Chapter 2: Nothing Else Matters
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Chapter Text
Chrissy fell from the celling with a loud thud, one of her hands crunching loudly as it made contact with the trailer floor. Her tears felt like liquid fire and she grasped for breath through burning lungs.
She didn't want to close her eyes, scared that if she did he would be there again, colossal terror that still gripped at her heart. She could still smell the acrid stench of that other place, her calves still burning from the frantic running towards that open gate.
She'd been ...not scared....it was more, it was an indescribable feeling. As if nothing would ever be good, an emptiness beyond imagining. Dread could never begin to compare. She could still remember everything inside that dream, she could still feel it as if she hadn't managed to escape.
The man, if she could call him that, had stood before her, towering and terrible, and she knew in that moment, it was all crumbling to an end.
She'd never see her parents again, she'd never go to prom, she'd never learn another cheer, or read another book. It was ending...it was all ending; the pain, the happiness, the misery, everything...but then he was there.
Splayed on top of chords and speakers, Eddie Munson was there. His long hair was stuck to his forehead, tears running past his dark eyes, a look of sheer horror on his face.
Music poured into the dark hall. The sound cutting through her in the very way it was tearing through the fabric of whatever nightmare she was in.
The monster before her turned, it's hollow eyes boring into the now clear passageway.
She didn't know....how....how exactly she willed her legs to move. But she kicked her legs into the giants chest and clawed her way up from the floor. He might have looked at her, he might have said something, but the only thing in Chrissy's ears were the sound of The Smiths, and the blood pounding in her veins. She bolted, sprinting past all the small familiarities of the spectral home and plunged into the yellowed light of the trailer.
The music resounded in her ears, chords dying away with the ending of a song.
Chapter 4 : Eddie
She came crashing down and he didn't know if he felt relief or additional fear, but he didn't dare more from where he sat. He could hear her crying, and felt his heart clench a little when he saw her curl into a ball.
"Chrissy?" His voice came out small, almost unrecognizable to himself.
She slowly lifted her head from the ground and suddenly there she was crashing into him with an intensity that he couldn't even belive came from her.
"Eddie, please tell me you're real. Please tell me I'm really here." She pressed harder into his side and he wrapped both arms around her unwilling to let go.
"I...I don't know what happened...but you're here, I'm real, you're right here." He spoke softly into her hair running his hands down her back.
"Eddie, I don't know what's wrong with me, he was there, he was ...he was..."
Her words were drowned by his chest as she pressed into him and the truth was, he didn't want to know. Any of it. He didn't care. She was ok and for right now at least....nothing else mattered.
"Do you think it's over?? Whatever just happened?? Should we go to the hospital, or ...or the police??"
Chrissy shook her head. "They'll think we were crazy." Tears fell from her pretty eyes and he ran a hand through his matted hair.
"...or on drugs. " He joked softly. She chuckled out a wet sob.
"Please tell me you're on drugs...weird make you float drugs please. " Eddie let his head recline back and he laughed. Blood was drying on the top of his head and he felt like he was splitting in two.
"I ...I need a shower...and a smoke." He said almost to himself.
Her eyes went wide with fear. "Don't...please don't leave me alone."
"I'm not going anywhere okay. But let's get ...cleaned up okay. Do ...do you think it'll happen again. "
Chrissy went a little still and put a small amount of distance between them.
"I heard music, that's , that's what let me wake up."
Eddie nodded and restarted the stereo behind him, fixing the fallen speakers. Soon the entire trailer filled with the sound.
He stood up a bit shakily, offering his hand to her. " I need...a shower." He repeated, Chrissy didn't even hesitate to move after him.
"Chrissy I um...I"
"I'll join you." Chrissy blushed a vibrant red and she looked away slightly.
"Under different circumstances Cunningham that would have made me.....WAAAY to exited to hear but if I'm honest I don't know if that's the right call." Eddie started trying to keep things light when things felt so heavy around them.
Chrissy made a scrunched up face. "Please Eddie. You don't know ...what I saw....I....I don't want to be alone. Please.
"Do you even know what you're asking me for?"
"I'm asking you to please not leave me alone."
"In the shower?" Eddie asked with a silly smile. He knew he really shouldn't be joking in this situation but well...if you don't laugh you'll cry.
Chrissy let out a pretty giggle and wiped at her face. "You're not the only one who needs to get clean. "
"Okaay then. Don't say I didn't try to be the better person."
He took her softly by the hand and led the way to the trailers small shower. He started the water watching as the small room filled with fog, the echoes of music still wafting in from the hall.
Before he could even say anything Chrissy stepped in fully dressed. She let the water run through her face. He watched her for a bit, knowing whatever had happened to her, even if it never happened again, would never be over.
There are some demons you can never outrun.
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