veda henderson

          We all crouch down on the floor beside Nancy's bed, huddling together as if we are gathering warmth. Nancy sits in the middle, her eyes anxiously darting back and forth over the bed as we all wait for Dustin's plan. 

    Eddie kneels behind me, the warmth of his body engulfing my back. I feel his hand secretly graze the back of mine, his finger lightly rubbing against my palm. The small texture makes me feel better about the scary atmosphere as if he knows I need the comfort and exactly how to deliver it. I don't like showing affection in big ways, especially in public after everything that happened. I've never told him that, but he somehow just knows. 

    Everyone starts to become impatient, Steve muttering 'come on' while Eddie nods his head forward, silently urging the kids in the other world. 

    Suddenly, the same orange glow from the light fixture downstairs appears on the edge of the bed, Steve's flashlight aimed right at it. The same muffled voice echoes in the room, Dustin's words cutting in and out "Are you guys seeing this?"

    I reach forward, dipping my fingers back into the glowy scene and swirling my hand around as if I'm swimming in sparkling water. The light sprinkles from my fingers once more as I continue to swirl, something that sounds like Dustin's girly laughter echoing once more.

    Dustin's voice cuts through again, words mushing together until I can briefly make out him saying something along the lines of 'Not moving, unplugging, stand by'

    Before I have a chance to react, the glowing spectacle dims so low it practically disappears from the bed, the room falling back into the dark blue tinge of the upside down.

    "Try it now," Dustin's voice echoes.

    Eddie nudges my shoulder, encouraging me to reach over and touch the dull sparkles. I nod, mentally trying to figure out what to say or do with the light.

    "Okay," I mumble, nodding before reaching forward and using my pointer finger to trace a smiley face into the sparkles. I bite the inside of my cheek, anxiously waiting.

    "It works!" Dustin echoes.

    We all start to cheer. Eddie wraps his arm over my shoulder and gently shakes me in triumph.

     I grin, feeling relief at the fact that, for once, something is going our way in this shithole. I then reach back over, lighting up my finger with sparkles as I spell out the word 'stuck' letter by letter.

    Eddie beside me leans back and forth, muttering a 'mhmm' over and over again. I shake my head, smiling at his over-excitement. 

    "You can't go back through Watergate?" Dutin's yells filter through. 

    "What the hell's Watergate?" Nancy asks more to herself.

    "Cause it's in water and it's a gate," Robin dumbs it down.

    "Oh," Nancy replies.

    "That's cute," Eddie mocks. 

    I sigh, leaning forward to spell out another word letter by letter; guarded. I hear Dustin reply, verbally summarising everything we've tried to communicate. The tenseness of the room seems to lift, everyone feeling better at the idea of help. 

    "We think we have a theory that can help with that!" Dustin shouts. 

    "Yes, Dusty," I mumble to myself. 

    "We think Watergate isn't the only gate, that there's a gate at every murder site," He further explains.

    "Does anybody understand what he's talking about?" Nancy asks. 

    "Not usually," I shrug. 

    "No idea," Everyone agrees. This time, Nancy leans forward and draws a simple question mark into the lights. 

    "Seriously? How many times do I have to be right on the money before you guys just trust me," Dustin replies. Even from across another universe, I can hear the little bitch squeal in his voice. 

    "Jesus Christ. This kid's gotta get his ego in check," Steve shakes his head in disappointment. 

    "It's his tone, right?" Eddie leans over from beside me to look at Steve, both of them bonding over my little brother's attitude. 

    "He's totally up himself," I agree, leaning forward to spell out the word Jerk into the lights. The only response I get is the light echo of Dustin yelling my name back. I smile, laughing to myself. 

    "How far is your trailer?" Nancy asks Eddie, diverting the conversation back on task.

    "Seven miles," Eddie answers.

    "Nancy?" Robin begins, gaining everyone's attention. "Uh, I know your house here is, like, weirdly, creepily frozen in time and shit but, haven't you always had bikes?" 

    "Frozen in time?" I question, realising I must have lost some key information when I was downstairs. 

    "I'll catch you up later," Eddie whispers to me as we all get to our feet.

----------

          The wind whips my hair out of my damp face, all five of our bikes moving faster than any bike has before. The thought of getting out of this creepy-ass dimension and back into my own, slightly less creepy dimension, makes my legs burn as I peddle harder. 

    Eddie takes the lead, directing everyone with me hot on his trail. I start to recognise some of the areas we pass through, meaning we're close to his trailer. 

    Red lightning hits, illuminating a horrifying site of thousands and thousands of bats circling over a rickety old house, the windows boarded up. Something about that house suggests that I know exactly what it is and who resides there. I swallow and turn away from the site, refusing to let my fear of those things get the best of me. 

    Soon enough, we pull into the trailer park and zip around each trailer until we get to the right one. 

    "Right here," Eddie calls, hitting his lawn and dropping his bike onto the grass. We each follow his lead, dropping the bikes onto the lawn and looking out on the trailer. 

    "That's gotta be a Guinness world record. Most miles travelled interdimensional," Robin comments, all of us huffing slightly from the increased exercise. 

    "Just inhaled a bunch of that crap," Steve shares, holding his torch up in front of himself, "It's stuck in my throat,"

     Eddie stands in front of me, climbing the stairs to his trailer and hesitating for a second as he holds the door handle. We both know what happened the last time we were here, the start of something scary and traumatising. The sight of the sweet innocent girl having her life brutally ripped from her is not something we'll ever forget. I just hope that she can find peace wherever she is. 

    Eddie pushes his door open, all of us piling in and turning to that dreadful ceiling. On that ceiling, a glowing red hole rips through the surface, illuminating our faces. 

    "Holy shit," I whisper, staring into the red glow of the hole, the flecks of white in the air floating around it.

    "This is where Chrissy died," Eddie announces, my chest clenching at the mention of her name and memory. "like, right where she died,"

    "I think there's something in there," Robin comments right as a black shadow presses on the other side of the gate, similar to the one that appeared in the underwater gate before Steve and I were dragged under. Almost instinctively, the older boy and I glance at each other. 

    "What the hell is that?" Eddie gapes.

    The pressure on the gate recedes, all of us standing still in fear before something rips through the layer. Robin screams as something that looks like a wooden stick pokes through the barrier, clearing it until I can see the specs of the world we're from. 

    Everyone heaves, breathing in fear as we stare at the now-open gate. I furrow my eyebrows and tilt my head, taking a step forward despite Eddie calling my name and attempting to grab me.

    "Dustin?" I ask quietly.

    The closer I step, I end up underneath the hole, looking up to see my brother on the other side, his laughter echoing. The strange thing is, despite looking up at him, he's also looking up at me. It's like he's upside down standing on the roof looking down at me. 

    "What the fu-"

    "Hi there!" Dustin grins, waving at us along with Lucas, Erica and Max. 

    "Holy shit, this is trippy," Robin says with a slight smile. I nod, agreeing with her as my brother makes eye contact with me and excitedly waves. 

    He laughs manically, almost jumping around in his spot before looking at us and screaming, "Bada Bada Boom!"

    "Hang tight," Max yells before all four kids disappear from sight. 

    "I can't believe that little jerk was right again," I turn to Eddie with a smile who returns the same foolish grin. 

    Soon enough, the kids return with a mattress, flipping it and laying it on the ground which looks like it's right above our heads from our place in this dimension. 

    The mattress is covered in big stains, causing Robin to side-eye Eddie as he blushed. "Those stains are.... I don't know what those stains are,"

    I smile at the memory of the stains on the mattress. I remember when I first started coming over and hanging out. One time, Eddie was hurriedly trying to bring me coffee and tripped on his own feet, hitting the mattress face first and spilling the contents all over myself and his mattress. Despite the innocent explanation for the stains, I appreciate the way he kept that story hidden considering Dustin still thinks Eddie and I's secret friendship only went as far as drug dealing and not something deeper behind his back. I don't think I feel like dealing with his ranting and raving right now. It's also just nice to have some innocent memories to ourselves, ones that aren't only him giving me drugs and me using them. Something normal. 

     Dustin then reappears through the hole in the roof, a long rope in his hands made out of white sheets tied together. He mumbles something to himself before throwing the rope in the air and through the hole. Once it reaches our side, it falls down like it's coming from the roof, providing a rope between this dimension and ours. 

    "Pull on it! See if it holds!" Dustin shouts at us. 

    I turn to Robin, holding my arms out to gesture for her to go for it. She nods with a grin before latching onto the makeshift rope and tugging. She grunts as he puts all of her weight onto the rope, making sure it's secure enough for us to climb up--or down? I'm not sure what to refer to it as. 

    "Guess I'm the guinea pig," Robin mutters, grabbing onto the sheet once more and pulling herself up. Robin grunts as she uses all her might to climb the rope. The second her head makes it through the hole, her hair starts to fly up as if she's upside down. Then, her body falls and she hits the mattress on the other side.

    The four of us still left in the upside down grin, knowing we'll soon be out of this hellhole. 

    Robin clears the makeshift landing pad, allowing for one of us to go next.

    I look around the group, each of us making eye contact with one another. Eddie then smiles at me, nodding towards the rope, "Feel like going for a climb?"

    "I feel like getting the hell out of here," I smile, grabbing the rope in my hands and pulling myself up. My battered arm burns, my hand slipping off and losing its grip before I can even fully get my feet off of the ground. "Dammit,"

    I reach for my arm, gripping it with my good hand and wincing. How the hell am I meant to climb up that high with one arm?

    "Dustin, man!" Eddie calls through the hole. Dustin looks up, his eyes settling on mine with concern as he spots my hand covering my arm. He quickly figures out I'm injured, his eyes darting off as he thinks of a plan. "Okay, everyone else climbs up and we'll try pulling the rope through with Veda on it!" 

    "Steve, you should go," I turn to him, still rubbing the soreness of my arm as I look down at his bandages. He looks at me, his eyes soft before nodding and pulling himself up. He too falls through the hall, landing on the mattress soon followed by Nancy. 

    "Are you going to be okay, V?" Eddie mutters, quiet enough that only I can hear. Not that the others could hear from the other dimension.

    "I'll be right behind you. Get up there, Muffin," I nod, reassuring him. 

    Eddie then climbs onto the rope, pulling himself up and up until he's through the opening and landing flat on his back on his stained mattress. He sits up, grinning as he speaks before Dustin grabs his hand and helps him up. 

    I ready myself on the rope, wrapping the material around my thighs and my good arm to secure myself as best as I can. Dustin and Eddie stand on the other side, looking at me as they grip their side of the rope. I nod, telling them I'm ready before they start pulling on the rope. My feet leave the ground, my good bicep burning at the strength being used to keep me from falling off of the rope.

    The light from the opening gets closer, the yellow tinge hitting my face. I sigh, feeling escape so close I could reach out and touch it. My head passes through the hole, my hair lifting as if I'm floating before I finally pass through, my body falling.

    Except, I don't hit the mattress below and I don't see the others around me. Instead, I keep falling through a black void, nothing in my sight as I fall deeper and deeper inside. 

    It feels like forever before my feet hit solid ground, my eyes clenched shut as I contemplate whether I should even open them. It has to be Vecna, he's the only thing that makes sense. 

    But why? This is different to the other times I've been pulled in. This feels real while the other times only ever felt like a dream state. 

     Deciding to open my eyes, I slowly peel them apart, my eyes taking in the entryway of a house, warm and normal. Turning behind me, I spy a Door with a rose on it, something that feels familiar. 

    "Hello?" I call out despite the only possible person being able to hear me is Vecna. I step forward, pushing through the house slowly while looking into every room. 

    "You're almost ready, Veda," I hear the bone-chilling voice of that monster echo around me. I clench my jaw, feeling anger consume me as I turn my head to the attic. Something in me pulls me towards that area, like a sense I've developed since this all began. I follow my internal lead, reaching the attic and entering. Unlike the rest of the home, the attic is run down and cold, with white flecks floating everywhere as if I'm in the upside down.

    I've been in this attic before, right before Patrick died. Except, this time, Vecna is nowhere to be seen. 

    "I've been waiting a long time for you," His voice filters through once more. The words send a chill down my spine, something primal telling me to run away as fast as I possibly can. But here, there's no running. 

    "What are you talking about?" I shout, my bones aching for more information. It feels like the answers are always in my peripheral vision, just out of reach. 

    "You suppress your abilities on substances that will never fulfil you. You were intended for much greater things, Veda. You've already started revealing yourself to me," He speaks ominously. My abilities? I don't have any abilities. Certainly not any I 'suppress' with my drug use, the only thing that it suppresses is my nightmares. 

    "I don't understand!" I yell, my throat aching. I feel so frustrated, so lost and confused and I wish he could just give me straight answers. "I have the same signs as everyone else you've killed but you aren't taking me! You just play games with me by pulling me into these weird visions!"

    "I do not play games," He dead-pans, his voice serious and calm only making me more frustrated, "And I do not show you anything. These visions are not constructed by me,"

    I furrow my eyebrows, looking down at my hands and feet as a headache begins to form. "You're lying,"

    "I gain nothing by lying, only distrust," 

    "If you're not doing it, then..." I trail off, bringing my hands up in front of my face, the limbs shaking. There's only one other person present in these visions besides Vecna. One person who has gotten the most use and information from them, even information Vecna wasn't ready to share. "How?"

    "Very clever, Veda," I can almost hear the grin in his voice.

    "No," I whisper before dropping my hands in anger and spinning around the room. I can't be brining myself into these visions, that makes no sense. "No! That's impossible. I'm not like Eleven or you-" 

    "You are something different," His voice cuts me off "Something alike but different. Something not made but born... like me,"

    At the end of his sentence, a seething pain causes me to yell out, doubling over and gripping my forehead in pain. I yell as images are forced into my head, visions of a little boy murdering his sister and mother the same way Vecna does and framing his father. Images of a blonde man covered in blood while fighting a younger Eleven before she beats him, opening a gate to the upside down and sending him through. Multiple bolts of lighting then strike him, his skin burns and welts, his clothes and hair turning to shreds until he looks just like the monster terrorising us now. 

    He shows me everything, every detail of his life and story up until now. My knees hit the ground, my body curls in pain as I hold my head. The pain fades and I slowly let go, feeling a liquid pour from my nostrils and eyes. I move my fingers to the liquid, pulling back to see a crimson red covering my skin. 

    "Why are you showing me this?" I wheeze weakly, feeling like my body is drained of its life force. 

    "Because you need to know everything."