Hell & Back

Chapter Twenty Three

"Do you know what it's like to be a prisoner?" Vecna said sitting on the couch. Eddie was sitting on the floor against the arm chair diagonal from him. "I got a pretty good idea." He said not looking up from the star he was carving in the floor boards. Vecna laughed, it was a strange sound almost human. "You know nothing of prisons, my friend." He said causing Eddie to look up at him.

"You and I, we are a lot alike. See my family never really understood me either. I was completely alone, misunderstood, the demon child." Vecna said still watching him. He told Eddie in detail about what Papa experimented on him from a young age and how before that his family never cared much for him. "Your wrong." Eddie said looking up again "We aren't the same. You let them turn you into a monster, I never let them change me." The monster only looked at him with sad eyes.

Chrissy was sitting in the basement, begging Eleven to close the gate in Eddie's head. She was basically on her knees at this point "She can't go in until we know it's clear." Mike said not for the first time. "Okay so we make sure he can't get in." Steve said walking down the stairs followed by Nancy and Johnathan. "How do we do that?" Max said sitting on the couch "We don't know when Eddie will be playing guitar and we can't just sit outside in a bush watching them for hours."

Everyone was looking around the room. Chrissy knew that they were right but she wanted to scream. How had he convinced them to go after her in the Upside Down? Why couldn't she convince them? Another thing you can't do right she thought to herself. "Hold on, what if we give him Max's Walkman?" Dustin said to their surprise "You said Eddie hasn't really slept due to Vecna so maybe he will play it while he sleeps."

Chrissy smiled over at him, they were listening to her. She stood up and took hold of the necklace around her neck. "We can put it in the bottom of a bag filled with food." She said thinking out loud. "They don't have any and Venca knows he came to my house so it wouldn't be suspicious." Nancy, who had been standing by the couch was the one who spoke up first "Okay, but who is going to drop it off?" Again the room was silent "I will." Johnathan said from behind Nancy "Vecna hasn't seen me, that we know of, and it's not like I'm walking in. I'll throw the bag on the porch and leave." Nancy kept interrupting him saying no but he wasn't listening to her.

Eddie was sitting in the living room smoking a cigarette when he heard something. Vecna was "asleep" on the couch which basically meant he was in the Upside Down and this Daniel boys body was just limp like a puppet. Eddie had contemplated killing the doll before him but it was still a person, he had to remind himself, and Vecna could easily find another.

He heard something hit the window in the dining room, got up and walked towards it. When he looked out he didn't see anyone around but he did see a pizza van pulling away, he knew that van. He hurried over to the door and opened it, noticing a pink gym bag on the ground. He pulled it inside and opened it. Chips, soda, crackers, cigarettes, and than at the very bottom a Walkman with three tapes. He looked through seeing Black Sabbeth, Motley Crue, Journey, they have a plan. He didn't fully understand but he could hide under his jacket when he slept, hopefully they could wait.

Steve and Chrissy both agreed that midnight would be the best time. With no television or much of anything to do they figured that Eddie would be sleeping early but just in case they would wait till midnight to make sure. It was eleven fifty, the tub was ready and everyone was there, at least they were in the house.

Steve, Chrissy and Mike were all in the bathroom, Nancy and Johnathan in the doorway. Argyle, Will, Erica, Lucas, Max, Dustin and Robin were scattered around the living room and kitchen. Chrissy got a hint of pizza but shook the thought away. Once the clock struck midnight Eleven climbed in the tub while Mike messed with the radio. "I see him." Eleven said after a minute.

Eddie was sitting on top of the picnic bench in the woods, this was his spot of business per say. His box of drugs lay on the bench as he waited smoking a cigarette. He remembered this day, this was when it all started. Chrissy Cunningham would walkthrough those trees and he would watch as she stumbled away from something she saw. He knew now it was Vecna.

He heard the tree branches snap and looked up excitedly but it wasn't Chrissy that came through, it was Eleven. "Whats the plan?" He asked getting up off the table. "We have to find the door again." She said as he came up to her. "And than you close it and I'm free?" He asked. "That's the plan." She said reaching out a hand to him. "I don't know where it is." He said feeling like a let down. "It's your head. Where would you hide something you didn't want to see?" Eleven asked him. 

Eddie closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He had plenty of memories he didn't care to think of but there was one that stood out above the rest. He took hold of it and tightened his hold of Eleven, if nothing else at least he wouldn't be there alone. The scene changed and he was in an old trailer. Holes were in the walls and a television smashed on the ground at his feet. The chairs were all knocked over while plates and glasses laid scattered around the ground. 

Eddie could see himself as a boy no more than eight, sitting in the corner with his hands covering his ears. He wanted to walk over and comfort his younger self but the shouts stopped him. His parents screaming at each other, throwing things at each other, he knew this scene well. This day was when his mother left and hours later his father would be arrested. He would be taken by the police and put with his uncle he hardly knew, but that man would take care of him and love him. 

"Let's go." Eleven said and she started walking through the trailer. Eddie didn't watch his parents anymore. He had sworn to himself that day, he would never live like this and he hadn't. His parents misery would not be passed down to him. He was so lost in thought he almost ran into Eleven as she stopped, he looked up and seen the glowing red of the door. 

He had never seen her use her powers before. She held out her hand and the door started closing, he didn't let go of her other one. She started shouting and he noticed something trying to get through. It was a bat, the tail was swatting back and forth trying to stop her. Eddie let go of her hand and stood blocking her from getting hit by grabbing a near broken table top and shielding them both. 

The door was almost closed when the table broke. He looked back and seen Eleven and for the first time since they began this adventure, she didn't look like a girl with superpowers, she looked like a scared little girl. This scared little girl was here because of him, she was trying to help him, he seen the tail lash out one more time from the small whole and without hesitation jumped in front of her to take the blow. It knocked him off his feet and into the nearby wall. "No." He heard the girl scream desperately but everything went black soon after.