Chapter Sixty: Stay Stay Stay

The next morning, Annie was exhausted. She had barely slept a wink all night. It didn't help that someone was waking up every couple hours and taking the next 'Annie watch' shift. Max tried to stay up with Annie, but it wasn't working very well.

At around seven in the morning, she heard some chatter upstairs and figured Mr. and Mrs. Wheeler were awake, and breakfast might be achievable.

"Annie," Max whispered, taking her from her dazed state. Annie removed one of her headphones and Max could hear the faint words of 'Holding Out For A Hero' playing. It had been all night.

"Wanna go up and get breakfast?" she asked. She nodded, and the girls went upstairs.

Luckily, the Wheelers knew the Party was staying over, so Mrs. Wheeler wasn't surprised at all to see the girls. Well, maybe about the fact that they were awake so early.

"Hey! Want some breakfast girls?" Mrs. Wheeler asked from her spot in the kitchen.

Annie smiled and nodded, taking a plate. Max did, too. "Thanks. She's still waking up, I just wanted some company when I smelt food," Max said.

Mrs. Wheeler just smiled at the girls. They went over to sit at the table with Holly. She had some paper and crayons there with her.

Annie looked at them, and images of the red world she saw came to mind. "Can I color with you?" Annie asked, her voice quiet but sweet.

Holly nodded, and Annie grabbed a piece of paper and started drawing. Each paper had a new piece of the deconstructed house she had seen. Max watched Annie draw. It was something she loved to do. Now since the girls don't have every class together, Max can't watch her doodle.

Despite the circumstances, it was kind of nice being able to do something so relaxing.

"What are you drawing?" Max asked, keeping her voice low. The other girl had one ear open, anyway, so she could hear.

Annie didn't move her focus away from the page, but still answered. "Some of what I saw yesterday. In what looked like Vecna's lair. I just... can't get it out of my head so might as well materialize it."

Max hummed, and continued to watch as she ate. Every now and then, Annie would take a bite of food, but she didn't really mess with her plate much.

There was some rustling in the kitchen behind them, followed by Mrs. Wheeler saying, "Morning, guys."

The girls turned around and saw a panicked Dustin and Nancy catching their breaths. Max totally didn't even think about telling them they were up and getting food. She sent them an apologetic smile.

Annie sent a smile as well, then turned back to her drawing. She hoped the pieces made sense to someone, because they sure as hell meant nothing to her. There was a thought that maybe the others would know more, since they knew more about the Victor Creel dude. Annie would, too, but her mind had been otherwise occupied the last few hours.

After some background chatter Annie ignored, Nancy came over and sat down with the girls. She went ahead and took that as a cue to pause her music and take her headphones off for a bit.

"Hi," Annie whispered, not sure if she should get back to drawing or not.

"Hey," Nancy responded. She had a certain look on her face that made Annie squirm. It was concern. Of course, she knew why everyone was like this around her, but she hated it. "You okay?"

She shrugged. "Couldn't sleep, there was music blasting in my ears all night long. Max heard movement, said we should eat. Figured that was a better option." Nancy let out an airy chuckle. "Holly let me borrow some stuff, though, so we've been having fun."

Holly, who was busy with her light bright, didn't respond. Annie sighed and went back to her coloring. She was shading a part of the wall.

This drew Nancy's attention to the scattered pieces of paper. "Is this what you saw last night?" Nancy asked.

"Kind of," Annie answered. "I just couldn't get the images out of my head, so I thought it might help if I put them on paper. Drawing's always come more naturally than words anyway."

Nancy moved for one of the first drawings Annie had done that morning. The one that made them all uncomfortable. "Is that...?"

"It's like they were trophies. His awards for killing teenagers... and there was this red fog everywhere, casting a red glow on everything. Like a nightmare."

The older teen shook her head as she thought about her next question. "Do you think Vecna's just trying to scare you?" she asked.

Annie thought about it. "With Holly and Meghan? Yeah. I don't know why else they would've been there," she said. Last night, she had been able to calm down enough to give them a sort of description of what happened. Max and Steve held her the whole time. She was too scared to let either go.

She continued. "But when I made it here," she gestured to her drawings, "Something felt off. Different. Like, he was almost surprised I was there. Like he didn't want me there."

Dustin came over and sat with the group, catching the last bit of conversation. "Maybe you got into his mind somehow. I mean, he invaded your mind, right? Is it that big of a leap to suggest you managed to get into his? Like Freddie Krueger's boiler room!"

"Freddie Krueger?" Holly asked, wrinkling her nose.

"He's a super burned up dude, who has razor's for fingers. And he kills you in your dreams."

"Dustin! Seriously?" Nancy quietly scolded.

Annie felt like laughing as she watched Dustin apologize and tell Holly it was just a movie. "Just... think about it. What if you somehow unlocked a backdoor into Vecna's world? Like, maybe the answer we're looking for is somewhere in this... incredibly... vague drawing. God, we need Will."

The girl rolled her eyes. "Well no shi- I mean, duh! But we already tried them again this morning. Same busy signal as last night," Max answered for Annie, censoring herself around Holly.

Nancy, however, found the drawing Dustin hated on very useful. "Is this a window?" she asked, studying it. Annie nodded. "Stained glass with roses."

"See, I'm not so terrible after all. You just suck," Annie said to Dustin. He stuck his tongue out at her, which was covered in some chewed food. She cringed and moved on.

"Well, it helps that I've seen it before," Nancy said.

The teen got to work immediately, grabbing different pieces of paper and folding them in all directions. Annie didn't protest, she was more intrigued by what Nancy was coming up with. She handed her pieces of paper and watched her put it all together.

When that part was done, she got a sharpie out and started adding more lines. "Pieces of a house?" Annie asked, but she already knew that.

"Not just any house," Nancy said, a short laugh thrown in there. She placed the first folded piece on the middle. "It's Victor Creel's house."

With the revelation, Nancy grabbed the folded up drawing and got up from the table. "Where are you going?" Dustin asked through his mouthful of food.

"To wake the others."

They all got up, grabbing their things. Annie put her headphones back on and resumed playing Bonnie Tyler.

Before she got too immersed, Max grabbed her hand and the two hung back from the group, in an empty part of the house.

Annie hit pause again and moved her headphones. "It's gonna get worse, Annie. As we try to figure this out, it's gonna get worse. I just... I want you to trust me. I want you to tell me what's going on in your head. I wanna help."

Annie smiled. "I'm ready for it to get worse, trust me. I expect that before it gets better. But... I don't know how to talk about this, Max. I don't even think I can process half this shit. At this point, I'm just trying to do what I can to live."

"I know," Max responded, and she grabbed Annie's other hand in hers. "I'm just... maybe it'll help? Talking to me about it?"

Annie leaned forward, Max meeting her in the middle, and they put their foreheads together. "I'll try. But... I can't with an audience and I don't think Steve'll let me out of his sight. I'm shocked I've been away from him for this long."

As if right on cue, the girls herd someone hurrying up the basement stairs. They pulled apart and looked as Steve appeared.

"Hey, come on, we're planning," he said.

Annie nodded. "We'll be right there, go wait for us," she said. He didn't want to, but the look in his baby sister's eye had him going back down.

Max smiled. "It's like you summoned him."

They laughed quietly. "Yeah, well, we have that power. But he's right, we need our next steps. And I plan to take every single one with you. I promise, okay?"

She nodded. "Okay."

A/n: It's shorter than yesterday's, duh they won't be all that long, but it's also cause I'm exhausted as I write this and I really want to go to bed. See you tomorrow!