𝐒𝐎𝐌𝐄𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐖𝐈𝐂𝐊𝐄𝐃 ━ max mayfield

3│LET'S GO CRAZY

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❛ sᴏᴍᴇᴛʜɪɴɢ ᴡɪᴄᴋᴇᴅ​​​​​​​​​​. ❜ ° . ༄
- ͙۪۪˚   ▎❛ 𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐄𝐄 ❜   ▎˚ ͙۪۪̥◌
»»————- ꒰ ʟᴇᴛ's ɢᴏ ᴄʀᴀᴢʏ ꒱


❝ IN THIS LIFE YOU'RE
ON YOUR OWN ❞

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On Halloween evening, Jessie returned to a silent house. This wasn't anything unusual; her mother was gone most of the time (and honestly she was better off for it) and her father hardly ever made noise. There was only one light shining inside when she unlocked the door; it came from the living room where the older man was comfortably ensconced in a majority of their cushions.

The small TV was playing quietly in front of him and his dark eyes were focused on the moving, brightly-lit pictures of children's cartoons. Jessie silently made her way over to him and placed a soft kiss on his cheek in greeting. "Hi, dad."

She was unsurprised when he made no reaction to her gesture; he'd been still and soundless for several years now. They'd thought that he could escape the Vietnam draft but at the tail end of the war, he'd been called in for duty and come out worse for it. The soldier who had dropped him off hadn't explained much about his state except that he'd gone into shell-shock while still in the field. He hadn't even been honorably discharged like other soldiers; all he'd been given was the bare minimum and then abandoned.

Her mother's drinking had gotten worse after that and she'd come home less and less until her appearances were as frequent as a blue moon, leaving her only daughter to keep house. Jessie worked odd jobs where she could and tried to do many of the repairs herself, but anyone could see that the house was sorely in need of renovation.

They'd always been outsiders in Hawkins; first because of Andres' heritage and second because of her mother's religion. Their low income and rather dilapidated living quarters only added to the list. They lived past the junk yard on Randolph Way at the edge of the forest. (It was ironic, really, that the best street in town, Loch Nora, was directly parallel to theirs.)

Jessie stood from her father's chair and went to the kitchen to turn on more lights. The bare bulbs that hung from the ceiling cast shadows over the cabinets when she moved as she pulled out frozen dinners for them. Her father's was put in a blender once it was warmed so she could carefully feed it to him while hers went into the microwave.

After she ate, she completed chores around the house until it was time for bed. Because they lived so far away from town, they never received any trick-or-treaters. It was all well and good since they couldn't afford to waste money on candy or anything frivolous that went with the holidays. Besides, her childhood had been over before it began and there was no reason to try and change the past. The only thing to do was move on and look to the future.

.・。.・゜✫・.・✫・゜・。.

At school the next morning, Jessie kept her head down as she walked to her locker. Her hands were shoved in her coat's pockets, one of them clutching the Walkman that rested inside. Her headphones perched on her head playing their traditional silence to keep the air of being busy while also being aware of her surroundings in case anyone decided to jump her.

Her ears caught on the familiar roll of wheels and she was unsurprised when a flash of red entered her vision. Max slowed to a stop next to her and did a fancy trick with her skateboard that popped the front in the air so she could catch it.

"Hey, kooky," she said. "It's nice that you didn't attack me this time."

"I was expecting you," Jessie answered simply. She kept her gaze focused on the floor. "Your wheels make a lot of noise."