Hell & Back

Chapter Four

For the next two days everything was good. Chrissy didn't have another attack due mainly to the fact that every time Eddie left her alone he turned the radio on. They called the group on a walkie that Dustin had given them the last time he was here, and told them about what they had found out. Turns out Nancy Wheeler had already found this fact out. 

They had established a routine; wake up, eat dry cereal, watch movies, Eddie was teaching her his D&D game (which had been in his car from the night this all began), than they would make soup for dinner go down to the boat house for a change of scenery, followed by coming up here when it got dark, watching more movies and going to bed.

Today they were sitting on the floor while Eddie explained more of the manual book. She wasn't sure if she would ever actually play the game but it made him happy to talk about so she was okay with listening and asking questions. Today they were going over the different parts in a campaign. She sat beside him, on hand on his knee and the other in her lap. 

"So these...campaigns, they can take hours." She said astonished. "Oh yeah, sometimes you can't even finish, so they will carry on the next day." Eddie said. He seemed to be pleased with her understanding of the material. Honestly he seemed pleased with everything she did, even when she burned the soup because she was watching a bird outside. Eddie merely took the pot and stirred it. He gave her all the semi eatable parts and ate the rest. Only saying that he had worse. 

"What's that sound?" Eddie said his hearing much more in tune than her own. Chrissy listened but couldn't hear anything she was about to say so when he stood up and walked along the walls to the kitchen. She stayed sitting on the floor watching him. After a moment Eddie rushed back into the living room and took her arm, pulling her up on her feet. "We have to go, now." Eddie whispered pulling her towards the window. 

Once they got down to the boat house, she started to hear the voices. It was the basketball team, she knew before she seen Jason's van. They were inside the house, she new they were looking for her but she couldn't bring herself to walk outside. Eddie didn't seem in any hurry to send her out either. He was looking around trying to think of what to do next whenever. Finally he got in the boat and held his hand out to her. 

They both pushed away from the dock and headed out on the lake. Jason and his friends spotted them and came running down to the lake. Eddie was trying to get the motor running while Chrissy watched from the boat. Jason jumped into the water and started swimming his friend followed him while the other stayed on the bank. 

The were catching up. Eddie got the motor started but they were both only a few feet from the boat. Jason was saying something but Chrissy's attention was on the water that had gone black and Jason's friend who wasn't moving anymore. Suddenly he was lifted from the water and his bones started snapping, than he was dropped back into the water. Chrissy didn't know why but she didn't have control over herself. She stood up and stepped off the boat into the water. Eddie and Jason were still watching the body. 

Eddie took the handle of the motor and started for the shore, he was halfway there when he noticed that Chrissy wasn't in the boat anymore. He looked back towards the lake and still there was only Jason and the body, maybe she had swam to shore. He didn't see here on the shore line but they had made a plan to run to Skull Rock. 

He pulled the boat up to the dock and quickly tied it off. No use worrying and making stupid mistakes until he knew something was wrong. As he reached to pull his bag out of the boat, it fell into the lake. He jumped in and collected everything and started the walk uphill towards the rock, pleading that Chrissy would be there. 

Eddie tried over and over to get the stupid walkie to work but the water was making it cut in and out. Finally he heard someone on the other end. Hoping it was someone who didn't want to kill him he told them where to find him. He spent the rest of the walk trying not to get distracted by awful thoughts and stay on the path. Night had fallen and he knew no one would be here until the next morning. 

When he finally got to the rock he called out to Chrissy but there was no answer. He walked around the rock over and over. Climbing on top, calling out and walking around in the woods. Finally the fear set in and he knew for a fact that she had been taken into the water, although his mind sought other explanations he knew. He got back on the walkie and tried over and over all night to get someone on the line. 

Chrissy had been pulled to the bottom of the lake and through a red hole. She didn't know what it was and part of her hoped it was merely volcanic rock. She fell down to the ground, bat like monsters were everywhere and the world around her seemed to be on fire. Her clothes were soaking wet and clinging to her as she got up. Her back throbbed from hitting the ground. All she knew was that she had to get away from the bats. 

She could hear the demons laughter. Vecna that is what they had called it. A monster from the game but this wasn't a game and she wasn't a hero or magic person, she was a scared cheerleader who had to hide. But where to hide? She thought for a moment and looked around, this place looked like Hawkins, which meant that the lake house was here too. She knew the house and could hide there.

The bats didn't want her to leave, they wrapped their tails around her ankles and tripped her over and over but she kept kicking, hitting, crawling away until finally she reached the forest. The bats turned around and went back to the hole she came out of. Her ankles were bleeding and everything hurt but she had to get back to the house. Eddie would come for her, she just had to stay alive until he did. 

It was mid day by the time the group arrived at the rock. Eddie explained what happened at the lake and that Chrissy was now missing. "Did Vecna pull her down?" Steve asked "That wouldn't make sense, he was busy feeding." Max said "Maybe he's not the only thing that can come through." Nancy said. They all kept talking and Eddie just sat there listening. Finally Dustin said something useful. "The compass isn't working because of an electric magnetic field. What if every time Vecna attacks he left a door opening?" Everyone turned and looked at him "Than we can go through the door." Robin said "And get Chrissy back." Eddie finished sounding hopeful. "I'm in. The boats at the dock. Let's go." He said following everyone down the hill. He had to turn back and grab his stuff which led to a smart ass remark from Steve but he let that go and headed down the hill anyway. 

When they got to the dock it was night. He didn't have time to play around with who was going and who wasn't. He got in and helped both Robin and Nancy in. Dustin tried to follow but he pushed him back "You trying to sink us? This thing holds three, maybe." He said. Steve untied the rope and pushed us away from the dock. He jumped in and with more arguing from Dustin we were off. 

He had thrown Nancy the compass so we could find the exact stop on the lake again. Once we did Steve volunteered to jump down and have a look. When he came back up and said the door was down there, the cops arrived. Nancy followed Steve down without question, followed by Robin, Eddie was not interested in going down and fighting with himself, Chrissy needed him. He  ended up tipping the boat over and swimming down into the red door which just seemed fitting for the hell waiting on the other side.