History Must Repeat Itself

Chapter 44

2 days later

          I leaned on my knees, hands across my mouth. A single tear rolled down my cheek as I watched Madison rest on the edge of Max's hospital bed. My sister's hand ran down her red braids. Lucas sat on the other side of Madison, staring at Max's face. He'd been signed out of the hospital, but I didn't know if he slept when he went home. Erica sat in the corner, flipping through a magazine. During one of the breaks I'd given her today of having to sit in the hospital room, she'd told me that she couldn't imagine what Lucas was going through, having seen what he'd seen that night. I was proud of her for being a supportive sister, even holding her snark back a little.

Madison and I had picked the Sinclair kids up at nine in the morning. Their mother had mentioned they were considering moving away from Hawkins. They wanted to protect their children and staying in the small town wasn't it. I couldn't disagree.

          Early this morning, I'd made a spread of breakfast for my sister and the three who slept over. After making more than necessary amount of food the night before, we'd eaten for at least two hours straight. I'd sent everyone into the living room so I could go upstairs and tried to fix my bedroom a little bit. No one listened.

We all fell asleep on the bed returned in my bedroom. Robin, Steve and I under the comforter, Dustin and Madison on top, flung across like two pets. It was comforting to have so many people surrounding me. We getting our first full night of sleep in a week.

Getting out of bed was hell though. I was the first to awaken and being the centre of the puddle was not easy to get out of. I chose to crawl over Robin, because crawling across Steve's lap was risky. I rolled my hair into a scrunchie on my head and opened the storage space under the stairs. We had a bin of baby clothes under there. My mother thought either Madison or I would get pregnant. That wasn't an assumption, they were actual words she'd spoken.

Above my head, footsteps thundered out of my bed and rushed around the top floor before pounding down the stairs. Steve's head appeared over the railing, searching. Upon seeing me on the floor, he exhaled loudly. He walked down the stairs, running his hand over his face. Steve bent down behind me and wrapped his arms around my body. Waking up with the empty space beside him had been startling apparently.

Four hours later, Steve, Robin, and Dustin left the house with the goal to end up at the high school to help at the shelter. Madison and I promised to make our way over after stopping at the hospital.

          The hospital room door opened and we turned as footsteps came into the room. A small gasp passed through my lips as Will, El, and Mike appeared around the curtain. All of their eyes were on Max in the bed.

"Oh my god," Lucas said, standing up.

"When did you guys get here?" Madison asked.

"We just heard," Mike told us, wrapping his arms around Lucas. Madison and I stood too, hugging the others. Will clung onto me, his hands wrapped in my shirt. Somehow, I still had tears to fall. I blamed Steve, he'd forced me to drink a ton of water. He was worried I'd get dehydrated.

I pulled my head back from Will's running a hand lightly through his hair. "Look at you," I whispered, "you look so grown up."

"What happened?" he whispered back.

I released him completely and as I turned to El, I said, "I'll tell you later."

I placed my hands on El's cheeks. The tears ran freely down her face. I placed my lips against her forehead as I wrapped her in my arms. A sob came from her and I squeezed my eyes shut, not wanting to cry. I rested my hand on her shaved head and smirked.