Chrissy had walked this field many times over her four years attending Hawkins High School, but today it felt dreary and haunted in its emptiness. The attendentless bleachers stared back at her glaringly in the afternoon spring sunshine, and she hurried across the fresh cut grass as thick, inky clouds began to gather overhead. The field felt like a massive, endless green sea that would swallow her whole where she stuck out like a sore cream-colored thumb in her eggshell letterman sweater and she rushed her way across the yards of grass, praying no one would see her. It wasn't exactly as if it were weird for her to be here, but the circumstances didn't exactly add up. Where were her squad mates? What was she doing out here? Football season ended a month prior; She had no reason to be out here on a football field in the middle of March. As the sky darkened, she began to jog, eager to be under the safety and coverage of the thick tree edge of the forest behind the high school, where Eddie was supposed to be waiting for her.

When she broke the tree's edge and walked deeper into the forest, leaves loudly crunching under foot, Chrissy had hoped the vast feeling of being watched from all sides would diminish. Of course, the feeling hadn't ever really gone away since it had started a few days ago, but she hoped it would at the very least lessen.

By the time Chrissy had reached the table Eddie had told her about– an old, nearly rotted oak school lunch bench that must have been dragged out here from an alumni class of Hawkins past– gooseflesh had begun to crawl over her skin, and thick shadows cast themselves darkly from the trees that surrounded her, like cloaked beings ready to snatch her away into the darkness.

Tick.

Tock.

She began to grow cold and a hard shiver racked itself through her fragile frame. She looked around frightfully and her heart fluttered. She had heard something, she was sure of it.

"Hello?" Chrissy called out, drawing her arms in close to her body.

A squelching sound of a tree to her right made her stomach twist and she was relieved she hadn't succeeded in eating her apple at lunch today. Surely she would not have the stomach for the fear she was feeling right now, or the gorey hallucination she was seeing. A thick oak tree was melded with a great grandfather clock, the bark of the tree splitting and oozing, a goopy flesh-like wound for the clock to erect from.

"Chrissy…." A deep, guttural voice growled her low in her ear, hot and wet and thick. "Chrissy, I'm here…"

A discordant chime on the clock struck.

Tick.

Tock.

Tick.

Tock.

Another chime.

Tick.

Tock–

The wound on the tree oozed loudly and puss sputtered as the hands on the clock slowly turned. Tick. Tock.

Another chime. Tick tock.

Chrissy stared, transfixed, mesmerized- hypnotized- as the ticks tocked and seconds passed and another chime struck. The face of the grand clock cracked, splintered, and finally, a hole formed, where hundreds of black widows ushered out, like an arachnid army storming their enemy.

A deep sense of dread washed over Chrissy and her legs began to itch, begging her to run. Finally, she ran in panic– directly into Eddie's arms. "Woah! Hey, hey, hey." She spun around, a yelp escaping her mouth before she could clasp her hand to cover it. Eddie Munson stood behind her, his hand hesitantly coming away from her and into the air– hands up, innocent, safe.

"Sorry…" He said, sheepishly. "Didn't mean to scare ya…" He trailed off, studying her face, which must have looked rough because Eddie asked Chrissy, for the second time that day, just as softly as before, "You okay?"

She looked back at the grotesque tree, frightfully looked back at the spiders and they were gone– a simple oak tree standing tall and proud and normal. Hot tears filled her eyes and her lip trembled. There was no way. She had seen hundreds of spiders, she had smelt the rotted ooze of the monster tree-clock. The chiming had echoed deep within her breastbone. There was no way. "Did you…" She swallowed hard. "You didn't see anything weird just now?" She glanced back warily at Eddie.

A cautionary look crossed Eddie's face and his eyes flicked around them before he quickly shook his head no. "Nope. Nothing weirder than just a head cheerleader in the woods alone. Unless that's what you meant by weird." And with that, he turned on his boot heel and waltzed his way over to the table.

Chrissy followed and kept her head low as she sat down across from him. She flinched slightly as he set down a metal lunch tin that clattered loudly against the wooden tabletop and wrung her hands in her lap nervously. Across from her, Eddie was removing his jacket and watching her carefully. "There's uh… There's nothing to worry about. Okay? No one ever comes out here." He gently stepped into the picnic table booth and settled in softly in front of her. Jason was always heavily throwing himself beside her or roughly pulling her to him. She noticed how cautiously Eddie took his movements around her and it made her feel calm, safe. Her anxiously bouncing knees and erratic breathing began to steady slowly. "I promise." He said softly with reassurance.

With a clatter, Eddie opened his tin and a scent of pungent air wafted through it, filling the air, thick and herby. Chrissy peeked curiously over the table, trying to feign interest the best she could. She had never seen drugs, had never been in the position to accept or deny them. Once, she had gone to a party after an away game in Lafayette and she had smelled a group of band kids smoking in the basement when she had walked past the stairwell on her way to the bathroom. It had smelled the same as Eddie's black box. With a heavy huff of breath, Eddie licked his lips and covered his mouth, looking with what Chrissy could only think was shame.

"So," Chrissy started, wringing her hands nervously again. "How does this work exactly?"

Eddie's hand fell from his mouth and he reluctantly answered, "Oh, like any other old sale except, uh," he hesitated. "Cash only, and uh, for obvious reasons, no receipts." He gave his knuckles a gentle, rhythmic tap on the tabletop.

Chrissy pondered for a moment why he wouldn't want a good way to balance his books if he was running a business and then felt a flash of embarrassment. Of course receipts would be incriminating, for not only himself, but for her too. She was just as guilty as Eddie. "I'll do half an ounce for, uh…" Eddie glanced briefly at her, a quick flash of his eyes Chrissy wondered if she had imagined it. He held out a bag of brown-green leafy material, wafting its earthy stench in her direction. "Twenty. What do you say? Plenty of bang for your buck. Should last you a while."

Chrissy felt the panic begin to rise within her. A drug deal! With Eddie "The Freak"

Munson! What was she thinking? Maybe she should tell her mom about her hallucinations, maybe she would be understanding and she would get Chrissy help, maybe…

A loud rustle behind her made Chrissy jump hard in her seat and she turned around, only to see a squirrel rushing up a pine tree a few paces away.

"Hey, uh," Eddie's voice and the clattering of the metal tin closing shut brought back Chrissy's gusto as he said "We don't need to do this. Just give me the word and I'll walk away. Okay?" He sheepishly held his hands up and began to stand.

Chrissy's hands gently slapped against the table, desperate to get his help. She couldn't go another night with that terrible dread, or the potential of another hallucination. They seemed to be getting more real, and longer. No, she needed what Eddie could give her. "It's not that," She started. "I don't want you to go…"

Eddie sat, glancing up at Chrissy from beneath his bangs. He looked as vulnerable as she felt. Maybe that's why she felt the sudden urge to confide in him. Maybe it was because she felt so alone and the only person who may understand her may be the loner of Hawkins High. Maybe… "Do you ever feel like you're losing your mind?" She couldn't face him. Nervously, she scratched her hand on the splintering edge of the wooden table.

Chrissy could feel Eddie lean closer to get a better look at her. She knew how crazy she must seem. She hoped he wouldn't laugh. With fear in her heart that he would reject her– that she would be truly, utterly, terrifyingly alone– she looked up at him to see his gaze steady with hers, clear and focused on the words she was saying. He wasn't looking at her with the same kind of half-assed malaise most common folk wore when in conversation. He was looking at her like he cared what she had to say, like he really wanted to hear it, to know what she thought, and not just so he could respond. "Um, you know, just… on a daily basis." Eddie gave her a soft smile, a slight twitch on the corners of his mouth. His face lit up and Chrissy saw for the first time Eddie The Freak had beautiful dimples. She was reminded of when her younger brother Tommy was born, how deep his dimples were when he was a baby. Eddie's dimples were lovely.

"I mean," He continued. "I feel like I'm losing my mind right now doing a drug deal with Chrissy Cunningham, queen of Hawkins high." He gave her an incredulous look, flashing his teeth in a wicked grin that softened as he continued to stare at her. A moment of brief silence passed between them and he rapped his ringed knuckles against the tabletop once more.

"You know," He started again. "This isn't the first time we've, um…" He swallowed, tugging on his fingertips anxiously, and chose his words carefully. "Hung out." he settled on.

Chrissy couldn't imagine it. Her? With Eddie? When? She couldn't remember a time they would have even been in the same room. "No?" She asked.

He looked pained for a second, a hot burst of hurt in his eyes that was quickly doused and left with a hollow gaze. "You don't remember?"

"I'm sorry, I–" Chrissy could feel her head shaking, but couldn't find anything to justify her rudeness and no way to atone.

"That's okay."

In a flash, Eddie had thrust an imaginary sword through his heart and threw himself backwards from the table, crashing hard into the fallen leaves on the forest floor. Chrissy gave a yelp as he rolled upward, rushing a few paces away from her. "I wouldn't remember me either, Chrissy!" He lamented, loudly.

With a grandiose swoop of his arms he turned to face her, ruffling his fingers through his hair, pulling out stray twigs and leaves that had tangled themselves into his thick, long curls. "Honestly, is there anything in my hair?" He gave her a snobbish look, one that made her think of Jessica, with his nose crinkled high and his arms crossed tightly over his chest. Chrissy looked on incredulously, and laughed. "You don't remember me?"

Eddie was smiling at her as he leaned forward, but she could still see the hurt in his eye. She wanted to remember…

"I'm sorry!"

"Middle school. Talent show." He hinted. He shuffled his feet and moved away again. She noticed how his meandering was like how he moved in the cafeteria. She wondered if it was hard for him to stay still too. Her own leg was bouncing uncontrollably under the table and she had been picking at the nail bed of her thumb since Eddie had launched himself from his seat. "You were doing this cheer thing." To Chrissy's confused expression, Eddie gave his arms a weak toss to both sides, spread his arms wide and gave his fake pom poms a shake. "You know, the… the thing you do. It was pretty cool, actually."

Chrissy was smiling. She remembered the talent show, how she had spent weeks perfecting her routine. The moves Eddie had done had been a combination she was proud of, one she had organized herself. She remembered her mom criticizing the lack of creativity in her routine. She was glad someone had appreciated her 13-year old expertise.

"And I," Eddie continued, glancing up at her hesitantly, his arms back over his chest, shielding himself in case she rejected him again. "I was with my band." It sounded more like a question.

That's right! "Corroded Coffin!" She gasped. "Oh, my God!"

"Corrod—" Eddie was pounding his fist in joy, a flush rising to his alit face. He pointed his finger at her, accusatory in joy and excitement."You do remember!"

"Yes, of course! With a name like that, how could I forget?" How could she forget? She had remembered sitting with him at the back of the line, waiting for their spots in the show to arrive. He had told her the name then, and she had complimented the ideology of rot in a coffin.

"I dunno, you're a freak." He said, teasingly.

A playful gasp rose in Chrissy's chest and she gawked at him and laughed softly. "No, you just…" She didn't recall knowing someone with such long hair in middle school. In fact, she was sure of it. "You looked so–"

"Different? Yeah. Well, uh, my hair was buzzed and I didn't have these sweet ol' tatties yet." He gave his Hellfire Club neckline a tug and exposed the cusp of a tattooed skull over his left breastbone.

"You played guitar, right?" Chrissy recalled.

"Uh huh. Still do." Eddie purred. "Still do."

He began to walk a few paces away from her– which Chrissy was beginning to notice was something he did when he was about to be vulnerable. He would move himself a safe distance before he said something dangerous. She began to feel excited at the sight of his shoulder presenting itself to her. What would he challenge her with next?

"You should come see us sometime," He tried. "Uh, we play at The Hideout on Tuesdays. It's pretty cool. We… We actually get a crowd of about five drunks."

She laughed and wanted to believe in the reality Eddie was proposing to her. Her? Chrissy Cunningham at the Hideout on a Tuesday night to see Eddie Munson play in Corroded Coffin? Yeah, right. Besides, she had cheer practice on Tuesday nights. It was a fantasy.

"It's not exactly The Garden, but you gotta start somewhere right? So…" Eddie took a few more paces away from her and gave a thin oak tree behind him a soft connective punch to its trunk.

Chrissy didn't want to tell him no. She didn't want to cause that flash of pain in his eyes to return. She didn't want to reject him again. "You know," she started. "You're not what I thought you'd be like."

"Mean and scary?" Eddie guessed, pulling a clump of his nappy hair to shield the bottom half of his face. Chrissy liked when he peeked at her. It was cute.

"Yeah," She gave a weak laugh.

"Yeah, well," Eddie laughed faintly in response, nervously scratching his jaw. "I actually thought you'd be kinda mean and scary too." Quickly, he crossed the distance between them and was crawling onto the lunch bench with a wide stretch of his legs.

Another gasp escaped Chrissy. "Me?" She asked, sweetly. Mean and scary weren't things she thought she was capable of being.

"Terrifying." He jokingly scoffed and was quickly seated softly in front of her once more, opening his metal tin of illegal substances. "Uh, so, in other good news, flattery works with me, so…" he gave her a charming smile. "Twenty-five percent discount for the half. Fifteen bucks. You're robbing me blind here, you know." A soft bag of green plant was dropped in front of her.

Fear began to boil deep in Chrissy's gut. What if this wasn't enough? What if it made it worse? Could anything help, and if not, couldn't there be something that could just put her to sleep?

She really didn't know how much more she could take.

With a shaky breath she asked, "Do you have anything, maybe… stronger?"