Dustin Henderson's Coping Mechanism

call me when you wake up and there's tears running down

JUNE 1986

Tonight's nightmare was slightly different to the usual one he had. Every time he would watch over and over as Eddie was attacked by those God-awful Demobats. The bats would get increasingly more violent and vicious with every vision he had; from scratches into gashes, bites into entire chunks of flesh being torn away. And every time, no matter the amount of damage done to his body, Eddie still died in the same gut-wrenching yet almost light-hearted way. And Dustin could only watch as his dream-self sprinted to Eddie and cradled his body as he slowly faded away from him.

The reason tonight was different was that Steve was in it too. The exact same thing had been happening to him, only a few metres away from where Eddie, too, was fighting his own battle.

Dustin scrambled out of bed while trying to be as quiet as possible. He had to know Steve was okay. It was different for him; Eddie was in his nightmare and was truly gone so Dustin couldn't check up on him, Steve was also there but he was still very much alive so Dustin headed straight for the phone in the kitchen and dialled Steve's number.

On the fourth ring, he picked up.

"Hello?" His voice was rough with sleep.

"Steve?"

"Henderson?"

"Can you come over?"

"Dude, it's what- two in the morning? What-"

"Steve,"

"You okay, man?"

"No, I- please, Steve."

"Yeah, shit, okay. I'll be there in ten minutes. Stay where you are until I get there, alright?" Dustin let out a shaky hum of acknowledgement before he put the phone back on the receiver. He didn't stay put, however, instead going outside, and sat on the grass in front of his home, underneath a light attached to the side of the house.

"Hey, Eddie," Dustin said into the sky. The clouds were gone that night, giving his eyes a clear path to the stars. He tried to picture Eddie standing above him, ecstatic and enthusiastic as usual. But instead, he just saw an indigo void with a couple of holes poked into it. "It's been two months since you left and most people have disassociated you from Vecna's murders, which is good, I guess. Hellfire isn't the same without you, though; we all miss you like- so much." His eyes had glazed over and, as he looked back down at the grass beneath him, a tear ran down his cheek. He brought his knees up to his chest, squeezing his eyes shut and allowing more teardrops to escape and a few more moments to mourn in silence. He wiped away the liquid from his face and carried on, his words coming out slower now,

"Suzie and I broke up. It was a mutual understanding." Dustin shrugged to himself and began to pick at the grass, "The long-distance wasn't working as well as it used to. And this might be cruel of me to say but, I'm happy that we broke up? I kinda expected it to happen at some point. But- I didn't expect you to be gone as fast as you were. I wish you could come back. Like, please, if there was any way to get you back, I would. In a heartbeat. You are the brother I never had, Eddie.

"Please come back," Sobs racked through his body as he broke down completely, burying his head in his hands. Steve would be there any second and see him as this weak, disgusting mess of a person.