Chapter Twenty-Five: No Body, No Crime

Even though it was raining even harder and it had gotten darker outside, the girls were riding their bikes (El now riding on Annie's) to Heather's house. When they got there, they saw the red door that El had seen.

"I'm scared," Annie whispered as they parked their bikes. "We don't know what we'll find."

El took Annie's hand, a gesture she had seen Max do a couple times. "It's okay. We got this," she said, her dialogue a bit choppy but still meaningful. Annie smiled at her and then the girls hurried to the front door.

Up at the front door, El used her powers to turn the lock and push the door opened. It creaked and they looked inside. Max took the first steps in, followed by El, then Annie.

They removed their hoods and crept further inside, taking glances at the photos around them. Heather had a cute, picture-perfect looking family. Annie felt jealousy turn her insides a bit at the thought of a happy family.

"This is her house," Max said. Annie turned to the redhead and saw her staring at the family pictures as well.

Laughing caught them all off guard, and they all snapped their heads to where the sound came from. Annie's breath caught in her throat as the scenarios ran through her head. The noise wasn't inherently bad, but Annie had seen enough awful scary movies to know to know that laughing in these kinds of situation was never good.

The girls carefully walked towards the sound, Max leading the charge. When they turned the corner, none of them expected to see Billy sitting with Heather's parents, laughing about some joke or story.

They all paused when the parents and Billy stopped and turned to look at the girls. It sent chills all over Annie, the way they stared.

"Max," Billy states.

Now they had to come up with an excuse. Max took the lead again, considering Annie was too freaked out and El was too suspicious. "We didn't mean to... barge in," she started. "We tried to knock but maybe you didn't hear us over the storm."

Annie trembled slightly, seeing the way Billy stared at them. Something was very wrong with him.

"I'm sorry, who is this dripping all over my living room right now?" the man asked, Heather's father.

Billy resumed his weird persona, chuckling. "I'm sorry. Janet, Tom, this is my sister Maxine." He set his napkin down on the table and moved to stand up. Annie shared the quickest look with Max, because something was very wrong if Billy was calling her 'Maxine' and 'sister'. Especially in the same sentence.

"Oh!" Janet said, trying to sound pleasant. Tom was still weirded out.

"What on earth are you doing here?" Billy asked as he walked over to the girls. "Is something wrong?"

Annie almost said yes, because there was something wrong. Luckily, Max took over. "We just wanted to make sure everything was okay," she said.

"Okay? Why wouldn't it be okay?" Billy asked.

"Where is she?" El suddenly asked. Annie cleared her throat, wishing El would understand social situations a bit better. If Billy really was... whatever, they didn't need him to know they were onto him.

All that went away the second Billy turned his head to look directly at El. "I'm sorry, where is who?" he asked.

"Well, they're a little burnt, I'm sorry," a new voice said. The girls looked over and saw Heather walking out of the kitchen with a tray in hand. She froze when she saw Annie, Max, and El standing in the living room.

"Heather!" Billy announced, gesturing at her. "This is my sister, Maxine, and her friends Annie and- I'm sorry I did not quite catch your name."

El turned to look back at Billy. "El."

"El," he repeated. "Now what is it you were saying, El? You were looking for somebody?"

El was at a loss. "I... I saw... I saw your..."

"Your manager," Annie butted in, her voice not coming out too natural but it was all she could do to get El to stop. "At the, uh, pool. Was worried when you guys didn't show up for work today so we volunteered to see if you two were okay."

Heather stared at Annie, not a word coming out and not a thought behind her eyes. It almost looked like there was no life behind her eyes the way she stared. Annie started to regret making herself part of the conversation.

"Heather wasn't feeling so hot today, so we thought we'd take the day off to nurse her back to health," Billy answered. "But you're feeling just fine now, aren't you Heather?"

She put on a smile and said, "I feel so much better." No one said anything for a second as the girls tried to process everything. "Do you girls want a cookie? They're fresh out of the oven," Heather then offered, holding the tray out in front of her.

None of this felt right to Annie. Her stomach was doing flips, her nerves and newfound anxiety throwing up red flags.

They didn't answer at first, but then Max finally shook her head. "No, no thank you. We're sorry, have a great night."

She started to turn to walk off, but was interrupted by Janet. "Oh, do you girls want to stay? We can get you some food if you haven't eaten yet," she offered.

"Janet..."

Annie smiled. "No thank you, we, um, we have plans for the night. Just wanted to do a quick check first. But thank you," she replied. In all honesty, she wanted to get the hell out of there as soon as possible.

The girls started walking, hoping they could just leave in peace.

Instead... "I'll show you out then," Billy said and followed behind the girls. They made their way out the front door quickly, hurrying out to the bikes and rushing away. Annie chanced a look back and saw Billy staring at them from the window by the door.

But this time, his smile was gone. Now he just looked downright scary.

None of them said word to each other as they rode back, not knowing what to say or being very audible over the storm. When they all got back to Max's house, they decided to just go ahead and get ready for bed.

"You can take the bathroom first, El," Max offered, handing the girl her clothes and toiletries. She nodded and walked off with it all, closing the bathroom door behind her.

Annie was kneeling on the floor, getting a makeshift bed ready for the night. "Are you sure you're okay with this? I can totally sleep on the floor if you want the bed," Max said.

However, they'd had this conversation already. "Max, it's your house and El's never slept over at someone else's. I'm fine on the floor," Annie responded, smiling up at Max.

With a sigh, the red head kneeled down next to her. "At least let me help you," she muttered. They worked in a comfortable silence, straightening out blankets and making sure there was enough blankets and pillows on the ground so Annie wouldn't wake up sore.

After the bed was ready, each girl got dressed in their own pajamas. Annie had to go with what she wore the night before, but was at least glad Max got her teasing out of the way last night. Her pajamas, being a cute 50s type pink nightgown, definitely fit her nickname.

When El came back, Max and Annie took turns using the bathroom before it was finally time to relax for a bit. They'd talk about Billy later but right now: sleepover time.

"Which one?" Max asked, holding up two different comic books. Annie could recognize the name Green Lantern as one of the heres the Party talked about back in the day. Wonder Woman was a little less familiar.

"I don't know," El said, getting into her spot in Max's bed. Annie sat on the end, not ready to lay down just yet. She might if Max starts reading. Her voice was pretty calming.

The girls didn't miss the dejected look on El's face and realized the Billy talk would happen now. "Hey, there's nothing to worry about anymore, okay?" Max reassured, putting the comics down in front of her.

El didn't look like she believed that. "It doesn't make sense," she said.

"What?" Annie asked, scooting forward on the bed some.

"Heather," El answered, her voice cracking a bit. "The blood. The ice."

Max shook her head lightly and said, "Heather had a fever, so she took a cold bath, but she's better now. That has to be it. I don't know where that blood came from, but... we saw her. We all saw her- she's totally fine."

"What about Billy?" El asked.

"What about him?" Max asked. Annie got worried, knowing what El was referencing. But Max was still somewhat protective of her stepbrother, even if he was a jerk sometimes. In fact, they'd been getting more civil with each other since the incident of last November.

El looked even more worried. "He seemed wrong."

Max chuckled a little. "Wrong is kind of his default. But it's nice to know he's not a murderer because that would've totally sucked," Max said. She laughed a little and Annie carefully sighed in relief at El's face relaxing.

"Now come on, let's read a comic and go to sleep. I'm exhausted from all that bike riding today," Annie said, and lifted the two comics up in front of El.

El tilted her head and held her gaze on the Wonder Woman comic. "Who... is that?" she asked, sitting up and pointing at it.

The other two smiled at her choice, and Annie handed it to Max. "See, this is why you can't hang around Mike all the time. This is Wonder Woman," she said. The two girls leaned back and Annie took this as her cue to get in her makeshift bed.

Max noticed and said. "You sure you don't want to squeeze in for story time?" she asked, a light smile on her face.

She shook her head. "I'll listen from here. Just show me the pages every now and then so I can keep up with what people look like," she answered. Annie got tucked under the blankets and felt a yawn come out of her.

Max smiled at Annie, wondering how many comics they could get in before she fell asleep. Same went for El. But that was okay. Annie was right- it had been a long day.

Wonder Woman wasn't the only comic they read. They probably read a dozen and by two in the morning, Annie could feel herself slipping into sleep until Max's voice faded away. She opened her eyes, curious if she had stopped reading, but she was no longer in Max's room.

In fact, she wasn't even laying down anymore. Annie spun around in a circle, trying to figure out her surroundings.

The rusty bus gave it away: she was in the junkyard, the same one she had nightmares of ever since the one and only time she visited. Everything looked the same as it did that day, except for the red hue that accompanied her nightmares. Another way to show it was evil.

As the other nightmares went, a growling noise came from behind Annie. She turned, slowly, hoping not to cause the monster to jump at her. When she made the full 180, the usual suspect was there: a Demo dog. What she didn't expect, however, was to see a figure standing right behind it.

"Billy?" she asked, her voice echoing through the landscape. He didn't respond, instead choosing to stare at her with his cold eyes. "Billy!" No reply. At least, not verbal.

He lifted an arm and pointed directly at Annie. She looked confused until the Demo-dog lunged at her, mouth wide open. She closed her eyes and let out a scream.

When her eyes opened again, she was sitting up on the floor of Max's room, panting quietly. Her chest was starting to loosen back up from it's anxious knot.

"Annie? Are you okay?" The hushed voice startled her, but it was Max. A safe place. Annie couldn't see her in the dark, but figured she might be sitting up a bit, too.

After another deep breath, Annie squeezed her eyes shut. "Just a... just another nightmare," she answered.

"Do you wanna talk about it or be distracted from it?" Max asked next. El was still dead asleep somehow.

Annie shook her head, trying to get rid of the remaining anxiety. "Distraction," she said. "Let's... you're birthday's coming up. Do you have any big plans?"

Max shook her head in the darkness as she answered. "Not really. My mom might bake a cake, but even then it'll be small," she said.

"Well at least none of it will get wasted," Annie said, adjusting to lay back down in the makeshift bed. "Besides, that just means we can make some plans. Like, we can go to the arcade, the mall, the movies. Whatever. Even hang out with the Party if you want."

By the way her voice was slowing down, Max could tell Annie was already sleepy again. "Sounds like a good plan. Maybe have another girl's sleepover," she said.

"Ooh, that's a good idea. I... I like that..." Annie trailed off. She turned from her back to her side, her eyelids feeling extremely heavy. "Goodnight Red."

"Goodnight Barbie."

A/n: it's tempting to just post everything, but I wanna make y'all wait just a bit so I'm gonna be evil and continue to only post once a day 😁