xxxviii
Everyone piled out of the cars in front of the Creel home. Everyone shared a look as they looked at the old home, clearly having been neglected over time by the environment around it. Boards covered the windows and doorways, boards which were nailed into the split and broken walls.
Andrea got out of the car and walked over to where the rest of the group stood, Steve following not too far behind her. Everyone's eyes fall upon the old and broken home of Victor and Virginia Creel.
It was no surprise for the state it was in. After all, the house had sat dormant for over thirty years. No one ever moved back in, no one ever touched it. Not after the murders after all.
No one spoke as they walked up the short amount of stairs that lead to the sideway leading up to the Creel home porch. Andrea made a face as her eyes scanned over the old building, it needed some serious remodeling after the years had taken its toll on it.
Robin looked back at Nancy while Steve took Andrea's hand. Everyone stood still for a moment as their eyes stayed trained on the home ahead.
"Yeah, that's not creepy," Steve made a face as he looked at Andrea and then at the others, giving a slight squeeze to her hand.
Everyone reached the front door of the home, seeing how much the door had been boarded up. Steve and Nancy went to grab hammers but Andrea took over as her eyes settled on the door, holding her hand up as she focused on the small vibrations around her.
The boards slowly began to move back to them, causing the entire group to move out of the way before Andrea threw her arm out to the side, sending the board and the nails into the yard ahead of them.
"What exactly are we supposed to be looking for in this shithole?" Steve asked exasperated as he continued to hold the useless hammer, moving over as he wiped the blood from Andrea's lip once again.
Andrea made a face as she fiddled with the end of Steve's shirt that rested on her body, covering her shorts, "We're not sure," Nancy answered as she turned to look at Steve, "We just know this house is important to Vecna."
It seemed that no one had yet to connect the dots as to who Vecna was. Did they assume Andrea was some sort of half-human, half-demon being? Besides, if they did not know what they were looking for why did they even come. What was this going to do for them?
"Because Max saw it in Vecna's red soup mind world?" Steve retorted while standing in outside for a few more moments.
"Basically," Nancy nodded her head before looking back at the door.
"Great," Steve sighed as he ran a hand through his hair.
"Maybe it holds a clue to where Vecna is," Dustin spoke up as he shrugged his shoulders trying to shed some light on possibilities, "Why he's back. Why he killed the Creels."
"What if he was a Creel?" Andrea tried to drop clues, not wanting to outright say it, "Henry."
Everyone looked at one another before Nancy shook her head, "Henry's dead, remember? He died in the coma."
"Look-" Andrea tried to explain before Nancy cut her a look.
"Stop with the theories, Andrea," Nancy clearly wasn't happy that Andrea kept going on.
Everyone fell into a momentary silence before Dustin finished what he was saying, "And how we stop him before he comes back for Max."
"We don't think he's in here, do we?" Lucas questioned as he began to grow anxious of the situation that everyone was now getting themselves in.
"Guess we'll find out," Max looked over at Lucas for a moment.
"Ready?" Steve asked as he looked at Andrea.
Steve tried to open the door after getting confirmation that they were ready to go in but it didn't budge. The door stayed shut and everyone looked at Andrea.
"No, do it your damn selves," Andrea shook her head as she held Steve's free hand.
"It's locked," Steve simply responded after Andrea finished her statement, "Should I knock, see if anybody's home?"
Andrea tried not to let out any sort of laugh as she shook her head at Steve's words, "No."
"No need," Robin spoke causing heads to turn in the woman's direction as she held up a brick, "I found a key."
Everyone moved out of the way so that Robin could chuck the brick through the door, which she did, causing the glass to shatter but giving them the space to open the locked door. Steve pulled Andrea forward once again as he peered through the opening before sliding his hand in and opening the door.
Andrea and Steve were the first ones to enter the Creel house in over three decades since the murders happened. The light shined in behind them as they slowly walked in, the creek of the door causing an eerie vibe to flow through the area.
Andrea made a face at the amount of dust that covered the area. It was everywhere, as well as cobwebs. The years truly had not been kind to his home.
Steve let out a whistle as the two turned around to the others before trudging forward. Robin entered first as she held a flashlight, then Nancy, and then the younger teenagers. The floor creaked under their feet.
Andrea shut the door while everyone began to look around, getting a feel of the old home. Lucas walked over to a light and tried to turn it on while Dustin looked where one of the cabinets that had been dusted over.
"Looks like someone forgot to pay their electric bill," Lucas cracked the joke as he turned back to the others.
Andrea's grip tightened on Steve as the memories she had seen during her time at Pennhurst flew back through her brain. The girl took a deep breath as she looked at the floor, the place where Alice Creel had died.
Dustin held up a flashlight and clicked it on causing everyone to look over at him. The darkness of the home was not appreciated by Andrea but they had ways around that. Via the flashlights.
"Where'd everyone get those?" Steve questioned in surprise.
The way Dustin turned and looked at Steve before speaking, his voice high, "Do you need to be told everything? You're not a child."
"Thank you," Steve retorted as he stared at the youngest Henderson.
"Mm. Back pocket," Dustin spoke as he took his bag off before handing it to Steve as he let go of Andrea.
Steve began to fiddle through the bag for a flashlight causing quite a lot of metal clanking before he pulled the desired item from the bag and dropped it to the floor. Causing a bit of ruckus as he turned the light on and flashed it around.
"They just left... everything," Andrea could hear Nancy from a distance as she explored with Robin.
"I guess a triple homicide isn't good for a resale value," Robin retorted causing Andrea to shake her head as she began to step up the stairs.
"Whoa, where are you going?" Steve snapped his fingers as he looked at Andrea, "Not safe. Remember?"
Andrea swatted her hand through the air at him. Her mind blanking for a minute as the pain in her head began to ease off slightly. She remembered standing on these exact stairs while in the Upside Down or wherever the hell she had been.
"Hey, guys?" Max spoke causing everyone's attention to turn to the redhead, "You all see that, right?"
Her light was pointed on the grandfather clock that had been dusted over. Andrea could almost see a pair of blue eyes in the reflection causing her to move against the dusty wall of the stairs.
"Yeah," Dustin confirmed for her.
"Yeah," Steve then confirmed.
The others slowly began to move closer to Max as their lights flashed at the clock before Nancy asked, "Is this what you saw? In your visions?"
Memories flooded through Max's mind as she breathed shakily, "I mean... it's just a clock," Robin seemed unimpressed by it, "Right?"
Robin slowly walked closer to the clock before she wiped her hand over it, causing a bit of the dust to come off of it and the ringing caught Andrea's ears. No one else seemed to hear it though and Andrea stayed quiet knowing they'd get mad at her if she spoke.
"Like a normal old clock," Robin turned to look at the others.
"Why is this wizard obsessed with clocks?" Steve questioned before he turned back to Andrea, "Maybe he's, like, a clockmaker or something. Andy? You okay?" He suggested before taking a better look at her features.
"I think you cracked the case, Steve," Dustin turned to look at Andrea as well before looking back at the clock.
"All I know is, the answers are here," Nancy began to speak as she stared off into the home, "Somewhere. Okay, everyone stay in groups of two. Andrea, stay there. Robin, upstairs," Nancy was calling the orders, "Whoever stays down here keep an eye on her and the clock."
Robin saluted Nancy before following the other woman as they passed Andrea. Andrea found herself growing angry at the comment, how come she wasn't allowed to look around?
"Come on," Max looked back at Lucas before she jogged off, the teenager following quickly after her.
Dustin looked over at Steve, causing the man to sigh before he walked around Dustin, "Was that a sigh?" Dustin acted offended as he followed after the man.
"No, I did not sigh," Steve gave a nod to Andrea as he slowly passed her, giving her a look to see if she was okay to which she nodded.
"Why'd you sigh?" Dustin questioned as he followed after him.
"I didn't sigh. Just come on, dude," Steve wasn't liking the idea.
"I heard you," Dustin stated as he climbed the stairs.
Steve turned back to look at Dustin momentarily, "W... We're just always partners, okay?"
"What? You have a problem with that?" Dustin did not hesitate to spit back out.
Steve continued to climb the stairs, disappearing through the floors, "It'd just be nice to, I don't know, mix it up a bit."
"So I'm boring you? Is that it? Bet Andrea wouldn't bore you," Dustin shot as he continued to follow the man as he too disappeared.
"No, the opposite..."
Andrea stopped paying attention to their words as she looked up, watching the ceiling light begin to glow. She felt her stomach sink as she watched it glow brighter as it continued to make a noise. A slight flicker happening between two of the bulbs.
The girl's head tilted before she slowly made her way down the stairs, careful not to make any noise since she was supposed to stay put. She slowly made her way closer to the light as it continued to flicker and glow brighter causing her to wince.
It wasn't until the lights made a loud sound before shutting off again. Leaving Andrea standing alone in the darkness with the only thing shining being the light coming from the outside through the broken window.
Andrea knew that he had been the cause of it. He knew they were there and he wanted to show her something but what did he want to be seen, or what was he leading her away from? She would have to listen closely for any other noise to find out.
And so Andrea did. She continued to keep her ear out for any other sound or vibration that could prick at her ear but through the time she stood there after the light had turned off, it had gone completely silent. The only sounds that she could hear were the constant creeks of the floor under everyone's feet.
Andrea began to adjust Steve's shirt around her as she tried to keep herself cool. She did not understand why the light had just flicked on before going off once again and leaving her in the silence with absolutely nothing.
It made no sense.
Andrea jumped as she listened to the clock began to ding. Her heart rate accelerated as she turned sharply to look at it. Though, something seemed off about it. The glass that covered it seemed to be reflecting something.
Something colorful.
Andrea slowly walked over to it as she began to peer over at the clock trying to see what was in the reflection. Her eyes widened at the sight of Vecna staring back at her before it changed, so now she saw Peter Ballard. He held a small grin before holding up his cards and pointing to his watch.
"Ten o'clock."
Andrea gave a slow nod as a response as she had no clue what else to do. She continued to stare at the clock listening as the dings faded from her mind as the clock went back to normal, almost as if nothing had happened.
The girl slowly backed away from the clock as she looked around for the others. Trying to catch a glimpse of anything.
Until the house around her became lively.
She turned on her heel as she watched the now lively and bright home's front door open. A family of four stepped in. A mother, a father, and their two children. Everyone but the boy beamed with happiness as they entered.
It was Victor Creel's memories all over again.
Andrea watched as the little girl ran up the stairs excitedly with her suitcase while the husband and wife stayed planted at the bottom with smiles. The son simply stared off with no emotion. He seemed sad, he was different than the rest of the family.
She watched as they moved their belongings in and added their own touches to the home. She watched the week of nothing but peace before everything had gone south. The calm before the storm.
She looked horrified at the sight of the dead animals that had appeared before her once again. Watching and listening to the screams and cries of little Alice Creel while she told her mother. She watched as Victor tried to get help from the police.
But to no avail.
She watched as Virginia Creel began to see things, spiders in the tub, before running off screaming to her husband. She watched as little Alice Creel awoke in a cold sweat screaming due to her nightmares which could cause her parents to enter.
Though, nothing had ever happened to young Henry.
Andrea knew that was not a coincidence. Her theory for the most part was correct with not a single flaw in sight. Andrea just hated having to see these memories over and over again knowing who and what she was to these people now.
And then she found herself back on the final night. The first killing that had been done by Vecna and she still found the young Creel boy blurred out from her vision. "Dream a Little Dream of Me" by Ella Fitzgerald plays in the background before turning into static.
Before Virginia was lifted into the air, her bones snapped and her eyes disappeared before falling back onto the dinner table.
The screams of little Alice never ceased to send shivers down Andrea's spine before she watched as Victor grabbed both of his children trying to get them out of the home as he made it to the door before his eyes rolled back, moving quickly as he entered his vision.
Andrea watched in horror as Alice lifted to the air, her eyes snapping back as well as her bones before her body fell to the ground. She even watched as the blurred vision of Henry dropped to the ground before she watched Victor turn around.
Watching him cry as he looked at his daughter before checking on his son and pulling him into his arms.
"Guys, where's Andrea?" She could hear Lucas yell.
Andrea's eyes opened and she looked around, she was not at all where she had been prior. Now sitting on her knees in the middle of the attic in front of something.
"I thought you two were watching her?" Nancy yelled from wherever she had been.
Andrea rose to her feet as her eyebrows twisted together in confusion as to how she had gotten there. She wasn't known to move herself during these visions, usually staying in the same spot but in her mind.
"Andrea?!" Steve yelled trying to figure out where she had gone.
Andrea began to walk out of the attic ignoring the chills that ran over her. Slipping out of the attic before looking around.
"Andrea?" He called out again.
"Stairs!" Andrea yelled as she found herself going back down to the second floor.
"There you are," Max huffed out as she looked at her, "Where the hell did you go? You were supposed to stay put?"
Andrea paused before she looked back up the stairs before looking back at Max, "I don't know."
Andrea looked back down the stairs as she slowly made her way down ignoring the stares of the two while the others continued to yell down, Andrea moved her hand back to fiddle with her curls which had been held back.
"What do you mean you don't know?" Lucas questioned as he looked at her, clearly more worried now than he had been when they first entered.
Andrea shrugged her shoulders as she tried to wrap her mind around how or why she would've ended up where she did. She didn't know. She thought she had just stayed out as the memories of the Creel family flashed through her mind.
As she watched their lives while they lived in the house but it seemed that her body had other ideas. Taking her up to the shady ass attic and sitting her on her knees. The space itself was rather creepy, covered in cobwebs and filled with gloom.
But the entire house was that way, tragic.
Andrea looked down at the two tweens as she finally reached the bottom of the stairs, her eyes finding themselves back on the Grandfather clock had was still old and dusty, "I just... I don't know."
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