The Deal [Eddie Munson] 1

000

"And you.. you were happy." El says to Billy, placing her hand on his cheek as tears fall from his eyes. For the first time, Billy is showing his vulnerable emotions as El freed him from the Mindflayer's control, and it was all over his face. For the first time in a while I felt bad for him.

But I had no time to feel bad for him, his moment of compassion didn't stop the Mindflayer from attacking. After throwing a firework, I reached down into the bucket to feel nothing, we were out.

"We're out!" Will yells, and Lucas replies "Damn it." They both look up at me with fear in their eyes, and I turn away from them, looking over to Nancy and Johnathan who were also out of fireworks.

Fuck.

Billy stands up and comes face to face with the hideous creature. My eyes widen and I see my sister, Max, and Mike run in. Billy stops the Mindflayer's attempt to reach El and the Mindflayer begins to attack Billy, constantly piercing him with its many arms.

I'm frozen in place, in fact I think everyone is stuck in place. I can't do anything but stare in shock as Billy screams. The Mindflayer pierces him in the heart and immediately I scream.

"BILLY!" Max and I both scream simultaneously as his body drops to the floor. Max begins to walk to him and i'm frozen in my tracks. She comes and grabs my hand, and we both run over to him.

He was struggling to breathe, almost as if he was choking on his own blood. I immediately begin to cry, we weren't related by blood, and yeah he was a fucking asshole, but he's my brother.

"Billy, Billy, get up please. Billy, get up, please, please." Max says as tears falls from her eyes, and she's shaking him to get up.

"I'm sorry." He whispers as he looks between the two of us. "No, no, no, Billy get up! It's fine, I'm going to take you to the hospital and they're going to help you, you'll get surgery and you'll be fine and-"

I stop talking upon seeing his body go still, and I could see him take his final breath. Max falls into El's arms and I feel arms wrap around me.

Steve.

"It's okay baby, it's okay. It's going to be okay." He whispers in my ear as I cling on to him and let the tears fall.

-

***3 months later***

"You're looking at your newest Family Video employee." Steve says as I get into his car and plant a small kiss on his lips.

"i knew you would get it, I'm not sure why you were stressed about it.." I say, joking with him, and we both laugh as we take off to the Byers' home. We all collectively decided to help them pack up and head to California. It was the least I could do considering they helped me pack.

Steve and I were pretending everything was okay, but in reality, I'll be in Europe for half of a year, and we won't be able to see each other. Of course we're going to try the whole long distance thing, but it's going to be hard not to see and touch him.

"You're doing it again." Steve says, and he places his hand on my thigh to stop my leg from shaking. "Sorry." I reply before continuing, "I was just thinking about Europe."

I can see the emotion shift in his face, and he focuses on driving instead of replying to me. I can't blame him, he begged and begged for me to stay home instead of going. I want to stay, and be with Max and him, but I can't let go of opportunities that are right in my face.

My dream is to be a teacher, and I was invited to the biggest program for 6 months, and I would be crazy to not go. Steve understands that, I just think it's hard for him to go from seeing me everyday to not seeing me until next year.