Chapter Fifty-One: Breathe

As Eddie described what had happened, Annie had two people watching her like hawks.

Max was beside her, hands still together, and would glance over every now and then. She would squeeze her hand every now and then, too, as a reminder than Annie wasn't alone and that Max was right there for her. Annie would squeeze back.

Steve was right behind Annie, his hand on her shoulder. He was also still on guard, not entirely sure what Eddie might do. But he knew Annie wasn't doing too hot listening to how Chrissy was killed. Hearing it from Eddie's perspective was horrifying to say the least.

Robin and Dustin knew that Annie knew Chrissy, they just didn't know how much the teen meant to Annie. How she was a guiding hand, helping her out in high school and in cheer. How she figured out Max and Annie were dating, and didn't think they were freaks.

One of the only normal people in Annie's life. And she had to sit there and listen to Eddie recount how her limbs audibly snapped into pieces, how her jaw broke, and how her eyes were sucked into the back of her head.

The images that came into Annie's mind were awful, and what made it worse is how this definitely sounded like an Upside Down problem.

"I... I didn't know what to do, so I..." Eddie paused for a long time, as if coming to terms with what he had done. "I ran away. I left her there." He almost sounded disappointed in himself.

Annie closed her eyes, willing the tears to stay away. She would not cry, not here.

After a second, Eddie scoffed. "You all think I'm crazy, right?" he asked.

"No," Dustin breathed. "We don't think you're crazy-"

"Look, don't bullshit me, man! I know how this sounds," Eddie cried.

"We're not bullshitting you," Max said.

"We believe you," added Robin.

"If we didn't, we'd be laughing our asses off at your story but we're not because we know your story is legit," Annie said.

Eddie scoffed quietly. "Look," Dustin started, "what I'm about to tell you might be a little... difficult to take."

Eddie nodded a bit. "Okay," he said, his voice breaking.

"You know how people say Hawkins is... cursed?" Dustin asked. "They're not way off." Eddie leaned closer, listening to every word Dustin was saying. "There's another world. A world hidden beneath Hawkins. Sometimes, it bleeds into ours."

"Like... ghosts and shit?" Eddie asked.

"There are some things worse than ghosts," Max said.

"Way worse," Annie added on. "Monsters."

Flashes of the Mind Flayer and the Demo-dogs went through Annie's mind. She thought of Billy, Holly, and Meghan, and how they were when they were under the control of the Mind Flayer. Things she'd consider so much worse than a ghoul in white.

Dustin went on. "These monsters from this other world, we thought they were gone. But they've come back before. That's why we needed to find you."

"If they're back again, we need to know," Max explained.

"That night. Did you see anything?" Robin asked.

"Dark particles, maybe?" Annie offered.

Eddie was shaking his head. "It would almost look like dust- swirling dust," Dustin explained.

"No, man, there was nothing you could see or uh, touch," Eddie said. Steve turned his head suddenly, and Annie looked back at him. It seemed as if he had a thought, hopefully something that had to do with this conversation.

"You know, I tried to wake her, man. She couldn't move. It was like she- she was in a trance or something," Eddie explained, maybe in hopes it would help the crew figure this out.

And it seemed to work with Dustin. "Or a spell."

"A curse," Eddie added, getting on Dustin's train of thought.

"Vecna's curse."

Annie's eyebrows furrowed and Steve voiced the question in her head. "Who's Vecna?"

"An undead creature of great power," Dustin answered, a but of horror in his tone.

Eddie added, "A spell caster."

Dustin kept going. "A dark wizard."

No one spoke for a second, the words just being taken in. Annie finally shook her head, not knowing how to process the information. "I still don't get it. Is Vecna another DnD character?" she asked. She knew how much the Party liked to name Upside Down creatures after those things.

To be completely fair, they ended up being pretty good comparisons.

Dustin nodded, turning to glance at Annie. "And he's not easy to beat."

"Well, not in your game," Steve said. "Look, I get that it's an analogy or whatever, but whatever we're dealing with... we can't assume we know everything because we base it off some dude from a game. We don't know anything, and it's going to stay that way. No assumption making."

Robin nodded. She then looked and checked her watch. "Looks, guys, it's getting late. We should call it a night, go hame, recharge. In the morning we'll bring you, Robin pointed at Eddie, "real food and discuss more. Right now, I'm going to have enough nightmares as is."

They all agreed, and made their way back out to Steve's car. Despite Dustin's attempts, Eddie remained in the boathouse, tucked away under his tarp.

Steve dropped Robin and Dustin off at their houses, telling them a time they'd all get back together in the morning. He didn't bother with Max, knowing that she wouldn't want to go back there.

"You can borrow some stuff if you need to," Annie said to Max. Her head was on the redhead's shoulder, tiredness taking over her body.

"I brought some stuff in my bag, but I might need some pajamas."

Annie smiled. "You got it, but you better be ready to look like a Barbie doll," she said, earning a quiet laugh from Max.

When they arrived back at the Harrington household, the parents were already down for the night. They all crept quietly through the house, getting up the stairs quickly.

It didn't take long for the girls to get ready for bed, both extremely exhausted. Annie's bed was also big enough for both girls to comfortably sleep, though they always ended up snuggled together anyway.

Sometime in the night, Annie felt something pulling at her consciousness. She opened her eyes, finding herself in a hospital. Lights flashed all around her. She whipped her head around, taking things in.

Bodies lined the hallway. Blood was all over the floor. Over to the side, she saw Chrissy's mangled body protruding from the wall, causing Annie to gasp and cover her mouth.

Something sounded from behind.

She turned around, not knowing what to anticipate. A flayed Holly and a flayed Meghan stood there, evil smiles on both of their faces.

"No, please," Annie whispered, already feeling the tears spring to her eyes. "Please..."

The two girls made small steps forward, before they suddenly stopped. Annie blinked, and they looked completely normal.

"Annie, what's going on?" Meghan asked. She sounded so scared.

Holly was shaking beside her. "Annie, please, you have to help us. Please."

Annie shook her head, the tears pouring down her face. "I'm sorry... I'm so sorry. I can't- I can't do this." She tried to step back, but her feet were rooted to the ground. She looked down, seeing a pool of black goop sticking to her ankles, keeping her in place.

"What..." she breathed, trying to loosen her legs.

A scream tore her attention away and back up to Holly and Meghan. The Mind Flayer had a grip on Holly and Meghan, a tentacle on each girl's back, lifting them up into the air.

"Annie!" They screamed in unison, a single word that broke through cries of pain.

The tears were flooding down her face. "No, no!" Annie screamed, trying to move her feet, but they stayed rooted in the same place. "No!"

"Annie!"

The girl sat up suddenly, breathing heavy. She could feel the dried tear tracks on her cheeks. The hand on her face and the one on her shoulder brought comfort, knowing immediately who they belonged to.

"Annie, what happened?" Max asked, her voice gentle.

Annie was finally getting her breathing back to a normal rate. "Holly and Meghan... we were- we were in the hospital. They were so scared," Annie said in between breaths.

"It's okay, you're okay. I'm right here," Max whispered, pulling Annie into her. The brunette accepted the gesture, wrapping her arms around Max's middle as they laid back down. The redhead started to brush Annie's hair with her fingers. "I'm right here. Nothing's gonna hurt you."

This wasn't the first time Annie had had a nightmare while Max was sleeping over. They'd never been this bad, though. Max woke up when she felt something kick her, and looked over to see Annie thrashing around and sobbing. It immediately worried her- usually the nightmares just had her quietly whimpering.

Nothing had ever been this bad.

She held onto Annie, even after she felt her breathing slow and knew she fell back asleep. This whole "Vecna" business was scaring her, and she was worried what they might lose.

Or who.

A/n: tee hee