𝘖𝘜𝘙 𝘛𝘐𝘔𝘌 - 𝘌𝘋𝘋𝘐𝘌 𝘔𝘜𝘕𝘚𝘖𝘕

𝐅𝐈𝐕𝐄: 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐎𝐃𝐘

Amanda began to remember her poor childhood, making mud pies after it rained and tossing rocks into a nearby lake as some sort of amusement. It wasn't anything she ever complained about, even if she went to bed hungry, she'd grown accustomed to the life she was raised in. And when she was seven, she met a boy across the street. She'd seen him before, playing with a toy truck against the wood of his front deck. 

They quickly became friends, bonding over such small things Amanda couldn't even remember. She watched as he was always ushered inside by his uncle, who was once less grumpy than he was now. She never understood anything that happened, she barely paid any attention to it. To the strange man that would nag her mother only to be met with a door in his face, to the way Eddie was spoken to as a child. 

As she neared the trailer park, she could feel her palms begin to sweat, something that would often happen every time she crossed paths with Eddie Munson. And just as she was about to enter, she noticed a police officer blocking the way with his car. Amanda slowly pulled forward, noticing police tape around Eddie's house. 

"Ma'am, I can't allow you access unless you're a resident." The police officer stated, his arms crossed in annoyance as if he had been saying the same thing all day. 

"What- I'm sorry... is that Eddie Munson? What the hell happened here?" Amanda's voice cracked, afraid that Eddie was murdered. 

"Ma'am, that information is not yet being released to the public. But there's one thing I can tell you," The police officer took a sharp breath in, lowering his sunglasses to the bridge of his nose. 

"You don't want to see what's happened. Once you see it, you'll never be able to un-see it." 

The officers tone was grim, which encouraged her to take another look. As she squinted her eyes, she noticed a green, white and yellow colored skirt. She caught a glimpse of the legs, which were cracked sideways. 

"You know what, thank you. I'll be on my way." Amanda's voice was shaky, in fact so was her body. She'd never seen anything like it, and quite frankly it was the scariest thing she'd ever seen. 

"Have a nice day, ma'am." The officer sent her a small nod before she made a U-turn. 

Amanda knew that if anyone knew where Eddie was, it was Dustin. However, she felt strange visiting at his home, knowing they were not at all friends. So instead, she decided to find Steve Harrington at their job.

After about ten minutes she arrived, scrambling to get out of her car. In such a hurry that she had almost forgotten to take the keys out of the ignition. Sprinting towards the door, she noticed Dustin using the store's phone. Dustin looked to her, noticing her very worried look, to which he sent a knowing look back. Pacing the store was a taller woman, along with a shorter red haired girl, all of which had a panicked expression. 

"We know." Steve confirmed, motioning to the three who had been dialing different numbers and calling around. 

"So, you're looking for him? I just saw the- her leg was broken. What the hell did he do?" Amanda's fear caught Dustin's attention, which caused him to hang up the phone and narrow his eyes. 

"You actually think he did this? I know Eddie, he's not a killer. Jesus, do you think he's that much of a freak?" Dustin spoke defensively, anger soaring through his voice as if she'd just deeply offended him. 

"So, some random girl just died in there? In his house? I mean, it all makes sense to me, Dustin. We got into a fight last night, you saw how angry he was when he left! Eddie's always been..." Amanda paused for a moment, watching as each of them sent her an angry look. 

"Do we tell her?" Steve turned to Robin, who shook her head quickly. 

"Tell me what?" Amanda crossed her arms in annoyance, upset that they knew something she didn't. 

"God damnit, just tell her! I already caught you guys up and I am not repeating myself." Max sent Amanda a nod before turning towards the phone, continuing to dial the number. 

"Where the hell do I even start? Hey, Amanda, I know this sounds crazy but there's a monster from another dimension killing innocent teenagers! " Robin's nervous laughter somehow made her more credible, as if she didn't want to say it in the first place. However, it wasn't enough. 

"Be serious. What the hell are you not telling me, Harrington?" Amanda walked closer towards the bar, noticing how serious he had become. 

And so, for the next ten minutes, Steve explained everything. And with every part of Amanda, she wanted to believe him. To believe that Eddie didn't kill that girl, but the story made no sense. 

"What, did Eddie give you some of his psychedelics? There's no such thing as monsters. What the hell is a demogorgon? And, oh this one is even better, The Mind Flayer. Sounds like a bunch of bullshit. In fact, it sounds like a damn dungeons and dragons campaign." Amanda belted out a laugh, before realizing that all of them had worn serious faces. 

"Wait, you're being serious? You expect me to believe there's a monster targeting Hawkins? Of all the places in the world, Hawkins? And it's just... under us?" Amanda clarified, looking to each of them, watching as they all nodded. 

"You know what... prove it." Amanda watched as they all looked at each other, before Steve finally spoke up. 

"You don't need to believe us, okay? In fact, I encourage you to leave. If this is what we think it is... you don't want to put yourself in that situation. Leave while you can." Steve sent her a look, as if he cared about her wellbeing, and that was enough for her to believe him. It was purely genuine, and said more than his words did. 

"Like hell I'm leaving, alright? Monster or not, Eddie's in deep shit." Amanda sent Steve a small nod before letting out a frustrated sigh. 

"Wait, how did you see the body? They haven't released any sort of image and... were you there? By his trailer?" Robin questioned, to which Amanda nodded slightly. 

"I had to ask him a question."