Teenage Dirtbag (Eddie Munson x OC)

Vulnerable Minds

After her disturbing experience at the funeral, Jackie gave her condolences to the family and bolted out of the door before Jason Carver or any of the basketball boys had a chance to speak to her. She ran out into the parking lot, as fast as her legs could carry her in her heels, and scanned the area for Steve's car. Her curly hair bounced up and down on her shoulders as she strode across the pavement, the skirt of her dress billowing in the wind.

As she approached, the group inside noticed how fast she was moving. Nancy, Robin, Steve, Dustin, Max, and Lucas all stepped out of the car, staring at her with confused expressions.

Steve quirked an eyebrow at her and leaned his forearm up against the roof of the station wagon. "What's wrong with y-"

"Just drive!" She whispered harshly through gritted teeth.

"What?"

"Get back in the car!" She shooed all of them back into the car before stepping inside and slamming the door shut.

Lucas and Max sat on either side of her while Robin and Nancy took the passenger and driver's seats. Dustin and Steve, with no care for who might have been looking, jumped into the trunk and sat across from each other.

As Jackie sat down in the middle seat of the car, all eyes turned around to look at her. Nancy started to speak. "Are you okay?"

Jackie shook her head, closing her eyes. "No- no, not okay-"

"What happened?" Dustin asked, his voice somewhat panicked.

For a moment, Jackie reflected on the events of the funeral. After the events occurring in the past few years, Jackie had multiple flashbacks. There were moments where situations would replay over and over and over to the point where she would have to excuse herself from events to go calm down somewhere else, alone. But what she saw at the funeral was different. This one felt like being back in the moment and she was physically unable to move. She had never had flashbacks or nightmares like the ones she had been getting lately.

She picked up her head, turning towards Max, who already seemed to know. "I think something's wrong... with me. I think I'm- I don't know..."

"You think you're next," The red-headed girl finished for her, her face deathly serious.

The car interrupted into several gasps, expressions of fear, and complaints about 'not this again.'

"But Jackie," Lucas' eyes widened, his jaw agape. "We need you! We can't figure this out without you-"

"That's not true," Jackie shrugged. "I'm sure you'd all do fine-"

"We're in deep shit!" Dustin cursed loudly.

"Maybe not!" She tried to offer, making her voice sound hopeful, especially for the younger kids in the car who were particularly stressed out. Jackie looked around hastily, holding up her hands in defense. "There's still some logical explanation for all this-"

"Like what?" Robin croaked.

Nancy shook her head, ceasing the murmurs throughout the car. "What happened?"

Jackie shrugged, looking around the group awkwardly. "Well, uh, I've been getting these headaches- the ones where it feels like someone is squeezing your eyes from inside of your head? And I've been having nightmares, like I told you about," She gestured to Nancy and Robin, who exchanged a knowing look. "I-I've been able to deal with them fine, you know, but these ones are so... weird."

"Weird how?" Max asked her softly, but firm.

"They feel real," She whispered. "I've had them ever since Sara died, and they've gotten worse since everything's happened, but these ones feel like I'm really there. And usually, they're just repeats of things that I've been through, slightly to the left. But I had one the other night where I was back at Starcourt, in the parking lot, and Joyce started asking me if I had seen Will and Jonathan, but then she changed. And her eyes went all white and she wouldn't let go of me, and then she started talking all about how it's, you know-"

"You don't have to tell us," Lucas shook his head. "It's okay."

Jackie nodded at him, giving the younger boy an appreciative smile, despite her anxious mood, before continuing. "And just now, I was at the funeral and I started to space out, and then it was like I was back at my Dad's funeral. But I was watching myself talk, but I was so... well-spoken, I guess. It was like I was programmed, but I was saying everything I had said before. And then she started talking to me right before the coffin fell through the floor and then I snapped back into it."

She looked around the group, watching as they all either stared at her in stunned silence or how they looked away. "I've had all these things before. The headaches with no contacts or my real glasses, the flashbacks, the nightmares- but these are wrong," Her voice began to shake slightly. "I know that they're wrong."

The car went quiet again as they all rested with the idea. It wasn't a confirmation, but if the shoe fits. Jackie fits the criteria. She's back in Hawkins, she's faced these issues before. Much like Max, and Fred- who had been in a fiery car accident that made headlines, and Chrissy- who Jackie knew had issues in her home life, Jackie had faced extreme amounts of trauma. From her sister's death to her step-family that made her run away, to the Upside-Down and the Russians. Most recently was when her father died brutally trying to save the world.

Vecna's victims have deep, emotional baggage. If what Jackie believes to be correct rings true, Vecna attempts to infiltrate the minds of these vulnerable children, breaking them down until he can easily break in and kill them mercilessly. If this is all based on fact, then Jackie fits the bill.

"I'm sorry to drop this on you," She apologized to the group as the thick silence still settled over them. "I should've been thinking, you know? I should've tried to plan this out before it got this far. As soon as I got headaches, I should've known."

The group immediately began to argue against this, denying any thoughts that she might've had in a way that nearly overwhelmed her.

"Jackie, you couldn't have known," Nancy answered honestly, although Jackie could see the gears turning in the girl's mind. "These are all very reasonable things."

"Yeah," Steve added. "Just... different."

"Way different," Robin continued, her eyes going wide as she spoke. "As in supernatural different. Totally not reasonable-reasonable, but still reasonable, right?"

She gave Robin an appreciative look as her friend tried to make her words form a proper sentence from the passenger side. "Thanks, Robin." Jackie looked between Robin and Nancy and then to Max. "So, what's the plan now?"

Nancy raised her shoulders. "We were planning on going to Victor Creel's house. Max said that when Vecna attacked, pieces of a house were floating around. We think it's his."

Jackie looked to her right and looked down at Max. "How'd you figure that one out?"

Max shrugged, crossing her arms across her chest. "It was more of Nancy's work."

"Yeah, but Max drew it all out," Dustin spoke up from the trunk. "Not very well, though. It kinda sucked. But it was enough that I guess Nancy could work with it."

"When did you get so smart?" She gave Max a proud grin, nudging the girl with her elbow and watching as Max smiled for one of the first times in a while.

"You don't have to," Nancy offered, interrupting for a moment. "If you don't want to see the house with everything going on. We can drop you at Eddie's-"

"No, we can't!"

Steve kicked Dustin harshly as Jackie heard the boy wince from the trunk.

Jackie shook her head, avoiding the conflict in the back. "No, I'm going."

Everyone looked at her in concern. "You sure?" Steve asked, his brows furrowed in confusion. "I mean, you haven't been attacked yet. It's only a matter of time and going there could really fast-track your timeline-"

"I don't care," Jackie replied firmly, a sudden change in attitude for someone who realized that they are currently on the verge of being killed. "I'm gonna go in. If this thing wants me dead, I'm gonna make sure I'm there when we learn how to kill it."