037. Reefer Rick

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(Ep

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(Ep. 2: Vecna's Curse)

Cold sweat drips down her face as she jolts up out of bed. Her chest heaves uncontrollably with every flash of the same nightmares repeating in her mind. Gwen thought that maybe coming home would have helped in easing those terrifying dreams, but it only seems to be getting worse.

She throws the blanket away from her and gets ready to take a shower. Maybe the warm water would help her headache go away since she doesn't want to take anymore painkillers or consume that awful tea her mother is forcing her to drink.

"We also don't know if foul play was involved..."

The news could be heard all the way from the living room. She figures it's probably regular news like usual, but that's when her mother yells out, "Gwenie! Come right now!"

Her mother sounds terrified, more than Gwen has ever heard that can only mean something terrible must have happened. She drops everything and hurries to the living room, stopping shortly under the archway as she sees her mother pointing at the television.

"What is it? What happened?"

"Look," Claudia simply says.

Gwen stands next to her mother and places her arm around her to try and ease her nerves. She never gets like this unless something terrible has happened, and based on the way she can feel her trembling, nothing good must be getting informed right now.

"Ever since that girl, Barb, died a few years ago, it has been one thing after another..."

"Why is she saying that? What happened?" Her voice comes out higher than intended, but considering Barb's name is getting mentioned again, she fears it's something involving the upside down.

Staring at the screen, the sudden memories of being stuck in that dimension take over as she remembers Barb's screams of when the creature attacked her. She remembers the way her lifeless eyes stared right at her, filled with terror and anguish as her life had been cut short in a quick instant.

Claudia takes a deep breath and encircles her arms around her daughter. She rubs her back for a few seconds before pulling away and taking a deep breath. "A Hawkins High student was murdered at the trailer park last night."

Her heart drops and her eyes widen in complete shock. Max lives at the trailer park... "Did they say who the student was?"

"Not yet," Claudia pulls her in for another hug. She squeezes her extremely tight that if it wasn't for Gwen gasping, her mother wouldn't have noticed and all of her breath would've been sucked right out. "You're staying away from that place. Do you hear me?"

Umm, no. Max lives there, she thinks, but knows better than to argue at a time like this.

"Yeah, sure," Gwen simply says before quickly getting into the shower to then go and see if Max is alright.

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