Invisible String || S. H.

29: reefer ricks hideout

Mollie (pov)

When we took refuge in Rick's place, I was surprised how averagely clean the place is. We had to ditch the van a couple miles out from the house. What happened to Chrissy, that's something I could never unsee. I needed to keep my calm or I was just gonna burst into tears.

"Molls, is there something you need to say? You look like you're gonna throw up."

"I wouldn't even know where to fucking start."

"'Kay, start somewhere, please, for my sanity."

I told him about last summer and what actually happened at the mall. But I couldn't tell him the rest since I don't really know the full story. I'll leave that for one of the kids to retell.

"Jesus christ, Mollie. I don't think all of that was just from the Russian's you mentioned. That shit was not from here. What is it that you're not telling me?"

"There is something but I'm not the most qualified to say."

"Then who is?"

"Dustin."

"You've got to be shitting me. Oh my fucking god."

"I'm sorry, Eddie, I really am. Look we need to just lay low and-"

"Yeah, sure. Where? The boat house?"

"Yeah, no one would even look in there."

We headed down the hill without anyone seeing us. I don't know what else we can do except hide. We're probably wanted for murder now. All we could do is stay hidden for as long as we can.

I'm hoping that either the kids or anyone I trusted would find us first. They would know we're innocent in all this.

~~

It was nightfall now. Eddie and I just stayed where we were and had short conversations about random things and he would blurt out a swear since he's more on edge than me. How am I so calm about all of this? Shit, I don't even know.

When we heard yells coming from up the hill and someone banging on Rick's front door. Asking if we were there. Eddie hid inside the small boat that was left in there. I recognized it was Dustin, it took a while for me to recognize his voice. And after living with him for all of his fifteen years, I should've known his voice immediately.

"Mollie, what the fuck are you doing?"

"Seeing Dustin, he's here looking for us."

"How do you know that's Dustin?"

"You really think I wouldn't know my own brother's voice?"

"I don't trust a lot of things right now, 'kay. So sorry for being a little paranoid. So get in this damn boat with me, I'm begging."

I didn't want to but if it meant some piece of mind to him, then I'll do it. We both got in and pulled the tarp over, covering us. From what I was able to see through the tarp, it was more than just Dustin here. When the first person opened the door asking if anyone was here, I knew it was Robin. Why is she here? Then I heard Steve's voice, I understood why he's here. Who else did Dustin bring with him?

I mouthed 'told you it was Dustin' to Eddie. He mouthed 'sorry' back. The next thing we knew what was happening was someone poking around the boat trying to see if we were in there. They scared the absolute shit out of me though. I had to cover my mouth to prevent myself from screaming.

"What're you doing," I heard. It was Dustin.

"They might be in here," another voice said. That had to be Steve.

"So take the tarp off," Dustin shouted quietly.

"If you're so brave, you take the tarp off."

Were they really arguing right now? At a time like this?

I recognized Max's voice, she found Eddie's small amount of food he took from the house before we came down here.

"Maybe they heard us. Got spooked and ran," I heard Robin say.

"Don't worry. Steve will get them with his ore."

"I know you think you're being funny, little Henderson, but considering everyone in this room has nearly died a hundred times, personally I don't find it funny in the slight-"

That last jab Steve made will probably be his last because Eddie got so scared from that one, he grabbed a piece of a broken bottle and jumped out from underneath tackling him to the wall.

We all were trying to get Eddie to let him go. I was shouting at him to drop the bottle. He didn't let go until I got in the middle of them, saying "Eddie, I'm gonna take this bottle away from you and you're gonna let Steve go, 'kay."

I gave him a knowing look telling him to trust all of them.

"How did you find us," I asked all of them.

"Well, we called Eddie's friends and they said that he usually crashed at this place before he went to yours, so," Robin said.

"That part makes sense but how did you get this address?"

"We did some research on all the Rick's that come into Family Video and that's how we found you."

"What movies gave it away?"

"Cheech and Chongs," Steve said.

Made sense. I noticed Eddie sliding down the wall from my peripheral, still frightened.

Dustin and I bent down to be level with him. "Ed's they just want to talk, alright. Hey, look at me, we're safe now."

He nodded his head saying that he understands but is not ready to talk about it. I guess it's all me on this. I told everyone what happened to Chrissy, everyone was so quiet you could hear a feather drop.

"I didn't know what to do, Mollie grabbed me by the hand and we just- we just ran away. We left her there," Eddie said. "Just say we sound crazy."

"No. We all know you're not crazy. Mollie's seen this kind of thing before, well besides the bone snapping part-" Dustin said.

"Yeah, she told me parts of it, but not all of it."

"Which part did she tell you," Steve asked.

"Just what happened last summer. And that Dustin would fill me in on everything else."

"Look, what I'm about to tell you might be a little... difficult to take," Dustin started.

Eddie nodded again, letting Dustin continue.

"You know how people say Hawkins is cursed? They're not way off. There's another world. A world hidden beneath Hawkins. Sometimes it bleeds into ours."

"Like ghosts and shit?"

"There are some things worse than ghosts," Max added.

"These monsters from this other world... we thought they were gone. But they've come back before. That's why we needed to find the both of you."

"If they're back again, we need to know," Max said.

"That night, did either of you see anything," Robin asked.

"Nothing was there. Nothing that we could see or touch. We both tried to wake her up but she... couldn't move it was like she was in a trance," I said.

"Or under a spell," Dustin said.

"A curse," Eddie added.

"Vecna's curse."

"Who's Vecna," Steve asked.

"An undead creature of great power," Dustin answered.

"A spell caster."

After the explanation of who and what Vecna is, Dustin pulled Eddie aside to fill him in on everything. On the other side of the boat house, Steve, Robin and I had a talk about sticking together through all of this.