𝖧𝖤𝖫𝖫𝖥𝖨𝖱𝖤 ☠︎ 𝖾𝖽𝖽𝗂𝖾 𝗆𝗎𝗇𝗌𝗈𝗇

𝟢𝟢𝟥

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volume 1 | episode 3
WANTED
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'I used this curly haired kid's genius to find you'
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MAEVE PULLED UP OUTSIDE WHAT seemed to be an abandoned house. she's so sure she got the address right. maeve turned her attention to the house, and decided to at least try. she knocked on the door multiple times. no answer. she looked through the windows, and the house seemed empty. maeve sighed as she had to give up. she walked towards her car, before noticing another building.
'worth a shot.' she thought. she headed towards the shed-like building and slowly opened the door. it was quite dark, with only the natural light shining through. maeve became cautious of the place, hoping to not get murdered herself in here. she focused on the boat with tarp over it. she got closer, a floorboard creaking under her foot. something jumped out of the boat quickly, pushing her to the wall. maeve screamed and closed her eyes as she accepted her fate.
"maeve?" a familiar voice asked. she opened her eyes and saw the guy convicted of murdering her best friend, but he looked scared. "what are you doing here? how did you find me?" he panicked. he had a smashed glass bottle in his hand. he loosened his grip on maeve's shoulder, allowing her to take deep breaths.
"I used this curly haired kid's genius to find you. they're all looking for you too. your friends." she breathed heavily. getting scared like that really impacted her.
"curly haired- henderson. henderson's looking for me? why are you looking for me? apparently I murdered your best friend." eddie sighed as he took a seat. maeve followed him and sat beside him.
"what happened, eddie?" she asked calmly. she just wanted to know what happened to chrissy. as eddie opened his mouth, the door burst open. the kid, maeve now assumed to be 'henderson' was with his family video friends. they instantly became confused and protective of eddie.
"what are you doing here?" henderson asked her.
"dustin, calm down, she's a friend. but can you stop shouting my location to whoever happens to pass by? you got lucky this time. maeve's cool." eddie cleared the air. maeve looked at eddie, and noticed his knee bopping up and down in anxiety as he bit his nails. she placed a hand on his shoulder.
"I bet you all wanna know what happened to chrissy. I didn't kill her, I promise." he sounded like he could have a breakdown any moment. it actually hurt maeve to see how much of a difference he was acting compared to yesterday.
"we just want to know what happened." dustin kneeled in front of eddie.
"you won't believe me."
"try us."

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AFTER HEARING A BUNCH OF STUFF about this upside down and magical kids, the story about chrissy levitating and then having every bone in her body snapped as her eyeballs pop out of her head doesn't seem that unbelievable. the most unbelievable part to maeve is the fact that she believes it all. she listens with curiosity as they reveal everything this upside down has done over the years when it finally clicked.
"wait." she interrupted dustin. they all looked at her. "the starcourt fire. was it actually a fire?"
"no. it was the mind flayer. it had possessed billy mayfield to create an army for him, and the army were killed to make the mind flayer stronger. they basically melted down all the people into blood and body parts and-" maeve didn't know she was crying until they all stared at her.
"hey, hey, what's wrong?" eddie instantly asked.
"my dad. he died in the fire- no, by the mind flayer. it makes sense. did it hurt them?" she asked dustin.
"no. no, it didn't." steve jumped in. she couldn't tell whether he was telling the truth or just saying that so she wasn't hurt even more by the sudden turn of events.
"how do you defeat this guy? and i'm talking the most painful, torturous way you can think of. he took my dad and chris away from me, and others from everyone else."
"we don't know. but all we do know is eddie, you need to lie low for a bit. stay here. we'll bring you food and check in on you. maeve, don't repeat this to anyone, and I mean anyone, else." dustin ordered.
the four left shortly after, leaving maeve and eddie alone again. the pair sat in silence for a while, allowing all the new information to sink in.
"hey, I appreciate you coming to find me." eddie broke the silence.
"oh, uh, no problem. it seemed weird, you didn't seem the murderer type yesterday. the cheater type, for sure, but that's a given." maeve smiled. eddie allowed himself to laugh, making maeve feel better.
"i'm sorry about your friend, and your dad. chrissy, she seemed nice."
"she is. I mean, she was." maeve hated how chrissy was now in the past tense. "is it true she went to you for drugs?" maeve asked.
"yeah. kept saying she wanted something stronger. i'm guessing she wanted to escape 'vecna' or something." maeve turned her attention to the floor. she didn't realise eddie's knee had stopped fidgeting and her knee had started instead. eddie reached out and placed a hand on her knee. "what's up?"
"the police came to my house when chrissy was meant to get to mine so we could rent a movie. I told her no cheer movies. chris being chris, she laughed and allowed the ban of the cheer movies. I was tempted by the toast my mom had put out, and managed to take a bite as soon as they told me she was dead. I don't know why, but I feel so guilty. like, I couldn't have waited a few minutes? I got told my best friend was dead and I took the opportunity at that moment to eat. I don't know, I just feel selfish." maeve shook her head, unsure why she was telling eddie all this.
"you had no idea of knowing what they were going to tell you. don't feel bad." he attempted to help.
"can I stay here, just for a little while? I don't know what it is about you but I like your company." maeve asked.
"stay as long as you like."

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