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"Please, I want so badly for
the good things to happen."
~Sylvia Plath
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Scarlett's Walkman was on but her headphones hung around her neck, she dragged her feet over the sidewalk. Her hands were shoved in the pockets of her jean jacket and eyes downcast. Originally the girl was supposed to work a shift at the Sizzling Griddle after school but Vicki Carmichael asked Scarlett to change shifts and Scarlett happily agreed.

The Henderson house came into view and Scarlett sped up slightly, she looked both ways before crossing the street and strolling up her driveway. The brunette reached out and grabbed the doorknob, ready to unlock the door, but found the door already open. Strange. Claudia had work and Dustin had AV club, maybe AV club was cancelled.

"Dustin?" Scarlett called out whilst turning off her Walkman and taking off her backpack and jacket. When there was no answer Scarlett assumed that Claudia had simply forgotten to lock the door, it wouldn't be the first time.

Scarlett took off her jacket and hung it up before she trailed into the living room where she found her mother. Claudia Henderson however didn't notice her eldest walking into the room, but Mews' head perked up and she got away from Claudia and walked towards Scarlett and mewed at the young adult.

"Hey Mews." Scarlett dropped her backpack on the floor and scooped Mews up. Finally Claudia seemed to notice Scarlett, the woman perked up and smiled. She set down the letter she had been clutching in her hands before trailing towards Scarlett and engulfing her daughter in a tight hug.

The hug lasted longer than usual and while Scarlett wasn't one to complain about long hugs, it was strange. "Mom?"

A deep sigh left Claudia's lips and she pulled back from her daughter to cup the young woman's cheeks. Claudia marvelled at Scarlett for a moment, it still felt like yesterday when a nurse passed a screaming baby to Claudia. A baby who she would come to love dearly. Now that baby was 18 years old and still she didn't know the full extent of her past.

"Come," Claudia dropped her hand from Scarlett's cheek and walked towards the entrance of the Henderson house. "I think it's time we payed your dad a visit."

Bill Henderson had been left to rest in Hawkins, his body had been transferred to the small town in a casket that had started to fade in Scarlett's memory. The Hendersons visited the grave regularly, but usually they all went together. Claudia proposing to go with Scarlett alone was strange but Scarlett nonetheless agreed to go and found herself in Claudia's car.

The buildings of Hawkins flashed by as the two drove towards the cemetery. By now the road had become so familiar any of the Hendersons could easily take it without using any of their senses.

Claudia parked her old car and the two women got out of the car and walked through the worn gates of the cemetery. Muscle memory brought them to Bill Henderson's grave, flowers that had just started to wilt sat at his gravestone.

Silently Scarlett removed the flowers and Claudia replaced them with a bouquet she had brought. Both brunettes worked on cleaning the dirt and fall leaves off the headstones before Scarlett pressed a kiss to her fingers, which she tentatively pressed against the top of the headstone.

"Hey Dad," Scarlett breathed out.

Silence engulfed the two Hendersons until Claudia inhaled sharply. "Scar sweetie," Said girl turned to look at her mother. "Do you want to know what really happened that day at your dad's work?" Scarlett opened her mouth to answer with a frown, but Claudia continued to speak before Scarlett could utter a word. "Once you know things will be very different."

Despite Claudia's warning Scarlett nodded. "Yes."

Somewhat distraught yet relieved Claudia took a seat on the ground and Scarlett joined her mother. "As you know your dad worked at a lab," Scarlett nodded slowly. "What you don't know is that it wasn't some ordinary lab," Claudia looked around to make sure no one was listening in, she only found the deaf Mrs Quill by a grave. "The lab where he was working was a part of the Montauk Projects," Claudia fiddled with her wedding ring that only now Scarlett noticed had migrated to Claudia's right hand. "I don't know exactly what they were doing at that lab, it was top secret..." A shaky breath left Claudia's lips.

Scarlett gulped at the information. Surely that lab wasn't connected to the Hawkins lab... right?

"I do know that Bill wasn't shot and that you weren't in a shooting. Something went wrong at the lab, a nuclear leak maybe. I'm still not sure and I'm not allowed to know..."

"Mom," Scarlett reached out and squeezed Claudia's hand. "Why are you telling me this now?"

Claudia stared at Bill's grave for a long time before she pulled out an envelope. "I just received permission from Sam, one of your dad's colleagues. Do you remember him? He came over to our house a few times for dinner—"

It couldn't be.

No.

No no no no no no no no.

"Sam Owens?" Scarlett croaked out, panic reaching up to choke her. Please please please say no.

Claudia's face lit up slightly. "Yes, so you do remember him," Claudia continued to talk but Scarlett couldn't hear for her ears had started to ring.

It was connected. It was all connected. Unbeknownst to Scarlett she a been dealing with the Upside Down for most of her life. The scars inflicted by the demegorgon the year before, that Scarlett had blamed on falling into a bush while cycling, started to burn. Had her father been murdered by one of those creatures? Had a child with similar abilities to El killed him? Had he been one of those cruel scientists who had tortured kids like El? Had Bill Henderson been an evil man?

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Back home the hundreds of eyes belonging to Bill Henderson burned Scarlett who quickly excused herself and ran up to her room. But Scarlett's room seemed to be a living testament to Bill, his pictures seemed to be everywhere and if it wasn't Bill's pictures it was something else reminding Scarlett of her late father. Scarlett grabbed her chair, pushed off the clothes and accessories that resided on it and dragged the chair to her dresser. She grabbed a pen from her nightstand and sat down by her dresser that would also have to serve as her desk for now.

The tip of the pen brushed the paper before Scarlett hesitated. What did she want to write? The chances of Sam telling her anything about Bill's real job and what actually caused his death were improbable. Then again he had allowed Claudia to finally share some classified information surrounding Bill, and Scarlett already was sworn to secrecy by a contract so what was one extra clause in her contract?

Dinner time rolled around quicker than expected and Scarlett sealed off the letter and stuffed it into the pocket of her jeans. Before hopping down the stairs Scarlett shrugged on a blue cardigan over her pink turtleneck.

At the top of the stairs, Dustin and Scarlett bumped into each other and within a split second both siblings raced down the stairs. Scarlett had the tiniest height advantage, but Dustin had another trick up his sleeve. The boy clampered onto the hand railing and sailed past Scarlett. The plan worked and Dustin reached the base of the stairs, yet the boy hadn't fully thought the plan through and landed on the floor on his butt. Scarlett was about to call out to him in worry, but before she could Dustin jumped to his feet with a laugh and sprinted to the dining table and hopped onto his chair.

With a huff Scarlett plopped down into her own chair as Claudia arrived with a steaming pot of chicken pot pie. The blackened crust was unpromising, but Scarlett grabbed a knife nonetheless and started to cut into the pie which ended up being soggy.

The thing about Claudia Henderson was that she absolutely adored cooking... with her late husband and their cooking had been delightful. Alas Claudia's solo cooking was quite the opposite. When Scarlett was around Dustin's age she had tried to put on an apron herself and aid Claudia, but Claudia had burst out crying. So instead of helping her mother in the kitchen, Scarlett stayed out of it and both Henderson sibling tolerated their mother's cooking.

After forcing down a soggy yet burned pie Scarlett trailed towards the door and shrugged on her jacket over her cardigan. As she pulled her brown curls out from her jacket the tv turned on in the living room and the familiar intro from Dallas sounded. "Where are you going, Scar? You're going to miss the episode!" Claudia called out.

Scarlett peeked her head into the living room. "I just have to drop something off, I'll be right back!" In response Claudia called out a goodbye and told Scarlett to be safe and the young woman walked out of the house.

Opting to cycle, Scarlett grabbed her bike and flicked on her lights before taking off. Within five minutes she posted the letter to the address of Hawkins Lab.

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It was around this time that Blake called Steve to inform him that she'd been staying with the Byers that night, effectively leaving Steve all alone in his big house. With a groan Steve started cleaning up the popcorn he had laid out and started to put away all the blankets and cushions he had layed out on the couch.

Steve's parents were off on yet another work trip leaving him alone. To say he hadn't been looking forward to having Blake stay with him the next two weeks would be a lie. A strange fact because a year ago the mere thought of talking to Blake alone would send shivers down his spine.

The brunet dragged himself up the stairs and into his room. He stripped before changing into some pyjamas and going to his bathroom. He grabbed his toothbrush and started brushing his teeth without consciously thinking about it and gazed around the bathroom. After a few minutes he went back into his room while running his fingers through his hair when his eyes settled on a picture on his nightstand.

The picture had been taken in the summer during a party. The picture showed Scarlett upon Steve's back with a red solo cup in hand as she allows Steve to drink out of the cup. Blake was leaning on Nancy, and both were clearly struggling to remain upright and thus Jonathan was holding both their shoulders.

Steve smiled and took hold of the Star Wars frame and turned it over. On the back there was a small inscription made by Scarlett, it had been part of her gift to him for his 18th birthday.

Happy 18th birthday Steve! I hope I get to watch any future Star Wars movies with
you and that you may always enjoy brainy swirls (so long as they were made by me of course).
Love,
S.H.

Steve put down the frame and walked towards the desk in his room where his Walkman was located. He grabbed the Walkman and turned to the cassette box on his desk and fished one out. He took the cassette out of the case and put it into his Walkman before sliding the headphones onto his ears. Steve pressed play and dropped himself down onto his bed.

Steve's awesome mix vol. 18

Side a started with the all too familiar song 'Time After Time'. Steve stared up at his ceiling, hands folded behind his door.

"Lying in my bed, I hear the clock tick and think of you
Caught up in circles
Confusion is nothing new
Flashback, warm nights
Almost left behind
Suitcase of memories
Time after"

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Scarlett posted the letter and let out a deep breath and rolled her shoulders back. The evening breeze made her nose and cheeks grow red. Scarlett pulled the collar of her pink turtleneck up and nuzzled into the soft material. The girl walked towards her bike and collected it off of the sidewalk.

"Sometimes you picture me
I'm walking too far ahead
You're calling to me, I can't hear
What you've said
Then you say, "go slow"
And I fall behind
The second hand unwinds"

The lampposts flashed by as Scarlett made her way home. The worn Walkman headphones rested on Scarlett's ears as she cycled. She nodded along to the mixtape Dustin had made her for her 18th birthday.

"If you're lost you can look and you will find me
Time after time
If you fall, I will catch you, I'll be waiting
Time after time
If you're lost, you can look and you will find me
Time after time
If you fall, I will catch you, I will be waiting
Time after time"

Due to the loud music playing in Scarlett's ears she missed a certain engine speeding up behind her. She continued to cycle at a calm pace.

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Steve reached over and grabbed a green pillow off of his bed and pressed it against his face. There was a muffled scream. It took another second before Steve pulled the pillow off of his face, he tilted his head over and wiggled to the edge of his bed so his head hung off the side. Upside down Scarlett greeted him.

With a grumble Steve pushed himself off of his bed and stumbled to the hallway. He took a seat by the loveseat next to the phone and picked up the horn. A quick peek at the little booklet on the table titled 'Steve's phone numbers' later, Steve ticked in the number of the Henderson house.

"After my picture fades and darkness has
Turned to gray
Watching through windows
You're wondering if I'm okay
Secrets stolen from deep inside
And the drum beats out of time"

The phone rang once. Then twice. Then thrice. Then four-

"Hello, Henderson household."

Either Scarlett had suddenly become a young boy, to that was Scarlett's infamous kid brother. "Uh, this is Steve. Is Scarlett there?" Steve rubbed his brow while frowning.

"No, Scarlett isn't here, you just missed her," There was a brief silence with some distant hushes and a miaowing cat before Scarlett's kid brother answered. "Do you want to leave a message?"

"No, no..." Steve sighed so loud Dustin could hear it clearly on the other side. "Just tell her I called, yeah?"

"Sure," Dustin chirped. "Goodnight, Seth."

"It's actually Steve, kid."

"Don't care."

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It was the flashing of the headlights of the car behind Scarlett that finally made Scarlett aware of the car behind her. The girl turned around to see a car filled with young men that she did not recognise and considering they were around her age the chances of her not knowing them were slim if they were from Hawkins which had to mean that those men were not from Hawkins.

Her house was only a few blocks away. Just a few blocks... But those men were much faster in their car.

Loud honks came from the car and they were accompanied with cheers and comments that turned Scarlett's blood ice cold. The car sped up and from the corner of her eye Scarlett could see the car overtaking her. She gripped the handlebars of her bike tighter.

They were eyeing her and when the window rolled down and a hand reached out of the car, Scarlett swerved to the right. She swerved too far. The asphalt made way for mud and grass. Somehow Scarlett tumbled and made contact with the ground. Up and down became the same in a blurry mess.

Then there was a long drop and Scarlett stopped rolling. Her surroundings were blurry and dark. Scarlett tried to find her glasses with her hands. It wasn't the familiar metal frame of her glasses that she found however, no it was all slimy. Scarlett blinked and looked at her surroundings properly and then she saw it. White floating flecks, like dandelion seeds.

And dandelion like seeds floating in the air meant one thing...

"If you're lost you can look and you will find me
Time after time
If you fall I will catch you, I'll be waiting
Time after time
If you're lost, you can look and you will find me
Time after time
If you fall, I will catch you, I will be waiting
Time after time
Time after time

I've got a suitcase of memories that I almost left behind
Time after time
Time, time, time
But you say to go slow but I fall behind
Time after time after time"

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Anxiously Claudia glanced at the ticking clock on the wall in the living room. The Dallas episode had long finished and Scarlett was yet to return. Hawkins might be a relatively safe town but Scarlett was still a young woman out alone after dark, what could Claudia do but worry?

Dustin had already offered to go out and look for Scarlett but Claudia had understandably forbidden it so the hours ticked on.

Various times Claudia got up, walked out to the porch. before entering the house again and sitting down on the couch. The cycle continued until Claudia eventually fell into a restless sleep on the couch. Dustin looked at his mother before he glanced at the clock. "Come on Scar," He muttered.

Mews meowed loudly and butted her head against Dustin's legs repeatedly. The curly haired boy looked down at the orange cat and picked her up. Petting the cat Dustin walked up the stairs and entered Scarlett's room. Gently he dropped Mews upon Scarlett's metal frame bed. "Stay here okay," Dustin said and looked around the room. "Eh..." He fished a sweater off of the floor and tossed it at Mews. "Here that smells like her, she'll be back tomorrow," He trailed to the door and half closed it, leaving it slightly ajar. "Sleep well."

Shaking his head, Dustin entered his own room and slid the door close behind him. Dustin grabbed some nougat that he had stuffed in his pocket and hopped over to the terrarium. First Dustin removed the dishcloth draped over the terrarium. "Hey Dart," Dustin grinned down at the 'living booger' and started to rip the nougat into little pieces. "You wouldn't happen to know anything about where my sister could be huh?" Dart didn't say anything and just nibbled at a piece of nougat. "Didn't think so," Dustin groaned and draped the dishcloth over Dart's terrarium before he clambered into bed while hoping sleep would take him briskly and leave no time for anxiety.

Morning broke all too soon and when Dustin dragged himself down the stairs. Still rubbing the sleep out of his eyes Dustin was greeted by Claudia who had clearly spent the entire night asleep on the couch. "Sweetie did you hear anything about Scarlett?"

Dustin was caught off guard and opened and closed his mouth multiple times. Immediately Claudia's face dropped like Newton's apple. With a tinge of guilt Dustin grinned. "Uh Scarlett just left actually, she was going to meet up with this..." Dustin trailed off, what was the dude's name from the call again? "Seth!" Claudia smiled but frowned at her son. She repeated the name again slowly. "Yeah Seth and Scarlett uhhh they're good good friends. They are working on a..." What classes did Scarlett take again? "Biology assignment together."

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Basketballs dribbled across the ground as the school's basketball team practiced. Coach was screaming feedback at the boys as they sweat, panted and played. With little difficulty Steve stole the ball from Brian and made his way across the field to the opposing hoop.

"King Steve. King Steve, everyone," Billy Hargrove cheered with a menacing smile upon his lips. He had long disposed off of his grey t-shirt, leaving his muscled body glistening with sweat. He stalked towards Steve like a jaguar would approach their prey.

However Steve turned his back to Billy and kept the ball out of the younger boy's reach. Billy smirked at the action. "I like it. Playing tough today."

"Jesus!" Steve exclaimed. From the moment that Billy had stepped into the school he had paraded around like a peacock, Billy's mullet did hold some resemblance to a peacocks feathers in Steve's opinion. "Do you ever stop talking?" Steve stepped away from Billy and thus they were face to face. Steve glanced to the side where the coach was yelling things at the boys in the team, his veins had swollen and Steve expected that the man might have a heart attack. "Come on!"

Yet Billy didn't resume his attack on Steve and simply continued to guard the older boy. A dry laugh spilled from Billy's lips. "What?" Quickly Billy glanced to the coach on the sidelines and he cocked his head. "You afraid the coach is gonna bench you now that I'm here?" Steve's scowl grew and made Billy's smirk grow. "Huh?"

Fuelled by anger Steve rushed forward in the direction of the other team's basket. He almost succeeded, but then Hargrove moved at the speed of light and intercepted Steve, effectively making Steve fall.

Steve grunted and gripped his back. Surely he would be blue later that day. With a deep breath, Steve rolled to get up when suddenly a hand appeared in front of Steve's face, a hand that belonged to the one and only Billy. With narrowed eyes Steve accepted the hand and allowed Billy to haul him up.

"You were moving your feet," Billy said as he steadied Steve onto his feet. "Plant them next time, draw a charge." Billy clapped Steve's shoulder just a little too hard for it to be a friendly pat before running off.

God Steve was done with Billy.

Some moments later Steve stood under the showers naked, he busied himself with cleaning the sweat off of his body when he felt a sudden presence next to him. Immediately Steve washed his face with the clean shower water as to not get any soap in his eyes before rubbing his eyes and looking next to him.

Brian, fucking Brian. Brian who slept with Scarlett Garcia Colón.

"Hey Steve," Brian smiled and Steve frowned and pressed his lips into a thin line. When Brian didn't receive a reply he inhaled sharply through his nose and ran a hand through his wet curls. Steve's hair was better than Brian's right? Brian licked his lips and wrapped his towel around his body. "Do you know where Scarlett is?"

"Why should I know?"

Brian seemed to want to laugh but when he noticed how dead serious Steve looked, the laugh was snuffed out. "Well you two are good friends..." Brian trailed off. "Right?"

Considering the showers after practice weren't private, the conversations that happened during the showers also weren't private. The other boys' ears had perked up at the conversation between Steve and Brian.

It was Tommy who took it upon himself to join the conversation. "Don't you know?" He grinned at Brian who raised his brows at Tommy. "Steve has had the hots for Scarlett for years now," Steve looked murderous, how he ever managed to call that brat his best friend was beyond him. "No doubt he was finally going to make his move," Tommy's gaze landed on Brian. "Until you that is." Chuckling Tommy trailed out of the showers, patting Brian's back with his towel.

Brian seemed at a loss of words and before the tension in the room could rise any further, Steve turned his shower off and all but ran to the changing rooms. As quickly as possible Steve opened his gym bag, he wiggled into his underwear just as Billy made his unwanted return.

"Don't take it too hard man," Steve glimpsed to his side and found Billy still butt naked. Billy was way too confident. "Today's just not your day man."

"Yah, not your week," Tommy snorted, earning him a glare from Steve who was struggling into his jeans.

Steve was pulling his sweater over his head when Billy started speaking again. "A pretty boy like you had got nothing to worry about," Billy finally decided to put on clothes as he pulled on his boxers. "Plenty of bitches in the sea."

Ahh the ever great culture of insulting women and girls who the guy was planning on dating or having sex with.

"She's not a bitch, Hargrove," Steve snapped and Billy seemed confused as he looked at Steve again in a 'huh' manner. Steve didn't bother answering and turned on his heel.

All his friends were not at School and none of them had bothered telling him why so he was going to take matters into his own hands. Besides he owed Scarlett an apology.

a/n:

i've been in a stranger things mood this last week, blame the newest trailer
(it looks soooo good!!!!!!) so voila an update. poor scarlett is in the upside down
and she's finally on track to discover what happened the day she accompanied
her dad to his work. anyone smelling starlett happening soon???
hope you enjoyed! be sure to vote and comment!

funny post

iconic hahahahaha
date published:21 April 2021
word count:4242