𝐎𝐏𝐏𝐎𝐒𝐈𝐓𝐄𝐒 | | 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐒𝐡𝐚𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐬 [𝐄.𝐌]

Guilt Hidden, Secrets Revealed

A/N
Uh..the last chapter was a bit, dramatic?. lmao. It's only going to get more climatic as the story goes along.
The story will start properly this chapter, I just wanted you guys to kinda get an idea and understanding of Eddie's life and how he is now, cause he's an adult and no longer a baby :'(

Enjoy, my Munson Babies <3.

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EDDIE MUNSON

As the holiday season neared its end and the festivities dwindled, I found myself alone again. The loneliness that had been my constant companion since Chrissy's Christmas Day departure was still there, heavy like a mantle over my shoulders, waiting for me to succumb. For as long as I tried to resist it, it was inevitable, and it left me empty and broken, despite the company of family.

Steve, billy, Kathleen and Martha stayed a while longer here in Hawkins, talking 'bout - 'we can't leave a friend in need'. It wasn't so much that I was in need, it was that I hadn't planned for any of this to happen so soon, and so abruptly.

Even with my new family, the void was still there, and the loneliness was so much harder to bare. I missed Kim, and I know that I talk about it a lot..but who else can I talk to?. I mean, Chrissy doesn't get it and the rest of them either haven't grieved for her and so in the end they don't get me, or they've gotten over it and don't feel the agony of her anymore. And don't get me wrong, I miss the ease and comfort of her love, but I don't regret the family I have now, I couldn't. They're everything to me. Everything and more and they're a constant source of joy and pride, even if they get me out of my comfort zone and test my patience from time to time. They were the best thing that ever happened to me, and I wouldn't have it any other way, but had I not married Chrissy, they wouldn't be here, and I'd have had a life without them, with Kim.

Life is just harder without her and if she were here, I wouldn't be in so much pain... missing her so much. But she isn't, and I have to live with that.

So, in true Eddie Munson style, I drank and performed. The performance was me, alone in my basement stringing the cords to my girl so elegantly that it almost sounded as if she was real..as if she was a human with the most angelic voice known to man.

"Eddie.." a knock and a voice called from the basement door. "Hacks here." Chrissy said before her departing footsteps were all that I could hear.

Five days of silence, and that's the best I could get from her. The simplicity of a 'hacks here' was all Chrissy could give to me now, and that shit hurt.

I placed my guitar gently back on the stand and took my time making my way up into the house and towards the lounge, seeing Hacker sat on the sofa in his winter coat.

"Eddie." He said and stood up as his eyes found themselves lingering on my face. I recognised the expression he held, and it wasn't one that made me jump with joy.

"Hack." I said to him in return, inching closer to him. "Didn't expect to see you." I said without much emotion.

"Yeah, uh..been a busy year." A dry chuckle fell from his lips as he kept his hands inside of his pockets. "Sorry I didn't come for Christmas." He apologised half heartedly, but I could see that there was a reason for his absence.

"You should be glad. It was probably the worst one we've held." My body language softened as we spoke a little more, and it reminded me of the relationship we once had. The unusual healthy relationship between a father and his daughters ex boyfriend.