The Girl With the Red Hair

XVIII. The First Vision

As Steve continued to shake Nancy's shoulders desperately, the rest of the group were searching through Eddie's room for any music that they could play for Nancy.

"Steve says you need to hurry!" Erica ran into Eddie's room that was filled with the sounds of drawers opening and closing, and people fumbling through cassette tapes.

"Yeah? No shit!" Dustin yelled as he looked through Eddie's bedside table drawers.

"We're trying, we can't find anything!" Max looked through a stack of tapes.

"Seriously, what is all this shit?" Robin turned to a frantic Eddie.

"What- what are you even looking for?" Eddie waved his arms around.

"Madonna, Blondie, Bowie, Beatles?"

"Music! We need music!" Benny looked through all of Eddie's rock music tapes.

Eddie snatched a Black Sabbath tape from Benny's hands and held it up, "This is music!"

"Don't you have any pop music?" Robin rushed out.

"No!"

"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god," Dustin panicked. "Max, what do you have at your trailer? Go get something!"

  Max nodded and grabbed Benny's hand and the two exited Eddie's room in a hurry. As the two passed the small gate in the middle of the trailer, Benny looked up and saw Nancy in Steve's arms. He stopped and grabbed Max's forearm gently to stop her.

Steve looked up at the two, "She's okay, just give her a minute."

—
  That night, the group moved to Max's trailer so that they could sleep without a gate over their heads. They slept in the living room, some people were on the couch, most were on the floor.

  For the second time this week, Benny woke up in a cold
sweat, having yet another nightmare. This time, however, it was different than before. It was about Max. He wasn't there for Max when she was going through her struggles, as much as he tried to, he wasn't. And now, it's his fault that she's under Vecna's curse, and he can't save her.

  He stood up and made his way over to the bathroom, turning on the light and splashing his face with cold water. He looked into the mirror over the sink as he breathed heavily. Then, from the corner of the mirror, he spotted something that wasn't there before. A grandfather clock.

  It ticked a few times before letting out a distorted chime. It continued to tick and Benny turned to look at it. When it chimed again, he slowly walked towards it. Everyone that was in the living room was gone and clock stood tall in the empty room.

  "Benny," a voice drawled out and the clock chimed. "Benny," it repeated.

  Benny looked around the room to see if the voice belonged to anyone, but he was alone. He moved closer to the clock and reached out to touch as it chimed a fourth time. Before he could touch the clock, he was woken up from his trance.

  "Hey," Lucas placed a hand on the boy's shoulder and he jumped at the sudden contact. "You okay?"

  Benny cleared his dry throat, "Yeah, just needed some water."

  Lucas looked at him skeptically, but nodded anyways and left the bathroom. Benny waited for Lucas to fall back asleep before he let out a deep breath and shut off the lights.

  For the rest of the night, Benny stared at the dark ceiling of the trailer. He was too paranoid to sleep.

—
  "He- he showed me things that haven't happened yet," Nancy hoarsely explained as she sat in an arm chair in Max's living room.