ACE OF HEARTS CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE: STEVE, DROP THE OAR!
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"WELL, THAT'S SETTLED," Steve Harrington announced, just after Dustin Henderson lead the group up to the front porch of Reefer Rick's house. The young boy had been continuously pressing the doorbell for about five minutes straight and had not received a single response. To their dismay, it looked to be completely abandoned. "I guess he's not here."
"Eddie! It's Dustin and Mike!" Dustin yelled, quite loud enough for anyone in a mile radius to hear. "Look, we just wanna talk, okay? No cops, I swear. We just wanna help."
"Eddie!" Mike yelled, walking around the house and looking through the windows. "Eddie where are you?"
From the front door, Dustin continued to bang his fist on the wood, "Reefer Rick!"
"Maybe we shouldn't continuously yell out the names of a drug dealer and a convicted felon..." Cassie shrugged, shining her flashlight in Dustin's face. "Just a suggestion."
"Is that a foot?" Steve asked, narrowing his gaze while looking through the front window.
"No, thats a shoe." Dustin replied.
"Hey, guys?" Max called, holding her flashlight up to an opening near the side of the house. "I think I found a way in."
Surely enough, the girl was right. There was a slight opening near the side of the house that allowed them to quietly enter undetected. As the group advanced inside, they made their way into a small room with a barrel placed in the center, covered with a blue tarp. Grabbing an oar from the side of the room, Steve Harrington hesitantly began to poke at the tarp, noticeably flinching every time he hit something.
"Where the hell did you get an oar?" Cassie asked her brother, turning to him in confusion.
"Over there," Steve explained, pointing over to the kayak laying next to the wall. "Why?"
"It's just so random," Cassie explained, shaking her head in disbelief. "Like, one second I'm looking over there, and the next I turn back and you're just randomly poking a tarp with an oar."
"And?"
Cassie chuckled, raising her arms up in defense as she replied, "It's just a little funny."
"Hey, instead of poking it, why don't you just take the tarp off?" Dustin suggested.
Furrowing his eyebrows, Steve replied to the boy, "If your so brave, why don't you take the tarp off."
"Hey, look over here," Max spoke up, examining a selection of wrappers sprawled along the table. "It looks like someones been here...like, recently."
"Maybe he heard us," Robin suggested. "Got spooked and ran."
"Don't worry, Steve will get him with his oar!" Dustin exclaimed, earning a glare from Steve.
"I know you think you're being funny, but considering everyone in this room has nearly died a hundred times, personally, I don't find it funny in the slight-"
