Be My Escape

Chapter Six

Three days passed since Billy and Eddie left for California. Since Billy visited his sister in the hospital. Three days since her group of friends visited her.

Steve was corralling his kids out of the car and into the hospital, Robin recruited to help him. "Come on, guys. You little shitheads better behave. This is a hospital, you better be quiet when we're in the hallways." He noticed one of the kids was in the back, usually the loudest one. "Henderson, what's going on? You usually don't shut the hell up."

Dustin just shook his head, gaze to the floor as he walked slowly with Steve.

"Come on, you've been like this for days. You could talk to me, you know?" Steve didn't realize Dustin was crying.

"He hates me," was all he said, voice small, refusing to look into the man's eyes.

Steve frowned. "Who?"

Dustin stopped walking then, his little frame folding in on itself as he slumped over, hands on his knees. "Eddie! Who else would I be talking about? Billy? I don't care about him! Eddie was like my dad. He was one of my best friends, he was the one I would go to if you weren't around. And now he hates me. He kicked me out of the club and he hates me. Deservedly, of course It's all my fault."

"You couldn't have known, man," Steve's voice was quiet, gentle as he tried to calm the boy down, "He looked gone." Truth be told, he felt the same exact way Dustin did. He didn't know the man long, but he did feel to blame as well that they left him in the Upside Down, that godawful place. Eddie was right; they should have properly checked, they should have seen if the guy was really dead or not. And even so, they should have brought his body back, as a courtesy to his uncle. It was a piece of real shit thing to do to the guy, the one they were originally helping in the first place. Steve was reluctant to help at first, calling him a freak, but he wasn't. Eddie was a good guy, just misunderstood. He should have figured out the guy was flirting with him as well. He wasn't entirely stupid; the big boy comment and the way Eddie would smirk at him wasn't lost on him. He noticed, but he didn't know if the guy was like that with everybody. Everything the man said was true, hurtful, but true. He couldn't blame Eddie for being upset. If it had happened to Steve, he would react the same way.

Dustin wiped his eyes; they're at the door to Max's room now. He didn't want to cry in front of her, or the others, for that matter. He was just so broken up inside about everything that happened. One of his best friends, his unofficial father figure, hated him. And now he was gone, and he could never apologize to him. It hurt.

"You good now? You want to stay out here for a bit?" Steve asked, a gentle hand on Dustin's back.

Dustin shook his head, sniffling, before standing up straight. "Let's go in."

As they entered, the group were all surrounding the hospital bed, sitting on the edges of it, careful to not move Max. Robin was sitting in one of the chairs, watching the kids. "Hey, dingus, took you long enough."

Steve just shot her a look, before pulling up a chair and sitting next to her. "Oh, fuck off," he said, glancing at Dustin, before looking back at Robin, lowering his voice. "He's taking the whole Eddie thing really hard. I think all the kids are, but especially Henderson."

Robin nodded, looking down at her hands, clasped together in her lap. "I know," she replied, "I feel it too. He was right. It's basic first aid to check for a pulse. We couldn't even grant him that courtesy. And his uncle... I can't even imagine how he must feel. Not knowing what happened to his nephew? Do you think he thinks he got killed?"

"I don't know," Steve sighed, running a hand through his hair. "There's no way he went back to see his uncle. It'd be too dangerous."

"It's too early to be meeting the family, don't you think?" Robin asked, "I mean, even if they are dating, Billy is..." she paused, "Not the best person to take home to mom." If she remembered correctly, he was kind of an asshole. He was rude to everyone except the women he was interested in, as well as the jocks. He was hot and he knew it, and he let everybody else know it, too. He had a larger than life attitude and a temper which was off-putting to some but attractive to women.