𝚁𝚘𝚕𝚕 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙳𝚒𝚌𝚎| 𝓔𝓭𝓭𝓲𝓮 𝓗𝓮𝓪𝓭𝓬𝓪𝓷𝓸𝓷𝓼/ 𝓘𝓶𝓪𝓰𝓲𝓷𝓮𝓼

Fear and Fleeing

I nod as my friend Chrissy tells me about the trouble she's having at home and the pressures she feels. We haven't been friends for long since we're not exactly people you'd put together, but since helping her in chemistry she's so kind to me and we just began hanging out.

I kick a stone from the curb of the empty parking lot, we're supposed to be at some party where her boyfriend Jason is celebrating his basketball win, but Chrissy seemed on edge so I brought her here so we can talk it out.

"Do you hear that?" Chrissy suddenly interrupts me as I talk about D&D, I pause and stare as she pales, staring off into the distance. Goosebumps raise on my skin as I move in front of her, I shake her shoulders but she doesn't move, it's like she's in some trance.

"Chrissy, are you okay?" I panic, getting louder as her eyes suddenly roll back. I stand up and look around to get help, but nobody is here at this time of night. The streelamp next to us buzzes and flickers rapidly, I spin around as it suddenly strobes.

By time I turn back to Chrissy her whole body has lifted into the air like some puppet. I curse and fall backwards onto the floor, covering my mouth as a silent scream comes out. Suddenly her bones snap, her eyes go inwards and I feel my body shake from fear, this is pure raw terror.

Chrissy falls to the ground with a thud, her limbs are twisted at unusual angles and I somehow know there's nothing I can do to help her. I sit there trembling, tears coat my eyes and I can't think straight, I need to get away, I need to run.

I do. I literally run as fast as I can away from her body, running along the roads and passing cars, ignoring how the tress in the dark look like twisted limbs. Ignoring the darkness and the fear that overtakes me. I finally reach the only safe place I can think of right now, my estranged Uncle Rick's cabin near Coal Mill Road.

I run into the nearby boathouse and hide, this place used to be my refuse in the summers I spent here doodling near the water, now it's just a place where I pass out from fear.

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The door to the boathouse swings open which wakes me from my unconscious state. Eyes wide I quickly analyse the area and grab a nearby screwdriver, holding it as a weapon as I back myself further into the corner. A few vaguely familiar faces look at me oddly until one comforting face pushes his way through.

"Eddie?" I whisper between cracked lips, he nods and approaches me like he would a deer, slow and with his hands out.

I shake and carefully drop the screwdriver, wincing at the loud thunk it makes against the wood. I close my eyes and grab a fistful of my hair, rocking backwards and forward to soothe my nerves.

"It's alright, it's okay." Eddie mumbles, kneeling on the floor and putting his hands over mine to pull them away from my hair, "Give us a second." Eddie tells the others, and I hear them shuffle out mumbling to each other.

"Open your eyes for me sweetheart, I need to know if you're hurt." He softly says, his thumbs rub the backs of my hands. I let out a shaky breath and open my eyes, squinting against the daylight.

"Are you hurt?" He asks, concern fills his features. I shake my head once, that's all I can muster.

Eddie nods more to himself than me. "You saw what happened to Chrissy Cunningham?"

The memories come rushing back. The snaps. The sound of her body hitting the floor. The terror in her eyes moments before.

"Okay, okay," Eddie hurriedly says as I shake, he pulls me towards him and wraps his legs around my body, cocooning me to him like a safety net, protecting me from everything. The others come back in and Dustin Henderson crouches next to us, Eddie gives him a look of warning but Dustin shakes his head and speaks anyway.

"You need to tell us what happened, you were the last one with her and the cops think you had something to do with it."

Tears fill my eyes and I turn away from Dustin, nuzzling into Eddie's chest as his arms wrap around me, his hand begins to rub my back. "We've dealt with this kind of thing before, the lights flickered, right?"

I pull away from Eddie with a shocked look, I nod as Dustin breathes out. "I know it's hard, but we need to know what you saw."

I take a deep breath and begin speaking, pausing to sob every now and then. Eddie stays with me constantly, squeezing me as I cry, finishing sentences for me and linking our fingers together. Not once does he let me go.