March 24th, 1986
"When we got to shore, we uh…" He looked over to Lorraine, as she was leaning against the boulder just to the right of him. About to say what had happened, he bit his tongue. "We tried calling you guys, but, uh…" He said, taking his gaze back to the others as he drank from the flask of water that they had brought.
"My walkie was busted, man. Drenched." He said, covering the flask and settling it between his feet as he continued to crouch only inches from the ground.
"So, uh, I did the thing that I do now, apparently." He clasped his hands together for a moment. Then he smiled, throwing his hands in the air like he was introducing the new character to an act, chuckling softly. "I ran."
Lorraine looked on to Eddie as he spoke, her mind completely out of the conversation at this point. She knew him, she knew how he was. It was weird for her to see him give off the energy of not being afraid, cocky almost, when deep down she knew he was terrified. Taking a hand to her head, she pushed her hair back as she sighed.
Dustin shouted at all of them, taking Lorraine out of her thoughts. He went on about his compass not having worked as they were coming towards Skull Rock. The others went on about so many different things, things that she couldn't believe Eddie could even follow along. Magnets? A gate? The Upside Down? Superpowers? What the hell were they talking about? Did they really think they were going to be able to find a way to kill this thing? Can it even be killed? Her head felt dizzy trying to follow the conversation, all of them seemingly seeing it as something as normal as talking about what they'd make for lunch the next day.
"Where are you going? Hey, hey, hey, hey!" Steve started to shout at Dustin as he turned and started stomping through the forest. He turned around, looking at Steve. "Eddie's still a wanted man. We can't just go for a hike in the woods."
"This little steel capsule might be the key to saving both Max and Eddie." Dustin said, frustrated, as he held out his compass. He quickly calmed down and looked over to Eddie.
"What say you, Eddie the Banished?" He asked, lulling his voice like a Dungeon Master.
Eddie looked around at the faces that were now focused on him. "I say you're asking me to follow you into Mordor, which" He said, scrunching his nose as he tilted his head slightly. "If I'm totally straight with you, I think is a really bad idea."
His gaze started looking over to the tree line, remembering how he saw Chrissy's body strung up on his ceiling, the scream that echoed in his trailer; he could hear Lorraine's bloody scream as she saw Patrick float into the air, bent every which way. He sighed, exhaling strongly through his nose. Dustin was jumping up and down, excitedly, like they were about to start a new campaign.
"But the shire is burning." He said softly, looking over everyone's confused expressions. His eyes landed on Lorraine, her face hanging in fear and confusion as she lifted her gaze to his. Eddie placed his hands on his knees and lifted himself up straight, now turning his head to the others.
"So Mordor it is." He smiled, beginning to walk over to Dustin who almost leaped in joy. Lorraine looked on, almost shocked. They really thought they had a chance at beating this thing, but she wasn't so sure yet.
"What is Mordor?" Steve huffed, contorting his face into a confused expression. Lorraine lightly laughed, seeing how confused the others were about the analogy. She kicked herself off the boulder, folding her arms across her chest as she began walking.
Eddie came back, almost jumping on his toes trying to be as fast as possible as Steve scolded him for not grabbing the walkie and forgetting the flask. As he grabbed them, he looked at Lorraine, trying to give her a look of reassurance that everything was going to be okay.
Her lips strung in a straight line, nodding in a half assed way. She really didn't want to say that all of this sounded absolutely crazy, and wasn't sure that anything they had mentioned would work, but she had to try. She had to do something. Something to save Eddie and Max.
"Something's happening.." Dustin said, most excitingly.
The sun had set by the time they were in the thick of the forest. Lorraine trailed behind Eddie, who tried to keep up with Dustin, who led the others with his compass.
"Dustin? Can you slow down? Dustin?" He tried shouting lowly, but Dustin was too preoccupied with his compass, not noticing where he was stepping.
"I think we're getting close!" He announced to the group once more, turning to Eddie with a wide smile on his face.
Eddie could see the lake in front of him, his heart racing one more as he saw that Dustin wasn't paying attention. He leaped over a few branches as he quickly jogged towards him, reaching out and grabbing him by his backpack, before throwing a hand to his chest and patting Dustin, making sure he wouldn't fall into the water. "Watch your step, big guy."
He exhaled, patting Dustin's chest once more as he stood there looking over Lover's Lake. Not again.
"You gotta be shitting me." Lorraine said, defeated, throwing her hands dramatically in the air and letting them fall beside her.
"Yeah," Eddie said, pursing his lips. "I thought these woods were familiar."
"Lover's Lake." Robin added.
"This is… confounding". Dustin said, amazed at what they had just discovered.
"There's a gate in Lover's Lake?" Max said, confused as to why the compass led them there.
"Whenever the Demogorgon attacked," Nancy stated, pausing for a moment. "It always left an opening."
Nancy turned to Dustin quickly. "Maybe Vecna's the same way."
"Yeah, only one way to find out." Steve said, frowning his eyebrows, almost like he didn't like the idea that he thought of.
Eddie, like reading Steve's mind, motioned for the others to follow him as he started jogging along the shore of the lake. Lorraine knew exactly where he was headed, and she didn't like the idea at all.
Once they reached the spot where Eddie and Lorraine had fled the night before, Eddie grabbed the tarp and revealed the small boat floating in the water. Lorraine sighed, looking at Eddie. She really didn't like their idea.
Steve and Eddie began to drag the boat out into the water, Steve scolding him as Eddie's fingers slipped and the boat crashed into the water with a long noise following. He quickly apologized, as they both held onto the boat.
Robin stepped in first, grabbing a hold of the boys' heads to balance her way onto the boat. Eddie followed, climbing in right behind her. Robin took a seat as Eddie turned to help Nancy into the boat, holding her hand as he made sure she didn't fall out.
Lorraine stepped closer to the boat, her mind was screaming for her not to get in, but she knew she had to. She fought her thoughts out, seeing Eddie's hand reach out for her. For a moment, she looked into his eyes, holding his hand tightly, begging him not to do this. He simply pulled her gently, trying to tell her that everything was okay. She sighed and gave him a small smile as she climbed into the boat, taking a seat beside Robin.
"Hey, hey, hey." Eddie suddenly said, pushing Dustin's head away from the boat. "You trying to sink us?" Dustin's face was confused, not understanding what was going on.
"This thing holds four people, tops, okay?" Lorraine said behind Eddie, trying to convey that she didn't want him to get into trouble if something were to go wrong.
"It's better this way," Nancy said. "You guys stay here with Max. Keep an eye out for trouble"
"You keep an eye out!" Dustin said dramatically, mocking Nancy's surprised expression. "It's my goddamn theory!"
"You heard Nance," Robin said sternly.
"Who put her in charge?" He said, pointing at Robin.
"I did." She smirked, cocky.
"Compass." Nancy demanded stretching out her hand. Dustin gave it to her in defeat, mopping as he did so.
"Hey, here you go," Steve said, chucking the heavy backpack at Dustin, who almost fell as he caught it.
Steve began to push the boat into the water as he quickly stepped in.
"You said four!" Dustin shouted.
Steve whispered a small "sorry" as he sat beside Nancy, giving him a small wave. Robin mocked the kids from the shoreline, recalling when bedtime was. She stood up to tell the kids that they all missed them already. Lorraine giggled, she was glad that amidst everything Robin could at least keep her humor intact.
Robin and Eddie started rowing the boat towards the shack, knowing exactly where Patrick had been taken by Vecna. They all stayed silent, as Nancy was glued to the compass. Steve looked around, shining his flashlight into the water hoping to see something. Lorraine sat still, looking at the wooden floor of the boat as she couldn't bear to look out into the water. She knew what was down there, and she didn't care to find out what it looked like.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Slow down, slow down guys" Nancy said, breaking the silence, as she motioned with her hand for the two to stop rowing. Steve shined the flashlight onto the compass as they all peered into the small glass.
"Whoa," Lorraine said, astonishing as she saw the compass move in every direction, never settling, not even for a second.
"Guy's, what's going on?" Dustin's voice echoed from the walkie. It took Robin a moment to actually focus on him but eventually grabbed the walkie-talkie.
"Uh, Dustin, your compass has gone from wonky to wonky with a capitol ahhh!" She said, Lorraine laughing at how she said it.
Steve began to take off his shoes and socks, as they all looked at him with a confused look.
"Steve, what are you doing?" Nancy snapped, looking at him.
"Somebody's gotta go down there and check this thing out." He said, with a breathy voice. "Unless one of you four can top being a Hawkins High swim co-captain and a certified lifeguard for three years, then…" he said, shrugging. "It's gotta be me. No complaints, alright?"
"Hey, I'm not complaining." Eddie said, as he emptied out his pocket. A plastic bag that had his cigarettes and lighter in it.
"Ditto." Lorraine said, lifting her eyebrows as she hugged her legs tighter. "I do not wanna go down there."
Eddie began to wrap the flashlight that Steve was holding moments before in the plastic bag, securing it with another bag so that he could use it underwater. Steve took off his shirt, and looked at the water below him.
"Hey," Eddie said, handing him the flashlight, "Good luck."
Steve huffed a thank you as he chucked his shirt at Eddie, while Eddie slipped a cigarette into his mouth. Robin scoffed, grabbing the cigarette and mumbling something as she threw it out the side of the boat. Eddie said nothing, surprised, no one has ever done that before. He put the lighter back into the pack of cigarettes and placed it in his pocket once more.
He looked over at Lorraine, as she was still quiet, her eyes glued to the floor. Eddie sighed, he knew that she was afraid, but this was the only way they could get out of this. And more than anything, Eddie wanted to get this over with and finally flee Hawkins with Lorraine.
"Steve," Nancy said, stopping Steve for a moment. "Be careful." He nodded and jumped straight into the water, diving head first.
They went silent, hoping that Steve would resurface as fast as they could. Lorraine could finally lift her gaze from the floor, raising her neck a bit to see if she could see Steve's face in the water. It was black, dark and foggy, which only made her more nervous. She started tapping her toe, diggin her nails into her jeans, scared that he would fling out of the water and start to snap.
Suddenly, Eddie's hand reached her back, calmly caressing it. Lorraine felt air finally enter her lungs, like she had been holding her breath the entire time. She looked over to him, with a worried look. He nodded, blinking slowly, assuring her that everything was alright.
"Where we at, Wheeler?" Robin said, in front of them, but Lorraine didn't dare take her stare away from Eddie.
"Closing in on a minute."
Lorraine tried to imagine how scary it was down there, under the water, trying to find some sort of door into another world. She couldn't imagine how her lungs would feel if she tried to hold her breath for so long.
Suddenly they heard splashes, Steve bursting out of the water. Eddie cursed loudly, as they all got wet and were startled from the sudden change.
"I found it," He said, spitting out water as he swam and hung onto the boat.
"You found it?"
"I found it, yeah. I found it."
"Dustin, you're a goddamn Einstein, Steve found the gate to the Upside Down!" She talked into the walkie, excited. Lorraine was weary, if there's a gate, doesn't that mean that Vecna is nearby?
"It's pretty wild," Steve chuckled, "It's more a snack-sized gate than a mama gate, but it's still pretty damn big."
His head suddenly fell below the surface, his hands gripping the boat in fear. Lorraine stood up immediately, feeling like she knew what was about to happen. His head came back to the surface, his eyes peering around him before landing on Nancy's, a confused look on his face.
The dark water yanked him back down, his hands flailing to find something to hold onto, but it was too late. Steve disappeared under the water, just like Patrick did. They all shouted his name, not knowing what was exactly happening.
"Steve! Steve!" Nancy shouted, terrified.
"No! No! No!" Robin repeated under her breath.
"What the hell was that, man?!" Eddie's voice cracked as he stood up beside Lorraine, holding onto her arm.
"Nancy, what happened?" Lorraine said, her voice faint beside the screams of the others. She suddenly placed a foot on the edge of the boat, as she was about to jump in Eddie grabbed her arm.
"Wait, wait, wait." He said quickly, concerned. "You're not going in there, are you?"
"Just wait here." She said sternly.
"No, Nancy!" Screamed Robin, Lorraine also screamed after they both saw Nancy jump into the depths of the murky lake water.
Robin didn't hesitate to sit on the ledge of the boat, holding her nose. Lorraine's eyes widened, looking at her stunned.
"No. No, no, no, no" Eddie stammered, still holding onto Lorraine for balance.
"What are you doing, Robin?" Lorraine snapped, the fear coming into her throat once more.
"She said wait!" Eddie shouted, his voice cracking.
"Yeah," She said solemnly, "I heard her."
"She's in charge!" Eddie said, almost like he was fibbing to a teacher.
"Are you kidding me?" She said blankly, "I made that shit up."
Robin tilted backwards and fell into the water, Lorraine leaped and tried to grab her before she fell but failed. She started panting, nervous, having another moment of insane panic, mixed with anger and desperation. The thought that Robin could get hurt pained her. The thought that these people, people who didn't even like Eddie to begin with, were trying to help. She felt like an idiot, too much of a coward to actually step up and slay the beast that threatened her best friend - the love of her life. Her knuckles squeezed as her jaw clenched, she felt the impulse coming back, the same feeling she had when she saw Jason storming off to Eddie. She placed a foot on the edge of the boat, hesitating for a moment.
"Lor..." Eddie said, whispering, "Lor, no. Lorraine!" He screamed, his voice cracking, but she didn't hear him. All she could hear in her mind was his laugh, Robin's laugh, Steve's annoyed voice and Nancy's kind words. The only thing she could think of, to drive the fear away, was the thought of ripping out Vecna's throat. She was going to kill the fucker.