The other Mayfield (Will Byers X Reader)

014. Caught and held captured

~Y/n POV~

We were all crammed into the Wheelers' living room as Chief Powell questioned us, parents lining the edges of the room like a jury. The air felt thick, heavy with judgment.

"And what exactly were you all doing at the lake?" Powell asked, his eyes moving slowly from one of us to the next.

We stumbled over our words until Dustin and Max spoke up at the same time.

"It's comp—"

"We were... we were just going for a walk," Max cut in quickly.

"A walk? At nine o'clock at night?" Callahan asked skeptically.

"To the lake," Dustin added. I closed my eyes. "We were gonna take a little swim. A little night swim."

"Dusty, someone was just murdered there," Dustin's mom said, her voice tight with worry.

"Yeah, we—we didn't realize that until we got there," Dustin lied, barely missing a beat.

"And that's why we didn't swim," Lucas added.

"And Nancy," Mrs. Wheeler said sharply, "was she with you during this little night swim?"

"Yes," Max said.

"No," Dustin said.

"Yeah," I said.

We all turned to look at Dustin like we were about to strangle him. We were so screwed.

"We're not sure," Lucas added, which absolutely did not help. I sank further into the couch, staring into the distance with a stunned smile.

"She was there," Dustin stammered. "Then she left. It's all kind of confusing."

Powell's expression said he didn't buy a word of it.

"And that's when you guys showed up," Lucas finished.

"Right. They dared me to say what I said," Max added quickly.

Dustin and Lucas both laughed. too loudly, too nervously.

Then Mr. Wheeler decided to contribute.

"You're lucky you didn't get shot," he said.

Powell ignored him. "Have any of you had contact with Eddie Munson?"

"That psycho... freak killer?" Dustin said, sounding offended. "God, no."

"Nope. Absolutely not."

"Haven't heard from him," came a chorus of voices.

Callahan turned toward me. "What about you? You've been awfully quiet."

"Oh—uh, yeah. Like they said," I answered. "Barely knew the guy."

And then, of course, Erica stepped forward.

"Oh, that's a bunch of bull."

"Erica!" Mr. and Mrs. Sinclair said in unison.

"I mean, you do realize they're lying, right?" she continued calmly. "The whole couch is on fire."

"Erica," they warned again.

"Just the facts."

"Are you lying to these officers, Dusty?" Mrs. Henderson asked.

"No!" Dustin yelped.

"Lying to the police is a crime, son," Mr. Sinclair said, pointing at Lucas.

"I'm not lying!" Lucas shot back.

"The fire is consuming us," Erica added helpfully.

"Threaten them with a little jail time," Mr. Wheeler said. "Maybe that'll loosen their lips."