The Year Everything Flipped Upside Down || Eddie Munson

Wandering Very Far

—And then one dayA magic day he passed my wayAnd while we spoke of many thingsFools and kingsThis he said to me"The greatest thing you'll ever learnIs just to love and be loved in return"— – Nat King Cole

She's made peace with the idea of dying before they even make it to the Wheeler house. The car is filled with silence as Steve drives to the house. She watches the scenery during the drive. As many times as she thought that she was going to die she didn't expect this, many times she thought she might die, but now she knows that this is probably the end. For her.

It's funny, how a few weeks ago she was writing college essays and applying for scholarships, now she's fighting monsters in her head. That doesn't seem fair.

But she's going to die and that's okay.

Nancy and Robin will meet them at the Wheeler Residence since there isn't enough room in Steve's for anymore with the two of them and the three in the back.

She might not even make it to her eighteenth birthday. It's in a few days but the last thing she needs to do is celebrate her life that's going to end in a day or two.

There's no way to stop it, no leads, nothing that could stop this. It's fate, you could say. No way to stop it, no way to stall. Steve and Alex can hear the three kids whispering in the back about something, but Alex pays no mind, just stares out of the window of the empty road.

When they arrive Alex decides she should call her mom, she's been gone since she left yesterday morning for work, and knowing her mom she has another day before she files a police report. Nancy points her to the phone hanging on the wall in the kitchen.

Ring...

Ring...

Ring...

—Hello?

"Hey mom..."

—Alex, sweetie, where have you been?

"I'm sorry, I'm staying at Nancy's for a few days, I forgot to call you." Alex bites her lip, holding a muffled sound, something about talking to her mother is bringing it out, making her realize she is going to die.

—Okay... Just keep me updated.

"I will." Alex takes a deep breath, "I love you mom."

—goodbye, sweetie

"Mom." Alex rushes, "I love you."

—I love you too, silly

"Bye, mom." As she hangs the phone on the wall back in its original place. She lets out a shaky breath before climbing down the stairs to the rest of the group. Steve, Dustin, and Lucas all sit on the dusty old couch sitting in the basement. Alex sits on top of the desk across the room with her feet on the chair.

Her leg starts shaking as she focuses on her breathing, in and out, she reminds herself.

Steve is quietly murmuring with the younger boys while Nancy, Robin, and Max work on the Victor Creel look. "Did you call your mom?"

"Yeah." Alex mumbles to Steve. Steve stands up, moving over to her, standing in front of the chair, his hands on the top of the chair.

"Wanna go get some air?" Alex just nods to Steve, sliding off the table, and stepping down from the chair. She follows him up the wooden stairs to the main level, making their way out of the back door to the fenced in backyard. They sit next to each other on the stairs of the deck. "Want to talk about it?"

"I'm gonna die, Steve." Alex looks out into the sky, "He's gonna kill me."

"We don't know that."

Alex chuckles, shaking her head, she does know. They've all tested their luck with the line between life and death. It's time someone pays up their dues and if it happens to be her, she's okay with that. "I am."

She pauses, Steve stays silent, licking her lips, she speaks again, shrugging. "It's okay, though."

"Alex..." Steve murmurs, shaking his head, wrapping an arm around her body, encasing her in a side hug. "Don't say that." he closes his eyes, feeling his throat start to close, making his voice come out all shaky and wobbly "Please."

"It's the truth, Harrington." she shrugs, resting her head on Steve's shoulder, accepting his warmth. "I've accepted it, you should too."

"I won't." Steve's voice comes out harder this time, "I'm not going to accept that you're going to die." he shakes his head, "'cause, you're not."

She doesn't risk saying anything else, she just wants to sit in silence with her friend, being comforted, that's what she needs right now. If he doesn't want to accept that she will probably die, that's fine, he will accept it though, in time. When the time comes he'll have to.

"You can't die." Steve bows his head, "You can't."

"I can't promise you I won't." she speaks, nuzzling her head into the warmth of his neck. "I'm sorry, that I can't."

"College, work." Steve mumbles, "Moving in together, that's what we planned. Together, we were going to be adults together, a shitty two room apartment, going out to bars on the weekends with Robin."

"Movie nights, dance parties, cooking."

"We need to have that." Steve lifts his head, looking in her eyes, "We deserve that. Normalcy."

"Yeah..." She trails off, "we do."

"You hungry?" Steve's eyes light, "You gotta be hungry." He stands and grabs onto her hand, lifting her up as well to her feet.

Steve was always a good cook, it's what he does in his free time. Of course he needed to eat and with his parents always being gone he had to pick it up, when he was younger and he couldn't drive to go get something to eat he worked with what he had. Cooking was Steve's thing. Baking was Alex's. They fit together.

Steve was her best-

No, Chrissy was her best friend. But she is her fucking soul mate, platonically speaking. If she had to choose someone to be by her side in all of this it'd be Steve.

Steve raids the Wheeler's ridge while Alex sits on top of the counter. Steve is in his element so Alex doesn't even think about bothering him, he is mashing up an avocado as his pan heats up. He has bread, a tomato, two different cheeses, and a whole load of spices.

It takes him maybe ten minutes to finish it. "Tadah!"

He presents the sandwich after plating it, he has another plate in hand with more of the same for the rest of the group. "It's a grilled mozzarella sandwich."

He scoots it towards her eagerly, waiting for her to try his masterpiece. She does, taking a bite, not until now did she realize how hungry she really was. She just hums into the bite.

Steve does a celebratory dance while walking over to the stairs, yelling at the younger ones that he made something to eat while heading up the stairs to tell Robin and Nancy.