𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐲 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐞 // 𝐞𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐞 𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐱 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫

9

We all sat around while Eddie told us the story of how she died.
"Her body just, like, lifted up into the air and, uh... And she just, like, hung there. In the air." I felt so naive. Of course, that's what happened to Chrissy. I watched it happen to the newspaper boy earlier.
I couldn't help but feel for Eddie. I had been through the same exact thing moments prior and I still feel mortified. I can hear the bones crunching and the thud of his body hitting the ground.

"And her bones... Uh, she...Her bones started to snap. Her eyes, man. It... It was like there was something, like, inside her head, pulling." I listened as he told his story and realized it was identical to what happened to the other boy.
Tears started to roll down my face. I can't believe that's how Chrissy died.

"I... I didn't know what to do, so I... I ran away. I left her there." He looks around at us to see our responses. I couldn't contain myself. I was crying so hard I had to get up and walk away.

"You all think I'm crazy, right?" I heard Eddie say from across the room.
"No. We don't think you're crazy." Dustin tried to comfort Eddie but I guess it made him feel psycho because he started getting pissed.

"Don't bullshit me, man!" I watched Eddie get up angrily and storm towards Dustin. "Eddie, EDDIE!" I yelled from across the room right before he got to Dustin. "It happened to me too." I watched as all of my friends turned around to face me.

"what do you mean it happened to you too y/n? Why didn't you tell us?" max screamed at me angrily. "I'm sorry Max, I didn't even know what I had seen and I was scared and I don't know, I don't!" I said finally at my breaking point.
Everyone stayed silent for a second.

"It happened right before y'all picked me up." I said with tears now streaming down my face again. "I watched that newspaper boy get lifted into the air too."
I was full crying now and max came over and for the first time ever, she gave me a hug. I don't think she had ever seen me like this. I was hysterical.

"Hey, it's okay." Steve came up and grabbed my hand.
He hugged me and honestly I needed one. The last person who hugged me was.. Chrissy.
"Come here." Eddie says gesturing to the part on the bench next to him. I get up and I go and sit down next to him.

"Look, what I'm about to tell y'all might be a little... difficult to take."
Dustin starts talking to me and Eddie. "You know how people say Hawkins is... Cursed? Well, they're not way off." I can feel Eddie's leg bouncing anxiously so I gently place my hand on his knee.

"There's another world. a  world hidden beneath Hawkins. Sometimes it bleeds into ours." I listen as he gave me a very similar story to what max had told me the day of Billy's funeral.
"Like ghosts and shit?" Eddie said stopping his leg.
"There are some things worse than ghosts." Dustin sighed and we sat there for a moment in silence.

"These monsters from this other world... we thought they were gone. But they've come back before. That's why we needed to find you. If they're back again, we need to know."  Eddie looks at Dustin and the others very worried.

"That night, did you see anything? Dark particles, maybe? It would almost look like dust, swirling dust." Robin tried to explain how the dust from this other world looked.

"N-no I didn't. You know, I tried to wake her, man. She couldn't move. It was like she... she was in a trance or something." Eddie couldn't make eye contact with the group.
"Or under a spell." Dustin suggests.
"A curse." Eddie makes eye contact with Dustin.
"Vecna's curse."

"Eddie we have to go call Nancy, just stay here. We'll be back soon."
Dustin and the rest of the gang ran. I follow them outside.
"Y/n come on." I stop a few steps away from the car.
"I need to talk to Eddie, he was the last one to see Chrissy alive." I tell max. She gives me a pout but I know she understands.
"Okay  y/n. We'll be back soon if you need anything you know how to reach us." They tossed me a walkie.

I head back to the door and it's shut. I knock on it a few times.
knock. knock. knock.
"pst, Eddie." I whisper. Still no response. I swing open the door and Eddie is back under the tarp.
I walk up to the boat and gently lift up a corner of the cover.

"Peekaboo" I say smiling at him.
"What are you doing here, y/n?" He said sitting up throwing the tarp to the side. I grabbed his hand and pulled him out of the boat.
"I wanted to talk to you about Chrissy." I said shifting my weight on my feet.

"Oh, okay.." he took a seat and patted the spot beside him.
"Chrissy was my best friend here. She helped me get through so many tough times." He looked at me sincerely. "She was a sweet girl, I should've never taken her to my trailer." I see a tear roll down his face.

"It wasn't your fault. You didn't know. None of us knew what Chrissy had going on. But I saw her freaking out I should've tried to talk to her more, maybe I could've helped her." I said with tears streaming down my face.

"Shhh..shh.. hey." Eddie pulls me close to him and gives me a warm hug.
He smells like old wood and cigarettes. In a weird way, it's kind of comforting.
"We can get through this together." He said holding me tenderly.
Eddie was so genuine, not at all like Justin and those other boys had made him out to be. He was kind and so warm.

"Eddie?" I ask looking at him over my shoulder.
"Yes darling?" he said laughing while he wiped his tears away.
"Do you think we'll be okay after all of this?" He gives me another soft hug.
"Of course we will, if that group of misfits can make it, so can we." His response made me laugh and I repositioned myself to be looking at him.

"Did they tell you when they would be back?" He asked.
"What, are you trying to get rid of me?" I looked at him pretending like my feelings were hurt and he laughed.
"No, of course not. Just curious, they didn't tell me." He said offering some reassurance that I wasn't being annoying or clingy or anything.
"To be honest, they didn't tell me either." I shrugged.
"That's okay, I guess we'll just have to make it last." He says giving me a smile.

"Have you slept at all since you've been here?" I said, noticing the bags under his eyes. "Not a wink." He chuckled. "Do you wanna get some sleep?" I said grabbing a few of the covers I found on the ground.
"To be honest, I would love to." He says as he gets up to help me make a soft pad.

We gently fold the sheets into a soft pallet and use some of the mesh fishing net to add extra support to the floor and honestly it didn't look too uncomfortable.

"I know it's not the best..." I said as I was finishing up the pallet.
"Are you kidding?" He says. "This is a mattress fit for a king." He throws himself down onto it like it was a real mattress. I could tell it hurt.
"And would you look at that?" He sits up. "There's just enough room for both of us." He extends his hand out and I take it. He helps me to the ground and I laid my head on our "pillows" which were just plain life jackets.

"Eddie, I know I don't know you that well. But I think I could trust you with my life." Y/n says as she faces the other wall.
"Well y/n I think I just might have to trust you with mine." he says and then they both drifted to sleep.