𝐦𝐢𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐫𝐛𝐚𝐥𝐥 | stranger things

thirty-three

Phase one of Nancy's plan was in action. As Max, Lucas, Erica, and Wren walked in nothing but their socks around the Creel house, they carried blue lanterns. Once they located where Vecna was in the house, Erica ran out to the playground across the street to the playground so she could signal Nancy, Robin, and Steve.

Here Comes the Sun played in Wren's headphones as she sat around the glowing lantern with Max and Lucas. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that Max had begun scribbling on her notepad. She lifted it up and showed it to the others.

Hi.

Wren and Lucas both wrote 'hi' back on their own notepads, the boy adding a smiley face. Max smiled softly and wrote another message on a clean page.

I'm glad you're here.

Wren scribbled something and showed it to Lucas.

I'm also glad you're here.

Lucas turned to the next page and wrote to Wren, I'm sorry for being an asshole to you in the past. That wasn't cool of me :(

Wren nodded. She wrote, I forgive you.

Friends?

Friends.

Lucas smiled at Wren. She smiled back. He wrote something down on a new page and showed it to her and Max.

Movie Friday? The three of us?

Max and Wren exchanged a look. The redhead gave a shrug, silently asking if Wren would be up for that. She nodded, and Max gave Lucas a thumbs up. She wrote on her notepad, Count us in :)

A light caught their attention. Erica was signaling them from the playground. They went over to the window, and Lucas used his own flashlight to signal her back.

It was time to move onto phase two: distracting Vecna.

Wren and Max put their shoes back on. They went into the room where they left the lantern buzzing with Vecna's energy. They clicked off their Walkmans and lowered their headphones.

"Hey!" Max shouted at the burning lanturn. "Asshole! We're here. No more music. No more games."

Nothing happened.

"Did you hear her?" Wren asked. "What are you waiting for, you son of a bitch? We're right here! Pick one of us, and fucking get it over with already!"

"Come on! Do you want us or not!"

Wren couldn't help but laugh. "Why do we sound like we're screaming for a boy's attention?"

Max chuckled. "Well, we are screaming for a boy's attention, just not in the way one normally would."

The buzzing lantern went out. The lantern in Max's hand lit up, and the three of them followed Vecna as he moved from the room. They went upstairs and into the attic – to the exact same spot their flashlights exploded the other night.

The lantern suddenly went out.

Max frowned. "What are you waiting for, asshole? Hm? We're right here. I'm right here!" She lowered her voice, her anger slowly being replaced with the pain she'd been dealing with since that night at the mall. "I know you can hear me. I know you can read my thoughts. Even the worst ones . . . Maybe mostly the worst ones."

"Max." Wren's eyes filled with tears as she looked up at the redhead. "You . . . You can't give yourself up to him. L-Let me do it instead."

"I need to be the one to do this, Wren," Max said. "People need you more than they need me."