Chapter Seven

Piper sat in the backseat of Steve's burgundy BMW as he crept the car slowly down Holland Road. The neighborhood around Lover's Lake was set deep into the woods of Hawkins. Nearly every home was pushed back from the road and hidden within the brush, finding it hard to see which home would be Reefer Ricks. Piper leaned forward toward the center console of the car, her head coming up between Robin and Steve.

"Are we sure this is the right street?" Piper asked, squinting her eyes as she tried to read the numbers on passing mailboxes.

"The street sign said Holland. Where else would the house be but on Holland?" Steve spoke, sarcasm in his tone.

"I'm just saying...we've been driving in what feels like a giant loop." Piper sighed, rolling her eyes at Steve.

The car moved down the pebbled at a slow pace for a few more homes, still, Robin reached over and continuously patted Steve's arm.

"Stop the car. Stop!" She spoke, just as Steve pulled up in front of a home.

It was set further back with a large array of bushes, trees, and shrubs lining the street and back toward the home. It was a smaller home, pain slightly worn down along the siding, and every window drape closed. One by one everyone started to get out of the car and head toward the front of the home. Piper felt a shiver run down her spine as her eyes swept over the house, the eerie silence giving the home a creep factor.

"Looks like no one's been home for a while," Robin spoke, grabbing a flashlight from the car and turning it on quickly.

Dustin was the first to reach the front door and quickly started knocking on the door, calling out Eddie's name repeatedly. Piper frowned at the volume of his voice as it seemed to only get louder and more frantic with each second Eddie didn't answer him.

"Might want to keep it down, Dustin. Don't want the entire neighborhood knowing who we're looking for," Piper spoke, causing Dustin to look back at her for a moment, before continuing on as before.

"Eddie!? Eddie!? It's me...Dustin...hello? Eddie?" Dustin continued, adding to pressing the doorbell incessantly. "No cops! I promise, dude! Come on..."

Piper shook her head and walked around toward the side of the home, looking through the windows to see if they'd be able to see inside.

"He's obviously not here man," Steve spoke from beside Dustin.

As Piper panned her flashlight from one side to another, something caught her eye. More towards the shore of the lake sat a boat house, gray in color, with a singular porch light over the red door. From behind her, Max stepped up and stared toward the same ominous building.

"That look like a good place to hide?" Piper asked, adverting her eyes down to Max. The teenage girl looked up at her and nodded her head. "Hey! Guys!"

Piper's voice drew the attention of the rest of the group away from the front door. The sound of feet against the dirt beneath their feet could be heard before Dustin, Robin and Steve stood beside Max and Piper. Silently they all gave each other a look before quickly moving down the small hill toward the front door of the boat house. Steve was first to reach it, looking through the small window beside the door to see if anything was inside.

"It's dark as hell in there," He spoke, before stepping back and jingling the door handle. Surprisingly, the door opened with ease.

One by one they filed into the decrepit old boat house, looking as if no one had been inside for years. Dust covered every surface with the stale smell of wood and mold hanging in the air. Piper gagged slightly at the smell before moving toward the left side of the house with Robin and Max following close behind.

"What a dump," Steve spoke as his footsteps caused the wood beneath to creek with each step. Against the wall, something caught his eye, an oar for the boat that was left suspended in the air. Quickly he grabbed the larger object and began to poke and prod at the tarp covering the small boat.

"What the hell are you doing?" The shrieking sound of Dustin's voice caught everyone's attention. Piper's brows pulled in confusion as she watched Steve poke at the brown tarp repeatedly moving down along the side of the boat.

"Making sure he's not in here," Steve spoke with a shrug, his tone indicating it should be obvious what he was doing.

"It would go a lot faster if you just took the tarp off, dingus," Piper spoke up, shaking her head.

"If it's so easy, you come and take the tarp off," Steve spoke, cocking his brow toward her.

But Piper just rolled her eyes and continued along the search she was on with Robin and Max. Leaving the bickering between Dustin and Steve.

"Looks like someone was here," Max spoke up, pointing out the array of different take-out wrappers, containers, and empty beer bottles. "They aren't covered in dust like the rest of this junk."

"Maybe he heard us? Got spooked and ran?" Robin suggested.

"Don't worry," Dustin spoke from across the room, causing the girls to turn to him. "Steve will get him with his oar."

Steve rolled his eyes but continued to poke, "I know you think you're funny, Henderson. But seeing as everyone in this room nearly died about a hundred times, I don't find it funny in the slightest..."

Steve's sentence was left hanging as suddenly movement erupted from within the tarp, sending it back across the room. Everyone shouted and screamed in shock as a larger mass moved toward Steve, pushing him back toward the wall. Dustin moved quickly out of the way unsure of what was going on, while the others quickly moved to the other side of the room.

"Woah! Woah! Hey, hey!" Steve shouted as he left someone grab tightly to the collar of his jacket, a tight groan leaving his lips the moment his back was slammed against the wood siding of the boat house.

It didn't take long for Piper to make out that it was a man looming over Steve. His long black curls cascaded down his back slightly covering the top of a DIO patch at the back of a denim vest. It seemed Dustin was the first to recognize exactly who the stranger was.

"Eddie! Eddie!" Dustin screamed, holding his arms out to stop the others from moving any closer. Just as quickly as everything erupted into chaos, everyone froze.

"Eddie, stop! It's me!" The sound of the younger teenager's voice caused his head to swivel over his shoulder and focus his eyes on Dustin. His face was void of any real emotion, his hold on Steve still tight with a broken beer bottle to his throat. "It's Dustin. This is Steve. He's not going to hurt you. Right? Steve."

Robin, Piper, and Max waited with bated breath, scared of what was happening in front of them. But Eddie was just as afraid of them.

"Steve...why don't you drop the oar," Dustin spoke calmly and coolly, trying to deescalate the situation.

Steve released the grip that he had on the oar causing it to drop to the ground. But it seemed the moment it caused a loud bang onto the ground, Eddie only seemed to be spooked more. Moving the bottle closer to Steve's neck, and causing Steve to close his eyes tightly as he felt the sharp glass against his skin. Everyone else flinched forward, but Dustin held them back. Piper could see the slight tremor in Eddie's hold as he tried to keep it together. She suddenly felt sympathy for the man in front of her. If their suspicions were correct, she couldn't imagine what he'd been through the last twenty-four hours.

"He's cool. He's cool." Dustin stressed to Eddie. Causing Steve to nod his head, brown eyes pleading up to him, repeating the words; I'm cool, man. I'm cool.

"What are you doing here?" Eddie finally spoke, keeping his eyes locked on Steve. His voice was tense as he spoke.

"We can here looking for you," Dustin answered quickly

"We can here to help," Piper spoke up, causing him to turn to face them more.

"Eddie, these are my friends," Dustin started "You know Robin...from the band? A-And Max? The one that never wants to come and play D&D? Piper? She moved away but she went to Hawkins too, Chief Hopper's niece?" Eddie's eyes seemed weary as everyone looked at him, Robin even giving an awkward wave and a smile. "Eddie, we're on your side. I swear on my mother! Right guys?"

"Yup," "Uh, huh...Dustin's mother" Everyone spoke up at once, Steve stiffly nodding his head.

Everyone waited with bated breath as they watched Eddie before soon, he released Steve from his hold. Dustin moved to his friend while Max and Robin rushed to Steve. Piper stood there for a moment and watched as Eddie backed away toward the back of the boat house before his back hit a wall, slowly, he slid down till he was sitting on the ground. Dustin moved slowly, making no sudden movements, as he knelt down in front of his friend.

"Eddie...we just want to talk..." Dustin spoke slowly, reaching out for the bottle in his hands. But the moment Dustin got close enough, Eddie flinched back and pulled it closer to himself. "Ok...Ok..."

"We just want to help. We want to know what happened." Piper spoke coolly as she stood behind Dustin, looking down at Eddie. His large brown eyes stared up at her, and quickly, she saw the mask was gone. Instead in front of her was someone afraid, eyes filled with unshed tears.

"You wouldn't believe me," Eddie sniffled, pulling in on himself more.

"Try us," Max spoke from behind Piper, causing him to look toward them all in shock.

Eddie hesitated for a while before finally moving to sit more on an upside-down milk carton on the floor. Everyone moved to grab their own seats, with Piper sitting on a small bench with Robin. He started off slow like he wasn't fully sure if the people in front of him were still going to believe him. Everyone started to feel sympathy for Eddie, whether they knew him or not because they could see that whatever happened to him scared him.

"Chrissy...s-she came to me wanting to buy. At first, I thought it was a setup, you know?" Eddie started, reaching up to wipe a stray tear. "Chrissy Cunningham coming to buy weed? Yeah, ok. B-But I could tell that something was off with her, she was jumpy and seemed...skittish. Scared. She asked for something stronger than weed, so I told her I had some stuff back at my trailer. After the game, I gave her a ride, and I was just...I just gonna help her." Eddie paused to catch his breath "Fuck, man...I-I left her for two seconds...two seconds! A-And it was like...I don't know, man...she was under some trance or something...I tried waking her up. I really did, but nothing was happening. She wouldn't wake up. A-And then s...she just started levitating from the ground, uh...and she just hung there...in the air. And her b-bones.." Eddie shook his head and closed them, "Her bones started to snap, man. Just...i-it was like something was pulling her eyeballs from the inside out...I-I didn't know what else to do...so I-I ran..." The room fell silent as everyone listened closely. Eddie looked around at the group in front of them and scoffed, "I know how this sounds..."

"We believe you," Robin spoke up first, leaning forward on her elbows slightly.

"Don't bullshit me, man!" Eddie shouted, bringing his hands over his eyes "I know how this sounds."

"It doesn't sound crazy to us, trust me," Piper spoke, causing Eddie to look toward them, seeing on each of their faces, that they did believe him.

"Look, what I'm about to tell you...might be difficult to take..." Dustin started "You know how people in Hawkins think that the town is cursed? Well, they aren't wrong. There is another word...beneath Hawkins. And sometimes this...world...bleeds into Hawkins. Our world."

"L-Like ghosts and shit?" Eddie asked

"There are things much worse than ghosts," Max spoke

"These monsters, from this other world...we thought they were gone. But they have come back before. That's why we needed to find you."

"And if they are back again, we need to know," Piper spoke. "That night, did you see anything? Dark particles, maybe?"

"It would almost look like dust, swirling dust," Dustin explained

"No, man. No...there was nothing that you could see...o-or touch." Eddie shook his head. "I-I tried to wake her man, but she wouldn't move...i-it was like she was under some spell."

"Or a curse?" Dustin asked, the two of them suddenly looking at one another like they understood something, but the others did. "Vecna's curse?"

Steve, Piper, Robin, and Max looked at one another confused before Steve spoke up. "I-I'm sorry...who's Vecna?"

"A dark wizard. An undead creature of great power." Dustin explained

"A spell caster." Eddie finished,

"S-So this was like Vecna? What happened to Chrissy?" Piper asked

Eddie slowly nodded his head and let out a deep sigh like a heavy weight was lifted from his shoulders. Everyone stood, or sat there, shocked by the news that they had just learned. Piper bent down and dropped her head into her hands as anger started to coarse through her body, fisting tightly at her curls as her entire body felt like it was vibrating. Soon she stood quickly from the bench she sat on and started toward the door, stepping out into the cool Hawkins air.

"Piper! Piper!" Steve's voice called out after her.

Piper bit down on her lower lip as she fought to keep the angry tears away.

"Piper, come on...talk to me..." Steve spoke once he got closer to her, watching as she paced back and forth in front of him.

"He died for nothing." Piper scoffed, placing her hands on her waist, and shaking her head. "He died for fucking nothing!"

"Who? Who died?"

"Hopper! Who else!?" Piper shouted, an angry tear moving down her cheek. "These fucking things are back again, and that means that Hopper sacrificed himself for nothing, Steve. That he died thinking that he was saving this town from that fucking place, only for it to be wasted."

Steve's shoulders sagged as he watched Piper slowly start to fall apart in front of him, "Piper...w-we don't know that..."

"How can we not Steve? It's happening...again." Piper sighed and rubbed her hands over her face, the others were making their way into the doorway of the boat house when they heard screaming. "Fuck...I-I knew...I knew coming back here was going to be a bad idea."

"Piper...Piper, please..." Steve spoke, walking up to her as she began to pace, grabbing her shoulders to make her stop. Anger flared in her green eyes as she stared up at Steve, but he kept his hold tight. "...we don't know what any of this means yet. Ok? We don't...but either way, Hopper didn't die for nothing."

Piper sagged into his arms and fell into his arms as she cried, Steve quickly moved to wrap his arms around her shaking frame. His arms rubbed along her back as his eyes moved over to the door, the movement catching his eyes. Robin frowned and held tightly to Max as they stood there and watched as their friendship fell apart.