☠️Full Circle Warnings☠️
A/N: This fic is inspired by always wanting to do some cave exploration with my friends. Starting a beautiful day exploring the caves near Skull Rock with your friends quickly turns into mayhem and terror as you go against your friends' advice and converse with a friendly stranger in the depths. I hope you guys like this one! Finally featuring the loveliest Eddie Munson 💕 This is my first ever thriller/horror fic, so hopefully it's okay!
TW: Blood mention, altered reality, smoking.
MAY 2023
The weather was fair and mild that May, so you and your friends decided it would be the perfect time to scope out the caves near Skull Rock. You sat in the passenger seat of Kyla’s Toyota 4Runner while she sped along the dusty, winding roads to the trailhead. Looking down at your phone, you noticed you had lost service, so you set it to airplane mode and secured it in Kyla’s glovebox, knowing there was no need to bring it into a cave where you could possibly lose it forever.
Over the booming of the music, you could hear Brent checking everyone’s flashlights and reminding the group to all bring extra batteries, extra water, and what to look for if you want to take home some natural quartz. Lelia was listening intently as Brent explained how certain rocks and crystals formed in caves, her ginger hair flowing in the wind as Aliya held a cigarette out the window. You and Kyla were singing along to the music when Aliya leaned forward between your seats, almost startling you.
“Just remember,” she piped up loud enough to be heard over the song. “If you see a person down in those caves, no you don’t.”
“What does that mean?” Kyla grimaced in confusion and laughed.
“It means they’re probably not real, especially if they try to lead you further in. Don’t listen, don’t follow, and don’t get separated from the group. Caves are like liminal spaces or some shit. They don’t play.” Aliya was smiling, so you couldn’t tell how serious she was, but goosebumps perked up on your arms anyway.
“Oh, slay,” Kyla replied nonchalantly, both of them bursting into a fit of laughter at her deadpan reaction. You were lost in your thoughts as the trees started to thin on your trail, and you felt the car slowing to a stop. Pulling off into a quarry, your group exited the vehicle and secured your packs for the trip.
“Remember, try to stick together. The map to these caves is really old, but as far as the websites have said, only these two tunnels have caved in,” Brent instructed, marking two areas on the map. You examined the tunnels, names, and distances marked on the cave map, and you took mental note of the areas to avoid just in case you got lost in the dark.
“Everyone have extra batteries?” Kyla held up the pack of D batteries as everyone double checked their packs, a resounding “Yep!” signaling the beginning of your group’s journey. You stacked an extra water bottle in your pack, zipped it up, and slung it over your shoulder, following the single file line uphill to an opening in the side of the mountain, glancing back one more time to see Skull Rock resting at the base of the quarry where the car was parked.
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Arriving at the mouth of the cave, everyone turned on their flashlights and gathered around Brent to take another look at the map. He explained the three paths you could take through the tunnels, where the arrows on the walls should be, and which places to keep a lookout for quartz. After everyone agreed they were ready, the five of you entered the cave and started down the long tunnel.
“Mind the grade!” Brent’s voice echoed through the dark as you felt the ground start to slant downward. You jumped with a gasp when you felt a hand grasp your sleeve.
“Sorry, buddy.” It was just Aliya. “Trying not to fall on my ass.” She giggled, and you smiled back, both of you helping each other down the hill, slow and steady, as the light behind you swiftly disappeared, leaving all of you in total darkness except for the spots of your flashlights darting around.
The grade leveled out after a few minutes of careful walking, and you could see three branches of tunnels off of the main chamber you all stood in.
“This way is the easiest,” Brent pointed his flashlight down the path to the right. Everyone started in that direction, pointing their flashlights at the walls, the ground, the ceiling, taking in the scenery as best as they could in the vast darkness. Pointing your flashlight at the wall, you noticed a blue arrow spray painted on the stone.
“Is this a safe arrow?” Brent approached where you were standing and shone his flashlight on the arrow.
“Yep,” he said simply. “Blue means go, green means slow, red means no.” You nodded, repeating the phrase quietly to yourself for future reference as the five of you continued the path.
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You all enjoyed exploring the first couple of tunnels you came across, and you had found yourselves in a wide chamber with a bit of water dripping into one corner, making a small pool. Brent explained that this chamber was consistent with the map, and it was a great place to look for quartz formations, so everyone had chosen a corner and started searching the rocks around the floor and walls for signs of crystal growth. Everyone was laughing, joking, and talking amongst themselves when you noticed a strange, familiar smell.
“Is someone smoking in here?” You pointed your flashlight at your friends one by one, each of them holding up a hand and squinting their eyes in turn.
“No. We’re not that fucking stupid,” Aliya scoffed and giggled.
“I know. I just – I smell smoke.” You sniffed the air, looking around, swearing you detected the scent of cigarette smoke thick in the air.
“Nope. That’s just cave smell,” Brent said confidently.
“Cave smell?” Kyla asked skeptically.
“Yeah. Cave smell,” Brent continued. “A mix of chemicals, probably gas, old water, and bacteria trapped in the cave. The only way for it to go is up and out the entrance. It’s normal.” You didn’t have any counter for his explanation, so you tried to let it put your mind at ease. Your friends went back to talking amongst themselves while you examined a few rocks at the mouth of a tunnel off to the left of the chamber, everyone’s voices fading into the background as you focused on your task at hand.
Crunch, crunch, crunch, clink. You heard footsteps followed by what sounded like a small object falling on the floor. You stood up, pointing your flashlight down the tunnel, finding nothing but an empty path. Weird. You figured it was probably just the echoes of your friends ricocheting off the cave walls. You busied yourself with the rocks and tried to put the thought out of your mind.
Crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch. There it was again. The footsteps were fading farther down the tunnel. You stood up and stared down the stone hallway again, your flashlight finding nothing in sight as you slowly crossed the threshold from the chamber into the long pathway. You took tentative steps, glancing back one more time to see your friends not far from you, still mingling and paying attention to their rock formations. You continued down the path, pointing your flashlight straight ahead until you spotted a small object on the ground.
You picked up your pace, approaching the object and shining your flashlight on it – a small, shiny rectangle. Picking up the object, you turned it over in your hand. A Zippo lighter? You fumbled the lighter and dropped it, hearing it land with a familiar clink. That was the sound you had heard along with the footsteps. Someone dropped this only moments ago – you were sure of it. Looking behind you again, you could see your friends’ flashlights moving around in the distance. You were confident you wouldn’t get lost if you continued in this tunnel and went straight back after investigating.
As you continued forward, you noticed the cigarette smoke smell again. It grew stronger with each step you took down the tunnel, so you followed it. Coming to a fork in the road, you decided one turn wouldn’t hurt. You took a sharp left and continued onto a new path, your flashlight gliding over the walls and ceiling, searching for arrows. You froze in your tracks when you finally found them – a string of red arrows pointing in the opposite direction you were going.
“Red means no,” you muttered to yourself as you looked ahead, shining your flashlight down the empty stone hallway. You reasoned you’d be able to see any unsafe terrain or pools of water before you got to them, so, against your friend’s advice, you persisted. A few more steps in, your flashlight started to flicker. You gave it a smack, a shake, turned if off and back on again…nothing worked. It flickered, buzzed, and flashed until it finally turned off. You were completely alone in the dark. You couldn’t hear your friends anymore.
Crunch, crunch, crunch. Hearing the footsteps approaching from behind you, you panicked. Without thinking, you broke into a sprint. The tunnel was long, but you kept a hand outstretched in front of you just in case so you didn’t hit a wall. You ran without looking back.
“Kyla! Brent! Anyone!” You yelled hoping your friends could hear you, wherever they were. They would notice you were missing and come looking for you, right? You ran until your chest was burning and you could hardly suck in another breath. You looked behind you and saw only darkness.
“Ugh!” You ran into something – someone – and screamed, your flashlight bursting back to life, illuminating the stranger you had collided with.
“Woah, hey! Hey, hey, it’s okay! Are you all right?.” A man stood before you, holding your shoulders steady and looking at you with concern in his big, brown doe eyes. His dark, wavy hair dusted his shoulders, bangs resting on his lashes, and he wore a denim vest adorned in patches over a leather jacket and a homemade cotton shirt that said Hellfire Club on the front in big, bold letters. “It’s okay. I’m not going to hurt you.” You stepped back away from him, and he held up his hands.
“Where the fuck did you come from?” Your voice was shaking as you looked the man up and down. He obviously hadn’t been in these caves for long. He looked clean, his high top shoes still white, and he didn’t seem to be in any distress.
“I should ask you the same question.” He smiled and chuckled a little. He could sense your fear, so he offered, “It’s really okay. I won’t even touch you, I promise. Just trying to help.” He smiled again, softer this time, and you smelled it – the cigarette smoke.
“Were you smoking down here?” He snickered, clasping his hands behind his back and kicking a small rock with his foot.
“Yeah, you caught me,” he said, pretending to be sheepish. “Do you need a smoke?” He patted his pockets and furrowed his brows. “I guess I lost my lighter. Damn. It was a nice one, too.” You remembered the lighter you collected from the previous tunnel earlier.
“Is – is this it?” You held out the Zippo and shined your flashlight on it.
“Hey, yeah! That’s the one. Where’d you find it?” He took the lighter from your hand, gave it a toss, catching it again and flicking the top open.
“I found it in the tunnel back there.” You pointed behind you with your thumb, and the man flicked the lighter to life.
“Huh. Well, thanks for bringing her back to me.” The man smiled again, closing the lighter and holding out his hand for you to shake. “Eddie Munson.” You stared at his eyes as your hand met his, giving it a firm shake.
“Nice to meet you, I think,” you answered, still feeling cautious. “Do you know these caves at all? I kind of wandered off and lost my group.” Eddie sighed and patted your shoulder.
“Like the back of my hand, sweetheart.” He smiled and gestured into the dark in front of him. “Follow me.” You nodded, walking alongside Eddie, pointing your flashlight ahead of the two of you, the sound of both of your footsteps the only thing reverberating in the long hallway as you continued on. You noticed his bandana sticking out of his back pocket flowing behind him, the silver rings that adorned his fingers, and the large image on the back of his vest: DIO.
“You like Dio?” You offered some conversation to soothe the beating of your own heart.
“Worship him,” Eddie replied, smiling proudly. “Dio, Metallica, Motorhead, Iron Maiden, W.A.S.P., Ozzy…I like music.” Eddie smiled wide and skipped forward a bit, dancing in place with his air guitar. “And I play guitar,” he said, still committing to his theatrics. You giggled at his display, and the two of you kept walking. You noticed he didn’t keep still very well, but he seemed to be enjoying making you laugh.
“Oh, yeah? You in a band or something?” Eddies eyes lit up, a devilish smile growing on his face.
“I thought you’d never ask,” he said. “Corroded Coffin. You can catch us Tuesday nights at The Hideout.” You heard crinkling as Eddie unfolded a flier from his vest pocket and handed it to you. THE HIDEOUT BAR PRESENTS: CORRODED COFFIN; TUES 9PM; 4462 CORNWALLIS AVE, HAWKINS, INDIANA.
“Hawkins?” Your mouth fell into a frown, and your eyes grew wide as you noted the address on the flier. Hawkins had been a ghost town for decades after a mysterious earthquake tragedy annihilated most of the population and made the entire town uninhabitable. You were willing to bet The Hideout didn’t exist anymore. Something was very wrong. Eddie’s face fell at your reaction, and you looked into his eyes again, shining your flashlight in his face. He put a hand up to block some of the light from his eyes and grimaced. Your breathing became ragged, and you started to shake again.
“What? What’s wrong?” Eddie craned his neck, trying to avoid the light in his eyes as he questioned you, putting both of his hands up to block out the glare.
“Where did you come from?” Your voice was stern, low, and deliberate. You dropped the flashlight slightly, surveying Eddie’s form once more. He looked like he was from a different time.
“I don’t know what you’re asking me,” he replied impatiently, his hands out in front of him, shoulders shrugged. “I need you to be more specific. Where did I come from? I was born. What more do you want to know?” You could tell Eddie was trying to stay calm in the heat of your panic, but he was struggling.
“How did you get down here in the caves?”
“I walked.” Eddie scoffed. “At least I think I did.” He turned and looked at the cave wall, touching it lightly. He seemed confused all of a sudden. “I had to have walked, right?” He turned to face you, his eyes filled with anxiety. “How did you get here?”
“My friends and I drove here, and we walked in from the entrance next to Skull Rock,” you said, backing away from him slightly.
“Skull Rock,” he said, his voice barely above a whisper. “That’s where…we are.” The hand holding your flashlight started to tremble.
“You didn’t know where you were?” Your eyes stung as you felt your tears welling up, and each breath caught in your chest as you felt fear rising in your throat.
“No, I – I did. I just…forgot.” Eddie’s face contorted into confusion, and he brought a hand to his mouth, chewing on the skin around his fingernails as he seemed like he was concentrating very hard on trying to remember something. He started muttering to himself about Steve, Dustin, Wheeler, the lake, the trailer, and the bats.
“Eddie?” Your voice shook violently as you trembled from head to toe. Eddie’s chocolate brown eyes met yours, and you could see they were wrought with terror all of a sudden.
“I have to get back,” he said, his eyes filling with tears as he lunged for you, gripping you by the shoulders and shaking you. “I have to get back to them. You know Steve?” You shook your head no. “STEVE! DO YOU KNOW STEVE!” Eddie was yelling now, his panic too much for him to contain anymore.
“I don’t know Steve! What are you talking about?!” You gripped him by the wrist and tried to pry his hands from your shoulders, but his fingers only dug in deeper as tears streamed down his face.
“Dustin! Where’s Dustin! The bats!” Nothing he was saying was making any sense, and your own tears started to spill over, and you were pulling away, trying your best to writhe out of Eddie’s grip, but it was iron strong.
“I don’t know, Eddie! I DON’T KNOW!” He was yelling over you, talking gibberish almost, and your flashlight started to flicker again. You swore you saw blood start to drip from his mouth and soak through spots in his white cotton shirt as he continued to bellow with despair in his voice.
“I stayed, and I fought, and I LOST! I LOST! I need to warn them. My friends, I NEED TO WARN THEM!” You dropped your flashlight and used your now free hand to take a downward strike to one of Eddie’s hands on your shoulder, and you were freed from his grasp. You turned in the opposite direction and ran for your life.
“HOW DID I GET HERE?! COME BACK! HELP ME, PLEASE!” Eddie’s voice ricocheted over the tunnel walls, growing farther and farther behind you, but never going quiet. You ran harder than you ever had before, taking every turn you came across until you tripped over a lip in a chamber and hit the ground, knocking the remaining wind from your chest. You scrambled backwards until you found a wall, hugging your knees to your chest, breathing ragged as you cried silently. What the hell was that? After pulling yourself together as much as you could, you decided that if you were doomed to die in these caves, the least you could do was give yourself a chance by trying to find a way out.
You unzipped your pack, took a long drink from your water bottle, and used some extra water to wet your hands, face, and hair. After packing everything back up, you slung your belongings over your shoulder and started wandering aimlessly in the darkness. You wandered for what must have been hours. It felt more like days, but it couldn’t have been because you never slept. And you never saw Eddie in the tunnels again.
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Just as you were about to give up hope, you were grazing your hand along a wall in the darkness when you heard voices.
“Skull Rock! In your face, man. In your stupid, cocky little face.” The voices weren’t echoing. They must be coming from outside. You followed the sound, keeping your hand along the wall.
“It doesn’t make sense.” Another voice. You kept going.
“Yeah, yeah. Even when it’s staring you right in the face, you can’t admit it. You just can’t admit that you’re wrong, you little butthead.”
“I concur.” A third voice. “You, Dustin Henderson, are a total butthead.” Dustin? The third voice almost sounded familiar.
“Jesus, man, we thought you were a goner.” You picked up your pace, the three boys’ words becoming louder with every step. The ground turned swiftly uphill, and you were running again. You broke into a sprint when you saw the light coming down through an opening. You burst through the opening and out into fresh air to the alarm of six strangers who stared at you like they had never seen anything like you before.
“Holy shit! Are you okay?” A young teen girl with ginger hair, bright blue eyes, and a pair of headphones around her neck was the first to speak to you. All you could do was breathe heavily and stare in terror at the people before you. An older boy in a yellow sweater put his hands up, eyebrows raised, and spoke next.
“How long were you down there?” You still couldn’t answer them. Another girl looking about the same age as Yellow Sweater Guy took a step forward, her shoulder length brown curls bouncing as she reached out a hand toward you.
“Are you hurt?” You searched for words as you scanned over the strangers. Each one of them looked like they were from a different time. The ginger haired girl’s headphones were plugged into a walkman attached to her hip that was playing a cassette tape. You couldn’t make out the song, but it sounded like 80’s music. The dark skinned boy with a flat top haircut looked completely bewildered as he side eyed the ginger haired girl, stepping slightly in front of her.
“What year is it?” It seemed like the only sensible question for you to ask. You had no clue how long you had been down in the caves, and everything you had seen in the last day made you feel like you were losing your mind.
“What?” A boy holding a compass with curly hair poking out of his hat looked at you like you were an idiot.
“What year is it?” You asked the question again through gritted teeth, your hands balling up into fists at your sides. You were starting to panic again, and anger was the only emotional response you had left. The last of the three girls present tilted her head to the side a bit, her blonde, chin length bob swaying with her.
“It’s 1986,” she finally answered. Your eyes widened as you turned around to face the cave you emerged from. That’s when you saw him. He was squatted on the ground, elbows on his knees, holding a canteen as he stared, mouth agape. It was Eddie.
“YOU!” You pointed at him, your entire body trembling furiously as he pointed to himself in disbelief.
“Me? Who the hell are you?”
“EDDIE.” You snarled his name, and his eyes grew wide with fear.
“How do you know me? Are you one of Carver’s little henchmen?!” He jumped to his feet and backed away from you, both hands outstretched defensively.
“No, dude! She’s covered in dirt and blood, and she just came out of a random cave in the woods. Who knows how long she’s been down there! She obviously needs help,” Yellow Sweater Guy reasoned.
“Where am I?” You yelled loudly at them, backing a couple of steps away. Seeing Eddie had your terror ramping up again, and nothing felt real anymore. The boy with the hat put his hands out, gesturing calmly and speaking in a low, kind tone.
“You’re in Hawkins. Everything’s going to be okay. We can help you.”
“HAWKINS?!” You were almost screaming, tears building up again. You looked around at the six strangers and Eddie and could do nothing more than sit down in your place, stare into the distance, and let yourself cry. Stuck in a different time, in a different world, you regret now more than ever not heeding the words of your friend. “If you see a person down in those caves, no you don’t.”
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