MARCH 26TH, 1996
📍the upside down
22:16 PM
"it's only natural, but why did it have to be me..?"
tillie gasped heavily, feeling herself quickly drop to the floor. before she felt the impact, she landed in someone's arms and turned her head to see a smiling steve.
"hey there," he said softly, making the girl sigh in relief. "it's okay, you're safe."
the blonde turned her head in the opposite direction, scanning for one face in particular. once she met his gaze, he grinned widely, discarding his guitar onto the floor as he ran up to her.
immediately, the girl leapt from steve's arms into eddie's, throwing her arms tightly around his neck. in an instant, eddie wrapped one arm around her waist, using the other to stroke her head gently.
she began to sniffle, burying her face in his neck and inhaling his scent to bring herself some comfort. eddie smiled, kissing her forehead repeatedly.
the other three watched them embrace happily. "they're actually so cute, i'm going to cry," robin remarked.
as her heartbeat and breathing began to pace, tillie whispered, "i thought you'd rather die than learn how to play an abba song."
eddie chuckled lightly and shrugged. "life or death situation."
after a moment, tillie's grip on him began to loosen and she removed her hands from his neck, wiping a stray tear from her cheek. eddie, however, still kept an arm clung to her waist, something he wished he'd done before.
"what happened, tillie?" nancy asked. "you didn't have any of the symptoms, i don't understand.."
"he didn't give me any of it," tillie explained. "he said he only discovered who i was today, but he wished he'd found me sooner as i would've made a better kill than chrissy."
"i swear to god, i am going to rip out the heart of that slimy little asshole," eddie hissed. "i doubt he has one, but still."
"i'm sorry that none of us realized you were gone," nancy told the girl, noticing how shaken she looked. "it's like one second you were there and then.. you just vanished."
"yeah," tillie swallowed. "we were just talking to dustin and then i heard chrissy calling to me, and then i saw this vision of her but then she turned into him, and then.. we were in this house with.. with a clock and there were like these pillars with chrissy, fred and myles in them, like their bodies were some.. some trophies on display and-" she paused, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. "can we just get out of here, please?"
nancy nodded, beginning to lead them back into the house. "dustin thinks he found a way, so, if we're lucky, we'll be out of here very soon."
as they headed back into the house, tillie cautiously looked around, making sure nothing strange was going on.
"hey," eddie said softly, his arm still around her middle. "it's okay, mattie. you're safe, i promise you that, okay? i'm not going to let anything else happen to you, i swear."
tillie nodded and smiled, looking up at him. "you saved me, you know? again. if i'm the princess, you're literally my knight in shining armor."
"my clothes aren't exactly shining," he joked lightly. "it's my honor, really. i'd do it a thousand times over if i had to. but, please, don't actively put yourself in a situation where you need rescuing."
"i'll try not to," she told him, walking through the door into the wheeler's house.
"any updates? we're kind of shitting ourselves over here, guys.."
'hi,' nancy wrote back.
"hi? hi!" dustin exclaimed. "what happened? is tillie okay?"
'yes,' the brunette replied, making dustin cheer happily. 'exit?'
"exit? oh, right, how to get you guys out of there. we think watergate isn't the only gate. that there's a gate at every murder site," the curly haired boy explained.
"does anybody understand what he's talking about?" nancy asked, earning shaked heads from the rest of them. she sighed, drawing a '?' to dustin.
"seriously? how many times do i have to be right on the money before you guys just trust me?" the boy screeched.
"jesus christ," steve commented. "this kid's gotta get his ego in check."
"it's his tone, right?" eddie nodded along.
"i know," steve agreed.
"okay, so how far is your trailer?" nancy interrupted the two, directing her question to eddie, of course.
"seven miles," eddie and tillie answered together.
"nancy?" robin added to the conversation. "uh, i know your house here is, like, weirdly, creepily frozen in time and shit, but haven't you always had bikes?"
nancy had a look of realization on her face. "the garage.."
hastily, the five of them headed out to nancy's garage and pulled out four, perfectly intact bikes.
"so, who's sharing?" steve queried. "there's five of us, only four bikes."
"me and mattie, obviously," eddie replied, walking over to grab one of the bikes. "is that even a question?"
steve raised his eyebrows and shrugged. "guess not."
the other three clambered onto their bikes, whilst tillie and eddie tried to figure out the best way to sit.
"no, because you're too short," eddie replied, dismissing her idea of her sitting at the back. "you won't be able to see shit and it will be awkward for us to talk."
"so, what then?" tillie sighed, getting more annoyed by the minute. all she wanted to do was to go back to hawkins and sleep the day off.
eddie sat on the bike as one normally would, before gesturing for her to sit on his lap. she was going to question it, but decided not to and simply climbed on, resting her head against his shoulder. he wrapped his arms around her waist and gripped the handlebars, creating a safety feature which prevented the blonde from falling off.
"comfortable?" eddie asked, receiving a small nod.
"ready to go?" nancy asked.
"after you," eddie smiled, and the brunette began cycling them towards eddie's house.
on the journey, eddie tried to make light conversation with tillie, who was definitely not up for it.
"mats," he hummed against her head. "are you okay?"
"not really," she replied quietly, closing her eyes. "i just want to cry. and sleep."
"i promise you, when we get back, i'll find a way to get you some rest, okay?"
- 📻🪐🏹 -
MARCH 26TH, 1986
📍eddie's trailer
23:12 PM
"this one, right here," eddie told them as the pulled to a stop in front of his house and climbed off their bikes.
"that's gotta be a guinness world record," robin remarked as they made their way into eddie's trailer. "most miles traveled interdimensionally."
once they stepped inside, they immediately noticed the large, glowing gate on eddie's roof.
"this is where chrissy died," eddie informed them, the thought of which making tillie shudder. "like, right where she died.."
"i think there's something in there," robin replied, as they saw something trying to break through from the other side.
"what the hell is that?" eddie muttered, before the thing came all the way through, making them shriek.
thankfully though, they discovered it was only dustin and the other kids who'd broken the seal with a broom.
"no way," steve murmured, looking up at dustin who began to laugh heavily.
"hi there," the young boy smiled excitedly.
"hi.." the older group said to them awkwardly.
"holy shit, this is trippy," robin commented, as the kids began gathering everything they needed, including eddie's mattress and bedsheets.
they placed the mattress on the floor in front of them, making the teens look at it curiously, all wondering the same thing.
"those stains are, uh.." eddie tried to answer, before shrugging. "i dunno what those stains are."
"mm," robin nodded in disgust.
dustin threw down a bedsheet they had tied into a rope, allowing the teens a way to climb back into their regular dimension.
"all right, pull on it!" dustin called through to them. "see if it holds."
robin grabbed onto the fabric and used her entire body weight to try and pull it down, but it didn't budge. "guess i'm the guinea pig," she said, before beginning to climb up the sheets, landing flat on her back on eddie's mattress at the other side. "oh, thank god. that was fun."
the remaining four teens looked at each other, unsure of who to go next. eddie sighed, holding his hand out to help tillie up. "okay, mattie, you're up. ladies first."
"you know a hand isn't going to be enough, right?" tillie smiled.
"right, sorry, sometimes i forget how small you are," he replied, connecting his fingers together and allowing her to step onto his hand, giving her an extra push up.
she fell through the gate, landing in the same manner robin did, and shortly after, eddie began climbing through too, though his landing was less graceful than his blonde friend's.
he stood up from the mattress, sighing in contentment as he saw his trailer. he brought tillie close to him, wrapping his arms around her. "finally, we're home."
tillie smiled, leaning into his touch as they waited for steve and nancy to come through. however, they didn't. but it wasn't until steve started screaming that they began to get really concerned.
"nancy. hey! hey! stay with me. nancy! hey! nancy wake up. nancy!"
the group huddled and looked though the portal, seeing steve frantically shaking nancy who seemed to be in some sort of trance.
"vecna," max stated.
"seriously?" eddie exclaimed. "can he please give us a break? for the love of god. i am so sick of that little shit showing up every five minutes."
- 📻🪐🏹 -
bit of fluff after scaring the shit out of you guys in recent chapters 😽
WORD COUNT - 1632.