𝑵𝒐𝒕 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖. || M. Mayfield ||

Chapter 18: The Nina project

"Y/n!" I hear Nancy shout, suddenly grabbing my shoulders, "What?" I whine, keeping my eyes close, "Wake up!" she shouts again, hitting my shoulder as I slowly open my eyes, meeting Nancy's staring at me.

"What's wrong?" I asks with a raspy voice, scratching my eyes while yawning, "Aren't you supposed supposed to be on Max watch?" she asks as I nod, "Yeah, yeah, I am,"

"Then where is she?" she asks, as I confusedly look at her, "Huhh? She's right the-" I stop talking, before looking back at her with wide eyes, as she raises her eyebrows.

"I swear to God, she was right there, sleeping on my lap, I just closed my eyes for a couple of minutes," I say, pointing at my left, before looking at the clock, "Or a couple of hours," I trail off, slowly glancing at her, starting getting anxious as her eyes widened.

She runs up the stairs, as I quickly follow her, we rapidly walk around the house as I tensed up, we then walk to the kitchen, finally seeing her, calmly sitting on the table, as we both exhale in relief while I put my hands over my face before slowly letting them fall at my sides.

"Morning, girls," Ms. Wheeler greets us happily, as she sees us panting, "Everything okay?" she asks, approaching us, "Yeah, yeah, everything's okay," Nancy says, while Max turns to us, as we look at her.

"I think it's so sweet that you guys are sticking together like this," she says, putting some scrambled eggs on a plate.

"Could try sticking together at a different house for a change," Mr. Wheeler says, as I slowly nod at him.

"You know you're welcome anytime," she glances to me with a smile, "Yep, and we really appreciate it," I smile back at her, as she walks away, before I walk to Nancy and Max.

"You okay?" I hear Nancy ask, as I stand beside them, "Just couldn't sleep. People kept blasting music in my ears, for some reason," Max answers, glancing at me with a smile, as Nancy chuckles.

"But Holly let me borrow some of her crayons, we've been having fun, right, Holly?"

"Mm-hmm,"

"What's this?" I ask in confusion, putting my finger at the drawings she did.

"Is this what you saw last night?" Nancy asks too, as Max nods at both of us, "I mean, it's supposed to be, I thought it'd be easier to draw it out than explain it, but, not so much," she sighs.

"Is that..?" Nancy says, sliding a drawing closer, "It was like they were on display, and then there was this red fog everywhere," Max points at all the papers, "It was like a dream, a nightmare."

"You think Vecna's just trying to scare you?"

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

"Maybe you entered his mind, or maybe, the answer is just there, in front of us," I say, raising my eyebrows, as they look at me, as Nancy grabs a drawing, "Is this a window?"

"Yeah,"

"Stained glass with roses," Nancy says, before starting folding the drawings, as Max glances at me in confusion while I shrug, not having any idea of what Nancy was doing.

She then starts putting the folded drawings together, before grabbing a pen, and starting drawing a house.

"It's pieces of a house," Max comments, as I silent look at the papers, "Not just any house," Nancy says, as we both glance at her.

"It's Victor Creel's house," she says, before standing up, walking away, "Where are you going?" I ask, turning to her, "Waking the others," she glances at me.

"Stay here, we'll come back," I tell Max, as she quickly nods and I start walking away after grabbing a pancake, "Thank you, Mr. Wheeler," I say, running to the basement.

Getting down the stairs, I see Dustin and Lucas starting waking up, scratching their eyes, Nancy trying waking up Steve, while Robin was still dead asleep.

I approach her, "Robin, Robin, Robin," i keep calling her name, standing in front of her, as she starts stirring.

"Wakey-wakey, Robin, it's time to get in more problems," I say, gently shaking her, as she slowly starts opening her eyes.

"Time to get up," I say, as she sits up, yawning, "We need to go now," Nancy says, before they groan and get up, as we follow her to the stairs.

"It's mine now," Robin says, snatching the pancake from my hand, before I could even take a bite, "Robin, I swear to God, give it back," I say, as she ignores what I said, and start eating the pancake.

Before I could even talk, I hear Nancy yelling from upstairs, "Y/n, Robin! Move!" I groan, letting Robin pass before following her right after.

"Yeah, that's not creepy," Steve sarcastically says, as we stand in front of the abandoned villa, before we walk toward the front door.

"What are we supposed to be looking for in this shithole?" Steve asks, removing the nails on the wooden platform which closed the front door.

"We're not sure, we just know this house is important to Vecna," Nancy says, doing the same as Steve.

"Because Max saw it in Vecna's red soup mind world?" Steve asks, removing the last nail, "Basically,"

"Great,"

"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 Max," Dustin explains, as Robin nods her head in agreement.

"We don't think he's in here, do we?" Lucas asks in confusion, as I slowly glance at him while nodding.

"I guess we'll find out," Max says.

"Ready?" Steve asks Nancy, as she nods, "Mm-hmm," then, they let the wooden platform fall, as it hit the ground, letting out all the dust.
We backed away, as I start sneezing.

'Damned allergies,' I think, as I glance at Max, seeing her clenching her jaw, staring at the door, I tap her hand, before opening my palm.
She moves her sight down at my hand, holding my hand, before looking up at me with a smile, as I do the same.

"It's locked," Steve says, after trying opening the door, as Dustin throws his head back, "Should I knock, see if anybody's home?" Steve asks, as we keep looking at the locked door.

"No need, I found a key," Robin say smiling, holding a brick, before throwing it against the glass door as it shatters.

Steve walks to the door, putting his arm in the espace Robin opened, as he turns the knob, opening the door as it screeches.

They all enter, as I follow them, closing the door behind me, "Looks like someone forgot to pay their electric bill," Lucas says, backing away from the lamp as Dustin turns on a flashlight.