― ♥ ❝ it's tearing me apart ❞ ♥ ―
▍When Dustin Henderson opened his front door, the last thing he expected was to see Max Mayfield holding the trembling hands of the rising
cheerleading queen, Claire Hope. Yet, here, right before his eyes, was exactly that.
"Chrissy Cunningham?" Dustin enunciated once the three of them got to his room. Claire was now wrapped in a blanket, sat down right beside Max.
Claire nodded hesitatingly, avoiding eye contact with the curly-headed boy.
He paced back and forth against the carpet floors of his bedroom. "You're sure it was Chrissy?"
"Dustin, she literally saw her. It was Chrissy." Max said, rising so she could stand up. "She was.. she was in her cheerleading outfit. The same one as Claire. We saw her with Eddie. I mean, like, Claire went there with Chrissy and Eddie."
Dustin turned to face the girls. "Did you tell all this to the cops?" He asked with wide eyes.
Max and Claire both shook their heads in unison.
"Eddie the 'freak' with Chrissy the cheerleader?" Dustin asked, although it was pronounced more like a statement.
The redhead nodded. "Exactly. You know, his names not in the news yet or anything, but I guarantee you Eddie is suspect number one right now."
"That's crazy! Eddie didn't do this. No way." The boy argued.
They continued to argue back and forth as Claire stared down at the floor, trying her hardest to ignore them. With all the tragedies that seemed to strike Hawkins each year, she'd never been this close to one. She'd never seen a real life tragedy. She'd never seen a body. Let alone the body of her bestfriend.
"Wait." Claire spoke up, causing both of the teens heads to turn. "Max, you— you left out the one part. Right afterwards... when.. when I was crying?"
Dustin and Max leaned down and sat next to Claire on the bed. Facing her as she went to tell them what had happened. "Eddie drove off. He.. he ran out of the house and hopped into his van, and drove off like a maniac." Claire announced, looking cautiously into Maxes eyes.
"Eddie always drives like a maniac." Max said, looking at Dustin. It was clear she felt bad for him, due to the fact that his mentor was now a murder suspect.
Claire shook her head. "He looked horrified. You.. you agree, right Max? He looked so scared. I don't know if— if you'd look petrified right after murdering someone."
Max and Dustin made a very quiet eye contact. The silence seemed to pierce through the air. Max was the first one to break the silence. "Maybe he looked scared.. because he had just killed someone. Or... or because.. well, uh.. b— because.."
"Something else killed her." Dustin said sternly, his eyebrows furrowed together.
Claire looked between the two, clearly very confused. "What? Something.. else? How? What.. what are you guys talking about?"
The redhead continued looking at Dustin. "That's impossible, right? I mean.. right?"
"Is it?" He asked. "I don't know, it should be. And there's only one person who knows what actually happened."
Claire looked at them again. "Eddie."
—— ♡ ——
"Mirren, do we really need to return the movie today ? I'm tired." Summer complained, stepping out of the passenger side of the car.
The older sister popped a quick tylenol pill into her mouth before standing tall, adjusting the strap on her dark green backpack. "Yes, it'll be quick."
Mirren and Summer opened the door to Family Video, and the chime of bells announced that they were there. Steve and Robin turned their heads, and both smiled warmly at the sisters.
"Hey , Mirren." Steve said, looking her up and down subtly. He examined her outfit, which she looked particularly good in. She wore a pair of wide blue jeans and a red striped shirt. "What can I help you with on this fine day— well, uh, i mean, unless it's a bad day, for you— i mean, then i hope
that a movie can make it better?"
Robin set a hand on his shoulder and smirked at the two girls. "Steve. It's not a fine day, there's a person who just died." She clicked her tongue and walked to the other side of the counter.
Mirren and Summer exchanged confused glances as they looked at the two workers. "What?" Summer asked, leaning her arms on the counter. "Someone died?"
Steve nodded. "Uh— yeah, some highschool student in the trailer park—."
Suddenly the door swung open, and three teenagers, about Summers age, bolted into the room. "Hey, Steve." A curly-headed boy said, jumping over the counter, completely oblivious to the two girls that he almost kicked in the face.
Steve looked at the kids and lifted his hand up in a dramatic way. "You guys seeing this?" He motioned towards the TV that was behind them, still playing the news channel.
"How many phones do you have?" The younger boy said, ignoring Steve.
"Somebody was murdered!" Steve said, looking between Robin and Dustin.
Dustin rolled his eyes as he looked over at Max and Claire. "How many phones do you have!" He asked Steve in a more stern tone this time.
"Uh, three, if you count Keith's in the back." Robin added, pushing herself into the conversation.
Max looked at Dustin and nodded. "Yeah, three works." She motioned for Claire to come behind the counter with them, despite Steve's protests.
Steve and Dustin continued to argue as Max went to tell Robin about what was happening, leaving Mirren and Summer standing quite awkwardly in front of the counter.
"Hello?" Mirren said, her eyebrows furrowed together in a confused way. "Is this a bad time to make a return?"
Steve glanced back and then fully turned his body to the girls. "Right, sorry. Mirren, Summer, meet Max, Dustin, and.. sorry, who are you?" He asked, looking back at Claire.
"Claire." The girl replied. She was hovered next to Max as they explained the story to Robin.
Steve nodded and looked back into at Mirren and Summer. "Right, Claire. Uh, these are some of the kids I was talking about. You know.. the FAIRLY ANNOYING ones." He enunciated the last part, earning a middle finger from a distracted Dustin.
"Can they help us call people?" Dustin asked, turning back. "All hands on deck."
Summer leaned on the counter again, her fists held her head up high. An eager look was on her face as she stared at Steve, begging with her eyes for him to let her go with them.
The boy seemed to contemplate before looking down at Summer. "Just go back there." He sighed, motioning for her to get behind the counter.
Summer squeezed and ran behind to join Dustin to look at what he was doing on the computer.
Steve looked back at Mirren and tilted his head. "I know you want to join whatever weird shit they are doing too. Since your cute , i'll let you go help."
He was right. The Castman sisters were a lot of things, and curious was something that they were most. It didn't matter if a bunch of kids were calling random guys they didn't know, they wanted to be apart of it.
"How flattering." Mitten said, halfway behind the counter. She grabbed a phone as Dustin began reading off numbers to her so she could call them. As she phone rang she decided to ask what they were doing. "Uh, what are we doing again?"
Max groaned due to the fact that she'd have to explain it again, but once she did, Mirrens face lit up. "So.. we are asking about a murder suspect?"
"Yeah, pretty much." Max replied, looking over at Claire, then back at Mirren. It was like a silent check-in, to make sure she was still okay. "Just ask if they've seen a guy named Eddie, okay?"
Mirren and Summer nodded as they picked up their phones, and starting dialing in more numbers.
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AUTHOR SPEAKS
uh i hate this chapter but i needed a way for mirren and summer to get involved so don't question anything.
xoxo, kenn