slut [ eddie munson ]

015

After stopping by Nancy's house to strengthen her alibi, Talia had reluctantly gone home. She had been 'missing' for almost two days by that point, and while her parents hadn't filed a missing persons report yet, Talia knew that if she was gone any longer they would.

Both her parents cars where in the driveway when she pulled up to her house, not surprised since it had been dark for a few hours already. She made her way to the front door, dragging her feet ever so slightly, and carefully slid her key into the lock. Trying to stay quiet in hopes that her parents were already in bed and wouldn't notice her arrival, she slowly turned the doorknob and entered.

Talia winced when the door creaked as she tried to softly close it, pausing slightly before locking it quickly. The downstairs was dark and her ears strained to hear any indication of life. When she heard none, she crept her way up the stairs and into her room.

She quickly discarded her keys and shoes. After changing into a pair of soft shorts and a tank top, she wandered to her bed and laid down, hugging her blanket to her chest. The events from the past two days had left her exhausted, both mentally and physically.

A soft knock sounded from her bedroom door, her mom's voice calling out, "Talia, is that you?"

Talia immediately sat up, doing her best to pull any signs of exhaustion from her face and slipping on a small strained smile, "Yeah, mom."

Mrs. Wheeler wasted no time opening the door, her husband a few feet behind her. Her eyebrows were pulled together with worry, her eyes frantically glancing over her daughter—looking for any sign of injury.

"Where have you been, Talia?" Her mother demanded, arms crossed over her pink robe and her face turning stern.

"With Nancy," Talia mumbled, already desperate for her parents to leave.

"That's not what your aunt said when we called. So I want the truth and I want it now," anger slipped into her mothers voice.

Talia grit her teeth, trying to keep her face calm. Her father had come closer, and she could see the disappointment on his face.

"I was with Nancy," she stated again, "call again and Aunt Karen will tell you how I just came home with Nancy and ate dinner with them."

Her parents shared a look, neither of them fully believing their daughter.

"Where were you last night?" her father asked.

"Steve's," she said reluctantly, knowing that her parents still adored the Harrington boy, even though they knew she hadn't spoken to him in years.

"Steve Harrington? How did that happen," Talia's mother asked, still not believing her.

Talia paused slightly, quickly coming up with a lie, "I went to get movies to take my mind off...Chrissy. He works at Family Video and had heard what happened. I looked like a mess and he put together that I knew the person, so...he made me come over for a movie night—try and cheer me up, I guess." Talia prayed that they would buy her half-lie.

Gina Wheeler squinted her eyes at her daughter for a moment, searching her face for any hint of dishonesty, "Go to sleep, we'll—and I will be calling your Aunt." Her parents then filed out of the room, leaving the door cracked open behind them.

Talia huffed, rubbing at her eyes as she desperately tried to calm herself back down. She had been numbing out her emotions since the day before, sick of crying and sick of feeling sad. A part of her wanted to seem strong too, in front of Eddie and the others, but now everything was begging to be released.

Noticing her open door, Talia rolled her eyes and stood up, cursing her parents in her head for not closing it behind them. She had barely made it two steps before her mom was suddenly pushing her door further open and entering the room again.

Talia's steps faulted, looking at her mom questioningly. Gina's lips were pulled into a sad frown, her previous anger nowhere to be seen, the older woman silently approached her daughter and pulled her into a tight hug.

"I'm so sorry about Chrissy, Lia. And, I'm sorry for being so harsh," her voice thickened with grief, "when your father and I heard what happened and then came home to you missing, we thought it was you they found. We were so worried, honey," Talia could feel her mother's tears dampen the skin of her shoulder, and she could feel her own eyes begin to burn, "then, the police came today, said they wanted to check in on you because they could tell you took it hard finding your friend yesterday. We...well, we didn't know what to think. Our minds just went crazy, and that boyfriend of Chrissy's didn't help. Kept calling the house for you, then he started making all sorts of crazy claims once he found out you weren't here—said some Eddie boy had you held hostage and was going to sacrifice you with his cult."

Talia couldn't hold her tears back anymore, ruefully letting them fall as she processed her mom's words, "I'm sorry too, momma. I should of called, and Jason is just...Jason. He doesn't know what he's talking about. I know they're saying Eddie did this, but he didn't—couldn't," Talia corrected herself, not wanting her mother to catch on to the fact that Talia had spoken to Eddie.

Her mother hummed, releasing Talia from a hold and carefully wiping the tears from her daughter's face before swiping at her own, "I don't know, honey. We just have to let the police do what they need to, they'll get Chrissy the justice she deserves, alright?"

Talia just nodded her head, more tears slipping down her cheeks to replace the ones her mother had wiped away.