#terrorcheered

❛ sorry. i’m sorry - ❜ she’s making sweet jokes, poking at him, and eddie’s trying his hardest but he can’t...fucking get his brain to engage. they’re supposed to be studying, have been studying? eddie’s definitely got notes in front of him, but he feels a little disconnected - like it’s all been happening around him, without actually involving him. and he feels bad, because chrissy’s so goddamn earnest about it, but he’s exhausted, and he can’t make himself sleep, so it’s -- this. this sort of middle ground, in between. 

but  lydia  wasn’t  so  sure   -    things  had  been  weird  ever  since  that  byers  boy  disappeared.      she wasn’t  stupid.   she  knew  the  amount  of  incident  that  happened  in  small  town  hawkins  was  statistically  absurd.   that  mall  fire  last  summer?  she’d  looked  into  that,  and  some  of  the  stories  about  how  it  happened  didn’t  add  up.  

 @terrorcheered​   said  ;     ❝  there’s something wrong with me  ❞

she’s  been  listening  to  chrissy’s  story  about  what  happened  in  the  bathroom.   and  while  she  keeps  putting  on  her  lipstick  like  it  doesn’t  bother  her  -  it  does.    she  doesn’t  like  it  at  all.   chrissy  hadn’t  been  right  for  weeks,  lydia  had  noticed  that.   she  just  didn’t  want  to  say  anything,  and  freak  chrissy  out  even  more.   she  was  trying  to  be  a  good  friend.   her  eyes  meet  chrissy’s  in  the  mirror  behind  her,   and  she  tries  to  keep  her  voice  light  as  she  puts  the  cap  back  on  her  lipstick.         ❝  you  sure  you  aren’t,  y’know,   . . .    you  sure  there  isn’t  a  bun  in  the  oven?   ❞      after  all,  vomiting  in  the  bathroom  in  the  morning? 

he drives. he drives, and drives, and the van is so, so silent because eddie’s face is bleeding and chrissy looks a little shell shocked and jason knows where his fucking trailer is now so they can’t go back there. they can’t. and eddie is -- terrified. no one’s ever stood up for him like that. but then, at the same time, no one’s ever come after him the way jason just did. so...mixed bag, in terms of emotions. all over the place.

so he drives. he drives until he finds an empty lot and he pulls over and turns to chrissy, and they start talking at the same time, apologies and upset and eddie is shaking and he thinks chrissy is too, and he -- loses his fucking mind, apparently.

because he surges forwards, and he kisses her. and fucking christ, it’s like coming home for the first time. it’s sunlight and beauty and kindness, and eddie wishes it was happening anywhere but the front of his van after a shitty fight with jason but he -- he needs her to know. and from the way she’s kissing him back he thinks maybe...maybe it’s not just him.

        eddie  remembers  going  to  fight,  he  remembers  the  pain  of  the  attack,  he  remembers  seeing  dustin  ---  but  that’s  where  it  all  goes  black.  now  he’s  here  --  wherever  that  is  --  the  blood,  dirt,  and  grime  suddenly  cleaned  off  him.  there’s  a  certain  feeling  of  peace  that  washes  over  him.  a  nice  change  of  pace  to  the  fear  that’s  been  coursing  through  him  for  the  last  few  weeks.  it  doesn’t  take  long  for  him  to  notice  someone.  someone  familiar,  someone  who  makes  his  heart  drop  into  his  stomach.  this  has  to  mean  he’s  dead,  right?  ❛  chrissy?  ❜  his  voice  breaks,  quiet  tone  as  if  he  can’t  believe  what  he’s  seeing  right  now.  ❛  are  you  real?  ❜  with  everything  that’s  happened,  he  can’t  be  sure  of  anything  nowadays.  this  could  all  be  a  trick,  but  this  feels  different.  

there’s this sort of...endless way of people in and out. his uncle and the kids and robin and nancy and steve gets wheeled in at one point. nurses and doctors and fucking cops and reporters and it’s...exhausting. he’s so tired, and he wants to go home except no he doesn’t, because even if it wasn’t his actual home, home is where this shit happened in the first place. he’s just...grumpy and achy and all the other stupid shit.

          ❛           i    think    the    room    is      bugged.           ❜