𝑵𝒐𝒕 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖. || M. Mayfield ||

Chapter 24: Papa

"He showed me things that haven't happened yet. The most awful things. I saw a dark cloud spreading over Hawkins. Downtown on fire. Dead soldiers, and this giant creature, with.. a gaping mouth. And this creature wasn't alone. There were so many monsters, an army. And they were coming into Hawkins. Into out neighborhoods. Our homes. And then, he showed me my mom, and Holly, Mike, and they, they were all..." Nancy explains, breathing shakily while tears came down her face as she looked down, while we silently listen to her.

"Okay, but.. he's just trying to scare you, Nance. Right? I mean.. I mean it's not real," Steve tries to reassure her.

"Not yet, but there.. there was something else, he showed me gates, four gates, spreading across Hawkins, and this wasn't the Upside Down Hawkins, it was our Hawkins,"

"Four chimes, Vecna's clock. It always chimes four times, four exactly," Max says, as I glance at her.

"I heard them too," Nancy mumbles, as we all turn to her.

"He's been telling us his plan this whole time," Max says, as I look at her.

"Four kills," I say.

"Four gates, end of the world," Lucas says, looking at me.

"If that's true.. he's only one kill away," Dustin says, as Eddie covers his face with his hands, "Oh, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ."

"Try 'me again, try 'me again," Steve turns to Max, as she goes to the telephone, dialing the number, before putting in against her ear, "Anything?"

"No, rang a few times, then went to busy signal," she says, glancing back.

"Maybe you punched it wrong, try again," Steve says, not knowing what to do.

"I didn't punch it wrong,"

"Well, I don't know,"

"She obviously knows how to use a simple phone," I say, leaning on the wall.

"I'm just saying, she could've typed it in wrong," Steve says.

"Same shit," Max says, slamming the phone on the wall, before walking back to us.

"How's that possible," Lucas asks, not understanding the problem.

"Joyce has this telemarketer job. Always on the phone, Mike won't stop whining about it," Dustin says, shrugging.

"Yeah, but this phone's been busy for, what, three days now? That's not Joyce. No way, something's wrong," Max says, as Nancy agrees with her, "She's right. It can't be just a coincidence. It can't be." she says, walking to the window.

"Whatever's happening in Lenora is connected to all of this, I'm sure of it. But Vecna can't hurt them, not if he's dead." she says, before glancing back at us, "We have to go back in there, back to the Upside Down." she says in determination, as they all disagree.

"Woah, no, no, no. What?" Steve shakes his head, as Eddie does the same, "Nope, nope."

"Let's think this through, okay?" Steve says, standing up, walking up to Nancy.

"What is there to think through?" Nancy raises her voice.

"We barely made it out of there," Steve stands in front of her.

"Yeah, because we weren't prepared, but this time, we will be. We'll get weapons and protection. We'll go through the gate, we'll find his lair, and we'll kill him," she explains, as Steve shakes his head, "Or he'll kill us, the only reason you survived is because he wanted you to. He's not scared of us." Steve tries to convince her.