DISCONTINUED
Alina Fairgrieves-Byers and Gabriel Burton have learned to expect the worst, but that doesn't make things less disappointing.
𝐄𝐗𝐓𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐃 𝐒𝐔𝐌𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐘 𝐈𝐍𝐒𝐈𝐃𝐄
( 𝐎𝐂 𝐗 𝐋𝐔𝐂𝐀𝐒 𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐂𝐋𝐀𝐈𝐑 )
( 𝐎𝐂 𝐗 𝐖𝐈𝐋𝐋 𝐁𝐘𝐄...
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the second kill
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. ✧ ・゜. +・o ✧
Apparently, even with yesterday's promises—that the entire group, even Alina, would return to the boathouse—Eddie hadn't actually expected them to show back up on his doorstep. Alina wasn't sure if this was because he thought everything last night had been simply bullshit, or that they'd sicked the police on him; either way, the moment they entered, they found themselves face-to-face with the business end of a broken beer bottle.
Fortunately, it didn't take long to calm him down. Once the group reiterated that they were just here for the grocery delivery—and a little update on their current situation—Eddie settled down. And, well, it didn't hurt that Dustin was among them, and carrying a grocery bag full of Honeycomb cereal.
As Eddie tore into the box, shoveling handfuls of cereal into his mouth like they'd be taken away from him at any moment, Dustin began to catch him up. "So, we got, uh, some good news and some bad news. How do you prefer it?"
"Bad news first, always," Eddie said through a mouthful of cereal. Then, still crunching, he sipped from one of the many bottles of pop Robin had brought him.
"All right. Bad news," Dustin said. "We tapped into the Hawkins PD dispatch with our Cerebro, and they're definitely looking for you. Also, they're, uh, pretty convinced you killed Chrissy."
"Like, 100% kind of convinced," Max added.
Eddie's expression fell a little at that, but he tried to keep it moderately neutral. "And the good news?"
"Your name hasn't gone public yet," said Robin. "But if we found out about you, it's only a matter of time do, too. And once that gets out, everyone and their shallow-minded mother is gonna be gunning for you."
"People like to have a scapegoat," Alina said. Honestly, she was more amiable to Eddie now that he wasn't threatening her friends. In the dark, he'd been a danger, a potential murderer, but in the light—both the physical light and the light of what she'd learned—she was realizing that he was just a scared boy. Man. Dustin had said he'd been held back a few grades. "This is an easy target for them. Chrissy died in your trailer; you ran. Calling you the murderer means that they don't need to entertain the other, scarier idea—that it was something else."
