ᴍᴇʟ | ᴇ. ᴍᴜɴsᴏɴ

xv.

!!! TW SMOKING !!!

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 26TH 1986 | HAWKINS WOODS

the night fell and so did melissa. because eddie was holding her hand, he immediately noticed it.

"shit, mel! are you okay?" he freaked out.

"w... wat..."

"wheeler! get me the water bottle! it's right in front of you", eddie ordered.

nancy looked around and found what eddie needed. she handed eddie the bottle and he immediately brought it to melissa's lips after removing the cap. eddie helped her drink from the bottle and begged her to swallow it down when she didn't.

"come on, please, mel. you have to swallow it, please."

melissa tried her very best to swallow and when she did, eddie smiled. he brought the bottle back to her mouth and helped the blonde drink water. when eddie thought the blonde had drunk enough water to get moving, he stood back up and stretched his hand to her. melissa took it gladly and put her other hand on his arm so she could stand back up.

"thanks", she muttered.

eddie nodded once and kept a grip on the girl's hand. he didn't want to let go, especially after the blonde fell because of severe dehydration.

"guys, come on! we're almost there!" dustin shouted when he looked behind him.

the rest of them began to walk again and followed dustin, who looked excitedly at his compass. suddenly the boy began to quicken his pace, frustrating everyone.

"dustin? can you slow down? dustin?" eddie asked as he made sure melissa was following without any problem.

"i think we're getting close", dustin smiled as he looked behind him.

he noticed eddie and melissa's hands intertwined and smiled to himself. he almost fell into the water if it wasn't for eddie holding him back.

"watch your step, big guy", eddie warned him.

everyone arrived at the lover's lake and they couldn't believe it.

"oh, man. you've got to be shitting me", steve muttered.

melissa's grip on eddie's hands tightening didn't go unnoticed by the twenty-year-old. flashbacks of the night before washed over both of them. melissa stepped closer to eddie's posture and freed her hand from his, sliding it across his waist. she felt eddie doing the same. he tried to reassure her everything would be alright by stroking her arm slowly.

"i thought these woods were familiar", steve sighed.

"lover's lake", concluded robin.

"this is... confounding", dustin stated.

melissa still couldn't bear to look at the lake without seeing a vision of patrick's body high in the air. she tightened her grip on eddie's waist and rested her head on his arm, knowing he saw images of the night before.

"there's a gate in lover's lake?" max asked with a tone of disbelief.

"whenever the demogorgon attacked, it always left an opening", nancy noted, "maybe vecna's the same way."

"yeah, only one way to find out", steve said, "where's that boat of yours?"

eddie looked at melissa, who looked back at him and they sighed in unison. they pointed somewhere about 330 feet away and now it was the group's turn to sigh. eddie turned to melissa and asked if she was in a condition to walk that far and the blonde said she wasn't.