17. unruly feelings

Finally reaching where the police cars went, Steve stopped the car, and Clemency gasp as she saw the new police chief Powell talking to her sister, as the group quickly got off the car, they got the attention of an agitated Nancy, giving them an almost smile of relief, as Clemency and the rest gave her a worried look.

As the officers finished talking to Nancy, she quickly approached the group as her sister opened her arms to her, and gave her a hug, as the group kept their eyes on the obviously stressed out girl. "What are you doing here? Are you okay?" Clemency asked, as soon as she backed away from the hug, earning a heavy sigh from Nancy.

‧₊˚

"So, you're telling me... you've witnessed what happened to Chrissy and... what most likely was the same thing that happened to Fred?" Nancy tiredly says, as Clemency slowly nodded. "And, it's most likely from the Upside down?" Nancy added.

"If the shoe fits." Steve responded, as Clemency sighed out, "It's the only logical reason for whatever illogical thing that we have witnessed that night... so..." Clemency stammers.

"Our working theory is that he attacks with a spell or a curse. Now whether or not he's doing the bidding of the Mind Flayer or just loves killing teens, we don't know." Dustin says, as Max looked over to him then to Nancy. "All we know is this is something different. Something new." Max added, as Nancy furrowed her eyebrows.

"Doesn't make sense." Nancy says. "It's just a theory-" Dustin says, as Nancy cuts him off. "No, Fred and Chrissy don't make sense... I mean, why them?" Nancy wondered, as Dustin looked over to her.

"Maybe they were just in the wrong place. We're both at the game..." Dustin reasoned out. "And near the trailer park." Max added.

"We're at the trailer park... Uh, should we not be here?" He says, as they all look around them.

"There is something about this place. Fred started acting weird the second we got here." Nancy recalled, as the group listened intently. "Acting weird as in...?" Robin asked as the girl looked at her.

"Scared... on edge, upset." Nancy informed the group. "Max said Chrissy was upset too-" Dustin thought. "Yeah, but not here. She was crying in the bathroom at the school.. And, Clemency, didn't you say Chrissy told you she had been seeing things?" Max asked, as Nancy turned to look at her sister, as Clemency nodded in response.

"What things, exactly?" Nancy says, as the girl looks back to her. "Well... she says she is seeing things, and she also mentioned about a grandfather clock, and had heard it as well. Though I don't exactly know when it started... and yeah, in a few classes I've had with her, she always seems agitated." She quietly says, as the group nodded.

"Serial killers stalk their prey before they strike, right? So, maybe both Fred and Chrissy saw this Vecman-" Robin says, as Dustin interrupted her. "Vecna."

"I dunno about you guys, but if I saw some freaky wizard monster, I would mention it to someone." Steve says, as Max turned her to look at him and thought, "Maybe they did... well, besides Chrissy telling you, at least." Max looked over to Clemency, and added, "I saw Chrissy leaving Ms. Kelley's office. If you saw a monster, you... wouldn't go to the police. They'd never believe you."

"Exactly." Clemency thought. "But... you might go to your-" Max says, as Robin figured, "Your shrink..." As the group all looked at her, Max nodded in agreement.

‧₊˚

As the group approached Steve's car, Nancy suddenly went her separate way, making both Steve and Clemency look at each other, then to Nancy, as they furrowed their eyebrows. "Nance?" Clemency called out, making Nancy looked back at her.

"Where are you going?' Steve asked as they followed after her. "Oh, there's just something I wanna check on first." Nancy replied, as Clemency looked at her in disbelief.

"Uhm, no? Are you hearing yourself right now? You're not going anywhere on your own." Clemency says, as Steve nodded in agreement. "And whatever you're planning on, please share it with the class." Clemency added as she looked at everyone in the group, then back to Nancy who pursed her lips in response. "I don't wanna waste your time. It's a real shot in the dark."

"You know it's too dangerous. You need someone to..." Steve says, as he stammers, the rest of the group furrowing their eyebrows as they look at him, but Clemency quickly stepped it as Steve looked at him in confusion. "All right, that's enough. I'll go with Nance... Robin, do you wanna go as well?" Clemency says as she looks over to Robin, in which Robin quickly nodded in agreement, grabbed a walkie-talkie on Dustin's bag, and approached the two ladies.

Steve looked in disagreement, as Robin and Clemency looked back at him and raised their eyebrows at him. "Unless you think we need you to protect us." Robin says, making the sisters look at Steve with pursed lips, and all three went their way to Nancy's car.

"Be careful!" Steve reminded the three as they walked off.

‧₊˚

"What exactly is your game plan here, Nance?" Clemency asked, as Nancy focused her eyes on the road as she drove her way to the library. "Well, I actually got to talk to Eddie's uncle. He said there's this same kind of murders that happened back in the 50s. A man named Victor Creel murdered his whole family, and according to him, it was the same thing that happened to Chrissy that happened to Victor's wife and kids. Though he also said he is currently locked away in Pennhurst Asylum..." She informed the two, as Clemency nodded.

"But, Clemency said her bones started to snap on their own without anyone doing anything to her though." Robin wondered, as Nancy kept quiet as she focused on the road. "Okay, but we won't really lose anything if we try looking into his case, would we?" Clemency says, in Nancy's defense.

As they finally reached the library, Nancy quickly got off the car and the two followed her, Robin wondered, "Okay, but... if Victor committed the eyeball murders, like, way back in the 50s... "

"Well, 59." Nancy corrected, as the two girls looked at her. "So, that means these murders predate Eleven in the Upside down by about 30 years?" Robin continued. "Yeah." Nancy simply says as she walks straight to the front desk, as the two follow.

"Which makes spooky Victor Creel like 70 years old." Robin thought, as Nancy agreed.

"So, he's a grandpa murderer who can turn invisible and lift people into the air..." Robin says, as Nancy and Clemency looked over to her. "It doesn't make sense. I know. That's why I said it was a shot in the dark." Nancy reminded her while she rang the bell on the desk, as the girl turned to look at her.

"I know. I just thought that by 'shot in the dark,' you were being modest or hiding something super solid up your sleeve that you were gonna wow us with later. But this is really, truly a shot in the dark. Like, we are snipers with blindfolds on who've been spun around 50 times." Robin kept blabbering, making Nancy grow more and more annoyed, as Clemency quickly held Robin's arm to shut her up, and sighed. "Okay, but most of the time, or if not most of the time, Nancy turns out to be right, and it's such a huge help." Clemency defended as Nancy softly smiled at her, as Robin looked over Clemency.

"Actually, some of those times are because you supported my idea..." Nancy says, making Clemency chuckled lightly, as the librarian finally showed up. They asked her for the keys to the basement archives, and quickly went there to proceed with their mission.

‧₊˚

The three had been looking over the microforms for any unusual articles on Victor Creel's murders, but still to no avail. Getting bored for still not getting anything on her side, Robin looked over the sisters, as Nancy scrolled while her sister watched behind her. "Anything... juicy over there?" She asked, as Clemency stayed her eyes on the articles, shaking her head, Nancy responded, "Nothing new."

"Yep, same here." Robin says, as she stays her eyes at the article in front of her. "Victor seemed like a normal guy. Dead family, missing eyes, took a plea deal, sent to Pennhurst. Blah, blah, blah, blah." Robin added, making Nancy sigh in annoyance, as Clemency pursed her lips.

"What are we looking for exactly?" Robin asked, looking back at the two, as Nancy finally looked at her. "Any mention of dark wizards or alternate dimension? Things in that vein?" Robin added.

"I don't know, okay?" Clemency says, very frustrated at this point, as she finally stood out her seat in front of the microforms. "It's starting to seem like this was just a big waste of time, and you're obviously bored. Why don't you just call Steve? I'm sure he'll pick you up. And I mean, I'm not really in danger here... and I also got Clemency with me...." Nancy says, looking over her sister and awkwardly smiling, as she turned her back at Robing and walked down stairs to look for more files, as the other two girls followed her.

"You do know that Steve and I are, like, totally not a thing, right?" Robin told Nancy, as she stood by the stair, as Clemency walked past her and furrowed her eyebrows at the girl, and helped look at the files with her sister.

"What?" Nancy asked in confusion as she looked at the girl by the stairs, as she walked beside Clemency, and peeked in front of her to look at Nancy, having her in between them.

"So, I figured you and Jonathan are still going strong 'cause you guys are going to college together. You're one of those unstoppable power couples, but I... I just..." She stammered, as she walked beside Nancy. "I wanted to make sure that you knew that Steve and I are just friends... Like, platonic with a capital P." Robin reassured, as Nancy awkwardly smiled at her, as Clemency sternly looked at her.

"Robin, what are you trying to say, just go straight to the point." Clemency says, making the girl sigh in response. "It's... you know? Just in case that's adding any tension between me and your sister right here." Robin explained, as she pointed at Nancy, as she looked over to her and awkwardly smiled. "And it wasn't." Nancy says, and looks back at the files.

"Are you trying to say... that my sister still has feelings... or is getting her feelings towards her ex back?" Clemency asked in disbelief as she looked over to Robin, as Nancy looked at her and furrowed her eyebrows. "Well, I don't..." Nancy says, as she avoided eye contact.

"And you shouldn't." Clemency added, taking her eyes off of her sister. "And Jonathan's just in California... though only you know what's up with that heart of yours... I won't really understand..." Clemency says, but stammers, and goes quiet, as her sister now looks at her, as long as Robin squinted her eyes at the girl.

"What about you, Clem? You're dating Munson now?" She quietly says, as she looks at the necklace her sister's wearing. "We're friends... we're good friends." Clemency sighed out.

"Platonic with a capital P, huh?" Robin says, as she opened the drawer in front of her, and Clemency hummed in response. "Holy shit..." Robin says, as she discovered something inside of the drawer, making the two turn their attention to her, as they furrowed their eyebrows.

"The Weekly Watcher. I can't believe they have this." Robin says. "Don't they write about, like, Bigfoot and UFOs?" Nancy scoffs, as Clemency excitedly walks beside Robin and looks intently at her sister.

"Okay, but Nance, we're looking for unusual stuff, right?" Clemency says, making Nancy think, as Robin nodded in agreement, and walked closer to Nancy. "And if someone's gonna write about that, it's gonna be these weirdos." Robin added, as Nancy's eyes lit up.

‧₊˚

Robin examined the number of articles, finding loads of unnecessary ones for their mission, as the other two watched in disappointment, tiredly watched as she scrolled.

But as Nancy is wandering her mind off, as the two looked on their own, they finally came across something on the Victor Creel murder case, and quickly looked at each other in excitement, as they both looked at Nancy. "Nance!" Clemency called out, as Nancy looked at her with a stern look, and her arms crossed.

"Victor Creel claims, vengeful demon killed family. The murder that shocked a small community." Robin dramatically read, as Nancy rolled her eyes at her.

"Ha, ha. That's very funny." Nancy sarcastically says. "No, like, really. Look!" Clemency called out, as Nancy looked back with confusion in her face, and hurriedly looked over the microforms.

"According to several insiders, Victor believed his house was haunted by an ancient demon. Victor allegedly hired a priest to exorcize the demon from his home.' Pretty novel for the '50s. Exorcist wasn't out yet." Robin added, as she looked at the article. "Keep going." Nancy hurried her, as she proceeded. "Okay, so Victor claimed this exorcism failed, but it angered this demon, which then murdered his family, removing their eyes. Victor believed he was spared as a punishment." Robin read, as the sisters stared intently.

"That's pretty convenient for Victor." Nancy says, as Robin looks over to her. "Yeah, or super inconvenient." Robin stated, as the girl looked at her with furrowed eyebrows.

"But, didn't he get declared legally insane... because it's most likely because he told them this, but... who would believe him anyways..." Clemency says, as they all looked at each other. "It does sound insane. It just didn't go public because-" Robin says, as Nancy added, "The plea bargain. The records were sealed."

"What if a demon did invade Victor's home? It's just, this demon wasn't any old demon..." Robin continued, as the sisters looked at each other and back to her. "It was Vecna..." They said in unison, as they quickly got out of there to meet the rest of the group.

Robin hurriedly contacted Dustin through the walkie-talkie, letting the others know what they discovered, but they are told that the other three are breaking inside the school to look over student files inside Ms. Kelley's office, so the three hurried their way there.

‧₊˚