YOUR SONG | steve harrington

063

After Steve had calmed Beverly down enough to help her up the rope to get back into the regular world, they all settled into Max's living space in her trailer across the street. They had tried to call their friends in California, since Eleven was there, but they hadn't been picking up at all for some reason. Dustin had thought it was because of Joyce's job, but some of them weren't too sure about that.

Beverly sat in a chair facing everyone, Steve standing behind her to make her feel more comfortable with sharing what Vecna had shown her. "Just tell us when you're ready, okay?" Steve whispered and she nodded slowly, licking her lips nervously. Although she wanted to take more time to process everything, she knew that they didn't have enough time for that.

"When I climbed the rope and tried to get back here, I just started to, um, fall in this, like, dark abyss of n-nothing. I then landed on the floor and I, uh, I-I was in a hospital room with...my dad," she began to explain, not making eye contact with anyone as she spoke since she never really talked about her father all that much. "He, um, was in the hospital bed and I just couldn't stay there so I-I ran out the door. But then I fell. I fell into Steve's pool, but I was back in the Upside Down so it wasn't filled with water or anything . It just had vines everywhere and — and blood." Beverly looked up, making eye contact with Nancy. "I saw...I saw Barb. She was...she was dead." Nancy swallowed hard, her eyes softening even more than they had been at the mention of her old friend. "I don't know why he — he showed me that. It was like he was blaming me for — for her death."

"It wasn't your fault, Bev," Steve assured her before he looked at Nancy, who seemed to be trying to fight back tears since she had always blamed herself for the death of her friend. "It's not any of our faults."

Beverly squeezed her eyes shut, preventing the tears from falling. "I then, uh, I got out of the pool and...I saw C-Chrissy's dead body t-tied up to, like, a large vine," she continued, her voice cracking. Eddie looked down, somehow feeling responsible for not being able to help the cheerleader even though he knew he wouldn't have been able to do anything then. "He then began to show me his — his past life. He's Victor Creel's son, Henry."

"Hold on, what?" Alicia questioned, her eyes going wide. "Victor Creel's son? But — but Victor said that Vecna killed his son."

"Not if his son is Vecna," Carmen pointed out darkly, which made Beverly nod slowly. "What did he show you?"

"He showed me the house and how he didn't like it. How he didn't like his family. It was him all along. He — he killed his mom and his sister. He tried to kill his dad, but then Ella Fitzgerald's song saved him. You know, the — the music. He did fall into a coma like Victor had told you, but...Doctor Brenner faked his death and took him."

"Brenner? Wait, that's the guy that had El," Lucas realized.

"Yeah. His first ever...patient, I guess, was Henry. He's One," Beverly told them, making them all look at her in disbelief. "He then started to chase me down in this different hospital, and — and when he trapped me he...He showed me things that haven't happened yet. The most awful things. I saw...a dark cloud spreading over Hawkins. Downtown on fire. Dead soldiers. And this...this giant creature with...a gaping mouth. And this creature wasn't alone. There were so many monsters. An army. And they were coming into Hawkins. Into our neighborhoods. Our homes. And then...he showed me...all of you. And...you were all..." Beverly looked down, releasing a shaky breath.

"Okay, but...he's just trying to scare you, Bev. Right? I mean...I mean, it's not real," Steve told her.

"Not yet. But there...there was something else. He showed me gates. Four gates. Spreading across Hawkins. And these gates, they looked like the one outside of Eddie's trailer, but...they didn't stop growing. And this wasn't the Upside Down Hawkins. This was our Hawkins. Our home," Beverly described.