Raising Hel | a Stranger Things fanfiction

Chapter 15

Timeline check: sets during ST4 episode 6, on Wednesday 26th of March 1986 just after Dustin and the gang meets with Eddie at Skull Rock

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Dustin paces away from the rest of the group. The relief of finding Eddie alive is already gone. He barely listens while his friend tells them about his night. He needs to understand why his compass made him go into the wrong direction! His compass never failed him before, so why now?

He spins on his heels, frowning. It did actually fail him before. He stops. It was deflected by the gate to the Upside Down. So this means ... there's another gate somewhere!

– Boom! he shouts.

If his theory is right, they have a chance of defeating Vecna!

*

Hellen shifts on her seat. She's baffled to see the Town Hall so crowded and the atmosphere so vengeful. But what started as angry parents pointing how incompetent the sheriff was escalated quickly into a mob rally when some highschooler showed up and went all length to explain how Eddie leads some sort of satanic club that commits ritual murders. She waits for the moment somebody is going to point out how silly this is. But that moment never comes. Worse, people do rally him!

Panic starts to get the best of her. She knows there's no way of reasoning with someone who accepts such an abnormal theory. They are driven by fear and it's clearly not a quirky girl who doesn't even live in this town anymore who's going to make them realize how ridiculous this is.

A man in his forties pats her on the shoulder and says in a terrifying assurance:

– Don't you worry dear, they'll get him before dark.

*

Wayne still can't decide how he feels about his meeting with the Sheriff. He found the police waiting for him at his hotel when he came back from the dinner. For a second, he thought they were here to tell him they already found Eddie but they just drove him to the police station so he could go to another interrogation.

No, he hadn't got any news from his nephew. No phone call neither. No, he still didn't know where Eddie could be hiding....

Wayne especially disliked the part where Sheriff Powell told him the absurd theory of some kid whose friend was the last victim. He wanted to point out that the demonic attack was exactly how Victor Creel defended himself for the murder of his family, but he knew it was pointless.

Instead, he swore he wouldn't show up at the townhall this afternoon and that he would call the police if he had any information before leaving.

He insisted on walking back to his hotel, regretted it soon enough as he realized people were staring at him even more than before, and sat with a beer at the hotel sorry excuse for a bar.

When Hellen came back from the meeting, she looked white as a sheet and stammered all the way through her recount of the event. He had to hide his face behind his hands for a moment to hide his own tears. Once he feels like he can talk without his voice shaking, he asks:

– Do you think you could find something that could help finding Eddie if you studied that thing growing on the ceiling of my trailer?

– I ... I don't know... But it can't hurt to try. Unless the FBI is still there.

In a heartbeat, they're both driving toward Forest Hill and parking their cars in front of the Munson trailer. With no sign of FBI presence, Wayne helps Hellen unload her equipment and install it in the living room. The idea seems more foolish as time goes by but he doesn't have the heart to tell Hellen. Her face has a bit more color and he figures getting her to focus on something is a good way of making sure she doesn't have a massive breakdown.