What Are You Hiding? | Henry Creel / Peter Ballard / 001

Part 24 - We Shouldn't Have Ignored Those Red Flags

"Henry..." I shake my head in slight horror. "What the hell are you doing?"

He slowly lowers himself to the ground, the vines receding from the floor beneath him as he lands lightly. "I've been expanding my control into your world, Jules. You didn't really think I remodeled a house just so I could have a place to live, did you?"

"Well, to be fair, yeah, I did."

"You really thought I just gave up on my dreams of world domination?"

"I mean, I thought you loved me and were satisfied with this-"

"Which is true," he interrupts. "But what's even better? Ruling the world with you by my side."

I hesitantly take a step back, watching the predatory look on his face carefully.

"I know this is a lot, Jules, but this will be a lot easier if you don't run like you seem to be thinking of doing."

"Not thinking of - I'm doing it, actually."

He sends me a confused glance, but it changes to surprise as he watches me turn on my heel and sprint down the stairs. I now take the stairs three at a time as I fly down, narrowly avoiding all the vines that seem to be reaching for my ankles. Unluckily, a vine at the bottom hits my ankle, and I tumble over it, somehow missing it as it tries to latch onto my ankle.

I roll across the hallway, landing against the railing of the house's main staircase. I look up to see Henry standing at the top of the attic stairs, casually making his way down them.

I swiftly pull myself to my feet and sprint down the main staircase, not stopping for anything. I curse under my breath as my acceptance letter slips from my pocket, but I don't bother to try to get it as I run for the entrance table.

As I arrive at the entrance table, panic spreads throughout me. My keys are gone. I swear to god, I put them there all of 30 seconds ago. I frantically search for them around the table, but they are nowhere to be found.

"Looking for something?"

I turn on my heel to face Henry, taking in the sight of him mockingly dangling my keys in the air from the top of the staircase, nosebleed present as ever.

Oh fuck. Deciding to screw it and just run home, I sprint the ten feet to the door. Just as my hand touches the doorknob and I think I might have a shot at getting out of here, an invisible force pulls my body backwards.

I fly back towards the staircase, bracing myself to crash into it. However, the impact never comes as I jolt to a harsh stop mid-air.

I attempt to touch the ground, but the closest that I get is the tips of my shoes brushing past the hardwood. My body slowly begins to turn towards Henry, and I watch as he leisurely makes his way down the stairs, simply outstretching a hand and watching as my acceptance letter flies into it. "What is this?" he questions.

I strain against whatever invisible force is holding me up, failing to so much as move my arms from my sides. "This wasn't how I was supposed to tell you-"

"You got into Stanford?"

I wince as I watch the betrayal seep into his expression while he reads the letter. "You knew this could happen-"

"No, it wasn't supposed to!  You were supposed to stay in Indiana so I could see you whenever I pleased!" he shoots back angrily. He throws the acceptance letter to the side as he storms toward me. "I had a plan. You were going to live your happy, normal life near Hawkins while being entirely oblivious to my plans to conquer the world. Then when the day came, I would bring you here, our safe haven, and we would watch as the world around us is consumed by the darkness of the upside down."