Raising Hel | a Stranger Things fanfiction

Chapter 10

Timeline check: sets during ST4 episode 3, on Sunday 23rd of March 1986

Helen parks in front of the dinner – she drove there without thinking – and waits for her heartbeat to slow down. She feels ridiculous for running away like that, those kids must have taken her for a loony! She rests her head on the wheel, inhales, holds her breath, counts to 4 then exhales. She's on her third cycle when she hears the knock on her window.

She snaps her neck and finds Wayne Munson. Feels like déjà vu...

– You okay, he asks when she opens her door.

She gives him a queasy smile. He looks tired.

– You heard news from Eddie?

– No, she mumbles. I was hoping you had.

He shakes his head, then examines her.

– You look like you've seen the devil. Have you been eating?

Hellen feels tears coming up in her eyes. It shouldn't come as a surprise that Eddie's uncle is such a caring person. It's a shame the gene skipped on Eddie's father.

It's after they ordered lunch and sat at a table by the window that the tears roll down her cheeks: when he asks if she would mind talking about Eddie.

– It's okay if you don't, he adds quickly. It's just ... every time I see him pissed or sad or even happy, he writes those damn letters. And I wish I'd ask him what's going on more often...

Hellen wipes her face and says softly:

– I don't mind at all.

She waits for their plates to be set before them, trying to figure out where to start.

– He always speaks fondly of you in his letters, she says without looking up from her food. Even when we were in high school. I remember when you became his legal guardian, he was ... so relieved... He said he was finally going to be able to grow his hair.

Wayne chuckles and when Hellen glances at him, his eyes are shiny.

– Yeah. My brother... He ain't the best kind of father.

– Eddie was very distraught when he learned his father was coming out of jail before his majority. But he told me later on that you were able to solve this issue.

– Forced my brother to sign some papers saying he resigned all his rights over his son, he acknowledges.

Hellen chews on her lips, turns to the window and says:

– Thank you.

– Why are you thanking me?

– In case he didn't.

They both fall silent, only exchanging glances for a moment. Then M. Munson asks the question she knows he's been willing to ask from the day they met at the trailer park.

– You said you were friends in high school, uh?

– Yes, we met at the D&D club. I was a senior when he was a freshman.

– I didn't realize you were older than him.

Hellen laughs nervously.

– I used to call him my little brother. I don't know why we bonded so tightly, we just did. He helped me realize reaching for my dreams wasn't foolish and I did what I could to help him cope with his father.

– Hm ... He was really hard on Eddie by the end. He said the boy needed to toughen up... He never understood Eddie wasn't the violent type. Or maybe he did, and didn't like it.

There's a silence before Mr. Munson adds:

– Maybe I should thank you too, then.

– All I did was offer him a shoulder to cry on and show him how to channel his creativity to escape his problems for a while.

Hellen waits until they're back on the parking lot to ask her own burning question. Drugs...

– Ah, yes ... I'm not sure when it began or how. One day I found a box full of weed, not that well hidden. He told me he needed the money for his music. I know he meant his tattoos. I know he's using too but ... I just...I just made him swear I wouldn't find him choking in his own spew in the morning.

From the way he avoids her eyes, she wonders how many times he did come home to Eddie covered in vomit. The shame creeps up inside her too. She missed it. There must have been hints in Eddie's letters and she couldn't read between the lines.

– Don't you blame yourself, kid. Something tells me things would have gotten worse without your letters.

She smiles sadly.