Reddie II: Eddie Kaspbrak

Chapter 1: Miserable As Shit

Eddie lay wide-awake in his bed. Either side of him under the duvet he neatly placed his hands, and he stared wide-eyed up at the ceiling. He felt as though a heavy weight sat on his chest. For once it wasn't his wife's heavy arms that were causing him to feel as though he was suffocating, but either way he struggled to breathe.
He quietly turned his head, and watched silently as his wife snored loudly beside him. He loved her dearly... Or at least he thought he did. Neither of them had been happy for a while now, but they both refused to acknowledge it.

It was about midnight now, and the rain tapped wildly against their bedroom window joined by the low rumble of thunder every now and again. Eddie hated it when it was this stormy; it always made him feel uneasy and nervous.
His chest began to tighten and it caused him to wheeze quietly. This prompted him to sit up in his place and reach over to his bedside table for his inhaler. He was panicking slightly as his chest tightened more and his anxiety grew, causing him to clumsily knock his glass of water over onto the floor. "Fuck" he said loudly, forgetting that his wife was sleeping next to him. He winced as he waited for her to stir... But he was lucky that she was a heavy sleeper. He tried to sigh with relief, but only let out a weak wheeze as his wife continued to snore heavily.

As he freed his tired legs from the warmth of the duvet, he felt the chill of the stormy weather outside, and he shivered to himself a little as he sat in his boxers.
He quietly put his feet down onto the floor, and immediately put them in the damp puddle his glass of water lay in. He looked down at his feet in annoyance now that his socks felt soggy and gross, so he immediately removed them from his feet and placed them carefully on the bed beside him. He had always worn socks when he went to bed, which his wife had always disapproved of, and she made sure that he knew it. But he still wore them anyway.
Finally, Eddie took his inhaler from the bedside table and popped it into his mouth. A great relief came over him as he puffed the inhaler and he felt his lungs relax again. He still felt like shit, but at least now he could breathe normally again.
He decided didn't want to climb back into bed, so he decided to slip on his favourite grey hoodie, and quietly make his way downstairs.

Eddie's house was small, but it was enough for him and his wife despite her size. He had always kept it as tidy as he could to avoid any serious accidents around the house, but it was a shame that his wife had never kept up with that or praised him for keeping on top of the housework. Somehow, he still managed to find the time to clean when he got home from work, and he'd already been working full-time. But it was therapeutic for him, and it gave him the chance to separate his life at home from his life at work.  It didn't really matter whether he was at work or at home, he hated both lives anyway. But cleaning was the only thing that kept him sane most days.
Eddie quietly padded down the stairs and through to their kitchen. He flicked the lights on silently and put the kettle on to boil so he could make himself a hot drink to try and ease the insomnia. Something didn't feel right at all, but he didn't know what was causing him to feel this way. He felt a sense of doom looming over him, and it was difficult to shift.
This wasn't an unusual feeling for Eddie. He had always been an anxious person even as a child. This anxious trait of his had always ended up being misinterpreted as him being a bossy child, but really he only wanted his friends to be safe. This felt like a very different kind of anxious to him though, and it only unsettled him more as he tried his best not to think about it.

As the kettle came to a boil, he poured the hot water into a bright red mug and stirred the teabag. He thought maybe Myra's lavender tea might help him relax a bit, as she always seemed to fall into the deepest of sleeps after having a mug in the evenings. Eddie didn't really think much of her herbal teas, or that they'd even do that much to help him. But he optimistically gave it a try anyway. Now that he had his cup of tea in his hands, he carefully flicked the kitchen lights off and made his way to the couch in the living room.