𝚁𝚘𝚕𝚕 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙳𝚒𝚌𝚎| 𝓔𝓭𝓭𝓲𝓮 𝓗𝓮𝓪𝓭𝓬𝓪𝓷𝓸𝓷𝓼/ 𝓘𝓶𝓪𝓰𝓲𝓷𝓮𝓼

You're Not Him

I sit on my bed with my headphones over my ears, my thumb brushes over my Walkman which is playing the mixtape Eddie made for me a few months ago. I remember his grin as he slid it out of his jacket pocket, sliding it to me on the table as if it was some drug deal.

Fuck, I miss him so much.

I hear a faint noise like a door being shut, so I press pause on my music and slide off the headphones, before rolling off of my bed and creeping out of my room. I tip toe downstairs, reluctant to be the only one home, I consider running back into my room, but if Eddie taught me anything, it was to be brave and never back down.

All of the downstairs lights are off, which is odd because I'm sure I left one on. I finally reach the bottom step, peeking around the corner into the living room. All is still and quiet, with only the moonlight shining on the wooden floor, I squint into the dim light, my heart racing as I notice the window is open. I turn ready to run to my room, but a hand wraps around my waist, pulling me towards a body.

I open my mouth to scream but another hand muffles my sounds, I wriggle and try to break free, but the grip is strangely strong.

"Stop screaming, please, it's me!" A voice deeply murmurs near my ear. It can't be, I should never hear that voice again because he's dead. But he can't be dead if he's holding on to me and he smells the same and feels the same and-

"Relax, I can hear your heart beating way top fast." Eddie adds, releasing his tight grip on me. I shove away from him and spin around, blinking numerous times in case I'm imagining things.

"You're not really here, you can't be, I saw you..." I whisper, my eyes thoroughly scanning Eddie's face. He looks so similar to the Eddie I remember, but somethings also different, as if he's a copy of my Eddie.

Eddie nods with a small shrug. "I guess even death can't keep us apart," he smiles that goofy smile at me. I stare at him, still in disbelief. Eddie sighs and steps towards me, but I take a step back knocking into a table.

"Look, it sounds insane but from the shit we've been through it's not, Vecna brought me back. He's not dead, we didn't kill him. He's injured and needed someone to help him, since I was the only one left, well, I guess I'm the guy." Eddie explains as he paces the room, his footsteps are so light compared to mine and I'm sure he never used to be this...carefree.

I nod, I mean he's kind of right, we've seen some crazy stuff, but does that mean he's helping Vecna?

Eddie stares into my eyes, I must've asked the question out loud. He holds his hands out as he replies "I have no choice, but I made a deal with him," Eddie perks up, rushing to me and putting his hands on either side of my shoulders, "You're safe, I made him promise never to touch you or put you in harms way, you've got nothing to worry about."

I don't like Eddie's tone, so I frown up and him and shake my head. "You sound as if you're loyal to Vecna, don't you remember him killing Chrissy? What about Patrick? Or even Max?"

It's Eddie's turn to frown, it's like he doesn't remember or he doesn't care, I really hope it's the first option. "You're not my Eddie, my Eddie died for his friends and those he cared about, you're just a puppet."

Eddie grins but it isn't sincere, his hand trails up to my cheek as he tilts my head back, leaning towards my lips Eddie mumbles "I did all that for you, everything I did was for you, and I'll prove it." All of a sudden his lips are on mine in a frenzy of dominance and passion, his mouth works with mine, his tongue peeking in as he devours me.

I let out a small whimper, my hands reach out to fist his shirt, but he pulls away with a smirk. "If I wasn't your Eddie, your body wouldn't have reacted that way. You know me."

I'm too dumbstruck to argue, and too selfish to care. He seems like my Eddie, but Vecna must have some sort of hold on him, because he's not completely the same.

Eddie tilts his head, listening out for something that isn't there. "He's calling me, I've got to go." Eddie turns and walks to the window, but I hastily grab his arm and plead.

"Don't go, we'll figure this out, I'll call the others and we can come up with a plan to finish Vecna off, we can still save Hawkins."

Eddie's face turns serious. "It was never about Hawkins, as long as you're safe I'm oblivious to it all."

My eyes fill with tears, Vecna's hold must be stronger than I thought. "What about Dustin?"

There's a flicker of emotion in Eddie's eyes, but then he turns and leaps out of the window, leaving me in the darkness again.