CHAPTER EIGHT
↳ vecna hates the youth

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Laurie had never imagined how cursed Hawkins was. The group, albeit reluctantly, told the girl absolutely everything. At first, they didn't want to at all, Steve and Robin immediately telling her that she better not get involved.

"I'm not exactly gonna be able to sleep knowing my friend is dead because of this otherworldly being." Laurie replied, walking to Steve's car with a huff. "Not to mention, my other friend is literally wanted for murder."

Then, they proceeded to give her an explanation on all the weird shit they knew. From a stranger girl named after a number with some sort of psychic abilities to this gigantic monster that murdered Max's brother, the blonde haired girl was a bit stunned to even imagine everything. But, she believed them.

"You don't think we're all, like, mad do you?" Robin had asked the girl hesitantly as they were walking around the shop, picking up bits and bobs to give to Eddie.

Laurie grabbed some milk, putting it in the trolley, and then answered, "it explains the weird inconsistence with everything to do with what's been happening at Hawkins." She shrugged, giving a small smile. "And regardless, it explains why you guys were so quick to believe-" Laurie cut herself off slightly, lowering her naturally loud voice. "-he was innocent."

Robin nodded slightly. "So are you not scared or something? About all this?"

Laurie pushed the trolley towards the shopping till, Robin walking besides her. "I'm going to be honest and say I am absolutely terrified at everything right now. My ex girl-"Laurie cut herself off very quickly with a cough. "erm— my best friend is dead and to think it's by some other dimensional being is frightening. This Vecna guy really must hate the youth."

Robin gave a sympathetic smile. "You know you really are handling this all well. I was beyond scared shitless finding out everything." She picked up some cereal, throwing it in the trolley. "Like, super super scared. But mind you, we had accidentally discovered this Russian plot and I wound up drugged by Russians— pissed myself terrified."

"Russians?"

"Yeah! The Commie ones." Robin added, hoping it would explain it more. "Turns out they were being a bit suspicious under Starcourt."

Laurie nodded. "I'm not surprised." The pair began pilling the food on the counter. "Though, Isn't it human though? To be terrified?"

"Well, yeah." Robin agreed, though elaborated further, "just you seem calm."

"I do?" Laurie frowned. "I've never been a calm person. I'm sorta a person who's entire persona is happiness on adderall." She shrugged a bit, taking "calm" as a compliment. She smiled brightly at Robin. "Thanks though."

Robin laughed, which in turn resulted in Laurie laughing as well. By the time, they had both checked out, paying for the food, the others, Max, Dustin and Steve were waiting in the car. Laurie opened up the back, placing the bag of food in as well as sitting down herself. Robin sat at the front next to Steve.

It wasn't a long journey back, to Reefer Rick's house, at least to Laurie. By the time they had pulled up to the house, only twenty minutes had gone by. It was relatively quiet, being the early morning, so the group didn't at all look suspicious. Robin, Laurie and Dustin all grabbed the bags full of contents, following Max and Steve down to the Boathouse.

Laurie hadn't expected Eddie to be as jumpy as he was, practically shrieking when they opened the door. He held his broken glass bottle at them, lowering it at the sight of the group, carrying all the food.

"Delivery service." Dustin had chimed, giving a grin, while each member of the group smiled or waved. Laurie immediately set down the bags, the clattering of the tins echoing in the room. She swung her bag off her back, placing it down and began emptying it.

"Okay, spaghetti os, baked beans, tomato soup," the girl began piling the cans up in front of Eddie, who eyed her weirdly as she continued emptying her never ending bag. "Some fizzy drinks, my knife-"

"You have a knife?" Steve gawked, looking at the blonde who simply pocketed the knife in her jeans. "Why do you have that and when did you have the time to get that?"

"It's for comfort reasons and I've had it for as long as I've had this bag with me." Laurie simply replied, her voice awfully cheerful. She pulled out a bottle of milk, averting the conversation away from her knife and instead commented on the milk. "And here's the milk my dad never came back with, honestly I thought I'd never find it." Eddie coughed, spluttering slightly, not expecting her to make that sort of joke. She gestured to all the things she had pulled out from her bag with proudness written on her face. "Voila."

He picked up a can and eyed it. "Soup?"

"Thought you'd appreciate it." Laurie smiled. She reached into another bag and pulled out some cereal. She tilted the box towards him, holding it out for him. "Breakfast?"

Eddie shrugged. "You didn't get me a bowl did you?"

Laurie shook her head. "I... forgot." Eddie simply laughed, opening the box of cereal and digging in. "I have milk though, so pour it in the box and boom! A bowl."

"The cardboard won't hold if we get it drenched in milk."

"Oh."

"You want some?" He extended the box towards her with an inviting smile.

Laurie eagerly nodded, shrugging. "Yeah!"

He tilted the box away, scoffing more cereal down. "Well now you know what it's like to want."

Laurie slapped him over the head, much to the amusement of the entire group. However, Eddie still didn't give her any cereal. The Munson boy sat in the boat, munching away while the group stared at him.

Dustin began, "so we got, uh, some good news and some bad news. How do you prefer it?" He asked the older boy, who swallowed the food down.

"Bad news first, always." Eddie answered with his mouth full.

"All right. Bad news. We tapped into the Hawkins PD dispatch with our Cerebro, and they're definitely looking for you." Eddie swallowed the news down a bit, clearly not surprised yet not happy by it. He looked down slightly. "Also, they're, uh, pretty convinced you killed Chrissy."

"Like, 100% kind of convinced." Max added, causing Eddie to look her way quickly.

Eddie grimaced slightly. "And the good news?"

Robin spoke up, "your name hasn't gone public yet. But if we found out about you, it's a matter of time before others do. And once that gets out, everyone and their shallow-minded mother is gonna be gunning for you."

"Hunt the freak, right?" Eddie stuttered out slightly.

"Unfortunately, yeah." Laurie replied, looking down slightly at her hands nervously. "But I'm sure it'll all figure out. Worse comes to worse, you find yourself in jail. Fun times, maybe if you're put in an English cell you'd meet my dad."

Dustin nodded. "Yeah, and so, before that happens, we find Vecna, kill him, and prove your innocence."

"That's all, Dustin? That's all?"

"Yeah, no, that's pretty much it." Dustin shrugged, clearly not knowing anymore on what they were planning..

"Listen, Eddie, I know everything Dustin is saying sounds totally delusional, but we've actually been through this before." Robin tried assuring Eddie, explaining a bit more on what she was getting at. "I mean, they have a... a few times, and... and I have once. Mine was more human-flesh-based, theirs was more smoke-related, but bottom line is, collectively, I really feel we got this." She gave a hopeful look to the boy, who honestly didn't look convinced.

Steve further added, "We usually rely on this girl who has super powers-"

He was cut off by Laurie's frantic, yet somewhat enthusiastic questioning. "Number girl right?" She interuptted him, still getting used to all this new information herself. "Uh- Twelve, right?"

Robin gave her a pat on the back, scrunching her nose up slightly. "You're one number too many."

Laurie sighed, deflating in enthusiasm. "Every time, I swear."

Steve looked at the pair's exchange, before furthering his point. "But, as I was saying, those went bye-bye, so..."

"-So we're technically in more of the--"

"-Kinda..."

"-Brainstorming phase."

Steve clicked his fingers, repeating the word. "Brainstorming."

"There... There's nothing to worry about." Dustin spluttered out. Eddie didn't look at all convinced, scoffing before jumping at the sound of sirens. All the group frantically looked at Eddie.

"Tarp." Robin told him and Laurie jumped off the floor, grabbing onto the tarp along with Eddie and pulling it over his head.

"For fucks sake, lower your head." Laurie whispered to him, patting down the tarp to make it look as naturally placed down as can be. She didn't care to listen for Eddie's backchatting, rushing to the back window where everyone else was.

The entire group watched with wide eyes as multiple police cars as well as an ambulance drove past.

"Holy shit." Laurie whispered, exchanging a look with the whole group.

"We better go." Steve immediately said once the cars had gone off to the distance. They all mutually agreed, rushing towards the door.

"We'll be back, Eddie! Bye!" Laurie shut the Boathouse door rather loudly, rushing alongside them all towards the car. They all got into the car fairly quickly, buckling up and closely following where they had all seen the police cars go.

It wasn't that far to go, immediately stopping where all the other cars had stopped. Laurie could narrowly make out the white cloth covering something on the ground.

It didn't take a genius to work out that Vecna had claimed another victim.

It also didn't take a genius to spot Nancy Wheeler speaking to the police.

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Laurie hadn't been expecting guests whatsoever when the group wound up at the trailer park. She had immediately offered for the group to discuss in her place, since it was closest and also vacant. Immediately, they were all sat in the living room, discussing absolutely everything to Nancy Wheeler. Now, Laurie Fisher had never found herself associating with the girl. Nancy was always much smarter than she was and hence they had never interacted. But, Laurie could tell Nancy was nice and so she didn't feel uncomfortable with her in her place.

"You're saying that this thing that killed Fred and Chrissy, it's from the Upside Down?" Nancy immediately asked the moment they had all filled her in on what they knew. Laurie couldn't really contribute much since she wasn't at all familiar, so she simply listened and observed. Like she always did.

"If the shoe fits."

"Our working theory is that he attacks with a spell or a curse. Now, whether or not he's doing the bidding of the Mind Flayer or just loves killing teens, we don't know." Dustin further explained, giving a gist of absolutely everything.

Max carried on. "All we know is this is something different. Something new."

"Doesn't make sense." Nancy immediately said.

"It's only a theory."

Nancy shook her head. "No, Fred and Chrissy don't make sense. I mean, why them?"

Laurie sighed. "Unfortunate casualties, perhaps?" She gave an uneasy smile to the Wheeler girl, knowing very much that her thoughts weren't at all going to contribute much since she had absolutely no idea what they were talking about. "I mean, some mass murderers work that way. They choose random, helpless victims to pray on." She shrugged.

"Maybe they were just in the wrong place. I mean they were both at the game."

"And near the trailer park."

"We're at the trailer park, specifically in a trailer." Steve interuptted, looking quite uneasy. "Should we maybe not be here?"

"There is something about this place."

Laurie dismissed them worried with the wave of her hand. "You get used to it after a while, when I was younger, I was convinced that there was someone haunting the place. Turned out to be the neighbours at two am and by neighbours, I mean Eddie. He liked fucking with my brain since I was terrified of ghosts." she mused, not trying to joke but more comfort them at their uneasiness. "Don't worry." Everyone frowned at the blonde, realising very quickly she liked giving a lot of information in one go.

Nancy shook her head at the blonde. "No not that. Fred started acting weird the second we got here."

Robin frowned in confusion. "Acting weird as in...?"

"Scared, on edge, upset."

Dustin looked towards both Max and Laurie. "Max and Laurie said Chrissy was upset too."

"Yeah, but not here." Max immediately said, before continuing with her explanation. "She was crying in the bathroom at school."

"She's been acting weird for a while, like for a good few days or something, though it was worse the day of the basketball game." Laurie further explained. "Which, not coincidentally, was the day she- she-uh-" Laurie swallowed hard. "She died."

Robin frowned, reaching down and grabbing Laurie's shaky hand. She gave Laurie's hand a tight squeeze before explaining her trail of thoughts. "Serial killers stalk their prey before they strike, right? So, maybe Fred and Chrissy saw this Vecman--"

"Vecna." Dustin corrected, emphasising the 'na'.

Steve furthered whatever Robin was saying, "dunno about you, but if I saw some freaky wizard monster, I would mention it to someone. Did Chrissy say anything to you?" Steve specifically asked Laurie.

Laurie shook her head. "Nothing. I tried asking her about it and she sorta just... spaced out. She just said it wasn't anything when I asked her again."

"Maybe they did." Max told them. "I saw Chrissy leaving Ms. Kelley's office. If you saw a monster, you... you wouldn't go to the police. They'd never believe you. But you might go to your--"

Robin finished what she was saying. "-Your shrink." They all exchanged a look, getting up and walking out of the trailer towards Steve's car in a hurry. However, Nancy seemed to be going in a completely different way.

"Whoa, whoa, Nancy. Nancy!" Steve called out to the girl, who turned to face him. "Where you going?"

"Oh, there's just something I wanna check on first." Nancy told him, though clearly didn't want to elaborate on further.

"Something you wanna share with us?"

Nancy shook her head. "I don't wanna waste your time. It's a real shot in the dark."

"Yeah, okay. Are you out of your mind? Flying solo with Vecna on the loose? No, it's too dangerous. You need... You need someone to... Here." He threw the keys to Robin who caught them. "I'll stick with Nance. Take the car, check out the shrink."

Robin shook her head. "Don't think you want me driving your car."

"Why?" Steve frowned at her.

"I don't have a license."

"Why?"

"I'm poor."

"Laurie?" Steve looked her way and Laurie gave a sympathetic smile.

"Don't look at me, I live at this dump." She put her hands out in defence, watching as Steve exhaled. "Sorry."

Max perked up. "I can drive."

"No, never again. Please. Anybody but you. No." Steve immediately objected, making Laurie turn and give Max a look. "No chance."

She crossed her arms at the red head. "What did you do?"

"Nothing!" Max defended herself. "I did nothing."

Laurie didn't look convinced. "Yeah, sure."

"She drove a car after Steve got beat up by her step-brother."

Max snapped, "Dustin!"

"What?"

"Hush it!"

Dustin gave Steve a short look, suggesting himself. Though he immediately objected, making the Henderson boy falter. "Come on."

"No."

Laurie and Robin both exchanged a look and nodded. Robin took her hand and pulled Laurie along. "All right, okay. This is stupid." She gave Steve back his keys, standing besides Nancy. "Us ladies will stick together. Come on Laur," Laurie nodded, waving at Max and Dustin. She walked towards Robin and Nancy. "Unless you think we need you to protect us."

Steve gave Robin a look and she simply turned away, laughing lowly to herself. Laurie joined her, giving a wave to both Dustin and Max and giggling herself.

"Be careful."

"We will!" Laurie called back, turning slightly to Robin. "We will be careful, won't we?"

Robin gave her a smile, swinging her arm around slightly. Laurie laughed and grinned at Robin, who gave a bright smile back. "Don't worry about a thing, Sunshine. I'm sure everything will be totally under control."

Laurie must have been bright red by the time they entered the car.

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in honour of an impatient bitch called freya
who literally pestered me at the start of history

bitch pls

stfu <3