At the same time, he was terrified that if he said no, Richie would break down the door and be pissed off at Eddie for not listening. Eddie's mind was clouded with irrational thoughts. He didn't know what was right.
"Eds?" Richie asked again.
Panicked and shaken, Eddie opened the door before scrambling as far away as possible and hiding in all of his blankets, hoping that Richie wouldn't be mad at him.
Richie looked back at his friends once the door opened, and they all nodded for him to go in. He slipped inside, gently closing the door behind him, before looking for Eddie.
He saw him curled in a mountain of blankets, shaking and crying silently. His hair was all sweaty and his face was red. Eddie was breathing heavily, clearly distressed and overwhelmed.
That's when the chain caught Richie's eye.
It was attached to the bed, and he followed it with his eye, seeing it attached to Eddie's foot, which was sticking out from the side of the blanket mound.
"What the fuck," Richie growled, angry at Eddie's mother. How the fuck could she do something like that? Keeping her son physically in the house?!
Eddie, of course, heard Richie and panicked again, thinking that it was directed toward him. He burrowed deeper into the blankets, not wanting to be seen.
Richie went over the the pile and tried to open it, trying to see Eddie, only for Eddie to let out a sob and try to get deeper under the blankets.
"Eddie," Richie said firmly, but softly at the same time.
He didn't know why Eddie was crying so hard and trying to hide. He thought he was just embarrassed, but it didn't seem likely. Sure, he would be upset, but sobbing and hiding like someone was going to hurt him?
Oh.
"I'm not going to hurt you, Eddie. I promise. I want to help you," Richie said in a gentle voice. He stopped trying to pull at the blankets and stepped away, sitting a good five feet from Eddie.
Eddie's big, brown eyes, peaked out from inside the pile. He saw Richie smiling softly at him, sitting a good distance away, and started to calm down a little bit.
"Can you come out of the blankets for me, Eds?" Richie asked, the gentle tone helping Eddie's heart rate slow down.
Eddie didn't say anything, but he moved so Richie could see his full head, the rest of his body still buried in the blankets.
"Good job, baby," Richie whispered, smiling as Eddie blushed at the pet name. "Can you come out all the way or do you want to stay like that?"
Richie hoped that by making it obvious to Eddie that it was his choice, that he'd trust Richie a little more and feel like he was in control. To Richie's disappointment, Eddie didn't speak or move. He just stared at the ground, obviously anxious and panicked.
"Eddie."
Eddie looked up, the fear still in his eyes.
Richie sighed and scooted a little closer, mentally cheering when Eddie didn't move. "I'm not going to hurt you, okay? Can you tell me why you're so scared?"
Eddie shook his head. Talking meant issues, and issues meant getting hurt.
"I'm not your mom, Eddie. I'm not going to hurt you."
Eddie nodded silently, biting his nails nervously.
They sat in silence for a few minutes, until Eddie shifted the blankets a bit more and revealed his upper half. Part of it was him trying to trust Richie, the other part being that it was too damn hot to have a comforter and sheets piled on him.
Richie watched as Eddie tried to kick away the rest of the blankets. He would have rushed forward and helped, but Eddie seemed to vulnerable. He didn't want to scare him.
Once he was uncovered, Richie could see the scratches all over Eddie's legs. The worst ones were next to his ankles, where the chain was frequently hitting both of them, rubbing the skin raw. Near his thighs and shins were cuts from where the chain must have slapped him as he tried to move around the house.
Eddie looked down at his legs where Richie was staring, realizing the cuts were there. He suddenly felt overexposed and tried to cover up. He never got the chance, as Richie stood and walked toward him.
Eddie tensed up and tugged his knees to his chest, closing his eyes to protect himself. The pain he was expecting never came. Instead, he felt large hands pulling gently at his waist, then moving to carry him.
Eddie kept his eyes closed, but he heard the door to his room open. He really didn't want the others to see him, so he tried to squirm out of Richie's grasp.
"Shh, it's okay. We're going to get you out of that chain," Richie whispered into his ear.
Eddie didn't want to ask what Richie meant by that. Part of him was terrified Richie's genius idea would be to chop off his leg altogether, but the other part of him tried to trust that Richie would never hurt him.
The others sat in the kitchen, all of them turning to look toward the stairs when they heard the scratching of metal on the floor of the mansion. They all saw the chain around Eddie's leg at the same time. Bev started to speak out in anger, but Richie lifted one hand and held a finger to his lips.
He didn't need Eddie freaking out anymore than he already was.
Richie set Eddie on the counter, but Eddie still felt too overexposed. He pulled his knees to his chest and refused to look at anyone. No one said anything until Richie lifted Eddie's head to make eye contact with him.
"Can you trust me just for a few minutes so we can get this off of you?" he whispered as Eddie sat there, the normal fear and terror in his eyes.
He stayed silent for a second before opening his mouth and speaking in a crackly voice.
"Yes."
Familiar Stranger
Start from the beginning
