CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
SAFETY CONCERNS
"Alright," Hopper sighed, motioning towards the small truck behind him as he opened the back door. "Get in."
Lucas and Dustin went to go in, but Aaron put a stop to it, grabbing their arms and pulling them back.
"You're expecting us all to sit in the back?" Aaron asked the older man, sounding appalled.
"Aaron," he heard Kimmy hiss from behind him. "Don't talk to him like that, he's the chief-"
"Yeah, I'm expecting you to sit in the back." Hopper replied to Aaron, ignoring the young girls pleads. "Deal with it and get in the car."
Aaron peaked his head in the car through the open door before immediately moving back and standing straight again to face the older man with a look of dismay on his features.
"Fat chance." The boy scoffed, catching sight of Kimmy and Lucas' appalled faces from the corner of his eye. "I get in there and I'll die."
"I don't have time for this." The older man sighed and rolled his eyes. "You either get in the car or you make the walk across town alone, I am leaving now, either get in the car or don't."
Dustin pushed past Aaron and made his way into the car and was soon followed by Lucas, most likely due to fear. It was seconds until Kimmy was pushing Aaron's back and forcing him into the backseat of the car.
"Hey- Kimmy, what are you doing?" Aaron exclaimed as he was forced into the car, groaning as Kimmy sat next to him, only pushing Aaron further into Lucas.
"Just deal with it, Aaron." Lucas whispered. "Don't piss off the police."
"Well you won't have to worry because I can't piss him off from the grave." Aaron retorted sarcastically, concerned with the safety standards of the car he was forced into.
Aaron's best friend simply rolled his eyes in response, looking away and casting his gaze straight ahead.
"How much of us are there in the back?" Aaron whispered sarcastically, turning to Kimmy now that the boy sat the other side of him was now ignoring him. "Six. How many seats are there? Three. How many seatbelts are there? Two! This is insane! He will have the deaths of six twelve year olds on his hands, I hope it's worth it-"
"Aaron, I promise you we will be fine." Kimmy whispered in response, doing her best to put a comforting look on her face. "He's a policeman- he's the chief. Surely he knows what he's doing."
Aaron tilted his head back against the back of the seat, crossing his arms over his chest once more as he furrowed his brows. "We are all going to die."
He heard Kimmy snicker next to him, in turn setting of Lucas' snickers, much to Aaron's dismay. The sandy haired blond snapped back up sitting straight as he glared at the two sat at each of his sides.
"I'm serious guys!" Aaron snapped halfheartedly, his stress driving him mad. "We're all going to die at the hands of this mad-man and then you'll all regret not listening to me."
"Oh you're so right!" Lucas wailed sarcastically causing Kimmy to laugh. "Tell my mom I love her!"
"Hold my hand Lucas I'm scared the car blows up because the seatbelts aren't plugged in!" Kimmy wailed in response, reaching over Aaron to dramatically connect the twos hands, causing the pair to laugh hysterically.
Aaron was not amused. He reached his hands forward to break apart the twos hands as he scoffed, causing the two to only laugh harder.
Aaron rolled his eyes, going silent and he was sure his face showed his upset and irritated feelings which he tried his hardest not to show.
Kimmy and Lucas eventually did calm down when the older man took his place in the drivers seat, looking away from one another as they went quiet from fear.
However, much to Aaron's surprise, Kimmy must have noticed how upset he felt over the pairs teasing, his silence probably speaking volumes.
Aaron had his head tilted back against the back of the seat again, his arms back crossed against his chest in order to avoid eye contact with the pair.
The boy flinched violently, so violently that he would have been surprised if Lucas and Kimmy didn't feel it. It took a moment for his reasonings to flinch to kick in but once they did, his head snapped up to quickly he swore he got whiplash.
Kimmy had her hand placed gently half on his own hand and half on his arm, looking at him with a look of slight regret and worry, looking as if she could almost cry from guilt, much to Aaron's surprise. "I'm really sorry, Aaron. I didn't mean to upset you."
Only Aaron had heard her words, he was sure of it. She'd leaned closer to his ear to whisper to him, most likely so he wouldn't get embarrassed.
Aaron shrugged her hand off him, feeling awful for doing so, but he couldn't help it. It was something that had bothered Aaron for years. He absolutely hated people touching his skin. He didn't mind if he had gloves on, or if someone was to touch something that was covered. But for someone to touch his bare skin, even the thought made him physically recoil and tense with disgust. There was a number of people Aaron was fine with touching his bare hands - but that was as far as it went, he couldn't even imagine what he would do if someone touched his face.
The people he was fine with touching his hands were only four people. Lucas Sinclair Dustin Henderson, Mike Wheeler and Will Byers. And only then it was only a handshake he could handle.
The reason being he was more fine with those four, Aaron wasn't entirely sure. Perhaps it was because he was close with them, and had seen them everyday for the past few years, he really didn't know.
He didn't even know why the skin thing bothered him. Part of him thought it may be a germ thing, but while it partially made sense, it also made zero sense at the same time.
He knew the only people that would ever touch his bare skin would be people he knew and people he knew had clean hands, but something about it made the boy feel sick.
As for Kimmy, he'd only known her for no longer than a week. And while he was doing his best to befriend her after what he'd caught her doing to herself, it didn't mean he was fully comfortable with her, because he wasn't. He certainly wasn't comfortable enough with her that he'd be fine with her doing that.
The more Aaron thought about it, the more stupid he felt. It was such a stupid thing to get so upset about, but no matter how much he tried he couldn't help himself.
He wouldn't even let Steve touch his bare arm, even though he knew his older brother probably would never want to anyway, Aaron just knew he'd push the boy away if he'd ever tried. No matter the context.
Aaron frowned as he watched Kimmy. He felt horrible at the way she instantly took her hand off of him and jolted back so she was out of his personal space, her once comforting smile dropping and replaced with a look mixed with concern as well as shock.
"Sorry." The girl blurted at once, sounding distraught at the thought of making her new friend uncomfortable. Aaron knew she shouldn't be the one apologising and that she shouldn't be the one worried she'd lose her new and only friends. "I don't know why I did that I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable, I just tried to make you feel better- I didn't think-"
"It's fine." Aaron cut her off in a whisper as quiet as she had been previously. "Sorry, I just- I don't know, I don't really like people touching my bare skin or anything, I know it's really weird, but it's not personal. I didn't mean to be rude."
"No, it's fine, you don't have to say sorry." Kimmy dismissed in a whisper so the others wouldn't hear their small, awkward conversation. "I shouldn't have done that, I'm sorry."
Aaron didn't say anything as she turned away and looked out the window to her right, just like Mike and Eleven were doing as the car moved at a fast pace.
Aaron suddenly felt terrible, drowning in guilt over something he knew deep down he couldn't control.
He soon moved his eyes off of her, adverting his gaze forwards and it was then he caught sight of the speed the car seemed to be going, causing the guilt to momentarily wash away as the panic settled in once more.
"Excuse me, sir?" Aaron blurted anxiously from the back seat where he was squashed between Lucas and Kimmy, rubbing the bandana that was still tied around his head. "But do you really think this is the safest of options for travel?"
Mike sighed from where he sat beside Kimmy, Aaron didn't need to look over to know he was rolling his eyes.
"I'm not trying to tell you how to do your job, but isn't your job to keep citizens safe?" Aaron asked, not missing the way chief Hopper's eyes widened from disbelief in the car mirror. "How are you supposed to keep us - the citizens - safe if we are dead in a car accident? I'm not trying to be rude, but I don't even have a seatbelt and honestly, I've never felt so unsafe in my life."
"Listen, kid," the man said, clearly annoyed as he spoke. "I think I know what I'm doing, alright?"
"I was just saying," Aaron mumbled, shrugging his shoulders and clasping his hands together nervously and accidentally jabbing Lucas in the ribs in the process. "You have a seat in the front, one of us could have sat there-"
"Shut up." The chief murmured, clenching his jaw from pent up irritation.
Aaron did as he was told, shutting his mouth instantly and furrowing his brows as his face morphed into a pissed off expression.
However, no matter how scary the older man may be, it didn't make Aaron feel any better with the situation at hand. Frankly, the young boy was appalled that the man had shoved six kids in the backseat.
By the time the group arrived at Will Byers' childhood home, the sun had set and it was now dark out.
Aaron was the first amongst the twelve year olds to push his way out of the truck the chief had been driving. Horrified to have been squashed in the back meant for three along side five other children his size and age. He'd expressed his safety concerns to the older man but was soon shot down.
"Mike?" Nancy gasped, running down the house steps and towards the car. "Oh my god, Mike!"
The first thing Aaron noticed was that Steve wasn't there like he'd expected. Nancy was there, Johnathan was there, and Will's mom was there, but no Steve.
Aaron furrowed his brows and grew greatly concerned, Nancy was Steve's girlfriend, if he wasn't with her, then where was he?
Aaron began to inwardly panic, however this panic was soon replaced by a foreign feeling of jealousy as he watched the Wheeler siblings hug each other tightly.
Actually, Aaron felt himself grow angry - not jealous.
How come Mike got a sibling who behaved like that towards him and Aaron was stuck with a brother that Aaron was sure didn't even like him?
Aaron hated himself for thinking this, knowing it wasn't Mike or Nancy's fault that Aaron was left with a damaged relationship with his brother.
But it didn't stop the boy from believing it was all unfair. Aaron did everything for Steve - literally everything, and was treated like shit in return. Aaron didn't care that Steve was known as a bully or a tough guy or whatever it was that had people fearing him, he didn't care.
Aaron wasn't scared of him. Aaron just wanted Steve to like him. In fact, Steve didn't even have to like him he just wanted him to tolerate him. Both brothers knew this, yet, it felt as if Aaron was an outsider in his own house. Like he felt guilty for even being there, feeling as if his presence simply annoyed his brother.
Aaron's anger soon fizzled into sadness as he watched the two siblings embrace each other tightly, each glad that the other was safe. Aaron felt his brows furrowed deeper as a frown pulled on his lips, looking away from the two in front of him and instead directed his gaze towards his shoes.
"Is that my dress?" Aaron heard Nancy ask who he presumed to be Eleven, sounding more confused than mad.
"Yeah..." Mike trailed off awkwardly. "Sorry."
"Okay, come on," the chief began, ushering the kids up the steps. "Inside."
Everyone immediately followed their instructions, trailing up the steps to the Byer home.
"Hey, Nancy?" Aaron called softly, grabbing ahold of the sleeve of her jacket to grab her attention. "Do you know where Steve is? I thought he was with you."
Aaron couldn't deny that the guilt of what happened between the two brothers before the younger one left the family house that morning was tearing him apart.
The two always argued and just like that morning - Steve was usually the one to take it too far, yet it was always Aaron apologising.
The younger boy felt he had to apologise for whatever happened between the two every time there was a fallout, knowing if he didn't, the two simply wouldn't speak until the younger brother cracked and ended up apologising anyway.
Aaron was growing stressed and sending himself into a spiral as he began to fear perhaps the bad men maybe would go after family members. The thought of losing his brother absolutely terrified him.
Steve wasn't the best brother in the world, Aaron didn't think Steve had ever hugged Aaron, or told him he loved him, or hung out with him, or even spent time with him where the two either hadn't been forced or where it hadn't been instigated by Aaron. Aaron didn't want he and Steve to have a relationship where they felt so uncomfortable with each other that they never even bickered, but he was sick of feeling unwelcome or disliked in his own home.
He wanted he and Steve to be like Mike and Nancy.
Despite this, Aaron wouldn't want his brother hurt. He was the only family he really had. He hadn't seen or spoken to his parents in over a month - besides when the pair called to scold Aaron on his detention.
Nancy seemed to still uncomfortably at the question, hesitating as she thought over what she should say. "No, I don't know where he is. Sorry."
Aaron sighed as the older girl turned away from him and made her way up the steps, Aaron following close behind her while trying to put a calm to his inner panics.
...
This is kind of a filler chapter I mean it doesn't really add anything to the plot I don't think but I think it's an important chapter to show how Aaron thinks for future instances lol
Also this chapter isn't proof read so there are most likely mistakes lol
I also now have a 16k word chapter written of just chapters that I liked the idea of from every season omg😭😭😭
Hope you are liking the story so far have a good day/ night
- AJ :)