mercy ; peter ballard

3. r e f l e c t i o n s

march 22, 1986

"listen, taylor, i'm having family issues and i really need to take the week off," beatrice tried to reason.

the manager, taylor, gave her a look of disbelief, as she cleaned the diner's countertop area.

"for fucksake, taylor, my father died!" she spat. technically, she wasn't wrong. he was dead...she just never specified when he died.

taylor's eyes widened. "shit, bea. i'm so sorry for your loss. take as much time as you need."

bea gives her a look of sadness before replying: "thank you."

taylor gave her a sympathetic nod before going into the kitchen. bea ran out of the store and headed to the supposed house of reefer rick's.

bea pulled up to the empty house. steve's car was parked out front. she grabbed the flashlight in her glovebox and jumped out of the car, following the trail of footsteps to the dock house.

bea knocks on the door of the dock house, looking behind her to make sure she wasn't being followed.

"eddie, she's on our side, okay?" dustin says, trying to calm his nerves.

"eddie! i'm your neighbour, beatrice, remember? you met my dog, tilly that one time?" she said through the window.

eddie sighs and gives an approving nod. beatrice opens the door and joins them in the corner.

"we just want to talk," dustin says, trying to lower the broken bottle.

"okay!" he exclaimed as eddie gripped the bottle towards himself.

"we want to know what happened," robin says, crouching down to his level.

eddie took a deep breath in. "you wouldn't believe me."

max tilts her head to the side. "try us."

eddie hesitated before telling them about her wanting drugs from him and asking for something stronger. he explained that he went to get the stronger stuff only to find her frozen and not responding.

"her body just, like, lifted into the air and, uh...she just hung there. in the air. and her bones..." eddie whimpered at the memory. "uh, she..."

he paused. bea sat next to the boy and gave him a reassuring rub him on the back.

"her bones started to snap. her eyes, man. it...it was like there was something, like, inside her head, pulling," he described, using his hand to show them what he meant. "i...i didn't know what to do, so i...i ran away. i left her there."

the group just stares at eddie. eddie looks up and them and scoffs. he brings a hand to his forehead. "you all think i'm crazy, right?"

"no, we don't think you're crazy," dustin replied, softly.

"don't bullshit me, man!" he yelled, pushing beatrice slightly back. "i know how this sounds."

"we're not bullshitting you," max stated.

"we believe you," robin added.