•••
Harper was sitting at the kitchen table, watching Eddie as he walked through the back door of the house. He sent her a look his eyebrows furrowed.
"I told you to stay with me, Harper." She held her pointer finger up, silencing him before pausing her music.
"-Or have my music on." She turned to him, propping her feet up on the table, "I have two of those things now."
Eddie rolled his eyes with a small smile on his face before turning toward the stove. He pulled open one of the drawers and saw silverware, he closed the draw quickly and opened the cabinet under it. Just pots and pans.
"Nope." He breathed, opening the cabinet near his head. Plates and bowls, he stepped around the stove to open the cabinet next to it, Eddie let out a sigh before opening the one above that. He looked inside before spotting a can of Spaghetti-o's, he picked it up, "Yeah..." He let out a scoff, "You'll do." He pulled out a pot and set it on the stove after turning it on. He opened the Dan and dumped the contents into the pot. Eddie then turned to Harper while stirring the pasta, "Harper, be a dear and try getting Dustin on the walkie?"
Harper chuckled before taking her headphones off and pulling the walkie-talkie from his back pocket and pulling up the antenna, "Dustin~" She said in a singsong voice after pressing the talk button, "Oh, Dustin~ It's Harper and Eddie."
Eddie finished with the spaghetti-os and poured some into a bowl before grabbing two spoons, one for him and one for Harper. He reached over and took the walkie-talkie from Harper before pressing the button and handing her her food.
She took it gratefully and dug her spoon into it.
"Hey, Dustin, this is Eddie the Banished. You there?" He asked, letting go of the talk button before walking down the hall, Harper followed close behind, "Dustin can you hear me?" After another moment of silence, he lifted the walkie again, "Dustin~? Earth to Dustin~"
"Hey, it's Nancy." A soft voice said from the other side. Harper and Eddie shared an interested look.
Eddie fumbled with the walkie before holding it up to his face again, "Wheeler! Hey!" Eddie glanced over towards the windows, "Um, we're gonna need a food delivery, like, really soon." Eddie stepped over to the windows and looked out them, "Unless you want me going out into the world." He turned to Harper sending her a knowing smirk causing her to chuckle.
"No. No, no, no. Don't do that." She paused, "Just stay where you are, and we'll be there as soon as we can."
Eddie turned towards the door, "Yeah- yeah, listen... um... can you pick me up a six-pack?" Harper smacked his shoulder, "I know, it's stupid as sh*t, drinking right now, but uh... cold beer would really calm my jangled nerves."
Harper turned to him, mouthing, "Jangled?" Eddie shrugged in response.
"Hey, I'm gonna have to call you back," Nancy said, sounding nervous.
"No- don't you dare-" The line cut off, "Wheeler? Wheeler?" He pressed the button but got no response, "Sh*t."
Harper turned to Eddie, "They're having a funeral service for Chrissy Cunningham today." Eddie sat down at the table next to Harper.
"You should go," Eddie said, leaning his elbows into the table.
Harper shook her head, "No. I'm gonna stay with you okay? Besides, I'd be sitting in there the entire time with my headphones on, somebody is gonna have a problem with that." Harper explained, chuckling.
Eddie smiled at her, "Thanks, for uh- you know..." He waved his hand in front of him, "-staying with me."
Harper leaned back in her chair, "Of course." She smiled to herself.
•••
Harper sat in the boat, watching Eddie as he threw rocks into the spaghetti-os can. Occasionally he would miss and let out a silent curse. Harper would laugh every time he would miss, saying that it was easy, or even a four-year-old could do it. Harper had taken off her headphones and set them down on the ground.
The sound of a car pulling up caused the two teens to freeze. Eddie spun around and looked out toward the driveway. Harper climbed out of the boat slowly and peeked over Eddie's shoulder, trying to see who it was. Eddie's hand clutched the windowsill nervously. Harper saw a few boys step out of a Jeep Cherokee, each one of them was holding some sort of weapon.
"Oh, sh*t." Harper breathed, pulling away from the window, "Sh*t, sh*t, dammit." She ran her hands through her hair nervously.
Eddie watched as the three boys walked over to the door of the house, "Sh*t, sh*t." He said, moving to the other window, and watching as they let themselves into the house.
"Holy sh*t, Eddie!" Harper whispered.
The boy nodded, quickly grabbing the walkie-talkie, "Hey, Dustin- you there?" He called nervously, "It's Eddie, you remember me right?" He crouched down, "Hey uh- if anyone's there, I really we might be in a bit of trouble here. Okay? Wheeler?" He looked out the window before hitting the walkie, "Anybody!?" He got up from his crouching position next to the window.
Eddie crouched down next to the window. It grew dark quickly the three boys had spent a good 30 minutes searching around the house.
Harper looked out the window and spotted none other than Jason staring out at the boat house.
"Dustin?" Eddie called desperately, "Please. Are- are you there?" He glanced up and spotted the boat in front of him, "Never mind." Eddie quickly untied the ropes from the bot and lowered it into the water. He got in first before helping Harper in. They both grabbed an oar and began frantically rowing. They had made it a good way into the water before hearing Jason call out to him.
"Hey, freak!" Jason yelled.
Eddie and Harper turned around quickly.
"Where do you think you're going?"
Eddie spoke nervously, "Sh*t." He carefully moved Harper as he climbed to the back of the boat, Harper kept rowing while Eddie tried to start the motor, "Come on." He breathed, shaking the boat slightly. Harper glanced down at the water, she did not want to fall in there, "Just come on... you... piece... of... sh*t!" Eddie said, pulling on the chord with every breath. Eddie looked down at the motor, "Come on. You gotta help me out here man." He growled, "Come on!"
Harper turned to see the guys taking off their suits and jumping in the water.
"Eddie!" She called out, gaining his attention. She tilted her head to the guys. Eddie's eyes widened before trying one more time.
"Come on you piece of sh*t!" He tried harder, "Goddamn it!" He cried. He smacked it before turning around, "Nope! Okay! Alright, okay!" He stepped around Harper again and grabbed an oar, rowing frantically.
"Sh*t, sh*t!" Harper breathed, they weren't fast enough.
Eddie gave up, stepping in front of Harper and swinging his oar around, "Hey! Stay back, man! Stay back!" He swung it towards Jason, "Stay back!"
Jason stopped and turned around towards the other boy her was with, "Hey come on, we almost have him!" The other boy looked around frantically as if he was hearing something, "Hey, Patrick? Patrick!"
Patrick was pulled under the water with no chance to take a breath. Eddie paused, looking around for the other boy. The waters were silent except for Jason calling out for Patrick.
The calmness of the water was broken by Patrick lifting out of the water and literally floating in the air. Eddie took a shocked step back, ripping the boat. Both he and Harper fell into the icy cold waters. Harper quickly swam back to the surface, followed closely by Eddie.
Harper let out a gasp as she saw the scene in front of her play out. Patrick, who was floating a few feet in the air, his bones started snapping out of place, and his eyes rolled to the back of his head. And his jaw snapped before his eyes were sucked into his skull. Then his body dropped into the water. Jason let out a cry before swimming over to Patrick and grabbing his body. Eddie looked over at Harper who was still staring shocked at what had just happened.
"Harper." Eddie breathed gaining her attention, "Let's go."
Harper nodded nervously before the two began to swim back to shore. As soon as their feet landed on solid ground they began running. They only stopped when they got to Skull Rock. Neither of them knew a safe place to go. And now even worse, Harper was going to be pulled into the situation.
The two of them sat down on the ground, leaning against the rocks.
"What the hell." Harper breathed, leaning down, her face in her hands, "Is that what's gonna happen to me?" She asked, her statement gave her a sudden realization and her eyes widened, "Damn, Eddie... my Walkman is still at the boathouse." Her voice was low.
Eddie turned to her concern on his face, "How long do you think you have?" He asked.
"I don't know."
Eddie let out a shaky breath, "Jesus. What the hell is going on, man." He looked over at Harper who was just as shaken up (if not more) as he was, "Sh*t." He leaned his head against the rock behind him.
Harper wrapped her arms around herself realizing how cold it was. The water in Lovers lake was freezing, and even worse now that it was night. Eddie took off his jackets that were soaked and laid them across the rock. He glanced over at Harper before standing up and sitting next to her. He wrapped his arms around her and held her tight.
His body heat helped a little but the fact remained that they were both still in wet cold clothes.
"Thanks, Eddie," Harper said. His embrace calmed her down, she was sure that Eddie probably felt a lot worse when he had seen Chrissy die. Harper leaned her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes. Even if she couldn't get any sleep it would be good to rest.
Barely anyone came down to Skull Rock at night.
•••
The sun shone in her eyes, waking Harper up. She suddenly felt a lack of Eddie's presence. She shot up quickly, "Eddie?" Harper called, before stepping around the rock. She let out a sigh of relief when she saw him leaning against the rock.
He turned to Harper and held out his hand, clutched in his fingers were her Walkman and their headphones. Harper took them gratefully, clipping the Walkman to her belt and placing the headphones around her neck.
"You went back?" She asked.
He nodded, "I had to go through hell to get those." He paused before pulling out a walkie-talkie, "Ours fell in the water... I tried to get it to work but it was totally busted. So I had to take this from a nearby construction site." Eddie said, making his way underneath the rock and sitting down, followed closely by Harper.
Harper smirked, "You're a genius, Munson."
"Yeah, I know." Eddie chuckled with a small smile on his face. He then looked down at the walkie, pulled up the antenna, turned the frequency, and pressed the talk button, "Dustin, can you hear me? Wheeler?"
There was silence before hearing Dustin's voice over the walkie, "Eddie, holy sh*t. Are you okay?" Eddie clenched his fist before pressing it against his face "Nah man, pretty- pretty goddamn far from okay."
"Where are you?" Dustin asked, Harper could hear people speaking on the other side.
Eddie chuckled nervously, "Skull rock. Do you know it?"
"Uh yeah, that's near Cornwallis and—"
Steve cut off Dustin, "Garrett, yeah, yeah I know where that is." Harper rolled her eyes, mocking Steve with one hand.
"Hold tight, we're coming. We're coming." Dustin reassured them.
Eddie nodded, hearing the line go quiet, and put the walkie down. He leaned back before covering his face with his hands. Harper placed her hand on his back. Trying to reassure him that everything would be okay.
•••