Chapter 32

They walked into the Wheeler house, which was filled with the same vines they were told not to touch. It was dark, but not too dark to see.

“Might be time to get a maid, Wheeler,” Robin joked.

“This is spooky,” Claudia said.

“Come on,” Nancy said, “I don’t wanna stay here longer than we have to.”

They all followed Nancy up the stairs, but Steve was suddenly intrigued by a voice. A voice that he could hear, but not see. Dustin’s voice.

Nancy pulled a shoe box out of her closet, opening it to reveal the expected, a pair of shoes. “Those aren’t guns,” Eddie said.

“I mean, these heals are a bit pointy, but I was hoping for a deadly projectile,” Robin said.

“At least they’re cute,” Claudia shrugged, “Dying in style.”

Robin smacked her wrist. “No one is dying, Dia.”

“I don’t understand,” Nancy said.

“Maybe you left them somewhere else,” Eddie suggested.

“There’s a six-year-old in the house, I know where I keep my guns. And also, I threw these away years ago.”

Nancy turned her attention to a pile of flash cards that sat next to the shoebox. “I get that grades are important to you, but perhaps studying can wait till we get out?” Robin said.

“These are from sophomore chemistry,” Nancy said, “And this… this wallpaper, this is old wallpaper. And this mirror, this went to a yard sale. And you,” she picked up a stuffed animal from the bed, “You’re not supposed to be here. No, I gave you to Cousin Joanna two years ago.”

Claudia whispered to Robin. “She’s talking to the stuffed animal. Do you think she has rabies?”

“I hope not. She’s the smartest out of all of us. No offence.”

Nancy picked up her journal and flicked through the pages. “What is it?” Eddie asked.

“Nancy? You’re freaking me out,” Robin said.

“I think the reason that my guns aren’t here is because they don’t exist yet.”

“They don’t exist?” Claudia asked.

“This diary should be full of entries, it’s not. The last entry is November sixth, 1983. The day Will went missing. The day the gate opened. We’re in the past.”

“What the f-“

Claudia was cut comedically short by Steve yelling. “Dustin! Dustin!” They ran downstairs, and Steve stood on the living room. “Dustin! Can you hear me? Dustin! Hello?! Hello?”

“Maybe he really does have rabies?” Robin asked.

“Steve, what are you doing?” Claudia said.

“Hello!” Steve yelled, shining the flashlight in everyone’s eyes.

“Okay, thanks, now I’m blind.”

“He’s here. Henderson. That little shit, he’s here. He’s like… he’s in the walls or something. Just listen.”

For a second, everyone thought Steve was going crazy, and Claudia began to think that Robin’s theory was right, until Dustin’s voice sounded from what could only be thin air.

They called out, looking for him, even though they knew they wouldn’t find him. “All right, either this kid can’t hear us or he’s being a total douchebag,” Steve said.

“I vote the latter,” Claudia said, raising her hand.

“Will found a way,” Nancy said.

“What?”

“Will. He found a way to speak to Joyce through the lights.”

They tried to turn on any lights they could, but were unsuccessful at doing so. Steve turned his attention to the chandelier. “Guys?” He said, “You seeing this?”

They looked up at the ceiling light, which seemed to have some sort of glow around it. Nancy put her hand to it, causing the glow to become larger, more obvious. Like fairy dust.

They all made their way over, putting their hands in the sparkles. “It tickles,” Steve said.

“It kinda feels good,” Robin said.

“It reminds me of that one time we got drugged by evil Russians. It’s like the same feeling but instead of in my head it’s in my hand,” Claudia said.

“What?” Eddie asked.

“Nothing.”

“Does anyone know morse code?” Nancy asked.

Everyone said no. “What, does SOS count?” Eddie asked.

“Obviously,” Claudia whispered. She wasn’t really a fan of Eddie. She wasn’t over the time he held a beer bottle to her neck and pinned her against a wall.

Eddie spelt out SOS on the lights, until they finally got a reply from Dustin. They headed back up to Nancy’s room, using a light toy to spell out words.

They waited for it to be turned on. “Okay, you guys seeing this?” Dustin yelled as the toy started to glow. His laughter echoed as Nancy swirled her hand around. “Alright, we’re not moving it, but we’re gonna unplug it! Stand by. Okay, try it now.”

Nancy spelled out ‘HI’. Claudia grabbed Robin’s hand, waiting for Dustin to say something. “That worked!” They caught him up on what had happened to them, as best they could using single words. Dustin told them that there was a gate at every murder site.

“How far is your trailer?” Nancy asked Eddie.

“Seven miles,” Eddie answered swiftly. Claudia frowned confusedly, wondering how he knew that so quickly.

“Nancy?” Robin asked, “Uh, I know your house here is, like, weirdly, creepily frozen in time and shit, but haven’t you always had bikes?”

They took the bikes, which the Wheeler’s weirdly had five of, despite the fact only two of the kids could ride a bike, and rode to Eddie’s house.

A seven mile bike ride wasn’t easy, but a walk would have been much worse. Claudia was tired, exhausted even, and just wanted to get home.