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Eddie Munson was having an absolutely horrendous day.
He was wanted for murder.
And he was losing his mind.
He wasn't quite sure if he could believe his own memories. Maybe he had done it- had some sort of psychotic break and murdered Chrissy.
Because people didn't just roll their eyes back into their heads, float off the ground, and twist their own limbs until they each snapped. And how could someone's eyes be crushed into their sockets of their own accord?
Eddie had spent the entire day listening to the news, stewing in his own paranoia and guilt, and hiding in Reefer Rick's abandoned cabin because it was on the edge of Hawkins that no one had any business being on unless they needed to purchase an illicit substance.
The cabin was in the middle of nowhere, far from prying eyes- seeing that Rick had been sent away for a year long vacation on the government's dime, and the few neighbors he had were only there in the summer for a couple weeks of fishing on the lake. Eddie was lucky enough to be apprised of the hide-a-key under the last half rotten porch step so he could water Rick's plants and sell a bit of the crop from time to time to put a bit of cash on Rick's books.
And now, apparently, hide from the population of Hawkins who he was sure would be out for his blood.
He couldn't even blame them.
He was Eddie "The Freak" Munson and Chrissy was a perfectly popular, cheerleading Queen of Hawkins High who, acceptably, was dating the Hawkins High State Champion Basketball Captain- like small town Barbie and Ken.
By all accounts Chrissy should have had no business anywhere near his trailer. No one even knew they had ever spoken to each other.
Eddie, himself , had just begun to get over the shock of finding out they had more in common than their outward appearances would imply- that he might have a chance of befriending the girl he'd had a star-crossed crush on since freshman year. Only to have it all blow up in a spectacularly horrifying fashion.
At first he thought Chrissy had been having a seizure. Then he noticed she wasn't touching the ground anymore and all sense left him. Everything after that was a haze of screams and cracking bones and his shoulder hitting the door of the trailer so hard on his mad dash away from the incomprehensible scene that it still didn't feel quite right.
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The only thing keeping him from outright believing his mind made up some elaborate lie to shield himself from a homicidal breakdown was the fact that he was in the same clothes from that night and there wasn't a drop of blood on him. There was never any blood on his hands. He hadn't even showered since that morning before school.
He really needed to fix that, he stank of fear-sweat and Reefer Rick's namesake.
But that would have to wait because he was hiding in the boathouse after sprinting out there in a panic from hearing the sound of a car driving down the private lake road.
His thoughts were all over the place. Not like they were ever calm. He was used to the whirlpool of thoughts his brain regularly resembled. But his body was dipping dangerously into full blown panic, his mind with it at the promise of a confrontation with the cops immediately on the horizon.
Nothing stood between Eddie and his pursuers but a dilapidated boathouse and a cheap tarp.
He was going to have a heart attack before they could get to him, so he wasn't sure why he was so worried about facing the consequences.
Just when Eddie thought he couldn't take the tension ratcheting up any further, he heard the terrifying sound of something breaking the surface of the water, splashing frantically, directly behind the John boat he was currently planning his own funeral in.
He whipped the tarp off of himself and jumped over to the floor of the boathouse, surprising himself when he looked down at his hand and realized he'd grabbed one of the broken bottles out of the bottom of the boat to brandish as a weapon.
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He dropped it when he saw what was making all the commotion.
It was a person, gasping for air and hacking up water seemingly at the same time, blindly grabbing for anything to cling to as they were unable to swim while actively drowning.
Eddie didn't hesitate, he reached for their hand and pulled as hard as he could. They grabbed onto his wrist for dear life and didn't let go when Eddie yanked them out of the lake. They ended up falling over on top of one another- seeing as Eddie didn't take his strength into account and the person was unexpectedly light.
The shock of suddenly having a soaking wet, drowning person in his lap made everything around Eddie snap into focus.
He sat up, one arm sliding around their shoulders to help support them, and moved the long strands of dripping, dark hair out of their face to try and help them catch a breath. They shook with a few wracking coughs, spitting up mouthfuls of water, before they looked up and Eddie got a good look at their face.
Eddie noticed their eyes first.
A dark blue ring around gray blue irises made them stand out even more sharply against the bloodshot whites, rimmed with wet lashes that weren't particularly long, but set a bit of a feminine edge to the almond shape. Though the sharp, high cheekbones and even sharper jawline made Eddie think handsome , not pretty.
He wasn't thinking about their face for much longer because as soon as they caught their breath, the first words they spoke were-
"Oh good. I found Eddie Munson."