Against all odds || Stranger Things 4 | Hellcheer

Chapter 14

Chrissy tries to calm her sobs as she stands at the back of the van, watching Eddie lighting his joint. She's such an idiot, throwing herself at him like that when he's been beaten up so badly! In front of him, his broken guitar is just another reminder of the hurt she's causing him...

He takes a puff and turns to her, lifting his eyebrows, "Aren't you gonna climb in?"

He holds out his left arm, lets out the smoke and adds, "Come here, this side doesn't hurt."

She stills takes extra precaution as she snuggles against him. He wraps his arm around her and she lets his warmth - and maybe the smoke floating in the air - sooth her. Eddie starts stroking her hair, adding to the calming effect. She mindlessly plays with the folds of his t-shirt, searching for the best way to explain her visions.

She owes him to know, but she's terrified he'll think she's crazy or that she's lying to make fun of him. She has to trust that he will not react like everyone she knows would. So far, he has proven himself to be nothing like them so...

"I'm having nightmares," she says, in the tiniest voice. "Very intense ones and...lately they've been...I have them when I'm awake..."

He stops moving for a second, then resumes his stroking. Hesitantly at first, she tells him about the visions she had in the school's bathroom and in the forest just before they met. By the time she recounts the one she had in his trailer, words are flowing out of her mouth, although she keeps to herself the fact that Eddie was trying to force his way on her in the last one.

He hasn't said anything yet and she worries it might not be good. She still tells him the last and maybe more important information she needs to share.

"That monster, I think it's what killed Fred."

He turns to her, his hand coming to rest on her shoulder.

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know...I felt its presence last night." She shuts her eyes and turns away."You think I'm crazy, don't you?"

"No! No, I'm just, uh...confused."

She brings her knees to her chest and buries her face in them. Eddie pulls her back against him. She starts sobbing again.

"I don't want to die..."

*

Eddie doesn't know what to say. The whole story is insane, but Chrissy's dread looks too real to be ignored. It would make one hell of an idea for a DnD campaign, though. A monster that takes over people's mind to kill them with nightmares - it kinda sounds like Vecna. Except they can't defeat this one with a roll of dice...

"I don't get it, you said you saw me in your visions and that's what got you out of there?"

Chrissy gets a little flustered. She sniffs and replies without looking at him.

"I'm not sure how it works but yes. I heard our song, and it's like it was boring a hole into the fabric of the nightmare. I could see you in the real world and I...ran to you."

Something in the way she says it makes Eddie feel all warm and funny.

"Now that I think about it, on Saturday, I was listening to music almost all day. Even in your trailer we had the radio on. Maybe that's why I didn't have any visions that day? Maybe the key is music?"

"Not mine, then," he chuckles.

"Well..."

"It's okay. Nobody's perfect," he laughs, pulls on his joint, holds the smoke in and exhales. "But for real, man, both time, it was just dumb luck!"

He frowns. If Chrissy is right, if those visions can kill her, then they can't leave it to luck anymore. He sticks the joint between his lips and crawls on all four toward the front of the van, barely aware of his side hurting. He finds the Billy Joel tape, swaps it with the Black Sabbath one that used to be in the player, rewinds it and presses play. When he comes back to Chrissy, she's looking at him strangely.

"You're so nice to me."

He shrugs, as if his heart didn't make a triple flip in his chest. "I'm just trying to help"

"I'm serious Eddie. You don't have to do this. I don't..."

She mumbles the end of her sentence and he can't catch it. It doesn't matter, he's just lucid enough to keep to himself the reason he cares so much. Because from that last nightmare, it's clear she's not comfortable with the idea of everybody knowing they're hanging out. He doubts she wants to hear he's having such a massive crush on her.

*

Chrissy doesn't know what to think. Eddie didn't say anything when she told him she doesn't deserve his attention. Instead, he gave her a sweater to change into and the end of his joint. She wants to believe he likes her, she's so desperate for his affection, but her heart aches every time she lays eyes on his bruised face.

Echoes of her last vision keeps coming back to her, making her sick, ashamed that part of her wants Eddie to put his hands on her and whisper dirty words in her ear. 'They all know what you want Chrissy.' She shivers and brings her knees tighter against her. Is it so bad that she does?

The sweater smells like cheap detergent and is rough on her skin, but it's warm. It feels like Eddie's hugs. She grips on the fabric. She's so tired, she wishes things were more simple...

"We should go see Nancy Wheeler," says Eddie out of the blue.

She lifts her head to stare at him, wondering if she heard right.

"She was with Fred when, uh...when it happened. Maybe she can help figure out if your theory is right?"

"You know Nancy?"

"Everybody kinda does, right? And her brother is in Hellfire, so there's that. What do you think?"

The idea of telling someone else about her visions isn't appealing to her, but Eddie has a point: she needs to find out if there's a link between the monster in her visions and what killed Fred. After all, there's still a chance she's wrong.