- GIRLS ON FILM -

Chapter Five: The Flea And The Acrobat

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Jane Hopper meandered around her torn house in search of the dress she was planning on wearing to the funeral. It was a simple black, fitted dress that she wore practically anytime she and her father were forced to attend religious ceremonies. It was a Christmas Mass to Easter Sunday dress, a versatile purchase that Jane didn't even make. The dress had been one of Diane's that somehow got left behind along with a few other miscellaneous items.

"Dad! Have you seen my dress?" Jane finally shouted after searching every crevice in her closet and under her bed. The distressed state of her bedroom making it much harder.

"What dress?" Jim called back, stirring his morning cup of coffee while his black tie was slung lazily around his neck. He stood behind the kitchen counter, mulling on his experiences within Hawkins Lab or rather what he didn't remember. All of the sudden he was back in his trailer, in the middle of the night, after he was sure he had been in the lab.

"The only dress I have? That black one of Mom's?"

"Oh, it's in the laundry room."

"Wow," Jane huffed, the laundry room? She hadn't worn that dress since her Nana's funeral in July, it had been hanging off the ironing board for almost six months.

"You need to hurry, we have to leave in ten minutes," Hopper instructed his daughter as he watched her run by, black dress in hand.

"I just need to put on my dress." She promised as her door slipped shut. Hopper nodded though he knew he was just looking at a white door frame and began to tie his tie. Left side over the right then back under and through the hole, just like his dad had taught him.

Just as Jane promised she came back out of her room, the dress adorning her body and red Vans clashing with the formal attire. Her hair was curled nicely and she had applied a tad more makeup than usual. If her mother saw that she had paired sneakers with a dress, she'd be appalled but Jim could care less. As long as Jane was comfortable and safe he was a happy dad.

"So, what are we burying if Eddie and I cut up the body?" Jane asked quietly as she and her father hopped into the truck.

"Probably another fake body, there was no viewing so we potentially could be having a funeral for nothing." Jim sighed, shifting the pickup into drive.

"Was there stuff in the lab?"

"I don't remember all that well... I found a bug in the lights this morning before you got home." Jim finally admitted to why their house was in ruins. Jane had been itching to ask all morning but couldn't build up the courage, after all, her father never truly knows what happens when he finishes that sixth Banquet.

"Like a microphone, recording device?"

"Mhm," Jim hummed, "look Janey I was in the lab, I had swiped a security card and I was getting into the good stuff when all the sudden I'm back at home. Passed out on the sofa, it's like 4:30 in the morning and I'm tearing apart the house until I find this little bastard." Jim pulled out a wired bug from his pocket. He had clearly disabled it due to the clipped and frayed wires.

"What the hell?" Jane whispered as she stared at the microphone, not noticing their proximity to the cemetery.

"Talk about it later," Hopper instructed as he and his daughter hopped out of the truck and began walking to the mass. Joyce, Lonnie, and Jonathan sat in the front row with Will's best friends behind them. Standing in neat rows were their families all holding a single yellow rose. Behind the neat rows of Will's most important people was pretty much the rest of Hawkins. All public schools had postponed their start time until after the funeral because a turnout like this was exactly what was planned. Small town culture created large crowds for any public event, sports games, weddings, funerals, graduations... everyone attended everything.