BELIEVE IT OR NOT, SOMETHING WAS BOUND TO DRIVE NICK WILD.     He just didn't think it would be on the ride to Reefer Rick's, where Eddie could have been supposedly hiding. Despite it being nothing but back roads for the past hour, there always managed to be a mysterious pothole to take Nick by surprise, having his head that was casually resting against the window take a hefty thump before things cooled down again and the cycle repeated. Every time his forehead came down against the window, he'd get a red, murky flash behind his eyes, like he was a tv being hit by someone trying to find the right angle.

Deep down, Nick had always known he was different. He'd like to think it started with getting turned off when his dad would start talking about finding the right girl to date and marry, but it only took on more of a toll when he found himself glancing at Thatcher Harrington every so often during P.E. and Thatcher either taking it in a prideful stride or shrugging it off and not making a big deal out of it, which only somewhat boosted Nick's busted ego (it only got worse during basketball season when the class had a shirts versus skins game). He received an ironic confirmation from the one person who really wanted nothing to do with him, surprisingly (Nick had never really understood what Jason had wanted in the first place and he'll probably never know, which he was okay with. He had more than enough shit to deal with in his life).

And not to get too depressing, but Nick wasn't sure if he was even wanted. People got what they needed out of him, but none of them decided to stick around any longer, desperate to avoid the "Now what?" conversation. It left him with this weird ache in his chest, a twinge that caught in his windpipe whenever he thought about it, thought about how he didn't have very many people in his life, people that wanted to stay and not have to be asked to do so. He could count on one hand how many people who truly liked him and still have a few fingers left over. Nick didn't want to label it as sad, but he didn't want to call himself picky either because he didn't have anything to be picky about.

So he looked around. He looked around at the people that occupied the seats of the hatchback as they made their way out to the middle of nowhere to find a future fugitive of the state—Steve in the driver's seat, Robin in the passenger's, and Dustin and Max to Nick's right, both looking out the window in urgency before switching to a game of I Spy to calm their jumbled nerves. Although Dustin and Max had been in his life for approximately half an hour, they proved themselves to be good kids with good heads on their shoulders. Whoever they had was lucky to have them as their friends.

Another hour in the car finally brought them to a gravelly road and a house that may or may not have belonged to Reefer Rick's, but it should have because the address said so. Steve put the car in park and the five of them hopped out, Steve in front and Nick trailing behind so the kids were in his sight. They circled the house with their flashlights, looking for any sign of life that Eddie could be here. Dustin went for the doorbell, ringing it one, two, three times before beginning to bat at it incessantly.

"Well, that settles it," Steve piped up, "he's not here."

"Eddie!" Dustin then yelled out ("Oh, my God," Steve muttered) "It's Dustin! We just wanna talk. We're here to help. No cops, I swear."

As Dustin continued talking to the door, Nick trailed off, slowly walking around, his fingers gliding against the side of the house, seeing a few of the lights flicker as he did so. He pulled his hand away, and they stopped flickering. There went the same chill that crossed the back of his neck, a very specific pattern that only he could recognize as a bad omen. Max sidled up beside him, her flashlight shining in the direction of a shed. Jackpot.

"Hey, guys?" Max called to get the others' attention and then they went to scope the scene out. They travelled around it like they did the house, watching out for traps or anything that jumped out at them at any given moment. Robin was the first to enter, the door creaking as she walked in. Everyone soon followed and spread out, carefully taking a look around the space. Growing up, Nick was easily a great hider, which was sad to think about since he didn't exist in the first place.

But he was always able to find hiding spots when all the other ones got sniffed out. And then he had to get creative: hiding in plain sight. He noticed the burger wrapper on the desk—so there was the sign of life he was looking for—and then clocked the tarp that laid over the boat. Bingo. But before he could make a move, Steve was already taking a whack at it—literally.

"Steve," Nick called, "what the hell are you doing? He could be under there."

"I'll tell you why if you tell us what you saw that night." Steve continued with his pointed prodding, poking at the tarp with the oar that he found.

"That's not really important right now, Steve. We need to find Eddie first and then we'll fill you in. And will you please stop poking?"

"You know, I would, but considering that everyone in this room has almost died, I don't think I—" Steve wasn't able to finish his sentence due to the reason that a figure was coming out from under the tarp, brandishing a broken beer bottle as a weapon as they held it up to Steve's neck. The flickering of flashlights made Nick realize that it was Eddie who had been hiding underneath.

"Eddie!" Dustin called. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Stop. It's me. It's Dustin. This is Steve. He's cool. Right, Steve?"

Steve nodded as best he could, trying his best not to make contact with the bottle shards. "I'm cool, I'm cool. I'm totally cool."

Eddie's eyes scanned the rest of them, stopping as they landed on Nick before Nick signed, You okay?

"What are you guys doing here?" Eddie asked, turning back to Steve.

"We're here to help you," Dustin assured him. The rest of them nodded in firm agreement, but Eddie didn't seem convinced. "I swear on my mother," Dustin added.

"Yeah," Robin piped up shakily, "we swear on-on Dustin's mother."

"Eddie, come on," Dustin pleaded, "it's us. You know Robin, from band. And Max, the one who never wants to play D and D. I don't really know how you know Nick but you know him. Eddie, please. We want to help. We're on your side."

After a moment, Eddie let go and Steve sucked in a grateful breath, rubbing at his neck for any nicks. Eddie was clearly shaken up, sliding down the wall to plop into a heap of exhausted bones on the floor. Nick crouched down in front of him while Dustin was next to him, reaching out a hand.

"Eddie," Nick mumbled, and that seemed to have caught Eddie's attention as he slowly turned his gaze onto Nick. Eddie creased his eyebrows, taking in Nick's eerily calm demeanor. "Why aren't you freaked out, man? We both saw what happened."

"What do you mean—" Dustin started before he cut himself off as he turned to face Nick, "were you there that night?"

Nick opened his mouth but Steve stopped him. "Spill."

Nick could only sigh and oblige. "Eddie, Chrissy, and I were coming back from the basketball game, Chrissy wanted something for her anxiety, and that's when things went left. The lights started flickering, Chrissy started floating, and then. . .her bones started to snap. And her eyes. . .they looked like something was pulling at her from the inside. Eddie was freaked out and I. . .I couldn't even tell you how I felt because I didn't feel anything. And I know it sounds insidious when I say that but all I felt was my skin prickling and this chill running across the back of my neck when it happened."

Everyone's—minus Eddie's—eyes snapped towards Nick when he said that. Max and Dustin exchanged a knowing glance and turned back to Nick. Nick wanted to ask what was going on with them but Dustin asked first. "Nick, is there any chance you know what Shadowfell is?"

Nick's eyebrows creased at the question. "The shadow plane from Dungeons and Dragons?"

Dustin nodded. "Good. This is good. Now can you tell me what the Mindflayer is?"

"The most I can tell you is that it came from the forgotten realms, and it had tentacles that sucked out human brains. Wait- where are you going with this?"

"Now tell me what True Sight is."

"I don't see how this is—"

"Just tell me!" Dustin griped, making Nick flinch. "Okay," Nick relented, "it was this magic thing that only a few of the creatures possessed that helped them look into the shadow plane or other magical realms. Happy?"

"Okay. Now have you been seeing things?"

It seemed to have started to click, but Nick could only understand so much at a time. He wasn't sure how Dungeons and Dragons fit into all of this, if it even fit in at all, really. "All I've been getting were these red flashes every so often. And then I'd hear this gurgling noise before it'd stop and start over again. Are you implying that I can see into Shadowfell?"

"Sort of." Dustin shrugged. Great. Just another item to the list of things that made Nicholas Bender the Hawkins hometown pariah. "When have you been getting these?"

"They come at random. But most of them happened at three in the morning—which was known as the devil's hour, or witching hour, meaning that ghosts and demons are prominent and at their most powerful."

"Should I be concerned that you know all this, Bender?" Eddie did his best to crack a joke and lighten the mood.

Nick only shrugged. "It only made sense to look into what everyone was calling me. Turns out they were right."

"C'mon, man, you know that's not true." Eddie laid a casual hand on top of Nick's wrist, wrapping his thumb, and before he knew it, Nick was seeing flashes of the night before, hearing the snapping of Chrissy's bones again and again. The gurgling noise made a reappearance and then came the sound of a distorted chime—that was new. He quickly pulled away to cradle his hand to his chest, breath sharpening at what he just witnessed.

"What the hell?" Nick whispered, mostly to himself.

"I think you just unlocked yourself a new ability," Dustin realized in disbelief, his eyes widening at the revelation. "What did you see?" He was then quick to question.

"I saw what Eddie saw from the night before, flashes of what had happened. And then the gurgling noise came back, but then I heard this distorted chime, like it came from an old grandfather clock."

"Old grandfather clock," Dustin mumbled, as if to make note of it for later. "Okay. Do you remember when you first started getting these flashes?"

"two-ish years ago," Nick answered simply, and he saw Dustin's face fall. "I was seventeen, and my dad had just kicked me out of the house. They stopped for a bit but they just started coming back a little over a week ago."

"Why'd they stop?"

"I honestly don't know." Nick shrugged. "Is that all the info you need?"

"Yes," Dustin responded, "it's not everything, but it's more than enough to get us started with getting to the bottom of this."

"Wait," Nick interjected, "if you're saying that I may have True Sight, does that imply the existence of another plane? Is Shadowfell here? In Hawkins?"

Dustin could only nod.

"Well, shit."

"And yet you constantly refuse to join D and D night," Eddie cracked. Nick lifted an exhausted middle finger.

The mood turned somber again as Eddie spoke. "You know I tried to wake her, man. But it was like she was in a trance or something."

"Or a curse," Dustin added.

"Vecna's curse."

"Wait, hold on a minute," Steve interjected, holding up a hand, "who's Vecna?"

"An undead creature of great power," Dustin revealed solemnly.

"A spell caster," Eddie added, an edge to his tone.

"A dark wizard."

AUTHOR'S NOTE.
wooo another chapter ! we've got a little insight into nick's hot flashes lol

but that's only the beginning 👀

let me know what you thought ! any theories ?