𝗯𝗲𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗱𝗲𝗻.

thirty five.

THE VANISHING OF HOLLY WHEELER

edited.
1022 words.

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"I see it." Charlie whispered, blood dribbling from her nose. "It's in Holly's room."

"What's it doing?"

"Chasing her."

Nancy's eyes widened. "It's trying to kill her?"

"No..." The girl frowned. "It looks like... it's trying to take her?"

"What?"

Charlie reopened her eyes, wiping at the blood with her sleeve. "I'm sorry. I couldn't hold on much longer."

"It's okay." Nancy pursed her lips. "Hold on." She slammed the gas, the car screeching as it swerved around the last corner to the house. The Wheeler house came into view, the lights inside going crazy. "Get ready."

She slammed to a stop, barely putting the car in park before grabbing her shotgun and running inside. Charlie and Eleven followed her, all three girls stopping short at the sight of the kitchen.

Karen Wheeler lay there in her night gown, blood pooled around her body, and the phone on the ground beside her.

Charlie's eyes grew wide. Seeing the woman whose house she'd been at every single day for the past six years of her life on the verge of death forced her into a reality she didn't want to accept. Even those who didn't know, they were still a part of this.

"Mom!" Nancy ran over to her, immediately pulling off her jacket to cover her wounds. "Don't try to talk okay. You're gonna be fine. It's gonna be fine, okay?"

"Holly." Her mom gurgled, blood pooling in her mouth.

"Help!"

Charlie turned towards the door, a portal to the upside down slowly closing. Holly was on the other side of it. She turned to her sister. "Go."

Eleven nodded, taking off for the door and letting Charlie drop to the ground beside Karen. She grabbed Nancy's hand. "Go find your dad, I'll take care of your mom."

"But-"

"Go. I know what to do."

Nancy nodded, standing and running up the steps.

Charlie frowned, turning to Karen. "It's gonna be okay, I promise." She took her hand, closing her eyes. Focusing, she furrowed her brows.

Slowly, the blood seeping out of Karen came to a stop.

Charlie couldn't hold it for long, but she should be able to until the ambulance got here. It was something she had taught herself how to do over the past year, after not being able to save Eddie.

Every night before bed, she would slice open her finger and practice. It took her a while to get the hang of it and her friends were suspicious of her overuse of bandaids but she was able to learn to stop the bleeding.

"Nancy!" Mike's voice rang through the house. He stormed in with Lucas, his eyes widening at the sight of Charlie and his mother on the floor. "Mom? Charlie?"

"Where's Holly?"

* * *

"You okay?"

Charlie sighed, running a hand down the front of her blood stained jumper. "Yeah, yeah I'm fine." She poured some water into her cupped hand, running it through her hair to get the blood out. "You're not supposed to be in here, you know?"

"I know." Lucas nodded at the women's restroom sign. "I just can't be around them right now."

"I know what you mean."

The look on Nancy Wheeler's face when she saw her mother was barely even human. You would've thought that she'd been the one who was dying. It was the first time Charlie had seen her so scared.

"What you did was amazing." Lucas smiled. "Saving Mrs. Wheeler like that. How'd you learn that?"

"Lots and lots of practice." She dried her hands. "Let's go back."

Together the two walked back down the hall, joining the Wheeler siblings in the waiting room. Charlie took a seat, trying to distract herself from the fact that one more Wheeler should be here.

"This is our fault." Nancy sighed. "This is all our fault."

"We got there as fast as we could." Mike attempted to comfort her.

"I'm not talking about tonight. We could have acted yesterday, last week, last fall." She started to work herself up, tears welling in her eyes again. "We could've tried to get them out of Hawkins or at least told them the truth!" She threw her hands up, standing. "We could have done something! Anything!"

"We couldn't have known, Nancy!" Mike argued. "We couldn't have known any of this would happen!"

"Do you really believe that Mike?"

"After all this time, it comes for Holly?" He asked. "Holly, who has nothing to do with any of this. It makes no goddamn sense!"

"It makes perfect, goddamn sense. Vecna told me this would happen, he showed me! And not just the four gates, Holly, Mom, Dad, dead. And we just, we just chose not to believe him." She began to pace. "Don't you get it Mike? Vecna's come back to realize his vision, to punish us! He did it with Fred, Chrissy, and Max. Now it's our turn. And he's not gonna stop. He's not gonna stop till we're drained of every last ounce of suffering!"

"I'm not so sure this was about punishment." Lucas spoke timidly. "Vecna doesn't leave things unfinished. He doesn't hold back. Because if this was really about making you guys suffer, why leave your parents alive? Why take Holly into the upside down and not leave her body here for you to find? Why not come here himself? Why send one of his- his pets?"

"What're you saying?" Mike asked. "It's not Vecna?"

"What I'm saying is, I don't know and neither do you. There's just too many questions right now. I just know I'm having serious deja vu because this is exactly what happened to Will at almost exactly the same time."

Charlie's eyes widened. "Oh my god."

"You know what day it is, right? November 3rd. Will was taken on the 6th."

Almost exactly four years ago, everything changed.

"I don't know about you guys, but. I don't believe in coincidences."

"But." Charlie shook her head. "We got Will back and we're going to get Holly back. She's not in there alone. Eleven's with her." She bit her cheek. "I trust my sister. She's going to find her."