𝙊𝙣𝙚 𝙔𝙚𝙖𝙧 𝙖𝙩 𝙖 𝙏𝙞𝙢𝙚

First Time in the Upside Down

We left the Creel house and saw multiple police cars driving down the road. We quickly got in Nancy's car and followed them to a lake. Harlow's body was being placed onto a stretcher and my hand flew to my mouth. "This is my fault..." I whispered, getting out of the car. My eyes started tearing up as the guilt hit me. "No, it's not." Steve wrapped his arms around me, hiding his tears. He probably felt guilty too... and it was his girlfriend. "We should probably start getting home." Nancy turned to us. We nodded and got back into the car, driving to our houses.

The next day, we had somewhat recovered. Nancy was driving with upbeat music on the radio. Dustin, Steve and I were snacking on food at the back. "Not to be a wimp, but can I sit in the car? 'Cause this is gonna totally and royally suck." Robin sulked. "It'll be fine." Nancy replied, shaking her head. "I can't stand to see those dull eyes of Eddie's break again. I really, really cant." Robin put her hand over her eyes. "At least he can drink himself into feeling better." Steve held up the packet of beers, his mouth full of food. "That's what my mom does." Max said, blankly. Her humor is strange... It makes me extremely worried for her. "Why don't we give it a trial run? 'Hey, Eddie. Uh, good news first this time. We got you some Dustin-approved junk food and that six-pack you requested. Oh yeah, and we found Vecna. Bad news is that he's in that other, darker, much scarier dimension that we told you about and the gate's closed, so we have no way of getting to him. He's entirely shut off to us, so basically you're screwed. And, no, no, I know you were already screwed, but now you're doubly, triply screwed'." She yelled. "Do you need a beer to calm down?" I asked. She rolled her eyes. "Maybe don't put it like that." Lucas furrowed his eyebrows. " 'We're one step closer to finding Vecna.' That's what we say. That's what's important." Nancy reassured herself. "See, Robin? Positive spin can make all the difference." Steve shoved more pringles into his mouth. "Uh-huh." Robin responded. "Steve, don't eat all the pringles!" I shouted at him, snatching the tub away and handing some to Dustin. "Oh shit." Nancy whispered. I leant forwards and looked out the front window. Police cars and people were piled up at Rick's house. Has Eddie been found? We clambered out the car and hid behind a news van, listening in to what Chief Powell was saying. "Reporting a homicide here on the lake. Officer Callahan here and myself arrived first on the scene. We made our way to the shore of Lover's Lake, about ten yards from that house you see behind me. It was there that we found the victim, an 18 year old senior from Hawkins High, Harlow Taylor. Her limbs... her body, it was disfigured. There was an eyewitness on the scene. We have also identified a person of interest. Eddie Munson. We encourage anyone with information to please come forward." He explained. "Oh man..." Steve shook his head, "This is not good. Really not good." My heart shattered for Eddie. "How are we supposed to tell him that his name has been reported to the news?" I started playing with my ring, nervously. If they find out that we were hiding him, we'd be killed. How did he get himself in this mess? "Dustin, can you hear me? Wheeler?" Eddie's voice came through on the radio. Dustin pulled it out from his pocket and we stepped away from the van.
"Eddie. Holy shit. Are you okay?" Dustin asked. "Nah, man. Pretty... Pretty goddamn far from okay."
R: "Where is he?"
D: "Where are you?"
E: "Skull Rock. Do you know it?"
D: "Uh, yeah. That's near Cornwallis and-"
S: "Garrett. Yeah, I know where that is."
Steve walked off and we followed after him.
D: "Hold tight. We're coming. We're coming."

We ended up walking in the woods for what felt like hours. "Dude, I'm telling you, you're taking us the wrong way." Steve groaned. "It's north. I'm positive. I checked the map." Dustin replied.
S: "You do realise Skull Rock, it's a super popular make-pour spot?"
D: "Yeah. So?"
S: "Yeah, well, it wasn't popular until I made it popular. All right? I practically invented it."
E: "How come you never took me there?"
S: "... We're heading in the wrong direction."
He went a different direction, confidently.
D: "Where are you going? Steve!"
S: "Stop whining. Let's go. Trust me."
Well, be definitely knew where we were going. We ended up climbing through bushes and circling, like, five different trees. We walked for another five minutes before ending up at Skull Rock. "Bada bing, bada boom. There she is, Hendersons. Skull Rock. In your face, man. In your stupid, cocky little face." Steve smiled, putting his hands on his haps, proudly. "Doesn't make sense..." Dustin shook his head. "Yeah, yeah. Even with it staring you in the face, you can't admit it. Can't admit you're wrong, you little butthead." He scoffed. "I concur." I turned around to see Eddie standing there with a grin on his face. "You, Dustin Henderson, are a... total butthead." He sighed. "Jesus, we thought you were a goner!" Dustin ran and hugged him. A smile grew on my face and Eddie looked at me, also smiling. I looked over at Steve, who was clearly jealous. Now, is he jealous of Dustin and Eddie's friendship or me smiling at Eddie? Eh, doubt I'll ever find out. I stepped closer to him and caught eye contact. "Don't get jealous. You've known Dustin longer." I whispered. Steve chuckled to himself and nodded. "Of course, time is stronger." He responded. "Exactly." I grinned.