Waiting Room | A Stranger Things Story - Eddie Munson | VOLUME II

I Know It's Over | Part VII

𝐈 𝐊𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐎𝐯𝐞𝐫 \  𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐕𝐈𝐈

𝐓𝐰𝐨 𝐃𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐋𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫

'𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐃𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐇 𝐓𝐎𝐋𝐋 𝐍𝐎𝐖 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐒 𝐀𝐓 𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐘 𝐓𝐖𝐎. But with hundreds more filling Rhone County Hospitals and hundreds more still missing. This is only the latest tragedy to befall this once safe town. Most recently, a string of Hawkins High School students were brutally murdered in what has been linked to instances of ritualistic sacrifice held by a local Satanic cult known as Hellfire. The leader of this cult; Eddie Munson along with his most recently known victim, a Hawkins High Student by the name of Kathryn Alden have both been missing since the earthquake and both are presumed dead in a devastating turn of events.'

The group had taken Eddie and myself out to the rural part of Hawkins to a seemingly abandoned cabin in the middle of the woods.

It was dank and dirty in appearance. Covered in dust and cobwebs with very little furnishings. Steve, Dustin and Eddie were outside of the bedroom sweeping and moving furniture to make it a more liveable environment. Not that I cared too much about that right now.

I was sat upright on a decrepit chair in one of the bedrooms, gripping the underneath to support myself as I leaned my head back.
Nancy was behind me with a porcelain basin that sat atop an old wooden crate as she raked the soapy water through my hair.

I sat in silence as I could feel idle droplets of water trickle down the front of my face.

The motions stopped as I felt her shift across the hard wood floor as she reached over onto the bed to grab a towel. She draped this across my hair as she began squeezing the ends of my wet hair to try it off.

'There. Does that feel a bit better?' She asked.

'Yeah, thanks.' I said, meekly.

She handed me the towel from behind me as I took it from her, continuing to squeeze out the rest of the water.

'I bought over a box of old clothes that I thought might come in handy.' She started, traipsing across the room to pick up a cardboard box.
'Most of them should fit you, I appreciate a lot of it probably isn't your style but I figured it can't hurt. Robin and Steve bought blankets and pillows and other things for sleeping as well, they're out in the living-room.' She said, offering me a small smile.

She still looked perfect even in the face of mass destruction. Her hair was perfectly kept and clipped back away from her face.

'No, it's great. Thank you.' I nodded, standing up from my seat and making my way over to perch on the end of the bed.

'We'll get this place cleaned up for you guys in no time.' She continued, walking over to the chair and moving it over to the corner of the room.

'Just - tell me to go away if this isn't warranted. But, I just want you to know that I understand.' She said, her voice slightly frantic as though she was overstepping an unspoken boundary.

'Understand what?' I enquired, lowering the towel down into my lap as I let my damp hair lay across my shoulders, feeling the water sink into my shirt.

'I lost someone special to me too.' She said, looking down at the floor.

'Her name was Barb. Or, Barbara. She was my best friend. And I lost her, a couple of years back when this all started happening. But, I still think about her almost everyday.' She gazed at me apologetically from beneath her curled bangs.