Chapter 1

September 1st, 1983. Jonathan looked at his alarm clock. 7.00 AM. He couldn't postpone it any longer now, he had to get up. His mom had already left the house to work an early shift so it was up to him to wake up his brother, make him breakfast and get him to school on time. He smiled when he thought of Will. Such a happy kid. He has non-mainstream hobbies like Dungeons and Dragons and video games, and yet despite his 'different-ness', he is completely comfortable with who he is. 'It's probably because he has friends who share his interests', Jonathan thought to himself. 'Because he's so close to Mike, Dustin and Lucas, he is probably not worried about the first day of school at all.' Like his brother, Jonathan was different from other kids his age. Unlike Will, he had never had any friends.

Jonathan had spent the entire summer vacation working at his job at the local movie theater. He cleans the rooms after the movies are over. Jonathan made sure to work as many hours as possible to help his mother with the bills. Money was tight and although she never asked for anything, he knew she wouldn't manage without his contributions. It also gave him something to do in the three months without school. Time passes pretty slowly when you have no one to spend it with. Jonathan liked his job. His coworkers thought he was weird and quiet, but he didn't have to deal with them much. They worked at the counter while he cleaned the rooms. While cleaning he could be alone with his thoughts, just like he preferred. When he was alone, no one could bother him.

Will had woken up really excited today. The first day of school meant that AV club was starting again. He wouldn't stop talking about it, so Jonathan almost had to push him towards the shower so he would be ready on time. In the meantime Jonathan made breakfast. French toast, Will's favorite. He wished he could be as excited about school starting as his brother was. The truth was, there was not much to look forward to for him. In fact, he had barely been able to sleep the past week because of the prospect. He could live with the fact that he had no friends, as long as that meant he was left alone. Sadly that was never the case.

Ever since elementary school, Steve Harrington and his friends Tommy and Carol had never let a day go by without making his life miserable. They had called him names, tripped him in the hallways, tore up his homework, and shoved him in a locker. Sometimes, it was even worse. Like that one time in freshman year when Nicole, one of the most beautiful girls in the school, had told him she liked him. She had asked him to meet her at the back of the school and overjoyed, he had shown up. Nicole was there, but so was the rest of his class. They stripped him naked and tied him to a pole. They laughed and threw rocks at him.

Eventually they got bored and left. It had taken him hours to get himself loose. They had thrown his clothes away, so he had to walk home naked. When he got home, his brother was asleep and his mother at work. She had left him an angry note on the table asking why he was so late, since it was his turn to watch Will. He had cried himself to sleep. The next morning, out of shame, he made up some excuse about detention, and vowed to himself to never trust anyone but his mother and brother again.

Jonathan had never told anyone about the daily abuse he suffered. His mother was too busy providing for their family, he didn't want to burden her even more with his problems. And his brother was too young for these things. He wanted to preserve his happiness and innocence for as long as possible. So he just took it and suffered in silence.

Last schoolyear, just before summer started, Steve's gang had done their worse yet. Jonathan had always loved photography. He wasn't good with social interaction. When people talk, he could never be really sure what they meant. There might be hidden motives, different layers. But with photography, everything was different. When Jonathan took pictures, he felt the truth revealed itself to him. Pictures don't lie. He loved finding the right setting, the right moment to capture. For over two years, he had saved every penny that wasn't needed for the bills. April this year, he finally had enough to buy his own camera. He got to enjoy it for barely a month. That's when Steve and his gang spotted him taking pictures in town.

''Hey there loser'', Carol had said. ''What are you doing, spying on people?''

''N-no'', said Jonathan, ''just taking some pictures''.

''What do you think guys?'', asked Carol. ''don't you think this is weird? This creep never talks to anyone and now he shows up in town just taking pictures of people?''

''I'm not-''

''Shut up loser, she didn't ask you'', Tommy interrupted.

Jonathan turned red and quickly shut his mouth.

''I think Carol is right, he is probably some kind of pervert. Not too surprising for a member of the Byers family.'', Steve added. ''What were you aiming for Byers? Men? Little kids?''

''I was just -''

''I told you to shut up, pervert!'', Tommy jumped in again.

Jonathan obeyed and looked around him. He was in an alley surrounded by 4 people. His back was against the wall. Nobody on the street could see them here. His heartbeat rose rapidly as it dawned on him that there was no way to escape.

''Please just let me go, I-'' Jonathan winced as he felt Tommy's hand hit him across the face.

''Told you to stop talking'', Tommy smirked.

''Maybe we oughta teach this freak a lesson,'', said Steve, ''take away his little toy.''

''No please, not the camera!'' Jonathan was pushed against the wall by Tommy as Steve grabbed the camera out of his hand. ''Please give it b-'' Tommy had kicked him in the stomach and Jonathan could no longer breathe. He held his stomach and sunk to his knees.

Tommy kept kicking him. ''Look at this loser, he doesn't even attempt to defend himself. Probably knows what he was doing was wrong.''

''That's enough Tommy'', said Steve, ''he's had enough.''. He turned to Jonathan: ''Get up man, I'll give you the camera back.''

Relieved, Jonathan quickly got up on his feet. He reached out his hand to the camera. Just as he was about to grab it, Steve let it drop to the floor. Jonathan can still hear the sound of the camera shattering in a thousand pieces. The gang laughed as he fell on his knees and stared at the ground in disbelief. Tears welled up in his eyes. Two years of savings, gone. All gone in a matter of seconds. Steve shoved him aside as the gang left. ''Bye loser''.

Surprisingly, losing the camera wasn't even the worst part. That was the humiliation of having to go home and explain to his mother what had happened to it. He told her he accidentally dropped it. He could tell she didn't believe him. She knew how careful he was with it. She chose not to press the matter, but in her eyes he could see she knew what had really happened. His cheeks burning red with shame he quickly ran to his room and hid under the blankets, crying, until he had to go to work. Determined not to let his vulnerability show, he wiped his tears and walked out the door with a detached look on his face.

Jonathan sighed as he relived the memory. 'At least there's no way it can get any worse than that'. Will had left on his bike ten minutes ago. Now it was time for Jonathan to leave. Reluctantly he walked to his car and drove away for the first school day of junior year.