyard. Daphne had been avoiding Max like the plague, almost dropping a sheet of metal on her own feet when Max got too close to her but eventually, she could avoid her no longer.

Steve had disappeared to yell at the other kids and she and Max were left by themselves to move the metal sheets. Daphne felt her pulse quicken again. She had never spoken to Max and she didn't know if the girl would be anything like Billy. But there was something... soft about the redhead and although she was blatantly staring at Daphne, there was no malice in her gaze, just mere curiosity.

"You're Billy's girlfriend, right?" she asked finally, causing Daphne to nervously meet her gaze. "Daphne?"

Daphne nodded stiffly. "I am. But...I would really appreciate it if you didn't tell him about any of this. He's going to be annoyed already that I blew him off today—"

"I was going to ask the same thing from you," interrupted Max, her eyebrows creasing in the centre of her forehead. "Wait, why don't you want Billy to know where you are?"

Daphne looked away, biting her lip. "Steve is kind of my ex-boyfriend. And Billy doesn't know anything about this stuff, either. It's just too complicated to tell him anything."

"Okay," said Max, but Daphne didn't miss the confusion still present in her gaze.

"Thank you."

"What do you see in him?" asked Max after a few beats of silence, taking Daphne by surprise. "I mean, you seem like an okay person. Billy's a dick. So why are you with him?"

Daphne blinked. "Er... Well, he looks out for me, you know? He makes sure that other guys don't give me a hard time. They leave me alone when I'm with Billy."

"You don't seem like the kind of girl that needs a guy for protection," said Max bluntly. "When Dustin and Lucas talked about you, they made it seem like you were this...this smart, strong person who wasn't afraid of anything."

"They talk about me?" asked Daphne, slightly touched. Max nodded, shrugging slightly. "Well, as sweet as that is... it's not exactly true. I wish it was, but the truth is I'm scared of a lot of things."

"And you're not scared of Billy?" frowned Max, jutting her chin out. "I've seen the way he talks to you... the way he treats you..." Daphne's mind flashed to the choking incident. "He's not going to change, Daphne. Trust me, I would know."

"I know," said Daphne, after a beat. "I don't really expect him to. You probably won't understand this, but sometimes it's easier to do what people expect of you than to go against the crowd."

"Just because it's easier doesn't mean it's better," replied Max sharply. "You shouldn't let people tell you who you are, Daphne. Especially not my brother."

Daphne felt a jolt of something in her chest. She couldn't quite place the feeling, but it was familiar. Like a memory that had been kickstarted deep inside of her. Max's words resonated with her more than she knew. Her relationship with Billy had been shaving away the little parts of the old Daphne that she had left. If she kept it up much longer, she would be gone forever. And for the first time in a long time, Daphne didn't want to lose who she used to be.

Maybe it was because of the way Lucas and Dustin talked about her... strong, smart, fearless. Maybe it was the way Max looked at her like she believed in her. Or maybe it was Steve Harrington and the fact that he still loved her after everything she had put him through. She must have done something right to earn that. So maybe, just maybe, she was worth saving after all.

The two girls were interrupted by the arrival of Steve, armed with several loose pieces of rope. Daphne cleared her throat and the two girls stepped back to allow him to secure the ladder to the bus. They had been so caught up in their conversation that they had forgotten what they had previously been doing, causing them to jump back into it flustered and awkward.

By the time they had finished fixing up the bus, the sky was already fading into a soft orange. The door was fixed and the windows were boarded up with metal sheets and wooden planks. Daphne took a quick walk around the perimeter, checking for any weak spots, but fortunately, everything seemed pretty solid. They could only hope that it would stay that way.

Once the sun disappeared behind the trees, Daphne retreated onto the bus to rest. She knew that Demogorgons mainly hunted at night, so all they could do now was wait. She moved towards the back of the vehicle as the kids piled on after her, her heart somersaulting in her chest and her mind racing with the possibilities of everything that could go wrong.

The apprehensive feeling in her stomach multiplied as every second passed. Half an hour into the stakeout, Lucas disappeared up to the top of the bus to look for the Demogorgon with his binoculars. Daphne stayed rooted at the back of the bus, her knees pulled to her chest to keep in the warmth.

"So you really fought one of these before?" enquired Max, breaking the heavy silence that lingered palpably in the air. Daphne didn't fail to notice the fear in the girl's eyes, and her heart softened slightly, remembering how she had felt the first time she'd encountered the Upside Down. She nodded stiffly, confirming Max's statement. "And you're, like, totally, one hundred per cent sure it wasn't a bear?"

"Shit, don't be an idiot, okay?" snapped Dustin, halting his pacing up and down the bus. Daphne did a double take, swivelling around in her seat to give the usually passive boy a confused look. "Why are you even here if you don't believe us? Just go home."

Max shifted in her seat, clearly offended. "Geesh, someone's cranky. Past your bedtime?"

"Alright kids, cut it out," said Daphne, running a hand down her face. "We're all stuck here hunting Dustin's demon pet together, so can we at least try to get along?"

Max got up and moved to the back of the bus, dropping into the seat beside Daphne and folding her arms tightly across her chest. Dustin, on the other hand, moved to sit beside Steve, making the divide on the bus pretty clear. Daphne sank back in her seat, allowing herself a moment's peace before Max started to talk.

"I didn't mean to sound stupid, you know," she said. "I just — this is all so bizarre. It's like the stuff you read about in comics."

"I get it," reassured Daphne. "When I first found out about all of this, I didn't believe it at first. I tried to come up with a logical answer... but there just isn't one."

"In Hawkins of all places..."

"What, California didn't have any other-dimensional, cat-eating monsters?" asked Daphne, lifting her eyebrows in an attempt to lighten the mood.

"No," said Max, giving her a feeble smile. "Unless you count Billy."

Daphne bit her lip, the mention of her boyfriend instantly turning the air around them icy. Daphne thought back to their conversation earlier and the surprisingly wise words that Max had imparted to her. Part of her knew that the girl was right — that staying with Billy wasn't the right thing to do. But the other part of her... the part that hated everything about herself... told her that the love that Billy gave her was all that she deserved.

But Max didn't. Max was just a child and she didn't deserve the pain that Billy inflicted on her.

Daphne looked over at the redhead, suddenly all too aware of how young she was. She took a deep breath. "Max, has Billy ever... hurt you?"

Max looked up at her, her brow creasing in thought. "He likes to scare me more than he likes to actually hurt me. He's always been a dick, but ever since we left California he's just been angry. And he can't take it out on my Mom, so..."

"So he takes it out on you," Daphne finished for her, a wave of sadness washing over her body.

Daphne knew what it felt like to have someone take their anger out on you. Her father had done it to her for her whole life. She saw so much of herself in the younger girl and she just wanted to protect Max the way she wished someone had protected her.

"Can't you speak to your parents about this?" she asked her. "You shouldn't have to live somewhere you feel unsafe."

"They won't listen," said Max, shaking her head. "It's stupid, anyway. I don't even know why I'm telling you this." Daphne nodded, not wanting to pry. "Daphne... does he hurt you?"

Daphne's lips parted slightly. She knew that Max had seen her that day after Billy strangled her in the kitchen. The redhead already knew that something had happened, but Daphne couldn't bring herself to put any more weight on Max's shoulders. So she settled on a half-truth.

"Sometimes I think he might. But like you said — he prefers to just intimidate me."

"I think you should dump him," said Max. "I don't have a choice to have him in my life, but you do. Get away before it's too late."

Daphne sighed. She curled back into her seat, still tense and on edge from the whole situation. She wondered what Miss Kelley would say about Billy if she ever dared to open up to her. Daphne knew deep down that the woman would never agree with her dating Billy as some fucked up form of self-punishment. Miss Kelley had always seen the good in her, no matter how hard Daphne tried to make her therapist see what she saw. Daphne missed having someone in her life that truly thought she was good. It seemed that she had pushed away the only people who ever did.

After a while, she felt Max's head drop onto her shoulder, light snores escaping her mouth. Daphne didn't typically like being touched, and under normal circumstances, she probably would have moved away. But something buried deep inside her stirred at the vulnerable look on the girl's face and she found that she couldn't quite bring herself to disturb Max.

Several moments passed, in which Daphne remained lost in thought and soft snores escaped Max's mouth before a loud screech made them both jolt alert. The two girls rushed to join Steve and Dustin at the window, eyes wide as they scanned the foggy surroundings through the cracks in the wooden boards.

"You see him?" asked Dustin, his voice hushed as he pressed himself against the window.

"No," mumbled Steve quietly, his eyes still fixated on the horizon.

"Lucas, what's going on?" Dustin yelled up the ladder, looking frantically from his friend to the narrow gap in the window.

"Hold on!" Lucas called back. It was silent for a single, terrifying moment before Lucas cried out again. "I've got eyes! Ten o'clock! T-Ten o'clock!

"There," whispered Steve, pointing to a shadowy figure, almost indistinguishable amongst the heavy fog.

Daphne's heart flipped as she followed Steve's line of sight. It had been almost a year since she had last caught sight of one of those things and it wasn't any less terrifying this time around. She had almost forgotten the feeling of almost paralysing fear that washed over her at the mere sight of it. But the second she saw it, it came rushing back to her like muscle memory.

"What's he doing?" asked Dustin.

"I don't know," muttered Steve, as a low chittering noise echoed through the junkyard. The shadowy figure of the Demogorgon lingered beside the pile of meat, but for some reason, it wasn't taking any. "He's not taking the bait. Why is he not taking the bait?"

"Maybe he's not hungry?" suggested Dustin.

"Maybe he's sick of cow," said Steve ominously, his eyes travelling to the door with a look of steely determination fixed in them.

Daphne looked at him in confusion as he backed away from the window before her own expression turned to one of realisation. Panic coursing through her veins, she reached out for him desperately, taking a fistful of his jacket in her hands in a poor attempt to keep him inside the trailer.

"Steve? Steve, what are you doing?" cried Dustin, as the teenage boy picked up his bat.

"Steve, no," said Daphne, her heart performing an entire circus act inside her chest. She knew her voice was coming out wrangled and desperate and any pretence of not caring she had hoped to convince Steve of was ruined, but she didn't care. "It's far too dangerous, you'll get hurt! And we don't know if there's more of them out there—"

Steve reached for her hand, prying it away from his jacket and giving it a tight squeeze with both of his. "It's only Dart out there, Daph. I've fought one twice the size of it before. I'll be fine."

"I'll go with you, then," said Daphne, fighting to look braver than she felt. "Like last time."

Steve shook his head, pulling his hand from hers and taking the lighter from his pocket. He chucked it to Dustin, who caught it deftly. "Be ready for me. And don't let her come after me."

"Steve!" cried Daphne, frustration and fear lacing her tone as Dustin and Max both took a tight hold of each of her hands, leading her over to the window. She tried to wrench herself out of their grip, but the kids were surprisingly strong.

"Take care of the kids, Daph," said Steve, and then he was gone.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 　　 *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

i love max so so so much so of course i have to make my girls bond over their mutual trauma <3

also daphne loves steve so much even if it's not romantic and i really want to explore that dynamic with them more !

please remember to vote & comment!

- love, el xx