TEN
This is how to disappear
🛶
❪ tw: strong language, bodies of water, drinking/light alcohol mentions, mentions of death, mentions of absent parents, cigarettes, sexual tension/implied sexual thoughts, and light nudity ❫

STRANGER THINGS
(season 4, ep 6)
part two

FINLEY STOOD a few feet in front of Eddie, her arms crossed over her torso as Eddie explained what happened last night. Dustin was still obsessing over the compass and staring at it as he paced back and forth. "When I got to the shore, I tried calling you guys, but, uh . . ." Eddie cut his sentence short as he brought the flask up to his lips, swallowing the beer inside. "My walkie was busted, man. Drenched. So, uh, I did the thing that I do now, apparently. I ran."

"Do you know what time this was? The attack?" Nancy asked.

"Yeah, no, I . . . I know exactly what time it was. My walkie wasn't the only thing that got soaked." Eddie took the watch off of his wrist and threw it over to Nancy.

Nancy caught it, leaning back for a second before she stared at the time. "9:27." She read.

"Same time our flashlights went kablooey," Robin remembered.

"And not long after that, Finn went into her trance," Nancy added, lowering her hands.

The second Eddie heard the word trance he looked up. His eyes swiftly switched from Finley to Nancy. "I'm sorry, she went into a what!?"

"We found out that Vecna kind of connected a part of himself to me, it's kind of hard to explain. He wants me to know that what he's going to do is horrible but he doesn't want me to know exactly what it is yet. And every time he kills someone now, I feel it too. I go into this trance and he just kept showing me the same three things over and over again. A clock, me screaming, and a gate. He's basically telling me something without any context all I know is that it's not good and we need to somehow stop it." Finley explained.

Eddie just stayed silent. He felt so bad for her. Ever since Flora died it was like she would never have a normal life again. Then he realized that the only reason she was surviving and the only reason this was bearable for her was because of them and he didn't want that to be taken away from her either. "I still barely understand what any of this means." Steve looked up at Nancy.

"That that surge of energy was Vecna attacking Patrick. And obviously, as he died Vecna showed Finley all of those flashing images." Nancy clarified before she tossed the watch back over to Eddie.

"Well, we're one step closer. We know how Vecna attacks." As Robin spoke, Finley walked up to the rock that sat inches away from Eddie and leaned up against it. Eddie looked over at her, taking in her figure for a second. First, his eyes landed on her neck. The silver heart locket (that had a baby picture of Finley and Flora in it) was tucked into her shirt so all you could see was the chain, peaking out from the band of her headphones. His eyes traveled further and further down, focusing on how her hair fell over her leather jacket. His lips parted a little as he watched how her hips moved and her back arched as she tried to feel a little more comfortable.

His gaze was quick though and Lucas' voice snapped him out of it. "And where he attacks from." Eddie pushed his lips together looking anywhere else that wasn't in her direction.

"So now we just need to sneak into his lair in the Upside Down and drive a stake through his heart," Max added.

"If he even has a heart."

Steve's eyebrows knitted together. "A stake? Is he like a vamp—Is he a vampire?" His eyes slightly widened.

"Oh god," Finley mumbled, glancing up at the sky.

Max looked at him in disbelief. "It was a metaphor." She shook her head.

"A bullet should work on him, right?" Eddie questioned.

Finley shrugged. "I'd really like to see him blow up." Steve looked over at her, squinting his eyes.

"I say we chop his head off," Lucas suggested.

"Yeah, I'd say all of the above, but we can't do any of that until we find a way into the Upside Down." Nancy reminded them.

"We need El to get her powers back." Max sighed.

"Everything was like way easier. We had this girl. She had superpowers." Steve started to ramble before Eddie cut him off.

"Superpowers. Yeah, you mentioned her." Eddie looked over at Dustin with a concerned look as he continued to pace around. "Hey, uh, Henderson's not, uh, cursed, is he?" He looked over at Steve for confirmation. Eddie's question made Finley stare at the boy.

Dustin stopped dead in his tracks, looking into the distance. "Cursed? No, no, no, no. He's fine. Mental? Absolutely."

"Boom!" Dustin yelled, facing the group again and they all looked at him like he was crazy. Dustin pointed one finger at Finley and the other at Steve. "Bada . . . bada . . . boom." He walked closer to them.

Finley gave him a dirty look. "What the hell is wrong with you now?"

"I was right. Skull Rock was north."

It fell silent for a few seconds as Finley took a deep breath in, staring at him. Eddie nervously looked up at her, he could just tell her blood was boiling. "Are you kidding me!?" Finley yelled.

Dustin smiled at her. "Nope." He shook his head.

Finley moved up closer to him, pointing a finger in his face. "I'm gonna kill him." She unfolded her arms and Max could tell that she was probably gonna pounce on him so she quickly grabbed her by the jacket and moved her in between her and Lucas.

"Seriously? You're serious?" Steve's jaw dropped.

"Mm-hmm." Dustin hummed.

Steve gestured over to the rocks. "This is Skull Rock. Okay?"

"Mm-hmm." Dustin nodded.

"You're totally, absolutely, 100% wrong. Right now." Steve raised his voice.

"Yes. And no."

Steve's hands flew up to his face. "Oh my God." He groaned.

"This kid is gonna send me to a mental hospital," Finley mumbled as she gently shut her eyes.

Dustin held up the compass. "This worked correctly when we left the Wheelers'. It was correct when we got in the car on Curly. But it started to slip the further east we went. Now it's way off. When I was leading us here, I wasn't wrong. The compass was." Dustin explained.

"So you're using faulty equipment, dude. You're still wrong." Steve argued.

"Except it isn't faulty." Dustin corrected him. "Lucas, do you remember what can affect a compass?" Dustin looked over at him.

Lucas nodded. "An electromagnetic field."

"Yep."

Robin raised her eyebrows. "I'm sorry. I must've skipped that class."

"You already know that I never understand a word you say." Finley looked back at him again.

"In the presence of a stronger electromagnetic field, the needle will deflect towards that power. So either there's some super big magnet around here, or . . ."

"There's a gate." Lucas finished his sentence making Dustin smile.

Finley nodded. "It makes sense, one of the things I saw was a gate. There has to be another one."

"But we're nowhere near the lab." Nancy stammered, trying to process all of the information.

"But what if, somehow, there's another gate? A gate that we don't know about. I mean why would Vecna show her a gate we've already seen, it has to be new. It'd have to be smaller. Way less powerful."

"Snack-size gate," Robin suggested.

Steve shrugged. "How? Why?" His gaze fixated on Finley.

"Don't look at me. I told you everything I know." She held her hands up in surrender. Vecna still wanted her to be just as clueless as them right now anyway.

"No idea. All I know is that something is causing this disturbance, and the last time we've seen anything like it, it was a gate. And I hope it is because then we'd have a way to Vecna. And a shot at freeing Max and Finn from this curse."

Dustin turned away and started to walk the way the compass was pointing. "Where are you going? Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. Eddie's still a wanted man. We can't just go hike in the woods."

"This little steel capsule might be the key to saving Max, Finn, and Eddie. What say you, Eddie the Banished?" Everyone turned to Eddie who was staying pretty quiet.

"I say you're asking me to follow you into Mordor, which, if I'm totally straight with you, I think is a really bad idea. But, uh, the Shire . . . the Shire is burning." Finley's eyes floated over to Dustin who was jumping up and down with a grin spread across his face. Eddie placed his hands on his knees as he fully stood up. "So Mordor it is."

Eddie walked past Nancy to follow Dustin. "What is Mordor?"

"Lord of the rings reference," Finley answered Steve's question.

The fact that she was actually able to answer that question shocked Eddie. "You've read it?" He asked, stopping his movements for a second to look at her.

"My dad was obsessed with it." She clarified. "Eds, you're leaving your shit behind." Finley pointed towards the stuff he left on the ground before she walked behind Max.

"Crap." Eddie groaned before he quickly ran over to pick up his flask and the walkie-talkie.

"Get your stuff, dude. Let's go."

NIGHT FELL and they've been walking through the woods all day. Eddie came up next to Finley who separated herself from Robin and Nancy to be alone. Only god knows what she was thinking about. "Hey." Eddie greeted her.

The corners of Finley's lips curved up. "Hi." She spoke softly.

"Um, sorry about the other night, I kind of freaked out." Eddie referred to the night she called him on the walkie-talkie.

"I think kind of is an understatement." Finley teased making Eddie chuckle. "I get it if you're still shaken up after seeing me like that. I don't know what it looks like but I know it wasn't a pretty sight."

Eddie immediately shook his head. "No, no. It was scary but it's not because of that."

"Then, what's wrong?" Finley questioned.

Eddie shrugged. "Sometimes I just feel like I can't act like a normal functioning human around you."

Finley raised her eyebrows at him. "Am I like intimidating you or something?"

"Probably not in the way you think." Eddie slipped his hands into the back pockets of his jeans. "I'm just so into you and I never felt that way before and it feels like you deserve a lot better than me."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

Eddie scoffed. "Oh come on, Finn. You deserve someone who actually has a clue about what they're doing. I've never been in any type of relationship before, every girl in this town runs away scared when they see me. I'll screw things up. Shit, I can't even graduate high school."

"Eddie, I don't care about any of that." Finley slightly raised her voice making Eddie make full eye contact with her. "You have a better heart than most guys plus, I just like you for you. Nothing has to be perfect. You've treated me better than my own mother has in my entire life and that's saying something." Those words took a weight off his shoulders. She liked him and he liked her and that was all that mattered.

"One day, I'm gonna give your mom an earful."

Finley chuckled dryly. "Yeah, if you can find her."

Dustin started to bolt forcing everyone behind him to speed up. "Has he gone completely off the rails?" Eddie exhaled.

"No, that happened slowly over time." Finley held onto her walkman that was strapped to her belt as she ran next to Eddie. "Ow. I hate the woods." She groaned after a branch hit her in the face.

Dustin stopped for a second to look down at the compass but everyone was still behind. "Something's happening." He smiled before he started to run again.

"Dustin? Can you slow down? Dustin?"

"I think we're getting close." Dustin looked back at Eddie but he didn't notice the lake in front of him. It was hard to tell in the dark sometimes.

Eddie grabbed him, pulling him back against his shoulder. "Watch your step, big guy."

Everyone else caught up to them. "Oh, man. You gotta be shitting me." Steve tried to catch his breath.

"Yeah. I thought these woods were familiar." Eddie sighed.

"Lover's Lake."

Dustin looked at the scene in shock. "This is confounding."

"There's a gate in Lover's Lake?"

"Whenever the Demogorgon attacked, it always left an opening. Maybe Vecna's the same way." Nancy theorized.

Finley nodded, agreeing with her. "When Patrick died he showed me a gate. Someone dies a gate opens."

"Yeah, only one way to know for sure."

Eddie took the sheet that was covering the boat off, revealing the same boat that was in the boathouse. A very specific memory slipped into Finley's head for a second as she looked down at it. Steve and Eddie held opposite ends of the boat as they placed it down in the water. "Easy. I . . . I said easy, man." Steve gave Eddie a look after he completely ignored his instructions.

"Sorry, dude," Eddie muttered.

Robin was the first one up to go in. "Here you go." Steve held out his hand for her but Robin ignored it.

"Yeah, I'm just gonna do that." Robin placed one hand on Steve's head and the other on Eddie's before stepping into the boat. "Thank you."

"Yeah, that works too."

Once Eddie started to stand up he saw Finley moving out of the corner of his eye. His head whipped over to her and he noticed that she was walking towards the boat and he definitely didn't want her to go. "Whoa, whoa. Where are you going?" Eddie gently grabbed her wrist to stop her.

"I'm going with you."

"Finn, you're cursed and injured that doesn't mix well. The psychotic wizard dude who was trying to murder you is down there. If this is true, you can't be there." Eddie argued.

Finley rolled her eyes. "I don't have to go in but if I do, that's what Tears for Fears is for. I'm fine. And you're not the boss of me."

"But—" Eddie began.

"So, you can either move out of the way and let me get in the damn boat or we can do this the hard way." Finley cut him off. They stared at each other and everyone else fell silent.

Eddie exhaled. "Fine." He gave in. He turned on his heel and stepped into the boat before he looked back at Finley and extended his hand. "Come on." Finley grabbed on to it (her hand seemed to look even smaller when it was holding his) and Eddie involuntarily grabbed a hold of her waist as she stepped into the boat. She sat down next to Robin as Eddie helped Nancy into the boat. "Wheeler."

"Thanks."

Dustin walked up to the boat but he didn't make it that far since Eddie pressed his hand against his head, pushing him away. "Hey, hey, hey, you trying to sink us? This thing holds four people tops, okay?"

"It's better this way, okay? You guys stay here with Max. Keep an eye out for trouble." Nancy instructed.

Dustin looked at them, dumbfounded. "You keep an eye out." He snapped. Nancy squinted at him and Dustin dramatically imitated the face she was making. "It's my goddamn theory."

Finley leaned over so she was visible to Dustin. "Listen to the adults, Dustin."

"You heard Nance."

"Who put her in charge?" Dustin pointed at Nancy.

"I did," Robin responded.

"Compass." Nancy held her hand out.

Dustin stomped his foot against the ground as if he were a toddler throwing a tantrum before he reached into the pocket of his sweater and gave the compass to Nancy. Finley moved so she was sitting between Eddie and Nancy. "Hey, there you go." Steve picked up Dustin's backpack and threw it at him. It ended up hitting him in the chest.

"Ow." Dustin whimpered.

Steve pushed the boat further into the water before he quickly got in himself. "You said four."

"Sorry," Steve whispered and waved at him.

"Bedtime at nine, kiddos." Robin joked.

Dustin held the middle finger up at them even though they could barely see it. "Don't open the door for strangers!" Finley yelled.

"Miss you already!" Robin stood up in the boat and waved as they got further and further away from the shore. She sat back down, going back to controlling the oars alongside Eddie.

THE BOAT WAS QUIET as Nancy stared down at the compass while Eddie and Robin kept rowing. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down. Slow down, guys." Nancy placed her hand on Robin's arm.

They both stopped and looked back at her. "What happened?" Finley questioned.

"Look." Nancy leaned over Finley's shoulder and everyone else crowded around them. She extended her hand, showing them that the needle was now spinning out of control. Eddie picked up the flashlight and pointed the light on it so they could see it better.

"Guys, what's going on?" Dustin's voice was heard through the walkie-talkie's speaker but everyone kind of ignored it since they were all in shock that Dustin's theory was right. "Come on, talk to me. What's going on?"

Robin picked it up and pressed down the button. "Uh, Dustin, your compass has gone from wonky to wonky with a capital 'aah'!"

Steve began slipping the sneakers off his feet, which made a thumping sound as he dropped each shoe. His socks followed after. "Steve, what are you doing?" Nancy asked.

"Somebody's gotta go down and check this out. Unless one of you four can top being a Hawkins High swim co-captain and a certified lifeguard for three years, then . . . it's gotta be me. No complaints, all right?" He quickly rolled up the bottom of his jeans and stood up.

"Hey, I'm not complaining. I do not wanna go down there." Eddie glanced over at the water before he grabbed the plastic bag he had stuffed in his jacket pocket. He dumped everything out of the bag and started to wrap it around the flashlight so it would be waterproof.

Finley and Robin looked over at Nancy who was staring at Steve's now bare back. They smiled at each other before Finley's eyes focused on Eddie. She was mostly looking at his hands and the cigarette pack he held in between his teeth. Though, she quickly looked away when he looked up at her and the way he looked when he did that didn't help Finley at all.

A small smirk grew on his face when he took the pack of cigarettes away from his mouth. He leaned over so his lips were by her ear. "I know you're eyeballing me, Sullivan." He whispered which made heat rise to Finley's cheeks but, you couldn't tell in the darkness. Robin smiled at the pair as well she liked seeing her friends happy. "Hey." Eddie handed the flashlight to Steve. "Good luck."

"Thanks."

Eddie placed a cigarette between his lips and before he could pick up the lighter Steve threw his sweater at him. Eddie caught it before he reached into his right pocket for the lighter. He held the flame up to the end of the cigarette but Robin pulled it out of his mouth and threw it into the lake. "Gross." Eddie just looked at her confused, not fully processing what just happened.

Steve gripped the flashlight, taking a few breaths to prepare himself. "Steve?" Nancy called out. Steve turned to her. "Be careful." She smiled up at him.

"Is there something in the air tonight or . . . ?" Robin whispered to herself.

Steve nodded at Nancy before he turned back and dived into the water. After a minute passed Finley started to get anxious about how long he was taking. "Where we at, Wheeler?" Robin asked.

"Closing in on a minute." Nancy looked up from her watch.

"Okay." Robin breathed out.

Eddie couldn't help but look over at Finley. He noticed that she was biting down on her nail and tapping her fingers against her thigh. He was hesitant at first but he grabbed her hand and flipped it over so her palm was facing up. His fingers slipped between hers and he gave her hand a light squeeze. Finley relaxed her fingers and let them fall against his hand, her fingertips lightly brushing against his rings. He rubbed his thumb against her skin, hoping that would calm her down more.

Robin and Nancy continued to stare down into the water when suddenly water splashed in their faces as Steve came back up to the surface, making them all jump, and Eddie's hand lost contact with Finley's. "Oh, Christ!" Eddie jumped back.

"I found it," Steve spoke quickly, taking deep breaths.

Finley leaned between Robin and Nancy. "Really?"

"You found it?"

Steve swam back over to them. "I found it. Yeah. I found it." He mumbled, placing his hands on the edge of the boat.

Robin picked up the walkie-talkie to let the kids know what happened. "Dustin, you are a goddamn Einstein. Steve found the gate."

"It's pretty wild. It's more a snack-size gate than the mama gate, but still, it's pretty damn big." Before anyone could respond Steve was tugged back down into the water.

He kept his grip on the boat and had a puzzled look on his face. "What was that?" Finley sat up on her knees in front of Steve.

He couldn't even respond to her before he disappeared into the water. "Steve!" Finley screamed, hovering over the edge of the boat. Eddie harshly wrapped his arm around her torso to pull her away from the water, her back hitting his chest before he looked over her shoulder in terror. Robin and Nancy repeatedly cried out for him but nothing happened.

"What the hell was that, man?" Eddie shrieked.

"Nancy, really, what happened?" Robin felt nothing but fear, desperate to know if Steve was gonna die or not. Nancy just started down into the water, not saying a word. A tear fell down Finley's face, it was hard for her to even process any of this at that exact moment.

"Jesus!"

Finley looked over at Nancy, noticing that she was starting to get up. "Nance, what are you doing?" She lifted herself off Eddie's chest.

"Wait, wait, wait. You're not going in there, are you?" Eddie grabbed her arm, pulling her back.

"Just wait here," Nancy demanded.

"Nancy, stop!" The last thing Finley needed right now was two of her friends in danger.

"No, Nancy!" Robin yelled.

Nancy ignored them and jumped into the water.

Eddie slammed his hand against the edge of the boat. "Goddamn it!"

Finley was silent now. She was thinking about jumping. Even though she wasn't the best swimmer it didn't matter what mattered was their lives. She didn't look anywhere else but the water so she didn't notice Robin scooting to the edge. "No, no, no, no, no, no. What are you doing? She said wait." Eddie's voice shook.

"Yeah, I heard her," Robin spoke softly as she gave him a blank stare.

Eddie pointed to where Nancy was previously sitting. "She's in charge." He was trying anything he could to convince her to stay.

"Are you kidding me? I made that shit up." Robin plugged her nose and let herself fall back into the water.

Eddie looked over at Finley who was removing the headphones from her neck. "Finn . . ." He trailed off. "Finn, just stay here." He grabbed a hold of her wrist and stared into her eyes.

"I don't think so." Finley shook her head.

"You . . . you can't get your walkman wet. You need that." Eddie made up an excuse.

Finley freed her wrist from his grasp and dug into her jacket pocket. "I still have one of your bags from earlier." She stated as she pulled it apart.

Eddie gaped at her. "You little . . ." He pointed a finger in her face but she completely ignored him. Eddie still tried to keep her with him but she unclipped her walkman from her belt, threw it into the bag, and tied it up. She was quick to shove the bag back in her pocket and stand up. Before Eddie could say anything else she took a deep breath in before she held it and jumped into the water. "Goddamn it . . . son of a bitch!" Eddie screamed as he stood up, he had no other choice. He walked up to the side of the boat. "Oh, this is so stupid. This is so stupid. This is so stupid." He muttered before he placed a foot on the edge. "Shit! Shit! Shit!" He cursed as the boat wobbled under his weight and he fell in.

KARISSA SPEAKS !

—eddie making little excuses to touch finley will further prove my point that his love language is physical touch

—finn is dustin's fun stepmom

—finn fighting the demobats in the next chp>>