Boys Don't Cry - Steddie

Chapter 2

Back in the comfortable, somewhat new (as most things in the house seemed to be) bed, Eddie gave sleep a try for the second time that day. The pain medications he took were meant to make him drowsy, but not the way he wanted. He wanted to be sedated. Asleep without awareness of anything at all. No feelings, no thoughts, no dreams. Nothing at all. That was what he wanted.

He was running. Of course he was. Something was different this time though. The bike. The bike was gone. Eddie looked around frantically and saw his trailer in the distance, the open door allowing a warm light to spill out from inside. He hesitated for a moment before heading towards it, desperate to get out, to go back to Hawkins. Actual Hawkins. He stepped inside and looked around. It was normal, nothing rotted or decaying, no vines or roots or whatever the fuck they were. It was just his home.

He walked towards his room, still on edge. Normal. Everything was just the same as it always was. He turned on his heel to head back out to the living room. Eddie heard her before he actually saw her. He could hear her crying softly and he knew she was there. "Chrissy?" his voice sounded quiet and weak. It wasn't his, it couldn't be.

"Eddie?" He saw her ponytail when she lifted her head. She was sitting on the floor, back turned to him. "Eddie.. I'm scared."

He glanced from her to the door as he slowly crept forward, closer to her. "I know.. I know.. it's okay," he tried to sound comforting but the words simply hung heavily in the hair. He could see her legs now. They were mangled and snapped in ways Eddie couldn't have even imagined less than a month ago. "Jesus.."

"It's okay?" She stopped crying suddenly. "Is it okay? Do I look okay to you, Eddie?" Chrissy began to stand. Eddie knew it wasn't possible. It couldn't be. There was no way, but now she was turning to face him and he could have sworn he felt his heart stop. Her arms were disfigured, the same as her legs, jaw snapped, eye sockets left empty and bleeding.

Eddie pressed his back against the wall as if that could somehow protect him from whatever this was. "Chrissy.."

"How could you do this to me?" She was nearly screaming at him now. "You left me! You didn't care! You didn't help! You left me, you ran away! Eddie, help me!"

"I'm sorry.. Chrissy, I'm so sorry." The door, god, please just let him get to the door. Chrissy, or what might have been Chrissy at one point, lunged towards him and he dove for the exit.

The door was still open and he fell hard onto the ground, quickly scrambling back as he struggled to stand up. When he looked up again, the trailer was boarded up completely and swarming with bats. "Shit."

Run. He needed to run. In his mind he was, but he couldn't move anymore. His feet were planted on the ground and no matter how much he willed his legs to run, walk, move, do ANYTHING, he couldn't get them to budge. The first one sunk its teeth into his right side, and his eyes snapped open.

Eddie was breathing heavily, blindly reaching for the glass of water Steve had left on the night stand as he tried to regain his composure. His hands were shaking and he nearly spilled water everywhere when he finally got a hold of it.

Eddie had gotten himself together by the time Steve came to tell him he had made dinner, "And by dinner I mean a frozen pizza. Sorry, man, we're kind of not stocked up on food right now, so I couldn't really make anything fancy."

Eddie smiled, "It's fine. Honestly, any food sounds great right now. I didn't realize my stay at Chez Harrington included a personal chef."

"Only the best for our most esteemed guests," Steve bowed with his arm out to gesture to Eddie. That one got a laugh out of him and Steve couldn't help but smile too.