24 HOURS
⋇⋆✦⋆⋇ "Victor Creel claims vengeful demon killed family. The murder that shocked a small community!" Robin reads from the screen.
"Shit, you found it?" Gina says, going back towards Robin and standing behind her, putting her hand on Robin's shoulder.
"Ha, ha," Nancy mocks. "That's very funny."
"I'm not kidding," Robin attests, her eyes fixed on the article. "Get over here." Nancy walks over, her boots clicking on the wood floor. Robin starts to read. " 'According to several insiders, Victor alledgly hired a priest to exorcise the demon from his home.' "
"Pretty novel for the '50s," Gina comments, Robim nods along. "Exorcist wasn't even out yet."
Nancy gets impatient. "Keep...keep going," she stammers.
Robin turns the knob and it scrolls, a new page with Victors mugshot and a photo of the Creel family. "Okay, so Victor claimed this exorcism failed, but it angered this demon, which then murdered his family, removing their eyes."
"Victor believed he was spared as a punishment," Gina finishes for Robin, almost as a whisper.
Nancy squints her eyes, as if she's deep in thought. "That's pretty convenient for Victor."
"Yeah, or super inconvenient," Robin counters, turning her head to Nancy. "Victor was declared legally insane by the court, right? Well, what if this is why? I mean, it sounds pretty insane; they just didn't go public because—"
"—The plea bargain," Nancy finishes, looking as though everything just clicked. "The records were sealed."
"What if a demon did invade Victor's home?" Gina asks, though not as a question, more thinking out loud.
Robin puts her hand on top of Gina's, who's still holding onto Robin's shoulder. "It's just, this demon wasn't any old demon."
Nancy's eyes go wide. "It was Vecna."
—
⋇⋆✦⋆⋇ "Dustin, do you copy?" Robin pants into the walkie as the four exit the library, hastily going to the car.
"Yeah, I copy."
"So, Nancy's a genius. Vecna's first victims date all the way back to 1959. Her shot in the dark was a bullseye."
"Okay, that's totally bonkers, but I can't really talk right now."
Robin gets into the passenger seat. "Wait, what are you doing?"
"Breaking and entering school to retrieve confidential and extremely personal files."
Gina chuckles. "Sounds fun," she comments, getting into the backseat.
"Can you repeat that?"
"Just get your ass over here, stat," a new voice says, Gina immediately recognizing it as Stephanie. "Or I'll set you up with Steve again."
" 'Again'?" Gina repeats as Robin rolls her eyes and retracts the antenna.
—
⋇⋆✦⋆⋇ Gina opens jumps out of the car, not waiting until it's stopped and runs to the the double doors, flashlight in hand.
Dustin had called on the car ride over to the school, saying something happened to Max. Gina didn't know what could've happened, but Gina's only concern is to get to Max.
"It was here," Max says as Gina, Nancy, and Robin run to the end of a hallway where Max is shining her flashlight onto. "Right here."
"A grandfather clock?" Nancy confirms.
"It was so real," Max continues, a break in her voice. "And then, when I got closer, suddenly I just...I woke up."
"It was like she was in a trance or something," Dustin comments, looking to Nancy.
"That's exactly what Eddie said happen to Chrissy," Stephanie says.
Voices start to become muffled for Gina. Chrissy's dead. She was killed by Vecna. Or something else. Max isn't dead. She won't be. She's fine.
Gina's pulled from her thoughts as Robin grabs her wrist and drags her to follow the rest down the hallway into Ms. Kelley's office.
Max sits at Ms. Kelley's desk, her hands shaking as well as her voice as she starts talking. "Fred and Chrissy, they both were coming to Miss Kelley for help." She holds out two files, Gina reading Fred and Chrissy's name on the front. "Uh, they both were having headaches, bad headaches that wouldn't go away." Max hesitates for a moment, looking to Stephanie before continuing. "And then...then the nightmares. Trouble sleeping. They'd wake up in a cold sweat. And then they started seeing things. Bad things. From their pasts. And these visions, they just...they kept on getting worse and worse, until eventually...everything ended."
Robin hands the files to Gina, saying, "Vecna's curse."
Max continues. "Chrissy's headache started a week ago. Fred's, six days ago. I've been having them for five days. I don't know how long I have. All I know is that, for Fred and Chrissy, they both died less than twenty four hours after their first vision." Max walls closer to Stephanie, tears forming in the corners of her eyes. "And I just saw that goddamn clock, so...looks like I'm gonna die tomorrow."
Stephanie pulls Max into a hug as Gina looks at Robin. "What are we gonna do?" she says, looking into Robin's worried eyes.
"We're going to figure it out. I know we will," Robin reassures Gina, putting her hand on Gina's shoulder.
Clank.
Everyone whips their heads towards the sound.
"Stay here," Steve whispers, pulling a floor lamp out the outlet, positioning it like a baseball bat in his hands.
"The hell he's gonna do with that?" Stephanie gestures towards Steve.
Gina shrugs. "Save the world."
Everyone follows Steve out into the hallway, following the distant clinks and clanks. They slowly follow Steve, the sound of footsteps becoming louder and louder until Steve starts swinging and the person is yelling at him.
"It's me!" the kid yells, bending over in attempt to catch his breath. "Its me."
"Lucas?" Stephanie shouts, making Gina actually process what just happened.
"Jesus, what's wrong with you, Sinclair?" Steve yells, jumping a little. "I could've taken you out with this lamp!"
"No you couldn't!" Stephanie yells back, matching Steve pitch, making Gina hold back a snort. It's not the time right now.
"Sorry, guys," Lucas continues panting. "Sorry about that. I was...I was biking for eight miles." He turns around and holds out one finger. "Give me a second. Shit." He stands back up, focusing on Dustin. "We've got a code red."
"What?" Dustin questions, not understanding anything Lucas is saying.
Lucas takes a step towards Dustin. "Dustin. I've been with Jason, Matt, Patrick, and Andy, and they've gone totally off the rails. They're trying to capture Eddie, Stephanie knows that part, and they think you know where he is. You're in terrible danger!"
Dustin keeps his cool, unlike Lucas. "Alright. Yeah, that definitely sucks, but we've got bigger problems than Jason right now." Dustin turns back to Max, making everyone look at her in return. She avoids everyone's gaze, staring at her shoes.
"What happened?" Lucas says, looking at everyone's tense expressions.
"It's Max," Gina tells him, "Vecna's Curse."
"Vecna?"
⋇⋆✦⋆⋇
yayayay (well not really this is sad) but new chapter 😁
okay but, like, i was thinking/been thinking and i know this is considered "fanfiction" and the whole thing about fanfics is that it's embarrassing and cringy, (believe me, i hide this like a drug addiction) but, when you really think about it, it's just a story and not that weird. to me, inserting a fake character into a fake story with other fake characters is not that weird. i can't get behind smut with real people though that's a little much.
(i searched FAR AND WIDE for a gif for this)
1/13/24