Trapped in the Upside Down - A Chrissy and Eddie story

The Vampire

"What happened to you?" I barely manage to form words. 

"Sorry I'm late," he says grinning down at me, missing his usual charm. 

"We can make it out of here. We're so close and if you just follow m..." my words are cut short by his mocking disapproval. 

"There's no way out of here. You're dead, Chrissy. Even if you could make it out, there's no home to go back to," he says with sarcasm.

"Stop..." I demand.

He laughs. 

"Eddie, you can fight through this. Vecna is weak or else he would be here fighting his own battles instead of using you do to it for him!" I say, knowing that my words will anger Vecna.

His hand wraps around my throat and pushes me against the wall with intensity. His tone lowers. "Do you remember how it felt when I crushed you from the inside out, Chrissy? Do you remember how scared you were? How much pain you felt? How you cried and begged for your life like the weak little bitch that you are? I'll show you who's weak as I drain your blood and take your life again." 

His grip tightens around my throat making it hard to take a breath. His mouth opens as he leans closer, revealing the fangs of a vampire. Eddie's once kind and beautiful smile now tainted with long sharp fangs meant to bring death. The warmth of his breath closes in against my skin. There's a sharp pain as his fangs begin to pierce my flesh. His hand moves ever so slightly out the way of his bite, just enough for me to take in a breath to speak. 

"I know this isn't you, Eddie. Don't let him win." I manage to get out my final words as I prepare myself for the full force of his bite. "I love you..."

With sudden urgency, the pressure from his bite releases and he pushes himself away from me.  He falls backward, stumbling into the furniture. I stand frozen in shock as a droplet of blood trickles down my neck from his bite. 

"Chrissy, run!" he says in a more familiar tone. 

"Eddie?" I cry. 

"I can't hold him back for long. Get out of here!" he strains to shout as he holds onto the furniture to prevent himself from lunging back at me. 

Despite the instinct to stay for him, I run. There's nothing I can do in this moment but run. I make my way out of the dark room and turn toward the staircase. I move up them in a hurry without worrying about the cracking and popping wooden boards. Eddie's voice cries out from the room that I left him behind in, struggling to overcome Vecna's control. I reach the upper level of the house and run down the hallway toward to room with the gateway. I reach for the doorknob, but it won't open. 

"No, no, no!" I mumble in frustration. I shake the doorknob profusely as I look back over my shoulder to an empty hall. I turn back to the door and ram by body against it in hopes the force will open it. I throw my shoulder against it repeatedly, but it doesn't budge. The house goes silent. Eddie's distant voice no longer cries out. I stand motionless trying not to make a sound. I slowly look over my shoulder again only to become startled as I see him standing right behind me. He pushes his body against my back, shoving me into the door. 

"We've played this game before, Chrissy," he whispers into my ear. "You can't escape me. You belong to me. There's nothing for you on the other side. You're dead. You're nothing." 

"I don't believe you," I say in disgust to his lies and manipulation. 

His hands grab my arms savagely and spin me around to face him. I gasp at the sight of his face full of darkness and fury. Yet his eyes glisten with tears. I look at him, seeing beyond the face in front of me. Beyond the vampire. Beyond the puppet master. It's Eddie behind those eyes, fighting and doing all that he can to regain control. He wraps his hand around my throat again with a suffocating force. I keep my eyes fixated on his; on Eddie. His grip becomes too tight to breathe. With every exhale it constricts like a snake squeezing the life out of its victim. He grins, taunting me with the very thing that will kill me. He leans in, piercing the side of my throat again. This time deeper than before. His lips press into my skin and I begin to feel the pull of his bite draining the life out of me. My vision shifts in and out of blackness as my pulse fights to keep beating. This is it. I have nothing more to give. No fight left in me. His hand moves just enough for me to take a shallow breath allowing me to speak my final words.