They'd finally made it to the Wheeler house, after another earthquake, and another scare from the bats. It wasn't pleasant, and eve very much stuck to herself, wondering what had happened with max, Lucas and Dustin and if they were safe.
She was glad they weren't stuck down there with them, that would be a lot of stress.
The inside was disgusting - it was coated in vines, and little flecks flew through the air, much like the ones in the tunnels. It was gross to look at, especially considering the day before they'd eaten breakfast there, and it had all been normal.
"Might be time to get a maid, Wheeler," Robin told her, trying to make humour in the situation - it couldn't have been easy to see your home abandoned and ruined.
"Come on, I don't want to stay here longer than we have to," Nancy said, breaking out of her little trance and heading up the stairs quickly, everybody following behind her other than Steve. Upon entering Nancy's bedroom, Nancy went to where she knew the guns would be, while Eve went to look at her desk. There was a mirror on there, and even though it was covered in sludge, she could still see her reflection.
She looked a mess, with her hair falling out of her ponytail in random areas, blood dried on her forehead and staining her hair. Her complexion was pale, her eyes sunken. There were also little black veins covering her neck, something that made her a little shocked that no one had pointed out.
She traced her fingers over them lightly, they reminded her of Billy in the sauna, when the mind flayer was taking control. that made her heart jump slightly at the idea of her becoming what Billy once was.
"Eve," She heard a whisper, and her head snapped up, her eyes falling on a person standing behind her in the mirror. She couldn't see their face, a shadow falling over them, but they were taller than her by a large amount, their body slightly hunched as they stared straight ahead.
She jumped, turning to look at the mysterious figure, only to see it wasn't there.
"Those aren't guns," She then heard Eddie say, making her look over at them as she tried to calm her breathing, coming back into the moment, their reality.
"These heels are pointy," Robin notes, "But I was hoping for a deadly projectile."
"I don't understand," Nancy mumbled, letting go o her shoes.
"Maybe you left them somewhere else?" Eddie asked, opening a drawer to see a bunch of jeans. Eve moved closer then, looking at the pictures on Nancy's desk, pictures of her and Barb.
"There's a six-year-old in the house, I know where I keep my guns," Nancy argues with him, making him raise his hands in defence.
Eve was still stuck on the photos - she'd been in Nancy's room two days ago to help her look for batteries, but these photos weren't there, "Also, I threw these away years ago."
"What?" Eve whispered, then moved along to look at a couple of assignments left on her desk, which was even more confusing, especially considering the fact that this was some of the stuff Eve was learning now.
"I get that grades are important," Robin speaks up from where Nancy is looking at flashcards, "but perhaps studying can wait till we get out of here?"
"These are from sophomore chemistry," Nancy says to her.
"These are sophomore English," Eve speaks up, making them turn to her as she holds up Nancy's papers, "Didn't know you were bushing up on this, Nance."
"I wasn't," Nancy shakes her head, looking behind eve, "And that is old wallpaper, and hat mirror, that went to a yard sale." She then walked over to the bed, picking up an old doll, "And you... you're not supposed to be here. I gave you to Cousin Joanna two years ago."
"This is... weird, right?" Eve asked as Nancy walked past her, going to her bedside table and opening the drawer, getting out her diary.
She seemed to pause as she looked at the last date written inside.
Nov 6, 1983.
"What is it?" Eddie asked her, moving next to Eve as Robin did the same.
"Nancy, you're freaking me out," Robin told her.
"I think the reason that my guns aren't here, is because they don't exist yet," Nancy says to them, staring at the diary's date.
"They don't... exist?" Eddie asked, a little confused.
"This diary should be full of entries," Nancy explains, turning to them with the book in hand, "It's not. The last entry is November 6, 1983. The day Will went missing. The day the gate opened. We're in the past."
Eddie and Robin shared a look, both as shocked as Nancy - they didn't;t get how that was possible, but it also meant that something about Will's disappearance and the gate opening caused a shift in the world they were standing in.
"If that's true, can we stop off and my old place?" Eve asks, not really grasping the severity of the information, "I left my tears for fears vinyl there when we moved, and I'd like that back."
They all looked at her incredulously, a little confused at how she was so calm about all of this before they heard Steve downstairs.
"Dustin! Dustin!"
They all looked to the doors, before running out to see what had Steve so alarmed, only to see him in the kitchen area yelling, "Can you hear me? Dustin! Hello? Hel... Hello?"
"Maybe he really does have rabies," Robin whispers to Eve, who rolls her eyes.
"Hello?" Steve continued to yell, "Hello? Dustin?"
"Steve, what are you doing?" Nancy asks him, making him snap his head over to the four standing looking at him like he was insane.
He walked over quickly, "He's here. Henderson. That little shit, he's here. he's like..." Steve panted, "he's in the walls or something. Just listen."
Everyone was silent as they stared at him, no noise being made.
"Dustin? Dustin!" Steve yelled again, making eve look at him in worry, was this guy really going crazy. Was it really rabies? "Can you hear me?"
That's when they heard it.
IT was distorted and sounded far away, but it was Dustin, "that brings us... question... raised," It was hard to hear, but it was definitely the Henderson boy.
"Well, shit," Eve whispered.
"Spread out," Nancy told them, making them all nod and begin to walk around the lower level of the house, all yelling his name. checking behind curtains, under the table, all trying to find the Henderson boy.
"Dustin!" Robin yelled, as did Nancy, Eve and Eddie.
"All right, either this kid can't hear us or he's being a total douchebag," Steve says, holding up the flashlight he'd found.
"You think it's because we didn't let him in the boat?" Eve asks him.
"Probably, the kid can't let shit go," Steve says back, making her nod.
"Will found a way," Nancy spoke up from behind them, making them both turn to look at her.
"What?" Steve asked.
"Will. He found a way to speak to Joyce through the lights," Nancy tells them, going to a lamp and trying to turn it on, but the thing was no use.
"the switch, try the switch," Steve suggested, making Eve lean over to it, flicking it over and over again, the thing not working.
"Not working," Eve said.
"Are you doing it right?" Nancy asked her, moving next to her to try it herself.
"Doing it right? The thing only goes up and down," Eve says to her, "I'm not that incompetent."
"I didn't mean it like that-" Nancy started.
"Guys," Steve cut them off, his flashlight on the little chandelier that was flickering slightly, "you seeing this?"
Eve moved around him, Nancy following her as they stood closer. The lights were warm, a soft glow not making it very far - the dust around the lights looked like gold specks, and Eve just felt an unnecessary need to touch them.
She raised her hand up, Steve and Nancy watching her as she got close. Her hand began to tingle lightly as the particles began to light up, the lights going brighter. The feeling made her smile, it tickled slightly.
She moved her finger back and forth, as the other two smiled. It looked magical.
"Whoa," Eddie whispered, as he and Robin joined the three around the chandelier.
Eve moved her hand away then, the feeling leaving.
They all began to reach up then, all feeling what she had as their hands moved around the lights, making it brighter in the normal world.
"It... tickles," Steve noted as Eve let a little giggle escape her lips, the noise made Eddie look over at her with a wide smile, feeling the same joy as she was. The whole thing was magical, feeling like a little silver lining in the dark world.
"It kinda feels good," Robin smiles.
"Does anyone know morse code?" Nancy asks.
"No," Steve and Robin say, still staring at the light.
"Not off the top of my head," Eve shakes her head.
"Wait, does SOS count?" Eddie asked, making them all look at him with a smile, "Is that... is that good?"
"Do it," Eve said, moving out of the way so he could reach easier. He nodded, lifting his hand and beginning to do the dots and dashes as needed, doing them over and over again.
"Come on, Dustin," Eve whispered, crossing her fingers that the boy would notice the weird light.
a/n
unedited