Freakshow- Eddie Munson

9- four chimes

Josephine Buckley~

Robin and I were looking through Eddies cassettes, looking for any sort of song to save Nancy. Erica burst through the room, yelling at us to hurry. 

"Eddie where is your music Nancy would know?" I asked, only finding metal and rock in my hands. 

"We need music! Madonna, Blondie, Bowie, Beatles! Music! We need music!" Robin yelled, all of us on edge about Nancy, trying to find the right thing and fast. Eddies face immediately went red, anger filling him. 

"This is music!" He yelled

Nancy's eyes snapped open, Steve taking a deep breath with her face in his hands. Nancy started to fall backwards, Steve cradling her head while she went back. 

"Woah woah woah its okay, its okay. I'm right here, I'm here." He said, obviously nervous. I looked at Eddie, my hand in his. His thumb was rubbing small lines back and forth on my thumb, both of our hearts beating out of our chests. Nancy couldn't breathe, panting in and out to try to get air. 

When Nancy finally calmed down we took a break in Max's trailer, everyone sitting around the coffee table. Eddie was sat on the couch with me on the ground in front of him, his hands tangled in my hair as he tried to French braid it to distract himself. He reached down grabbing my hand, slipping his rings on my fingers after they kept getting caught. 

"Wait so what did he show you?" Max asked Nancy, the question we had all been wanting to ask but not knowing how to say it. 

"The most awful things. I saw a dark cloud spreading over Hawkins, downtown on fire, dead soldiers, and this giant creature with a gaping mouth and, this creature wasn't alone there were so many monsters. An army and they were coming into Hawkins. Into our neighborhoods. Into our homes." She said, Eddies fingers stopping suddenly, all of our breathing becoming staggered. I caught myself holding my breath as Nancy told the story, Eddies rings on my fingers pushing into my skin as I clenched my fists.

"He showed me my mom, and Holly, Mike, and they- they were all" Nancy said, tears falling down her face rapidly as she remembered the night. 

"I mean he's just trying to scare you Nance, Right? I mean, its not real" Steve reasoned, everyone nodding except Max and I.

"No but it is real. Well- it feels real. Everything you see, everything you feel while Vecna is with you, is real to you. I mean I was looking my dead ex-boyfriend square in the eyes as he told me that I was the reason he was dead and I could've sworn he came back to life right then and there." I said, the words spilling out of my mouth like word vomit, a common attribute within the Buckley home. There was an awkward silence, everyone processing the words I just spilled out. 

"There was something else, he showed me gates. Four gates. Spreading across Hawkins. These gates, they looked like the ones outside of Eddies trailer, but they didn't stop growing. This wasn't the upside down Hawkins, this was our Hawkins." Nancy said, tears flowing again. "Our home"

"Four chimes. Vecna's clock" Max said

"It always chimes four times." I said, remembering the last time I heard the clock and putting the pieces together in my head. Four chimes, four gates.

"I heard them too" Nancy said bluntly, her eyes meeting mine as I layed flat against Eddies legs. 

"He's been telling us his plan this whole time." Max said, her arms staying crossed. Lucas' eyes went wide, looking at Max and I. 

"Four kills, four gates. End of the world"

"If thats true, he's only one kill away." Dustin said, everyone did the math at the same times, everyones heads falling into their hands. Chrissy, Fred, Andy...  Eddies hands grabbed mine, muttering a few Jesus Christs before kissing the top of my head.