March 22nd, 1986

"Have you seen or heard from Eddie recently?" Dustin questioned into the phone, "When's the last time you talked to him?"

In Family Video, Beth, Dustin, Max, Ally and Robin were trying to find any connection to Eddie while Steve flirted with customers. And failed miserably. Brandon watched him in disgust and jealousy but he wouldn't admit that jealousy. Beth looked over and held a smirk at her brother's jealousy. She didn't know why he didn't just say how he felt already.

"Eddie Munson...yeah have you seen him?"

"Yeah, he has curly black hair, wears rings, super obsessed with D&D and plays guitar." Ally described the boy.

"Oh. Sorry to bother you."

"What did they say?" Robin whispered to the curly haired girl.

"He's at Enzo's?" Ally looked in confusion.

"Know anyone who'd know where he is?"

Robin took the phone from the girl, "I really don't think he's at Enzo's. Yep, I'm pretty sure."

"Reefer Rick? No. Does this Reefer Rick have a last name? I mean, it's kind of..."

"I don't think Eddie would go to an expensive restaurant."

Brandon listened to the conversation Ally and Robin had with the person on the phone. He suddenly turned to Steve and saw him talking to a customer renting a movie. He rolled his eyes as Steve told her it had action and romance and some suspense. When the girl asked if her boyfriend would like it, Brandon saw Steve's face fall in embarrassment. Steve said yes before the girl left and Steve sighed in disappointment.

Brandon looked in pure jealousy. Why couldn't Steve stop flirting with these dumb girls and look at him instead?!

Brandon got out of his trance when Max spoke up, "Hey, guys I might have a lead."

Ally, Beth, and Dustin quickly hung up their calls and turned to the redhead girl.

"Seriously?"

"Yeah." Max nodded. "Apparently, Eddie gets drugs from some guy named Reefer Rick, and sometimes Eddie crashes there."

"Good job, babe."

"Sounds promising."

"Where does Reefer Rick live?" Dustin asked.

"See, that's the thing...no one knows..."

"What?" Ally questioned.

"He's more of a legend then someone that people actually know." Max clarified for them.

"Last name?"

"I don't know that either."

"How do you know you're not being lied to you?" Beth asked.

"I don't." Max sighed.

"Bet the cops know the last name." Steve mumbled.

"What?"

"Cops." He repeated. "I mean, listen if this Reefer Rick is actually a drug dealer, I guarantee you he's been busted at some point. Means he's in the system."

"The cops? Really, Steve?" Dustin scoffed. "That's your suggestion?"

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

"You think Eddie's guilty, don't you?" Dustin accused.

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

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

"And maybe we'd have a little bit luck if you spent less time trying to find a girlfriend and more time trying to find Eddie!" Dustin exclaimed.

Steve rolled his eyes, "Well somebody has to attend the customers."

"Especially if they're babes, right?" Robin teased sending him a wink.

"Hey, not fair." Steve shook his head. "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."

"You're an absolute dumbass." Brandon muttered with a slight of jealousy in his voice.

"Yeah, it can be." Robin agreed. She turned around to the computer and sat down.

"What are you doing?"

"Maybe we don't need a last name." Robin explained, typing in the name "Rick".

"Twelve Ricks already have accounts here." Robin told the six.

"Lot of Ricks."

"So, let's narrow it down." Robin offered. "Rick Alderman's latest rentals are Annie and Dumbo. What are the chances our drug dealer has a family?"

"Not likely."

"That be quite concerning to have drugs around children." Brandon said.

They all looked at him and Beth said, "It's concerning to have drugs in general."

"Yeah..but....yeah you're right." Brandon muttered.

"Rick Conroy." Robin clicked the next one. "Sixteen Candles, Teen Wolf, Romancing the Stone."

"No."

"Oh, I love Teen Wolf! Best movie from last year. Stiles is the best character." Brandon exclaimed making Beth and Ally give him a look.

"Sorry, I'll stop talking." He muttered.

"Okay." Robin clicked to the next Rick. "Rick Joiner: Masks, Footloose, and Grease."

"Definitely not." Beth chuckled.

"Rick Kimbrough: The Blue Lagoon and Splash."

"Nope."

"No way!" Max chuckled.

"Okay. Rick Lipton: Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Cheech & Chong's Next Movie, Cheech & Chong's Nice Dreams-"

"Erm."

"Cheech & Chong's Up In Smoke."

"Bingo." Dustin smiled.

"Lipton? Spelled like the tea." Robin compared. "2121 Holland Road."

"That's out by Lovers Lake." Dustin recalled.

"Middle of nowhere." Max added.

"It's the perfect place to hide out." Beth finished.

The group got up and made their way out of the store and to Steve's BMW. Robin had stopped when she got out the door, to turn the sign over  to closed.

€€€€€€€€€€€€€€

The group arrived at Reefer Rick's house and searched all around but couldn't find Eddie.

Beth tried knocking the door as everyone looked around.

Steve tried as well before saying, "Okay, well that's settled. I guess he's not here." Brandon rolled his eyes at the boy. He didn't even try looking.

"Eddie! It's Dustin!" Dustin yelled, shining his flashlight through the mailbox. Steve sighed.

"Great." The older boy muttered.

"Look, we just wanna talk. No cops, I swear. We just wanna help! Eddie!" Dustin yelled banging on the door. Ally stood behind him taking her turn at knocking but still nothing.

"Shh." Robin whispered, walking over to Max and Beth as they shone their lights through the windows.

"Rick!" Dustin exclaimed making Ally and Brandon look at him in disbelief. He rang the doorbell again and banged on the door. "Reefer Rick!"

"Don't scream that. Are you fucking crazy?" Brandon whispered towards the boy rolling his eyes.

"Rick!"

"Stop, dude!"

"Reefer Rick!"

"Just...he could be really high."

"...Is that a foot?"

"No, that's just a shoe-"

"What?"

Beth rolled her eyes at the three boys. They were all children. She then walked up to Max who was trying to look around. They both shone their lights towards the edge of the lake. The light was on. Someone was here.

"Hey losers!" Beth yelled making everyone turn to her. She pointed to the light with her flashlight. All their lights shone at a shed that was at the edge of the lake. They then started to walk over.

"Hello?" Robin called out as they walked in.

"Is anyone home?" The door creaked as all of their footsteps echoed through the shed.

"What a dump." Steve muttered and Brandon nodded.

"Well, what do you expect from a drug dealer?" Brandon scoffed.

"God, it's dirty in here." Beth muttered standing close to Max.

Steve noticed the covered up boat and grabbed an oar off the wall. He got closer and began to slam the oar into the tarp.

"What are you doing?" Dustin questioned but Steve ignored him as he smashed the oar into it again.

"What are you doing?"
"He might be in here."
"So, your plan is to injure him into coming out?" Beth raised a brow before laughing at the joke she made. Steve rolled his eyes.

"I'm not injuring him." He jammed the oar into the tarp again making the brunette sighed.

"Mmm, it kinda does."
"Shut up, Wright. You're not funny."

"Take off the tarp then and stop injuring him!" Beth exclaimed flashing the light in his face.

"If you're so against what I'm doing, then you take it off!" Steve shouted back before Beth rolled her eyes and Steve continued.

"Hey, look over here." Beth turned to see Max and Ally stood in front of junk food wrappers.

"Someone was here."
"Maybe he heard us. Got spooked and ran." Robin suggested and Beth shrugged.

"Don't worry. Steve will get him with his mighty oar." Brandon smirked making Beth chuckle. Ally rolled her eyes.

"I know you both 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-" Steve was cut off when Eddie jumped him and slammed him into the wall with a smashed beer bottle to his throat.

"Wait! Wait! Wait! Wait! Wait!" Steve screamed as the others looked in shock.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, Eddie! Eddie! Stop! Eddie!" Dustin exclaimed making the older boy look at him.

"It's me. It's Dustin." Dustin assured.

"This is Steve. He's not gonna hurt you, right Steve?" Beth looked in horror and hoped they could calm Eddie down.

"Right. Yeah." Steve nodded.

"Why don't you drop the oar, dude?" Brandon pointed and Steve. The oar clattered as it hit the floor. Eddie pushed the bottle closer to Steve's neck.

"He's cool. He's cool." Steve groaned.

"I'm cool, man. I'm cool."
"What are you doing here?"
"We're looking for you." Dustin looked to him.

"We're here to help." Robin said making Eddie look at her in confusion.

"Eddie, these are my friends. You know Robin from band." Robin used her flashlight to imitate playing the trumpet.

"This is my friend Max. The one who never wants to play D&D. And Ally, you know her. She's in Hellfire." Dustin pointed and Ally smiled waving at Eddie.

"And this is Beth. You know her, she's on the cheer squad." Dustin pointed to the brunette who imitated using poms poms with her hands. "And Brandon, he's Beth's older brother."

"I was in science with you last year." Brandon told him.

"We're on your side. I swear on my mother, right, guys?"
"Yes, yes. We swear."
"On Dustin's mother."
"Yeah, Dustin's...Dustin's mother." Eddie stared at Steve for a bit before releasing him and sitting down next to the boat.

Steve walked away holding his throat making Brandon put a hand on his shoulder. Dustin slowly approached Eddie.

"Eddie..." He spoke getting closer. "We just wanna talk." Dustin reached for Eddie's hand but the boy pulled away. Beth sighed at Dustin.

"Okay?" Eddie looked in confusion. He didn't know why they wanted to help him. They weren't even his friends except for Ally and Dustin.

Robin went over and said, "We just wanna know what happened." Ally nodded as she stepped up next to Robin.

"You won't believe me." Eddie sniffed. He looked terrified and Beth felt extremely terrible, wondering what he must have went through.

"Try us." Beth whispered, bending down on Dustin's other side. She slightly smiled at Eddie.

The boy gave her a weird look and she just smirked, "Trust me dude, everything is believable for us now."

€€€€€€€€€€€€€€

"Her body just, like, lifted up into the air and uh...and she just, like, hung there. In the air." Eddie explained and Beth frowned.

"And her bones...uh, she...her bones started to snap." Eddie whispered as flashes of what happened went through his mind.

"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." Eddie explained.

"You all think I'm crazy, right?" Eddie questioned.

"No. We don't think you're crazy."
"Not at all-" Ally was cut off.
"Don't bullshit me, man! I know how this sounds."

"We're not bullshitting you."
"We believe you." Eddie exhaled at Robin's words.

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

Eddie looked in confusion, "Like ghosts and shit?" His voice trembled.

"There are some things worse than ghosts." Max spoke up and Beth nodded.

"Like monsters." Beth whispered.

"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."

"If they're back again, we need to know." Eddie was silent. Beth knew he was probably confused as hell. Monsters in Hawkins did seem insane. But it was all true. She felt the same way he did when she was first told about it with Max by Lucas.

"That night. Did you see anything?"
"Dark particles, maybe?"
Eddie looked at them and Ally knew they sounded insane.

"It would almost look like dust, swirling dust."
"No, man, there was nothing you could see or, uh...or touch." Eddie mumbled and Beth sighed looking at her brother and Ally who looked in confusion.

"You know, I tried to wake her, man. She couldn't move. It was like she..she was in a trance or something." Eddie told them and Ally and Dustin shared a look.

"Or a spell."
"A curse."
"Vecna's curse." Dustin finished.

Eddie looked at them both and the two young friends looked back.

"Who's Vecna?" Little did the group know, Vecna had just taken another life.

"An undead creature of great power."
"A spell caster."
"A dark wizard." The group looked confused and fright. This was going to be one crazy spring break.

Hey guys!! I'm so sorry it's been so long! But like I said on my announcement, I've been super busy with college and my family life and personal life has been insane!! But I'm back and I will update and finish this story as well as my other ones.

I wrote this like a month ago and it's been sitting in my drafts for a while. I'm going to keep putting Teen Wolf references in here btw y'all...I have too. Brandon liking the Teen Wolf movie is my favorite thing ever and his favorite character is Stiles.....

I have so much planned for Beth, Brandon, and Ally this season and it's crazy. I already have Brandon's confession to Steve in my head and it's probably going to make you tear up cause it made me.

Anyways, I've been ranting on forever so, hope you enjoyed this chapter and more is coming soon! I'll probably update tomorrow. Hope you all have a wonderful day!!

Love you all!!

-Mary💗