Chapter Seventy-Five: What You Need

Once Max and I had re-explained everything, Robin, Dustin, and Max took over phone duty, and I put my vest on and helped Steve man the video store. 

I was in the middle of restocking shelves when I suddenly go that very same chill that I'd gotten the day before, presumably when the whole bathroom situation happened. 

"Hey," Steve put a hand on my shoulder, causing me to jump, "Whoa, Riley...sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

I shook my head, turning back to my shelving.

"Fine. I'm fine." I said, shaking off the feeling. He furrowed his eyebrows at me.

"Did you feel something again?" I let out a shaky breath, rubbing a hand over the back of my neck in an attempt to get rid of the goosebumps that had risen there. 

"I'm just...shaken up and sleep deprived and...you know." I said. He nodded, brushing my hair back so that he could put his hands on my shoulders. 

"You know, we can probably handle this if you want to try and get some sleep-"

"No!" I said, a lot more desperately than I'd meant too. I winced, stepping out of his grasp. "Uh...no. I don't want to go to sleep."

I turned to face my cart again, pushing it along the shelves and restocking the videos as I went. 

"Riley, I..." He ran around the front of the cart, stopping it with his hands on either side of it, "I don't know how to help here, ok? I don't know what you need unless you tell me-"

"I need to find Eddie," I said, my voice shaking, "I need to figure out what is going on, I need to figure out why I'm having these dreams and I need  to figure out if someone else is going to die and-"

"Hey, hey..." He pulled me away from the cart, pulling me to his chest and wrapping his arms around me. I wrapped my arms around his waist, burying my head in his chest as I attempted to calm myself down. "We're going to figure this out, just like always. This isn't a random thing, ok? We're well prepared for this, and all of us are right here with you." 

"Eleven isn't," I pointed out, pulling back from him, "My Dad isn't, Joyce, Jonathan, Will, Mike, all of them aren't here so how on earth are we going to pull this off when half our usual team is missing-"

My words were cut off by a sudden searing pain in my head, that caused me to double over. Steve grabbed my arm, keeping me from falling as images tore through my mind like a bullet.

A flipped car set ablaze in the middle of the road with a random boy crawling, screaming from the wreckage. Blood dripping from a newly opened scar, a grotesque mouth full of broken, decaying teeth. Eyes glazed over, transforming not white, empty orbs.

"You're a murderer is what you are. Everyone here knows it. A murder, a murderer, a murderer! MURDERER! MURDERER! MURDERER! MURDERER!"

When the images stopped, I found myself sitting on the floor in the middle of an aisle with Steve crouched beside me looking terrified out of his mind. I felt something warm drip down my face, and reached up to find that my nose was bleeding.

"What just happened?!" Steve exclaimed. I shook my head, standing shakily to my feet, with the help of his arm to keep me from toppling over again. 

"We have to find Eddie," I told him, "I don't know who, and I don't know where, but I think what happened to Chrissy is going to happen to somebody else."

"Hey guys," Max said, as soon as the words left my mouth, "I might have a lead."

Steve helped me stumble over to the desk.

"What the heck happened to you?" Dustin asked. I shook my head, grabbing a tissue from the box on the counter and wiping my nose. 

"Another...dream sequence, I guess?" I said. "I guess they're a lot clearer and...significantly less painful when I'm asleep. Its nothing noteworthy, what do you got, Max?"

"Apparently Eddie gets his drugs from some guy named Reefer Rick, and sometimes Eddie crashes there."

"That sounds promising," Robin stated, "Where does this Reefer Rick guy live?"

"See, that's the thing...no one knows. He's more of a...a legend than someone that people actually know." Max stated. 

"Well, what about a last name?"

"Don't know that either."

"Maybe we don't need a last name." Robin realized, rushing over to the computer and sitting down. "Twelve Ricks already have accounts here."

"Lot of Ricks."

"Our Rick is going to have very specific tastes," I said, "So let's look at our rental history."

Steve and I made our way around the counter, and we all gathered around the computer behind Robin.

"Rick Alderman's latest rentals are Annie and Dumbo." Robin read off. "What are the chances our drug dealer has a family?"

"Not likely." Max answered.

"Alright, Rick Conroy, Sixteen Candles, Teen Wolf, Romancing the Stone."

"No." We all agreed in unison.

"Ok, Rick Joiner. Mask, Footloose, and Grease."

"Nah."

"Rick Kimbrough. The Blue Lagoon and Splash." We all chuckled at this. "Definitely not."

"No way." Steve agreed.

"Rick Lipton. Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Cheech and Chong's Next Movie, Chech and Chong's Nice dreams, Cheech and Chong's Up in smoke."

"Bingo."

"Lipton?" I asked, grabbing the notepad and beginning to write.

"Spelled like the tea. 2121 Holland Road."

"That's out by Lover's Lake." Dustin pointed out.

"Middle of nowhere." Max added.

"Its a perfect place to hide." Robin stated. 

~~~

We all grabbed our stuff and left the store, flipping the open sign and locking the door behind us before loading up into Steve's car. 

"Hey, are you ok?" Max asked, leaning up between the seats as Steve backed out of the parking lot. "That episode you had back there looked pretty intense."

"Yeah. It was, but...I'll be fine." I assured her.  She glanced at me, not looking particularly convinced, but she didn't push it any further.

We began heading out just as the sun started to go down, but we didn't get very far before I heard something that gave me chills. 

It was the chime of a clock...the very same chime that I had heard last night, before Chrissy was killed, followed quickly thereafter by another splitting headache and a series of new chaotic images. A coffin with a grandfather clock embedded in it, a little girl dressed in black, a pointed human finger morphing into a long, in-human one.

The visions ended with a shaking sound and I glanced over to see Max, holding a bottle of ibuprofen in between Steve and I.

"I've been getting headaches lately," She said, holding the bottle out to me, "These help."

I nodded, wiping my bloody nose off on my sleeve before taking the bottle and removing two of the capsules. I dry-swallowed them before handing them back to her.

"Thanks." I said. 

"Hang in there, Barbie." Steve told me, taking his hand off of the wheel and reaching over so that he could squeeze my knee. I nodded, leaning my head back against my car seat and putting my hand over his. "We'll figure this out."

"Yeah, you guys always do." Robin pointed out.

"Especially you, you're one of the smartest people I know." Dustin threw in, reaching up and squeezing my shoulder. 

"Yeah...thanks, guys." I said, prompting another squeeze from Steve.

~~~

It was dark by the time we reached Reefer Rick's place, and from the looks of the place, no one was home, nor had they been for quite some time. 

Dustin rang the doorbell once, then twice, and then repeatedly, causing it to ring through the dark house without so much as a creak in response.

"Ok, well that's settled. I guess he's not here." Steve pointed out.

"Maybe," I agreed, holding my flashlight up by my head, "But he probably thinks that there's a possibility of him going down for Chrissy's murder, or potentially, he thinks there is something even worse coming after him. He's not just gonna open the door."

Dustin knocked on the door.

"EDDIE! ITS DUSTIN!"

"Great."

"Poor guy," I muttered, more to myself than to the others, "He must be terrified out of his mind right now."

"Yeah, well join the club." Steve stated, rubbing a hand along my shoulder to the back of my neck.

"Look, we just wanna talk, ok? No cops, I swear, we just wanna help!"  Dustin pressed. "EDDIE! RICK! REEFER RICK!"

"Don't scream that." Steve warned.

"RICK! REEFER RICK!"

"He's not there."

"He could just be really high." Dustin theorized. Steve glanced into the window.

"Is that a foot? What?!"

"No, that's just a shoe."

"Hey, guys?" We all looked over to see Max, standing off to the side of the house and pointing her flashlight into the woods. We all walked over to stand with her, seeing that what she was looking at was an old boat house that was backed up against Lover's Lake.

"That looks promising." I said, leading the way over to it. The others crept carefully behind me, shining their flashlights around as I pushed the door open.

"Hello?" Robin called. "Is anyone home?"

"What a dump." Steve commented. The floor boards crept menacingly, and Steve grabbed an oar off of the wall, beginning to prod at the tarp-filled motor boat that sat in the center of the room.

"What are you doing?!" Dustin asked him. "What are you doing?"

"He might be in here."

"So, take the tarp off!'

"If you're so brave, you take the tarp off."

"I love you guys," I said honestly, shining my flashlight around the room, "But sometimes, I wonder how on Earth you two infiltrated a secret Russian Lab and made it out alive."

"And got you out alive too, in case you forgot." Dustin shot back. I held my hands up in a surrender position, coming to stop in front of a table.

"Hey," I said, "We've got food wrappers, beer bottles...someone was definitely here."

"Maybe he heard us...got spooked and ran." Robin theorized. I shrugged.

"Don't worry. Steve will get him with his oar."

"I know you think you're being funny Henderson, but considering everyone in this room has nearly died about a hundred times, personally, I don't find it funny in the slight-"

Steve had stopped poking the boat to turn around and rant to Dustin when suddenly a body sprang out of the boat and tackled Steve into the wall.

"WAIT, WAIT, WAIT WAIT!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, Eddie! Eddie stop!" 

Eddie held Steve's jacket in his fist, using it as leverage to press the edge of a broken beer bottle to his throat. I ran over, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Eddie..." He refused to tear his eyes off of Steve, "Eddie, do you remember me? Its Riley Hopper, my Dad was the police chief. We had Chemistry together a couple of years back."

He finally looked at me, and I gave him my most calming smile.

"Dustin's here too," I said, pointing at the boy standing on the other side of him, "This is Steve, and he is not going to hurt you."

"Right, Steve? Dustin prompted. 

"Right, yeah." Steve said shakily.

"Steve, why don't you drop the oar." Steve did as he suggested, letting it fall from his hand and clatter to the floor. Eddie panicked, tightening his grip on Steve and the bottle. "He's cool! He's cool!" 

"I'm cool, man, I'm cool." I reached forward, slowly putting my hand over his on the bottle. He looked over at me.

"I know you're probably terrified out of your mind right now," I said gently, "But I promise, you can trust us. Now, if you would plese, remove the bottle from my Fiancé's throat, I would really appreciate it."

"What are you doing here?" He asked, looking back at Steve.

"We're looking for you." Dustin told him.

"We're here to help." Robin added.

"Eddie, these are my friends. You know Robin, from Band," She mimicked a little trumpet noise, "This is my friend Max, the one who never wants to play D&D?" She waved. "Eddie, We're on your side. I swear on my mother. Right guys?"

"Yes. Yes, we swear."

"Yeah, on Dustin's mother."

"Yeah, Dustin's-Dustin's mother." Steve agreed. He looked over at me, and I nodded slowly. He released the bottle into my hand, moving away from Steve, and I tossed it aside, immediately beginning to survey Steve's throat for cuts. He put a hand on my arm silently assuring me that he was ok. He sank down to sit on one of the tables, as did Eddie, though his was more of a collapse than a sit. I looked back to Steve.

"Are you ok?" I whispered. He nodded, jerking his head over towards Eddie, telling me to focus on him. I nodded, brushing his hair out of his face before glancing at Robin, who took my place beside him as I stepped forward to stand beside Eddie. I put a hand on his shoulder, causing him to look up at me. 

"I know what happened to Chrissy," I said, causing him to look up at me in surprise, "I saw it too...bits and pieces of it anyway. I need you to help me get a full picture, but I know that you didn't hurt her. I just need you to tell me what really happened."

"You won't believe me." He sniffed, his voice wavering with tears. I slowly sat down beside him, wrapping an arm around his shoulders. He winced slightly, and I paused, waiting for him to slump forward again before I put a comforting hand on his back. He seemed to relax under my touch, leaning slightly towards me. 

"Try us." Max said with a shrug. Eddie looked at me for confirmation and I nodded.