The Deal [Eddie Munson] 1

049

Jackie

"Well this certainly isn't creepy." I say, looking at the house. I look around at the kids I'm with. Wait- did they use me as the babysitter? They did. They definitely did. "It's very creepy. Vecna killed two people here." Lucas says, and Max walks over to me, handing me a lantern.

"Here, take a lantern, if it starts to light up crazy, it means Vecna is around in the same place in the Upside Down." She says, and I nod, grabbing it from her. "The Upside Down is where everyone else went, right?" I ask.

"Yes, and once we get In here, no talking. Use the notepads." Lucas answers, handing us all notepads and markers. He takes a deep breath, reaching his hand up and opening the door. We all follow behind him, and he points us in different directions to walk around the house.

We split up, and I walk up the stairs, holding up the lantern and waiting to see if Vecna is gonna appear. I really don't know what I'm getting myself into, this is all scarier than I thought. I didn't think I was going to be walking around in some creepy house in the dark.

I continue walking around, not picking up anything, so I start to walk downstairs. I see Erica writing something on her notepad, and she turns it around to show me.

'Found Vecna.'

I nod, and we start to walk around together until we find Lucas and Max. We finally find them, and Erica turns the notepad so that they can read it. They nod, and we all follow Erica as she shows us. We watch as her light blinks on and off.

'Phase one?' She writes again, and they all nod. Lucas points at both of us, and and points at the door. We both take off running, heading towards the spot directly across from the window that they're going to be in.

We get there, catching our breath and sitting down. "Kid, how are you so brave?" I ask her, and she turns and looks at me, shrugging. "We're all gonna die anyway. If I die now, then that's my end. I'm not living my life in fear." She replies, and I smile at the confidence in her voice.

"I like you Erica. You've got heart." I say to her, looking at the window and back at her. "I also have no choice, I have a brother who's scared of everything." She jokes, and I laugh at her. I can tell her and her brother are close, and it reminds me of Miles.

"I'm glad you stick up for him. I used to stick up for my brother all of the time." I breathe out, and she furrows her eyebrows at me. "Used to?" She questions, and I chew on the inside of my lip, trying not to think about him too much.

Of course I miss him, he's my brother. I'm supposed to be grieving his death right now, but the only thing I can think about is what he would be wanting me to do. He would not want me to be sad, he would want me to do what we always do.

An eye for an eye.

"He got caught up in a whole bunch of stuff he wasn't supposed to be doing. Being around people who couldn't help him. He passed away recently." I explain, and I can tell she's doing her best to not make the situation awkward. She's a child, and here I am, telling her all about my brother's death.

"I'm so sorry." She says, giving me a sincere smile. I pat her leg, smiling back at her. I completely forgot that we're out here to do something. "It's okay, because I'm going to figure all of it out. I know I will."

"Figure it out?" She questions again, and I take a deep breath, looking away from her. "Figure out how to get revenge for his death." I answer, and it gets quiet. She looks around, picking up the flashlight and handing it to me.

"Okay, start flashing the light." She says, and I nod, picking up the flashlight, flashing it through the window so that they can see it. "Come on, come on." She whispers as we wait for them to flash the light back at us.