I See You (Please See Me): Chapter 5

A Stranger Things Fanfic

Trigger warning: mentions of abuse, violence, and eating disorders

To Chrissy’s surprise, Nancy was not the only one who stayed. Sinclair, who later introduced himself as Lucas, studied the bookshelf in the middle of the living room, while Max sat in the chair beside Chrissy with pens stolen from his backpack to write on Chrissy’s cast. Nancy sat across the room, scribbling in a notebook she had pulled from her pocket.

“Can I read this?” Lucas asked, pulling out a dusty book.

“Sure. Read whatever you like.” Chrissy couldn’t remember the last time anyone had touched any of those books, except her mother lightly running a duster over them.

“I’m getting hungry,” Nancy said, glancing at her watch. “Would you like me to fix you anything, Chrissy?”

Chrissy flushed. “I’m not completely useless.”

Nancy shook her head. “That’s not what I meant. I just wanted to offer in case it was hard to fix food without two hands.”

“I’m not very hungry.” Nancy watched her for a moment with her lips pursed, but nodded.

A strange noise came from Lucas’s backpack, and he dropped the book and ran over, digging out a walkie-talkie.

“Sinclair, you there?”

“I’m here, Steve. What’s going on?”

“There’s been a second victim. I don’t know who yet, but Eddie and Dustin saw him die, and now they could very well be the top suspects.” Nancy let out a rather unladylike curse.

“I know where they are, though,” Steve continued, “so as soon as Robin and I can sneak out of here, we’ll meet you over near Mirkwood–”

Lucas smirked. “You called it Mirkwood!”

“Only cause you kids won’t let me hear the end of it when I don’t. Anyway, we’ll meet there and find Dustin and Eddie. Also Dustin says we’ve got a new gate open, and he can find it. Have you guys gotten in touch with Will and El?”

“Not yet,” Lucas admitted. “I’ve tried calling a few more times, but no one’s answering, not even Joyce.”

Nancy fidgeted with her pencil, and Chrissy remembered she was dating the older Byers boy (that had caused quite the scandal at school), and that her little brother was staying with them. No doubt she was worried.

Nancy held out her hand, and Lucas handed her the walkie-talkie. “We’ll run out to get some lunch, then we’ll head over to Mirkwood. See you soon.” She shoved in the antenna, and handed the walkie-talkie back to Lucas, who tucked it in his backpack.

“One of us needs to stay here with Chrissy,” Max pointed out.

Chrissy shook her head and stood up. “No, I’m coming too.”

Nancy folded her arms and pursed her lips. “Are you sure? It could be dangerous.”

“I’m sure.”

“Alright. Should you tell your brother you’re leaving?”

Chrissy’s eyes widened. “Oh, right!” She ran upstairs to tell him and grabbed the best shoes she had for hiking. She was back down in a moment. “Okay, I’m ready.”

They stopped at a gas station for snacks first. It was hardly a balanced meal, but Nancy was insistent that they eat something before trekking through the woods. She didn’t ask if Chrissy wanted anything, just tossed her a handful of granola bars and a bag of chips.

“Eat up.” Her tone wasn’t harsh, just firm, but Chrissy didn’t think she could say no. She ate one granola bar but didn’t touch the chips, and tried to ignore the strange look Max was giving her.

“We’re here,” Nancy announced, then turned to Lucas. “Right? This is Mirkwood?”

“Yep.” Chrissy wasn’t sure how they could tell. It looked exactly like every other stretch of woods they had passed on the way here. Nancy raised one eyebrow when she caught sight of all the food left on Chrissy’s lap, and Chrissy shifted in her seat, feeling like the other girl could read her mind.

Another car pulled up as they hopped out, and Steve and Robin appeared. “Let’s go,” Steve called, pointing ahead. He started walking, and Max and Lucas fell in line behind him, Max dragging Chrissy with her. Nancy and Robin automatically fell in at the end of the line as though they had done this a million times before. They probably had. Chrissy tugged at the headphones around her neck. She kept the music on, but she wanted to be able to hear everyone around her.

“Where are we going?” Lucas asked, running to catch up with Steve.

“Skull Rock. That’s where they’re hiding out.” Chrissy had never been there herself, but some of Jason’s friends had, so she knew what they were talking about.

Someone put a hand on her shoulder, and she whirled around. “Sorry.” Nancy pulled her hand away. “I didn’t mean to startle you. I just wanted to check on you.”

“I’m fine.”

It didn’t take long for them to find Dustin and Eddie sitting under a large boulder. Chrissy turned her head to the side. It sort of looked like a face. A weird, misshapen one.

Eddie stood up and pointed at her. “I thought you were supposed to be resting.”

She pulled her good arm tight across her chest, resting the cast on top of it. “I wanted to come.” Eddie frowned, but said nothing.

“We brought you food,” Nancy said, handing Dustin a large bag of snacks from the gas station. Dustin and Eddie tore into them eagerly.

“So what happened?” Robin asked as she caught up.

Eddie rubbed his hands together, then shoved them in his pockets. “How much did Harrington tell you?”

“He said there was another victim, and you’re probably both suspects for the murder.”

Eddie nodded slowly. “It was that newspaper kid that always follows you around, Wheeler. Started running out of the school like he was spooked.” He pulled his hands out of his pockets and twisted his rings, avoiding everyone’s gazes. “We ran after him, and he started floating in the air. I tried to get to the van to turn on some music, but–but I was too late. Both arms and legs snapped, and–” he rubbed one hand on his forehead. “His eyes. They, uh, they looked like something in his head just sucked them in. I don’t–” He swallowed. “He fell, Ms. Atwood came out and screamed, then ran inside, probably to call the police, and we–we ran.” He knotted his hands. “We just ran.”

“Fred,” Nancy whispered, and Chrissy saw her face was white. Steve laid his hand on her shoulder.

“What?” Eddie asked.

“That was his name,” she choked. “Fred.”

“Oh.” Eddie started pacing.

Dustin leapt up. “But there is good news. There’s a gate, so we can go through, kick Vecna’s butt, and save Chrissy and anyone else he might be targeting.”

Nancy shook her head, taking a deep breath and wiping away a couple tears. “We’re not doing that, not yet.”

“But–”

“No, we need more information. First of all, what does Vecna want? And second, why Chrissy? Why Fred? We don’t want to walk into a trap, not again, and especially not without El. Besides, we don’t have any way to find him once we’re there.”

“But–”

Nancy raised her hand and gave him a sharp look that immediately shut him up. “The gate will still be there tomorrow. We can go later.”

Steve nodded. “Nancy’s right. We need more information.”

“Has–has Fred been acting strange at all?” Robin asked tentatively.

Nancy shrugged. “I mean, I guess he was acting a little nervous, but he always acts that way.”

Robin turned to Eddie. “You said he acted like he was scared?”

“Ran like his life depended on it,” Dustin said. “But we didn’t see anything near him. No Mindflayer, Demodogs, nothing.”

“But,” Robin began slowly, “Chrissy saw visions in her trance, right? And serial killers stalk their prey.”

Eddie winced at the question, then turned to look at Chrissy, understanding dawning. “You thought you were losing your mind.”

“What was that?” Steve asked.

Chrissy tugged on her jacket. “I asked Eddie for drugs yesterday.” She couldn’t look at them. “I–I had been seeing things. I thought I was imagining it.”

Max studied her. “You don’t–you don’t have to answer this if you don’t want to, but was that why you were seeing Ms. Kelley?” Chrissy nodded, pulling into her jacket. Max turned to Nancy. “Was Fred seeing Ms. Kelley?”

Nancy shrugged. “He might have been.”

“If we can find Ms. Kelley’s files, we might be able to figure out the next victim before Vecna attacks,” Max suggested.

“There’s something else,” Eddie said quietly, still pacing and kicking up dirt with the toe of his shoe. “Something that’s been bugging me since I saw–Fred.” He stopped pacing and ran a hand through his hair. “How many of you have heard of Victor Creel?” Everyone stared at him curiously. He stared back. “Seriously? No one?” They shook their heads, and he muttered something about annoying uncles and serial killers instead of boogie men.

“He used to live here, in Hawkins,” Eddie explained, starting to pace again. “His family was killed, and their eyes–” he swallowed. “Their eyes disappeared. The police thought he did it, of course. Thought he’d cut out their eyes and hid them away or something, but–but when I saw that kid today–” Eddie shook his head. “He looked exactly like the stories Wayne used to tell me about the Creel family.”

“You think this may not be the first time Vecna has attacked?” Lucas asked.

Eddie shrugged. “I don’t know. I just–I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it.”

“Is Victor Creel still alive?” Nancy asked.

Eddie laughed dully. “Oh, yeah. Locked up in Pennhurst Asylum, but still alive.”

Nancy folded her arms. “I want to talk to him.”

“Listen,” Eddie said quickly, “I don’t know that Creel had anything to do with this. It’s–it’s just an idea.”

Nancy nodded. “That’s fine. We should follow every lead we’ve got. For now, we’ll just . . . start in the library. See if we find anything to connect him to Vecna. Do you happen to know when these murders were?”

Eddie scrunched up his face. “Uh, 1958? 59? Something like that.”

“Okay, that’s a good start.”

Steve nodded. “Okay, you and I can head to the library, Robin can take Lucas, Max, and Chrissy to find Ms. Kelley’s files, and Eddie and Dustin will stay here, out of trouble, until we can meet up with them again.”

“Um,” Robin began, raising her hand like she was in class. “Robin isn’t taking the kids anywhere, because Robin can’t drive.”

“Why can’t you drive?” Steve asked.

“Becasue I’m poor!”

Steve tured to Chrissy, who shook her head and held up her cast.

“I can drive,” Max suggested.

“Oh, no, not again.”

“I have an easy solution,” Robin said. “I go with Nancy, and you take the kids. And Chrissy.”

Nancy looked at her a moment, then glanced back at Steve, a small smirk on her face, just daring him to argue. “That sounds great.” She turned around and started walking back.

“Nance, hey, Nance!” Steve called. “You don’t know the way back!” She didn’t stop, and he ran to catch up with her.

“Whelp, we better hurry so we’re not left behind,” Robin said, ushering everyone ahead of her.

“Don’t worry,” Lucas told Dustin and Eddie. “We’ll be back soon, and we’ll find a way to clear your names.”

“Thanks,” Dustin said with a grin.

Lucas and Max walked away, but Chrissy hesitated, feeling guilty for leaving them behind.

“Chrissy!” Robin called. “Hurry up!”

She opened her mouth to say something to the two boys, but couldn’t think of anything. Eddie jerked his chin toward Robin. “Go. Don’t want them to leave without you.” She slammed her mouth shut and ran off.

Steve was not happy about being left as the babysitter. Every time he complained, Chrissy shrank back in her seat. She was nearly his age, but it didn’t feel like it. She was completely out of her depth in this whole situation, and her broken arm only made her more useless, so when they arrived at Ms. Kelley’s house, she volunteered to go in.

“Are you sure?” Max asked. “I was planning to go.”

“I’m sure,” Chrissy said quietly. “I want to help. Besides, I can talk about the–the things I saw last night. I won’t talk about floating or breaking my arm, but–but I can tell her what I saw.”

“Are you sure?” Max repeated. “I know it’s . . . hard for you to talk about.”

“I can do it. Really.”

And so she found herself knocking on Ms. Kelley’s door, asking to talk about some more visions.

“I–I had a really bad one last night,” she explained. “I thought I was home. My mom–she started yelling at me and telling me to open the door. Then–then she turned into some kind of monster, and it chased me through the house, except, everything in the house was . . . strange.”

“What kind of strange?” Ms. Kelley asked.

“It–it was dark, and the lights were flickering, and the food on the dining room table was all spoiled and covered in bugs.”

“The food was bad?” Ms. Kelley raised one eyebrow significanly. “Do you think there’s any particular reason for that?” Chrissy twisted the end of her ponytail around her finger, wishing she hadn’t mentioned that part.

She shrugged. “I don’t know. It just all scared me.” She didn’t have to act nervous. Her leg wouldn’t stop shaking, and she understood now why Eddie was always playing with his rings. “May I–may I use the bathroom?”

Ms. Kelley smiled. “Up the stairs, to the left.”

“Thank you.” She ran upstairs, into the kitchen, and glanced around. There. A clear bowl with a key ring in it. She pulled it out, saw it was labeled “office”, and stuffed it in her jacket pocket. She felt bad about stealing them (and lying), but they needed those keys. They needed to know who Vecna would target next so they could help. She ran back down the stairs and did her best to hurry the session along.

When they got to the school, Steve and Max broke in surprisingly quickly. Lucas explained that they had done this a few times before. At this point, Chrissy would have believed anything.

Robin radioed as they walked in. “Lucas, do you copy?”

“Yeah, I copy,” he whispered.

“Victor Creel’s family was definitely killed by Vecna, though Creel thought it was a demon of some sort and tried to have it exorcized. Eddie was right.”

“Wow, that’s crazy,” Lucas said. “Well, good news for us, I guess. But we’re in the school right now trying to find Ms. Kelley’s files. Come meet us here, and we can talk everything over.”

“Wait, you’re doing what?”

“Come here, and we can explain everything,” he hissed. “I can’t really talk right now.”

Max unlocked Ms. Kelley’s office and searched through her filing cabinet. She pulled out a file. “Yep. She was seeing Fred too.” She dropped it on the table and flipped it open. Lucas, Steve, and Chrissy stood behind her, reading over her shoulder. She flipped through a couple pages on the left side, and Chrissy’s eye caught on a list of symptoms that looked very familiar.

Severe headaches, nosebleeds, constant nightmares, past trauma.

Trauma. That was a word Ms. Kelley was always careful not to use in front of Chrissy, but she had seen her write it several times during their sessions. She had never worked up the courage to explain that no, she did not have trauma. Trauma was when someone hurt you, or when you lost someone you loved, or when you got so hurt you almost died. She had a good life, a good family, a good boyfriend, and a good plan for her future.

She pushed the thoughts aside.

“There.” She pointed to the list. Steve and Lucas turned to look at her, and she shrank back. “She wrote all those things about me too.” She hoped they wouldn’t ask. She didn’t have an answer.

Max said nothing. She stiffened as she read the list.

“Max? Are you okay?” Chrissy asked.

Lucas knelt beside her chair. “Max, what’s going on? Talk to us, please!”

She turned to him slowly, her voice just above a whisper. “It’s me. I’m the next victim.”

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