Last thing I remember, I was
Running for the door
I had to find the passage back
To the place I was before
"Relax, " said the night man
"We are programmed to receive
You can check out any time you like
But you can never leave"
Hotel California- The Eagles
The morning came swiftly. They packed all their things, made their plans for Las Vegas, and were about to check out when Eddie hit the top of the TV a few times.
"We should." He said, "Just to know what we're talking into."
They hadn't seen wanted posters plastered at gas stations…yet.
"We should know how low to stay, agreed," Chrissy said. Eddie went to turn on the T.V. but she squeaked, "Wait! I change my mind," She whispered.
Eddie reached out a hand. A friendly gesture.
"Together?" He asked.
Chrissy squeezed it, "Together."
Surprisingly, their faces and warrant for their arrest was not the first thing on the news. In fact, they had to flip a few channels to even find anything.
And for a split second, Eddie began to feel okay.
Until he wasn't.
"Oh, fuck," Eddie whispered.
It had been a shot of Hawkins High. Eddie recognized it immediately. Chrissy inhaled so sharply beside him that she choked a bit.
"Turn it up, turn it up!" She demanded, fumbling for the remote. An unfamiliar newswoman, someone flown in from Indianapolis, was at the forest's edge.
"-And in a shocking, and heartbreaking turn of events, the serial killer of Hwakins is still on the loose. This killer claimed the lives of three local teens in this very forest only two days ago. The town, reeling from the death of two previous Hawkins High boys, hoped for the best, but have now been faced with the reality of the situation."
Their picture, along with Jason's, flashed up on the screen.
"They used that picture?" Eddie muttered to himself. Chrissy and Jason's pictures were great looking. Eddie's was one that it seemed someone had dug from the trash somewhere; it wasn't a flattering one, that was for sure.
"Teen sweethearts Jason Carver and Chrissy Cunningham were among the deceased. The town previously assumed that local Dungeons and Dragons club leader Eddie Munson was responsible for an attempt on Chrissy's life, and some are still suspicious it was a murder-suicide. However, a coroner confirmed that all three deaths were at the hands of someone else, and suicide was not in play. Many folks of Hawkins remember Eddie fondly now and are sad to see his passing. The town is also gripped with worry that whoever did this heinous crime is still on the loose."
"Those fuckers! Oh, now you love me?" Eddie paced angrily. Chrissy turned the volume down, her eyes glued to the T.V. screen, "Yeah, yeah, whatever! Screw all of Hawkins! Screw you!" He threw double middle fingers to the T.V. and kicked the bedframe. He collapsed on the side of it, a cold fear gripping him, "Wayne…" He whispered. Running away was bad, but his uncle probably would have understood. But now his uncle had to think he died? No, he didn't deserve that. Fuck…
"Eddie…look," Chrissy pointed. It was some shaky footage of three gurneys being loaded out of the forest, white sheets covering three lumps, "How…how were they convinced that it was us? Because…we're…here…" She said slowly.
Eddie groaned. He hadn't even considered the bigger ramifications of this, or the 'how' of it at all.
"Those idiots," He muttered, "What the hell did those stupid freshmen do now?"
XX
"Oh, good, you're alive!"
Eddie called Steve somewhere just short of Las Vegas, his last stop before they 'settled'.
"Yeah, apparently, that's something of a mystery right now. Or are we ghosts haunting you from the fucking afterlife? You tell me." Eddie said, leaning against the phone booth, watching Chrissy get snacks and gas from the grimy windows.
"Hehm… you saw it then? Guess it got picked up by the national news…" Steve said, laughing a bit, as though any of this was funny.
"This was the grand plan? Killing us off too?" Eddie demanded, whispering, though there wasn't anyone to hear, "Are you all insane?"
"No, no, it makes sense! Dead can't be tried in murder trials." Steve argued, "And, well, no one is looking for dead people."
"You could have warned us! Do you know how weird it is, how terrible it is, to turn on the T.V. and be told you were supposed to have been killed in a forest somewhere?" Eddie asked. He thought he was a pretty easy-going sort of person, but this was trying him in the worst of ways. He barely got any words out of Chrissy on the entire ride.
"Look, we didn't know how to tell you, and it needed to be done before the cops found Jason," Steve sighed.
"How?"
"Nancy knows someone at the morgue. Don't ask, even I don't know. And, uh, well…we all now know all too well what the smell of burning flesh is. That's what the news isn't telling you. And we just put your jacket on one and Max broke into Chrissy's room and put a necklace or two on hers and bam…instant death."
"Oh, you fuckers…" Eddie muttered, "I hope you didn't get my jacket full of gunk!" He was wearing his favorite one, but he had an affinity for good jackets. Any that those idiots put their hands on he would be horrified to hear about.
"Then you'd probably be angry to hear 'you' were buried with it, huh?" Steve said.
"Oh, good, funerals. I don't want to know. What I do want…" He gave a long sigh, "Check in on my uncle every once in and while. I want him to be okay. He's all I had."
"Yeah, he was a wreck…damn, forget I said that."
"Unlikely." Eddie groaned, wanting everything to be different, "And, uh," He turned his body away, "Check in on Chrissy's family too. Do what you can. She's most worried about her youngest brother. He's probably Erica's age…maybe…I don't know…"
"We got it. We got everything," Steve said, "Seriously, don't worry at all."
"So far, you're not doing much to convince me otherwise," Eddie said dryly, "What the hell now?"
"We'll clear your name and figure out a way to…un-kill you both, I guess," Steve said, which sounded a lot harder than killing them in the first place, 'Are you two…somewhere, well, safe?" He asked.
"Nearly."
"Okay, if you need stuff, like new names or shit, I'm going to give you a name and number. You got something to write on?"
"I guess we will need it now, since anyone who looked at our may have some questions," Eddie snapped angrily. Steve was silent for a second.
"Man, shit. I guess...I don't know what to say. Just, well, take this number down."
Eddie fished a sharpie from his backpack and pulled up his sleeve, swallowing back his anger, "Ready," He mumbled through the pen cap.
He wrote the number carefully. Then put the sharpie away, trying to remind himself that the Party was under duress as much as he was and this might have legitimately been the most logical solution for the time and current constraints.
"Who is this, anyway? Another random Nancy contact? Someone Eleven knows? A former FBI agent gone dark?"
Steve's silence killed him.
"Uhh…err…it's Dustin's girlfriend."
"Oh, you're shitting me, man," Eddie groaned, "You're serious! You're totally serious!"
"She's great at hacking and stuff! She'll make you new people; she already knows to expect you, okay!" Steve jumped to argue.
"So far, this plan entirely stinks," Eddie said grumpily.
"I know," Steve sighed, "Trust me, we all know. We're all working on figuring something out. You're not alone."
Eddie saw Chrissy dump a whole brigade of snacks on the passenger seat, "I know," He said, smiling, "I'm not."
There was some squawking on the other end of the phone.
"Is that Eddie? Why is he calling? It's so dangerous! Tell him to hang up."
"Okay, okay, sheesh!" Steve said, his voice far away.
"Wait, tell him I say hi, though!"
Steve came back to the receiver, "Dustin says hi, but to hang up."
"I say 'hi' back. To everyone, duh," Eddie rolled his eyes, "I'll, uh, send a secret post message when we're settled."
"Keep the faith up, Munson." Steve said brightly, as though they had any other choice, "And look on the bright side of things. You're not you anymore…you can be…damn, whoever you want to be. Sometimes, that can be a blessing."
Then, he hung up.
Eddie walked slowly back to the car.
Even with the opportunity to be anyone in the world, he didn't even know what he'd pick.
XXX
"Uhh…hello?"
Crammed into the first phone booth they found in Las Vegas when they called the number Steve gave them, all both he and Chrissy heard was screaming. He didn't even have time to think about how her body was pressed against his, and how warm she was because he was wondering if he'd taken it down wrong or if something had gone horribly wrong.
"Hello?" A snappy voice asked.
"I think we have the wrong number…" Eddie said, groaning.
"Who are you looking for?" The girl snapped.
"Su…zie…?" Eddie said, glancing uncertainty at Chrissy. That was Dustin's girlfriend, right? Because when he'd first heard it, he'd thought of Siouxie and the Banshees and had the thought that this Suzie probably wasn't half as punk. Though, from the screaming, perhaps he miscalculated.
"Ugg. How is she so popular?" The girl huffed, and then yelled across what seemed like a huge house, "Suzie! It's for you!" There was a rustling as the person came back, and it sounded like she was chewing gum, "What did you say your name was again?"
"I didn't," Eddie said, not sure he should be giving out his name right now. Chrissy nodded, indicating he was right to do so. He went to tug a strand of his hair until he remembered it wasn't there anymore. Just itch and wind.
Fuck.
"Hello?" A younger voice answered the phone.
"Hi, err, we were given your…number?" Eddie coughed, "From Dustin and Steve?"
There was a short pause and an intake of breath, "You're the…you know, from Hawkins?"
Eddie had no idea what the 'you know' was, but what else could she be talking about? A lot, he reminded himself before he answered. Hawkins was full of crazy shit that he'd somehow just ignored his entire life.
But still.
"Yeah, that's us," Chrissy said, apparently annoyed at how long he was taking to answer. She gave Eddie a helpless shrug.
"Oh!" Suzie gasped, "Right, right. One second." She clearly tried to cover the receiver, but Eddie still heard a scream, "Eden! I'm taking the call in my room!"
"Whatever, as long as it's clear in half an hour when Argyle calls!" She yelled back.
Eddie blinked. Didn't he know an Argyle somehow?
It didn't matter.
There was a lot of rustling. Eddie awkwardly met Chrissy's eyes while they waited. They both looked away quickly, for some reason the eye contact was too intimate.
"Okay, okay. So, what do you want your new identities to be?" Suzie asked.
"Right, uhm," Eddie blew out, "Damn, that's a big question, you know?" A thought hit him, "Wait, you're not the same girlfriend of Dustin's that had an existential crisis when you changed his grades and you expect us to believe that you can get us new identities?"
Beside him, Chrissy groaned.
"Yes, that was me," Suzie answered primly, "But…I've come around to deciding that this is morally good. I think God would be on my side. I'm saving two lives instead of sentencing them to death." She replied.
"Oh, great," Eddie groaned. They were putting their lives in the hands of a nerdy fourteen-year-old religious fanatic. Chrissy, who he hadn't noticed until now, tugged on a cross necklace.
"So, what do you want your names to be."
"Geeze, kid, don't you just have…" Eddie made a motion with his hand though he knew she wouldn't be able to see it.
"A box of identities?" She asked dryly.
Eddie snapped his fingers.
"Yeah, that's it!"
"This is real life, Eddie," Suzie said like she was talking to a child, "No, I don't. So tell me what you want your new names to be. I have pictures already."
"Okay. Whew, names. This is like naming a kid but so much harder," He said. He looked at Chrissy, hoping she had ideas, but she shook her head.
"You're calling me without names chosen?" Suzie said, and it sounded like she was about to yell at them.
"Well…I…" Eddie began to blubber, but Chrissy took the phone.
"Yes, because we're not being told anything, Suzie! We've been on the run for days. We're tired, we're hungry, we just found out we're 'dead', and were terrified! We got this number from Steve and he just said to call you, so no, we don't have names!"
Eddie had never seen Chrissy exhibit anger. He didn't think she had it in her. But now he was making a mental note to say on her good side.
On the other end, Suzie sighed, "Okay, sorry. Dustykins is perfect in many ways, but communication isn't always his strong suit." She apologized, "But I want you guys to pick your names. So it feels authentic. I mean, you need to love these names. Or at least not jump whenever someone calls you it."
Eddie picked up on something in her tone he didn't like, "Why would we need such a strong attachment to these names?" He asked suspiciously.
"Well," Suzie gave a laugh, "Because Chrissy and Eddie don't exist anymore."
The words did not make sense. Eddie shook his head.
"Wha…at?" Chrissy echoed.
"You don't…oh, darn it, I guess this is news too, huh?" Suzie sighed.
"What news?" Eddie took the phone back and gripped it so tightly he was afraid he'd shatter the plastic. Was it hot in here? It was really hot in here.
"Well, you're supposed to be…dead. We can't have you just waltz back into Hawkins one day as yourselves. That would make a lot of questions I'm not sure your friends thought through." She said like it was obvious. It was clear she had a bone to pick with this plan but was rolling with it as it came, same as them. But this wasn't her life at stake, so Eddie would argue this was very different reactions.
"But we…we were told we could come back one day," Eddie whimpered.
"You could, sure, but do you think you're the same people you were before you left?" Suzie said, "It's not time for philosphy. I'm talking literally. For this to really work, you can't…exist anymore. People in Hawkins will remember, but everywhere you were on the internet? Goodbye Eddie Munson and Chrissy Cunningham." She said.
Eddie swallowed hard, "Goodbye?" He echoed.
"No way for someone to compare your new to a news story with your picture or a photograph of you in your band and go, 'gee, doesn't that look like a kid that's supposed to be dead?'" At the silence, Suzie added, "It can't be undone. So…sorry, it's already happened."
"We're ghosts," Eddie said, giggling, somewhere between believing this was the worst fucking acid trip he'd ever been on or believing he actually had died and this was his body acting out some weird moment before he went to the great beyond, "We don't exist! We're not here!"
"Is he having his extensional crisis?" He heard Suzie ask faintly as he stumbled out into the desert, the outline of Las Vegas in the distance.
"Yeah, I think so…" He only heard Chrissy's response, and then a lot of 'okays' and 'sures' before she hung up.
Eddie felt his breakfast coming back up. All he had to do was think of Wayne and how he didn't have a nephew anymore, was alone in the world, and he felt the bile push it out of his throat.
Chrissy came to stand above him, "Suzie says to call back when we've…decided our names. And not before that. Only for that." She said quietly, "Are you okay?"
"No, I'm not fucking okay!" Eddie said, looking up, waving away her hand on his shoulder, "I. Don't. Exist! Sure, being Eddie Munson wasn't amazing all the time, but it was something! All my accolades, everything I was, just one click of a button, and poof! And now I'm here…in the middle…of…fucking... nowhere!" He took fistfuls of sand and threw it at the wind, which was a terrible idea because it just came back into his face. He heard Chrissy stifling a laugh, and later, he'd also find it very funny. Right now, he was pissed off,
"I didn't sign up-," He cut himself off before he said something he couldn't take back.
Chrissy's expression darkened.
"You didn't sign up for this. Right, thanks for the reminder," She said tartly, "Tagging alone with all my mistakes. The one time I do something bad, it has to be murder. And now you're regretting it all and wishing you sent me off. I get it." She took a step back, "I'd say go home, but I messed that up for you too."
Eddie stood, brushing off his jeans, "Chrissy," He sighed, but she had already put up her walls.
"No, no. I'm a burden, I already know it. No need to say it." She said, holding up her hands.
Eddie groaned.
"I promised I'd do this with you. I still mean that. But damn it, let me…" He felt tears and looked up at the sky, "Be sad about it. Aren't you?"
He was surprised to see a stony expression on her face when he looked back again.
"No, I think I'm grateful. Every mile away, I think maybe I don't want to go back at all. It would serve my mother right." She said, "For making my last three years hell. I hope she's happy with herself now!" She said, throwing out her arms and storming back to the car.
Eddie stood in the sweltering heat for a few moments, unsure how to proceed or how to file away the information he'd just been given. In the end, he got back into the care, silently.
"Let's find a hotel for hopefully just tonight," He whispered, fingering through the cash, "We have a little left, but we should really find somewhere to rent soon."
Chrissy crossed her arms and nodded firmly. She did not say anything else the rest of the ride into the city.