for winnebagos

[thefreak]

[ as it turns out, leaving hawkins behind was a lot easier than eddie expected it to be. the hardest part was not saying goodbye. he knew if he set out to do this intentionally, if he announced it to the pack he would never be able to follow through with it. it was better this way, to pack a few bags and take his van to drive as far as his tank of gas will get him out of here.

armed with nothing but a stack of mixtapes and a vague idea of where he's headed, eddie finally runs away one last time. he ignores the ache in his chest and the way his whole self seems to be screaming at him to turn around. it's better this way, he tells himself. wayne won't have to deal with the delinquent jock assholes coming by to spray paint and wreck his van, and egg the trailer. maybe without him, the hellfire club can be rebranded and start anew. it's not like corroded coffin was going to go anywhere, not so long as the rumors surrounding eddie's cult leader status continued.

he knows dustin will never forgive him, but it's a price he's willing to take to finally get some peace of mind somewhere he can be truly anonymous. sure he can't exactly change his name, but he can settle somewhere out west where the name eddie munson doesn't cause a fight to break out.

he doesn't expect to miss steve. he doesn't expect to miss any of them, but he does. and since he never gave anyone his new address or phone number, it's not as if anyone can keep in touch. but every so often, his nightmares will take on a new shape, and instead of the bats coming to terrorize him, it's steve he sees, in lover's lake. steve, who's getting chewed alive but this time eddie's the only one who dives after him, and he's just a little too late.

that morning after he wakes up drenched in sweat, he dials steve's number without even thinking. but when he hears the voice on the other end, eddie realizes what he's doing and hangs up without saying a word. and later, when he's at work and he catches sight of a burgundy bmw, eddie will pretend that his blood doesn't run cold in shameful fear, even though there's no way that can be steve, not when he heard his damn voice mere hours ago. but that doesn't stop his hands from trembling as he tries to focus on the tune-up he's supposed to be doing on the dodge challenger in front of him. ]