sweetie little jean | stranger things

006 ━ dealer pt. 1

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006

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please don't try to find me through my dealer
he won't pick up his phone

𝐋𝐔𝐂𝐘 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐍𝐄𝐖𝐒 the following morning after the basketball game. The phone rang and her mother had been the one to answer it, sometime that early morning when the sun was just beginning to shine through the windows.

She'd heard the voice of her mother, always soft spoken, gasp. Lucy had been just woken by the sound, still groggy, when her mother came in to tell her the news. There was not a bone in her body that believed her until she rang Zoya.

"It's true," said Zoya in a hoarse voice. "I tried to drive down to Jean's place but...there were cops everywhere. Fuckin' everywhere, Luce, I saw the coroners truck..."

"And it's not Eddie?" she asked, sitting on the counter as her mom paced in the living room. "Or his uncle? Are we sure?"

"Positive." There was a sniffle and Lucy knew Zoya was trying to hold the phone out and away to keep from making herself seem pathetic. She never did like to cry in front of others. "I've been trying to get a hold of Jean all morning but her mom says she hasn't been home all night. I–" Zoya's voice cracked. "I don't know what to do."

Lucy ran a hand through her hair, fingers getting caught on little knots. She pried her fingers through the tangles, wondering if she would be able to get to Zoya's house before the police did, which she knew would be surely imminent. They were probably getting ready to make the rounds and Zoya was closest to the Cunningham home.

"I can be at your place in...ten minutes, maybe," said Lucy, glancing towards her mother who was still pacing and sobbing. Her dad wouldn't be home from work until later and there was a good chance he didn't know what was going on. How many times had Chrissy been over to their house? A dozen? Two dozen? Three? "I can take mom's car and be there, we can figure out what to do, okay? We can call Jason, we can–"

"What's Jason gonna do?" spat Zoya. "Oh, god." There was an angry seething sound and Zoya was hissing back into the phone, "You better be here in five."

Lucy got there in seven. She was still dressed in her pajama pants, her hair now thrown into the worst bun she'd ever seen to get it off her sweaty back. She'd been sweating ever since she'd heard the news.

Chrissy Cunningham was dead. The police say murdered. Found in the Munson trailer, broken and bloody.

Lucy had never heard of something so horrific before in her life. She wanted to ring the Wheeler house, see if Nancy was going to run an article, see if the girl had any thoughts but she held off. She didn't know her that well, not like Jeanie had.

My, god, Jeanie–

Zoya ushered Lucy up the stairs and to her bedroom. She sat down at her vanity as Zoya took the edge of the bed. She'd closed the door, so softly, that it was almost like they'd never been here at all. Zoya's parents were still asleep, they didn't know what had happened, no one had except what they'd seen. Well, what Zoya had seen.

"Jason's going to go ape-shit," said Zoya. "He's going to think Eddie really did this and he's going to kill him."

Lucy shook her head, pursing her lips. "But Eddie couldn't hurt a fly, he would never–"