Some Kind of Evil; 𝒆𝒅𝒅𝒊𝒆 𝒎𝒖𝒏𝒔𝒐𝒏

chapter nineteen

゜✧*̣̩☽⋆゜

[ chapter nineteen ]
"Did all of that hair gel seep into your brain?"

゜✧*̣̩☽⋆

     "So what you're saying is that...there's this whole other world just like ours, right underneath us?" Even in her chair, Liv felt like she might collapse.

     Dustin nodded. "It's another dimension, one that mirrors our own world. But there's no life, no people, nothing. It's...all dead."

     "We call it the Upside Down," Max briefly glanced up.

     Liv snorted half-heartedly. "That's a little on the nose," she said, making the younger girl crack a smile.

     "Well, if the shoe fits," Steve chimed in.

     A silence hung in the air as they all sat around Reefer Rick's kitchen table. All except for Steve and Robin who stood only mere paces away, leaning against the wall.

     "And you think that whatever got Chrissy and now this kid Fred, that it came from this world—the Upside Down?" Eddie asked from across the table, opposite Liv.

     Dustin sat on the edge of his seat, elbows practically digging into the table as he looked from Eddie to Nancy to Liv. "Our working theory is that this monster attacks with a spell or," He shook his head. "A curse. Now, whether or not he's doing the bidding of the Mind Flayer or just loves killing teens, we don't know."

     Liv shifted forward. "The Mind Flayer. That's what's responsible for what happened at Starcourt, right?"

     Dustin nodded.

     "We don't know much," Max started. "But what we do know is this is something different. Something we haven't faced before."

     Nancy closed her eyes for a brief moment. "This doesn't make sense."

     "It's only a theory," Dustin reminded.

     "No, Fred and Chrissy don't make sense. I mean, why them?"

     She echoed a thought Liv couldn't seem to come to terms with ever since finding out her sister was dead. Why her? Why would anyone murder Chrissy? What made her a target?

     All this talk of the monster—or Vecna, as Dustin and Eddie insisted everyone call it—caused a shooting pain to throb at Liv's temples. It was the kind of headache that came so suddenly and with such a violent attack that it made her want to be sick. Rubbing her temples, Liv closed her eyes and leaned her head back against her chair.

     "Maybe they were just in the wrong place? They were both at the game." Dustin went on.

     "And near the trailer park," Max came to a realization.

     The trailer park. Chrissy. Those two words kept ringing throughout Liv's mind. Why the trailer park? Why Chrissy? She felt like her thoughts were going to drive her insane as she pinched the bridge of her nose, trying anything to ease this headache. But then she felt something brush against her ankle. It was so light she didn't even think anything of it at first as she continued to rub her temples, figuring it was only Field trying to tell her he was hungry. That was until it happened again and she realized it was not the softness of a cat and, instead, the firmness of a shoe.

     Liv straightened out, hands falling onto the table as she looked across it. Eddie stared back. He scrunched his eyebrows together as if silently asking her: What's wrong?