slut [ eddie munson ]

009

"Her bones started to snap," he continued, his voice growing stronger before weakening once again, "her eyes—man, it was like...like there was something, like, inside her head pulling. I...I didn't know what to do so I," he paused, his voice cracking, "I ran away. I left her there."

It was dead silent, Eddie reeling with his emotions as the group all stared at him in disbelief, processing the information just explained to them. Talia had started to silently sob halfway through Eddie's explanation, clenching her jaw to not let any noise out. Steve had hurriedly brought her into his arms, letting the girl bury her face into his neck and tightening his grip around her as an endless stream of tears wet his neck and soaked into his shirt.

Eddie had glanced up at the group, his eyes focusing on Talia as he quickly tried hide his emotions, "you all think I'm crazy, right?" He attempted to cover his face, his thumb and pointer finger pinching the bridge of his nose as he looked down.

"No," Dustin said, shaking his head, "we don't think you're crazy at all."

"Look, don't bullshit me, man. I know how this sounds," Eddie exclaimed, dropping his hand.

"We're not bullshitting you," Max said.

"We believe you," Robin added, trying her best to convince the older male that they really were on his side.

"Look," Dustin started off, "what I'm about to tell you might be a little...difficult to take."

"Okay..."

"You know how people say Hawkins is cursed?" Eddie's eyes never left Dustin, "They're not...way off. There's another world, a world hidden beneath Hawkins. Sometimes, it bleeds into ours."

"Like...ghosts, and shit?" Eddie asked, confused.

"There are some things worse than ghosts," Max said, her voice almost a whisper. From behind her, Talia slowly lifted her head off Steve's shoulder, confusion etched on her face.

"These monsters, from this other world...we thought they were gone, but they've come back before. That's why we needed to find you."

"If they're back again, we need to know," Max said, her heart clenching as she knew that there was no longer a way to hide the Upside Down from Talia anymore—the girl had heard the entire conversation, and she was bound to have questions.

"That night, did you see anything?" Robin asked.

"Dark particles, maybe?"

Eddie softly shook his head, mind reeling as his gaze settled back onto the crack.

"It would almost look like dust," Dustin cut in, "swirling dust."

"No, man, there was nothing you could see, or...uh, or touch. You know...I tried to wake her, man. She couldn't move. It was like she...she was in a trance or something."

"Or under a spell." Eddie looked up, slight understanding settling on his face.

"A curse."

"Vecna's curse," Dustin confirmed.

"Who's Vecna?" Steve asked, still looking at the girl in his arms who had become tense.

"An undead creature of great power."

"A spell-caster."

"A dark wizard," Dustin finished.

Talia had finally ripped herself from Steve's grasp, a deadly look in her eyes, "you're trying to tell me a fucking wizard killed my best friend? Are you fucking kidding me, Henderson? God, you almost had me, too. I actually almost believed you, Eddie," her voice broke as she said his name, glancing around wildly at the other five people in the boathouse, "but this? This is bullshit. Absolute and utter bullshit. Fuck this."

Talia had swiftly shoved past Steve—the only person in between her and the door—and practically ran from the boathouse.

"Shit," Max swore, all of them sharing a concerned glance before she ran after Talia, "Steve, come on! We have to stop her, she's gonna go to the cops."

Steve swore, hurrying after the two girls.

The remaining three fell silent for a moment, speechless.

"I can't do anything right with her," Eddie muttered, not fully thinking about who was in his presence, "you know, last night all I thought I had to worry about was her thinking I fucked her best friend—even worse, that I had ignored her call to do so. Now, I have to worry about her thinking I killed her best friend, too."

Robin, shocked at the revelation, choked on her spit. Dustin's head shot from the door to Eddie, eyes comedically wide.

"What?" Dustin barley was able to spit out in his disbelief.

Eddie, who had just processed his words, mimicked Dustin's wide eyed gaze, frantically looking between Robin and said boy, "nothing, I said nothing."

—————

I have literally not had any motivation to write for the past few years but something about Eddie Munson has taken over my life and I simply cannot stop writing this book rn.