CHAPTER NINETY-THREE
FEARS

The group of six were left looking to Eddie with horrified expressions as he finished explaining just what had happened to Chrissy the night prior.

Aaron was stood as far away from the older boy as possible - without making it obvious to him that he was trying to get away from him.

He had Kimmy stood right next to him, but this was only due to how stressed out and panicked he was. She'd promised she'd stay next to him and she had, knowing the blond was worried that the older boy would snap on him or his friends.

"Okay..." Kimmy trailed off in an awkward voice, hesitantly looking to the older boy who was currently under suspicion for murder. "So she... she flew up into the air... and... all of her bones snapped? That's how she died?"

"Yes!" Eddie yelled, his head in his hands as he did so, already under the impression that the six didn't believe him.

The firmness of his voice startled Kimmy, blinking furiously as she subconsciously took a step back.

Of course Eddie probably hadn't meant anything by it, he was clearly under a lot of stress.

However Kimmy didn't really react well to being yelled at. She assumed this was because of what she'd dealt with since early childhood, it was like something she just had no control over. She just didn't deal with it well. Not at all.

Kimmy froze, not sure what to do. Suddenly panicked that she'd done something wrong to the older boy.

Clearly, the boys abrupt yells startled Aaron as well. Kimmy seen the way he flinched out of the corner of her eye before he inched closer to her ever so slightly. Clearly, the boy was terrified Eddie would hurt any of his five friends.

"She didn't mean anything bad by it." Max jumped into the conversation in defence of the brunette, her arms folded firmly over her chest as she glowered down at the older boy despite that fact he couldn't actually see her as his head still rested in his hands. "She was just asking. It's not exactly something that you hear every day."

"I know, I know!" The boy exclaimed, clearly stressed out beyond belief. "I know it sounds crazy, but I'm not lying. I swear to god-"

"No one said that you're a liar- we don't think you're a liar." Dustin rushed to tell him, waving his hands frantically. "We believe you!"

It wasn't long before the six left, much to Aaron's delight. He'd been the first one out of the garage and into the car.

And although he hadn't voiced this to all his friends, he didn't exactly believe the older boy, not fully anyway.

Aaron lay awake in his bed that night for hours, unable to sleep after all he'd seen and heard that day.

His mind was on a constant loop, a mix of fear and confusion running through him. Mostly fear, if he was being completely honest.

Even though he wasn't completely sold on what Eddie had told the group, it didn't matter. Even if Eddie wasn't a murderer, someone had killed Chrissy.

Aaron almost wished it had been Eddie that had done it, at least then it wasn't someone who was going completely unsuspected. At least it wouldn't be someone who would get away with it.

If it really wasn't Eddie that had killed Chrissy, then that meant Aaron would subconsciously be wary of anyone he wasn't completely comfortable with.

The blond had already convinced himself that every creak he'd heard the house make that night had been whoever had killed Chrissy in his house.

He was paranoid, just like he knew he would be.

A sudden loud noise had Aaron instantly sitting up in his bed, trying to steady his breathing so he could listen for anything else.

After much internal debate, he bit the inside of his cheek and grabbed his small green stuffed rabbit. Hesitantly making his way out of his room as he headed for Kimmy's room, wanting to check to make sure she was okay.

He was much more scared to actually step off of the stairs than he would ever admit, terrified someone was downstairs. However, he eventually did so. Keeping in mind that Kimmy was downstairs all by herself, and that he absolutely, one hundred percent had to check on her.

Aaron practically ran to her bedroom door, rushing into her room and closing the door firmly behind him.

Sure enough, Kimmy was perfectly fine. Fast asleep in her bed.

Aaron crept up to the opposite side of the bed, crawling in without as much of a second thought. Somehow convinced that by knowing she was right next to him, he'd sleep better.

It did take Aaron a couple of hours to drift off, the fear that someone would break in and kill all three of the teenagers in the house seemingly the only thing he could focus on.

He did want to go up and ask Steve if he could check for him, however, he knew that would just land him with an angry brother, so Aaron decided otherwise.

...

The next day, Aaron stood with his arms crossed firmly over his chest, an unamused expression burning into his features as he walked along side Kimmy in the large grocery store.

Truthfully, the blond was struggling to wrap his head around the entire situation in regard to Eddie.

Whether he believed Eddie was guilty or not, the entire situation seemed beyond sketchy to him.

And he made sure Kimmy knew it.

The boy went on about it whenever he could, emphasising his entire distaste for the entire situation whenever he got the chance. Rambling on and on to the brunette.

Kimmy usually let him drone on without as much of a response, simply nodding and humming every so often until he got it all out his system.

Although they clearly disagreed on the topic, Kimmy did her best to put his sometimes irrational panics at rest.

"I'm really starting to get worried." Aaron stressed to the brunette, abruptly halting his steps as she leaned down to pick up a large family pack of chips up.

"You're always worried." Kimmy shook her head at him, dumping the large bag of chips in the shopping cart that she pushed.

"Yeah, but I have a good reason to be now, Kimmy." The boy retorted with a scoff. "I don't know, he's sketchy-"

"Aaron, please, Dustin's not too far ahead." She scolded him with a pointed look, a sudden expression of stress flooding her own features. "You know the fact you don't like Eddie upsets him-"

"I'm just being cautious!" Aaron insisted frantically while interrupting her in the process. "Sorry, I don't like the idea of hanging around a murderer-"

"He's not a convicted murderer. Just a suspect." Kimmy reminded him with a slight eye roll, acting as if her words would bring any sort of comfort to him.

"Oh, wow!" The blond sourly exclaimed, his eyes blown wide with disbelief. "Because that makes me feel better-"

"Still." Kimmy scoffed, the blond able to see the look of mild frustration as she tried to balance both shopping as well as talking Aaron out of his own head. "He explained what happened, I feel bad for him."

"Oh, please." Aaron quietly scoffed under his breath.

"What?" Instantly Kimmy questioned his response, turning to glance at him with a look of both boredom and slight irritation. "You're telling me after all he told us last night, you don't feel even the slightest bit bad for him?"

Aaron huffed rather dramatically in response, shaking his head at her as the two continued walking down the store isles.

Steve, Robin, Max and Dustin were all also split up into pairs somewhere else in the store trying to find suitable food to bring back to Eddie's, however Aaron had spent the entire time talking Kimmy's ear off with complaints.

The blond was beyond stressed with how easy Dustin was to trust the older boy, Aaron terrified that he'd get wrapped up in the older boys mess and he and his friends would end up dead.

Aaron wasn't exactly trusting with strangers anymore. Not after the past few years anyway, he knew who he trusted and that was that. And a boy that he'd met one time and was currently under suspicion for murder was not on that list.

"I never said I didn't feel bad for him. I'm just looking out for us." The boy rushed to explain. Using his finger to motion between himself and Kimmy. "As in us. Me and you. Not him."

Kimmy sent him a look of disapproval at his words which had Aaron instantly talking once more.

"You think I give a shit about some wanted murderer? Sorry- murder suspect." Aaron retorted in a rushed voice. "Just because he's friends with Dustin doesn't mean I'm going to act like I don't know he's under suspicion for killing some girl-"

"Would you at least be open to hearing him out?" Kimmy sighed, not looking to the boy as she spoke but rather glancing around the stacks of food the two were passing. "After all we've been through with Eleven, and the demodogs, and the Russians, and the demogorgon- you don't even want to hear him out?"

"So you're telling me that you believe she levitated into the air, and had every single one of her bones snap one at a time?" Aaron shuddered at the thought, scrunching his face up at his own words. "I don't know... I'm not buying it."

"I think it's possible, Aaron." Kimmy hummed, hardly paying attention to the conversation as she appeared to be more interested in reading the back of a candy box. "I mean, yeah, it's completely crazy, but so is everything else we've seen. Sure it was unlikely that it would happen to Eddie, but how many other kids do you think have a friend who has superpowers? Or how many kids have been in a secret Russian base? Or how many kids have seen a demodog? Not many."

Aaron narrowed his eyes at her in defeat, ultimately rolling his green eyes and huffed. "Still. How likely is it that in all the years of the human race, this has suddenly just decided to start now? With no witnesses? It's bullshit."

Aaron full heartedly believed his statement.

People were suddenly just being possessed for no reason? In such a brutal way? No, no way. Aaron didn't believe one bit of it, and it baffled him that any of his friends possibly could.

It was such a wild lie that Aaron was taken aback at how quickly it was believed by the group. In fact, Aaron seemed to be the only person that didn't believe him.

Sure, Steve was clearly debating whether he actually believed him or not. But besides that, everyone else appeared to be on board with the fact the girl had been possessed one random night and Eddie Munson of all people had been the only person to see it.

"Maybe it has happened before." Kimmy shrugged, dumping the candy box in her shopping cart which was practically filled as she began walking again. "I mean, how many people would have said they'd witnessed that a couple hundred years ago? They'd be killed for being a witch."

Aaron scrunched his nose in thought, glancing to the brunette next to him. However, just as he opened his mouth to further push his point, he stopped himself.

Kimmy had her face scrunched up just the slightest bit, her body suddenly stiffening as she forced herself to continue walking. The irritation from the blond's face dropped, reaching out to grab her arm and stop her from walking any further.

The girl stared at him with a look of confusion, tilting her head ever so slightly as she met his concerned look with one of puzzlement. "What?"

"Are you alright?" He instantly asked her in a rushed voice while he did his best to keep his panic hidden.

Her look of confusion only deepened. "I'm fine-"

"Is it your head? Is it still bothering you?" Aaron instantly questioned, watching as Kimmy looked away from him and instead glanced around, as if to see if there was anyone in the store watching them. Aaron took her silence as a yes. "Kimmy, I told you to take stuff for it if it was bothering you-"

"It's not, I'm fine." Kimmy dismissed hurriedly, although just by the look on her face Aaron could tell she was lying.

Aaron was completely stressed out, and he probably shouldn't have been. Sure, a headache wasn't anything to get wound up about, but Aaron couldn't help himself.

Even before all that had happened to the girl, he'd have stressed over her being sick, only more for himself than her. There was nothing the blond hated more than being sick.

However, now it was all different. He hadn't even considered the fact that she could be coming down with some sort of sickness that she could pass to him. The only thing he'd been concerned about was her and how she felt.

"Okay." Aaron muttered in a quiet voice, biting the inside of his cheek as the two began walking again. "But you'll tell me if it starts bothering you again, right?"

Kimmy glanced to him and forced a smile, nodding her head. "Yeah."

And despite the fact he didn't believe her, he let it go. Knowing that it was making her uncomfortable.

Aaron went as long as he could without mentioning it to the girl, however this wasn't exactly a record breaking time. Maybe three minutes at most.

"Maybe you should stay home on Monday." Aaron told her in as nonchalant of a voice as possible. Looking to the floor as he spoke as to not show her how much he'd stressed himself out over the matter. "You know, if you're still not feeling good-"

"Stay home on Monday?" Kimmy repeated in a perplexed tone, her voice causing the blond to glance at her curiously.

"Yeah," Aaron shrugged as if it were obvious. "I think you should stay home from school if your headache's still bothering you."

The brunette looked to him with a blank expression before ultimately bursting into laughter as she shook her head at him.

"What?" Aaron stressed.

"There's no school on Monday." Kimmy continued to laugh, his perplexed face only causing her to laugh harder. "It's spring break, idiot."

Aaron was admittedly taken aback, furrowing his brows in confusion. "I- is it?"

"How can you not know it's spring break?" Kimmy laughed loudly at him. "Literally how?"

"I obviously know it's spring break." Aaron jumped to defend himself from the remarks of his own girlfriend. "I just forgot. Sue me. I've had more important issues to worry about."

"Like what? My headache?" Kimmy teased with a knowing grin.

"No." Aaron denied despite knowing it was true, ignoring the way he grew flustered at his own lie. "Maybe the weirdo murder suspect that's now friends with my friend who I've been tricked into helping, has been causing me a little bit of stress-"

"You've hardly been tricked into it." Kimmy retorted with an eye roll. "But if he freaks you out that much, you can go home. I'll cover for you. Tell them you're sick or something-"

Aaron's exagerated scoff cut Kimmy off. "No, I'm not leaving you with Michael Myers-"

"Aaron!" Kimmy exclaimed in a hushed tone, somehow worried Dustin had heard the blond even though he was most likely on the opposite side of the store. "You can say stuff like that if you want when it's just us, but please don't when Dustin's near. I don't want him getting upset."

"'Course I don't want Dustin getting upset." Aaron explained awkwardly, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his jacket. "But that doesn't mean I like Eddie. You saw him freak out on Steve last night. He goes straight to crazy."

"Maybe he's a little on edge because he's on suspicion for murder and has the entire town looking for him?" Kimmy sighed, already knowing Aaron would end up on one of his rants if she entertained the idea.

The blond rolled his dark green eyes, sighing before speaking up in a quiet voice. "I don't trust him. Bet you a million bucks that he'll end up killing us-"

"Stop telling me he'll kill us. It freaks me out." The brunette shuddered in fear, moving to push her cart down another isle as Aaron followed her.

"It should freak you out!" Aaron insisted with a vicious nod of his head. "He's crazy-"

"Aaron." Kimmy whispered, motioning to the two at the bottom of the isle with her head as she sent him a look that told him to shut up.

Upon catching sight of Dustin and Steve, Aaron shut his mouth and didn't mention the matter again.

Well, not until he was next alone with Kimmy that was.

...

Ok so this took so long to write but I've got exams and a job to balance right now, so I don't have as much time to write.

However I am trying to write whenever I can!!

Anyway I know this wasn't the best chapter but they will be good once the season picks up LMAO😭😭

Also this hasn't been proofread so if there are any mistakes please let me know!!

Hope everyone enjoyed the chapter and has had a great day!!!

Also TYSM for 27K reads!!!! All the support on this story means so much to me as well as all the comments and votes!! I can't believe how fast this story has gotten attention lol. Anyway thank you for all the support I really appreciate it!!

- AJ :)