The Girl With the Red Hair

XIX. The Final Plan

    i tried to make it make sense, but for future reference, the - will mean another person is showing their notes. it'll make sense in a few paragraphs :-)
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Inside of the Creel house, it was quiet and cold. The four that were inside had removed their shoes to remain silent and not disturb Vecna just yet.

   Benny and Max roamed the open and empty attic with their lanterns held out in front of them. Benny could faintly hear Running Up That Hill playing from Max's headphones as the two waited for a sign that Vecna was close. Lucas and Erica were doing the same thing, the only difference was that Benny refused to let Max leave his sight once they'd entered the house, while Lucas and Erica had no problem splitting up between the first and second floors.

After only a few minutes, Lucas had quietly made his way to the attic and tapped the floor lightly with his finger to gain his friends' attention. They looked over to him and he held up a notepad that read,

found Vecna.

   Benny and Max shared a look before following Lucas to the first floor and to the dining room that Erica stood in. Her lantern was in the middle of the room, going dim then going back to normal. Benny and Lucas stopped behind Erica while Max slowly approached the lantern.

  She studied the lantern and turned to the three behind her with a nod. Erica pulled out her notepad and pen and began to quickly write.

phase one?

The two boys behind her nodded their heads in approval and Erica and Lucas quietly ran out of the house to initiate the first phase, which was to communicate to Steve, Robin, and Nancy that they could enter the house. Benny quickly wrote a note onto his notepad and showed it to Max,

be right back

Max furrowed her brows, but nodded and the boy followed after Lucas. Once they were across the street, Benny stopped Lucas by putting a hand on his shoulder, "I need a quick favor."

"What? Now?" Lucas looked at Benny in disbelief.

"Please, just- don't question it, okay?" Benny waited for Lucas to process his words before taking a deep breath. "I need you to go find another Walkman. And get a tape. Preferably Bryan Adams, Summer of '69, okay?"

Lucas tilted his head, "What?"

"Please, just do it," Benny pleaded with the boy and Lucas nodded, filling his sister in before taking off.

Benny re-entered the house quietly and found Max in the living room. Max sat on the arm of a couch and Benny took a seat on the one across from her. He listened to Max's music to distract himself as he stared at the ground.

He'd forgotten how dangerous this could be for him, too. As they'd found out before, Fred and Chrissy died less than 24 hours after their first vision, and Benny had seen the clock. He was going to be on the verge of death in just a few hours.

His ears perked up at the sound of Max's marker being uncapped. He looked up to see her writing something down on her notepad,

are you bored yet?

He took out his own notepad and marker and began to write,

very. you're music is the only thing keeping me sane
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good to know that Kate Bush isn't just saving one of us
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Benny smiled at her and scribbled out a scene with stick figures and then another note,

i heard the downtown diner's pretty good. once this is over, how's friday sound?
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depends. who's paying?
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a gentleman always pays
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Max pretended to think about her answer,