The Devil's Gift/The Bloody Handed

5: A Polaroid for Your Thoughts

"Say cheese, Sparky!" I hear a camera click and a flash from the corner of my eyes.

"Now where in the hell did you get a Polaroid?" I turn to look at him as he waves the photo in the air. He sets the blue camera down and looks up as if he can't hear me. I clap in front of his face and he jumps back.

"Hey, hey! I got it from the closet! Had full film.. so I had to use it. It's mine now." He flashes me the picture. I was hunched over the table, hair in my face, slightly looking up at him as soon as he took the picture. The picture slowly grew from white to contrasted. "You look great from this angle, you know that?" He looks at it from above then below. "I think I'm going to cherish it." He tucks it into his pocket, and I raise my eyebrows. "You know.. for our ass kicking memory album we are going to make when we get out of this mess?"

I smile at the thought. "Yeah. That would be nice. Just prepare me next time so I don't look like a total fool."

"Hmmm.. I think I like it when you're caught off guard. They make the most authentic pictures. You know what I mean? Raw reactions and all." He picks up the camera and drapes it around his neck with the string.

We have been traveling for about a day now, waiting to hit a block in the road or something that just calls out to me. According to our research, I'll have some sort of vision or a calling to me once we reach a heavily charged area. These spiders were just the hot spots that Vecna had already attacked, making them non-active spots.

"Any visions yet?" Robin comes over to me.

"No, not yet. Where are we right now?"

"From what I saw last, still in the rural part of Indiana. I think we might hit a city here soon though." She sighs and leans back, crossing her arms.

"It would make sense for Vecna to start small and work his way big. He's trying to rebuild power after you and Nancy flamed him." Dustin comes over and says.

Nancy follows suit. "Yeah, Dustin has a point. I just got done talking with Steve and he thinks we should be arriving in the city within the next five minutes."

"Alright." I sigh and lean back in my seat next to Eddie. I haven't really slept at all. I was starving and needed something to get me by. I needed energy- we all did. My stomach rumbles at the thought of a real meal. A steaming, hot plate and a mouth watering and unhealthy carbonated drink filled with cancer and sugar. "We need food before anything."

"I can second that!" Steve yells from the front.

I look outside of the window across from me and see no more deserted land but start to see vivid greens. It was about time. We needed to fill up on gas soon as well. I stand up, walk over to Steve, and lean against the passenger seat, looking over to Steve.

"Where do you think we—" all of a sudden, my head started to ring. My ears suddenly went mute and the ringing went from a humming sound to a high pitch. I lean over the seat and plug my ears, shutting my eyes tight. "We're here. This is it. My head- my ears- ah, shit." I hiss in pain and open my eyes, trying to blink away the painful tears trying to emerge out of my sockets.

Eddie comes over to me and lays a hand on my shoulder. The ringing starts to come to a lower pitch, then fades to a light one. I remove my hands from my ears and see imprints of blood on them.

Dustin runs over and hand Eddie a towel. I reach my hand out trying to grab it from him, but my ear were throbbing with a pulsating pain.

"I got this, hun." He whispers. He takes the towel and wipes each of my hands, finger by finger. I feel his cold rings on my wrist as he gently scrubs away the pigmented color. I look at him and smile as he starts to softly wipe around my ears and lift up strands of hair with blood on them. Eddie Munson had two sides. Funny and full of attitude, or empathetic and gentle. There was no in between. He was your hormonal teenager every mother feared of her daughter dating. Well, look at me now.

Eddie tosses the towel to the side and the RV comes to a harsh stop. He looks up at me. "You alright, Gregerson?" I nod. "Alright. Where do we start?"

"I think we should get food. We need to revamp after all of that research and running." Robin says. "I could go for a mean sandwich if I'm being honest."

"Same here." I agree.

"I just need real food." Nancy says.

"I'm in!" Dustin exclaims.

"Alright it's settled then." Steve swirls the keys around his index finger and points down the street. "There's a diner right down there we can try out. Idiots left a fifty in the dash so we have a payment method." He straightened out the fifty dollar bill with a snap of his finger, and starts to walk off of the RV.

We all follow and the city was way more lively than before. The sun was setting behind the buildings, the half moon making a famous early appearance. There were people walking up and down the streets, laughing, talking, walking, jogging, smoking, drinking.. it seemed like civilization again. I felt like I haven't seen a normal city in months- because it has been months.

We walk into the diner, and the bell rings on the door informing the workers of our arrival. It was small, cute, and retro covered in blue and pink wallpaper. It was definitely a local place just from looking at the pictures of family and friends on the wall along with plaques and awards.

"Welcome!" A sweet black lady approaches from behind a side door. She wore a blue ankle dress and a white apron, her long hair slicked back in a thick bun. She wore a dark red lipstick and light eye makeup. She seemed so lively.

"Hello, table for six please." I say. She nods at me and swipes some menus from behind the small counter.

"Follow me dearies!" She happily walks to a big rounded table with a slightly worn out booth. We all slide in, me being by the window, Eddie being beside me, and Robin besides Eddie. On the other side of the rounded bench sat Steve and Nancy together with Dustin at the end.

Well, if that couldn't have gotten more awkward.

"Say cheese, motherfuckers!" Oh, God. Eddie holds up his beloved Polaroid camera, his hand on the button. Every one of us holds up our middle fingers, while Steve and Eddie smile like there's no tomorrow. "You guys suck!" He friend, shaking the picture. We all laugh in unison. This is what life was supposed to feel like. But we all knew we weren't going to have normalcy in our lives ever again.