Chapter Two

The band was in full swing, the tubas loudly blowing through the stands and Chrissy immediately felt the tension between her shoulders begin to loosen a little. The gym was bright with early sunlight pouring in from the windows above the bleachers, glinting off of the soft, amber colored wood of the basketball court, casting a warm glow over the students and glinting off of the Hawkins' band brass instruments, swaying to the beat of a full band rendition of Deep Purple's Smoke On The Water.
Chrissy took a deep breath to steady herself, removed her cardigan, and with pompoms in hand hurriedly went to join her fellow cheerleaders, lined up at the edge of the court.
"Hey," Chrissy whispered to Stacy– a thin girl on the cheer squad with a long, black ponytail and a tendency to be a trusty source for the latest gossip– as she settled into line, ready to tell her a vague excuse for her tardiness. "I was–"
The crowd in the stands gave a rowdy cheer, responding to something Jason Carver– captain of the Hawkins' basketball team and Chrissy's boyfriend– had said. Chrissy thought she heard him mention something about tragedy being overcome by their upcoming win at the championship game. She bit back a wince and cheered, shaking her glittering confetti-filled hands with feigned jubilee. If only winning a basketball game would fix the tragedy. If only it were that easy.
Then Jason was saying her name, proclaiming love and support from her and from the school. She blew a kiss, her lips barely brushing across her fingertips. She wondered if he noticed, but his face was already turned away from hers, gazing into the crowd proudly. Part of her was upset he hadn't.
"Let's go, Hawkins!" Jason finished with a roar, and the stands roared in response, and the band struck up abruptly with loud hype.
Chrissy had a hard time after that feeling low or tense. She had always enjoyed being on the court, on the field, in front of the crowd, dancing and feeling the rhythm of the music. It was so nice to forget the problems and responsibilities that plagued her nearly every thought, and so easy to instead plaster a sweet smile on her face, close her eyes tightly, and move to the music. If she was down, you wouldn't know it. If the school was grieving, if they truly hurt the way she was inside, she would brighten their spirits. She was here to bring cheer. She wouldn't let them down.
The pounding of the drum line, steady and rapid and thunderous, made her grin widely. and the immaculate breath of the brass and winds made her giddy with an uncontrollable excitement. She pounded her poms toward the ground, banging her ponytail from side to side, and shaking her hips, her cheer skirt twirling and flipping wildly. She could hardly feel the sting in her ankle anymore or the bruise that had to of been blossoming on her hip bone. Maybe she hadn't hurt herself so badly when she fell, and maybe she didn't need to see Eddie after school. Maybe things weren't that bad after all and she wasn't losing her mind. Maybe Chrissy was still in control. Maybe, maybe, maybe…

The first half of the school day passed by easily enough, with classes stimulating Chrissy's mind with enough work to keep all of her bad thoughts at bay. There was a lot of attention in and between classes as both students and teachers encouraged Chrissy's cheer performance later that evening with well wishes of broken legs and clear weather for her and the team. It wasn't until she was seated at the long rectangular table in the loud cafeteria that she realized she had gone a few hours without fear looming over her or the cold feeling of dread clutching onto her... or, at the very least, since she had any hallucinations since before the pep rally.
But sitting between Jason, who had his strong, tanned arm tightly wrapped around her shoulders while he strategically made plays for the night's game over her head, and Jenny– a girl on the cheer squad with a bad habit of chewing gum with a wide, gaping mouth– who was reading a Cosmopolitan advertising "Tired of Belly Fat?" and "5 Tips For a Better Orgasm!", Chrissy felt uneasy. She shifted uncomfortably in her seat and glanced down at her lunch tray. There was only a green apple and a carton of strawberry milk, and still, her mouth wetly salivated and her stomach began to turn. There wasn't even anything in her stomach yet and she wanted to be sick. She didn't want to think about how badly she would feel in her skirt later if she had anything more than this for lunch.
"Say Chrissy," Jenny lulled from behind her tabloid. "You were late this morning again. What gives?"
Chrissy tried to hide her surprise the best she could and act natural, poising a smile onto her lips. "Oh, y-yeah… Uhh, I've been seeing Ms. Kelley in the mornings. She's really helpful, but sheesh! She can talk." She gave a half-heartened laugh that was quickly drowned out by a huffah of laughter at the table across the room.
Eddie Munson was leaping off of his usual table reserved exclusively for himself and his Hellfire Club, and he exclaimed loudly, "...Killing the kids!"
Chrissy shivered.
She watched as Eddie meandered about in a circle, monologuing passionately, and as he politely bowed when Stacy and Jessie giggled their way past him. She thought how strange he was, offering his hand so kindly to her in the hallway earlier and ducking almost royally away from her friends now. Surely his kindness was a joke, his way of mocking them for being what most considered the equivalent high school royalty. She thumbed at the stem of her granny smith apple anxiously.
Then, he was shouting at her table.
"...Balls! In laundry baskets!" Eddie hollered rambunctiously.
Like a tight, coiled spring ready for action, Jason jumped up beside Chrissy with his chest pumped forward and fists clenched, "Hey! Got somethin' to say, Freak?"
Atop his table, Eddie pressed his two index fingers high up into his hair as imitation horns and stuck his tongue out devilishly. Chrissy felt a soft warmth coat her cheeks and bit hard into her apple, staring at it as if it suddenly held the most interesting secret in the world she needed to know.
"What a loser," Jason scoffed and planted himself heavily beside her, then turned to his teammates. "Like the Ravens are going to be tonight, huh boys?" To which they all boisterously shouted incoherent responses and kicked the floor under the table. But Chrissy wasn't paying attention to them anymore, or to Jenny, who was going on about her idle plans for the upcoming Spring Break.
She was watching Eddie still, and thoughtfully chewing her bite of apple. He was wiggling his way across the cafeteria with a shake of his hips, some moments with his arms wide and spread out like wings and others with him bent over, hugging his ribs, his knees, nearly on the ground. She noticed how much of a show he was putting on, and how his friends laughed and smiled at him. She wondered what he could possibly be entertaining them with- for surely he was entertaining- and if he was also trying to bring them cheer, in his own way. She felt a small smile playing on the edges of her mouth, and she swallowed the bite of apple she had been chewing idly to a mushy pulp in her mouth. Maybe seeing him after lunch wouldn't be so terrible after all.
"Chrissy?" Jason asked, sharply. It must have been the second time he had tried to get her attention. He didn't enjoy when the attention wasn't on him. "Did you hear me?"
"What?" She asked, pulling her gaze away from Eddie, who had just glanced to look at her. Maybe she had imagined it, or he had been looking at the door behind her, or the clock on the wall. "S-sorry, I didn't catch that."
Jason smiled cheekily at her and gave her ponytail a tug. She imagined it was supposed to be a tender sign of endearment, but he seemed to always tug a bit too hard, pulling her chin just slightly higher. "I asked if you're going to ride home with me after the game tonight to the party at Benny's?"
"Oh," She smiled sweetly, hardening her mask on one layer at a time, but faster than Jason would realize it was ever gone. "I wish I could but I can't tonight. I told my mom I would be home tonight to pack." Spring Break began after the championship game that evening, and come Monday, Chrissy's mom Laura and herself were taking a mom-prescribed-week-long-getaway up to Lake Michigan, where Laura claimed they would "rekindle their relationship brighter than it ever burned before!" Chrissy was the furthest thing from excited she could be, but staying in organizing her clothes and hopefully finding relief in whatever Eddie could give her sounded much more appealing than drinking with the basketball team in an abandoned diner. "Remember?"
"Yeah, but you don't have to actually do that tonight, right? I mean, c'mon, Chris. It's the National Championship game!" He leaned into her, nuzzling into the crook of her neck and shaking her shoulders roughly. Chrissy forced a giggle and pushed away, hoping he would read it as playful.
"I told her I would, but I'll try to fold quickly and come by when I can." She pecked him once on the cheek innocently, hoping he'd buy the bait.
For a moment it seemed like his discontent was growing and then, a smile crawled onto his face, less like a smile and more like a chilling grin that made Chrissy's skin prickle on the nape of her neck. "Sweet." He purred, leading closer. "I'll see you there then." He placed his lips back to the nape of her neck and whispered, "I got a box of condoms too, so…" he trailed off, grinning confidently at her.
With a tight lipped smile and her mask threatening to crack, Chrissy stood up and grabbed her tray. "I left something in my locker, I'm gonna grab it before next period!"
Before her friends could protest, she hurried off to clear her nearly untouched tray, a single bite taken from the apple, clattering to the bottom of the trash can. "I'll see you later!"

Hawkins' angel Chrissy Cunningham left the cafeteria March 21st, 1986, at 12:51 p.m. and headed out the back exit of high school, towards the football field, and into the woods, where no one knew she was scheduled to meet with Eddie "The Freak" Munson to purchase drugs to cope with the horrifying hallucinations she had been suffering for days.