“Twelve Ricks already have accounts with us,” She clicked on the first one. A list of recently returned movies appeared on the screen. “The Wizard of Oz, and Peter Pan. Chances our drug dealer has a family? ” “Absolutely not,” “Nope,” “Okay…” She clicked on the next name. “Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory, The Muppet Movie, Never Ending Story,” “Nope,” “Fast Times, Friday The 13th, The Wild Life, Nightmare on Elm Street, Saw?” “Bingo,” “Rick Lipton. Spelled like the tea. 2121 Holland road.” Robin looked at Chrissy, Steve, Max and Dustin, who were all huddled around Robin. “That’s out by Lover’s Lake. Middle of nowhere.” “Perfect place to hide,” They all ran out of the video store, and Robin flipped the sign to “closed” and locked the door. They got in Steve’s car. Chrissy felt out of place. She was with a bunch of Eddie’s friends, and she was just- “I should tell you guys something,” Chrissy suddenly felt the urge to tell them everything. So she did. They listened carefully, and Chrissy didn’t leave out any details. She was almost afraid to. They have been through this kind of thing before, they would know what to do. “I think music might help, stop it…? I don’t know, but when I was with Eddie, there was music playing, and I liked the song, and then…” “So… is that why you were looking for Eddie?” Dustin asked, and Steve rolled his eyes. “No, Henderson, Chrissy Cunningham was just going to hang out with Eddie “the freak” Munson?” He turned around quickly to look at Dustin for a split second, then focused his attention back on the road. “Is it really that hard to believe?” Chrissy could probably answer her own question, because yes, it was absolutely insane that Eddie and Chrissy would hang out. Or, other people thought so. “No, no, just…” Dustin looked at Chrissy and trailed off. He sighed and didn’t even bother to pretend. “Yes.” Chrissy scoffed and looked out the window. She nervously tugged on the hem of her skirt. She didn’t know if they would find Eddie, or what would happen. That scared Chrissy. The unknown, not knowing what’s going to happen. It’s like being afraid of the dark, you’re not actually afraid of the dark, you’re afraid of what might be there. The unknown. They turned down Holland road, and drove down the street. It was a long street. And Dustin was right. This really was the middle of nowhere. Steve finally stopped and pulled into a driveway. The house was right on the lake, with an old boathouse behind it. Dustin opened the door and slammed it shut. “Hey, easy on the door, man,” “Sorry,” Dustin mumbled, and Chrissy didn’t even think he heard what Steve had said. He was too worried about trying to find Eddie. He knocked on the door loudly. “Eddie!” He yelled. Chrissy heard a crash, and she jumped. She looked around to see what could have caused the sudden noise. “Is that a foot?” “No, it’s a shoe you dip sh!t,” “Eddie!” “Maybe he heard us.” Robin looked back and forth between Steve and Dustin, silently mocking them for acting like the children they are. “Got spooked and ran,”
She looked at Max, then at Chrissy, who was still wondering what that crash was. She turned around to face the boathouse. The light flickered, and the door was cracked ever so slightly. Chrissy walked toward it, and the group followed. Chrissy quickend her speed. She wanted to get down to that creepy looking house as fast as possible, she wanted to find Eddie, she wanted to tell him everything, she wanted him to hug her and tell her everything was going to be alright. Chrissy slammed the door open and looked around. “Eddie?” She said, and went over to a desk where there was a takeout container and a half empty cup of soda. He was here. He’s hiding somewhere. “Eddie, please-” “Eddie?” Dustin yelled. Steve picked up an oar, and started to hit a boat with a tarp covering it. “What the hell are you doing?” “He might be in here,” “So lift the tarp!” “If you’re so brave, you lift the tarp!” Chrissy noticed that Dustin didn’t lift the tarp. “What if there’s someone else in here?” Max asked. “Don’t worry,” Dustin rolled his eyes and looked at Steve. “Steve will get it with his oar!” He smiled and waved his arms sarcastically. Steve jabbed at the tarp with the oar. Just then, something jumped out from underneath the tarp. That something, was someone. There Eddie stood, with a broken beer bottle, Steve against the wall, bottle to his neck. Eddie glared at Steve. “Eddie!” Dustin said. “He’s cool! This is Steve!” “Yeah yeah yeah I’m cool, man,” Steve prattled on, clearly afraid to move. “Eddie, I swear on my mother!” “Yeah, on Dustin’s mom,” “Yes, um, on Dustin’s mother,” Robin repeated and Max nodded. Eddie looked around at Dustin, then Robin, Max then back at Steve. “Eddie,” Dustin walked closer. “We’re on your side,” “Eddie-” Chrissy spoke up for the first time. Eddie had no idea she was there. He stared at her for a few seconds before looking back up at Steve. “Just tell us what happened,” He looked at Chrissy again, and slowly lowered the bottle and released Steve. He sat down on a crate and dropped his head to his hands. “You-” Eddie lifted his head and paused. “They wouldn’t believe me,” “Try us,” Max said. She looked at Eddie as he looked at her. “He just-” Eddie closed his eyes tight. “It was like you were, the other day. He- he didn’t move, and then he lifted into the air, just like Chrissy did, and I thought, maybe it was going to be okay, but it wasn’t. I was still terrified, but this time-” He paused. “His bones started to snap.” He said it fast, like he wanted to get it over with. Chrissy didn’t know what to say. “Okay,” Dustin inched closer and reached out to touch Eddie’s hand but he flinched. “We believe you,” “No- Don’t bullsht me man! I know how this sounds,” Eddie rubbed his temples and frowned. “Look,” Dustin backed away from Eddie, because he clearly didn’t want to be touched. “What I’m about to tell you might be… hard to take…”
