Emmaline's POV:
"Eddie, slow down." I said. Eddie's hands shook as he drove. He stopped at a red light and his breath quivered. "Eddie, it's ok." "No, it's not ok! Chrissy Cunningham just went to another dimension! Or something! She's gone!" I cupped Eddie's cheek and said "Ed, it's ok. She's missing. Not dead. You can't get charged with anything." "Baby, I'm the town freak. I'll be suspect number one." I shook my head and said "no. You won't. Nobody saw Chrissy leave with us. Nobody even knows she was there. For all we know, Chrissy ran away." Small tears filled his brown eyes. "We can go to the police. We can say someone kidnapped her. That she's just gone. We don't know what happened. Otherwise they might lock us up for saying she went to another dimension." A soft sob left Eddie's lips and I hugged him. Eddie squeezed me and a horn from behind us entered the air. Eddie jumped and quickly went back to driving. "Let's just get to my house and we'll figure everything out, ok?" Eddie took a breath and started to drive. The radio played a Chicago song softly. A love ballad filling the van. Normally Eddie would complain and change the song. I think the song was keeping him calm. We pulled into my driveway and quickly went inside the house. Eddie's stomach growled and a deep frown appeared on his lips. I gave him a hug and said "it'll be ok." Eddie nodded and I pulled some tv dinners out of the freezer. "Choose." Eddie looked at them and pointed to the frozen pizza. "Wanna split it?" He nodded. I half smiled and Eddie jumped at every sound. "Hi, Em." Aimee, Willard's girlfriend greeted. I smiled at her and Eddie looked over at her. Aimee looked at Eddie and said "is this your boyfriend?" "Yeah. This is Eddie." Eddie half smiled at her and waved. "He's tired." I quickly made an excuse. Aimee nodded and said "me and Willard are in his room if you guys need anything. It was nice to meet you, Eddie." "You too." Eddie said softly. Aimee left the room and Eddie looked down at his shoes. "Why don't you take your shoes off and your jacket? Get comfortable. You can put your stuff in my room." Eddie blinked a few times and then nodded. I rubbed his back and he seemed to follow my instructions as he went to walk away. "Eddie." He stopped, his scuffed Reebok's squeaking against the tile floor. I kissed his lips sweetly and he kissed me back before going upstairs. I stood in front of the oven and heard Eddie's footsteps go up the stairs. I put the pizza in the oven and set a timer. I then went upstairs to change. Eddie's shoes were in the corner of my room and he was in the bathroom. I changed into some sleepwear which was a crop top and shorts. I headed back downstairs and waited on the pizza. I could see the light's from Dustin's room in the basement peeking out in the small window in the darkness. I grabbed a magazine and flipped through it. Fangoria. I looked at the horror movie makeup photos and got caught up in it. Kenny Loggins played from Willard's room as I looked through the magazine. I looked at the timer and saw there was about three minutes left. I sighed and wanted the pizza to hurry up and be ready. I felt arms go around my waist. I gasped and felt unruly curls tickling my cheek as Eddie laid his head on my shoulder. He pulled me against him, my back to his chest. "Ed." I said softly. Eddie nuzzled his face into the crook of my neck, holding me tight. I relaxed in his arms, leaning my head against his chest. I interlocked my hands with his, giving him reassuring squeezes. "It'll be ok." Eddie nodded against my neck and said "I know." I slowly turned around to face him. He stood in his Hellfire shirt and jeans, his jacket and vest discarded upstairs. There were small tear stains on his face. A small sniffle came from him as he looked at me. His ringed hands went to my hips, his thumbs rubbing circles into the flesh. "Baby, don't let them crucify me for this." I shook my head and said "never. I'd never let that happen. I promise." "I'm scared." I hugged Eddie and buried my face into his Hellfire shirt. "Me too." Eddie clung to me as if I was going to disappear. The timer went off which signaled the pizza was ready. "Hungry?" I said. Eddie nodded. I detached myself from him, pulling the pizza out of the oven. I put it on a large plate for us to share. "Wanna eat upstairs or down here?" Eddie pointed to the ceiling and I told him to grab us some drinks. The two of us then went upstairs to my bedroom. Eddie seemed to relax after he had some food. The metalhead ended up falling asleep in my lap. His chest rose and fell slowly as he drifted into a deep sleep. I stroked his head and turned out my lamp. As I got comfortable, Eddie moved his head on my chest, wrapping his arms around me. "I love you, Eds." I whispered. I just hoped that the blame wouldn't immediately go on Eddie when everyone finds out that Chrissy Cunningham was missing.

-

I woke up and gasped for air. I sucked in a sharp breath and continued to take air into my lungs. Eddie sat up quickly and said "baby?" I couldn't speak as it felt like the air had been sucked out of the room. "Em?" I didn't answer again as I was trying to catch my breath. "Emmaline!" Eddie started to freak out. "Eddie, I'm fine." I wheezed. He rolled his eyes and said "no you're not." "I had a bad dream. I'm fine." I snapped. Eddie looked away from me and a knock at the door made the both of us jump. I climbed out of my bed and Eddie said "don't." "I have to answer the door." "No, you don't. At least see who it is." Eddie said fearfully. I walked to my window and saw Dustin and Max. "It's Dustin. And Max?" I was confused as to why Max was on my doorstep. "I'll be right back." "I'm coming with you." Eddie stood up and the two of us went downstairs. "Willard?" I called out. No answer. I then opened the door and Dustin said "where's Eddie?" "Here." Eddie replied. Dustin and Max walked into the house and closed the door behind them. "Is anyone else here?" Max asked. I shook my head and said "no. Why?" "What happened at your house last night?" Eddie's eyes widened and he said "oh no. Screw you, Mayfield. Screw you! Screw you too, Henderson!" Eddie glared at both of them. "Eddie, just listen. I'm here to help you. Ok? Can you tell me what happened to Chrissy? In your best words? It's me. Do you think we're here to rat you out?" "If he killed Chrissy." Max mumbled. I looked at Max and said "Eddie didn't kill anyone. I was there." "Chrissy isn't dead, twerp. She's....gone. Like, she disappeared. In front of our eyes." "Tell me, Eddie." Dustin said. Eddie went and sat on the couch and shook his head. "You're not going to believe us." I sat down next to Eddie and rubbed his back. "Try us." Max said. Dustin and Max sat down across from us. "Chrissy wanted something stronger. A stronger drug. She's been stressed out. So, I obliged her. She came back to my place with me and Em. I left the room to get the stuff and when Em and I came back in...she was just standing in the middle of the living room. Her eyes were this ugly white. It looked like something out of a horror movie. I tried to wake her up, man. She wouldn't wake up. She started floating and the ceiling opened up. That was when she woke up." "What do you mean the ceiling opened up?" Max said. Eddie pinched the bridge of his nose and said "the ceiling opened up, man! It was all red and shit! These things came and grabbed her. They were black and dripping with some kind of nasty ooze shit. Me and Em tried to pull her back down but she..." Dustin was on the edge of his seat. "She what?" Eddie looked up at Dustin and said "she disappeared. Something took her. I couldn't save her. She was in a trance and then she was just gone." Dustin and Max looked at each other crazily. "What?" I said. Dustin sighed and said "what if I told you this town is cursed? That there's an alternate dimension that's directly underneath ours. Sometimes it bleeds into ours. And bad things happen. It's exactly like our Hawkins except everything is dark. Monsters live there and everything you're saying doesn't sound crazy." "Don't bullshit me, man!" Eddie yelled. "We're not bullshitting you. We've been through stuff like this before." Max said in a soft voice. Eddie looked at me and then back at the kids in front of us. "I tried to save her. She couldn't move. She was in a trance or something." I nodded in agreement and said "she couldn't hear us. It didn't matter what we did." "Or under a spell." Dustin said. Eddie's eyes widened and he said "or a curse." "Vecna's curse." Eddie and Dustin gasped softly. "Vecna? Like dungeons and dragons?" I asked. Max looked at me and then at Dustin. "I think we should tell everyone else about this." "Everyone else?" Eddie said. Dustin nodded at Max's comment. "We have to at least get Steve and Robin over here. We can deal with Nancy later." "What about Mike?" "He went to California. For spring break." Max said. I shook my head and said "shit. That's right. And Lucas?" Dustin sighed and said "he's with his basketball friends. We have to figure this out without him. Max and I could go and get Steve and Robin." "Do you think people think it was me?" Eddie asked. Dustin shook his head. "Nobody would have any reason to. As of right now." "We should all go on like everything is normal. Nothing has changed. We'll go debrief Robin and Steve. Then we'll figure something out. Chrissy wasn't with you guys and she's probably counted as missing. There weren't even any cops at your house, Eddie." Max said. Eddie nodded and Dustin stood up. "We'll be back. You're fine, Eddie. Go out if you guys need to. Everything's fine." Max and Dustin then left. I sighed and Eddie leaned back against the couch. The phone started to ring. I grabbed it, bringing the phone up to my ear. "Hello?" "Hey, do you wanna go skating?" Alyssa's voice said into the phone.

Here's the update!! I'll try to have one up before I go to Megacon but if I don't then this will be y'all's content until I get back!! I hope this is good so far!!
~Skylar❤️🦇❤️🦇