#; chrissy

[ephemaera-a]

@withink gets chrissy for eddie!

"hey, so... like, i know you... sell... out here and stuff, but... do you think we could...? maybe during lunch period, could you eat out here? with me? um..."

chrissy bites her lip, looks away, before huffing out a little breath and looking back up at eddie, features caught somewhere halfway between hopeful and embarrassed.

"please?"

[ephemaera-a]

@withink​ gets chrissy for eddie bc i have no self control!

When she comes to, it’s like Chrissy is swimming through an ocean of tar. Her lungs burn and her head feels thick with fog–– it stinks, reeks like something dead. Until it doesn’t. Until she’s sitting bolt upright on the floor of Eddie’s trailer, sucking in air like it’s the last chance she’ll ever get. More aptly, it’s the first in a long time, but she doesn’t realize. It’s light out now, and no one seems to be home. Not Eddie, not his uncle. The clock in his room reads about 2:45. School should be ending soon. Maybe he’ll come home. Maybe he’ll tell her that the Special K made her pass out and she was too heavy to lift so he had to just leave her on the floor. That wouldn’t be so bad, would it?

Chrissy can’t understand why, but she has a feeling it’s going to be something much, much worse.

The papers say she’s dead. She doesn’t go home, doesn’t want to–– she has to find Eddie. Even if his picture wasn’t splashed next to hers, he’s the obvious suspect. Showing up at a police station alive would be enough to clear his name, she imagines, but she wants to hear everything from him. It’s clear she didn’t just pass out–– if they’d found her body they would know she was alive. And she’s starting to get flashes. Something light a nightmare, dark, blood-soaked... But even in her memory it feels real.

It takes some doing, but Chrissy tracks down a couple members of the Hellfire Club without being noticed. Half terrified, half relieved, they agree not to call the cops and point her toward Reefer Rick’s. She isn’t proud to find that she feels kind of... free. Suddenly there’s no pressure on her; no expectation to be perfect, no fake smiles and barely held-in tears.

There’s only one thing: finding Eddie, learning what happened. For now, at least, there’s no grades or cheer practice or basketball games. For the first time, Chrissy’s life feels like it’s about her.

Reefer Rick’s house seems empty, but she can hear something skittering around in the boathouse nearby. Chrissy flattens a palm against the door and swings it open.

“...Eddie?”