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strawberryspence · 11 months

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i will never let you fall, i'll stand up with you forever

if this makes anyone cry, please don't blame me. someone 👀 gave me this idea... ( @thefreakandthehair / @henderdads )

Eddie loves visiting the beach.

He has gone to two in his life. However, he always longed to go visit more, to pick one too many seashells and collect them all, to play in the water and bask in the warmth it brings. He has been to lakes, lots of them. However, growing up in Indiana doesn’t really entail a lot of beach days.

The sun passes through his skin, warmth and gold against him. There’s a lovely breeze sifting through his hair, intertwining him to the wind. The sand is soft on his toes, the feeling barely even there.

Arwen laughs as the sand washes on her toes, like Mother Nature herself tickling her with her kindness. Eddie watches her carefully, as she giggles and splashes at the water. A turtle comes up to the shore, making her yelp in excitement. It’s crazy how much she’s grown in the last few years, it’s like watching album pages being flipped in haste.

There’s soft snoring beside him, making Eddie turn. Steve’s eyes are closed, his chest humming with every snore. His hair sweeps against the wind, his freckles illuminated by the sun. He’s gotten old, wrinkles and glasses permanent in his face. Eddie doesn’t really care. He’s always been Eddie’s golden boy, he always will be.

He’s clutching a book about parenting, but Eddie doesn’t think he needs it. Arwen’s growing up perfectly and Steve’s doing great.

From a far, Eddie can see Nancy and Robin laughing at the fruit stand. So much time has passed now that they’re holding hands in public and no one bats an eye. They deserve it, he thinks. The happiness and pride radiating from them.

He turns his attention back to Arwen, his heart dropping when he sees her in the ocean, wading through the waves. She’s barely seven, the water stops just above her chest even if she’s still close the shore.

“Steve! Wake up!” Eddie tries to shake him awake, but Steve stays asleep, batting his hands away.

Eddie turns to Robin and Nancy, but they’re too far. He sighs, taking off his shoes, not that it matters. He rushes to the ocean and calling out to her, “Arwen! Come back!”

Arwen turns to him, familiarity shining through her eyes, something that still makes his heart stutter, “Eddie! Come swim!”

Eddie holds out his hand, “I know, honey! But you have to go back to the shore!”

She pouts, “But the turtle!”

“Ask Stevie for one, but we have to go!” Eddie pushes, as he feels the water pulsating around him. He looks around the water, surprised to see that people have run away. There’s something wrong.

“There’s a kid!” Someone shouts from the crowd, “A wave is coming!”

“Eddie! What’s wrong?!” Arwen shrieks when the water sways against them, fear evident in her eyes.

“There’s a wave coming. Hold my hand, honey. Come on. It’s going to be okay.” Arwen nods at him, wadding closer to him and trying to clutch his hands.

“I can’t!” She panics, tears threatening to spill from her eyes.

“It’s okay, honey. I got you!” Eddie catches her in his arms, concentrating all his power in protecting her. The wave surges forward.

“ARWEN!” Steve shouts from the shoreline and before Eddie can even look back, the wave sweeps them away into it’s hands.

Eddie’s not really sure how he does it, how he holds unto Arwen and brings her back to the shore. It’s the same adrenaline he felt when he had to dive through Lover’s Lake, following three people he barely know.

Steve runs through the crowd, Nancy and Robin right next to him.

“Come on, honey. You’re okay. You’re okay!” Eddie says, his hair dripping with water. He presses on Arwen’s chest. She coughs water out, bleary eyes opening and looking around.

“Oh thank God.” Eddie sighs, as Steve takes his daughter in his arms.

Steve’s shaking hard, and Eddie fights the urge to reach out, “Oh my god, you scared us.”

“I am okay, dad. I am okay.” Arwen reassures, clinging unto her father’s neck.

Robin wraps a towel on her as the people finally disperse as the commotion dies down, Nancy running a comforting hand against her back.

“Don’t ever do that to us again!” Steve wails pulling her away and brushing his hand through her wet hair, “Does anything hurt? Do you want me to call the doctor?”

Arwen shakes her head, smiling widely at her father, like she hasn't almost drowned minutes ago, "It’s okay! Eddie was with me!”

Steve freezes as Robin audibly gasps, her hand immediately clutching Steve’s shoulders.

Nancy’s mouth opening wide in shock, asking, “Who?”

Arwen, unaware of the tension she has caused, squeals, “Eddie! You know Eddie! My friend! He's always on the beach! He held on to me and brought me back.”

"Is that the reason you keep on wanting to go to beaches?" Robin asks, her own voice quivering.

"Yes! He's only on the beaches! He never goes away!"

“Peanut,” Nancy says softly, “What does Eddie look like?”

“Well,” Arwen looks at him, but he’s not far enough for it be apparent that she’s looking at someone not there, “He’s always wearing a shirt with a skull, like the one Uncle Dustin wears. He has long curly hair and he has pretty eyes.”

Eddie watches as the look on Steve’s face crumbles. It’s like watching his heart break into pieces right in front of his eyes. There has been so many handful moments that Eddie has seen Steve look like this because of him.

From the time Eddie pushed Steve out of the way, from when they were trying to revive him after their fifth and last go with the Upside Down, to the time they were burying him, to the time Steve went to what should’ve been their first date.

“Is he here? Is Eddie here?” Steve asks, sounding so broken and so young. Like it hasn't been twenty years since Eddie Munson died.

Arwen blinks at him, ready to say yes before Eddie jumps, pursing his lips, his dimples dipping, “Honey, don’t say I am here. Tell them I am not here. Please.”

Arwen’s brows furrow in confusion, but she shakes her head, “Eddie’s not here.”

Steve opens his mouth, but no words come out. “Are you sure?” Robin asks for him instead.

“He’s not here.” Arwen purses her lips, her dimples dipping and damn, that’s her lying tell.

Steve sees this almost immediately, recognition flooding in his features. He moves forward to kiss her forehead, “Okay, bean. I believe you. Can you do me a favor?” Arwen nods.

“The next time Eddie comes and shows up, can you tell him something?”

Arwen lets her eyes stray back to Eddie before looking back to her dad, “Sure, dad.”

“Tell him Stevie says thank you for saving his bean.” Steve chokes, but he pokes her stomach to make her giggle, “Tell him that I miss him everyday and I am glad that he’s around. Our metal guardian angel.”

Eddie holds up a hand on his mouth, turning away so Arwen won’t see his tears. He wipes it off, trying to get a hold of himself.

“Eddie says that!” Arwen exclaims in recognition, “He said he was my guardian angel, but he’s my friend.”

“That’s right, bean.” Steve approves, “That’s right.”

“Come on,” Robin pushes, knowing what her best friend needs right now, “I got you some pineapple juice!”

Arwen giggles as Robin and Nancy carry her off, swinging her between their arms. Steve stands still, his arms wrapping around himself as he watches the ocean and sun dance together.

“Eddie.” Steve blurts into the wind, making Eddie turn to him, “I know you’re here.”

Eddie laughs, his vision blurry with his own tears, “I am always here, sweetheart.”

He walks closer to him, watching the tears stream down Steve’s eyes. Eddie tries to wipe them away, his hands going through him.

“I did great, didn’t I?” Steve asks, making Eddie nod, “I am glad you’re here to watch her grow.”

Steve lets his eyes roam around the shore. For a moment— just a split moment— his eyes makes contact with Eddie’s. It fleets away soon after.

“I want to be around for Arwen as much as I can, but when I am ready, when it’s time…” Steve trails, letting his eyes flutter shut almost as if he can feel Eddie’s touch, “Please be there.”

Eddie smiles, “I’ll be there, Stevie.”

Arwen calls out, “Dad! Look at this seashell Auntie Robin got me! It has eyes!”

Steve wipes his tears, smiling at his daughter, “Give me a second, bean!”

“See you later, Eddie.” Steve whispers into the wind, before he starts walking back to his daughter.

Eddie watches from a far, watching as Steve throws Arwen into the air causing another burst of giggles. Nancy and Robin chuckling as they watch the father-daughter duo.

“See you later, Stevie.”

Arwen waves at Eddie, watching her friend slowly dissipate with the wind, like he's going home to the skies and ocean. The ocean is blue and bright, the sky beaming as it meets the ocean halfway.

She smiles. It's okay.

Eddie's never really gone. Not as long as Arwen visits beaches.

Luckily, Arwen loves visiting the beach.

#AHA #heavily inspired by your guardian angel by red jumpsuit apparatus #lex gave me this idea in their words 'i fear i poked the hornets nest'#this is the hornets nest #have fun #wooooo 👻#GHOST EDDIE #tw mcd #tw ghosts #tw slight drowning #steddie #dae writes #steve harrington x eddie munson #steddie ficlet #steddie headcanons #steddie fanfics #daeheadcanons

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munsonmuses · 6 months

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Ghostly Intentions

Spiritual Reserves Masterlist

Synopsis: Eddie Munson lives, at least…to himself he does? His spirit, so strong, so filled with the desire for life, still roams this earth. He has to make his way back to you, and find a way to be beside you once more. Physically.

Themes: ghosts, the supernatural, restless spirits. The dead CAN come back, if held onto tight enough. I’m aware, it’s a bit out there but hey…stranger things have happened.

Warnings: Eddie is dead kind of, it’s very angsty, it’s very painfully sad but the LONGING is worth it I swear.

Word Count: 2.15k words

Cold. The only way Eddie Munson can describe how he feels is cold. Limbs heavy with an unattractive ache, a full burning in each and every one of his joints. Flexing and relaxing his fingers slowly.

His clothing was tattered, the littered bites having healed over, his blood smattered amongst the fabric as he trudged his way back into the trailer, looking around quietly as he surveyed the damage. The daunting realization of solitude swallowed up his confusion as he looked around.

“Henderson?…Harrington?…Buckley?…Wheeler?” He called out to the empty and heavy air, drinking in the warm static that held the air in an iron clad grasp.

“Fucking assholes…”

He carefully left the trailer, having biked his way over. Slowly lifting the handles of the Huffy off of the ground and straddling the seat. Riding his way to watergate as he grit his teeth. God his limbs felt so stiff. The pain was nearly impossible to ignore at this point. The Upside Down eerily quiet as soft cracks of thunder and lightning spread across the red splattered sky. Pushing himself to take familiar, ghostly versions of Hawkins suburban roads, towards the lake. His bikes chain rattling violently as he forced the well worn wheels along the rough forest floor, avoiding the vines as best as he could as he reached the lake.

Hopping off the bike, he pat it lightly and set it up against a tree. As if thanking a valiant steed for helping its wounded rider. Leaving it for anyone who may ever find their way into the Upside Down, viewing the silver bike with its loose handlebars as a solemn resolve for their turmoil.

Padding across the desolate and dry ground that mimicked the bottom of the lake, he made his way to the portal. Staring almost longingly at the spot where the older members of the crew had fallen in earlier that week, had fought the bats with gnashing teeth and desperate squeals.

Where Steve had been.

Where Nancy had been.

Where Robin had been.

Where YOU had been.

The pit in his chest was growing exponentially at the idea of you up there in Hawkins, alone, waiting by the door for him to come home. You were probably strewn out on his bed, waiting on the couch alongside Wayne, crammed into the corner of the well loved couch in the trailer. The trailer you’d called home since you’d moved in half a year before. Weaved your way into his. Your Blondie and REO Speedwagon cassettes shoved in along the likes of DIO and Black Sabbath.

Your perfume bottles littering his cramped dresser, with the sweet sweet pea scent they had. How he’d watch you spray it on your wrists and pulse points, rubbing it behind your ears as you got ready each morning. God he couldn’t wait to be home with you, curled up into your chest and just relaxing as you all worked on clearing his name.

His scuffed sneakers stopped at the entrance to the portal, carefully assessing it before taking a deep breath. Then another, and another after that. Before taking the leap of faith.

The switch in gravity was disorienting, up was down, left was right, and the water was causing his ears to pop. Eyes finding the surface as he rapidly pushed himself up to the top. Though what he hadn’t noticed, was that there was no sting in his lungs, no aching burn for breath. That wasn’t very high on his list of priorities.

Breaking the surface of the still lake, the sun was hot on his face. Warming his freezing skin as he paddles his way towards the shoreline, all but dragging himself up onto the sandy shore and grasping sand between his desperate fingers. Shuddering lightly to himself as he threw his head back to move his soaking hair away. The hard part was done, now the easy part. Walking himself back to the trailer park.

As he padded through the woods and out onto the road, he noticed the eerie silence. No children playing in the neighboring homes backyards, no dogs barking, hell, there weren’t even birds screeching their agonizingly loud melodies that moved in the wind. Choosing to call it a strange coincidence, he kept his large strides going.

Each mile was worse than the last, noticing the absence of cars, homes scraped empty, only the ghosts of memories left behind as he swallowed down the fear. People were skipping town…did they fail? Did Vecna succeed at taking hold of sleepy ol’ Hawkins? Was Mayfield even alive? He had no clue. But he was sure you had the answers.

As he walked down the road that led to the trailer park, he noticed the stench of decay filling his nose. The sickly bitter smell of sulphuric from hot and split road burning his lungs, singeing his nose hairs as he stopped in his wake. The large crack that had ripped through the trailer park, through his home as he took a long, hard look. Beginning to walk his way over to the trailer as he steadily peered into the shattered window that led to his bedroom. Everything left behind, your shared belongings having been slammed into disarray by the shattering of the earth beneath it. The entire park devoid of life as he checked for any sign of where you or Wayne might be. Going trailer to trailer, stopping at one of the vacant ones. A sign plastered to it.

‘All residents of Forest Hills are to evacuate the premises immediately if they have not already done so. Head to city hall, and temporary residency will be granted to residents’

Eddie nodded to himself as he took the paper sign, folding it neatly into his pocket and beginning his walk into town.

As he entered downtown, he noticed how Hawkins was essentially a poster child for apocalyptic doom. Stores ransacked, stripped down to their skeletons, windows shattered and glass littering the sidewalks. The occasional drumming of cars rushing by. He prayed none of the drivers would recognize him as Edward Munson, satanic cult leader and cheerleader sacrificing freak. Though they seemed too focused on getting the hell outta dodge to pay any kind to a blood stained and tattered young adult with a terrified look in his eyes.

Heading to city hall, there seemed to be emergency response crews littering the halls, rather than the typical stuffy suits that handled permits and concerns for Hawkins residents. Making his way to the desk and opening the paper up. Staring hopefully at the woman who was sat behind the desk, making her way through a mountain of paperwork.

“Um, excuse me but uh, my family and I lived in Forest Hills. We got…separated, and I need to find them?” He asked

Yet he earned no response, the woman getting up and walking off as Eddie scowled. He was used to being ignored, so he wouldn’t typically mind. But right now, he needed to be helped, to be given a guide to where home would be. Watching her go as he scowled. Looking around, he’d choose to make her job his own in that moment, guaranteeing nobody was around before proceeding. Reaching over the counter and picking up a large binder. Filled with names, ages, medical histories and addresses. Flipping through tens of pages before stopping on a listing.

‘Wayne Albert Munson, household of two. Trailer 13 in Forest Hills Trailer Park, relocated to 413 Hobson Drive, unit 8, government housing’

He carefully grabbed a pen and wrote it down onto his palm. A bit smeared, mostly chicken scratch as he carefully put the binder back in its place and left. Heading on his way.

It had felt like forever as he reached Hobson, making his way through the small clumps of government duplexes. These were nicer than the trailer park, but they’d never replace the park. Not ever. But it didn’t matter where it was, as long as Wayne was there, as long as you were there.

He knocked on the front door, waiting patiently for a response. Seconds feeling like an eternity before relenting. Taking the knob into his hand, twisting and pushing. The door swinging open slowly. Wayne never was a locked door kind of guy.

Padding in, he carefully removed his shoes to leave them beside your own sneakers and Wayne’s house slippers. Careful with them before closing the door. He didn’t want to wake anyone, imagining that people must still be tired.

He made his way down the cramped hallway, peering into one bedroom with what little belongings Wayne managed to salvage. Relenting that it belonged to his uncle, choosing the next door at the end of the hall.

The walls were medical white, the bed made up with a simple blue bedspread. There were drawings, newspaper articles, posters and pictures smattering the walls. All of you and Eddie, your friends, your little family. A large smile spread across his face. He was home.

He felt himself freeze as he noticed shifting in the bed, and there you lay. Shifting in your sleep, exhaustion sprawled across your face as he carefully removed all his clothes. Shoving them into the laundry basket and looking in the clean pile. Finding a shirt of his, and a pair of sweats. He could forego boxers for now. Carefully pulling his hair back as he found one of your many scrunchies on the dresser. Putting it into a haphazard ponytail and smiling lightly. Climbing into bed with you as your eyes instantly shot open at the shift in weight.

Roused from your sleep, you carefully sat up and looked around. No Eddie. No music roaring from the bathroom during a shower. No soft kisses along the bridge of your nose and incessant rambling about plans for the next campaign. Looking beside you and swallowing back a strangling, abrasive sob. Eddie was gone, there was no changing that…

You carefully opened up your bedside drawer, pulling out the thick yellow notepad, working on writing down thoughts about your dream as you frowned. The memories so fresh as you scrawled out each important detail, unaware of the eyes wandering the page.

The whole time you’d been writing, Eddie Munson was trying so very desperately to get your attention without scaring you. He’d started with his immediate adoration and apologies, before relenting to repeating your name irritatingly. Sighing in frustration as he just slumped back onto the pillows, before nosily looking at your writing.

‘It’s day three since Wayne brought me the guitar pick necklace. He isn’t missing. I wish he was though, at least then I’d have hope. In my dream we were married. Same thing as always. Making dinner together, he’s all over me, and we’re happy. I still want that. I don’t know about that though. I don’t know how I’m gonna let go. Dustin and Steve keep coming by, asking me to volunteer at the high school. I don’t want to though. I’m tired of how people look at me, and how they deface his missing poster. I’m tired of being ridiculed. He didn’t hurt anybody. He’s the bravest man I’ve ever known. People don’t understand. He died for this shithole town that would’ve chosen to abandon him at the first sign of fear. I want you back Eddie. I need you back.’

He died?

He died.

He was dead.

Eddie felt the lump in his throat as he anxiously watched you get up to go to the bathroom. Heart in his ears as he took the notebook the moment you were gone. Frantically reading through each and every word you wrote down. How you begged and longed for him, how people checked on you, how you worried for Wayne. How tears smeared the ink and streaked along the yellow paper.

Now everything made sense. The lady at city hall, the cars that drive by. Damnit he was probably on Americas Most Wanted by now, but nobody had noticed. He wasn’t being ignored

He just didn’t fucking exist.

But, he could feel you, see you, know you. He could open and close doors. He could walk, talk, swim. He could pick up the binder so easily. He could still hold things…he could still hold a pen.

Frantically, he picked up the pen as he flipped to a blank page. Clicking it open before writing in it desperately as you came back. Setting it down where you could see.

Your footsteps stopped as you stared at the frantically flipped along pages, carefully picking it up to read it and stopping. Your face going pale as the moon, eyes watery and wide as you dropped it.

‘I’m still here. I’m right here. I just need your help. -E’

You wanted to ignore it, act as if it was a delirious hallucination…but weirder things than ghosts had occurred.

Eddie was alive.

#eddie stranger things #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson #reader insert #stranger things #ghost Eddie #paranormal romance

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myeuphoricmindset · 6 months

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Haunted by you

I commissioned art for my fic by the amazing ari_ylosputets on Instagram and I’m so happy!! Look how precious Daisy and Eddie look together.

And the hands?! You’ve gotta be kidding me. It’s a perfect visual of touching but not…touching. I’m obsessed. Thank you, Ari.

Read fic here.

#hauntedbyou #eddie munson #eddie munson fanfic #eddie munson fic #eddie munson x original character #eddie munson angst #Eddie Munson series #eddie munson fanart #ghost Eddie

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tiannasfanfic · 2 years

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Check-In for the Recently Deceased: Part 1

Eddie Munson x Reader (Angst)

| Masterlist | AO3 Link |

Summary: Eddie Munson never knew what to expect after he died. However, a waiting room certainly wasn't his first guess of what was waiting for him in the great beyond.

Rating: Mature

Author Note: Gender neutral reader, they/them pronouns if any. Pat 1 of ?. Here's the start of another story for Spooky Season, this time featuring ghost!Eddie. 👻 I couldn’t find Eddie’s official birthdate anywhere, so I went with Joseph Quinn’s month and day.

CW: Major ST4 Spoilers; a lot of talk about death; mentions of ways to die (no details); mentions of wounds (left as vague as possible); mention of bloody clothes; angst (people reacting to the news they've died); hurt/comfort; dark humor.

Word Count: 3,746

Tag List: (I tagged everyone that commented on my original post, but please let me know if you want to be taken off. 😊) @tommiruewrites @munsonsmullet @who-let-me-write-this @lunr-flwr @hellfirefiend @bxtch-bou @jadeylovesmarvelxo @sataniquepanique @reincarnationoftheparty @corrodcd @iamnotagarden @idkidknemore

A long time ago, mankind developed spoken language and began conversing with one another.

Since then, one topic above all other has dominated conversations. This topic is ultimately what led to the invention of debates and, inevitably, the invention of arguments. It is a topic that has ruined friendships, torn apart families, and started many a long and bloody war.

Is there life after death?

Most religions of the world certainly seem to think so. They all have different names for it. Heaven, Valhalla, Zion, Elysium, and so on, but they all mean the same thing. Eternal paradise where your soul can be at rest.

Granted, not everyone believed in that sort of thing. While Agnostics don’t quite know where they are going, they are quite confident that they are going somewhere. Atheists, as far as they know, just wink out of existence at their time of death, but they are perfectly fine with that.

However, no matter which theory or religion you believe in, absolutely no faith in the history of mankind has ever described the afterlife as a brightly lit waiting room.

That was why when Eddie Munson found himself passing through a revolving gate into aforementioned brightly lit waiting room, he blinked a few times in surprise.

Last thing he knew, he was badly hurt and laying on the ground, looking up at Dustin and giving him instructions to take over Hellfire. He remembered being certain he was about to die, but then he was here. Eddie had no memory of getting from there to here.

The revolving gate whacked him in the back then, pushing him a few steps further into the room. He turned around to see what was outside but couldn’t see anything beyond the gate except for darkness and fog. Above the door was a lit sign that stated, No Exit. Indeed, there was no way to get back through the revolving tines of the gate. It was one way only.

Turning back to the main room, he finally took in his surroundings.

A few feet ahead of him was a small sign on top of a pole. It said Administration with an arrow pointing to the left, and Waiting Room just under that with an arrow pointing right.

Looking to his right, the waiting area reminded him of an ER. There were multiple rows of empty chairs, a few end tables and coffee tables stacked with magazines. and a coffee service cart in the corner, which made the room vaguely smell like coffee.

Looking to his left, on the other hand, reminded him of the DMV. The counter serving as the desk area was behind privacy glass and had five sliding windows. Eddie could just make out a shadow behind each window, indicating someone was at the desk behind it. Ropes attached to stanchions turned the open floor area into a little rope maze leading to the desk, which encouraged orderly queuing. A little ticket dispenser stood on a little pole at the back of the line, encouraging people to take a number before getting in line.

And, just like DMV and ER waiting rooms, soft elevator muzak was playing through the overhead speakers.

While the room was perfectly normal, with items and furniture typical for all waiting rooms, it all seemed distorted somehow. Eddie couldn’t quite put his finger on why, but everything was slightly warped, like it was just a step to the side of what it should look like.

A handwritten sign was taped to the pole underneath the printed one. Eddie stepped closer to read it.

Please check-in with Admitting first upon arrival. We cannot be held responsible if you go to Waiting first and end up sitting there for 27 and 9/18ths of a year. - Management

While being in a waiting room is never fun, that seemed like an oddly precise exaggeration. Eddie passed it off as someone in the office having a bad day from being on the receiving end of one too many ass chewings.

As directed, Eddie went to the Admissions area, taking a ticket from the small machine before following the path laid out with the ropes. He thought about hopping them since he was literally the only person in here, but stopped himself. He still didn’t know where he was or how he got here, so being cautious seemed like a good idea, especially after everything else he had just gone through.

Once he got to the head of the line, Eddie finally looked at the ticket he was holding.

4, the print on the ticket said.

Eddie looked up from the ticket to a glowing red sign above the counter.

Now Serving: 3, it said.

A few minutes passed, then there was a ding from the sign as the number changed from 3 to 4 and one of the windows slid open with a sudden bang that made Eddie jump.

“Next!” a loud voice called from it.

Eddie started to hurry over to the window but came to a sudden stop when he looked at the woman sitting behind the desk and his brain processed what he was seeing.

She was missing half of her face and part of her head.

Eddie stared at her, horrified. He felt a scream starting to rise up in his throat, an icy feeling of fear gripping him.

But then the woman did something so unexpected, it surprised him out of his fear.

She rolled her remaining eye with a loud huff and waved Eddie over impatiently.

“Come on, come on,” she said, her voice bored sounding. “I haven’t got all day.”

Eddie blinked, then slowly stepped up in front of the desk. Despite how she looked, he was able to understand the woman clearly. There was no lisp, gargle or anything of that nature when she spoke, just a hint of a Jersey accent. On top of that, she seemed perfectly at ease, not in any sort of pain.

Regardless of how realistic it looked; Eddie decided it had to be makeup. Really, really fucking good makeup, but makeup nonetheless. It was the only thing that made sense.

“Name?” the woman asked, turning her attention to what looked like a typewriter hooked up to a small TV.

“Um,” Eddie said, eyes darting from the weird piece of equipment. “Eddie Munson.”

“Just Eddie, Edward or something else?”

“Edward.”

The woman started typing then on the strange device. Eddie watched curiously as green lines of text appeared on the black screen as she typed. This must be one of those new computer things he’d heard about. He hadn’t seen one before since Hawkins High’s newest technology was still ancient as all hell.

“Birthday?” she asked.

“May 15, 1966,” Eddie answered.

The woman typed some more.

“Place of origin?”

“Hawkins, Indiana.”

The woman typed again and then began staring at the computer like she was waiting on something. Eddie glanced at the computer and saw the screen was dark now except for a blinking green cursor. A second later, some text appeared.

No records found.

The woman sighed.

“I swear, why do they give us all this new technology if they don’t have all of our information in it yet? Easier, they said. Pfft.”

The woman pushed her chair back, yanked open a filing cabinet under the desk and started rifling through the files in it.

Eddie got a better look at her then. Whatever costume party they were having up here, she had clearly gone all out for it. She was dressed as a dead homecoming queen, complete with long, frilly pink dress, pink heels, an elaborate crown over a partially fallen up-do, and a banner across her chest that stated OCHS Homecoming ‘71.

It was very creative, though he couldn’t tell how she was supposed to have died. Some sort of head injury, for sure, but that’s as far as he could guess.

“Ah, here we go,” she pulled a file out of the cabinet, closed it and scooted back up to the desk. “Here are today’s scheduled departures. Give me just a moment to find you.”

Eddie waited as she began to skim the papers in the file one by one. There were quite a few to go through, and it took a while to look over each one. At a glance, every page contained a rather comprehensive list of names, dates and locations.

Finally, after looking over the last page, the woman looked at Eddie with a furrow in the middle of her forehead.

“And you’re sure you are Edward Munson, May 15, 1966, Hawkins, Indiana?”

“Yeah, I think I know who I am,” he said, laughing a little.

However, the Homecoming Queen didn’t seem to find it quite so amusing. She raised an eyebrow at him with a stoic expression.

“This it can be an extremely traumatic experience for some,” she scolded Eddie, and his smile faded. “Depending on your reason for being here, you may not quite remember who you are at first.” Then she gestured to the ruined side of her head. “Took me over a week to get my bearings.”

Eddie mumbled an apology, even though he didn’t know what he was apologizing for. The woman’s face relaxed and she flipped the folder closed.

“I don’t have you in today’s file, so you may be in one of our Potentially Early files,” she said, then looked him up and down. “I can already tell I don’t need to check the Terminal Cases file. I’m going to assume the Unexpected Animal Attack file then?”

Eddie quirked his head at her in confusion, and the Homecoming Queen gestured at all of him. He looked down at himself and staggered backwards a few steps in shock.

This was the first time he had actually paid attention to himself. His Hellfire shirt was all torn to shreds through the torso and bloody. The wounds underneath it were still open, though they had completely stopped bleeding. He reached up in a near panic to feel both sides of his neck. His fingers were met with similar feeling wounds, and he quickly jerked them away. Oddly, none of them hurt despite the extent of the damage. They just kind of felt numb and a bit tingly, sort of like when his leg would fall asleep. Not exactly painful, but not exactly pleasant either.

Eddie looked back up to the woman and slowly nodded in answer to her questions. Technically, the Demobats were animals.

She nodded in acknowledgement, then swapped the file she had with a different one in the cabinet and started going through it the same way.

As she did that, Eddie’s head was reeling.

His last memories of Dustin, suddenly being here, the way Homecoming Queen looked, the way he looked…it all spun together in his mind to form the beginnings of a conclusion.

“Am I dead?” Eddie asked suddenly.

Homecoming Queen slowly lifted her gaze back to him, fixing him with a weird look before she slowly nodded her head. Then she turned her attention back to the file.

While Eddie had expected to die soon while he said goodbye to Dustin, the confirmation felt like a punch to the stomach.

And also, somehow, severely underwhelming.

After hearing this very topic debated virtually his entire life, Eddie never was sure what to believe in as far as god or the afterlife was concerned. But it always seemed to him like if there was something afterwards, there would be something big to let you know of the change. Kind of like puberty or getting old. One minute you’re fine, the next you’re a mess. It seemed like death would be the same way. Not just…one second, you’re dying, then next you’re in a waiting room. Was this really the afterlife?

“Hmm,” Homecoming Queen said, startling Eddie out of his thoughts.

“What?” he asked.

“You’re not in Unexpected Animal Attacks either,” she said, putting the file back in its proper order. “That must mean you’re really early.”

“Early?” he asked, blinking.

She nodded, replacing the file back into the cabinet.

“It happens sometimes,” she said. “As they say, shit happens. The sisters can only predict so much with so many fates in their hands. I’ll need to have the Librarians pull your Book of Life and check the date of your scheduled departure. Once I know when you were actually supposed to be here, I can go from there and see about getting you a placement.”

Eddie continued to stare at her, confusion passing over his features.

“Placement?” he asked. “Scheduled departure? Librarians? This all sounds way more like office work than I would have expected.”

Homecoming Queen chuckled, a bit of a smile her half face. There was a bit of a glimmer in her eye that gave away she saw a level of humor in his words that he didn’t quite get.

“Tell me about it,” she said, then shook her head a bit. “Luckily, you have your whole future in death ahead of you. Me? I’m permanently assigned right here to this very desk.”

“An afterlife behind a desk?” Eddie said, wrinkling his nose. “That sounds more like hell to me.”

The Homecoming Queen smiled at Eddie again, this time with a wizened look before she slightly nodding her head in agreement.

“If I knew then what I know now…” she said, letting her voice trail off, before shaking her head. “Anyhow. Please have a seat. It may take some time to find and pull your Book, but I’ll call you back up here once they’ve sent up the information I need. But, in the meantime.”

She pushed her chair away from her desk over to a shelf holding several a stacks of books. She took one and scooted back over to the window, where she slid the book across the counter to Eddie. He looked down, reading the name on the cover.

Handbook for the Recently Deceased.

“Now is a good time to start reading up,” she said, then tapped the cover with one finger. “Start from the beginning. Don’t skim it like some people do. Trust me, it’ll answer most of your questions, teach you about your new reality, and it will give some starting pointers.”

Eddie nodded and thanked her. As he was turning away from the counter, Homecoming Queen turned to the phone on her desk, hit a button on it, then picked up the receiver.

“Hey, it’s Diana from Admin,” he heard her saying into the phone as he was walking away. “I need the Book for Edward Munson, May 15, 1966, Hawkins, Indiana pulled for departure verification. He’s early, possibly very early, so he should still be categorized under-“

Eddie didn’t catch the rest of it as his attention was caught by two people coming in through the revolving gate. He did a double take, then quickly averted his eyes. They were in worse states than both him and the Homecoming Queen combined. He figured at this point it was impolite to stare at the other dead people. He kept his head down and made for a chair on the farthest end of the waiting room. A quick glance up showed them reading the signs and then heading for Admitting.

And so, the wait began.

A few more people trickled into the waiting room through the gate. Eddie couldn’t help but people watch as they all went to get checked in. Each new person that walked in sent a small jolt of shock through his system. Every single one looked like they had been through a horrific accident. It got easier to look at them without wanting to stare as time went on.

But then the trickle of dead souls soon turned into a steady stream as more and more people began coming through the gate.

It didn’t really dawn on Eddie that this might be an odd occurrence, even when he started recognizing people from around town. It wasn’t anyone he knew personally, mainly just those he largely saw in passing, such as the night clerk from the only 24-hour gas station in Hawkins and the waitress from Benny’s that Eddie usually flirted with. They were both young, in their late teens at minimum, so it was strange seeing them in the afterlife. Both looked like they had been through major accidents. Then again, everyone that came in looked like that to varying degrees, as if a lot of people in Hawkins had suddenly become a fatal level of accident prone.

He was starting to wonder about it when more people came in that he recognized. These weren’t just service workers he encountered in day-to-day life; these were people he knew on various levels. There were a few of his fellow students, two of his teachers and random people he had seen at The Hideout, among others. At one point, Eddie thought he heard Max calling for Lucas, but when he went to look for her to keep her company, he couldn’t find her.

A wheelchair came through the gate just then, one of those old-fashioned ones from the early 20th century. This wasn’t a strange sight as several people had come through in wheelchairs when their injuries were too severe to let them move about on their own. Even though the chairs were manual, they seemed to have a mind of their own at first. They self-propelled themselves and their passenger through the gate, then would wheel themselves off to the side out of the way. This is where they would stay unless they wheeled themselves somewhere else or someone helped them.

While he hadn’t recognized any of the others who came through in a chair, this particular wheelchair contained none other than Eddie’s tormentor, Jason Carver.

At first, Eddie couldn’t help but feel a little smug. If he had to be here, it seemed somehow fitting that Jason would be too. He had no plans to go rub it in his face though, the knowledge that Jason got his was more than-

Then the wheelchair re positioned itself and he forgot all about his spiteful thoughts when he saw the state Jason was in. Saying he had been cut in half was putting it mildly. It looked like he had been melted through around his middle. The top half of Jason’s body was sitting in his own lap.

Eddie was still trying to process this when Jason looked down and saw for himself the condition, he was in.

Everyone who passed through the waiting room had a different reaction to the revelation they were dead. Some took it well and seemed unbothered, while others openly sobbed or sat in shocked silence. But Jason was the first to openly scream in abject terror. He started screaming in terror and panic. He started to trash in his chair in his panic. That was when he discovered all of his limbs still worked just fine despite being separated. This seemed to freak him out even more, and his screams took a higher pitched, frantic tone.

The other people in the waiting room were not pleased with this.

“Pipe down!” one person yelled.

“Be glad you still have legs!” someone in a different wheelchair cried.

“We’re all dead! You ain’t special!” another person scolded.

If Jason heard them, he didn’t acknowledge them, too lost in his own panic attack to pay attention to anything else.

It was at that particular moment that Eddie realized something.

Despite everything that had happened, despite everything he had been put through at Jason’s hands, from the bullying when he was growing up to recent events, Eddie couldn’t just sit there and do nothing when the man desperately needed help. Jason Carver was an asshole, yes, but not even assholes deserve to go through something so traumatic like this alone.

Before he could think about it more, Eddie was on his feet, quickly making his way through the now crowded waiting room over to the Captain of the basketball team.

“Hey man, hey hey,” Eddie said with a gentle tone once he’d reached Jason, hesitating briefly before putting a hand on his shoulder. “It’s okay, everything’s gonna be fine, you just have to breathe through it. It’s shocking, I know, but try to breathe.”

It seemed ironic telling a dead person to breathe, but that was a train of thought for another time.

Jason’s head snapped up, eyes widening even more when he saw who was talking to him.

“Y-you!” Jason said, sputtering angrily. “Why, of all the-“

Then he stopped, his glare meeting Eddie’s sympathetic gaze. His face went blank for a few seconds before a look of dawning realization came over it.

“I-it wasn’t you…was it?”

Eddie slowly shook his head. Jason stared at him for a moment before a look of horror came over his face.

Death has a way of bringing someone clarity. They see what should have been obvious in life. It was one of those little twists the universe likes to throw at you when it’s too late to change anything or make it right.

“I-I,” Jason stuttered, a look of deep shame coming to his face.

It was at that moment Eddie found himself understanding Jason, too. Their pain and fear in life really hadn’t been much different from each other’s, but they were worlds apart socially and never would have seen that on their own. So, they hated each other instead.

Eddie waved off whatever apology Jason was trying to give.

“Water under the bridge,” he said. “It doesn’t really matter now anyway.” Eddie looked around at all the people occupying the large space and then gestured to all of them. “Henry Creel made sure of that.”

Jason looked at Eddie for a moment, then let his gaze sweep around the room. It was the first time he had really paid attention to the other people in the waiting room. His jaw dropped. Then he turned back to Eddie and got a really good look at him. He slowly looked him over, then back down at himself, before meeting Eddie’s gaze again.

“We didn’t survive the earthquake,” Jason said quietly. “Did we?”

Eddie shook his head, then went around to the back of the chair to start pushing Jason over to Admitting.

“Let’s get you in line for check in,” Eddie said, slowly navigating the chair through the crowded waiting room. “And I’ll fill you in as best I can.”

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