Chapter Sixty-One: Come Back... Be Here

The group took Nancy's car, considering Steve's would fit the entire group. Nancy drove, Robin took the passenger seat, Max and Annie took the second row, leaving the boys to the back of her station wagon.

It was a weird drive to the Creel house. Long, too. Annie had her music on loop in her ears. Steve didn't like her taking them off at all, not even when they were planning. She still did, though, but the second they were done Steve was getting them back on.

They hurt her head, though. On the drive, Annie messed with them, trying to find a different way to wear the headphones that would hurt her head so much.

Max looked over at her girlfriend. "Would you like any help, Barbie?" she asked quietly, smiling.

Annie looked over and smiled. "I definitely would," she answered. Despite the volume of her music, Annie kept her voice at a decent volume in the car.

"C'mere," Max said, and the girls shuffled closer together. Annie let Max move her around, which landed her head on Red's shoulder with the girl's hand in between her head and the headphones.

"My struggle is how they sit on my head for such a long time, so I think this might help," Max said.

Annie smiled and allowed her eyes to slip shut. She let out a content hum and actually felt herself relaxing for a minute.

In front, Nancy snuck a glance back at the girls. While it looked funny, Max's hand being on top of Annie's head like that, it was overall really cute. Max's fingers made weird little circles and patterns in an attempt to relax her girlfriend. It seemed to work.

Sadly, the drive was over too soon for Annie's liking. She could feel the car starting to slow to a stop, so she opened her eyes and started to move like she were getting up. Max went ahead and carefully moved her hand.

"Did it work?" Max asked, unbuckling when Nancy put it in park.

Annie nodded. "Yeah, it actually did... thank you," she said.

Everyone exited the car and gathered to stare at the Creel house. "Yeah, that's not creepy," Steve commented.

Chills seemed to run down Annie's spine as she looked at the house. "It's definitely the kind of house we're looking for, though," she said, looking over at Steve.

He nodded in agreement, but then added, "You should be blasting that music so loud you can't hear me."

She rolled her eyes. "Trust me, Steve, it's loud enough."

"Children, please stop fighting. Can we go inside now?" Dustin asked. The Harrington sibling's didn't respond, instead they just made faces and nodded.

They went up to the door, which had wood nailed over it. Nancy and Steve used a couple hammers they brought to remove all the nails one by one.

"What exactly are we looking for in this shit-hole?" Steve asked, pulling another nail out.

Nancy shrugged as she pulled one out. "Not exactly sure. We just know this house is important to Vecna."

"Because Annie saw it in Vecna's red soup mind world?" he asked.

"Basically."

Steve mumbled something else, but Dustin started talking and was a bit louder. "Maybe it holds a clue to where Vecna is. Why he's back. Why he killed the Creels. And how to stop him before he comes back for Annie."

"We... don't think he's in here... do we?" Lucas asked. Annie looked over at him, and then back to the door, a newfound dread pooling in her stomach.

Max swallowed, then shrugged as if she weren't suddenly thinking that was about to happen. "Guess we'll find out," she said.

The two by the door got all the nails out and carefully lowered the rotting plywood to the ground. Well, lowered was generous. They mostly just let it fall and kick up all the air, dust, and leaves into the kids' eyes.

While the others muttered about their strategy, Annie was transfixed on the door. There, right in front of her but real this time, was the stained glass she had seen.

Flashes of her hallucination the day before filled her head, Vecna's voice echoed around her. It was too real.

But what brought her back to reality was Max's hand coming to her arm. "Annie," she said.

The brunette took deep breath and a long blink. When she opened her eyes again, she put on a polite smile. "I'm fine. Let's get this over with."

Steve tried the doorknob, but it was locked. "Should I knock? See if anyone's home?"

"No need." They all turned to look at Robin, who'd been hanging back. She looked at the brick in her hand, then back to them. "I found a key."

No one protested, they all just stepped back to give Robin throwing room. When she launched it, Annie was already bracing for the shattering glass. It made a loud noise, but at least most of it stayed in the house.

Steve reached his hand through the new hole and found the doorknob. A minute later, everyone was inside, shining their flashlights around the old, dusty house. The place had been falling apart for a long time.

Annie figured that's what happened to most houses where families were murdered by a creature of the Upside Down.

"Looks like someone forgot to pay their electric bill," Lucas commented. Guess that meant they only had their flashlights to guide the way.

Dustin clicked his, and Steve asked, "Where'd everyone get those?"

Annie looked over and noticed pretty much everyone but Steve had a flashlight. "Do you need to be told everything?" Dustin asked.

Rather than paying any attention to that, Annie shook her head and moved throughout the house. She started going back, past the stairs- the same ones from yesterday, in Vecna's red world.

But then a step later, she stopped. "Hey, guys?" she asked, grabbing everyone's attention. They all came over as she asked, "You all see that, too, right?"

Her flashlight, and the others, were focused on a dusty grandfather clock collecting cobwebs in the corner. Everyone said they did, which made Annie feel slightly better.

"Is this what you saw? In your visions?" Nancy asked, putting it together faster than everyone else.

Annie nodded. She couldn't take her eyes off of it, having only seen it in wrong places until now. Why this clock?

Robin stepped forward. "I mean, it's just a clock, right?" she asked. She then stepped around Annie and walked up to it. Her hand went up and wiped some dust and grime from the glass, and it looked extremely normal. "Like a normal clock."

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

Dustin was very far from impressed. "I think you cracked the case, Steve."

"All I know is," Nancy interrupted, "the answers are here. Somewhere... Okay, everyone stay in groups. Try to make them two, maybe three."

Nancy took Robin upstairs. Max was starting to pull Annie off in a direction, but Steve stopped them quickly. "Wait, I..."

At first, Annie's reaction was to be annoyed. She hated being babied, especially by Steve who knew how much she hated it. But she she looked at his face, all she saw was worry and fear. He was terrified for her, of what could happen.

He didn't want to be away if something were to happen. Annie understood.

So, she came up and hugged Steve. "I'll be okay with Max and Lucas. I promise. They won't let anything happen to me," she whispered.

Steve hugged her back, then squeezed once before letting her go. "Okay. But you better keep those headphones on and if anything happens, scream. And I mean scream, okay?"

She nodded. "I promise. Now go on, we have a house to search," she said.

Steve went off with Dustin- he looked less than thrilled- while the other three went around the first floor. Annie did what she promised, keeping her headphones on while searching around.

As they did, she would catch glimpses of Max, who was almost always looking at her. It's not like she minded too much.

They ventured into a living room when suddenly, Annie's music completely stopped. She hurried to the tape deck and clicked the rewind button.

Max watched as she did. "I wish the loop was longer," she said.

Annie looked up briefly. "Forty-six minutes isn't so bad. We have some bigger concerns, like... what if listening to this over and over finally gets me to hate this song?" she asked.

By the look on her face, Max could tell she was trying to joke. "Impossible. You've seen Footloose a hundred times, no way this'll be the nail in the coffin. I honestly think you're in paradise."

"Oh please, you always get so tired of watching it, who's to say that won't happen to me?" Annie asked, rolling her eyes.

Max scoffed. "I do not! I love watching it with you, you're the best movie-watching partner a girl could ask for," she said.

Annie laughed, and Max silently thanked this small win for happening. It had been so tough for the last two days. She just wanted to see her girlfriend happy again. She'd take almost anything at this point. Just to hear Annie's laugh and to see her smile.

"Besides," she continued, stepping closer to Annie, "we're gonna find this Vecna and kill him before he even thinks about messing with you again. You can count on that. If I don't do it, then Steve absolutely will."

The girl nodded. "You're not wrong there," she said, the lightness in her tone starting to die.

Max didn't like the thought of Annie getting sad again. Not when her girl just came back to the light. She looked around for anything and landed on a piano.

"You know..." She wandered over to the keys, Annie a few steps behind. "I bet this bad boy opens the secret lair. We just need the right combination."

Max slammed her fingers down on some random keys, producing a terrible sound that made Annie jump. But when she laughed again, Max felt herself relax again. "You're such a dork, Max."

"Says one of the 'cool kids'."

Annie shook her head. "No, definitely not me. I might be a cheerleader, but I'll always be with you nerds so I guess I'll always be one of the weirdos."

One of the freaks.

Annie shook off the words that ghosted around her head.

"I've missed that. This." Annie furrowed her eyebrows and tilted her head at Max's sudden declaration. "You're laugh and you're smile. I mean- I get it's rough lately so it makes sense, but..."

When Max trailed off, Annie's tape deck clicked. "It's all done," Annie said, hitting play again so she could keep her armor on. "Better get back to Bonnie, she's got some important stuff for me."

As Annie was ready to place the headphones back on, a light turned on, and started to flicker.

The girls stopped and looked at it, then each other, then back to the lamp. "I don't know if I can ever not ask this, but... you see this?"

"Yep."

When Annie got closer, the light suddenly turned off. She looked at the lamp, lost and confused. "Look," Max whispered.

Annie turned and saw another lamp on in the hallway. They went after it, and watched as lights down the hall flickered on one by one. All the way to the end, where the last one stayed on longer.

They looked at each other. "Let's get the others."

A/n: I hate filler, but I hate skipping over large chunks of story even more, so I guess I'll suffer.