Head Over Heels for Eddie Munson

Ch6: Should I stay or should I go?

"Eddie! Stop, Eddie!" Dustin screams as Eddie inches the sharpened bottle closer to Steve's neck. I hear the screams of the others in the boathouse and decide to jump out of the boat to calm Eddie down. "Lori?" Max looks confused to see me here and shines her flashlight in my eyes. I wave and smile before Eddie says, still looking Steve dead in the eyes, "Lori, get behind me, please." He sounded so different, his voice shaking and scared. I put my hand on his shoulder in hopes of making him feel better, he jumped. "Eddie, it's me, it's Dustin. This is Steve.  He's not gonna hurt you right, Steve?" Steve shakes his head, I try my best to make Eddie calm but his fear takes over. I wipe the blood off my nose as Dustin asks Steve to drop his oar. Startling Eddie, Dustin screams, "He's cool, he's cool!" Eddie looks towards me, giving me the look of a scared and lost puppy making sure I was safe. He puts his attention back onto Steve, "What are you doing here?" Dustin answers, "We are looking for you!" Robin speaks up, mentioning, "We are here to help."  Eddie looks towards me and I give him a weak smile, believing what Dustin was saying. Then he stares back at Dustin, still questioning him, "Eddie, these are my friends. You know Robin, from band. This is my friend Max. The one who never wants to play DND." Dustin still tries to win over Eddie's trust and I just sit there doing nothing, not saying a word or trying to help at all. "Eddie, we are on your side," Dustin continues, "I swear on my mother! Right, you guys?" They all agree, swearing on Dustin's mother and Eddie looks at me once more for approval. As he stares into my eyes and I give him a meek nod, he lets go of Steve. He turns to face me and plants his head onto my shoulder, putting all his tensed up weight onto me. A sigh of relief fills the room as Steve retreats towards Dustin, Max and Robin. I feel Eddie shaking, I see his thoughts, and I know how horrible he feels. I put my hand on his back to try and comfort him as Dustin walks up to face us. Dustin starts calming Eddie down while still holding onto the bottle, "Eddie, we just want to talk." As Eddie's face digs deeper into the crook of my neck, Robin states calmly, "We want to know what happened." I felt the tense grasp Eddie had on the sharp beer bottle, still held in his hand like a weapon. I look at the rest of the people in the room with a worried look, unknowing of his reaction to any sort of touch. Dustin tries reaching out to his hand, to help him calm down, but he flinches, moving his head closer to my neck. "Eddie, they are here to help, trust me. We are safe," I say, grabbing the hand with the beer bottle and taking away his weapon. "You won't believe us," Eddie manages to speak, tears falling and soaking into my hoodie as he talks. "Try us," Max says, Eddie looking up and turning towards them.

As Eddie continues to explain what happened in his trailer, the group seems more on edge. I nod my head to assure the others that what he was explaining was all real. I couldn't stand watching him try to explain that night over again, reminding him of the horrific sight he saw. "I didn't know what to do so I ran away," he continued hesitantly, ashamed of his actions, "I left her there. That's when I saw Lori. You all think we're crazy right?" He looks away towards me, I wipe away the tear that had streamed down my face. "No, we don't think you're crazy at—" Dustin starts, looking towards me. I knew nobody thought we were crazy, after the years we have had together. However Eddie wasn't convinced, "Look don't bullshit me man!  I know how this sounds!" The feeling from Eddie radiates off onto me and I start biting my nails, worried for no reason. "Look, Eddie, they are not bullshiting us. I know they believe you," I try to calm him down, the rest nod their heads in agreement. Dustin looks right at me, nodding, answering the question of whether I should tell Eddie everything that has happened in Hawkins. "Eddie," I say, putting my hand on his shoulder, "what I'm about to tell you might be a little difficult to take." We all sort of look at each other, preparing to retell the story of Hawkins. "You know how people say Hawkins is cursed," Dustin adds, setting up the story, "They're not way off. There's another world. A world hidden beneath Hawkins." He stops, seeing Eddie's confusion. I continue the story, "Sometimes, it bleeds into ours." I start feeling Eddie's nerves calm down, making it easier to manipulate what he's feeling. "Like ghosts and shit?" He asks, shaking less. Max answers his question, "There are some things worse than ghosts." With that, we all freeze, Eddie looks up to me, eyes widened and scared again. I flash back to all the things I've seen these past few years, the blood and gore. I think back to Billy, my parents, Bob, all the townspeople who died last year. Their images cut into me, carved into my brain. "That night," Robin begins, "did you see anything?" Max intervenes, "Dark particles, maybe?" Eddie's mind switches back to the night, his head floods with Chrissy's image, then to the environment. He shakes his head not being able to see anything. "It would almost look like dust," Dustin adds, hopefully helping clear up any confusions, "Swirling dust." Eddie concentrates on what the surroundings looked like that night, "No, man, there was nothing you could see or, uh, touch." They all looked towards me, hoping that I could catch something he couldn't, but there was nothing, just like he said. "You know, I tried to wake her, man. She couldn't move. It was like she... she was in a trance or something," Eddie explains to the group. Dustin replies, "Or under a spell." Eddie uses the word curse instead, sparking Dustin's thoughts, "Vecna's curse."

After spending 30 minutes explaining the past years in Hawkins, about El and I, the mind flayer and everything else in between, we let Eddie absorb everything. "So, Lori, you have...superpowers?" Eddie takes a minute and stares at me. I look back to him, and a sudden shock comes to me. "Really, Eddie? You heard all of that. The monsters, and the killings and the craziness, but all you ask about are my powers?" I laugh, of course that was all he could think about. Then, I put myself into his shoes. I guess the one thing that we said that is somewhat familiar and makes the most sense are my powers. "Yes, I have powers," I finally say. He looks down to the floor, smiling. "And with these...powers, you helped destroy this...mind flayer?" He asks, I knew he'd have questions. "Well, yes. But I mean...I had help," I say, gesturing to those around me. "Yeah and she has been using them on you, too!" Dustin says smiling, I stare at him, silently begging him to stop but he doesn't, "That's why her nose has been bleeding! It bleeds every time she uses her power." Eddie looks towards me, I start biting my nails again, his gaze turns towards the blood on my hoodie. I feel the betrayal on his face. I am a monster, I ruined everything.  "Look, Eddie, you were...stressed," I tried explaining myself, "And I didn't want you to constantly be in pain...from what happened with Chrissy. And I also—" He cuts me off saying, "Thank you, Williams." That's it, I open my mouth to say more, but he resumes, "I really needed that." He gives me a sweet smile and I smile back. Someone finally appreciated me. All of a sudden, I felt warm inside, a good feeling I only felt when I was with my parents. A feeling of being whole, like I'd be okay again. It was so comforting, I felt like crying, but that'd be embarrassing. For a while, we looked at each other, staring and smiling. I guess everyone else felt uncomfortable because Steve said, "Look we can leave you two lovebirds alone, alright? We have things to do." Max and Robin snicker at that comment and Dustin gives a small smile, "What? No! Lovebirds? Ha!" I say crossing my arms and laughing awkwardly. "Where are you guys going?" Eddie asks seriously, ignoring Steve's comment and looking towards Dustin. "Hey, buddy, we have to go home," He answers, "But we will be back tomorrow, right Lori? Let's go alright?" I looked up at Dustin, I didn't want to leave. Eddie looks at Dustin confused, then he looks at me. He asks, "Are you going, Lori?" I look at Eddie for a minute, then at the group by the door, what should I do? Do I stay or do I go?
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A/N: OMG y'all this is so late and I am so sorry! I am in the process of moving!!! So writing has been difficult, but it gave me more time to think about what to write. Hope you liked this chapter, it is a bit longer. I think its pretty interesting but if you have any problems or anything to say in general, feel free to comment! ALSO thanks so much for 100 followers on TikTok which is @_farzane4_ btw. AND thanks for 200 reads on Wattpad, it means so much to me. Love you guys so much!