Complete Chaos

057

"Not to be a wimp, but can I sit in the car? 'Cause, this is gonna totally and royally suck," Robin expressed to Nancy. Robin was in the passenger seat.

"It'll be fine," the other teenager said, watching the road ahead. Nancy was driving her car.

By the time the group got out of Victor's house, it was late at night all stores were closed. They had to wait until the following morning to buy the food. They were headed to give Eddie his food.

"I can't stand to see those dull eyes of Eddie's break again." Robin looked blankly at the front. "I really, really can't." She slightly shook her head.

Since Nancy was driving her car, Julia was sitting in the back between Max and Lucas with Melody in her lap. It wasn't safe, but Julia was holding Melody with both of her hands as if they were a seatbelt. There was no room in Nancy's car for Melody's car seat.

"At least he can drink himself into feeling better," Steve said with his mouth full of Pringles. Steve and Dustin didn't fit with them; the two boys had to be in the trunk.

Julia looked over his shoulder and eyed the Pringles. With his mouth full of chips, Steve lifted the cylinder. Julia extended her hand.

Steve got a chip and placed it on Julia's palm. She mumbled a quick thank you and got the chip quickly to her mouth, not wanting Melody to see.

Her daughter glanced at her mother when she felt her move too much. Julia stopped her mouth from moving. Melody looked at her suspiciously, but seeing that her mom didn't have any food, she looked away.

Now that Melody was facing Lucas, Julia chewed and swallowed the chip. Melody was at an age where she wanted to eat anything she saw nearby; she needed to try all the food her parents were eating.

"That's what my mom does," Max mumbled looking out the window. Julia smiled sadly at the younger teen. For a big part of Julia's life, her father would come home drunk; she rarely saw him sober.

"Why don't we give it a trial," Robin suggested. "Hey, Eddie. Uh, good news first this time. We got you some Dustin-approved junk food and that six-pack you requested." Robin moved her hand up and glanced at Nancy.

"Oh yeah, and we found Vecna. Bad news is that he's in that other, darker, much scarier dimension, and the gate's closed, so we have no way of getting to him," Robin said rapidly. "He's entirely shut off to us, so basically, you're screwed."

She squinted her eyes and shook her hand. "And, no, I know you were already screwed," Robin opened her eyes and said, "but now you're doubly, triply screwed." She moved her hand up and down.

Julia looked down at Melody's messy brown hair feeling sad about Eddie's situation. Eddie didn't deserve any of the bad things that happened to him.

"Wait. Maybe we don't put it like that," Lucas interjected.

They needed to somehow be optimistic about the new information they discovered. "We're one step closer to finding Vecna. That's what we say," Nancy said, glancing at Robin. Julia nodded, liking that better instead of what Robin wanted to say.

"That's what's important," Nancy ended up saying, nodding to herself.

"See, Robin? Positive spin can make all the difference." Steve licked his finger after eating another chip. Robin rolled her eyes, ignoring Steve's comment.

As they were getting closer to her destination, Nancy slowed down the car. Several police cars and reporters were at Reefer Rick's place. The group got out of the car to have a better look.

"This way," Nancy said, walking in front of the group. Julia tried her best to look at the back of each police car. She wanted to see if Eddie was detained or if he somehow got away.

From the side, behind a news reporter van the group heard the sheriff speak to the reporters. A homicide took place a little bit over midnight at the lake. Julia waited impatient to know who died. She had not heard from Eddie in around 24 hours.

Sheriff Powell flipped through the page of his small notepad and said, "the victim is an 18 year old senior from Hawkins High Patrick McKinney." Julia felt relief knowing Eddie was alive but sad that another young teen died because of vecna.

"We have also identified a person of interest. Eddie Munson." Sheriff Powell showed a picture of Eddie to the camera. With those words her relief was gone from her face. His name and picture were in the news for everyone to see. He was in more danger than before.

"We encourage anyone with information to please come forward. You've got a lot of questions, and I'm going to answer as many as I can. Two o'clock at town hall, where anyone from the Hawkins community is welcome. But right now. I've got work to do, and I appreciate your understanding." Powell walked away from the cameras as reporters continued to ask him questions.

A familiar voice was heard. "Dustin, can you hear me? Julia?"

A faint smile spread on Julia's face knowing that Eddie was still alive and had escaped. Not many could notice the subtle change in Julia, but only one person did. Steve couldn't ignore the way Julia's facial expression changed when she heard Eddie's voice. His jaw clenched slightly; he was feeling new emotions. He didn't want to jump into conclusion. He didn't know the history between them.

Dustin got the walkie talkie out of his bag. He walked away from the reporters, not wanting for them to hear them. Like lost ducklings, the group followed Dustin.

"Eddie. Holy shit. Are you okay?"

"Nah, man. Pretty... Pretty goddamn far from okay."

Julia took a step closer to Dustin and said, "Ask him where he is?"

"Where are you," Dustin asked. After a few seconds Eddie responded, "Skull Rock. Do you know it?"

"Uh, yeah. That's near Cornwallis and," Dustin struggled to remember.

"Garrett," both Steve and Julia said in unison.

Julia knew the place thanks to Kimberly. Not only was it a place made for make-out, but also it was where a few parties took place.

Julia had lost her shoe once. Kissed Amanda Hilly on the lips because of a dare, and on another occasion she threw up behind the skull rock from spinning too much while dancing. Those were things she wouldn't share with Melody for a long time.

The group walked back to the car. "Hold tight. We're coming. We're coming," Dustin said to Eddie before putting the walkie talkie back in his bag.