Brandi [STEVE HARRINGTON]

I. THE NEW RANCHERS IN TOWN

After the sign had passed, almost immediately her dad's truck veered to the right, turning into a dirt road. Brandi followed behind slowly, looking back at their horses behind her through the rearview mirror to make sure they were okay. Her truck waddled itself off of the main highway, creaking as it went. The dirt road that she just entered was surrounded by trees taller than Brandi had ever seen in her life. Back in Texas, there weren't any trees at all. She felt sort of refreshed for a second until the trees started to clear and revealed a large, flat field.

In the center of the field was a decent sized house and a couple of yards away from it was a barn. There was a small used-to-be-irrigated area meant for farming behind the house, sitting there as if it were waiting for them to occupy it. The whole part of it was fenced in as if it was its own little world that nothing could break through.

Her father led the way through the gate into their new land, only getting out of the truck to unlock the gate. Brandi followed, stopping when he jerked to a standstill at front of the house. She put out her cigarette quickly and changed the gear to park before she opened the door to get out.

Danny got out of his truck quickly and slammed the door shut, taking a puff of his cigarette while he was at it. The passenger door swung open as well, revealing Eric, the youngest Sutton. He bounced out of the vehicle wildly, bounding his way around the truck to get a closer look at their new home. "Woah," he breathed at the sight of the house.

Brandi wished she had the excitement that Eric had when it came to moving to Hawkins. It would make it a lot easier to cope. Eric was always like that with everything, though. He was the optimist of the family. If everything seemed like bullshit and would be falling down, Eric could always find something positive, and it would rejuvenate the family, even just for a little bit. He could be a pain in the ass, but when hard times came, Brandi couldn't help but admit that she needed him.

Brandi caught up with them and stared at their new home. It wasn't anything special; it had a door and windows and all the normal shit that regular houses had. The front porch had a couple of rocking chairs that the previous owners seemed to have left behind, and there was a deteriorating plant that was holding on for dear life in a vase next to the front porch. The weather vane on the top of the house creaked a little as it barely moved. A horse from their trailer neighed in the middle of their silence.

Danny put his arms around both of his children and patted them on the back. "Nothin' like a good farm house to remind ya of back home. Hawkins will treat us well, I'm sure of it." He said the words so surely that it almost seemed like it was a fact.

Brandi lifted up her eyebrows skeptically as she kept staring at the house. "Yeah, are ya sayin' that 'cause Mom's friend said so, or are ya sayin' it from deep down in your heart?"

His jaw twitched when she said the word 'Mom.' "I'm sayin' it," Danny simply responded. He patted them on the back again and made his way to the truck to start unloading their shit.

The only sole reason that the Suttons moved to the place that they did was because of Karen Wheeler. She apparently knew Cheryl Sutton quite well; Cheryl would make trips to Hawkins many times for her job before the accident. Karen was one of the people that Cheryl would talk about a lot. She would say that the Wheeler was so nice and they'd get coffee at the café on Main Street every time she was in town. She'd talk about her children and how they'd get along so well. Karen called after she heard about the accident and placed the idea of going off to Hawkins in Danny's brain, and so he listened.

Eric was still beside Brandi, his eyes still fixated on the house. "I think Mom would really love this place."

"Dude, she worked here for like, ever," Brandi reminded him. "She was here almost every month. I think someone who was in this shithole for that long probably grew an attachment to the place."