Teenage Dirtbag (Eddie Munson x OC)

Fred Benson

The group left Eddie at Reefer Rick's and jumped back into Steve's car, following the trail of sirens and police vehicles to the entrance of the same trailer park where Chrissy Cunningham was killed. They were stopped just outside the entrance, where they found ambulances and firetrucks to be parked along the side of the tree-lined street as policemen wandered about, setting up caution tape throughout the area.

Jackie looked onward, noticing Chief Powell, Officer Callahan, and Officer Daniels standing in a circle speaking with someone- a girl. The girl stood shaking in her heeled boots and long skirt, gripping each of her arms over her cotton vest, her jaw clenched tight with frustration and fear. "Is that..." She wondered, looking at the girl with curly hair.

"Why is Nancy here?" Max asked

"Nancy Wheeler?" Robin chided.

"Nancy?" Steve looked around through the front window. "Holy shit, it is her."

Steve, Jackie, Robin, Dustin, and Max got out of the car, hanging out of the car door as they observed the situation. Nancy was speaking to the officers, seemingly pleading with them to get them to listen to her about something. Then, her gaze shifted over to their direction and her stature changed. Jackie gave her a look of concern while Steve waved, which Nancy returned with a smaller one and a tearful glance.

***

Nancy Wheeler wrote for the Hawkins Tiger, a small, school newspaper. They had a few people on staff, but not too many, and they were down another person after Jonathan left for California. One of these students on staff was Fred Benson, a tiny, nerdy sophomore that was witty once you got to talking to him. Fred Benson always had a knack for writing, making him perfect to work on the Hawkins Tiger.

Nancy and Fred had been working on their report of the championship basketball game, only to discover the next day that no one was going to care about that anymore, as the head cheerleader was just murdered.

The two took off towards the trailer park, where Nancy noticed Fred began to act differently. He had been jumpy since their arrival when they were reluctantly let in by Officer Daniels.

They had struggled to find anyone willing to speak with them, until they found Wayne Munson, Eddie's uncle, and guardian, sitting on a nearby picnic table. Nancy had convinced him to speak with her about the situation, and Wayne started his point of view, which was that Eddie was too good of a kid to murder someone. Wayne had known from the jump that the media was going to spin this story to pin Eddie as the murderer and that he was an easy target because of his metalhead appearance, his lower social status at school, his interests, and the fact that he dealt drugs. He wanted them to look into the killer because he knew that it was Victor Creel that did this- an elderly man locked up in Penhurst Asylum for killing his entire family in the late 50s and taking their eyes, just like Chrissy.

As Nancy was wrapping up her small interview with Wayne Munson, she looked up to find that Fred was no longer there. She had gotten up and scoured the entire trailer park until sunset, but still had no luck with finding Fred, and nobody had seen him either. She reported it to Officer Daniels, who then called for police to be on the scene.

The next morning, Fred Benson was found lying in the middle of the road where the group was parked now. His bones were shattered and his jaw had been broken, his eyes missing and their sockets bloodied, just like what had been done to Chrissy.

***

Nancy closed her eyes as they all sat around the picnic table, deep in thought. "So... you're saying that this thing that killed Chrissy and Fred, it's from the Upside Down?"