Peaceful bliss, just moments away (Stranger Things)

Drive

The first time Chrissy dies, Eddie drives like a bat out of hell.

"What the fuck? What the fuck?"

He repeats it like a mantra, breathless and panicky as he let muscle memory take over, making all the right turns to get out of the trailer park and go... where, exactly?

Where does a guy go when he's just seen someone float in the air and-

Eddie stops that train of thought, everything he'd eaten that day threatening to make a reappearance. Tears pricked his eyes and he swiped at them with his sleeve. Get it together, Munson.

It probably wasn't even real, right? A hallucination. He'd never had one before, but it could happen, couldn't it?

If that was the case, then Eddie just needed to go somewhere to sleep it off till Wayne got back from the plant and then they could figure it out together. He'd go to someone he trusted. Maybe one of the guys in Hellfire would let him crash on their couch.

Nodding to himself, Eddie didn't pay attention to how fast he took the next turn until it was too late.

-

Blinking, Eddie found himself staring at his room. What was he doing here again? He looks down at his hands, at what he was holding-

Right. The drugs for Chrissy Cunningham, queen of Hawkins High. What a weird day.

"Found it!" He smiles, continuing, "Peaceful bliss, just moments away."

Eddie's nearly bowled over by the strongest sense of déjà vu, the smile falling from his face as he sees Chrissy standing there, staring at nothing, like she was in a trance. All at once, he remembers. He remembers seeing this, and what comes after, like the worst nightmare playing out in his head on fast-forward.

It plays out in real time right in front of Eddie, Chrissy's death happening in exactly the way he remembered. How the hell do I remember that?

Eddie runs, again. Gets in his van and drives, still seeing Chrissy every time he blinks, the image permanently burned into his eyelids. Seeing the same fucked up thing like that twice, that can't be real, right? He's formulating a plan, nodding to himself, when he remembers the turn too late.

-

"Peaceful bliss, just moments away."

Eddie stops, remembering again. The snapping, his own screams, driving out of there. The horrible crunching of metal when his van hit the tree and a bright flare of pain in his head before he was here, again.

He's shaking, cold to his core as he begs Chrissy to wake up, for none of this to be real. It doesn't work.

The van roars to life again, this time marginally slower than the previous two times. If Eddie wants to get out of whatever nightmare his mind is trapping him in, he needs to survive the drive, he knows that much.

Taking the turn slower this time, Eddie settles on driving to Gareth's house. He'd crash there and figure out what to do with his fucked up brain in the morning.

Gareth's surprised to see Eddie, but lets him in anyway. He shouts something to his parents about having a friend stay over, not bothering to wait for permission before herding Eddie down the hall to his room.

"Thanks, man. Think I, uh, had a little too much-" Eddie mimes smoking a joint "-and I'm freaking out." It's not the truth, exactly, but it's what he feels safe enough to admit until he knows more about what was going on.