Waiting Room | A Stranger Things Story - Eddie Munson | VOLUME I

Close To Me | Part VI

𝐂𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐓𝐨 𝐌𝐞 | 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐕𝐈

𝐓𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝟏𝟏𝐭𝐡 𝐒𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟗𝟖𝟔

𝐈𝐓 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐔𝐑𝐒𝐃𝐀𝐘 𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆, the night before Mrs Click's History pop quiz. I'd agreed to go to Sarah's house for the evening to cram together.

Her room was exactly how I had pictured it in my mind. Pastel pink and white striped wallpaper, floral patterned coving where the wall met the ceiling.

Her four poster bed was adorned in rose embroidered bedding. Everything she owned was stored away neatly on shelves and in the corner of her room was a small stereo system with a tape of We Belong by Pat Benetar playing on a low volume.

I was laying on my stomach on her bedroom floor, a notepad in front of me and different coloured flash cards sprawled out around me.

Sarah walked through her bedroom door holding a small plate filled with an abundance of crackers and an array of cheeses.

Her curls were in a loose bun that sat atop her head, ringlets falling loosely by her ears. Instead of her usual blouse, cardigan and pleated skirt combo she was wearing a pair of lilac denim dungarees with a black and white striped T-shirt underneath.

'How are you getting on?' She queried, smiling down at me. She placed the plate on the floor before sitting down cross legged in front of me.

'If I'm being totally honest, I'm getting a little confused between my Republicans and my Democrats' I sighed.

'Oh so, totally fine then' she mocked, taking a cracker from the plate and nibbling on the corner of it. I let out a soft chuckle in response to her sarcasm.

'I forgot to ask' she started, putting the half eaten cracker down in the plate in front of us. I looked up at her awaiting the rest of her sentence.
'Did you get what you needed? From Eddie?'

I paused for a moment, attempting to recall what she was referring to before the realisation washed over me.
'Oh! Yeah. Yeah I did.'

'And that's all you did. Right?' She urged.

'Yes Sarah. That's all I did.' I sighed, rolling my eyes at this remark. Her Mom mode activated once again.

'Good. I just don't trust him that's all. There's a reason that he's so vastly disliked at school. It's not just me being pedantic.' She spoke in an all knowing manner.

'He's no different to anyone else at school, Sarah. He just likes different things. He seems harmless, really.' I responded, trying not to come across as too defensive so as not to make it obvious I had spent a considerable amount more time with him than what I was letting on.

'By different things you mean forming some kind of Devil worshipping vigilante group right in the middle of Hawkins? Yeah, okay.' She scoffed, picking up her flash cards that were sat beside her in a pile as she began flipping through them.

'I don't think it's as extensive as that. It's just a silly little board game. It's harmless, really.' I tried to reassure her, getting up from my position on the floor where I was now also sitting with my legs crossed.

'Yeah. Harmless. Until it gets into the wrong hands.' She was resistant to any form of disapproval on this.

'He used to be like everyone else. He had a solid group of friends outside of those guys he hangs out with now. He had good grades, he could have gone to a really good College if he wanted to. I had just gone into tenth grade and he was heading into senior year. When we came back from Summer break he just wasn't the same. He stopped hanging out with his friends, he started being disruptive in class. He was always down at the Principal's office whenever I saw him. His entire demeanour just, shifted. He stopped caring about his appearance, he started getting bullied. He was supposed to graduate with the class of '84 but he flunked the entire year. Now he's in the same grade as us.' She spoke carelessly of this, picking up the cracker she had set down on the plate once again.