Wrapped Around Your Finger - Eddie Munson

Chapter Twenty Three: The Betrayal

"Where are we?" El asked.

"The arcade in Hawkins. It's where Eddie brought me for our first date." I smiled slightly.

I pushed open the door to the arcade. The loud colors and patterns a stark contrast to the beach and hospital settings we were previously in. The arcade was empty, save for El and I. Despite that, everything was the same.

"Vecna will be here soon." She stated.

"You said we needed a happy memory, right? This is about as happy as it gets." I assured her.

We sat and waited, filling each other in on our pasts. She explained to me the extent of Hawkins lab and the research there. That there were at least 19 of us in total. She told me how Henry killed them all, how she accidentally helped him unlock his powers again. My head was swimming with the all the information that had been dropped on me in the last 24 hours.

The lights started to flicker. El and I made eye contact, it was time. The room turned darker and red, the thick air returning. El stood from her seat, pushing me behind her. The building shook violently, sending this shattering to the floor.

Henry emerged from the dark edge of my memories. He stalked towards us slowly, happy to torment his prey. I was trembling, looking around for anything I could use to help El. Not that anything I did would matter now.

El got into position again, raising her right hand to him. She was still weak, but she didn't seem to care. She held her ground, unfazed. Her muscles tensed again as she clenched her fist so hard her knuckles turned white. I didn't know a little kid could be so terrifying.

I hadn't even noticed she'd started screaming. The sound of my heartbeat in my ears drowned out practically everything. I screwed my eyes shut, feeling the cold tears leak down my face. All I could think of was Eddie and how much I missed him, how badly I wanted to hold him again.

I imagine his laugh, the laughing so hard you're nearly crying laugh. I thought about the voices he'd make during DnD, how passionately he acted out the lines. I could smell the scent of menthol cigarettes that cling to his jacket. Hell, I could even feel his hands running through my hair and hear him reading The Hobbit to me.

I was crying, at least that's what the tears on my face told me. Everyone was talking to me or to El, but I couldn't understand what anyone was saying. I saw El roll out of the metal tub, clearly exhausted. Joyce was saying something, looking between El and I. El looked at me and nodded. Eddie crashed into me with a hug, his own hot tears bringing my cold skin.

"I'm so glad you're ok." He hiccuped.

"Am I... is he out of my head?" I asked.

"Not entirely, but once he's dead he will be." Will sighed.

"So let's kill this son of a bitch." Hopper grunted.

"I agree!" Chrissy cheered, everyone paused and looked at me.

"Is that... Is Chrissy Cunningham your sword?" Eddie asked.

"Yeah, it's kind of a long story, but basically Vecna put her soul in this and if it wasn't for her I wouldn't have broke free from Vecna." I explained.

"Are we just going to move right past that?" Steve said, looking at everyone else who just seemed to want to get this over with.

"Do we have a plan?" I questioned.

"While you were both under we sorted it out." Jonathan answered, "You wanna explain, Nance?"

"We'll be splitting up into three teams. Team A will be you, El, Hopper, Nancy, and Steve. You'll be leading the main attack. Team B will be Jonathan, Eddie, Joyce, Robin, and Dustin. They'll be flanking Vecna to push him to you. Team C will be Argyle, Murray, Mike, Lucas, and Will. They're in charge of the distraction." Nancy explained.