The young girl that had fallen in love with Eddie when she met him, was walking along Witcham Street while holding onto the handles of her bike. She stopped riding a while back because she grew too tired.

When she got home just last night, she got home to a drunk, angry uncle. Which isn't good for anyone. He caused a few new bruises on her arms and some on her legs. He stayed away from her face because she already had a bruise and he thought it was because of him.

She passed the house on Neibolt street before hearing a voice no one ever wants to hear. She wouldn't wish it on her worst enemy.

"Where you goin' slut?" Henry's voice shattered through her brain.

She quickly looked back to see him calmly following, but his friends nowhere to be seen. Without a thought, she scrambled to get on her bike. But before she could even mount the bike, his two friends made themselves seen and yanked her off the bike.

"Please let me go!" She screamed as they took her and her bike to the forest by the Barrens.

Henry personally slammed Charlie's back against the tree and held her there with his strength that was enough to maybe even crush her back.

"What are you doing?"

"THIS!" Henry laughed maniacally before taking out his pocket knife and waving it in front of her face, forcing her heartbeat to throb in her chest. "This is for the fucking rocks. For every rock you threw at me, is another stab you're frail body takes." On the word stab he jabbed the knife straight through the palm of her right hand. Her scratchy voice screamed in pain as she move her left hand to pull it out, but Henry automatically stopped her. "NO! If you move your left hand at all, I'll cut off your fucking fingers I swear to god!"

"Please let me go, Henry!"

He looked back at his friends and nodded. They each helped each other in destroying her bike. They punctured the tires and tore apart the main frame as Charlie watched in pain.

"PLEASE STOP!" She cried out. Buckets of tears were streaming down her cheeks and she was even sobbing. She barely sobbed in her life, but the pain was so great.

She glanced down at her hand that was gushing and covered with blood and gripping the tree to try to get rid of the pain. She looked back upward, trying to take her mind off it, but her eyes just met with Henry's. When he looked back for a split second, she realized that now was her chance to do something. Although it hurt her like hell, she pulled the knife out of her hand and stabbed Bowers in the gut. He fell back and pulled the knife out of his gut.

"You bitch!"

Charlie held her hand that was uncontrollably bleeding and ran. She ran and ran and ran. Henry followed close behind so Charlie tried to lose him by making a sudden right turn into the very busy town festival. She ran to the first house she could think of. Eddie's.

She let out a breath of relief as she realized that his mother's car was gone out of the driveway. She didn't know how she knew where his house was, but she did.

She ran up to the door and knocked on it calmly, despite her current situation. When she thought no one would answer, someone finally did. A very worried Eddie opened the door. His eyes widened at her hand and he pulled her inside and shut the door behind her.

"What the hell happened?!" His concerned voice said.

"Uh. . .I. . .Henry." She didn't have to say anymore. Eddie rushed and got medical supplies from the bathroom as you grabbed paper towels and sat at the kitchen table, holding and drying her hand so she wouldn't get blood anywhere.

"I'm so sorry this happened to you." He said. "I shouldn't have left I really shouldn't have."

"Eddie, you're mother made you. You had no choice."

"Most of all," He continued as he sat down. "I'm sorry about what she did to you."

"You couldn't have helped that situation." Charlie spotted the thing written on his cast, which infuriated her. Someone wrote 'loser' on his cast. "Who wrote that?"

"Um . . . Greta."

"I'm going to kill her." He slightly blushed at her statement and couldn't help the grin edging on his face.

"Come here." He said.

She followed him to the bathroom where he ran cold water over her bleeding hand. She didn't even wince at the pain, which concerned Eddie even more.

"That didn't hurt?"

"What?"

"You didn't even flinch. Are you ok? If you can't feel your hand then we probably have to go to the hospital and you-"

"Eddie," she said, smiling. "I can feel it. It just doesn't hurt as much; I've felt worse."

"What's worst than a fuckin knife through your hand?" Charlie shrugged and made eye-contact with his cast again.

"Do you have a marker?"

"All I have is a red one in the kitchen."

"I want to see it when we get back in there."

He held her damaged hand all the way to the kitchen table. She grabbed the marker with her left hand as she sat down next to Eddie at the table.

"Give me your cast." She said gently. He put his cast on the table space in front of her.

"What are you doing?"

"You'll see." She smiled as she un-capped the marker and colored a V over the S making the 'loser' turn into a 'lover.' He watched in admiration the whole time.

When he saw what she did, he blushed slightly and got back to work on her hand. The gash had bled a bit more, but it was mostly cleaned up a bit. Eddie took medical gauze and wrapped it carefully and gracefully around her palm and a little down her wrist just in case it bled a lot.

"Thank you, Eds." Charlie smiled at him.

"You're welcome. Really."

"Eddie?" She wanted to tell him. She wanted to tell him everything.

"Yeah?" She wanted to tell him so bad.

"You'd make a good doctor." She giggled slightly at her own stupidity and he chuckled back.

"Charlie?"

"Yeah?"

"What are the bruises from?" Her face grew a shade of pink.

He knows. She thought. Now I have to tell him. Right? Maybe he would hate me, though. Hate me for not telling him or maybe even feel disgusted. She tried to blow off his question but he enclosed her left hand and looked deeply into her eyes. He knew something was wrong.

"You can tell me." He said reassuringly. "I promise I won't tell anyone and I promise I won't judge."

"I. . .uh. . .th-the bruises-it's too embarrassing." She said bluntly.

"Come on, Charlie." His expression was warm. "I promise I won't tell anyone."

She reluctantly dejected her eyes to the yellow wall of his kitchen, then back at him.

"The bruises are from falling off my bike?" She almost sounded annoyed. "I'm clumsy . . ."

It didn't look like he bought it, but he decided to leave it alone.

"I'm sorry . . ." Charlie said, surprising Eddie.

"For what?"

"For what happened at the Neibolt house. I should've been there-"

"It's not your job to look after me." He faintly smiled. "It's supposed to be the other way around."

She was easily delighted by what he said.

"Eddie, I-" She was abruptly cut off by the sound of the wall-phone ringing right next to Charlie. She stood back and allowed Eddie to answer.

"Hello?" He said. A few minutes later, he took a scarce deep breath and put the phone back up to his ear. "Yeah. She's here with me. Yeah. We'll be there."

"What is it?"

"The clown. It got Beverly. They want us all to meet back at the Neibolt house."

"Oh god." Charlie suddenly felt light-headed. Her best friend was snatched and possibly dead right now. Eddie saw how fearful she was and he embraced her in a sweet hug.

"Don't worry." He said. "We won't let anything happen to her."

"That fucking clown is going to kill us this time, Eddie. I feel it!"

"No, NO! I won't let it kill you. I won't let it hurt you again!" He hugged her tighter.

The pair had grown closer in that very moment. But they were pulled apart by the sound of the door opening to reveal his mother.

"Eddie-bear!" Her screechy voice called out. "What is this girl doing in my house?"

"We have to go, mom." He ignored her and grabbed Charlie's hand. He began to lead them out the door, but his mother blocked their path to the open door behind her. "We need to meet our friends."
"You're getting over your sickness, remember?"

"Ok, what-what sickness ma?" He was annoyed.

"You poisoned him! Get away from my son!" She charged at her but Eddie pushed her back.

"No, mom! I love her!"

"But, Eddie! I'm your mother!" She cried. "I'm trying to protect you!"

"Protect me? By lying to me by keeping me trapped inside this hell-hole!?" He took out a pill bottle from his fanny-pack and threw it on the ground, busting it open. "I'm sorry but first, my meds are gazebos! They're bullshit!"

"Placebos-" Charlie quietly corrected him and smiled to herself.

"Second, the only people that were trying to protect me were my friends. And you made me turn my back on them when I really needed them."

He pulled Charlie out the door and his mother trailed behind until he reached his bike on the sidewalk.

"DON'T DO THIS TO ME EDDIE!"

"Sorry, mommy! I need to do this!" He looked at Charlie who stood silently behind his bike, ready to walk the whole way. "Where's your bike?"

"Henry's minions tore it apart."

"Come on." He waved her to grab a ride with him.

She reluctantly climbed onto his seat behind him and held onto the sides of the seat. She looked at his mother who scoffed at this sight, went inside the house, and slammed the door.

"You have to hold on around my waist or you'll fall off." He chuckled.

"Right." Real smooth, Eddie.

She latched her arms around his waist and rested her head on the back of his shoulder. Her feet were resting on the metal bar that connected the main body of the bike to the back tire. His cheeks brightened red and for a second he forgot why they were leaving in the first place. He took off, surprising her by the speed.

"Hey, Eddie?" She asked on the ride there.

"Yeah?"

"Did you really mean it?" They rode down Witcham Street and then turned on Turner on their way to Neibolt.

"Mean what?"

"What you said back there. To your mother?" He knew what she meant, but he was too embarrassed to say.

"Y-Yeah. Kinda. I mean..."

"I do too, you know." She smiled. "I love you too."

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