𝐦𝐢𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐫𝐛𝐚𝐥𝐥 | stranger things

thirty-two

Nancy woke up on her own. Wren saw this as a good thing seeing as Eddie didn't have any music that would've saved her from Vecna.

Wren was beside her older sister as they sat around the living room of the trailer. Nancy was holding her hand, more so for her own comfort than Wren's. After what she saw, she didn't want to let her go for fear that it might come true.

Nancy told them everything that Vecna showed her – things that hadn't happened yet, a promise of what was to come when he succeeded in his endeavors, like an army of monsters coming into Hawkins invading neighborhoods and homes.

"And then . . . " Nancy's voice broke as she continued. She squeezed Wren's hand a little tighter. "He showed me my mom. And Holly . . . The twins . . . And they . . . You were all . . . "

"Dead?" Wren whispered, a lump forming in her throat. It was just like what she had seen. Vecna was tormenting both of them with visions of their siblings dead.

"Okay, but . . . he's just trying to scare you, Nance," Steve said. "Right? I mean . . . It's not real."

"Not yet," the Wheeler sisters said at the same time.

"There was something else," Nancy went on. "He showed me gates. Four gates spreading across Hawkins. They looked like the one outside Eddie's trailer, but . . . they didn't stop growing. And this wasn't the Upside Down Hawkins. This was our Hawkins."

"Four gates," Wren whispered, sharing a glance with Max across the room.

"Four chimes," Max added. "Vecna's clock. It always chimes four times. Four exactly."

"I heard them, too," Nancy admitted quietly.

"Fuck," Wren muttered, her stomach twisting. This whole time she'd been terrified of something happening to Holly, but if Nancy heard the chimes, what if it was her she needed to be scared for? It was normal for a younger sibling to worry about their older one . . . right?

"He's been telling us his plan this whole time," Max said.

"Four kills," Lucas realized. "Four gates. End of the world."

"If that's true—" Dustin began.

"Max and I are as good as dead," Wren interrupted, her voice breaking. "One of us has to die." She turned and hid her face in Nancy's shoulder, her arms wrapping around her waist. Nancy pulled her into her lap, holding her close as a tear fell down her cheek.

Steve instructed Max to try calling Mike, Eleven, Jonathan, and Will again. After a few rings, it went to a busy signal. They were still unreachable.

Wren didn't see how contacting them would do any good. Eleven didn't have her powers, and the boys were . . . they were the boys. Nothing special about them. Michael was still an ass.

"Joyce has this telemarketer job," Dustin was saying when Wren tuned back into the conversation. "Always on the phone. Mike won't stop whining about it."

"Yeah, but this phone's been busy for, what, three days now? That's not Joyce," Max stated. "No way. Something's wrong."

"She's right," Nancy agreed as Wren went over to Robin, needing the comfort of being in her tall friend's arms. Nancy walked to the window and looked out of it, her arms crossed. "It can't be just a coincidence. It can't be. 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 turned around. "We have to go back in there. Back to the Upside Down."

"Have you lost your goddamn mind?!" Wren cried, clinging to Robin's arm. "You guys almost just died in there! He almost killed you! You . . . You . . . You can't be serious. It's too dangerous. I-It's too dangerous. Too dangerous!"