his shadow | eddie munson

↝ chapter thirteen

blackened - metallica
14 | the inner circle
☿

"what exactly are we looking at?"

maude watched as steve harrington placed his hands on his hips, his face contorting with puzzlement as his eyes took in the back of eddie's van. beside him stood robin buckley, her eyebrows drawing in and out as she tried to piece things together. and beside her stood jonathan byers, his face just as perplexed as the other two. after maude had showed nancy eddie's belongings, as well as the bloodied mattress and towels, the first aid kit— even her most recent sketches because she dated them— after this, nancy had scurried to the phone booth nearby and called for backup.

nancy stood beside maude by the doors of the van, and she motioned to the strange girl. "just hear her out, okay?"

all eyes were on maude, who evidently was a nervous wreck. her hands shook as she wiped her sweaty palms on her lower back, trying to do so discreetly, and when she spoke her voice wavered unconfidently. "eddie munson is alive—"

"why wouldn't he be? he's on the run, wanted for murder." robin interrupted, her voice almost too light, as though selling a lie.

maude frowned. "i ran into him at a gas station four, maybe five, days ago. and i stowed away in the back of his van— i ran away from my family, who..." she paused, unsure if she wanted to go into full detail, or rather keep it short. "they weren't the best to me. anyways, he found me out, and let me tag along. but he was hurt, really bad— he looked like he was dying, he looked dead."

"nancy, who is this girl?" steve asked, his tone and demeanour exhibiting utter bemusement.

"i know about the upside down." maude blurted out. all of the attention remained on her, and their faces twisted— true shock. even nancy, who had not been made aware of this. they each looked like they wanted to say something, to interrogate her, or to even deny knowing what she was talking about.

"i know about vecna," maude went on, her voice trembling. "i know the plan you guys conducted to defeat him— i know that you lost."

"what are you talking about?" nancy took a warning step towards maude, who surprisingly stood her ground.

"i told you, eddie is alive. he told me himself."

"eddie died in the arms of our friend," steve interjected, his face seemed to darken with remembrance. his eyes dimmed in a way that broke maude's heart. "he had no pulse, he died— he's dead."

"he's undead, like vecna." hearing herself say it out loud sounded as silly as she had thought it would, but it was the truth. "vecna did something to him, in the upside down. and i think... i think he has him now. eddie was trying to get away, to stay away from him— but his state got so bad that he was truely dying, so i thought if i drove us back to hawkins we could find some answers... maybe you guys would know something, anything,"

"but he disappeared. he told me it was too late, that vecna had gotten to him— that he's a danger to hawkins. i've been trying to find him— i want to help him... but i can't— i don't know what to do! what if he—"

"okay, it's okay," nancy reached an arm out and gave maude a small smile. she then looked over her shoulder at her friends, "how about we take her to the others?"