Here's chapter 9, hope you enjoy! I do not own Stranger Things

Sorry that the chapters for this one have been so short! This one was fueled by a thankful end to writers block and a ton of tea. (So it might be terrible lol)

Eddie

He was getting worried. Petal had begun to get jumpy after reuniting with Max. She was all smiles just for him...that he knew. But when she didn't realize he was there he saw what was really happening. People thought he was a fucking idiot, and he was sure he was in some areas, but not when it came to the obvious. Petal had started looking over her shoulder a lot. She'd stopped eating as much as she used to. Her laughs were becoming harder and harder to come by. She was starting to not care anymore...the first sign was her fingernails. He didn't care about the color of her nails but he knew that was something she loved doing. She'd begged him to let her paint his nails...but she'd allowed her halloween colors to chip away, never repainting or getting them done. She'd begun to chew them by January, wearing them down to short little nubs rather than the slightly longer feminine look she'd enjoyed. He watched as her clothes started to become more and more dark. At first it was just her stealing a shirt or sweatshirt of his "to feel closer" to him...not anymore. He hadn't seen her wear her favorite baby pink sweater in months now. Not since she'd surprised him on Christmas with a brand new Iron Maiden t-shirt and a plate of turkey dinner she'd snuck out of the house.

Flashback

Uncle Wayne unfortunately had to work, there'd be no rest for the broke. Not even on baby Jesus's birthday, after all the uber christian boss man still needed to make a dime when he was off at church. So on Christmas night Eddie sat alone in the trailer, fiddling with his guitar on his bed with his eyes on the ceiling. He idly played Master of Puppets, his head drifting around his thoughts. He'd only just decided to light up when he heard the soft, almost timid knocking at the door. "Eddie?" Came her gentle call through the door. He hung up his guitar carefully before going to the door. He opened it to find Petal shivering slightly on his doorstep as snow piled high on the road behind her. In the distance by the gate of the trailer park he could see the tail lights of her cousins car. "Baby what are you doing here?" He asks as he takes her in. She's wearing a white wool coat with large black buttons, a matching hat, dark pink pants, and a simple pair of white snow boots. "I wanted to surprise you" She chatters, she was holding out a large tupperwear dish with a smile on her pink cheeks. "Are you going to let me in or am I going to Max's for the night?" She giggled.

He steps aside and lets her walk in, shaking the snow from her feet and shoulders as she did. She dropped her bag on the couch and turned back to him "Surprised?"

He takes her still cold form into his arms with a smile "Very, did you actually get Carver to drive you out here at night?"

"Yep...50 dollars lighter and a promise to cover for him the next time he gets drunk" She smirked a little "But it was worth it. I brought you some dinner, I know you probably had a bologna sandwich or something" He gave her a mock glare, not wanting to admit he did have just that. He opened the dish to find the most Julia Child looking plate of leftovers he'd ever seen. Roasted turkey, creamy mashed potatoes, golden corn pudding, and green beans. He looks up with a smile "Feeding the freak,a new christmas charity huh?" He leans down to kiss her "Thanks baby, you didn't need to do that."

She takes the dish from his fingers and pops it into the microwave. "My aunt is a fucking bitch...but she can cook." She turns it on and pulls her coat off, revealing her soft baby pink sweater and cross necklace. "So how was your Christmas?" She asks

"Uncle Wayne got me a new set of paints for my D&D figures and a , I gave him a six pack of this stupid imported beer he never buys himself...and some new boots. What about you Princess? Good haul over at the castle?"

"I guess you could say that, I got a bible, a new skirt, and a sweet little collar for Faramir" She smiles slightly "They're a little pissed at me at the moment." She blushes

"Is that why I've not seen you for a bit princess?" He pulls her close and presses a kiss to her head "What terribly naughty thing did you do to piss off the great and powerful Carver clan?"

"I got another tattoo..." She gives him a shy grin. "Wanna see?"

He sits down on the couch and gives her a confident smirk "Obviously I wanna see it Princess" She giggles and pulls her sweater up and her pants ever so slightly down to show off a new set of ink just below her belly button on the left side. It was the sun and a crescent moon eclipsing one another with a shower of stars. She gives him a grin "Do you like it?"

"It's beautiful baby" Eddie pulls her over by her belt loops and presses a kiss to her still slightly sensitive tattoo before pulling her down for a real kiss. She slides into his lap as they push farther, only barely hearing the microwave finish reheating his dinner. She pulls away, pressing her forehead against his. "I also brought you a present."

"Aren't sexy tattoos and food enough?" He chuckles "You're never going to get rid of me if you keep it up Princess."

"What if that's the goal?" She smirks and she reaches for her purse, not moving from his lap. Once she's got it she pulls out a small, poorly wrapped box. She eagerly leans back so he has enough room to open it between them. As he does, the black cropped t-shirt falls from the box. When he holds it up to get a good look at it, it's of one of the most recent album covers of Iron Maiden. Their mascot Eddie, (an undead being on most of the cover art) was wrapped in a striaght jacket and chained at several points of the padded walls around him. "Metal as hell baby" Eddie grins, giving her a chaste kiss in thanks. "You didn't have to though" She presses a finger to his lips "I wanted to Eds." She slids off his lap and grabs his plate from the microwave, a fork for him, and a beer from the fridge. She sets him up to eat and returns back to her bag. "Gremlins?" She grins eagerly, holding up the rental from Family Video

"Why not?" He takes a bite of turkey and almost grumbles at the taste. It was too good for such a bitchy woman to have made in his opinion. Petal pops in the movie and settles down beside him, stealing a bite of turkey or potatoes every now and then as they watched. As he finished his food he slid his plate to the floor and pulled her into his lap, pressing kisses to her shoulder. "You're too sweet for me baby" he whispers into her ear, she flinches and he furrows his brow...maybe she was cold. He grabbed a blanket from the back of the couch and wraps it around them as she smiles sweetly at him, as though she'd done nothing odd...she must have been cold.

"I just wanted to see you...and spread some Christmas cheer." She leans back and kisses his cheek with a small smile as the little mogwai's trick billy into feeding them after midnight. "Did it work?"

He grins "Yep, let me up though baby. I need to grab something" She slides off his lap with a playful pout and he goes to his bedroom. He throws around the discarded clothes and coke cans as he looks for it. He finally finds the small flat box underneath a stack of NPC character sheets and grinned to himself. He comes back to find she'd made herself more comfortable on the couch. She had her small shoes neatly tucked under her bag and her knees pulled up to her chest, watching the groteque puppetry on the screen.

"Merry Christmas Princess" he hands her the small box and she looks at him with a strange expression "You didn't need to Eddie"

"You brought me food and a present, take it." He gives her a look of fake exasperation. She opens it with a playful roll of her eyes but gasps when she sees it. It's a bright silver necklace with a silver rose pendant. "Turn it over" He says as he sits back down beside her, she does and grins at the small inscription on the back. It wasn't a word, or even any letters. It was a small bat silhouette not unlike the ones on his arm. "I know you can't wear my name in that house, but you can have something of me"

"It's perfect Eddie." She kisses him "But this must have been expensive..."

"Shhhh" He joins their lips again and slides the necklace around her throat gingerly.

End Flashback

Eddie grimaced, something felt off around her every time he approached almost. It was like he was walking through a fog when he saw her...but the moment she'd smile at him or when their lips met it would lift like magic. He'd asked her what was wrong countless times...she'd always blame it on something or other that he knew was probably bullshit. Carver wasn't able to make a mist of misery to follow her around. Headaches didn't hang around your loved ones. A bad grade didn't feel like a choke hold. At first he thought it could be those things...but then she started to avoid the party. It had started with the trio of younger teens in Hellfire.

It started with little jumps. At lunch Dustin would be talking to her animatedly when she'd suddenly jump and look over her shoulder, as if something was there. Then it was when Mike would be a little snarky and she'd turn her head ever so slightly, like someone whispered in her ear. She'd then give him a dirty look. Then with Lucas, he'd ask about Max...missing her he guessed, and she'd close her eyes, what she did when she wanted to blink back her tears in sad movies he'd taken her to. This was around the time she'd begun to sneak to his house for sleepovers...it started as a sweet little sleepover once a week or so...then it got more and more frequent. She was now coming every night now...no longer with an angelic smile on her cheeks as she snuck in his window, but more of a look of a girl looking to forget a nightmare she'd had.

Weeks passed and she stopped sitting with Hellfire, instead she sat with Robin. He'd keep his eye on her from across the cafeteria and it only seemed to worsen with Robin...the flinching, every so often he'd see her flex her shoulders, as if to throw something off of them. Weeks of that passed when she finally stopped eating in the lunchroom altogether. He almost never saw her when the boys were present...Robin had begun to start approaching him and the boys to ask about her...like she hadn't seen her. He'd thought that that was concerning but then Harrington began calling around his house asking if Petal was doing ok...that she was avoiding him too.

Petal

It had been days since she'd visited Billy's grave, since she'd cried with Max...and it was like a switch had flipped. The haunting laughter she'd experience once every few weeks soon became once every few days...and then every day, and then he was always there. Whispering. It had started at lunch one afternoon, Dustin had been talking her ear off about some new character he was creating for D&D when the breath had blown past her left ear. "My blood is on his hands" the low gravelly voice whispered. She'd looked at Dustin shocked but says nothing about the whispers. She knew now that no one heard them. No one would possibly believe her. She excused herself to the library and managed to dodge Dustin for the rest of the day.

A few days later she was sitting with Mike when they'd gotten on the topic of the fire. "Yeah, some Chinese food place went up in flames" He'd said, looking at his notebook.

"He watched me die" the whisper startled her again, though not as harshly as before. She'd almost expected him. She looked at Mike "Were you there?" He looked up at her strangely "No! It was like 2 in the morning. Why would I be there?" She looked at her hands as the voice brushed past her ear, almost feeling the warmth of his skin "Liar". She'd thankfully been saved by the bell and bade Mike an awkward wave before running off.

The next time had been when she'd been sitting with Steve and Robin after school, just watching a movie when it came back. Steve had just sliced open his thumb on a stray tack when the voice returned with an almost animalistic anger. "Try having your guts ripped to shreds Harrington" she shivers and looks at Steve, he's shoved his bloody digit into his mouth with a grunt of pain. "Robin..." She looks at the girl sitting beside her feeling urgent but not able to express it. "What happened to Starcourt again?" She watches Robin carefully, seeing the flicker of uncertainty before Steve answered for her.

"Some restaurant caught fire. A burger place I think." He says nonchalantly. She sees Robin shoot him a grateful look.

"He finds it so easy to lie to you Pet. What else does he lie about?" The voice hissed in her ear.

"Why...why was Billy there though?" She asks quietly. "If it was so late..."

"Who knows?" Steve says, wrapping a tissue around his thumb that is still oozing blood. "He was probably drunk or something" Robin nudges him and gives him a pointed look.

"Secrets...Would you take it to the grave?" She shivers slightly "I thought Max had said he had injuries...like stab wounds or something." She munches on the popcorn, not really tasting it as she saw the two exchange another look.

"I don't think so, Max wasn't doing so well when it happened." Robin muttered tentatively

"Poor little Maxy..." he cackled in her ear "Poor sweet, crazy Maxy"

"Are you saying Max doesn't know what she's talking about?" She meant to whisper but it came out as a shout. Steve and Robin turn to you and share concerned expressions on their features. "No, trauma just-" Robin begins but Steve cuts her off. "What did she tell you Petal?"

"Nothing. She just mentioned she had to throw away a shirt with blood on it. Fire doesn't make you bleed." She grabs her sweater and purse from the coffee table, stomping through Steve's living room with a sudden murderous expression. "Someone's not telling the truth." She opens the door and slams it behind her, hearing Steve's shoes on the hardwood floor behind her as she went. But she no longer cared, she could almost feel her veiled companion purr at their worry.

Lucas had been begging for help in his algebra class for days and she finally relented, sitting with him in the library, almost nose to nose with his homework. It had been mercifully quiet as she spoke, Lucas just listening and trying to do what she said. As his homework was filling up with answers his frustration began to leave his face and he began to chat a little more openly with her. She felt free for the first time in days, but it was not to last.

"How's Max been?" He finally asked, just barely a nervous edge to his voice.

"He pretends to care so well...he turned her against me near the end. Poor little Maxy" the voice breathed over her ear

"She's ok" She was trembling ever so slightly as the voice in her ear continued to whisper "Is she? Is she not suffering Pet? Is she not closing herself off from the world to shield her unspoken guilt?" Petal found herself just doing the rest of his homework for him. Not wanting to stay in his presence for a moment longer than necessary now. Rushing as the unrelenting voice pressed on "Sometimes I worry for poor sweet Max. Her little boyfriend didn't even notice it until she dumped him...best decision she's made in a while"

"You ok?" Lucas asks, looking at her like she'd sprouted a second nose.

"I just have a headache"

"He pushed her to drug me you know..."

"I'll see you another time Lucas, it's really killing me" She grabs her things haphazardly and nearly ran from the library.

As the days turned into weeks and the weeks to months, her shrouded friend became her bane and her sanity. He spoke truths in the web of lies it would seem. But he brought her too much pain. Slowly but surely she'd shunned most of the party. By early April she refused to interact with Steve, Robin, Dustin, Lucas, and Mike. She ignored every call, ran from every hallway meetup, and ate every lunch in the library. She no longer spoke to anyone but two people. The only two that never seemed to call him with their presence; Max and Eddie. When she was with Max she could still feel him, like he kept his hand on her shoulder when Max was around. But he never spoke. Never.

Eddie...with Eddie she was truly free of him. She never felt his presence. She never heard him. She never smelled the cigarettes or the beer. She'd taken to sneaking to his place nearly every night to sleep in his bed. To breathe in his scent, to escape the whispers if only for a few hours.

She'd never been vain...at least she didn't think so. She thought she looked nice, she always put an effort into her appearance, but as the whispers intensified her hair began to lose it's shine, her features were no longer full and dewy. She had always been pale, a side effect of her natural hair color, but it no longer suited her. She looked gaunt and sickly in the mirror when she cared to look. Her green eyes forever haunted by the dark bags beneath her eyes.

She knew the rumors that had been spreading. She'd heard them all. Hell, she'd been asked about them from the likes of Chrissy Cunningham and her cheerleader friends. "Is he hurting you honey?" "Are you being forced to do things?" "Is Munson scaring you?" She'd heard it all, her savior being not so subtly accused of things he'd never even think to do. It hurt, but the whispers made it worse "Dragging him down are we? Not that a freak can go much lower Pet" he hissed in her ear as she pushed past the cheerleaders. She turned into the girls room and found it abandoned "Can you just...please just stop." She whispers into the empty bathroom, laying her books on the side of the sink. Supporting herself against the porcelain as the all too common tears began to slide down her pale cheeks.

"I'm sorry Pet, you know how I get" his low voice glided around her head almost soothingly as she tried to stop her soft weeping over the sink. "It doesn't have to be like this you know" his chuckle gave her no pause anymore. The feel of his not there hands on her shoulders did nothing to rattle her. "I don't want to hurt him...but I..."

"You don't. Don't even say it Pet." His voice is harsher now, her shoulders being squeezed almost painfully as she sobbed brokenly. "Why don't you want me here Pet? I thought you missed me." he crooned in her ear, still squeezing her shoulders. She could almost feel a body pressing against her back but saw nothing behind her in the mirror. She closed her eyes, squeezing out more teardrops.

"I did...I do...I just...you're scaring me Billy...I liked my friends...they couldn't have-"

"They're a bunch of fucking freaks and murderers. Most of your little friends watched me die Pet." he snarls in her ear, his breath growing hot like fire on the shell of her ear.

"Then why don't you come when I'm with Eddie? Why don't you ever talk then?" Petal sobs, her knees buckling under her but she didn't fall to her knees.

"He doesn't let me." The growl had lowered to that awful demonic tone again. She whimpered and covered her face again. "He can't hear you! No one can fucking hear you!" Her voice cracks as she screams, leaning heavily now. "You're not fucking real!" She screams through her fingers, her throat is raw from her screaming as she breaks down completely, shattering onto the floor of the bathroom...or she would have.

"Tell me I'm not real again Pet." The grip that was now around her waist now tightens until she can't breathe and she opens her eyes shocked. Before her, she finally sees him. His once light curly hair is now blackened with congealed blood. His once smooth tanned skin is now stitched together, as though he'd been torn apart and sewn back together. A long thin and blood red scar runs down the left side of his face, still bleeding through the rough stitching. "Can you see me now Pet?"