— 𝐂𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐇𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞 —

"HOW'S KATE Bush treating ya'?" I ask Max from behind her as she sits at the desk.

She looks up at me and shakes her head.

"I'm worried I'm gonna get sick of the song, then it's not gonna be my favorite song anymore." She says.

I chuckle at her and look back at the group. Everyone was taking naps, even though Dustin was supposed to be on Max and (Y/N) watch.

"I think I heard the Wheeler's up there. Did you want to come up with me?" I ask Max, turning back to look at her.

I see her face lighten up, slightly and she quickly nods her head.

"Please, God. I can't stand being down here any longer." Max says.

She gets up from her chair and we start to walk towards the stairs.

"How do you think I feel? I lived down here for a period of time." I say.

"You have more courage than me." Max remarks.

We make our way out of the basement and are immediately met with Mrs. Wheeler.

"Oh, morning kids! I'm just making some breakfast, you can go ahead and sit at the table with Holly if you want." She says to us.

I nod at her and give her a small smile and Max walks over to the table. I walk with her and take a seat.

"Hi Holly!" I say, waving my hand at the littlest Wheeler.

She smiles and covers her face with her hands and I giggle at her interaction. I notice Max grab a paper from Holly's side of the table and takes some crayons, starting to draw a picture.

"Whatcha' drawing, Maxie?" I ask her.

"Trying to get that place we saw onto paper so it gets out of my head."

I nod and stare at the paper for a moment as she makes strokes on the paper. I then reach over and grab another paper from Holly's side of the table and turn to Mrs. Wheeler.

"Mrs. Wheeler, do you happen to have a pencil I could borrow?"

In the blink of an eye, Mrs. Wheeler was in front of me with a pencil in her hand. I jumped at her sudden urgency and she smiled. I thanked her and she went back to cooking.

I look back down at the paper and decide to put my art skills to use. I start to sketch out a person, but not just any person, the person who was burned into my head. Some time passes by as we sit at the table drawing with Holly, when I hear hurried footsteps make their way up the basement stairs and into the kitchen.

"Morning, guys." I hear Mrs. Wheeler say, "Everything okay?"

I turn around and see the worried, yet relieved, faces of Nancy and Dustin. I give them a small smile and Dustin gives me a small wave.

"Yeah." Nancy says, letting out a relieved sigh, "Yeah, everything's okay."

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

"You could try sticking together at a different house for a change." Mr. Wheeler says.

Nancy starts to make her way over to us and I turn back around, adding the finishing touches onto my portrait. Nancy sits down at the table, next to me, and I hear Max click off her Walkman.

"Hey." Max greets her.

"Hey." Nancy responds.

I continue to finish my sketch, trying to avoid Nancy's stare.

"Woah, that's scary." Nancy says.

I look up and notice that she was motioning at the portrait I had drawn.

"Is that who you guys saw?" Nancy asks.

I purse my lips and nod my head.

"Yep. That's Vecna." I say.

We all stay silent for a moment, then Nancy speaks up again.

"You okay?" She asks, "Both of you."

"Just couldn't sleep." I respond.

"Yeah, people kept blasting music in my ears, for some reason." Max softly jokes, "But Holly let me borrow some of her crayons. We've been having a fun morning, right, Holly?"

"Mm-hmm." Holly softly responds.

Nancy looks over at the spread of Max's drawings on the table.

"Is this what you saw last night?" She asks.

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

"Is that...?" Nancy gestures to one of the drawings that had bodies pinned up to fleshy stakes.

"It was like they were on display, or something." Max says, "And then there was this red fog everywhere."

"It was like a dream. A nightmare." I add.

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

"With Billy? Yeah. But when I made it here... I dunno, something was different." Max says.

"It was like he didn't want you there. He didn't want anyone there." I say.

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

"I guess it is possible." I say.

"Freddie Krueger?" Holly asks.

"He's a super burned-up dude with razors for fingers. And he kills you in your dreams." Dustin says.

"Dustin, seriously?" Nancy asks him with disappointment.

Nancy gives him a look and I do as well, then usher my head towards Holly.

"Sorry. It's a movie. It's not real." Dustin says, "Just... think about it. What if you somehow unlocked a backdoor to Vecna's world? Like, maybe the answer we're looking for is somewhere in this incredibly vague drawing."

Dustin picks up one of Max's drawings and studies it.

"God, we need Will." He exclaims.

"Yeah, no shit. But I tried them again this morning, and it's the same busy signal." Max says.

I look over at the drawing that Dustin was holding and then take it from his hands. I closely examine the picture and furrow my brows.

"I've seen this before." I say.

The rest of the group quickly snaps their heads towards me.

"Last night?" Nancy asks.

"Yes, but no." I say, "It's a door to a house. I saw it in a vision I had when we were back at Max's trailer. The stained glass has a picture of a rose."

Nancy looks at the drawing and then looks at the other drawings on the table.

"See, I'm not so terrible after all." Max remarks to Dustin.

"Yeah, well, it helps that I've also seen this before." Nancy says.

She then takes the paper from my hand and folds it down. She then starts grabbing the other pieces of Max's drawings and folds them together. She then places them in a certain way and grabs a sharpie, drawing lines and circles on the drawings.

"There's the house." I say.

"Not just any house." Nancy says, "It's Victor Creel's house."

Nancy quickly gets up from her seat at the table.

"Where are you going?" Dustin asks her, his mouth full of Mrs. Wheeler's cooking.

"Waking the others." She responds, walking off.

The rest of us quickly get up and follow behind her, unsure of where this would lead us next.

We pull up to the Creel house and it's just like I remembered it. We all stand in front of it and admire the view.

"Yeah, that's not creepy." Steve comments.

I nudge his side and then continue up the steps to the old, run down house. Steve grabs a hammer from Dustin's backpack and heads over to the boarded up door. He takes one nail out and drops it on the ground, then looks back at the rest of the group.

"Is somebody gonna help me?" He asks.

I feel the group look over at me and I sigh.

"Step back, Steve." I say to him.

He looks at me with confusion and then steps off to the side. I lift my hand up and start to feel the energy flowing through to my hand and head. The nails start to fall out of the board, hitting the ground in front of my feet.

"Timber." I say.

The board then falls backwards, hitting the ground in front of my feet.

"Yeah, totally forgot about the whole mind thing." Steve says, pointing to his head.

"How? You were the first one to know about it." Dustin says.

Steve rolls his eyes and then grabs the doorknob. He tries to twist it and shake it, but it stays closed.

"It's locked." Steve says, "Should I knock, see if anybody's home?"

I cross my arms over my chest and shake my head at Steve's utter forgetfulness.

"No need." Robin says from behind me, "I found a key."

She holds a brick in her hand and I place my hand on my forehead.

"Guys, please tell me you're joking." I say, looking between Steve and Robin.

They look at me with a confused look on their faces and Dustin interrupts the silence.

"She has mind powers you idiots!" He exclaims.

I shush Dustin and he shakes his head at the pair.

"Oh, yeah. Forgot about that." Robin says, dropping the brick back on the ground.

I walk up to the door and hold the handle. I close my eyes, retrieving that energy once again. I twist the door handle and it pops open, simple as that. We all file in the house, flashlights scanning the area. Sure enough, the house looks exactly like the one I had seen in my vision.

"Looks like someone forgot to pay their electric bill." Lucas remarks.

Dustin clicks on his flashlight suddenly and Steve looks over at me.

"Where'd everyone get those?" Steve asks.

"Dustin, can you give Steve his flashlight, please?" I ask.

"Do you need to be told everything? You're not a child." Dustin says to Steve.

"Thank you." Steve says sarcastically.

Dustin takes off his backpack and shoves it at Steve.

"Back pocket." He says.

Steve digs in the bag and pulls out a flashlight for himself.

"You both act like children." I say to them.

"Yeah, but I have an excuse." Dustin says, "He doesn't."

We walk around the house with our flashlights lit.

"They just left everything." Nancy says.

"I guess a triple homicide isn't good for resale value." Robin says.

"Hey, guys?" Max says, getting our attention, "You all see that, right?"

I turn around and look at where Max's flashlight was pointing.

"The clock." I say.

"Is this what you guys saw? In your visions?" Nancy asks.

Max silently nods her head.

"I mean, it's... just a clock. Right?" Robin says.

Robin walks up to the grandfather clock and places her hand on the glass, wiping away the dust and dirt that covered the face of it.

"Like a normal old clock." Robin adds.

"Why is this wizard obsessed with clocks?" Steve asks, "Maybe he's, like, a clockmaker or something?"

I try to hold in my laugh and I pat lightly on Steve's chest.

"It's alright, hon. You've used enough of your brain for the day." I say.

"Yeah, I think you cracked the case, Steve." Dustin adds.

"Dustin, stop making fun of him." I scold.

Dustin gives me a confused look and I shake my head at him, causing him to pipe down.

"All I know is... the answers are here. Somewhere." Nancy says, "Okay, everyone stay in groups of two. Robin, upstairs."

Nancy and Robin head upstairs together and Max and Lucas pair up, leaving Steve, Dustin, and I. I wrap my arm around Steve's arm and Dustin looks over at us.

"Guess it's just us." Dustin says.

Steve sighs and pulls me with him up the stairs as Dustin follows closely behind us.

"Was that a sigh?" Dustin asks.

"No, I did not sigh." Steve defends and I chuckle.

"Why'd you sigh?" Dustin asks.

"I didn't sigh. Just come on, dude." Steve says.

"I heard you." Dustin continues.

"We... We're just always partners, okay?" Steve says.

"What, you have a problem with that?" Dustin asks.

"I do with your constant bickering." I say.

"I'd just be nice to, I don't know, spend some time with (Y/N) without having you there." Steve says.

"So, what? I'm cock-blocking you?" Dustin asks.

"Woah, dude! That's not what I said!" Steve defends.

"Well, it sure sounded like it!" Dustin exclaims.

"Guys, please! Shut the hell up!" I whisper-yell.

They both quickly quiet down and we continue to make our way through the house. I let Steve go as he wandered off into another room with Dustin. I make my way down the hallway and I am met with the familiar entrance to the attic. Just as I was about to open it, I hear a scream from another room. I run over to the door and see Steve jump out of it, bumping into me and swatting at his shoulders and head.

"Woah, woah. What's wrong?" I ask him.

"There was a spider." He answers, out of breath.

"What?" I ask.

"It's a black widow." He says, looking paranoid and then turning to shut the door of the room, "Don't go in there."

"Oh, oh." I say, bringing my hand up to his hair, "Wait just..."

"What?" Steve asks, grabbing at his hair and walking over to a mirror.

"Wait. Stop moving." I say, following him.

"Shit... Okay, okay." He stutters.

"I just..." I say, reaching up into his hair and pulling out the pieces of cobwebs, "I got it. I got it."

"Thank you." Steve whispers.

"If there's a spider nesting in there, you're never gonna find it till it lays eggs and all the babies spill out." Robin jokes from behind me.

"What's wrong with you?" Steve says, "Robin, seriously."

Robin chuckles and walks away.

"She's got problems." Steve whispers.

"She's hilarious." I say to him.

"Of course you're on her side." He says.

"Steve, honey. I'm always on your side." I say.

"Yeah, it's kinda disgusting." Robin yells from down the hall.

"Thanks for that." Steve yells back.

I finish picking out the rest of the cobweb from Steve's hair.

"Okay. All better." I say.

"Great. Thanks." He says, turning around to face me, "Well... we should get back to the investigation. The obvious things are not what people observe. Or... Do... Don't observe. Or... Sherlock Holmes."

I look at him with confusion.

"Steve, what the hell are you saying?" I ask.

"I don't know, can I just kiss you instead?" He asks.

I quickly place my hand on the side of his face and pull him into me as he snakes his arms around my waist. I lean up on the tips of my toes and interlock our lips. We hold ourselves there or a moment, then he pulls back, only to pull back in for a quick peck. I look into his eyes for a moment then rest myself back down on my feet and grab his hand.

"C'mon, Sherlock. We have to finish our investigation." I say, pulling him back down the hall of the Creel house.