HAWKINS, INDIANA — 1986.

     EVERYONE'S HEADS TURNED UPON hearing Max's statement, eyes on Theresa.

"Wait a second, Vecna's after you too?" Nancy questioned, raising a hand with a frown. "How long have you known?"

Tess's eyes trained to the floor. She understood that she had no choice but to come clean now, quietly replying, "Since the night we found out Max was cursed. I-I realized that I was having the same symptoms as Max, but I thought it was just because of– never mind."

Robin stood up, holding her hands out. "Why– why didn't you tell any of us? Tess, what if he tries to come after you next–"

"He's not," she said, almost confidently. "He said I'm gonna be last, right? That means there's probably someone between me and Max. I don't know who it is, but I think the odds are there'll be someone else first. And if we can't stop Vecna in time... if he does make another kill before me... then we can worry."

"We can't risk that," Steve interjected, meeting her eyes. "I already told you this. I'm not waiting until something bad happens to you to do something. We saw what happened to Max. The odds are too risky, so no."

Theresa crossed her arms, setting her jaw and narrowing her eyes. "What do you suggest we do then, Steve? Right now, the only information we have on Vecna is the fact that a song somehow miraculously saved Max. That's it! There's nothing else we can do right now besides think. And if I'm gonna do that, then I need some damn aspirin!"

She turned on her heel with that, walking upstairs in search of medication. Steve sighed deeply, taking a seat in one of the chairs.

"You can't let her sacrifice herself for me," Max said to him, drawing the others' attention. "I know that's what she's gonna try to do. Promise me you won't let her."

Steve was held under Max's gaze, unsure of how to respond. Of course he would do anything in his power to protect Tess, but he also felt guilty for prioritizing her over Max.

"I-I promise," he replied with a nod, glancing away.

Meanwhile, in the bathroom upstairs, Theresa opened a bottle of pain medication and popped three pills, replacing them and closing the mirror.

She rested her hands on either side of the sink, staring at her reflection that felt vividly unreal. Tess's usual well-kept exterior had slowly deteriorated, resulting in dark eye circles and a deep crease in her brow.

Theresa closed her eyes for a moment, taking a few deep breaths before looking back up at herself.

She didn't necessarily believe in God, but she figured it wouldn't hurt to try praying at this point.

Going back down to the basement, Tess saw that everyone was getting comfortable and making it clear they were not going anywhere. She hadn't planned on leaving, either, not after everything that had just happened.

Nancy had gone to grab pillows and blankets, basically covering the entire basement floor like it was some giant sleepover. Theresa was extremely tired, running on only about three hours of sleep if even that, and Steve could see it. He got down on the floor not too long after Tess settled down there, looking over at her for a beat.

"How are you doing?" Steve quietly asked, Theresa giving a dismal shrug.

"I've been better. Just– really tired."

He sighed, finally placing an arm around her while Tess scooted closer and leaned into him. Steve rested back against the recliner, not realizing until then how sleepy he was as well. Robin and Nancy had agreed to keep an eye Max and, now Tess, for the first hour.

Theresa looked over at Max, lying on the couch with her eyes closed. She didn't think she was asleep, though.

But Tess could not keep her heavy eyelids open long enough to figure that out, settling her head on Steve's shoulder as he wrapped his other arm around the front of her, holding her close.

Soon enough, she was snoring lightly. Steve stayed awake for as long as he could manage, keeping an eye on both Theresa and Max. This time, Tess was not plagued by nightmares; she supposed Vecna might have decided to spare her for now.

And that wasn't saying much.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

    EYES WIDE OPEN, THERESA AWAKENED to find that Max was the only other one awake.

Steve's arms were still wrapped around Tess, his head cocked back with his mouth open while he snored. She smiled a little, laughing softly to herself.

"Have you slept at all?" Theresa asked Max, who looked over from the couch.

At once, she shook her head. "Can you blame me, though?"

Tess gave her a strained smile. "No. I'm surprised I slept at all."

Max nodded a bit, staring at Theresa quizzically for a second. What kind of past trauma did she have that Max didn't know about?

"If I hadn't have said anything, would you have ever told anyone?" she asked just then. "That Vecna cursed you too?"

Tess drew in a breath, pulling her lips in. "Eventually, yeah," she finally responded, looking back up at Max. She shifted slightly, wincing as she hoped to not wake Steve. His arms fell limp, Theresa easing out of his grasp.

She stood up, taking a few steps over to the couch where Max was and sitting beside her.

"I was more worried about you than me," Tess continued, looking over at the girl. "I still am. You– you're a lot more innocent than I am. You've done way less horrible things than I have. So I guess I just feel like... if anyone deserves to go out of the two of us, it's me. You still have a lot more life to live."

Max stared at Theresa in disbelief, beginning to tear up at what Tess was saying. Did she really think that of herself? That she deserved to die?

"Tess, no," Max shook her head firmly, a frown creasing her brow line. "Y-You don't deserve any of this. You're a good person."

With a cynical laugh, Tess glanced away again, folding her hands together and resting them on her knees. She was quiet for a long time before she replied again.

"I tried to tell myself that but I still have a hard time believing it," she muttered, pursing her lips.

Before Max could say anything else, Theresa inhaled sharply and climbed to her feet.

"I think I'm gonna try to get some more sleep. Who's supposed to be on watch right now, anyway?"

Max looked around the room at everyone passed out, sleeping in odd positions and uncomfortable angles.

"Lucas and Dustin. They lasted about twenty minutes before they fell asleep."

Tess laughed lightly, grabbing a blanket off of the back of the couch and finding her spot on the floor beside Steve again.

"I'm gonna go upstairs, maybe get some breakfast," Max said, Theresa nodding with a yawn.

"'Kay," she mumbled, pulling the blanket over herself and Steve, who moved with an abrupt snore that made Tess snicker.

Max got up and went upstairs with her Walkman in her hand, Theresa nestling close to Steve once again. He was a pretty solid sleeper, although Tess was surprised he slept at all considering that her life was currently at risk. But she couldn't blame him, obviously.

Just as she closed her eyes again, dozing off halfway, Dustin's walkie-talkie crackled with static.

"Hey, Dustin, this is Eddie the Banished. You there?"

Theresa slowly opened her eyes, rolling them with a huff.

"Dustin, can you hear me? Dustin?" Eddie repeated his name in a singsong voice, Tess groaning as she got up to grab the walkie-talkie.

"What do you want, Eddie?"

There was a pause, then Eddie began to laugh. "Sinclair, I'm actually happy to hear your voice for once. So listen, uh– I'm gonna need a food delivery, like, really soon. Unless you want me going out into the world..."

"You would be stupid enough to do that," Tess retorted, exhaling with slight annoyance. "I guess we can bring you some food. Just– don't be a dumbass and get yourself caught before we get there."

"Me?" Eddie replied sarcastically. "Never. Oh! And uh... do you think you could pick me up a six-pack? I know, it's stupid as shit, drinking right now, but... a cold beer would really calm my jangled nerves."

Theresa blinked, halfway in disbelief. "Let me think... yeah, no."

Before Eddie could respond she pushed the antenna down, setting the walkie on the table.

"Uh, where is Max?"

Tess turned, seeing Nancy sitting up on the floor with an alarmed expression on her face.

"She just went upstairs to get breakfast," Theresa reassured, gesturing toward the stairs.

Nancy pushed her hair back, sighing with relief. She cleared her throat, climbing to her feet at once.

"Did you sleep at all?" she questioned Tess, who gave a nod.

"Yeah, actually."

Nancy slowly nodded, eyeing her. "And... did you have any nightmares?"

"No," Theresa shook her head, "surprisingly. It's weird. I think after what happened with Max yesterday, it stalled Vecna. But I think that just means that now... he's planning."

The Wheeler girl folded one arm under the other, knitting her brows. "Well then I guess all we can do is keep trying to figure out how to stop him."

Tess nodded in agreement, shrugging slightly. "I'm still a firm believer that anything can die if you shoot it enough times."

Nancy laughed at that, and the two of them headed upstairs to check in on Max.

She was sitting at the kitchen table, Ted Wheeler at the bar while Karen was setting out pancakes in the kitchen.

"Good morning girls," Karen greeted with a smile, Theresa giving a nod with a smile in turn.

"You know, I think it's so sweet that you guys are all sticking together like this," she continued, and just a moment later Dustin came running up the stairs.

He looked panicked, then calmed down as he entered the kitchen and saw Max sitting at the table and Theresa standing by the kitchen counter.

"Thank God," he breathed out, raising a hand to his head. "Me and Lucas fell asleep. Sorry."

Tess only shook her head with some amusement, approaching the dining table where Max was sitting. The sound of Kate Bush could be heard coming from her headphones, leaned over a piece of paper with a red crayon in her hand.

Once Theresa sat down beside her, Max pulled off her headphones and paused the music, looking over at her.

"What's this?" Tess asked, gesturing to the sheets of paper that had been colored with streaks of mostly red and black.

"It's... what I saw," Max replied warily. "I mean– it's supposed to be. I thought it'd be easier to draw it out than to explain it, but... not so much."

Theresa narrowed her eyes critically, analyzing Max's drawings. There was something about some of them that she could briefly recall seeing in her dreams, but only fragments.

"There was this red fog everywhere," Max continued. "It was like one of my dreams. Well– nightmares."

Nancy and Dustin came over to the table just then, sitting down and listening as Max spoke.

"With Billy, it just seemed like Vecna was trying to scare me. But when I got here," she circled over the drawings, "it was almost like he was surprised. Like I wasn't supposed to be there."

"Maybe you infiltrated his mind," Dustin suggested. "He invaded your mind, right? Is it that big of a leap to suggest you somehow wound up in his? Like Freddie Krueger's boiler room!"

The youngest Wheeler, Holly, looked up from where she sat with her face contorted. "Freddie Krueger?"

"He's a super burned up dude with razors for fingers," Dustin explained, "and he kills you in your dreams–"

"Dustin! Seriously?" Nancy slightly glared at him.

Theresa, who had been sitting there in deep thought for the past few moments, finally spoke up.

"Maybe Dustin's onto something," she said, turning her head to Max. "What if you somehow unlocked a backdoor to Vecna's world? I mean, it should work both ways, shouldn't it?"

She looked at the drawings again, picking two of them up and placing them beside each other.

Nancy tilted her head, staring at one of the pieces of papers. "Wait a second," she looked to Max, "is this a window?"

"Yeah," Max nodded.

Nancy looked as if she had just made some huge discovery. "Stained glass with roses."

"Yeah," Max repeated again. "See? I'm not so terrible after all."

Dustin made a face, taking a bite out of a pancake.

"Yeah, well, it helps that I've seen it before," Nancy responded, grabbing Max's drawings and beginning to fold them.

Tess raised an eyebrow, cocking her head to the side as she watched Nancy begin to piece the drawings together like they were a puzzle. She reached over to the middle of the table, grabbing a black marker and uncapping it. Nancy traced lines around what looked like a big house, the other three's eyes widening with realization.

"Holy shit, Wheeler, you're a genius," Theresa remarked, looking over at Nancy. "This is the Creel house, isn't it?"

She had seen in the newspaper article Nancy and Robin brought back from the library, the one talking about the murders involving Victor Creel that ended up not being him.

Nancy nodded to answer Tess's question.

The two girls shot out of their chairs, Dustin looking up with confusion and a mouth full of food.

"Where are you guys going?"

"To wake everyone else up," Theresa replied, walking toward the basement door. "We've got to get going as soon as possible."

Dustin and Max followed them downstairs, Tess hopping over a sleeping Robin to shake Steve awake.

"Huh?" he blinked, looking around with confusion.

"Wake up," Theresa said, looking around for her shoes.

Steve rubbed his eyes, still bewildered and having no idea what was happening.

"What– what's going on? Is everything alright?"

She pulled on one shoe, then the other. Tess noticed Lucas still sleeping, draped over the television, stepping toward him and smacking him on the arm.

He jolted awake, startled.

"Everyone just get up and get ready," Nancy said, gently shaking Robin.

Steve stood up, holding out his hands. "Where the hell are we going?"

Theresa rolled her eyes, turning to him.

"We're going to the Creel house."

notes.
almost cried when tess told max that she basically feels like she deserves to die bc she doesn't think she's a good person

anyway sorry it took me so long to update, i've been slightly busier than usual with school n all that stuff

can't wait for eddie and tess to rekindle their friendship just for him to die <3 theresa can't keep any friends at this point

thinking of theresa and vecna's conversation that they'll have later on... it's gonna be TEW good omg i can't wait

so y'all remember how nancy and robin made a fake college transcript for tess? and y'all remember how i said rudy was gonna cause a lot of problems for tess?? yeah...