September 1984
Hawkins, Indiana
Family Video
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The sun shined through the store windows, shadows casted on the floor from all the posters and signs sitting on the outside to advertise upcoming movies. It was midday by now, a lonely Saturday in the small store. It was surprisingly empty given people tended to shop on days like this when they were free, teenagers especially. Well, not all of them.
Robin Buckley, an 18 year old senior at the Hawkins High School, stood at the front counter of the store flipping through pages of her comic book, music playing through the headphones connected to her Walkman. She should've been taking this free time to study for exams and work on all her missing assignments, but she was too far gone, she knew she had no chance at graduating, given her grades from prior semesters. The best she could do was work her days away and hope for the best next year. Not that there was really a reason for it. School is usually there to prepare you for your future, but there was nothing Robin saw in her future. I mean, what was supposed to do?
What she's already doing of course.
Work, work, and work. There was nothing for her in this world. Nothing to look forward to. No adrenaline. No fun. Just working to live. Yet she can't live because she's stuck working.
She sighed and set her book down having grown tired from reading. Not that there was much that she was really reading. It was mostly speech bubbles and a short paragraph every now and then to give context to the pictures she was looking at.
The teen rubbed her eyes and turned away from the front doors, slipping her headphones off and looking at the tv that sat above her. There was nothing important there, just the same movie trailers and soundtracks playing over and over. They may seem interesting to the common guest, but not when you have to stand there next to the screen, listening to the same thing over and over to the point that it's burned into your memory. There were occasions that the boss would switch to the news, but there was never anything important there either. It was a small town, not a single criminal to be found, no crimes, no accidents, nothing. The biggest thing to ever happen in the town was when Will Byers went missing over a year ago, but nothing, not a single thing after that.
From behind she heard the sound of the front door opening, the chime of the bell above it going off. "Welcome to Family Video." Robin said unenthusiastically. No response came from the visitor, as predicted, no one really cares for a greeting, they were just there for their movies and that was it.
Robin decided she couldn't keep her eyes to the repetitive screen forever and decided she should check in with the customer to make sure everything was going okay, but when she turned she was met with something completely unexpected. At the front, a young red haired girl sat up against a record rack with a skateboard in hand, her eyes full of fear as she tried to catch her breath. She must've been running from someone.
Robin stood there for a moment unsure of what to do. Should she intervene? I mean, something was clearly wrong, and it was just a kid. "Hey." She said, catching the girls attention. "You okay? Is someone looking for you?" The redhead stammered and looked back towards the doors, clearly too distressed to answer. "Here, you can hide over here." Robin said, motioning for her. The girl looked at her then back at the door unsure if she should take the chance. "Hurry."
Finally, with a huff the redhead hurried up from her spot and to the back of the counter. Robin quickly took her arm and guided her to a small space that sat behind the front. "Here, sit right here." She said. The girl didn't hesitate and did so. While she worked to get situated Robin took her skateboard and stuffed it in the closet sitting at the back of the store.
Just as she made it back to the front and picked up her comic book in attempt to look as casual as possible, someone came through the front door once more, this time a little more harsh with it. "Welcome to Family Video." Robin pushed, trying to sound as bored as usual, but like normal there was no response, only heavy footsteps coming close to her. The teen stiffened but tried to look as careless as possible.
Eventually she noticed a tall figure towering her, clearly expecting Robin to assist them right away. Slowly she looked up, meeting face to face with an out of breath man, he reminded Robin of an angry bull, ready to plow her down at any moment.
"Can I help you?" She asked, she used her angsty teenager voice hoping it would help the act.
"Where is she?" The older man asked. Harshly he placed a hand down on the desk, looking around the room eagerly, Robin could feel the girl sitting below her flinch in reaction to the gesture, quickly throwing her hand over her mouth.
"Where is who?" Robin asked, playing dumb.
"I know she's here. Just tell me where she is."
"Sir, I don't know who you're looking for." He huffed and attempted to peek over the counter in hopes to see the person he was searching oh so desperately for. "Is someone missing? I can contact the authorities if you need me to." The man froze and looked at her before turning on his heel and practically stomping his was out of the shop.
It took a few minutes, but when Robin was sure he was gone she squatted down to look at the girl under the counter. She sat quietly, her head buried in her knees as her leg shook. "Hey, you alright?" Robin asked. The girl looked up, avoiding any form of eye contact with Robin.
"Yeah, sorry. I...sorry." She pushed out, her tone low.
"It's no prob kid." Robin looked up at the door to make sure no one was coming then pulled her attention back to the younger girl. "Who was that? Why was he so...angry?"
"It's my moms stupid husband."
"Your dad?"
"No." She pushed harshly. "No, that thing isn't my dad. He's my step-dad. I don't even want to call him that." She went and rested her chin on her arms as she tried to take a deep breath.
"Why was he after you? He wasn't gonna hurt you was he?" The redhead pursed her lips, her leg shaking even more than it was minutes before.
"No, he just...he's just an asshole." The redhead looked to the floor, it was clear that she was trying to hold back tears. Perhaps she was just freaked out. "I...I should probably go. I don't wanna keep you from your job." The redhead went to get up but the older girl stopped her.
"No, you don't have to go. You can stay, just until you calm down. Looks like that shit really freaked you out." Max inhaled and sat back, not one moment had she made eye contact with Robin. The older girl could see that more talking was the last thing she needed and decided to let her be. She went and stood up, looking around the counter for something new to do, given there was no customers to attend to.
She went on and took a crate full of turned in movies and left from behind the counter, walking throughout the store in search of the tapes' proper homes. Minutes passed as she did this job, moving back and forth through the store, growing bored and tired of it.
From the counter, the young girl with red hair picked up the bravery to finally leave her small space. She stood up and looked around the store. She wasn't new to the store itself, but she was new to the location. The one she had gone to back at her old home was inside a mall, it was much bigger too, but it was no surprise that this one was smaller. It was in the middle of a little town and clearly didn't get much business, it also shared buildings with a pizza place and the arcade.
"Is it always like this in here?" The redhead asked. Now that most of the fear had left her body, she was in a more curious state now. Robin poked her head out from behind a shelf, surprised to see the girl already ready to talk.
"Not really." She said going back to stocking. "This is typically our busiest day. I guess people were too busy to come get a movie." The girl nodded and looked at the older girl as she came away from a shelf and walked across the room to another.
"So is that all you do? Just put stuff away all day?"
"Sure, when there's enough crap left over to do so."
"And there's like, no one else here with you?"
"Nope."
"That's sad. Does it ever get boring?"
"Frequently."
"Do you always work on Saturdays?"
"Mostly."
"How many hours do you work?"
"Do you usually ask this many questions?"
"If you keep answering, yeah." Robin scoffed and shook her head with a grin, she saw that this kid was a lot like her. "So you do this every single day then?"
"No. I mean I get breaks, I gotta go to school sometime."
"You're in school?" She questioned, her brows raising.
"I'm a senior this year. Is it really that surprising?"
"I don't know, you just look...older."
"Well thank you I guess." While Robin continued with her work the younger girl looked around at the place, although it was small they still tried to fill the place with as many cardboard cut outs and posters as possible. "So you got a name?" Robin asked taking the younger girl out of her thoughts. She came back to the counter and set the crate down, resting her elbows on the surface in front of the girl.
"Um, Max." She said.
"Cool. I'm Robin. Robin Buckley." She put her hand out for the other girl to shake. It took her a moment, but soon she did so, shaking Robins hand. "Don't think I've seen you around before. You new to Hawkins?" Max nodded taking her hand back. "Well, welcome to the town where nothing happens." Max scoffed, wishing she could say that about her life in general. It always happens to be full of shit. "Where'd you move here from?"
"California. Didn't want to. But my moms husband insisted we start off 'new' now that they're married."
"Well that's a bunch of bullshit."
"I know, but now he's the man of the house, so his rules I guess." Robin nodded. She, in a way, felt for Max. At one point in her life, after her dad died, her mom moved from one boyfriend to another. Rarely were they nice, they were always weird or flat out rude, actively trying to take the spot of Robins lost father, replace him basically.
"I see. He's like some drill sergeant."
"Almost exactly."
"Well, can only wish you good luck with that one." Max grimaced, but she was hiding. Hiding things that were almost in plain sight. "So...you going to school?" Robin said trying to push conversation.
"Not yet. My mom says I need to focus more on getting used to our house and the town before I have the 'pressure' of school." Max rolled her eyes at the thought. If her mom really cared about the pressure put on Max she wouldn't have sprung her marriage up on Max the way she did. Not to mention, it was to some asshole who wanted nothing to do with Max. It was clear he loved her mom, he just wanted her out of the picture.
"And when exactly is that supposed to be?"
"Whenever she thinks I'm ready I guess." Max went and rested her chin in the palm of her hand letting out a sigh. "Or when her stupid husband says I can."
"Wow, sounds like a major control freak."
"Tell me about it."
"Well hey, just know that if you ever need a place to wonder off to. I work nine to five on Saturdays and four to twelve Tuesday through Friday."
"You'd let me hang out here?" Max questioned, surprised some older girl would actually be cool with hanging out with her.
"Yeah." Robin looked to the door and back at Max. "I think you'll need it."
Welcome readers to a new book. There will potentially be slow updates to this books as I'm currently having a lot of struggles with my arm. But with that, thank you for returning if you read my other books. And if you are new here, welcome! Can't wait to journey through this story with you! - Author