✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 　five　 *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

- home, edith whiskers

" oh, home, let me come home
home is wherever I'm with you "

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 　oar beating　 *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

Shaking... her body was shaking. Her back pressed against the wall, eyes drawn to her hands that couldn't stop shaking. She was scared, terrified, really. She had just watched one of her closest friends die in a horrific way right before her eyes.

Gracie was tired of death. Tired of watching people she cared about die.

So she sat in the small junk filled shed Eddie had brought her to with only flashes of the previous night. It had been nearly twenty-four hours since the events happened. Obviously, neither of them had slept after witnessing such a thing.

"Eddie..." The shakiness of her voice was caught in his ears, sounding as if she was twenty feet away in a cave but truly stood not then five away from her. "Ed?"

It was hard for her to stand up but her worry for Eddie was greater than the shakiness of her body. Placing her palms on the ground to bring herself up she nearly fell as her legs stretched out.

Her hand trying to grip a shelf on her right creating a loud bang when a random rusty pot fell onto the floor. Finally getting herself to a stand, she held onto a table easing her way to the Munson boy.

"Eddie." She reached out to his shoulder, barely grazing the cotton material when he jumped at her. His eyes were wider than saucers staring into her own in a startled fright.

He gently reached his hand out to hers, taking it in his. "Sorry, sorry!" He ran his free hand through the curls of his hair beginning to stress out again.

Pulling her into him, he threw his arms around her waist, breathing in the scent of 'a touch of class' perfume that Steve had gifted her last Christmas.

"What do we do Eddie? We-We can't call the cops they won't believe us! They'll just think we did it..." His grip tightened on her letting her drop im her head into the dip of her neck, his body nearly going stiff as he felt the true shakiness of her.

"I'll figure it out, just leave it to me. Don't worry." He stared off into the rest of the shed, truly terrified and having no clue how to get them out of this predicament. But he needed to make sure he was the only one, Gracie didn't need all of this on her shoulders at the moment.

The sudden sound a car pulling into the driveway make their hearts jump more than they'd like. Eddie brought a finger to his lip, slowly moving to the dirty window of the shed.

Peeking out he saw four bodies with flashlights wandering towards the house. "Gracie!" He yelled in a hush, gesturing her over. Her hands shook in a nervous wreck, quickly stepping over to him allowing him to guide her to a spare boat onto it a trailer.

He lifted the tarp just enough to make entrance, he gently yet hurriedly pulled her forward. "I need you to hide, okay?" She began to nod yet stoped when she was suddenly lifted off of the ground and was being placed into the boat.

Gracie grabbed his arm stoping him as she was halfway in. "What about you? You need to hide too. They're probably searching for you, not me." He shook his head pushing her into the boat with no further protest.

"I don't care, if they find you they'll know you were with me. That's if no one saw us back there..." Eddie fixed her so she was laying flat on her back, moving the tarp creating lumps so her body wouldn't appear from the outside.

"Stay quiet, okay? Don't come out until I get you." She nodded her head allowing him to cover her completely. Breathe were coming out quicker as she finally noticed the yelling coming from the house.

She had no clue where Eddie had hidden and her heart rate had risen at the thought. Questions running through her mind like a teach star. What if he want hidden enough? What if they came and found him?

It was all getting to her but she grew stiffer than a cat in water when the sound of the voices drew closer and footsteps creaked into the shed. She could see the flashed of the lights threw a worn patch of the tarp.

"Hello?" It was a girl, maybe a female cop trying find him. If there was one cop then there were others. She needed to stay hidden but the worry of Eddie was all she could think about.

A few seconds had gone by and something was suddenly jabbed into the side of her hip. She bit her lip harshly, eyes trickling with tears from the pain.

Her lip drawing blood from her teeth implanted in them. Opening her mouth in pain a small gasp fell out of them.

"What are you doing?" A young male voice questioned the person who she had assumed hit her. He jabbed into the tarp a couple of times more just not nearly as hard enough as before causing small winces to flow from her lips.

"What are you doing?" He asked once more, the other person still jabbing into the tarp. "He might be in here."

That voice sounded so familiar to her hears but all she could focus on was the pain shooting from her hip.

"I can feel something." Her breath was caught in her throat at those words falling out of his mouth. "There's nothing in there. Probably just some tools or something. Take the tarp off. " The young one said to him, his voice becoming familiar as well.

He jabbed harder into the tarp once more, hitting her already injured hip again causing gasps of pain to erupt from her mouth. "If you're so brave, you take the tarp off." The jabs moved around the tarp hitting in all sides of her.

"Maybe he was here, got spooked and ran." The first voice suggested to the others. "Don't worry. Steve will get him with his oar."

Steve? Steve Harrington? Why would Steve be here? She was starting to think it wasn't the cops but merely a group of teens but why would Steve be with them?

"I know you think you're being funny, Henderson. But, considering everyone in this room has nearly died about a hundred times," Dustin? What other Henderson that hangs out with Steve Harrington would be here? She was starting to think these were her friends, searching for him.

She was broken out of her thoughts as the oar suddenly hit her in the jaw. A great gasp came from her mouth and she knew they heard."personally... Wait, did you hear that?"

Her hand covered her mouth in shock, she knew it was her friends but Eddie was the only person she trusted right now. He told her to only come out when he gets her and that's what she'd do.

"Get the tarp." Dustin suggested and she could feel the pressure of a hand on the tarp, fingers ready to pull it away. "On three, one, two, thr-" Eddie suddenly charged at him with a loud roar, pushing him against the wall holding a broken bottle to his neck.

Eddie had a glint of anger in eyes. He knew he had hurt Gracie because he too heard the gasp come from her lips and knew it was one of discomfort and pain.

"Whoa, whoa, who's, Eddie! Eddie! Stop!" Dustin came forward reaching his hand out pleading for him to stop. "Eddie! Eddie!" He turned in distraught, connecting his eyes with those of Dustin.

"It's me. It's Dustin. This is Steve." The man in mention shot a nervous smile to the man who held a bottle to his throat. "He's not gonna hurt you, right, Steve?"

"Right, yeah." Steve was completely and utterly nervous at that point. He knew at any second a broken bottle could be shoved into his throat and his life wound be taken in a flash. "Steve, why don't you drop the oar?"

The sound of the oar dropping startled Eddie causing him to press the bottle further into his neck yet not to draw blood. The action sending a panic into the four. "He's cool. He's cool."

"I'm cool, man. I'm cool." Steve tried ti persuade him, beads of sweat forming in his now pale skin. "What are you doing here?" The Munson boy questioned staring into his eyes not yet taking the bottle from his neck.

"We're looking for you." Dustin told him, still trying to convince him to let Steve go. "We're here to help." Robin finally spoke up causing his eyes to flash behind him. "Eddie, these are my friends. You know Robin, from band."

The girl pretended to play a clarinet to refresh his memory. "This is my friend Max. The one who never wants to play D&D." She waved at him before dropping her hand back down to her side. "Eddie. We're on your side. I swear on my mother. Right, guys?"

"Yes, yes. We swear. On Dustin's mother." The girls spork from behind him but his eyes drew back to Steve who he still saw as a threat and a danger. "Yeah, Dustin's... Dustin's mother."

Eddie glared at him for what felt like thirty minutes before finally releasing him from the wall. Eddie ignored them going back over to the boat covered by the tarp. "Gracie." He spoke softly to not started her but not loud enough for the others to hear.

He gently moved the tarp seeing the now red mark on her chin. "Let me help." He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and the other under her legs helping her from the boat.

"Woah. Gray?" Steve moved forward yet not too close as Eddie was carrying her. "Oh my god? I'm so sorry I did not know you were under there! Are you okay?" He truly felt sorry, the girl was like his sister and he had just been beating her with an oar.

"Um, I'll have some bruises I guess." Eddie huffed, rolling his eyes at the Harrington teen. "'Some bruises' my ass. You were beating her over here dude, I mean look at her chin."

Steve shined the flashlight on her chin causing her to raise her hand and block the sudden light shooting into her eyes. "Jesus Christ! I'm sorry, Gracie. Wait, why are you with Eddie Munson?!"

Eddie waved him off, bringing her over near Max. Letting his back hit the wall as he slid down to the floor letting Gracie sit on his lap allowing her to rest on his chest.

"I totally forgot you were with him." The orange haired girl told her friend, giving a gentle smile knowing she was there when her friend died and she wasn't in the best shape.

Dustin came closer to the two, Eddie not looking anyone in the eyes, just focused on the girl laying in his lap. Staring into her eyes as he ran his fingers gently threw her hair. "Eddie... We just want to talk."

Robin dropped down beside him handing Gracie her small bottle filled with water. "We want to know what happened." He sniffled, tangling his fingers deeper into the hair on the back of her head.

"You won't believe me." He eyes only focusing on Gracie, the only thing keeping him sane. "Try us." He knew he could trust Max, if Gracie did he did.

"They were, um, in the living room when Gracie called for me. I knew something wasn't right... She was scared and Chrissy's eyes were rolled to the back of her head. Her body just, like, lifted up into the air and, uh..."

The teens had gathered around them listening to the story of last night. Eddie's hands gently rubbed Gracie's back and thigh in comfort as he felt her stiffen knowing she was remembering last night.

"And she just like, hung there." His voice breaking, tears filling his eyes but none falling from them. "In the air. And her bones and.. uh..." He took a shaky breath in, trying to gather up enough courage to say what he had to say. "Her bones starts to snap."

Flashes of Chrissy stuck to the ceiling, arms and legs breaking in impossible ways, eye balls plunged into her skull. "Her eyes, man. It.. it was like there was something, like, inside her head, pulling."

He removed his hands from the girl using them to demonstrate her eyes getting sucked into her skull. "I... I didn't know what to do, Gracie couldn't be there anymore, so I took Gracie and I ran away. I left her there. You all think we're crazy, right?"

Their eyes flickered to Gracie and by seeing the tears glistening in her eyes they knew it was true. "No. We don't think you're crazy." Gracie jumped in his arms as he suddenly jolted against the wall.

"Don't bullshit me, man! I know how this sounds." A single tear escaped from his eye, the girl wiping it away gently, hand resting on his cheek in comfort.

"We're not bullshitting you." Max spoke, noticing the way Gracie touched him and how he cared for her. "We believe you." He huffed out a sharp exaggerated breath at their words not believing anything they said.

"Look, what I'm about to tell you might be a little difficult to take. You know how people say Hawkins is... cursed? They're not way off." Gracie's eyes burned into the boy wondering if he was truly about to tell him the truth of Hawkins.

"A world hidden beneath Hawkins. Sometimes it bleeds into ours."

"Like ghosts and shit?" Gracie's soft voice broke his train of through causing him to look down at her.
"There are some things worse than ghosts." Just by looking into her eyes he knew this wasn't some bullshit hoax.

"These monsters from this other world, we though they were gone. But they're come back before. That's what we needed to find you." Dustin notified him but he could tell he didn't fully believe then enough. It was a lot to take in. "If they're back again, we need to know."

"That night, did you see anything? Dark particles, maybe?" The orange haired girl asked him softly, trying to get him to remember because she knew it was no use to try with Gracie.

In these traumatizing moments the only thing Gracie would remember is the death, the exactly way they died, every detail of the death. "It would almost look like dust, swirling dust."

"No, man, there was nothing you could see or, uh... or touch. You know I tried to wake her, in the end. She couldn't move. It was like she... she was in a trance or something." Dustin's eyes flicked down in deep thought, knowing how all of this would she's a connection with D&D. "Or under a spell."

"A curse."

"Vecna's curse."

"Who's Vecna?" Steve suddenly spoke up, curious on who this new person was and how he was connected. "A undead creature of great power."

"A spell caster."

"A dark wizard."

-from honey

SORRY FOR LATE UPDATE BUT I HADDDDDD TO WATCH THE SUMMER I TURNED PRETTY AT LEAST TWICE!!!!!!! and I have a great headache, probably um... daddy vecna... trying to get me. pfhhh let him. but with that headache i am not rereading this because I want a nap so have at my grammar errors