veda henderson

"That was way too close," fear speaks for me as I climb out of the boat, paying no attention to the curly-haired man beside me. Once I become steady on solid ground, I huff and place my hands on my hips, "What the fuck are we going to do?"

Robin, Max, Steve and Dustin all start arguing over each other about what they think they should do, each plan being shouted louder than the previous one in an attempt to be heard. 

While the peanut gallery argues, I feel a hand grab my wrist and gently tug me to a hidden corner of the room behind a metal shelf filled with bits and pieces of random collectables and tools. Eddie tries to catch my eye, but I make it known I'm actively avoiding said contact. "Vey,"

"What, Eddie," I reply rather harshly. 

"No 'Muffin' or some other name?" He attempts to lighten the mood. I ignore him once again, feeling awkward around him suddenly. I mean, it's been awkward for a while but now, it felt like it was suffocating me. "I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for upsetting you,"

"You blew me off, Eddie. In more ways than one," I admit, feeling like I was naked from the vulnerability in my words. "I've been so confused and shaken by everything, more than you could even understand and I... I thought you were someone I could trust. But you made me feel like I really was crazy and all those other things people think-"

"Hey," He cuts me off, leaning forward to grab my face to stop my rambling. It worked, clearly. His sudden movements, although typical for the boy in front of me, startled me into silence. Either that or the intimacy of his touch. "You are not what people say about you. I'm sorry for singing in the choir of sheep," 

I almost laugh at his weird way of describing doing what everyone else at school had done but I can't find the noise within me, I was again hypnotised by his eyes. 

"I feel like I'm losing my mind," I admit, my voice breaking. 

"Nothing wrong with a bit of good old-fashioned crazy," He tries to reassure me, his eyes conveying to me how sincere he was. 

"Except you have no idea what that's like, Eddie," I grab his wrists and roughly pull his hands from my face. His words, although coming from a genuine place, evoked anger inside of me. "I've seen the type of crazy I'm heading to and spoiler alert, it's not pretty," 

"Is this about your dad?" Eddie spoke too quickly before his brain could realise what he had said. He looked like he wanted to clap his palms over his mouth but it was too late, the words had already found a home in my ear canals. Almost like an instinct, I reach up and shove him as hard as I can, forcing him to stumble back into a wooden wall behind him. 

"How dare you?" I hiss, the anger rising in me as he looked at me with confusion as well as his own anger. "You took my pain and my relief and used it as a way to try and fix me in order to feel good about yourself then you throw that same pain which you know nothing about back into my face? You... you used me until something or--my bad--someone better came along,"

"I was trying to comfort you!" He almost shrieked, his voice rising a few octaves as he held his outs out in front of him, palms to the sky. 

"Man, do I feel comforted," I remark sarcastically. 

"Whatever, man," Eddie brushed me off. "I was trying to do what I thought was best for you, it had nothing to do with Chrissy Cunningham I only just met her!" 

"I just," I blow out a mouthful of air, running my fingers through my knotted onyx hair. Every emotion I felt was heightened and dramatised by the lack of artificial happiness flowing through my veins as well as the fact that even the thought of my late father was enough to send me skyrocketing. "I don't feel like now is the right time for me to go without what I need, okay?"

He sighs and after a moment, reaches into his front pocket to pull out a small bag with pre-crushed pills in it. I smile wide, almost snatching it from his grip and immediately opening the bag. "That's the last I'm ever going to give you, Little Lady. I mean it,"

"The same way last time was the last time?" I ask, holding a powdered-covered finger up to my lips before brushing off the residue onto my awaiting tongue. Eddie watched as I did so, seemingly entranced before shaking his head like a wet dog.

"Excuse me for trying to do the right thing," He commented dramatically before turning and walking away from me.  

"Muffin!" I call after him, stuffing the small bag into the front pocket of my jeans. 

"Don't you Muffin me," He shrieks, turning around so quickly his hair created a brief curtain around him as he pointed a ring-covered finger my way. 

"Okay, super weird thing to say," Dustin joined in with a fake smile, all of us now being in the main section of the boat house together. He then points between himself and the other three non-fugitives in the room. "We are going to go find some clues,"

"I'm coming," I announce, reaching for my Metallica hoodie draped over the boat and threading my arms through the holes. 

"No, you're not," Dustin protests. 

"You're not in charge of me Dusty-bun," I remind him, pulling the hoodie down past my face before smiling at my seething younger brother. "Besides," I begin, lifting my hood up overhead and hair, pulling the oversized material down enough to cover my head "No one will see me," 

"It's a Metallica hoodie, not an invisibility cloak," Dustin mumbled sarcastically. 

"Use your little nerd imagination, Dusty-Bun," I smile, twinkling my fingers towards him like they were made of stardust. "Shotgun, by the way,"

"Over my dead body!" Dustin announced, walking quickly towards me. Seeing this I quickly sprint off in the direction of the car, careful to hold my hood securely on my head as I did so. 

I hear Dustin let out a girly squeal before he was sprinting right after me. 

Robin ended up taking the front seat, telling us both to 'suck it' when Steve told us off like children and declared neither of us would get the front seat. 

"What exactly is it that we're doing? I asked, leaning forward from my position in the middle seat and popping my head in between Steve and Robin. "I know we're 'looking for clues' but I'm not sure what clue we can find in the back of Steve's Mum car,"

"Hey! She's very practical," Steve defended his beloved vehicle. 

"We," Robin began, moving to place her hand on the top of my head and push me back into the backseat. I crossed my arms, trying to give myself more room between Dustin and Max. "Are going to see Nancy, you are waiting in the car," 

"So shit," I huff, turning to look out Dustin's window. I get I'm meant to be in hiding but, would it really be sad bad if a few people saw me? It's not like Nancy's going to be surrounded by a bunch of cops. 

As we get closer, a chill begins to run down my spine, one I know can't be because of my lack of drug use considering I had plenty of it shoved in the front pocket of my jeans. Everywhere I turn looks familiar but I haven't seen enough of Hawkins, especially the outskirts, for it to make sense. 

I look forward, carefully making sure my hoodie is still hiding my face. Sure enough, in the middle of the road, stood Nancy Wheeler surrounded by a bunch of cops. Behind her, was a yellow tarp on the road, covering something that's disfigured shape could still be seen through the material. 

"I saw this happen," I breathe out loud, gaining the attention of my brother next to me as well as everyone else in the car. "In the boat house,"

Memories of the skinny boy with dark hair, glasses and and outfit like a professor came flooding back into my head. Why me? Why does this thing want me to see what he's doing? 

"How is that even possible? I mean, the boat house is miles away from here," Steve began to question. 

"Stranger things have happened, Steve," Dustin sighs. 

With the mention of the boat house, my mind can't help but wonder to the curly-haired man taking up residence there. He was alone in that creepy place right after I had just ripped his head off until I got what I wanted from him. 

I really need to make things right.