Against all odds || Stranger Things 4 | Hellcheer

Chapter 13

Eddie frowns as random lights start blinking on his dashboard. They're driving through the forest toward Lover's lake - Chrissy asked him to pick a place, he figured they could use Rick's house while he was locked up - this would be a terrible place for his van to break! The tape ends and the music switches automatically to the radio. Eddie reaches out for a new tape but he stops as the host introduces 'Against all odds' for their next song. He turns to Chrissy with a smile as big as his slashed lip allows him. "Hey, it's our-".

The smile drops, along with his heart. She's having some kind of seizure, with her eyes blinking rapidly and her body tensed like a bow. He hits the brake and climbs over the gearbox to grasp both her shoulders, ignoring the stinging pain on his side.

"Chrissy? What's going on? Can you hear me?"

Up close, he can see her iris have gone almost white. She's not responding to anything.

"Chrissy, wake up! Come on, I don't like this!"

Fear swallows him like a tidal wave. He doesn't know what to do! He keeps calling her name, desperately.

*

Chrissy tries to push Eddie away and shrieks when she sees his face. He looked bad, but now there's large bleeding cuts and swelling bruises on every inch of his skin. Something moves underneath his cheek that cracks open, letting out a spider.

Chrissy jerks backward but while she thinks she's falling off of her seat, she lands in the school cafeteria, full with students. Jason is there, pointing a finger at her, his face diformed as if his flesh was melting.

"They all know what you want," says a monstrous voice.

She screams louder, stubbles back. Eddie is gone, it was never him.

"Come with me, Chrissy", says the creature walking toward her. "Let me end all your suffering."

Chrissy cries of relief when she hears the first notes of their song. Her heart bursts out. She doesn't know how Eddie knew, she doesn't care. He's here, she can see him through a hole in the wall at the other end of the cafeteria. He's going to save her again! She cries out his name and with a renewed energy, she fights her way out through the mass of students groping at her.

"I won't let you go away this time, Chrissy."

The crowd seems to increase in density, but Eddie's right there. She can hear his voice over the music, she can hear his panic. She remembers the last time this happened, how he held her so tight against him. She remembers when they danced together in the middle of his trailer, so close she could feel his heartbeat. His gentle strokes on her hair, the way he looked at her when she was tending his wounds, how he didn't hesitate a second to take her away, without any question.

She screams and pushes harder. She's in love with him, and maybe, oh maybe he feels the same way. Because after all the mess he's been through today, he's still with her. Because there's got to be something more than friendship in the way he holds her, the way he smiles at her, the way he blushes when she kisses him on the cheek.

"Go away," she yells, kicking and pushing.

She'll reach him. She'll reach him and she'll tell him everything.

*

Eddie only gets a split second to realize Chrissy is back before his ribs explode in pain from something hitting his side. He bends over, bumps his head on Chrissy's and slips in the space between the seat and the dashboard, yelping. The next minute is a blur of "oh my god" and struggling to get out of the van until he can try to catch his breath.

He looks up to Chrissy, whose face is striked with tears. Her eyes, back to their normal blue, are panicked and wide.

"What the hell was that," he asks through gritted teeth, holding his side.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't meant to hit you-"

"Not that! What happened to you? You scared the shit out of me!"

She takes a step back, he regrets his arsh tone and reaches out for her wrist. He closes his eyes to force the pain away and asks, "Are you okay?"

She purses her lips and starts crying again as she shakes her head.

"I need to sit down," he says, pulling her toward the back of the van.

He opens the back doors and climbs in with a muffled grunt to sit against a side wall. He takes a deep breath but it makes the pain worse. He curses, grabs his bag and pulls out the plastic bag with the joints he rolled for the weekend. He hopes Chrissy won't mind, because he really needs it.