Escape ~ S.Harrington

56} Picking Up the Pieces

It was now three months since the battle of Starcourt, Billy's death, Hopper's death, and Jenna's death. Funerals were held for both Jenna and Hopper at the same time a couple weeks after their deaths. None of the kids felt quite right since Jenna died, but tried to carry on. it just felt wrong to do anything without their 'dad' by their side to encourage and make fun of them. Dustin was ignoring everything and pretending everything was alright. He was taking up Jenna's poor coping skills, and it wasn't helping him much.

The older teens; Nancy, Jonathan, Robin, and Alice, were trying to be there for the kids and were, similarly to Dustin, ignoring everything and just acting like everything was normal.

Alice was having a hard time coping with the fact that she'd never see Jenna enter the arcade again. Every night after her shifts she'd check the high score boards of Jenna's favorite games to make sure no one beat them. It was one of the few things that allowed Jenna to live on in Hawkins and she wasn't gonna let some lousy kids wipe her away like that. She also started to drink a bit, not as badly as Jenna years prior, but just enough to numb the pain when it all felt like too much knowing that Jenna would never be with her again.

Nancy was having horrible nightmares that Jenna was being taken away in the Upside Down and eaten by a demogorgon right in front of her. It didn't help that it was happening every night and that it was just like the night her and Jenna went into the tree trunk together. It was truly horrifying to relive over and over again. Seeing her best gal pal die like that repeatedly, even though it wasn't real, took a harsh toll on her mentally.

Jonathan was busying himself with his brother and mom. He also had discovered that smoking weed worked wonders for clearing his brain of all thoughts. He didn't care that it wasn't healthy and that his family would be disappointed, he just wanted to feel better and that was the only thing that was working for him.

Robin wasn't super close with Jenna, but it still hurt her to see someone that she'd had a crush on for years in school disappear in an instant. She enjoyed the time she spent with her, even though it wasn't much and they were running for their lives from evil Russians. She had primarily clung to Alice since everything went down with the Russians and she felt like she'd finally made another friend. Well, she hoped it would turn into something more, but she'd never say that out loud to Alice. She didn't want to ruin one of the only good things going for her other than her friendship with Steve Harrington that'd sparked as well.

Steve was doing the worst out of everyone. He started to slightly isolate himself from everyone, but was quickly roped back in by Robin and Alice who were very worried for his well being. After Jenna's funeral, he started hanging out with Dustin again, though it wasn't the same as before Jenna died. Nothing could be normal to him ever again. But, he promised Jenna that he'd look after her brother, so he stuck to that promise. He started to adapt some of Jenna's old habits into his life without even realizing it. Instead of ignoring problems like everyone else, he drowned them out with music: specifically the mixtape she'd made for him. He would also listen to one of her mixtapes she'd left in his car when he was having a really hard time and just needed a bit of her to linger around him.

Now, Steve and Robin were driving Dustin to the Byers' house so he could help them finish packing for California and so he could say goodbye to them. It was Joyce, Jonathan, Will, and Eleven who were moving, while Alice had gotten an apartment in Hawkins so she could be with her friends.

After dropping Dustin off, Steve drove to the Family Video store that was right next to the arcade. Him and Robin had applied for jobs there so one: they could work right next door to Alice, and two: it would remind Steve of all the movie nights he'd shared with Jenna.