20. house of cards

Stopping the car in front of the Creel house, the group went out and looked over the ominous looking house, with its windows and door covered up with wood. "Yeah, that's not creepy." Steve commented, as they all walked over to the abandoned house's front door.

Steve and Nancy started removing the nails holding up the wood covering the front door with their hammers as Clemency fidgeted and looked worriedly. "Are we sure we're actually going inside?" She said as the group looked over to her.

"You're getting the gut-wrenching feeling again?" Nancy asked her sister, as she shook her head in response. "No... it's just the fact that there's a lot of things running in my mind on what could be inside, you know..." She stammers, as Steve furrowed his eyes at her then switched his attention to Nancy. "Wait- What exactly are we supposed to be looking for in this shithole?" He asked her, as he proceeded to remove some nails.

"We're not exactly sure. We just know this house is important to Vecna." Nancy explained, looking at Steve. "Because Max saw it in Vecna's red soup mind world?" Steve asked, as Clemency looked in grimace at the imagery of what he calls what Max saw. "Exactly." Clemency says, as Nancy agreed. "Great." Steve says sarcastically, as he removed more nails.

"Maybe it holds some clue to where Vecna is. Why he's back. Why he killed the Creels. And how to stop him before he comes back for Max." Dustin informed him. "We... don't think he's in here, do we?" Lucas stutters, as he looks at the others, as Clemency sighed out. "Well... that's what I am most worried about." She says pursing her lips, as he gave her a concerned look, as Max looked over to her. "Guess we'll find out." She says, as Steve and Nancy drop the wood covering the door.

"Is that what you saw? That rose?" Clemency asked Max, as she looked at her and nodded, while Steve tried unlocking the door, but won't open. "Should I knock and see if anybody's home?" Steve sarcastically says, as the group disappointingly looked at the door. "No need." Robin says, as they all looked at her, and showed them the brick she has in hand. "I found a key." She says, as Clemency raised an eyebrow at her.

"I don't think that's a good idea-" Clemency argued, and got interrupted as Robin went closer to the door and threw the brick at the glass window, startling Clemency. Looking in, Steve put his hands in the hole the brick made in the glass as he grabbed the door knob inside, opening it for them, while the door screeching gave Clemency goosebumps.

Clemency, Robin and Nancy peeked inside the room where the fireplace is, pointing their flashlights inside to see better in that dark, messed up place. "They just left everything..." Nancy says as she sees the room, still filled with dust-filled furniture. "It's actually... kind of sad." Clemency says, the two watched her as she walked further inside and had a look around.

"I guess a triple homicide isn't good for resale value..." Robin thought, making the two look over to her, and Clemency pursing her lips in response, when suddenly, the three's attention was caught as Max called everyone over, making them approach her.

"What's wrong?" Clemency asked as she walked over with the other two, Max looking over to her then back on the grandfather clock stood before her. "You all see that, right?" She asked, pointing her flashlight at it, as the group all agreed.

"Is that the clock?" Clemency asked. "Is it? Is that the one you saw from your visions?" Nancy added, looking at the girl intriguingly, as the girl nodded in response. "I mean, it's just a clock... Right?" Robin stammers nervously, as she looks over to Max then onto the clock. Robin approaches it and wiped the dust off of its glass, revealing the clock inside much clearer. "...Like, a normal old clock." She added, as Clemency walked over to her, staring at the clock before them.

"Why is this wizard obsessed with clocks? Maybe he's, like, a clockmaker or something?" Steve says, as Clemency looked at him with furrowed eyebrows. "I think you cracked the case, Steve." Dustin sarcastically says.

"It's probably significant... Why a clock. Is it just him saying the cursed person's time is over? And, even if he is a clockmaker or whatever, like Steve says, it can't just be it and why this specific clock in this house?" Clemency wondered as she looked back at the clock. "All I know is, the answers are here... Somewhere." Nancy says, as she looks around them.

The group split up in pairs while Robin, Nancy and Clemency stayed together, as they went upstairs. "I know we have seen the worst things before... but, this place just gives me the heebie jeebies..." Clemency says as the two ignored her since they are keeping themselves busy by scanning the area, while Clemency looks around and keeps folding up the end of her sleeves, fidgeting from the fear of the abandoned house.

A loud shattering noise startled the three all of a sudden, as Nancy bravely walked over to where it was. "Nancy has no fear just going straight to the sound..." Robin says, astonished by the girl's bravery. "Of course. She's Nancy Wheeler..." Clemency says, as she followed after her sister.

It turns out, Steve just accidentally dropped a jar of spider as he noticed a spider crawl up his arm that startled him, Nancy helped him remove the webs that got attached to him, while Clemency and Robin watched while they approached the other two. "If there's a spider nesting in there you're never gonna find it, until it lays eggs and the babies spill out." Robin says, making Nancy look over at her, while both Steve and Clemency look with a grimace expression from the imagery.

"What's wrong with you?" Steve disappointingly says, Clemency watched Robin laugh as she walked past the other two. "Robin, seriously..." Steve added as Clemency stood beside him and looked at the back of his hair. "Don't worry, spiders won't lay their eggs on your gorgeous hair... not yet at least." Clemency sternly says and follows after Robin while Steve gives her troubled look, mouth agape in disbelief. "Clemency!" He scolded, as the girl looked back at him and shrugged, playfully.

‧₊˚

The seven teens gathered back up inside the bathroom, as Max and Lucas talked about the lights turning on, though the whole house had no source of any electricity. They stood in front of the bathtub, looking up, intrigued and worried, as the chandelier above it lit up, and lightly blinked, it raised their fight or flight response for the ones who knew. "It's like the Christmas lights..." Nancy says, as Robin intriguingly looked at her. "The Christmas lights?" She asked the girl, confused.

"Yeah, when Will was in the Upside Down, the lights... came to life." Nancy explained, as Clemency looked over to her. "Wait- when someone is currently in the Upside down, this happens, right?" She asked as the others looked at her.

"Vecna's here... in this house. Just on the other side." Lucas says, as Clemency looked back up to the lights, growing more worried by the second, and sighed. "Shit."

Suddenly, the light went out, leaving the group in the dark. "I think he just left the room." Robin says, as they looked at each other. "Did he hear us?" Max quietly asked the others, as Steve looked at her, with fear in his eyes. "Can he see us?" He asked, as the questioned made Clemency more nervous, rethinking their decision to go to the Creel house and cursing herself for how stupid of an idea it was.

"Headphones." Lucas quickly says, looking over to Max, as she quickly puts on her headphones to, maybe, keep herself safe if the enemy really is in there, when suddenly Nancy had the idea for all of them to turn off their flashlights, and to spread around the house, in which earned a widened eye from Clemency, not liking the idea, but her sister looked back and hurrying her, making her sigh as she just went along with it and closed her flashlight, following after her sister and Robin.

As the group spread out, cautiously and quietly looking at each corner of the house, when Robin called out, as her flashlight lit up, but as the group met up, the light went off again, but then it was Steve's flashlight that turned on.

It seems like Vecna is going somewhere, as Steve held up his flashlight, the group walked to where Vecna seems to be going, walking up the flight of stairs, but the flashlight went out again. "Shit... I lost him." Steve disappointedly says. "No, you didn't." Max says as she peeked over one closed door, seeing a glimpse of light inside, walking up to it, as Clemency quickly followed the girl, worryingly, as Max opened the door revealing the light, blinking inside. Clemency walked in, as the rest followed, walking on more flights of stairs, carefully.

"Hold up, guys. What if he's leading us into a trap?" Dustin called out, stopping at the bottom of the stairs, as the group proceeded, ignoring him. "Guys, guys." He whisper-shouted, cursing himself as he just tagged along.

Finally reaching the attic, the group intriguingly stared at the small lightbulb as its light flickered, as their own flashlight also started lighting up, all at once, all blinking, as the group stared at them. The group gathered below the lightbulb. "Okay, what's happening?" Steve asked, feeling uneasy, as the lights stayed lit.

They all yelled, startled and protected themselves as their flashlights started exploding in front of them, one by one. "What in the hell just happened...?" Clemency asked the rest, with a shakiness in her voice as they all looked at her, just as equally confused and horrified.

‧₊˚