"Many of the residents we spoke to voiced similar concerns to us." The reporter spoke from the TV as Dustin, Mom, and I watched the news the next morning. "Grief, shock, disbelief, anger. Everyone wants to know the same thing, how many tragedies befall a once-peaceful town? All eyes are on the police for answers. Is the new chief of police, Powell, in over his head? Or is he the very savior this town needs? We'll be here the rest of the day right here on channel nine, where we'll keep you posted on all the latest developments. In the meantime, we recommend you keep your doors and windows locked tight."
"My heart can't take it anymore." Mom says, stroking the cat that lay on her chest. "It just can't take it."
The doorbell rings loudly, causing the three of us to snap our heads and me to rush over to see who was waiting on the patio.
Dustin came behind me as we lock eyes with Max, her breathing heavy as she shoves her way past us and into Dustin's room.
Rushing after her, Dustin slams the door to his room as Max begins to pace around, bringing her thumb up to her lips to bite the nail.
"It was Chrissy." She blurts out after a few moments of silence. "She's the one who died last night. In Eddie's trailer."
"Chrissy Cunningham?" I ask, narrowing my eyebrows at her. "The cheerleader?"
"You're sure it was Chrissy?" Dustin asks, getting up from his place on the bed to begin pacing as well as Max leaned against his bed frame.
"Yes, in her cheerleader outfit." She affirms as I also stand up. "It was the same thing she was in when I saw her with Eddie."
"Did you tell the cops?" I ask the girl, crossing my arms.
"No." She says. "No, but I... I can't be the only one who saw them together. I mean, they stood out."
"Eddie the freak with Chrissy the cheerleader?" Dustin asked.
"Exactly." Max nods, pacing around the room once more. "You know, his name's not in the news yet or anything, but I guarantee you Eddie is suspect one now."
"That's crazy." I say.
"Eddie didn't do this." Dustin snaps, facing Max. "No way."
"No way." He repeats after a long silence.
"We can't rule it out." Max replies.
"Yes," Dustin cries. "we can."
"Dustin!" Max shouts.
"You guys don't know him like I do." Dustin says. "Okay? When we got to High School, Lucas made all his sports friends. Mike and me? I mean, no one was nice to us except (Y/n) and no one except Eddie.
"Okay." Max says. " Well, I mean, they said the same shit about Ted Bundy. Yeah, he's a super nice guy, but then he's murdering women on the weekend."
"So you're saying Eddie is like Ted Bundy." Dustin retorts.
"I don't think that's what she's saying, Dustin." I say, looking at my little brother.
"Yeah," Max nods, walking closer to my side. "I'm saying that we can't presume anything, okay? But it doesn't look good for Eddie."
Dustin lets out a loud sigh as he plops back onto his bed, placing his head into his hands.
"Max," I ask, looking up at the girl. "why haven't you told the cops about this?"
Crossing her arms, she shakes her head lightly, looking at the ground. "I... I don't know."
"You don't know?" Dustin asks slowly.
Sighing, she moves from her place next to me to plop onto the bed next to Dustin. "After I saw Eddie and Chrissy go into the trailer... something else happened."
"What happened?" I cautiously ask the girl.
"As I was outside, a dog approached me." her voice shaking. "I fed it with the snacks I had brought with me. I then went inside to watch TV next to my mom who was passed out on the couch. The TV got all staticky and I just assumed one of the antennas was out of place. I went to fix them and the static got worse along with the lights."
"What happened with the lights?" Dustin asked.
"They began flickering like crazy." She replied. "And then... they stopped, everything went quiet except for one thing, Eddie's screams from across my house. I looked out the window to see him jumping into his car as fast as he could and drove as fast as he could. Nothing that weird or anything. I mean... Eddie always drives like a maniac, and the power goes off at my place all the time. It's a piece of shit. But... This morning, I started to think back, and... I don't know.
Looking into Dustin's eyes, I notice a hint of sadness before focusing my gaze down at the floor.
"The look on his face." Max continued. "He was scared, guys. Really scared. Maybe he was scared because, you know, he... he just killed someone, or... maybe, um... maybe be... because... I don't... I don't know, maybe..."
"Something else killed her." Dustin concluded, his eyes getting wide.
Max nodded lightly at Dustin as he looks up at me once more.
"But that's impossible." Max says, twiddling her fingers around the cord of her walkman. "Right?"
"I don't know." I whispered, locking eyes with the girl. "It should be. There's only one person who knows what actually happened."
"It's Eddie." Dustin concluded.
Grabbing his backpack, Dustin led the three of us rushed out of his room. Quickly I reached into my room to grab my bag as Max had slung hers over her shoulder.
"Have you talked to anyone else?" Dustin asks Max.
"No." She says. "I can't find Lucas or Nancy, and Mike's in-"
"California." I conclude.
"Shit," Dustin grumbles. "shit, shit."
"Where are you kids going?" Our mom asks from the couch.
"To see a friend." I say. "Love you, mom!"
"You heard the news. It's not safe." She cries.
"Good point. We'll be careful." Dustin assured as he leads Max and I out. "Thanks. Love you. Bye."
Rushing into the open garage, Dustin and I grab our bikes and meet Max at the end of the driveway, the three of us rushing down the road as fast as we could as Dustin led the way to Family Video.
"Great," I grumbled as I lock the bikes. "I'm here on my day off. How wonderful."
I follow the two, the familiar doorbell ringing loudly as we rush inside, the TV playing the news as Robin and Steve sat behind the counter watching.
"Hey, Steve." Dustin says, getting the attention of the two.
"Do you guys see this?" Steve asks us as we make our way to the counter.
"How many phones do you have?" Dustin asks quickly.
"Someone was murdered." Steve says, brushing off Dustin's question.
"How many phones do you have?" Dustin repeated louder.
"Two." Steve replied, furrowing his eyebrows. "Why?"
"Technically," Robin piped up. "three, if you count Keith's in the back."
"Yeah," I nod as Dustin and Max look up at me. "three works."
Dustin rips off his backpack from both of his shoulders and grabbing it with both hands as Robin furrows her eyes at the boy.
"What are you doing?" Steve asks.
Dustin flung the bag off the counter, hoisting himself up on the counter as well, his feet knocking over the tapes Steve and I had put on display a while ago.
"What are you-" Steve asks, backing away from Dustin. "No, no, no! My tapes! Dude."
"My pile!" Robin cries as Dustin lands on the ground.
Max and I rush to the other side of the counter, making our way next to Dustin who sat down and began to type frantically on the computer.
"What are you doing, man?" Steve whines, making his way over to us.
"Setting up base of operations here." Dustin replies, not once taking his eyes off the screen.
"Base of operations?" Robin asks, cleaning up the mess Dustin made.
"Stop," Steve says, stressfully running his hands through his hair. "get off."
"We need it." I shrugged.
"Need it for what?" Steve asks.
"I'm looking up Eddie's friends' phone numbers." Dustin replied.
"Oh, Eddie," Steve says, slightly upset. "your new best friend you think is cooler because he plays your nerdy game?"
"Yes." Dustin grumbles, rolling his eyes dramatically before fully turning to face Steve. "I never said that."
"Seriously, you guys," Robin piped up, picking up the tapes Dustin had knocked over. "maybe on a Monday you can play around here like toddlers, but it's Saturday. It's our busiest day."
"All right, Robin," Dustin replies in a monotone voice. "I totally emphasize, but this cannot wait."
"Oh, my god." Steve grumbled, placing his hands on his head.
"What," Robin snapped, waving her arms up while holding some papers that fell down. "because calling all of Eddie's friends is an emergency?"
"Correct!" Dustin and I say at the same time.
"Do you want me to strangle him or do you want to?" Steve asks Robin as she places more papers down.
"We could take turns." She smiled sarcastically.
"Max," Dustin says turning his body to face the girl. "can you fill them in while I do this. (Y/n), can you get the phones?"
"Fill us in on what?" Robin asks, turning around to face us.
Max let's out a loud sigh as I rush to the back room, grabbing Keith's phone. Placing it on the counter, I grab the other two, lining them up by the first phone.
"Okay," I sigh, noticing Max had finished explaining the situation to Robin and Steve. "Let's do this."
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A/N:
Hello! I hope you're enjoying the book! please let me know if there is anything in this book I should fix or work on for the future! Thanks again for reading:)