I See You (Please See Me): Chapter 8

A Stranger Things Fanfic

Eddie woke to a loud knocking on the front door. He nearly fell on top of Dustin, who was also scrambling up. His heart pounded in time to the knocking, and he tried to think how he could manage to get him and the kid out of the house without the cops spotting them.

“We forgot the password, but let us in.” Harrington’s sarcastic voice came through the door, and Eddie relaxed, though he huffed a sigh and fell back onto the bed. Oh, he was going to kill him.

Dustin unlocked the door and let the others in. Eddie followed, finding another box of cereal (they had finished off the first the night before) and pouring it into a bowl. Everyone poured into the small kitchen, and Eddie found his eyes drawn to Chrissy, sandwiched in the middle of the group, looking like she would fold in on herself if she could. Mayfield stood beside her, now wearing her own set of headphones.

“Nearly gave me a heart attack, Harrington,” Eddie grumbled into his cereal.

“Sorry.” He didn’t look sorry. Wheeler gave him a sharp look, and he turned away. Ah.

“We have some, uh, interesting news,” Robin said.

Eddie looked up at her, frowning. “Somehow that doesn’t sound encouraging.”

“We found Vecna,” Wheeler said in a tone that clearly was meant to be encouraging. That explained why Chrissy seemed to be shrinking more with every second. “He was hiding out in the Upside-Down’s version of Victor Creel’s house.”

“Upside-down?” Eddie was feeling more and more like everyone else spoke a language he didn’t know.

“That’s what our friend El called the other dimension,” Sinclair explained. “It just kinda . . . stuck.”

“He went up to the creepy attic while we were there and did something weird that exploded all our flashlights,” Robin said. Eddie rubbed his forehead. So now they were dealing with exploding flashlights as well. Perfect.

“So now we’ve found him,” Nancy continued, “so we can come up with a plan, find the gate with Dustin’s compass, and kill him.”

Dustin side-eyed Eddie. “This would be a lot easier if Eddie and I could go wherever we want. I mean, are we sure the cops are looking for us? Ms. Atwood only saw us go check on him, they haven’t come around talking to you guys, right?”

“No, but we have been out a lot,” Harrington said.

Wheeler sighed. “You’re right, Dustin, it would be easier, but right now there’s no way for us to know if you’re suspects.”

Dustin grinned. “That’s not entirely true.” He turned to Sinclair. “With Cerebro, we can know exactly what the cops are doing.”

Sinclair frowned. “But Cerebro is all the way back at your house.”

“What’s Cerebro?” Chrissy asked.

“His ham radio,” Robin explained.

Dustin rolled his eyes. “It’s better than a ham radio, Robin.”

“Okay.” Harrington nodded. “I can run out and drive by your place, but I’d need someone to go with me who can work it.”

“No need.” Dustin grinned. “There’s someone who can work it already much closer. Is there a phone here, Eddie?”

“Who are you calling?” Sinclair asked.

“Your sister.”

Eddie pointed out the phone, and Dustin picked it up and dialed.

“Is anyone there?” he asked, so quickly she couldn’t have gotten more than a word in first. “Yeah, yeah, sorry, it’s just we have kind of a big problem, and we need a favor.” He glanced back at Sinclair. “Yeah, I’ll tell him, but we really need your help. See, there’s a new gate open, and Vecna has been killing people through it–yes, that Vecna. Eddie’s afraid the cops think we killed one of the victims, so I need you to go check on Cerebro, then let us know what you find.”

Silence stretched on as Dustin nodded and started tapping his foot quickly. “Yeah, yeah, of course. Yes, I’m fully aware. I will, I promise. Yes, just let us know as soon as you can. Bye!” He hung up and spun around. “She said she’s heading over now.”

“So what was the rest of it?” Mayfield asked.

Dustin waved the question away. “Just terms and conditions for her help.”

“Okay,” Wheeler interrupted, pulling out a notebook. “Now time to make a plan.”

When Erica began calling a series of rather insulting nicknames through the walkie-talkie, they were still no closer to a plan than they had been before.

“We hear you,” Dustin said, picking up the walkie-talkie. “What do you have?”

“I have good news and bad news. The good news is that the cops do not think you and your new best friend killed that guy. They are looking for you, but just because they think you might have seen something. Also your mom was kind of worried.”

“Ha!” Dustin grinned up at Eddie. “I told you!”

Eddie shrugged, but he was relieved as well. “What’s the bad news?” he asked.

“Is Lucas with you?”

“Yeah.”

“Your buddy Patrick’s dead, Lucas. I, uh, I’m sorry.” Eddie didn’t know the girl well, but her voice sounded gentler than he had thought it could. “The police think it’s a serial killer, but I guess it must be Vecna.”

Sinclair stiffened. Eddie wanted to say something, but he was afraid it wouldn’t sound sincere. He had made no secret of the fact that he hated the basketball team (Sinclair excluded, of course).

“The police may not think you have anything to do with those murders, but the basketball team definitely does. Jason showed up right after you got off the phone asking if I’ve seen any of you. Seems to think Eddie kidnapped his girlfriend for some reason.”

Eddie glanced over at Chrissy, tying her jacket in knots and biting her lip. She had probably been friends with Patrick, and now her obsessive boyfriend had to go and make everything harder.

“He also thinks Eddie killed Patrick. Cops said he died snooping through Eddie’s trailer, so that’s probably why.” He could just picture the girl rolling her eyes. He wanted to do the same.

“So, what, I hid in my closet, waited till the guy came looking for me, killed him, broke all his bones, and hid again before anyone else could find me?” Sinclair flinched, and Eddie shoved the burning anger down. “Sorry. I, uh, I shouldn’t have said that.” He happened to glance at Chrissy and saw her swipe a tear off her cheek. He turned away.

“Anyway,” Erica continued. “You don’t have to worry about the cops, but I’d avoid the basketball team as much as you can. By the way, I told your mom you’re at my house with Lucas. You’re welcome. Now, tell me where you are so I can meet you.”

“No, no, no.” Eddie had never heard Sinclair use that stern tone before. “You need to go home!”

“Uh, no. I’m coming with you to fight Vecna. I’m not letting my friends and brother go off to fight an evil wizard in another dimension without me. I fought those Russians, didn’t I?” Russians? “I am coming with you.”

Dustin smirked. “We’re your friends?”

“Don’t let that go to your head.”

“No, no, of course not.” Dustin looked at Sinclair, raising his eyebrows. Sinclair gave a resigned shrug, and Dustin rattled off the address.

“Don’t do anything until I get there, got it?”

Dustin grinned. “Yeah, we got it. Over and out.”

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