Chapter Text
They say hindsight is 20/20—and they’d be right.
Because if I had known what would happen the night of September 8th, 1984, I would’ve done everything differently. That was the night my life changed. The night that blew my family apart and made my dad walk out, leaving my mom and me in a trailer on the edge of nowhere.
A place called Hawkins.
She found the trailer after scouring newspapers from surrounding areas and rented it without even looking at it. Said it was all we could afford anyway. Said the price was “a miracle.”
Yeah, it sure was. And we found out why pretty quickly.
As we drove into town, our belongings loaded into her station wagon, we were greeted by the welcome sign. It had been spray-painted to say: “Welcome to Hell”.
When my mom asked a tired clerk at a corner market called Melvald’s why the sign had been vandalized, his customer service smile vanished, his eyes grew dark and distant.
“People think it is hell. A boy disappeared. Had a funeral for him and everything when they dragged a body out of the quarry. Turned out to be someone else, too badly decomposed to get a proper ID, they say. The boy returned. Then there was a gas leak from the lab… killed a young girl. And then the freak mall fire last summer, thirty people dead—including the police chief.”
Then he looked me straight in the eye.
“This town is cursed.”
I didn’t believe in curses.
At least… not yet.
****
It had been a month since I got dumped on hell’s welcome mat.
A month of new hallways, new teachers, and eating lunch alone in the library; typical of a nearly end of year transplant. The guidance counselor, Ms. Kelly, took a special interest in me, I guess. My isolation and less-than-chatty demeanor apparently threw up a red flag. She insisted on starting to see me only a week and a half after I started at Hawkins High.
“I can tell something is bothering you-something deeper than just being the new kid in school.” she had said, her brown eyes filled with a level of tender concern that made me shift uncomfortably in my seat.
I never really had much to say to her…until a few days ago when my typical melancholia spiraled into something I was unfamiliar with. And now here I am. I thought bitterly, the symptoms having driven me begrudgingly to the office, where I sat in a chair with a cracked leather back. My black lace dress fluttered with every jittery bounce of my leg and my wine colored press-on nails clicked rhythmically against the armrest. My skin prickled, like I was being watched. My eyes darted nervously around the room but it was only me and the secretary, who hadn’t even looked up from the Harlequin Romance she’d been devouring for the ten minutes I’d been waiting there.
When the office door swung open, I nearly jumped out of my skin. A blond cheerleader walked out, looking down at the floor with blank eyes as she left the office without acknowledging anyone. My gaze followed her for a moment, wondering what Miss Popular could be seeing the school shrink about, until Ms. Kelly’s voice pulled me from my thoughts.
“Cassia? You can come on in.” She smiled at me from the doorway.
I sighed. “Cass.” I corrected for the fifth time since I’d met her. I grabbed my messenger bag off of the floor and followed her in, closing the door behind me as she sat at her desk. She gestured to the seat in front of her and I unceremoniously plopped into it, letting my bag drop onto the floor beside the chair.
“Cass.” she amended with a smile. “How are you doing?” Her brow furrowed a tad as she took me in. “Have you slept at all?”
“That’s a polite way of saying I look like shit.” I said flatly.
Ms. Kelly shook her head. “That’s not what I meant. I just mean…you look like you haven’t slept in awhile. That’s all.”
I shrugged, fiddling with a frayed bit of lace on my skirt. “No, it’s okay. I’m not blind. I can see the dark circles under my eyes. I’m somehow paler than usual, if that’s even remotely possible.” I couldn’t stand to look into her impossibly gentle eyes, so I fixed my gaze on the cheesy motivational poster behind her as I spoke. “I haven’t been sleeping.” I admitted, my tone softening. “Things have been…weird this week. Nightmares. Really bad headaches. Even had a nosebleed this morning when I woke up.” I hesitated before adding, “I’ve never had one before.” I hazarded a glance back at her.
Ms. Kelly leaned in, her hands interlaced, looking intrigued. “Perhaps these symptoms are a physical manifestation of your feelings about…your dad leaving, relocating, starting a new school…”
I shook my head. “I’ve had worse than this hellhole—” Her eyebrow arched. “—no offense—and I didn’t have all of this then. I had bad days, sure. But not like this. Not these headaches. Not this… feeling.”
“What kind of feeling?”
“Like…like somebody’s watching me.”
She looked cautious now as she tilted her head. “You think someone’s watching you?”
I let out a dry laugh. “Yeah. Kinda funny, right? I’m so invisible here, a girl sat on me in study hall yesterday. Sat on me. But I still feel like someone’s always there. Like I’m never alone, even when the room is empty…”
I trailed off, waiting for her to look at me like I’d grown a second head or to reach for the phone to call the local nuthouse. But strangely enough, while she seemed mildly perplexed as she flipped through the notebook in front of her, she didn’t appear…shocked. She fidgeted with her key necklace as she stared at her notes. “Hmm.” was all she said before looking up at me and pasting a smile on her face. “Anything else going on? Have you made any friends yet?”
I frowned at the sudden subject change and eyed her warily. “Not unless you count the lunch lady who slops extra gravy adjacent goop on my Salisbury steak.”
“You need to get out there, Cassia- Cass.” she corrected, holding her hand up before I could speak. “What are your hobbies? Maybe we could find a club for you.”
My eyes narrowed. “A club.” I echoed flatly. “You think a club is going to ease my headaches, stop my nightmares?”
Ms. Kelly scrawled something down before looking back up at me. “Perhaps you're just experiencing extra stress and feeling vulnerable because you haven’t found your place here yet. Do you play sports?”
I snorted derisively in response.
“Okay, no sports then. What about marching band?”
“I doubt marching band has a need for a guitar player.”
“No, probably not.” She looked thoughtful. “Choir?”
“I sound like a goose being strangled.” I lied.
She let out a surprised chuckle that she then tried to cover up with a cough, straightening her face. “Okay. Drama?”
When I didn’t immediately shoot it down, she smiled. “We have an excellent drama department. It’s very well funded. Props and costumes galore. Of course, there’s already a spring production in place…but we could put you on the tech team for the show?”
I shrugged.
She clapped her hands together. “Excellent! I think that will be a wonderful way to get involved.”
“Involved for a few months before I graduate and never look back, you mean.” I pointed out.
“Anything to get you some friends. It’ll be a lonely couple months if you don’t and… a pretty lousy summer for a graduate.”
I didn’t respond. What could I say? She wasn’t wrong.
Ms. Kelly let the silence settle for a moment, then reached into a drawer and slid a small yellow slip across the desk. “Here’s a pass. You’ll have to check in with Mr. Goodlet in the auditorium after last period. Tell him I sent you. He’s a little…eccentric. But he’s very kind.”
I took the pass and curled my fingers around it. “Thanks,” I muttered. This had been an entirely unhelpful session and I was aggravated with how unresolved the issue felt.
As I stood to leave, she gave me a look that made me pause. It wasn’t pity, exactly. More like… recognition. Like maybe she saw something in me that she couldn’t say out loud.
“Oh,” she added casually, “and Cass? Maybe next time we can talk about the nightmares about your past.”
I blinked. “I never said what they were about." I said slowly.
She just smiled faintly and went back to scribbling in her notes. I hesitated a beat before shaking my head and pushing the door open, hurrying out into the waiting room. I barely had time to breathe before I slammed straight into someone, knocking their bag to the ground and sending tapes and notebooks clattering across the tile.
“I’m so sorry—I didn’t see you—” I dropped to my knees to help gather everything but a familiar cassette caught my eye. “Hey. Kate Bush!” I stood, holding the tape out. That’s when I really looked at her—the girl I’d crashed into.
She had bright red hair and a spray of freckles, her pale skin almost gray, like she was sickly. Dark circles rimmed her eyes. She looked younger than me but carried herself like she’d aged beyond even my years. She looked vaguely familiar now that I had zeroed in on her.
“You like Kate Bush?” she asked cautiously.
I gave a short, awkward laugh. “Are you kidding?” I unzipped my backpack and pulled out my own copy with a flourish. “Hounds of Love is kind of a masterpiece.”
She gave me a small smile, like she hadn’t worn one in a while. “Yeah. It is. I haven’t met another fan around here. But you’re the new girl, right? The senior?”
I nodded. “Cass.” I offered.
She eyed me like she, too, thought I looked familiar but couldn’t place me. “Max.”
“Sorry again.” I added with a wince. Suddenly, I realized why I recognized her. She lived in a trailer a few down from mine.
“Your music taste makes up for it.” Then she flinched, her hand flying to her face. She pinched the bridge of her nose, eyes screwed shut as she hissed through her teeth. “Ugh. These headaches…”
That stopped me short. I reached into my bag again and offered her my bottle of acetaminophen. She looked at it for a moment, wary, then took it, shaking a few into her palm.
“Thanks.”
“No problem. I’ve been having them a lot lately too. Practically been popping pain meds like they’re candy.” I chuckled awkwardly. “I was taking ibuprofen but then I got a nosebleed so figured I didn’t need any blood thin-”
“A nosebleed?” she interrupted my awkward rant, brows knitted together. “I’ve been having those too.”
“Maxine?” Ms. Kelly’s voice rang out from her office before I could respond. “I’m ready for you.”
Max stared at me for a long beat before nodding. “Thanks. For the meds. See you around.”
“See you,” I echoed, blinking as the door closed behind her.
I stared down at the crumpled slip in my hand and tossed it in the trash on my way out of the office.