Hell & Back

Chapter Eighteen

"We have to tell everyone." Eddie said after the broadcast went off. Chrissy ignored her moms questions and went straight to the phone, she dialed Nancy's number. Nancy already had seen the broadcast, Robin and Steve were heading over to her house. "Good, is everyone meeting there?" Eddie asked walking into the kitchen. "Not yet. Mike is going to get El and Dustin is tracking down Lucas and Max. She said she will call." Chrissy said sitting down at the table.

Eddie walked over to the table and sat down beside her. He reached over and took her hand. "Everything will be okay, babe. I promise." He said giving her a reassuring smile. Sad, you won't be able to keep your promise. Maybe you'll get lucky and she will get back with her friends and dump you before she sees what a let down you are. Eddie shook off Vecna's voice, he tried to pay attention to what Chrissy was saying but his thoughts were running away with him.

The room changed, the sun went away and the room darkened. Vines of black came and took over almost every inch of the kitchen. The hand in his disappeared, he could feel it crumble. He looked over where she had been sitting and seen her body crumble away to dust beside him. Eddie tried to get up but something was holding him, he looked down to see the vines had tied around his ankles.

Eddie struggled to get out of the chair. He struggled to speak or move any part of his body but nothing was obeying him. This was his mind, he should be able to control it but no matter how hard he tries nothing changed. He desperately tried to think of a song that would wake him up but nothing would come to mind, it was like that part of his brain was shut off. 

He looked across the table to see Vecna standing there "Welcome home, Eddie." He said with a smirk. The kitchen transformed into a demolished house. The ruins were surrounded by red dirt which was only amplified by the blood red sky. "I want you to see where your friends will be." Vecna said walking in front of him. Eddie looked around and seen two bodies covered in vines. "Little Chrissy and Steve will join my friends here soon enough and there is nothing you can do to stop it."

Eddie couldn't speak, he tried to yell or scream but nothing came out. He fought against the vines that held him in place but it was to no avail. The chair he sat in held him like it was a living object. "Don't worry, I'm not going to kill you. I'm not done playing with you yet." Vecna said walking up to him and putting a finger nail under his chin and lifting it. Eddie looked up and met Vecnas, he could see nothing but cold, black, hatred.

"Eddie? Eddie, are you okay?" Chrissy said getting more and more worried. He was being completely still which wasn't like him at all and the smile had left his face. He was still holding on to her hand but his grip was tight, his rings were digging into her hand. "Come on, Eddie, come back to me, please babe, come back." She kept saying. Her mind screamed to go get his guitar but she didn't know how to play nor could she get her hand free.

"Chrissy..." Eddie's voice finally said in a quiet voice. His grip loosened and Chrissy was able to get her hand free "I'm sorry." He said as she pulled her hand away. "Your okay...Your okay!" She said and threw her arms around him. "I thought you were dying and I couldn't do anything to stop it." She said with tears running down her eyes. "Shh, it's okay. I'm okay." Eddie said wrapping an arm around her and ruining his fingers through her hair with the other hand.

The truth was, he didn't feel okay. He felt like he was still trapped in the Upside Down. He could feel Vecna in his mind. He held Chrissy tight against him. He didn't know how but he would keep her safe, he would keep them all safe. The phone rang breaking his thoughts and he reluctantly released Chrissy so she could answer it. Something had changed inside him, he was fighting to keep hold of his own mind. 

Without saying a word he got up and headed up the stairs. There were protest from Chrissy's mom but he ignored her. He walked into Chrissy's room and grabbed his guitar, he shrugged off his coat and sat down on the bed and began to play. He didn't have a set song, he just played everything and anything he could think of. He felt the grip on him ease with every note change. Finally when it seemed to all be gone he let out a breath and laid back on the bed with his guitar ontop of him. 

"Something happened." She said standing in the doorway. Eddie reached out a hand to her and she walked over taking it. "He can get in my head. He taunts me, makes me see things." He said slowly sitting back up. She wrapped her arms around him and pulled him into her. "Oh Eddie." She said in a low voice. 

"Can Steve hear him to?" She asked thinking about it. "He says no but Steve remained grounded here while I became more disconnected with every day. I wanted to come back, I begged and pleaded silently to whatever would listen for it but as the days went back it seemed more like a dream while Steve never doubted that we would make it back." He explained. He didn't want to look up and see the sadness he was certain her eyes held, instead he stared down at the rings on his hands. He turned them slightly with his finger so that the light hit them. 

"That's why you think he is able to reach you easier." Chrissy said, she had let him go while he had been talking and now he sat plucking the strings of his guitar  She wasn't sure how she felt, distant seemed like the right word. It stung a little to think that he had given up hope when she tried so hard to get him back. "Yeah." Eddie finally said keeping his head down "I'm not sure if it's a good idea for me to be around any of you." 

Eddie had thought about this the whole time he was playing. What if Vecna could hear the conversations they were having? Than that would give him a leg up on them, and it would be Eddie's fault because of there connection. He had fought against Vecna, he knew the way that he attacked. He could take his guitar and go hide out in one of the abandoned houses while everyone else came up with an idea. They could tell him his part and he would play it without knowing what anyone else was going to do, it was safer.

"You want to leave?" Chrissy asked shocked. She looked like she was going to cry but when he tried to reached out to her she backed away. "Vecna is connected to me. If I stay he will know everything we plan, where we are, how to get to us, but if I go 'hopefully' he will come with me." He said standing up and facing her. "I don't want you to go" She said in a low voice, she was trying not to cry. "I don't want to go, but I want you to live." He said. 

He wanted to add more, tell her he wanted them to have a life together but he stopped himself. Regardless what happened to him, he wouldn't allow her to die and that's the only thing he could think of. He pulled her in and kissed her before setting to get his things together and thrown into a bag. He purposely left her some of his stuff but took his guitar and with one last kiss goodbye walked away without turning back.