The Deal [Eddie Munson] 1

026

"Sam! Sam where the hell are you?" I hear Robin screaming over the walkie-talkie, and I open my eyes, leaning over the bed and grabbing the walkie-talkie. "What? What's wrong? I'm at the motel." I reply, and it's silent before she begins to talk to me again.

I'm getting tired of being woken up to them screaming in the walkie-talkie.

"I figured. We're on the way, put some clothes on, please." She says, and I groan, looking at the time and how much I overslept. How the hell is it already noon? "Okay." I say back, standing up and throwing on a random sweater and jeans. I grab my toothbrush out of my bag, going into the bathroom and brushing my teeth.

I quickly brush through my hair. I know Robin, if she says she's on the way, she really means she is almost here. I go back into the room, picking up the walkie-talkie and sitting on the edge of the bed, waiting for them. I could care less about the hickeys now, I don't feel like covering them.

Wait. We're going to see Eddie.

I dig through my bag, finding the mascara in it, and putting it on my eyelashes in the mirror. I continue brushing through my hair, not liking the way it looks. I groan, grabbing a scrunchie and putting my hair up in a ponytail.

Okay, this is worse. It looks like mosquitos attacked my neck.

I take half of it, putting it up into a ponytail and letting the rest of my hair fall freely. God, this is terrible too. As I'm about to change the hairstyle again, I hear Robin on the walkie-talkie.

"Hurry up, come on!" She yells, and I pick up the walkie-talkie, grabbing my purse and the motel key on the way out of the door. I look in the car to see everyone scrunched up in the car.

I get in, squeezing next to Max, and she looks at me weirdly. I give her the same look, pushing her over and forcing her to squeeze next to Lucas.

"Where are we going?" I ask, and everyone avoids eye contact with me. "Uh, hello? Where are we going?" I speak up, and Nancy is the one who answers me.

"Back to Reefer Rick's. The police are there and we're trying to figure out what they know." She says, and my face scrunches up in confusion. "We're supposed to be looking for Eddie."

"Yeah, I know, but we need to know what the police know." She says, and I huff in annoyance. She's right, but I really don't care what the police are thinking right now. "We're going to find him, Sam, don't worry." Dustin says, patting my shoulder.

I wish the car ride was silent, but it wasn't. Everyone is talking about things that aren't important right now, I don't understand why they aren't as worried as me. What if something happened to Eddie and they're just sitting here talking about beer.

We pull onto the road where Reefer Rick's house is located, and we all get out. "Come on, this way." Nancy says, and we follow behind her to the side of the News truck, listening to the police officer.

"As many of you know by now, the Roane County line received a call a little after midnight, reporting a homicide out here on the lake. Officer Callahan here and myself arrived first on the scene." He starts, and I frown as I begin to think about how scary last night must've been for Eddie.

"We made our way to the shore of Lover's Lake, about ten yards from that house you see behind me. Uh- it was there that we found the victim, an 18-year-old senior from Hawkins High, Patrick McKinney." He continues, and Max rubs Lucas' back in support, and I could tell that this was the first time he was actually processing everything that happened.

"His limbs, his body was disfigured. There was an eyewitness on the scene, and we have also identified a person of interest."

"Eddie Munson."