#cheercursed

   when  he  FIRST  started  finding  her  out  here  by  eddie's  headstone,  it  was  pure  luck.  he  hadn't  planned  on  coming  that  first  day,  but  he  felt  guilty  for  not  visiting  him  since  the  service.  they'd  all  pulled  their  savings  to  help  uncle  wayne  pay  for  the  marker.  too  afraid  of  cult  repercussions,  no  vandalism  had  taken  place.  still,  the  guys  started  taking  turns  coming  out  to  check  just  in  case.  maybe  it  was  the  frequency  and  randomness  of  them  showing  up  that  kept  the  mob  away.  whatever  the  reason,  it  was  damn  lucky  mitch  showed  up  that  night.  he  found  her  out  there  all  alone  and  drove  her  home.  chrissy  wasn't  always  at  eddie's  grave  when  he  visited,  but  he  took  to  checking  on  her  as  well  as  guarding  eddie's  final  resting  place.  

    whenever  the  forecast  called  for  rain,  he  showed  up  with  an  umbrella  and  blanket.  whenever  it  was  too  hot,  he  brought  extra  bottles  of  water.  tonight  he  was  late,  and  he  walked  up  to  find  her  sleeping.  mitch  went  about  his  usual  routine  of  cleaning  up  the  dead  blooms  left  by  those  who  actually  cared  about  the  fallen  hero.  he  cleared  the  fallen  leaves  and  plucked  the  overgrown  grass  the  gravedigger's  lawn  mower  couldn't  reach.  then  he  settled  down  beside  her  taking  her  outstretched,  limp  hand  in  his.  he  didn't  want  her  to  get  too  damp  and  chilled  from  the  ground's  dew,  so  mitch  monitored.  

their plan hadn’t worked out. not how they had wanted it to. even now as dust seemed to be settling, hawkins was still in a state of destruction. people still didn’t have homes, they had still lost eddie and max... max was far from in a good state and steve couldn’t help but feel a heavy guilt over what happened to both eddie and her. the one shred of hope that he had found to hold on to was the fact that chrissy was making progress, every day. even if it was slow, it was there, and there was no taking that away. each day, after volunteering, he would stop by the hospital. he would stop by max’s bedside, chastise himself for not having protected her better... he should have done more. and then he’d make his way to see chrissy.

the early days had involved a lot of him just sitting at her bedside, keeping her company and attempting to add a little brightness to her day. as her recovery moved forward, he’d started helping her go for little walks, get her out of the dreary hospital room. and each day he noticed improvements, even if she still needed help with it all. 

It had started off like any normal night. Mom and dad away on a trip, and him off to his friends for a sleepover. Joey's parents were away too, so they'd had a great plan of staying up all night, gorging themselves on sweets, watching movies, playing video games, all that sort of thing. Of course, as with the plans of most preteens, they'd over-estimated their on abilities and had been fast asleep in a pile by midnight.

It had been Jamie who'd woken up, confusion mounting at how the basement seemed to be filling with smoke. He'd climbed the stairs, reaching for the door, only to yank back as the metal doorknob burnt his hand. Fear had filled him and he'd thundered back down the stairs, shaking everybody awake. They'd all stumbled out the back door, running for the neighbours, looking back in horror at the flames licking around the house they'd just escaped from.

         eddie   has   repeated   a   couple   of   years,   unwilling   to   accept   and   face   up   to   the   irrefutable   fact   that   he   must   indeed   grow   up.   graduate.   get   a   steady   job.   and   step   out   on   his   own   two   feet   to   support   himself   in   this   ever-changing,   ever-dangerous   world.   1986   is   the   year.   he'll   buckle   down,   get   a   tutor,   and   walk   the   stage   with   his   "fellow"   classmates.        ©   harley ( @cheercursed​ )

mrs. o'donnell held a basket of candy canes with little slips of paper tied to them. she looked about as thrilled as he did about the whole thing. her droning instructions fell on his deaf ears while he continued to doodle a potential album cover on the back of his notebook. he was snatched back to the present by her sharp hmph-ing once she reached his desk. the old bag had developed sort of a soft spot for her failing student after she realized it wasn't a personal vendetta against her teaching abilities he was on his second tour of her class. eddie too had come to the light on her views of him: she wasn't trying to karate kick his academic legs out from under him. a fragile truce in place, the educator and student made a mysteriously veiled eye contact with one another. "mr. munson," she addressed him. "i trust you to take this assignment as seriously as the upcoming FINAL. who knows... it may be the last christmas you spend in these halls. better to celebrate than turn your nose up at the opportunity."

ed smiled, lips closed and expression dull with the mock excitement he felt about the proposed event. his wavy hair shook with his nod of false agreement. "oh, you bet." he saluted the teacher and grabbed the offered candy cane, quickly dropping it to the desk and returning to his drawing. he heard a soft sigh but was relieved when she continued down the aisle instead of encouraging him to open the name tag he'd been given. it wasn't until the end of the day when he was tossing it on the dashboard of his van that he remembered he hadn't yet looked to see who he'd been dealt. part of him didn't want to look. maybe he'd get something random from a prize machine down at the arcade and call it a day. maybe he wouldn't participate at all. then again, he might have lucked up and drew one of his friends. in that case, he already had something wrapped up in the back and job done. rolling his eyes, ed picked up the red and white symbol of christmas spirit and fumbled to open the tag attached to its peppermint frame. scribbled in preppy font was a name that caused his brain to short-circuit. 𝐶ℎ𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑠𝑦 𝐶𝑢𝑛𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔ℎ𝑎𝑚. the name danced off the white paper and circled around his head like a cartoon halo after he'd had a weight dropped on him.