Happy Sunday, have a little hellcheer thing that I needed to evict from my brain:
Eddie is ten years old. He wakes up around the same time he usually does on Saturday mornings and shuffles into the bathroom, bleary-eyed and barefooted.
It’s quiet this morning. There’s no coffee maker gurgling, no newspaper rustling. He doesn’t hear the muffled sound of a newscaster droning on about the weather. That’s weird.
As he runs his toothbrush under the faucet, Eddie thinks back to the night before. His dad had come home late, tearing through the house looking for something. His words were slushy as he stumbled around, muttering something about a suitcase.
Eddie had watched him for a while until he tired himself out and slumped into his armchair like he usually did. He’d still be there in the morning, wearing the same clothes as the night before.
He isn’t, though. Not this morning.
Furrowing his brow, Eddie pokes his head into his father’s room. The bed’s empty, still made.
“Dad?”
There’s no answer, just the soft clink and whir of the ceiling fan above him.
Eddie walks out and into the kitchen, a strange tightness in his chest. Sunlight streams in through the window above the kitchen sink, but there’s not a single light on. Nearly all of the cabinet doors have been left open.
A rusted, red Folgers coffee can lays toppled over on the counter. There are two quarters on the floor right beneath it. Fifty cents, Eddie thinks to himself. Two more and he’d have a whole dollar.
The front door creaks open and Eddie startles, whipping his head toward the sound.
“Dad?”
It’s not his dad. A tall, graying man with a sad, weary smile stands in the doorway. Eddie recognizes him from pictures and a couple of Christmases. He looks older than the last time he’d seen him.
“Uncle Wayne?”
Wayne sighs as he crosses the room toward Eddie. His eyes are wet as he looks down at him. “Hey, kiddo,” he says softly. “Still in your jammies, huh?”
Something icky gurgles in the pit of Eddie’s stomach, the same feeling he gets when he knows he’s done something to make his father mad. This isn’t right.
“Where’s dad?”
Eddie sees Wayne wince, swallowing hard. He pauses, like he’s not sure what to say. “Listen, Ed—“
Before Wayne can finish, Eddie darts past him and all but crashes into the screen door, running out onto the deck. The wood is gritty and wet from the rain the night before. His father’s truck is gone.
Eddie’s face is hot and his eyes sting as he looks around. There’s no one outside but him.
“Dad?”
The wind whines through the trees.
“Dad?”
A dog barks from behind the fence next door.
“Dad?”
Eddie swivels toward the unfamiliar voice, gentle and kind. Machines beep and hum in the background as he stands next to a hospital bed, his clammy hand wrapped tightly around the plastic bedrail.
A nurse in a papery yellow gown smiles up at him as she cradles a snugly swaddled, ruddy-faced newborn.
Eddie’s throat is thick. His voice sounds all croaky when he speaks. “Me?”
“Yes, you,” the nurse chuckles. “You ready to meet your boy?”
The air leaves Eddie’s lungs when the baby is placed gently in his arms, a wiggly, fussy little thing that can’t possibly weigh any more than a dictionary. He’s soft and warm and staring right up at Eddie with big, pale blue eyes.
Eddie turns to Chrissy, laying in the hospital bed looking breathless and beautiful. She’s sweaty and starlit and beaming at him, her lashes glittery and damp.
“A boy?” he asks her. They’d waited to find out. “Did she say boy?”
Chrissy nods, wiping at her eyes with the back of her hand. Yesterday’s mascara smears her cheek as she gives him a sniffly smile.
The mattress dips as Eddie gingerly sits on the edge of the bed next to Chrissy, her hand resting on his thigh. She’s all wires and medical tape and hospital bracelets. She’s amazing.
He stares down at the little boy nestled into the crook of his arm, at their son. Chrissy leans her head on his shoulder and his heart feels too big for his ribcage.
“Hey, kiddo,” he murmurs. “Happy birthday.”
64 notes
·
View notes
Of course I had to draw the Hellcheer version of THE video.
You know, the one where we see Grace and Joseph at the Paris con’! 🥺🥺
They are soooo adorable..!! 😭
2K notes
·
View notes
1991, Dublin 📸 Corroded Coffin’s leader, Eddie Munson, and his fiancée, Chirssy Cunningham, share a kiss while enjoying the irish capital during the band’ 1st european tour.
(inspired by a picture of anya taylor-joy & malcolm mcrae)
1K notes
·
View notes