veda henderson

          The back of Nancy's head sways slightly due to how fast she's walking. She strides forward without so much as slowing for a second. Robin and I are close behind her, the three of us in a diamond formation as Eddie and Steve trail behind, talking amongst themselves.

    Nancy leads us through the woods, insisting it's a shortcut to her house.

    "Do you think there was a road we could have taken instead? Or something less creepy?" Robin asks me, looking around the dark woods with fear. We both focus on our steps considering it's hard to distinguish what's a vine connected to the hive mind and what's a simple tree branch. 

    "I don't know. I think Nancy just likes the adventure," I comment, turning to the girl in front. "She doesn't live that far from me so, shouldn't be that much longer,"

    "You look so calm about all of this it's really freaking me out," Robin laughs bitterly, looking down at her feet as she walks. 

    "Calm? Please, I'm the furthest thing from it. Getting dragged down, I thought for sure that was the end. And now, I'm not even one hundred per cent sure that those bats aren't going to get the last laugh," I explain, gesturing to my sore arm. The light from Steve's torch briefly passes through my feet every few seconds, giving me something to help guide my way. "Thank you, by the way, for jumping in. I know it was more for Steve but... still,"

    "Hey, that dive was just as much for you as it was for that dweeb," Robin tells, jolting her shoulder back to gesture to Steve behind us. "If I'm being totally honest, I was shit scared. But, Eddie made it look easy. He dove in before Nancy. We barely even registered what happened. Which is crazy because he seems like a total scardey-cat and I didn't even realise you guys were close like that but, I swear I blinked and he was, like, gone,"

    "Eddie jumped in after me?" I repeat, sneaking a glance over my shoulder at the two males behind us. 

    "Unless he was chasing after Steve, then, yeah," Robin clarifies. I turn back to her, a smile on my face from the imagery. 

    "I agree, that's very unlike him," I admit. 

    "People do crazy things all the time when it counts. Even if it goes against who they are," Robin shrugs, tucking her hands into her jeans pockets. 

    Just as I open my mouth to reply, another tremble causes me to tumble and fall against a tree. I brace myself against the bark, ignoring the pain in my arm as I fight to stay on my feet and avoid the hive mind. Robin begins to ramble in a panic, talking about how much she hates earthquakes. 

    Nancy is holding on to a tree just in front of me, steadying herself. Suddenly, she pushes off the tree and takes off running ahead. 

    "Nancy!" Robin and I yell in unison. 

    The trembling dies down enough for Robin and I to get stable on our feet and take off after her. I can hear my breaths in my ears as I focus on my footwork, jumping over every spec of vine under me without slowing down my pace.

    "Nancy!" Robin calls again, rounding the corner to where Nancy now stands, staring out at the landscape in front of her. 

    I pause, cursing this day for all the running I've had to do on an empty stomach as well as lack of water or my usual sustenance of drugs. 

    All four of us pull up next to Nancy, sticking close together as we look out at the destruction in front of us. Metal structures lay crumbles on the ground as if a giant had swiped them off of their feet. Ahead of the fallen metal, the Wheeler house sits in the distance, looking decayed.

    "Come on," Nancy says, walking ahead.

    Eddie catches my eye, looking at me with concern and slight fear. I nod at him, silently letting him know that it's okay. That seems to be enough for him because, before I know it, we're both following after the group. 

    Soon enough, we get to the front door of the duplicate Wheeler house. This house seems more overrun than mine was. Vines cover almost the entire house. Nancy opens the door first, slowly pushing it open as if she's expecting a jump scare on the other side. 

    We all walk in behind her, Steve stepping away and shining his flashlight all around the house.

    "It might be time to get a maid, Wheeler," Robin comments sarcastically. 

    "C'mon, I don't want to stay here longer than we have to," Nancy mumbles, turning to the staircase and hastily climbing up. Steve and Robin run up right after her, Eddie soon joining them with me behind him. I get to the top of the stairs, about to follow the others around the corner when I hear a noise behind me.

    The noise sounds familiar, like a word on the tip of my tongue that I can't quite read. I turn, inspecting the downstairs of the house for a sign of anything interesting. I listen closely, the noise sounds muffled like someone is speaking with their head underwater. 

    The closer I listen, the more it sounds like a voice and the more that voice sounds like my brother. 

    "Dustin?" I whisper out loud. The noise stops for merely a second before continuing again. Almost as if he heard my voice but disregarded it and continued his conversation. I slowly step down the staircase, looking around the dark house. "Dustin?"

    I get to the bottom of the staircase, turning to head towards the kitchen where the noise seems to be coming from. I feel my heart pick up as I listen more and more to the voice. There's no doubt that it's Dustin speaking somewhere close but not here. Almost like if I reach my hand out I can touch his shoulder.

    "Dustin!" I shout, turning around in my spot, looking for any sign of him. "Hello? Dustin!"

    The thumping sound of feet hitting the stairs alerts me, but I don't give the new members of the room my attention as I continue scanning the room for any sign of my brother. 

    "Maybe she does have rabies," I hear Robin whisper.

    I spin around, coming face to face with the other four young adults in the room. I step towards them, my eyes wide in panic. "He's here. I can hear Dustin, that little twerp. It sounds crazy but he's somewhere close--just, listen... listen,"

    Everyone is quiet, the four of them staring at me with concern for my sanity. Eddie looks at the group before looking back at me, his face sunken, "Uh, Veda, I-"

    "No, just. Trust me. Dustin!" I shout my brother's name, turning away from the group and listening for his voice. 

    It takes a few more seconds before Dustin's voice filters back through the air, muffled enough that I can't make out any distinct words or phrases, but clear enough that I can make out his exact voice. 

    Soon, everyone else is looking around the room, calling out Dustin's name as loud as they can. Eddie moves to the window, pulling the curtain out of the way and checking behind it. 

    "Dusty-bun," I mutter in a sing-song tone, dropping to one knee to look under one of the tables in the wheeler house. The only thing under the table is dust and debris. I sigh, standing back up to my feet. "There's gotta be something here,"

    "Either this kid can't hear us or he's being a total douchebag," Steve agrees, still turning his flashlight around the room in hope. 

    "Will found a way, didn't he?" I brainstorm, placing my hands on my hips and looking around. Nancy and Steve turn to me, memories of that horrible time of uncertainty entering their minds. "I wasn't really there but I remember Joyce and Dustin saying something about Will communicating with them from the upside down,"

    "He found a way to speak to Joyce through the lights," Nancy clarifies, a small smile of triumph consuming her face. Nancy doesn't waste a second before moving over to the lamp on the other side of the room, attempting to flick it on. The object doesn't change, no light illuminates from it.

    "Try the switch," Steve comments, pointing at the room light switch on the wall. Nancy moves to it and flicks only to again be met by disappointment. 

    I look up, the dim room light sits almost directly above my head. A light red light surrounds the centrepiece of the room. I furrow my eyebrows and tilt my head, stepping closer to the light to better inspect its aura. 

    "Guys?" I gain their attention. The group turn to me, their heads craning to look up at the magical red mist around the chandelier. "Let me know if I'm imagining things,"

    "Definitely not imagining things, Little Lady," Eddie replies, stepping beside me to look up at the scene. 

    As everyone else steps closer to me and the light, I reach my hand up to the magical feature, my fingertips becoming consumed by the glow. The sparkles glow around my skin, leaving a trail of where I touched. It looks like pixie dust the way it trails sparkles from my hand, the others watching in awe.

    I pull my hand from the light, holding it to my chest as I turn to my right, Eddie's soft brown eyes meeting mine in amazement. Slowly and hesitantly, everyone reaches one hand up to the feature, sparkles and magic glowing around us all. 

    "It... tickles," Steve comments, his tone sounding more like a question than a clear statement. 

    "It kinda feels good," Robin adds. Eddie laughs at her, before looking down at me and quipping his eyebrows up as if to make clear the slight sexual innuendo. 

    Very mature, Munson.

    "Makes me feel like kinda like the X-men," I smile, ignoring the way I just admitted to something nerdy. 

    I've tried hard enough to ignore Dustin and his DND talk for the past few years, not to mention his ramblings about Star Wars and how my name almost appears in 'Darth Vader'. As much as I call him annoying and brush him off, his excitement and obsessions always entertained me. I couldn't help but be curious about his nerd shit and steal his comics to read. I only ever read two of them, but they weren't bad. 

    "Does anyone know morse code?" Nancy asks. 

    "No," Eddie replied along with everyone else "Wait, does SOS count?"

    "I know how to ask for acid tabs but, I don't think Dustin will appreciate that," I mumble to myself, noting the weird looks the others send me. "What?"

    "How do you know that in Morse code?" Robin raises an eyebrow.

    "Sometimes, you have to be discreet," I shrug. 

    "SOS will be fine," Nancy dismisses Robin and I as we stifle a laugh, turning to Eddie and waiting for him to start his magic. I look at him over my shoulder as he reaches up and rhythmically taps the light glow. 

    The sparkles reflect off his hands as he darts his fingertips in and out of the glow. The sparks illuminate my face, a smile forming there as he continues. 

    "It's working," Robin whispers. 

     Almost as if he were right next to me, I could have sworn I heard Dustin speak.