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AT FIRST, it started with the nightmares. You would have the same recurring nightmare every night then you would wake up in a pool of sweat, panting and frantically searching for any immediate threats. You wouldn’t be able to go to sleep after that so you would stay up and read. As the exhausting cycle of waking up, staying up, then drinking coffee for energy to get you through the day went on; the headaches began to roll in.
The piercing pain that you felt caused you to finally say that enough was enough. You went into the nearby medical clinic and were pleased to find out that many went through this. You were happy that you weren’t alone in this. The doctor prescribed you some ibuprofen and referred you to a psychologist. You were a bit surprised about that but you weren’t mad. You’d been looking at getting some therapy for a while now.
You had about a day of feeling better after visiting the doctor. The headaches magically went away even if you hadn't taken the medication your doctor prescribed you. You went to sleep that night and didn’t have any nightmares. You thought that was the end of the terrible cycle but you were wrong.
Your mother had installed a clock in your room, claiming that it would help you wake up on time for work. This clock wasn’t like any other clock, it was an ugly grandfather clock. The terrible dark brown color clashed with the other decorations you had in your room. You were incredibly pissed because of the noises it would produce when you tried to sleep. You planned to put it outside on the curb the next morning. Whether your mother liked it or not.
The clock played its terrible tune once it was five in the morning. Your mother was never up this early so you thought that this was the best time to get rid of it. You slowly walked over to the clock in the corner of your room. You underestimated the weight of the clock once you got a hold of it. You struggled to pick it up so your only other option was to drag it. That would surely wake your mother up but it was a risk worth taking.
You opened your door and went back to the grandfather clock. You tipped it and dragged it out of your room. You thought you were in the clear until you saw your mother sitting on the cream-colored couch in the living room.
“What are you doing with that?” she asked.
You bit your lip, “I’m sorry mom, but I need to get rid of this. I hate it and it keeps me from sleeping at night,” you replied. You observed your mother as she took in what you just said. She began to shake her head and laugh while you just stood there. You began to feel uncomfortable in her gaze.
“Just like you got rid of that baby,” your mother laughed except that wasn’t your mother's voice. This voice was deep and dark while your mothers was light and sweet. The voice and that response caught you off guard.
You haven’t told anyone that you had an abortion when you were seventeen. You were young and impulsive just like any other seventeen-year-old in their junior year of high school. You had dreams you wanted to pursue and being a mother wasn’t one of them. The only person who knew about your abortion was one of your closest friends in high school, Nancy Wheeler. You knew Nancy wouldn’t tell anyone about this even if she was held at gunpoint so you were incredibly confused and hurt when those words came out of your mother's mouth.
“How do you know?” you were outraged.
This air of darkness engulfed you and your mother, and the grandfather clock began to tick. The tick was also accompanied by a terrible and chilling tune. Your mother was no longer your mother. She grew into a tall, dark, and slimy being. It started to slowly walk towards you. You sprinted to the front door but it was unfortunately locked. You began to bang on it like your life depended on it (which it did). The being was slowly closing in on you so you decided to run back to your room.
“You can run but you can’t hide,” its voice boomed behind you as you closed your door. In a matter of seconds, it was back. Your door was thrown off its hinges and its tall frame stepped into your room.
Steve was knocking on your door. You had forgotten your favorite jacket at his house when you went over yesterday and he wanted to return it to you before you accused him of stealing it. He was patiently waiting by your front door until he heard your mother's piercing scream. He was always respectful when it came to your family but when he heard your mother scream he nearly ran through the front door. He began to knock faster and harder. Your mother opened the door and she had tears rolling down her face.
“Steve, you have to help! She isn’t waking up,” he could see your eyes were white and rolled into the back of your head. He’s seen this before with Max at the cemetery. He knew just what to do. He dropped your jacket on the floor and ran over to you.
“Does she have a walkman anywhere? If so go get it,” He laid his hands on your shoulders and began to look into your eyes. The eyes that would usually roll when he said something stupid were now wide, white, and rolled into the back of your head.
“I don’t see why-” your mother began but was interrupted by Steve who was now a little pissed.
“You know I love you like a mother but right now is not the time to question things,” his voice was soft yet hard at the same time. Your mother ran off into your room and ran back into the living room.
Steve snatched the walkman and the cassettes that she brought along with it. He knew you like the back of your hand and once he saw the familiar woman who wore a white dress and held a white bird he knew that you were going to be safe. He put the cassette into the walkman and shoved the headphones over your ears.
Meanwhile, you were being cornered by the being. As it was closing in on you, you saw a great escape opportunity so you took it. You were gasping for breath as you ran because you were not in shape whatsoever.
“Stop running and accept your fate,” you began to run even faster. It was catching up to you even though it was walking at what looked like a normal pace. When you looked back at it you weren’t checking your surroundings and fell. Your leg had gotten caught in what looked like a long, black, and slimy arm. You had seen it move its hand so you guessed that it was doing this.
You gathered up all the courage you had left in you and said “Why are you doing this to me?”
“Because the world will be better once people like you are wiped out,” his chilling voice filled whatever dimension you were in.
You screamed as its tentacles caught your legs. You fell to the ground, your hands catching your fall. You knew this was the end. You had given up. In your final moments, you thought about Nancy, your parents, your cat, and most importantly Steve. You developed a crush on him when the two of you were in middle school but you knew you didn’t stand a chance. When he had taken a liking to Nancy you were crushed so you often found yourself hopping from boyfriend to boyfriend to fill the void you had in your heart but you knew none of them would ever compare to Steve.
You were being dragged and after a few moments of trying to hold onto something; your back slammed into a pillar wrapped with a black slimy substance. You were now faced to face with the being. Your body was held back by the same slimy black substance wrapped around the pillar. Its clawed hands reached up to your face.
“Fuck you,” you spat. It said nothing back and you felt your body tighten.
Steve was now anxiously waiting for you to wake up. You began to levitate and your mother screamed. Your father rushes out of the room to see you levitating.
“What the fuck is happening!” he shouted.
“We just have to wait for the music to kick in,” Steve explained. Your parents looked at each other with confused looks.
That’s when you heard it. The chords of the guitar and the sweet beat of the drums. Your favorite song started playing. The raspy yet beautiful voice of Stevie Nicks began to sing. The song that you spent hours dancing to was now playing in what you thought would be your final moments.
You gave up once you felt something being sucked out of you. The many moments you shared with your friends and family began to flash in your mind. The memories you shared with them made you remember that you were only twenty years old. You still had things to live for.
You spat in the being's face and gathered all of the strength you had left and broke out of the grasp it had on you and began to run.
You saw that a portal to your own world opened up. Steve was pacing while your father had your mother in his arms. She was crying like any other parent would if they saw that their child was possessed by the devil or whatever this was. Then you saw your body levitating in the air.
You would often ask Nancy what she would do if you started levitating. That question would always end up with Nancy giving you an eye roll and telling you that levitation was impossible. Your heart smiled and began to beat faster. That was just another reason to keep running.
You dodged the many rocks and boulders that were flying at you. You almost tripped several times but you kept your pace. You refused to die when you still had unfinished business to attend to.
As you got closer to the portal your body began to descend from the air. You ran and ran and ran until you reached the opening between the two worlds.
Your body dropped from the air and you took a huge gasp of air. Your parents and Steve rushed over to you. Your chest was rising and falling with every breath you took.
“Thank goodness you're okay,” your parents fussed over you while Steve stood back so that the three of you could have your moment together.
After your parents were done fusing over you, you walked in front of Steve who was cradling your favorite jacket while sitting on the same couch your mother was sitting on moments before you were possessed by whatever that thing was.
“Is that my jacket?” you put your hand on your hip and tilted your head.
Steve looked up at you and gave you a tight hug. Your arms hung awkwardly at the sides of your body.
“Steve, I can’t breathe,” you rasped. He broke the hug off and put his hands and your shoulders.
“I thought I lost you,” he looked into your eyes which were now back to normal.
“You can’t get rid of me that easily,” you smirked. Steve was glad that you were back to your normal witty self.
“Why is Vecna after you?” he questioned.
“Who the hell is Vecna,” your face scrunched up in confusion.
“Tall, dark, and not handsome,” he explained as he used his hand to express how tall Vecna was.
“That was chasing me. It was weird though. One moment I was talking to my mom or what looked like my mom then I was in this dark dimension with a demon-like thing chasing me,” both of you sat down on the couch. You two were sitting close enough that your thighs were touching.
“Vecna preys on people with trauma, guilt, and terrible secrets. There’s something you’re not telling me and I need to know now,” he put his hand on your thigh. He usually does this when the two of you have serious conversations. It’s a habit of his that drives you crazy.
“Not right now, Steve. I just came back from literal hell and I feel like I need to sleep,” you got up from the couch and started to walk towards your room.
“No! I can’t leave you alone. Now that Vecna is after you I can’t have another incident like this happen,” Steve walked behind you. You stopped walking and turned around to look at him.
“I don’t think my parents will be too happy that I’m going to have a sleepover with you after they have literally seen me get possessed by Vecwhatever.”
“I’ll talk to them. I need you to trust me, theres some people I need you to meet,” he said as he took your hand into his.
Part Two coming soon…