Daydream || Rick Tyler [DC's Stargirl]

• Chapter 24

Eclipso is free.

Those three words kept playing over and over again in her head that night when they all went back to The Pit Stop. While Courtney took Mike back to the hospital to visit Pat, Yolanda, Beth, and Molly brought Rick back to The Pit Stop so Beth could check him out with the goggles for any sign of injuries. As Beth worked her magic, Molly stood staring out the window with her back turned to the three of them. She couldn't stop replaying the events that transpired tonight. Eclipso was free. Isaac Bowin and Cindy Burman are dead. Hell, even The Shade might be dead. Now, Eclipso is free in Blue Valley, probably planning who his next victim will be.

And it was all because of her.

"I think you have a broken rib," Molly heard Beth inform Rick, which caused her to finally turn around and look at her friends.

Rick just let out a shaky breath as he clutched his side. However, he managed to pull off a small smile and assured them, "I'll live."

Molly couldn't help, but send him an uneasy expression as she clenched her sides. As Beth took off the goggles and put her glasses back on, Yolanda asked them uncertainly from the couch, "What did Eclipso do to Isaac?"

The four of them looked at each other before Beth hesitantly answered, "He... he inhaled him."

To her surprise, she heard Rick let out a small laugh before asking them, "Is that how that works? He feeds off of evil by... actually... eating people?"

"Isaac wasn't evil. He was just a troubled kid," Yolanda reminded him, causing him nod his head in agreement. She looked down at her feet while fiddling with her thumbs, "He didn't deserve to die. But Eclipso does."

There was a moment of silence that followed before Rick nodded his head slightly and replied, "We just got to find him."

Molly couldn't listen to this anymore. She reached over and grabbed her bookbag that was sitting on a chair. As she swung it over her shoulder, she heard Yolanda ask her confused, "Where are you going?"

"Home," She replied, not making eye contact with any of them.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Beth asked her uneasily, "Maybe it's best if we stick together for awhile?"

Molly took a deep breath, feeling very overwhelmed and not wanting to explode on Beth because of it. She finally managed to say, "It's a Saturday so that means my Aunt Tessa is home tonight. I need to get there to make sure she's okay."

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Rick starting to sit up. His face winced in pain from the rib, but he continued anyways, "I'll drive you-"

"No," She quickly cut him off, finally looking him in the eye. He just watched her in a mixture of shock and confusion as she continued, "No, stay here and rest. Come by in the morning, and I'm sure my aunt can give you recovery tips. Just... stay. Please."

The two of them just stared at each other for a moment, not even bothered that Yolanda and Beth were there. Molly knew that he was reading right through her. He knew something was bothering her. Hell, everyone knew. She wasn't going to tell them though. She couldn't.

"I'll see you later," She said quietly.

Before any of them could respond, she spun around and rushed down the stairs. Her hands gripped onto the straps of her bag tightly as she tried to manage her breathing. She couldn't be near her friends. It would put them in too much danger. Molly's worst fear was true. Icicle was right.

She really had no idea how powerful she was.

———

It has been a week since Eclipso got loose. There has been no sign of him anywhere, leaving Molly and the others very suspicious. However, that was the only thing she really talked to about her friends. Other than Eclipso, she spent the week distancing herself from her friends. She ignored all of her texts she had gotten from them. Yolanda's, Courtney's, Beth's, even Rick's. She couldn't talk to them.