"What are you doing here?" Eddie choked out, his hold on Talia unfaltering no matter how much he wanted to let her go. As far as he knew, everyone thought that he had killed Chrissy Cunningham, and Talia Wheeler was her best friend.

Eddie knew Talia, and he knew that she would go to the ends of the earth for the people she loved—and she loved Chrissy Cunningham more than she loved most people in her life. He couldn't help but fear what the shorter girl would do to him if he let her go.

"We're here to help," Robin said, keeping her voice calm despite the situation.

"Eddie," Dustin called softly, dragging the male's attention back to him, "these are my friends. You know, Robin—from band!" Robin mimicked playing her instrument, making a little noise, "and this is my friend Max, the one who never wants to play D&D. Eddie, we're on your side. I swear on my mother! Right, guys?"

"Right, right."

"Yes—yes, we swear."

"Yeah, Dustin's...Dustin's mother."

Talia stayed silent, Eddie heatedly staring her in the eyes before slowly releasing her. The other four collectively let out a sigh of relief as Eddie backed away. Steve rushed over to Talia, who had slid down the wall with her hand over her neck protectively.

"Are you okay?" Steve muttered, grasping the girl's shoulders as he stared down at her, worried.

Letting herself feel a moment of peace in his grasp, Talia nodded shakily. The two girls approached them, checking on the brunette as Dustin approached Eddie—who had taken a few steps away before wordlessly lowering down to the floor in a crouch.

"Eddie," Dustin said slowly, lowering himself to Eddie's level and cautiously reaching his hand out to rest on Eddie's, "we just want to talk."

Eddie had flinched slightly at the contact, Dustin letting out a soft, "okay," and throwing out his hand to caution the Robin and Max as they slowly approached.

"We wanna know what happened," Robin said softly, also crouching down.

It was quiet for a moment, then Eddie sniffled, "you won't believe me," he glanced over at them, shaking his head slightly.

"Try us," Max said, keeping her face soft as she stared at the scared boy.

It had taken a moment for the teens—mainly Dustin, Robin, and Max—to convince Eddie that they really did just want to hear his side of Chrissy's death. By the time he was ready to speak, Steve and Talia had remained behind the group, the other three in a makeshift line a few feet away from where Eddie sat.

Eddie was still visibly shaken, overwhelmed as he recalled the previous night, "her body just, like, lifted up into the air," he voice wavered, "and, uh, she just, like, hung there...in the air and her bones just," he cut himself off, whimpering as he pictured Chrissy's death in his head.

Tears had immediately flooded Talia's eyes as Eddie began to speak, her heart torn in two as she tried to figure out what to believe. The logical part of her was convinced that Eddie had killed Chrissy—the girl had quite literally been found in his trailer after she had been spotted entering it with him—but the part of her that was ruled by emotion fully believed that Eddie was innocent. She had come to know the boy almost as well as she knew herself and not only did Talia not believe Eddie could ever kill someone, but she believed every word that was coming out of his mouth. The fear in his eyes and the pain in his voice were too real for him to be lying.

"It's okay, Eddie," Talia said softly, surprising the other four teens in the boathouse. Eddie, who had been staring intently at a crack in one of the floorboards, lifted his gaze to meet Talia's. A part of him felt better, comforted that even part of Talia believed him.

"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.