𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐌𝐈𝐒𝐄 𝐌𝐄 // Billy Hargrove

The Creel's house

After Max came back, we went to the Wheeler's and crashed there again, with Nancy and Robin.

I was sleeping on the floor, leaning against the couch as Steve held me. Dustin was also on the floor, leaning against a coffee table, Robin was on the couch with Max, Lucas was on a table, leaning against the TV, and Nancy was on the chair.

When I woke up, I noticed Dustin, Max, and Nancy were missing. They probably woke up early and went upstairs to eat or something.

"Morning." Steve said softly as he woke up.

"Morning." I said quietly.

"Did you sleep okay?" He asked me.

"Uh, yeah." No. That's what I wanted to say.

I mean, how could I? Max almost died, I finally heard out loud what she thought of Billy, and I couldn't stop imagining Billy saying mean things to her...

Last night Max told us that Vecna made her see Billy in her mind. And that version of him said some cruel things... I couldn't stop thinking about how affected Max would've been.

I missed him, but, like I had been trying to tell myself for a few days, I had to move on. I couldn't be holding onto a ghost forever... that wasn't healthy, even for me.

"Liar. I know you had a shit night." Steve told me.

"Oh, yeah? How?" I asked him with a raised eyebrow.

"Your breathing betrays you. We've had sleepovers enough times for me to hear your breathing and know if you're awake or not." He explained, making me slightly wide eyed. "I couldn't sleep knowing that you couldn't sleep, so... I guess I had a shit night too."

"Steve..." I said softly. "You didn't have to. You could've slept without worrying about me."

"I would be a pretty shit best friend if I didn't worry." He told me.

"Now I feel bad because you didn't sleep." I said sadly.

"Hey, hey, hey. Don't. Okay? That's my job as a best friend. And besides, you did that for me multiple times. I'm just making it even." He said caressing my arm.

"Thanks, Steve." I said hugging him.

"Anytime, Mav." He said hugging me back.

Nancy, Dustin, and Max came downstairs, making us look at them.

"Sorry to interrupt, but we have something important to tell you." Nancy told us.

After Dustin woke up Robin and Lucas, they proceeded on telling us that Eddie called because he was running out of food, and they possibly had found where Vecna was hiding.

Max said that she started to see a red fog, went through, and saw pieces of a house. Since she couldn't sleep, she went upstairs and drew it. When Nancy went upstairs, she put the pieces together, and recognized it as Victor Creel's house. Now we were going to go to a probably haunted house... great. That was just great.

"Yeah, that's not creepy." Steve said as we stepped out of the car. Creel's house was huge. And very, very creepy. I had chills just by looking at it.

Steve and Nancy started to take off a big rectangular piece of wood that was blocking the real door. Since they were taking too long, I opened it with my powers.

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

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