Vecna's Pawn || Eddie Munson

~The Flayer~

Eddie's POV:

I lay Aaron down carefully on the ground below Skull Rock. He looks so peaceful right now.

I hate myself for doubting him.

He was acting strange but I didn't know anything was seriously wrong until I heard his tapping.

As soon as I recognized the pattern of his tapping, I rushed out to the house to tell the others that we had a problem. No one answered.

Now here I am, troubled with the task of keeping the Mind Flayer at bay.

I have no idea why it's called that but I love the 'dungeons and dragons' reference.

I stole a radio from a construction site so that I could get in contact with the others.

I managed to get a hold of them a while ago and I told them where we were.

I was about to radio them again when I heard voices from below where I sat on the rock.

As they got closer, I recognized Steve's familiarly annoying voice calling Dustin a butthead.

I silently laugh to myself before jumping down from the rock and making an amazing entrance. "I concur," I say. "You, Dustin Henderson, are a total butthead."

He rushes up to me and gives me an enormous hug.

"What happened? Where's Aaron?" Steve questions, getting straight to the point.

"Nothing good." I tell him solemnly. "Aaron is possessed by something. He called it the Mind Flayer." I shrug in confusion.

Steve curses as the rest of the gang goes quiet. "Great, this is just great!" Steve remarks sarcastically while pacing back and forth.

"Hold on a second." Max interrupts. "Are you saying what I think you're saying?" Max asks me with a shaky voice.

I shrug at her in confusion.

"Max..." Steve starts but Max won't let him finish.

"Is Aaron gonna end up like Billy?" She turns on Steve, her voice cracking.

Steve looks at her solemnly while I stand there confused. Billy? As in Billy Hargrove? He was possessed by the Mind Flayer?? That would explain why he was always such a total ass.

"Not necessarily..." Robin intervenes. "I remember Steve telling me that Will was once possessed by the Mind Flayer as well. Will is still alive, isn't he?" She says making a valid point.

"Okay wait." I stop them. "I'm confused."

Steve let's out an audible sigh. "The Mind Flayer possessed Will a while back but we got it out by trapping it somewhere warm; the Flayer likes it cold so that ultimately made it leave Wills body."

"Okay..." I draw out, confused. "Why didn't you just do that with Billy?" I ask, sceptical of whether or not Aaron will come out of this alive.

"We did." Lucas says. "We trapped him in the sauna but Billy is really strong so he broke out."

"Okay...so how do we-" Im interrupted by Dustin, who hasn't said anything in a really long time.

"Bada. Bada. Boom!" He says weirdly. "I was right, Skull rock was north.

Steve scoffs. "Again with this?"

They get into a huge argument about compasses and gates and all that shit that I don't understand, while I try desperately to get their attention.

"Guys???" I question. "How do we free Aaron?!"

"You don't." I hear his voice whisper and I spin my head around.

Everyone else is too busy arguing to realize that Aaron is awake.

"Shit." I mutter underneath my breathe.

"Don't you get it, Eddie?" The Flayer mocks. "Billy and Will were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, but Seven was chosen for this."

"Seven isn't a person to be loved." It says with a sinister smile that feels all kinds of wrong upon Aaron's face. "From the beginning, Aaron was, and always will be, Vecna's Pawn."

My eyes sting as I stare at the face of the man I've grown to admire. Rage consumes me as I grab the refilled syringe from the ground and inject it into his neck. "You're wrong," I tell it. "Aaron will always be Aaron. Nothing more, nothing less, because Aaron is perfect."

Those are the last words it hears before it's out like a light.

I turn around only to see that everyone else is still arguing...aside from Max.

She looks at me with a terrible sort of sorrow lingering in her eyes. She seems close with Aaron so I shrug it off as worry.

I grab Steve's bag from the ground and take a rope from inside. I then make my way back to Aaron and tie the rope firmly around his arms and legs.

As I look down at Aaron, something tightens in my chest.

I look away and chose to ignore it.

I pick Aaron up in my arms and make my way back over to the group.

Steve and Dustin have seemed to settle their differences as we are now following his magic compass or some shit like that.

I don't know. To be honest I was more worried about Aaron.

Eventually, Dustin leads us back to Lovers lake. Whoop-die doo.

So now we have to hop on the same boat I left that lake with in the hopes of never returning. Fun.

The worst part about this is that I have to leave Aaron behind.

As much as I hate to admit it, I've started to care for him in more than just a friend way. I'm not saying I'm in love with him, but there's definitely something there.

I've known I was gay since day one. Girls never interested me and I'd always drool over guys in the halls. I even had a crush on Steve once.

I could never tell anybody though. Being gay in the eighties is almost impossible. I'd be worse than bullied.

I decide to leave Aaron in the hands of Dustin, while I hop on the boat.

I pull myself up on to the boat reluctantly and look to Steve as he too, jumps up on the boat.

"You said three!!" Dustin shouts at Steve, probably referencing an argument they had when I wasn't paying attention.

"sorry." Steve shrugs, not sounding sorry at all.

"Bedtimes at nine, kiddos!" I hear Robin shout.

I laugh quietly to myself.