𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐛𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐧 || 𝐞.𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐱 𝐟. 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫

XI

"you won't believe me."

+

"her body, just uh....lifted...up?....into the air and uh, and she just like hung there," eddie stared into nothing as he explained to the group what had happened.

athena kept her eyes down and closed, the tears slipping past her eyelashes as her head hung down listening to eddie about her friend's brutal, inter dimensional death. she felt eddie's gaze linger on here the entire time and she couldn't bear it.

"and her bones, uh..." eddie shut his eyes as his mind recalled the previous night's horror scene. he began to whimper and athena felt horrible; she accused him of cheating after all.

"her bones started to snap," edddie stated harshly, looking directly at athena. he saw the group visibly cringe at the imagery, but his heart broke when he saw athena's tears slip down her cheeks silently.

"i-i didn't know what to do so i," eddie's voice broke. ".....i ran away.......i left her there."

athena was the first to break. with a loud gasp that scared the group, she stood up and cleared her throat, her voice cracking: "excuse me." hurriedly, she left outside the shed and leaned on a tree nearby, using her hand to muffle the sobs that escaped her.

eddie stared after her, but didn't know how to comfort her when he was broken himself. he looked at the group who just stared without saying a word. "you all think i'm crazy, right?"

"no, we don't think you're crazy," dustin began.

"look! don't bullshit me man!" eddie broke under the drowning pressure, exclaiming quite loudly. "i know how this sounds!"

"we're not bullshitting you," max said.

"we believe you," robin added.

"look," dustin started, "what i'm about to tell you might be a little difficult to take...."

dustin explained to eddie about the hell that everyone had been through, asking questions about the experience he had. it was nothing touchable, nothing visible like the last three years, which confused the group.

not until eddie made the comment about chrissy being in a curse did dustin pick up on the situation and connected the dots.

"vecna's curse..." dustin and eddie looked at each in fear.

"who's vecna?" steve obliviously asked; he didn't play nerdy games.

"an undead creature of great power...." dustin answered while eddie added:

"a spell caster."

dustin felt his blood run cold: "a dark...wizard."

the group fell silent as they looked at each other, weighing the situation at hand.

while the group had figured out the source and the issue, athena had finally composed herself, finally having an idea of what she'd say to eddie: she'd apologize for her jealousy and the actions behind it, then she'd comfort him. it seemed plausible.