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Halloween was great. Chill in the air, scary movies, candy, and the real thing Eddie looked forward to - the Haywood Haunted Farm. It ran three days a week all month and was the best haunted house around all right outside of Hawkins, funneling people through the derelict farm. They sold apple cider and treats out of the old barn, but the real thing he (and most people) cared about was the two story haunted house in the old farm house that was famed for being actually scary. Each year had new tricks and it was fun to find out how they would get you.
Eddie had visited it religiously when he was younger, and nowadays he worked it, gleefully earning cash scaring people to add a little more to his getaway fund. It was easy work, and watching people scream as he sprang out as them - a ghost in a mirror, a prisoner behind bars, all of it was great, and this year was the best. This year Eddie was tasked with the last scare, chasing visitors out the final hallway with a chainsaw that had the blade removed but motor running. The effect was brilliant, and when Eddie put on the hockey mask they'd decided on it was perfect. The way people screamed and sprinted away once he started to chase them was amazing. They'd made sure he could see through the mask alright for safety so Eddie clocked no shortage of people he recognized coming through.
On the very first night they'd opened Chrissy Cunningham had come through with a gaggle of friends and they'd all shrieked and squeaked and ran.
And Chrissy had laughed.
Sure. She'd screamed at first, and she'd run as fast as any of her friends, but at the exit she'd paused and looked back at him and as she did she'd smiled and giggled and wiped her eyes before ducking out the door.
Had she been crying? That's what it looked like. But she'd laughed so it couldn't be that bad. Some people couldn't take scares. She'd probably gotten forced along. Laughing could be nerves, plenty of people laughed coming through the haunt. Adrenaline did weird things to people. Whatever it was she probably wouldn't be back, which was fine. Seeing her in the two classes they shared was enough to drive him crazy already.
And then she came back on Saturday.
With Jason this time. So he must have brought her, but there wasn't much time to consider it as he chased them out of the house manically laughing and brandishing the chainsaw at them. Jason grabbed Chrissy's hand and yanked her along but she kept looking back and again, she was laughing by the end. The couple disappeared out the door with a flashing smile from Chrissy and Eddie wondered if she'd recognized him. It was definitely within the realm of possibility, his hair was notable and not hidden although he didn’t know a reason she would care.
But he went back to school Monday and saw Chrissy in Physics and English and thought about her laugh as he tapped his pencil and ignored whatever their teacher was saying about Canterbury Tales.
The week passed in the usual way. Eddie worked on his campaign, Corroded Coffin played their gig Tuesday night, he practiced, he did some of his homework, and he kept the student body supplied with their fix. When Thursday night came heading over to the haunt was a welcome break and soon he was having fun scaring visitors. Their adrenaline rush was his, the high of terrifying people truly a pick me up.
He was an hour and a half into his four hour shift when she appeared.
Little Chrissy Cunningham stepping into the hall, wiping her eyes and sniffling looking straight towards him and the surprise of her presence meant he paused for a half second before revving the chainsaw and springing to action. Chrissy shrieked, and darted away down the hall, glancing over her shoulder as she ran and knocking into the wall because of it. By the last step she broke out into that same bright laugh. The sound bursting forth from her pink lips like a melody. She pushed out into the night, giggling, and left the hallway soundly empty as Eddie went to reset his place.
She'd been all alone. Why'd she come back?
He shook it off and continued his reign of terror until 11pm at which point Haywood farms closed for the night and Eddie headed home.
He fell asleep thinking about Chrissy Cunningham’s laugh because fuck his entire life.
- - - - -
She came back again on Saturday. Tears turning to laughter as she screamed and ran from him and it was starting to fuck him up a bit to chase the girl he was crushing on, but she’d laughed again, so it couldn't be all bad. Her high laugh was beautiful and as she stopped at the doorway to look back at him Eddie thrust the chainsaw at her, earning one last shriek turning to giggles as she fled.
Her smile stuck in his head all the way to school on Monday until he saw her in the halls, talking to a pack of other cheerleaders at her locker. She was bright and chatting and all his brain could think was that she didn't look half as happy as she had Saturday night.
- - - - -
Eddie survived a Stats pop quiz, a Physics test, and incessant needling from the freshers about the campaign before he made it to Haywood farm on Thursday. Hellfire Club was meeting on Wednesday for the month of October, which meant Eddie was booked solid Tuesday through Saturday, but it came with $3.45 an hour three nights a week all month and that added up to a decent chunk if he worked every night for something he might honestly do for free. Working the haunted house was fun, coming up with new lines to try and practicing laughs and sound effects and watching the steady stream of people jump or scream or laugh was gratifying.
So October was busy. But not busy enough to miss when Chrissy came through the haunt yet again the next Thursday, still all on her own. He gave it his all, swinging the chainsaw and booming out a “I'll get you little girl” as she ran down the hall and stumbled so Eddie had to pause his steps as she caught herself and kept moving with a glance back at him and bright laughter escaped her as he swung the harmless chainsaw. She was gone as quickly as anyone, leaving only the memory of her scream and laughter.
He liked the laughter a lot better.
Eddie wondered if she'd be back Friday, but she didn't appear. Then Saturday she was back in her white sneakers, high waisted jeans and a bouncing ponytail. She peaked around the corner and looked straight at his hiding place. Strictly speaking Eddie didn't come out until people stepped into the hall - all the better for chasing - but her curious and tear stained glance was trained on the flaps he hid behind. She'd been through enough times, it wasn't like she didn't know. The pause stretched before Eddie revved the motor and Chrissy jumped but she smiled.
Eddie broke out of hiding and Chrissy shrieked as he swung the blade in her direction. It set her off and she finally crossed the threshold and ran down the hall away from his pursuit, descending into giggles as she escaped.
- - - - -
Chrissy didn't talk to Eddie. She was the height of the school and he was the twice repeating freak dealer who kept her friends supplied at premium prices for shit product. They didn't talk. She wasn't a bitch or anything, they just didn't have a reason to cross paths. It didn't help that Eddie would probably say something stupid if he ever did get the chance to talk to her again, so it didn't matter.
Except there Chrissy was walking up to his locker as he changed out books for first period. He was on time. He was so gonna graduate this year.
Although maybe he'd crossed over into the twilight zone because Chrissy stopped right next to him, and looked up to him, books clutched to her chest, and looking like she walked out of a dream.
“You work Haywood Farms, right?” she asked and Chrissy bit her bottom lip like she was nervous and it was so fucking cute it took him a second to process her question.
“What? Oh!” He shook himself back to sense and tried not to stare at her glossy lips. "Yeah…yeah I've done it a couple years.”
“Is it fun? It seems like you're having fun doing it.”
He had no idea what her goal was. “It is fun. Scaring people is great. You seem to like coming through so it must be working.”
“You saw me?”
“You're easy to recognize, your highness.”
She giggled, something softer and sweeter than the sound he'd gotten used to hearing and her cheeks flushed pink. “Oh, well…Scary stuff is nice sometimes. Going through it made me wonder what it's like working it. That seems like it could be fun too. You're really good at it. I love that part, it's a good ending.”
“Thanks. I-”
The bell rang.
Eddie swore and Chrissy grimaced.
“See you later,” she said with a little wave and shy smile.
“Yeah, see you later,” he replied as she turned away and the world went back to its normal axis.
- - - - -
It was the last weekend. Halloween was on a Thursday, which was a shit day for Halloween in his opinion, so there was one last night of the haunt next week, but tonight was the last weekend which always brought a big crowd.
Eddie watched for Chrissy. Like a sucker.
She came through early on Thursday. Early on Friday. And late on Saturday.
And then she came through a second time on Saturday.
It was almost over, and honestly Eddie was a bit tired after a month of swinging a chainsaw, this was more of a workout than anything he ever did in gym class. The minutes ticked down to midnight, and the last guests funneled through and suddenly there she was again, Chrissy Cunningham for a third time, stepping into the hall with a jubilant smile and basking in the dark ambiance as if it was bright sunlight.
What was he supposed to do? Let her down?
Eddie flipped the motor and sprang from hiding and Chrissy turned to him with a scream before she began to back down the hallway, checking over her shoulder and bracing the wall to keep steady as she walked backwards.
His chase was more of a stalking as Chrissy carefully backed up, but he could see her face now as he brandished his weapon and told her to give up. She looked excited and scared all at once and he could see clearly the tears fresh on her cheeks. It pinged his heart but there was nothing he could do about it. He was here to scare her, as far as he could tell she liked being scared, that's what she'd said after all. Eddie thought it was a little extreme to put herself through crying all to get scared, but he now knew her laugh clear as a bell and as she reached the end of the hall he raised the chainsaw high and slowly brought it down towards her as she raised her hands in defense.
“You're mine,” he boomed and he regretted it, oh God, weird, he didn't mean it weird, he was being a creep!
But she laughed. Bright and high and happy.
She turned and raced the final step out the doorway into the midnight air, her laughter lingering.
Eddie blew out a breath, flipped the on/off and went to reset.
He leaned back against the wall thinking about fucking Chrissy Cunningham.
- - - - -
It was maybe ten minutes before the night was over. Soon enough the owner came through and lights flipped on. Eddie threw off his mask and shook out his hair. He went to change and bumped shoulders and high five with some of the other workers as he got ready to go and everything got turned off.
He let out a big breath once he hit outside. There were some stragglers talking, but it was pretty empty. He started walking to his van humming to himself, pretty pleased with everything and honestly glad there was only one night left. He was tired after a month of working it. As he walked towards his van he saw someone sitting on the grass all alone, elbows folded on their knees and chin resting on arms. As he got closer he recognized that ponytail.
His lips pressed together as he debated saying anything. She was all alone. Was she ok?
“Cunningham! You alright?” he called and veered to walk towards her. “Your ride didn't ditch you did they?”
Her head popped up and turned to look at him. She was crying. Shit. Chrissy wiped away tears and shook her head. “No. I drove. I'm ok.”
She didn't sound ok.
“You sure? I'd hate to leave you like this.”
“No, it's just…” she sniffled and wiped her eyes again. “It's almost over.” Her shoulders slumped.
His brow drew in, what that meant he wasn't sure, but if he could cheer her up he was going to find out. Eddie stepped closer and sat down next to her. “Yeah, just one more night. You really like it huh?” He gently nudged her shoulder with his own.
“Yeah. I…” She sighed. “You're gonna think I'm stupid.”
“Uh, I'm the super super senior you cannot be more stupid than me,” he joked.
She let out a breathy little laugh. “Ok…I've been really stressed, and you know how you get that flood of good feelings after you get a really good scare?” She glanced to him with sad and wondering eyes.
“Yeah, it's why it's fun.”
“Mmhmm. So I've been coming so much to like, de-stress. It was really helping. I actually got up the guts to break up with Jason because I felt so good. But now it's basically over and I don't know what I'm gonna do! I'm supposed to be at the big party right now and I just don't want to go,” she pouted, “Jason's all mad and it's going to ruin everything if I have to deal with everyone drunk.”
There was a little zap to his brain upon hearing she'd dumped her asshole of a boyfriend which was completely not the point right now, but he was only human. He wanted to help her. Watching her cry was truly awful. “Do scary movies work?”
“Sometimes. But my mom doesn't let that stuff in the house. She thinks it's all satanic, I can't even have fantasy books, so horror is totally out.”
A totally terrible idea popped into his brain and quite frankly Eddie was great at bad ideas so it was all of a second before he was speaking. “Wanna come over instead of that lame party? I've got scary movies and candy - we can get scared and fall asleep in sugar comas.”
She blinked at him. Then she smiled just a little. “What kind of candy?”
“I've got Reeses and Snickers.”
Her smile widened. “I love Reeses. You won't make fun of me if I jump?”
“Never,” he promised with a smile. “If you need to squeeze a hand you totally can.” Which might make him die a little, so really, he hoped she did.
“Ok. Can I follow you home?”
He grinned at her, weirdly unsurprised that his bad idea had worked. “Great,” Eddie stood and held a hand out to help her up. “You know where Forest Hills is, right?”
She took his hand and her delicate hand fit perfectly in his. She stood with a little hop and nodded. “Yeah. Just not sure the best route.” Her hand slipped away and she checked her eyes to fix her makeup and then adjusted her hair.
“I will show you the way,” he said with a half bow which made her giggle.
Fucking perfect.
- - - - -
They'd made it all of 20 minutes into Alien before she was holding onto his arm. She jumped at the chestburster and snaked her hand down to his and held on tight. She laced their fingers together and from there he paid a lot less attention. He'd seen Alien before. He hadn't had his crush gripping onto him like she needed him before.
Once the movie was over and he disentangled himself to pull the tape out Chrissy recoiled in embarrassment.
“Oh my god I'm so sorry, was I too clingy? I didn't mean to, I just get into things…”
Eddie chuckled. “Don't worry about it. You're fine. Do you wanna watch another or sleep?”
“Are you sure? I like totally stole your arm.”
“Are you seriously asking me to complain that the prettiest girl in school held my hand?” he laughed. Fuck, he must be tired. Filter gone apparently.
He could see her blush from across the room as he sat in front of the TV. “I am not,” she protested.
“Yes you are. Come on, do you want another movie?”
“You know I used to think you were like, super scary and intimidating.”
“I did scare you all month,” he pointed out.
She rolled her eyes. “Not like that. That was your character. It was fake!”
“It scared you.”
“Ugh. You so don't get it.” Chrissy fell back against the couch and it puffed out around her.
“What don't I get?”
“You're being really nice. You didn't have to.”
“I wasn't gonna leave you crying,” he said like it was obvious. Maybe it wasn’t. “That's a dick move.”
“A lot of people would.”
His eyes narrowed and he took a guess at something. “People like your friends?”
She frowned and glanced away from him. Chrissy dropped her chin to a hand. “Yeah.”
“Well, I'm not them. Anytime you wanna get scared you can come watch movies. I could sneak you books too?” Eddie offered.
She perked up. “You'd do that?”
“I told you, I don't like seeing you cry.”
She smiled softly. “You're a good guy, Eddie.”
“I'm ok,” he shrugged, “Now are we watching another movie or not?”
“Yeah, let's do one more.”
“Alright,” Eddie clapped his hands together and turned to the TV stand. “Have you seen Poltergeist?”
“Nope.”
“Oh, we're totally doing it then.” Eddie dug out the tape and changed them out. He tapped his fingers on the plastic casting of the VCR as Poltergeist rewound, Alien shoved back in its box to receive the same fate.
He glanced to see Chrissy daintily pick out another piece of candy and eat it as they waited.
Soon enough the tape was ready so he popped it back in and hit play. Eddie returned to the couch and Chrissy wrapped around his arm as the coming attractions played. Her hand entwined in his and Eddie knew he wasn't going to be paying much attention to Poltergeist either.
Oh well.
- - - - -
They fell asleep on the couch watching Poltergeist, Chrissy still holding onto him.
They woke up half collapsed on each other when Wayne came in at 6:23 like usual. More precisely, Chrissy jerked awake with a cry at the intrusion and Eddie blearily lifted his head off her.
From there Chrissy made excuses to leave, insisting she should get home so she could go to church later but it was clear she was a little awkward to have been caught.
They said goodbye in that awkwardness, unsure of what to say in the dark early morning.
“Thanks, Eddie.” She was flushed and it took a second before she met his eyes. “We, uh, could we do it again sometime? If that wouldn't be too much trouble!” she hurried to say.
He could only smile down at her. “Of course we can. Do you want a book in the meantime?”
Her eyes lit up. “Really?”
“Yeah. I'll bring you something.”
She smiled the cutest little fucking smile, all pleased and perfect. “Thank you. That'd be great.”
“No sweat, I've got you covered.”
She swayed on her feet and looked like she was debating what to say. “Ok, I'll get out of your hair. You probably want to sleep.”
“Yeah, try to get some too.”
She stepped away and to the door, the magic of her breaking and Eddie could breathe easier. “I will.” Chrissy glanced back at him over her shoulder before opening the door and stepping outside into the dark.
He watched her go. He stood there as the door closed, exhaling in the emptiness before stepping to the door and locking it.
“She's cute.”
Eddie winced. “Nothing from you old man.” He turned around and faced Wayne, finding him smiling as he made a sandwich.
“Just an observation. She a friend?”
“I don't know.” Eddie scrubbed a hand across his forehead, ruffling his bangs out of place and trying to right himself. “Maybe.” He blew out a breath. “I'm going to sleep. See you later.”
“Night, Ed.”
Once Eddie shut himself in his room, he stripped down to boxers, grabbed a shirt, and fell into bed hoping not to dream of Chrissy Cunningham.
- - - - -
Eddie had to figure out how to get The Exorcist to Chrissy without totally barging up to her and making it weird. Sure, she'd come up to him, but he could not interrupt her and her friends without some weird questions and while he usually wouldn't care about ruffling some feathers he didn't want to put Chrissy in an awkward position.
Fuck him he liked this girl.
The solution was breaking into her locker after school. Combo locks were easy to get into so he put some of his less than savory knowledge to use and opened up her locker.
It was perfectly organized. Everything lined up neatly and in little piles. He'd never gotten a good look at her locker. There was a little mirror hanging up and a magnetic cup covered in little butterfly stickers filled with pens and what he thought was some sort of makeup sticking out. Pictures of the cheer squad were taped up and he smirked a little to see Jason's face nowhere to be found. Breakup final it seemed.
Eddie debated where to put the book for a second before deciding on the upper shelf, turned so you could only see pages. It might take a day to notice it, but at least her friends probably wouldn't ask her about it.
He left a note tucked inside. Like a sucker.
Hope this helps. Take your time if you want. Don't want to see you crying again.
He'd drawn a devil face instead of signing it. Not like there’d be a question of who it was from, but better not to leave his name in case anyone else saw it.
Yeah. He was a sucker.
- - - - -
It was the last night. Eddie had made it. It would be good to be done, but he was anxious to see Chrissy again. She'd be there. Had to come.
It was busy. Trick or treat always took some people, but as the last night there were enough people to keep a constant stream coming through.
Chrissy came through half an hour in. She peeked around the corner smiling. A knowing little smile that made her press her pink lips together before she entered and he chased her down the hall like he’d done all month. She screamed, like she always did, but it was mixed with giggles and she fled into the night like a whirlwind.
An hour later she came through again. This time darting into the hall quickly and turning again to face him. She backed up steadily as he advanced on her, keeping just enough distance for safety. He'd learned exactly how much he needed over the month, and he was careful but kept right at the edge for her. She wanted to be scared. Finally she turned and sprinted, shrieking into giggles as she ran out of the haunt.
She came through one last time.
She tore through the hall on toned legs, glancing back at him again and again until she spun at the exit and held at the doorframe.
Eddie revved the engine.
She blew a kiss.
Then she laughed like music, turning and dashing out the exit. Leaving him to stare at the empty door replaying her action.
She'd definitely blown a kiss.
What the fuck.
- - - - -
Next Monday there was a note in his locker when he came back from lunch. That wasn't unusual. The student body had to communicate their need for drugs somehow.
No, the weird thing was this was from Chrissy.
Can we hang out this weekend?
It was signed CC, clear, understandable, that wasn't weird either.
Except her initials were surrounded by a little heart.
After some heart racing panic, Eddie scribbled up an affirmative reply and dropped it through the slots of her locker.
He had to get to English, but who gave a shit about class when Chrissy Cunningham wanted to see him again.