Mansion 💫 Reddie

Mentally Infected

"Do you have a first aid kit here? We need to clean up the cuts on your legs or they could get infected."

Eddie changed his gaze to where his legs were dangling off the counter, and he saw the nasty cuts that had been caused by the chain hitting him over and over. The sight of the blood and skin made him want to vomit.

He nodded at Bev quickly, pointing to a cabinet above the sink.

She smiled and went over, retrieving the kit and shuffling through it contents before grabbing bandaids and disinfect pads to clean the wounds. They stung Eddie as Bev cleaned them, but he didn't offer any reaction. It wasn't the worst pain he had gone through, even if he was uncomfortable with Bev touching his legs to help clean him.

There was a loud knock at the front door and Eddie's heart rate instantly picked up.

"What if she came home early? She's gonna kill me if she sees all of these people here! What do I do? They need to leave, it's not safe," he thought frantically, trying to pull away from Richie.

Richie could feel Eddie's heart rate pick up and he struggled to keep him from trying to get away.

"Let go! You need to go! She's back, she's gonna be mad, you need to leave!" Eddie screamed, weakly hitting Richie's arm to try to get him to let go. He had started crying again, his breathing a lot quicker.

Richie could tell he was on the verge of an asthma attack, so he held him even tighter so he couldn't run off and get hurt.

"It's okay, it's just Mike, Stan, Ben, and Bill. Your mom's at work," Richie said as Eddie continued to squirm and panic.

Sure enough, the rest of the losers walked into the kitchen seconds later, a backpack on Mike's back. Once he saw them, Eddie stopped screaming and fighting, but he was still shaking and crying silently.

"You might want to cover his eyes," Mike said, knowing that Eddie would be terrified when he saw what he brought to free him.

Richie didn't want to risk Eddie panicking again, but he knew Mike was right. He gently placed his hand over Eddie's eyes, who didn't even react. Eddie stayed still for the most part, except for his consistent shaking and crying. Richie could feel the tears on his hand.

Mike pulled out a large pair of pliers that were used often on his farm. They could break metal, but everyone knew if Eddie saw them he'd die on the spot from stress.

Richie wanted nothing more than to tell Mike to fuck off with his giant scary pliers, but he knew that's what needed to be done. He kept one hand firmly over Eddie's eyes and the other tightly around the front of his stomach, trying to keep him as still as possible. Richie didn't know if he'd be able to handle it if Mike accidentally cut Eddie.

Richie whispered calming things into Eddie's ear while Mike maneuvered the pliers under part of the cuff on Eddie's leg.

Mike and Ben, the strongest of the group, worked together to try to ease the tool through the metal on Eddie's leg, all while avoiding accidentally cutting his leg. They didn't know if Eddie would be able to trust them if that happened, whether it be on accident or not.

After a tedious thirty minutes where the only sound that could be heard was the heavy breathing of all of the stressed out teenagers, a heavy thump was heard on the floor. Everyone began cheering silently as the cuff finally came undone from Eddie's leg, hitting the floor and freeing him.

Richie moved his hand away from Eddie's eyes, both of them looking down at his leg. The only thing to be seen was a red mark all around his ankle from the painful rubbing of the ring, but no metal in sight.

Eddie slowly lifted his leg up so his foot was settled on the counter, examining the injury. It hurt, but it wasn't caught anymore. He didn't know whether to smile or cry, still overwhelmed and trapped in his own head.

The mansion wasn't helping. It was dark inside, despite being daytime. All Eddie knew was fear inside the mansion, so he definitely didn't want to be there. He just didn't know how to tell the losers.

Luckily, Richie seemed to catch on to what he was thinking after watching Eddie examine his ankle and look around the mansion in fear.

"Do you want to leave?" he asked quietly, his arm still around Eddie's stomach.

Eddie nodded frantically, trying to stand but almost falling because his foot hurt and he was so tense. Richie managed to catch him, lifting him up and carrying him outside to where their bikes were.

"Can we go back to your place?" Richie asked Bill, who instantly said yes, getting on his bike to lead the group home.

"Don't worry, Eds," Richie whispered as he struggled to carry Eddie with one arm and ride his bike with the other. "We'll have you healed in no time."

Eddie didn't hear him. He was still in his head, still scared, but was trying to break free.