𓆩♡𓆪

𝐀𝐒 𝐒𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐃 𝐃𝐎𝐖𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐑𝐎𝐀𝐃, Lizzie tried to regain her composure. She was still crying hard, feeling very overwhelmed with a mix of emotions. A break in the treeline came into view over the horizon and Lizzie squinted into the darkness to get a better look. She rounded a bend and now the headlights illuminated a sign that was posted on the edge of the fence.

Forest Hills Trailer Park.

Isn't that where Eddie lives, Lizzie thought to herself. She remembered him talking about it a time or two.

After all that had happened that night, Lizzie could really use a chat with Eddie. He always made her feel so safe, so seen, and so comfortable. It was exactly what she needed.

Without using her blinker, she turned down the gravel path into the park. She drove until she saw Eddie's van parked outside one of the trailers. She figured that one must be his and she pulled up right beside the old beat up van. She turned the engine off and got out of her car, carefully stepping up the concrete stairs. She knocked once, twice, and then three times before she leaned back and hugged herself, the wind chilling her bare legs, making her regret wearing shorts.

The door cracked open and Lizzie saw one of Eddie's eyes peering through the gap. His eyebrows scrunched together at the sight of her before he opened the door a little bit wider. "Lizzie?" His voice was quiet. "What are you doing here?"

"I had a fight with Steve." She said, looking down at her shoes.

Eddie fell silent for a moment, then he said, "Come on in."

He held the door for her, allowing Lizzie to step out of the cold and into the trailer. He shut and locked the door behind them and she looked around to take in her surroundings.

"Hey Lizzie."

Lizzie whipped around at the new voice and saw that Chrissy was standing in the corner of the living area. The blond shifted uncomfortably, like she had just been caught doing something she shouldn't. Lizzie wasn't stupid, so she put the pieces together quite quickly. Her mouth fell slightly agape as she realized. "Oh my God." She laughed from the disbelief. "Chrissy Cunningham, are you buying drugs?"

Chrissy tensed up at her words, and Eddie laughed at the both of them. "You gotta stop being so upfront when asking people about drugs." He said to Lizzie. "It's off putting."

Lizzie ignored him, instead giving Chrissy a reassuring look. "It's fine, I won't tell anyone."

"Promise?" Chrissy gave puppy dog eyes.

"Of course." Lizzie smiled at her, which Chrissy returned.

"Speaking of," Eddie was rummaging through a drawer in his kitchen. "I can't seem to find the goods."

"Are you sure you have it?" Chrissy went back to looking extremely anxious.

"No, no, no." Eddie answered, shaking his head. "I got it. Somewhere." He glanced between the two girls before spinning on his heel and going down the hall, leaving them alone.

An awkward silence hung heavily over the two cheerleaders, and Lizzie could almost laugh at the absurdity of the situation. Lizzie Harrington, the quiet, artsy nerd had fallen for Eddie Munson, the D&D freak who also just happened to sell drugs, which Chrissy Cunningham, the good girl cheer captain was buying from him. This had to be some kind of joke.

"I'm gonna go...help...Eddie." Lizzie slowly crept away as she spoke, only earning a nod from Chrissy as a response. Lizzie went down the hallway and stepped into what looked like Eddie's bedroom. The walls were littered with posters, and a red electric guitar hung up across from the door caught her eye and she approached it.

"You never mentioned that you play guitar." Lizzie reached out and touched the instrument lightly with her fingertips.

Eddie continued to rummage around beside his bed, not looking at her. "Yeah," he answered offhandedly. "Been playing for a few years now."

"Will you play me something some time?" Lizzie faced him, feeling her butterflies return to her stomach.

Now Eddie looked over his shoulder at her. "I'd love to." He smiled before going back to searching through the drawers. He held up a black case that he had found. "Gotcha!" He spoke to the inanimate object. Lizzie moved out of the way as Eddie marched confidently out of his room and back down the hall to Chrissy.

"Found it!" He informed her, unzipping the case as he walking and pulling some stuff out of it. "Peaceful bliss, just moments away."

Lizzie followed him out, running into his back when he just suddenly froze and stopped walking at the edge of the kitchen. She peeked her head around his shoulder to see what had made him just halt in the middle of the room like that.

"Chrissy?" Eddie spoke hesitantly.

The cheerleader was standing completely still, eerily still, with her arms straight to her sides. She was staring ahead, right at Lizzie and Eddie, but not reacting to them at all. Eddie crept forward carefully, and Lizzie found herself grabbing onto the back of his jacket as she walked along with him.

"Chrissy?" Eddie tried again, this time waving his hand in the air to try and get her attention.

The two were in the living room, standing right across from the frozen girl now. "Hello?" Lizzie gave it a try but still Chrissy remained motionless. Eddie lunged at her, and Lizzie was forced to let go of his jacket. "Chrissy!" Eddie exclaimed as he sprung at her, trying to scare her out of whatever trance she was in.

Nothing that either of them did was having any effect on Chrissy, and Lizzie could feel the panic settling into her chest. She stepped in front of Eddie and placed her hand on Chrissy's arm, feeling that her bicep was rock solid.

"Chrissy?" Lizzie squeaked through the lump that was rising up in her throat.

Eddie placed his hand on Lizzie's stomach and pushed her back gently, and she followed his lead and stepped away. He started to snap his fingers in Chrissy's face. "Hey, Chrissy, wake up."

Even the snapping wasn't working, and Lizzie noticed that Chrissy's eyelids were fluttering, and her eyes were rolled back in her head. The lights abruptly started to flicker and the electricity buzzed. Eddie and Lizzie jumped at the suddenness of it all.

"Eddie, what's going on?" Lizzie breathed out as her body began to freeze up as fear set in.

"I don't know." He sounded panicked as well. He gripped Chrissy's shoulder beneath his hands and started to shake her gently. "Hey, hello? Can you hear me?" Eddie was absolutely freaking out now. "Wake up, Chrissy! Chrissy, wake up!"

Lizzie covered her mouth in horror as Eddie continued screaming and the lights continued flashing. "I don't like this, Chrissy! Wake up!" Eddie shook her more violently but still got no response.

Eddie took to slapping her face, lightly but urgently. "Chrissy, wake up now! Chrissy!" He was begging her through gritted teeth.

Lizzie whimpered in terror when she looked down and saw that Chrissy was levitating, floating a couple of inching off the ground. "Holy shit," her voice came out in a whisper. "Somebody call a priest!"

Eddie glanced quickly over his shoulder at Lizzie before whipping back around to look at Chrissy, just noticing that she was floating as well. He stumbled back in shock. "What the-"

Chrissy continued to float up, higher and higher, and Eddie continued to step back. Eventually, he ran into Lizzie, who was directly behind him, and the two fell against each other.

As they watched the scene play out before them, Lizzie reached for Eddie's jacket sleeve, looking to hold onto him for comfort. To her surprise, and happiness, he offered her his hand, which she took. He interlocked their fingers and squeezed. Lizzie tried to find comfort in this gesture, but it was hard when Chrissy Cunningham was fucking levitating right in front of them.

Suddenly, Chrissy shot up through the air and was pinned against the ceiling. Eddie jumped back in horror, dropping Lizzie's hand as he fell to the ground. Lizzie remained on her feet, bringing her hand back up to her mouth. She stared onward in absolute disbelief, tears starting to form in her eyes.

One of Chrissy's arms began to bend in an unnatural manner, before the bone just completely snapped the wrong way.

Lizzie cried out, feeling sick to her stomach. Her legs gave out and she slumped against Eddie's countertop for support.

Chrissy's other arm and then both her legs followed the lead of the first limp, bending and then eventually snapping in a weird angle. Lizzie was crying now, and through her tears she saw Chrissy's mouth hang open before her jaw popped to one side, dislocated. Her body began to seize, being pressed impossibly further against the roof.

Lizzie heard Eddie start to scream in terror from beside her, but she couldn't look away from Chrissy. The blonde's eyes were starting to drip with a dark liquid. The pit in Lizzie's stomach grew when she realized that it was blood. Suddenly, with a loud squelch, Chrissy's eyes popped, like tiny water balloons, and her eyelids fell flat.

Now Lizzie screamed, and she fell onto her back just like Eddie had. Chrissy dropped from the air, hitting the ground with a loud thud.

Lizzie and Eddie sat on the ground in complete and utter shock for a moment. The lights had gone back to normal and it was dead silent in the trailer, the only sound was Eddie's ragged breathing and Lizzie's broken sobs.

The next thing that she knew, Lizzie was being yanked to her feet and dragged out the door by  a up hysterical Eddie. She couldn't stop sobbing, both from fear and from the agony of the realization that she had just watched Chrissy die, in an unexplainable way, right in front of her.

Eddie practically threw Lizzie into his van, sprinting over to the driver's side and frantically getting in himself. He sped out of the trailer park, all while Lizzie tried to stop herself from hyperventilating.

"W-where are we g-going?" Lizzie hiccuped through her sobs.

"I don't know, I don't know!" Eddie stammered. "I need to think! Jesus Christ, this is bad! This is so, so bad!" He yanked the car around a bend. Lizzie fell against the window with the violent jerking of the car.

"They're gonna think I killed her!" Eddie exclaimed tearfully.

"What about my car? They're gonna link me back to this too!" Lizzie sat back upright in her seat and looked over at him.

"They wouldn't assume that you did anything. They'd probably accuse Steve before you. Besides, what about me? This whole thing happened in my goddamn trailer!" Eddie's voice rose an octave as he screamed at Lizzie.

Lizzie fell silent at this, starting to cry once again, but this time quietly. Eddie sighed.

"Sorry, i-it's not your fault. I shouldn't yell at you." Eddie said, voice soft but trembling. "I'm just freaking out."

"Yeah," Lizzie breathed. "Me too."

It was silent in the van for a moment, then all of a sudden Eddie whipped the steering wheel completely around. The tires squealed as the car did a 180 degree turn, and Lizzie found herself being thrown about again. Once turned around, Eddie pressed the gas pedal to the floor in the direction that they just came.

"What the hell are you doing?" Lizzie demanded.

"I know where to go." Eddie replied, continuing to stare straight ahead at the road.

𓆩♡𓆪

"Where are we?" Lizzie asked, finally breaking the ten minute long silence as Eddie turned down a long driveway.

"This is my dealer's place. He's in jail right now so it's basically abandoned. Nobody will think to find us here." Eddie said casually. He pulled the van in between the house and a storage building, going around the back of the house and parking in front of the woods, out of sight.

He and Lizzie got out of the van and he grabbed her hand when she tried to walk up to the house. "We can't stay in there." He told her.

Lizzie was confused. "Why not?"

"Because," Eddie explained. "If for some reason this place does get searched, then we'd be much safer if we hid out in the boathouse."

Lizzie looked over at the run down storage building beside them. It looked like it might fall over if the wind blew a bit too strong. Safer my ass, Lizzie thought. But, Eddie knew better than she did, so she just sighed and nodded. The two entered the boathouse and Eddie started to block out all the windows while Lizzie looked around.

The old building smelled like mold and damp wood, and it was cluttered with tons of boxes, tools and equipment. There was a boat hanging from the ceiling with some rope in the center of the room as well. Eddie dusted off his hands on his pants once he was satisfied with the window coverage. Lizzie took a seat on an old crate and just looked up at him, unsure what to do now.

"Now," Eddie read her thoughts. "We wait."

"For how long?" Lizzie questioned.

"I don't know." Eddie stared at the ground, looking sheepish. "I didn't really get that far along in my plan."

Lizzie sighed and crossed her arms over her stomach. "What do you think happened, with Chrissy?"

"I have no idea." Eddie choked out. "No idea."

"Me neither." Lizzie sighed, resting her head in her hands. "I can't believe this is happening right now."

Eddie approached her, squatting down in front of the crate to be at her eye level. "Hey," he spoke sweetly, pulling Lizzie's arms down with one hand and lifting her chin so she would look at him with the other. "It's gonna be okay. We'll figure this out."

Lizzie knew this was a lie, but she played along anyways. "Yeah?" She whispered.

"Yeah." Eddie smiled, thinking that his calming technique was working. "We'll figure this out together."

He closed the space between them, pressing his lips against hers. Lizzie kissed him back, resting her hands on his shoulders, actually beginning to feel a bit better, a bit more calm.

𓆩♡𓆪

All night long, Eddie and Lizzie had taken turns being the look out. While one of them stared through the cracks in the boarded up windows, the other would get to lay down inside the boat and sleep for a few hours. Then, they'd switch.

It was around six at night the next day, and Lizzie was posted up by the window, watching as absolutely nothing happened and listening to Eddie's soft snoring. She was starting to get bored.

Just then, a car turned down the driveway and Lizzie immediately perked up, her heart racing loudly in her ears. She gasped when she realized that the car that was fast approaching them wasn't just any car, it was Steve's.

She ran away from the window, flinging herself against the boat, rocking it and waking Eddie.

"Steve is here." She blurted out.

Eddie sat bolt upright. "What?" He exclaimed. "How did he find us?"

"I don't know!" Lizzie replied. "What do we do?

"Hide!" Was Eddie's answer, and he grabbed the blue tarp the was thrown over the end of the boat and pulled it over himself, leaving Lizzie to fend for herself.

"Shit!" Lizzie hissed, desperately looking around the room for any place she could hide away. Her gaze landed on an old closet in the corner. It will have to do, she thought.

She went over to it and opened up the doors, coughing as a cloud of dust smacked her in the face. She crouched down and stepped inside, taking a seat on the bottom shelf. The top of her head hit the next shelf that was above, but she ignored the uncomfortable position. She grabbed the edge of the door and pulled it shut on herself, engulfed in complete darkness.

She heard the boathouse door open and several people enter. She held her breath, trying to listen in on what they were saying. "Hello?"

Robin? Lizzie furrowed her brow. Why would Robin be here? Unless she just came with Steve to get me arrested, she thought.

"Is anyone home?" Robin spoke out again.

The floorboards creaked as the intruders crept around the room, and Lizzie pulled her knees impossibly closer to her chest.

"What a dump." This was Steve.

Lizzie's heart skipped a beat at the sound of her brother's voice, remembering their fight. She felt bad about what she had told him, wincing as her words replayed in her head.

"I don't give a fuck about what you think!" The words had just slipped out. She meant it in the moment, about the situation, but the way that Steve's heart broke before her very eyes...she felt terrible.

Suddenly, something stabbing the tarp could be heard and Lizzie had to cover her mouth to muffle her gasp. They were going to find Eddie.

"What are you doing?" This voice sounded like Dustin.

"He might be in here." Steve answered.

Yeah, he is in there, so back off! Lizzie thought to herself, squeezing her eyes shut and praying to whatever higher power would listen that Steve would give up and move on to something else.

"So take the tarp off." Dustin said.

Do not do that, Lizzie thought.

"If you're so brave, you take the tarp off." Steve snapped at him, and the sounds of him poking around continued on.

"Hey," this was another girl's voice, one that Lizzie didn't recognize. "Look over here."

Her voice was awfully close to the storage closet where Lizzie was currently sat.

"Someone was here." She said.

"Maybe they heard us. Got spooked and ran." Robin offered, now also extremely close to Lizzie's hiding place.

"Don't worry." Dustin said sarcastically. "Steve will get him with his oar."

"I know you think you're being funny, Henderson, but considering everyone in the room has nearly died a hundred times-"

What was he talking about? Lizzie wondered.

"Personally," Steve went on. "I don't find it funny in the slighte-"

A loud noise that sounded like the tarp being ripped off was heard, and Lizzie bit the inside of her cheek so hard she drew blood, fighting the urge to jump out and stop the group of hecklers.

Said group of hecklers were currently screaming frantically and Steve could be heard above them all. "Wait, wait, wait, wait!" He begged repeatedly.

"Whoa, Eddie! Stop!" Dustin exclaimed.

Steve stopped screaming, along with the rst of them.

"It's me. It's Dustin. This is Steve, he's not gonna hurt you, right Steve?"

"Right. Yeah." Steve said quickly.

"Steve, why don't you drop the oar?" Dustin continued to guide the conversation.

Lizzie heard the oar hit the ground and then bounce a few times, interrupted by Steve groaning.

"He's cool. He's cool!" Dustin repeated desperately.

"I'm cool, man. I'm cool." Steve breathed.

"What are you doing here?" Eddie finally spoke up, his voice sounding strangled.

"We're looking for you." Dustin explained.

"A-and my sister." Steve added.

"We're here to help." Robin joined in.

"Eddie," Dustin tried to comfort him. "These are my friends. You know Robin, from band. And this is my friend Max. The one who never wants to play D&D. We're on your side."

Lizzie felt her heart begin to soften.

"I swear on my mother!" Dustin urged. "Right guys?"

"Yes, we swear." Max piped up.

"On Dustin's mother." Robin added.

"Yeah, Dustin's...Dustin's mother." Steve stammered.

Lizzie pushed the door of the cabinet slightly open and peered out through the small gap. She saw Dustin, with Robin and Max standing behind him, talking to Eddie, who had Steve pinned against the wall. Lizzie had to cover her mouth to stiffle her laugh at the sight.

Eddie removed his arm from Steve's neck, and Lizzie watched her brother slump against the wall, taking deep breaths.

Moving away from the group, Eddie leaned against the wall a few feet away from everyone, slowly sliding down until he was seated on the dirty ground. Dustin approached him carefully.

"We just wanna talk." Dustin reassured him, sinking down to the floor, getting on his level.

"We wanna know what happened." Robin said, her and Max going over to Eddie as well.

"You won't believe me." Eddie sniffled tearfully, and Lizzie felt her heart ache for him.

"Try us." Max said with confidence.

"But, first, uh-" Steve cut in. "Where's Liz?"

Lizzie took a deep breath before pushing the closet door open the rest of the way. The group whipped around at the creaking door, pointing their flashlights right in her face. Lizzie squinted against the blinding lights until they were lowered.

Steve rushed over to her, put a hand on either side of her shoulders. "Oh my god." He breathed. "Are you hurt? Are you okay? Talk to me. Please, Lizzie."

A lump rose in Lizzie's throat as she stared in her big brother's eyes. She flung herself against him, squeezing him tightly in her arms as she started to cry. He carefully moved his arms to rest of her back, holding her as she cried.

"I'm sorry," Lizzie blubbered into Steve's jacket. "I'm so sorry."

"I'm sorry too." Steve told her. "I didn't mean the things that I said, I was just angry. I'm sorry that this happened to you. You didn't deserve to be dragged into all of this."

Lizzie pulled back, her sobs stopping. She wiped at her damp cheeks, confused. "What do you mean all of this?"

Steve sighed. "I think we all have a lot of explaining to do."

𓆩♡𓆪

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