"Eddie! can you hear me!" I shouted again. I'd been searching and shouting for about 10 minutes now. My co-ordination wasn't great at the best of times, I had always been clumsy, and I'd tripped about a dozen times so far. Blood trickled down my knees, the cool air dried it instantly. Anyone else would probably be terrified in these woods so late; not me, I'd grown up in these woods. My mom loved walking through them at all hours of the day so, I had a decent idea of where I was. Roughly. Deflated and ready to pull my hair out, I scanned my surroundings. "Right, a few more minutes and I'll be at Skull Rock. Then I give up." I sighed. "Eddie Munson, show yourself. My feet are killing me!" Still nothing. I saw Skull Rock ahead and looked forward to resting for a while before trudging to Vicky's. I arrived and slid my back down against the freezing cold Rock surface.
After catching my breath I heard a rustling sound coming from the other side of the rocks. My senses flared, becoming hyper aware of everything. More rustling. Then murmuring. Sucking in a deep breath, I pulled myself upright holding the flashlights in a 'ready to fight' pose. I snuck around the rock, doing my best to avoid snapping twigs. On the other side, folded against the rock, Eddie crouched with headphones covering his ears and a Walkman lying next to him. A loud exhalation of relief escaped my lips as I retrieved the walkie from my large pocket, "Hello, anyone there?" Lucas picked up. I told them that I was with Eddie, and that someone needed to call Vicky's house. I marched across to Eddie, shining the flashlights on him. He quickly turned, hands covering his eyes. When I was only a foot away from him, I lowered the lights so he could see me. Once he did, a strange expression crossed his bruising face - scared almost? He scrambled to remove the headphones and turn off the Walkman, "Rain, what the fuck are you doing here?" I snorted back, "I've been searching and shouting you for like 15 minutes! What are you doing here?" I jabbed the light back in his face.
"Whoa whoa, you're blinding me Wheeler, put those down. Why were you searching for me?" He shouted, but not angrily. I crouched down and propped the flashlights against the rock so that we could see each other. "Because no one else was. Also because what happened back there was my fault." At this Eddie immediately sprung and landed next to me, "Don't you ever blame yourself, not for shit like that." He held my eyes in his when he said this, but I could see a bruise forming on his right cheek. Eddie flicked his gaze down my body, seeing the cuts on my legs and hands. His face dropped, filled with concern. Wind blew his hair from his face and I saw little lines appearing on his forehead. "Shit, you're hurt. How many times did you fall? How bad are they, lemme see." Before I could protest I was fine, Eddie gripped my hands in his, turning and observing them carefully. He blew gently on the grazes to dislodge debris, a shiver zipped down my spine. Then he tilted his head and moved his hands to my knees, wiping the dried blood away with his thumb. I winced, stinging from the contact.
"Tripped about a dozen times, mostly over my own feet." I laughed it off. Eddie whipped a flask from inside his leather jacket, "this is going to hurt. We need to clean these right now." Not giving me a chance to say no, he poured alcohol on my wounds. A small scream caught in my throat, I screwed my eyes shut. Eddie's woody and warm scent invaded my senses, and when I opened my eyes he was pressed against my side. He put one arm round my shoulder and guided me into a sitting position. "Thanks," was all I could say. "I'm sorry Rain. You're hurt because you were out here looking for me. I just ran out of there and kept running," Eddie murmured, "I'm not a runner though. By the time I reached this place I was ready to drop so..." Eddie gestured to his headphones. "If you were trying to run home, you went in the complete wrong direction y'know." I responded, pointing in the direction that led to the trailer park. "I did not know that." he chuckled.
Another breeze swept his hair from his face. The moon momentarily shone on us; he looked upwards and I gasped at the sight of a hand mark around his throat. Something protective came over me, I placed my hands on either side of his head, getting a better look. "Did he try strangling you?!" My voice sounded worried. The lines of concern disappeared from his forehead, his eyes fell to mine and he cupped his hands over mine, removing them from his head. Eddie kept hold of my hands as he said, "well I was on top of him, punching the shit out of his face, he got his hand round my throat I guess. Before that dick cracked a bottle on me." The bottle! I started pulling his shoulder into the light, trying to see if there was any blood. Not finding any sign of blood, I let go. "I'm wearing a denim jacket over a leather one - pretty much makes me invincible" he winked at me and I sighed in relief. "Were you...worried about me?" He asked. We were still pretty close together, and he was already a pro at sensing my lies, so I told the truth. "When they all started putting hands on you, I got scared. Then the bottle...jason could've really hurt you with that!" I felt Eddie's fingers brush my knee, rubbing circles against my skin, it felt comforting. "I needed to find you - make sure you were okay. You shouldn't have done that." I dropped my eyes.