Nat pulled away from him, though she could have held on forever, and looked up at his face. His eyes met hers and she saw the rolling waves of fear crashing within them. She offered him a meek but reassuring smile, her brow crunched together in concern. He loosened her then, back collapsing against the wall, eyes glazed. "Eddie," she said with concern as he slid down to a crouch. She followed his movement, one hand resting on the cool leather of his jacket. She felt Dustin behind her, coming closer, Eddie flinched. "It's okay, you're okay." She tightened her grip slightly on his arm, a reassuring squeeze.
"We just want to talk," Dustin said, now crouching too.
Robin followed suit, coming up on Dustin's left. "We want to know what happened."
He sniffed, and Nat felt hollow as a tear fell down his cheek. He looked at her, then to Dustin and Robin, "You won't believe me."
It was Max that spoke first, "Try us."
Nat's grip held firm on his arm. She moved from a crouch down to her knees. "When have I ever not believed you?" He looked back at her, she could feel his body shaking beneath her hands. His mouth moved, trying to form words, she could see him tumbling over in his mind. "Come and sit down."
Nat stood slowly, placing her hand in his, which was cold and clammy. She gave a small tug and he rose, every movement seeming too much effort. She led him to a crate where he sat, the others gathered around him, Nat perching on an old tyre at his side, hand now loosely resting on his arm again.
"I-, well-, she just wanted some drugs, you know. She seemed spooked," he was looking down at his hands, his leg began bouncing nervously as he spoke. "I left her in the kitchen, when I came back she was completely out of it." His voice was shaking now, his eyes darker than Nat had ever seen them even in the darkness of the boathouse.
"I tried to wake her up. I tried. Her body just lifted up into the air and, uh-" He took a deep breath trying to steady himself. "And she just, like, hung there. In the air. And her bones…uh, she…" Eddie closed his eyes, a whimper escaping him as if he was seeing it unfold before him again and again. Nat's breath had caught in her throat. "Her bones started to snap. Her eyes man. It… It was like there was something, like, inside her head, pulling."
Nat's stomach had started to turn, she looked from the floor back to Eddie. "I.. I didn't know what to do, so I…" He stopped, "I ran away. I left her there." He looked back at Nat, the sadness within his eyes was almost unbearable for her to see. He looked down at where her hand was resting on his arm and pulled it away, Nat flinched and moved back to give him space. He scoffed, "You all think i'm crazy, right?" He pinched the bridge of his nose.
Nat was shaking her head, although it did sound crazy, she knew he wouldn't be making this up. Nothing would ever scare Eddie, nothing that would make him like this.
"No." Dustin said, "We don't think you're crazy."
"Don't bullshit me, man! I know how this sounds!" His voice rose and crumbled as he said it.
"We're not bullshitting you." Max said, her tone incredibly serious now.
"Eddie, we believe you." Nat echoed.
"Look, what I'm about to tell you." Dustin stopped and looked from Eddie to Nat. "What I'm about to tell you both might be a little… difficult to take."
A look crossed between them both. "Okay," they said in unison.
"You know how people say Hawkins is… cursed?" Nat nodded at Dustin, her parents were some of those who said it, in whispers mainly and didn't really mention it much around her. For the last few years, strange things had been going on, missing kids, murders and a huge mall fire which killed several people including Police Chief Hopper. "Well, they're not way off."
Nat had clasped her hands together as Dustin spoke, "There's another world. A world hidden beneath Hawkins. Sometimes it bleeds into ours."
"Like ghosts and shit?" Eddie said.
"There are some things," Max interrupted, her voice wavering, "worse than ghosts."
"These monsters," Dustin continued, "from this other world… We thought they were gone, but they've come back before. That's why we needed to find you."
"If they're back again, we need to know." Max had taken a step closer to Nat and Eddie, she had crossed her arms over her chest.
Monsters, from another world, in Hawkins. It sounded insane. If Nat wasn't trying to keep it together so much she would have called bullshit on the whole thing. There's no such thing as monsters, and monsters in Hawkins? The probability, if monsters even existed, that they would set up shop in Hawkins of all places was a million to one.
"Did you see anything that night?" Robin asked Eddie.
"Dark particles, maybe?" Eddie was shaking his head at Max.
"It would almost look like dust." Dustin offered. "Swirling dust."
"No- no man, there was nothing you could see or, uh… or touch." Steve was looking over at them now, a puzzled look on his face. "You know, I tried to wake her man. She couldn't move. It was like, she… she was in a trance or something."
"Or under a spell." Dustin muttered.
"A curse." Eddie said flatly.
"Vecna's curse."
"Who's Vecna?" Steve asked.
"An undead creature of great power." Dustin said, his voice quivering.
"A spellcaster." Eddie's eyes were filling with unshed tears.
"A dark wizard."
Silence fell over them all and Nat hadn't realised she was holding her breath until her lungs began to burn. She took a deep shuddering breath, trying to banish the panic that was building in her stomach. There had to be a logical explanation for this, for everything that had happened. "Look, Dustin." Nat said, finding her voice and standing from the tyre. "How-I mean- Uh, look, Vecna is a fantasy." She managed to stutter, raising her hand to her hair, turning in disbelief. "He's not real."
"Nat," Robin said, standing to come to her side. "I understand this sounds crazy."
"Crazy?" Nat said, "More like batshit fucking crazy. I mean- there has to be a logical reason for this, for why this happened. Maybe, maybe Chrissy was sick, maybe she had a fit."
"That caused her to levitate and have her eyes pulled out?" Max said, Robin raised a hand to her
"I get it," Robin said. "Really, I do. I didn't believe them when I first found out either, it does sound batshit crazy, but it's true. I know you want to see logic in this, but there really isn't any. There's so much to explain, to tell you both so you understand."
"Then tell us. Make us understand." Nat said, her voice even. "Because I feel like I'm losing my mind."
She felt a hand close around her wrist loosely, cool metal brushing up against her skin. She looked back at Eddie who looked down at the tyre and pulled her gently down to sit. She did, conscious that her heart was beating so rapidly that Eddie would feel the stress radiating through her skin, he kept his hand there, calm, steady as Dustin began again to speak.
Over the next few hours they all tried to explain what exactly had been happening for the last few years in Hawkins. Nat had lost track of the timelines but it all started when a girl called Eleven escaped from Hawkins lab where they had been experimenting on kids with special abilities for years. This was the year Will Byers had gone missing, it was all anyone could ever talk about. Turns out he had been taken by a Demogorgon to somewhere called The Upside Down. A mirror universe right underneath Hawkins, exactly the same in every way, other than the fact that there were no people, just monsters. This girl, El, managed to defeat the Demogorgon, sending it back to the Upside Down and closing the gate and disappearing in the process, or so they thought. About a year later, it turned out that Will was still connected to the Upside Down and the hulking beast they called the Mindflayer, he almost died, but El had returned and they purged Will of the Mindflayer's spell, closing yet another gate. Then last year, the Mall fire, that was monsters too, controlling Max's brother Billy to feed the monster with the people of Hawkins.
It was at this point that Steve suggested that they should get going, they could fill them in more on the final details tomorrow. Eddie nodded, putting his head in his hands. In all honesty they were no closer to really understanding what was happening and it all still sounded crazy to Nat.
Nat stood as the others began walking towards the door.
"We'll come back tomorrow, with supplies." Said Dustin. "You should lay low here for now." Eddie nodded.
"Nat," Robin said, "You coming?" Nat hadn't moved from where she stood, she looked at Robin, then back to Eddie.
"No, I'm gonna stay." She said, "We'll be fine."
"You should go." Eddie said, "You should, it's okay."
"No." She said firmly. "I'm staying."
"Here," Dustin said, pulling a walkie talkie from his rucksack. "Keep this, just shout if you need anything or there's trouble." Nat took it off him.
"Sure thing." They left then, pulling the door closed behind them. Nat walked to the window, watched them bundle back into the car. She watched until she could no longer hear it rumbling down Holland Road or see the headlights amongst the trees. A blackness so thick fell upon the woods that she could no longer see the trees.
"You don't need to be here." Eddie whispered, still sat on the crate.
"I know, but-" She stopped herself, sighing.
"Nat-"
"Stop." She said, turning to face him. , "Don't say anything else I-" She ran a hand through her hair. "Christ Eddie, I thought you were hurt or, or worse!"
Nat waved her hands in the air, knots twisting tight in her chest, why was she feeling like this? "Why didn't you come to me?" She asked, defeated. He was looking at her like she had just stabbed him with a poisioned dagger.
Eddie shook his head, "How could I?" He asked, wringing his hands together. "Do you get how this looks? It looks like I killed her. How could I bring you into this?"
"I don't care how it looked, I know you, Eddie. You're my friend. You should have come to me!" Her voice hitched, "When Dustin came to the store, I thought- I thought you were dead." Tears stung the corners of Nat's eyes, she looked away from him quickly, trying to focus on anything else but the crushing weight in her chest.
The floorboards creaked as Eddie stood from the crate. Nat was taking steadying breaths, trying desperately to calm herself. His hands on her shoulders made her turn to face him, her hands were hanging limply at her sides. "Don't get all sentimental on me now, sweetheart." He smiled, though his eyes told a different story.
"Asshole." She whispered, a tiny smile forming on her face. She reached her hand up to touch his cheek. "It wasn't your fault. It wasn't your fault." He nodded gently.
"I know." He said. "But I shouldn't have left her there."
"Tell me one person who would have done things differently. I bet my life you can't." She dropped her hand. "I don't know about you, but I could really have a beer." She forced a small laugh.
"Oh-uh, yeah-" Eddie said, turning on his heel. "I'll go to the house. I don't think I've drunk them all yet. Wait here." He turned and disappeared off through the door, up to the house. Nat watched him go, her hand tingling slightly from the touch of his face.
A few minutes later Eddie returned, a four pack of beer in one hand and a blanket tucked under his arm. "This is all I could find," He said, putting the blanket down onto the crate and pulled a beer from the pack, he twisted the cap and handed it over to Nat.
"Thanks," she said, taking a sip. Nat sat back down on the tyre, beer in hand. "Do you believe all this… you know, monsters, upside down- Vecna?"
Eddie sat back down on the crate, twisting the cap on his own beer and taking a long swig. "I don't know what I believe." He said, "But… There's no logical reason for any of what happened. Shit, I wasn't even high Nat. If I was high then I would get it but I was stone cold." He clinked the bottom of his beer against hers causing it to foam over the top and trickle down the neck of the bottle. "Dustin wouldn't lie to us."
"I know." She said, taking another swig. "I just, it sounds like a lot."
"Uh-huh."
They drank the beers quickly and Nat stretched as she put the bottle on the shelf next to her. A yawn built in her chest. "Where do you sleep in here?" She asked.
Eddie stuck his thumb over his shoulder towards the tarp covered boat in the centre of the boathouse. "Here," He said, laying out the blanket that he brought from the house. He laid it out on the floor and folded it over to provide some kind of support. "You should sleep."
"So should you." She said and he shrugged.
"I'm gonna wait up a while, just in case." He said, tapping the blanket. "Go ahead."
Nat climbed from the tyre down onto the makeshift bed, turning onto her side, watching Eddie as he walked over to the window and peered out over the darkness. Maybe it was the beer in her rather empty stomach or the stress of the day, but in moments her eyes were dropping closed.
When Nat twisted in her sleep, blinking twice in the dimness, she felt something move on top of her. As her eyes adjusted, she saw Eddie fast asleep against the wall, his head leaning against a wooden beam. He was wearing only his Hellfire shirt, the denim jacket cast to one side. Nat breathed deeply, tucking her head into her arm, closing her eyes once more, the leather jacket draped over her keeping her warm from the chill.
Nat awoke to a soft nudge on her shoulder. "Hey, rise and shine sleepyhead." Eddie said, Nat blinked and stretched her arms over her head. She yawned and sat upright on the blanket, rolling her shoulders, God she was stiff. Eddie was crouching down next to her, in the morning light that now shone into the boathouse she could see how utterly exhausted he looked. He was holding an open box of toaster strudels in his right hand. "So the only food left in the house was this. I guess the guys will bring more later, but I thought you might be hungry so…"
Nat smiled, "Thanks, but I'm okay, never really been a huge fan of toaster strudels." Eddie shrugged and stood up, offering her a hand so she could stand too.
"Did you sleep at all?" She asked, seeing him dozing for a few minutes in the night didn't count if he was awake the rest of the time.
"On and off," he said, sitting down on the crate and picking a strudel from the packet.
"Thank you, by the way." She said, motioning at his jacket which now lay on the floor.
"Oh, sure." He said, "You were cold so duh."
She smiled and turned to look out of the window, in the daylight everything looked so different, not nearly as intimidating as at night. There was a basketball hoop straight across from her, the net was broken and swaying loose in the wind. A very old and rusted looking barbeque was up against the decking, she imagined long summers out here by the lake, children playing all day in the water, only coming back for hot dogs and burgers when their Ma called.
Nat had always wondered what it would be like to have siblings, but then she found Hellfire, something much better than any brother or sister she could ever ask for. There were long summer nights where she watched them practice for their gigs in Gar's garage, much to the dismay of his father who had taken to leaving the house in the evenings to get away from the racket. Movie nights full of horror and fantasy, popcorn fights and falling asleep on the sofa, waking up long past midday. Sure it had changed, band practice turned into gigs at the pub, no crowd save a few drunks and Nat who always sat cross legged on the bar whooping and whistling at the end of every song. She never tired of it, not once. She had always been Corroded Coffin's biggest fan. She used to tap along on her knees to Gar's drum solos and head bang to Eddie's epic guitar rifts. How all that would change now. She wondered if the rest of Hellfire would meet for band practice today and wonder where they both were, if everything was alright.
The creak of the floorboards made Nat jump from her thoughts. The car door slamming was all she heard as Eddie nudged her out of the way to get a better look out the window. "Shit…" he whispered, Nat looked past him but couldn't see a car.
The next second, the door slammed open so fast Nat almost toppled back into Eddie. Dustin burst in, smiling, bags of groceries in tow. As if sensing the food approach, Nat's stomach gave a loud growl.
"Delivery service!" He said, as the others followed him in.
"Please tell me there's something edible in there."
Nat was digging through the grocery bags as Eddie pulled the tarp off of the boat in the centre of the room. He'd already opened a box of cereal and was shoving it gratefully into his mouth, despite finishing off the box of toaster strudels only moments ago.
"Oh thank God," Nat muttered, pulling a box of strawberry pop tarts from the bag. She tore the box open and ripped open a pack, biting into it ravenously.
"So," Said Dustin as she came back to the boat, mumbling her thanks to them. "We have good news and bad news. How do you prefer?"
"Bad news first, always." Eddie said, spraying cereal from his mouth.
"Always bad, good counteracts the bad, not the other way round." Nat said, finishing off the first pop tart.
"Right, okay. Well the bad news is that we tapped into the Hawkins PD dispatch with our Cerebro, and they're definitely looking for you." Okay, thought Nat, understandable, dead girl ends up in your trailer they obviously want to ask questions. "Also, uh- they're pretty convinced you killed Chrissy."
"Like one hundred percent convinced." Said Max as Eddie's head snapped round to her.
"And the good news?" He asked.
"Your name hasn't gone public yet," Robin said, trying to sound reassuring. "But if we found out about you it's only a matter of time before others do too, and once that gets out, everyone and their shallow minded mother is gonna be gunning for you."
"Hunt the freak, right?" Eddie said, dropping the box of cereal into the bottom of the boat
"Shit," Nat said. "So, we just need an alibi right? I could say we were together that night, you never even went back to your trailer." She looked hopefully at the others.
"There's just one problem with that," Max said. "I saw Eddie go back to the trailer with Chrissy. You can bet others did too, if you start making things up you're gonna get caught in the crossfire."
"Look, before any of this happens," Said Dustin, "We need to find Vecna, kill him and prove your innocence."
"That's all, Dustin? That's all?" Eddie said in disbelief, tilting his head to the side. It was far fetched of course, even if they did manage to find and kill this Vecna creature, proving it to the whole town would be so much harder. It was much easier to blame a freak, than an actual monster.
"Listen, Eddie," said Robin, leaning forwards, arms pressed into her knees. "I know this sounds nuts, completely delusional, but like we were explaining last night we've been through this before. I mean, they have a… a few times," she pointed at the others, "and I have, once. Mine was more human flesh based, theirs was more smoke related but the point is we can fix this."
"Yeah, I mean we normally rely on El with her superpowers but she's gone so-uh." Steve began waving his hands looking for the right words.
"So we're in the brainstorming phase right now. But there's nothing to worry about, we've got this." Dustin finished, grinning toothily.
"Guys, I'm sure that's meant to sound terribly reassuring, but how long is this kind of thing going to take? We can't exactly live in the boathouse forever." Nat said, gesturing about her.
"We?" Said Eddie.
"Yes, we." She countered, "I'm not leaving you here by yourself with an imminent pitch fork parade on our hands, are you nuts?"
"What if I don't want you here when the pitch fork parade turns up?" Eddie said, frustration beginning to show.
"Well that's just tough shit isn't it. It's not your choice what I do or don't do and that's that."
"Guys-" The sound of sirens cut Dustin off. Collectively, their heads whipped around to the door.
"Quick, the tarp!" Robin said, Eddie ducked down into the boat quickly and pulled the tarp over his head. Nat scrambled to her feet and headed to the window with the others. They watched, breath fogging up the glass as several cop cars and an ambulance came screeching past, sirens blaring.
"That can't be good." Said Steve.
Max shook her head, "We need to go," she said, hurrying to the door. "Keep the walkie on." She said as she left.
Eddie flung the tarp off his head just as Steve vanished through the door.
"What the hell man?" He said, throwing his arms out, "What about the plan?" Eddie groaned in frustration, flopping back against the edge of the boat.
Nat watched as the car screeched away from the house, kicking tendrils of dirt up in its wake. She may not be one hundred percent convinced on what was causing this, but there was one thing for certain, something was terribly wrong in Hawkins, and somehow, these Freaks of Hellfire were caught up in it.