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I am never drinking like that again. The thought repeated itself relentlessly in Lucas’ head as he knelt over the graffitied toilet at Benny’s, retching from the overwhelming smell of beer.
Last night's victory felt far away. After the big game win the team holed up at the abandoned restaurant, drinking the whole night before passing out in a messy pile of limbs and letterman's jackets. Lucas had begged Max to go with him, promising that she wouldn't be the only girl there since Jason's girlfriend Chrissy would be there too. Max had only laughed at the suggestion and kissed him, her wishing him luck before telling him that he better call her tomorrow.
Maybe it was for the best Max stayed home, since Chrissy never showed anyway.
Lucas flushes the toilet, watching the remnants of last night disappear into the pipes. His head throbbed as he managed to lift himself off the ground, him stabilizing himself on the counter. He opens the bathroom door, squinting against the bright light, to find Patrick there, his eyes wide.
"Hey Lucas, your girlfriend...she lives in the trailer park, right?" Patrick questions, his hands fidgeting nervously.
Lucas looks confused as to why that was important. "Yeah...why?"
Patrick exhales shakily. "You need to see this."
Lucas follows Patrick back to the main room of Benny's, him sobering up when he reads the news headline:
HAWKINS STUDENT FOUND DEAD AT LOCAL TRAILER PARK
Oh God, please don't let it be Max.
"Have they released who it is?" Lucas asked, his eyes scanning the room for his coat.
Andy shakes his head before looking at Jason. "Hey, maybe Chrissy didn't stand you up last night after all."
Lucas froze, the words hitting him like a physical blow, before glaring at his teammate. "Don't joke about that dude. My girlfriend lives there." Lucas says.
Andy's face goes white. "Shit man, I'm sorry. I'm sure she's fine."
Lucas shrugs on his coat and heads towards the door before stopping. He has no license, no car. "Can anyone drive me there? I need to make sure she's okay."
Jason nods, him grabbing his keys. "I got you, man. I know what it's like to worry about your girlfriend."
They head out to the car, Patrick and Andy deciding to join them since the rest of the team was still too drunk to function.
The drive was tense, no one talked the whole way there. Lucas' knee bounced up and down as he watched the trees fly by before they reached the trailer park. Lucas directed Jason how to get there, them turning the corner to find cop cars everywhere around Eddie Munson's trailer. Lucas breathes a sigh of relief as he realizes that Max's trailer is untouched before realizing that Eddie could have been the one murdered.
A cop stops the car, Jason rolling the window down when the officer motions for him to do so.
"Hi officer." Jason greets as Lucas desperately strains to get a glimpse of Max among the chaos.
"Hey kid. Sorry, but you cant get through here, it's an active crime scene."
Lucas cuts into the conversation. "Sir my girlfriend lives here and I promised I would check up on her."
Jason, ever the golden boy, smiles at the officer. "It would mean a lot, sir. Her mom has to leave for work soon and we didn't think it was a good idea to leave her alone when another student just got murdered."
The officer seems convinced by their argument, waving them through after warning them not to interfere with the crime scene. Jason parks the car just outside of the yellow tape, Lucas quickly getting out to head to Max's trailer.
Max, who was standing on the front porch with her mother, spots him immediately, her rushing down the steps towards him, the oversized long sleeve shirt she was wearing fluttering in the wind. Susan calls Max's name to call her back, but Max throws herself into Lucas' arms.
Lucas feels relief wash over him before looking over Max's shoulder at the body bag being loaded into the back of the police van.
Lucas pulls out of the hug to look at Max, him scanning over her face, her arms, her legs to make sure she was fine. Max puts a hand on his face, her fingers tracing over the stubble he had just started to develop. "Hey, hey, I'm fine. Don't worry."
"Do you know what happened?" Lucas asks, his voice low. Patrick had finally caught up, while Jason and Andy lingered behind, gawking at the crime scene.
Max nods in greeting to Patrick before her eyes wander to the car he just came from, her stopping at the sight of Jason. "Oh shit." She breathes. "You guys don't know."
Patrick looks confused. "We know a student was murdered but they never released a name."
"It's Chrissy." Max blurts out, her keeping her eyes on where Jason was leaning on the car.
Lucas feels his heart stop, him and Patrick exchanging a look. "What?"
"I saw her get out of Eddie's van last night and they went inside his trailer, which I thought was weird since you told me she was going to be at the party, but-"
"Why was she with Eddie?" Patrick questions, Max shaking her head.
"I don't know. Anyway, I woke up this morning and suddenly a bunch of cop cars pulled up to his trailer. I went outside to get a better look and I saw a Chrissy's body on the ground."
Max takes a deep breath after rambling. "Lucas, it was horrible. Her bones were broken. It was so..." She trailed off, a haunted look in her eyes. He squeezes her hand, trying to offer some silent comfort.
Lucas sees some of the cops talking, Chief Powell spotting Jason and saying something to the other officers. "Oh god. They're going to tell Jason."
Patrick notices Chief Powell start to make his way over to the basketball captain. "I better go be there for him."
Lucas nods. "Yeah, go."
Patrick says bye to Max before heading back over to the car.
Max squeezes Lucas' hand. "There...was something else, Lucas. I didn't want to mention it in front of Patrick, but...last night I was watching TV and suddenly the lights flickered just like-"
"You think it has something to do with the upside down?"
Max nods, her head going against Lucas' shoulder. "I saw Eddie bolt out of the trailer right after that."
"Shit." Lucas sighs. He was about to reassure her when a gut-wrenching scream tore through the morning air. Lucas and Max startled, turning to see Jason fall to his knees, one hand clutching the hood of the car, the other clamped over his mouth. Patrick and Andy rushed to his side. Chief Powell was there, asking questions, but Jason was sobbing too hard to answer. Eventually, Patrick pointed in their direction. The chief looked over, then gave the boys one last word before heading toward them.
"Hey Chief." Lucas greets when Powell nears.
"Sinclair, Mayfield." Powell nods in greeting, knowing them from how many times Hopper had gone to see them. He stops in front of Lucas and Max, his face grim. He looked tired, older than Lucas had ever seen him. "What are you two doing here?"
Lucas felt Max squeeze his hand, him deciding to speak up. “Max lives in that trailer right over there. I’m here to check on her, Chief. I was at Benny’s with the team and we saw the news. I had to make sure she was okay.”
Powell's gaze flickered between them before settling on Max. “You didn’t happen to see anything, did you? Anything at all?”
“I heard the sirens this morning, Chief,” Max said carefully. “That’s it.”
Powell seemed to weigh his words, his eyes searching their faces for any sign of a lie. He sighed, the sound heavy. “Look, I know you kids have a history of… getting into things. So if you remember anything, anything at all, you come to me directly. Understood?"
“Yes, sir,” Lucas and Max said in unison.
“Alright. Go on home, both of you. Don’t wander back over here.” Powell gave them a final, weary nod before turning and heading back toward the crime scene.
As soon as he was out of earshot, Max turned to Lucas. "We should head to Dustin's after I change."
Lucas nods, Max heading back inside her trailer. Lucas glances over the Jason, Patrick, and Andy, figuring he should say goodbye.
As he approached, he saw Patrick trying to comfort a devastated Jason. Jason was leaning against the car, his face buried in his hands, his body shaking with sobs. Andy stood by awkwardly, looking lost.
"We're gonna go," Lucas said to Patrick.
Patrick looked over, his eyes wide with a mix of shock and confusion. "Go where? What's going on?"
"We're going to get some air," Lucas said, trying to sound nonchalant. "Max has PTSD from when her brother died and seeing another dead body has freaked her out. I'm just gonna get her out of here for a while."
Jason lifted his head, his eyes bloodshot. "Don't go near that trailer, man," he choked out. "Don't go near him."
Lucas and Patrick exchanged a look. "I won't," Lucas promised, his voice firm.
Jason looked at him, a burning rage flashing in his tear-filled eyes. "He's a freak. He's a satanist. He did this."
Lucas’s stomach turned. This wasn't Jason's rage, it was his grief. "We have to go. We'll check in later."
Max exits her trailer in a pair of jeans and an old shirt of Lucas', wheeling her bike out from behind a bush. Lucas pulls the seat a few inches higher, hopping on, Max getting on behind him.
"Well, this has all gone to shit."