1983 || Stranger Things

ᴇɪɢʜᴛᴇᴇɴ | ᴏɴ ᴛʜᴇ ʀᴏᴀᴅ ᴀɢᴀɪɴ

𝐹𝑟𝑖𝑑𝑎𝑦 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝑂𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑏𝑒𝑟 26, 1984

      Julie's life was going down the tubes. She was finally going home to Hawkins, but not alone. No, Julie was being accompianed by her father, brother, step-mother and step-sister. They were all moving to Hawkins, Indiana, and Julie wanted to cry.

      It had come to such a shock to Julie that she had to take a few days to wrap her mind around it. She was going back to her friends, but she was bringing the demons of her past and present with her.

      Julie hadn't expected it, but she knew something was up when school was about to start in San Diego and in Hawkins, but she hadn't been presented with a plane ticket back. The deal was for her to stay the summer, not miss the start of her senior year with her family.

      She had of course called Joyce and them that she wasn't going to be in Hawkins at the beginning of the school year. Julie had to make another call to tell her that she wasn't going to be living with the Byers anymore. That hit her the hardest.

      Julie was now seated on her knees in her now-bare room, finishing the last of her packing before their long drive just moments away. She had procrastinated to the point that if she didn't move her stuff now, she'd never see it again.

      "JULIANA! YOUR BROTHER IS LEAVING IN FIVE MINUTES! HURRY UP!" Neil screamed from the front door, the loud sounding scaring Julie.

      "COMING!" Julie screamed back, standing up and smoothing out her light jeans and flannel. Julie pulled her hair up into a clip and grabbed the box she had just sealed, taking one last look at her room before turning and shutting the door on her way out.

      Julie walked down the stairs quickly to the sight of an empty house, and followed the sound of people chattering. Outside on the front lawn, Max and Billy were arguing, and Susan and Neil were talking to the movers who were following them to Hawkins.

        "Guys, chill out. What's going on?" Julie asked, approaching her siblings with her box in hand.

      Billy rolled her eyes. "Neither of you are sitting in the front with me. Take the back." Billy threatened, taking Julie's box and shoving it in the backseat of the car.

      "And I told him no. It's not fair." Max spoke up, her red hair glistening in the sun.

      Julie sighed and rolled her eyes. "William, you do realize that if we sit in the back then all of the boxes go in the front?" she reminded her twin, ignoring the deadly look in his eyes at the name she called him.

      "Screw you." Billy said to Julie, getting the directions from his father and then going to the driver's seat of his blue car. Julie and Max turned to each other and immediately had the same idea.

      "Rock, paper, scissors?"

      "Rock, paper, scissors?" they said at the same time, smiling widely.

      Julie and Max played three games, ultimately leaving the redhead as the winner of the front seat. Once everything was good to go, Julie climbed into the tight backseat of Billy's car and turned her walkman on, opening a book. On the road again, it seemed.

•••

     Roughly thirty hours later, the Hargrove-Mayfield family had made it to Hawkins, Indiana. They hadn't stopped overnight, and had only stopped briefly to get food at a gas station. Julie had offered to drive halfway through, but because she didn't have a license, and Billy didn't trust her, he declined her offer.