Eddie The Bloody Handed *STEVEXEDDIE*

Children of the Grave

It was a chilly night in Hawkins but that didn't stop the buzz of the night life in town. I haven't seen so many people in town in months. It was the Hawkins annual fair which meant vendors selling mouth watering food, rides, and games were lining the streets of the small town. Lights were strung out across every street lamp and booth. People were everywhere, there had to be a lot of people coming from other towns here as well.

A cool gust of air sends a shiver up my body and I zip my jacket up the rest of the way. I jump when a hand touches my shoulder and I turn quickly to see my best friend Robin Buckley with a snow cone in each hand even though its freezing outside.

She smiles widely and hands me one "One berry dream for the chilly maiden and a rainbow punch for me."

I give her a small tight lipped smile "Thanks Robin."

Her eyebrows furrow and she gives me a questioning look "What's wrong Steve? I thought you were excited for the fair."

"I am, I just...something feels off."

Robin takes a bite of her snow cone and puts her other hand on her hip "Steve, everything's fine you just worry too much. You should just try and focus on having a good time, we haven't had fun in forever."

I give her a look "We hung out all last weekend, I think you're overexaggerating."

"Okay but still I think you could stand to have some social fun rather than being cooped up in either of our houses. Why don't we go try to find your children, hm? Maybe that'd turn your frown upside down."

I sigh and nod, taking a bite of my snow cone and shivering "Fine. I should probably make sure Henderson isn't getting into trouble anyways."

We begin to walk down the main street of the town looking for Dustin and his friend group. We reach the end of the street where the fair ends and I frown.

"Maybe they're on a ride or something?" Robin says "We should head back the way we came and see if we can find them."

I nod but something catches the corner of my eye and I turn to look back at the dark end of the street. I stare for another minute before Robin snaps me out of my trance.

"Hey Steve, you coming?"

I turn my head back to her and nod, deciding the shake off the weird feeling I yet again had. We run into the group once we get about halfway back down the road and I feel relieved.

"Henderson!"

"Harrington! Where you been buddy?"

I playfully punch his shoulder "Looking for you guys so we could make sure you weren't getting into any trouble."

Dustin scoffs and crosses his arms "Us, trouble? Yeah right."

I roll my eyes and do a head count of the kids in the group and frown "Where's El and Max?"

"Max said they needed 'girl time'." Mike said while rolling his eyes.

"Well Mike that's what girls do, they have girl time." I say matter-of-factly. 

"Look Mike I don't complain when my girlfriend wants to run off with your girlfriend. Steve's right, its just a girl thing." Lucas chimes in.

"Guys look the ride for the tilt-o-whirl is way shorter now, we should go ride it!" Will says excitedly.

They boys seem to switch their focus from the girls to the ride and I watch them quickly head over to the line.

I shake my head "Those kids have the attention span of a goldfish."

Robin shrugs "Most kids are like that."

"True. We should head over and watch them regret their decision the ride a ride that's sole purpose is to spin."

Robin smiles "You think they'll get sick?"

"Considering the fact that they've probably stuffed themselves with as much junk food as they could afford I'd say at least one of them is bound to spew chunks."

"Well then what are we doing standing over here?" She grabs my arm and tugs me over to the ride.

The boys all load onto the ride and they get a few spins in before their faces begin to twist into frowns. Called it. I turn my head and can tell Robin is thoroughly enjoying the look of regret on their faces. I smile a little and something across the street to the side of Robin's head in the darkness catches my eye. I squint and in the bright light of the moon I see a familiar face. My face drops quickly and my eyes widen. It couldn't be. There's no way that its him.

The figure steps closer towards the lights and I can clearly see his face now. I watch as he looks around at the lights strung above his head. I feel frozen until he stops and his head snaps towards me. The second he made eye contact I lost my balance and fell to the ground. 

Robin quickly bent down in front of me and gave me a concerned look "Steve? You okay? You look spooked."

"I-I.." I sat there on the ground eyes wide with my eyes glued to the place where I had seen Eddie Munson.

"Steve!" I heard Dustin's voice in the distance.

He appeared in my field of vision and I snapped out of it. I quickly pulled myself to my feet "Uh I, I gotta go.." I look at Robin "I'm sorry, can you make sure everyone gets home safe?" I pull out my keys and toss them to her.

I turn before she can respond and I take off running in the direction of my house. I didn't stop until I got to my house and by that time I was completely out of breath. I stand hunched over with my hands on my knees on the front steps for a few minutes, trying to catch my breath. 

Something close to the road, like the sound of something rummaging through the trash made me jump and I quickly unlocked the front door and went inside. I locked it and leaned my back against the door. 

I definitely think I overreacted even if it really had been Eddie I had seen, which couldn't have been possible. I still felt like a coward for feeling so afraid. I don't even know why I was really so afraid, it was like this instant dread washed over me and I could do nothing but run away from it. Maybe I was finally losing it? I mean it's only been five months since Eddie..

I shake my head and head upstairs to my room. I unzip my jacket once inside and hang it up on the back of my door. I stare at the only other thing hanging up on my door, Eddie's vest. I hadn't even had the chance to give it back. I carefully lift it up off of the hook and hold it against me. I wish I could have just seen him one more time. I wish I could have told him how I felt when I had the chance.

Suddenly a shiver runs through my body as a cold gust of air pushes past me. I turn to see my window open. I definitely hadn't left that open. I walk over and just before I can close it I hear a raspy low voice in my ear.

"Stevie.."

I spin around only to come face to face with Eddie Munson. Except he didn't look the same as he did. His skin didn't have a bit of color in it except for a gray tone, his clothes were all torn, his hair matted, his eyes were a dark crimson color and he had a dried red liquid covering his mouth.

"E-Eddie?" I asked in a low voice. There was no way this could actually be him, right?