WILDFIRE ↝ E. MUNSON

[6]

"That doesn't make any sense." Debbie said, eyes trained on the road in front of them as Lily sat in the passenger seat, knees curled up to her chest with her head leaning against the window. Tears continued to streak down her face as she reached up to wipe her eyes for what seemed like the hundredth time. "Chrissy was found in Eddie's trailer? What do the police think happened?"

"Well, it's not hard to figure out he's suspect number one." Lily said. "Officer Daniels claimed they're just trying to get all the facts, but he was asking me about the relationship between Eddie and Chrissy, and whether or not he had any reason to want to hurt her. It looks really bad, Debs, but there's no way he could've done this. Not like that."

The image of Chrissy lying facedown on the carpet with her arms snapped behind her back flashed in Lily's vision, and she shook her head, trying to force it back out. Instead, she tried to fill her mind with images of Chrissy smiling, happy and alive, to counteract it, but it just made her cry harder at the thought of her friend meeting such a violent end.

"What makes you so sure?" she asked.

"I know Eddie." Lily said adamantly. "This is the guy who skipped second period last year to run to the middle school to give Max his lunch because we didn't have time to make our own that morning and we didn't have any lunch money. He's not capable of doing that to anyone."

Debbie nodded, listening intently to Lily's words as she pulled into the parking lot of Family Video. The lot was nearly empty, despite being a Saturday, with a few cars milling out, and she parked up front, turning the key in the ignition and killing the engine. Lily stepped out of the car, pushing open the front door as the bell jangled overhead.

Inside, Max, Dustin, and Robin all stood behind the counter, three phones set up on their workspace as they all spoke on their respective calls, pacing and trying not to get tangled in each other's cords. Around the store, Sara, along with Steve Harrington, helped the few customers that milled about, eager to have them check out their movies and move on with their days to leave the group alone to their work.

"What's going on in here?" Debbie asked, following Lily into the store as she studied the setup before them.

"Welcome to base of operations," Dustin welcomed them with a grin.

"Base of oper-what now?" Lily asked, crossing her arms over her chest. "Max, what's going on?"

"You might want to sit down for this one." Max said to her older sister. "You're not going to like this."

Lily's eyebrows furrowed together as she stepped closer to the counter. "Maxine, tell me what's going on."

"I was thinking about it after you went with the cop, and last night, after you left for the party, the lights started flickering at home. I didn't think anything of it, you know it's a piece of shit, until I heard Eddie screaming, and then I saw him run out of the trailer, get in his van, and drive off. He was scared, Lils. So we think that maybe... something else killed Chrissy." Max explained, her voice lowering at the end.

A pit formed in Lily's stomach, feeling like a boulder weighing her down as she shook her head, Billy's bloody face flashing in her memory. That was impossible. The gate had been closed last summer, Chief Hopper had given his life to make sure of it, and Eleven was nowhere near Indiana to reopen it. The monster she saw in her nightmares was gone, trapped in the hell dimension it'd come from, and she was moving far from Hawkins after graduation to ensure it could never come near her again.

"No," she said, shaking her head adamantly as she took a step back, towards the exit, where she bumped into Debbie, who instantly reached out to steady her best friend on her feet. "Absolutely not. No way. I can't do this again."