WILDFIRE ↝ E. MUNSON

[5]

Lily woke to the sound of gasping, her eyes shooting open to see Max sitting up in her bed on the other side of the tiny bedroom, attempting to get her breathing under control. Sunlight streamed in through the curtains covering the window of the mobile home as Lily hurriedly got out of bed, crossing the room to sit next to Max, where she softly rubbed her back.

"Hey," Lily said softly. "It's okay. It was just a bad dream."

"I-I'm fine," Max stammered, a little shakily as she shrugged Lily off, hurrying out of their room and towards the kitchen.

Lily followed Max out of the room to see her sister rummaging through the cabinets above the sink, pulling out a bottle of Tylenol and taking two of the pills. Lily moved over to the pantry, grabbing a box of pancake mix before setting it on the counter.

"Hungry?" she asked, and Max nodded.

"Yeah," Max said, crossing her arms over her chest, "Sure."

Lily knelt down, grabbing a mixing bowl from the cupboard next to the sink as the sound of sirens blared from outside. It wasn't uncommon for emergency vehicles to drive past Forest Hills on the road leading out of town, though the sound grew louder as the cars came closer, into the park, and Lily noticed that, whatever it was, there was more than one vehicle.

Lily pushed open the door to the mobile home, Max hot on her heels, as four police cars sped around the corner, coming to a stop in front of the Munsons' trailer, where Eddie and Nick's uncle Wayne sat on the porch, smoking a cigarette. Behind the Mayfield girls, Susan stepped out onto the porch, pulling her robe tighter around her body as she surveyed the scene in front of them.

"Looks like that Munson boy's up to no good again," she mused, eyes briefly falling over her eldest daughter before moving back to the trailer across the field. Susan had never been too fond of Lily's friendship with the Munson kids, and though she hadn't admitted it to Lily before, the eighteen-year-old knew her mother had been relieved when she'd stopped speaking to them.

Lily watched as Chief Powell stepped out of his car, approaching Wayne with the other officers behind him. The two men conversed briefly for a moment before Powell entered the trailer with another officer behind him, the others staying behind to rope off the scene and talk to Wayne.

"Come on," Max whispered, taking the steps down off the porch and gesturing for Lily to follow her. "Let's see what's going on."

Lily followed Max as the two girls slowly stepped over to the Munsons', craning her neck to try to catch a glimpse over the officers' heads as they grew closer to the trailer. She knew Eddie was no stranger to run-ins with Hawkins PD, though after the death of their former chief Jim Hopper, who usually made visits when Eddie stepped out of line, to her knowledge he'd managed to keep his nose decently clean, with only a couple visits after Lily had moved to Forest Hills. He'd certainly never done anything to warrant four police cars on his lawn, anyways.

Lily's gaze moved past the cop standing closest to the doorway, her eyes finally settling inside the trailer. It was quiet, but as her eyes fell to the body laying on the floor, she could feel her heart drop through to her stomach.

The petite blonde figure lay face down on the brown carpet, still wearing her cheer uniform from the night before, and hair still pulled into her perfect ponytail. Her arms were brutally snapped behind her back, laying at an awkward angle, and Lily couldn't help the horrified, broken gasp that came out as she could suddenly hear Jason's voice in her head at the party, asking if she'd seen Chrissy anywhere.

"Hey!" a voice called out from behind them, startling the two girls as they turned to face the officer who watched them with a stern expression. "You can't be out here, get back inside."