✓ | FLOW ( eddie munson )

alternate ending

veda henderson

          Max is dead.

    It's like I can feel her life leave her, my bones aching where hers snap and my eyes burning with tears. Vecna got his fourth victim, he got his victory. Eleven managed to kill him, but not before he finally won.

    My eyes open, revealing my soul to be back in my body, sitting on the couch in Eddie's trailer home. My body feels weak, my muscles aching and failing as I take in everything around me.

    Max is gone. I failed her. 

    My eyes dart to the open hole to the upside down on the roof, the visions of Eddie facing off against an army of demo-bats resurfacing. No, not Eddie too. Vecna was just trying to get in my head and throw me off my game and it worked, he got Max. 

    I jump up so fast I almost get light-headed, pulling the couch under the hole and stepping on the arm of the furniture. I reach the short rope, latching on and pulling myself through despite the unbearable burn in my still injured bicep. 

    Adrenaline surges through my body as I yell, pushing myself through the barrier until I fall onto the ground of the upside down. My ribs ache at the contact, but I waste no time as I push myself to my feet and run through the door. 

    The wind blows through my hair as I bust through the trailer door, my legs pushing me further than they ever have as I barrel down the road. Dustin must be with him. All I can think about is both of their safety. I don't know what I would do if I lost them too.

    My lungs feel like they're filled with sandpaper, rubbing and scratching the inside surface until they're raw. My stomach turns, bile rising at the sickness I feel at the idea of them being hurt. 

    I get closer to two figures in the distance, my legs only pushing me harder across the space between. The closer I get, the further I want to be. My legs slow, my heart spending up until it feels like it's lodged in my throat. 

    My feet stop a few steps away from the pair in front of me, my knees wobbling at the scene. 

    "Veda!" Dustin calls in a sob, the male in his arms turning his head weakly in my direction. 

    He's still alive. 

    I run once more, my knees hitting the concrete and bruising my skin as I sit on the other side of Eddie, my hands shaking above his body.

    He smiles at me weakly, blood filling his mouth and coating his teeth. A sob escapes my lips at his condition, my head bowing until my forehead rests on his bloody chest. I feel his shaking hand reach up to the back of my head, holding me gently like I'm a piece of porcelain. 

    "Why would you go back?" I sob through cracks in my voice. I want to understand his thought process, but a bigger part of me is just angry that he would sacrifice himself. "You could have... you could have escaped,"

    "What would... be the fun in that?" He wheezes out his words through waves of pain. I lift my head, looking at him through teary eyes and a red nose. "I'm... sorry,"

    "C'mon, let's get him to a hospital," I demand of Dustin, trying to get a steady grip on Eddie. Eddie refuses, wafting me away and forcing me to look at him. 

    "It's no use, V," He says sadly, blood dripping from his mouth and down his chin. I look at Dustin, hoping maybe I can reason with him or find any sort of indication that I'm just hallucinating. I look back down to Eddie, my mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water, trying to find anything to say. Eddie takes this as his opportunity to speak once more, "You're the best thing about this town, Vey,"