𝚂𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝙶𝚎𝚝𝚜 𝙷𝚞𝚛𝚝

𝟶𝟺𝟶

Stephanie Henderson backed away from the grandfather clock, causing her to trip over the uneven floorboards. She lost her balance as she fell to the floor. It didn't take long for her to feel something crawl onto her leg as she regained sight of the rundown clock. She looked down at her feet to see a swarm of spiders crawling up her legs.

The girl screamed as she stood up, shaking her legs and brushing the spiders off the best she could. If Vecna was going to scare her, spiders were the way to go.

"This isn't real. This isn't real." Stephanie muttered, running her hands through her hair as she tried to think of a way out, the clock blocking her only exit. She then remembered her headphones, loaded with one of Nancy's mixtapes, temporarily replacing the one Steve made her. Her hands reached for her neck, panicking when she didn't feel them. That's when she remembered she had left them in Dustin's backpack. Downstairs.

"Shit, shit, shit!"

❀❀❀❀❀

Out in the hallway, in the real world, Steve ran out of one of the rooms, claiming he saw a black widow. When no one was there to sympathize with him, including Robin, who claimed the spider would lay eggs in his hair, he shut up. That was when he realized how quiet the house was. It was almost too quiet. Bored of the younger Henderson, he decided to check on the boy's sister. Steve didn't want to leave Stephanie alone in the first place. He had just got her back, in a way. He didn't want to lose her again.

"Hey, Steph, how's the-" Steve stopped in his tracks when he saw the blonde standing in the middle of the room, facing away from the door. "Steph?" The boy walked closer, his fears multiplying when she continued to stand still as he moved closer. Steve placed a hand on her shoulder, walking around to face her.

His heart dropped to the floor.

Stephanie was standing there, her green eyes glossed over, her eyelids were fluttering, and her body was limp. It was as if she was asleep. Steve searched for her headphones, which were somehow nowhere to be seen. This sent Steve into a further panic. The only person who could know where her headphones were was the last person he wanted in that room.

"Dustin!" Against every ounce of his judgment, he needed those headphones, and her brother was the only person who would know their location. He didn't want the boy to see his sister like this, but he couldn't leave her alone to go off looking for them.

"Steve, for the last time, those spiders aren't going to-" Dustin stopped dead in his tracks, just as Steve had. The horror on the older boy's face confirmed his fears. His breathing became shallow as he looked from his sister to Steve.

"Where are her headphones?" The brunette could scream and wouldn't think he was being loud enough. Steve felt stuck. And for the first time in a long time, he didn't know what to do.

"My- my backpack. Shit!" The young Henderson ran out of view. He became focused on saving his sister. He needed her more than anything. He wasn't about to lose her to a monster from another dimension, especially when that was why he lost her the first time.

Steve turned back to the blonde, placing his other hand on her cheek while keeping his hand on her shoulder. Tears brimmed in his eyes, but the more he blinked away, the more that came in their place. He felt useless, hopeless, and like there was nothing he could do but wait. Steve looked into Stephanie's glossed-over eyes. Memories of the past few years reflected themselves in her eyes. Everything they had gone through, together and separately, told their own story in the blonde girl's eyes. Every date, monster fight, celebration, and breakdown swam through the fogginess of her eyes as Stephanie fought for consciousness.

"Steph, you can't do this to me right now. I just got you back. Come on, baby, help me out here." Steve's voice cracked as he pleaded for his love. He didn't care who heard him. He knew it was Stephanie's first vision, meaning if it was anything like Max's, Stephanie should wake up on her own. But Steve didn't care. She shouldn't have been cursed in the first place. The vision was her warning. A warning that Stephanie's time was running out if they didn't find Vecna and kill him soon.