So sorry this took so long to update, I've been super busy with the end of the school year fast approaching. Enjoy this, loves<33
Y/n's pov
Steve drove down a driveway, the headlights of his car piercing through the fog.
We came to a stop at a house with a mailbox marked 'Lipton.'
We all got out and made our way to the porch.
Dustin rang the doorbell, standing close to it as the rest of us shone our flashlights down on the white wooden door.
When no response came, he rang it again.
Still nothing.
He began to violently press the doorbell, over and over.
"Okay, well that's settled. I guess he's not here." Steve said as Dustin began to bang on the door repetitively with his fist.
"Eddie!!" He shouted at the door.
"Great." Steve said in sarcasm.
"It's Dustin and Y/n!" Dustin shone his flashlight into the murky window. "We just want to talk, okay? No cops, I swear, we just want to help."
Dustin began to pound on the door as hard as he could. "Eddie!!"
"Shhh!!" Steve shushed him.
Dustin went back and forth between ringing the doorbell, knocking and yelling.
"Maybe, he's not here, Dustin." I offered, wanting the ringing and pounding to stop.
"Well, where the hell is he?!" Dustin asked.
"Rick!!" He knocked again. "Reefer Rick!"
"Don't scream that." Steve scolded.
"Rick!!!" Dustin ignored him.
"Gah, he's not there!" Steve sort of whispered.
"Reefer Rick!" Dustin would not quit. "He could just be really high."
Robin peered into the window with her flashlight, eyeing the dusty blinds.
Steve looked down to the doormat. "Is that a foot?"
"What?" Dustin asked.
"No, that's just a shoe." I stated, lifting up the mat to look for a key.
"Hey, guys?" Max called and it was only then that I realized she had drifted away from the group.
She was staring at something just past the house, her flashlight at face level.
The four of us made our way over to her with our flashlights.
The door to a dock shed was slightly ajar, and Max was looking at it with fascination and an idea.
The door creaked open and the light from our flashlights broke the darkness.
Moldy life jackets, paddles and all sorts of junk littered the shed, giving it an eerie feeling.
Steve picked up a discarded wooden paddle and began to shove it into a boat with a tarp, making a tremendous amount of noise.
Dustin jumped beside me. "What are you doing?!" He whisper shouted.
When he got no answer, he repeated himself. "What are you doing?"
"He might be in here." Steve suggested, continuing to hit the tarp harshly.
"So take the tarp off!" Dustin shouted quietly.
"You're so brave, you take the tarp off!" Steve argued back, continuing to stab the tarp.
I rolled my eyes, shining my flashlight onto the walls.
"Hey." Max called. "Look over here."
Robin and I walked up to her, peering at the newly discarded food wrappers.
"Someone was here." Max said.
"Maybe he heard us." Robin suggested in a hushed whisper. "Got spooked and ran."
"No way. If he heard us he's probably hiding in here somewhere." I shrugged.
"Don't worry." Dustin said loudly. "Steve'll get him with his oar."
I snorted a bit, covering my mouth with my hand.
"I know you think you're being funny Henderson, but considering the fact that everyone in this room has nearly died about a hundred times." Steve said, Dustin making sarcastic faces at him. "Personally, I don't find it funny enough-"
Steve was cut off by a figure launching itself from the tarp, everyone shouted and yelled as the person grabbed Steve by the shoulders, pushing him into the wall.
"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait!" Steve protested as Dustin backed up into me and Steve was smashed against the wall.
There Eddie was, holding Steve to the wall and a broken glass bottle to his neck.
"Woah, woah, woah, woah!"
"Wait, wait, wait!"
"Eddie!" Dustin yelled.
"Jesus, Eddie!" I shouted. "Holy shit, Eddie."
"Stop!!" Dustin yelled.
"Eddie!" I bumped into Dustin.
Eddie looked away from Steve upon hearing Dustin's and my voice.
"It's me." Dustin pointed to himself. "It's us." He gestured to the two of us.
"It's Y/n and Dustin. We're your friends." I said as calmly as possible.
"This is Steve." Dustin pointed at him. "He's not gonna hurt you, right, Steve?"
"Right, yeah." Steve whispered.
"Don't worry, Eddie, Steve wouldn't hurt a fly." I said, Steve nodding along.
"Steve, why don't you drop the oar?" I suggested, widening my eyes at him.
Steve let go of the paddle and Eddie freaked out, bringing the bottle closer to his neck.
"He's cool! He's cool." Dustin's hand was raised.
"Cool, man, I'm cool, cool." Steve whispered.
"What are you doing here?" Eddie's voice was menacing but it wavered a bit.
I sighed. "We're looking for you. Haven't been able to find you since... well, you know."
Robin shifted uneasily behind me. "We're here to help."
"Eddie." Dustin spoke calmly. "These are Y/n and I's friends."
"Y/n's and my friends, thank you very much." I corrected him and it seemed to relax Eddie just a bit knowing I was still the same old Y/n.
"You know Robin." Dustin pointed at her and she shrugged at Eddie. "From band." Robin made a trumpet noise and hand gesture.
"This is our friend Max." I gestured at her. "The cool one who never wants to play D&D."
Max awkwardly waved.
"Eddie." Dustin sighed. "We're on your side."
Eddie looked super skeptical.
"I swear on my mother." Dustin said loudly. "Right, guys??"
Max nodded quickly. "Yes, yes, we swear."
"On Dustin's mother." Robing nodded.
"Dustin's- Dustin's mother." Steve was looking uncomfortable.
Eddie awaited my response.
"Yeah, yeah, Dustin's mom." I sighed.
Eddie's hand shook and we all waited in anticipation before he got up, walking away from Steve.
"Jesus Christ." Steve sighed.
Eddie stood in the corner and Steve was hunched over, panting.
"You okay, Steve?" I asked, patting his back.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm great. Great." Steve sassed, standing upright.
I raised my arms. "Why do I even try?" I rolled my eyes.
Dustin and I walked over to Eddie as Robin helped Steve.
Eddie sat down.
"Eddie." Dustin slowly crouched in front of our friend. "We just want to talk."
Dustin reached for the bottle but Eddie quickly flinched it away.
"Okay." Dustin said as Robin got down next to us.
"We wanna know what happened." She spoke.
Eddie sniffed. "You won't believe me." He said.
"Don't be so sure of yourself." I said.
"Try us." Max nodded.
Eddie stared up at her inquisitively.
——
"Hey body just, like, lifted up into the air." He recounted. "And she just like, hung there. In the air"
"And her bones-uh-" he winced at the thought. "Her bones started to snap. "And her eyes, it was like there was something inside her head pulling."
We all stared at him, horrified.
"I-I didn't know what to do so I, I.... I ran away." He wore a sad and scared expression. "I left her there."
He looked around at us shiftily. "You all think I'm crazy, right?" He started to tear up.
"No." Dustin shook his head. "We don't think you're crazy at all."
"Don't bullshit me, man! I know how this sounds." Eddie's voice cracked.
"We're not bullshitting you." Max said.
"Yeah. Swear on Dustin's mother." I nodded.
"We believe you." Robin said.
Eddie sighed exasperatedly.
"Look, what I'm about to tell you might be a little..." Dustin searched for the right word.
"-Difficult to take." I finished for him.
"Okay." Eddie nodded.
"You know how people say Hawkins is... Cursed?" Dustin asked. "They're not... way off."
"Not way off at all." I shook my head with pursed lips.
"There's another world." Dustin said. "A world hidden beneath Hawkins."
"And sometimes it... bleeds into ours." I added.
"Like ghosts and shit?" Eddie asked.
"Worse than ghosts." I said slowly. "So much worse than ghosts."
"Did you see anything?" Robin asked.
"Dark particles maybe?" Max asked.
Eddie shook his head.
"It would almost look like dust." Dustin said.
"Swirling dust." I nodded.
"No, man. There was nothing you could see or... or touch." Eddie said.
"She couldn't move." Eddie remembered. "It was like she was in a trance or something."
"Or under a spell." Dustin said, a cloud of realization forming over his head.
"The curse." Eddie looked up at the both of us.
"Vecna's curse." I said, my heartbeat quickening. "Shit."
"Who's Vecna?" Steve asked.
"An undead creature of great power." Dustin sighed.
"A spell caster." Eddie was still in his trance.
"A dark wizard." Dustin said.
"Well, shit." I said. "Once again, we're talking the destruction of our world times one hundred."
Word count: 1449