fast car | STEVE HARRINGTON [2]

24. the elephant in the car

BY THE TIME RINGO WHEELER had finally reached civilisation - fortunately it being the trailer park she had visited only hours before, dawn was beginning to break and bask Hawkins in its glow again. Her chest was on fire from exertion, but the sheer adrenaline of the events she had witnessed that night would have had her running forty further miles, easily.

It was sheer luck that Nancy was one of the first people she saw amongst the gathering crowd of police officers, deducing that they must have been alerted by her cousin that she and Fred had suddenly gone missing. Ringo slowed her sprint down to a walk to ease suspicion. She had the entire time she was running, approximately a half hour at least, to try and make sense of what had happened and more importantly what she was going to do.

She felt like a coward for leaving Fred's body there, crumpled like a tissue in the middle of the road. But Ringo's fear hadn't allowed her stay too long, and as she ran the more assured she was that it was the right decision. Getting caught with a body two days after being already arrested wasn't ideal, but it wasn't even close to making her list of reasons why telling the police what really happened was a bad idea. The list went as followed:

1. They would never believe her and call her crazy if she told the truth.

2. She didn't have a good enough lie about what had happened that would in any way explain the injuries Fred sustained.

3. This wasn't done by a human. This was completely supernatural, and it was obvious Hawkins was under threat again.

Taking several deep breaths to compose herself and her breathing, she frantically wiped at her cheeks to rid any sigh of distress that would be picked up on by the officers. It was then that Nancy perked up, having spotted the girl in her peripheral vision.

"Ringo!" Nancy exclaimed, ignoring the protests of the surrounding officers, who now were alerted too of the new arrival, to dash in her cousin's direction. Their bodies collided together roughly when they met, with Nancy flinging her arms around the blonde's shoulders and squeezing her tighter than any hug she had ever given before.

Nancy's own eyes had been red, perhaps she too had been crying out of fear something had happened. Ringo however, had been crying because something had.

"Nancy..." Ringo whimpered quietly, lower lip shaking and frosty expression crumbling as she hid her head into the crook of the brunettes shoulder.

"Are you okay?" Nancy demanded worriedly, voice starting to break as she spoke. The girl had been nearly ready to tear her hair out from anxiety all night, horrified at the notion that something could have happened her cousin and editor and feeling unimaginably guilty at the fact she was the reason they were at the trailer park at all.

"No," Ringo admitted shortly, pulling away from the embrace as the police officers began to close in on them. "It's happening again, Nancy."

Nancy's expression passed through a range of emotions at the revelation - her mouth first fell open in surprise at the words, then her eyebrows furrowed in disbelief, before finally her lips downturned when she seen the definitive look in the blondes eyes.

"Miss Wheeler?" Officer Daniels interrupted, one hand positioned on his hip holster as he approached the duo. "Can I ask where you were all night?"

"I-um... I-" she stammered, nervously tucking her fussed hair behind her ears before she was able to formulate a full sentence, fully channelling her inner Nancy. "I saw Fred venture off into the woods earlier, I was concerned so I followed and I got lost. I've been stuck in there all night, I just saw the road when the sun began to rise."

"So you haven't seen Fred Benson since he left this trailer park? You didn't leave together?" he continued, a tone of urgency in his voice. Although for the most part, he didn't seem suspicious of her story.