ᴛʜᴇ ʙᴜʀɴ

Soleil twisted and turned in her bed after only getting about only two hours of sleep, for some odd reason her mind couldn't rest. That sucked.

Now, she was just laying in her bed in her silky pajamas, looking up at her overhead light. What she didn't anticipate was for someone to be banging down her door late at night, sounding like someone was trying to get away from a killer in a horror movie.

Soleil jumped up from her bed, the knocking continued though, slower paced. She made a beeline for her purse to get her revolver then, she looked through the closest window to the door. outside she saw...Eddie?

He looked spooked as hell and was desperately trying to get her to open the door, he must've driven like a madman to get to her trailer. But why?

She rested her revolver on her vanity table and quickly unlocked the door via the piece of string she had shoved between the lock. Eddie rushed into her trailer as she closed the door behind her.

"Eddie? What happened?" Soleil took notice of his frightened appearance. Eddie's eyes grew big, he wrapped his arms around himself, his breathing heavy and uneven, and his whole body was shaking. Frightened wasn't the right word to describe what he was feeling, he was traumatized.

"What happened?"

"Chrissy—Chrissy, oh God it was...her bones just—" He couldn't get the words out fully. Soleil led him over to her bed so that they could both sit down.

"Take your time and slowly tell me what happened."

Eddie took a few minutes to calm himself down before he told her the whole story. "Okay so uh, Chrissy Cunningham, she's a cheerleader at Hawkins that I knew in middle school, she wanted to buy from me—something stronger." He stopped mumbling to himself, his voice quivered.

"Did you give it to her?"

"...No, because when I went to give the stuff to her she um, her eyes were like rolled back into her head and she wouldn't move when I tried to snap her out of it." He rubbed his face. "You won't believe me."

"Eddie, of course, I'm gonna believe you, fire comes out of my eyes."

"She floated up to the ceiling and-and her uh, her arm broke—it got snapped then, her leg broke and she just dropped down to the floor—I don't know if she's still alive or not but, I ran out like a coward and didn't even bother to check. God, what's wrong with me?"

Soleil put a hand on his back. "You're human, you did what anybody would do if they were in your position."

"I didn't know where else to go so I came here thinking you might believe me or at least, not call the police."

"And why would I do that?"

He looked away from Soleil. "It doesn't matter. My uncle will probably find her and then everyone is gonna think I tried to murder her!"

"But Chrissy, she didn't have any bruises on her or anything?"

"No! It was just like some...ghost or something did it to her."

Soleil shook her head. "How are they gonna pin this on you? The injuries you said she had doesn't sound like something any human could do without evidence of an object being used, you know how hard it is to break your femur?"

"They'll pin it on me because it's easy too! She's in my trailer, I'm the freak of Hawkins, they'll just use the easy way out inside of trying to dig deeper."

Eddie got up and started to pace in circles, Soleil held her face in her hands. This wasn't gonna be easy to get out of, now that her newfound friend would probably get charged with attempted murder or murder depending on what happened to Chrissy. Though, there was no way a human could do what he said happened to her.

"Okay uh, Eddie you should probably stay here."

"What? Sunny, I can't—"

"I don't wanna hear it, you should be alright here."

"Fine, I'll be gone by morning. And that's final."

Eddie was still very panicked, still unsure of himself. Soleil had to get him to calm down, somehow, she had to get him distracted for even just a moment to get him to a clearer headspace. That's what she thought he would do for her. They sat on opposite sides of Soleil's bed.

"Um, did you think they would win the campaign?"

"What?"

"Dustin, Mike, everyone. Did you think they were gonna win?"

Eddie looked down, "Sol—this isn't gonna work—"

"You didn't answer the question."

"...I guess I knew they are formidable players so they had a good chance of either winning or losing. But, I thought the odds of them winning when we got into the game were low. They made me eat my words."

"Who surprised you the most?"

"Erica. She's a kid, Lucas' sister—he's the kid who was supposed to be there. I love it when someone new gets into D&D. Warms a cold heart."

"Nerd."

"We are not starting this again."

"We are totally starting this again. Or maybe we can just accept that we are both nerds in expert fields and not argue about who's the bigger nerd."

He started to calm down a little, he saw what Soleil was up to but even then, he was won over. Soleil had managed to calm Eddie Munson down which was a task in itself.

"I still say you're the bigger nerd."

"Oh please, you were able to name almost all the monsters from D&D canon. Not to mention Hellfire is named after the same club all the elite mutants belong to."

"And you can recite the names of almost all of the current X-Men. Read a few comics my ass, you probably hid them here somewhere."

"Caught me red-handed." The two looked at each other for a while before Eddie fell back onto her bed, dead with laughter. Eddie's laughter was like the flu, highly contagious so when he busted out laughing so did Soleil, laying back on her bed right next to him.

"Why—why are we laughing?" She said in between breaths.

"I don't know—it's just —how we stared at each other."

They laughed till their stomachs hurt, forcing them to stop. They sat up in Soleil's bed, not sure where to go from there until Eddie finally broke the silence, his voice quiet.

"Y'know, I could get used to having you around."

Soleil tensed. She wished he had said anything but that, he could've said that she was a nerd, ask her how she does her fire tricks, anything but that. Now, guilt washed over her, she felt like hitting herself for being careless. She got too close and she wasn't being fully honest with him, just about the one fact that she couldn't stick around for long and it wasn't because she would have to move with the Circus, it was because she was going to die, there was no more doubt in her head about it.

Eddie's presence made it so easy to forget that, he made it easy to relax and have fun, so much fun that Sol didn't realize what she had just done. She had built a connection with this poor young man who didn't know how hard reality was going to slap him just yet. She felt like utter crap for having to tell him this now especially since she could be gotten it over with in the beginning, it just had to happen now.

She swallowed as a knot built in her throat. "Eddie, I have to come clean with you and I'm sorry that this is horrible timing."

He turned to her. "Sol, what is it?"

"I don't have a long time to live."

"...You mean?"

"I'm going to die very soon."

The words hit him like a 16-wheeler would a deer on the road, hard. This news for Eddie knocked him back into the real world and out of the dream he had of finally meeting someone who liked him, all of him. Someone who was unapologetic about being themselves and who didn't judge him for his hobbies or what everyone else thought about him. He found a genuine girl, a special one that was now about to be taken from him.

Eddie's silence scared Soleil, she didn't know what to do but just ramble and rant on.

"I'm sorry I just—I just thought this would be something quick like, we would have one or two nights out and that would be it. This is turned into more than what I could ever ask for but I don't regret that it did Eddie. If these are my final days, I'm glad I got to spend them with you instead of someone else. You've shown me something I've wanted for so long, every day with you was one I never want to forget." Her voice became sincere like her words as tears begin to wet her face. "Eddie Munson, you're the sole reason I know what it feels like to be alive, words and actions can't explain how thankful I am."

"Wh-what is it? Do you have an illness?"

She rolled up her sleeve to show that a portion of her arm was wrapped. "My fire tricks, all that stuff is real and now it's turning on me. I'm starting to get burned, I don't know how much longer I..."

"That you've got?"

She nodded. "You're the only person I've told, I couldn't watch my Dad lose himself even more even though I know it's not right—I feel like a complete wuss."

"At least you don't run away from your problems."

Eddie took her hand in his, and when she looked at his face, she saw that he too had started to cry a river.

"I didn't want to get too attached and I didn't want you to get so attached because I knew how it would end."

He whispered. "Too late."

It all happened so fast. Before Sol knew it, she was in Eddie's arms. He held onto her tightly as if she was going to die in his arms right then and now. She felt his face pressed into the nape of her neck, his tears created a wet spot there. She rubbed her hands along his back letting him get all the stress he was going through out while mumbling 'I'm sorry' so many times that she lost count.

He cried for a while until he faced Soleil again. "Everything you said about me, everything you've told me, it wasn't a big lie, was it?"

The question merely was asked out of uncertainty, it was something Eddie had to settle after seeing Soleil with Patrick.

"I meant everything I said even now, I still do."

Eddie's lips hovered over her forehead, in a way he was asking for permission which Sol granted by telling him it was okay. He kissed her forehead and slipped one of his heavy, cold rings into her hand. When Soleil observed the ring she saw that it was a fanged skull, she didn't quite know what message Eddie was trying to put out to her but it had to be important.

She held him close as he did to her because it may have been the last night they could see each other in person.

It might as well have been a partially peaceful one.

                                         —㋛—

The young performer was woken by warm sunlight that escaped the coverage of her blinds, it was a subtle, warm light on her face to get her up. But when she opened her eyes, she quickly looked to see if Eddie still lay beside her.

He was gone.

Soleil took a deep breath, even though he gave her a warning, she didn't think he would go but then again, he thought he could protect her by doing that she wouldn't blame him for wanting to isolate himself.

Soleil got up, wiggling the knob of her front door. It was locked, when Eddie left he must've closed it all the way. She couldn't even get some fresh air, Hawkins just sucked right then, and the weight of everything was starting to hit her.

Sol searched her small pantry till she found a hidden Hershey's bar that she had saved just for moments like this, it was early but that wasn't stopping her. Chocolate was her only source of comfort because one, she was dying and the people who should've known don't two, someone she cared deeply about is currently being framed for attempted murder as the TV stated, and three, she was locked in her trailer.

Life sucked.

Soleil sat on the floor in self-pity while eating her chocolate, trying to rid her of the negative emotions but of course, that wouldn't work. Maybe listening to her new Bon Jovi tape would make her a little happier.

When she started to get her cassette player, she heard a knock on her door, some part of her thought it was Eddie coming back which made her brighten up but, her frown just came back when she heard the voice of her father.

"Soleil, are you dressing?"

"No—" Before she could finish her sentence, she heard his keys jiggling and her front door open. Soleil put the chocolate bar wrapper on the table and smoothed out her yellow PJs. "Well, good morning to you too."

Her father's voice was gruffer than usual, and his face read as tired, something big had to happen last night if he bothered her this early in the morning, she thought. The Ringmaster stood in front of her.

"Cassandra is in the hospital."

"What?!" Her eyes grew to the size of dinner plates, her day just got worse. Cassie was hurt. "What happened?"

"She broke her arm last night, she might have some blunt force trauma but the paramedics said she would have to be examined for that." He sighed, drooping his head slightly. "I just wanted you to know...she's gonna be alright, okay?"

"Okay. How—how did she get hurt like that?"

"I don't know she says she fell really hard on her arm, the kid that almost got murdered had similar injuries so the cops got involved but, she swears up and down nobody did anything to her."

"Oh..."

Her dad reached for his keys again, not knowing what else to say but paused for a moment, slipping them back into his pocket. "I'll leave the door open."

That was about the only good thing that happened this morning.

"Thank you, Dad."

"Of course Sol." He closed the door behind him as he left her trailer.

He didn't call her by her full name for once, it looked like Cassie being in the hospital made Sol's father straighten up, it wasn't something Soleil was gonna take for granted especially in her last days, weeks, or whatever she had left but this was only a small change. Going out was still prohibited since there was a 'murderer' out there, to Soleil it was frustrating that she couldn't tell him about Eddie but it was for the young man's safety that she didn't.

Now she was alone, her mind ran idle on everything, thinking the worse of it all. Everything was going so wrong so quickly, she hadn't had the chance to be fully truthful with Cassie or her father, she just wanted the thoughts to stop—she didn't need the tiny voice in her head telling her that her fate was soon to come anymore. For the first time in a while, she had a will to live, a will that was beyond spending her life in this Circus. The dilemma was how to preserve that.

She shook her head, going to grab her Slippery When Wet tape Jackson gave to her and her cassette player, maybe music would drown everything out. She sat on the floor for another twenty minutes, only eating out of a box of Lucky Charms.

And it was just twenty minutes when she heard another, louder knock on the front door. She took her headphones off and rested her cassette player on her bed to go answer the door first, she looked through the window to see—Dustin and a girl his age with red hair. Soleil opened the door to be greeted by Dustin.

"Soleil, hey."

"Hi Dustin, this is about everything that's happened, isn't it?"

"Yeah, yeah." He gestured to the girl next to him. "This is Max, she's my other friend." Max waved. "Have you seen Eddie at all?"

"Why?"

"We're on his side and this is kind of important."

Soleil studied the two, trying to ensure they were honest. "Not since yesterday wait a second—how the hell did you get in here? Circus is closed."

"We climbed the fences," Max said dryly.

Dustin sighed. "We won't be in your hair, thanks for at least trying to help." Before they turned around and left, Sol called.

"Wait—" Dustin and Max stopped in their tracks while Soleil ran over to her bed, pulling the shoebox she had stored remnants of her adventures with Eddie. She took the cover off and pulled out a film that contained pictures of her and Eddie when they went to the arcade. She shuffled through a drawer for a pen and scribbled something on the back of the film.

"Here," She handed Dustin the film. "When you find Eddie, give him this for me."

"Alright."

She paused. "There's something strange going on in Hawkins, isn't there?"

Dustin scanned her face, he saw that Sol was serious about what she was saying, her face also read as unsure of herself...worried.

"I don't even have enough time right now to explain that."

"Can any of it be rationalized?"

"Not really."

"I see." She looked down. "I know Eddie didn't do this, I'll try and help even though I might not be able to do much. What's your channel on the walkie-talkie?"

Max and Dustin looked at each before Dustin told her how to contact them. Max then spoke.

"You sure you wanna do this?"

"I've seen some shit plus, I owe it to Eddie. I'll come up with a way to help."

Dustin brightened up. "I'm sure he'd appreciate it. Thank you, Soleil."

"I'll be in touch." With that, Max and Dustin finally walked away from her trailer, sneaking away, hoping to not be noticed by anyone. Soleil closed her door with only one thing on her mind.

How was she gonna prove Eddie innocent to the town of Hawkins?