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Steve knocked on the front door of Eddie’s new home, a big farmhouse outside of Hawkins. It had a wrap around porch that Steve loved, making him think of summer storms and sweet tea, long nights in rocking chairs listening to the cicadas. One day he’d have a wrap around porch again.
Jeff opened the door, looking pressed and spiffy in a way Steve had never seen any of the guys dress.
“Hey Steve, Eddie didn’t tell you we have a family thing today?”
“Oh, no, he didn’t. But we didn’t have solid plans or anything. Guess I should’ve called first. I’ll go-”
Jeff put up a hand, cocking his head to the side, listening to something only he could hear. “Nah, come on in, Eddie needs you.”
Steve headed through the living room, passing the kitchen, waving at the guys who all pointed upstairs. They were also well dressed, all in a way that would be described as old fashioned, but left Steve feeling nostalgic and comforted.
Steve jogged up the stairs to Eddie’s room, the door opening before he could knock. Eddie grabbed his wrist, pulled him in the room, and shut the door, before sagging onto the small couch in the corner, collapsing his head into his hands.
Eddie was in boxers and an undershirt, his wool suit tossed haphazardly on his bed. Steve sat down beside him and rested a hand low on Eddie’s back.
“Jeff said you have a family thing today?”
Eddie nodded, face still pressed hard to his palms.
“Do you wanna talk about it? They seem to be down there waiting for you?”
Eddie rubbed his face hard with his palms and pressed hard against his eyes.
“It’s our day of remembrance. We started it about 50 years ago to remember our families, our original families, pre-turning. We do a little thing out in a field and then we sit around and share stories and memories.”
“That’s really sweet, Eddie. What happened this morning?”
Eddie shrugged then sighed. Suddenly he flopped back, hard, the back of his head thudding against the wall above the couch. Steve reached up to rub it, sliding his fingers into Eddie’s hair to scritch at his scalp.
“I remember them less this year than last year. And less than the year before and the year before that. They’re disappearing.”
“Who?”
“My brothers. My dad. Mom. I had friends and I can’t even remember their names. You’d think being a vampire came with perfect memory, but nope. It’s like when you’re a regular mortal and you can’t really remember being a kid, all you have are impressions and bits of memories; playing in a river or running across a field or your brother putting a frog in a bed and everyone screaming, but all the details of the surrounding memory is gone. I have whole decades that are just poof! Gone, because nothing exciting happened, just living life every day. But even then, I thought I’d always remember them. Their faces, their laughs, their birthdays. But so much of them is just impressions now, things I think I remember.”
Steve interlaced their fingers, squeezing tight, their clasped hands resting on Eddie’s knee.
“What impressions do you have of your mom?” Steve asked, gently.
He wasn’t anywhere as old as Eddie, but he understood intimately, the feeling that he was betraying people because he couldn’t remember them. The never ending cycle of impotent anger and sadness when a memory was right there out of reach.
Eddie brushed his thumb across Steve’s knuckles, his eyes going distant.
“Swimming in the river together at dawn. She loved the water with the amber and peach sunlight glittering on the surface. Teaching me to sew and weave when I was small. She was so tall and then one day she was smaller than me. It took a really long time for her to realize that I’d become different. I apprenticed away from home and then I was working and living in another village for years before I was turned. She was old and grey when she realized I hadn’t aged past my 30s. She just brushed my hair back and held me, tucked small against her. I buried her in the church’s cemetery with the best view of the sunrise over the river...”
Tears ran down his cheeks as memories resurfaced, unfocused eyes stared, lost in the past. Steve could do nothing but sit beside him, a solid presence to come back to, a lighthouse showing him the way back through time.
Eddie blinked out of his reverie and looked over at Steve, lips twitching in a sad smile, eyes still wet and wavering. “Thank you, Steve.”
“You’re welcome, dear heart. I know how it feels to suddenly feel so unmoored from your past.” Steve smiled, small and tinged in shared pain. “Maybe later, we should write it all down, every little thing we can remember from our first lives. We’ll go to a big bank in the city and keep the memories in a safety deposit box.”
Eddie breathed a laugh, smiling so sweetly at Steve that his belly tightened. “That’s a great idea. Bet the others will wanna do it, too.”
Steve nodded, then tipped his head, realizing he’d forgotten to ask. “What was her name? Your mom.”
Eddie’s eyes softened.“Marjorie.”
His belly warmed, knowing he was just handed a delicate and precious part of Eddie’s story. He’d keep it safe for the rest of their time on Earth.
Wayne knocked on the door. “Edward, you ready to go?”
“Yeah, just gotta get dressed and we’ll be right down.” Eddie stood and headed to the bed, shaking wrinkles out of his dress shirt.
“Edward?” Steve asked, face scrunched up
“Yeah? What’s wrong with it?” Eddie looked back at him, an eyebrow raised.
“Just thought it’d be more olden timey, you know, like Edwin or something.”
Eddie barked a laugh. “Nah, Edward was a really popular name in 1700’s England. You know, the kings and all.”
“Right right. Wait. You’re British?!”
Eddie tipped his head back laughing.