The Soldier and the poet

Chapter 4

Memories

" Nora ! El help her! open it back up !"steve screamed
With all of her strength El raised her hand and tried to open the portal back up, but it wouldn't budge " I can't it's sealed shut." El says in a breathy tone as blood dripped from her nose
"What do we do?" Robin asked wide eyes
" there has to be another portal around here somewhere ." Nancy says
"Lovers lake ." " Steve whispers to himself at 1st then informs the group that the portal at lovers lake could still be open and that if they get there fast enough they might be able to save Nora!
" let's go!" Dustin shouts

As the gang rushes off to lovers lake, Nora breathes heavy as she realizes she is trapped in the upside down. Kas is still down here but Nora had no idea where he had gone. She was stuck down there all alone, her fear turned into relief as she scanned around Eddie's living room the upside down version of course , although everything looked as it did before Nora's world was shattered. She made her way down the hallway right to the door to Eddie's bedroom. She smiles as she remembers the 1st time she was in there, she opens the door, she didn't see darkness and black vines all over she saw everything in color, Nora ran her finger tips over Eddie's favorite red and black flannel blanket that was still on the bed the same way he left it every morning. Eddie was not a morning person so fixing up his bed was his last priority.
Nora gets a flashback of the last time they shared his bed together .

Flashback : Eddie's alarm clock buzzed, 6:30 AM. Nora stretched as she woke up from her comfortable sleep, she turns her head and sees Eddie sleeping so soundly she smiled as she admired him, even in his sleep he was beautiful, he didn't snore and hardly moved he looked so peaceful. She twists her body towards him and gently runs her finger on Eddie's nose, he groans and wraps his arms around Nora pulling her onto his chest.
" wake up sleepy head." She says softly.
Eddie groans again and says " 5 more minutes" in a groggy but yet sexy sleepy voice.
Nora giggles " wakey wakey"
" shhhhhh" Eddie whispered and puts his hands on Nora's head, one hand rested gently on the back of her head, the other ran his fingers through her hair. Nora could feel her heart beating like a drum, she felt so safe in Eddie's arms.
" come on we have to get ready for school."
" fuck school I'd rather spend the day laying with my girl."
Nora couldn't help but blush at Eddie's words.
" okay I guess I'm going without you" Nora teased
Eddie laid still and didn't say a word.
Nora knew exactly what to say next " and I'm gonna wear that blue dress you like, it's a shame you won't get to see me in it but all the other boys will, even Jason Carver."
Eddie still doesn't move, feeling defeated Nora throws the covers off and slowly gets out of bed, as she heads to the door she hears rustling and then a faint " get back here." She feels Eddie gently wrap his arms around her waist and pull her into him, their bodies were now pressed against each other, they were looking into each other's eyes, Eddie gently kissed her lips " I'll be damned if some prick thinks he's going gawk at you when I'm not around. Your mine."

Nora snaps back to reality and continues looking around the room
she makes her way to his closet, there hung all of his shirts mostly band t-shirts with the occasional black button up which he wore on there 1st official date , Nora takes one of Eddie's shirts off the hanger and puts it up to her nose hoping it still smelled like him, she takes a light sniff and the scent of leather, cigarettes, marijuana and oakwood made her nostrils dance, " it still smells like you." Nora whispers as she hangs the shirt back up and closes the closet door .
Next to Eddie's black acoustic guitar was a small hidden cabinet with a lock on it. Nora turned the numbers on the lock, she remembered the combination because Eddie would always hide his favorite snacks and sodas in there during D&D nights, later on when he would smoke until his lungs felt like they were on fire and he had the munchies, he would forget the combination forcing him to call Nora at all hours of the night begging her to bring him some snacks , so Nora wrote it down in there Morris code and taped it on the front of the cabinet door, the note was still there " my birthday year , track number to holy diver on dio cd, your favorite dice number ..... a dungeon master needs his sweets too ;) enjoy my handsome prince" ❤️
Nora wipes her eyes as the memories began to hit her like a freight train. She leaves Eddie's room she thought seeing everything would heal a piece of her shattered heart but it only made her miss him even more. No he's not dead, but he's not HER Eddie, he's not the goofball he once was, she doesn't know what he is at this point, but one thing she does know for sure no matter how hard no matter how dangerous shes going to save Kas from the monster inside of him and try her hardest to bring back as many memories as she can and hopefully tame the beast and get her Ed's back. Shes about to walk out of the trailer when she notices a book sticking out from under piles of paper on the coffee table. Nora tilts her head in curiosity , she had never seen this book before, , she pushes the papers over and picks up the book, it was a scrap book Eddie must have secretly made.
The book was red with "86 baby" written on the front of it in Eddie's horrible handwriting it brought a smile to her face, just above the writing was a picture of Eddie and Nora kissing in front of skull rock.
Nora sits down on the edge of the table and opens the book to the 1st page titled
Were it all began