veda henderson

          Words can't accurately describe the way I feel. I feel like a dead girl walking as if my mind has shut off and I'm left drooling in front of a window, watching myself do nothing. That's three people now I've seen be murdered horrifically, their bodies discarded as if their lives had no meaning. Each time, I come so close to stopping him or at least delaying him enough. I guess when it came to Max, I did distract Vecna enough to give her time. 

    This 'gift' is torturous. Nothing I do makes an impact. He's more powerful than I thought. That scares me. 

     But, I do know one crucial bit of information, something that may aid us in our fight against him. 

    001. 

    "Hey, Vey," Eddie's voice pulls me out of my thoughts. I look up from the ground just as he crouches down against a massive boulder. I hum my reply, moving to sit next to him and rest my tired legs. He looks at me with concern flooding his brown eyes, his lost expression suggesting he doesn't know how to help or what to say, "You feeling okay?"

    "Do you feel okay?" I ask sarcastically, pulling at the threads on the cuff of my hoodie. 

    "I know, dumb question. But, you're really freaking me out. You look like a ghost," He replies, lifting his hand to press the back of it to my forehead. I stop him, pushing his hand away before he can accurately check my temperature. 

    "I need to talk to Dustin," I mumble, quickly changing the subject. I grab the walkie-talkie from his hands, the one we stole from the construction site earlier looks different to the one Dustin gave him. I sure hope this one has the same range. 

   I lift the talkie to my lips, licking the chapped skin before pressing the button. "Dustin? Can you hear me?"

    Within seconds, I hear static on the other end followed by the sound of my brother's voice. "Veda? Oh my god, are you okay? Holy shit, where's Eddie,"

    "He's with me, totally freaking out," I glance at the long-haired boy next to me, his eyes wide as he chews on the skin of his finger. 

    "Where are you guys?"

    I look at Eddie, holding the walkie-talkie out for him to take from me. Truth is, I was zoned out most of the walk here so I have no clue where we're currently situated, only that it's under a giant rock.

    "Skull rock. You know it?" Eddie answers. 

    "Yeah that's near-" His voice becomes muffled as Steve joins in, the group talking amongst themselves before Dustin cuts back in. "Yeah, we're coming. Just, hang tight,"

    Eddie sighs and lowers the walkie-talkie, leaning his head back against the rock. I tuck my arms into myself, trying to warm myself up from the chilly swim the night before. My head feels heavier, so I take the chance to drop it against his shoulder, tucking the top of my head into the corner of his neck. Exhaustion fights to take control, but now is not the time to fall over into a heap. 

    "I haven't slept in... I don't know how long," I admit, looking down at the leaves and grass at our feet. 

    "You and me both," He laughs bitterly.

    "Honestly, I think the last time was back at the boat house," I say, feeling him move until his chin is on top of my head. 

    "What a mighty kingdom that was," He agrees. 

    We fall into silence, the calmness tugging on my eyelids until they feel like they weigh tons. I can't sleep, not now. Who knows what Jason has told the police, there could very well be a manhunt for Eddie and possibly even me on the way here right now. 

    "I gotta get up," I announce, jumping up to a stand in front of Eddie. "If I don't get up, I'm going to fall asleep and that is not helpful right now,"

    "Okay," Eddie nods cautiously, pushing on the rock until he too is standing. "Any ideas?"

    "Only one," I admit, reaching into the front pocket of my jeans for my little bag. To my surprise, the pocket is now empty. There's nothing inside but some lint. "Fuck. I must have lost it in the lake,"

    "Well, you're out of luck. That was all I had on me," He tells me, his face bunching up as if he's scared of my reaction.

    I breathe out, trying to calm my racing heart before I have a panic attack over something stupid. I can go without them for a little while. "Okay, that's fine,"

    "Really? You might wanna tell your face that because-"

    "No, really. It's fine. We both know the drugs just affect my rationality and with the tattoo I found on Vecna amongst other things, I need to be focused," I convince myself, pacing back and forth, the leaves crunching underneath my Converse. "I knew I was going to run out eventually. This is good,"

    "Oh, I'm thoroughly convinced," He responds sarcastically. 

    "That's great because I'm not. I can't do this shit! Of course, Vecna would pick the most screwed-up bulb in the bunch. There's all this pressure on me," I ramble, plucking at the loose threads of my hoodie. 

    "Hey," He breaks through my rambling, stepping forward with his hands on my shoulders firmly. "You don't need that shit, Vey. You, Little Lady, are metal as hell without it,"

    "You don't know me without it. You could only like the high version of me and then what?" I defend, shrugging his hands off of my shoulders and turning away from him. 

    I spy a boulder close to us and decide to go over to it, climbing it to the top to sit down with Eddie following me. 

    He stays silent for a while, looking down at his ring-covered fingers and he thinks to himself. "It was bullshit, y'know,"

    "What?" I ask confused.

    "The bag I gave you. It was all placebo bullshit. Nothing stronger than an Advil," He admits, looking up to the sky as if he were talking to the clouds instead of me. 

    "You gave me fake stuff?" I gape, not knowing how to feel about his sudden confession. 

    "Only that one time. And look, you were completely fine without it! You actually discovered more on your own than with that shit in you," He tosses a stick, emphasising his point. I turn away from him, staring out at the array of trees and leaves in front of me. 

    "I don't know if I should be mad or not," I admit. Truthfully, I know I'm not mad at him, not even slightly. I just don't know how to feel about the fact that I've been sober for a while now, probably the longest I've been since first beginning my addiction.

    "I like you better when you're you," He replies. I turn back to him, fighting back the tears that want to well up in my eyes. I've spent years dependent on something for my sanity, only to be improved without it. 

    "You're a sneaky bastard, Muffin. I underestimated you," I smile, waving a finger up at him and watching as he laughs and shakes his head. 

    "Oh, Boom!" The sound of a distant voice catches our attention, both of us flinching and turning to where the noise came from. Steve emerges from the bushes, pushing the branches out of his way as he continues to speak. "Bada bing, Bada Boom. There she is, Henderson. Skull Rock,"

    He steps out of the bushes and into the clearing, my brother slowly pushing through the same path behind him. "In your face man. In your stupid, cocky little face,"

    Neither of them notices us on the rock as they push through the clearing, observing the rock we were previously seated at. 

    "Doesn't make any sense," My brother thinks out loud, looking at the rock for any clues.

    "Yeah, yeah. Even with it staring you right in the face, you can't admit it. You just can't admit that you're wrong, you little butthead," Steve argues with him, both of them gazing out onto the skull-shaped rock. 

    I turn to Eddie as he moves. He sends me a smile before dropping down from the rock and onto the crunchy leaves below us. Both Steve and Dustin turn around, coming face to face with Eddie before looking up at me. I simply smile and wave at them.

    "Jesus, we thought you were a goner," Dustin sighs in relief, pulling Eddie into a hug while I climb down the rock. I fall into formation beside Eddie just as Dustin pulls back. He almost immediately turns to me and pulls me tightly into a hug. 

    "Aw, what a softy you are, Dusty-Bun," I coo, returning his hug nonetheless. He pulls back from the sibling embrace and looks up at me. "On a scale of 1-100 how bad do you think Mum is freaking out right now?"

    "Considering you were just named on the news as a kidnapping victim by a suspect of multiple murders? Probably a decent 200," He winces, stepping back to scan both Eddie and I from head to toe. 

    "Well, that's amazing news," I comment sarcastically, pushing past my brother to move towards Skull Rock just as Nancy, Robin, Lucas and Max also enter the clearing. 

----------

          "When we got to the shore, we tried calling you guys but, uh..." Eddie pauses, ripping the lid from the water bottle and downing a mouthful before passing it over to me. I gladly take the container from him and drink, the cold liquid finally soothing my dry throat. "My walkie was busted man. Drenched. So uh, I did the thing that I do now apparently. I ran. Took Veda with me,"

    "Do you know what time this was? The attack?" Nancy questions. 

    I watch Dustin as he paces around, eyeing his compass with an annoyed and confused expression while Eddie fumbles with his watch behind me, giving Nancy the time of the attack.

    The group talk in the background about how their flashlights shattered at the same time as the attack. I have a hard time engaging with the conversation considering I can't peel my eyes away from Dustin. He's acting stranger than usual. 

    "That surge of energy was Vecna attacking Patrick," Nancy's voice brings me back to the conversation at hand. I hand the water back to Eddie and swallow hard.

    It may sound stupid, But I'm not sure if I should tell the others about the tattoo yet. I'm not sure what it means and, if anything, It may just scare everyone. Without finding a way to get to him in the first place, the tattoo doesn't even come close to being important. Plus, as selfish as it is, it gives me leverage over Dustin. He knows something, something important about me and my connection to Vecna. From the looks of it, he doesn't plan on giving me any information willingly. I'll tell Dustin soon when I can get him alone and force a confession out of him. 

    "Well, we're one step closer. We know how Vecan attacks," Robin announces, failing to sound optimistic. 

    "And where he attacks from," Lucas chimes in.

    "So, now we just need to sneak into his lair in the upside down and drive a stake through his heart," Max speaks.

    The group then starts arguing about different ways to kill Vecna, each more extreme than the last. 

    "Well, we can't do any of that until we find a way into the upside down," Nancy dismisses everyone with a sigh.

    "I may know a way in," I declare, watching as everyone's eyes snap to me instantly.

    "How?" Nancy questions me. 

    "Boom!" Dustin suddenly yells so loud his voice echoes off of the trees, startling all of us. Dustin turns to face the group and stares Steve down while pointing at him. "Bada... Bada... Boom,"

    "Dustin, what the hell is wrong with you?" I ask.

    "I was right," He declares, still glaring at Steve with a cocky grin. I roll my eyes as he continues. "Skull rock was north!"

    "Seriously? You're serious?" Steve asks, crossing his arms like an angry mother. Dustin hums in agreement, still smiling. Steve then untucks his hands and points up to the rock over us. "This is Skull Rock, okay? You're totally, absolutely, 100% wrong,"

    "Yes and no," Dustin grins like a fool only making Steve grab his face in annoyance. I laugh at my brother's stupid grin, knowing he has a point but is making a fool of himself in the meantime, "This compass worked correctly when we left the Wheelers. It was correct when we got in the car on Kerley but it started to slip the further east we went. Now, it's way off. When I was leading us here, I wasn't wrong. The compass was,"

    "Dustin, c'mon. Just admit that you're wrong," I laugh.

    "Yeah, dude, you're using faulty equipment. You're still wrong," Steve agrees, holding his hands out as if he were resisting the urge to strangle himself or my brother.

    "Except it isn't faulty," Dustin continues, holding his pointer finger up in the air. "Lucas, do you remember what can affect a compass?"

    "An electromagnetic field," The boy replies. 

    "Yep!" Dustin exclaims, looking towards all of us who share the same confused expression, "In the presence of a stronger electromagnetic field, the needle will deflect towards that power. So, either there's some super big magnet around here, or..." 

    "There's a gate," Lucas responds with a large grin on his face.

    "Let me see that," I demand, stepping over to my brother and taking the compass from his hand. I study the needle for a second, trying to line up the direction with the map of Hawkins I've been studying recently. 

     As I study the needle and line it up with the map in my head, Dustin and the gang ramble on about a 'snack-sized gate'. It doesn't take me long to put the pieces together. 

    "That's pointed towards Lover's Lake," I think out loud, looking up from the compass and toward Eddie. He notices what I'm saying almost immediately and pushes himself up from his crouching position.

    "What does that mean?" Nancy questions further.

    "I think I went through the gate. When Patrick disappeared in the water, I was in the water and I fell through to this run-down house. I saw Vecna there. He saw me too and threw me out like he didn't want me to see," I explain, watching as Dustin's jaw almost dropped, looking around at the faces of each group member. 

    "That would have been helpful information, V," Dustin comments snarkily, snatching the compass from me before turning and following the needle. 

    "Hey, where are you going?" I call after him. 

    "Eddie's a wanted man we can't just go hiking through the woods!" Steve adds.

    "Eddie's fine," I dismiss Steve, tugging the mentioned wanted criminal by the wrist until he falls in step next to me. "Let's go!"