Teens - Kyle Dixon & Michael Stein
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CREEL'S HOUSE
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Gwen gasps herself awake from a nightmare while laying in Steve's arms on the couch in the Wheelers basement. They had gotten back the night before after Max escaped Vecna's trance.
"Hey, Dustin, this is Eddie the Banished. You there?" Eddie's voice come through the walkie next to a sleeping Dustin, causing Gwen to groan. "Dustin, can you hear me? Dustin? Earth to Dustin."
Gwen slowly gets out of Steve's arms with an annoyed sigh before rolling her eyes and grabbing the walkie. "It's Gwen," Gwen says into the walkie with a scratchy morning voice.
"Gwen! Hey. Um, I'm gonna need a food delivery, like, really soon, unless you want me going out into the world."
"No, no, no. Please, don't do that," Gwen tells him, rubbing her forehead to rid herself of a headache that had formed due to the abrupt wake up. "Just stay there. We'll be there as soon as we can."
"Alright, but only because you said 'please'," he responds. "But, listen, um... can you pick me up a six-pack?" he asks, causing Gwen to squint her eyes in amusement. "I know, it's stupid as shit, drinking right now, but a cold beer would really calm my jangled nerves."
"How about I bring you a five-pack, because I'm definitely taking one," Gwen replies with a quiet chuckle.
"You're the boss, Henderson."
"Damn right," Gwen smiles. "Okay, I gotta go before I wake everyone up. We'll be there soon."
"See ya then."
Gwen puts the walkie back down and stands up to stretch, sighing contently as her muscles relax. Glancing at everyone's sleeping forms, she doesn't fail to notice that Max is nowhere in sight. Smelling breakfast from the kitchen, Gwen decides to walk upstairs to be met with Mrs. Wheeler making pancakes and bacon while Mr. Wheeler sits at the counter reading a newspaper and Max sits at the table with Holly.
"Morning, Gwen," Karen smiles.
"Morning," Gwen smiles back with a yawn.
"Would you like some breakfast?" Karen gestures to the food.
"Please," Gwen responds gratefully, taking a plate from Karen's extended hand. Gwen loads her plate full of pancakes and extra bacon, too hungry to care about not having her usual yogurt and banana. "Thank you," Gwen smiles before walking over to the table and taking a seat across from Max and next to Holly.
Max notices Gwen sit down and takes off her headphones as well as sets down the crayons she had been using to color a few drawings. "Morning."
"Morning," Gwen smiles warmly and takes a pancake from her plate before passing the rest to Max. Max opens her mouth to deny the food, but Gwen speaks before she can. "You need the energy."
"Thank you," Max smiles through a sigh and begins to dig into the food, internally grateful that Gwen is treating her normally.
Gwen leans back in her chair while chewing a pancake and grins at the young girl next to her. "Morning, Holly."
"Morning," The girl smiles, going back to her Lite Brite toy.
"Whatcha doing?" Gwen asks, tilting her head at the toy. Holly moves the toy so that Gwen can see the beginning of a rabbit taking form. "Woah," Gwen gasps with an impressed smile. "That's a really good bunny."
Holly shyly laughs before scooting her chair closer to Gwen. "Do you wanna help?"
"I'd love to," Gwen says, swallowing the final bite of her pancake and wiping her hands off her jeans to rid them of crumbs. "What do I do?"
"You take these," Holly holds up a small plastic peg before putting it into the toy. "And put them in here."
Max chews on a piece of bacon while watching Gwen and Holly with a small smile. Max always wished she had a sister to do things like this with, but in a way she does, because Gwen has taken up the role of being the older sister to all of the kids. She guesses it's just in Gwen's nature to take care of the people she loves, especially when they're young. Maybe it's due to the fact that Gwen's only lifeline when she was younger was Ten, her found older sister.
Both Gwen and Max's attention is taken when Karen speaks. "Morning, guys!" She smiles, continuing to cook breakfast as Dustin and Nancy stand behind her, sighing in relief at the sight of the two girls at the table. "Everything okay?"
"Yeah. Yeah, everything's okay," Nancy responds without taking her eyes away from Max and Gwen. As more people found out about Gwen's nightmares, they all became more nervous about the girl.
Gwen finds it ridiculous.
She understands them worrying about Max as she also does, but Gwen doesn't believe her nightmares are anything more than the result of past trauma. She's been having them for months, and if they were a result of Vecna, she would've been long gone by now. The only thing that slightly worries her is that recently she's been having the same horrible nightmare every night without fail. But that's just because of stress.
...Right?
"I think it's so sweet that you guys are sticking together like this," Karen smiles, plating a few pancakes.
"Could try sticking together at a different house for a change," Ted suggests, reading a newspaper.
Nancy walks toward Max and Gwen while Karen turns toward Dustin. "You know you and your sister are welcome here anytime."
"Totally. You're like family," Dustin smiles before gesturing to the food. "May I?
"Absolutely," Karen smiles, handing Dustin a plate.
"Yeah, why not?" Ted asks sarcastically as Dustin loads his plate with food. "Take us for all we're worth."
"Okay," Dustin replies cheekily.
"Morning," Gwen greets, continuing the help Holly as Nancy sits next to Max.
"Morning," Nancy turns to Max. "You okay?"
"Just couldn't sleep," Max sighs. "People kept blasting music in my ears for some reason. But Holly let me borrow some of her crayons. We've been having a fun morning, right, Holly?"
"Mhm," Holly nods, taking a green peg from Gwen's hand.
"Is this what you saw last night?" Nancy asks, looking at the drawings Max had made. The drawings have a light red background with different structures in the middle.
"I mean, it's supposed to be. I thought it'd be easier to draw it out than to explain it, but... not so much," Max shrugs as Gwen watches silently while continuing to hand plastic pegs to the girl next to her.
Nancy pulls a drawing of two people tied to trees closer to her. "Is that...?"
"It was like they were on display or something," Max responds. "And then there was this red fog everywhere. It was like a dream. A nightmare."
"Do you think Vecna's just trying to scare you?" Nancy asks Max.
"With Billy? Yeah," Max points at her drawings. "But when I made it here... I dunno, something was different. He seemed surprised, almost. Like he didn't want me there."
"Maybe you infiltrated his mind," Gwen suggests as Dustin sits down next to her, glancing at her with a timid smile.
"Like you can?" Max asks, accepting the bacon and taking a bite.
"Well, no. Not exactly. But he invaded your mind, right? So is it that big of a leap to suggest you somehow wound up in his?"
Dustin's eyes light up. "Like Freddie Krueger's boiler room."
"Freddie Krueger?" Holly repeats from beside Gwen.
"He's a super burned-up dude with razors for fingers," Dustin says while Holly's eyes widen. "And he kills you in your dreams."
"Dustin," Nancy scolds. "Seriously?"
"It's just a movie. It's not real," Gwen tells Holly. "He's just a wuss," She nods back at Dustin, causing Holly to laugh quietly.
"Just... think about it," Dustin says, bringing back Gwen's attention. "What if you somehow unlocked a back door to Vecna's world?"
"Would that even make sense?" Max asks, looking at Gwen.
"Well, it's not exactly like what I can do, but maybe the answer is in these incredibly vague drawings. I mean..." Gwen furrows her eyebrows and picks up a drawing to look at. "Actually, what if this is like what I can do? Could these somehow be Vecna's memories?"
Nancy picks up a drawing and squints her eyes. "Is this a window?"
"Yeah," Max nods.
"Stained glass with roses."
"Yeah. See? I'm not so terrible after all," Max raises her eyebrows teasingly at Gwen who lightly shrugs in response.
"Yeah, well, it helps that I've seen it before," Nancy begins folding the drawings and placing them together like a puzzle. Max begins to help Nancy sort through the drawings, while the Henderson siblings just watch, Gwen stealing a piece of bacon from Dustin's plate without him noticing. After Nancy folds the pages together, she uses a marker to outline the house that she created.
"Victor Creel's house," Gwen says, remembering seeing a picture of it on one of the news articles. She gets up with Nancy and begins walking toward the basement.
"Where are you going?" Dustin asks.
"Waking the others," Gwen responds before snatching the coffee mug straight out of Ted's hand.
"Hey!" Ted shouts.
"Bye Holly! Thanks for breakfast, Mrs. Wheeler!" Gwen calls back.
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The group of seven stand in front of Victor Creel's house. Gwen can tell that it once used to be beautiful, but the house they stand in front of today has wooden boards covering the windows, wooden walls chipped with blue paint, and overgrown grass littering the yard.
"Yeah, that's not creepy," Steve mutters.
"Come on," Gwen says. Her and Steve begin using hammers to pry nails out of the wooden board that covers the front door.
"So, what exactly are we supposed to be looking for in this shithole?" Steve asks.
"We're not sure," Gwen responds. "We just know this house is important to Vecna."
"Because Max saw it in Vecna's red soup mind world?"
"Pretty much," Gwen nods.
"Great."
"Maybe it holds a clue to where Vecna is," Dustin says. "Why he's back, why he killed the Creels, and how to stop him before he comes back for Max."
"We don't think he's in here, do we?" Lucas asks anxiously.
"Guess we'll find out," Max shrugs from beside him.
"Ready?" Steve asks Gwen when they get the final nail out. Gwen nods and they both let the wood panel fall onto the porch, revealing a stained glass flower on the wooden door. Steve try's the doorknob, but it doesn't move. "It's locked. Should I knock? See if anybody's home?"
"No need," Robin says, holding up a brick. "I found a key."
Steve and Gwen back up before Robin throws the brick, shattering the beautiful stained glass on the door. Steve sticks his arm through the broken glass, unlocking the door and opening it. Gwen walks in after him with a flashlight in hand, looking around at the abandoned home. The floors creek underneath her feet, and dust floats in the air.
"Looks like someone forgot to pay their electric bill," Lucas says after he tries to turn on a lamp to no avail.
In response, Dustin turns on his own flashlight.
"Where'd everyone get those?" Steve asks.
Dustin glances between him and his flashlight. "Do you need to be told everything? You're not a child."
"Thank you," Steve responds with sarcasm.
"Mhm," Dustin takes off his back back and hands it to Steve. "Back pocket."
Gwen follows Nancy and Robin as they peer into a different room. It looks to be a living room with torn leather couches and a fireplace.
"They just left everything," Nancy says.
"I mean, would you want to live here after what happened?" Gwen asks.
"Yeah, I guess a triple homicide isn't good for resale value," Robin says.
"Hey, guys?" Max calls, bringing their attention to a grandfather clock in the front room. "You all see that, right?"
"Yeah," Dustin says as they all walks toward it.
"Is this what you saw?" Nancy asks. "In your visions?"
"I mean, it's... just a clock, right?" Robin walks toward it and uses her sleeve to wipe the dust away from the glass. "Like a normal old clock."
"Why is Vecna obsessed with clocks?" Gwen asks, remembering the clock noises from Chrissy's memories.
"Maybe he's, like, a clockmaker or something?" Steve suggests, earning looks of disbelief and confusion from everyone else.
"I think you cracked the case, Steve," Dustin tells him before shaking his head and rolling his eyes.
"All I know is, the answers are here. Somewhere," Nancy says. "Okay, everyone stay in groups. Robin, Gwen, upstairs."
Gwen pats Steve and Dustin's shoulders before following.
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Gwen had branched off from the others a bit down the hallway while she looks around, shining her flashlight to illuminate the peeled wallpaper. Honestly, she doesn't know what they're looking for, but it seemed like a good idea to check out the house, even if it was just to check it off a list of possibilities.
Gwen yelps in surprise when Steve backs up into the hallway, scratching at his head. "Woah, woah," Gwen turns him around as he wipes spider webs off of his jacket. "What's wrong?"
"There was a spider. A black widow," he whispers before closing the door he had come from. "Don't go in there."
"Come here," Gwen has him kneel down slightly before she pulls stray spider webs from his hair. "Stop moving," she mumbles when he shuffles with anxiety.
"Thank you."
"If there's a spider nesting in there, you're never gonna find it till it lays eggs and the babies spill out," Robin grins as she and Nancy enter the hallway.
"What's wrong with you? Nance, that wasn't funny," Steve glares as Robin and Nancy walk away with matching chuckles. "They've got problems."
"We've all got problems," Gwen tells him as she continues to pick at his hair.
"Hey, are you, uh... you still doing okay?" Steve asks.
"I already promised to tell you if anything happens," she replies, tapping his shoulder to let him know that she is done.
"No, I'm not talking about that," he says, turning around to face her. "With everything going on... Are you okay?"
Steve isn't only scared about the possibility of Vecna going after Gwen. He's scared for her mental well-being. He knows that she has made progress over the last few months, and he doesn't want this to send Gwen into a spiral.
"...Yeah," she hesitates and averts her eyes. "Why wouldn't I be?"
Steve brings his hands up to cup her cheeks, making her look at him. "Please talk to me," he whispers.
Gwen sighs and brings her hands up to place them over Steve's. "I just don't understand why we can't have one good year. Like, twelve months of just nothing."
"I know," Steve rubs his thumbs along Gwen's cheeks.
Gwen bites her lip and shrugs. "It feels like he died for nothing, you know?"
Steve pulls Gwen into a hug and leans his head on top of hers. "What Hopper did, he did it to save lives. Our lives. You know that," he says before he feels Gwen nod against his chest. "And hey, focus on beating this thing, okay? Maybe once this is over, us, Robin, Nancy, and maybe even Jonathan can all go out. It's Tuesday, you know? You never got to stay at my place."
Gwen chuckles. "Well, I'll have to make up for that, won't I?"
"Mhm," Steve releases Gwen and grabs her hand. "Now, let's get back to the investigation. 'The obvious things are not what people observe'. Or... 'Do... Don't observe'. Or..."
"Sherlock Holmes?" Gwen grins.
Steve pulls his lips in. "I butchered it," he mumbles before leading Gwen to another room as she laughs.
As they're about to head through a doorway, a voice stops them in their tracks. "Hey, guys!" Max calls from down stairs.
Steve and Gwen glance at each other before rushing down the stairs. Everyone soon meets underneath a dust covered chandelier that flickers brightly.
"It's like the Christmas lights," Nancy says.
"The Christmas lights?" Robin whispers.
"When Will was in the Upside Down, the lights... came to life," Nancy tells her.
"That means Vecna's here," Gwen says, watching as the lights continue to flicker. "But on the other side."
The lights fade until they completely turn off. "I think he just left the room," Robin says.
"Did he hear us?" Max asks, looking around.
"When me and Nancy were in the Upside Down, we could hear Jonathan when he wasn't," Gwen glances at everyone. "So... he could've."
"Headphones," Lucas tells Max before she secures them over her ears.
"Wait. Everyone, turn off your flashlights and spread out," Nancy says, and everyone does as she ways.
"Wait. That's a horrible idea. Haven't you guys seen horror movies? This is how we die!" Gwen stresses. She glances at Steve, but he only shrugs, walking away with the others. "Jesus Christ," she mutters, begrudgingly walking around on her own.
Luckily, she didn't have to walk far before Robins voice calls out. "I got him! Got him!" Everyone rushes to see her hold her lit flashlight in the air before it fades out. "I... I had him."
Steve's flashlight lights up next to her. "Oh, woah," He begins to walk when the flashlight fades, and it lights up as he goes. "Oh, I think he's moving. He's moving," They walk past the front door and up the stairs before the light goes out. "Shit. I lost him."
"No, you didn't," Max says, walking toward a door and opening it to see distant flickering. They all go through the door to reveal another set of stairs.
"It's an attic. Of course it's an attic," Robin mutters nervously as they walk up the stairs.
"Hold up, guys," Dustin says. "What if he's leading us into a trap?"
Gwen turns around while everyone else continues up. "Then we all die," she shrugs before walking again.
"Gwen!" he calls after her with wide eyes before following. "Shit, shit, shit, shit."
Getting into the attic, they find a hanging lightbulb, flickering from the ceiling. They all circle around it before Gwen's flashlight illuminates.
"Flashlights," she says, as everyone's flashlights begin to light up after hers. They hold their flashlights closer to the middle where they light up even brighter.
"Okay, what's happening?" Steve asks but no one answers, as they don't know either.
Gwen jumps away and holds her arm over her face as her flashlight abruptly shatters. Everyone else does the same when their own flashlights explode before the light above them follows, sending the room into darkness.
Word Count: 3117