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E R I N

ERIN CARVER ALWAYS TRIED to be one step ahead. She needed to be if she ever wanted to get anything past the wrath of her mother. And the eighth grader's plans for Halloween night left the girl burdened with more than a few solid hours of scheming.

Erin didn't need to out-plan just for the sake of getting to enjoy herself outside of her mother's watch. The girl also needed to make sure to impress Will Byers and all of his mischievous friends. She knew that it was stupid of her to be so excited for such an insignificant event—she'd never even cared enough to mingle with any of the other kids, before. But, just for this one time, Erin Carver wanted to leave an impression. She wanted to fit in, even if she knew little to nothing about the group of misfit boys.

So, as the girl watched her mother pack up for work that chilly morning, she took a deep breath and prepared to excitedly change into her costume, once she were to hear her mother's car reverse from their gravel driveway.

The night before, Erin prepared her not-so-obvious costume, so that her mother wouldn't know the difference between it and a normal outfit. It was perfect. And the girl credited herself heavily in the back of her mind. She felt like a genius, in more than one way.

Her Halloween costume consisted of a brown hat, a pair of brown leather gloves and a red and green striped sweater. She was going to dress up as Freddy Krueger. Though, the clothing, itself, wasn't the part of the costume that deemed Erin so pleased with herself.

It was the fact that the movie hadn't even come out yet. The advertisements were everywhere, due to the movie being set to premiere a mere two weeks after Halloween, so the girl'd hoped someone would recognize her efforts. Well, anyone but her own mother. Surely the woman wouldn't notice the resemblance between her daughter's outfit and the clothing of the fictional killer, whose movie hadn't even hit theaters yet. Let alone a horror movie, that she'd never even dream of letting Erin see.

Erin Carver's costume also seemed like even more of a win, after the girl got to school and realized that none of the other kids were wearing one. Well, none of the other kids except for Will Byers and his "party." The group showed up to school with outfits much more intricate than the usual, thrown-together costumes, leaving them to be the laughing stock for the day. Which, in reality, meant that the day wasn't much different than normal, for those boys.

She admired the bravery of her potential new friends, although none of them had ever even acknowledged the fact that she'd been invited to go trick-or-treating with them. It was only Jonathon who'd extended the invitation to the girl a few days prior. The high schooler had only given her the time and the place, before he and Erin failed to have any overlapping sessions in the darkroom—the only place where the two ever really knew or saw each other. The only information that the giddy girl had to go off of was to be at the Maple Street cul-de-sac at seven o'clock.

And soon it became clear to Erin that Jonathon Byers, himself, seemed to have forgotten about inviting the girl completely. The girl stood dumbfounded—wearing her red and green striped sweater, her brown leather gloves, and a brown hat, at the maple street cul-de-sac, at exactly seven o'clock, with nothing but her camera in-hand—after walking several minutes from her own home, just to witness Jonathon Byers' car wisp past her on the sidewalk, as he exited the neighborhood.

After walking all that way, Erin was left to her own devices, without being able to use Jonathon as the social crutch that she'd hoped for. And it wasn't long before she laid her eyes on the four kids who still harnessed their obvious beige jumpsuits and fake proton-packs.

This made for a very awkward introduction, as the girl had no choice but to approach the boys who only stared at her in confusion.

Much to Erin's embarrassment, one of them even rolled his eyes at the girl. That boy was no one other than Mike Wheeler. Dustin Henderson and Lucas Sinclair, however, didn't really seem to mind her sheepish presence, as they seemed much more concerned with going on about the kind of candy they'd just gotten from the house they were walking away from.

And the last boy, Will Byers, he clung by closely to Erin, making it evident that he felt some sort of responsibility over her presence. He'd even asked the girl about her costume, and then asked her for help with the camera that his mother's boyfriend had lent him. The girl gave him a brief run-down of what he needed to know, wearing a shy smile as the boy fumbled around with the camera that was almost as big as him.

Erin Carver, however, had hardly spoken a word after that exchange with Will. She listened as the four boys bickered over the controversy of a Three Musketeers bar, while still clutching tightly onto her film camera. The girl took too long to realize that Jonathon's reasoning of having more film for the girl to print, might have been a mere excuse just to get her to finally get out of the house. Her camera was deemed more and more useless as the sun continued to set, casting darkness upon the busy neighborhood.

Not only was the girl embarrassed to be so awkward, she was also not having much fun. There was no excitement in walking around with the group of boys—only the worry of being a burden. That was, until the group stepped off of the curb, and out onto the street, unknowingly approaching their first scare of the night.

A few of the boys let out a high-pitched scream, jumping back from the masked person—wielding a large, plastic knife and an orange jack-o-lantern trick-or-treat basket—who'd just frightened them. Erin, however, once again, kept a tight grip on the camera in her grasp—her first and only reflex being not to drop the expensive piece of borrowed equipment. 

After the group took a moment to catch their breaths, the person removed their spooky mask, revealing themselves to the other five children. It was the girl—the one who'd caught Erin spying on her the other day. "Holy shit! You should've seen the look on your faces." She let out an involuntary laugh, pointing to Lucas Sinclair. "And you? Who screams like that? You sound like a little girl."

The new girl turned around, beginning to walk down the street. The group, however, just stood there, stunned by the girl's presence—Lucas, Dustin and even Erin especially.

"Hey, you guys coming or not?" The red-headed girl turned back around. "I heard we should hit up Loch Nora. That's where the rich people live, right?"

Without much hesitation, Dustin and Lucas began to follow the girl as she confidently made her way to wherever it was that she wanted to go. Will and Erin followed closely behind, after exchanging confused glances with one another. And that left Mike Wheeler standing behind them for a few dragged-out moments, baffled with the fact that yet another girl had infiltrated the party.

☆

So far, the night was going unexpectedly okay for Erin Carver. On the plus side, she hadn't yet managed to embarrass herself. But that meant that the girl's mouth was to remain glued shut, to eliminate the risk of said avoidable embarrassment. She thought that she knew better than to attempt to socialize and decided to just, simply, enjoy the fact that she was wandering around the neighborhood under the inclusion of a friend group. The foreign feeling was a scary, yet fun one for the girl to explore, as the night grew deeper.

Erin had always been a people-watcher, and it wasn't hard to tell. It was almost surreal to be the one participating in Halloween, rather than hearing about it second-hand the next day, during school. And although the girl seemed to, for the night, be a part of the group, she still found herself doing nothing but watching.

She watched as the group of kids slowly diverged into two trios. Leading the pack were, Lucas, Dustin, and the new girl. Max was her name—or so Erin learned from overhearing the two boys repeatedly refer to her as Madmax. And lagging behind were Will, Mike and Erin. The three were pretty quiet, letting the others lead the way as well as the conversation—which was almost impossible to be a part of, from so far behind.

The silence also may or may not have been a result of Mike Wheeler's obvious seething at the presence of the two girls. Erin didn't mind though, as long as the attention was off of her. But Erin Carver wouldn't be able to stay out of the spotlight for much longer.

It soon became evident to everyone, including herself, that Erin had no idea how to celebrate Halloween, as she'd somehow forgotten to bring anything to carry her candy in. The silly blunder left the girl anxiously squirming for a solution, which resulted in a bunch of melted candy being squished to the bottoms of her pants pockets. And, come the most recent house that handed the children full-sized candy bars, her stuffed pockets were beginning to overflow.

The girl didn't notice, but Mike Wheeler and Will Byers started to lag behind her, just for a few moments. She was too caught up in not getting left behind by the other three kids—especially making sure not to lose sight of Max—that she didn't notice what'd pulled the attention of the two she was formerly traveling alongside. "What the hell?"

Erin turned around at the loud, sudden sound of the pubescent voice. It was Mike Wheeler. He was staring at something lying in the middle of the street. The boy shrugged his proton-pack backwards and knelt down, beginning to observe whatever was on the ground. "Who'd leave perfectly good candy lying around?"

The girl's eyebrows furrowed at what the boy was holding. It was the undeniable yellow and red rapper of a full-sized Mr. Goodbar. She knew exactly who and where that candy bar came from. And it wasn't exactly hard for the other kids to piece it together, as there seemed to be a trail of melted candy following Erin's path. Soon enough, Max, Lucas and Dustin also retreated back to the middle of the street, where Mike was causing the scene, in order to get a glance at whatever was happening.

Erin's chest sank, and her face became hot, as the other kids trailed their eyes from the few pieces of candy, towards the girl who they'd obviously come from. "You don't have a trick-or-treat bag?" The girl turned her head towards a clueless Dustin Henderson, who began to laugh. "Who goes trick-or-treating without someth—"

"No one, shit-brain." A sharp voice cut through Dustin's words. It was the irrefutable voice of the new girl.

The redhead shoved her way through Dustin and Lucas, before marching over and taking her position right by Erin's side. Erin had no idea what to do, as she stared down at the slightly-shorter, spunky girl, who'd suddenly derailed her embarrassment.

"We're sharing mine." Max said. She then switched the grip of her plastic knife into the hand that was also wielding the handle of her Halloween basket. The girl used her free arm to aggressively latch onto Erin's, in order to link the two girls together. She then looked up at Erin, tilting her head matter-of-factly. "Wasn't that the plan?"

Erin Carver did not know what to focus on, in the all-but intense moment. She could not choose between the dumbfounded looks on Dustin and Lucas' faces, or the butterflies that were rapidly flying around and bumping into every square inch of her stomach. But the girl didn't have much time to aim her focus, as she, herself, was still the center of attention.

"Y—yeah," A shy grin cracked its way across the surface of Erin's lips. She let out a nervous breath, nodding at Max's suggestion. "That's the plan."

"Come on," Max groaned, beginning to pull Erin ahead. The girl had no choice but to quickly move her feet, keeping up with the fiery red-head. "Let's show these fools how it's done."

While Max intentionally bumped into Dustin's shoulder, Erin made an effort to shuffle out of the way before barely managing to avoid ramming into into Lucas Sinclair. The lanky girl had almost no choice but to walk arm-in-arm with Max, as she was being pulled out of the busy street.

It was confusing. Erin Carver was dumbfounded, perplexed, and maybe even starstruck at Max's actions.

During their first and only other exchange, under the bleachers just a few days prior, the new girl seemed mad. It was clear to anyone that the spunky girl had a short temper. But what Erin didn't understand was why Max was being so nice to her, all of the sudden. There was no need for the new girl to swoop into Erin's defense, but, nonetheless, she confidently yanked the girl from the uncomfortable situation, as if their exchange the other day had never even happened.

The two trios then became three duos, as they continued to walk down the street. After the sudden change of events, Max and Erin were now leading the pack, Lucas and Dustin, for a few moments, stood in the middle, pondering what they could've done wrong, and Mike and Will were left trailing behind the other pairs.

After what seemed like a night of dread for Erin, the girl couldn't seem to comprehend what was happening. She'd survived, so far. And she was not one to complain about how things had just worked out.

"Hello?" In the moment of pure stun, Erin almost failed to notice what—or rather who was tugging on her arm. "Earth to stalker."

"S—Sorry," The blonde girl rapidly blinked, pulling her focus away from her harsh stare at the ground, towards the source of the obvious attitude. Once Erin found what she was looking for, her body tensed underneath the gaze of the new girl. "What were you saying?"

"I was asking about what you're supposed to be." These words seemed to knit Erin's eyebrows together, in a furrow of confusion. She simply had no idea what the redhead was talking about. Just underneath her thin, ginger eyebrows, Max rolled her eyes at Erin's obliviousness, before letting out a scoff. "Your costume—what is it?"

The girl seemed to shrink in on herself, while still trying to keep up with Max's steady walking pace. "Oh," Erin took a glance down her own body, moving away the film camera that had previously been clutched tightly to her abdomen. "I'm supposed to be Freddy Krueger."

The girl looked up from her own outfit, back toward Max, whose head slightly tilted, sending her ginger waves cascading farther down her shoulder. As Erin was left glancing at the girl's parted mouth that—for once—had no words to say, she could tell that the girl had no idea who she was supposed to be.

"It's from a movie." Erin enunciated, her voice shifting into a higher pitch, unintentionally. The girl nervously shrugged her shoulders, returning her film camera to where it was previously pressed against her body. This seemed to have caught Max's attention, as her eyes dropped down to the camera in Erin's grip. "It hasn't even come out yet. You know what? I d—I don't even know what I was thinking. I mean—of course no one would underst—"

"You know what?" Max's voice swiftly cut through Erin's nervous rambling, as the shy girl was quick to be shut up. She looked down at Max, as more of a silent approach to a response, as she clearly couldn't handle coherently answering such a simple question.

The redhead's face smoothed into a cheeky smile, as she, once again, dropped her eyes down towards the camera in Erin's other hand. "Maybe now would be a good time to take that picture that we talked about."

Only for a fraction of a moment, Erin Carver was a little confused. Then, in the next instant, she sucked in a breath, out of pure embarrassment that Max was about to rehash the moment when the two first met, just a couple of days ago. But then, a weight lifted itself off of Erin's chest, as she realized that the redhead was trying to make light of a situation that she once seemed really angry about.

Erin's eyes dropped down to the camera in her grasp. "Oh," The girl stammered around her nervous words. She let out a chuckle amidst a breathy gust of relief. "Yeah, I—I guess."

Max released her friendly grip from Erin's arm, making the lanky girl's heart sink for a bit, at the immediate lack of warmth. Without the redhead pulling her around, Erin stopped in her tracks, watching as Max walked underneath a tree, before standing below a few rows of its decorative orange lights that were beaming from their Jack-o-lantern shaped bulbs. "How about right here?"

The corner of Erin's mouth tugged upward, at the sight. Her shoulder's slightly elevated with a playful shrug. "Couldn't hurt to give it a try."

Erin Carver knew that it was probably far too dark outside to get any viable film of Max. But who was she to turn down the chance to finally get a picture of such an interesting sight to see?

With nothing but the readiness from both herself and Max, the girl raised her camera and popped off its black lens cover. She fumbled around with the setting nobs, trying to adjust the aperture and shutter-speed, despite all of the noisy trick-or-treaters walking up the driveway, right behind her.

The girl raised the camera up to her eye, while squinting the other. And before she knew it, Max was photo-ready, with a wide smile and perfect stance, underneath the scary mask that was hanging halfway over the top of the girl's forehead.

It seemed, to Erin, as if the new girl was destined to be photographed by her. While a bit of a weird thought, it was true. The photography novice had never taken pictures of anything moving before—let alone another person. But the expertise came effortlessly to the girl, as she snapped the first, stable picture of Max.

"Got it," Erin sighed, lowering the camera from her vision and winding the film. A wide smile was present on her face, as the giddy girl failed to conceal it. "Now let's try one with the flash."

"Okay," The girl giggled, provoking one to come from between Erin's lips, as well. Max assumed the same position as she did for the first photo, as Erin, once again, brought the viewfinder up to her open eye.

But this time, as she centered the view of the camera around Max, she heard a loud noise, and noticed something odd happening in the background, just upon the curb, behind the mailbox. The girl lowered the camera slightly, as to get a better view at what was going on. This left Max smiling for a photo that was never going to be taken.

The redhead furrowed her eyebrows, tracing Erin's confused gaze towards the street. "What is it?"

It was Will Byers. The boy was staring up at the sky, standing next to the large camera that he'd obviously just dropped against the pavement. The two girls didn't get to observe the scene for much longer, before the boy took off, darting behind the house as if his life depended on it. Max and Erin exchanged a confused glance, before chasing after him, which Dustin and Lucas seemed to have been doing, too.

"Holy shit!" Dustin Henderson led the way. The four kids rushed down the steps, trespassing into a random backyard, at the suspense of Will Byers' safety. At the bottom of the stairs, Mike was already knelt down by Will's side, assessing the heavily-breathing boy. "Is he okay?"

"I don't know." Mike panicked, only taking his eyes off of Will for a second. He then began to fasten his hands around Will's shoulders, pulling him from the pavement. "I'm going to get you home, okay?"

The entire group stood there, their mouths gaping at the sight of a clearly bizarre turn of events. Dustin stepped in, also trying to grab at Will. "All right, take it easy—"

"I got him," Mike harshly cut in, shrugging Dustin's hand off of Will. The boy continued to hoist Will's weight onto himself, leaving his back turned to the group. "I got him."

"Mike." Dustin stated, shocked at the boy's abrasive gesture.

The frantic Wheeler turned to face Dustin. "Keep trick-or-treating." He started, just before stepping onto the first step, and switching his harsh gaze between Erin and Max. The two girls stood still, not having a clue as to why Mike was angrily staring them down. "I'm bored anyways."

And with those harsh words, Mike and Will retreated farther up the stairs, and the other four kids were left made of questions. Erin and Max more-so than the two boys.

The redhead turned towards Dustin and Lucas, her eyebrows furrowed just below the rim of her half-worn mask. "What's wrong with him?"

☆

Although still mildly freaked out over what just brought a sudden end to her first Halloween celebration, Erin Carver could not wipe the smile off of her face. It seemed wrong for the girl to be coming down from such a high after witnessing whatever it was that happened to Will Byers, who truly turned out to be such a nice kid.

She couldn't help the feeling. Well, she couldn't help it because she had no clue what it was. It was like a huge rush of adrenaline—and it seemed silly that it came from something so painfully normal for someone her age to be doing.

But Erin Carver was far from normal. She'd long forgotten about the risk that she was taking, by gambling with the possibility that her mother would find out. And right when her mother—or more importantly, what her mother would do to her—came back into her memory, the smile faded from her face, as she entered panic mode.

The girl quickened her pace down the dark, empty backroad, aiming to get home even just a few seconds faster. She didn't realize it, but she'd lost track of time. Erin Carver had no idea whether one hour had passed or five. And if she didn't err on the side of caution, she was going to be toast.

Erin knew that the night was far too good to be true. Nothing ever really worked out for her—not in hindsight. Her first real night of fun—her first attempt at making friends, were things that were never going to last. And she'd been too dull to realize that when she'd first started walking home from Loch Nora.

She was too excited about running into Max again, and getting to photograph something other that inanimate objects. What also inflated her momentary ego, was how she planned to tell Jonathon all about it, the next time she'd come across him in the darkroom. The girl had never really been out past dark, but now that she had, she was going to squeeze every last drop of a social life that she could, just from this one night.

For a few minutes, nothing could have pulled Erin Carver from yearning to have more nights like that one. Nothing except the sight of her mother's beat-up Ford Pinto sitting in the driveway of her desolate home.

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4067 words
September 20, 2022
8:01 P.M.

A/N

not to alarm anyone... but her ass is grass in the next chapter xoxo

also I'm so sorry that this took a solid five weeks to come out after chapter 1. but good news!! i have the next like 3-4 chapters planned out to every little detail so I'm HOPING that those won't also take an eternity to write :,)

WHAT DID U GUYS THINK ???? am I capturing the ST vibe well?? I watched the first half of season 2 like 10+ times JUST while writing this chapter xoxo so I really hope that I'm doing it justice!!

i really wish that I could edit this book on tiktok more but I really can't form any ideas when there's only two chapters of scenes that I can conceptualize :,,))) but when I'm on s4, you can bet that I'll be SPAMMING dream state tiktoks. (also if you don't follow my tiktok, you def should. it's disturbedia.wp ;))

okay I love you and thank you ssoooo much for reading !!

- disturbedia

☆vote if max mayfield is for the girls!!! ☆