Alexithymia | STRANGER THINGS [ON HOLD UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE]

nineteen | the case of the missing lifeguard

After waking up by himself and finding a note on a desk in his room telling him that Valerie had already left and was headed straight back to Starcourt Mall to talk to Robin, Matthew simply shrugged to himself before he got himself out of his bed and went towards the bathroom.

For all he knew, Valerie had done as he told her many times over and actually grew some balls to talk to Robin Buckley after spending months just watching her from a distance and staring up at her with incredibly wide eyes whenever she found herself face-to-face with Robin.

So, he didn't think much of it and got himself ready for the day he'd mentally and emotionally prepared himself for before he left the house, got into the car and eventually found himself sitting in his car inside of the Forest Hill trailer park and parked outside of Eddie Munson's own trailer.

After slowly breathing in and out in an attempt to keep his breathing under control and to make sure that his face didn't become a bright red like it did the last time he was at Eddie's trailer, Matthew stepped out of his car and walked up towards the door to the trailer and simply knocked on it.

When the door wasn't opened, Matthew knocked on the door once more and asked, "Hey, Munson, you in there?"

When he still didn't receive a response, he went to knock on the door once more, only to stop and take a step back from the door when it was opened and he suddenly found himself face-to-face with Eddie's uncle.

After several seconds of remaining silent as he stared at Eddie's uncle, Matthew silently gulped to himself.

From what he remembered Eddie mentioning when he first started to buy from him during his first attempt at his senior year, his uncle's name was Wayne.

But despite him knowing Wayne's name, he knew better than to just come out of the blue and call him by name when Wayne had more than likely never even seen him before.

So, instead of calling him by name, Matthew hesitantly waved a hand at him and said to him, "Uh, h-hey, Mr. Munson." When Wayne had only slightly raised his head and silently eyed him, Matthew hesitantly asked him, "I-Is Eddie home?"

When Wayne only shook his head, Matthew hesitantly asked him, "Do you, uh, have any idea when he'll be back?" When he only received yet another shaken head in response to his question, Matthew said, "Right. Well, I'll, uh, be going, then. I-I can come back some other time. Sorry for bothering you."

It was only when Matthew had quickly turned his back on Wayne and started to walk back to his car that he stopped when Wayne asked him, "You a friend of my nephew's?"

After quickly turning around to look back at Wayne, Matthew started to scratch the back of his head as he said, "I-I wouldn't know if Eddie would consider us friends, but I, uh, do talk to him now and again. A-And I'm actually a lot nicer to him than the rest of the people at school, i-if that helps." When Wayne had only snorted to himself in response to Matthew's words, Matthew sighed to himself before he said, "And none of what I just said probably helped my case, so I'll just, uh, I'll just go now. I'll come by and try to see Eddie some other time."