#oh maximus...

...How do I begin?

This is a sore subject for me, but since you so politely asked, I suppose This Worm can spill his secrets.

We were friends once. Good friends. Best friends, even. He was my only comrade, my steadfast companion, the only one who really, truly understood me. We were thick as thieves, the two of us. We walked 2 school 2gether...we rode bikes 2gether...we even read the same Creepypastas.

I started noticing something...different about Maximus around early October. He was being more friendly with Brayden (he knows how I feel about Brayden). I tried bringing this up 2 him, but he shrugged it off and told me that their parents were friends, so he had 2 keep up appearances. (What a load of B$ that turned out 2 be...)

Then it was the night of the October dance. The week before Halloween. Maximus and I had agreed 2 forsake this frivolous affair of the masses and instead have a sleepover at my place 2 watch It (2017) because my parents said it was okay (Maximus P's on the other hand...what they don't know can't hurt them). But late in2 the evening I waited, until it became clear he was never 2 arrive...

On Monday, I grilled him about it, only for him 2 say he "ended up going 2 the dance after all." I reluctantly forgave him, but little did I know what was 2 come...

Halloween.

Every year we go Trick or Treating. Every. Single. Year. No exceptions. Since we were seven. We even do duo costumes. This year? I was Jeff the Killer, and Maximus was 2 be Ben Drowned.

But once again, he fell through. I sat at my porch waiting for hours, hissing at passerby and telling them 2 "take one." They couldn't tell how I was truly feeling behind my painted smile...I thought, is this how Jeff feels?

Then I saw Maximus P. pass by. And not in a Ben Drowned costume. And not alone.

Yes...perhaps you have sussed it out by now. Maximus was Eddie Munson...and Steve Harrington? He was standing right beside him, wearing the face of none other than my mortal enemy, Brayden. And the betrayal is made all the worse by the fact that Maximus is a known Steddie shipper.

Maximus awkwardly waved when he noticed my burning gaze. He and Brayden walked up my steps and said, "Trick or Treat."

How could he? How, after all our years 2gether, all our years of stalwart friendship, how could he betray me like this and then have the AUDACITY 2 come right up and say "Trick or Treat?" Right to my face?

I stood (with eyes Dry) and grabbed a fistful of candy. "TRICK!!!!" I shouted, throwing a mass of Halloween sweets in his face. "TRICK!!! TRICK!!!"

He looked baffled, and he and Brayden retreated in2 the night. I could hear them chuckling as they went...

I knew then that this must have been exactly how Jeff felt. Scorned. Abandoned. Mocked.

Completely, utterly...alone.