𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝙒𝙊𝙐𝙉𝘿𝙎 𝙒𝙀 𝙎𝙃𝘼𝙍𝙀 ᵉᵈᵈⁱᵉ ᵐᵘⁿˢᵒⁿ

☼ 9

; T R U T H
fly by LUDOVICO EINAUDI

After almost falling over, Matilda succesfully provoked Eddie to sit down and take a few deep breaths. Completely contrary to before, his eyes were unfocused again, his brows furrowed, his jaw clenched. Everything about him seemed to be in distress and Matilda was certain now that she hated to see him like this.

"Eddie, I promise you, we just want to talk", Dustin reassured the boy, kneeling down in front of him. The thing Matilda had guessed to be some kind of hard plastic was actually a broken beer bottle and suddenly she understood why Steve had been so terrified of it. Even now, he kept his distance.

"We want to know what happened", Robin contributed, kneeling beside Dustin. Eddie looked at them, his breath slightly fastened.

"You won't believe me", he sniffled and Matilda realized he was close to crying. Behind their legs, she squeezed his hand gently, to remind him of her support. His body was slightly leaning toward her and she felt the urge to pull him closer.

"Try us", Max mumbled, slightly cocking her head. Matilda frowned at her tone of voice and even Eddie seemed slightly thrown off. Then he shifted and looked at Matilda, as if seeking approval. She tried to smile warmly, but couldn't hide the fear of what he was about to say from her voice.

"You can trust them. You can trust me", Matilda whispered, trying not to think about the four people staring at her.

"But how do I know that?" His voice was unsteady, almost only a whisper, shaken by withheld tears.

"That's the thing about trust", she said with a smile. Eddie scoffed and slightly shook his head, then buried it in his hands.

"I swear to god if any of you call me crazy—"

"We will not", Dustin interjected and the others nodded. Eddie gulped and took another deep breath before adjusting his position, slightly tightening the grip around Matilda's hand.

"Chrissy Cunningham wanted to— She was gonna buy... something from me. I don't know why, I was freaked out myself when she asked. And I said yes, because, fuck, why not have Chrissy fucking Cunningham owe you money?" He laughed darkly, obviously not expecting anybody to chime in. In this moment his laughter sounded more like he was punishing himself. "We, uh, we went to my trailer, because I didn't have the stuff she wanted with me and... I— I was looking for it. And when I came back, she was, like, in some sort of trance? I tried to snap her awake, I swear, I really tried. And then her body just, like, lifted up into the air and, uh... And she just, like, hung there. In the air. And her bones, uh, she—" His voice broke off for a second and for a moment Matilda thought he wouldn't continue. Her heart felt like it was beating in her throat, terrified of what he was about to admit to. "Her bones started to snap." Matilda had to stop herself from backing away and tightened her jaw. Eddie's eyes looked completely empty and his expression was pained. Like it hurt him to talk about it. He didn't dare to look at anyone. "Her eyes, man... It was like there was something, like, inside her head, pulling. I... I didn't know what to do, so I..." He stopped again, looking like he was about to throw himself into Lover's like. "I ran away." Matilda didn't know if the feeling of guilt had a sound, but if it did, she was certain to hear it in Eddie's voice. Guilt, self hatred, regret. All bottled up inside of such a small human being. "I left her there... You all think I'm crazy, right?" He scoffed and looked around, checking the other's faces, only stopping when his eyes were about to cross Matilda's. She felt a tear running down her cheek and a knot that only seemed to tighten inside of her stomach.

"No. We don't think you're crazy", Dustin said, but Eddie snapped and cut him off loudly.

"No, don't bullshit me, man, I know how this sounds!" He tried to hide his silent sobs, but Matilda caught every last one of them.

"We're not bullshitting you", Max said quietly.

"We believe you." Robin. Dustin cleared his throat and glanced at Matilda, as if making a mental note to ask questions about her later.

"Look, what I'm about to tell you might be a little... difficult to take", he started, obviously hesitant. When no one interfered and Eddie mumbled an okay, he continued. "You know how people say Hawkins is cursed? They're not... way off. There's another world. A world hidden beneath Hawkins. Sometimes it bleeds into ours." Matilda just stared at him, unable to determine if they were messing around or serious. Okay, they looked serious. There was just no way what they were saying was true.

"Like ghosts and shit?", Eddie asked, fully being his eloquent self.

"There are some things... worse than ghosts", Max answered and just now Matilda noticed how tired she looked.

"These monsters... We thought they were gone, but they've come back before. That's why we needed to find you", Dustin ended, now sounding a little like a fortune teller.

"If they're back again, we need to know."

"That night, did you see anything?", Robin asked.

"Dark particles, maybe?", Max tried to help. But Eddie shook his head.

"No, there was nothing you could see or, uh, or touch... You know, I tried to wake her, man", Eddie mumbled, now seemingly only addressing Dustin. "She couldn't move. She was like... like..."

"Under a spell." Eddie lifted his head at Dustin's words.

"A curse."

"Vecna's curse." They looked at each other, obviously having some sort of understanding.

"Who is Vecna?", Steve asked, saying out loud what everyone was thinking. Dustin proceeded to explain the identity of Vecna, a monster from their D&D game, some sort of dark wizard with great power. Matilda just looked back and forth between them, not really able to follow. For some reason, she almost felt relief over the whole other-world-thing, but that didn't mean she understood it.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait. I think before we dive deeper into this Vecna-business we should first uncover what she's got to do with all this", Robin now said, fed up with Matilda not explaining herself. She felt Eddie squeeze her hand as if he just now remembered she was still there. All looks were fixed on her now and she had to gulp before speaking.

"Uh, I'm Matilda", she muttered, unsure of how much to reveal about herself. They didn't need a biography, even though they looked at her like they wanted one.

"And how exactly did you end up here... with Eddie?", Max asked and the lack of accusing tone comforted Matilda. She shifted her seat and looked at Eddie for help, but he seemed to be back in his own thoughts, probably replaying what had happened over and over again.

"I, uh, I live at the same trailer park as him and... I saw him run out. And when I realized how scared he was, I decided to go with him." The second sentence sounded more like a question than an answer, but to be fair, Matilda wasn't sure what had provoked her to do what she'd done. No one in their right mind would've followed Eddie into that car. No one in their right mind would've slept on the same couch with him.

"So, you two are friends?", Robin tried to put the puzzle together, but both Eddie and Matilda immediately shook their heads.

"Barely know each other."

"Maybe spoke, like, once."

"Uh-huh", Steve said, not exactly sounding like he believed the story. "So you went god-knows-where with god-knows-who for god-knows-what reason, simply out of the goodness of your heart?"

"I— I guess", Matilda stuttered, not sure what he wanted to hear. Eddie shook his head and stood up, breaking off the interrogation.

"It's the truth, guys. I don't know why she did something so incredibly stupid, but she did, here we are, who cares?" Steve held up his hands again, a mocking look on his face.

"No one, I guess."

"Good", Eddie said.

"Yeah, good."