freaks ✾ eddie munson

6

I must have fallen asleep because I was awoken to Eddie struggling under my grasp. It was still bright outside so it must have not been very long.

"Oh, god. Sorry." I said, getting off of him.

"Don't worry about it, as long as you were comfortable." He smiles at me and pauses.

"Tired?" He asks.

"Very." I drag out the word. "This shit is so unbelievably tiring. And this is like my.. fourth time going through this? Still not used to it."

"Four times? This has happened four times?"

"Yeah, well not exactly. This guy is news to me. I think this is the worst one so far."

"Tell me about it. About everything that happened before."

"You sure?" I don't want to freak him out, again.

"Yeah, I'm curious. Plus it will pass time." He moves his hands around frantically.

"Alright, well, it all started with Will Byers. Not sure if you know him."

"Oh, I remember! Jonathan's little brother. It was all over the news about how he 'died' and somehow came back."

"Yeah, that's what the media thought." I said and he looked confused. "We call this other dimension the 'upside down.' And basically, the demogorgon took him there."

"Demogorgon? Like, from D&D?"

"Yeah." I paused. "Remember how Steve told you about the girl with powers?" He nodded.

"We call her El. She came from this laboratory which experimented on all sorts of kids who had powers, like her. And Mike, Dustin, and Lucas found her while searching for Will."

He seemed to be really interested in all of this. "She id such a big help. I think that's why we're so stuck without her. But anyway, that laboratory covered up Will's disappearance by making a copy of his body and tossing it into the river. But Joyce, his mom, wouldn't give up. Eventually, her and Hopper, the old chief, found a way into the upside down and got Will. If Steve wasn't so obsessed with Nancy, I wouldn't have been dragged into this."

I looked up at him. "I left a little out, but I don't wanna ramble."

"I like when you ramble." He smiled back at me.

"Want me to continue?"

"Yes."

✾ ✾ ✾

After explaining everything to him, it started to get darker outside.

"Shit." He said. "You guys have really been through a lot."

"Yeah, I guess so."

My stomach started to make noise and I tried my best to hide my embarrassment.

"Hungry?"

"Yeah.."

Eddie hopped out the boat, and started to search through the bag of goodies we brought for him. He held up a can of soup.

"Cold?" I asked. Gross, but better than nothing, I guess.

"No, we can go heat it up in Rick's house."

"It's dark."

"I'll protect you." He smiled, mocking me.