Me, Myself, and Her

Chapter Sixty

Chapter Sixty: Stay Stay Stay

The next morning, Annie was exhausted. She had barely slept a wink all night. It didn't help that someone was waking up every couple hours and taking the next 'Annie watch' shift. Max tried to stay up with Annie, but it wasn't working very well.

At around seven in the morning, she heard some chatter upstairs and figured Mr. and Mrs. Wheeler were awake, and breakfast might be achievable.

"Annie," Max whispered, taking her from her dazed state. Annie removed one of her headphones and Max could hear the faint words of 'Holding Out For A Hero' playing. It had been all night.

"Wanna go up and get breakfast?" she asked. She nodded, and the girls went upstairs.

Luckily, the Wheelers knew the Party was staying over, so Mrs. Wheeler wasn't surprised at all to see the girls. Well, maybe about the fact that they were awake so early.

"Hey! Want some breakfast girls?" Mrs. Wheeler asked from her spot in the kitchen.

Annie smiled and nodded, taking a plate. Max did, too. "Thanks. She's still waking up, I just wanted some company when I smelt food," Max said.

Mrs. Wheeler just smiled at the girls. They went over to sit at the table with Holly. She had some paper and crayons there with her.

Annie looked at them, and images of the red world she saw came to mind. "Can I color with you?" Annie asked, her voice quiet but sweet.

Holly nodded, and Annie grabbed a piece of paper and started drawing. Each paper had a new piece of the deconstructed house she had seen. Max watched Annie draw. It was something she loved to do. Now since the girls don't have every class together, Max can't watch her doodle.

Despite the circumstances, it was kind of nice being able to do something so relaxing.

"What are you drawing?" Max asked, keeping her voice low. The other girl had one ear open, anyway, so she could hear.

Annie didn't move her focus away from the page, but still answered. "Some of what I saw yesterday. In what looked like Vecna's lair. I just... can't get it out of my head so might as well materialize it."

Max hummed, and continued to watch as she ate. Every now and then, Annie would take a bite of food, but she didn't really mess with her plate much.

There was some rustling in the kitchen behind them, followed by Mrs. Wheeler saying, "Morning, guys."

The girls turned around and saw a panicked Dustin and Nancy catching their breaths. Max totally didn't even think about telling them they were up and getting food. She sent them an apologetic smile.

Annie sent a smile as well, then turned back to her drawing. She hoped the pieces made sense to someone, because they sure as hell meant nothing to her. There was a thought that maybe the others would know more, since they knew more about the Victor Creel dude. Annie would, too, but her mind had been otherwise occupied the last few hours.

After some background chatter Annie ignored, Nancy came over and sat down with the girls. She went ahead and took that as a cue to pause her music and take her headphones off for a bit.

"Hi," Annie whispered, not sure if she should get back to drawing or not.

"Hey," Nancy responded. She had a certain look on her face that made Annie squirm. It was concern. Of course, she knew why everyone was like this around her, but she hated it. "You okay?"

She shrugged. "Couldn't sleep, there was music blasting in my ears all night long. Max heard movement, said we should eat. Figured that was a better option." Nancy let out an airy chuckle. "Holly let me borrow some stuff, though, so we've been having fun."