Against all odds || Stranger Things 4 | Hellcheer

Chapter 5

Chrissy has been staying in her bedroom with Billy Joel and Madonna blasting through her headphones since she came home. Thankfully, her parents are out for most of the day – her mother is having her monthly book club and her father took Josh to his tennis tournament – because the images of their deformed faces keep flashing in her head.

Hunger eventually pushes her out of her bed. Her mother left her some healthy food in the fridge but Chrissy goes for the lasagna leftovers. She warms them up in the microwave, downs a can of soda while she waits, then eats the lasagna in large bites.

Moments later, as she stares at her empty plate, the sickness kicks in. She did it again! Guilt and shame bore into her guts and she just have time to run to the toilet before she throws up.

She wipes her mouth and leans against the tiled wall of the pristine bathroom. She almost expects the clawy hand to pull at the curtain and the monster to come out of the bath and get her. Tears fall down her cheeks as she drifts into torpor. Maybe she deserves it.

The doorbell makes her start. The hope of someone showing up to check on her warms her heart a little. She checks herself in the mirror before getting to the door.

"Hey babe," smiles Jason as he stands on the porch.

She leans in his embrace, burying her face in his jacket. She's still trying to revive from the warmth of his arms when he lets go of her.

"I waited for you last night..."

She can hear the bitterness behind his concerned tone.

"Yeah, I'm sorry. I wasn't feeling well."

"Oh, are you sick or something?"

Saying that, he takes a step back. It feels like a stab through her heart.

"No, I... I don't know. I'm just tired, I guess."

"Well, I was going to ask if you want to join in. We're going to stay at Benny's with the gang."

"I don't think I want to be with everyone today," she says quietly.

"Right..."

"Maybe we can just stay here and watch a movie together?"

"Well, if you're feeling sick," he trails off.

She stares at him, feeling like crying. Both from sadness and anger.

"Yeah, I'm too tired for a movie anyway," she replies. "Have fun with the others."

She waits for him to give her a kiss or even a hug, he leaves with just a peck on her forehead, wishing her some good rest. She wants to scream when she closes the door.

A voice inside her tells her she can't blame him since she's the one who hides secrets from him. Another one claims that she's of no use for him if he can't show her off in public.

She goes back in her room, searches through her tapes and plays "Against all odds" on repeat while gripping on her old teddy bear. Her mind drifts back to last night, when Eddie was holding her against him and rubbing her back. How safe and cared for she felt. Jason isn't a bad person, but he was never able to make her feel that way...

The disgust on his face earlier, when he thought she might be contagious, that she might ruin his spring break by getting him sick too... She clutches her plush tighter, curling up. If he ever finds out why she goes to the bathroom every day after lunch, he'll never want to kiss her again.

She falls into a troubled sleep. She stands in the middle of the cafeteria, everyone staring at her while Jason calls her a slut after finding out about Eddie. The insults rain over her – Cheater! Whore! Fat cow! – and they all turn into monsters, trying to catch her with their nightmarish hands. She tries to run away, but they're too packed around her. Desperate, she screams, "Eddie!"

*

Eddie almost doesn't hear the phone with the last score of Metallica blaring through the speakers. He jumps out of his bed, trips on his sheets – that pot might have been too strong – but manages to get the phone in time.

At first he thinks of a prank, because all he can hear is breathing. He knows his friends are hanging out, he was supposed to be with them, but canceled at the last minute out of a gut feeling. One that got him to drive by the street where Chrissy lives on his way back from buying booze, with the intention to check on her.

He bailed out when a lady stared at him too intensely from her lawn. He figured this might be the reaction he got from her mother too and he didn't want to get Chrissy in any trouble.

But now he wonders if his guts weren't onto something after all.

"Chrissy?"

There's a tiny noise at the other end of the phone, like someone sobbing, then they hang up. He doesn't waste a second, grabs his jacket and his keys and storms out. If it was a prank call, he's going to look like a complete idiot, but he'll take the risk.

He parks where he dropped Chrissy this morning and makes his way up the street. The sun has set but there's barely enough darkness to conceal him as he sneaks into the backyard of what he hopes to be Chrissy's house.

*

Chrissy hasn't been able to calm down since she woke from her troubled nap only to have to confront her mother about the lasagna she ate for lunch. The return of her dad with Josh allowed her to go back to hiding in her bedroom but it wasn't enough. Every creak and crack of the house makes her jump, she sees claws in the shadows and feels so cold she figures she might have a fever after all.

She's absolutely certain she's not going to be able to sleep tonight. Still, calling Eddie earlier was foolish. She's been bothering him long enough, he probably has better things to do on a Saturday night! She should have just bought him the drugs...

She flinches at a knock on the window and moans. She can't keep going like that! Two more hits and she starts to wonder if someone isn't throwing stones at the house. Probably Josh, to annoy her.

She carefully opens the curtains and peeks an eye outside. The garden is in semi-darkness and she almost has a heart attack when she sees something coming out of a bush. Only the shock prevents her from bursting into tears as Eddie waves at her.

After a glance at her door to make sure it's closed, she opens the window and leans over. "What are you doing here?" she asks in a hushed voice.

He can't seem to hear her and to solve that issue, decides to cross the garden in the most ridiculous stealth walk she has ever seen. If she wasn't too scared for someone to see him, it'll be funny. She leans further to be able to see him as he stands against the wall.

"Hey," he says as if nothing out of the ordinary was happening.

She asks her question again, to which he answers with the same matter-of-factly tone, "You called, didn't you?"

"How did you find me?"

"Well, this is the third window I try. I was starting to think I was on the wrong side of the street," he sniggers. "Although I'm not sure how I'm supposed to climb up there now..."

"Oh no, you can't!" No boys allowed in her bedroom, that's a rule her mother is extremely strict about. The rest of the words come out of her mouth before she even realizes what she's saying. "Give me 10 minutes, I'll meet you down the street."

Her face is burning. But when the surprise on Eddie's face turns into a bright smile, she fails to feel any regrets.