chapter thirteen
halloween isn't for everyone
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Ruth Newby had always suspected she wasn't born the same way as everyone else, or maybe she had even been dropped as a baby. Rue had no idea what it was, but she knew something was wrong with her.
Her mother's behaviour toward her as a child didn't help her suspicions. Emilia had always treated and cared for Rue as if she were glass, a bomb ready to erupt at any moment. She handled her daughter as though she were an unknown hazard.
Rue had moments when she thought her... condition was the reason her father left.
Even after their relationship had improved, the night he left remained a recurring memory for her.
It was Halloween night in 1977, and Rue was six years old. She dressed like Sleeping Beauty, her favourite princess, in a gorgeous, glittering pink gown.
Rue spent the entire day after school, following her father like a lost puppy. Bob took Rue to the mall, where he bought her a new baseball glove and shared a ridiculously massive ice cream cone. After that, he went trick-or-treating with Rue, and once three bags were full of candy, he decided to bring her home.
She spotted suitcases in his car as she tried to fight away her sleep, but she never questioned it. Now, whenever she thought about the bags in the car, Rue realized she should have asked, and perhaps she would have had the chance to beg him to stay.
Rue believes her biggest regret is never begging her father to stay. Because at the age of six, the idea of her dad leaving never crossed her mind, but she was smart enough to understand that packed suitcases in the back of the car meant he was going somewhere.
But she stayed quiet, her eyes betraying her as she tried to stay awake, mumbling along to the song her dad had put on the radio before he turned off the car and carried her into their apartment and tucked her into bed.
Rue noticed something odd when he never promised he'd see her in the morning. Something weird happened when she suddenly felt a weight of dread and shame in her chest, both of which she had never felt before. Rue remembered how, amid her emotions, she had burst into tears and how he had cried as well.
Bob kissed her goodnight and walked away. He went without saying he'd see her again. He went without saying anything else, and he went with her favourite teddy bear.
Rue liked to think that Bob didn't want to leave her and that he had no choice.
He'd left, and Rue was convinced she'd never see him again.
It was funny how time worked.
And if she was honest, it upset Rue to see him treat Will and Jonathan as if they were his children, because it showed that he had what it took to be a decent father, if not a wonderful one, yet he wasn't there for his own child. Instead, on Halloween night, he abandoned her.
Halloween had never been the same since then, and Rue hadn't seen the point of celebrating the holiday her father left. But now, it was Halloween again, and he was there.
It has been seven years since he left.
And now he was there that night when Rue was on the phone with Will and Lucas, listening to them rave about their costumes and plan their trick-or-treating route. "After that, we wanna hit up the richer neighbourhoods."
"They give out massive chocolate bars," Will says, and then there's a pause. "Rue, are you still coming with us?"
Lucas scoffs from the other side of the line, "Of course she is, why wouldn't she? Right, Rue?"
Rue stays silent, her eyes flickering from her nails to her dad sitting on the couch, watching television. He's not so far that she can hear him laughing at the silly jokes, but he's far enough away that he can't hear her when she looks away and says, "I don't know. Halloween's not really my thing."
Lucas sputters, "What? How is Halloween not your thing? It's literally the best holiday after Christmas."
"Rue and I are Jewish."
"Oh, shit. My bad. I meant Hanukkah then." Lucas says, and Rue can't help the snort that slips from her. "Anyways, I was thinking you'd dress up as Janine to match our costume."
Rue makes a face, twirling the telephone wire around her finger, and asking, "Who's Janine?"
Lucas and Will make a noise of offense at the same time, and Rue rolls her eyes, knowing she's set herself up for torment.
"What do you mean you don't know Janine?" Will exclaims. "She's literally the best, hilarious, and a total badass."
"If you love her so much, why don't you dress up as Janine?"
"No way, mom already made me my costume. I'm gonna be Spengler."
"And I'm Venkman," Lucas adds, "Mike's Winston, and Dustin's Stantz. Therefore, you can be Janine."
"It's a bit last minute for me to find a ghostbuster's costume."
"Don't worry, Janine's just the secretary, so you can wear your dad's ugly sweaters and fake glasses." Lucas tries to bargain.
"Sounds lame," Rue says after a beat of silence, "I think I'll pass. Goodnight."
"No, no wait!" Will shouts just before Rue can hang up the line. She sighs, putting the phone up to her ear again, leaning her shoulder against the wall.
"What?"
"Could you at least go trick or treating with us? I doubt you wanna stay home with mom and Bob, they'll be watching stupid movies all night. Or worse, they might start kissing... and we all know what that leads up to..."
"Okay, gross," Rue gags, "if I say yes, will you leave me alone?"
"We promise!" Lucas exclaims.
"Fine." Rue agrees, "I'll go trick or treating with you. But I'm not dressing up."
Rue gets off the phone before they can argue with her again. She stares at the yellow phone on the wall for a longer time than she'd care to admit, her mind racing with images of an itchy pink dress and her father walking out the door.
It's a disturbing notion, something that hasn't slipped through the cracks in a long time, and it irritates her that she's thinking about it now, while he's sitting in the room next to her, laughing at a stupid joke in a bad movie, patiently waiting for her to return and watch it with him.
As the phone rings again, she flinches, the shriek scaring her out of her thoughts. Rue clicks her tongue, already knowing it was Will and Lucas, who were undoubtedly planning a fresh method to get her to join them in their costume.
"Guys, I already told you I'm not dressing up this year. Or the next year, or the one after. Just give it a rest already."
"Well, shit," A voice laughs from the other side of the line, "Looks like I won't even bother telling you my plans."
Rue blinks, and she holds the phone with two hands up to her ear. "Max?"
"No, don't mind me. You already declined my offer before I even said shit. I just feel fucking stupid now."
Rue comes very close to punching a wall. She groans quietly, tilting her head back, and hides the phone so Max doesn't hear her reaction. Rue gradually realizes what time it is; it is late, and a dumb smile appears on her face, knowing that Max was awake and thinking about her enough to call.
Rue clears her throat, putting the phone back up to her ear again. "Hey, Max, what's up?"
Max laughs from the other side of the call, "Nothing much, Daph. Just planning my Halloween costume last minute like I do every fuckin' year. I found these ugly fucking orange pants in my mom's closet, and I got this idea for a costume, only problem is, it won't work if I do it solo."
Rue leans her back on the wall and slides to the floor. "That sucks."
"Tell me about it."
"What were you gonna dress up as?"
"I was thinking... and this is gonna sound so fucking lame, alright, so don't make fun of me... but I was hoping we could do a couple's costume together."
"Couple's costume?"
Max snorts, "Like a duo. As in two people." she pauses, "Unfortunately, you're my only friend in this boring ass town, Rue."
Rue smiles, "Unfortunately."
"Yeah, and it's a real fucking shame you don't wanna dress up this year, or the year after or whatever because I was calling to ask if you officially wanted to be the Daphine to my Velma."
"You really dragged that question out, Max." Rue mumbles because she is at a loss for words. She sits on the floor, staring at her pink socks, toying with the thought of accepting Max's offer. She's turned down almost everyone who's asked her, including Kimberly, Lilah, and Alex, who begged her to dress up as the Tin Man from The Wizard of Oz so they'd complete their costume.
"Rue, are you still there?"
"Yeah..." she answers quietly. "I'm still here."
"You don't have to say yes, you know." Max says. It's a lie though, just to make Rue feel better.
"I know. It's just..." Rue sighs, telling her the same answer she's told everyone else. "I don't know. Halloween isn't my thing."
On the other end of the line, Max is deafeningly quiet. It's not too long, but it's long enough for Rue to start chewing on her lower lip. She starts to feel horrible, not just for Max, but for all of her friends. "I'm sorry," she blurts out, "I really am, I just... it's complicated."
"...It's okay. Don't worry 'bout it... Just a stupid costume anyway."
"I'll see you tomorrow?"
"Yep, see ya."
Max is the one who hangs up the call first, leaving Rue to sit there, staring at the floor while she listens to the hum of a deadline. Rue groans, pulling herself up from the floor, and places the phone back into the receiver on the wall.
She chews at the inside of her cheek as she stalks around the couch, sitting next to her dad and leaning her head on his shoulder.
Bob shifts and wraps his arm around Rue, rubbing her shoulder gently. "You okay, kiddo?" He asks.
She's suddenly reminded exactly why she doesn't like Halloween, and the sound of him walking out the door and shutting it behind him echoes in her head. He was gone. Gone. Gone. Gone.
Bob presses his chin on the top of Rue's head after kissing her forehead. Fuck! He was gone. He got up and left without reason. But he came back. He fucking came back. He came back and he cares.
Rue hums, nodding. She presses the side of her face onto his chest, his blue knit sweater balled into her fists. She holds him tightly, afraid that if she let go he'd leave again. Rue holds him tightly knowing that this is what she's been wishing she could have done all those years ago. To never let him go.
Rue became afraid of falling asleep that night, fearful that when she woke he'd be gone like the last time. So she didn't move, she stayed in her place the entire night, even when the movie ended, even when Bob fell asleep as the credits rolled. Rue held him like he was her giant teddy bear, a childhood comfort that reminds her of sprinklers splashing, and a summer breeze she hasn't felt kissing her skin since he left.
Because since that night, the summers were colder, the skies were darker, and her love for the sun diminished, and it started to drive her wild.
And then, in the morning, he was still there. Halloween dawned, and he was still there with his arm over her shoulder, still with his sweater balled in her fist.
"You're not dressing up this year?" He asks while watching Rue shove her homework into her bag.
She looks up at him, shrugging before glancing back at her bag. "Not my thing." Then, Rue does a double take, her brows furrowing as she stares at her dad. "What are you wearing?"
Bob Newby's dressed in a long black cloak, a classic Dracula suit underneath, while his face is pale with makeup and his hair is combed back with gel. He looks stupid. But he grins like a child and spins to show his entire Halloween costume to his daughter before putting in the fake fangs. "What, this old thing I put together?"
"You look silly."
"No. I look awesome!"
Rue laughs, and her smile widens when she watches her dad pick up his camera, and hand it to her.
"Record this. I've been working on my Dracula impression."
"Okay, I'm filming."
Bob clears his throat, turning so his back faces Rue and the camera. His daughter bites her lip to stop herself from giggling as she watches her dad spin around again dramatically, holding up his dark cloak with one arm up to his nose. She zooms in with the camera as he says, "I have crossed oceans of time to find youuu."
"How was that?"
Rue snorts, "It was amazing. Oscar worthy."
Bob snaps his fingers and says, "I knew it!"
She grins, watching him take the camera from her and rewatch the tape. Rue plays with the zipper of her bag, and she glances down at her clothes—a pair of jeans, an old yellow shirt she had, and a pair of white Converse—and she suddenly feels underdressed. Rue looks up at Bob again and calls, "Hey, Dad?"
Bob holds his breath, nearly dropping the camera. His head snaps up to glance at Rue, who seems smaller than she is. She's practically hiding behind the chair, hesitating before saying more.
It doesn't even dawn on her that she's called him 'dad.'
Bob chokes, and nods. And he hopes to play it off as casually as his daughter did, but he can't break down the smile that grows on his face. "Yeah, kiddo?"
There's a glint in her eyes while her lips curl into a shy smile. "Do you mind if I'm a little late to school? I changed my mind about not dressing up this year."
He was there to help her rummage through her closet in search of what she was looking for. And he was there when she called Dani's number, asking if she was allowed to climb through her window and borrow those purple boots she owned.
"Why don't you just knock on the front door?"
Glancing at him from over her shoulder as she climbs onto the tree, Rue makes a face and says, "Because there's no fun in that. Duh."
"Right. Duh."
Rue keeps repeating it to herself the whole day. He's here. He's here. He's still here. She thinks of it as he stands behind her in the bathroom, running a brush through her hair. Bob was gentle with her, hoping not to tug too hard and hurt her. He'd never want to hurt her. Not again.
And after seven years, he still loved her all the same.
Rue realized that she never hated him for leaving. And even if she had hated him at one point, she could never hold it against him because Rue loved her dad, and she missed him too much to hate him.
"Here," Bob says before Rue could get out of the car.
She turns to him, her bag already slung over her shoulder. "Oh, shit. Thanks." Rue sputters when she realizes he's handing her the walkman. "Almost forgot."
"Joyce will pick you and Will up later. We're gonna spend that night at her house, so I'll be there later." He tells her, and then he smiles, "Have fun, I love you."
A wide smile breaks onto her face, reaching her eyes while she grows giddy in her seat.
"I love you, too."
The corners of his mouth turned up, and even though he looked a little funny in his Dracula costume and makeup, Rue knew it was sincere. "Okay," he breathed, unable to wipe away the smile from his face. "Go have fun. I'll see you later."
"Okay," Rue chuckled, sounding just like him. And she kissed him on the cheek before she left.
He's still here. He's still here. The realization that dad isn't leaving makes Rue feel like she's six all over again; running down the rainy streets of Chicago, swinging a candy bag that is almost bigger than her, letting her dad catch up to her and pick her up, laughing as he threw her over her shoulder.
"You know, for someone who doesn't like Halloween, you seem to be in a good mood." Rue shuts her locker to find Kimberly and Lucas staring at her.
Kimberly crosses her arms, shaking her head which has hay straws all over as well as her farmer's clothes. Kimberly's dressed as Hunk the Scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz. And then there's Lucas, whose hands are on his hips next to her, dressed in his silly ghostbusters costume.
Rue almost doesn't hear what they say, still surprised to see the two of them even interacting with each other. It was no secret that the party feared girls, especially girls like Kimberly.
A look of betrayal settles on Lucas's face, and he speaks before Rue can say anything, "You said you weren't dressing up."
Rue shrugs, "I changed my mind."
"That's not fair," Lucas scoffs, "We asked you to join our costume first."
Kimberly punches Lucas's shoulder, "No, we did," and she turns to Rue raising her brows, ignoring the way Lucas whines, holding onto his arm in pain. "Lilah's Dorothy, Alex's The Cowardly Lion, and you're supposed to be Tin Man. What the fuck, dude? What are you even supposed to be anyway?"
Rue frowns, looking down at her dress. She holds her notebooks up to her chest, "I thought it was pretty obvious."
The bell rings before any more words can be exchanged, and the three of the begin to walk to Mr. Clark's class. While Kimberly walks ahead of them, Rue turns to Lucas, dropping her voice as she leans closer to him. "I thought you didn't like Kimmy?"
Lucas blinks, and he glances at the girl ahead of him hoping she can't hear when he says, "I don't. She scares me. But Dustin's hung up about who MadMax is, and Will said Kimmy's friends with Max..."
Rue scoffs, "What, so you're using her for information-"
Lucas smacks his hand to Rue's mouth, covering it so she'd stop the talk. "Shh!" He shrieks, "Not so loud, you dumbass."
She rolls her eyes, shoving his arm off as they walk into class. The two of the bickered before Mike dragged Lucas to his seat and left Rue to walk to hers. Rue drags her feet as she moves around other students, dropping her books on her desk.
"Hey, you." Max Mayfield leans up in her seat behind Rue. She presses her elbows to the table, and grins, genuine surprise and happiness on her face from seeing her. Max, true to her word, has dressed in an orange outfit, from the turtle neck to the ugly pants and a cheap brown wig on her head. She was Velma Dinkley through and through, even if she had no one else to complete the costume.
Rue can feel a nervous smile start to break onto her face, "Hi."
"You dressed up."
She nods cheekily, "I did."
Max snickers, "You make a great Daphne, by the way."
"What? This?" Rue waves her off, twirling so Max can see the Scooby-Doo outfit, "just put this together last minute, nothing much."
Rue will never tell Max she took the purple dress and boots from Dani Patel's closet. That she had to climb out her window, climb the tree between the Newby and Patel houses, then hop onto the Patel roof and slide open Dani's window. A window that the girl had luckily left unlocked before she left for Julliard.
She sits on her chair, watching Mr. Clark start to set up everything for the class. Rue taps her fingers on her desk before turning to face Max again, a shy smile on her face. Max beams when Rue turns to her again.
"You know," Rue whispers, "Velma Dinkley has never looked better."
Max snorts, shaking her head, "Fuck off."
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Rue spends the rest of her day rolling her eyes so much it gives her a headache. She doesn't share many classes with Max besides science, but she does have every single class on her scdheual with Mike Wheeler.
Now, don't get Rue wrong; she doesn't hate Mike. It's that she'd rather spend the entire school day with anyone other than Mike. She finds it draining to be around him for so long. Mike and His constant sour attitude and sucking out the fun from her day like a snake. Rue only puts up with him for Will.
He sits across the room from her in math, and they're partners for a parenting health project in gym class because Mike complained it was unfair that Rue was partners with Lucas and got stuck with Kimberly. The teacher, to spite him, paired Kimberly with Lucas and Mike with Rue.
"What? Why can't I just be with Lucas?"
"The assignment is taking care of an egg like it's your child. This egg, Wheeler, it's your baby. You're its daddy. Do you have two daddies?"
"No, but can't I just be a single parent?"
"I don't want to hear it anymore, Wheeler."
"Nice going, Mike," Rue told him, shaking her head when he walked up to her, holding the egg. "You ruined it for the both of us."
"Shut up."
"Lucas and I were gonna name him Leon."
"That's a stupid name."
"And you're just stupid."
He scoffs, rolling his eyes. "I'm not the one who came up with the name Leon."
"Oh, yeah? What would you name him?"
"First of all, it's a girl."
"Why would you get to choose the gender?"
"Because I'm the dad."
"And I'm the mom."
"So?"
"So, I birthed him. I was the one who carried Leon in my stomach for nine months. All you did shoot him out during sex."
Mike gags, "Ew. You're so fucking gross."
Rue shoves him, "That's how making a baby works, Mike. Or do you really believe in storks?"
He sputters, "No. I just don't want you talking about my penis."
"I wasn't talking about your penis. I was talking about Leon and your sperm and my egg-"
"Stop talking about it!!" Mike shoves Rue back. In the heat of the moment, he forgets about the egg in his hands until it's crushed. The yoke and egg white smother Rue's chest, and they both gasp. "Bethany!"
"Leon!" Rue then looks up at Mike, "You were gonna name him Bethany?"
"What's wrong with Bethany?"
"It's the lamest name ever."
"Compared to Leon?"
"Espeically compared to Leon!"
It doesn't take a genious to know that Rue and Mike aren't likely to get a good grade in the assignment considering they've had to replace their egg in secret four times in two days. However, all that led to Rue sitting in her last class of the day on Halloween, pretending she couldn't hear Mike sitting right behind her, mutter into Dustin's ear about how terrible of a mother Rue would be.
"She just dropped him. No, she threw him on the floor. Leon the Thrid barely got to live long enough to see lunch."
Rue turns in her seat, startling Mike into silence. She glares at him, long and hard, daring him to say more.
He doesn't.
When the bell rings, Rue rushes to pack her things. All she wants is to get out of Mike's space and get him out of hers as fast as possible. She thinks of looking for Will, dragging him out school before Mike can catch up with them. Rue likes that idea.
She storms out of the classroom, missing Dustin calling her name. Rue makes her way to Will's locker, but she's distracted by the sight of bright red hair in the corner of her eye.
Rue feels a smile growing on her face and forgets why she was in such a rush in the first place. She turns on the heals of her boots and practially skips towards Max's locker instead. "Hey, Velma. Lost your hair?"
Max jumps, caught by surprise at Rue's sudden aparence at her side. She doesn't seem to mind her company, though. There's a smile curling at the corners of her lips as she takes her skateboard out of her locker. "Yeah, the wig was too itcy. I think it might've had lice or something."
Rue takes a step away from Max, "Oh, hah," she laughs nervously, "keep your distance, then."
"I'm fucking with you."
"Oh. Yeah, I knew that."
Max playfully rolls her eyes, her smile wider. "I'm sure you did, overalls."
Rue snorts, "Screw off."
There was a new voice that had pushed itself into the conversation. It's tense and nervous; "It's nice to see you're wearing a costume."
Rue spins around at the familiar lisp, and she is surprised to spot not only Dustin, but Lucas as well, standing at the other side of Max. The two boys shift awkwardly in their spots, almost as if they haven't planned what to say after Dustin's one-liner.
"Hey, guys," Rue beams warmly at them.
Lucas is the one to return the smile, the anxious tension dying from his features as he breathes out, "Hey, Rue."
"You know these weirdos?" Max's voice is laced with concern as she tugs on the sleeve of Rue's purple dress, pulling her away from the boys.
Rue lets out a nervous chuckle, "What are you talking about? They're my friends."
Dustin quickly cuts in before Max can speak, his eyes wide with panic, "I don't believe we have introduced ourselves. I'm Dustin and this is—"
"Lucas." He nods.
"Yeah, I know," Max scoffs, "The stalkers."
Rue's eyebrows shoot up to her forehead, "You stalked her?"
"Uh, no," Dustin puffs out, shaking his head. "No, no."
"You said you'd talk to her like a normal person!" Rue scolds, and then she turns to Lucas, dissapointed and slapping his arm, "You? Were you in on it, too?"
"They both were," Max says. She gives Dustin and Lucas dirty looks before turning to Rue, "I can't believe you know these stalkers and never told me."
"They're my friends. I already said this!"
"I think you need new friends, Rue," her voice is bitter, "some friends that aren't stalkers."
"It wasn't stalking!" Dustin defends.
Lucas winces, and his eyes drop to his shoes. He has a grimace on his lips as if wondering whether to slap Dustin in the face or turn back and run.
"You've got it wrong," Dustin says firmly, his knuckles turning a light shade of white as he gripped his proton pack. "We weren't stalking... and Rue, don't tell Will we were stalking her. Because we weren't."
Lucas rolls his eyes at his best friend. He shoves his back to get him to stop talking. "We weren't stalking you," Lucas speaks as if he's attempting to convince Rue, Max, and himself. It's a truly sad sight.
"No, we were just concerned because... you know," Dustin tried again, ignoring how Lucas glared at him as a warning to stop talking. "You're new and all."
Lucas tries to play along, "Yeah, for your safety."
"Mmm-hmm," Dustin nodded. "There are a lot of bullies here."
"So many bullies, it's—it's—it's crazy."
"Yeah, you should've seen Rue on her first day," Dustin shook his head as he scoffed, "she was immediately bombarded by bullies."
Rue cringed, recalling the face of Stacy Albright, a story she's never grown the guts to tell Max about yet.
The girl had been harbouring a vengeance against Rue since the day they met. She once stuck her chewed gum in Rue's hair during math class.
Lilah had witnessed it and raced over to the laughing Stacy, grabbing a fistful of her hair and tugging until Stacy's head smacked on her desk. Rue hadn't expected such a violent reaction from Liliah, and while she would have seen it coming if it had been Kimberly, she'd never seen it happening with Lils. She's a delicate girl with an even more delicate heart.
Lilah sat back down behind Lucas (who had helped Rue with removing the gum out of her hair) and next to Ruth as if nothing had happened, and she disregarded the way the two had been gawking at each other in disbelief before turning to her.
She had even ignored Stacy's cries and the students' gasps as one of Stacy's friends raced out of the classroom in search of a teacher.
Lilah earned two weeks' worth of detention. However, she wasn't bothered. When Rue asked her about it, Lilah said Stacey had it coming for her anyway.
Stacy Albright hadn't troubled Rue since, and she still had a yellowish bruise on her face. Despite this, Stacy would still glare at her if she was alone in the corridor, which Rue didn't mind because she had bigger issues than Prissy Bitchy Stacy, as Kimberly called her.
And while Dustin continued to ramble about bullies and swearing he had followed Max for her safety, Rue could help cut in. "Aw, that's really sweet, Dustin," She tilted her head and asked, "How come I didn't get this treatment?"
"We're sorry we didn't protect you from the horrid bullies of Hawkins," Lucas said while Dustin muttered nonsense-like excuses. The smile he gave Rue was sad, and he did seem sorry.
"Right, so we were talking last night," Dustin started, looking back over at Max, "and you're new here, so you probably don't have any friends-"
"Rue's my friend," Max told him, locking her arm with Rue.
"Fine, she's the Daphne to your Velma, but listen," he said, waving his hand in the air, "you don't have a nice big group of friends to take you trick-or-treating. And since you're scared of bullies, we were thinking that it would be okay if you come with us."
"'It'd be okay'?" she echoed, narrowing her eyebrows at him.
"Yeah. Our party's a democracy, and the majority voted you could come."
"And Rue," Lucas added again.
"You and Will already said Rue's coming."
Max faked a laugh, "I didn't realize it was such an honour to go trick-or-treating with you."
Poor Dustin didn't hear the girl's sarcasm and continued, "Yeah, I mean, we know where to get the full-sized candy bars. We figured you'd want in. Since you're friends with Rue and she's coming, we figured you'd say yes."
She sneered, "That's presumptuous of you."
Rue snorted while Dustin and Lucas stared at Max blankly, struggling to comprehend what presumptuous meant. "Yeah..." Dustin trailed unsurely, "Totally. Uh, so, um... you'll come?"
Max rolled her eyes before shutting the door to her locker.
Dustin and Lucas both flinched as she scoffed. She never responded, instead silently tugging Rue's dress sleeve, moving her away from the two boys.
"We're meeting at the Maple Street cul-de-sac at seven! That's seven on the dot!" Dustin called.
"Are you going?" Rue asks Max as they turn the corner in the hallway.
Max shrugged, never looking at her, "I dunno," she mumbled, "Are you?"
"Yeah, I kinda have to." Rue tells her, "I promised Will. But I haven't gone trick-or-treating since I was six so I'm kinda nervous."
Max shot her an incredulous look. "Why?"
Rue wondered if she had wanted to dig into the cave of altered memories she held. Would it be a wise decision to admit she had been abandoned? To reopen previously closed wounds? To smear them with salt?
What is it all for? To be that open in front of her new friend? To prove to her that Rue was honest and didn't carry hidden burdens and secrets like her mother?
Max had been vulnerable to Rue before, when she confessed her brother's rage in their home, how he turns aggressive and enjoys breaking things whenever he becomes angry.
How he hurts people.
"My dad left me on Halloween," Rue finally says. "He took me trick-or-treating and everything... and then, he left. No reason, no goodbye, no note. I hadn't heard from him since then, and mom said they got a divorce a week before he left. Seven years, no letter, no phone call. I never saw the reason to celebrate my dad leaving."
Max stops walking and tugs Rue to stop as well. Rue panics, realizing she's poured too much on her. Fuck. Rue wishes she had lied instead.
Like the day before, Rue nearly missed the way the tip of Max's shoe tapped against her own. Rue glanced at their shoes. Max's dirty old vans, and her purple Mary Janes, before finally looking at Max again.
Her blue eyes held layers of curiosity, understanding, and sympathy. Max leaned closer to Rue, as if to tell her a secret. "We can always change it, you know."
Rue frowns, "What do you mean?"
"We can make tonight the best night of your life," she grins, "that way, it won't be the night your dad left but instead, the night you spent with your favourite person ever."
Rue couldn't help the smile that tugged at her lips, "And who would that be?"
Max arched an amused brow, "Me, of course."
Rue doesn't think she stops smiling for the rest of the day. Not when she finds Mike at Will's side or when he makes a face at her when she gets into Joyce's car with Will.
Rue's sprawled over Will's bed later in the day. Music playing from Jonathan's bombox. She's thinking about Max longer than she'd like to admit before she rolls over to stare at the ceiling. Rue tries thinking about something else while her eyes follow the corners of an old stain on the paint.
"I can't believe you're actually coming trick-or-treating with us," Will Byers says, his back turned to Rue as he sits on the chair by his desk. He was sketching again, probably at his fifth drawing in the past hour. "You know you don't have you, right?"
"Yeah, I know."
"Then why are you?"
Rue shrugs, "Aren't you the one who says I gotta start moving on?" She teases.
Will doesn't answer for a few seconds, and they sit in silence, listening to the sounds of him rapidly scribbling over paper. "Yeah. I know. I just thought, you know, that this is different."
Rue turns her head, glancing at him, "How so?"
He takes a long time to answer again.
Rue rolled over on the bed, staring at her best friend's back as he tossed another scribbled paper to the side. Will ripped out another blank page from his notebook and started a new sketch.
"Nevermind," he mumbles.
"What, no. Now you gotta tell me."
"Forget I said anything."
"Come on, Will."
"Just leave it."
"Okay, jeez," Rue exhales. She's no longer thinking about Max. Rue is staring at the back of Will's head, watching his body shake as he races through his artwork. She wonders if she's done anything to tick him off.
"You know," Will starts, and he finally stops scribling. His shoulders visibly sagged before he spun around on his chair. "When my dad left... I was happy when he left," Will says.
Rue gets up on the bed and encourages him to continue as she becomes more intrigued. That was an odd perspective on the reality of parents abandoning their children. "Really?"
"Yeah," Will nods, "he would always fight with mom, and he sucked as a dad. He was terrible to me and worse to Jonathan."
Then something clicks. Not every parent is a good parent. Rue frowns deeply, her gaze drawn away from Will's. "I'm sorry."
"It's alright," She heard Will stand from his chair. The bed dipped as he sat next to Rue. "So, you don't celebrate Halloween because that was when Bob left, but you don't hate him for leaving either?"
"It's confusing," Rue puts her hands to her face. She reclines back on the bed, her gaze returning to the ceiling. Will moves in sync with her, turning his head to look at her as she groans loudly, "And so fucking frustrating."
Will offers her a smile, "When has it not been?"
"I wish it were simple, you know? I wish I could just make up my mind. But I can't because... he cares—he really does care. And you should have seen him this morning. He did everything he could so I can put a costume together because he thought it would make me happy. But... but he still left," she pauses, and a bitter insecure thought flashed in her mind, "Who says he won't leave me again?"
Will scoffs, "He wouldn't leave."
"How do you know?"
"I don't, but..." a beat, "I have a feeling that if he did, it wouldn't be his choice."
Rue frowned, "You think he was forced to leave?"
Will shrugged, "It could be possible. It looks like he loves you too much to want to leave you. I think there might be something more than him leaving because of divorce and loss of custody."
Now Rue believes Will is making stuff up to piss her off. She scoffs and rolls her eyes, looking away from him. "And what makes you think that?"
Will does not respond. There is a long period of silence that fills the small space between them. It makes Rue uneasy, and when she turns to face him, he's already looking at her, tears welling up in his eyes.
Rue's heartbeat quickens as she stares at him. Her head spins when she sits up rapidly. Rue is ready to open her mouth and ask what's wrong, but he stops her.
Will jumps out of bed and hurries around his room gathering items.
Her eyes are wide open as she observes him. "Will?" she inquires suspiciously.
"We're going to be late," he added, picking up two pillowcases left on the floor. He tossed one of them towards Rue, and it landed on top of her head.
William didn't say anything before fleeing from the room, leaving Rue alone. She slowly got from the bed after pulling the pillowcase from her head, her gaze locked on the wide-open door.
Will was acting strangely, far stranger than usual. He was closing in on himself and, if possible, becoming quieter. Rue licked her bottom lip, and she can taste the artificial cherry flavour of her lipgloss, recalling when Will nformed her that he had gone missing about this time last year, and she felt horrible for dumping her concern about her father on him when he was dealing with his own problems.
The usual bullets of guilt pierced her skin, leaving entry and exit wounds. Rue hoped she could just stop talking for a while.
Rue dragged her feet over the floor on her way to the door to follow Will. Then she came to a halt when she discovered the six sketches Will had made. She picked one up from the floor and held it up. She assumed that it was some type of spider, and when she glanced around, she saw that they were all sketches of the same species.
Strange.
Rue was intrigued and wanted to ask Will about them, but the boy was an artist, and questioning an artist wasn't usually a good idea. She found out after interrogating Dani Patel about a song she wrote. But she had no idea if that spider was a character Will was creating for a comic book with Dustin or whatever.
When Rue steps into the living room, she first spots her father with Jonathan, teaching him how his brand-new video camera works. "So you hit T to zoom in and W zooms back out," he said, "See? Easy-peasy. Just make sure to turn off the power to save energy."
Ahead of them, Will was practically bouncing in his spot as Joyce fixed a few final touches to his costume.
Rue manoeuvred her way into the kitchen, beaming as she saw the dish of chocolates Joyce and Bob were about to give out. She returned to the living room, unwrapping a chocolate bar, and Jonathan scolded her.
"You realize you'll get bags full of candy later, right?" He teases, holding up the video camera to record the candy thief. "Why are you stealing the candy we're giving out?"
Rue shrugged, taking a bite of the chocolate, "There's plenty of other houses they can get candy from."
Bob had joined the two and reached for Rue's hair, fixing a strand that had fallen out of place from the purple headband, tucking it behind her ear, "There," he grinned at her with a bright smile, and it was Dracula's fang-like glory.
Will and Jonathan had already been out the front door as he kissed her forehead, "Have fun! Stay safe!"
"I promise, cross my heart," Rue laughed, running after the two brothers and joining them in the car.
"I hope it doesn't suuuck!"
"Bye!" Will waved out the window as Jonathan pulled out of the driveway.
Rue pulled out her Walkman and threw the headphones over her head, drowning herself with the music as she stared out the window, neglecting Will and Jonathan's conversation in the front.
Under Pressure by Queen was the first to play from her mixtape, and Rue was quick to switch it off. She blinked a couple of times as Uptown Girl by Billy Joel played instead.
Rue suddenly realized it was her mother's birthday in two days.
Rue became keenly aware of every bump the vehicle made. Her heart raced whenever Jonathan hit a speed bump, and her mouth dried up whenever another car passed them. Maybe she's still a little afraid of cars.
author's note: i don't even have anything to say at this point, we all know what's coming.
( word count: 6 870 )