𝙳𝚘𝚗'𝚝 𝙱𝚕𝚊𝚖𝚎 𝙼𝚎 ||𝙴𝚍𝚍𝚒𝚎 𝙼𝚞𝚗𝚜𝚘𝚗

013

I made it to the clearing and found the parking lot. I walked right past Eddie's van and went out to the road. I walked down the road a little until a police car drove past. It drove forward, then stopped. Once I got up to it, I recognized the face. 

"Dani, what are you doing out here all alone?" Officer Callahan asked. 

"Oh, hi, I was at Skull rock with some friends. Um, we got in an argument." 

"Do you need a ride home?" He asked. 

"Yea that would be great." He reached over to unlock the door and I got in. 

"You know, you should really be much more careful. What if I was the person kidnapping all of those teens?" 

"So you guys think it's a person kidnapping everyone?" I asked. 

"Well, we don't even know what to think. Our number one suspect right now is that Jason kid, something about him doesn't seem right." 

I looked out the window as we drove past the lake. 

"Jason, really?" I asked. "Why? Doesn't his alibi stick?" 

"His alibi is all over the place. He says he was at Skull rock with Chrissy, then they came back to Benny's and drank and smoked among other things. That kid just doesn't seem genuine."

"Oh, I know what you mean, completely." 

"So, your dad tells me you were snooping around Benny's this morning. Why?"

"Well, I was supposed to go to the party last night and I didn't go. I feel like I was supposed to keep Chrissy safe, so I want to help find her."

"The best way you can help find her is not going to be looking for her. It's going to be staying home, where you are safe. We can't have a fourth person go missing."

I turned to Officer Callahan. 

"A fourth? Haven't only Patrick and Chrissy gone missing?" 

"Shit, I wasn't supposed to say that."

"Someone else went missing? Who?" 

"You can not tell anyone until we give the press clearance, understood." I shook my head. 

"Fred Benson. An editor for the Hawkins school paper." 

"Wow, they are such different people. I don't understand this." Officer Callahan turned into my driveway and parked. 

"Well, stay out of trouble, ok? I don't want to have to be looking for you too, not again." 

I turned to him and smiled.

"Thanks again for the ride." I walked inside. I leaned on the door as it closed, sliding down to the ground. I sat there for a few minutes looking up at the ceiling. I looked down and saw my clothes were covered in dirt. I got up and went upstairs to change. I put on a cropped green sweater, which wasn't super thick and put a leather jacket over top of it. I went back down to the kitchen, grabbed my leys, and ran out to my car. I threw the walkie that was still in my pocket onto the passenger seat. 

"Dani, are you there?" I heard Dustin ask. I ignored it and began driving. "Dani!" He kept calling so I turned off the walkie. I parked my car in front of a house, putting the walkie into my pocket again then began up the driveway. I knocked on the door and waited for someone to answer. 

"Oh, hi there, Dani. It's so good to see you, I wish it were under a better circumstance." 

"Hi Mrs. Cunningham, I was wondering if I could look up in Chrissy's room. Maybe I could find anything that could help with the investigation?" 

"Of course, you can, darling. The police already looked through it, but you can go ahead." I walked into the house and took my shoes off. "Oh, honey, I wish Chrissy was here. I always told her to be more like Dani and don't get into trouble. You are just so beautiful and skinny." 

"Oh, um, thanks." 

"Well, you know where here room is, just let me know if you need anything. Do you want a snack or anything? I made these amazing fat and sugar-free fruit bars if you are hungry."

"No, no, I'm fine. Thank you though." I turned towards the stairs and headed up to her room, which was messy from the police searching it. "Come on Chrissy, show me something." 

I began rummaging through her closet. Looking up on the shelf above everything. I knew she kept a diary, but where she put it, I have no clue. I turned the walkie back on in case there was a real emergency and they needed me. I began looking in the boxes on the closet floor, finding nothing. I moved to her bed and began looking under it. 

"Come, Chris, show me something." There was nothing under her bed. Out of nowhere, something inside me told me to look under the left corner of her rug, so I pushed it out of the way. 

"Dani?" I heard Dustin ask. "Please, just tell me you're ok? We are all worried." 

I grabbed the walkie aggressively. 

"What. I am fine, now please stop bothering me."

"Where are you? We drove to dads and you obviously aren't here." 

"I'm at Chrissy's, but don't show up here. Please, just listen to me for once." 

I heard a sigh on the other side. 

"Fine, we will wait here until you are done." 

I looked back down to where I pushed the rug out of the way. There was a loose floor board so I pulled it up. I saw a journal inside as well as a little wooden jewelry box. I grabbed both and opened the box. Inside the box had little baggies of white powder and weed. The bags were labeled with a RR. I took one bag of weed to ask anyone if they knew the logo. 

"I am so sorry Chrissy," I said right before I opened her journal. I flipped through the pages not ready anything yet. I pushed it into the inside pocket of my jacket along with the weed. I put the box back into the floor and covered it back up. 

"How are you doing in here, Dani?" Her mom asked. I popped up off of the ground quickly moving the rug back into place. 

"Fine, I'm doing fine. I'm just gonna look over one more thing, then I'll be out of your hair."

"Tell me, Dani, have you ever done a beauty pageant?" She asked. 

"Um, no." 

"My Chrissy and I had a big fight the other day about her going into one. She really didn't want to but, it's just, what would the other moms think if we weren't in it this year. If she would have listened to me, she wouldn't have gone to that party and been missing." 

"I'm so sorry this happened to you, Mrs. Cunningham," I played into her delusion that Chrissy was in the wrong for going missing. "If you need anything, please reach out." 

"Would you want to step in for the pageant for me?" She asked. "You are so thin and have great bone structure, we would definitely bring home first place with you. Chrissy could only ever bring home third, she's just too chubby." 

"I'm sorry, I actually can't. It's against my religion. Anyway, I should get going, it was great catching up." I walked past her and down the steps to the door. I got my shoes on and quickly walked out of the house to my car. 

"Dustin, I'm heading back now."