"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 Fifty-Nine: Trailer Park Detour
(Dear Billy, Pt. 4)
***
It didn't take much time to get to Forest Hills.
As Steve drove to it, the car was silent except for the miscellaneous songs playing from the radio. Alistair looked out the window, keeping his face neutral. In his pocket, Max's letter burned and he resisted the urge to grab it, keeping his fist clenched. He also didn't look at his friends though every instinct screamed at him to do that—to memorise Lucas' and Dustin's faces, his friends since childhood, to memorise Max's, the girl he saw as a sister and would willingly volunteer to die in her place so that Vecna could spare her, to memorise Cami's, his person, his other half, and to memorise Steve's, the person who his sister had hated but now loved so much and he loved her in turn, that if they lived in a kinder world, Alistair might have seen them get married, to know Steve as his brother-in-law.
They'd all been through so much, and Alistair hated himself that when he snuck away, they would never seen him again, but he knew he was making the right choice. If he came back, then they wouldn't need to know he'd been cursed and died again—they had, rightfully, focused on Max and made sure she could be saved. Between the two of them, Alistair vastly preferred Max to be the one saved and him to be the one lost.
And if he didn't...
Alistair didn't want to think about if he didn't. That a small voice whispered how better it would be if he stayed dead this time.
When they arrived and parked in front of Max's trailer, the redhead made to get out, Steve turning around as he told her sternly, "Alright this better be fast, Mayfield."
"Twenty seconds," Max promised as she got out, slamming the car door closed and walking up to the trailer.
As they watched her go in, Steve asked Dustin, "That thing's got batteries in it, right?"
An awkward few seconds of silence followed before Dustin said, "I'm not even answering that question."
Another few awkward seconds before Dustin affirmed, "Yes, it has batteries."
"Yeah, I got it."
Alistair bit his lip. Now or never.
"Hey, I need to get something from my trailer. Mind if I go to grab it?" Alistair questioned.
Steve nodded. "Yeah, sure. But you better be be fast, or your sister will kill me, Graveswood."
"I know," Alistair murmured as he grabbed his backpack and opened the door, jogging over to his trailer. He ignored the yellow police tape, now lying in tattered halves, in front of the Munson trailer, the wrench in his heart at seeing that as he unlocked the trailer and stepped inside.
