chapter thirty-six
vecna's curse

🖤

DARKNESS FELL AROUND THEM AS they drove from Ruby's house — well, her grandfather's — out towards lover's lake. She somehow won position of passenger princess, Harrington claiming it's in case she has a spooky vision like she did at the pumpkin patch. Ruby just thinks he's trying to get into her good books — Dustin and Robin must think the same, both irritated they've been delegated to the back seat, alongside Max.

They arrive at Reefer Rick's — Ruby was confused too, don't worry. He's Eddie's dealer, who lives out by lover's lake; the kids think Eddie's going to be hiding from the cops, so they've decided to drive over to see for themselves. Ruby pulls her hair up into a bun, her hair feeling too dirty from last night's... activities to feel comfortable down.

Harrington pulls up outside of the house, an old panelled one with a boathouse closer to the lake. There's boating and nautical paraphernalia dotted around the overgrown grass as they quietly wander up to the house, trying to look out for any signs of life. Ruby watches Harrington stick a torchlight straight into the dark house, and she swats it out of his hand.

"That's not stealthy!" she hisses. "So much for being a ninja—"

She's interrupted by Dustin, who violently knocks on the front door, shouting at the top of his lungs, "EDDIEEEE!"

Harrington grimaces. "And you thought I was the problem."

Ruby bites on her lip to contain her laugh.

She glances at the others, all of them peering into the house through the windows. "OK, so," says Ruby. "I'm not allowed to use my powers when I'm back here."

Max frowns. "Says... who?"

"God," Ruby says. "I'm just saying this, in case anything weird happens, don't expect me to save your guys' asses..."

"That's why I'm the muscle now," says Harrington, too boldly to be joking. Ruby and Robin exchange an unconvinced look, both stifling their laughter. Harrington notices, clearly, and scowls. "I wish you weren't friends."

"OK, Mr Muscle," says Ruby, rolling her eyes.

Robin snorts, jumping down from the (dead) plant pot she was standing on, trying to look into the kitchen window. "Clearly no one's living here," says Robin, defeated.

Ruby looks around, her eyes settling back on the boathouse. Call it genetically-modified intuition or plain optimism, but she has a sneaking suspicion Eddie might be in there.

She walks towards it, the rest following her along. Harrington catches up to open the door first, trying to be chivalrous or something. Ruby gives him an odd look, as he grabs one of the boat oars, prodding everything in sight with it, checking Eddie isn't there.

"Steve," says Dustin. "How is that helping?"

"He might be in here!" says Harrington, continuing to stab.

Ruby sighs. "You're gonna stab him if you do that!"

"Take the tarp off!" says Dustin, about to fight Steve.

Harrington swings back around. "If you're so brave, you take the tarp off!"

"Look over here," says Max, at the other side of the boathouse. She shines her flashlight onto a pile of trash on top of a workbench, clearly food wrappers. "Someone was here..."

"Maybe he heard us," says Robin. "Got spooked and ran?"

"Don't worry," says Dustin, still stood next to Harrington. He's watching him prod the tarp still, and he shines his torch as if he's trying to make everyone aware of the idiocy of Steve's actions. "Steve will get him with his oar."

Ruby snorts.

"I know you think you're being funny, Henderson, but considering everyone in this room has nearly died a hundred times, personally, I don't find it funny in the slighte—"

But, a tall figure appears out of nowhere underneath the tarp, running straight for Harrington. They shove Steve against the wall; the tarp flies off of them in the pursuit, revealing Eddie Munson, now with a knife pressed against Steve's throat.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Harrington cries out, panicking.

"EDDIE!"

Look. Ruby knows she isn't supposed to use her powers — but her eyes can't move away from the knife at her ex-boyfriend's throat, and it's scaring her. She can feel her fingers tingling, and without another thought, Eddie goes flying to the other side of the room. Ruby feels everyone's eyes land on her. She scratches her arm uncomfortably.

Eddie scrambles back to his feet, his voice shaking. "What was that? How did—How—?"

Dustin rushes in front of him, trying to calm him down. Ruby looks over at Steve, at his fingers checking his own neck for damages. She feels too exposed to go and check on him, so she keeps her distance, focusing instead on Eddie.

"What are you doing here?" says Eddie. "Why are Steve Harrington and Ruby Brenner with you, Dustin?"

Ruby sighs, and at the same time, both her and Harrington say, "Babysitting."

They exchange an awkward glance. Ruby steps further away from him.

"We're looking for you," says Dustin. "We're here to help."

Eddie looks around — focusing especially on Ruby and Harrington — and looks unconvinced.

"Eddie, these are my friends," says Dustin. "You know Robin from band?" Robin mimes playing a saxophone. "And Max — the one who never wants to play D&D..." Max puts her hand up. "We're here to help — we're on your side! I swear on my mother."

"Yeah..." says Harrington, apprehensively.

"Yeah, on Dustin's mom," says Ruby with a nod. Dustin looks back at her, frowning, and she puts her hands up in defence. "What? My parents are dead."

There's a pause.

"... on Dustin's mom, yeah," says Harrington, Robin, and Max, all awkwardly. Everyone's cheery until the orphan talk, Ruby thinks.

"We just want to know what happened," says Robin.

Eddie scoffs. "You won't believe me."

Robin sighs, and goes, "Try us."

And with a sigh, gathering up his courage to go through the trauma again, Eddie begins to explain:

"Chrissy came back to mine to buy some stuff — I think she was having a rough week. And I left the room for one minute, and when I walked back in — it was weird, man, she was completely spaced out, standing all stiff. Then her body just, like, lifted up into the air... and she just hung there. And her bones... Uh, her... Her bones started to snap. And her eyes went to the back of her head..."

Ruby has a sinking feeling in her stomach.

"It was like there was something inside her head, just pulling... I—I didn't know what to do, so I just... I ran away. I left her there." Eddie looks up at all of them, and scoffs. "You think I'm crazy, right?"

"We don't think you're crazy—"

"Don't bullshit me, man!" he shouts. "I know how this sounds."

"We're not bullshitting you! We believe you."

Ruby steps forwards, Dustin moving to the side as she kneels down next to Eddie. She prays her grandpa is on his way, she needs some help with this.

"You know the stories about Hawkins? About how it's... cursed?" she says. Eddie — confused by why Ruby Brenner, of all people, is trying to comfort him — nods. "Well... that's not entirely false."

"What do you mean?" he says.

"There's another world," says Ruby. "A parallel universe, of sorts, to ours — and sometimes, it bleeds into our world. There's—There's creatures from that world that have gotten through to ours before, and although we thought they were gone... You can never truly know."

She looks back around at the others. Robin's watching her cautiously, and Harrington's moved forward, as if worrying Eddie's going to pull the knife on Ruby next. Max has her arms crossed. Dustin's nodding along, trying to be supportive.

"That's why we were looking for you," says Dustin. "If they're back, we need to know."

Robin steps forwards. "That night, did you see anything? Dark particles, maybe? It would almost look like dust, swirling dust..."

Eddie shakes his head. "No, man, there was nothing you could see or touch."

Ruby can feel her stomach twisting into knots. She thinks of last year, of the tricks the Mind Flayer played on her before he took her as his victim. Ruby stands up, starting to pace around the garage. Her insides feel queasy, her brain jumping straight back to the night she was Flayed. The Mind Flayer is gone, yes, but the monsters in the Upside Down can control things, here, whilst remaining in their dimension...

"You know, I tried to wake her, man. She couldn't move. It was like she... she was in a trance or something."

"Or under a spell."

"A curse," says Dustin. "Vecna's curse."

"What... is Vecna?" says Ruby.

"An undead creature of great power," says Dustin. Ruby thinks she's going to throw up. "A spell caster... a dark wizard."

Ruby's hands are shaking. She keeps on thinking about last year, about the Mind Flayer. Her chest is rising up and down, up and down. Her breathing is becoming too quick, but she doesn't know how to stop it, how to calm down—

Robin puts her hand on Ruby's arm, trying to comfort her. Ruby holds onto Robin's hand; she looks over at Harrington, wishing he was here instead.

"How is this different to the Mind Flayer?" says Max, frowning.

"Vecna is stronger," says Dustin. "He's smarter, he can infiltrate people's minds better than the Mind Flayer..."

"Does he... does he Flay people?" says Ruby, her voice weak.

"No," says Dustin, knowing exactly why she's asking. "But he gets into their minds to kill them."

Ruby can't get her memories of last year out of her mind. She thinks about the night she was Flayed, about the cold warehouse, all of those rats running around her body as it was taken over by another supernatural force... She thinks of the past year, of her renewed determination to stop this monster for good. She thinks about her grandpa, about all of the calming techniques they've practised. She balls her hands into fists, the sensation of her nails in her palms grounding her in the present moment.

She looks up, finding Steve frowning at her, as if trying to check on her without coming over. He looks away when she notices him, and instead, he turns to Dustin.

"But that's what the Mind Flayer did, he just dragged it out—?"

"I'm sorry," says Eddie, standing back up. He begins to pace around, clearly freaked out. "First, you say there's another dimension — and now, those two know about D&D?"

Ruby sighs. "We're not talking about D&D," she says. "That's just... what we call the monsters from the Upside Down."

"And how do you, Ruby Brenner, know so much about this?"

She goes quiet for a second, feeling uncomfortable about another person — someone she barely knows, sans from being a druggie, someone who could let slip this secret — knowing about her. But, she thinks about her grandpa. If Eddie did tell people, she has the means now to quieten the problem. And, it'll make things easier if he's aware, maybe even comforted if he knows they've got one equal fighter to whatever he's witnessed...

But she needs to be less hungover for that conversation.

"Just know that if this thing comes, I can stop it," says Ruby.

Eddie raises his eyebrows. "What, with the power of cheerleading?"

"No." Ruby focuses on her surroundings, concentrating on the boat behind her. She glances over, the boat floating into the air. Eddie lets out a scream, and as Ruby gently sets it back down on the ground, she wipes her bloody nose. "With that."

"Jesus fuck," he says.

Ruby looks around. She knows she shouldn't have used her powers, but it's not like one little bit of telekinesis is going to kill anyone, right?

... Right?

🖤

HARRINGTON DRIVES THEM ALL home after that.

Ruby's the last on the list of drop-offs, her grandpa's house a street away from his. She smiles nicely as they drop Robin off home, giving her a quick hug as she jumps out of the car to sit in the front passenger seat the last leg of the journey. As Robin walks into her home, Harrington revs the engine, driving to her grandpa's.

"Why are you staying here, anyway?" says Harrington.

Ruby raises an eyebrow. "Gee, I'm not banned from Hawkins, am I?"

Harrington gives her a look. "No, I mean — your grandfather's."

For some reason, it surprises her that he recognised the house. He must've been — what? — a couple of times, when they were kids? But her grandpa never liked others over, his house was his private space, filled with confidential files from the lab. So it makes Ruby's heart warm slightly, that Harrington remembered.

"Well," Ruby shrugs. "My dad's house has a hole in the roof. And my aunt's..." She goes quiet for a minute, the image of her aunt's body shoved to the forefront of her mind. They reach a red light. "I don't have the heart to step foot in that house."

"You could've stayed at mine," he says, quietly.

Ruby looks over at him. At her ex-boyfriend, at the boy that was once her best friend. She thinks about every moment they've spent in his car, from joking around as friends about Carol and Tommy, to when they were dating; how he'd rest his hand on her thighs in-between changing gears. Now, his hand is sat firmly on the gear shift.

"I don't think that would've worked," she says, weakly. "We weren't even talking and last night we still..."

"Yeah, I know," he says, with a sigh.

"Is your, uh, neck OK?" she says, trying to change the subject.

He puts his hands to it, mindlessly. "Uh, yeah, yeah, it's fine," he tells her, as if he'd forgotten being threatened by a knife earlier. "I mean, I appreciated the help back there, anyway..."

Ruby smiles awkwardly. "That's the last time you're getting it, stud."

They pull up in front of her grandfather's house. She pulls her house keys out from her pocket, and Harrington switches off the engine, as if he's going to walk her up to the front door. She frowns.

"You don't have to..."

"No," says Harrington, shrugging. "But I want to."

Ruby smiles softly. She gets out of the car, and the two of them walk up the short drive, past her cherry-red convertible, past the pansies her grandpa must've planted in the seventies, whose violently-orange petals still infect the soil. The house is in darkness, though, like it's been every night since her grandpa was presumed dead.

"Well, uh..." Steve looks around, fidgeting. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow."

She looks up at him, and in spite of the darkness, she knows the look he's giving her. He's looking down, looking at every square-inch of her face. Her stomach churns. She can't let this happen again, not after last year.

"Steve," she says softly. "You know, we can't..."

"Get back together?" he says. "I know. I don't want to."

Ruby goes quiet for a minute, a little bit hurt. Like, sure, she can say she isn't interested. But him? Why him? Is Stacey Sirko the perfect girl for him? In what world does he not want to get back together with her? Ruby tries to calm her annoyance down.

"... Good," says Ruby, through gritted teeth. "I'll see you tomorrow."

She unlocks the door, and slams it in his face.

Ruby puts her hands on her face, wanting to scream. What is this bullshit? Steve doesn't like her anymore? Since when? They had sex last night! Maybe Robin was right — maybe Steve is too consumed with his slut phase to even care about her anymore. She grimaces, switching on the telephone's messages as she tries to calm down. Ruby needs some vodka and ice cream, stat.

"Hey, Rubes, it's Jonathan." The telephone says. "I don't know where you are — but we've got a problem. El got into a fight at the roller rink, and now the police are involved..."

Ruby grabs the phone, and rings back immediately.

"Jonathan!" she says, the second someone picks up. "What happened?"

"Not Jonathan," says Mike. "... Mike."

"I know that," says Ruby, scowling. "What happened? Where's El?"

"She's OK!" he says. "I don't know what happened — one minute she was upset, and the next she went up to that girl she's friends with, and hit her with her roller skate—"

"What girl?" says Ruby.

"... Angela, I think?"

Ruby's heart is pounding.

"Why was she upset?"

"I don't know what was going on, Angela and her friends were playing this joke on El, I think she took it the wrong way and—"

"You don't know why she was upset? Are you stupid?" she snaps. She knows this aggression is coming from everything that's happened today, but still. Mike doesn't know why his girlfriend was upset? Steve always knew. "That wasn't a rhetorical question." Mike starts to splutter, and Ruby scowls. "It doesn't matter, I know the answer anyway. Put El on, now."

"OK," he says, and she hears him call out El's name.

"Mike?" says Ruby.

Tentatively (scared to death), he goes, "... Yes?"

"The next time she's upset and you don't know why despite being there, I'm going to take over the Upside Down, possess all of the demogorgons, and make them hunt you. Got it?"

"... Yes."

"Good."

Ruby waits a minute. She sits down on the sofa, pulling her shoes off with the other foot. Sitting hunched over, she closes her eyes, trying to regroup her thoughts. Today started off bad, and has gotten worse and worse. Hawkins becoming a hellfire is one thing (when is it not?) but her little sister being in trouble, with only Jonathan to look after her? Now, that's the icing on the dumpster fire of a cake.

But it can be worse, she reminds herself, thinking of last year. Things can always be worse. Things can always get better... and, besides, how can this one day transform into a day as bad as last year? She's got no guardians left to die — well, excluding her grandpa, but he's locked away in a bunker and has already escaped death once. He's fine.

"Hello," says El, her voice anxious.

"Hey," says Ruby, relieved to hear her sister's voice. "How are you?"

"I've been better," she says, and Ruby smiles. "Did... did they tell you what happened?"

"Yeah, but I wanna hear it from you," says Ruby.

"OK, so... There's this girl at school, and she's been... mean to me, ever since I started." El pauses, and Ruby feels her own stomach squirm. Her little sister has been picked on, and she never even knew? "She kept on making jokes about Dad being dead, and yesterday, I tried to use my powers on her—"

"But you don't...?"

"Yeah, so I just looked... stupid." El sighs. "She got into trouble for being mean, so today at the roller rink..."

She goes quiet, and Ruby sits up, wanting to hear more.

"Yeah...?"

"She threw milkshake in my face, and pushed me over, and made everyone else do the thing with their hands... The, uh, the thing I used to do?" She pauses, to hear Ruby confirm she understands. And she does: when El used her powers, she'd extend her hand forwards, the telekinetic abilities rushing to her fingers. "Yeah, and I got upset... So I took my skate and... hit her."

"So, she was bullying you, and you fought back?" says Ruby, anger beginning to seep into her pores.

"I'm not... it isn't bullying, really..."

"Yes, it is," says Ruby. She stands up, and almost falls over, trying to move the telephone cord any further from the line. "But that's OK! It's not your fault—"

"Were you ever bullied?" says El.

Ruby almost snorts, which is part of the problem. She frowns. "No..." Was I the bully? she asks herself. She supposes she was complicit in Carol and Tommy's tomfoolery. Maybe she'd made comments sometimes, but she doesn't think she was ever a bully... Just intimidating to others...

"But, I guess... I was aggressively focused on being popular, on being my idea of normal. And like, yeah, some guys made comments, but my best friend at the time would beat them up, so..."

"Steve?" says El.

Ruby sighs. "Yeah."

"I see," says El, and after a pause, adds, "I don't think Will's happy that Mike's here."

Ruby frowns. "... That's odd."

"I thought he'd be excited," says El. "But he's been nasty ever since he arrived..."

"To you?"

"... Yeah."

"And Joyce is away still, right?"

"Yeah... When are you coming back?"

"I've got some stuff to deal with here," says Ruby, and she pulls out the necklace hidden underneath her t-shirt, anxiously tugging on the little rubies lined up into a flower. "But I'm going to help you. I'm gonna make some calls, and in the meantime, do not let the police take you. You don't want anyone figuring out who you are... If the cops show up, hide. Tell Jonathan to say you've run away. OK? And I'll be back as soon as possible, I promise..."

"OK," says El. "I'll see you soon."

"Look after yourself," says Ruby, and she means it.

"You too," says El.

Ruby says her goodbyes, warns Jonathan of the same problem, before hanging up. This time, she returns her gaze to the telephone, dialling the same phone number she rang from the video store.

"It's me," says Ruby. "I know I shouldn't call twice—"

"I've heard," says her grandpa's voice. Her chest heaves in relief.

"I'll try to make this quick, I promise," says Ruby. "I don't care about Hawkins right now — ignore that if you have to — but my sister's in trouble. You need to help her."

"I'll fix it," he tells her. "You need to stay in Hawkins."

Ruby frowns. "Why?"

"... I'll explain when I arrive—"

"But El—!"

She puts her hand on her mouth. She wasn't supposed to say her name! Fuck, what if someone's listening in? What if someone knows?

"I will help her, then you. Don't call again."

The line goes dead. Ruby sits in the silence of her grandfather's abandoned house, her head spinning, her heart pounding. She feels her insides cramping up, squeezing her. An overwhelming sense of dread consumes her, as the sound of a clock chiming rings through her ears, almost deafening. Her mind is running and running, trying to figure out what's wrong. She hears the crack of bones, someone crying out for mercy. And then it's quiet again.

Ruby stares in front of her, not sure what to do. Does she call her grandpa? Does she call Steve? Does she fill the bathtub with salt and figure out what's wrong? She stands up, pacing the floor of the living room.

No. No. Everything will be fine. She'll get some rest, have a shower, recuperate, then she'll figure this out tomorrow. She doesn't have her grandpa, her dad, no one. She's on her own in figuring this out, in fixing it. It's her against the Upside Down, like it was always meant to be.

So. She walks over to the kitchen, her eyes settling on her bag bought from Eddie the day before. That'll do.

She wanders upstairs, a rolled joint tucked behind her ear, and she lets herself back into the bedroom she's been using. For the first time since arriving, she lets herself focus on the wall decorations, the purple wallpaper. She sees a picture of her mom and dad as teenagers, realising it's her mom's old bedroom. Nostalgia aside, her eyes land on the closet. Think about the vintage goods in there, she thinks. And, a purple haze washing over her, she goes on a closet spree.

How else does a girl take her mind off of the Upside Down?

i forgot i pre-wrote this lol so have a present xx

(also i hope you enjoyed!! lmk what you thought<3)