▸Count Your Blessings - Ashford & Simpson

V E C N A ' S   C U R S E P T . I I

It was dark by the time we pulled up to Rick Lipton's house. We used flashlights to guide our way to the front door. I eyed the house skeptically. The lights were off and I was getting a creepy vibe. Not the I'm going to die vibe, just the plain this is a creeps house vibe.

Dustin rang the doorbell and then waited a few seconds. No response. He tried again. He stared at the doorbell and rapidly pressed the button.

"Okay. Well, that's settled." Steve spoke up. Dustin stopped ringing the doorbell and went to the method of knocking on the door. "I guess he's not here."

"Eddie! It's Dustin!" My brother yelled.

"Great." Steve rolled his eyes. He glanced at me and motioned for me to handle my brother.

"Eddie!" Dustin hit his hand against the door.

"You're funny if you think he would stop if I told him." I breathed out a chuckle, patting my boyfriend's arm. "You're lucky you're cute."

"Look, we just wanna talk, okay? No cops, I swear. We just wanna help."

"I am more than cute." Steve furrowed his brow. "Okay, I-I can make a mean sandwich. I can name over 50 movies in 1 minutes. Dawn, stop. I am hot, okay? I'm so hot."

"Yeah." I chocked back a laugh. "You're right, you are hot."

"Thank you." Steve nodded, crossing his arms. "And I am so much more than being hot. You hear me? Name another hot guy that fights monsters."

"Well..."

"Actors don't count." Steve shot my idea down.

"Rick!" Dustin went back to ringing the doorbell. "Reefer Rick!"

"Don't scream that." Steve scolded him.

"Reefer Rick!" Dustin ignored my boyfriend.

"Dear God, help me." I muttered, turning my back to them. Maybe if I don't see them I cannot hear them.

"Just...he could just be really high." Steve tried to talk to Dustin. There was a slight pause. "Is that a foot?"

"What?" I quickly turned around to see Dustin shining his light on a random shoe that was on the porch.

"No, that's a shoe." Dustin deadpanned.

"Hey, guys?" Max called out from a distance.

I turned to see her a few feet away from us. We walked toward her. Max had her light shining on something straight ahead. I stopped next to her to see a small house, almost like a shed.

"Light is on. Someone's for sure in there." I stated, taking a step forward.

"Are you crazy? We stay as a group from here. Okay?" Steve grasped my hand. He shined his light in everyone's face one by one. "No wandering around without someone. We don't know who is really in there and what is in there. Got it?"

"Yeah, let's go." Robin waved for us to go on.

We walked towards the building, shingling our flashlights around for any clues. The light inside the building turned off. Robin got in front of me and slowly opened the door.

"Hello?" Robin called out. "Is anyone home?"

"You know, for someone who works in a movie rental and has watched at least half of those movies, some of those being horror, you would think not to talk to the person in the creepy building?" I hissed at Robin.

"Shut up." Robin waved a hand of dismissal and fully entered the building.

With a huff, I followed after her. The room was pitch black. I frowned and cautiously shined my light across the room. The others followed in after me. Steve reached for my wrist. I slipped my hand into his, giving it a squeeze.

"What a dump." Steve stated, softly pulling me towards the other side of the room to inspect it with him.

"Hold my bag." I told Steve.

"What?" He shot me a confused look. I quickly shrugged off my backpack and gave it to him. He fumbled to grab the strap of the bag. "Dawn, what are you doing?"

"Just give me a sec." I unzipped my bag and took out my machete.

"You brought your machete?" Steve leaned towards me to whisper. "Seriously?"

"After last time we invaded a Commie base without any weapons, I'm never going into a Scooby doo trip without it again. Never." I quickly zipped my back pack and slung it over my shoulder.

"You couldn't have carried my weapon in there?" Steve asked.

"No, you're a big boy. You bring your own weapon to the fight." I walked on ahead, a flashlight in on hand and my machete in the other.

"You're ridiculous." Steve mumbled.

He walked towards an oar that was placed against the wall. Steve grabbed it and took long strides towards a canoe. He jabbed the oar at the top of the canoe. Dustin quickly shined his flashlight at the item. I found a light switch, turning on a lamp.

"What are you doing?" Dustin inquired. Steve stopped, still holding the oar near the tarp that covered the top of the canoe. "What are you doing?"

"He might be in here." Steve casually said, stabbing the oar at the tarp once again.

"Take the tarp off." Dustin pointed at the blue tarp.

"If you're so brave, you take it off." Steve stopped and faced my brother.

"Idiots." I shook my head, placing my flashlight in my pocket.

"Hey. Look over here. Someone was here." Max called out.

"Maybe he heard us. Got spooked and ran." Robin suggested.

"Don't worry, Steve will get him with his oar." Dustin sarcastically pointed at Steve.

"I know you think you're being funny, Henderson." Steve confined to jab the oar at the tarp. "But considering everyone in this room has nearly died a hundred times. Personally, I don't find it funny in the slight."

I rolled my eyes and walked towards the tarp, raising my machete.

"Woah, woah!" Dustin held out his hands toward me. "What the hell, Dawn?!"

"What?" I stopped from swinging the weapon down onto the tarp.

Suddenly, the tarp flew off and someone stood up. Something flew and hit my head. I cursed as pain blossomed at my temple. Someone rushed towards Steve and backed him against the wall.

"Wait! Wait! Wait! Wait! Wait!" Steve cried out, his back slamming against the wall.

Eddie had a weapon, a gun or a knife I couldn't tell from the darkness, placed under Steve's chin.

"Hey!" I rushed toward him.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, Eddie! Eddie!" Dustin ran towards him. Dustin cut in front of me. He held me and the girls back. "Stop! Eddie! Eddie!"

"Dustin, so help me God, if you're friend doesn't let my boyfriend go." I clenched my jaw to the point it hurt. My hand tightened around the handle of the machete as I slightly raised it.

"Eddie!" Dustin called out again. Eddie snapped his head towards my brother. He held a wild look in his eye that resembled a hunted animal. Dustin held out a hand toward him. "It's me. It's Dustin. This is Steve. He's not going to hurt you, right, Steve?"

"Right. Yeah." Steve lightly spoke.

"Steve, why don't you drop that oar." Dustin instructed. Steve quickly let go of the oar. Eddie pressed the weapon deeper against Steve's chin causing him to groan in pain. "He's cool. He's cool."

"Dustin, I swear if he doesn't let my boyfriend go in three seconds, I'm going to fight him." I whispered.

"I'm cool man. I'm cool." Steve croaked out.

"What are you doing here?" Eddie's asked.

"We're looking for you." Dustin responded.

"Okay, I'm going." I took a step forward only for Robin and Max to hold me back.

"We're here to help." Robin added onto Dustin's statement.

"Eddie, I swear if you don't let go of Steve, I will-"

"Dawn, the one who is going to be nice, is my sister." Dustin shot me a warning look. "The one who graduated last year and was in the FRE band."

"Also, who's boyfriend you're currently threatening and you're currently pissing me off, Eddie." I crossed my arms, making sure to show off my machete.

Eddie raised a brow at my weapon.

"Eddie, hey," Dustin brought the attention back to him, "these are my friends. Like my sister said, you're kind of holding her boyfriend at gun point. Not the best thing to do."

"Yeah, you really don't want to see her bad side." Robin stated.

"Or how she can actually wield a machete as a weapon." Max added.

Eddie started to loosen the gun from Steve.

"You know Robin, from band." Dustin continued. Robin did a horrible impression of playing an instrument. "This is my friend Max. The one who never wanted to play D&D." Max sent a quick wave. "Eddie. We're on your side. I swear on my mother. Right guys?"

"Yeah."

"Yes. I swear. We swear."

"He doesn't joke about swearing on our mom." I added, noting that Eddie was slowly lowering the gun. I exchanged a nervous look with Steve. "We're here to help you Eddie, now please let Steve go."

"On Dustin's and Dawn's mother." Robin nodded.

"Yeah, Dustin's...Dustin's and Dawn mother." Steve craned his neck further away from the gun.

Eddie's hand trembled as he held the weapon. I held my breath, my knuckles turning white from the tight grip I had on the machete. If Eddie doesn't let go of Steve...things are going to get ugly. Eddie lowered his weapon and stepped away. I sighed in relief.

"Jesus Ch.." Steve trailed off, bending over to breathe.

Eddie walked further away and I took my chance to go towards Steve. I placed a hand on his back.

"Hey, hey, you okay?" I asked. Steve just placed his hands on his knees. I knelt down and cupped his face, making him look at me. Steve finally looked into my eyes. "Are you okay?"

"Just felt like I was moments away from death, but yeah. I'm fine." Steve nodded.

"You sure?" I examined his face and his chin for any blood.

"I'm good." Steve reassured me. He frowned as he brought a hand to my temple. I winced as his fingers brushed the cut. "Are you okay?"

"I'll heal." I gave him a small smile.

"Eddie we just want to talk." Dustin told his friend.

I looked over to see Eddie sitting down. Dustin was crouched in front of him trying to talk to him. Eddie's hands were trembling as he remained quiet. Max looked at Steve and I before getting closer to Robin.

"We want to know what happened." Robin knelt near Dustin.

"You won't believe me." Eddie sniffled.

"Try us." Max shrugged.

"Her body just, like, lifted into the air and, uh...and she just, like, hung there. In the air. And her bones...uh, she..." Eddie whimpered out. He stared ahead, a avoiding eye contact with us. "Her bones started to snap. Her eyes. 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."

I stared at Eddie. He wasn't lying. Which means this is Upside Down related. My heart started to beat a little faster from fear. Eddie glanced at us and scoffed.

"You all think I'm crazy, right?" Eddie asked, placing his head in his hand.

"No. We don't think you're crazy." Dustin softly said, shaking his head.

"Don't bullshit me, man! I know how this sounds." Eddie's voice cracked as he tried not to cry.

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

"We believe you." Robin insisted.

"Eddie, look at us. Do we look like we're bullshitting you?" I told him. Eddie spared us a glance. "You should hear what we've gone through."

"Look, what I'm about to tell you might be a little...difficult to take." Dustin started, running off of what I've said.

"Okay." Eddie slowly nodded, now having his full attention on us.

"You know how people say Hawkins is...cursed? They're not way off. There's another world. A world hidden beneath Hawkins." Dustin started to explain. I flinched at the memory trying resurface of Nancy and I being in the Upside Down. Steve slipped his hand into mine and gave it a comforting squeeze. "Sometimes it bleeds into ours."

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

"I wish. I would rather have Casper than what we face." I muttered under my breath.

"There are some things worse than ghost." Max added.

"These monsters from this other world..."

"We thought they were gone." Steve finished Dustin's sentence.

"But they've come back before. That's why we needed to find you."  Dustin stated.

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

"We need to know if we have to hunt it down again and kill it...for good this time." I glanced down at Steve's and I's interwoven hand, watching as Steve rubbed his thumb against my skin.

"Did you see anything?" Robin questioned Eddie.

"Dark particles, maybe?" Max tried to help Eddie.

He shook his head.

"It would almost look like dust, swirling dust." Dustin added.

"No man," Eddie shook his head, "there was nothing you could see or uh, touch."

Steve looked up to face Eddie. He furrowed his brows. Eddie saw his questioning look.

"You know, I tried to wake her, man." Eddie continued to explain. "She couldn't move. It was like she...she was in a trance or something."

"Or under a spell." Dustin mentioned.

"A curse." Eddie glanced up at Dustin.

"Vecna's curse." Dustin and Eddie exchanged nervous looks.

"Who's Vecna?" Steve asked.

"An undead creature of great power." Dustin explained.

"A spell caster."

"A dark wizard.

"Great. So it's getting smarter."

▷

The next morning, we brought food to Eddie. We made sure we weren't followed. The five of us were carrying grocery bags with food and drinks to help Eddie out. Dustin opened the door to the shed, scaring Eddie.

"Delivery service." Dustin held up his grocery bags.

Eddie tried to steady his breathing. Steve held up his hand and wiggled his fingers as a "hello".  We helped set the bags down on a table. Eddie rummaged through them before pulling out the Honey Comb box and a can of soda. He opened the box and climbed into a canoe to sit down. He started to stuff his face with the cereal by hand.

"So we got, uh, some good news and some band news. How do you prefer it?" Dustin asked Eddie.

"Bad news first, always." Eddie spoke with his mouth full. He took a swig of his drink.

"All right. Bad news. We tapped into the Hawkins PD dispatch with our Cerebro, and they're definitely looking for you." Dustin informed him. Eddie's face fell with the news. "Also, they're uh, pretty convinced you killed Chrissy."

"Like, one hundred percent kind of convinced." Max told him.

"And the good news?" Eddie looked at us.

"Your name hasn't gone public  yet. But if we found out about you, it's a matter of time before others do." Robin informed him, her arms crossed. "And once that gets out, everyone and their shallow-minded mother is gonna be gunning for you."

"Hunt the freak, right?" Eddie glanced at the ground.

"Exactly."

"Shit." Eddie grumbled.

"So, before that happens we find Venca, kill him, and prove your innocence." Dustin explained the run down.

"That's all, Dustin? That's all?" Eddie sarcastically asked my brother.

"Yeah, no, that's pretty much it." Dustin nodded.

"Listen, Eddie," Robin called Eddie's attention, "I know everything Dustin is saying sounds totally delusional, but we've actually been through this before. I mean, they have a-a few times."

"Three times." I stated, leaning my back against the post my boyfriend was leaning against. Steve nodded in agreement. Eddie stared at us trying to comprehend what we're saying. "This will be our fourth."

"And I have once." Robin finished. "Mine was more human-flesh-based, theirs was more smoke-related, but bottom line is, collectively, I really feel we got this."

"Yeah, we usually rely on this girl who has super powers." Steve scratched his chin. "But, uh, those went bye-bye, so-"

"So," Robin continued to finish the sentence, "for we're technically in-in a"

"Kinda." Steve interjected.

"Brainstorming phase."

"Brainstorming." Steve snapped his fingers.

"There...there's nothing to worry about." Dustin spluttered out.

Steve breathed out a laugh, agreeing with Dustin. The two looked at each other and nodded. Eddie looked at the two of them in disbelief.

"We got this." I tried to reassure Eddie.

Sirens echoed from outside. My heart raced as I looked towards the windows.

"Shit." Steve whispered.

"Tarp. Tarp. Tarp." Robin instructed.

Eddie quickly covered himself under the tarp, laying in the canoe. We ran to the closest window to check it out. The sirens grew louder as the police cars and ambulance drove past the house.

"If they're not looking for Eddie...what the hell happened then?" I glanced at everyone.

"Let's go find out." Steve took out his keys from his pocket.