Blue Lips

3

     Dustin had a hard time falling asleep that night. Every time he tried, and almost accomplished it, Dr. Death appeared in his mind. He couldn't decide if his subconscious was just genuinely traumatized by the existence of such a creature, or if he was hallucinating. Maybe he was possessed? Surely not. He rolled over for what felt like the fifty-sixth time, hoping that he wouldn't end up sleeping past 7:30, when Steve was supposed to come get him. He closed his eyes, focusing on relaxing and enjoying the quiet, when he heard a whisper in the back of his mind. "Traitor," it whispered, and he tried to ignore it. "You left him there, you let him die," it continued, "he had to beg you to come back and save him. What sort of friend are you?" Dustin picked up his pillow from under his head, smothering himself with it, trying to ignore the voice. "Don't worry, Dustin, you'll get yours. Just like Eddie, Steve, Eleven, and the rest of your group will get what's coming to them. I will have all of you, before this is over." Dustin sat up, having decided that if he couldn't sleep anyway, he may as well get everything that he was going to need tomorrow gathered up, and start working on a game plan. He started to stand up, and found that he couldn't get out of the bed. "I guess I should mention," the hissing voice whispered, "you're not going anywhere tonight." Suddenly, his room was pitch black, and cold. His bed was rocking side to side, like it was floating in the water, and he realized that this was definitely not his room. He looked out as far as he could see, and noticed that Dr. Death was sitting in a rotting rowboat, just a few yards away, drinking a cup of tea. "Good, you can see me," the voice echoed in his head. "Listen, Sir," Dustin started, jumping out of his skin when Dr. Death suddenly materialized out of the boat and onto the foot of his still-floating bed, cup of tea still in hand. He crossed his leg over his knee. "Are you Frightened, Dustin? You should be," the voice hissed. Dustin swallowed. "Can yo-" he stopped, watching the steam come off of the cup of tea, "can you not speak? Can you only whisper in my head? It's kind of freaking me out. If you're going to torture me and make me hallucinate, you might as well just speak to me like a person. Unless you just...I dunno, can't?" The voice chuckled in his head, before whispering, "I'll see you soon, Dustin." Suddenly, Dustin was back in his nice, warm room, in his bed, under his blankets. His eyes felt heavy, now. His heart, which had been racing a few seconds before, was now slow and steady. He decided to lay back, and all at once, he was asleep.

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     Liz had been right, she hadn't slept that night. Eddie had read two chapters of The Hobbit to her, his eyelids drooping further and further with each page that he read, his voice thick and deep. Finally, she had taken the book from him and set it on the nightstand, telling him it was time to rest as he fought to keep his eyes open. She had waited for his soft snores to begin filling the room before she got up, grabbing her cardigan and making her way down the stairs. She walked into the kitchen and grabbed her teapot, deciding that a cup of tea would soothe her nerves enough to settle her down and let her sleep. She stared out the window by the kitchen seat as she waited for the water to boil on the stove. She had decided to boil the water and then pour it over the tea, so that the kettle wouldn't whistle and wake Eddie up. She put her tea leaves into the mesh basket that went into her teapot, silently watching as some of the high school-aged kids made their way to the docks, and others out to the pathway to Skull Rock; attempting to make their last few weeks of summer as fun as they possibly could. She pulled her sweater closer to her body, suddenly hyper-aware that it was getting colder, quickly, and that there was a strange feeling in the air. She looked around the kitchen, making her way to the living room to grab the nail-bat that Eddie had stashed behind the recliner. Maybe she was being paranoid, but she had no intention of letting something happen in her own house. She walked back into the kitchen, bat in hand, checking her water for her tea. Not quite boiling, but getting closer. She turned her focus back to the window, noticing that the glass looked as though it was starting to frost over, and when she leaned forward, her breath fogged up the glass. Her eyes darted around the yard, looking for any sign that there might be a creepy old man in a trenchcoat nearby, but she didn't see one, anywhere. Her heart rate began to climb, and she gripped the handle of the bat with both hands, bracing herself to see something, anything, and run to wake up Eddie so that they could run and hide, somewhere. But where? Maybe her house wasn't as safe as she thought that it was.