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Act I Chapter VIII ━ The Lovers
EDDIE IS TRYING HIS BEST NOT TO FREAK OUT.
Because if he lets himself freak out, Jules just might die in his arms. His burning, weak arms that were currently holding her dripping, unconscious body, dragging her through the mud to get her to safety. Away from the dark confines of the lake and the fiery hatred of Jason Carver.
Forearms flexing against her unmoving ribcage, he keeps moving through the shrubbery, trying to keep his breathing level. He doesn't think working himself up into a panic attack will cancel out the fact that Jules herself wasn't breathing at all.
Laying her down as gently as he can, his eyes sweep over her body. Everything about her was still, no movement underneath her eyelids or twitching of her fingers. Her chest was motionless, no sign of life beneath the red lettering of her Black Sabbath shirt that clung to her skin.
He remembers Ms Choi's health class on CPR, how she had talked extensively about hand placement and pinching the nose before supplying shared breaths into an unresponsive person. He thanks past him for actually paying attention in that class, embers of relief flickering in his gut.
❝Okay, sweetheart.❞ He hunches himself over her, knees sinking into the mud. Pressing his hands in the right position, he lets a shaky breath pass through his lips. ❝If I break a rib, don't kill me.❞
His first few compressions are clumsy, trying to avoid accidentally copping a feel when his fingers teeter dangerously close to the swell of her chest. He has to push his chivalry to the back of his mind ─ he was trying to save a life here. He keeps going, pressing down as hard as he can to the rhythm the teacher had informed him about.
He suddenly moves, one hand reaching up to pinch her nose while the other tilts her head back. Ignoring the anxiety swirling in his gut, he presses his lips to her cold ones, pushing out all the air in his lungs into her mouth. He disconnects their lips to suck in a deep breath before repeating the action, jumping straight back to compressions after doing so.
Eddie feels his hope dwindling as he goes back and forth between compressions and mouth to mouth, no sign of life making itself known in the blonde. Rage bubbles beneath his skin, angered by those who were to blame for this. Jason, for chasing them out onto the lake in the first place. Vecna, for almost taking her the first time and exhausting all her energy from trying to survive. And himself, for not noticing quick enough that she was drowning.
He doesn't let his movements slow, no matter how much dread seeps into his nerves. He'll keep pushing on her chest and supplying her air until his body gives up on him. His arms burn with exertion and his chest aches with the sudden push and pull of his lungs, begging him to rest until he feels better. He just ignores it, pushing the pain deep down to keep going for Jules.
