(Ep. 2: Vecna's Curse)

Nightfall had approached by the time they arrived at Reefer Rick's home.

Gwen isn't sure what the exact time is considering her eyes are struggling to remain awake. She stretches her legs as she jumps out of the car and follows her brother to the front door.

Right away, Dustin starts pressing the doorbell. Not a single sound can be heard. Not even a faint breeze or the sound of footsteps trying to quiet themselves. The silence only made Dustin more impatient, causing him to continue pressing the doorbell continuously to the point it became ridiculous.

"All right, that's enough," Gwen rolls her eyes and places her hands into her jacket as she taps her foot vigorously.

"It's settled then. I guess he's not here," Steve lazily says as he struggles to keep his eyes open. It sure doesn't help having stayed up all night talking to Robin over the phone about his encounter with Gwen and the way he deeply wishes to tell her he still loves her.

"Eddie! It's Dustin!" he starts pounding the door and ignores the complaints from Steve while Robin, Max, and Gwen direct their flashlights to the windows to check if there's anyone inside.

Gwen blinks a few times to try and adjust her eyes to the darkness. From what she's able to see, the house is fairly messy and there appears to not have been anyone inside for a while. If she didn't know any better, she would have guessed this house had been abandoned.

"REEFER RICK!"

Steve groans and leans his head back in frustration, "Don't scream that. If he's actually inside, now he'll never want to open the door."

Taking a step back from the window, Gwen figures there must be some clues around here that could lead them to Eddie. She walks down the porch and illuminates the path towards the very back. Max follows along when catching on to what she's doing and narrows her eyes for an even clearer look when they suddenly notice a boathouse.

Both of them glance at each other and exchange understanding looks before Max yells out, "Hey, guys?"

The rest of the group sprints to them and feel the smallest bit of hope that Eddie's hiding in there. It makes sense considering that since Reefer Rick isn't home, the easiest place to break into is the boathouse.

Before anyone can take the first step, Gwen is already walking towards in its direction. She can practically hear Steve and her brother scolding her for getting ahead without knowing if it's safe, but if Dustin is right about Eddie, then she's certain he won't harm her if he's inside.

She knocks gently against the door and moves slowly to the window to look inside while pointing the flashlight in.

"Are you insane?!" Steve reprimands her, causing her to jump at the loudness of his voice. "You have to wait until I make sure it's safe."

Gwen just shoves past him, refusing to get any closer to him since it won't do anyone any good. She can't afford to convince herself that somehow Steve has feelings for her when it's not possible. Right now, it's best to try and keep as much distance as possible and especially now with the circumstances they're in.

Pushing the door open, she takes a step inside and is met with nothing but complete darkness. The flashlight could only illuminate so much that it appears to be nearly useless. Carefully, she slowly steps in even deeper when she hears the sound of a beer bottle rolling away.

"Hello? Is anyone home?" Robin asks through the pitch darkness and deafening silence.

"There's an empty beer bottle here," Gwen informs the others, "Either he's hiding somewhere or he already ran off when hearing us."

"Eddie?" Dustin walks around and checks through every small gap that could be a good hiding place.

"What a dump," Steve mumbles.

Gwen shines the flashlight on his face that makes him shield his eyes with his hand, "It's a boathouse. Did you seriously expect a drug dealer to add some furniture and make it all nice?"

He frowns at her as he places the flashlight down and grabs an oar. She stares at him curiously and wonders why he needs it in the first place. That's when he takes a step closer to one of the boats and starts stabbing it with the oar.

Dustin jumps at his sudden action, "What are you doing?!"

Steve continues hitting the tarp, "He might be in there."

Gwen starts questioning the logic behind his plan. She knows he means well, but if Eddie really is hiding under there, it's not going to end good. "Have you considered that you can hurt him with that thing?"

Just hearing the concern in her voice for Eddie makes him hit the boat even harder. He knows she's probably right, but he can't bring himself to stop.

"Take the tarp off!" Dustin demands.

Steve briefly stops and gestures towards the boat with an annoyed glare, "If you're so brave, you take it off."

Max rolls her eyes and continues inspecting the table in front. There's empty beer bottles and a few candy wrappers, "Someone was definitely here."

Robin takes a closer look and realizes she's right, "Maybe he heard us. Got spooked and ran."

"Don't worry. Steve will get him with his oar," Dustin snaps back and smirks sarcastically at him as he follows along and watches him continue hitting the boat.

Steve rolls his eyes as he continues smacking the tarp, "I know you think you're being funny, but considering everyone in this room has nearly died a hundred times, personally I don't find it funny in the slightest-"

"I find it funny that none of you have the guts to take the tarp off, or don't tell me you guys are afraid?" Gwen teases as she continues looking around.

Steve exhales sharply and glares at her with annoyance, "Why don't you do it then?" He seriously hopes she doesn't, but knowing her, she's going to view this as a challenge and do it just to spite him.

Without thinking, Gwen takes a step forward and places her hand over the tarp. Only before she's able to lift it, a sudden figure jumps up that makes her scream.

Eddie harshly pins Steve against the wall and holds a broken beer bottle against his neck that causes Steve to start panicking, "Wait! Wait! Wait! Wait! Wait!"

"Steve!" Gwen yells as she jumps over the boat. Nearly making it in his direction, Dustin places his arm in front to stop her. The others pile behind him, all of them having the same panicked expressions.

"Eddie! Eddie! Stop!"

Dustin's voice is able to divert Eddie's attention from Steve. He stares at him for a mere moment with frightened eyes before switching to Robin, Max, and finally to Gwen.

"It's me," Dustin takes ragged breaths and waves his hand in the direction of his other friend. "This is Steve. He's not going to hurt you. Right, Steve?"

Gwen seriously hopes her brother is able to get through to him. Seeing the man she loves frightened to the core with a sharp edge against his throat makes her terrified that she can lose him at any second. Just standing here makes her feel completely useless that all she wishes is to be able to do something without risking him even more.

Steve gasps and stutters through his words as he focuses on not making the faintest move, "Right, yeah." He holds tightly to the oar and waits for the right opportunity to use this against Eddie and free himself from his threatening grasp.

Dustin glances down, realizing one wrong movement from him could cost him everything, "Steve, why don't you drop the oar?"

The oar comes crashing down and thumps loudly against the floor that only makes Eddie press the shard closer to Steve's neck.

"Eddie! He's cool! He's cool!"

Steve faintly nods, "I'm cool, man. I'm cool."

Eddie glances over in Dustin's direction. His grip never once loosens on Steve from fearing this is anything other than a trick. He's absolutely certain everyone views him as a killer and considering Steve was nothing but a terrible person, how can he expect to believe he's simply here out of the kindness of his heart?

"What are you doing here?" His voice is barely a whisper.

"We're looking for you," Dustin tries taking a step closer, but stops when seeing Eddie tense at his movement.

"We're here to help you," Gwen blurts out, automatically regretting it when seeing his threatening look fall on her.

"Eddie, this my sister, Gwen. The one I told you about," he explains in a gentler tone, "She's the one that learned how to play D&D."

Gwen quickly nods, "But I'm terrible at it, so you might need to give me some lessons so I can finally become a higher level." Her words come out rushed that she could only hope he understands.

"You know Robin from band," Dustin continues, gesturing towards her as she starts imitating a trumpet sound with a gentle smile. "This is my friend Max," she sends a small wave before quickly lowering her hand, "The one who never wants to play D&D."

Eddie seems to be getting calmer at the introductions. He continues listening and ignores the trembling coming from Steve that makes him feel slightly satisfied for having terrified the guy who was a total douchebag.

"Eddie, we're on your side," Dustin assures him while the others quickly agree with him. "I swear on my mother! Right, guys?"

"Yes. Yes, we swear."

"Apparently on our mother," Gwen's voice comes out shakier than she hoped and it sure doesn't help continuing to see Steve pinned to the wall.

"Yes, Dustin's mother... on Gwen and Dustin's mother," Steve quickly agrees, eyes wandering over at Gwen that bring his nerves to slowly fade when seeing her beautiful gaze.

Eddie seems reluctant to let him go. He stares intensely at Steve's eyes, debating on whether or not it's right to trust someone that's done nothing but be a complete asshole. He notices the fear in Steve has vanished, filling him with curiosity on how he quickly became calm despite having a shard against his neck. Following his line of sight, that's when he notices his serenity is linked to Dustin's sister, the one he won't stop talking about.

After what seems an eternity, Eddie decides to give in and releases Steve. He takes a few steps back, ignoring everyone making their way to check if their friend is okay.

Gwen stays behind and locates herself in front of Steve. She kneels in front of him, her hands reaching for the base of his neck as she gently tilts his head to the side. Her eyes study every inch of his skin, narrowing them to get a better look as the moonlight hits him perfectly and gives her more of a chance in making sure there's no accidental cuts. She trails her fingers down his neckline, his warmth radiating onto her like a cozy campfire.

"You're okay," she assures him and it makes him exhale in relief, almost like he had been waiting for her to assess his wellbeing and declare him to be safe.

"Thanks," Steve whispers, his eyes glancing up to stare into hers. Even under the low lighting, they're still a vibrant blue, reminding him of the ocean and blue skies that alleviates his heartaches and sends him into a grand state of bliss. God, if he could drown in them, he would do it in a heartbeat.

"Eddie, we just want to talk," Dustin softly says, his hand reaching for the broken bottle in his hand.

Gwen looks over at Eddie and as if her eyes could shoot daggers, she piercingly glares at him with all the fires of the stars. He averts his gaze to the ground and it suddenly fills her with sympathy when seeing him in complete distress. With just one look, she already knows Dustin's right and Eddie couldn't have done anything to Chrissy.

"We want to know what happened," Dustin's voice is low and gentle.

Eddie sniffles, peering at him through his shoulder before saying, "You won't believe me." His fingers curl around the broken bottle even tighter, shaking uncontrollably as he stares off into the void from remembering every single minute of Chrissy's death.

Slowly, Dustin reaches for the bottle once more and gently removes it from his tight hold. Eddie flinches lightly at his touch, making Dustin raise his hands in surrender for a few seconds until setting the bottle away from them.

"Try us," Max says from behind them.

Eddie stares attentively at the group, wondering how exactly to begin because he doesn't even know how to explain without sounding crazy. They seem understanding now, but what happens when they hear the truth? Will they still believe him to be innocent or believe he's making it up to save himself?

"You can trust us," Dustin assures him, "All of us."

Taking a deep breath, Eddie decides to take a leap of faith, praying they won't believe the worst of him when hearing everything.

__________________

"Her body just, like, lifted up into the air..." Eddie's voice fades into a broken silence. He stares at the emptiness, replaying everything as he wonders if there was something he could have done to save her. "And she just... hung there. In the air."

Everyone is silent, trying to picture the scene that with simply just hearing it is enough to evoke terror in them. They've seen a lot of things, but this sounds even more horrifying.

"And her bones... uh, she..." his voice trembles as his eyes close for a brief moment of composure, "Her bones started to snap." Explaining this feels like relieving everything again. Every time he closes his eyes, he sees her. He sees her floating in the air, twitching uncontrollably, her jaw breaking, and her eyes exploding into her head as all he does is scream in terror. She needed help and despite being there, he was unable to provide it. "Her eyes, man. It... it was like there was something, like inside her head, pulling. I- I didn't know what to do, so I... I ran away. I left her there."

Nothing but remorse and guilt filled Eddie. He had always seen Chrissy at school and thought she was just a typical cheerleader who only cared about herself, but having spoken to her, he came to realize she was more than she let on. In the brief time of sharing a small conversation with her, he felt like he connected to someone entirely different than him. It was something completely unexpected, yet felt entirely right.

And instead of helping her when she needed him, all he did was leave her. He scoffs at his action, feeling ashamed for being such a coward, "You all think I'm crazy, right?"

Dustin shakes his head, "No. We don't think you're crazy."

Eddie looks over at the group, scanning each of their reactions that seem understanding, or perhaps just full of pity. "Don't bullshit me, man! I know how this sounds!"

"We're not bullshitting you," Max quietly responds, her voice calm and reassuring.

"I just... I just left her there," Eddie mumbles to himself, his eyes filled with pure agony and anger at himself for having run away. "I should've done something. I should've- I should've helped her!"

Gwen wraps her arms around herself, understanding exactly how he feels when all she's done ever since the upside down was discovered was blame herself for all the deaths that happened.

She wasn't worthy of the sacrifice Barb had made when giving up her life to save her. She didn't deserve to survive after the mall burned down since she knew about the monsters and dimensions and Billy didn't. Just standing there watching him get killed by the mind flayer had been the most cowardly thing she had done. And it happened because of her. If she simply had kept driving off that summer night, Billy wouldn't have gotten possessed and all those people would still be alive.

Hopper would still be here and El would still have her dad.

She has been the cause for everyone's misery. How can she live with that? How can she just move on and pretend this isn't killing her?

And now hearing that everything is back just makes everything a million times worse. It's not easy to accept this when knowing Chrissy is probably the first of many because it's always the case with this.

Offering words of comfort would be the right thing to do, but Gwen finds herself at a complete loss. She can't tell him not to blame himself when it's all she's been doing to herself since she can remember. Nothing she says or does will make this any better, so all she can do is drown herself in her self pity.

"This isn't your fault, Eddie," Dustin takes one step closer to him, clearing his throat to prepare himself for everything he's about to say. "Look, hopefully what I'm about to say is able to help in some twisted way. You know how people say Hawkins is... cursed?"

Eddie's brows press tightly into a confused expression, not understanding how the town's beliefs has anything to do with what happened to Chrissy.

"They're not way off," he continues, "There's another world. A world hidden beneath Hawkins that sometimes bleeds into ours."

Trying to understand, Eddie leans forward and asks, "Like ghosts and shit?"

Max takes a deep breath, discreetly looking over at Gwen who appears to be too caught up in her thoughts. Despite having distanced herself from everyone, she's come to notice that she wasn't the only one who changed in the past few months. Gwen had changed and it wasn't for the better.

"There are some things worse than ghosts," she whispers, her tone mysterious and sinister.

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

There's silence for an uncomfortable second. Everyone recollects their first encounters with these monsters, praying this new situation is anything but something worse. The future starts feeling uncertain the more they question their efficiency to survive yet another attack.

Eddie listens attentively, slowly starting to believe the words coming out from his friend. Knowing there was another cause for the loss of Chrissy offers some comfort, but it only makes things worse when realizing the town he considered his home was nothing more than a tragedy.

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

"That night," Robin finally speaks up after having remained silent for long, "Did you see anything?"

"Dark particles, maybe?" Max questions.

Gwen could feel shivers run down her spine. She feels an intense pressing on her chest that alerts her to remain calm unless she wants to have another one of her attacks. Closing her eyes, she takes a deep breath as she counts to ten and tries to remember anything good.

Instead, her mind chooses to torture her by placing images of every single person that's died because of her. She clenches her eyes, curling her fingers into tight fists that bring her nails to dig extremely deep into her palm. It seems that with every attempt to feel better, it was only getting worse no matter how hard she tries.

Looking away from the group, her hand maneuvers to her hidden necklace. Just holding it brings her enough comfort to try and focus back on the conversation. She holds the ring tightly, focusing on the day he gave her this and how incredibly happy it made her feel.

Steadying her breathing, she prepares herself to face the group when a small droplet of blood falls onto her hand. She quickly reaches the sleeve of her jacket and wipes her nose in an instant.

"It would almost look like dust, swirling dust," Dustin tries explaining in further detail.

Eddie tries remembering anything that resembles what they're describing, but there was nothing out of the ordinary before it happened. "No, man, there was nothing you could see or... or touch. You know, I tried to wake her, but she couldn't move." His voice quivers as his gaze leaves the shed to return back to his trailer, "It was like she... she was in a trance or something."

"Or under a spell," Dustin remembers their previous D&D match. Considering all of his analogies ended up being surprisingly accurate, what's to say this is anything different?

"A curse," Eddie continues, catching on to his reference that makes everything easier to understand.

"Vecna's Curse."

"Who's Vecna?" Steve could only wonder what more D&D references will get brought up. He glances over at Gwen, expecting her to already start complaining about her brother's comparison of this terrible situation to a game, but she appears to be somewhere else.

Dustin can feel his heart drop at the severity of their situation. All of the previous monsters they've fought before hold nothing against Vecna, "An undead creature of great power."

"A spell caster," Eddie whispers in the most unnerving tone.

"A dark wizard."