Joseph Quinn and Characters Imagines

His Mother's Child - Eddie Munson

You and Eddie had been dating for a few years now. Every year, Eddie would always become distant when winter time came around. You just assumed he was always extra busy, but this year needed to be different for you.

CW: mention of death, parent death, cancer, this one is SAD
...

The snow was falling early on a December morning. School had taken a snow day, so you had nothing to do except wait inside for the snow to melt. You being yourself, you just couldn't sit around in your house anymore. You grabbed the car keys and safely drove to Eddie's home.

You knocked on the door and waited for a bit. No answer. His uncle Wayne wasn't home, but Eddie must be.

You called out after a few more knocks. "Eddie? Let me in please."

No response. You grew a little bit worried. As soon as you were about to give up, you remembered he kept a spare key in a tiny potted plant next to the door. It looked very out of place, and would probably be a very easy place to find.

"Eddie, I'm coming in." You warned one last time as you put the key into the door, turning the knob.

His entire home was dark. There were no lights on. It still had that lived-in feeling it always had, except it just looked abandoned and dead. It was like a ghost town.

"Eddie? You in here honey? Are you gonna come out?" You slowly stepped around his trailer, looking for any sign of life. As you made your way closer to his bedroom, the sound of muffled cries filled your ears.

Your heart sunk. Those were Eddie's tears for sure. Even though you had never heard him cry before, you could tell it was him.

"Eddie? What's wrong, baby?" You knocked on his bedroom door that was locked shut. "You wanna talk about it?"

"Go away." His voice cracked with desperation. "Please."

"Ed's, please open the door." You pleaded with sympathy. "Please open the door, we can talk this through and can figure out what's wrong? 'Kay? I can only help you feel better if I know what's wrong."

"No."

And then you remembered. A while ago, Wayne had told you a funny story about how their doors never locked that well, so they would always walk in on each other doing unusual things, and that's how they came up with their knocking policy.

You jingled the handle a bit, feeling the door becoming more unlocked each time. The door popped open after a couple tries.

There he was, hiding under a mound of blankets. There was not a single light source in his room. It was completely dark and quiet. The only sound that could be heard were the sound of his sobs.

His sobs grew heavier. "I said go away."

"Eddie, you know I can leave you alone right now. Not when you're this upset." You're heart broke for him. You just wanted to see him happy. "So, wanna tell me what's going on?" You sat down on the bed next to him, and wrapped your arms around the mound of blankets he was hiding under.

He sniffled and took a deep breath, finally revealing himself from under the covers. His eyes were red and puffy, with dark bags under them. His lips were dry and chapped, and his skin looked as pale as a ghost.

"Ed's..." your face grew concerned. "Do you feel okay?" You didn't want to directly state just how sickly he looked.

He let out a deep sigh and you noticed his body tensed up. He started to fidget with his own t-shirt, wrapping his fingers around the soft fabric.

You simply placed one of your hands on top of his to calm his fidgeting. He tried his best to calm his cries but failed. You pulled him into a hug and soothingly rubbed his shoulders.

He wiped away a few tears. "This is the time of year that- that-" He took a deep breath and gulped. "My mom... she um- died around this time of year." He choked on a sob as you continued to hold him close.

"Thank you for telling me. You're really brave." You moved some hair out of his face as he cried into you.

"Even though it happened all those years ago, it still haunts me. I don't know what to do..."

"You're so strong, Ed's. I always thought you were just busy around this time, since we kinda always grew distant around the winter seasons."

He finally looked up at you once more. "Oh, shit. Y/N, I never wanted you to feel that way. Oh jesus, you must think I hated you or something. I was only-"

"Oh hush. I understand. You don't need to explain yourself. You should allow yourself to heal from this however you want, even if that means not talking to me for an entire season." You let out a small chuckle, which also initiated a small chuckle from him. "What's gonna make you feel better? Because laying in your bed is not helping you at all."

"Would you wanna maybe..." he trailed off, and you already knew what he was thinking.

"Just say it. Whatever you say is not going to be silly." You stared him in the eyes. "Tell me. I hate seeing you like this. And you know I would do whatever you want me to so you will feel a tiny bit better."

He sighed. "Would you want to visit her? With me?"

"I would love that." As if your heart wasn't broken before, it was now shattered into a million pieces. "Thank you for asking me meet her."

He dried his tears and cleared his throat. "Her name was Caroline. I just remember her smile and her hugs. Asking me how school was everyday I got off the bus. Until, she didn't. She was diagnosed with cancer when I was in 5th grade, didn't even make it to see my first day of 6th. That's around the same time when my dad, Eric, was caught in a huge scheme and was arrested. I don't care about that shithead though, used to beat me brainless." Although he said he didn't care, you knew deep down in his face he did care. That was his father. It obviously left long term damage on him.

You had no words. Nothing you could say in this moment would help him. So you just hugged him. You hugged him so hard you felt you would break a rib.