𝐀 𝐃𝐈𝐅𝐅𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐀𝐆𝐄 - 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝟒 ✔

THE DIVE

-----------
𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒐𝒕𝒕𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒕𝒐𝒏
𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐝
-----------

"Not to be a wimp, but can I sit in the car? 'Cause this is gonna totally and royally suck." Charlie briefly heard from the trunk of Nancy's car, just as she did multiple times last year. Robin and Nancy sat up front, Lucas and Max in the middle, Charlie, Dustin, and Steve all in the trunk.

"It'll be fine." Nancy spoke, attempting to reassure Robin the best she could.

"I can't stand to see those dull eyes of Eddie's break again. I really, really can't." Robin responded, her vision focused on the dashboard. Charlie lifted the beer holder up, beginning to speak.

"At least he can drink himself into feeling better." She stated with a slight shrug, placing the holder back onto the seat. Charlie's headphones lie around her neck, still blaring the music loud enough to the point she could hear it.

"That's what my mom does." Max responded, rolling her eyes as she fumbled with the headphones that were around her ears. Although, she could still hear everything clearly due to the fact that one of her ears was free from the blaring music.

"Why don't we give it a trial run? 'Hey, Eddie. Uh, good news first this time. We got you some Dustin-approved junk food and that six-pack you requested. Oh yeah, and we found Vecna. Bad news it that he's in that other, darker, much scarier dimension that we told you about and the gate's closed, so we have no way of getting to him. Like- He's basically shut off to us, so you're screwed. And, no, I know you were already screwed, but now you're like doubly, triply screwed. Both of you.'" Robin rambled on, soon referring to the fact that Angie was with Eddie at the end of her rant.

"Wait, wait, wait. Maybe we don't put it like that." Lucas stated hesitantly, his hands going up in defense.

"'We're one step closer to finding Vecna.' That's what we say. That's what's important." Nancy stated, her vision focused on the road in front of them. Nancy had always been one of the safest drivers, so basically everyone trusted her to get them anywhere at any time.

"See, Robin? Positive spin can make all the difference." Steve said, his speaking muffled due to the pringles that were being shoved into his mouth. Charlie just rolled her eyes at the fact that Steve was grossly eating with his mouth wide open. Robin, in the front seat, just huffed out an 'uh-huh' in response, Charlie assuming that she also rolled her eyes.

"Oh shit." Nancy mumbled beneath her breath as she pulled up to Reefer Rick's house, seeing the people, news vans, and police cars that surrounded it. Everyone just sat there in silence, hoping that both Angie and Eddie weren't caught. But by the looks of it, they had been.

Charlie shoved past both Dustin and Steve, climbing out of the trunk. Everyone else in the car followed, trying to figure out what happened that this many people were here. "Come on, this way." Nancy mumbled back to the group, going around the back of the news van and toward the line of caution tape. When they came to a halt, their positions still concealed, they listened in on what Chief Powell had been saying.

"--reporting a homicide here on the lake. Officer Callahan here and myself arrived first on the scene. We made our way to the shore of Lover's Lake, about ten yards from that house you see behind me. It was there that we found the victim, an 18-year-old senior from Hawkins High, Patrick McKinney." The chief spoke into the camera, though, when he mentioned Patrick, Lucas's head dropped slightly.

"His limbs, his body, it was disfigured. There was a witness on the scene. We have also identified two people of interest. Eddie Munson and Angelica Cohan." Suddenly, two pictures of Eddie and Angie were lifted up, showing the camera who they were. Charlie's, and probably everyone else's, hearts dropped. "We encourage anyone with information to please come forward."