☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ

°•. ┊ Daylight┊.•°
✧ ˚ ━ i understand, act three

CHAPTER FIVE — vecna's curse

✧

Max fell asleep last night, assuming her sister and Eddie decided to smoke some of his stash and that by the time she sobered up, it was late and she just went home. So, when she wakes up and stands outside, staring at the Munson trailer and looking around the crime scene, she also notices that Sam's car is still outside. She never went home. Max gets closer to the investigation, catching a glimpse of the body, as panic surges through her. Thankfully, she gets sight of the cheerleading uniform and releases a sigh of relief, before an officer commands her back inside. She stands on the porch and watches Sarah pull in, and Max calls her over. "I'm surprised Sam isn't out here getting answers and being nosy. Is she still sleeping?"

"She's not here."

"Her car is-"

"I know that her car's here, but she isn't." Max interjects. "Last night, she went to get something from Eddie and then she never came back. I assumed that they just got high and she went home after or even crashed there, but obviously that didn't happen."

"So, there's a dead teenage girl and the last two people to see her alive are Eddie and Sam. Who are both AWOL?" Sarah questions. Max nods her head. "Well, that's just great. We are the only people who need to know that Sam saw Eddie last night. And as far as anyone else is concerned, Delilah or another friend, picked her up early this morning. Alright?"

"Yeah, yeah, of course." Max breathes. Sarah heads towards the other officers on the scene and the young redhead runs inside, quickly getting dressed and avoiding the swarm of cops, making her way to the Henderson residence. Something about this just doesn't sit right. Max knocks on the door and waits for an answer, shifting her weight between each foot. Dustin opens the door and confusion falls over him, as he looks at the redhead, moving to the side allowing her to enter the house. The pair walk down the hall, as Lila enters the hallway, and they pull her into his room. Max starts to inform the Henderson siblings about what she saw.

"Chrissy Cunningham?" Dustin asks, pacing around the room.

"You're sure it was Chrissy?" Lila adds, not believing that Chrissy would be with Eddie.

"Yes, in her cheerleader outfit. Same thing she was in when I saw her with Eddie."

"Did you tell all this to the cops?" Dustin inquires, continuing to pace.

"No." The Mayfield girl breathes. "No, but I... I can't be the only one who saw them together. They stood out."

"Eddie the freak with Chrissy the cheerleader?" Dustin questions, rhetorically.

"Exactly. You know, his name's not in the news yet or anything, but I guarantee you Eddie is suspect one now. And he has my sister."

"That's crazy. Eddie didn't do this. No way. No way."

"We can't rule it out." Lila says calmly, trying to ease the younger teens.

"Yes, we can."

"Dustin!" Max shouts, frustrated with the boy's dismissal.

"You don't know him like I do, Max. Okay?" Henderson starts. "When we got to high school, Lucas made all his sports friends. Mike and me? I mean, no one was nice to us. No one except Eddie."

"Okay. Well, they said the same shit about Ted Bundy. Yeah, he's a super nice guy, but then he's murdering women on the weekend." Max argues.

"So you're saying Eddie is like Ted Bundy?" Dustin looks at the girl. "Eddie, your sister's best friend,"

"Hey! I am her best friend." Lila huffs, earning a glare from her younger brother.

"Fine, her guy best friend. And I swear to god, if you try to argue with that statement Delilah, I will hurt you. Because you're wrong." Dustin snaps. "He is Sam's best friend, she isn't just friends with anyone. She's a good judge of character and would not be friends with a murderer."

"No, I'm not saying..." Max's sentence veers as she tries to express what her comparison means. "I'm saying that we can't presume anything, okay? But it doesn't look good for Eddie."

"Why haven't you told the cops this?" The boy asks curiously.

"I...I don't know."

"You don't know?"

"After Sam went over to see Eddie...something else happened. Nothing that weird or anything. I mean...the power goes off at my place all the time. It's a piece of shit. But...This morning, I started to think back, and...I don't know. I don't know what happened and I don't even know what could have happened. I mean, Sarah doesn't want anyone else to know about Sam being with Eddie, if she's with him. And if she is and if Eddie did kill Chrissy, no one is looking for her. My sister might die or be dead and no one is looking for her. If Eddie didn't then maybe, I don't know, maybe..."

"Something else killed her." Dustin finishes the girls' thought.

"But that's impossible. Right?" Lila asks, looking between the two.

"I don't know. It should be." Her brother shrugs, unsure of his own answer.

"Only one person knows what actually happened." Max says.

"Eddie."

"Have you talked to anyone else?" Lila questions.

"No. I can't find Lucas or Nancy, and Mike's in..."

"California. Shit, shit, shit." The three of them run out of the room and head towards the front door, Mrs. Henderson stopping them and asking where they're going. "To see a friend." She warns the teens about the psycho killer on the loose and they assure her that they'll be safe, before rushing out the door. Delilah drives to Family Video and the trio enters in a small panic.  "Hey, Steve."

"You see this?" The older boy asks the group as they enter, completely ignoring Dustin's question about the number of phones they have. "Someone was murdered."

"How many phones do you have?" Dustin asks, again, only this time with more bass in his tone. Steve says they have two and Robin adds that Keith has one, so three in total. "Yeah, three works." The Henderson boy tosses his bag over the counter, lifts himself onto it, and swings his legs over the other side. Everyone else watches this and the video store workers shout in annoyance, while Max and Lila walk around the counter and enter the normal way.

"What are you doing, man?" Steve scolds, as the younger boy takes a seat at the computer. Dustin responds, informing the pair that this is where they plan to set up the base of operations. "Base of operations?"  Henderson starts typing on the computer and Steve tries to shoo him off. The pair bicker about Steve's jealousy towards Eddie's friendship with Dustin, while Robin complains that it's their busiest day; therefore, not the time to screw around.

"Robin, I empathize, but this cannot wait." Henderson states. Earning yet another question that adds to his frustration with the best friends. The said friends go on to discuss which of them gets to strangle the younger boy, settling on the decision that they get to take turns. "Can you fill them in while I do this?" Dustin asks the two girls that he came here with, seeing as they're just standing to the side watching the interaction in amusement.

"Fill us in on what?" Robin questions, neither of them really paying much attention or interested in what they have to say, due to the fact that they're interrupting their work day.

"On the fact that my sister might be dead." Max huffs, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Woah, what- what the hell are you talking about?" Steve's head snaps in her direction. Worry and panic surging through him at the possibility of something happening to Sam. "Max. What happened to Sam?"

"Nothing." Delilah sighs. "Nothing that we know of."

"Yeah, but we can't rule out the possibility of her being dead in a ditch."

"Max." Lila scolds. "I get that you're worried, but I promise you that Sam is fine. If Eddie did kill Chrissy, he has got nothing on Sam. She's our superhero. A kickass superhero."

"Wait, Eddie killed Chrissy? Chrissy Cunningham? What does that have to do with Sammy?" Robin questions, looking over at her girlfriend.

"Eddie did not kill Chrissy!" Dustin shouts from his place at the computer. "And we're about to prove that with a few phone calls and a game of manhunt." Max and Delilah fill the other teens in on the entire story, which gets them on board. They all spend the next hour calling around to different people who might know where Eddie is. Dustin even called Griffin to see if he knew where Sam might be, although no one answered because the Elliot boy is at Benny's, trying to recover from his hangover and keep an eye on Lucas, as best as he can. This also means that he and the Sinclair boy have to stand by and listen to Jason give a speech about everything wrong with Eddie Munson. Someone that they both consider a friend. Lucas reluctantly decides to join Jason and the rest of the team in their own manhunt for Eddie, which forces Griffin to join, as he doesn't trust his teammates' state of mind after losing the girl he loves. And he made a promise to Sam, his best friend, to watch over the younger boy. Something he doesn't intend to break.

The group at Family Video is finishing up a few phone calls, as Steve finishes flirting with a girl who is already involved. Max hangs up the phone and turns to the other three teens behind the counter. "Hey, guys, I might have a lead." She states, causing Robin and Lila to put down their phones and Dustin to spin around on the chair. "Apparently, Eddie gets drugs from some guy named Reefer Rick, and sometimes Eddie crashes there."

"Sounds promising. Where does Reefer Rick live?" Lila asks, messing up the tapes on the counter that Steve and Robin fixed earlier.

"See, that's the thing. No one knows. He's more of a... a legend than someone that people actually know." The young redhead explains to them.

"Last name?" Robin asks, not entirely hopeful that she'll know the answer.

"I don't know that either."

"Bet the cops know the last name." The Harrington boy speaks up from his place near the front of the store, causing everyone to turn and look at him.

"What?" Max questions, slightly appalled by his suggestion.

"Cops. I mean, listen, if this Reefer Rick is actually a drug dealer," The older boy walks over and leans his elbows on the counter. "I guarantee you he's been busted at some point. Means he's in the system."

"The cops?" Henderson stands and takes a few steps towards his friend. "Really, Steve? That's your suggestion?"

"I think they should be filled in on what we know, what's going on."

"You think Eddie's guilty, don't you?" Dustin questions, angered by Steve's blatant idiocy.

"Whoa. I believe in innocent until proven guilty, all that constitutional shit. I just, you know, just don't think we can rule it out." Harrington shrugs.

"That's precisely what we're trying to do here, Steve." Max argues.

"And maybe we'd have a little bit more luck if you spent less time trying to find a girlfriend and more time trying to find Eddie." Dustin suggests. "Just add onto the fact that we're not just looking for Eddie, we're looking for Sam. Remember her? Sam, the girl you were in love with?"

"Oh, well somebody has to attend to the customers." Steve defends himself, annoyed at the indication that he doesn't care about finding Sam. Which isn't the case. He thinks that they should definitely keep looking for her, but if Eddie did kill Chrissy, then maybe he already killed Sam or plans on doing so. Either way the cops would have better luck than a group of teenagers. Dustin also hit a nerve when he used the past tense. The girl Steve "was" in love with. Was? No. There's nothing past tense about his feelings for the Mayfield girl. Is. He is in love with Sam. There's a reason that out of all the dates he's gone on, he can't find a girlfriend. It's because he doesn't want one. Unless it's Sam. A door he closed on himself. A door he regrets closing.

"Especially if they're babes, right?" Robin asks, rhetorically, while giving Steve a sarcastic wink.

"Hey, not fair." He argues, pointing at the girl. "Okay? I attend to all customers equally, babes and non-babes alike. We've got a very big selection in here. It can be super overwhelming for people."

"Yeah, it can be." Robin smiles, turning and sitting in front of the computer.

"What are you doing?" Max questions, moving to stand beside her.

"Maybe we don't need a last name." She says, hitting a few keys and pulling up the name 'Rick' in the system. Everyone surrounds the device and stares at the screen. "Twelve Ricks already have accounts here."

"Lot of Ricks." Lila breathes.

"So, let's narrow it down." The blonde clicks on one of the names, pulling up their movie rental history. "Rick Alderman's latest rentals are Annie and Dumbo. What are the chances our drug dealer has a family?"

"Not likely." Max states.

"All right." She clicks on the next one. "Rick Conroy. Sixteen Candles, Teen Wolf, Romancing the Stone."

"No." The four around her speak simultaneously.

"Okay. Rick Joiner. Mask, Footloose, and Grease."

"Nah." They respond.

"Rick Kimbrough. The Blue Lagoon and Splash."

"Definitely not." Max laughs.

"No way." Steve adds.

"Okay. Rick Lipton." Robin starts. "Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Cheech & Chong's Next Movie. Cheech & Chong's Nice Dreams. Cheech & Chong's Up in Smoke."

"Bingo." Dustin smiles.

"Lipton?" Max questions.

"Spelled like the tea." Robin says. "2121 Holland Road."

"That's out by Lovers Lake." Lila adds.

"Middle of nowhere." Max adds.

"It's a perfect place to hide." Robin finishes, smiling at her best friend. The group exits the store quickly, Steve insisting they take his car, and Delilah deciding not to argue with him. Mainly because she doesn't want to drive anyways. They all pile into the car and off to Lovers Lake they go.

Sam's Point of View

"Alright, since I have no interest in discussing our current situation anymore; let's talk about graduation." Eddie laughs. "Or rather after graduation. Plans, goals, go."

    "Okay, uh," I pause, not necessarily having an answer. "I don't know. College. Eventually. I just think I need a break first. After everything that's happened, I need a minute to myself. So, traveling. France, England, Greece. Top three places to see before I die. Why not see them before I'm geriatric and wearing diapers?" I smile, looking at the older boy.

    "You make some good points."

    "What about you?" I ask, leaning forward. "What do you plan on doing after finally finishing high school?"

    "I was thinking that this summer, Corroded Coffin, could go on a dive bar tour." He says, a small smile finding its way to his face. "Then after that, I have no idea. Probably a job of some sort, while focusing on the band."

    "Maybe I'll put my trip abroad on hold for a bit, so I can come see a few shows." We share a look of blissful content, as the world around us and our reality fades away. "Dustin and Mike could be your roadies."

    "That'd be interesting." We both laugh. "Unfortunately, it's unlikely. I'll be on the run or in jail before the end of the week."

    "Don't lose hope. We can figure this out, somehow." I try to comfort him, but I don't see how my words can help. His expression remains bleak and grim. I rise to my feet and stand before him, placing my right hand in the air. "I, Samira Mayfield, solemnly swear that you, Edward Munson, will be touring this summer with your band and tormenting Dustin and Mike as your roadies. And that I will be traveling across Europe, bringing stories and momentos back with me. By summer's end, we shall remember this as a small setback. Do you accept the challenge?"

    "I accept." Eddie stands, and we join hands, shaking them firmly. "God, you're a nerd. And that's saying something, coming from me."

    "Well, not all of us can be so..." My sentence veers off, as I search for the right word. "Metal." We're pulled from our conversation by the sound of an engine. We peer out of one of the boathouse windows, being blinded by headlights. Eddie shoves me out of the doors at the back of the building, instructing me to stay right up against the wood planks and to keep quiet. He goes back inside and I can hear the tarp that's covering the boat move. I hear multiple footsteps approaching Rick's house, their voices are too faint for me to identify, but I've got a pretty good guess that Jason and his buddies will try and take the law into their own hands. The group makes their way down to the boathouse and I hold my breath, trying to stay silent.

"Hello? Is anyone home?" A feminine voice catches my attention. It sounds familiar, but I can't quite place it. I take a few steps towards the window, peering in slightly, only to be blinded by a flashlight. I return my gaze to the calm lake in front of me, blinking away the spots in my vision. Once they're finally gone, I close my eyes and focus my hearing on the voices inside. I highly doubt Jason and his misogynistic friends would work with a girl to find Eddie, so who the hell is here? At a drug dealer's house, in the middle of the night? I slowly move towards the doors, leaning my ear against it, hearing two male voices. They sound like they're arguing, but it's not Eddie.

"Don't worry. Steve will get him with his oar." I hear that clear as day. Henderson. I stand up straight, prepared to enter and hopefully scare the living shit out of my friends.

"I know you think you're being funny, but considering everyone in this room has nearly died a hundred times, personally, I don't find it funny in the slight..." A scream emits from Steve, cutting off his sentence and I hear a commotion inside. I take a small step back, so the door will be able to open fully, but lose my footing and fall into the water. Great. I reach the surface and hear even more shouting from inside the boathouse. I lift myself onto the wooden planks and take a few breaths, before standing and entering the building. I find Eddie holding Steve against one of the walls with a broken bottle against his throat. What the fuck?

"We're here to help." Robin informs.

"Eddie." I call out, holding my hands up, causing everyone to turn their heads toward me. "Let him go. He's not gonna hurt you. He uses Farrah Fawcett spray in his hair. Trust me, he's no threat." My sister and Robin laugh quietly to themselves, while Steve, although facing death, sends me a glare.

"Eddie, these are my friends." Dustin breathes. "You know Robin, from band. This is my friend Max. The one who never wants to play D&D. And my sister, Delilah, from Drama. Eddie. We're on your side. I swear on my mother. Right, guys?"

"Yes. Yes. We swear." Max says.

"On Dustin's mother." Robbie adds.

"On my mother." Delilah states.

"Yeah, Dustin's... Dustin's mother." Steve rushes out, looking at the Munson boy. Eddie looks between them, Steve, and me, before releasing him. I let out a sigh of relief, walking over to Eddie and smacking him upside the head. Steve was no threat to him, but I am.

"Jesus Ch..." Dustin starts, while Munson looks at me like I have three heads.

"Try that again. And I will not hesitate to kick your ass. Got it?" Eddie raises his eyebrows in surprise at my threat and then nods slightly. "Good boy." I tap the side of his face  and walk over to my sister.

"Eddie...We just want to talk. Okay?" Dustin says softly, as he moves to sit in front of the brunette.

"What happened to you?" Lila questions looking me up and down with a small smile.

"I fell into the lake." I say casually with a shrug. "Not my finest hour."

"We want to know what happened." Robin crouches beside the pair. I look over at Steve to see him holding his neck.

"You won't believe me." Eddie sniffles and looks at the girl.

"Try us." Max offers, as the older boy looks over our group, his eyes landing on me. I send him a reassuring smile and nod. They're gonna be the only ones who do believe him. Everyone gathers around, waiting for Eddie to explain what happened.

"Her body just, like, lifted up into the air and, uh... And she just, like, hung there. In the air. And her bones...uh, she..." He pauses, remembering the moment. To call it an unpleasant memory would be an understatement. "Her bones started to snap. Her eyes, man. It... It was like there was something, like, inside her head, pulling. I... I didn't know what to do, so I...I ran away. I left her there. You all think I'm crazy, right?"

"No. We don't think you're crazy." Dustin breathes.

"Don't bullshit me, man!" Eddie snaps. "I know how this sounds."

"We're not bullshitting you." Lila states.

"We believe you." Robin says, causing Eddie to scoff.

"Look, what I'm about to tell you might be a little... difficult to take." Henderson starts. "You know how people say Hawkins is...cursed? They're not way off. There's another world. A world hidden beneath Hawkins. Sometimes it bleeds into ours."

"Like ghosts and shit?" He questions.

"There are some things worse than ghosts." I state, wrapping my arms around my body, a chill running down my spine. I never realized how cold spring nights got around Hawkins until now. My eyes are trained on the floor in front of me, when I feel something being wrapped around my shoulders. I look to the side and see Steve placing his jacket around me. "You don't have to do that."

"You'll get sick." He argues. "And we don't need a flu-like Samira on top of another monster." We smile at each other and I clear my throat before quickly returning my gaze towards Eddie and Dustin. I can't say that Steve's wrong. I'm a menace when I have a cold. It bugs the crap out of me.

"These monsters from this other world...we thought they were gone. But they've come back before. That's why we needed to find you." Dustin explains.

"If they're back again, we need to know." Max adds. I pull the jacket around me, tightly, feeling nauseous at the idea of this happening all over again. Knowing that something killed Chrissy and actually having to face that truth are very different things. The truth that this never really ended. That it may never end. That I may lose more people I care about. It's a terrifying reality.

"That night, did you see anything?" Robin questions.

"Dark particles, maybe?" Max elaborates, while the brunette just shakes his head.

"It would almost look like dust, swirling dust." Dustin adds.

"No, man, there was nothing you could see or, uh...or touch." Eddie explains. "You know, I tried to wake her, man. She couldn't move. It was like she... she was in a trance or something.

"Or under a spell." Henderson asks in that way where he thinks he figured it out.

"A curse." Eddie adds, lifting his head up a bit. And these two have figured something out. The question is what? And are they going to explain it in English or in some ridiculous nonsense that will make sense to them and only them?

"Vecna's curse." Dustin states.

"Who's Vecna?" Steve asks.

"An undead creature of great power." Dustin explains, emphasizing the 'great.'

"A spell caster." Eddie breathes.

"A dark wizard." Dustin finishes. It's gonna be some stupid DnD term. I swear to god we need to find a new metaphor for this dimension and its creatures because none of it makes sense. One of these days, we're gonna find a creature that can talk and it is going to hear us refer to it as Vecna or The Mind Flayer and absolutely hate us. It will want to kill us even more because of it.

[word count: 4111]

lexi's letters; eddie + sam are my favorite dynamic this season. and if i wrote entirely from a third perspective, i'd imagine that griffin + lucas would also be a favorite.