AN: Okay, so i had this idea for a while, hope this first chapter gets you all interested
Jane Hopper sat next in the passenger seat while her dad drove the beat up Blazer through the woods. Her hair was slicked back and her eyes were heavy with eye shadow. Her dark clothes clung to her tiny frame. Despite her punk appearance, Jane was quite intelligent. So much so that she had been invited to a prestigious school in Indiana, The Hawkins Institute. Jane looked through the material they sent her, while she was impressed, she hated she was leaving her friends, her boyfriend Jack, and her home.
"You okay there El?" Her bear of a father asked. El was her middle name, short for Eleanor, but her best friend once called her El and it stuck. Hell most people didn't know her actual name was Jane. "I'm fine dad, just a little sad I won't see you as much." She said, giving him a smile. Jim Hopper smiled back to his child.
The blazer made it's way to a massive iron fence, where a guard was waiting for them. "Name and reason for coming here?" He asked. Hopper pulled out his ID and badge. "Jim Hopper, with Jane Hopper. Meeting with Dr. Martin Brenner." Hopper said. The man called into his radio and after a moment, he spoke to Hopper. "You were expected two hours ago." He said. Hopper smiled at him embarrassed. "Yea, sorry, got a late lunch in." Hopper said. In truth, Jim wanted to spend as much time with his daughter as possible. He knew he wouldn't see her for a while. So he took his time driving to the campus. The many photos on his phone were proof of how much they will miss each other.
The guard rolled his eyes and waved them in. The massive gate opened up and Hopper drove inside. They made their way to the visitor parking lot and both headed to the main office building. The school was once a catholic school, before it was shut down. Dr. Brenner bought the school and revitalized it. Now it was a premier school in the United States. The term wouldn't start for another three days, but it wanted to bring students early to get used to the new environment.
They registered with the secretary and had them wait b some chairs outside Brenner's office. A boy was sitting already. He was a nerdy boy with glasses and a scowl on his face. El sat next to him. "Hi, I'm El." She said to the boy. He glared at her, crossed his arms and turned away from her. "What a dick." Both El and Hopper thought.
After a moment, a couple came out of the office. The man clearly was the father of the unpleasant boy. "Thank you for your time Mr and Mrs. Croniger. I am sure Roland will do well here." Came the voice of Dr. Brenner. Hopper spoke to him on the phone many times. He was a tall, thin man, with white hair and calculating eyes. El was creeped out by him.
The pair were led to his office, a large ornate room where his multiple teaching and scientific awards were plastered over the wall. Jim once told her someone does that to seem more impressive than they actually were. He smiled at the both of them. "I am so glad you were able to arrive. I have been looking forward to meeting Jane since I saw her test results." He said. He gazed at El, his eyes seemed to gloss over looking at her and El wanted to take a shower from the leer. Hopper cleared his throat and gave Brenner a look.
"Well, this institute has a lovely academic program, you will find it to your liking." Brenner said. He then pulled out a file and looked it over. "I see you are in creative writing and are interested in audio and video. I would recommend you speak with Mike Wheeler, he is the president of our A/V Club. As for creative writing, our English department regularly has creative assignments." Brenner said.
"Now, sadly my schedule is cut short, but our athletics director, Mr. Hutchinson, will show you around." Brenner said. He pressed a button and a massive dark skinned man entered the room. Hopper looked at him with a form of recognition. "Did you play for the Saints?" Hopper asked as he took the massive man's hand. Hutchinson smiled at him. "Yes sir I did. Number 25. You're the first person to recognize me." He said. El also recognized him. "Most rushing tackles, MVP your rookie year. Wow, I can't believe you teach here." El said getting up to shake his hand. He was 6'6'' and still looked like he could play, despite being her dad's age. His beard had grey streaks on it. Brenner looked less than impressed the pair recognized Josh. "Well, let me show you around." He said as he led the pair out of the building.
He walked them around and they came across a cathedral. "Dr. Brenner didn't have it in him to tear the church down, so he hired Father Dunn for Sunday services and counseling. He also has a few nuns who run the cafeteria." Josh explained. The real reason Brenner didn't tear the church down was he received lots of pressure from the nearby town of Hawkins. He kept it up to appease the town council and a few financers. He barely tolerated Father Dunn.
As they walked around the church, with Josh giving color commentary about the building, El noticed three boys working on the lighting. "Well, I see you noticed the AV Club." Josh said. Each of the boys were hard at work and didn't notice the visitors. The smallest boy, who had a bowl cut and was wearing a white shirt and dark pants, the uniform of the school. He was putting excess wires away. The second boy was a dark skinned boy that was hard at work putting cords from the microphone stand into the amplifier. The third boy was wearing a white hat with blue sides and a red brim. He was smiling while eating chips. "Hard at work Mr. Henderson?" Josh said, making him jump off the speaker he was sitting on. The other two laughed at their friend's squeak of surprise. Josh laughed while Dustin began blabbing excuses. "I wasn't being lazy, I just can't do anything with the sound till they get done." He said. "So in the mean time, he couldn't help us with our work." The bowl cut kid said. Josh laughed and so did the two Hoppers. "Well, you three, let me introduce our new student. This is Jane Hopper." He said bringing the small girl forward. "These are our resident tech nerds. This is Will Byers." He said pointing to the bowl cut kid, "Lucas Sinclair," Pointing to the dark skinned boy, "And that is Dustin Henderson." He said to the kid with the hat. "Now where is Mike hiding at?" He asked. All three pointed up and the three followed the fingers and saw someone setting up a spot light. "Mr. Wheeler, you know how dangerous that is?" Josh called. He looked down and saw Mr. Hutchinson and two others with him. Mike rappelled down and landed on his feet.
El's world slowed down for a moment. He was tall, not as tall as Mr. Hutchinson, but about 6 feet. He wasn't wearing a shirt, so he had slight toned muscles. He had an apron on that had multiple tools on it. His hir was black and floppy, and his eyes were dark. Not the kind from the boy from earlier but rather they were dark and inquisitive. He gave a smile as he and El locked eyes for a moment. Again Hopper had to clear his throat to get both kids attention. El looked around and saw everyone had a look of amusement on their faces.
"Wheeler, don't give me a heart attack by going up their." Josh said. Mike shrugged his shoulders as he put his shirt back on. "Sorry, Dr. Brenner told us to get it done before orientation." Mike explained. Josh rolled his eyes. "Next time, get Father Dunn to help. Or wait till I am here to supervise." Josh said. Josh liked Mike, despite being a non athletic nerd. Kid always somehow got under Dr. Brenner's skin.
"Well Mike, this is Jane. She is starting here." He said. Mike took her hand and shook it. Her hand was soft to Mike. "I go by El." She said, giving him a smile. "Well hopefully we will see you around." Mike said. "Maybe sooner than you think. I love working on electronics." She said. Mike looked at her with slight shock. "Well, looks like Max will have another girl in the group." Mike said. "Who's Max?" El asked.
"My girlfriend, she is coming in tomorrow from California." Lucas explained. "She is great, usually keeps us on task. Which Mike here might need more of now." Dustin said, gently shoving Mike. Mike and El both began blushing. "Okay, well I gotta finish this tour. No more going on the ceiling till I get back Wheeler." Josh said pointing at him. Mike nodded but still had not removed his harness.
The group left the church and headed to the main dormitories. "We have boys and girls dorms. High schoolers get the dorms with two beds, the others use the communal dorms from when this was an orphanage." Josh explained. "I see you will be sharing a room with Jennifer Hayes. Nice girl." Josh said. "It's a lovely building." El said. Josh smiled and led the pair to the library.
Inside El felt uneasy. She usually loved books but this building felt wrong. Inside, she saw a boy sitting in the back, reading a book. He had sandy blonde hair, and fair skin. He looked up at El and Hopper and his eyes seemed to blaze with hatred. Even Hopper felt uneasy around him. "Jeffery, you need to get back to your dorm." Josh said. The boy ignored him and went back to his book. "Hey, I'm talking to you young man." Josh said. He looked up and tilted his head. "Oh really? I didn't hear you call me by my name." He said. He had a polite voice, but even El could feel malice in his words. "Now don' start this crap again Jeffery. Nobody is calling you that." Josh said. Jeffery put his book down and got out of his seat. He was about El's height, all of 5'7''. He barely registered the new arrivals with Josh. "I go because I hear I have a new roommate." He said.
"Yea, try not to scare this one away." Josh said. Jeffery gave a smile, I was cold and devoid of warmth. "I make no promises." He said. As he passed El, he looked at her. "I hope your special from the other whores here." He said walking off. Hopper rounded on him and was about to give the kid a piece of his mind when El stopped him. "He is just a jerk. I'll ignore him." El said. Jim nodded. He still hated the kid.
The worst part was the kid's gaze was making Jim remember his time in the military. When he did nothing when his squad burned a village in Afghanistan. It almost looked like he could see the incident. Jim shook it out of his mind.
The group came to the parking lot and Josh explained she could leave for the night while they stayed at a hotel in Hawkins. "Hell yes that would be great." El said. Jim smiled and the pair headed out in the blazer.
Ata local diner, Hopper and El ate their last meal for a while. "I am going to miss you dad." She said taking one of his hands. Jim smiled at her. "Yea. I kinda wish you were just a little but dumb so you can stay with me." Hopper said. El smiled and took a picture of him with her phone. Hopper gave a warm smile as he took a picture of El with his phone. The pair ate and cracked jokes till it was time to go to the hotel. Their bus boy, a tall blonde boy came over. "You starting at Hawkins Institute?" He asked. El nodded. "Frank Armburser. I go their as well. My folks live in town so I don't stay in the dorms." He said. "I'm El Hopper, coming in from Indianapolis." She said. Hopper also shook the boys hand. "Well, hope to see ya'll soon." Frank said.
The pair headed for the hotel to rest for the night.
Jeffery walked through the halls of the dorm. He went through the middle schooler shared dorms. Large open rooms with bunk beds on the sides of the walls. He hated the name Jeffery Raines. It was not his name, the name given to him by his God. No, he preferred the name he was born with. His name was Baal.
Baal strode down to the middle schoolers he wished to seek. Three boys, Astor, Jamie, and Cliff. They looked up as Baal arrived. "I met a new whore." He said simply. He sat on the bed and the boys got on their knees around him. The other kids paid them no mind. In fact they tried to ignore them. Baal sat with the boys. "Have the sisters asked about me?" He asked. Jamie answered. "Sister Callahan asks about you. We tell her nothing." He said. Baal looked into their eyes and saw the truth. "Lies." He said. "No Baal, we would never betray you." Jamie said. "One of you has." Baal said, looking to Astor. "No Baal, I didn't." He stammered.
"You told her about my friends. That is betrayal. Do you not love me Astor?" Baal asked, getting to his knees with him. "I do love you Baal." He said as he began crying. Baal smiled, he was having fun. "it is not enough to say you love me. You must prove it." Baal said. He looked and saw a child playing with his toys. "Him." He said pointing at the boy. "Break his legs." Baal said. Astor nodded and got up. He walked up to the boy and punched him in the face. He threw him to the ground and slammed his foot to the boys legs until he heard a loud crunch. The boy began crying as Astor broke the other leg. He left the boy to cry and resumed his kneeling in front of Baal. The others went to help the boy but Baal gave them a look and made them stop. "He will suffer for a bit." Baal said.
"You did that without hesitation. My good Astor. Sister Callahan is a liar. Never speak to her or the other nuns again. They will try and take me away from you." He said. The boys looked up and pleaded with him. "Don't leave us Baal." Cliff said with tears. Baal pulled the boy into his embrace. "Never betray me, keep my secrets, love me. Show your devotion." Baal said as he stood up. "When I pick my chosen, they will become kings of the new world. The rest will perish." He said as he walked to his dorm. He stepped over the boy who was crying for help as he couldn't move. Baal looked at him. "Let him crawl like the worm he is." He said as he strode off.
Baal entered his room and saw his roommate. He had thick glasses, dark hair that was combed back. He was setting up a computer on his desk. Baal could see his heart and felt kinship with him. "You must be my new roommate." Baal said. The boy looked at him and went back to his work.
"You must be Jeffery Raines. I'm Roland Croniger." He said. Baal didn't feel like correcting him. After all, he just arrived. He looked and saw he had Dungeons and Dragons books. Baal rolled his eyes, thinking of those fools in the AV Club. Baal wondered if the ed head was fucking more than Lucas. "It is good to meet you Roland. I see this year will be interesting." Baal said.
In Mike's room that he shared with Will, the pair were turning in for the night. It was a long day fixing the church lights. But Dr. Brenner liked to show off. Mike went to the shower, avoiding Jeffery's room as he went. He never like that guy, he always somehow made him feel guilty about his mom leaving his dad.
When he got back from the shower, Will was still up. "Interesting day huh?" Will asked. Mike nodded. "Yea, let's hope Brenner doesn't flip out about the microphone not being tall enough." He said. Will smiled at him. "Not what I am talking about." Will said. Mike groaned. "Look, she was pretty. Not like I am pledging marriage. Besides, you see her dad? He looks like a grizzly wearing a suit," Mike said. Will nodded. "Yea, but he won't be here, she will. And she is into electronics. Maybe she can join then you two can make kissy faces in the store room." Will said. Mike growled and threw a pillow at him.
El laid down in her bed while Hopper slept snugly in his. His snores were a comfort and El was recording them. She began drifting off and dreamed of the school.
The school was blazing, fires everywhere as El could hear people screaming. She tried to help but found the school doors chained shut. In a courtyard stood a boy wearing a long black coat. His eyes burning with hatred. "Help me" El yelled. The boy smiled and his face morphed into a gaunt skeleton and his fingers grew longer. "Fear death by fire." He said, and he grabbed El by her throat.
El woke up, grabbing her neck, feeling she lost air. She went to the bathroom and checked that their was no handprint. She breathed heavy.
"Hey you okay?" voice came from behind making her jump. Hopper pulled her into a hug. "Hey sorry, didn't mean to startle ya." He said. El melted in the hug. "Sorry, bad dream. I am going to miss you the most." El said. Hopper smiled and ruffled her hair as he went back to his bed. El stayed up for a moment and looked at the mirror. That boy was terrifying, and she needed to know why.
AN:Please give it a review, i want to know what you think of it.