𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐓𝐀𝐁𝐋𝐘 𝐍𝐔𝐌𝐁 | 𝐄𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐞 𝐌𝐮𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐧

☆ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ 34

                     THE HOSPITAL lights flickered a bit as Eddie's eyes tried to adjust to their brightness.

His eyes were watery but the blurriness wasn't coming from that. No. The blurriness looked similar to how it looks when you rub your eyes a bit too much and so Eddie took his sweet time, blinking rapidly and watching the ceiling as it began to clear up. Bit by bit.

He could hear pages of a magazine being moved and rustled on his left side but Eddie turned to watch the glimpse of a night sky on his right. There were two windows and they were both opened to let fresh night air in but what caught Eddie's eyes was the small sunflower in a pot. It was a bit lowered as if it missed the sun and Eddie didn't blame it, sadly for the flower it was night. Another thing Eddie realised as he waited for his blurry sight to clear up, was that the two windows reminded him of past events, something that used to happen under another two windows with soft melodies of guitars.

The rustling of the magazine became unbearable in Eddie's ears and, as he squeezed his eyes a bit, he realised that every small noise and light made his head hurt. It was pounding, his head. It felt as if he had fallen from some kind of a building right on his head.

When he opened his eyes again, he lowered them to his own body, observing himself.

He wasn't wearing a shirt, he noticed first. Then he saw the thick bandages that were wrapped around his torso where the blanket wasn't covering him enough and immediately the last events before he had closed his eyes flashed before him.

Right, I was drying. Eddie remembered.

His sight was clearer now and so Eddie took his time to observe every detail of his bandaged body.

He began to remember slowly; he began to remember Chrissy dying in front of him and Eddie running away like a coward. Then he saw himself, in the flashing memories, he saw himself hiding in a Dock house, talking to shadows of people, Eddie couldn't clearly see who they were. He saw himself rowing away, then seeing Patrick die in front of him and then he found himself under skull rock. He saw flashes of water where he seemed to be swimming down and then arriving in a twisted version of Hawkins. He saw glimpses of bike riding, golden light and passing by a weird and gross-looking gate.

Lastly he saw himself running away from some monster-looking bats until he was tackled on the ground, trying to fight for his life. Another flash came and Eddie was shooting with a gun and holding a shield and when the next flash of memory came, Eddie was on the ground again with bats eating him alive and pulling him apart.

He heard himself scream in agony, heard himself cry out in pain.

But then he heard someone scream his name.

Now the flashes of memories turned brighter, more colorful and sweeter. It was almost as if Eddie could taste the sweetness if he tried.

He saw himself talking with a girl in the woods, saw himself smiling upon hearing her voice through the walkie-talkie, saw himself hug the said girl near skull rock as they whispered to each other. Eddie watched as the girl got captured by Vecna, the evil wizard all of his friends seemed to fear, including Eddie. He watched as well when he guessed her favorite song and the girl fell in his arms while he held her tightly. He watched as they talked in the woods while walking to some destination, saw himself bandage her arm, saw himself talk with her in the twisted version of the woods from Hawkins.

And then he saw her screaming something while Eddie lied down, tied with tails of bats and other monster bats eating him alive.

Eddie, she had screamed.