CHAPTER FIVE
SURVIVOR'S GUILT

Steve didn't know if he was asleep or awake or somewhere in between. All he knew is that he was lying next to the girl he was truly, madly and deeply in love with.

He couldn't quite believe it, still not sure if it was a dream or not, but Mavis was asleep in his arms, her head lying on his chest as his arms were wrapped around her waist.

However, there was something he was sure of: he wanted to wake up next to her every morning for the rest of his life.

Steve let out a content sigh, tightening his grip on her frame slightly as he closed his eyes again. He felt so at peace...

If only that peace hadn't been disturbed by Eddie's voice echoing through the basement.

"Hey, Wilson, this is Eddie the Banished. You there?"

Mavis opened her eyes slowly, looking at her surroundings to make sure of where she was, and that's when she remembered the group had decided to stay another night at the Wheeler's. She wanted to stretch, but she somehow couldn't move. Someone was holding her.

She looked to the person that was next to her, and her heart stopped when she saw it was none other than Steve. He was sound asleep — he was actually awake but he decided to let her believe he was still sleeping — and his arms were wrapped around her.

Had they slept like that throughout the whole night? Maybe... maybe that was the reason she hadn't had any nightmares.

"Wilson, are you there? Earth to Wilson... Wilson!"

Mavis let out a groan before she freed herself from Steve's grip — not noticing the small pout that had appeared on his face — and stood up, walking over to get her walkie-talkie and answering it.

"Eddie, can you please shut the fuck up?" she ran a hand through her face, trying to help herself wake up.

"Wilson! It is so nice to hear your voice."

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah... What do you want?"

"Um, I'm gonna need a food delivery, like, really soon, unless you want me going out into the world."

"Well, we certainly wouldn't want that," she said sarcastically before letting out a sigh. "Just stay there, okay? We'll be there soon."

"Perfect. And, uh... can you pick me up a six-pack? I know, it's stupid as shit, drinking right now, but a cold beer would really calm my jangled nerves."

She was about to deny his request when she saw Nancy wake up from the corner of her eye. The Wheeler girl looked around the basement, something making her eyes widen. She turned to face Mavis, mouthing Max's name. Mavis looked around herself: Max was nowhere to be found.

"Eddie, I need to go."

"What? No! Don't you dare hang up on me, Wilson–"

"I'll call you later! Over and out."

While she was hanging up on Eddie, Nancy went over to Dustin, shaking him awake.

"Dustin! Wake up."

The boy in question opened his eyes slowly, hitting his head on the TV that was behind him. "What?"

"What happened to you watching Max?" Mavis asked, her arms crossed in front of her chest.

"Uh," he yawned. "I swear I'm watching her, I just needed to rest my eyes."

"Oh really? If you were watching her, then where is she?"

He glared at Mavis. "She's right there," he pointed to the armchair where Max had been sleeping. Except it was now empty. "A second ago. I swear, I just dozed off for..." he looked at his watch, his eyes widening. "An hour."

Nancy's eyes widened as she stood up quickly and walked up the stairs. Mavis followed her, but not without hitting Dustin's cap off his head.

"Hey!" he complained before he followed the two girls upstairs.

Once there, the three of them came to a halt once they saw Max sitting at the dining table next to Holly, the youngest Wheeler. And they all let out a relieved sigh. Thank God she was okay.

"Morning, guys," Nancy's mom Karen spoke from the kitchen. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah. Yeah, everything's... okay," Nancy answered.

"I think it's so sweet that you guys are sticking together like this."

"Could try sticking together at a different house for a change," Ted Wheeler countered, earning a glare from his wife, who turned to look at Dustin and Nancy while Mavis walked up to Max.

"You know you're welcome anytime."

"Totally. You're like family," he smiled, turning to look at the just-made-pancakes. "May I?"

"Absolutely," Karen answered.

"Yeah, why not? Take us for all we're worth," Ted snickered as he looked up from the newspaper he was holding.

"Okay," Dustin said cheekily as he proceeded to place a bunch of pancakes on his plate.

Meanwhile, Mavis sat down next to Max, who stopped her record player to look at her, placing the earphones around her neck.

"Hey."

"Hey," Mavis smiled softly. "Are you okay?"

"Just couldn't sleep. People kept blasting music in my ears, for some reason," she answered sarcastically, a small smirk in her face, and Mavis couldn't help but let out a soft chuckle. "But Holly let me borrow some of her crayons. We've been having a fun morning, right, Holly?"

The blonde girl just hummed, concentrated on the screen in front of her. Mavis shook her head playfully before she looked down at the table, which was filled with Max's drawings. They all had a red background, and red dirt, and it seemed like it was filled with house ruins.

"Is this what you saw?" she pointed to the drawings.

"I mean, it's supposed to be. I thought it'd be easier to draw it out than to explain it, but... Not so much," Max sighed as one of the drawings caught Mavis' eye. It was filled with some sort of... pillars, with two people inside of them.

"Are those...?" she asked, referring to the previous Vecna victims.

"It was like they were on display or something," the redhead explained. "And then there was this red fog everywhere. It was like a dream. A nightmare."

Mavis gulped, a shiver running down her spine. She hadn't told anyone, and she wasn't sure if she would, but she was pretty sure she had been cursed by Vecna too. After all, she had all the symptoms.

"You think Vecna's just trying to scare you?" Nancy asked as she sat down next to Mavis.

"With Billy? Yeah. But when I made it here..." she pointed at a specific part of the drawings. "I don't know, something was different. He seemed surprised, almost. Like he didn't want me there."

"Maybe you infiltrated his mind." Now it was time for Dustin to join the conversation, sitting down next to Nancy. "He invaded your mind, right? Is it that big of a leap to suggest you somehow wound up in his?"

"You mean... like Freddie Krueger's boiler room," Mavis thought out loud.

"Exactly!"

"Freddie Krueger?" Holly asked.

"He's a super burned-up dude with razors for fingers. And he kills you in your dreams," Dustin explained.

"Dustin, seriously?" Nancy scolded him, nodding in her sister's direction. She didn't want her to have nightmares.

"Sorry. It's a movie. It's not real," he explained, and Holly just went back to what she was doing, Dustin looking back at Max. "Just... think about it. What if you somehow unlocked a backdoor to Vecna's world? Like, maybe the answer we're looking for is somewhere in this incredibly vague drawing," he spoke, grabbing one of the drawings and looking at it. "God, we need Will."

"Yeah, no shit," Max countered sarcastically.

"I tried calling them yesterday before we fell asleep, but nothing," Mavis said before taking a bite off one of Dustin's pancakes. "Just the same busy signal."

Dustin put the drawing he had grabbed back on the table, and it caught Nancy's eye, who then took it. "Is this a window?"

"Yeah."

"Stained glass with roses."

"Yeah," she nodded, looking at Dustin. "See? I'm not so terrible after all."

Dustin just grimaced.

"Yeah, well, it helps that I've seen it before," she said before she started to fold the drawing.

Mavis, Dustin and Max just looked at her as she started to somehow connect all of Max's drawings. And shortly after, the ruins formed a house.

"It's pieces of a house," Max said.

"Not just any house," Mavis sighed, running a hand down her face. "It's Victor Creel's house."

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A few hours later, the Hawkins gang had made it to the Creel house. They had taken the Wheeler's car, Nancy behind the wheel with Robin next to her, Dustin and Steve in the back, and Mavis was sat between Lucas and Max in the middle row.

Nancy stopped in front of the house, and everyone stepped out of the car. Mavis decided to take her bow and arrows with her, just to be safe. They didn't know what was awaiting them inside after all.

"Yeah, that's not creepy," Steve said as the group looked at the desolated building in front of them.

"Creepy or not, we have to check it out," Dustin patted Steve on the back before he took the first step and walked towards the house, the rest following him.

Mavis hung at the back of the group, and just as she took a few steps, she heard something very clearly: a clock chime. She turned around, trying to see where the sound was coming from. And lo and behold, on the tree next to the playground that was in front of the house, there was a grandfather clock.

She was in some sort of trance, not being able to tear her eyes away from it. It was clear now: she was cursed. And there was nothing she could do about it. Except accept her fate, it didn't matter how much it scared her.

"Mav?" She was brought back to reality when she heard Steve calling out to her. "Is everything okay?"

She turned to look at him, and at her friends, who were looking at her with confusion written in their faces. "Y-Yeah, I just..." she looked back at the tree, but the clock was gone. "I thought I heard something."

Steve frowned, worried.

"I'm fine, Stevie. Really," Mavis smiled at him as she joined them on the porch, seeing the door was covered by a big wood plank. "Do you have any tools in that backpack of yours, Dustin?"

"You know it," he smirked as he took off his backpack and looked through it before he pulled out two hammers, handing one to Steve and one to Mavis, who as soon as she got it, started taking the nails off.

Steve just stared at her. He hadn't been very convinced by her statement of being fine. He could somehow sense something was wrong... but he couldn't push, right?

"Are you going to keep staring at her or are you going to help her?" Dustin teased him, making Steve's cheeks turn red before he started to help Mavis.

"Okay so... What exactly are we supposed to be looking for in this shithole?" he asked the group, trying to move past Dustin's tease.

"We're not sure. We just know this house is important to Vecna," Nancy answered.

"Because Max saw it in Vecna's red soup mind world?"

"Basically."

"Great."

"Maybe it holds a clue to where Vecna is," Dustin said. "Why he's back. Why he killed the Creels. And how to stop him before he comes back for Max."

Mavis was lost in thought. There was no way she would tell them she had been cursed too. It would be selfish of her. They needed to focus on finding and killing Vecna, and they needed to protect Max. She couldn't add something else to their plate.

"We don't think he's in here, do we?" Lucas asked quietly.

"We'll have to find out," Mavis answered before looking at Steve. "Ready?"

He nodded and the two let the wood plank fall to the ground with a thud. Then, Steve proceeded to try and open the door, but to no avail.

"It's locked. Should I knock, see if anybody's home?" he said sarcastically.

"No need," Robin spoke and everyone turned to look at her, seeing she was holding a brick. "I found a key."

Mavis smiled proudly. "Of course you did. Everyone, step aside," and they did. Robin smiled at her before she threw the brick against the stained glass, shattering it in the middle and creating a hole.

Steve inserted his hand through it, reaching for the doorknob and opening the door. Him and Mavis were the first to enter, the others close behind. And once everyone was inside, Steve closed the door.

"Looks like someone forgot to pay their electric bill," Lucas said after he tried to turn on the light and nothing happened.

Dustin took out his flashlight and turned it on, smiling at Lucas. In fact, everyone had a flashlight. Except Steve.

"Where'd everyone get those?"

"Do you need to be told everything?" Dustin answered his question with another question. "You're not a child."

"Thank you," Steve countered sarcastically.

"Back pocket," Dustin said as he took off his backpack and handed it to Steve, who proceeded to take the flashlight out of it.

Mavis just looked at the scene with a playful smirk. Steve looked at her and his heart skipped a beat.

"Kids, am I right?"

She chuckled. "Yeah."

"They just left everything," Nancy said as her and Robin looked into the living room, while the others were still in the hall.

"I guess a triple homicide isn't good for resale value."

Mavis chuckled at Robin's comment before she noticed Max was looking at something. She pointed her own flashlight in that direction, her eyes widening slightly when she saw the grandfather clock she had seen just a few minutes ago.

"Hey, guys?" Max asked. "You all see that, right?"

"Yeah," Dustin nodded as he, Steve and Lucas looked at it.

"Is this what you saw?" Nancy asked her when Robin and her joined them. "In your visions?"

Max just nodded. And if somebody looked closer, they would see she and Mavis shared the same terrified look.

"I mean, it's... just a clock. Right?" Robin asked, walking over to it and using her hand to wipe off some dust. "Like a normal old clock."

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

"I think you cracked the case, Steve," Dustin said sarcastically, earning a glare from Steve.

"All I know is the answers are here. Somewhere," Nancy said. "Let's split out, okay? Robin, upstairs," and two girls left the hall.

Max took Mavis' hand, freeing her from her small trance. "Come on. Let's go," and then she tapped Lucas on the shoulder before the three walked towards the first room of the house.

Steve just stared after Mavis longingly. God, he wanted to team up with her, but instead here he was, with Dustin. Again. He sighed heavily before he started to walk up the stairs.

"Was that a sigh?" Dustin asked incredulously.

"No, I did not sigh."

"Why'd you sigh?"

"I didn't sigh. Just come on, dude."

"I heard you."

"We're just always partners, okay?"

"Well, you have a problem with that?"

"It'd just be nice to, you know, I don't know, mix it up a bit."

"So what? I'm boring you? Is that it?"

"No, the opposite..."

"Look, I know you'd rather be partnered with Mavis, but you can't have everything in this world."

"Just shut up."

Meanwhile, Mavis, Lucas and Max looked around one of the rooms.

"Sorry we took you away from your lover boy," Lucas teased her.

"Lucas, don't."

"So, it's true!" Max smiled. "You like Steve."

"I love you both, but you better shut your mouths," she pointed her index finger at them, but they just chuckled.

She rolled her eyes and looked further into the room. "I don't think we're going to find anything interesting in here."

"Maybe not, but it's worth a shot," Lucas smiled at her before he glanced at Max, whose tape recorder had stopped playing, but she just turned it back on.

"I wish we had a longer loop."

"Forty-six minutes isn't bad," she said, brushing a piece of hair behind her ear. "I think there are bigger concerns. Like... What if, by listening to this over and over, I get sick of it, and suddenly it's not my favorite song anymore?"

"Max..." Mavis spoke softly.

"Will it still work? Or will Kate Bush, like, lose her magic power or something?"

Lucas shook his head with a smile. "Kate Bush? Never."

"You're a Kate Bush fan?" Max asked, not able to believe it.

"Uh, yeah. Now I am."

"Really?" There was a smile on her face. In both of their faces. And Mavis found it adorable.

"Yeah, mega-fan. She... She saved your life." Cute.

"Okay lovebirds, I don't feel like third wheeling right now so... I'll go see if the others found everything," she smirked when she saw the two blush. "Be careful," and then she left the room, walking up the stairs.

Once on the second floor, she opened the first door to her right, closing it behind her. But when she turned around, she wasn't in the Creel house anymore.

She was in some sort of elevator. Not knowing what to do, she pressed one of the buttons before she proceeded to wait. Suddenly, the temperature dropped. It was so cold that when Mavis sighed, a misty cloud appeared in front of it. She looked down as she wrapped her arms around her body, wanting to stay warm. And it was then that she heard a ding, signaling the doors had opened.

Looking up, she felt herself freeze in place when she realized where she was: it was Henry Ford Hospital. The hospital where her mother had resided after her accident and until her death.

What was she doing back there?

She took a deep breath before she started to walk down the hall, looking around to make sure there was nothing there. This was definitely Henry Ford Hospital, but... it looked different. Everything was a mess: there were papers spread on the floor, the lights were broken, and the furniture had been moved around.

Mavis' eyes stopped on a door. The door to her mother's bedroom. It opened on its own, and she took a deep breath before walking to it. However, her mom wasn't inside. In fact, it wasn't a hospital room anymore. It looked more like a... morgue.

She didn't want to go inside, but she couldn't stop herself. Just like the rest of the hospital, the room was a mess. There was an autopsy table in the center of the room with a lamp hovering above it. To the left, there was a sink filled with medical utensils. And to the right, there was a row of small cabinets, where the bodies were kept.

Suddenly, the door closed behind her. She turned around to look at it, but when she did, one of the cabinets opened slowly. She heard it open, and she gulped before she looked at it and took a few steps towards it. Once she did, she was able to read the name on it.

Emily Wilson.

A shiver ran down her spine as memories filled her mind: her mom and her going cooking dinner together; Emily taking Mavis bowling on her birthday; them going to watch Star Wars in the theater when it released; Mavis' aunt Linda telling her about the accident; seeing her mom in that hospital bed because of her...

"It should have been you, Mavis."

She felt tears run down her face. God, the ghost of survivor's guilt could be so unkind...

Walking closer to the cabinet, she placed her hand  on it and opened it fully, looking inside. But her mother's body wasn't there. In fact, it wasn't a normal mortuary compartment, but some sort of unending tunnel. She frowned as the lights started to flicker, and suddenly, her mom was there. Crawling through the tunnel to get to her.

Mavis gasped at the sight, terrified, before closing the door of the cabinet and rushing to the doors of the morgue. She needed to get out of there.

And when she opened the door, she was back in Hawkins. Back in the Creel house.

Steve and Dustin had heard running footsteps and a door opening abruptly, so they rushed to check it out. Only to find Mavis panting in front of it.

"Oh my god Mav, are you okay?" Steve walked over to her, placing his free hand on her shoulder.

She just looked around, making sure she wasn't dreaming anymore. But she wasn't. Looking up at Steve, she felt herself calm down. "Yeah, I'm okay," she nodded.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure," she tried her best to smile.

"I don't know Mavis, you don't look too good," Dustin frowned.

"I swear I'm good, guys. I just heard something and it scared me," freeing herself from Steve's grip, she walked into another room.

Steve's frown deepened. Something was going on with Mavis... And he needed to find out what.

So he walked into the room she had just left, moving his flashlight around the room to see if he could find what had scared her. But instead, he stopped when he found a vent on the floor. He walked towards it and opened it, seeing various glass containers that were surrounded by spider webs. He took one of the containers and looked at it, seeing there was a dead spider inside. Suddenly, he felt something crawl up his left arm, and when he looked at it, he saw nothing other than a black widow.

He jumped, letting the container drop and shatter into pieces as he tried to get the black widow away from his body. As he did so, he walked backwards into a big spider web before he was in the hall again, where he crashed against Nancy.

"Whoa, whoa. What's wrong?" she asked worriedly.

"There was a spider."

"What?"

"It's a black widow," he said, closing the door.

"Okay."

"Don't go in there," he turned around, ready to walk away when Nancy stopped him.

"Oh, oh," she said as she noticed Steve's hair was filled with spiderwebs. "Wait, just..."

"What?" he asked as he moved to a nearby mirror, trying to look at his hair. "Is there something there? Shit."

"Stop moving," she commanded him.

"Okay," and he listened.

"I just... I got it. I got it," she said as she started to take the spiderwebs off his hair.

"Thank you."

"If there's a spider nesting in there, you're never gonna find it till it lays eggs and all the babies spill out," Robin chuckled as she walked past them.

"What's wrong with you?" the girl just kept on chuckling. "Robin, seriously!"

Hearing the commotion and seeing Robin walk into the room she was at, Mavis chuckled too.

"What's happening out there?"

"See for yourself. Steve is being a dingus again," Robin chuckled.

Deciding to listen to her friend, she walked towards the door frame, seeing Nancy and Steve talking as she looked through his hair.

And she would be lying if she said it didn't hurt her. She knew the two had history, and even if she knew that Nancy was with Jonathan, she couldn't help but feel a bit jealous. Why couldn't that be her?

"Okay. All better," Nancy smiled once she was.

"Great. Thanks," Steve chuckled as he turned around to face her.

Mavis didn't know what they were talking about, or what would happen next between them, but she didn't want to stick around to find out.

"Uh..." Mavis cleared her throat. "I think I'm going to go check on Eddie. Make sure he's okay."

Steve turned around immediately to face her, frowning.

"Do you want someone to go with you?" Nancy asked.

"No, it's fine. I have it covered," she smiled. "And if something happens, I can protect myself," she pointed to her bow that was behind her back.

"Well, if you say so..." Nancy smiled. "Be careful."

"You too," she smiled before she walked towards the stairs, descending them shortly after.

Steve just watched her leave, the frown on his face deepening. Why had she suddenly decided to go check on Eddie? Wait... was there something going on between them? He knew they were close, but...

God, he hoped she wasn't in love with someone else. He wouldn't be able to take it.

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It took Mavis a while to get to Lover's Lake. She didn't have her bike, and the Creel house was not exactly close to it, but she was determined to get to Eddie. She would have tried to reach him to let him know she was on the way, but she had forgotten her backpack in Nancy's car.

On the way there, she couldn't stop thinking about Steve and Nancy and their interaction. What if he still had feelings for her? She didn't know if Nancy would reciprocate those feelings, but the thought of Steve being in love with someone else... It hurt. Even if she had told herself there was no way he liked her back.

Finally, she made it to the lake. She was still far away from Reefer Rick's house, but she could see it from where she was standing in the woods. She was about to keep walking when something made her stop dead in her tracks: the lights inside the house were on.

She immediately knew something was wrong. Eddie wasn't stupid. At least not that stupid to leave the lights on after he was there. So that could only mean one thing: someone had found him.

Mavis moved through the trees, trying to see if there was a car parked in front of the house. Maybe that would let her know who it was. And lo and behold, there was a car there. A black Jeep Cherokee.

"Fuck." She knew who that car belonged to. And it wasn't good.

She walked to the shore closest to her, wanting to optimize her sight on the house. That was when she saw a boat leaving the lake house. And Eddie was on it.

To say she was relieved would be an understatement. Thank God he was okay.

"Hey, freak!" she heard a voice, and when she looked in that direction, she saw none other than Jason Carver and Patrick McKinney, the two of them taking off some of their clothes to jump after Eddie.

"Oh hell no," she exclaimed as she reached for her bow and arrows.

She would not let those jocks hurt her friend.

With her eyes locked on them, Mavis nocked the arrow and drew the string back with her right hand. Mentally, she analyzed the distance, the range and the wind. And then, she released the arrow, which quickly made her way towards Jason and Patrick, landing at their feet as some sort of warning.

Both guys looked up, but they couldn't find where the arrow had come from. Eddie, as he was trying to work the boat motor, looked up as well, and when he saw the arrow, he smiled. Mavis had come to his rescue.

Smirking, Mavis took another arrow and shot it, this time landing right between Jason's legs. However, that didn't stop him, because he jumped into the water, swimming towards Eddie.

Mavis cursed under her breath. She knew Patrick wasn't that much of a threat, at least from what Lucas had told her, so she decided to let him be. But Jason...

Her hatred for him was strong, so she was going to give him hell.

It was hard, though. He kept swimming, and the arrows didn't land the same on the water. They were getting closer to him, and she hated herself for not being able to do more.

After a while, she ran out of arrows. "Shit!" she threw her bow at the ground in frustration before she used her mouth to cup her mouth. "Eddie, run!"

Eddie was trying his best, paddling as fast as he could to get away from Jason and Patrick, but they were getting closer and closer, so he just started to swing his paddle back and forth.

Suddenly, Patrick stopped swimming, and Mavis could hear Jason calling out to him. She frowned. Maybe he had changed his mind? Sadly, that wasn't the case. Something pulled him down into the water, making him disappear. And then out of a sudden, he was pulled back to the surface as he started to float.

Mavis' eyes widened at the sight, not noticing Eddie had fallen off the boat and had started to swim towards her. Had Patrick been cursed too?

His legs and arms started to snap and his jaw got dislocated before he fell into the water. God, that had been... terrifying.

Was that going to happen to her too? Is that how she was going to die?

"Wilson! Wilson!" She was brought back to reality by Eddie calling out to her.

She looked in his direction, and saw him get out of the lake, his clothes drenched.

"Thank you so much for coming, I..." he was panting. "I don't know what would have happened if you hadn't..."

Mavis just walked towards him with a smile, taking off her jacket and placing it over his shoulders. Then, she grabbed her bow with her left hand and used her right one to help Eddie walk.

"Come on, let's get you out of here."

『••✎••』

after three weeks or so, there is finally a new chapter!! ahhhh🤩

i'm so sorry it took me so long to update, but university loves to keep me busy lol

this chapter isn't as long as the last one, but it definitely has a lot of important things, like for example, mavis first hallucination! what do we think? is she going to survive vecna's curse?

i won't spoil anything, so you will have to wait until next chapter 🤭 (which by the way, will be the longest yet i think)

also, you have mavis' outfit for this chapter, & the third one, in the lookbook, so feel free to check it out^^

anyways, don't be a ghost reader & i'll see you next chapter! 💙

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