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Your eyes ease open with a tremendous effort, vision slowly swimming into focus. What? Where are you?
Last thing you remember... Actually, you can't remember a damn thing. What happened?
Staring up, it's almost pitch black. There's brief flashes of light from the somewhere behind you and it feels like you might be in a car? Van? It smells woody? Spicy? Smoky? Your body feels heavy but you're not exactly uncomfortable. With a little wriggle, you can guess that you're on some kind of mattress, covered by a blanket, head propped on some thin pillows. You can't seem to ascertain much more than that. Your brain feels...foggy.
What happened before this? How did you get here?
With another wiggle, you notice the odd pressure around your wrists and ankles. You can't move your arms or legs independently, your arms nestled somewhat comfortably in front of you and your legs bent in a kind of foetal position. Even if you could move your arms or legs, your body feels so heavy. Even thinking is exhausting; like you can think but the thoughts are so far away. For the most part, you're head remains completely blank, head lolling on the pillow as you stare up at the ceiling of the van.
Finally, the lights stop flickering on the ceiling and, after what feels like a year, you come to a complete stop. The back of the van is dimly lit by the moonlight that filters in from the front windows. The engine cuts, the music stops and you hear someone mumbling in the front seat, opening the door and closing it again. Your heart pounds in your ears as anxiety rushes through you. You try to move but your body won't cooperate, still laying, limp and lax, on the thin mattress on the bed of the van.
Eventually, the backdoor opens and you see a silhouette before whoever it was that did this to you climbs in and shuts the door. Whoever-it-is fumbles around for a moment before turning on a torch. It's tied to the roof of the van, acting as a makeshift lamp.
"Oops. Sorry." He murmurs softly, shading your eyes with a hand. As your eyes adjust to the light, you take in the visage of your captor; long, wavy, brown hair, dark eyes, denim vest, leather jacket, Hellfire Club— Hellfire Club? "Hey, handsome." He says it with unearned familiarity.
Eddie Munson. You only know him by reputation. And by the speeches he periodically makes in the lunch-hall, of course. You've caught him looking at you sometimes but that was about it. Rumours lead you to believe that he should've been the first suspect but, honestly, he's the last person you would've thought to do something like this. Especially to you. What were you to him? Nothing, you would've thought. Though your current situation suggests otherwise.
Eddie hovers over you, crouching beside the mattress he keeps in the back of his van. He's never done anything like this before. He'd never even thought of it until a couple months ago, until everyone started talking about graduation and college and prom and— Jesus, that was too much. He had to put a plan together and that's what led the both of you here.
He's been watching you for some time now; sitting behind you in biology, watching you studying in the library, following you home to make sure you were safe, sitting outside your window until you turned the lights out at about 11PM. He made more and more excuses and it just got worse and worse and worse. An infection, a parasite; something that latched on and wouldn't let go until he was convinced that you — and only you — were the one for him. And that he was the one for you. Star-crossed lovers or whatever they talked about in Romeo and Juliet.
So, when people started getting excited to graduate and put applications in for college, he knew he had to move fast. The only thing worse than the idea of you leaving Hawkins behind — leaving him behind — was you actually doing it and he wasn't about to let that happen. It would ruin him. It would ruin you; you just didn't know it yet.
"Baby, I'm here." He looms over you, eyes dark, moving his hand to stroke along your cheekbone with his knuckles before cupping your face. "It's okay. You're safe here with me. No-one's gonna find us, we're safe." He soothes and your brows furrow slightly though you can't reach the part of your brain to fully parse the situation. It feels like a dream. A very bizarre dream.
Leaning down, Eddie presses a kiss to your forehead, then your nose, then your lips, his hand tilting your chin to kiss you deeper. "I gotcha, baby." He murmurs against your mouth. "I'll take care of you."