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𝗠𝗢𝗢𝗡𝗟𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧

𝓬𝓱𝓪𝓹𝓽𝓮𝓻 𝓮𝓲𝓰𝓱𝓽:
"𝚒𝚝'𝚜 𝚊𝚕𝚠𝚊𝚢𝚜 𝚞𝚙 𝚝𝚘 𝚞𝚜,
𝚒𝚜𝚗'𝚝 𝚒𝚝?"

╚═════ ∘◦ ミ ☾ ◦∘ ══════╝

WHEN MACKENZIE WOKE with a start the next morning, it was because of Dustin's walkie.

"Hey, Dustin, this is Eddie the Banished, you there?" Eddie's voice rang out. "Dustin, can you hear me? Dustin?"

Mackenzie sat up, blinking blearily around the familiar room. After the events of the previous day, Mackenzie, Max, Lucas, Dustin, and Steve had all gone back to the Wheeler's house, where Nancy and Robin had met them. It had taken quite some time for the five at the graveyard to pull themselves together. Max had then told them everything — how Vecna had showed her Billy before actually revealing himself to her, how she had run away, how she had stumbled across some red fog and such. It was clear that it was hard for her to talk about, so they didn't push her. At least she was still alive. That meant the world.

They all gathered around the basement to sleep. Mackenzie couldn't sleep for a long time ⁠ — every time she closed her eyes, she would just see Max's floating body again. She was sure it would haunt her for the rest of her life.

Leaving the others to still sleep, Mackenzie rubbed her eyes and stood up from the spot on the floor, the hood of her Hawkins High sweatshirt still lifted above her head. She stumbled over to the walkie, which was resting on one of the tables.

"Earth to Dustin," Eddie said.

Mackenzie pulled up the antenna, trying to wake herself up. "Hi, Eddie. It's Kenz."

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

"That would be really fucking stupid. Please don't do that. I'll get the others up and we'll go get you some food. Just stay where you are."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Eddie cut in. "Listen, um . . . can you pick me up a six pack?"

Mackenzie rolled her eyes. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me."

"I know, it's stupid as shit, drinking right now, but a cold beer would really calm my jangled nerves."

She then looked back. However, the spot where Max Mayfield had once laid was completely empty. Mackenzie's eyes widened and her chest rose with panic. They had each taken turns watching over the redhead, making sure that Vecna wouldn't do anything to her again. And yet here she was, gone.

"Eddie, we'll talk later," Mackenzie voiced quickly. "Bye, love ya, make good choices."

She then put the walkie down, ignoring Eddie's protests. Mackenzie stood up and ran over to Dustin, who was the last one who was supposed to watch Max. She accidentally tripped over Nancy in the process, making the older girl stir and wake up as well. Mackenzie dropped to her knees in front of her friend.

"Dustin!" Mackenzie exclaimed, grabbing his shoulders and shaking him. "Dustin! Wake the hell up! Oh my God, Dustin!"

"What?" Dustin mumbled, finally opening his eyes.

"You were the one who was supposed to watch Max," Mackenzie reminded him.

"Yep. Yep, yep, yep, yep. Sorry."

"So where is she?"

"She's right there," Dustin replied, but pointed to the empty couch, and his eyes widened in panic. "A second ago. I swear, I just dozed off for⁠ . . ." Dustin slowly looked up from his watch. "An hour."

Nancy sat up. "You lost Max?"

"You are impossible!" Mackenzie scolded. "Jesus Christ."

She then stood up from the floor, instantly running up the stairs. Nancy and Dustin trailed after her. Mackenzie's heart raced as she checked the living room quickly before walking into the kitchen.

And then, a breath of relief. Max was there, sitting at the kitchen table with Holly, her headphones on and running a crayon back and forth on a piece of paper. Mackenzie stopped in her tracks, placing a hand to her forehead as she felt her panic stop rising. Thank God.

"Morning, guys," Karen greeted, walking away from the stove where she was making pancakes. "Everything okay?"

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

What a lie. Literally nothing was okay.

Mackenzie placed a small smile on her face as Max turned to look at them. Max reciprocated one. It was tiny, but at least it was something.

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

"Could try sticking together at a different house for a change," Ted commented, looking up from his newspaper.

Mackenzie rolled her eyes at Ted while Nancy walked over to the table. She continued to stand by Dustin, tucking her hands into the pocket of her sweatshirt.

Karen looked at the two. "You know you're welcome here anytime."

"Totally," Dustin responded. "You're like family." He pointed to the pancakes on the table. "May I?"

Karen handed him a plate. "Absolutely."

"Yeah, why not?" Ted complained. "Take us for all we're worth."

Dustin grinned at him. "Okay."

"Sorry that I've been coming around so much," Mackenzie told Karen quietly as Dustin piled pancakes on his plate. "Things at my house have been . . . tense."

Karen waved her off. "Kenzie, you do not have to apologize for that. I'm happy to have you over." She offered her a plate. "Pancakes?"

Mackenzie shook her head. "No thanks, I'm not really that hungry." It was true ⁠— what happened with Max made Mackenzie positively sick to her stomach. "Thank you, though."

Karen squeezed her shoulder before Mackenzie walked off to the table. She sat down in the empty chair next to Nancy, who had also just sat down. Max turned off her Walkman, which was playing Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God) by Kate Bush, and pulled her headphones down around her neck. Mackenzie then noticed the drawings on the table. They were a mumble of red skies and broken pieces of what seemed to be mountains and pillars. One also had a floating grandfather clock.

"Hey," Max stated.

"Hey," Nancy replied. "You okay?"

"Just couldn't sleep. People kept blasting music in my ears, for some reason." The corners of Max's mouth twitched up at her joke, and Mackenzie felt her spirits lift up just a bit from it. "But, Holly let me borrow some of her crayons. We've been having a fun morning, right, Holly?"

"Mm-hmm," Holly hummed in response, not looking up from her Lite-Brite.

Mackenzie pointed at the multiple pieces of paper. "When he . . . when he took you, is this what you saw?"

"I mean, it's supposed to be," Max answered. "I thought it'd be easier to draw it out than to explain it, but . . . not so much."

Nancy pulled one of the papers close to her. "Is that . . . ?"

Mackenzie looked closer. Her stomach instantly turned. In two pillars where the mangled bodies of a boy and a girl. Fred and Chrissy. She looked away, feeling herself get choked up. God, she missed Chrissy.

It was also the day of Chrissy's funeral. The whole cheer team had been invited, but as much as Mackenzie felt guilty about it, she wasn't going. Mackenzie couldn't just abandon her friends, especially Max, when they had to find out what Vecna wanted. The only way to avenge Chrissy was to destroy Vecna. Mackenzie was going to make sure the girl would get justice if it was the last thing she ever did.

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

"Do you think Vecna's just trying to scare you?" Nancy asked.

"With Billy? Yeah. But when I made it here . . . I don't know, something was different. He seemed surprised, almost. Like he didn't want me there."

Dustin sat down next to Mackenzie. "Maybe you infiltrated his mind. He invaded your mind, right? Is it that big of a leap to suggest that you somehow wound up in his?" His eyes widened in realization. "Like Freddie Krueger's boiler room."

"Freddie Krueger?" Holly repeated.

"He's a super burned up dude with razors for fingers and he kills you in your dreams."

Nancy stared at him. "Dustin, seriously?"

"Sorry," Dustin said to Holly. "It's a movie. It's not real." He looked back at the other three. "Just . . . think about it. What if you somehow unlocked a backdoor to Vecna's world? Like, maybe the answer we're looking for is—" he picked up a paper and stared at it "⁠—somewhere in this incredibly vague drawing. God, we need Will."

Mackenzie felt a pang in her chest at the mention of his name. Will loved art. They would color together a lot when they were little. And growing up, that never changed. Will always had his drawings hanging up in his room, and Mackenzie had a couple of his in hers. It was also how he communicated about the Mind Flayer and all those tunnels that ran underneath Hawkins.

She sighed and placed her chin in her hands. "Tell me about it."

"Yeah, no shit, but I tried them again this morning, and it's the same busy signal," Max announced.

Nancy picked up a paper, which had a picture of a small stained glass window on it. "Is this a window?"

"Yeah."

"Stained glass with roses."

Max nodded. "Yeah." She gave a pointed look to Dustin. "See? I'm not so terrible after all."

"Yeah, well, it helps that I've seen it before," Nancy admitted.

Suddenly, Nancy took the paper and flipped it upside down, folding it in half. She started to fold all of Max's drawings in a certain way, putting them down like they were pieces of a puzzle. Mackenzie watched in curiosity as she grabbed a sharpie and started to trace outlines on the folded up papers, including windows. As it all came together, Mackenzie saw that it was a house.

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

"Not just any house," Nancy said. She placed down the paper with the stained glass window on it, and just from that, Mackenzie felt shivers run up her spine. "It's Victor Creel's house."

"Where are you going?" Dustin inquired as Nancy stood up.

"Waking the others."

Mackenzie instantly stood up and followed her, pulling her hood back down.

Dustin grabbed a piece of bacon off of the island in the kitchen. "Sorry, fuel for the road. Thanks, Mr. Wheeler!"

Mackenzie's heart started to race again as she descended down the steps into the basement. They had to figure things out ⁠— and that meant going to that house.

༻✦༺༻✧༺༻✦༺

WHEN NANCY PULLED up outside Victor Creel's house, she immediately got the creeps.

They had woken up the others and had showed them Max's drawing, explaining how they had to go to the house. Lucas, Steve, and Robin were kind of disoriented, but nevertheless, they followed.

Mackenzie stepped out from her place in the back of the car and stared up at the crumbling house. It was boarded up, basically crumbling, and was overgrown with ivy and such. And it also looked a lot like Max's drawing. She stopped on her place on the steps of the pathway to the house, trying to calm her fears by reminding herself that her friends were here.

"Yeah, that's not creepy," Steve commented.

They walked up to the porch. Steve took a hammer and started to remove the nails from the piece of wood that blocked the door. Nancy did the same to the other side. Mackenzie watched as they did so, her arms crossed against her chest as she stood next to Robin.

"What exactly are we supposed to be looking for in this shithole?" Steve questioned to Nancy.

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

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

"Basically."

"Great," Steve said.

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

Mackenzie sighed. "It's always up to us, isn't it?"

They were all silent at that. She was right, after all.

"We don't think he's in here . . . do we?" Lucas inquired.

"Who fucking knows," Mackenzie responded. "If he is, I'm giving him a punch to the face."

Dustin blinked at her. "He's a powerful being from the Upside Down, and you're going to . . . punch him?"

"You heard me."

Steve looked at Nancy. "Ready?"

"Mm-hmm," Nancy confirmed.

Now that all of the nails were out, the wood was free. The two let the wood fall onto the porch with a creak and a thud. Mackenzie took a step back from it, her eyes flinching shut for a moment from the loud sound that emitted from it. She then looked back at the door. It was exactly what Max had seen ⁠⁠— stained glass with roses.

Steve tried to open it, but it didn't budge. "It's locked. Should I knock, see if anybody's home?"

"No need," Robin cut in, and she held up a brick. "I found a key."

"Oh, hell yeah," Mackenzie approved.

Robin stepped up onto the porch and threw the brick straight at the door. It broke through the stained glass, and the sound of the brick falling and glass shattering echoed from the house. Steve stuck his hand through the hole in the glass made by the brick and found the doorknob. He opened it and removed his hand from the broken glass as the door screeched open.

Mackenzie took a flashlight from Dustin and stepped inside the dark house. It probably was a nice house before, but now, it was all dusty and covered in spider webs. She looked around. All the furniture was still there, clearly untouched after the murder of the Creels.

Lucas tried to turn on a lamp, but nothing happened. "Looks like someone forgot to pay their electric bill."

Dustin responded by clicking on his own flashlight.

"Where'd everyone get those?" Steve questioned.

Dustin looked at him incredulously. "Do you need to be told everything? You're not a child."

"Thank you." ⁠

Dustin took off his backpack and handed it to Steve. "Back pocket."

Steve took a flashlight and dropped Dustin's backpack on the floor. Mackenzie shook her head at them and continued on. She peered over Nancy's shoulder into the living room, which was also left untouched.

"They just left everything," Nancy voiced.

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

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

Mackenzie walked over and shone her flashlight up. Standing there was a grandfather clock that was all dusty. She really had no idea why Vecna was so obsessed with grandfather clocks. It was honestly kind of creepy.

"Yeah," Dustin answered.

"Yeah," Steve agreed.

"Is this what you saw?" Nancy inquired. "In your visions?"

Max nodded.

Robin stepped forwards. "I mean, it's . . . just a clock. Right?" She moved closer to the clock. Robin ran her hand over the glass, causing a clear patch to appear from the dust being swept away. She looked back at the group. "Like a normal old clock."

"Why is this wizard obsessed with clocks?" Steve asked.

"That's what I'm saying," Mackenzie replied. "He should get a new hobby, like, oh, I don't know, not killing people."

"Maybe he's, like, a clockmaker or something?"

Mackenzie shut her eyes at that. "Oh my God."

"I think you cracked the case, Steve," Dustin told him.

"All I know is the answers are here," Nancy revealed. "Somewhere. Okay, everyone stay in groups of two, but we'll have one group of three. Robin, upstairs."

Robin saluted Nancy and immediately followed her up the stairs.

Max then looped her arm through Mackenzie's. "Partners?"

Mackenzie grinned. "Always."

She then nodded her head to Lucas. "Come on, let's go."

The three of them walked through the rooms downstairs, Mackenzie letting go of Max's arm so she could move around freely. She didn't really know exactly what they were looking for, so she just shone her flashlight around aimlessly. Max also had Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God) playing from her Walkman, her headphones around her neck so they could all hear it.

They stepped inside a room that had peeling wallpaper, a dusty couch, an old piano, and a chess set covered in spider webs. Max's tape suddenly stopped, and she reached down, rewinding it so it could start again.

"I wish we had a longer loop," Lucas stated.

"Forty-six minutes isn't bad," Max responded. "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? Will it still work? Or will Kate Bush, like, lose her magic power or something?"

"Kate Bush? Never."

Mackenzie's eyebrows knit in confusion and she pointed her flashlight at Lucas. "Hold up a second. You're a fan of Kate Bush?"

"Uh, yeah, now I am," Lucas admitted.

"Really?" Max questioned.

"Yeah, mega-fan. She — she saved your life. Besides, we're hot on this creep's trail. We're gonna find Vecna and kill him before he even thinks about messing with you again. All right?"

Mackenzie's heart warmed as she saw Lucas put a hand on Max's shoulder. She had always loved the two of them together, and it made her really sad when Max broke up with him. At least maybe now, in the midst of all this, they could find each other again.

Lucas approached the piano. "In fact, I bet if we hit these suckers in the right combo, we might just open a door to his secret lair." He then pressed his fingers onto the piano keys and played some notes that definitely did not sound right together. "Voilà."

Max shook her head, a smile on her face. "You're such a dork. I thought you were, like, one of the cool kids now."

Lucas looked at her, an offended look on his face. "I'm not cool?"

"Nah, you're a loser," Mackenzie responded.

Max laughed at that. A real, genuine laugh. Mackenzie looked over at the girl, her eyes brightening. It had been a really long time since she had heard it. The last time she probably did was in the summer when they were running around the mall.

"I've really missed that," Lucas said.

"Missed what?" Max inquired.

"Your laugh."

Just in the middle of their moment, Max's tape deck clicked, signaling that it rewinded all the way. Mackenzie couldn't help the fond smile on her face, remembering all the times when her and Will had gotten interrupted with shit like that.

God, she missed him.

"All done," Max announced. "Work your magic, Kate."

Max then started to pull her headphones over her ears. However, they were cut off by the sound of something hitting glass softly. Mackenzie looked over and saw that the lamp was on and flickering. There was absolutely no electricity left in the house, and the lamp being on only meant one thing.

Vecna.

Max stepped closer to the lamp. "I promise I'm gonna stop asking this, but . . . you're seeing that, right?"

"Yeah," Lucas confirmed.

Mackenzie took a deep breath, trying to control her panic. "Unfortunately."

Max lifted up her hand towards the lamp. It turned brighter, the electricity crackling, before it suddenly went dark. And then there was the sound of something hitting glass softly and electricity crackling again. Mackenzie's head whirled around to see that the lamp in the hallway was turning on and flickering.

"There," Mackenzie voiced, and they all stared at the lamp.

The three of them moved into the hallway. That lamp turned off, and the lamps from the chandelier on the ceiling and some on the wall started to flicker on. One stayed on longer than the rest, though — a lamp on the ceiling by a door pulsed with light. Mackenzie shared a glance with Max and Lucas.

Night time was among them now, the sky completely turning black. The house turned even darker. Mackenzie, Max, and Lucas gathered all of the others downstairs, showing them the lights that were flickering on. It finally stopped in the main chandelier of the house. The seven of them all watched as the lights pulsed brighter, dimmed, and then turned brighter again.

"It's like the Christmas lights," Nancy whispered.

"The Christmas lights?" Robin repeated.

"When Will was in the Upside Down, he used Christmas lights to communicate," Mackenzie revealed, feeling just as scared now as she was back then, when all of this started.

"Vecna's here," Lucas stated. "In this house. Just on the other side."

The chandelier suddenly turned off.

"I think he just left the room," Robin said.

"Did he hear us?" Max asked.

"Can he see us?" Steve questioned.

"Headphones," Lucas instructed to Max.

Max instantly pulled her headphones over her head and turned on her song.

"Wait, wait," Nancy cut in. "Everyone, turn off your flashlights and spread out."

"We're not gonna be able to see if we turn off our flash . . . lights," Steve protested as all of them rushed off. "Jesus Christ."

Mackenzie switched her flashlight off and instantly headed up the stairs, not having been up their yet. She wandered around the different rooms, swallowing her fear as the darkness crept in all around her, trying to find any sign of lights turning on.

"I got him!" Robin's voice suddenly shouted. "Got him!"

She ran in the direction of Robin's voice, which was downstairs in one of the living rooms. Mackenzie stopped next to Robin when she reached the room. The others weren't far behind, gathering around. Robin's switched off flashlight was pointed towards the ceiling, the light flickering on, dust particles floating through the beam of light.

"I got him!" Robin's flashlight then turned off. "I — I had him."

Steve's flashlight then beamed with light. "Oh, woah. Oh, I think he's moving." Steve walked forwards with his flashlight. "He's moving. He's moving."

They all followed Steve as he followed Vecna with his flashlight. He led them up the stairs, and they reached the first landing when his flashlight turned off.

"Shit," Steve commented. "I lost him."

"No, you didn't," Max revealed.

She went up some more stairs before opening a door, which had another staircase. Light was shining from it. Mackenzie gripped onto her flashlight tighter, her hands shaking as she slowly crept up the stairs after Steve.

"It's an attic," Robin noticed, her voice echoing from behind Mackenzie. "Of course it's an attic."

"Hold up, guys," Dustin insisted. "What if he's leading us into a trap?" All of them ignored him. "Guys. Guys."

"I already told you I'd punch him," Mackenzie called back.

They went further into the attic. The singular lightbulb on the ceiling was flickering. Mackenzie's eyebrows knit in thought as she stepped forwards, looking at the bright light above. The others did so as well, forming a circle around the lightbulb.

"Flashlights," Dustin stated.

Mackenzie looked down. Sure enough, her flashlight was on, shining brighter than ever. The other flashlights were also on, shining bright as they all pointed upwards at the lightbulb.

"Okay, what's happening?" Steve asked.

Mackenzie had a feeling. This was Vecna — his home, the place that he would go to recharge. Mackenzie glanced from her flashlight to the lightbulb.

They had gone here for answers, and they had gotten some, but with more questions. Why exactly was Vecna so attached to this place?

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all the stranger things edits with I know the end by phoebe bridgers literally make me sob like it fits so well