PusH

Our Paths

Our Paths

The neon sign buzzes outside the small diner. Inside the flickering glow creates  a strange shadow over his face. Nancy sits down across the table from Chief Hopper. The Chief reaches into his coat and pulls out a single cigarette.

“Thanks for coming.” He lights his cigarette and breathes in the white smoke deeply.

Nancy was uneasy about being summoned to a secret midnight meeting by the Chief of police, but after the events of the last few years....

“Order some coffee, it doesn’t taste as bad as you’d think.” He takes a sip. “Still pretty bad though.” He smiles.

Nancy signals over the waitress and orders a coffee. Once the waitress goes Hopper takes another deep drag of his cigarette.

“Did you bring the note I left you?”

Nancy reaches in to her purse and pulls out the crumpled piece of paper. Hopper takes the note wads it up then lights it on the coffee saucer. He waves away the smoke as the waiter comes back with Nancy’s coffee. Nancy takes a sip as they wait for the waiter to leave again.

“So Nancy I know our paths don’t cross much and that make sense because you’re a good kid. But I’m going to need your help. It's about keeping everyone safe and that means, keeping Jane, Mike and everyone safe. You’re a smart kid but I need to know if I can trust you.”

Nancy felt her stomach drop. Deep down she knew he was going to have something troublesome to talk about at this clandestine meeting. Yet still a part of her was hoping for some normality, like Hopper asking her to look after Jane and Will for him and Joyce or hell ideas about what to do for Steve’s birthday. But that was just pleasant thinking, remnants of a normal life which was slipping away more and more each day.

“Nancy, that journalist you and Jonathan talked to about the lab, he’s dead.”

Nancy looked down into the dark black contents of her ceramic cup. She felt the caffeinated steam wash over her face.

“What do you need?”

Hopper sighs “Thank you. First, I need you to tell me everything you currently know about Jane”