The Strangest Thing

Chapter Seven: Brainstorming

I woke up as soon as the sun started to rise, little streams of light came pouring into the boathouse making it hard to ignore. I turned to see Eddie subtly snoring next to me. I'm not sure how but we'd both actually managed to sleep through the night in this tiny boat. This was probably the most sleep he'd gotten since Chrissy died so I didn't want to wake him. I carefully climbed out of our shared resting place, trying not to jostle it too much. My shoe lace caught on one of the oars and I almost faceplanted but thankfully I caught my balance. Unfortunately the oar smacked the boat pretty hard. I scrunched my face bracing myself for Eddie to start panicking at the sound but he just grumbled and flipped to the other side.

"Man he must be exhausted." I muttered to myself.

Not that I could blame him, I was honestly starting to feel the exhaustion setting in too. Even though we'd managed to sleep we still had a major uphill battle ahead of us. I walked towards the water, trying to stay hidden behind the trees just incase someone might be able to spot me from across the lake. I sat down on the soft lakeshore ground and watched as the birds dove into the lake to catch their prey. With each swoop in and out the water rippled and its once calm surface became distorted. It made me think about Hawkins, how this town used to be so calm, literally nothing ever happened here but slowly with each attack from the Upside Down this place became dangerous and now almost unlivable.

"Hey." Robins voice jolted me out of my thoughts.

"God you scared me! You know I hate people sneaking up on me." I chastised, grabbing my chest dramatically.

"And that's why I do it y/n." She bumped my shoulder with her own jokingly.

"Where's the rest of the brat pack?" I questioned not really caring for an answer as I looked back out to the lake.

"They're grabbing groceries out of Steve's car. We figured you guys might be hungry and we weren't sure that what you brought would last Eddie long enough, depending on how long he has to stay here, y'know?"

"Honestly that was good thinking because Eddie basically devoured 90% of what I bought last night. I had no idea guys could eat so much, it was kind of impressive but also kind of terrifying." Robin laughed at my little joke. Her laugh always made me feel better.

"Well let me go help them get the rest. You coming?" She brushed off her pants as she got up off the ground.

"I think I might just sit here for a bit longer." I was not ready to be around so many people this early in the morning. I was not ready to face the reality I'd been thrown into. 

Robin nodded knowingly before running back in the direction of the boathouse. I sat at the shoreline for a few more minutes before finally mustering up any and all energy I had. As I approached the boathouse I heard sirens in the distance. My heart stopped.

Please don't come here, please don't come here, I silently prayed.

I watched as police cars and ambulances rushed down the main road towards Eddie's trailer park. A sigh of relief escaped my rigid body as everyone came rushing out of the boathouse, Eddie included, to see what was going on.

"We gotta' check that out." Dustin announced.

Everyone silently agreed, everyone except me. A part of me was still processing and catching up to the insanity that has permeated this groups lives for the past few years. I wasn't sure I was ready to run full force into danger, to see it face to face, or dig deeper under it's surface. Eddie turned to me, his eyes full of questions and fear.

"Eddie you better go back inside since we confirmed the cops are actively trying to pin Chrissy's death on you." Dustin's voice was strong and unwavering. I could tell how much he loved Eddie just by how badly he wanted to protect him.