I See You (Please See Me): Chapter 2

A Stranger Things Fanfic

Chrissy looked heartbroken when he told her he couldn’t help. Eddie felt bad, but she couldn’t have seen what he had. She had told him she thought she was crazy. Crazy couldn’t make you float up in the air and break your arm, he was sure of that.

Someone banged on the door, probably to complain about the music. He hadn’t meant to play it, but the tape player had fallen, and he hadn’t bothered to turn it off, being far more concerned by the fact that his latest client had started to levitate in the middle of his living room. He kept his eyes on Chrissy in case she decided to do something weird again and felt around behind him for the tape player. It clicked off, and he shouted, “Go away!”

The pounding continued. He stood up, and Chrissy looked panicked. “I’m not going anywhere, just to the door.” He started to walk away, then froze and pointed at her. “Don’t–don’t go anywhere either.” She didn’t seem like she could with how much she was shaking, but he hadn’t thought she could fly either, so . . .

He opened the door and quickly tucked his hands under his arms to hide the way they shook. “Didn’t I say go away?”

The little redhead from across the street crossed her arms and glared at him. “Some of us are trying to sleep, you know.”

“Yeah, well, that was an accident, and I’ve turned it off now, so go away.”

She frowned and opened her mouth to say something, but Chrissy happened to sniff at that moment. The kid’s eyes widened. “Is someone crying?” She pushed past him into the trailer, then froze when she saw Chrissy cradling her arm, which was bent completely out of shape.

Mayfield–that was the kid’s name–whirled around and glared at Eddie. “What did you do to her?”

“I didn’t do anything?” He knew he sounded hysterical, and that was not helping his case, but he couldn’t help it. “One minute she was just standing there, looking like she was in some kinda trance, and the next she floated up off the floor. She just–just slammed into the ceiling.” He folded his hands over his face and tried to breathe. “Her arm, it, um, it just snapped, and then she woke up and fell down.

Mayfield turned to face him, and he pointed a trembling finger in her face. “Listen, Mayfield, I know exactly how this sounds, but I’m not high, I swear.” He knew exactly what his word was worth, but the kid actually seemed to take him seriously.

She sat on the floor in front of Chrissy. “He said you were in a trance. Do you remember what happened?”

Chrissy squeezed his eyes shut, sending more tears spilling down her face. “I was at home. My mom–she was following me, yelling, and then–and then it was a monster, not her. My dad was there, but–” She choked. “–his eyes and mouth were sewn shut. The monster cornered me, and it–it wanted to kill me.”

Mayfield gently rubbed Chrissy’s good shoulder. “It’s okay. You’re safe now. Do you–do you remember how you got away?”

“I–I heard music,” Chrissy sobbed.

“What kind of music?” Mayfield asked.

“The music that was playing a minute ago. And I–I knew I needed to get back here. I knew–I knew it all must be in my head, so I thought about coming back, and–and when I opened my eyes, I was at the picnic table from earlier.”

“What picnic table?”

“The one in the woods a little ways from school,” Eddie supplied, swallowing hard and tightening his arms across his chest. “We met there today.” Mayfield cast him a nasty look, but he ignored it.

“Okay, and what happened after the picnic table?” she asked.

“The music was louder there,” Chrissy explained, “so I followed it. And then–and then I was here.” She shifted a bit, then winced, trying to hold her arm still.

“Okay, first thing we need to do is call a doctor to take care of that arm,” Mayfield said, and Chrissy looked panicked.

“My parents can’t know I’m here! If they do, they’ll–they’ll–”

Mayfield cast Eddie another dirty look, which Chrissy caught. “It’s not his fault,” she said. “I asked. I–I thought I was going crazy and didn’t know what to do.”

The kid rolled her eyes and sighed. “Fine. You were at my house, got it? I asked you to show me some cheer moves after the game, and then you tried my skateboard and fell–” she glanced at the angle of Chrissy’s arm. “–rather spectacularly. Eddie ran over when he heard you scream.” She glanced between the two of them. “Got it?”

Eddie was tempted to ask what made her think she was in charge, but considering he had exactly zero ideas for how to fix this mess, he decided against it.

“Can you walk?” Mayfield asked, and Chrissy nodded. “I’m Max, by the way.”

Chrissy smiled slightly. “Thank you for helping me, Max.”

Mayfield helped her to her feet, then wrapped her arm around Chrissy to steady her on her shaking legs. Eddie hovered helpless to the side, and the three walked over to the other trailer. The kid let them in, then waved a finger in front of her mouth and pointed to the woman lying asleep on the couch. Eddie nodded and ran to open the bedroom door further. Mayfield led Chrissy to the bed and let her sit.

“Okay, this may be hard to believe,” Mayfield began, and Eddie almost laughed. He was fairly certain he’d believe anything at this point. “But I’ve seen some things much crazier than what you’ve just described. In a few minutes, I’m going to call the hospital, and they’ll come pick you up and treat your arm. I’m going to make some calls tonight, and tomorrow we’ll come visit you and make a plan of action to keep this from happening again, got it?”

“You think it might happen again?” Eddie asked, stomach tying itself in knots.

“I think we shouldn’t assume it won’t,” Mayfield said, and Chrissy shrank back. “But we’re going to do everything we can to keep you safe.”

“What if it happens again tonight?” Chrissy whispered.

“You said music helped, right?”

“Yes.”

Mayfield pulled her Walkman off the nightstand and handed it to Chrissy, then pulled a bunch of tapes out of a drawer. “You can borrow that for tonight, and pick out a couple you like.” Chrissy looked them over, then hesitantly selected a couple.

“I wanna know who this ‘we’ is you keep referring to,” Eddie said, crossing his arms again.

“Some friends,” Mayfield said slowly. “We’ve been dealing with inter-dimensional monsters for, well, a while now.”

Eddie tapped his finger on his arm and studied her. Surely she couldn’t be serious, and yet, he may not know Mayfield well, but she seemed like the type to laugh in your face if you said something stupdi, not pull some weird, elaborate prank like this. “Okay, sure, why not,” he said dully.

“I’ll go call the hospital,” she said, running into the other room.

Eddie sat on the other corner of the bed from Chrissy, carefully to make sure he didn’t jostle her. “You okay?” It was a stupid question, but he couldn’t think of anything else to say.

“Just–just scared. And my arm hurts.”

“Yeah.” His eyes flicked down to the comforter, and he swallowed. “I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“I just–I had no idea what to do. I just stood and watched.”

“It’s not like this is really covered in a first aid class or anything.” She forced a small smile, and he tried to match it. “But–but you still saved my life.”

He shook his head. “That was an accident.”

She poked his leg with her left hand. “I was thinking about you. To . . . try to get back, and–and it took me back to the picnic table. If I hadn’t gotten there, I’m–I’m pretty sure I would be–” She broke off, and he wished he could say something to make it better, but his mouth went dry and there was nothing he could think of.

“They’re on their way,” Mayfield said, popping back into the room. “Remember, whatever you do, keep that Walkman on.”

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