𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝟏: 𝐈 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐍𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭...

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"Isn't it lovely, all alone?
heart made of glass, my mind of stone
tear me to pieces, skin and bone
oh, welcome home."
-lovely, Billie Eilish & Khalid

𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐎𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐄 𝐁𝐘𝐄𝐑𝐒 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐀 𝐇𝐎𝐑𝐑𝐈𝐁𝐋𝐄 𝐅𝐄𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐆

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𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐎𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐄 𝐁𝐘𝐄𝐑𝐒 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐀 𝐇𝐎𝐑𝐑𝐈𝐁𝐋𝐄 𝐅𝐄𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐆.

It had started in the middle of the night, forcing her wake up to a cold sweat plastering her skin. She sat bolt upright, panting, trying to swim through the panic that had suddenly gripped her.

A single name floated through her mind, pounding harder and harder the more she tried to shove it away.

A nightmare, she told herself after a moment. A horrible, gut wrenching nightmare.

But for the life of her, she just could not remember what it was about.

Just that... someone was in danger. Someone she cared about.

Her first thought was to wake up Jennifer Hayes, the girl whose house she was staying at. But one look around the room, at the twenty plus classmates sleeping all over the room, birthday party hats and candies littering the floor- and she changed her mind.

It had been the shock of her life when she was invited to this party, even if it was just a pity invite. These were the girls who had avoided her like the plague since kindergarten, way back when Caroline was far too scared to spend time with anyone besides family.

If she were to leave the room and call her mom, get picked up... that would be the last straw. Everyone would think she was a big baby, scared of the dark or something.

So instead, Caroline sat up in her single blanket she had brought to use as a sleeping bag, waiting for the sun to rise.

And when it finally did, she said her goodbyes and took off towards home as fast as possible.

Caroline knew the way home like the back of her hand; Hawkins was a tiny town with barely any people. And besides- when you owned a bicycle in 1983, your sense of direction ended up being pretty much immaculate.

Caroline let out a sigh of relief as she pulled up her driveway ten minutes later. Nothing seemed out of place- weeds overgrown in the untamed front lawn, an old dog toy lying on the ground. But she just couldn't shake the feeling that something terrible had happened.

But as soon as she opened the front door of her home, the smell of cooking bacon overpowered her other senses, and she let out a deep sigh at the familiarity.

Jonathan Byers looked up from the kitchen stove as his little sister stepped into the room, yawning with a small smile on her face as she looked around. "Hey, Callie. How was the party?"

Caroline shut the front door behind her and set her bundled-up blanket on the dining room table. All thoughts of terrible events in the middle of the night had vanished for the moment; clearly nothing was wrong here.

𝐎𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐇𝐚𝐥𝐟 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐎𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐒𝐢𝐝𝐞 {𝟏}Where stories live. Discover now