✓ Her Mixtape, Stranger Things

xlii. my tears ricochet

"Help me make the most of freedom and of pleasure, nothing ever lasts forever," Rue tries to sing or hum and hopes it can bring her some—any comfort. The last thing she wants is to walk out of the bathroom and run into Will or Jonathan or El and have them see her like this. Rue ran her fingers through her hair, where the dark pink had now faded to a softer pink after showering. Well, more like standing under the running water for a good twenty minutes and processing what the fuck just happened. "Everybody wants to rule the world..."

Max Mayfield had some nerve to call Rue after three months. Three months of no letters, no messages, no phone call. Max had removed herself from Rue's life— she ignored every letter Rue sent, letting her bombard the landline with voicemails (that she probably never listened to), thinking Max might pick up. Spoiler alert: she never did.

Until that morning, of course.

It was bright and early, the sun had just begun to shine over the mountainside in Lenora Hills, and Rue had been packing her things in her room to move into El's bedroom so Mike would stay in hers when he visited later that morning. The white lace curtains billowed along with the warm breeze, doing little to nothing to obstruct the streams of sun rays from pouring into the room through the window.

The piercing ring of the house phone made Rue flinch. She froze in the middle of hiding all of her plush animals in her closet - the last thing she wanted was Mike Wheeler to walk in and mock her for still sleeping with stuffed animals over spring break. Of course, Rue would respond with sharp knives in her words, but she promised El that she would be civil with him for the week. However, she still planned on hitting Mike Wheeler with the handles of her knife-sharp remarks.

Rue let the phone ring, believing it was probably telemarketers who liked to call early in the morning. The warm sunlight settled on Rue's pale purple bed sheets, and the family of squirrels by her window had finally begun to run by her windowsill. The phone rang six times before stopping, and Rue returned to her work.

Not after a minute did the phone ring again. It felt as if it rang louder than before, an urgent matter disguised within every loud shrill.

After successfully hiding her stuffed animals and spearing Mr. Blushly—the pink teddy bear that had never left his home in Rue's bed since she moved into the house—Rue heard a thump against her wall. Three more thumps followed before Will Byers yelled, "Pick up the phone! I'm trying to sleep!"

"Get it yourself!" Rue shouted back, and she threw a shoe at the wall, mocking the same thumps he had created.

Will didn't answer, and the phone continued to ring. Rue groaned and got up to her feet, a strain on her back. The carpeted floors were soft and warm underneath her feet as Rue stepped out of her room. She glared at Will's shut door while walking past it. He was technically closer to the phone, and if it had bothered him so much, why couldn't he pick it up himself? She mentally cursed him.

Rue heard him gasp dramatically through the door, "That's so mean!" Will shouted, but he never walked out of his room to fight. "I'm telling mom! ...Later."

Rue let herself snicker as she leaned on the wall before putting the phone up to her ear. Her fingers curled around the Trimline telephone's cord, "Hey, this is the Byers."

The long beats of silence from the other side of the call confused her. "Anyone there?" Rue called. She grew slightly irritated when she received no response for the second time. Rue assumed it might have been Angela and her goons prank calling again, although they hadn't done so in weeks.

"Okay...?" Rue narrowed her brows. As she was about to put the phone back down, she heard someone call her from the line.

"...Rue? Is that you?"