Chapter 21

trigger warning: self harm, abuse

“Her body just, like, lifted up into the air and, uh, and she just like hung there. In the air. And her bones… uh… her bones started to snap. Her eyes, man. It… it was like there was something, like, inside her head, pulling. I… I didn’t know what to do, so I… I ran away. I left her there. You all think I’m crazy, right?”

“No,” Dustin said, “We don’t think you’re crazy al all.”

“Don’t bullshit me, man!” Eddie shouted, “I know how this sounds.”

“We’re not bullshitting you,” Max said.

“We believe you,” Robin added.

“This. We’ve seen it before. Well, not this, the whole bone snapping eye bursting thing is new, but supernatural shit? We’re practically pros,” Claudia said.

“Look,” Dustin said, “What I’m about to tell you might be a little… difficult to take.”

“Okay,” Eddie said shakily.

“You know how people say Hawkins is cursed They’re not way off. There’s another world, a world hidden beneath Hawkins. Sometimes it bleeds into ours.”

“Like ghosts and shit?”

“There are some things worse than ghosts,” Max said.

“Like Russians,” Claudia added, Robin hit her arm.

“These monsters from this other world, we thought they were gone. But they’ve come back before, and that’s why we needed to find you.”

“If they’re back again, we need to know.”

“That night, did you see anything?” Robin asked.

“Dark particles, maybe?” Max asked.

Eddie shook his head. “It would almost look like dust,” Dustin said, “Swirling dust.”

“No, man, there was nothing you could see or, uh, or touch. You know, I tried to wake her, man. She couldn’t move. It was like she was in a trance or something.”

“Or under a spell.”

“A curse.”

“Vecna’s curse.”

“Who’s Vecna?” Claudia asked.

“An undead creature of great power.”

“A spell caster.”

“A dark wizard.”

——————————

That night, Claudia decided to stay at Robin’s house. If she went home so late, her mom would think she was out doing drugs or something, if she didn’t go home at all, she’s just assume she was with Robin or Steve, AKA her only friends.

“What do you think this Vecna guy goes after? Like, what’s the criteria to get cursed?” Claudia asked Robin, flopping down on the bed.

“I mean, what do you know about Chrissy?”

“Nothing much. Sometimes I’d be in the bathroom at the same time as her and hear her throwing up. I don’t know whether she’s ill, or, like, bulimic, but I don’t know. She had something up with her. I felt kind of bad, but whenever I’d ask if she was okay she’d snap, or flat out ignore me.”

“Well, maybe you have to be ill. Weak.”

“Or depressed.”

“If you had to be depressed, most people in Hawkins would have been cursed by now.”

“I guess. I’m worried, though. Like, what if there isn’t anything he looks for. What if it’s just random people he goes for?”

“Well, I think we’d be strong enough to beat it. We beat evil Russians, a dark wizard has nothing on us.”

Claudia laughed, until a drop of blood fell from her nose. Robin got up to go to the bathroom, coming back in with tissues and wiping the blood.

“That’s weird, I’ve never had a nose bleed before,” Claudia frowned.

“Maybe you have powers. Like Eleven.”

“God I hope not. Then you guys would make me fight Vecna.”

“I wouldn’t. I wouldn’t let you anywhere near him… her? It?”

“I think Dustin and Eddie said him.”

“Hey, you still need me to kiss that neck better?”

“Please.”

——————————

Robin and Claudia eventually fell asleep, wrapped up in each others arms. They almost always fell asleep like this, and didn’t move until the morning.

This particular night was different. Claudia had frequent nightmares, which Robin knew. They weren’t about anything specific, really, just the typical stuff. This time, however, it was specific. Traumatic, even.

Claudia woke up in a cold sweat, gasping for air. The swiftly sat up in bed, which made Robin, who had only been sleeping lightly, wake up. “Are you okay?” She asked.

“Yeah, yeah, it’s fine. Just go back to sleep. It’s just another nightmare.”

“Claudia, that wasn’t ‘just another nightmare’, you never wake up like that. What’s going on?”

Claudia opened her mouth, but blood poured out from her nose again. “This goddamn nose!” She whisper-yelled, grabbing tissue from the nightstand and wiping away the blood.

“You know you can tell me anything, right?”

“I know, I just… I need to figure out how to say it.”

Robin sat up, wrapping her arms around Claudia and pulling her back to lay down. “Take your time.”

“You know about my dad, right?”

“Yeah, he’s not in the picture.”

“It’s not just that. He left me and my mom when I was, like, eight, you know that. But it was more than that. He hit us, both of us, my mom more. He wasn’t an alcoholic or anything, there was no explanation for the way he was, he was just… an ass. I was relieved when he left, but my mom wasn’t. I walked in on her one time, her arms were all bloody and, you know… She got really mad at me, and screamed at me. I’ve never saw her like that since, but it just stays in my head. What my dad did stays in my head. Daniel was just like him, and I never realised until it was too late. That’s what the nightmare was about. When I saw my mom like that, but Daniel and my dad were there, laughing at her. My dad was blaming me while Daniel was just attacking me. I could almost feel it, like actually feel it, and…”  Claudia suddenly winced, a throbbing pain shooting through her head, stopping as quickly as it came. “Sorry, headache. Anyway, yeah. I’m sorry I didn’t let you know about this all sooner, I just-“

“Oh my God,” Robin said shakily, she was crying, “Claudia, baby, I’m so sorry. Don’t apologise for not telling me, I get it. Thank you for trusting me. Your moms okay now, and your dad and Daniel aren’t ever gonna come near you again, okay? I won’t let anyone, or anything, hurt you. I love you.”

“I love you, Robin.”