Alexithymia | STRANGER THINGS [ON HOLD UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE]

thirty | the dive

While Matthew repeatedly paced around the inside of Skull Rock, Eddie raised the antennae for the radio and asked into it, "Dustin, can you hear me? Wheeler?"

It wasn't long afterwards that both Matthew and Eddie could hear Dustin say in a whisper, "Eddie. Holy shit. Are you okay?"

After sharing a quick look with Matthew, Eddie said into the radio, "Nah, man. Pretty... Pretty goddamn far from okay."

It was then that they could hear Valerie ask over the radio, "Is Matt with you? I-Is he okay?"

With a nod of his head, Eddie said into the radio, "Yeah, he's here and he's humming Metallica right about now, if that helps with telling you just how he's dealing with this shit right about now."

It wasn't long afterwards that Dustin asked him, "Where are you guys?"

Eddie told him, "Skull Rock. Uh, do you know it?"

In turn, Dustin said to him, "Uh, yeah, that's near Cornwallis and—"

Then they heard Steve say over the radio, "Garrett, yeah. I know where that is."

Not long after Steve had said those words, Dustin said into the radio, "Hold tight. We're coming. We're coming."

In response to Dustin's words, Eddie only quickly nodded his head before he leaned his head back and into the rock that stood just behind him and was once more forced to listen to the sound of Matthew humming the song No Remorse from Metallica.

Because ever since Matthew was forced to watch Patrick get killed by Vecna right in front of him when they were still out in the lake, that was all that Matthew had been doing.

Just humming to himself his most favorite songs from Metallica and the other metal bands that he'd spent most of his life listening to.

And at this point, Eddie wasn't sure if he should be worried or not, since it seemed that even Matthew was affected by watching Patrick get killed right in front of him only the night before.

* * *

As he made his way over towards Skull Rock, Steve yelled, "Oh, boom! Bada bing, bada boom. There she is, Henderson. Skull Rock. In your face, man. In your stupid, cocky little face."

With a mere raise of his head, Dustin said, "Doesn't make sense."

In turn, Steve said to him, "Yeah, yeah. Even with it staring you right in the face, you can't admit it. You just can't admit you're wrong, you little butthead."

It was then that a thud was heard, which got Dustin to turn around to see Eddie, who said, "I concur. You, Dustin Henderson, are a... total butthead."

As he made his way over towards Eddie, Dustin told him, "Jesus, we thought you were a goner."