veda henderson

      "Are you serious?" I gape, looking around at the old boat house Eddie had dragged me to. He placed his hands on his hips, a dorky smile on his face as he nodded to himself. "I thought you said you knew a place, not a shack. Who's boat house even is this?"

   "All answers will come in due time, Vey. For now, we have bigger things to worry about like oh--I don't know, Chrissy Cunninghams' jaw shattering on my ceiling!" He shrieks, turning to ignore me when I roll my eyes at him. The events leading up to our arrival were still fresh, probably occurring about an hour and a half ago. 

   "What was she doing at your trailer anyway, Munson?" I raise my eyebrows, nudging him with my elbow. Yes, the topic may be inappropriate or insensitive or whatever it is--but, it's better than facing the reality. I had already dealt with stuff like this before, Eddie hasn't and he would be delicate right now. 

   It might be selfish to say but a part of me is glad I wasn't the only one to see it. 

   "Did I hurt your feelings by giving drugs to someone else? Must be truly heartbreaking," He exclaimed sarcastically, smiling at me as he pressed both his palms against his chest. He kept eye contact with me as he allowed his body to fall to the side, his foot catching him before he slightly stumbled up the hill and towards the run-down hideout he claimed. 

   "Oh, how could you ever understand, Edward? Maybe only Jason Carver could understand my pain when he finds out his girlfriend died cheating on him," I claim sarcastically, pushing past him once he skidded to a stop in his tracks. 

   "Hey, wow," He calls, grabbing my shoulders and spinning me around. My smile drops when I see his concerned face. As well as my smile, my mood drops the longer I think about how he only cut me off from drugs to sleep with a cheerleader. Not that it was any of my business, but it still stung a little. "I was not hooking up with Chrissy Cunningham. Firstly, she was a claimed woman--god rest her soul--and secondly, I'm offended you take me as the type that's into preppy types,"

   He smiles, trying to lighten the mood once again by swinging his hands slowly in an attempt to mimic pom poms. I laugh it off, turning my back to him and walking through the threshold of the shack just as a bolt of lightning snapped loudly outside. "What's your type then, Muffin? Hmm? Comic book nerds and bed-wetters?"

   "Ha-ha. Why? Trying to find a common interest? I'm afraid there is none when it comes to our types then, Vey," He claps back, turning to hastily drop down onto a barrel of hay. I return his dry laugh, using my weak arms to pull myself onto a wooden table facing his own makeshift throne. He smiles, hitting away the air as if I had been nagging him before he continues, "Okay fine, stop begging me, Veda. I like confident yet damaged girls,"

   I laugh, "Well, you're really setting yourself up there Munson," 

   "Your turn," He gestures to me, holding his fist up to rest his chin on it. 

   "Honestly, no clue. Probably into assholes or something," I shrug, leaning my arms back to lean backwards on my palms and looking up at the roof. I heard the hay underneath him shuffle around before I felt the warmth of his body beside me. His legs were swinging back and forth, making the table rock slightly as he looked up at the cracked roof and the stars in between the gaps. 

   The thought of a broken ceiling made me gulp, looking away to see Eddie must have had the same thought as he was just turning to look at me. We looked at each for a bit, the vision playing in our minds simultaneously, something I could see in the glint of his eyes or maybe that was just a reflection of mine. 

   "I need to tell you something. A huge secret you have to vow not to tell anyone," I get serious, lowering my chin to give him a hardened look as if that alone could convey the seriousness that was the upside down and Hawkins Lab. 

   To my surprise, he let out a huge sigh of relief, letting his head fall back before he quickly straightened it up and looked at me with a cheesy grin. "Thank god, because I didn't want to be the one to admit it first-"

   "Wow, wow, wow," I repeat, holding my palm up to stop him and sliding away from him slightly. I felt bad when I watched his face drop in confusion, but I pushed it back. "It's not, it's not a secret like that,"

   He paused for a second as if he was frozen or a scratched CD. It was only a moment before he was shaking his head and leaning away from me, "Oh no, yeah. Totally, totally read that wrong. Anyway, the secret-"

   "It's about what happened to Chrissy," I quickly change the subject to something that was somehow less painful than the atmosphere he accidentally created. He nodded, listening intently. "It's not the only thing that's happened like that, at least in Hawkins,"

   He looked at me with terror, before whispering quietly, "The bogeyman?" He smiled 

   I scoff, pushing myself off of the table and heading towards the door. "If you won't take this seriously even after what you just saw then I won't even bother,"

   "No, Vey," He calls. Suddenly, I felt his hand grasp my bicep before I was spun around and faced him. As soon as I did, I heard another loud clap of thunder before the soft pitta-patta of rain hit the broken roof of the shack. "I'm sorry, it's just a little much right now,"

   The rain slowly filtered through the gaps in the roof, landing harshly on the skin of my legs. Just my stupid, junkie luck that I was going through the overheating part of my withdrawal and decided to wear my pyjama shorts. Maybe if I wasn't in such a rush to get doped up, I would have changed. 

   Eddie looks up at the roof, flinching when a raindrop lands right near his eye. "Just our luck, right?" He says as if he read my mind. 

   "Do you think we could make it back to the car?" I ask, turning to look over my shoulder where the steep hill is, the dry car at the bottom.

   "Why take our chances when there's a perfectly good tarp right here, Baby!" He exclaimed. When I turn around, he's already at the blue plastic material, lifting his ring-covered hand to slap the tarp with a giant grin on his face. 

   "Hm, I don't know. Maybe because the van is dry and clean and that tarp is...well..not," I fake ponder, waving my hand towards the tarp as Eddie was already lifting it up.

   "If you think that van is clean then this tarp should not be a problem to you," He laughed to himself, almost skipping over to a corner of the shed where there were no gaps in the roof above. He sits down in the corner, wrapping part of the giant tarp out for me to get under too. 

   "I'm good, Muffin," I laugh, holding my hand out in a 'stop' motion before turning to a flat wall and pulling my hoodie over my legs to try and keep myself warm. "I'll take my chances with the storm,"

   "Suit yourself, Veda," He complied before making a loud sighing noise and smacking his lips together as if he was in the comfiest position he'd ever been in. I roll my eyes at his lame attempt to change my mind, hugging my body closer together. "So.... dry,"

   "Shut up, freak," I mumble into my hoodie.

   "Sorry what was that? I can't hear you, my core body temperature is too perfect!" He exclaimed, his voice muffled as he lifted the tarp over his head. 

   The thunder cracked loudly making the rain instantly become more violent. I felt the cold win gaze over my skin, making goosebumps arise and my body shiver.

   I huff, pushing myself to a stand and hesitantly walking over to the tarp. Once there, I pulled the edge of it up and slid underneath, the hay touching my knees as I crawled under. Considering my legs were slightly wet, I tucked the tarp under me and sat on it to avoid any hay sticking to my skin 

   As soon as I got under the blue material, I could see his head leaning against the wall as he sent a know-it-all smile my way as if he had won something. "I knew you'd cave," 

   "Your head will cave in if you don't keep it to yourself," I smile sweetly, leaning my head against the wall too as he chuckled softly. "When we wake up tomorrow I need to tell you a few things and then we need a plan, okay?"

   He groans loudly, tilting his head back with his eyes closed. "Will do, Boss," 

   I only roll my eyes before closing them, tucking my knees to my chest to try to stay as warm as possible and as comfy as I could be. Maybe, I could get a little bit of sleep. 

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