Dear Eddie (rewrite)

47

I jolted awake, sitting up and looking around only to realize I'm in a car. In Eddie's van. My whole body is tense and I try to tap my fingers together, counting five things I can see, smell, and touch. My breathing is heavy. But it wasn't real. It wasn't real last time. It's not real this time. My eyes pooled with tears when I accidentally moved my leg, causing the pain to shoot through my body.

"Fuck," I gasp, shutting my eyes and grabbing Eddie's wrist for any sort of support.

"Hey, hey, it's okay. Try not to move," he comforted, keeping his eyes on the road.

I took a second to breathe, or... try to. I take in my surroundings and finally assess what's happening. He's taking me to get help. I look down at my leg and see that Eddie is holding a rag to the wound, keeping as steady pressure as he can.

"Where are we going?" I ask.

"Back to your house," he sighed. "We're almost there."

I nodded, leaning my head against the window. I need to find Dustin.

_____

Eddie pulled into the driveway where I could see my mom, visibly stressed on the porch. She walked up to the van, letting Eddie in front of her as he opened my door. She looks confused.

"We need to get you to a hospital," he moved to the side so my mom could look and see what happened to me. "And you're coming with us," Eddie turned to my mom and opened the back door.

Her face dropped into the most serious face I've ever seen. She rushed into the back seat and then poked her head between the seats, looking down at my leg again.

"Holy shit, Y/n! Did he do that to you?" She pointed to him as he walked in front of the van to get back to the driver's seat. "Because I swear to fucking god I will kill that bast-"

"No, mom!" I interrupted her with a laugh. "A clock fell on me while we were looking for Dustin. The clock broke and went through my leg." My eyes start to get heavy again.

"Oh, sweetie." She said, bringing her hand up to my face, and rubbing her thumb over my cheek. She looked up as Eddie opened the door. "Drive!" She yelled to him, causing him to move faster than I've ever seen before. There are a lot of firsts today. I start to close my eyes as I become even sleepier. "Baby, you gotta stay awake," My mom says.

"I'm... trying," I take a deep breath. "I'm so... tired," I mumbled, feeling my eyes get heavier.

"Can you drive any faster?!" My mom yells, making my eyes pop open.

"Uhm... I'm trying," Eddie says, panicking while still trying to have my mom on his good side.

"Try harder! She could die!" She looked down at me with her face full of worry. "I can't lose you," she said as a tear slipped down her face. She quickly swiped it away, hoping I didn't see it.

_____

I open my eyes and I'm back in front of the rainbow room. Fun. I sigh as I open the door, seeing Henry already standing in front of the door with a smile on his face.

"Number fifteen! Long time, no see!" He smiled sweetly.

"Fuck you!" I spat.

"What? Didn't like the show?" He tilted his head, pouting his bottom lip.

"You can't do the same thing twice and expect me to believe it. Where is Dustin?" I crossed my arms.

"Same thing?" Henry chuckled. "I don't play the same trick twice."

My heart dropped. I don't want to jump the gun. He could be lying.

"It's not funny, Henry. Why do you want me to see the people I love die?" I asked.

"To help you, of course. See, I watched everyone I love die, and look at me. I'm free, happy, and powerful. I'm fearless," he smiled again.

"I know they're alive though. Now, where is Dustin?" I keep a serious look on my face, hoping he can't see through me.

"I already told you," he sang. "I don't pull the same trick twice," he annunciated his words.

My chest feels like someone just punched through it. "What?" I ask, swallowing the lump in my throat. I really fucking hope he doesn't mean...

"You did watch Dustin die. I sifted through that little brain of yours and sorted through your loved ones. And guess who topped your list? But, now that he's out of the way, I can begin my next phase. Of course, I know you'll need time to recover. Hell, it was easy for me to watch my family die, I didn't have any real connection to them. But you. God, you loved that kid more than anything." Henry kept the smile on his face.

I felt weak. Useless. I couldn't save him. He's dead because of me?

Tears stung my eyes as I found it suddenly hard to breathe. My heart is pounding out of my chest. "You-" I was cut off by my inability to breathe. "You killed him?!" I sobbed. My knees buckled from under me, so I sat. I sat on the floor and sobbed.

My sadness was quickly molded into anger. I'm juggling so many emotions. I've been juggling so many emotions for so long. Because this fucker wants my powers back?! I squeeze my fists together at my sides as I stood. I look up at Henry who still has that ugly smile plastered across his face. I lifted him into the air and quickly bring him back down to the ground, slamming his body into the floor.

"You're in my mind. I can do whatever the fuck I want to you," I smiled as I watched his face fall. I watched him discover how much power I have.

I imagined we were somewhere else and in the blink of an eye, we were in the lab. Another room. Where Henry was first brought. The first time he met Papa. I formed him into his younger self and sat him in a chair. He looked around frantically, I could feel him trying to use his powers, trying to take us away. But my power is much greater than his.

I started creating the story in front of me. Papa walked in and Henry looked at me in fear. He tried using his powers against Brenner, but that only made him laugh.

"Oh, number one. You don't remember?" Brenner pointed to his neck.

Henry brought his hand to his neck, just under his ear. "Fuck," he mumbled. As soon as Brenner got close to him, Henry reached for the needle that was placed on the table, trying to stab Papa. The guards restrained him, sitting him back in his chair. They strapped him in, making sure he can't harm anyone.

"I'm not really here, you know, Brenner smiled at him.

Henry's POV:

I look up at him confused. When I blinked, he was replaced by Y/n.

"I want you to feel what Dustin felt," she smiled. Just before I could say anything, now we were at the lake. In the middle of it. I'm being held up by my own vines. I look around and see Y/n floating in the air in a sitting position. She smiled at me. "You look thrilled."

I tried getting out of the vines but all of my efforts caused them to tighten around me. I yell out in pain as they continued to get tighter.

"Don't think you're getting such an easy death," she laughed. "I want to see you suffer."

I was dropped but rather than hitting the water, I hit the ground. Pain flowed through my entire body. I weakly sat up, looking into the air I saw hundreds of my ats flying towards me. They grabbed my wrists, and ankles, holding me down and clawing into my skin.

"Get them off!" I yelled. "Fuck! I'm your-" I cut myself off as I screamed, feeling them eat away at my body. "Fuck!" I screamed.