THE FREAKS ~ Eddie Munson

Chapter Forty-One: Hunt The Freak

Veronica POV

Eddie and I sat crisscrossed on the bench of the RV, facing each other as Steve drove. Eddie watched me intensely as I tried my best to fix my fucked up cassette, him desperately wanting to snatch it out of my hands and do it himself. All I had to really do was tighten up the slack, but it was still pissing me off to say the least.

"So uh...you wanna talk about what happened?" Eddie asked me, causing me to look up at him and stop spinning the dumb fucking pencil in the cassette holes.

I was just getting to the point where I wasn't thinking about Aunt Denise anymore. Fuck.

I looked around for a moment, looking to see if anybody was paying attention to us. Everybody seemed to be doing their own thing, Steve and Nancy talking up front, Robin and Dustin playing some hand clapping game, Erica watching them in judgement, and Lucas and Max talking a few feet away from us.

I hesitantly looked back at Eddie, his head tilted forward so his eyes would meet mine.

"I guess it's just...Aunt Denise has done so much for me, yet I've always been such a bitch to her." I admitted, Eddie's lips pursing.

"Roni..." Eddie began, pulling me in for a gentle hug. He rest his head on my shoulder, mine also against his. "After all of this is over you can tell her how you feel. Once we get out of all this shit...you're gonna get to go home and fix things. Don't think of this like it's the end of the world."

I bit the inside of my cheek.

He was right, I had the rest of my life to tell Aunt Denise how sorry I was. We were gonna win this. I was gonna get to see her again, and when I do, I'll be sure to immediately tell her everything. The truth.

"I don't know Lucas...I'm just scared. What if I can't get out of there this time? I mean, I barely made it out the first time." I overheard Max say, causing me to immediately pull away from Eddie's hug and look over at them.

"You'll be okay, Max. I've got you. I'm gonna be right there with you." Lucas said, trying his best to calm down the obviously nervous Max.

Guilt twinged inside of me.

That should be me going through that again. Not her. I felt so bad...but I knew there was no way Eddie was going to let me do it.

I tried my best to think of anything that could help Max...something that helped me out of Vecna's curse. I cringed as I began looking back on the memories of his mind, remembering the atmosphere, my thought process, everything.

That's when it hit me.

"Max." I began, Lucas and Max's eyes suddenly darting to mine. I took a deep breath before speaking, the feeling of Eddie's eyes on me causing my body to go slightly numb.

Focus, Veronica.

"Look, the only reason I got out of that fuckers mind alive is because of happy memories. Those are his weaknesses and your strong points. You can't be scared. You have to fight your way through and think of all of the times throughout your life that you've been happy. Never stop thinking about them. Don't go back to those dark places...because that's what he wants. That's why it's so important you stay positive. It's where he struggles to get you." I explained, Max nodding and sitting back in the seat.

"So like...immediately when I get into the trance I have to think of happy things?" She asked, causing me to nod in response.

Max shrugged. "Well that's easy I guess." She said, a faint smile twitching onto her lips. Lucas looked over at her, obviously curious to know what she would be thinking about.