CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND THREE
CREEL HOUSE

"Don't you think this is kind of... I don't know."

The group had only just arrived at the old creel house, so much so that Dustin hadn't as much as finished making his way up the unkept stairs yet, and already, Aaron could he heard worriedly rambling to Lucas about the scenario the group had found themselves in.

As it turned out, the sketches, or crap as Aaron had referred to it, that Max had been scribbling on at the breakfast table that morning had been her attempt at recreating the clock she had seen while in her trance back when the group had broken into the school to look over her file.

Nancy had spent a short amount of time with the Mayfield girl, analysing and looking over her sketches to see if she could help the redhead make sense of anything. Kimmy had tried to find some common themes in the rushed drawings, along side Dustin. But it appeared that they were only causing more problems for the two and Nancy had sent them away to find the others cooped up in the basement of the Wheeler home.

Kimmy was almost glad she had done so, as Nancy had taken it upon herself to inform the group that she theorised that the pictures came together to make the outline of a house, and the younger brunette didn't want to harbour the responsibility if she'd pointed it out and had turned out to be wrong.

There had been some expected protests, mainly from the Harrington pair, but they had been overruled and the eldest boy of the group had to drive the teens to the abandoned house.

And so, there the group stood. Looking up at the old, rundown house before them that Nancy insisted Max had unknowingly drawn; the Creel House.

To be completely honest Kimmy had no idea where on earth Nancy had pulled this from, it was all explained rather quickly and it appeared to the Jenkins girl that they were going out on quite a reach of a theory.

Kimmy was sure she wasn't the only one to think so, but the teenagers were desperate for a sense of hope, for an answer to cling to. And as of that very moment, that house was all they had.

Did they know how the house could link to whatever was terrorising the town? No. Did they know how the house could possibly give them clues on how to fix everything? No. But Kimmy figured it was worth a shot, especially with the group having nothing else going for them at the moment.

"Shut up." Steve mumbled under his breath, although it was quite obvious that it was aimed at the only person talking: Aaron.

Kimmy watched from next to Robin as Aaron folded his arms over his chest in somewhat offence, but the girl could tell his heart wasn't really in it, like he couldn't be bothered pretending to be bothered. Still, he spoke back, and Kimmy was almost grateful for the normality. Everyone was all so down and glum, understandably so, but it didn't make it any less eery.

Even Aaron and toned it down a bit on the drive there, too preoccupied worrying in the backseat to complain about how many children were squished into Steve's car and the dangers it may cause.

"I shut myself up." Aaron pointed out bluntly, his voice almost bored as if wishing the conversation would be over before it had even really begun. "I'm just curious to know why we're breaking into an abandoned shithole of all places."

Nancy grunted as she used the edge of her hammer to take out a nail in the door, Steve pulling his own one out of his bag.

"We're not sure." She answered almost reluctantly.

Aaron shook his head and turned to look at Lucas, the two sharing a puzzled and slightly frustrated glance.

"Do you even know what we're looking for?" Aaron asked curiously, tilting his head slightly.

Nancy sighed. "We just know that this house is important to Vecna-"

"Because Max saw it in Vecna's red soup mind world." Steve elaborated unnecessarily.

There was a slight pause, and Kimmy could already tell that Aaron was using that time to roll his eyes at his brother. "I think we'd managed to work that much out, believe it or not."

Steve paused his movements with the hammer he was colliding with the door to glance at his brother over his shoulder, narrowing his eyes a fraction as he did so.

"Maybe it holds like... clues to where Vecna is?" Kimmy suggested unconfidently with an unsure face and a shrug of her shoulders.

"Yeah," Dustin was quick to agree, nodding his head as he added in his own input. "And how to stop him before he comes back for Max."

Kimmy felt herself nodding despite the uneasy feeling which rested in her chest at the thought.  It was clear that the group were in a race against time in regards to Vecna, he could come back for not only Max, but anyone at anytime. The thought was horrifying.

Max looked as sick as Kimmy felt at Dustin's statement, quickly adverting her gaze to her worn shoes with a swallow.

"Wait..." Lucas spoke up hesitantly, a look of fear pulling on his features as he glanced around the group, "we don't think he's in here, do we?"

Kimmy could feel herself paling at the thought.

"Maybe," Aaron teased, unknowingly to the group. "I did see a shadow pass in the upstairs window, and this seems like the place a creepy dude would hide out."

Kimmy rolled her eyes, knowing he was more than likely being dramatic.

"He's not a creepy dude, Aaron," Dustin was quick to protest, "he's a murderer who tortures innocent people and-"

Although, before Dustin could complete his thought, a loud bang could be heard. A string of fear thundered through Kimmy's spine and she flinched violently, her dark eyes widening drastically as she felt Dustin instinctively reach onto her wrist.

It was only when she came to find everyone besides Aaron matching her expression of fear that she'd realised what had happened. The blond boy, who was now actually laughing, had taken it upon himself to drop his torch loudly against the floor in hopes to startle the group he was stood with.

"Jesus, what a bunch of wimps." The young boy laughed near hysterically, stuffing his hands in between his legs as he doubled over. "I highly doubt Vecna is hiding out in this dump, and he sure as hell won't be using a flash light as a weapon-"

"I think you referring to anyone besides yourself as a wimp is fairly hypocritical, Aaron." Steve deadpanned as he kicked the last piece of wood off of the front door. 

Aaron's laughter faded and he straightened up, his brows furrowing. "I'm not a wimp."

Max snorted at the confident declaration.

"You still sleep with a stuffed animal." Kimmy reminded the blond bluntly, grinning at the speed he whipped around to face her.

While Aaron pulled a face of slight embarrassment, Max could be heard snickering. Kimmy allowed herself to relax slightly for the first time in days at the sound.

"Okay..." Nancy trailed off as she glanced over the old looking front door, taking a shaky breath as she did so. "Ready?"

Steve was the only one to nod, and it was more so to himself as he reached out and tried the doorknob. Kimmy could feel her shoulders drop at the sight of the locked door, the handle refusing to budge.

"Should I knock, see if anybody's home?" The eldest boy joked.

Nancy looked as if she could strangle him. Luckily enough, before her hands could meet his neck, Robin spoke up from behind and adverted the attention off the pair. 

"No need." Robin grinned, holding up an old looking brick. "Found a key."

Kimmy's eyes widened slightly as the older girl made her way through the group without a second thought, not bothering to wait for anyone else's input. In fact it was only when she pulled her arm back that the dots seemed to click for Steve and he attempted to intervene.

"Whoa, don't you think-"

The sound of the brick hurling through the stained glass resting contently on the top of the door cut him off, shattered glass rattling everywhere.

Steve looked positively gobsmacked, his jaw dropping as he looked to his friend, Robin simply grinned in return. The group blinked almost in union, staring at the hole in the door with dumbfounded glances. 

Nancy was the first to step forward, reaching her hand through the shattered hole and fumbling for the doorknob. Lo and behold, after a few pondering moments, the door clicked open for the first time in years.

Kimmy felt uneasy as she entered the house, the cold and dark atmosphere giving her the chills. It was exactly the type of house where one would find a haunted monster lingering in the shadows, and it freaked her the hell out.

"Looks like someone forgot to pay the electric bill." Lucas remarked as he attempted to click on a lamp covered in spider webs.

Taking a moment to look around the place, it didn't look as dirty as expected in her opinion, just dusty. But that opinion could be slightly bias, as she failed to recall a time where she'd actually been able to see herself clearly in the bathroom mirror of her house, dirt and mould consistently clouding her reflection.

"Christ." Aaron gagged, smacking Kimmy's hand away from trailing along the dust coated chest of drawers. "This place is filthy. And it reeks."

"It's only been abandoned for decades, Aaron." Kimmy scoffed, turning to face him only to be met with his flashlight shining directly into her face. "There's hardly a weekly cleaner."

There was a pause, and Kimmy couldn't actually mark out Aaron's reaction during this time as she had now had to squeeze her eyes shut, the bright light burning into her face.

Suddenly, a huff was heard from the blond. "Still-"

"I can't see." Kimmy mumbled to the boy.

Aaron was clearly taken by surprise by her sudden change in demeanour. "What?"

"Your flashlight is shining directly into my eyes, you're practically blinding me." Kimmy sighed a little rougher this time. "Turn it off."

"Oh, right." Aaron mumbled softly, clicking it off quietly. "Sorry."

Squeezing her eyes shut for several lingering moments, she simply waved her hand at him, non verbally telling him not to worry about it,

"Where did everyone get those?" The brunette heard Steve asked puzzled as she got rid of the black dots clouding her sight.

"Do you need to be told everything?" Dustin scoffed in almost disbelief. "You're not a child."

Steve scrunched his face up ironically rather childlike. "Thank you."

Dustin returned the gesture before running a hand over his face. "Back pocket of the bag."

Almost bashfully, Kimmy reached out a hand a motioned for the older boy to throw her one over, she too having not known Dustin had acquired one for everyone. She'd thought the three boys had only taken their own.

"See," Steve mumbled to her as the followed the rest of the group. "How are we expected to know everything?"

"Force of habit." Kimmy shrugged in return while clicking on her flashlight.

"They just left everything as it was." Nancy spoke to the group loudly, a stunned expression overtaking her youthful features.

"I guess a triple homicide isn't good for resale value." Robin hummed as she looked around, causing Kimmy to crack a small smile.

Nancy had gone to turn down Robin's sarcastic remark, but Max' voice drew Kimmy's attention away. The redhead shaking with pent up emotion as she looked into the corner of the entrance way of the house.

"Do you see that?" She asked carefully, shining her light onto a rundown clock on the wall. "That clock?"

Knitting her brows, Kimmy followed her direction, tilting her head in confusion. "Yeah?"

When Max didn't elaborate, the brunette grew concerned. "Am I not supposed to?"

Max turned to the girl stood with her, frowning as she paled. "I just... I don't know."

The girl turned away from Kimmy then, adverting her attention back onto the rusty clock before them. Despite trying to hide it, Kimmy felt her breathing pick up as her gaze burned into Max's side profile. After a few lingering moments she shifted her attention onto the group bickering behind them, never once shifting from Max's side.

"Can you guys see that?" She asked the group loudly. "The clock?"

They all looked to her as if she were stupid, walking over slowly as they looked behind her.

"You mean the big clock hanging on the wall?" Steve asked in faux sincerity. "No, I can't."

"Shut your face." The youngest Harrington scolded, smacking his brother on his chest before turning to Kimmy with a dumbfounded look. "But, yeah, obviously we can see the big clock on the wall."

Kimmy rolled her eyes at the two, adverting her attention back onto the clock Max was still staring at with parted lips.

Hearing footsteps behind herself and Max, Kimmy shifted and glanced over her shoulder, only to find Nancy staring at the redhead with a pitiful expression.

"Is this what you saw?" She asked hesitantly, her hold on the flashlight shaking. "In your visions?"

Max said nothing, but the way her breathing hitched gave her away, nodding hesitantly as she closed her eyes.

"I mean... it's just a clock." Robin mumbled, unsure what connection she was supposed to be making, "Like, a normal old clock. Right?"

Robin gently made her way through the girls, reaching up and dusting some of the dirt off of the face of it, tilting her head curiously as she looked closely.

"Why is this wizard so obsessed with clocks?" Steve asked unsurely, his brow knitting together in thought. "Maybe he's like, a clockmaker or something?"

Kimmy turned to face the boy at his theory, her face scrunching at his thought process. It genuinely concerned her at times with how blatantly off the mark Steve could be at times.

"Bingo." Aaron chimed sarcastically in a singsong voice. "And maybe, the watch on Max's wrist is what's protecting her; maybe, he thought she was a fellow clock enthusiast!"

Kimmy cracked a grin at the blond, as did Lucas. Steve however reverted to shoving the younger boy slightly.

"I have to say, I think you've really cracked the case, Steve." Dustin mocked, earning an eye roll from his older friend.

"Usual." Aaron teased, causing the two brothers to mumble back and forth to one another.

"The answers must be here... somewhere." Nancy announced with a far away look, drawing all eyes to her. "Okay, everyone stay in groups of two. Split up."

In a blink of an eye, Nancy was making her way up the creaking stairs, Robin following closely behind her. Max had gone straight for Lucas and began pulling him gently behind her by the arm.

Steve and Aaron had reverted to their quiet bickering as they grew oblivious to the group slowly leaving them behind. Kimmy shook her head at the pair and the way their immaturity could get the best of both of them at times.

"Come on," Kimmy mumbled at the fed up boy with curly hair, nudging his shoulder with hers. "Leave them."

Kimmy and Dustin didn't get as much as two steps away before Steve was ripping his attention away from his brother and onto the two teens walking away.

"Whoa, what?" Steve called after them, his hand placed firmly on his hip in some sort of hope to be taken seriously. "Where are you going?"

"Nancy said to split up." Kimmy called over her shoulder, following Dustin's lead up the old unkept stairs.

"You're leaving me with him?" Steve questioned Dustin firmly just as Aaron threw the question at Kimmy.

"Pretty much." Dustin shrugged at the pair, never once halting his steps.

...

Aaron and Steve had only been looking around the second floor of the old house for thirty minutes or so, but they hadn't gotten very far. Aaron supposed it didn't help a whole lot that he refused to touch anything, the clear layers of dirt and build up flustering the boy beyond belief.

This was in turn stressing his older brother out quite a bit, but he failed to care.

The blond boy absolutely hated the old house he was being forced to walk the halls of, consistently swallowing the build up of gags in his throat. He had reverted to using the sleeve of his jacket to cover his mouth and nose, stopping the smell reaching his nose and mouth to the best of his abilities.

The brothers had mostly been walking in silence, with the occasional gag from Aaron filling the air between them. That was until Steve spoke up tiredly.

"Hey do you think..." Steve trailed off at the sight of the younger boy, shaking his head at him in a disapproving manner as he used his flashlight to motion him up and down. "Alright, what's all this about?"

Aaron furrowed his brows, speaking up in a muffled voice. "What's all what about?"

"This." Steve emphasised, motioning to his self made safety mask. "You won't die from breathing in the air of the house."

Aaron huffed, rolling his eyes. "Why are we even talking about this, you knew I'd be like this.  This place is hell."

Steve stared blankly at him. "I can assure you an old empty house is not hell."

"Not for you." Aaron mumbled, looking over all the dust and dirt covered areas with a look of pure disgust.

Steve let the matter go quite quick, but Aaron could tell it was only because he had a more pressing matter playing on his mind, something else he wanted to talk to the boy about. Sometimes the brothers struggled to communicate seriously with one another, something that most definitely sprung from their at times neglectful childhood.

Aaron's parents rarely spoke much to him unless he was in trouble or being asked to do something, and although they at times babied Steve, that was exactly it; they babied him. They never actually had any difficult or uncomfortable talks with him.

In return, sometimes the two boys struggled to be completely honest with each other or bring up difficult topics - just like Steve was trying to do in that very moment.

"What?" Aaron asked impatiently, growing worried at the sudden serious face on his older brother.

It was now Steve's turn to look confused. "What?"

"That face you're doing." Aragon rushed to elaborate, growing more and more concerned with each second ticking past. "Something's wrong, what is it?"

Steve scoffed. "I do not have a face I make-"

"Yes you do." Aaron stated bluntly.

"I do not-"

"Spit it out." Aaron huffed, his voice still muffled with his jacket sleeve.

"How's Kimmy today?" Steve blurted, looking almost uncomfortable at the question.

At first, the blond failed to register why on earth the question would ever make someone as uncomfortable as it clearly made Steve. It wasn't like it was stupid to ask how someone was doing, it wasn't like he had never asked about someone's wellbeing before.

But the more seconds which ticked by, and the longer Aaron watched his brother almost twitch under his gaze, Aaron came to a realisation that made him feel not only stupid for not seeing before, but almost selfish in a way.

Steve was so jittery and nervous in a way over the simple question because he was worried about her. Of course anyone who had a clue would be, but Aaron could see that he was genuinely incredibly concerned about the girls wellbeing. Clearly the older boy cared a lot more about the Jenkins girl than Aaron had anticipated.

Aaron came to his senses in that moment, just because Kimmy's parents weren't caring towards her didn't mean he had to be the only one. Of course the party would always be there for her, and she had luckily grown incredibly close to Max, but perhaps the younger boy had to refrain from being so hesitant at letting Steve in.

Aaron was protective over Kimmy after the incident at her house, sometimes too much at times. But he didn't have to be like that with Steve, and he realised then that he'd have to do a better job of reminding himself of that.

"Better. I think." Aaron spluttered, taken surprise at the amount of worry swimming around his older brother's eyes. "She hasn't mentioned it bothering her since, and she's perked up a bit today. Hopefully she was just sick or something."

"Never thought you'd say that." Steve remarked with a smirk. "You freak when any of us get sick."

"Well obviously I don't want her to get sick." Aaron rushed to defend himself. "But it's better than the alternative."

Steve simply nodded, but the overwhelming look of agreement pulling on his face couldn't be hidden.

"Yeah, well... just let her know I'm thinking of her, yeah?" Steve told Aaron sincerely, a look so genuine it almost flustered the younger boy. "She dealt with that son of a bitch long enough, she'll tough this out."

Aaron blinked up at the older boy for several moments, overwhelmed with the thought that he had somehow missed how much his brother had grown to care for Kimmy.

"Tell her yourself." The blond attempted to tease.

"I'm serious." Steve mumbled at once, scoffing at the immature answer.

"So am I." Aaron shot back instantly. "She'll appreciate it more than you'd think. I think she's used to people sweeping her problems and feelings under the rug."

Steve fell silent at that, and although Aaron held his brother's stare for longer than he had originally anticipated, trying to non verbally push his brother to talk to the girl, it wasn't long before Aaron moved away from him and used his flashlight to look for some sort of lead, like the pair were supposed to have been doing all the time.

Aaron heard Steve follow behind him after several moments, the younger boy catching sight of his brother crouching down and lifting something up from the floor in the corner of his eye.

Before Aaron could question what Steve was doing, the flashing of his torch took up all of his attention. The blond grumbled as the light to his torch flashed on and off repetitively. Murmuring under his breath, Aaron dropped his covered arm from his face and instantly began smacking the flashlight on his palm until it turned back on.

Aaron began making his way over to where Steve was crouched down, his flashlight dropped next to his feet as he looked over two things held in his hands.

"I think I broke my flashlight when I dropped it earlier." Aaron frowned as he made his way over, now thinking that dropping his flashlight at the price of scaring his friends wasn't entirely worth it.

Steve hadn't replied, still incredibly focused on the two glass jars he held. Crouching carefully next to him, Aaron squinted in attempt to try see what Steve was so interested in.

"What are you looking at?" He questioned quietly, moving closer to get a better look.

Upon noticing the dead insects in the glass jars, Aaron jumped back but remained his balance. Turning to Steve with a wild expression. "Are they dead?"

"No." Steve rolled his eyes. "They've only been stuffed in there with no air for thirty years."

"Well, sorry." The youngest huffed. "It's weird though, don't you think?"

"Yeah, definitely-"

Aaron jumped to his feet when Steve cut himself off by dropping the two jars, he too scrambling back and smacking his back repeatedly.

"What, what's wrong?" Aaron rushed, face blown wide with panic as he watched his brother freak out. "What happened?"

Steve caught his breath as he regained his composure, shaking his head in attempt to look put together. "Nothin', all good. Just a spider, the little shit."

Aaron felt his brows furrow, tilting his head as he allowed his eyes to widen. "A spider, really?"

"Shut up."

Aaron grinned to himself for several moments, right up until he caught one of his own crawling up his jacket. The blond felt his flashlight drop to the floor, repeatedly hitting his arm and shaking his jacket and sweater as he scrambled around while yelling out for his brother.

"Get it off. Get it off!" Aaron screeched, ripping his jacket off and throwing it onto the floor as he began shaking his sweater frantically.

The blond grew more and more jittery as he scrambled for the door, banging it open with his shoulder as he ditched not only his jacket, but his flashlight and brother in the dingy room in attempt to get away from the small insect.

The blond did not stop his frantic movements until he crashed onto the back of Max, accidentally taking the pair of them to the floor.

Aaron watched sheepishly as Lucas pulled Max up, the redhead sending him an irked expression as she allowed Lucas to hold onto her.

"Sorry." Mumbled the boy. "Spider."

Max huffed slightly and went to open her mouth and talk, but Lucas beat her to it. Aaron was almost glad, as in his experience whenever Max was pissed off with him it usually resulted in a slight lashing of words.

"Aaron, check it out." Lucas motioned to the large chandelier which had flickered on before the three of them. "We followed it."

Aaron knitted his brows together as he stood, tilting his head to look at the light above him, puzzled as it had now turned itself on without the help of electricity.

"What do you mean you followed it?" Aaron questioned slowly, dusting off the dirt which had collected onto his clothes. "Followed what?"

"Just get the others." Max stressed, "and be quick."

Aaron looked to her blankly for a moment but none the less, obliged. Not without mocking her voice on the way.

"And be quick." Aaron mimicked under his breath as he walked away. "What am I? A prisoner of the state-"

"I can hear you, dick." Max yelled after him.

"You were meant to!" The boy retorted with a sigh.

...

Omg what are our thoughts on season 5 so far, I am SO excited.

Anyway, you'll be glad to know that since season 5 is now releasing I'll be back to my frequent updates!!!!! Yayayayyayay super excited, keep look out!!!!

- AJ :)