Douse Me In Hellfire

Chapter 1: Return to Hawkins

 The gentle breeze catches your hair, providing a sense of relief from the early summer heat. You take a deep breath in and feel yourself lost in nostalgia. The house you grew up in stands before you, still neatly kempt. You grab your bags from the ground and briskly walk to the front door. You ring the doorbell and your ears are met with barks from a dog and running footsteps. You chuckle when the person behind the door fiddles with locks, cursing under their breath.

The door swings open and a friendly looking woman smiles big when she sees your face. "(Y/N)!" She exclaims before she wraps her arms around you, swaying you side-to-side. "Oh, I am so happy to see you (Y/N)." She kisses the side of your head and then continues to sway you side-to-side. "I've missed you SOOOO much!" She takes a moment to pull away from the hug to get a better look at you. You smile back at her, the genuine unconditional love that your mom is displaying at that moment tugged on your heartstrings.

"Hey, mom. Miss me, huh?" Tears well up in your eyes as you hug her again. You would argue that you missed her more than she misses you but you were too caught up in the reunion to mention that.

"Of course I've missed you, it's been almost a whole year." She pulls away from the hug again to get another look at you. "Oh honey, look at you! You've grown up so much! Oh, we MUST talk about EVERYTHING. I made you almost all of your favorite meals and-" Your mom takes some of your things as she walks and talks back into the house. Hearing her babble on and on makes you chuckle and you look back and around you. A soft smile graces your lips as you feel at peace with the world, comforted by your surroundings. You pull the door shut behind you when you enter. When you turn back around something pounced onto you.

You giggle when you realize who your attacker was. "Oh my gosh, hello Gorgon!" You give him head scratches and pet his back as he wags his tail furiously. He barks and jumps up on you again to give you kisses. You laugh and scratch him behind the ears, he then rolls over and shows off his tummy. "Of course imma give you belly rubs." You rub his belly but Gorgon makes it a little difficult by squirming around with excitement. "Oh my gosh you're too cute!" You exclaim while giving him pets.

"We both missed you a lot, didn't we Gorgon?!." Your mom bends down to give Gorgon a little boop on his nose. "Well, when you two get finished catching up, you can go unpack your things and get settled. Dinner will be done in about 20 minutes, like I said I made ALL of your favorites. I hope you're hungry." Your mom toddles off to the kitchen.

"I am always hungry for your cooking." You respond and finally get off your knees. "Hey Gorgon!" This gets the dog's attention. "Do you wanna race?" The dog starts pouncing around all excited and then barks. "Okay, ready?" You both get into positions. "Set? Go!" You both race up the stairs and towards your room. Gorgon passes you and waits patiently for you to arrive at your bedroom door. He barks as if to announce that he won.

"No fair Gorgon, I had to carry my bags." You say in-between wheezes. "Oof! I am out of shape." You push open your door, kick off your shoes and take in a deep breath. It smells like vanilla sugar and acrylic paint, it was a very strange combination but it smelled like home. You set your bags down and then plop onto your bed. Looking up at your string lights and glowing stars on your ceiling you smile to yourself.

"(Y/N)! DINNER IS ALMOST READY!" Your mom breaks the moment of peace you were enjoying and you holler back. "I will be down in a few minutes mom!" You groan, sit back up and get out of bed to start unpacking. Eventually you get to the bottom of your suitcase, the last thing you pull out is a small ornate jewelry box. You run a hand over the smooth wood, feeling the letters "E.M." inscribed on the bottom of the box. You smile fondly at the box and set it gently down on your dresser. You finish up the rest of your stuff and throw your empty bags into your closet. "I think that was everything." You turn to Gorgon and smile at him, motioning him to follow you. "Come on, boy, let's go eat some dinner." You turn off your lights and hop down the stairs with Gorgon at your side.

"Oooooo! It smells AMAZING in here!" You do a little spin, inhaling the familiar scents of your mother's cooking. "Wow, you weren't kidding when you said you were making all my favorites!" You look over at the dinning table and then back at your mom. "Mom, you didn't have to do all of that just for me." You look at her with gratitude.

"Oh, it was no big deal honey. I couldn't decide what to make so I just made everything. Besides you'll have a lot of leftovers you can eat." She places a dish on the table and you take a seat. "And I don't know how well you're eating while in college, so I felt like a bunch of home cooked meals will do ya some good." She sets the final dish down on the table and sits across from you. "Let's dig in!" She announces and starts plating some steamed vegetables onto her plate. You grab a little bit of everything, completely filling your plate with food. As you two eat your mom brings up some topics for conversation. You two talk about work, school and other stuff as you both munch away.

"So, I know we have talked a little bit about this on the phone..." Your mom pours herself some red wine in her glass. "But is there anyone you like at your college?" She looks curiously at you through her glass before she takes a sip. You choke a little on the food that you were eating and cough out your answer.

"No, not yet at least. Just been worrying about my studies and my art more than making friends." You take a sip of water to relieve your throat from the choking.

"Oh okay. You will eventually, I was just curious." She takes another sip of her wine and looks over to you, swirling the the last sip of wine in her glass. "Ya know, that Munson boy has been asking about you...A lot. Have you not been calling him or sending him letters?" She gulps down the rest of the red liquid.

Your coughing fit returns and you scramble to pour yourself more water from the pitcher in the center of table. After gulping some water down you wipe at your mouth with a napkin. "Eddie's been asking about me? W-what did he say?"

"Ooooh do you like him?" She asks with a raised eyebrow and a smirk on her face.

"Well..well, I mean..." You get nervous and try to change the subject. "Doesn't matter. He was acting really weird before I left. He was very cold to me, which is very odd because we were so close..." Your mom raises an eyebrow at you and you shake your head. "It's whatever..." Your eyes glance at a pile of gardening supplies on the counter, wanting to change the subject you motion to the pile with a nod. "Have you been selling anything new at the market?" You ask while pouring yourself more water.

"Oh! Actually yes I have!-" Your mom starts gabbing about the new flowers she has been growing in her garden and how the locals have been buying them like crazy. Your mom's ongoing tangent about the type of soil she has to buy for her garden gets interrupted by the ding of the oven. "Oh! The strawberry pie is ready!" She toddles over to the oven and slips her ovenmits on. She places the pie in front of you and swats your hand away when you try to reach for it. "No, not yet, you'll burn your mouth." She scolded.

"Then why would you place it right in front me then?" You chuckle at her silliness and she sits back down in her seat.

"We can have some in ten minutes. Now..where was I?" She pours herself a little more wine and begins where she left off from her earlier tangent. You kind of tune her out, that strawberry pie was calling your name and you can't help but think why Eddie was asking about you. Especially since he seemed pissed off when you told him you were leaving for college. Sure enough after ten minutes your mom cuts the both of you a slice of pie, which breaks you out of your deep thinking. You two play a board game and reminisce about your childhood as you eat the pie. Before you notice, your mom was yawning and it was now 1 A.M.

"I think I'm gonna turn in now, kiddo." She yawns again and stretches. "I have to go to the market early tomorrow, but I should be free later in the day. If you want, you can have some of the leftovers. Go have some fun tomorrow." She kisses the top of your head and pats your shoulder. "I love you, kiddo. Goodnight." She waves goodbye on her way out and heads upstairs.

"Love you too, mom, goodnight and thanks again for dinner." You call after her. You sigh with contentment and start to clean up the dishes and put away the food. 'Maybe I will head over to the art crafts store and pick up some paints. Oooo and maybe mom will have some of those flowers leftover and I can make some watercolors out of them.' You thought to yourself as you put away some dishes.

You top off Gorgon's water bowl before heading upstairs to your room. You change into just a baggy t-shirt for bed and basically fly into your pillows. You get all snuggled up with Gorgon and your many soft pillows, slowly drifting into sleep.