Chapter Eighty-Four: No Questions Asked

After waking everyone up, we all piled into Nancy's station wagon, with Dustin and Lucas in the trunk, and made our way to Victor Creel's house.

As we all climbed out of it, the first thing that I noticed was the rusted, overgrown Rocket Slide that I had seen Alice Creel playing on in Victor's memories. A chill went down my spine, as I felt that I had truly been here many years prior, and now I was standing in front of the abandoned wreckage where the Creel family spent their final moments.

We walked up the concrete steps onto the sidewalk, and Steve grabbed my hand, intertwining our fingers.

"Yeah, that's not creepy." He said. I nodded, unzipping the duffle bag and pulling out my fire axe.

The door was boarded up, so I used the axe to pry the nails out of the plywood so that we could access the front door. I instructed Steve to grab a hammer out of the bag as well and pull out the nails on the other side.

"So what exactly are we supposed to be looking for in this craphole?" Steve questioned.

"We're not entirely sure." I admitted. "We just know that this place is important to Vecna."

"Because you and Max saw it in Vecna's red soup mind world?" He questioned.

"Well that and the fact that Chrissy died here." I pointed out. "At least...somewhere made to look like here. I recognized it as soon as I saw it in Victor's memories."

"Great." He replied, rather unconvincingly.

"Maybe it holds a clue to where Vecna is. Why he's back, why he killed the Creels," Dustin explained, "And how to stop him before he comes back for Max, or potentially comes for Riley, who's easily his one of his biggest threats. And its not like she's exactly lacking in the trauma department."

"Yes, Dustin, thank you for that reassuring thought process." I said dryly, earning a concerned look from Steve.

"We don't think he's in here," Lucas questioned, "Do we?"

"Guess we'll find out." Max said. Steve looked at me as we each pulled out our last nails.

"Ready?" He asked. I nodded and we both pulled the plywood off, letting it fall onto the porch with a creaking thump, the breeze of it sending leaves and trash flying in every direction. I took a step back, my grip tightening on my axe handle as I saw the oh-so-familiar Rose stained glass window.

I turned around, looking at Max, who gave me a worried look. I nodded reassuringly as Steve tried to doorknob.

"Its locked," He reported, "Should I knock, see if anybody's home?"

"No need," We all looked over to see Robin with a brick in her hand, "I found a key." I shook my head.

"No, nope sorry, I can't let you do that in good conscious." I said, turning to face the door again.

"What? Why?" Steve questioned. I shrugged.

"Because...even if it is the secret lair of an evil wizard, this is a beautiful, one of a kind stained glass window. We can't just throw a rock through it." I pointed out. 

"Well then what do you suggest-"

I cut off his question by bringing the axe down on the opening edge of the door, busting the rusty lock and causing it to swing open of its own accord. Steve shrugged.

"Yeah, that's one way to do it I guess." I shrugged, shooting him a smile before pushing the door open all the way and leading the way in, with Steve not far behind me. He let out a low whistle, giving the others permission to follow.

"Looks like someone forgot to pay their electric bill." Lucas said, mostly jokingly after trying to turn on a lamp. Dustin simply looked at him, raising his flashlight up and clicking it on.

"Where'd everyone get those?" Steve questioned. Dustin turned around to look at him incredulously.

"Do you need to be told everything?" He asked. "You're not a child."

"Thank you." Steve looked at me helplessly, and I shot him an apologetic look as Dustin took his backpack off and handed it to Steve.

"Back pocket."

"Was it really that big of a deal for you to tell him that?" I asked pointedly, resting my axe against my shoulder and putting a hand on my hip. He simply walked away and Steve pulled out a flashlight, dropping the backpack on the floor beside my duffle bag and coming to stand beside me.

"So, what's the verdict, Barbie? You feel anything?" He questioned. I shrugged, putting my axe down and reaching into my back pocket, pulling out my own flashlight and shining it around the room.

"I don't think it really works that way." I told him, glancing around. 

"They just left...everything." Nancy commented as she and Robin glanced into the living room.

"I guess a triple homicide isn't good for resale value." Robin replied.

"Hey, guys?" Max called. I turned around, stepping up beside her without hesitation. She was shining her flashlight towards the wall, and I followed her gaze, a shiver passing through me as I saw what it was. "You all see that right?"

It was grimy, and covered in dust, but there was no denying that this was the grandfather clock that had infiltrated every targets nightmares so far. 

"Yeah." Dustin answered.

"Yeah." Steve agreed as they all gathered around us.

"Is this what you saw?" Nancy inquired. "In your visions?"

"Its what all of them saw." I confirmed, tucking my flashlight under my arm so that I could put a hand on Max's back.

"I mean, Its...just a clock. Right?" Robin asked, moving past us to wipe dust off of the glass, "Just a regular, old clock."

"Why is this wizard obsessed with clocks?" Steve wondered aloud. "Maybe he's like a...a clockmaker or something?"

"I think you cracked the case, Steve." I moved away from Max, not looking away from the clock as I put a hand over Dustin's face and shoved him backwards.

"Leave him alone," I said half-heartedly, "But its not clocks in general, its...this clock. Specifically...why?"

"All I know is, the answers are here," Nancy said, "Somewhere. Ok, everyone stay in groups of two. Robin, upstairs."

Robin offered Nancy a two-fingered salute before following after her silently.

"Come on, let's go." Max grabbed Lucas' sleeve, dragging him down the hallway, leaving Steve, Dustin, and I standing in the entryway. Steve sighed, grabbing my hand and pulling me towards the stairs.

"Was that a sigh?" Dustin asked, trailing behind us.

"No, I did not sigh."

"Why'd you sigh?"

"I didn't sigh, just come on, dude."

"You definitely sighed." I pointed out, releasing his hand so that I could hold my flashlight again.

"See, I thought so." Dustin agreed. "We both heard you-"

"We're just always partners, ok?"

"You have a problem with that?"

"It'd just be nice to uh, I don't' know, mix it up a bit." Steve answered. 

"What is with you two lately? You're always bickering like an old married couple...more than we do, which is sad seeing as we basically are a married couple."

"So what, I'm boring, is that it?"

"No, its not-" 

I stopped dead in my tracks, my hair standing on end.

"Riley?" Steve asked, stopping on the stairs beside me.

"Is it another attack?" Dustin asked from behind us. I shook my head. 

"Something's here..." I said quietly, glancing around the area in front of us, "I don't know if its here here or Upside Down Here but something is definitely...I can feel it."

"So it does work that way?" Steve questioned. I shrugged, shaking it off and continuing up the stairs again.

"Apparently."

"Oh, Riley, I forgot to ask you," Dustin said, jogging slightly to keep up with us, "Why was your nose bleeding this morning?"

"Again?" Steve asked. I shook my head.

"It happened last night, while I was asleep," I clarified, "You were touching me, so I saw into your memories."

"Whoa, wait what?" He asked, holding up a hand. "Which ones?"

"It was just one," I said nonchalantly, "I must say, I was a little surprised HAIRington. I didn't realize you felt so bad about telling me I'd feel right at home if someone went missing."

"Oh, ok. The hallway? With Tommy and Carol?" He asked. I nodded. 

"You were so cute, defending me and stuff before you even really talked to me," I cooed, " 'We don't know her, Tommy. She's probably really cool and smart and awesome, but we wouldn't know because we're too busy being popular-"

"Ok, I'm fairly certain it did not go down that way." Steve pointed out. I shrugged.

"It could have," I argued, "I saw it a lot more recently than you did, so as far as you know, that could've been a word-for-word representation." He shook his head.

"Glad you still got your sense of humor, Barbie." I shrugged, shooting him a stupid smile before turning to look around again.

"It was kind of nice actually, seeing traces of the man you are now in the popular douchebag version," I stated, "Its kind of a reminder of how far we've come...I mean to see that guy a few years ago I never would've anticipated I'd be engaged to him." He nodded.

"Yes, I remember, I sucked in high school." He recalled dryly. "But I think hopefully, on some level, that guy realized how lucky he would be to have you in his life. That's why he was sticking up for you."

I smiled, looking down at the floor.

"Do you think we should've waited so long?" I questioned. He furrowed his eyebrows, turning his head to look at me. 

"For what?" He asked. "To get together? Because if I had my say, we would've been together the moment we met-"

"No," I laughed, "I mean...do you think we should've gotten engaged? I mean, maybe we should've just scrapped the whole wedding idea and gone to the courthouse or something."

"Why do you say that?" He questioned, confused. I shook my head.

"I don't know...seeing where you came from and remembering how much we've been through, only to end up in the middle of another battle...we have no idea what's going to happen. I mean, what if one of us doesn't make it out this time and we've missed our opportunity-"

"Whoa, what the heck is this?" He asked, putting a hand on my shoulder. "Why are you even talking like that?"

"Steve, come on. We always have to entertain that option," I replied, "And besides, you heard what Dustin said about me being Vecna's biggest threat...I could be on his hit list, and its got me thinking of all the things I'd be missing out on-"

"Well don't," Steve said, "No way, there's no way I'm letting that happen."

"We don't always get a choice, Steve. I mean, you know that as well as I do-"

"I don't care!" He exclaimed, grabbing my shoulders in both of his hands, "I really, really don't care, I'm not even going to entertain the possibility, because its not happening. You and I are getting married, and we're going to defeat Vecna and bring El back to Hawkins and we're going to be a family, no questions asked."

He was saying this so passionately and so enthusiastically, that he was subconsciously shaking my shoulders with his hands. It wasn't rough, and he wasn't hurting me, but it was enough to jar my Dad's already loose shirt and cause something to fall out of the front pocket and onto the floor. We both looked down, and I shone my flashlight on the object to see that it was a deep blue hair tie. I crouched down slowly, picking it up.

"That yours?" Steve asked. I didn't answer, holding it in my palm and shining my flashlight on it as Dustin wandered over to join us. 

"What's the big deal?" He asked. "Its just a hair thing, isn't it?"

"Its my sister's." I said quietly. 

"What, El's?" I shook my head, running a thumb over it.

"Its Sara's." 

"Sara?" Dustin asked. "You have another sister?"

"Had," I said, finally looking up at them, "She uh...she died when I was eleven. She was only seven years old...diagnosed with Cancer."

"I...I'm sorry. I didn't know that." I nodded.

"How could you?" I asked, looking down at the hair tie, "I never talk about her."

"Are you ok?" Steve asked, putting a hand on my back. Dustin stepped up beside me, putting a comforting hand on my shoulder. They were both just trying to make me feel better.

But what happened instead was the entire house shifted around me, as it had so many times in the past couple of days. and suddenly I wasn't standing in Victor Creel's mansion anymore. Instead, I was standing in the middle of a park on a bright sunny afternoon, and my breath hitched in my throat as I realized that I recognized it. My eyes widened as I looked around, not expecting to relive the scene that was playing in front of me. But what was even more shocking than that was the fact that Dustin and Steve were still standing on either side of me, seeing it right along with me.

"Are you guys seeing this?" I questioned, pointing at the area in front of me.

"Yeah, we're seeing it," Steve confirmed, "What are we seeing? What is going on?" Steve asked, looking at me with confused eyes. Dustin furrowed his eyebrows.

"I think..."He trailed off, causing us both to look at him. He hesitated a moment longer before finally meeting our eyes. "I think we're inside of Riley's memories."