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ONCE THE GROUP RETURNED back to Mike Wheelers house, they moved as fast as they could to get to Cassie Harrington. In fact, they didn't even wait for the car to come to a complete stop before opening the doors and jumping out. After entering the house, Max, Dustin, and Steve quickly climbed up the front staircase and advanced into Mike's room, only to find that Cassie Harrington was still under Vecna's Curse.
"Mike, what the hell happened?" Steve Harrington asked the boy, falling next to his sister as he placed a hand on her shoulder. "How long has she been like this?"
"I don't know..." Mike Wheeler swallowed hard as he looked down at the ground, tears spilling from his eyes. "I brought her back here to help her...to protect her. I only took my attention away from her for just a few minutes, and now..."
The boy paused, turning to look at his girlfriend, who's features remained frozen in place, her eyes fogged in a white abyss. A sense of emptiness filled inside Mike's stomach as he shamefully closed his eyes, "I don't know what to do. I don't know how to help her. I cant lose her, I cant-"
From beside him, Steve Harrington shook his head, refusing to believe that something like this could ever happen to her, to his little sister.
"We have to think you guys," Dustin Henderson began, pacing the room. "We don't have much time to save her."
"Yeah, no shit, Dustin," Max Mayfield replied harshly. "How are we going to save her? We don't know the first thing about this monster."
"We have to do something!" Steve panicked, his expression holding a mix of anger, sadness, guilt, and fear. "It got my sister! My sister, man!"
Stressfully rubbing his hands over his face, Mike Wheeler desperately tried to form some sort of plan inside his head. But, the only thing he could think of was Cassie, and how much pain she was enduring in this moment. It was all his fault. He should've been watching her.
As guilt began to eat at his insides, Mike Wheeler felt completely hopeless. Standing up in anger, the boy kicked his desk, accidentally knocking over several items, including his large stereo. To his surprise, the device must've fallen on the power button, because after a short moment of static, music started to play.
"Jesus, Mike," Dustin called over the music, covering his ears. "Turn that off! We're trying to think!"
Pausing for a moment, the boy looked down at his stereo with curiosity. Never before had the device turned on like that. Even from a harsh impact, the chances of it landing perfectly on the power button were one in a hundred.
Maybe it was some sort of sign.
"Mike!" Dustin's voice yelled once more, knocking the boy out of his thoughts. "Are you even listening to me?"
