The Devil's Gift/The Bloody Handed

2: Payback Points

I woke up feeling exhausted. More than usual. I also woke up to no one in the bed. I pat around and flip my head up to see him gone. I swing my legs over the bed and walk out into the hall, smelling something.. burning?

"Ah, look who's awake!"

"What's burning?" I ask as I wave smoke from my face.

"Oh that? We have a shitty toaster and I got mad, broke it, so now no toast." I nod my head and take a seat at the small table.

"Your uncle never came home I see." I say as I look at the empty living room.

"Nope." The pan sizzles as he cracks an egg. "He's probably at a motel somewhere or maybe even crashing at a friends. Either way, not my problemo."

I look around at the walls, remembering what I  thought the first time I walked in here. Caps hung everywhere, and the most random memorabilia possible. Unlike Eddie's room which was filled with heavy and trash metal merchandise, ashes, cheap lotion and cologne, and weed smoke.

I hear the gas stove turn off and the clinking of plates. He wore the same thing as he did yesterday. I prop my head on my hand. What happened in the Upside Down kept replaying in my head. Did I actually kiss him? Surely not. He would have said something. I was being controlled. I kissed some sort of clone Vecna manifested.  Now I wasn't so sure how to even do it. I wanted to kiss him so bad in that moment because we were on the edge of our life. I wanted him to feel how much I cared since I couldn't show it as much.

A white plate with a fork slides in front of me, spinning. He gestures as he sits. "Bon appetit."

I look at the plate of scrambled eggs. "Thank you, Eddie." I take a fork full and plop it into my mouth. He seasoned them well at very least. I feel my mouth dance and my taste buds sing. This was the first time in a long time I had something real and authentic in my stomach.

"So I think for the agenda today we are going to have you meet all the newbies." He says leaning back in his chair while still looking at me. I slowly swallow and wipe my mouth with the back of my hand.

"Alright, that sounds good, but- before we go can we see if my clothes are salvageable from my aunt and uncles? I kind of need.. clothes." I say as I look down.

"Oh- yeah, yeah. Of course. You kind of probably want those."

"Yeah. That, and there's a picture of my mom, dad, and I. I took it before I left and I'm glad I did. Just hope it's not ruined. Sucks I lost my knife though." I sigh.

"Do you think... that will?" He points to his side and gestures to my scar.

"This?" I point. "I'm not sure if it will protect me forever. It seemed to work  for the moment though. Dustin said only if it was carved out of pure oak, but I think that only references to objects you carry. I figured I could maybe carve it into my skin and see if that had any effect. Once I did that, I was able to snap back to reality. It gave me like.. this sudden surge of power."

He nods slowly. "Strange. How did it.. feel? Being controlled like that, I mean. You didn't hear me scream your name at all?"

"No. One second we were hugging each other. Then the next we were k-" I pause and cover my mouth with my hands.

"We were what?" He looks confused.

"Nothing. It just felt like nothing, I heard nothing. I just saw Vecna. All that fun stuff." I finish off my eggs and slide my plate into my hands taking it over to the sink and rinse it off. "We have to do something soon, you know. We have to return eventually." I say as I put my hands on the edge of the sink.

"I know we do. But once we have a plan I promise we will."

"Good. We still have to kill that son of a bitch, and sitting here twiddling our thumbs won't do any good and it damn well won't bring Max back." I walk over to Eddie and head towards the door.

"Ready?" I ask.

"Yeah.. you gonna go anywhere with no shoes on?" He looks down at my bare feet and gives me a half smile.

"I have some I can grab when we get there." He nods and we leave. The sky was clouded and ash was falling. Everything looked more dead than it did before. I hop into the van and Eddie grabs his key from the visor, starting the car and driving off. I put my hand on the window as I see the sidewalks dead and empty. No kids on bikes laughing with ice cream in their hands. No angsty teenagers. We were pretty much the only vehicle on the road.

"It's so.. apocalyptic." I say.

"You're telling me." He says. "It took me a long time to get used to it. Especially driving around these roads. They have several blocked off."

I remember the people I saw in the hospital. The crying, distressed people. They looked helpless and hungry. I wasn't sure how all of them could watch this happen so many times; except this time it was Hawkins that paid the price.

We halt in front of my Aunt Barb and Uncle Frank's house. I step out of the vehicle and look at the left side. It was half gone, and the drive way was cracked open. The windows were broken. No one was here, I'm sure.

"I'll be right back." I hold a finger up to Eddie and he nods, immediately turning up the radio.

I walk inside avoiding the tripping hazard.

"Hello?" I call. No answer. I walk up the spiral staircase and go into what was my room for two whole days. I run and grab my duffel bag from under the bed and sling it over my shoulder. I then turn and grab the photo frame on the nightstand, shove it in my bag, and run out. I did not want to be here. Nor did I in the first place. It just gave me rage for what Jason did.

I walk out of the house and go to the car, swing open the door, throw the duffel bag onto the floorboard, and close the obnoxiously loud door.

"Well, that was fast." He says as he turns down the music.

"Yeah, well I didn't want to be in there long. Gives me the creeps." I reach down and open my bag grabbing a pair of black shorts, a pair of socks, and my boots I brought. I slip my shorts on, struggling to get them last my hips. I arch my back trying to wiggle them on. I see Eddie's eyes fixated on my movements.

"Eyes on the road, Munson. Just you keep staring and you will not like me." I laugh.

He immediately focuses back on the road. "I mean.. who could resist?"

I roll my eyes. "You gotta take me out on a date first, jeez." I joke. I finally succeed in getting them on, and I zip snd button them up. I reach down again and put on my socks and boots.

"Well, if you would let me do that I'd be more than happy to." He looks over to me with a cheeky grin. My face grew hot and my eyes felt like they were going to pop out of my head.

Eddie Munson was going to take me on an actual date?