Kiss Me Like The World's Ending - A Steddie Fanfiction

Chapter 1: "After"

It had been just a couple long months after Vecna's defeat and the small town of Hawkins, Indiana was finally starting to return to normal. The trees were covered in growing greenery, the children were safe to play on the streets at night again, and everything had felt at peace. It hadn't felt or been this way in awhile.

But peace was not in the cards for high school student Eddie Munson. After barely surviving a vicious attack from the ghastly demo-bats in the upside down, he was urgently rushed to the hospital in hopes of recovery. He slowly recuperated and prayed that he could continue on with his life normally. He was released from the hospital in the following days, but he feared what lied beyond the hospital walls. Eddie was considered the freak of Hawkins High School, and now, he was known as a freak everywhere. People called him a living zombie for how frail and distraught he looked. On top of all that, there were still people who considered him guilty for the death of Chrissy Cunningham, who suffered dearly from Vecna's curse until being murdered before Eddie in his own trailer just days before.

He thought about Chrissy a lot. He wondered what things would have been like if Vecna had never cursed her. What if Vecna had cursed him instead? Would Chrissy still be alive?

Eddie did pity the fact that he was able to survive the bat attack while Chrissy was not able to survive the wrath of Vecna. He wished the roles had been reversed. Chrissy had so much to look forward to in her future. It was so bright. Eddie couldn't say the same about himself.

Eddie had been held back twice from graduating high school. His grades never met the requirements for him to do so, so he remained a senior. He still had this year of high school to finish and his grades were looking quite ravishing to Eddie if he would say so himself. This was his year, he thought. He wondered if he would ever graduate after this attack. He wondered if he could even return back to school without being ripped to shreds by bullies.

There was one bully Eddie truly feared, though, and that was Jason Carver. Jason despised Eddie, for he blamed him for Chrissy's death. Of course, Eddie did not murder Chrissy, but Jason didn't know that. He just didn't understand Vecna's curse or what it was and what it entailed. How could he? How could any regular person understand such a thing. They would consider Eddie a nutcase, which he was already being called by innocent bystanders. There was no use fighting it off, no one would ever believe his story about what happened.

However, Jason was put to blame for the crimes Vecna had committed. All the people he had killed. Eleven had been able to stop Vecna once and for all, and with the help of her friends, they were able to convince the Hawkins police department that it was Jason who had been on a murdering spree. They explained they were trying to stop him the whole time, and that the Hellfire Club was not a cult, it was just a Dungeons and Dragons Club for nerds, as Erica Sinclair easily put it. Luckily, there was enough evidence to incriminate Jason for the crimes, and he was arrested and taken to jail.

Eddie worried that Jason might come back to hurt him. He also worried that if it wouldn't be Jason hurting him, it would be one of his many jock-friends who despised Eddie greatly. Still, he had to go on with his life. Eddie was no longer wanted, and was indeed a free man at last. At least, on paper it seemed.

Each night, horrific nightmares polluted Eddie's mind whenever he attempted to fall asleep. It was as if his he was still stuck in that dark, cold, and empty place on a constant loop. He could still feel himself being eaten alive by the monstrous bat-like creatures with fangs. Sometimes, his mind convinced him that he was still in that room with Chrissy, watching her horrifically break as if she were a child's play doll. The sound of the bones breaking toyed with his mind. He tried to run away, but something always stopped him and kept Chrissy in the tunnel vision of his gaze. At a breaking point, Eddie began resisting sleep each night and began to see these nightmares in the visions of his reality. He couldn't escape it when asleep or awake. He felt like he was in hell, a fate worse than death.