The Devil's Gift/The Bloody Handed

2: Two Innocent Criminals

***
It had been days. I couldn't find myself to leave my room let alone bear seeing Jason as he frantically searches for his girlfriend and wanders off to his drinking cabin with his buddies scheming whatever he can. Aunt Barb and Uncle Frank have tried talking to me but I refused. I didn't need the fake smiles or the fake offers. They offered to drag a high end therapist into the house to help with "whatever I was going through." I just wanted to know what the hell happened. I know Chrissy did not deserve that death.

Even better, the news has Eddie Munson's name plastered in bold, and pinned on every square inch of the screen. His name was on every bulletin in Hawkins. There were accusations deriving from Jason of Hellfire being some sort of demonic or satanic cult that sacrificed innocent people. To him, that's how he made sense of Chrissy's death. It was all so ludacris.

I'm glad Eddie booked it if I was being honest. I don't blame him for leaving me in the dust, but it was an asshole move. He knew he was going to be the prime suspect in this case as soon as she walked into that trailer. I hope he's was somewhat hidden from the public to say the least.

The nightmares won't give in. They keep coming in stronger and stronger. All I can replay in my head is Chrissy contorting at unlikely angles and her jaw opening, crooked to the side. Her screams and her frantic gaze as if she was watching a horror movie play out in front of her eyes. I take my forefinger and thumb, rubbing them across my eyes, pinching my nose. I didn't know the girl all that well, but I knew she damn well didn't deserve that.

Why would a cheerleader, out of all people, go to Eddie Munson's house? My senses tell me it's to get a hold of drugs. But why would Chrissy
Cunningham, sweetest girl on the block, want to do drugs?  None of it made sense and Eddie knew more than what he was letting on. It was as if they maybe had an arranged deal or something of the sort.

I wanted to go to the cops but I also knew that cops didn't specialize in possession. I would be looked at like I was crazy or just another suspect. And I didn't want to wear orange for my senior year of highschool in a town I just moved into.

I could just imagine it, "New Girl From Jackson Labelled as Secondary Suspect in the Gruesome Murder of Chrissie Cunningham."

Mom and Dad sent me here for a reason and it wasn't to witness all of this. But I do know I've heard several stories of Hawkins being cursed in a sort. Benny Hammond, Barbara Holland, Connie Frazier, Bob Newby, Jack Driscoll, Bruce Lowe, Tom and Heather Holloway, Billy Hargrove, and more. I thought they were all just unnatural, unlucky deaths. They all were said to die the most unnerving and unnatural deaths known to man. Yet the police have the nerve to turn the cheek and ignore what is right under their noses. I believed in the supernatural to an extent. There was always something with it that just made sense.

I stare down at my body and I'm in the same clothes I was two days ago. I didn't find the courage to leave my room and luckily it was the weekend before spring break. Dirt and mud stains still remain on my ankles, the dried dirt flaking off onto the bed. I turn on my side and sigh, staring at my nightstand. My eyes find the picture of Mom, Dad, and smile. Only if you were here to witness that.

"Clarissa!" My Aunt Barb shouts from downstairs. "You have visitors!" Her voice sounds pure annoyed. They haven't really talked to me in days. They've been comforting Jason or yelling at him for stumbling into the house drunk and hitting the walls. I swing my legs over my bed and rush down the stairs wondering who it could be. Anyone but Eddie, I can tell you that.

"Well hey, Clarissa." Dustin put his hand up to greet me and beside Dustin, stood a red haired girl with big blue eyes. "I think we might have some explaining to do."

"Damn right you do!" I say aggressively in a whisper leaning out of the door and looking behind me.

Dustin gives me a sorry smile. "Pack some things, we gotta head out of here soon."