TW: mild moment of PTSD and grief
CHAPTER XVII:
Torpid air of the Upside-Down revealed itself as it weighed the ebb and flow of ghost lights hovering in the direction of the Hawkins teens. Dead 'grass' crunched beneath their feet as they all began inching their way back from where they came on the street. Mailboxes line the road on either side. They are in perfect condition. No vines wrap around their poles like the vines attached to all the homes. These objects stand guard. Off a distance, the broken remains of the Creel house can be seen waiting.
"You saw that, right," asked Mike, his voice rattled as he backed away from the house, his back to the street. "That was that kid. Nancy… The one in the picture is in the house. That was that kid!"
Nancy looked from her left and her right. She could feel Dustin at her back. At least she would not have to watch every direction. "I saw, I saw." She watched the ghost lights edge closer.
"What? What kid" asked Lucas. He pulled Erica to the side. Away from a light that hovered close to the siblings, she stood next to Robin.
Mike stepped back. He connected with Steve, who continued his focus on the street.
"Yeah. What kid" asked Steve, his hair flowing back into place as he looked back toward Mike and the others.
"I didn't know he lived in the house. Nancy and I, we saw his picture on a wall. He died in the "mall fire."
"Fuck, you're saying he's a flayed or whatever," replied Steve.
"Yeah, I think so," finished Mike with a nod.
A sudden pair of screams. A light drifted between the space of Erica and Robin. It connected with both. They froze in place, just like Steve. A cold chill crept through them as the ghost light flickered, revealing a man in a postman's uniform. He shuffled his way along his path, unphased by the contact.
"Come on, come on," Steve linked his arm with Robin and took hold of Erica's forearm. "Get to the street. Get to the street." All caution was thrown to the wind. Realizing Steve's tact, Nancy, Dustin, Lucas, and Mike huddle together with Robin, Erica, and Steve, guiding them to the open street.
The phasing lights drifted toward the teenagers, hitting nothing, bouncing back to the 'grass' and sidewalk, and recreating their ghostly paths. The light that encountered Erica and Robin flicks back and forth from the vacant-eyed man in the postman uniform. Eventually, shifting back to a floating mass of hazy light.
Dustin looked on in awe. "You guys saw that, right?" It was like the mailboxes created a barrier for the street." He began to creep towards the curb.
Lucas and Mike grabbed their friend and simultaneously spoke. "No!"
Nancy straightened herself. "Dustin, we can't just… We need to get to the Creel house, go to our house, and figure out if it's Pennhurst or the Lab. We can't deviate from the goal, not now. We only have five hours. We can't make any detours."
Dustin nodded solemnly.
Robin was suddenly at Nancy's flank, shoulder to shoulder. She leaned to her side closer to Nancy. "You, okay? You're starting to sound like me," her voice, an audible whisper. It is calm for the sake of Nancy.
No longer rigid after the simple contact with Robin, Nancy gasped, hand at her mouth. Her composure back and attention on a cluster of three gliding lights flickering bright, phasing in and out of their own accord this time. It does not take the group stumbling into these for their actual shapes to reveal themselves. Nancy is met by the empty stares of Heather, Tom, and Janet Hollaway, their bodies directing them as each shamble along the pavement. They, like all the others, phase back to nothing.
"They're his victims," spoke Nancy to no one, but the group listened. "That was Heather and Tom. Janet Hollaway." She squints. In the distance, a ghost light began to shift, revealing Doris Driscoll. "Ms. Driscoll," Nancy spoke breathlessly. She continued to watch the lights, an overwhelming urge to take note and want to watch every ghost light reveal their selves. "No, stay on mission," she said to no one again.
...
Now in ruins, the Creel house scarcely stands, the ravine taking up most of the mass of the house. The stained-glass window of the front door sat partially buried. Nancy, Robin, and Steve step forward. They knew what to look for.
"Be careful," states Erica.
The teens look back at the girl. They nod. "It will only take a minute. We just need to see if there's any way he could hide here," confirmed Nancy.
"It's not safe." A woman in a fifty's style cocktail dress appeared. Her hair in victory rolls with a pleated back. A little girl seemed to be next to her. They held hands. She stood tall, stern, still motherly.
Nancy, Steve, and Robin jumped back. Robin yelped as she lost her balance, and both Steve and Nancy caught her.
The specter, lost to time, eyed Nancy close. "You're the one my son let inside his head."
She looked down at herself. Nancy could see the others eyeing her close, letting her take point. "You're Henry's mother?" Nancy stepped to the woman and child. "How would you know… are you connected to Henry somehow?"
"Connection," said Mike. "El said something like…," he trailed, unsure how to continue.
The specter looked at him and the rest of the group. "Something like that. I believe we have been locked away, connected to him for a long time," The woman motioned to the little girl. The two specters float gracefully along the ground. "My son has not been at the house since you attacked." She watched Dustin curiously. "The connection is not as direct, but we can still feel him." The little girl nodded in agreement. "He is hiding somewhere that is not here." They faded only to reappear again inside what was left of the house.
The teens huddle together. "Alright, that's the creepy Creel house, down. What next," asked Erica.
Robin rubbed the back of her head, running her hand through her tangled hair. "I vote, Wheelers. We can regroup and have a breather. Contact Hopper." She pulled the stopwatch from her pocket. "We've been down here a little over an hour, got like three hours and thirty-seven minutes left." She pocketed the watch again.
"Any other suggestions," asked Nancy. No one seemed to object. She did not notice Dustin meander away deep in thought.
"Eddie…"
"Yeah, Eddie, what about Eddie," asked Steve, his attention on the space where Vecna's mother and sister once stood.
His adrenaline kicked in, and Dustin was gone without a word before anyone could stop him. He ran in the direction of the trailer park.
"Dustin," yelled Steve. "Fuck! Dustin!" Steve started in the direction of his surrogate little brother, but then he stopped staying back with the group.
Robin looked at Steve. "What are you doing? Go after him!"
...
"Eddie," screamed Dustin as he looked to the sky. "Eddie!" Steve tried again to take hold of his friend to no avail. Dustin dodged his grip, and with cupped hands, he began to yell again. "Eddie!"
Nancy, Robin, Erica, Lucas, and Mike slide their jogs to a stop a short distance away.
Robin wiped her pinky across her eye. It captured a lone tear as she watched Steve try to calm the kid down.
Mike and Lucas stepped forward to help. Nancy took hold of the boys' jackets. She shook her head. This was not for them. So, the teens looked on at their friends. Steve finally took hold of Dustin. He held him tight. Steve refused to let go.
"You need to be quiet, man. We don't know what's out there," said Steve in a calming voice. "You need to slow down. We'll figure this out."
Dustin looked at Steve, his energy exhausted. "He's supposed to be here. He died here. Where is he, Steve." Dustin looked down.
The group moved their attention from Dustin and Steve. From a distance, it looked like vines and dusty sand merely decided to grow and pile around something of no consequence. They begin to track closer to the two. Their pace is slow.
A distinct skull bandana, the first image Nancy registered. The closer she and the others came, the more it became apparent that Dustin and Steve were standing over the strangely well-preserved body of Eddie Munson. Eddie looked at peace.
"He's not here," the voice was nervous, unsure of itself. A shape began to appear, resembling Fred Bensen.
Nancy, Robin, Erica, Lucas, Dustin, and Mike jumped at the ready, each taking a second to settle their nerves as they registered the new individual. Steve stood hyper-aware. Still on edge, having settled Dustin.
"Munson's been gone for a while now," the voice is vital if a bit timid. The phasing of light started to resemble Lucas' old teammate Patrick McKinney.
"Eddie's at your house," this voice is airy, bell-like, the perfect voice to cheer with. The iridescent shape resembled Chrissy Cunningham. She watched Nancy.
The teens backed away in shock. "How…," trailed Lucas.
Like Vecna's mother and sister, Chrissy, Fred, and Patrick seem aware of their surroundings. They acknowledge the group. There is nothing vacant in their stares, not like the others.
Nancy looked at Mike, just as much confusion on his face. "At my house," she asked.
"You're Nancy Wheeler, aren't you," asked Chrissy.
Nancy backed away the closer Chrissy walked in her direction. "I—um—yes, I'm Nancy Wheeler."
"Like, she said, he's at your house," reassured Fred.
Nancy looked at the specters of her past classmates. Her deductive reasoning kicked in as she realized how Vecna's connection to his victims must work. "You're similar to Henry's mother and his sister," Nancy states, not a question. "You all died the same way. Whatever happened. You're all connected to each other, aren't you? You're all connected to him."
Patrick shrugged. "Maybe, I just know that red-headed girl isn't here with us. She's the only one who isn't…." Lucas's teammate's specter motioned to the entirety of the Upside-Down. The ghost lights began occupying this Hawkins as if they were its new residents.
"But, if you're all connected, you have to know what happened to Max," insists Lucas trying to maintain his voice.
"Whatever he's done to Max. We lost our direct connection to him the second you attacked," resumed Fred.
"He's only cared about her since, but we can still feel her, feel him. She's still here," finished Chrissy. She hovered close to Fred and Patrick.
Robin shivers. "You could hear what he was thinking."
"He made us a part of him," answered Chrissy. "He threw us out once we weren't needed anymore."
...
The walk to the Wheeler home is quiet, ominous, and unsettling. Lining the street shoulder to shoulder, Mike and Lucas take the outside. Erica, next to Lucas, and Dustin, next to Mike. Nancy is sandwiched between Dustin and Steve, who walks at the center. Robin is in the middle of him and Erica. The ghost lights flicker back and forth from the proper visual representation of one of the flayed Hawkins' residents. Every now and again, they watch a light flicker representing an unknown child or adult their parents would know better than them. A disturbing image of a blank face when a ghost light encounters the protective barrier at the curb edge would flicker far too bright.
Chrissy, Fred, and Patrick phase in and out of existence, their specter bodies stronger than the others. Their momentary presence eases the group as they continue through the streets of the Upside-Down.
Off at a distance hiding inside the homes that 'fell' below during the 'earthquake,' flickers of ghost lights. Manifestations of those recently lost, so many still listed as missing. How many are covered by the rubble? Those killed by the Demogorgon. A flying bat.
Later the teens see him atop a hill. He phases in, then out, then in again. He mimics those of the flayed, but he is aware of the friends. He stands to watch shepherding, his penance, Billy Hargrove.
"This place is officially creepier than it already was," states Lucas. "How much further?"
Mike looks at the street's signs at the next intersection. "Two streets and a few blocks."
Silence until a simple humming began. Nancy looked over. It was Robin. She continued to observe the tragic scene before them. Nancy thought this was hell, perhaps it had always been purgatory, and she refused to see it. Robin's humming continued shifting flawlessly into a spoken song.
"Eleanor Rigby. Picks up the rice in the church," speaks Robin in song. She hums again for a few more seconds, then begins speaking, "Who is it for," followed by a proper melody of "All the lonely people. Where do they all come from?" Steve joins in on the repeat. Robin began the next verse. Joined again by Steve as "All the lonely people" escaped her lips in tune. Nancy joined the two best friends soon, followed by those who are left.
Silence again when the song is done.
Off in the distance, the Wheeler's house sits alone. Nancy pat Steve's side. She motioned to the backpack. He stopped, and she began rummaging through the bag, pulling out a pair of small binoculars. She put the lenses to her face. Three, four, possibly five houses ahead, a simple minute, maybe two-minute walk. She sees not one but two ghost lights phase in flicker, and unlike those of the flayed, these forms stay and, like the flickering of a lightbulb, titter back to normalcy. Eddie sits on the ground, ' leaning' against what would have been their home's shrub. Beside him, she could not believe it. Years of internal torment. Vecna used her image to taunt Nancy, to haunt her. Nancy sees Barb leaning against the brick of the house. She is talking to Eddie, looking at the group of tired teens.
Nancy shoved the binoculars into Dustin's hands. She is speechless. Nancy decided to let Dustin declare what she has seen to the others.
Dustin peered through. He pulls them from his eyes and back. Finally, holding them loosely by their string.
"Eddie…"
...
"Hey guys, took you long enough," Eddie yelled. He smiled wide from his seated position. Barb simply waved in the direction of Nancy and the others.