There's No Place Like Hawkins//Stranger Things. SH

SEVENTY THREE

The Dive

Sat in the back of Nancy's car, curled up next to Steve, Cat tapped her fingers against her legs to the beat of the music playing from the radio- 'Girls on Film' by Duran Duran. Steve handed her a few crisps from the packet he had been sharing with Dustin, and she gratefully took them. "Not to be a wimp, but can I sit in the car for this visit?" Robin's voice sounded from the front passenger seat next to Nancy. "'Cause this is gonna totally and royally suck."

"It'll be fine." Nancy told her.

"Are you sure about that?" Cat spoke up from her place in the back of the car, adjusting her headphones so that they were sitting comfortably around her neck. "Because last I checked, we don't exactly have any good news to tell Eddie."

Robin nodded her head. "Cathy's right. I can't stand to see those dull eyes of Eddie's break again. I really, really can't."

"At least he can drink himself into feeling better." Steve commented, briefly holding up the six-pack of beers they had brought on their supply run for Eddie.

"That's what my mom does." Max muttered.

"Why don't we just give it a trial run?" Robin suggested. "'Hey, Eddie. Uh, good news first this time. We got you some Dustin-approved junk food and that six-pack you requested. Oh yeah, and we found Vecna. Only, the bad news is that he's in that other, darker, much scarier dimension that we told you about, and the gate's closed, so we have no way of getting to him. Like, he's entirely shut off to us, so basically you're screwed. And, no, I know you were already screwed, but now you're doubly, triply screwed.'"

"Wait. Maybe we don't put it like that." Lucas spoke up.

"'We're one step closer to finding Vecna.' That's what we say. That's what's important." Nancy said.

"See, Robin?" Steve called from the back of the car. "Positive spin can make all the difference."

Robin rolled her eyes at his words. "Uh huh."

"Oh shit." Nancy exclaimed as they approached the boat house. Cat leaned forward to see what was wrong, immediately spotting the large crowd of people surrounding the area just cornered off by police barriers. Nancy pulled the car to a stop and the group snuck around the side of the news van to see Chief Powell being interviewed by a reporter.

"As many of you may know by now, the Roane County line received a call a little after midnight..." Powell spoke. "Reporting a homicide here on the lake." Cat's face paled and she grabbed hold of Steve's hand, worried about who had been taken as Vecna's latest victim. She also couldn't help but worry about Eddie and if he'd managed to stay safe during whatever had happened. "Officer Callahan here and myself arrived first on the scene." Powell gestured to the officer next to him. "We made our way to the shore of Lover's Lake, about ten yards from that house you see behind me. It was there that we found the victim, an 18-year-old senior from Hawkins High, Patrick McKinney."