Chapter Three

Chrissy walked through the doors of Hawkins High School the next day by herself. She had argued with Jason outside her house the night previously about the way he treated Eddie. She tried to fight for him, but it was wasted on someone like Jason. He just didn't understand.

Why was she even with that guy? Because he was the head jock, and she was the head cheerleader? The rules of society would dictate that it should work, but she just didn't feel right about it. Nothing felt right to her anymore. The person she had become, the person her parents wanted her to be. The pressure of who she was supposed to be…

She thought back to the day before, with Eddie, as she got to her locker. What had happened to her? Levitating, convulsing? It made no sense, that just couldn't happen, right?

There were a lot of weird things going on these days though, missing kids, increasing police presence, heck even the Sheriff disappeared not that long ago. What if something bigger was happening, and it was all connected? But why would that have anything to do with her?

She collected her books from her locker, closing it and glancing at her watch. She had 30 minutes until homeroom, she wandered down the corridor towards Ms. Kelley, hoping she would be in already, she was always easy to talk to about these things.

She was in luck, Ms. Kelley was sat at her desk in the school counsellor room, a gentle knock and she entered. Ms. Kelley had been very supportive for her, she was one of the only people who knew about her eating disorder, she had knowledge about it, maybe it had something to do with her bulimia? Could it be a side effect of her purges? Maybe she was even crazier than she thought she was? But Eddie witnessed it, so it couldn't have been a hallucination, none of it could have been maybe?

'Chrissy? Take a seat, you look pale.' Ms. Kelley brought her out of her thoughts, guiding her to the chair in front of her desk. 'Are you okay? Have you just been to the toilet?'

Ms. Kelley looked at her with concern, she was asking if she had purged, but she hadn't. In fact, she hadn't the night before either, she had been so tired she went to bed as soon as she got in, barely even spoke to her parents.

'No. It's not that. It's… something else happened… something yesterday… and I don't know what to do about it…' She locked eyes with Ms. Kelley, a confused glance in response.

'Okay… why don't you tell me what happened Chrissy, and I can try to help you.' She placed a supportive hand on Chrissy's, she always had such a warm approach to her.

Chrissy unloaded, she told her everything, about the hallucinations, the levitating, the seizure, it all came out at once, she couldn't control it. She was crying again, hysterically almost, as Ms. Kelley embraced her, comforting her until she had finished her outburst. All Chrissy could think of was how she wished it was Eddie embracing her instead. A thought that made her feel guilty, flashing her mind back to her boyfriend, Jason.

'Chrissy, I'm very concerned about you, everything you just told me, that's a lot for you to be dealing with.' Chrissy fumbled nervously with her skirt, eyes downcast at this point, she didn't know what to say.

'You mentioned you were with Eddie Munson when this happened?' Chrissy nodded in response.

'Then could I ask you something? Something that may help me understand this a bit better?'

Chrissy looked at her now, nodding again in response.

'Well… being in the role that I am in, I hear things, from students or other faculty members. And what I've heard of Eddie Munson, isn't necessarily very positive. Now the fact that you went to see Eddie, could it be that maybe the two of you were doing drugs together?'

Chrissy felt the panic in her chest, she had gone to buy drugs from Eddie, that's the whole reason she was there. To help with the sounds in her head. Everything had happened before she had even had the chance to take anything though, it couldn't have been related to that!

'No! Honestly Ms. Kelley, I would never take drugs, my parents would kill me, I'd get kicked off the cheerleading team! I would never do anything like that!' A lie of course, but she could get into real trouble if they found out she had gone to buy drugs, and Eddie could get into even more trouble if they found out he supplied them to her!

Ms. Kelley looked suspiciously at her; Chrissy knew she hadn't believed her.

'I only ask because sometimes, taking drugs, depending on what you take or how much you take, it can induce hallucinations, it can induce seizures if you take a dangerous amount, and the levitating… it would be easy to be confused in what you were feeling and doing at that time, if Eddie was high as well, maybe he was hallucinating as well? I'm concerned about you Chrissy, this isn't you, we have been making great progress with your bulimia, but now hanging around people like Eddie Munson, and the drugs, maybe it's time I got in contact with your parents and had a chat about further help? There are some facilities in the area that I am aware of that have a high success rate.'

The panic was building in Chrissy's chest again, her parents. No, that couldn't happen! They wouldn't understand, a facility, it would only embarrass them, this was wrong, she shouldn't have come to her. Then she heard it, the ticking, the clock, was it happening again? Her eyes locked on the necklace around Ms. Kelley's neck, a clock on a chain, everything was coming back to her again.

Ms. Kelley tried to bring Chrissy out of her thoughts but the clock, the ticking, it was deafening. She ran. She needed to get out, needed to breathe, the hallways were busier now, she ignored the calls of Ms. Kelley, ignored the calls of friends she had passed. She entered one of the toilets on the 2nd floor, sitting on the floor of her cubicle. The world around her was beginning to distort again, the voices of her parents echoing in her head.

She pulled the cassette player out of her bag, putting the headphones in and playing it on full volume, a song she'd never heard before, some heavy metal band that Eddie had put into it. She couldn't stop crying, brushing her fingers over the name 'Eddie' etched into the back of it. The ticking was dulling, the world was normalising.

All she wanted now, was for Eddie to hug her and reassure her it was going to be alright.