Just Call My Name (And I'll Hear You Scream): Chapter 5

A Stranger Things Fanfic

Eddie wasn’t answering the phone, which wasn’t concerning in and of itself. He was often out, or asleep, or listening to music too loud to hear it ring. (Dustin had once tried to suggest he turn it down so people could call him. Eddie had laughed and ignored the suggestion completely.)

No, Eddie’s poor telephone etiquette was not the worrying part. What was worrying was the fact that no one had seen him. Max hadn’t seen him in or out of the trailer in days, his buddies from band said he hadn’t shown up to practice in a couple weeks, and he was never home when Dustin went to check on him. (The worst part was his van was always there.)

And, well, desperate times, desperate measures, which was why he, Lucas, Mike, and Max all sat on Max’s front stairs, waiting for evidence that Wayne had woken up.

“I’m telling you,” Max began for the fourth time. “He’s definitely up by now. I mean, it’s not like he gets up and goes straight to work.”

“Maybe not, but better to be safe than sorry,” Lucas said. “And you’re the one who lives across from him. Shouldn’t you know when he’s awake?”

“Right, cause you know all your neighbors' schedules, don’t you, stalker?”

“Guys, shhh! I think I just saw a shadow behind the curtain,” Dustin hissed.

“You don’t think he’ll call the cops, do you?” Mike asked with a frown, as though the confusion bothered him more than the possibility.

“Not if he doesn’t catch us,” Dustin said, “but if you guys keep talking, he will!”

A light flicked on, and Dustin shot up. “Let’s go, let’s go!” He darted across the street, hearing the others' groans and slower steps follow.

He knocked on the door and a man he assumed must be Wayne answered. The man looked at the group, and his gaze settled on Max. “Hello, Max. I’m afraid I don’t know the rest of you.”

“I’m Dustin, and this is Mike and Lucas. We were just wondering if Eddie’s here?”

Wayne stared at each of them in turn. “You mean he didn’t call you?”

“Call us? What do you mean?” Dustin asked.

Wayne folded his arms and frowned. “Son, Eddie’s gone. Left a couple weeks ago.”

“Gone?” Dustin felt a dull ache in his stomach.

“Gone where?” Lucas asked.

Max narrowed her eyes. “Did he say why?”

Wayne shook his head. “Jim Hopper stopped by and picked him up. They were gone in a few minutes, and Eddie didn’t really explain. Seemed spooked.”

The teens exchanged a look. Will and El had told them they had to get out of town for a while and explained why, but they hadn’t mentioned anything about Eddie coming along.

“Did he say when he’ll be back?” Mike asked.

Wayne shrugged. “I don’t know if he will.”

Dustin blinked back tears. He had known Eddie wanted to leave Hawkins behind, but he had always assumed it would be after saying goodbye. That they would know it was coming.

“Thank you, Mr. Munson,” Lucas said with a sad smile and a wave. “We should be going.” They stepped away, heading back to Max’s, when Dustin stopped and ran back over.

“Um, Wayne? One more thing. If anyone else comes around asking, don’t tell them Eddie left with Hopper. Say he–he ran away or something. It’ll be safer for both of them.”

Wayne smiled. “I wasn’t born yesterday, son, but I know Eddie trusts you kids. Have a good night now.”

No one should be that cheerful in the morning, Eddie thought. Especially when the coffee hadn’t even finished. He stared at the coffee pot, watching the brown liquid drip slowing, mostly because an excited Chrissy was apparently very hard to look away from, and he didn’t want to be a creep.

“I think we should do something exciting today!” she declared, bouncing on her toes and waving imaginary pompoms in the air.

“We?” Jonathan and Eddie asked at the same time Will asked, “Exciting?”

“Like what?” El asked, eyes sparkling. Apparently Chrissy’s enthusiasm was contagious.

“Something active. We’ve all been sitting around too much lately, so I think we need exercise!”

“You didn’t give her too much caffeine, did you?” Will whispered over his shoulder, leaning towards Jonathan.

“I didn’t give her anything,” he hissed back.

“If there was caffeine to be had, I’d already be drinking it,” Eddie whispered, and Will nodded in agreement.

“She’s definitely in a good mood today, though,” Jonathan began in a voice far too calculated to be natural. “Did you talk to her last night, Eddie?”

Eddie coughed into his fist and turned back to the coffee maker.

“I’ll take that as a yes, then.”

“I hate you.”

Jonathan’s smile grew wider, and then Eddie heard a voice in his ear ask, “What are you whispering about?”

“Nothing!” the three boys chorused, and Eddie tried to calm his heart rate, which had only spiked because Chrissy startled him, not because of the strawberry-blond hair now draped over his shoulder.

He felt when Chrissy leaned back and he finally turned to look at her. She pouted. He pouted right back, and a small smile tugged on the corners of her lips, then she forced it away and put her hands on her hips. “Anyway, I think we should all do something active. Does anybody here play any sports?”

Eddie laughed. “Have you looked around? You’re the only athlete here, Princess.” He ignored Jonathan’s intrigued smirk and Chrissy’s blush and wished he had chosen a different nickname.

“You play sports?” El asked her, surprised.

“I"m a cheerleader!” Chrissy said, flashing a bright smile that drooped a bit when El glanced helplessly at her brothers. “You–you don’t know what a cheerleader is, do you?” El shook her head.

“Wait.” Eddie frowned at Will. “Didn’t you have cheerleaders at your school in California?”

Will shrugged. “Yeah, but it’s not like we ever attended any games.”

“What about pep rallies?” Chrissy asked.

“Umm.” Will rubbed the back of his neck. “Big crowds stress us both out, and, well, people tend not to notice us.”

Eddie nodded. He knew both Byers boys' preferred self-defense method was not to get noticed in the first place, and it stood to reason that El would have fallen into the same pattern. That was one of the reasons he and Jonathan had never been friends. Staying in the background never worked for Eddie, and Jonathan wasn’t willing to step into the spotlight. Eddie could understand and never pushed it.

They were still usually on good terms, though. Eddie remembered the younger boy stopping him in the hallway one day his junior year. Jonathan had looked so nervous Eddie had been sure he was about to ask for drugs, and Eddie wondered how he could subtly convey that they needed to have this conversation without an audience and also that he didn’t sell to freshmen when Jonathan burst out with a series of basic questions about DnD. Eddie had stared at him for a minute, then busted out laughing until his sides hurt.

“It’s not funny! I need help!” Jonathan had whined.

“I thought–I thought you wanted some of my stash,” Eddie wheezed once he was sure there was no one close enough to hear. Jonathan laughed too then, until they were both slumped against the lockers, trying to catch their breath.

“Meet me at the picnic table behind the track at lunch,” Eddie said before heading to class. “I’ll answer all your questions there.” It was the first of only two times he had used the spot for something other than a drug deal. (Well, the second was technically a deal too, but he hadn’t ended up selling her anything.)

He had laughed again when Jonathan met him, pulling out a notebook and pen. “Taking notes?”

“You don’t understand,” Jonathan said firmly, as though he would make him understand. “This is the first thing Will’s told me he’s actually interested in that I didn’t suggest since Dad–since–”

Eddie held up his hand. “I get it, I get it. I just never thought I’d be having this conversation with Jonathan Byers.”

Jonathan smiled slightly and sat down. “Yeah, I–I guess not.”

That was the most they had ever talked. Until now.

“What is a cheerleader?” El asked.

“Um.” Chrissy scrunched up her face and rolled her eyes to the ceiling. Eddie went back to watching the coffee drip like molasses. “Cheerleaders do a sort of . . . dance, I guess, to get everyone excited and cheer on the people playing a game like basketball or football or something like that, but we do it as a group and do different stunts like flips and making a pyramid.” She paused. “You–you do know what dancing is, right?”

“Yes! I danced at the Snow Ball.”

“You did one slow dance because Hopper forgot what time the dance started, and then we all wanted to leave early and get ice cream,” Will said. “That’s not the kind of dancing she’s talking about.”

“You went to a dance and only slow danced?” Chrissy asked. “But slow dancing is boring!”

“What was that, prom queen?” Eddie asked, grinning as he turned to face her.

She flushed. “Um, I mean, slow dancing just isn’t as . . . exciting.” She bit her lip. “And I wasn’t prom queen. I left.”

He waved the comment away. “Beside the point.”

Chrissy gasped, and everyone flinched. She covered her mouth. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare everyone, but I had a great idea!”

Eddie, Will, and Jonathan exchanged a glance.

“We should have a dance party!”

“A–what?” Eddie asked. “Please tell me you’re joking.”

“It’ll be fun!” she promised. “We can move the couch and coffee table to give us room, turn on some music–”

“Um, yeah, I don’t think so.” The coffee (finally) finished, and Eddie poured himself a mug. He left the kitchen, hoping to escape the conversation, then stopped and stared at Joyce and Hopper on the couch.

Namely on how awkwardly and stiffly they sat on opposite ends and the indention on Joyce’s cheek that looked suspiciously like the seam on Hopper’s sleeve. He rolled his eyes, and Hopper drew a finger across his lips in a “keep your thoughts to yourself” gesture. Eddie got those a lot.

Eddie realized Chrissy had followed him and was still trying to convince him to join in as he dropped onto the couch. “Don’t you dance all the time? You like music!”

“I like to play and listen to music. I don’t dance.”

“We could all try,” El said, still looking far too excited about the plan.

“Why is everyone being so loud in here while we’re trying to watch tv?” Hopper asked.

“Chrissy wants to have a dance party!” El said.

“A dance party?” Hopper looked from Will to Eddie to Jonathan, and grinned. “Well that sounds like a great idea. You kids have fun. I’m going outside for a smoke.”

“A dance party does sound fun,” Joyce said as Hopper turned off the tv and got up. Will gave her an incredulous look. “What? You like to dance.”

“Not in front of people,” Will muttered.

“It’s just family,” Joyce said quickly. “Well, and Eddie and Chrissy.”

Eddie lifted his mug to the younger boy. “If it would make you feel better, I can stay in the bedroom. Give you a little more privacy.”

“No, you have to stay,” Chrissy whined. “Please?” Eddie groaned, but didn’t argue, and she lit up. “Now we just have to move the couch and get the radio. Eddie, could you–”

“I can move it,” El said, and Eddie had about half a second to realize what she meant before the couch (and him and Joyce) flew back against the wall and he choked on his coffee.

“Um, El, sweetheart,” Joyce began, her voice a little shaky. “New rule. No moving furniture while people are on it.”

Eddie glanced nervously at Chrissy, but she just blinked at the couch a couple times, then turned around to get the radio started.

Jonathan sat on the couch beside his mom, and Will squished in between him and Eddie. Eddie held his mug of coffee in front of him like a shield.

Chrissy fiddled with the radio until she found a station she was happy with, then pushed the coffee table against the wall. Madonna’s Material Girl came on, and she bounced on her toes.

“This is perfect!” She grabbed El’s hands and pulled her into the middle of the empty space. “So dancing–I don’t know any of the technical kinds of dancing, but you just move to the music.” She let go of one of El’s hands, pulled down her bun, and shook her hair out. Eddie looked down at his mug to check how much coffee was left.

When he looked back up, it was to find Chrissy dancing around the room, waving her hands in the air with El mimicking her much more awkwardly, but with a wide smile on her face. Chrissy leapt over toward El, pausing in her dancing to mouth the lyrics into a pretend microphone. El blinked and took a step back when Chrissy leaned toward her, then grinned and started dancing again.

Joyce clapped when the song ended, and Chrissy flushed. El beamed. They danced through several songs, and Eddie began to hope they had forgotten about wanting him, Jonathan, and Will to join in. To be perfectly honestly, he rather liked this spot on the couch, watching them both dance, sing, and enjoy themselves. He was staring, he knew, but so was everyone else.

Chrissy grabbed El’s hands, pulling her from one side to the other, then called over the music, “you want to try spinning?” El nodded. “Okay, don’t let go. You won’t fall, I promise, but tell me when you need to stop.” She squeezed the younger girl’s hands, then leaned back and started running in a circle, dragging El along with her. El laughed as they spun, leaning back until it looked like she might fall onto the carpet.

They spun faster and faster, until El finally shrieked, “stop, stop!” And they slowed down more and more before Chrissy dropped El’s hands and they both stumbled back.

“Did you like that?” Chrissy asked as the music stopped and an ad began.

“Yes!” El ran over to Will, eyes glowing. “Dance with me!” The boy gave a few small protests before taking his sister’s hand and getting up. He glanced nervously at Chrissy, who turned back to the radio, fiddling with the volume dial.

“I want to do the spin!” El begged, grabbing both his hands. He visibly relaxed and smiled, then started running. She shrieked as they got faster and faster, and Jonathan snuck out of the room. Eddie wondered if he was trying to avoid being the next one asked, but he soon slipped back in with his camera, snapping pictures of his younger siblings.

“You should come dance!”

Eddie jumped as he realized Chrissy had snuck up on him for the second time that day. “I, um, I don’t dance, princess.”

She shrugged. “So?” She took his hand and he let her pull him to his feet.

“So, I don’t want to.”

“Please?” She looked up at him, so hopefully with those big eyes.

He swallowed. “Fine, but only if you dance with me.”

The words were out of his mouth before he thought them through, and he waited for her to tell him to forget it, but instead her grin widened, and she said, “okay!” He blinked slowly as she dragged him away from the couch.

He licked his lips. “Are–are you sure?” She nodded. His left hand was already in hers, so he pulled his other hand up to rest behind her shoulder. He didn’t realize until his hand was already at her back that she had probably planned to just hold hands like Will and El.

She chewed her lip nervously even as she slid her hand onto his shoulder, and he wondered if he should move his hand. “Do you know, like, some formal way to dance? Because I don’t and I’ll probably mess it up.”

“Uh, no. I know very little about dancing at all.”

She relaxed and grinned up at him. “Alright then. This will be fun. I’ve never danced like this before.” Without quite meaning to, he tugged her a little closer.

Eddie really didn’t know anything about dancing, but he did know music, so when the next song started, he quickly found the beat and rocked them back and forth in a way that would probably look like a slow dance if the song had a slower beat. After they settled in the motions, he dropped his hand from her back and spun her, grinning when she gasped.

“That was fun,” she giggled as she latched onto his shoulder again. She pulled closer to him, and he wondered if she realized it. He grinned–then spun her four times in a row without stopping. “No fair!” she shrieked. “Now I’m dizzy!”

“Oops.”

She glared and squeezed his shoulder, most likely to keep him from spinning her again. They continued just rocking back and forth until the song drew to a close.

“Spin me again,” she begged.

He stuck out his tongue. “I thought you didn’t want me to.”

“Please, Eddie?”

She laughed when he did as she asked, closing her eyes. Somehow she managed to grab onto his shoulder again without looking. She grinned up at him and opened her eyes as the last note died away and they stopped.

“Thank you for dancing with me,” she said breathlessly, quiet enough for only him to hear. She had been dancing for nearly an hour, so her breathlessness made sense for normal reasons, but something in her low tone still caught his attention and wouldn’t let it go.

His eyes dropped to her lips, and her fingers dug into his shoulder. He thought he heard her breath catch, but he might have imagined it. His heart thundered in his chest (he didn’t think it was because of the dancing), and he was sure she could hear it because she was closer now than she had been through most of the dance, nearly pressed against him, and he didn’t know when that had happened. She tilted her face up towards his.

Someone touched his arm. “Could you show me please?”

He shook his head, fighting with the knowledge that he had almost kissed Chrissy then and there, in front of everyone. This was a bad, bad idea, he thought. “I, um, what?”

“I want to dance like that,” El explained.

“I’ll do it with you,” Jonathan said, laying his camera gently on the table and rescuing Eddie from having to form any coherent thought that didn’t involve kissing the girl in his arms.

“Will you dance with me again?” Chrissy asked, and at that moment Eddie realized just how much trouble he was in, because he really shouldn’t stay so close and risk doing something stupid, but when she looked at him like that, asking him to stay, drawing him closer and closer every day, begging him not to go–

How could he say no?

He swallowed and forced a smile. “I will in a minute, princess, promise, but right now I’m going to get some more coffee.”

He tried not to think about the way her grip on him tightened for just a second before he pulled away.

“We’re almost out of coffee,” Joyce said, shaking the container. “And stuff to make for supper, and cereal, and shampoo. Someone–two someone’s actually–needs to go grocery shopping.”

“I’ll go!” Eddie said.

“You’re not allowed to leave the house,” Hopper said quickly, and Eddie dropped into a chair, pouting, though he didn’t protest.

Chrissy frowned. “Why aren’t you allowed to leave the house?”

“The bad men,” El said wisely, and Eddie grimaced. Chrissy opened her mouth to ask more questions, but Jonathan interrupted.

“I can do it.”

“Can I go too?” Chrissy asked when no one else volunteered. Eddie whirled around to look at her and she shrugged. “I want to get out of the house for a bit.”

“Fine with me,” Jonathan said. “Mom?”

Joyce patted his shoulder. “Just be careful. Both of you.”

Jonathan found a piece of paper and a pen. “Alright, what all do we need?” Everyone called out various food items, some of which were argued, and he wrote them down.

“And Eggos,” El said finally.

“Eggos, really?” Eddie asked, making a face.

“They’re my favorite.”

Eddie shook his head. “Listen, I understand you were severely deprived of junk food as a kid, so I’ll excuse it for now, but we really need to introduce you to some better snacks, pipsqueak.”

El tilted her head. “What is ‘pipsqueak’?”

“I’m calling you short.” He poked her arm, and she laughed.

“Okay, I think I’ve got everything. Ready to go?” Jonathan asked, folding up the list and putting it in his pocket.

Chrissy ran to grab her shoes, then joined Jonathan in the van. “Can you drive this?” she asked, glancing nervously at the size of the vehicle.

He put his hand on her headrest as he turned to look out the back window and pulled out. “I drove a van nearly this size from California to Indiana a few weeks ago, and I was still a little high part of that time.” He paused. “Don’t tell mom or El.” Chrissy laughed and mimed zipping her lips.

He tossed her the map and told her to find the closest grocery store. She picked at her sleeve, occasionally telling him to turn.

“What?” he asked eventually. She repeated the last turn, but he shook his head. “What’s on your mind? Something’s bothering you.”

She shook her head and studied the map. “It’s nothing important.”

“Then it doesn’t matter if you tell me,” he said with a small grin.

She tapped her foot and bit the inside of her cheek. “I–I don’t mean it to be rude, but I can’t think of a way to ask without it sounding rude, and if I do ask, I should probably ask her, but I don’t want to hurt her feelings–” She chewed her lip. “It really isn’t important.”

“Well I already know you’re not trying to be rude, so why don’t you just ask me? If it’s something I can’t or shouldn’t answer, I’ll let you know.” When she still didn’t answer, he continued, “is it about El, my mom, or someone else?”

“El. Um, Eddie said that thing about her not eating junk food and it made me think of it.”

Jonathan frowned as he switched lanes. “Yeah, I don’t know how he knew that, but I guess Dustin or one of the other kids could have mentioned it.”

“She, um, doesn’t know what nail polish is–or she didn’t last week. And she had never heard of cheerleading–” Chrissy buried her face in her hands. “Uhg, I sound so arrogant. I mean, it doesn’t matter if she doesn’t, I just thought it was strange–”

“Chrissy, stop,” Jonathan was laughing, though he hadn’t taken his eyes off the road. “You’re okay. I don’t think you sound arrogant. It’s a perfectly normal question, though I admit I was actually expecting you to ask me about her moving the couch the other day.”

“Oh.” She shrank back in her seat. “Um, yeah, that was weird too, but I already knew she could do that because I saw her fight the monster. I just assumed it had to do with, um, the Upside Down. Oh, turn left up there.”

Jonathan nodded. “She doesn’t mind talking about it, and she doesn’t mind us telling people either. She’s had a, uh, difficult childhood.” He glanced over at her. “You know the old lab in Hawkins that shut down?” Chrissy nodded. “Well, years ago, El’s mom participated in an experiment run by the man in charge of that lab. I don’t know details, but whatever she did there, that’s why El is, um, able to do stuff like that.”

“Oh.”

“Somehow Dr. Brenner–the one in charge of the lab–must have known she could do that stuff because he kidnapped her when she was born.”

Chrissy dropped the map.

“You okay?” Jonathan asked turning around.

“Yeah, I’m fine, it’s just–that’s horrible!”

Jonathan sighed. “Yeah. She lived stuck in that lab until about the time Will disappeared. Mike Wheeler, Lucas Sinclair, and Dustin Henderson found her in the woods while looking for Will. Not long after that, she moved in with Hopper, and he was able to officially adopt her. Then, when he disappeared last summer, she came to live with us.”

Chrissy twisted her sleeve. “I’m sorry, I probably shouldn’t have asked.”

Jonathan raised an eyebrow. “You should have just guessed my little sister lived in a lab most of her life?” Chrissy ducked her head, but chuckled. “You’ve got to stop apologizing.” He pointed out the window. “I think we’re here.”

A large sign advertised a grocery store, and he pulled into the parking lot. They hopped out of the van, went inside, and found a cart. Jonathan pulled out the list and scanned the shelves for what they needed, Chrissy trailing behind.

“If you tell me some of the things on the list, I can go find them,” Chrissy suggested.

“I don’t think we should split up.”

“Oh, right.”

“You want to take the list?” He held it out, and she snatched it up happily.

“Let’s see.” She scanned down it, comparing it to the items in the cart. “We need eggs next. I saw them down there!” She ran off towards the dairy section.

“Chrissy! Slow down!”

“Oops! Sorry.” She dropped to a more reasonable pace and let Jonathan catch up. “I guess I’m just excited to be out of the house for a while.”

“Yeah, sorry you’re stuck with us so long.”

“No! I like it! Really I do,” she insisted. “I think I’m just going a little stir-crazy. I’m used to constantly being at school, or practice, or out with friends or Jason–” She tugged on the ends of her hair. “Now I have nothing to do, and it’s weird.”

“Yeah, I bet.” Chrissy grabbed a carton of eggs, and they moved over to the milk.

“Speaking of which,” Jonathan began, “I don’t know how much longer we’re going to be here, so I really think you should talk to Eddie.”

Chrissy tilted her head. “I do talk to Eddie.”

He chuckled. “I know you do, but I don’t mean just talk to him in general.”

“Then what do you mean?”

He stopped and stared at her for a minute, and she felt like she was missing something important. “What’s the next thing on the list?”

“What? Oh, um . . .” she scanned down it. “Poptarts.”

He pushed the cart along, searching for Poptarts. “Do you want to know how me and Nancy started dating?”

“Um, sure.” He clearly wanted to tell her, and maybe she could figure out what she missed before so he wouldn’t think she was slow.

He stopped in the aisle and smiled. “A mutual friend told us we were being stupid and to just admit we liked each other while we were staying at his house. It took us a few hours to, um, see the wisdom of his words.”

She couldn’t imagine why he was telling her this. He didn’t seem like the type to enjoy sharing personal stories. Unless he hadn’t actually changed the subject, in which case . . ."

“You’re, um, trying to be that friend for me and Eddie?” His smile widened, and she knew she had guessed correctly. “But Eddie doesn’t like me. I mean, not like that.”

Jonathan turned around and kept searching for the Poptarts. “Sure. That’s why he kept hiding in our room until you two finally talked. It’s also why he started sulking when you said you wanted to come shopping with me.”

“He–he did?” Jonathan smirked, and Chrissy flushed, realizing she had walked right into a trap. She looked down, busying herself with the list. “Um, I–I think Eggos is next.”

“I think you should talk to him,” Jonathan repeated as he searched for the freezer section. “I assume you’re not going back to Hawkins, so maybe, I don’t know, talk about your plans when all this is over.” He glanced at her over his shoulder. “Do you have a plan?”

She shrugged. “Not really. I just–left. I–I still have some money. I’ll just find whatever job I can without a high school diploma.” Jonathan nodded, as though he had expected this.

They had reached the last item on the list before she asked, “Do you–do you think I should have stayed? I mean, it was just a month, and then I could have graduated.”

Jonathan sighed. “No, I don’t think you should have stayed. If you were that desperate, I’m sure there was a reason, and–” He swallowed. “I know from experience that some situations only get worse with time.”

“I’m sorry.”

He smiled and put his hand on her shoulder. “I told you to stop apologizing. Come on. Let’s check these out and get home.”

Eddie could not stay focused on anything. Not guitar, not a book, not tv, not helping Joyce and Will cook supper (they kicked him out), nothing. He was tempted to go out to the van and play one of the tapes he had brought to see if that might help, until he remembered Jonathan and Chrissy had it.

(That only made his thoughts spiral in a completely different direction because it was stupid of him to feel jealous just because Chrissy wanted to go to the store with Jonathan, especially since he had no right to be jealous anyway, and Jonathan’s knowing smirk hadn’t helped one bit.)

When Hopper went outside to smoke, Eddie leapt up and followed him. “Do you really think he would recognize me?” he asked without preamble, as soon as the door shut.

Hopper froze, a cigarette halfway to his mouth. “What?”

“The man–doctor–whatever.” Eddie waved his hand. “You said I wasn’t allowed to leave the house. Do you think he would recognize me? It’s been years.” Hopper still looked at him blankly, and Eddie realized that for someone who hadn’t been in his head all day, the conversation probably would feel confusing. “The, um, the one who . . .” He trailed off, tapping the watch that covered his tattoo.

“Dr. Brenner?” Hopper asked.

Eddie shrugged. “Sure, I guess.”

“Papa is dead.”

Eddie spun around. He hadn’t heard El come outside. “Are you sure?” He winced as the question came out, but with the number of not-actually-dead people he knew, he didn’t want to chance it.

El nodded. “I watched.”

Eddie shivered, torn between pity that she’d had to watch that, and a morbid jealousy that he couldn’t have been there too. He turned toward Hopper. “Then who are we running from?”

The older man lit his cigarette. “Some people in our government who think El was involved in the recent murders in Hawkins. And for your first question, I don’t know if they would recognize you or not, but I figured it was too big of a risk since you had already been accused of the murders once.” Eddie swallowed and nodded.

Hopper sighed. “Listen, kid, we’re going to keep you safe. That’s the point of us sticking together right now, is so no one’s left alone. We’ve just got to make it through another week or two, and then you can put this all behind you and move on with your life.”

“Yeah, okay.” Eddie shoved his hands in his pockets and tried to force away the feeling that he would never escape the past and the mark it had left on him.

“What are you–is that my book?” Eddie asked one evening as Chrissy sat reading at the kitchen table, waiting for El, Jonathan, and Will to go to bed.

Despite ordinarily being an early bird, she had realized Eddie was decidedly not. He stayed up hours after the other three, and she had started doing the same to spend time alone with him. Well, mostly alone. Joyce and Hopper were usually up too, but they seemed to enjoy their own alone time, so Chrissy and Eddie didn’t bother them.

She worried sometimes that Eddie might prefer to have the time to himself, but he seemed to enjoy hanging out as much as she did, and she started to hope maybe Jonathan was right. Maybe.

“Um, yes.” She slid it towards him. “You can have it back. I was just bored and saw it laying on the couch–”

“No, no, you can keep reading it.” She pulled it back, and he grinned. “So how are you finding The Hobbit?”

“It’s good. I like it.”

“Yeah? I’ve got the other three in my bag if you want to read them after you finish that. I’ll warn you, though, they’re much longer.”

She curled her toes. “That . . . would be nice. If you don’t mind.”

“Course not. How far are you?” He didn’t give her a chance to answer before putting his hand on the back of her chair and leaning over her shoulder to the read the page himself. She froze, far too aware of his face right next to hers. She chewed her lip.

He put his other hand on the book, fingers splayed beside hers to keep it open. As he leaned closer, some of his hair fell over his shoulder and into his face. Since he had both hands occupied, Chrissy considered pulling it back herself for a moment, but decide that would be weird.

Her traitorous imagination didn’t listen, however, and supplied an image of her pushing his hair back, tucking it behind his ear, tangling her fingers in it, kneeling on the chair to better reach–

She was actually going crazy this time. Unless there was some sort of weird monster that gave her visions of playing with Eddie’s hair, which she doubted.

She tucked further into her chair. What was wrong with her? Normal people, sane people didn’t do this, right?

“Chrissy?”

Her eyes snapped to his, and he raised an eyebrow. “Did you hear the question?”

“Oh, um, no.”

He grinned. “Who do you like best?”

“Oh, well . . . " She twisted her hair around her finger. “It’s probably kind of cliché, but I like Bilbo. I mean, according to all the hobbits, he’s got everything he needs and should be perfectly content, but when he get the opportunity to go on an adventure, he wants to go anyway, even though he knows everyone around him thinks it’s strange.”

A small, curious smile flitted across his face. “Yeah, it’s . . . it’s cool.” He watched her, still only inches from her face, and maybe it was only her imagination, but she thought his gaze dropped to her lips for an instant. She swallowed. Maybe.

He stood back up. “I’m going outside for a minute. I’ll be back.”

She was vaguely aware of nodding as he left. Maybe, maybe maybe. She could live in a world of maybe’s for the rest of her life, or she could do something about it.

She followed him out.

He stopped in the middle of lighting a cigarette. “Uhh . . .”

“Um, is it okay if I stay out here a bit?”

He tilted his head. “Sure. I mean, I just came out cause Joyce and Hopper smoke out here, so I felt weird doing it inside.”

“Thanks.” She hopped up onto the porch railing and turned, resting her feet on it as well.

He lit the cigarette, then held out the box to her. “Want one?” She wrinkled her nose, and he laughed. “That’s what I thought, but I didn’t want to be rude.”

She watched him lean against the porch railing, a few feet away from her, looking out at the night sky. She tapped her foot softly, wondering how to say what she wanted to.

“Not that this isn’t nice, but did you need something?” he asked without looking at her.

She shrugged. “Um, kind of. Are you going back to Hawkins when this is over?”

He snorted. “Absolutely not. I mean, I don’t know, maybe one day, but just because I, uh, I feel bad about leaving the kids and Wayne the way I did. I mean, I didn’t have much of a choice, but I’d want a proper goodbye, you know? But that would be like, for the day. At most I might spend one night if I had to. I’m not–I’m not going back to stay. I can’t.”

“Yeah.” She twisted her sleeve. “So, what will you do?”

He shook his head. He still hadn’t looked at her, instead staring out at the other houses around them. She took the opportunity to watch him. To memorize every angle of his face, his posture, the way his fingers danced over the railing.

“I haven’t given it much thought, which I’ll probably regret later.” He gave a dry chuckle. “I guess I’ll just try to find a big enough city I don’t, um, stand out so much and find whatever job I can. Doesn’t really matter what it is. I can be choosy later when I’ve actually got some money saved.” He glanced at her, a small smile tugging on one corner of his lips. “What about you?”

She smiled and shrugged one shoulder. “I guess I’ll find someplace I don’t stand out and get whatever job I can.”

He blinked. “Are you teasing me?”

She bit her lip. “Maybe a little?” He chuckled and looked back out over the neighborhood. She continued chewing her lip, afraid to ask what she so desperately wanted to know. “What if–what if we went together? Would that be crazy?”

He threw back his head and laughed. She thought she could get drunk on the sound. “Crazy? Completely. Imagine the field day the Hawkins gossip train would have. Mrs. Berkeley might just explode from the excitement.”

“They wouldn’t know, they wouldn’t matter.” He took a long drag from his cigarette and she pulled her knees closer to her chest. “Eddie, if–if I asked, would you run away with me?”

He blew out a long stream of smoke, and though his face was mostly turned away from her, she could see him close his eyes. “Cunningham, I’d go anywhere with you.”

She wrapped her arms around her knees and closed her eyes, feeling the warmth spreading from her chest, and she thought if she let them, those words could keep her warm the rest of her life.

Lt. Colonel Jack Sullivan tapped his fingers on the desk. He had been informed by his superiors that his search for Dr. Brenner’s escaped experiment was over, and he knew Dr. Owens had something to do with it. The man had a strange affection for her, and it blinded him to the risk she posed. He had clearly managed to convince a number of the people above him that she was harmless, but Sullivan knew as soon as something went wrong in that town again, they would be breathing down his neck until he found her.

The telephone rang and he answered it.

“Sir, I am in Hawkins and the experiment and her family are no longer here, but we have a lead on where they might have gone.”

“I’ll be there as soon as I can,” Sullivan said before hanging up.

Better to get it over with and not risk another life lost.

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