New Town

36. The Creel House

You drove back to the Wheelers and stayed beside Max in the back and held her since she was still shaken up. Kate Bush played in her headphones and the car ride was pretty much silent.

Steve kept looking at you and her in the rear view mirror almost the whole drive. Dustin had to yell at him a few times, which lighten the mood a bit.

You took shifts that night to look after Max and you were all sleeping down in the basement. You couldn't sleep basically at all and stayed up and played the music which she groaned at.

As soon as she heard the Wheelers upstairs she decided to go up and you went with her, seeing you couldn't go back to sleep. Mrs. Wheeler greeted you both and made you both a plate of pancakes and you thanked her and sat at the table with Holly.

After Max finished eating she borrowed Holly's crayons and started drawing what she saw when she was in Vecna's trance. And you just sat and sipped on your coffee.

"Morning, guys. Everything okay?" Mrs. Wheeler asked and you looked behind you to see and panicked Nancy and Dustin.

"Yeah, yeah, everything's, okay." Nancy said and Max looked back at them.

"I think it's so sweet you guys are sticking together like this." Mrs. Wheeler said.

"Could try sticking together at a different house for a change." Mr. Wheeler said and Nancy walked over to you and Dustin grabbed some breakfast.

"Sorry, we didn't want to wake you guys up." You said as Max stopped the music and took the headphones off.

"No, it's okay." She said and sat at the chair besides Max. "You okay?" She asked Max.

"Just couldn't sleep. People kept blasting music in my ears, for some reason." She said with a chuckle and you and Nancy did too. "But, Holly let me borrow some of her crayons. We've been having fun, right, Holly?"

Holly hummed in agreement and focused on the Lite Brite. Nancy looked at the drawings on the table. "Is this what you saw last night?"

"I mean, it's supposed to be. I thought it'd be easier to draw it out than explain it, but, not so much." She answered.

"Is that...?" She asked pulling the paper that had Ned and Chrissy's bodies tangled on some sort of trees.

"It was like they were on display or something. And then there was this red fog everywhere. It was like a dream. A nightmare." Max explained.

"Do you think Vecna's just trying to scare you?" Nancy asked.

"With Billy? Yeah. But when I made it here, I dunno, something was different. He seemed surprised, almost. Like he didn't want me there." Max said and Dustin sat down.

"Maybe you infiltrated his mind. He invaded your mind, right? Is it that big of a leap to suggest you somehow wound up in his? Like Freddie Krueger's boiler room." Dustin said.

"Freddie Krueger?" Holly asked.

"He's a super burned up dude with razors for fingers. And he kills you in your dreams." He explained and you furrowed your eyebrows at him.

"Dustin. Seriously?" Nancy asked and looked at Holly and then back at him.

He realized what he had said. "Sorry. It's a movie. It's not real." He said and looked back at the three of you. "Just, think about it. What if you somehow unlocked a back door to Vecna's world. Like, maybe the answer we're looking for is, somewhere in this incredibly vague drawing. God, we need Will." He said picking up a picture and putting it back down.

"Yeah, no shit. But we tried them again this morning, and it's the same busy signal." She said and Nancy picked up the drawing Dustin had just put down.