MATILDA, eddie munson.

038.

MARCH 22ND, 1986
📍reefer rick's house
10:38 AM

they pulled into reefer rick's house, which had taken them quite a while to find. guess it really was a good place to hide.

stepping out of steve's car, tillie wrapped eddie's hoodie closer around her body to keep out the cold as they walked to the doorstep. dustin pressed the doorbell a few times, receiving no response. he began pressing it aggressively, and started banging on the door as well.

"okay. well, that's settled. i guess he's not here," steve commented.

"eddie! it's dustin!" the boy hollered. "look, we just wanna talk, okay? matilda's here with us. i know she's like your favorite person in the world! don't you want to come and see her?" he tried to convince the boy to come out. "no cops, i swear. we just wanna help. eddie! rick? reefer rick!"

"don't scream that," steve hushed him like a mother would scold their child. "he's not there."

"rick! reefer rick!" dustin carried on yelling. "he could just be really high."

matilda turned her head and began looking in the surroundings for any sign of eddie. she didn't find anything directly relating to him, but she saw a boathouse nearby which she though he could be in.

"hey, guys," she called the group over. "you think he's in there?"

"only one way to find out," steve said, beginning to lead them over there.

they tried peering in the windows as they walked to the door, seeing nobody inside. steve and robin gently opened the door, which made a loud creaking sound.

"hello?" robin asked clearly. "is anyone home?"

the rest of the group entered, their eyes scanning for any clues.

"what a dump," steve commented. he noticed a floating boat in the middle which was covered up, and grabbed an oar and started poking at it.

"what are you doing?" dustin hissed. "what are you doing?"

"he might be in here," steve replied, continuing to prod.

"so take the tarp off," dustin exclaimed quietly.

steve scoffed. "if you're so brave, you take the tarp off."

huffing, matilda reached down and took said tarp off, revealing a boat full of junk. "oh, he's definitely in there," she whispered sarcastically, before moving to continue investigating with max.

"hey, look over here," the redhead said, gaining their attention. she saw a table covered with several different food wrappers and empty beer bottles. "someone was here."

"maybe he heard us," robin suggested. "got spooked and ran."

"don't worry!" dustin remarked. "steve will get him with his oar."

"i know you think you're being funny, henderson, but considering the fact that most people in this room have nearly died about a hundred times, personally, i don't find it funny in the sligh—"

before he could finish, a figure jumped out of his hiding spot and shoved him into a wall. tillie quickly realized from the hair that it was in fact eddie.