CHAPTER XXI:
have a little trust

( March 1986 )

      "CHRIST, YOU'RE TERRIBLE AT THIS," Eddie teased as he and Cleo sat on opposite sides of each other with an empty can in between them as they competed to throw in as many seeds and pebbles as possible. The duo had been by themselves for about an hour since Cleo arrived to cure Eddie of his boredom and her radio continued to play the soft sweet sounds of Rick James' Super Freak; something Eddie hadn't been as apposed to as Stevie Nicks.

"Hey, there's a reason I quit basketball camp after a week," Cleo said as she missed the can once again.

"Rightfully so, your aim was..." he dramatically exhaled air through his mouth.

Cleo scoffed a laugh, "I wasn't that bad!" She threw a few seeds at him.

      "If I recall," he paused to pull a seed out of his mane, "you went to shoot the ball, then oops!" he threw his arms out dramatically with pebbles falling from his hands, "you hit the coach in the head like whack-a-mole and then it somehow hit you."

      Cleo winced at the memory from middle school. "I still blame it on the wind," she stated matter-a-factly.

      "We were inside."

      "The air conditioning then," she bargained shrugging. Eddie opened his mouth to continue their banter when the sound of an engine approaching the grounds had struck a chord of fear through the two. "It's too early for it to be them," Cleo warily stated.

      Quickly turning around on the crate he had been sitting on, Eddie slowly inched himself into the view of the window behind him. Cleo followed suit, shutting off her radio and carefully putting her foot down on planks of wood she was sure wouldn't make a sound. The both of them slowly lifted their eyes over the window sill to witness a jet-black car with three boys exiting a heading straight for the house.

      "Shit, shit," Eddie mumbled while rushing over another one of the windows in the shed.

      "They have bats and a pipe, oh, we're going to die," Cleo had begun her panicking tactics running her hands over her face.

"You're not dying," Eddie said while rushing to the walkie. "Hey, Dustin, you there? It's Eddie, you remember me, right?" he spoke into it while turning his back to the window he had been looking through. "Hey, if anyone's there, I really think we might be in a bit of trouble here. Okay? Wheeler? Anybody?!" he hit the side of the walkie at the lack of a response while trying to keep his own panicking at a minimum to not trigger Cleodora to further her hysteria.

"How many goddamn times do I have to tell that little shit to keep the walkie with him?" Cleo frustratedly said while continuing to panic. "But no, don't listen to Cleo, she's only told you this about a million times!"

Eddie stood from his hiding spot giving up on the hope of getting a response and grabbed Cleo's hand to drag her with him. Wherever it was that he was going.

"YOU ARE OUTTA YOUR GODDAMN MIND IF YOU THINK I'M GETTING IN THAT BOAT WITH YOU," Cleo protested with her zip-up nearly falling off of her. Over the course of just a few minutes, Eddie managed to find their escape, sit in it, and prepare it to leave but there was only there was one problem; Cleo's vendetta for water.

"So you would rather face the angry mob with pitchforks than get a little splashed?" Eddie anxiously and fitfully spoke.

"Um, are you forgetting the story where I was literally dead because I drowned?" she whisper shouted.

A chill went up Eddie's spine at the thought, "of course I didn't, Dora! But if we both want to make it out of here alive, you need to get into the boat."

      Cleo wanted to scream, thrash around, throw a tantrum, fear vomit, and cry all at once. Eddie was asking her to face her fears and get into a boat that had an incredibly high risk of flipping over or even getting a hole broken through it to cause it to sink. There were so many possibilities to think of that made her feel like ants had been crawling inside her skin.

"You're not drowning on my watch," Eddie said with a softer voice outstretching his hand to her. No matter how terrified he was for the future of the next few minutes, and how much he wanted to get into the boat and flee the grounds, it wouldn't matter if Cleo would be left behind.

      Swallowing the bile that felt like it had been about to suffocate her, Cleo softly groaned taking Eddie's hand into her own. "Fine," she sighed, her breath hitching as she took her first step into the boat that shook with the impact.

      "Atta girl," the boy said proudly as she sat down on the wooden seat. He quickly pushed off of the deck with the oar that Steve had almost concussed him with and began rowing as best as he could while Cleo kept her head low with her hands resting on her cheeks to keep the water out of her sights.

      "I should've taken my Adderall this morning." She shook her head as the boat rocked back and forth.