I See You (Please See Me): Chapter 9

A Stranger Things Fanfic

“I don’t like this,” Robin said, pacing as Nancy tapped a pen on a still-empty notebook. “I mean, how much do we know about the Upside-Down, really?” She glanced at Steve, Nancy, and the three freshmen. “You say you’ve all been there before?”

“Well . . . only for a little while, and we were underground the whole time,” Dustin said.

Nancy frowned. “I wasn’t underground, but I was just there for a couple minutes.”

“Exactly. We don’t know what we’re walking into. I mean, shouldn’t we at least scout it out a bit first before we go looking for Vecna?”

“Might be a good idea,” Lucas agreed.

Nancy slammed her notebook shut. “So, what? We pop in through the gate a few minutes, then leave?”

Steve shrugged. “I mean, it couldn’t hurt.”

The door opened, and everyone leapt up. Lucas’s little sister burst in, panting, and pointed at Dustin. “You did not tell me how far away this was.”

He grimaced. “Sorry.”

Eddie glared at Steve. “Did you just leave the door unlocked? When the basketball team is on a murderous rampage?”

“It wasn’t me!” Steve raised his hands, then pointed at Robin. “She was the last one in.”

“Oops.” She flashed a nervous smile as Eddie glared.

Chrissy twisted her hand in her jacket. She didn’t want to believe Jason would really try to hurt Eddie or Dustin, but he did have a temper, and if he had broken into the Munson’s trailer just to look for her . . .

“So what’s the plan?” Lucas’s sister asked.

“We’re going scouting,” Steve said. “We just need a few people for that, though. I’ll go, and who else?”

“I’ll go,” Nancy and Robin said at the same time, then grinned at each other.

Eddie crossed his arms and tapped his foot. “Yeah, okay. I guess I should get some idea of what we’re dealing with. I’ll go too.”

“And me!” Dustin said.

“No, no, no.” Steve shook his head. “You, Erica, and Lucas will stay outside the gate and keep an eye on Chrissy and Max.”

“But, Steve–”

“Nope.” He crossed his arms, and Chrissy understood why he was usually designated as the babysitter.

Erica raised an eyebrow at Chrissy. “So, explain to me why I’m supposed to be babysitting Carver’s missing cheerleader girlfriend?” Chrissy flushed.

“Both Chrissy and Max have been targeted by Vecna,” Lucas said quickly. “Music helps, so they’re listening to it constantly, but we need to make sure nothing goes . . . wrong.”

“Define ‘wrong’.”

“If they start floating in the air, or break any more bones, we have a problem.” Erica stared at Chrissy as though she were already a ghost. Chrissy looked away.

“Alright, Henderson,” Steve said. “Why don’t you pull out your compass, and let’s get this show on the road.”

Dustin pulled it out as everyone scrambled up. He frowned down at it.

“Uh, guys? This . . . isn’t right. It’s not pointing the way it was yesterday, and it’s not pointing north either.”

Steve frowned. “So . . . what does that mean?”

“Either this gate moved.” He looked up at everyone. “Or we have a second gate.”

“Do you have another compass?” Nancy asked.

“I have one.” Lucas pulled it out of his bag and handed it to her.

“Okay, new plan,” Nancy said. “We’ll all go to one gate, then Steve, Robin, Eddie, and I will go through, and we’ll all make our way over to the other gate, just on both sides. That’ll give us plenty of time to scout the Upside-Down, and we’ll know where both gates are in case we need it.”

Everyone nodded. “Sounds good,” Steve said.

“Here.” Lucas pulled out his walkie-talkie and handed it to Nancy. “In case we get separated for some reason once you come through.”

Dustin decided it would be best to go to the old gate first, so everyone could head back to Reefer Rick’s until the new gate began drawing the compasses. They piled into Nancy and Steve’s cars, and Steve followed Dustin’s directions until they made it to the high school.

“There’s a gate here?” Nancy asked as she climbed out of her car. Steve shrugged as he opened his trunk and pulled out a large baseball bat covered in nails.

Dustin ran around the parking lot, leading them all around the corner, then froze. Yellow police tape formed a large oval over the concrete, spanning several parking spaces. In the middle of the concrete was what looked like a large pothole, if potholes usually had a thick, red membrane at the bottom of them.

“That’s . . . that’s where that kid–Fred–died,” Eddie said, running up to join them and glancing at Nancy. “Like, exactly.”

“I wonder how the police are explaining it?” Dustin muttered.

“You ready?” Steve asked, stepping over the police tape and crouching at the edge of the hole. Nancy and Robin nodded, and Eddie shrugged. Steve jabbed the bat through the membrane several times until he got a hole big enough to climb through. He looked up at everyone. “Well, see you on the other side.” He climbed through first, then Robin, Nancy, and Eddie.

Dustin watched them, clearly torn, then sighed. “Alright, let’s go.”

They left the cars there (Steve and Nancy could pick them up later) and set off. It was a long walk, and Chrissy lost track of how many songs she cycled through. Erica kept casting her and Max nervous looks, as though she expected them to start levitating any moment.

Max tapped Chrissy’s shoulder and pulled her headphones down. Chrissy pulled hers down as well.

“Dustin?” Max called. “Which way is the compass taking us?”

“Up there.”

“I know where we’re going,” she said. “The gate is at the trailer park where Eddie and I live.”

Dustin stopped walking. “You’re sure?” Max nodded. He whirled around and looked at Erica. “You said Patrick died in Eddie’s trailer?”

“Uh, yeah. Cops said the team broke in.”

Dustin shook his head. “All this time, we’ve been trying to figure out why Vecna’s been killing people. I mean, there’s a pattern, sure, but what’s the point? Lucas, do you remember how El opened the first gate?”

“By . . . finding the Demogorgon?”

“By establishing a psychic connection with it. That’s what Vecna’s been doing this whole time. When he kills someone, it opens a new gate! So one’s at the school where Fred died, and one is at Eddie’s trailer!”

“Come on,” Max said, grabbing Lucas’s arm and dragging him on. “I know a short-cut.”

They trekked through the woods and someone’s backyard, and soon came to the trailer park. Police tape surrounded the trailer, but no one seemed to be around. They slipped under the tape and crept in. Max locked the door behind them, while Dustin looked around.

He cursed. “I found it.”

There, on the ceiling where Chrissy had been stuck two days before, was another hole, the same red membrane stretched across. Max glanced around, found a broom, and jabbed at it, clearing a space for the others to get through. Then they settled in to wait.

“What the–”

Chrissy jumped, and so did the others beside her. Dustin leapt up, peeking through the hole in the ceiling for the source of the voice.

Sure enough, Steve Harrington stood in the alternate version of the trailer, hanging upside-down above them. Nancy, Robin, and Eddie joined him.

“Okay, so how do we get through?” Steve asked, glancing at the mattress they had laid on the floor. “I don’t think that’s going to cut it.”

Eddie grimaced. “And how do I get rid of this weird portal thing? Wayne is not going to like it.”

“Hopefully El can help get rid of it . . . eventually,” Dustin said. “As for getting you out, we made something!” He pulled out the sheets they had knotted together.

“Not quite sure how these physics are going to work, he muttered, “but here goes nothing.” He threw one end in, and it landed on the floor of the alternate trailer. “There we go. And if my theory is correct . . .” he let go, and the rope hung there, in the middle of the living room. “Huh. Abracadabra.” He looked up at Steve. “Alright, pull on it! See if it holds!”

Robin tugged, hanging all her weight on it. It held, and she started climbing. As soon as she made it past the ceiling, gravity reversed, and she fell hard on the mattress. Eddie came next.

“That . . . was fun,” he said as soon as he landed. Dustin helped him up, and Nancy started climbing as soon as the mattress was clear. She landed harder, stiffer than the others, and Chrissy just knew something was wrong. She laid still on the mattress and made no move to get up.

“Hey, Nance, I need you to move so I can get through.” Nothing.

“Nancy?” Robin stepped closer. She cursed and grabbed the other girl, moving her off the mattress and standing her on her feet.

“What’s the matter?” Steve asked as he climbed.

“I–I think Vecna’s got her.” Robin waved a hand in front of her eyes. “Nance! Nancy! Wake up!”

Without a thought, Chrissy yanked off the Walkman and shoved the headphones on Nancy’s head. Nothing happened, the music didn’t snap her out of the trance. Chrissy’s stomach knotted as Steve pushed past Robin and grabbed Nancy’s arms, shaking her.

Nancy couldn’t die. She couldn’t. She had to wake up. Chrissy couldn’t lose her, couldn’t watch her friend die so horribly.

She spun around, afraid to watch what was coming. Eddie stood behind her, eyes wide as he stared at Nancy. Chrissy latched onto him, burying her face in his shirt, sobbing. Almost automatically, he wrapped his arms around her, squeezing her tight. She sobbed until she couldn’t breathe, but she wasn’t willing to pull away from him for something so trivial as air. Not when her friend was dying.

Then Nancy screamed.

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