slut [ eddie munson ]

009

"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.