his shadow | eddie munson

↝ chapter fifteen

run to the hills - iron maiden
16 | little sheep
☿

dustin sniffled, his eyes trained on the ground as he blinked receptively, trying to hold in his incoming tears. he sat kneeled on the ground clutching a denim vest in his hands— eddie's dio vest, which he had given to steve, who had then passed it onto dustin after he had given eddie's uncle eddie's guitar pick necklace, and left nothing for himself to keep of his friend.

he was kneeling on the ground underneath skull rock, envisioning the last time he'd been there. with the group, with eddie. he missed him horribly, he couldn't sleep or eat or speak to his full extent. his heart was wrapped with guilt— they had to leave his body in the upside down— he deserved to be buried, to be mourned over. but that could never happen with the town forever having such an unjust vendetta against eddie's back.

"i'm so sorry, eddie," dustin's voice broke and he choked out a cry, his head falling as he brought up the denim vest and began sobbing in it. "i'm so sorry."

the sky was dark, grey with clouds and flickering with red lightning here and there, sometimes dust particles would fall like ash, sometimes vines would wrap around trees or slither along the ground. the upside down was making its way into hawkins. dustin wished he cared enough to join the others in devising their plan, but he wasn't ready. he didn't know if he would ever be.

you're going to have to look after those little sheep for me.
i didn't run away this time, right?
look at us, we're not heroes.
i think it's my year, henderson.
i love you, man.

he hadn't stopped hearing eddie's voice the minute he lost him. it echoed in his mind like a second voice in his head, like a second wave of thoughts. sometimes he could hear eddie laughing, could see him smiling in memories, but then the memory would flicker and he'd be back in the upside down, crying over eddie's dead body as steve tried to gently pull him off. he didn't want to leave him, he wanted to stay with him, to wait until everything was over so he could take him back to hawkins and give him the send-off he deserved. he wanted to wait around just a little longer, just in case he'd only passed out...

dustin...

his sobs began to slow, and dustin regained control over his breathing very slowly. through his blurred vision he could see that a dark cloud was glooming over him. he sat under the rock, and watched as the cloud disappeared and the sun shone suddenly. the ground brightened, and the world seemed lighter in that moment. dustin wanted to curse at it for being so happy.

a shadow appeared on the ground before him, standing atop the rock he had resided under. it looked like a person— steve, he presumed.

"steve, i told you i want to be alone!" dustin's voice was hoarse as he outburst.

the shadow shifted— it seemed to break apart in pieces, fluttering in different directions. bats. dustin gasped and rose form the ground, his hands wiping at his eyes. he was hallucinating, over-exhausted and hungry. the bat-shaped shadows dispersed, fluttering away, as the sun seemed to hide away with them.

dustin crept into the open-space, and slowly turned around.

no one stood over the rock.

"hello?" dustin called out, unsure whether he had imagined the shadows. "steve?"

"steve, steve, steve— this obsession with him is growing old, man."