Hell & Back

Chapter Thirty Two

Eddie opened his eyes to see the darkness of his mind. He wasn't really sure how this worked so he had chosen to sleep in jeans and a T-shirt, he would rather not face Vecna in his underwear. "Good call. Good call." He said to himself as he walked forward. There were no doors appearing this time but he wasn't looking to go into his memories, he was looking to take on Vecna. First thing was to find Billy and than draw Vecna out. Eddie wasn't really sure how to do either one, so he kept walking forward.

It seemed like hours but finally he heard someone coming up behind him. "We gotta go!" Billy said running past him "Think of a memory, any memory! Now!" Billy yelled at him. Eddie was shocked for a moment but pulled on the first thing that came to mind. A door appeared and Billy opened it, running inside. Eddie ran towards the door and followed Billy, before he closed the door though Eddie turned to see a huge spider looking monster running towards them. He heard Billy screaming at him to close the door but Eddie was paralyzed with fear. It was huge, blending in with the darkness but the red outline of it shown through. The legs moved so fast, it didn't take long till it was just out of arms reach. Eddie felt his breath leave his body and his blood run cold. Suddenly the door slammed closed and Billy was panting against it.

"What the fuck was that?" Eddie said finally able to speak again. "That is what killed me." Billy said sliding to the floor "The little shits called it the Mind Flayer." Eddie only nodded and tried to compose himself. "Where did you bring us?" Billy asked looking around the room. Eddie hadn't even realized that they were in a room. He looked around, they were standing in a kitchen and he heard voices coming from deeper in the house. As soon as he walked into the living room he knew where his mind took him. Ricks house. He stepped into the room to see him and Chrissy sitting on the floor with his dungeons and dragons book on the floor as he went through different things. She was watching him intently as he explained every little detail, his hands moving wildly and every so often he would jump up. Chrissy just watched, asking questions but mainly watching him. Looking on Eddie felt embarrassed of how excited he had been and how she watched him.

"This is how you pick up chicks?" Billy asked shacking his head and lighting a cigarette. Eddie ignored the jab and watched a little longer at the two people sitting before him. He smiled to himself as he watched Chrissy take his hand, she always held on to him when they were there. Part of him wished he could tell hisself to make a move, mainly so they would have more time together but he couldn't. Instead he turned and accepted a lit cigarette from Billy before they walked back out the door to find Vecna and hopefully not the huge spider.

The darkness of his mind swallowed them both. The only light was coming from the cherry of their cigarettes. "Death better not just be endless nothingness. I'm really over this shit." Billy said walking forward. Eddie never really though about what awaited him after he died and honestly didn't want to even bring those thoughts up, no need to jinx the situation, but for Billy it was inevitable. All that awaited him was death. "At least there are endless cigarettes." Eddie said with a laugh. 

They continued to walk until the sound of footsteps caught their attention. "What was that?" Eddie said taking hold of Billy's arm. Billy looked around but the noice had stopped. It was playing with them. "He wants to play, Munson. Let's give him a game." Billy said and even though he couldn't see the dark look on Billy's face, it chilled him to the bone. "We have to hurry up. Eleven is going to come soon." Eddie said inches from Billy's ear. "We are distracting him. That's our job." Was his only reply before he started running forward. 

Eddie didn't know the plan. Billy didn't say a plan, hell Billy probably didn't have a plan. Eddie ran after him listening to the sound of boots as his only guide. Suddenly he heard a yell come from just up ahead and stopped in his tracks. The darkness faded away into a dim red light. It looked like being back in the Upside Down. No it couldn't be, this was his head. His world. Eddie fought to change the world back but no matter how hard he fought it wouldn't budge. 

Eddie looked around to see Billy hoisted up by vines. His mouth was covered and no matter how hard he struggled the vines crawled further up his body. Eddie ran over but as he reached his hand out the vines wrapped around his arm. He heard a familiar laugh coming from behind him. He turned his head slowly to see Vecna standing a few feet away from him. The vine around his arm tightened making him clench his teeth shut. "Let me go." Eddie spat out, letting the anger he had build up inside of him. 

"You keep bringing me new toys to play with." Vecna said walking towards them. A vine came shooting and wrapped around Eddie's other arm. They both tightened there hold, tearing through his flesh as he was raised off of his feet. The monster was inches alway from his face now. He tried to keep the fear out of his eyes. Billy had stopped struggling and for a moment Eddie was afraid he had died, but he couldn't die not until Vecna did. "Although this desperate, pathetic, fool was mine already, weren't you?" Vecna said walking over and grabbing Billy by the chin. "Don't touch him." Eddie said with venom in his voice. "Oh don't worry, you will get your turn." 

Chrissy woke up feeling something warm and wet, for a moment she thought it was just her imagination or that Eddie had wet the bed. She stood up and walked into the bathroom to clean herself off. When she looked down at her hand she seen red liquid. Fear over took her brain, first she pulled down her own underwear to make sure it wasn't her own blood before running into the bedroom and turning on the lights. She pulled down the covers to see blood running from Eddie's forearms.

She jumped off the bed and grabbed two shirts from the floor and wrapped them around his arms to try and stop the bleeding. Than she raced into the kitchen and dialed Nancy's number. It was late but someone should be awake. "Hello?" Nancy said answering on the second ring. "Eddie is bleeding! What the hell is going on?" Chrissy yelled unable to calm herself down. Nancy hung up the phone saying they had just sent El in and Steve was on his way over. She unlocked the door and raced back into the bedroom.

Eddie's body lifted off the bed. She backed up and started to cry again. He told her not to hit the tape until it was the only option. She watched as he hung in the air. His ankles started bleeding, dripping at first and than pouring out. "Eddie..." Chrissy said in a low voice.