Kayls Hunter

The rehearsal hadn’t gotten very far. There you were standing at the altar and all you had to do was say your vows. “With this hand I will lift your sorrows. Your cup will never empty for i will be your wine. With this candle I will light your way in darkness. With this ring I ask you to be mine.”

Simple enough yet for some reason you managed to trip over and forget almost every word. Your parents were humiliated. Steve’s parents were furious. Suddenly the officiant stops the rehearsal and turns to you.

Simple enough yet for some reason you managed to trip over and forget almost every word. Your parents were humiliated. Steve’s parents were furious. Suddenly the officiant stops the rehearsal and turns to you.

Simple enough yet for some reason you managed to trip over and forget almost every word. Your parents were humiliated. Steve’s parents were furious. Suddenly the officiant stops the rehearsal and turns to you.

“This Wedding cannot happen. Not until you have learned your vows young lady.”

You stood there for a moment before turning and running out of the room without looking back. You refused to make eye contact with anybody in the room lest you feel their disappointment. Even when you hear Steve calling after you. You refuse to turn and face him.

You run out of the building and you run and run until you find yourself alone in the woods. You begin to walk very slowly. Muttering to yourself about how stupid you believe you are. You then twist the engagement ring on your finger and you begin to rehearse your vows.

“With this hand I will….I will…. Drown in sorrow? No no no. Okay with this hand I will lift your sorrows. Your cups will never empty for i will be your wine. With this candle I will…. Light your father on fire it seems Jesus Christ I can’t do this.” You stop and see a bench in the middle of a clearing in the forest. You remember this bench from high school. People used to come out here to do drug deals.

You take a seat on the bench and take a deep breath. When you open your eyes you decide to try saying your vows one more time. “With this hand I will lift your sorrows. Your cup will never empty for i will be your wine. With this candle I will light your way in darkness. With this ring I ask you to be mine.” You slam your hands down on the bench in triumph.

Standing from the bench you look at the little ring on your engagement finger and you sigh twirling it a bit. You begin to pace and speak to yourself.

“I just thought my life would have a greater purpose rather than getting married…not that I don’t wanna get married….” You sigh “i just thought it would be my decision. Just cause I’m getting married doesn’t mean I can’t find a greater purpose. Okay one more time for luck. With this hand I will lift your sorrows. Your cup will never empty for i will be your wine. With this candle I will light your way in darkness. With this ring I ask you to be mine.” You slide the ring off of your finger and put it on the bench.

As soon as the ring touches the table there’s a shift in the atmosphere. The forest is suddenly colder than before. The wind is blowing wildly and you can hear the snapping of branches in the distance.

Suddenly from the distance you see a bunch of crows swarming around a tree. And from that tree emerges a tall man. Or what appears to be a man. As he stalks towards you he whispers two words.

“I do”

You begin to run. Not caring about direction. Just needing an escape. As you run your met with branches and twists and turns and crows all around you.

You make it back In to town. You see the building for the wedding rehearsal and you think you’re safe. You take a deep breath and turn towards the building only to be met face to face with the man.

This is the first time you get to see him up close when you’re not running. You can see gashes along his face and body. Exposed bone poking through at his arms and legs. Flesh ripped away across his body. His skin was pale beyond comprehension. His eyes were wide and dark. And the worst part is you recognized him.

There wasn’t much time to comprehend anything before he spoke.

“May I kiss the bride?” He began to lean in and you wanted to scream. But as he leaned in you were swarmed by dozens of birds and suddenly everything started to fade away into the sounds around you. Then everything went black.

***

As you began to open your eyes you hear voices and murmuring surround you.

“Looks like we got a new arrival”

“I think she fainted on the way here”

“Lemme get closer i want to see her”

As you open your eyes you feel a boney hand on the back of your neck helping to support you. You blink your eyes a few times and try to adjust.

“Wh-what’s happened to me?” You ask as you sit up and take in your surroundings.

“Holy shit man! I think she’s breathing? Is-is she alive?”

Your eyes snap open very wide as you look around at the people helping you. You stand up and back up against a slimy vine filled wall.

There he was. Eddie Munson. The boy who died in the earth quake a year ago. Next to him? Billy Hargrove. The boy who died in the mall fire. Next to him was Barbra. The student who died due to being exposed to chemicals from that lab.

As you look around the room your met with the sights of the dead from all around Hawkins. People you used to know. And suddenly you had the dreaded thought.

“Am I dead?” You look around the room and nobody answers until you look to Eddie.

“Nope sweetheart. You’re all good. Alive and well and flesh and bone.”

You breathe a sigh of relief. But then you inhale sharply again. If you weren’t dead then where the hell were you. And why were you here?

As you look around the room you see Billy and a girl you used to know named heather. She takes a drink of something and toasts to Billy and then looks to you.

“To the newlyweds!” Her and Billy say together.

“N-newlyweds?” You say in confusion.

Eddie strides over to you and wraps an arm around your shoulder.

“Yeah sweetheart. You said your vows so perfectly.”

“I did? I did!” You turn around and begin to smash your head into the wall.

“WAKE UP!!!! WAKE UP!!!!!!”

As you slam your head into the wall you feel a hand on your shoulder so you turn around to see a tall boney man handing you a drink.

“Hello I’m Benny. I’m the head chef down here. I will be creating your weddin feast!”

You gasp and step back bumping into Eddie. Suddenly Eddie’s eye pops out and a little Maggot appears.

It looks to you and begins to speak. “Wedding feast! I’m starving!”

You attempt to move away from Eddie but everywhere you turn there are more dead people. People you used to know. Everything has you petrified until you back into a counter with a knife on the table. You grab hold of the knife and life it into the air.

“Everybody stop!”

The rooms freezes and turns to you.

“I need answers. What the hell is this place. How are you all here?”

Eddie laughs and steps towards you. “Well that’s kind of a long story.”

“A tragic tale it is. A tale of adventure, passion, and a murder most foul.” You turn towards the voice and see a man sitting at a table. You recognize him as the founder of Hawkins AV club. He used to date Miss Byers until he died tragically a few years back.

The room falls quiet as the man begins to tell the story.

“Well our boy was a freak. Known for miles around. When a mysterious man began to plague our town. He was plenty hideous and had a plan to hash. And our poor little boy got roped in fast. So when Eddie’s friends tried to help him he just couldn’t cope. So our mystery man came up with a plan to interlope. So the crew conjured up a plan to meet late at night. They told not a soul kept the whole thing tight. They were prepared to bring down the mystery man with a good old fight. He didn’t bring much just a shield and a spear. Waiting all night to fight the man. Then when the time came our boy was a hero. But with the last of his strength the mystery man summoned all his bats and had the boy eaten to death. Now when he opened his eyes he was dead as dust. His spear was missing and his heart was bust. So he made a vow lying under that sky that he’d wait for his true love to come set him free. Waiting for someone to ask for his hand. Then out of the blue comes this woman who vows forever to be by his side. And that’s the story of our corpse husband.”

As you process everything the man just told you. You feel two boney arms wrap their way around your waist and it makes you jump. And run away out of the room. You run all the way until you’re in the middle of a forest again. You recognize the forest as Hawkins but it’s different. It’s covered in vines and tentacles and it’s disgusting. But you run anyways. Until you reach that familiar bench. Your stop to take a breath and you turn around only to be met with Eddie once again.

You scream and jump back at the sight of him.

He hold his hands up in surrender. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you.” He chuckles and steps forward.

“Look y/n I know this can be a lot to take. How about we just sit down on the bench and you can ask me whatever you want and I’ll tell you.”

You hesitate and then sit back on the bench.

“Okay. What is this place.”

“It’s called the upside down. It’s like Hawkins but full of creepy crawlers and nasty shit.”

“How are you all here? I mean you’re all dead.”

“I don’t know sweetheart. I wish I did.”

You sat there for a moment and took a deep breath.

“So we’re married?”

“Yupperoonie.”

“Look Eddie I’m terribly sorry about what happened to you and how you died. I really am. But I need to get home.”

“This is your home now y/n”

“Eddie you can’t be serious. I’m alive. I have a life. Family to get back to.”

“Well we can go say goodbye if you want?”

“You’d let me do that?”

“Sweetheart I’d let you do anything.”

“Well how do we get there?”

“We have to dig through the tree to get there. It’s pretty easy from our side since the tree is rotten. Getting back here to the upside down is the hard part. You’ll have to be quick so that the tree gate doesn’t close.”

Eddie stands and walks to a nearby tree where he starts ripping into it with his bare hands. Once the tree is opened he gestures for you to come over and he pretends like he’s holding the door open for you as he bows and allows you to crawl through the tree.

You come out on the other side in a normal looking Forrest near the bench you once knew. You debate on what you’re supposed to do. Deciding to tell Eddie to stay in the forest while you go say goodbye to your family when really you were going to seek out Steve and get his help.

“Eddie. I think you should stay here while I say goodbye to my family.”

“You’re probably right. I don’t think they’d be very approving of me….even if I were alive honestly.”

There’s a strange feeling of guilt in your chest when he says that. You remember him from High school and although you weren’t close you always knew him to be a nice person who happened to be a bit boisterous. If anything you found his lunch time antics entertaining.

“I’ll be back in a jif eddie.”

And with that you were off through the forest. You made your way to the Harrington estate and saw the light to Steve bedroom on. The only problem was his room was on the second floor. As you snuck around the house and looked for an entry point you stumbled upon the kitchen window where you see Mr and Mrs Harrington sat at the table having a discussion.

“I just don’t know what we’re going to do about that girl. Can’t even learn her vows.”

“You’re right. This isn’t good for our business deal.”

“Maybe we should just let Steve marry that Wheeler girl like he’d wanted.”

Upon hearing that your mind flashes to images of Nancy Wheeler and her relationship with the king Steve Harrington. Still you persist and move past the window making your way round the house to where you see some vines to grab to climb up to Steve’s room.

You carefully place your feet on the vines and begin your climb. When you reach the second floor you see Steve sitting on the edge of his bed and you can hear him on the phone.

“Yeah Nance…..I know….maybe she doesn’t want to marry me.”

He’s on the phone with Nancy? You watch as he continues to talk on the phone until you hear a loud SNAP of a branch coming from below you and suddenly you’re plummeting towards the ground.

You scream and close your eyes and brace yourself for the hard impact that doesn’t come. Instead you’re enveloped by two large arms that break your fall. You open your eyes to see Eddie holding you.

As you look up at him you realize he’s fuming. Absolutely angry beyond belief.

“Steve?”

“What?”

“Why are you at Steve Harringtons house?”

“W-well. Well he’s my fiancé.”

“But I’m your husband. And we’re leaving.”

Still in his arms he carries you back into the Forrest and through the tree to the upside down. When you get back into the upside down he sets you down and walks over to the bench and sits down and puts his face in his hands.

“And I thought this was all going so well.”

You walk up to him and place a hand on his shoulder.

“Look Eddie I’m sorry. But this just can’t happen.”

“Why not? It’s my eye isn’t it?”

“No your eye is lovely. But Eddie were just to different. I mean you’re dead.”

“You should have thought about that before you asked me to marry you.”

“Why can’t you understand it was a mistake Eddie!! I would never ask you to marry me!”

As soon as the words leave your mouth you feel instant regret as you watch Eddie slowly rise from the bench and wander off towards the town.

***

As Eddie wanders on his own he ponders his relationship with you. And the maggot in his eye pops out and slithers onto his shoulders. Eddie sits down against a wall and sighs.

“Maybe she’s better off with Mr I have a pulse. Maybe she’s right.”

“Oh that guys nothing compared to you Eddie.”

“But she’s right. I’m dead. She’s alive.”

“But did she say her vows to him?”

“Well no…. But she doesn’t leave me.”

“She just needs to see how special you can be Eddie.”

“If I touch a burning candle I can feel no pain

If you cut me with a knife it's still the same

And I know his heart is beating

And I know that I am dead

Yet the pain here that I feel

Try and tell me it's not real

It seems that I still have a tear to shed”

“Oh Eddie don’t worry she’ll come around and see the amazing man that you are.”

***

In the forest where Eddie left you, you gather some dead flowers into a bouquet and walk towards the town where you search for Eddie. You ask around to some of the dead people in town and they tell you that you can find Eddie in an old trailer on the other side of town. So that’s where you go.

When you get there you find him sitting on the porch strumming his guitar. You walk up quietly and set the bouquet on porch next to you.

“I’m sorry Eddie. I’m sorry I lied to you about seeing my family. It’s just-this day. Nothing has gone according to plan.”

He says nothing as he strums his guitar. Instead you pick up a guitar that was sitting next to him and that says “this machine slays dragons” and you begin to strum a tune similar to the one he’s strumming. And you continue to strum until you’re creating a beautiful medley together.

Eddie begins to get so into it that his boney hand detaches from his body and begins a riff all on its own and even hops onto your guitar and runs up your arm and around your shoulders. Making both you and him laugh.

“Sorry about the enthusiasm.”

“I like your enthusiasm Eddie.”

You grab the hand that’s on your shoulder and his empty wrist and you reattach the hand to his arm. When you should let it go you don’t. Instead your hand lingers there. You look into Eddie’s eyes and see him looking back at you. You clear your throat and look back down at the guitar.

“I really am sorry Eddie. I should have been honest with you.”

“Don’t worry about it y/n I get it. You’re dead and I’m alive.”

“If it’s any consolation Eddie I wouldn’t have any qualms about marrying you if you were alive.”

He laughs and sets the guitar down next to him.

“Now that I find hard to believe.”

“Really Eddie I mean it. I remember you from high school. How sweet you were to all the weird kids. How boisterous and brave you were. I mean you were amazing.”

“I was a freak.”

“Stop that. You’re not a freak Eddie. You’re awesome is what you are.”

“I’m dead is what I am.”

You’re about to say something when suddenly people are running past you and towards the forest. You stop one of them and ask them what’s going on.

“NEW ARRIVAL.”

Is all they yell at you before they continue on their way to the Forrest. When you get there everyone is excited and bustling around the way they were when you’d arrived. That’s when you see him. Tommy H. Steve’s ex best friend.

“Tommy!?” He turns to face you.

“Y/n? What the hell are you doing here?”

“What am I doing here! Tommy you’re dead? What happened?”

“Was drinking and driving and well bam now I’m here.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Yeah and I’m sorry to hear you and Steve didn’t work out.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well didnt you hear?”

“Hear what?”

“He’s marrying Nancy Wheeler tomorrow.”

Your heart doesn’t break but your chest feels a twinge of disappointment to know that you’d gone missing for a day and instead of looking for you your fiancé just moves on to another girl.

“Time to pick up the pieces and move on I suppose right y/n.” He puts a hand on your shoulder and then turns to move about the room.

You begin to think on his words. He may be right. You’ve been in this place for almost a whole day and it seems like nobody even cares that you’re gone. And the one person who does care about you, you’ve treated like absolute garbage. You walk back off alone into the Forrest and to the bench you originally started at.

You sit down and examine the wedding band on your finger. That’s when you hear Eddie’s voice in the distance.

“Oh billy what am I supposed to do? She just walked off! Are all women like this?”

Billy laughs and puts a hand on Eddie’s shoulder. “Im afraid so man. I’m afraid so. But we’ve got something to talk about man.”

You nestle up against a tree and listen closely to their conversation.

“Let me tell him!” The magot says.

“Shhhhh. Well man there’s a problem with your marriage.”

“What?!”

“Well your vows are binding until death do you part.”

“Uh huh. So?”

“Well man. Death has already parted you. You’re dead and she’s alive. Can’t work.”

“Dude if she finds out she’ll leave! There has to be something we can do!”

“Don’t worry man there’s a way.”

“What is it?”

“We have to kill her!!!”

“WHAT?!”

“Y/n would have to give up the life she had forever. She would need to repeat her vows and drink the venom of the demobats.”

“But the venom of the demobats would kill her just like it did to me.”

“Exactly Eddie. She’d be dead with you.”

You’re taken aback and shocked as you peak around the tree. Eddie thinks on it for only a moment before dropping to his knees in the forest.

“I could never ask her to do that for me.” He says in a low and quiet voice.

You look at Eddie on the ground. You think back to him in highschool and how sweet he was, you think back to him catching you earlier and saving you. To holding his hand and playing the guitar with him. And decide to step out from behind the tree.

“You don’t have to.” You say quietly as you walk up to him and offer your hand for him to stand up. He looks up at you with tears in your eyes.

“Y/n if you do this…there’s no going back. Do you understand?”

As Billy says this and Eddie stands fully you wrap your hand around Eddie’s tighter and intertwine your fingers as you look at him.

“I do.”

***

You walk back into the town and gather all the dead.

“HELLO EVERYBODY. We’ve decided to do this thing properly. So father what you can and meet us at Hawkins high school!”

Everyone is overjoyed as they begin to prepare for the wedding. Benny starts on the cake, Billy and heather are on decorations. And Barbra is helping you with your wedding dress.

You go to the town and break the window of a shop covered in vines and you find an exquisite dress to wear. Barbra does your hair and before you know it you’re meeting back at the school.

***

At the school you walk into the gymnasium to see rows of the dead sitting and facing Eddie at the altar who is now wearing a suit. On a table nearby there’s a towering cake and a lot of food.

Billy stands next to Eddie as the officiant. In his hands he holds a cup which you can only assume to be the venom of a demobat inside. Once your presence is noticed the crowd starts singing “here comes the bride.”

You take that as your queue to begin walking down the isle. As you do you look to Eddie who is smiling as he wipes a tear from his eye.

You reach the altar and stand in front of Eddie.

“Hi” you mouth at him and he mouths it back. You giggle a little.

“Dearly beloved and departed we are gathered here today to join this woman and this corpse in marriage. Living first.”

You take a deep breath and raise your hand.

“With this hand I will lift your sorrows, your cup will never empty for i will be your wine. With this candle I will light your way in darkness. With this ring I ask you to be mine.”

“Now Eddie.”

“With this hand I will lift your sorrows, your cup will never empty for i will be your wine. With this candle I will light your way in darkness. With this ring I ask you to be mine”

He places one of his own rings onto your finger. And you take off your wedding band and place it on his pinky.

You then take the cup from Billy and hold it in your hands as you look at Eddie. You go to take a sip but his hand flies to the top of your cup.

“Y/n” he whispers. “Are you sure about this?”

You take your own hand and bring it up to ciò his face.

“I’ve never been more sure of anything.”

You remove his hands from atop the cup and quickly take a swig of the venom. It burns as it goes down so badly that it makes you drop the cup from your hand as you begin to cough. Your coughing is so bad that you bend over and Eddie reaches out a hand to steady you. The pain only lasts for a moment as you collapse into his arms and see nothing but total darkness.

As you awaken you look up into Eddie big brown eyes and you reach out a now pale hand to cup his face. You realize you no longer have to breathe and you no longer have a heart beat you just feel cold.

You move to stand and he stands with you.

“You May now kiss the bride.”

Eddie looks at you for approval and you give him a slight nod before leaning in and sealing you marriage with a kiss. The crowd cheers and goes wild at the kiss and Eddie grabs you closer to him and dips you towards the floor. When he brings you back up and the two of you break from the kiss he rests his forehead against yours.

“Ready for eternity sweetheart?”