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CHAPTER TEN
BROTHER
"We have identified one person of interest," The group watched as Sheriff Powell spoke to the reporters surrounding Reefer Rick's house, "Eddie Munson."
And then things went from bad to worse -- Steve's heart stopped purely at the sound of Powell's next statement.
"We are also currently searching for a missing teenager, last seen in her home on Maple earlier this week. Sloane Harrington, 17-year-old Hawkins High senior. According to her boyfriend, the girl was last seen in a pink shirt and jeans. Last night, car was found at the church about a mile from the crime scene - but there has been no evidence that the Harrington girl was involved with the murder and witnesses say that Eddie was alone."
"This is bad. This is really bad. Where the hell is my sister? Where is Sloane? Who has talked to Sloane recently? I knew it wasn't a good idea to leave her with Eddie! I knew he was bad news! He probably killed her too, that damn sicko-"
"Dustin? Can you hear me? Wheeler? Copy?" Eddie's voice cracked through Dustin's walkie-talkie, prompting Steve to rip it from his hands, practically taking Dustin's fingers along too.
"Eddie, where the hell is my sister? Where are you?" Steve all but screamed into the device, ready to track the boy down and dismember him, limb by limb, saving his head for last so he could watch the entirety of his demise.
"Relax, Harrington. She's right here." Eddie couldn't hide the shakiness in his voice, speaking both to Sloane and her brother when he said their last name.
"Hi Steve." Sloane sniffled, and Steve relaxed his entire body, still alert at the cracks in her voice. She was crying. "Where the hell are you?" Steve asked, cutting his sister off the minute he heard her voice, "are you okay?"
"We're pretty damn far from okay, Harrington! We're at Skull Rock."
"Woah, you took my sister to Skull Rock? No no no, we are gonna have a little chat when I-" Steve started, earning a slap on the arm from Robin, dragging the boy back to the car.
***
"Do you guys wanna know how Skull Rock got so popular? I made it popular. I practically invented it." Steve bragged, arguing with Dustin about how they were going the wrong direction.
"Yeah, we get it, you peaked in high school." Dustin sassed, dragging the boy deeper into the woods.
"Bada-bada-boom! Here she is Henderson," Steve stuck his tongue out at the curly-headed boy, "in your stupid, cocky little face."
Sloane perked up at the sound of her brother's voice. Jumping down from the rocks she was hiding on and behind, she practically tackled her brother after yelling his name. The world seemed to stop as she leaped into her brother's arms. She was with Steve. She was safe. He was safe. They were together.
From the day she was born, Steve made a vow to protect Sloane at all costs. He'd let the world before him burn down in flames, so long as it didn't touch his baby sister. He'd take sitting in the principle's office for punching boys that took her lunch money in grade school and he'd take the bruises and cuts from picking fights with boys that so much as looked at her with a hint of lust, but he'd look out for her. It was his promise, his vow, not only to himself, but his sister.
He had her back, she had his. If he was in the trenches, she'd cover him with a handmade quilt, stitched with love and memories of their childhood. All they ever had was each other and parents that were on the go twenty-four-seven. If she was under fire, he'd cover her with water and run straight in the flames to drag her back home. If he was dying, on his knees, one look from his sister would be enough to rescue Steve and make him stay. If she was drowning, he'd give up his own lungs just so she could take a last breath and get one more look at her life, her family - him. He was all she knew, and he'd make sure that was all she ever understood from their disgraces called mom and dad was that they made sure they always had enough fun money.
"Sloane! Jeez, I thought something happened to you." Sloane nuzzled her face into her brother's shoulder as he rubbed her back in a comforting manner. He had no idea what she had seen, heard, or even been through in the last forty-eight hours he'd been neglecting her, and the way she wouldn't let go of his waist further drove the dagger of guilt through Steve's chest.
"I conquer. Dustin Henderson, you are a total butthead." Eddie jumped down next, and while he and Dustin caught up, Steve riddled his sister with questions.
"Patrick McKinney. Remember him? He - he floated into the air, and it happened again Steve. Like, right in front of our faces. Jason Carver was there too, he saw the whole thing." She cried, and her brother wiped her tears as fast as they fell.
"Shh, we'll figure it out," He tried to console Sloane despite the cloud of doubt looming over him, "wait - Jason was there? He saw it all?" Sloane nodded in response.
"He must've been the one that traced it back to Eddie! But - why didn't he mention you?"
***
Eddie and Sloane sat, drinking the water and eating the snacks that the group had brought in a grocery bag. Eddie gave a run down of the night prior, grabbing Sloane's hand and intertwining their fingers when he felt her shaky breathing. The pair ignored Steve's skeptical look at their hands as the story continued.
"I tried to call you guys, but my walkie was busted after it got wet. So - I, uh, did the thing I do now. I ran. Except this time, I was dumb enough to literally drag Sloane with me."
"Do you - know what time, this happened?" Nancy spoke up, stopping her pacing back and forth for only a second to speak.
"Yep. I know exactly what time it was. My walkie wasn't the only thing that got soaked!" Eddie tossed Nancy the watch from his wrist. Nancy was mumbling to herself, and shared with the group that the events that happened in the old Creel house, which they supposedly planned to visit and didn't tell Sloane, were in fact linked to Patrick's attack at the lake.
"Man, we really need El to have her powers back." Max groaned.
The group's attention diverted to the Henderson boy, who was pacing back and forth, shifting his own attention between his compass and off into the distance.
"Henderson's not like, cursed, is he?" Eddie whispered.
"Cursed? No. Mental? Absolutely." Steve mumbled back to Eddie.
"BOOM!" Dustin screamed, causing the group to flinch at his sudden outburst.
Steve and Sloane gave the boy a confused look, causing the short boy to smirk triumphantly.
"Bada," he marched towards the Harrington siblings, "bada, BOOM!" Dustin earned himself a confused look from the whole group now.
"Skull Rock was North."
"Really? Seriously? You're still on this?"
Dustin went on and on, explaining science talk. Something about how his compass was both right and wrong - so he was right all along. Ignoring Steve's arguments and protests as he continued to talk over the boy, he pointed out that there are other things that can cause a malfunction in compasses, catching the entire groups' attention. He and Lucas exchanged some more scientific words, looking around to see if anyone else was following.
No one was.
"There's a gate," Lucas's eyes grew wide, to which Nancy argued that we were miles and miles from the Hawkins lab, where the mega-gate resided.
"Yeah, but what if there's another gate? One we don't know about?" Sloane interrupted.
Dustin began walking down the woods, causing Sloane to practically bite his head off. "Dustin, you dingus, Eddie is still wanted for murder, we can't just go hiking into the woods!" Taken back by her sudden outburst of sass, Dustin looked at Eddie with a matter-of-fact look.
"What say you, Eddie The Banished?"
"I think you're asking me to follow you into Mordor. Which, if I'm totally straight with you, I think is a really bad idea. But, uh, the Shire... the shire is burning," Sloane looked at Dustin, who was now jumping up and down with pure glee.
"So, Mordor it is."
"What is Mordor?" Steve whispered to his sister, to which she shrugged, running ahead to catch up with Eddie, intertwining their hands sweetly.
***
"Henderson! If you don't slow down, I'm cutting your precious locks."
"Sorry, forgot. Princess can't run in her little high heels." Dustin scoffed, earning a warning glare from the Harrington pair.
"The hell? This kid's ego is -"
"Yeah. You're telling me." Steve read his sister's mind, rolling his eyes at the Henderson boy.
The kids snuck through the woods farther, but Sloane's final step landed her in a puddle of freezing cold water.
Lover's Lake.
Being here brought back horrid memories of last night - Patrick.
Eddie led the group to his boat, ripping open the tarp. Sloane remembered the conversation from the night before, before shit hit the fan. Was Eddie going to ask Sloane to be his girlfriend?
There was no time to think about that as they all hopped in the boat, one by one. Robin placed her hands on Steve and Eddie's head, giving her balance as she stepped down into the hunk of junk. Nancy was next, and Eddie held out his hand for her to take it, stepping down into to join Robin. Sloane couldn't help but notice the way she looked in his eyes a little too long for Sloane's liking, and soon she'd let the twang of jealousy in her heart and lead her behavior.
"Move," she gave Nancy a slight shove, sitting right beside where Eddie had taken his own spot. If looks could kill, right now, Nancy would be done for. Sloane ignored the skeptic look from Steve as he fiddled with the boat engine as she gave Nancy a brassy smile.
When Dustin tried to step on, Eddie stood and gave him a light shove back. "What are you, trying to sink us? This thing holds three people, tops."
"You have four people on there right now."
"Sloane and Nancy are so skinny, they weigh like, half of me, soaking wet." Robin pointed out, earning a middle finger from Dustin.
"You stay here and keep an eye out for Max. It's better this way."
"You keep an eye out! It's MY theory!"
"Holy shit, Henderson. Chill! Shut up and stay with Max - and give me your compass." Sloane stood, pointing her finger at Dustin. Dustin blinked drily, complying with the girl who was extra sassy tonight.
Steve pushed the boat, hopping in as he did so. "You said three!" Dustin whined, and Steve whispered an apology, making big eyes at Nancy beside him. "Bedtime at nine, kiddos!" Robin yelled, earning another middle finger from the Henderson boy.
"Hey! Don't talk to your mother that way, Dusty Buns!" Sloane joked, earning a second middle finger from the boy.
"It's Dusty BUN, Sloane!" Dustin screamed - and with that, the teens on the boat were out of hearing range.
***
"Slow down," Robin whispered, eyes on the compass going crazy before her.
"What's going on?" Dustin's voice echoed from the walkie-talkie, as Steve stood up and started undressing. His shoes were thrown on the floor of the boat, his belt following, then his sweater and undershirt. Sloane followed him, picking up his clothes and folding them nicely, like she had been doing since the two started junior-high. She didn't need to, for they had plenty of housemaids that came through their mansion, but she liked folding clothes. She liked anything that had to deal with clothes.
"Steve, what are you doing?" Nancy fumbled with her fingers, stressed. Sloane could tell, because she had the same look as Nancy written all over her face.
"Someone's gotta go check this out," He pushed back his hair, a nervous habit he'd picked up on over the years, "unless one of you can top being a Hawkins High School swim co-captain and a certified lifeguard for three years, but.. it's gotta be me, no complaints, alright?"
"I can top that. A certified lifeguard for three years, along with being Hawkins High School swim captain for three years." Sloane gloated, her favorite thing to do was remind her that she beat her big brother out for swim captain when she was only a freshman, topping his record by three seconds.
"No." Steve immediately answered, nodding to Robin, then Eddie. Robin and Eddie grabbed each of Sloane's hands to keep her from jumping after Steve.
"Hey, I'm not complaining," Eddie smirked, speaking low enough for only the two of them to hear, "princess."
The girl shuddered as Eddie's words danced across her skin and down her spine, sending a familiar warmth into her lower belly. Sloane usually hated being called princess, but the way Eddie huskily mumbled it into her ear, she decided she loved the name.
"So, are you two like, a thing?" Robin interrupted, now that Steve was underwater and out of hearing range.
"What? No!"
"It's complicated."
The two spoke in unison, their answers polar opposite as they shared a look.
"Right." Robin rolled her eyes, and Sloane interrupted to ask a time count on how long her brother had been underwater. But she knew exactly - 53 seconds. She just wanted to change the subject from her and Eddie. She counted more in her head, avoiding any and all gaze or eye contact from her friends.
54.
55.
56.
57.
58.
Steve burst out the water, causing the four left in the boat to scream. Sloane rushed to the side of the boat, listening carefully to Steve describing such a snack-size gate.
"It's pretty damn big." Sloane tried to grab onto her brother's hands, hoisting him up into the boat, but something diverted their attention.
"Hey, that's what your sister said-"
"Eddie!" Sloane groaned, and before she could get out another word, she was tumbling into the water, holding onto Steve's arm tighter than a baby gripping its favorite blanket.
Sloane heard her brother's screams as they were dragged for what felt like millions of miles underwater. Her lungs were on fire, despite the cold temperature of the water, and she'd be damned if she was letting go of Steve. Her brother's screams felt more distant and softer just before the pressure of the water on her chest and lungs burst and everything went black.
Sloane choked and gagged, gasping for air and gripping her chest to make sure she was still alive. She looked around the wet, slippery, and fleshy vines all around her as she laid in a pile of them, tangled and mangled in them like they were her own bedsheets.
"Steve? STEVE?" She screamed, and he placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, "right here." He was just as out of breath as she'd been, despite their history of swimming and being able to hold their breath longer than anyone else on the team.
Steve stood cautiously slow, crawling out of the vines and turning to help his little sister up, too.
"I don't know how, but you need to get out of here, Sloane. Eddie and the girls need you." Steve begged, looking around at the scene and recognizing it immediately as The Upside Down. Sloane took a deep breath as she looked around, too, the white flakes akin to dust filling her lungs. She could breath fine, but every breath she took felt like an intake of Lovers' Lake water entering her lungs, drowning her second by second from the inside out. In a way, too, she guessed she was drowning. The water was slowly rising in Hawkins, their window of opportunity was quickly closing, and she felt no where near clearing Eddie's name - no where near saving Max.
"No. I'm with you, brother."
***
500 readss omg? not real. love u guys a ton!
so i've been getting weird about posting these chapters, are they getting good or worse? I'm open to constructive criticism but please stay kind! what do you guys wanna see?
xoxo @tomhollandsbaewatch