his shadow | eddie munson

↝ chapter two

crazy train - ozzy osbourne
3 | murderer
☿

"...many of the residents we spoke to voiced similar concern to us. grief, shock, disbelief, anger. everyone wants to know the same thing— how can so many tragedies befall a once-peaceful town? all eyes are now on the police for answers..."

"turn that shit off, would 'ya?"

maude snapped her head in the direction of her uncle, who had just entered the small lounge area connected to their kitchen. she had been listening to the news while she prepared dinner— nothing fancy, just steak and mashed potatoes and peas, the only vegetables her uncle and cousins tolerated.

"they found a body," maude spoke up, her voice shivering with fear. "a student from hawkins high."

"people die everyday," her uncle waved his arm, coughing a cloud of smoke as he hung his cigarette between his teeth. he walked over to the television box and switched the channel. "probably suicide. you teenagers are too emotional, too weak."

maude wanted to scream at him, to tell him how awful he was being, how horrible it was that someone had died— a high school student especially. but she hit her tongue, and continued mashing the potatoes.

"hurry up with that food, would 'ya?"

☿

in her room, maude was doing her best to study, but her mind kept drifting to the horrible news. she began wracking her head, trying to think of everyone she knew, of what could have happened to them and how their families would be broken from their loss. she then thought about hawkins, and how it had turned into a magnet for death and chaos in the past few years. so much had happened— first the disappearance of will byers, his presumed death then his resurrection, then the disturbances happening around town— the pumpkin patches rotting away, then the dreadful fire at starcourt mall which killed many people. including their heroic chief of police, jim hopper. all this death, all this destruction.

and now another body to be claimed by this town.

"always studying, what a joke." one of maude's cousins, the oldest by three years, dean, scoffed from the threshold of her bedroom door.

beside him stood his brother, brad, he was the same age as maude. his face scrunched with disgust. "no friends to go out with, either. surprised you weren't the one picked off to be murdered— wouldn't have been such a waste."

maude ignored them, her back to her door as she let her eyes read over the same line over and over again. this urged her cousins to continue, they entered her room and loomed over her, spitting lines back and forth.

"you're such a bore, such a burden!"

"you're so insignificant that even murderers don't waste their time on you!"

"yeah! might just hunt munson down and tell him to extend his talents to you— tell him that your death would do the world more good than chrissy's did."

maude spun around, her eyes widening. "munson? you mean eddie munson? what are you talking about?"

brad grimaced as she spoke, like it physically pained him to have to listen to her, to respond to her. "my boy jason was told that his beloved chrissy cunningham was murdered. the prime suspect and obvious killer is eddie munson."

dean smirked. "we're getting a gang together, gonna hunt that freak down and give him what he deserves."

maude couldn't stop blinking. she didn't know if it was from shock or if to hold in her tears. "no, you have to be wrong. eddie would never... never murder someone. he's—"

"he's a satanic freak, that's what he is. connecting himself to hell in that satan-worshipping cult of his." dean spat, physically— his saliva splattered on the open page of maude's notebook. she flinched.

brad leaned in closer to her, raising a brow suspiciously. "you talk like you know him. but maude fitzgerald has no friends. what would you know about the freak, unless..." he trailed off with disgust, his eyes narrowing.

maude gasped. "i don't know him! i've never spoken to him! only... only once— i bumped into him, he was nice about it." she lied. she'd never bumped into eddie— she wished she had, wished she had any form of encounter that would count other than her distant observations. but she needed an excuse for her cousins, otherwise they would throw accusations around, resulting in all things horrible.

"stupid girl to assume someone nice after bumping into them," brad grunted, "god you're pathetic."

maude's lips trembled. "how did chrissy...?"

"jason only said that it was bad— they wouldn't even let her parents see her face," dean began pacing the room, punching one fist into his other hand. "oh we're gonna get that freak good."

"you look so upset," brad teased, his eyes glowing with a darkness maude knew too well. "why, is poor maude wondering if she's next?"

"no! it's just— this is all just so—"

"so horrible? so terrifying?" brad went on, then he began to pretend crying, his voice squeaking as he impersonated a girlish tone. "oh i'm so scared! eddie the freak munson is loose and i'm such a loner that i'm an easy target— no one would even care for my death. no one would even report it." his voice returned to its natural state with his last sentence, and maude whimpered, tears flowing down her cheeks.

"d-don't say that, please."

"i'll say whatever the hell i damn want," he spat, shoving her by her shoulder and knocking her out of her chair. when she fell to the ground, the chair flipping with her, he snickered. "killing you wouldn't even be a challenge for him."

dean cackled. "what a waste of space."

they left together, not caring to look back or to close the door after them. it remained open, and when her uncle walked past and saw her crying on the floor with her knees to her chest, he hissed at her to shut the hell up.

she couldn't stop thinking about what her cousins had said. that eddie was the prime suspect for the murder of the head cheerleader that their school. that he was a freak. a satanist. a murderer.

but she couldn't bring it in her heart to believe them.

☿

oh damnn. that ain't good at all. maude really stuck living with three mental cases. my poor girl, whoever wrote her character really wanted her to suffer huh...
oh but this has only been the beginning, my friends.
expect so much more. or don't.
either way you'll be surprised.
maybe. if i'm a good enough writer.

sincerely,
eddie's lawyer <3