In The Stars / Steve Harrington 3

Chapter 7

When we finally make it out to Lovers Lake and Rick Lipton's house, it's already dark outside. Steve pulls into Rick's driveway, and we all get out of his car. Dustin runs up to the front door, and we follow behind him.

Dustin rings the doorbell, but nobody answers. Dustin rings the doorbell again, but we get the same response. Dustin then rings the doorbell repeatedly, and I sigh. "Okay, well, that's settled. I guess he's not here." Steve says, and I glare at him.

"Eddie!" Dustin yells out, and I sigh. "Great." Steve says, and I glare at him again. "It's Dustin and Bella!" Dustin yells. Dustin continues to yell and bang on the door. I ignore him and start shining my flashlight into the windows to try and see anything. I walk around the corner of the house, and I see a metal shed. "Hey, guys!" I call out to them, and they all come running over to me.

"Well, that's no creepy at all." Steve says sarcastically. We walk towards the shed and shine our flashlights in the windows. I slowly open the door and poke my head in. "Hello, is anyone home?" I ask. I get no response, and I walk in, followed by Max, Steve, Dustin, Robin, and Corey. "What a dump." Steve says, and I nod my head in agreement.

The girls and I look around on one side of the shed as Steve and Dustin go to the other. I slightly jump as I hear something behind me. I turn around to see Steve with an oar hitting a tarp in the boat in the center of the shed. "What are you doing!?" Dustin asks Steve. "Steve, what are you doing?" I ask him after Dustin gets no response. "He might be in here." Steve says as he continues to hit the tarp. "Take the tarp off." Dustin says. "If you're so brave, you take the tarp off." Steve snaps at Dustin. I sigh and go back to looking for clues on my side of the shed.

I shine my flashlight around, and something catches my attention. I see some empty food cans and wrappers on a small table. "Hey, look over here." I say to the girls. They all come over and look at what I've found. "Someone was definitely here." I say. "Maybe he heard us, got spooked, and ran." Robin suggests.

"Don't worry, Steve will get him with his oar." Dustin says sarcastically. "I know you think you're being funny, Henderson, but considering that everyone in this room has nearly died about a hundred times personally, I don't find it funny in the slightest." Steve says, and right as he gets finished talking, Eddie jumps out from under the tarp and pins Steve against the shed wall, and he holds a broken beer bottle to Steve's neck.

I quickly run over to the boys' side of the shed as Max, Corey, and Robin follow behind me. Dustin holds his arms out to stop us from going any closer to Steve and Eddie as he screams Eddie's name. "Eddie!" I yell at him, and he turns to look at me. "Eddie, it's me. It's Dustin and Bella. This is Steve he's not gonna hurt you. Right Steve?" Dustin asks. "Right, yeah." Steve wispers. "Steve, why don't you drop the oar." Dustin says.

Steve does as Dustin says, and Eddie shoves the broken bottle closer to Steve's throat. "He's cool. He's cool." Dustin says to try and calm Eddie down. "I'm cool, man. I'm cool." Steve wispers. "What are you doing here?" Eddie asks, clearly frightened. "We're looking for you." I say to him in a calm voice to try and calm him down. "We're here to help." I say to further explain. Eddie looks over at me, and I nod, letting him know that I'm telling the truth.

"Eddie, these are my friends. You know Robin, from band." Dustin says, and Robin acts like she's playing a trumpet. "This is my friend Max, the one who never wants to play DND. She's Bella's sister." Dustin says, and Max waves. "You know Corey and Bella." Dustin says, and Corey waves while I send Eddie a small, reassuring smile.

"Eddie, we're on your side." Dustin says calmly. Eddie doesn't do anything, and I start to get more worried than I already am. "I swear on my mother!" Dustin yells. "Right, guys?" Dustin asks. "Yeah, yes, yes, we swear." Max says. "On Dustin's mother." Robin adds. "Yeah, on Dustin's mother." Steve says quietly.

Eddie stares at Steve and eventually lets him go. Steve groans and stumbles away from Eddie. He leans on a table. I rush over to Steve and put my hands on his shoulders. "Are you okay?" I ask him quietly. "Yeah, yeah, I've been through worse." He says, matching my tone. I offer him a small smile and look over at Eddie to see him sink to the ground.

I stay close to Steve but turn my attention to Eddie. "Eddie, we just want to talk." Dustin says as he slowly kneels in front of Eddie. Dustin goes to grab the broken beer bottle from Eddie, but Eddie flinches away. "Okay." Dustin says, and he puts a hand up, signaling for us to calm down. Robin kneels down beside Eddie and Dustin, and Max and Corey stand behind Robin and Dustin.

"We want to know what happened." I say from beside Steve. "You won't believe me." Eddie says after a few seconds as he turns to look at me with tears in his eyes. "Try us." I say with a small shrug. Eddie stares at me and slowly nods. We all gather around him and wait for him to tell us what happened that night in his trailer.