HENDERSON iii || M.Mayfield

4.5

Loretta sat up with a groan, hearing Nancy shout at
Dustin. "What's going on?" Etta asked, panicking
when Max wasn't beside her. "Where's Max?"

"I'm not sure, I'm pretty sure Dustin is supposed to
be on Max watch." Nancy replied.

"Yep. Yep, yep." Dustin rubbed the sleep out his
eyes. "Yep. Yep."

"Where the hell is she, then?" Etta wondered.

"She's right there, she was a second ago." Dustin
frowned. "I swear I just dozed off for..." He looked at
his watch. "An hour."

The trio rushed up stairs, Etta signing in relief when
she saw Max sat with Nancy's younger sister on the
dinning room table.

"Morning, guys." Karen greeted. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah, yeah. Everything is okay." Nancy nodded,
gaining Max's attention.

"I think it's so sweet you guys are sticking together
like this." Karen admitted.

"Could try sticking together at a different house for
a change." Ted- Mr Wheeler- murmered.

"You know you're welcome here anytime." Karen
assured.

"Thank you, Mrs Wheeler." Etta smiled, moving to sit
next to Max, watching as she drawed. Max smiled at
the girl, taking off her headphones.

"Hey." Max muttered.

"Hey." Etta greeted as Nancy pulled a chair up next
to Max. "You okay?"

"Just couldn't sleep. People kept blasting music in
my ears, for some reason." Max admitted with a joke
making Etta smile. "But Holly let me borrow some of
her crayons. We've been having fun, right, Holly?"

"Mhm." The girl hummed.

"Is this what you saw last night?" Nancy asked,
scattered on the table were drawings, filled with
red, with some darker things drawn on the different
papers aswell.

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

"Is that..?" Nancy asked. She pulled a drawing
forward, there were two pillars containing a body
each. Fred and Chrissy.

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

"Do you think he was trying to scare you?" Etta
asked softly.

"With Billy? Yeah." Max replied, she then motioned to
her drawings. "But when I made it here.. I dunno,
something was different. He seemed suprised,
almost. Like he didn't want me there."

"Maybe you infiltrated his mind." Dustin suggested
as he sat down with them. "He invaded your mind,
right? Is it that big of a leap to suggest you
somehow would up in his? Like Freddie Krueger's
boiler room."

"Freddie Krueger?" Holly asked.

"He's a super burned-up dude with razors for
fingers." Dustin explained, scaring the girl. "And he
kills you in your sleep."

"Dustin." Loretta hissed.

"Sorry. Its a movie." Dustin assured the young girl.
"It's not real. Just... think about it. What if you
somehow unlocked a backdoor to Vena's world?
Like, maybe the answer we're looking for is somewhere in this incredibly vague drawing. God, We need Will."

"No shit." Max retorted.

"We don't need Will. This is fine." Etta argued,
looking at the paper.

"I tried them again this morning but its the same
busy signal." Max explained, rubbing Etta's arm.