𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐨𝐞𝐬 ── eddie munson

004

On her way out of the school, Lola was unanticipatedly rammed into by an unknown freshman. He ran straight into her gut, rather violently, knocking the girl to her feet. She was about to curse the boy out, when a string of lispy curses left her attackers mouth first.

"Shit, shit, shit. Sorry, Lola." Said the boy. She looked up, arm shielding her face to shelter her eyes from the blinding sunlight. It was Dustin Henderson, his lips pursed and his face stained with cringe. Mike Wheeler was stood beside him, out of breath, like they had been running for a while. He held his hand out for his friend to take. Lola inhaled deeply, then smiled. She grabbed his hand, but didn't use him to pull herself up, she did that herself, but Dustin seemed very proud of himself. 

"Don't worry about it, Henderson," she beamed, trying to block out her heart beat thrashing against her ribcage, "have you grown some muscle recently? You pulled me up like it was nothing!"

Dustin blushed and shook his head dismissively, but naturally didn't stop smiling for the rest of the day after he heard that. He had been weightlifting with rocks in his yard every time he got bored, maybe it had paid off. 

"Lola!" Mike chirped, as if a lightbulb had gone off in his brain, "do you wanna join Hellfire tonight?"

"Do I have 'mega-dork' written across my forehead?"

Dustin and Mike gave each other the side-eye and laughed, "I mean..."

"Oh, behave. No can do, sorry bud. Have you asked Max?" 

"Yeah, and can you guess what she said?"

"Oh yeah. Well, good luck anyway. I hope you find someone, mega-dorks." She swallowed her nerves and forced a grin and ruffled the two boys' hair. They looked disappointed but smiled anyway. 

"It was worth a try," Dustin sighed, before immediately perking back up again and pulling his backpack up on his shoulders, "oh well, come on Mike!" 

And with that, the two boys sprinted away. How odd, she thought. Well, there were definitely worse kids for her sister to be hanging out with. She liked the little group Max hung around with, past tense because she hadn't really seen her go near anybody since Billy died. Lola knew that Billy and Max didn't get along so well, but what that poor girl must've gone through to witness the fire, to witness Billy. Lola caught a lucky break, if she had seen it she probably wouldn't be here. 

She moped all the way home, blasting the loudest songs she had on cassette. Some Sabbath and Crüe did the trick. The sun was hot and Lola could feel the sweat dripping down her back, which was complete contrast to not even a full hour ago, when the thing that happened that she couldn't bare to think of or she might just shut down. There were so many questions she couldn't answer. Sleepwalking whilst awake? That's the whole point of sleepwalking, to do it in your sleep, duh. Up to this point, Lola had tried everything to get it to go away. She starved herself of sleep for nights on end, stole some of Max's sleeping pills and some of Susan's booze. She'd tried falling asleep stoned out her mind, then completely sober. But nothing worked, and nobody knew it was going on but Lola herself, Ms. Kelly and... well. Lola wanted to forget that one. Desperately. 

Once she got home, she wasted no time in hurdling herself into the shower and getting right into bed. Every single Hawkins student would probably be at the school right now, doing regular kid things. The Tigers match was on, Lola knew that much. She used to watch Billy play, but now the sport meant nothing to her. She would sit front and centre on the bleachers, surrounded by a huge group of her friends whose names she couldn't now remember. Oh and of course, there was Eddie and his cult of dorks at Hellfire. She couldn't decide which one was worse. 

Lola stared straight up at her ceiling. Her eyes bored into the empty wallpaper, desperately hoping that if she closed her eyes they would reopen to her old bedroom in California. Her dad would be screaming at Billy to turn his music down and she would be on the phone to one of her many friends from Cali. It would be normal. But alas, Billy was dead and her father was gone and she certainly didn't want to close her eyes. However neither Max nor Susan was home and she was less of a danger to them if they weren't here. So, Lola tried to sleep. 

She tossed and turned, the line between real life and brain fantasy became blurred. The pillows were at a wrong angle, the covers were too thick, she couldn't get comfy and then the obvious constant foreboding fear weighing heavy in the pit of her stomach. To fall asleep nowadays was to sacrifice herself to her demons, that had only grew stronger this year. 

However, eventually, she slipped under without realising. 

Maybe the poor girl would finally see an unbroken nights rest, but then again, maybe not. Following the gentle fluttering open of her eyelashes, Lola saw a formidable figure with his back pressed against the cabinet in the corner of her room. His makeup-stained lips curled into a dastardly grin. "Welcome home," He sneered, pushing off the cabinet. She ignored him and turned the other way in her bedsheets, but they both knew you could never ignore him. He was sat on her desk chair, elbows rested on the table top, a newspaper from 1986 clutched in his dirty hands.

Suddenly, they weren't in her bedroom, but in the kitchen of her last house in Hawkins, and instead of leaning on her desk, he was sat on a stool at the breakfast bar. 

"Go away, I don't feel well," She hissed, opening up the fridge and taking a bottle of water. His haunting face surprised her from behind the closed fridge door. He basked in her shock, she knew he did. As well as any other negative emotion she had towards him or anybody else.

"Excuse me?"

She knew she should never argue with this one. He was sinister and cruel and emotionally desensitized, but she did anyway - and he didn't like it. His hand shot out and curled around Lola's neck. His painted nails dug deep into her skin. She clawed at his hands as maggots burrowed under his pale skin. They broke the surface in little holes. She screamed and he smiled, tightening his grip. No matter how hard she writhed in his grasp, the ungodly man just wouldn't let her go.

Then, her saving grace waltzed through the door holding a bag of Cheetos. "Oh my god, Lola?" And just like that, she could breathe again, and they were back to her bedroom. "Are you alright?" No.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" The girl smiled at her younger sister, who's eyes narrowed into slits with suspicion. 

"Right," Max nodded, "hey, who were you talking to just now?"

"Nobody. I was singing a song."

"Sure, okay." Max shrugged, definitely not buying it. But the younger sister couldn't think of any other explanation, as Lola didn't have a phone in her room. Albeit the confusion, Max let it go and retired to her room.

Lola sighed, reaching her hand up to her chest to check the erratic pounding of her heart. Just because the bruises never showed up didn't mean she was nuts. He was there - they all were, she just didn't know how or why, and that her tendencies to sleep walk were becoming fewer and fewer, but her visions felt realer and realer. They felt especially real that night. 

Speaking of Eddie Munson, Lola heard his van park up across the road. Her little nap had spilled overtime, and now she needed a way to forget about her sinister visitor. She breathed out, pulling on her leather jacket and converse. 

"I'll be back in 5!" She shouted to Max, who definitely was blaring music into her headphones and couldn't care less for her older sister's whereabouts. 

It was cold and foggy, and the cold pinched at her bare legs that were clad in floral pyjama shorts. Something she never thought she'd be wearing to pick up drugs, but hey-ho, she'd be in and out within a matter of minutes. Her grasp tightened as she pulled her jacket around her tighter, to shield the matching tank top underneath. After a thorough three-sixty of the area, nobody was about to witness her funky outfit, so she jogged across the road and knocked on his trailer door. 

Then, god forbid, somebody who she never thought she would ever see in Eddie Munson's trailer timidly opened the door. 

"Chrissy Cunningham?"