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𝙄 𝘾 𝙀  𝘾 𝙍 𝙀 𝘼 𝙈  𝙎 𝙐 𝙉 𝘿 𝘼 𝙀

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HAWKINS, INDIANA
1984

THERE WAS SOMETHING THAT Laurie liked about working at the gas station. Something about the continuous series of monotonous tasks was inherently relaxing and didn't really require a lot of thought. All she had to do was ring customers up for their choice and amount in fuel and whatever snacks or drinks they decided to purchase, making meaningless conversation with them before taking a quiet minute to take a smoke break, or wander across the school whilst dragging a stolen cart from Bradley's Big Buy to fill in the gaps in stock, pushing red cola cans into the slots in the refrigerators or pulling the cardboard tops off of the candy bar boxes before returning to the register.

It was a boring job, but she got a choice in the station that radio played during her shift, got to eat or drink anything she wanted as long as she took it off the list of stock they had in and could take home food close to their sell-by date. And the owner - some guy called Ray who was closer to sixty than fifty and also lived in the trailer parker (which was how Laura got the job in the first place, as she was pretty sure he grew weed in his spare room and she was not against blackmail) - reimbursed his employees for the fact his establishment was a little out of the way, especially when they worked later into the night like she was that very evening.

Overall, Laurie didn't quite think she could pull another gig with such advantages, and was lucky to find the menial tasks not too boredom-inducing, because she sure as hell wouldn't be having a better time if she worked at RadioShack or the Family Video. And so, she didn't really give a shit how quiet it could be, or how the most human contact she would get in hours would be a simple exchange of money.

Besides, it gave her a chance to... practise.

There were things that someone like Laurie - clearly effortlessly cool, not really interested in anything too childlike, in a constant limbo trying to keep up with her brother's insanity and complete lack of care for what everyone else thought, which was truly an admirable skill - couldn't ever quite admit to doing. And experiment with the ultimate oddity laid upon her, an oddity that would no doubt have her banished from the town or at the very least burnt at the stake for being some kind of witch, would be something that someone like her would rather pretend she never did.

It was just little things, like making a door close or lifting something up a few inches, but maybe that was why she so preferred the silence, because she currently was watching two Three Musketeers bars float along the aisle directly in front of her, jumping up and down to the beat of the Mötley Crüe song playing from the radio.

Well... it used to just be little things. She couldn't forget the odd visions that sparked every now and again and she would see a glimpse of her own world appear as somewhere so, so dark and covered in vines, or the visions of something living in it. She never quite found out what it was, but the course of the week in which Will Byers had gone missing was a time of wavering for Laurie. Since, things had steadied and slowed down, but she still got a momentary view of a world she wasn't a part of.

A car was outside, the owner already climbing into the front seat, wallet thrown into the back as she closed the door behind her. She had lit her cigarette from the pack she had just purchased from Laura despite the signs that recommended against it - you know, given the flammability of gas and everything - and it balanced between her fingers as her hand hung out the window whilst she drove away into the night, leaving Laurie by herself in the store, save for Ray in the backroom, the newest customer coming to a stop in front of one of the pumps and her coworker having his smoke break ten minutes before he was due to start working again.

He wouldn't be having it if it wasn't for Laurie; after all, she had already been then for an extra forty-two minutes for no other reason than her dick of a brother seemed to think he could take advantage of the fact she had no one else to pick her up and he was too busy with band practice.

"Stupid band," Laurie muttered, her break in concentration forcing the candy bars to drop from the air and clatter in a rustle of plastic onto the floor below. She eyed the customer just getting out of his car, deeming it somewhat important to clean up the store given that he could definitely be her last if he took his time.

And so, she flicked the switch and pushed up the gate, stepping out from behind the desk and following the path of the store to the dropped candy bars, stooping down to pick them up and return them to the box. The first felt slightly warm to touch and Laurie wondered if it was some kind of proof of the energy that had been focused upon or if she had used more than normal.

It was far too much of a coincidence for her liking when she reached for the second bar and found that as soon as she touched it the darkness fell and the glow of the fluorescent lights was dimmed into almost nothing. Instead, a blue haze fell only lit by the sight of the moon outside. The Three Muskateers bar seemed to be rotten now and it slipped from her fingertips, wrapper ripping as she caught it on her nail.

She shook her head when she saw the mould growth upon it and found herself far too glad that she was used to things like that before adjusting her gaze elsewhere, blinking and assuming that when her eyes opened and she focused on something other than the aisle things would go back to normal.

They wouldn't.

But it was fine - things like this happened. Laura was far too calm about it now, remembering back to Christmas Eve when it happened for the first time and her visions lasted for a few more minutes than they usually do. She would come back to the real world soon, and if there was any time for her to explore the vision a little more then she would.

Quite clearly she was absolutely insane in all sense of the word, but she stood from the laminate floor and made her way towards the door, peering out of the glass covered in vines into the empty world, filled with not people but silence and spores, and odd sounds like thunder as some kind of storm formed.

And as the lightning flashed she instinctively began to count upwards, separating each number with the longer names of states, relieved to hear that even in the strange world thunder still  worked the exact same. The next flash of lightning, however, was different. There seemed to be a shadow in the sky, some kind of silhouette with a body and many legs like a spider, towering over what would be the main body of Hawkins town. It seemed to look around, landing on a specific area and then-

"Hey, you alright down there?"

Laurie blinked, recognised the flooring, and the chocolate bar wrappers and looked up. Steve Harrington was stood by the door, car keys in hand and the door still open as he stepped through it.

"Yeah." She replied, taking the candy and straightening up, following him as they both walked towards the counter. After putting the two Three Muskateers bars back on the shelf she ducked under and appeared in front of the register again. "Half a tank, right?" She read off the display and when Steve confirmed it she charged him, pushing her sleeve back to scratch at her arm as she punched in the numbers. "Anything else?"

He was staring at her wrist before his eyes met her's again. Laurie fought the urge to let out a sigh as she waited for his answer. There was no denying the distaste she used to feel so strongly about him - since sometime last year he had become a little more likeable (ever since he started dating Nancy Wheeler and ditched Carol Perkins and Tommy H, and as much as Laura couldn't quite bring herself to like his priss of a girlfriend she did have her to credit for that) - but there was still the fact that at the very forefront of Steve Harrington was the ego that had made him such a dick, and although Laura knew she didn't hold much patience at all, there was something about him spacing out right in front of her that made her a little more pissed than any average person would be.

That and the fact her heart was still pounding in her ears and she wanted nothing more than for Eddie to come round that corner in his piece-of-shit van and take her home.

"Huh. I... yeah, just a sec." Steve disappeared for a moment, returning with a six-pack from the fridges. He picked up one of the Three Muskateers bars she had just replaced and slid them across the counter and reached for his wallet, placing down his total.

"You know I can't sell you these without asking for an ID, right?" Laurie hummed, reaching across his beer and candy to point out the sign that had been taped to the side of the desk. "Minimum Age Drinking Act was passed in July."

"Yeah. Shit, I know, yeah." Steve nodded, pulling a hand through his hair and then shoving both in his pockets, glancing back up at her with quite the familiar expression. "Can't convince you I left it home, can I?"

Instead, she laughed. "You've not even got a fake? C'mon, dude, really?" Laurie shook her head. "You know there's a market for them now, I would've assumed that you of all people would have one."

"I do have one." Steve replied. "And you should know that, you're the one who took the polaroid used for it."

"My memory's like a sieve, Harrington," Laura replied. "You should carry that, you know, considering how much Eddie got me to charge when we first started making them."

"Yeah, you ripped me off." He chuckled. "What was it you used - poster board, adhesive letters and got me to pose in front of it. Bad hair day as well."

"What can I say, it's a process. You are on our board of degenerates, right by your old pals." Laurie said, thinking back to one of the extra poster boards they had purchased, which showed evidence of each and every fake purchased from the siblings who had quickly seen a gap in the market when the act first came in. "So... I guess you could say that knowing you have an ID... having sold you it and everything... I'll just ring you up."

"You're not going to make me do anything for you?" Steve watched as she shrugged and got him a bag, placing the items into a plastic bag and entering the cash into the register.

"What do you take me for?" Laura asked, surprised to come to her senses and find a smile on her face. "Some kind of-" A beep broke through her words and she leant forward, Steve followed her gaze, his eyes landing on an old van pulling up to the station, turning around the set up of pumps and coming to a stop beside the grassy curb, horn sounding twice more and a hand appearing out the window, banging on the side in time to the song playing within it. "Oh shit, my brother."

"Your brother," Steve repeated, as though he had never heard of such a thing.

"Yeah - Eddie, Edward, you know who I'm talking about. He's my brother." Laura nodded, pushing his change into his hand before turning back, pushing the door behind her open. "Clock out for me Ray, tell Brad I'm out."

"You got it, Laurie!" The shout came through almost instantly and satisfied, the girl ducked below the counter, picking up a small bag that seemed almost full of what looked like both snacks and actual food, standing straight and turning to him. "What, waiting for me to walk you out?"

Steve blinked. "I - er - no." He swallowed and reached for his own bag and followed her out despite his words. "Thanks, by the way."

"No worries" She waved him away without question, separation coming as she headed towards the van and he towards his car. She came to a stop, though, just as Steve was sliding into the driver's seat. "Oh - and hey, Harrington, next time I can't serve you without your fake."

"Yeah." Steve held up a hand of acknowledgement. "Yeah, I got it."

✧

"I'm gonna fucking kill you, Eddie." Laura didn't halt her barrage of attacks despite the fact she had only just got into the van, pulling the door closed with a slam and settling into the worn leather seat, dumping the bag in the gap next to the console. "You're dead, I tell you."

Her brother, in all his long-haired, band-shirt and ringed glory, lifted both hands off the wheel as he stepped on the gas and turned out of the station, ready for the chuntering journey back home. "Woah, slow the tirade, L." He waved her away before his hands returned to the wheel. "Chill out, take a chill pill - I have those if you want one. You just have to get my bag from-"

"I'm not going anywhere near the shit you keep in the back." She didn't even have to glance back to see the utter mess it was often kept in, although the idea of a 'chill pill', or whatever drug Eddie might suggest to her, after the weird vision in the aisle was somewhat appealing to her at that point. "My shift was supposed to be finished an hour ago! You were supposed to be here an hour ago. An entire hour."

For once in that conversation, Eddie didn't look away from the road and actually attempted to drive responsibly as he replied, shrugging. "Yeah, well I was practising with my band."He said.

Laurie let out a bark of a laugh. "I'm sure Eroded Casket is just as shit as they were when you formed in.. what was it, the seventh grade?" She asked.

"It's Corroded Coffin, asshat."

"Shitty band, Shitty name." She shrugged.

"You're just jealous because you don't have a band." Eddie, never one to back down from a good argument with his sister, continued on. "One day you'll thank me for being able to play guitar as well as I do."

"I really don't need a band, Ed, I have actual taste in music which makes up for it perfectly well," Laurie replied, matter-of-fact. "I got you smokes." She reached into the bag and threw a pack at him, watching as he reached for it with one hand and extracted one, balancing it between his lips.

"Got a lighter?" He asked, watching as she nodded and dug into the pocket of her jeans.

"Here." Laurie sat up, reaching across the console as she lit it, settling back in her seat with her legs crossed under her, fiddling with the volume of the heavy metal song playing that her brother liked so much.

"Hey - put your seatbelt on." He ordered. "And no rolling your eyes, buckle up or you're walking the way back. You get Wayne his beer? And that flavoured shit you like?"

"Yeah." She confirmed. "I have beer, cigarettes, chips, candy, those sandwiches you can warm up - those small boxes of cereal. Just enough to last us until..." Laurie came to a pause, her words falling short as she focused on her brother and realised something. "How high are you?"

"What?" Eddie shrieked. "High? me? Never. How dare you." He glanced over at her before he realised that probably wasn't the best point for his case. "You know it's not a good idea for a dealer to use his own stuff. gotta get Reefer's stuff out, you know. Can't be... can't be.... yeah, I'm a little high."

Laura blanched. "Then shouldn't I be driving?"

"Nah, I'm too good at this shit." Evidently, Edward wasn't worried at all and Laurie, who was becoming increasingly so, shook her head and decided to put it from her mind.

"If you kill me, you're dead." She retorted.

"Now, how does that work?"

Laurie didn't quite know, but she would never admit that to her brother of all people. "I'd find a way." She promised. "You know I could."

"Yeah, cos you're even stranger than I am."

"Not by choice, dickface." Laurie resisted the urge to shove his shoulder as he took one of the turns at a rather quick pace, speeding past the Palace Arcade lit up in neon and watching as Mike Wheeler ushered Will Byers back inside and found herself all the more distracted.

She didn't notice the rest of the journey home, gaze focused on the sight outside of the window, not caring so much about the fact her brother was high or that whatever he had in the back of the van was not secured down and sliding all over the place. Eddie never meant to hurt her feelings, and he hadn't, but that didn't mean she wasn't capable of twisting his words and hurting herself.

It was stupid - she was just shaken up, that's all, and didn't really need to face the less important problems at school in the car ride home. She'd trust Eddie with her life if need be, which was why he was the only person who really knew what was going on with her. Because, although he would mention otherwise, he was the only person just as crazy as she was. Maybe it ran in the family.

He pulled into the lacklustre grassy patch outside their trailer, the dog that lived in the Shields' fenced-off yard already barking when they got out, excited by the movement. Eddie was stomping the very last bit of his cigarette into the ground, expressing his shock at how long it had lasted during the drive, a plastic bag swinging from Laurie's wrist as she climbed up the steps.

"Hey, Uncle Wayne?" Laurie called when she pushed the faulty handle down and got in, glancing around the small, cluttered insides and not seeing the man sitting there. He was probably at The Hideaway, she concluded - it was a Sunday night so he wouldn't be working his night shifts at the plant and it was the only other place he could be - and instead she slid the beer she brought back for him into the fridge, throwing around the bags of candy until she found an actual place to put them, stuffing them and the chips into the same cupboard, shoving the door closed and slipping a random pencil between the handles to keep it closed.

"You gonna cook, L?" Eddie entered the trailer, kicking off his boots and discarded his jacket in a pile near the door. "You said about those sandwiches?"

"I can put them in the oven for ten minutes if you want them warm," Laura replied, knowing she wouldn't usually cook but Eddie was way too high to do anything responsibly. Well... he wasn't that high. She just didn't trust him.

"Pretty please?" He lifted himself up on the couch, fluttering his eyelashes in such a disturbing manner she threw one of the old cookbooks they never touched at him. "Oh my god! You almost killed me!"

"Can't use the Lord's name in vain, Edward." She hummed, twisting the knob on the stove and watching as the lights inside turned on and then instantly off, another on the outside of the metal flickering red to show it was heating up.

"Now that actually hurt." He grasped at his heart but stood up from the sofa. "Gotta get her from the car."

"Your guitar isn't an animate object," Laura called after him, still bitter about being left at a gas station for band practice and remained as so as Eddie returned to the trailer, kissing the crackled surface of his guitar, holding it more carefully than he had ever done anything else. She could still hear him talking to her as he disappeared in his squeeze of a room, knowing that he would remain there until she called him or either took his sandwich to him, throwing it onto his bed.

Then she would come out into the living room and try to read some of the book chapters she needed for the next day and so calculus homework; Eddie might already be under threat of not graduating at the end of that year (and they still had several semesters to go), but she certainly wouldn't be facing the same fate.

Another bark rang through the trailer park; another night where the dog had gone unfed. So perhaps Laura's plans would be put off for a while.

She wouldn't wait for the oven to heat up for the sandwiches and, making sure they were properly wrapped, she threw them in and shut the door behind them, reaching back into the fridge and taking out the other items of food she had managed to steal. Except these weren't for humans.

Half of a deli-meat-stuffed sandwich was what she could find for the dog, and as for the cat that roamed their tiny shadow of the world, a crazy-old can of tuna that was still good to eat. She would have to run it through water first, otherwise, there would be too much salt and she would end up killing the poor thing.

With the tuna readily washed and the sandwich she stole from the fridge in the tiny back room that definitely belonged to Ray in hand, she slipped out from the trailer and crossed the road to the chain fence, pushing scraps of the sandwich through the holes to the dog who yapped happily before becoming too consumed by the food before it.

It wasn't long then until the cat crept up upon the scene and Laurie presented it with the fish, glad that at least someone was feeding them. Night hung above them and there was a chill in the air, a reminder of the season upon them, but she didn't mind so much.

There was nothing so lonely as the trailer park, especially after the particularly bad episode in the aisle at the gas station. But the two fluffy creatures constantly demanding her attention were very much there and alive and wouldn't be if she was in... well the other place.

That and the fact she could see the silhouette of Eddie kissing his guitar through his window. That felt pretty real too.