CHAPTER XVI:
i'm doing what? going where?

( March 1986 )

"SO YOU MEAN TO TELL ME," Cleodora began to debrief as she opened the trunk of her car in the driveway of the Wheeler residence, "you found out that Chrissy and Fred, who also died yesterday, were both seeing a counsellor to talk about their past, Victor Creel is somehow connected to Vecna, and that Max is next of Vecna's hit list?" She slammed her trunk closed and held a change of clothes in her hands.

"Yeah, there's probably more in between that, but that's the rundown," Steve said while leaning against her car.

"All in under twenty-four hours?" she asked still shocked.

      "Pretty much."

     "DO YOU GUYS UNDERSTAND ANY OF THIS?" Steve asked as the group of four all read through different articles in newspapers.

      "Definitely not," Cleo answered, newly clothed and freshly showered.

      "No-"

      "Pretty straightforward," Dustin interrupted Lucas.

"No, it isn't." Cleo shook her head from the sofa she had been laying across.

"Straightforward, really?" Steve questioned.

      "What's confusing to you?" Dustin asked.

      "Everything," Cleo said.

      "So far, everyone Vecna's cursed has died, except for this Victor Creel dude, Nancy found. He's the only known survivor. If anyone knows how to beat this, it's him," Dustin explained to the older two.

      "That's assuming he was cursed, which we don't even know," Steve continued to pace, "how can Vecna have existed in the fifties? It doesn't make any sense."

      "Time travel?" Cleo suggested while Dustin spoke to Steve. Lucas turned to her confused if she was actually sane at that moment. "What? You're meaning to tell me that there is a completely different universe that's identical to ours with mind-controlling monsters, and you want to rule out time travel?"

"Well, yeah, it's believable at this point, but don't you think the Upside Down would be super overwhelming with all that going on?" Lucas theorized.

"Guys, let's stay on topic, please," Dustin interrupted. "The Upside Down has probably been around for thousands of years. Millions. I wouldn't be surprised if it predated the dinosaurs."

"Okay, okay, but if the gate didn't exist in the fifties, how did Vecna get through?" Lucas rhetorically asked.

      "Oh, and how's he getting through now?" Steve added.

      "And why now?" Lucas concluded.

Getting slightly bored with all the conspiracy talk that was going around her, Cleodora set the article she had in her hands down on the sofa and stood to go upstairs.

"Wait, where are you going?" Steve asked, his attention being pulled away from Dustin who was rolling his eyes.

"You really do take this babysitter thing seriously, don't you?" She teased, "and relax, I'm just going upstairs so that I don't have to worry about my ideas being ignored." And then she was off.

Pulling her ponytail tighter on her head, Cleo opened the door to the basement to see Robin and Nancy heading her way.

"Ah, perfect, you're coming with us to play pretend," Robin said while taking Cleo's wrist in her hand and taking her back down into the basement.

Confused, Cleo spoke, "playing pretend where?"

      "A prison," Nancy casually said while they approached the boys. "We have a plan," she said while glancing at the two girls with her.

      "THANKS TO NANCY'S MINIONS, WE ARE NOW ROCK-STAR PSYCHOLOGY STUDENTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME," Robin said.

Cleo looked just as confused as Steve was while he read through one of the folders that were given to him. "Wait, wait, wait, we as in me too?" she asked.

"You bet, brace-face," Robin winked while the girl's face heated up.

"Steve, say something about the name and I bite you," Cleo threatened the boy who put his hands up in surrender.

"I'm now Ruth," Nancy said.

"I'm Rose," Robin added.

"And I'm..." Cleo trailed off while opening her folder, "Becky? You guys really couldn't have come up with a better name?"

      "If it makes you feel any better, you were almost a Rachel," Robin sympathized.

      "Wow, three R's, we were almost a band. You have no idea how disappointed I am," Cleo said with a hand over her heart.

"Ruth?" Steve questioned.

"Nice GPA," Dustin complimented.

"Thanks," Nancy said.

      "So we called Pennhurst Asylum, told them we'd like to speak with Creel for a thesis we're co-writing on paranoid schizophrenics-"

      "Which they said no," Robin added.

"But we landed a three o'clock with the director," Nancy positively said.

      "Now all we have to do is charm him and convince him to let us talk to Victor," Robin concluded.

      "Then maybe we can rid Max of this curse." The whole group turned to look at the redhead that had ceased to move from her spot at a far desk.

      "Yeah, about that," Steve said, "we've been doing our Victor Creel homework, and, uh... we got some questions."

      Lucas then spoke, "lots of questions.

      "So do we-"

      "Maybe Victor has some answers," Nancy finished Robin's sentence.

      Steve then began to look confused while darting his eyes in between the three folders, "wait, wait, wait a second. Uh... where's mine?" he asked.

      Cleo covered her mouth to stifle a laugh. "Resident Babysitter, ladies and germs."