"Hey, you remember what I said last year, right? We're Zombie Boy and Ghost Boy. I'm not ever gonna leave you."
"Promise?"
"One hundred percent."
***
In which Alistair fights the monster that possessed his friend alongside his friends, while trying...
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Chapter Forty-Seven: The Last Moment Of Normalcy
(The Hellfire Club, Pt. 7)
***
The drive to the trailer park was mostly silent.
Not in the way that it was completely silent—Eddie's metal music was pounding through the speakers of the van, Metallica's newest album if Alistair was hearing it correct. No, he meant it was silent in how hardly anyone had spoken. Not like Alistair was expecting the van to be full of conversation—after all, not much a cheerleader, the resident freak of Hawkins High, and a living dead boy that was chronically tired thanks to nightmares and trauma could talk about without the common link that was Rowan Graveswood.
Still, it didn't stop conversation attempted to be sparked—from Alistair's joking about how Chrissy needed to write a will due to Eddie's crazy driving and the metalhead protesting that had Chrissy look even more skittish as she clutched to her seatbelt tighter, to Eddie talking about the campaign's win tonight and Erica's winning roll—but they quickly fizzled out. The longest attempt was Chrissy asking Eddie what was the music being played, which had Eddie nearly swerve off the road in surprise and then ramble about the album and Metallica in general when he realised Chrissy wasn't kidding, but that died out when he saw Chrissy losing interest—probably because of how skittish she'd been ever since they'd all got in the van, whether it was the reason why she was here or something else... Alistair didn't know.
It didn't stop him sending worried glances at Chrissy, though.
Finally, they arrived in Forest Hills, screeching to a stop in front of Eddie's trailer.
"Alright. This is our stop," Eddie remarked, twisting around to Alistair. "You good, mini-Graveswood?"
Alistair gave a thumbs up and a neutral look. "Stellar."
Eddie grinned before he twisted around. "Okay, this is where we part ways, Alistair the Fearless. You have a key to get inside?"
"Yeah, I have a key," Alistair affirmed as he shrugged on his backpack. He and Rowan both had keys, both so they could get in and lock it when Aunt Aco wasn't home and if they had needed to run. The latter option was long-dead now, so they used their keys mostly for the former.
As he made to get out, Alistair paused and turned to Chrissy. "Hey, don't worry, Chrissy. I'm sure you're gonna be alright with Eddie. He's not dangerous."
"Mini-Graveswood, have you met me? I'm the least dangerous person you've ever met," Eddie said in his usual dramatics, but sincerity came over as he looked at Chrissy and assured, "But he's right, Chrissy. You're gonna be safe with me. I won't leave you to go through it alone or have a bad trip. Promise."
"Okay," Chrissy mumbled, still looking nervous but her shoulders relaxed slightly. She turned to Alistair and said, "Bye, Al. Thank you, for what you said."
