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chapter twenty-three
DIANA COULDN'T FIGURE OUT his next target. Every time she grew close to a name, every time her empty list had a chance to grow, he—Vecna for lack of better knowledge— changed his mind. He'd killed Chrissy Cunningham and Fred Benson, a fact that had become clear when the sun came up and police sirens followed, and now he was searching for another.
Diana just didn't know what exactly he was looking for, and she didn't know what was so special about Max's and Eddie's trailer park. Both Chrissy and Fred had been brutally murdered there and the police were blaming Eddie. As if the boy was capable of Vecna's otherworldly precision. She'd watched him scarf down corn flakes and shake with fear mere hours ago.
He wasn't a killer, but some part of her wished he had been the culprit, if only for an easier solution.
Diana shivered and adjusted herself on the picnic table bench. The trailer park was vacant of police and it's inhabitants were quiet. The sun shone brightly on her skin, and she relished in the sensation.
Steve hadn't looked at her in hours, even now when she was seated right next to him. His body was angled slightly toward Dustin's and his eyes were on Nancy—who was only there because she'd been investigating Chrissy's death with Fred right before he'd died. The brunette sat across from them, between Robin and Max, and she looked spooked as she tried to understand what they'd learned.
"Diana?" Nancy questioned after a long pause in the explanation, which actually wasn't a pause at all. The conversation had finished, and she hadn't even noticed. She hummed in question. "You really have nothing to add?"
Diana cleared her throat. "I do, thank you." She dug her nails into her jeans and thought for a moment, remembering the points that had been made. "Ok. Number one: there's a very easy explanation of what Vecna is." Her voice lowers a bit. "He's psychic. Telekinesis, mind reading, the works. Number two: he doesn't believe the Mind Flayer is even worth talking about, so there's no way in hell that thing is running the damn show. And number three: he is very much human and very much in the Upside Down."
"Why didn't you say anything at the shed?" Dustin asked accusingly.
"I wanted to get it all in one go, for Nancy, but we'll have to explain it a few more times before this is over anyway."
"Wait—" Steve began, drawing their attention. "He's like you?"
Diana sighed. "In some ways. He doesn't look into the future, though, he wouldn't be asking me to stop watching him if he did. He's more powerful than me and even Eleven."
"But why did he choose Fred and Chrissy? It doesn't make sense," Nancy let out quietly. "I mean, why them?"
Dustin squinted in thought. "Maybe they were just in the wrong place? They were both at the game."
"And near the trailer park," Max added.
A beat of silence.
Steve spoke up first. "We're at the trailer park." They all looked around at the eerily quiet area. "Uh, should we maybe not be here?"
"There is something about this place," Nancy said thoughtfully. "Fred started acting weird the second we got here."
Diana frowned, taking in her surrounding for the first time and breathing in the crisp air. "The veil between this world and the Upside Down feels... It feels like it did at the mall."
Maybe they should leave.
"How exactly did it feel there?" Robin asked.
Diana met her eyes and simply replied, "Thin."
"Maybe that's why Fred was so scared and upset," Nancy murmured.
Dustin tilted his head, his eyes going to the red head across from him. "Max said Chrissy was upset, too."
The girl shook her head slightly. "Yeah, but not here. She was crying in the bathroom at school."
"Location doesn't matter much," Diana said, thinking aloud. "He'll kill you where he can. He's watches them. Like he said he's watching me, but the difference is that he can find them."
"Maybe they saw this Vecman—" Robin began only to be interrupted by Dustin's 'Vecna' correction.
Steve shrugged his shoulders, voicing his own thoughts. "I don't know about you guys, but if I saw some freaky wizard, psychic, monster. I would mention it to someone."
Diana froze, an image of Adya Ramesh flashing across her vision. Oh my God, she thought, trying not to panic. Maybe it wasn't related. Maybe the girl's nightmares had nothing to do with Vecna.
"Maybe they did," Max started. "I saw Chrissy leaving Ms. Kelly's office. If you saw a monster, you wouldn't go to the police—they'd never believe you. But you might go to your shrink."
Or your resident psychic, Diana thought woefully.
"Jesus, ok," Steve said. He didn't spare her a glance, but she supposed that was the least of her worries now. "Let's start there."
"Wait," Robin let out before they could move. Her eyes found Diana's. "You said this guy was human?"
Diana blinked. She had said that.
"He feels closer to human than the Mind Flayer did. Either way, when scrying, there is only so much of yourself that you can hide. He showed me his innermost self, but not by choice." Diana had only been able to hide her mind and her whereabouts, so he'd seen her for who she was, too. He'd already known, anyway. Diana thought of the tiny table and tiny chair and her name on his lips. "Some part of him is a young boy with blonde hair and blue eyes. I would need to scry again to learn more—to study him."
Steve scoffed, and Diana almost ignored him. Almost. "Would you like to add something?" He still didn't look at her, so she stared at the side of his head.
"You ask me to trust you..." he said under his breath.
Nancy's eyes darted between the couple. "Am I missing something?"
"Vecna threatened to kill her if she continues watching his future and trying to figure him out," Dustin explained warily.
"He what?" Nancy exclaimed a bit too loudly.
"It's not that big of a deal—" Diana began but was quickly interrupted by her friend.
Nancy's doe eyes were wide with fear. "You didn't see Fred, Diana. You can't risk yourself—"
"Look," she said, addressing the whole table, not just Nancy. "No one's gonna talk me out of this, so let's just leave it. Alright?"
Steve scoffed. "Yeah? What about when Lucas finds out?"
His words made her pause.
That would be the beginning of a never-ending argument that Diana didn't have the energy for, and Lucas worried too damn much to let it go. "He's not going to find out because none of you will say anything."
Dustin immediately protested, but Max nodded in agreement, surprising everyone. The redhead grimaced then shrugged, her eyes going down to her pale hands. "He worries enough as it is."
Diana was relieved that someone else understood her brother as well as she did.
"I'm—I'm not agreeing to that. Are you out of your mind?" Steve shot down, dashing her hopes for compliance.
Diana bit back an exasperated groan, realizing that her previous pleas for trust had fallen upon deaf ears, and that they were probably going to have it out right there, wasting time that she already didn't have. "So because you're angry, I can't trust you to do this for me?"
His eyes darted to hers. He was visibly upset, and they were making their friends uncomfortable, but she couldn't find it in herself to care. "Uh, trust goes both ways, and you haven't trusted me since we started this relationship."
"That's not true." Diana tried to swallow the lump in her throat, but she failed miserably.
"It is," he insisted, finally facing her. "You've been keeping things from me for months."
Her eyes widened. Clearly their days-old argument was far from over. She hated that they were back here. She hated that, in just a few days, this wasn't working anymore. "None of this has anything to do with our relationship—"
"Except, it has everything to do with our relationship because you don't trust me—"
"And you don't trust me—"
"Because you keep giving me reasons not to—"
"I'm trying to do the right thing—"
"You're not trying. You're making decisions about your life without me—"
"This is my life—"
"And you're risking it like you don't care if you live or die—"
"I'm psychic for a reason. Not to just let bad shit happen—"
"We can do this without your powers. You're just upset because you know Lucas is gonna agree with me—"
"You guys—" She heard Robin say, but they both ignored her.
"If you tell Lucas about the threats, we're over," Diana let out with such finality that her words sent the entire table into a bout of silence. She didn't mean to say the words, but it was too late to take them back, and her pride just wouldn't let her. If he wanted to be unreasonable, she could be too.
A myriad of emotions flitted across Steve's face—surprise, anger, sadness, and then resignation. He shook his head, the gesture conveying something akin to disbelief and hurt. "Why would you—why would you even say that?"
I don't want to lose you.
"Because I'm done arguing. Because you're not listening, and because I decide how this works. These risks are mine to take, and if you can't understand that, then we've got nothing left to say to each other," she ground out. Diana lifted her chin defiantly, repeating her earlier sentiments. "Tell Lucas, and we're done."
Wow, he murmured underneath his breath. He shook his head again. His brown eyes dulled as he closed himself off from her. "You know what I think?"
"Steve," Dustin warned.
"I think," he continued as if the boy hadn't spoken, "if that's what our relationship is gonna come down to, maybe— maybe we should just call it either way."
"Maybe we should," she agreed stubbornly, her stomach churning. She looked away. Her eyes found a tiny spider scurrying away without a care in the world, her plight meaningless to the tiny creature.
"How about we all just take a breather—" Dustin began, but his words were far too late to mean anything at all.
"Nancy," Diana whispered because that was all she could manage at the moment. She dragged her eyes from the tiny brown arachnid. "Can you drop me off at Family Video?"
The girl blinked slowly, her eyes darting between the couple—if it was still right to call them that. "Um, sure?"
"Follow your lead, and they'll follow theirs with Ms. Kelly," Diana said, standing up. "I have some things that I need to take care of, but I'll meet you and Robin at the library before sundown."
"Robin and me?" Nance asked in shock. Diana could see it as clear as day now. Solid and reassuring, unlike most of what she was being shown.
"Yeah, let's get going. We're wasting time."
She left the table without a second glance. The only thing in her sight was Nancy's car and the safe haven it would provide her if she could just make it there.
Someone, however, had different plans for her as they caught her wrist. She jerked backwards slight, her head whipping around to find Robin with a forlorn look on her face. "Are you ok?"
Nancy caught up to them, her eyes filled with the same question.
"Let's just go," Diana said, tugging her hand back and continuing her journey.
"Hey," Steve called at the three girls. "What's the plan?"
Diana didn't answer as she hurriedly slid into the backseat of Nancy's car and tried her damndest not to cry.
sorry!
thanks for reading.
-syd