MARCH 28TH, 1986
📍steve's house
12:49 PM
nancy walked into the living room, where tillie was laid on the sofa thinking. "he's awake," she told her. "he's asking for you."
after the events of the previous night, the group had retreated back to steve's house. his parents were out of town, so he offered for tillie and eddie to stay there for a few days whilst they figured things out.
even after everything they did, vecna still won. their plan failed and his worked. he'd killed max, who was then brought back to life by eleven, who'd been fighting vecna in her mind. though she was alive, max was currently in a coma, with several broken bones. the doctors didn't know if she'd wake up.
tillie was eager to visit the girl. she felt extremely guilty. if only she'd been the bait for vecna like she wanted, then maybe this whole situation would be different. however, because of the search party out for her, she obviously couldn't stroll into hawkins hospital to see a friend.
because of her death, vecna was able to create another gate, meaning he had the four needed for his plan. the cracks formed from each murder ripped open and teared through hawkins, meeting at a point in the center. the government covered it up, claiming it was an extremely large earthquake. how anyone believed that, tillie didn't know.
two of the twenty two people confirmed dead from the "earthquake" so far was tillie's parents. she didn't quite know how she was supposed to feel about that.
she hadn't seen eddie since they arrived back at steve's. she couldn't look at him any longer given the state he was in, so nancy helped clean and bandage his wounds, whilst tillie showered and rinsed his blood off her hands.
steve had given her a change of clothes, and offered one of the spare bedrooms for her to sleep in. but she couldn't sleep until she knew eddie was going to be okay.
standing up, tillie began heading towards the stairs.
"he doesn't know how he's alive," nancy called back to her. "he remembers everything going black and then waking up here. i didn't tell him that it was you who saved him. i thought you should be the one to."
"thanks," tillie said with a small smile. "can you make sure nobody disturbs us for a while? i just need to be with him for a moment, you know?"
nancy nodded. "sure."
the blonde smiled at her one last time, before heading upstairs into the bedroom eddie was in. she lightly pushed open the door, closing it behind her and turned around, seeing him laid shirtless on the bed.
sitting slightly upright with pillows behind his back, he had two large bandages around his side and shoulder, and multiple little dressings in several other places on his chest and arms. tears began forming in her eyes as she watched him lay there weakly.
"there's my princess," he mumbled with a soft smile. "i promise it's not as bad as it looks. i think nancy just got a little excited with steve's first aid kit," he joked lightly. he pointed to his right shoulder and left side. "these are where the nasty shits really got me. the rest are just scratches or little bites. oh, and nancy said i had bruised ribs from something too and-"
he stopped, looking up and seeing tillie biting her lip, tears rolling down both cheeks.
"hey, i'm okay," he told her. he patted at the space beside him. "come here."
the blonde approached him, cautiously sitting on the bed besides him. she didn't know where to go that wouldn't cause him pain.
he held out his left arm, gesturing for her to come lay her head on his shoulder. carefully, she maneuvered herself into the position, burying her face into his neck as she cried.
eddie wrapped his arm around her, stroking her head soothingly. "i'm okay, mattie. i swear to you i am fine. okay, maybe i'm not fine fine, but i will be fine. at least i'm alive."
hearing the words 'i'm alive' only made tillie sob more.
"hey, mattie," he cooed. "it's okay."
sniffling, the girl moved back, and eddie lifted his arm to try and wipe some of the tears from her face, ignoring how much it discomforted him.
"you know yesterday, when you said that if you ever lost me, you would completely fall apart? that it would break you?" tillie asked, her voice cracking gently as eddie nodded along. "well, i did lose you. you died. you quite literally died in my arms.. and it was the worst thing i've ever been through. it hurt so much."
eddie saw the genuine pain in her voice as she told him what happened. he furrowed his brows softly. "wait so, how.. how am i alive?"
"i was in denial for a little while. the others were trying to tell me that you were already gone, but i didn't understand. and when i finally did, i felt my heart literally shatter into a million pieces. you were all i had left. i needed you," she told him as he listened intently, stroking her face softly with his hand. "and i realized if i wanted you so badly, i had to do something about it... you know how school always makes us do those shitty first aid classes every year? yeah, well, i actually listened to them. the bruises on your ribs? they're from me. i gave you cpr."
"are you saying that you brought me back?"
"it wasn't easy," the blonde replied. "i was wailing hysterically, i literally sounded like a banshee or something. steve tried to pull me off your body, but i kept fighting for you. i wouldn't stop until you came back to me."
"and i did," he smiled. "you saved my life."
"you saved mine," tillie shrugged. "i just returned the favor."
"i sang you a song," he replied amusedly. "you restarted my heart. there's a pretty big difference."
smiling, tillie leaned forwards and pressed her lips to his gently. she pulled away after a moment, murmuring against his lips. "please never scare me like that again."
"i'll try," he replied.
"i'm serious, eddie," she told him. "you stressed me out so much that i'm gonna have wrinkles by the time i'm twenty."
eddie kissed her again, mumbling, "you'll still be the most beautiful girl in the world."
she smiled, until a yawn broke her grin.
"tired?" he asked her. "you look exhausted. when was the last time you slept?"
"honestly? i can't remember," tillie told him in response. "these past few days have been a total blur."
"you didn't rest when we got back?"
"i mean, i.. i rested. i've been laid on the sofa for a while. and i've eaten something, before you ask. i just couldn't sleep until i knew you were okay," she stated. she gestured up to her forehead, where a dressing was over her wound. "and nancy said it was probably better if i didn't sleep straight after this. until she knew i didn't have a concussion, which thankfully i don't."
"what happened to your head, can i ask?" eddie wondered.
"uh, vecna's vines decided to trip me up, and i slammed my head straight into the floor. wasn't pretty," the blonde said. she pulled down steve's sweatshirt, revealing a bruise around her neck. "they also tried to choke me too, so we're matching there, and uh-" she paused to yawn again.
"come on," he said, slowly adjusting his position so he was laid flat on his back, groaning in pain as he did so. "you can tell me the rest later, sweetheart. you need your rest."
tillie smiled at the nickname, carefully laying down herself.
eddie stared at her curiously. "what are you doing?"
"laying down?"
"i know, but why are you so far away?" he queried, noticing how she'd shuffled away from him.
"because you're coated in cuts and bites and wounds," she told him. "i don't want to hurt you."
"you're so adorable," he told her with a grin. he tapped on the same shoulder she was resting on earlier. "put your head here or something. just come close enough so i can wrap my arm around you."
still cautious of hurting him, she ended up placing her head on his upper arm, and the boy wrapped the rest of his arm around her, kissing her forehead softly.
"eddie," tillie mumbled, feeling herself drifting to sleep already. "you're the best thing that's ever happened to me."
- 📻🪐🏹 -
MARCH 28TH, 1986
📍steve's house
18:17 PM
a few hours later and tillie began stirring awake. eddie was watching her in amusement as she adjusted to the light.
"morning, princess," he smiled.
"is it even the morning?" she asked, rubbing her eyes gently.
"um, it's.." he looked over at the clock on steve's wall. "i don't know. i can't read clocks. but, it's not the morning. i can see the sun setting."
tillie smiled, sighing in contentment. "so, i had a dream. it was about me and chrissy when were kids."
"go on.." eddie replied, beginning to run his fingers through her hair.
"every summer we would go to this lake house that my parents owned," she told him. "but then, when we got to our early teenage years, that's when my parents started fighting and just everything went downhill and we haven't gone back since."
eddie nodded along, listening to the girl intently.
"but the thing is, my parents own it. they built it, and it really is just in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of the woods," she said. "i was thinking that, seeing as we still need to get out of here, we could go there. if you still wanted to runaway with me that is.."
"of course i do," he replied. "but i have so many questions. what about your parents? what about food? what about the costs?"
"my parents are dead," she told him blankly in response. "they died from vecna's gates opening."
"what?" eddie exclaimed.
"oh, love, you really need to get caught up," tillie told him. "vecna still won. granted, we killed him, or at least we think we did, but he still got to max."
"is she..?"
"dead? no," tillie shook her head. "i guess, he did kill max but not really. she snapped out of it, but he'd already started breaking her bones and you know.. she succumbed to her injuries. and then somehow, her heart just restarted. the doctors don't know how but she's in a coma, in a critical state."
"oh my god," eddie sighed. "jesus.."
"i know," tillie nodded. "that's why i want to get out of here as soon as possible."
"okay, but food? costs? things like that? i mean, what is your plan for when we do get out of here?"
"well, my house is still perfectly intact. so i figured, i can go there and get the keys for the lake house. and my parents have been doing this thing since i was born, where they've just been saving up money in a jar for when chrissy and i go to college. now, i don't know how much is in there, but they were planning on sending us to some upper class private college, so there must be a lot, you know? and since i'm not going to college, i thought what better way to spend that money than giving them a big fuck you and running away with you?"
eddie smiled. "you sure you want to waste your money on little old me?"
"definitely," she told him. "now, the lake house is about 150 miles from here, but around 7 miles from the lake house, there's this little town with shops and everything we'd need, basically. it's where my mother used to go to get groceries and things for the house. i figured, like, twice a month or something, i could drive up and get anything we need. i'd have to wear a disguise, but still."
"as much as i'd love to spend the rest of our lives in a little lake house with you," eddie started. "won't the money just run out eventually?"
"i mean, yeah, but," tillie explained. "we'll have enough money to live there comfortably for, i don't know, years if we needed to. and then, once you're all healed up, we could go.. anywhere. steve knows some people who used to work in hawkins lab, and they could get us documents with different names on and such. we may have to change our appearance a little, but it means we could go anywhere in the world, get jobs and a house and.. sorry, am i getting too ahead of myself?"
"no," eddie replied with a smile, shaking his head. he leant over and kissed her gently. "it's perfect."
"yeah?" she wondered. "i know it's crazy and there's a lot to figure out-"
"but we'll figure it out together," eddie finished for her. "when are we leaving?"
"whenever," tillie shrugged. "we could leave tonight if you wanted to."
"really?" eddie asked eagerly. "can we?"
"yeah, if you really wanted," the blonde replied, laughing gently at they boy's excitement. "are you going to be able to walk okay, though? i mean, we're going to be in my car for a lot of it, but are you going to be in pain when moving about or anything?"
"pfft, me? i'll be fine," eddie said casually. "wait, how did i even get back here? from the upside down?"
"do you really wanna know?" tillie queried, a mischievous smirk on her face. "it will really deflate your ego."
"tell me," he stated.
"steve carried you.."
"harrington carried me?" eddie exclaimed, burying his face in her hair. "god, that's so embarrassing," he mumbled.
"it was quite hilarious, actually," she responded.
"well, i think you look quite hilarious in steve's clothes," the boy sassed in response, making the girls jaw drop. "i'm just kidding, princess. you look good in everything," he told her.
"oh, thanks," she smiled lightly.
"you look better in my clothes, though," eddie remarked. "just saying.."
playfully, she rolled her eyes and smiled. "we're really doing the get-out-of-hawkins plan?"
"we're really doing it," eddie nodded, before kissing her softly.
tillie grinned even wider, sitting up, much to his annoyance. "okay, well there's a few things i've got to do. obviously, i need to get the keys and money, my car and some clothes and shit. um, but i also need to visit someone. i'll be careful, i promise. but if we're getting out of here for good, i need to give her a proper goodbye.."
the blonde stood up as eddie nodded, understanding who she was talking about. "tell her i said i'm sorry. and that i promise to take care of you."
"i will," tillie smiled, bending down to peck his lips. "i'll see you in a bit, okay? nancy will come and check your bandages soon."
"okay," he replied. "later, princess."
- 📻🪐🏹 -
thought you deserved an extra long, fluffy chapter after everything i've put you through 😽
anyways, all the shitty people in tillie's life are now dead. you're welcome 🫶
WORD COUNT - 2556.