Chapter Text
The news of a new death in Hawkins Indiana spread quick. A Hawkins High student’s body was found in Forest Hills trailer park yesterday morning, names of all involved unreleased, less than a year after thirty people died in the Starcourt Mall fire.
Joey snagged the remote off the kitchen counter, changing the channel to something else, anything else. While none of the deaths over the last few years have been particularly close to her, she still didn’t love hearing about people dying. Especially not when she still had a brother trying to graduate from the same school kids kept disappearing from.
She paused, listening for the sound of slightly offbeat drums and out-of-tune guitars, breathing easier when she heard them. Honestly, they weren’t half bad, not that she’d ever tell them that. Even if she did go to every one of their gigs to cheer her brother on, she’d never admit that he could play her kit better than she did.
They’d been rehearsing for about an hour now, Joey deciding to make them all grilled cheeses for when they took a break. She may be a shitty person and an even shittier cook, but making simple food for her brother and his friends was almost a time-honored tradition at this point. Plus, she liked to use it as leverage over him to make him do her chores later.
The sandwiches cooked quick, some dramatic soap opera now playing in the background that Joey half paid attention to, making snide comments here and there about lovers’ quarrels and family betrayals.
“Of course he cheated on you, Claudia! You can never trust a man.”
“Seriously? You’re surprised he screwed you over? He’s your father, look at what he did last time.”
“Women these days. Honestly, I’m not surprised, Blake. You deserve each other.”
Joey finally finished stacking the grilled cheeses on two plates, one for her and four for the guys, before turning off the stove and making her way out toward the garage. She figured she’d timed it pretty well when she didn’t hear any music playing. That was until she heard Gareth yelling.
“I don’t know!”
The sound of the drum kit crashing to the ground was all it took for her to abandon the plates on the server in the hallway and rush outside.
A group of kids wearing lettermans, jocks no doubt, were filling her garage. One had Jeff by his arms while another held Grant’s shirt, the final one standing over her brother, knee in the center of his back while his foot crushed Gareth’s hand.
“It’s gonna be hard to play drums with a broken hand.”
“Hey!”
Joey wasn’t thinking straight. Sure the possibility of being arrested again was definitely on the forefront of her mind when her fist connected with the blond douchebag’s face, but she wasn’t sure she cared when she heard Gareth cry out in pain. Her foot connected with his ribs when he reached out, his hands instantly going to his side as Joey took her place in front of Gareth.
She was painfully aware she was outnumbered, but she’d rather go down with a fight than once again let the jocks pick on the nerds, especially her nerds.
“The hell was that!”
The blond had finally regained his footing as Gareth pulled himself up to sit behind her. He was pissed. This was supposed to be his interrogation, nothing else.
“You leave my brother alone or the next one knocks your teeth into the pavement. The fuck you here for anyway?”
Her air of confidence increased when she noticed the pair holding Jeff and Grant release them and move back to the driveway, the sight of blood pouring from the blond’s nose enough to dissuade them from staying. The blond seemed to finally realize the situation, hands slightly raised as he stepped back with them.
“We’re just looking for Eddie Munson. Tell us where he is and we leave.”
Joey scoffed, taking a step forward to challenge the group.
“No. In fact, why don’t you get your scrawny asses out of here before I make it a point to remember your ugly mugs and start stirring up shit the next time I see you. Who knows maybe your mamas’, or better yet coaches, would love to know why their boys are limping their sorry asses through town.”
They hesitated, but after Joey surged forward as a threat, the group was quick to scramble back to the street and into their suv.
Arms wrapped around her middle, Joey turning to hug back her brother, one hand going to the back of his head, pulling him down to her height. Jeff and Grant joined moments later, a silent thank you to the girl for protecting them.
Bullies weren’t anything necessarily new to the group, becoming kind of like punching bags since Joey graduated two years ago. They all agreed they wouldn’t tell her about them after she got stuck in a cell at the Hawkins Police station for knocking Steve Harrington’s lights out two weeks after prom.
The group hug finally dispersed, Joey’s hand catching the sleeve of Gareth’s shirt.
“Why were they here? Why are they looking for Eddie?”
The group didn’t know. The trio of assholes had been there for less than a minute before they got violent. Their motives or lack thereof were never explained.
Then something clicked. The body of a Hawkins High student was found at Forest Hills trailer park.
“Hold on, doesn’t Eddie live in the trailer park? The one east of the wannabe strip mall on Pine. The one with Tiffany’s Salon.”
The group looked between each other, almost trying to find the answer in one another’s brains before Grant finally spoke up.
“Yeah. Yeah, I’m pretty sure he does. Why?”
“Alright, great. Now brainstorm with me here. Where would Eddie go if he was trying to hide from a group of pissed off jocks who want to kill him? I’m talking Area 51 level of avoid being discovered.”
The boys looked confused, snapping to it when she threw up her hands in a ‘come on’ gesture.
“Uhh, let’s see, he could be at Hendersons. Or Wheelers.”
Joey shook her head. It was unlikely that if Eddie was going to hide he’d pick the house of one of the freshmen he hangs out with.
“If he was gonna pick a friend’s house, he would have come here. Where else?”
“There’s Thatcher Tires o-or the high school. The library maybe? The upper floor has fantasy stuff.”
Jeff’s voice got smaller the more he spoke. It felt dumb after he said it. Those were all public places, not hiding places. Gareth’s eyes lit up as he remembered something.
“His dealer! He lives out on Lover’s Lake. I went with Eddie once when he went to go pick up some stuff. Pretty sure his name’s Rich or Rick or something.”
Joey held a hand up to silence him.
“I’m sorry, Eddie took you with him on a drug deal! When was this? I swear to god-,” Joey paused, pulling her lips between her teeth before focusing back on the task at hand. “I’ll yell at him later. Do you remember anything about the house? Was it a specific color, did the mailbox have the address on it, did-“
“The mailbox! Not an address, a name: Lipton. Lipton was painted on the mailbox.”
Joey grinned as she pulled him into another hug. She let go, moving to grab the keys to the car the pair shared before turning back to the group.
“Alright, I’ll be back soon. Grilled cheeses are on the table in the hallway. If those asshats come back, you go inside and lock the door. Call the police if they don’t leave. I love you, be safe.”
She was in the car, door closed and keys in the ignition before they had a chance to say anything.
The drive to Lover’s Lake didn’t take long, not with Joey doing a steady ten miles an hour over the speed limit. She slowed when she got close, turning onto Anchor Hill, one of the few roads that surrounded the lake.
She kept an eye on the mailboxes, passing by many familiar names, but none of them were the name she was looking for. Two streets later, Joey was beginning to lose hope that her brother had accurately remembered where Lipton’s house was.
Holland Drive was one of the last ones left, a small dead end street at the end of Coal Mill Road. She almost couldn’t believe it when she finally saw Lipton printed on the side of the second house’s mailbox.
The house looked vacant. She wasn’t sure exactly what the difference between abandoned and just empty for a day was, but she could almost feel that no one was coming home anytime soon. She decided it was the overgrown weeds everywhere that gave it that appearance.
Everything was suspiciously quiet as Joey climbed out of the car. She didn’t hear anything, nearly jumping out of her skin when a bird cooed loudly nearby. She wasn’t sure what the best course of action was to snooping through a house looking for her brother’s best friend was, but knocking definitely didn’t feel right.
She tried the front door, which was almost obviously locked. She peered through the living room window. Everything looked normal, a little messy, but normal nonetheless. She didn’t know what would constitute as not normal, skeletons maybe, but clothes strewn about was pretty typical in her book.
Walking around the side of the house she was extremely surprised when the doorknob turned and she was granted access to the laundry room. She was careful as she moved about, picking up a kitchen knife just in case she found anyone who was not Eddie residing there.
The lake house was small: two bedrooms, one bathroom, kitchen, breakfast nook, and living room. Joey checked under beds, in closets, and even behind the shower curtain. Eddie wasn’t there.
She checked again. There were dishes in the sink and wrappers on the counter, not molded, which meant someone was definitely there semi-recently. Still, she didn’t manage to find anyone in the house.
She returned the knife to its home, heading back out the side door. She was making her way to her car when a light caught her eye. The lamp over the door to the boat house was on. A boathouse Joey hadn’t noticed until now.
She wandered over to it, glancing behind her to make sure no one was looking at her before she quickly pushed the door open. It was dark, the only light coming from the opening by the lake where the boat ramp was. It was musty, more wrappers and empty beer bottles sat on the table immediately to her left.
She noticed the box of Honey Combs and the open Yoo-hoo bottle. Eddie had definitely been here. While there was a possibility it was someone else, he was the only person she knew who ate those two things together.
“Eddie, it’s Joey. I’m not here to hurt you. I just wanna talk.”
She glanced behind a stack of tires, moving further into the boat house when she didn’t see him.
“I promise I-“
The was a rustle behind her and before she could do anything she was on the ground, a broken beer bottle at her neck. Eddie looked scared, his eyes wavering as he gave her a once over.
“Either used it or lose it, but get that bottle out of my face.”
She cracked a tight-lipped smile, slowly reaching up to grab his wrist. His hand was shaky as he let her guide him, bottle clattering to the ground as she finally took in a breath. She carefully pushed him back, pulling him into a tight hug when she saw how shook up he was.
He gripped her back hard, fist gathering in her shirt. The embrace was long, a lot of words left unspoken. It was odd for them to be hugging, the most physical contact the two normally had was a punch to the shoulder when the two would part ways.
Eddie finally let her go, and as if alarm bells went off in his head, he suddenly jumped up and looked out the window. He seemed to ease up slightly, coming back to Joey in a panic, grabbing her by the shoulders.
“You didn’t tell anyone I was here right? Or that you were coming here?”
She shook her head, pausing slightly to let him know that his band members knew she came out here. That seemed okay to him because he quickly moved on to defending himself.
“Look, I know-I know it looks bad. But, I promise I didn’t kill her. I didn’t kill Chrissy. She just wanted some-some drugs and I brought her back to get some. And I came out and she was just standing there, like tweaking or something. And then-then she-”
His eyes were glassy as he seemed to be back inside his own head, reliving whatever happened. Joey was trying to process everything.
So Chrissy was the name of the student who died. The name sounded familiar. Chrissy... Chrissy Cutshaw... no, Chrissy Curington? That wasn’t it. Chrissy Cunningham! The little cheerleader who Joey found crying in the bathroom at one of the basketball games. She’d asked if she was okay, offering Chrissy a sip of her chocolate milk to perk her back up. The idea seemed to make her recoil and she made a comment about how it would only make her more bloated than she was now, thanking Joey quickly for the offer before disappearing through the bathroom door.
Her thoughts were cut short when a car pulled into the driveway, gravel crunching under its tires. Eddie popped back up again, carefully looking through the window to see who it was. She watched as he visibly relaxed, apparently whoever it was was either a friend or didn’t care that he was here.
The door slammed open, a group of people filing through the frame. Joey almost couldn’t believe her eyes. No fucking way did Eddie Munson manage to get Steve Harrington, Nancy Wheeler, and Robin Buckley to work together, let alone for his benefit. She recognized Dustin from Hellfire, but there was also a redhead with them that she didn’t know.
The group seemed just as shocked to see Joey Emerson sitting on the floor of the boat house, Henderson bouncing on his toes as he pointed at her. Steve seemed to recoil as his eyes landed on her. Fair enough considering what happened two years ago the last time he saw her.
The tight-lipped smile returned to Joey’s face, accompanied by an awkward little wave to the odd group.
“Hi.”