042 Richard's Confusion
While everyone talked, they followed along as Richard watched the recorded footage.
After skipping through a dozen or so video clips, Richard's hand decisively pressed the pause button. His eyes lit up as he said, "This is it: 'Victor Creel Claims Vengeful Demon Murdered His Entire Family'."
Everyone immediately crowded forward, their faces pressed together. Richard was squeezed in the middle with a look of resignation, his head supporting the chins of Nancy and Barbara, while also being pressed against by the two guys.
Everyone read the news content written there: "Creel claimed his home was haunted by an ancient demon and sought an exorcism from a priest to no avail... Ultimately, the whole family died tragically. Victor was judged to be mentally ill and found guilty of murdering his family; he is currently being held in Pennhurst Psychiatric Hospital."
"This is it." Richard nodded, looking very satisfied. "This is exactly the kind of sensationalist news I need to serve as the foundation for my movie script."
Steve looked at him. "Will this work? Is the movie you're planning to shoot really this kind of ghost story?"
"Absolutely." Richard's gaze swept back and forth over the headline and the news content several times, his expression gradually becoming serious, though his response to Steve was somewhat distracted. "I had a brilliant idea before. No one in the industry has tried or pulled this off yet, probably because they lacked this kind of hook, but now I've got the perfect angle."
The news report spanned two pages. Richard paused on the second page, staring at an old photo of the Creel family of four. His gaze focused on a boy of about seven or eight on the far left. Below the photo, the names and identities of the four family members were meticulously noted.
The boy's name was none other than the familiar "Henry Creel"!
"Henry Creel... So it's the same person." Richard wore a knowing smile, his eyes flashing with an unusual gleam of excitement. He hadn't expected a random idea of his to yield such an unexpected discovery.
According to the news report, after Victor, the father of the Creel family, failed to have a priest perform an exorcism, he supposedly angered the demon. During dinner one day, in front of him, his son, and his daughter, the demon brutally murdered his wife. It used invisible force to snap her limbs, twist her jaw, and rupture her eyes. It then attacked Victor himself and his children as they tried to flee the house.
For some reason, Victor and his son only passed out after being attacked. However, the daughter wasn't so lucky, suffering the same horrific death as the wife. News of his son's death only reached Victor in prison from a court messenger after his trial had ended.
All four members of the family seemed to have truly been attacked by some mysterious supernatural curse.
But in Richard's view, none of this was that simple.
The outside world said Henry Creel was dead, but in reality, he wasn't, because Richard could still harvest plot points from Henry Creel.
"Someone is using death as a cover-up for Henry Creel, deliberately erasing his social identity." Richard's mind raced with clear logic. "If you want proof, look at the news regarding this major death case. A family of four—one went insane, three died. It's clearly a horrific case, yet even Hopper, the town chief, said there hadn't been a major casualty case in this town for over thirty years. Obviously, this news was intentionally suppressed and buried, so much so that even someone with Hopper's position in the town was unaware of it."
"So the question is, who would have that much authority?" Richard silently asked and answered himself. The answer was obvious: "The Lab!"
According to the data Richard stole from The Lab, Hawkins National Laboratory was built a few years after this case occurred. The timing of this report's publication basically coincided with the moment Henry Creel was declared dead.
Richard didn't mind looking at this from a conspiratorial angle. Anyway, Dr. Brenner's lab had already committed plenty of crimes, so pinning a few more on them wouldn't hurt.
As for why The Lab would cover up Henry Creel's identity, Richard naturally thought of The Lab's primary project—"psychic ability experiments."
That Henry Creel was a potential candidate with psychic potential... No, it wasn't that simple. If the tragedy of his family was caused by his own hand—since the bizarre deaths described in the news could also be achieved by powers like Eleven's—then Henry Creel was already a powerful psychic capable of using his abilities before Dr. Brenner even took notice of him.
"This Henry Creel could kill his own family; he's pure evil. He might be a special ability user with powers similar to Eleven's telekinesis. Now that he's in The Upside Down, he might even be the mastermind behind all the activity there... Ah, looking at it this way, he really can be compared to the series protagonist, 'Eleven'." Richard thought.
Richard nodded to himself, planning to go back and look through the data stolen from The Lab again, hoping to find test subject information that corresponded to "Henry Creel".
Now Richard had a goal: to deduce Henry Creel's strength based on limited information, then gather allies and build up their forces for a collective assault. They would go all out against "Henry Creel" and finally take him down, completing the story's grand finale.
After completing the story's finale, what will happen to me? What will happen to this world next?
Will he... return to his original world?
Richard couldn't help but space out for a moment. If he had to return to his own world, he suddenly found himself not wanting the ending to come. Compared to returning to his original world, he seemed to be living better here. Although the technology of the Stranger Things world wasn't as advanced as his own time, here... he had a bright future of his own...
"Richard?"
Barbara gave Richard a gentle nudge, bringing him back to his senses. Looking at everyone staring at him, he laughed it off and said, "This is the news report we'll use. Let's write down the address where the case happened and find a time to check it out. When the time is right, we'll choose the crime scene as our filming location."
"Will it really work?" Jonathan asked, sounding a bit nervous. "I don't mean the script; I mean me being the cinematographer."
"Of course." Richard raised an eyebrow. "And if it succeeds, you'll have to thank me, Director of Photography Jonathan."
[Reader Support Milestones]
500 Power Stones → +1 Chapter
10 Reviews → +1 Chapter
Enjoyed the read? Leave a review.
20+ advanced chapters on P1treon Soulforger