Disclaimer: I don't own Stranger things

Trigger warning: Abuse

Chapter One: Anew

Sarah Rose Henderson sat on her bed; clothes scattered around the dark blue duffle bag that was opened in front of her. She had exactly fifteen minutes left to pack her things and get out of the house. She had been dreaming every day for the last five months that he would let her go back to Hawkins but never thought it would happen. He had been furious with her for disobeying him and sneaking out of the house to go stop the Russians and the mind flayer, not that he knew why she did it, just believing she was sneaking out to hang out with her friends and do drugs. Sarah remembered the fear she felt when he made his way towards her out front of the mall, grabbing her so hard she could feel her skin bruising as he shook her. Sarah could hear Nancy, Robin and Steve yelling at her father to let her go, not that it made any difference, he had ripped her out of their hands and thrown her into the car. Leaving Hawkins behind.

She had tried to run away multiple times to escape the abuse but was always stopped before she could even leave town. Her father had heard the whispers of towns people about his 'defiant' daughter. This embarrassed him. He was never a father to her but in Hawkins he would brag to the other fathers about how his daughter kept straight A's while being head cheerleader among other extracurricular activities. He loved hearing the praise the other parents would give him about what a good girl she always was and how well he was doing for a widowed father. So, when he had heard what others were saying about her, he took away any freedom she had left, handcuffing her to a chain in her room only uncuffing her once or twice a day for a short period while he was home. When he was feeling particularly cruel, he would leave her all day. Sarah felt so isolated from the world. Her days were lonely while her nights were full of terrors. Nightmares of the upside down and monsters that she couldn't escape.

Her long light brown hair was pushed up into a messy bun on top her head, she wore an oversized long-sleeved Metallica shirt covered most of her upper body and a thigh length black skirt. Her mother had been a hardcore metal head, her fondest memories were rocking out in the kitchen to her mother's vinyl records. She probably would have loved Metallica if she were alive. She had died when Sarah was nine and part of her died that day too. It was when she had to start learning to survive on her own as there was no one left to protect her from her abusive father.

"You have five minutes to get out of my house." His voice made her jump up off the bed, quickly scooping up her clothes and dumping them in the duffle bag.

She wasn't sure what brought on this sudden need to kick her out, it seemed so out of the blue, but she had assumed it had something to do with a new woman. He had kicked her out twice before in Hawkins for a woman but when it didn't end up working out, he'd find where she was crashing and drag her back home. He'd always say she was too much of an inconvenience in his life, especially when it came to his love life. Whatever the reason was, she was thankful for it. She didn't have many personal belongings that were her own to take just a few old clothes and some personal hygiene supplies. She pulled the duffle bag over her shoulder and headed downstairs. She saw her father waiting at the front door with his arms crossed, she averted her eyes as she headed towards him, stopping in front of him. "Can I-"

He backhanded her across the face so fast and hard she had felt displaced, he reached up and grabbed the back of her neck pushing her towards the front door. He pulled her close to his face, fingernails digging into the delicate flesh of her neck, his breath reeking of alcohol. "If I see your worthless ass on my property again it'll be the last thing you do. Now get." He threw her forward, smirking as she hit the ground with a grunt.

Sarah pushed herself up and turned back to look at her father, but he had already entered the house, closing the front door behind him. She ran the back of her hand along her lip, pulling it into view, seeing the sticky red substance that now coated her hand. "...Shit..." she muttered, staggering to her feet. She wasn't entirely sure where she was, but she knew the general direction of Hawkins. Although it wasn't going to be fun with no money to her name, she didn't have a choice. She had spent the last five months trying to get back, she was going to do whatever it took, so picking up her bag she started walking.

Eddie drove down the road heading back to Hawkins after a stop out of town, music blasting, head banging along. He noticed a girl walking along the side of the road, she looked tired, arms wrapped around herself as if to try and keep warm. He sighed tapping his rings along the steering wheel debating his options in his head. Why was she walking so late at night? Where was she going? Would she get the wrong idea of a white van pulling up beside her to ask if she was alright? His mind was instantly made up when he saw her take a tumble. Turning down his music, he rolled down his window.

"Hey.. you alright?" Eddie asked coming to a stop beside the girl.

She was sitting on the ground nursing a wound fresh on her knee. She turned to look up towards him and Eddie felt winded. Her eyes were the prettiest green, skin olive with freckles across her nose, even with a busted lip he found her so pretty. "Don't suppose you could take me the rest of the way to Hawkins?"

"Erm. Sure."

"If it's out of your way... you don't need." She went back to examining her knee, cursing under her breath at the sting it was giving. "I'll be okay."

Eddie opened the driver's door and climbed out. "I'm heading that way anyway. What kind of man would I be leaving a damsel in distress?" Eddie grinned holding a handout to help her too her feet.

Sarah rolled her eyes but took a hold of his hand, allowing him to pull her to her feet. She gripped onto his arm to steady herself from the pain in her knee. After a moment she looked at the boy, his hair a wild curly messy of dark brown, 'hellfire' across his shirt, denim jacket and ripped denim jeans. "Eddie?"

Eddie tilted his head to the side in obvious confusion. He took another look at the girl in front of him, something was so oddly familiar about this girl and yet somehow, she looked completely unfamiliar. "How'd you know my name?"

"It's me... Sarah."

"Oh... Sarah Henderson...? Harrington's girl?"

Sarah choked on the poor unfortunate saliva that she was swallowing at the time of the comment. Harrington's girl? Was that her label? She did have a crush on the boy for years, but they were never more than best friends. "I'm not his girl. We're best friends."

The wind blew sending a chill down Sarah's back, goosebumps prickling along her exposed flesh. Eddie noticed the girl try to hug herself to keep warm and quickly ushered her towards the car, opening the door and helping her inside before walking around to the driver's side door and climbing in. He started back up the van to continue the drive to Hawkins. "Henderson, where have you been? You just up and vanished."

Sarah rubbed the back of her neck, her sleeve falling down her arm. From the corner of his eye, he noticed the wound that went around her wrist like a lovely red bracelet, purple bruising painting the skin around it. "Um... after that... mall fire... my dad took me out of Hawkins." Eddie took another quick glance over the girl, she was far too skinny, did she not eat? He noted the shirt and smirked, another metal head? She must have noticed him looking. "I grew up with my mum blasting all things metal."

"Ah so you grew up with some class huh?"

She let out a small laugh, the sound even felt foreign to her own ears it had been so long since she had laughed. "Before she died, yeah."

Eddie had remembered hearing people gossip about her, whispers of her having no one to look after her and how she'd live off her Aunt, Steve or Nancy. "Sorry to hear that."

"Was eight years ago now." She said softly with a shrug.

"So where can I drop you off milady?"

Sarah bit her bottom lip in thought chewing on the tender flesh, ignoring the sting. She hadn't figured that part out yet. Not wanting to burden her Aunt, perhaps she could crash at one of her best friends for the night. She wasn't even sure what time it was, how long had she been walking before Eddie had been kind enough to save her? She didn't want to dump herself and all her problems on anyone. "Um... I haven't thought that far ahead."

"I could offer you a place to stay for the night."

Sarah looked at Eddie, surprised by his generosity. She would watch him from afar sometimes at lunch, back when she was stuck at the cheerleading table. None of them really liked her but she was a good cheerleader, only being one because of her father. She would watch him become animated while talking to his table, some D&D thing she had heard of. The cheer table only ever called him a freak. "Oh... I couldn't intrude..."

"It's fine, my uncle works nights so it's just me at home."

"How do you know I'm not some murderer?"

"The golden girl of Hawkins high? Head cheerleader AND top student. Don't think you'd have it in you, sweetheart."

"You'd be surprised what I could do." Sarah muttered under her breath, louder she added. "Hardly golden girl. None of the cheer squad really liked me, said I was a try hard."

"Jealousy is a curse, huh. So? My place?" Eddie questioned taking yet another glance at the girl beside him, how could he not of recognised her? He'd had multiple fantasises about this girl over the years.

Sarah looked back at him meeting his eyes, she realised they were such a lovely dark brown. "If it's not any trouble I would really appreciate it. I can figure out what to do in the morning."

Eddie drummed his hands on the steering wheel in excitement making Sarah laugh. She was grateful for his offer, even more so when they pulled into the trailer park, and she found out the time was half passed midnight. "Welcome to my sweet abode, mind the mess." He walked past her to head towards the front door, taking the bag from her shoulder to carry it for her.

Sarah smiled once again at the heart of gold this 'freak' had. "Mess doesn't bother me."

She entered the trailer, the smell of cigarette smoke and weed assaulting her nose, it was small and modest, but she didn't mind, it was a castle in her eyes after being chained to her bedroom for over a month. Eddie placed her bag onto the small lounge and headed over to the kitchen. "Hungry?" He mused opening the cupboards.

As if on que Sarah's stomach growled, she couldn't remember the last time she had been allowed to eat and the energy she used from the walk had made her famished, placing her hands on her stomach to try and mute the sound. "I really couldn't inconvenience you; you've been so kind already and I don't have any money..."

"Nah don't worry about that." Eddie waved his hands as if trying to wave away her concerns. "We've got some soup or beans."

"Um. Soup please." She slowly took a seat on the lounge, unsure of her boundaries. It had been so long since she had been company.

Eddie gave a nod, pulling out the tomato soup can and then a pan to heat it on the stove. "Are you staying in Hawkins?" He mused lighting up the stove.

She turned round to face him draping her arms over the back of the lounge chair. Eddie noticed that wound around her right wrist again, a matching one on her left. Sarah followed his eye site and pulled back her arms to hide behind the lounge, pulling the loose sleeves down to cover. She knew they looked bad and anyone with half a brain could tell it looked like restraint marks. "I'm hoping too. I need to finish school. I need to go to the school tomorrow to see if they'll let me back even though I've been gone for five months..."

"I can take you with me in the morning."

"Eddie Munson, are you doing your final year again?"

"It's my year, Henderson. I can feel it." Eddie grinned, placing the soup into a bowl and carefully handed it to her with a clean spoon. She took it with a smile that made her face light up. She cradled the bowl in her hands blowing gently to cool it down. The heat on her hands felt nice. It had been a while since she had had food, even longer that she had something warm. Eddie realised that the look on her face was far too grateful for receiving a very basic can of nearly expired tomato soup. "Sorry it's not much."

"Don't be silly." She interrupted any other sentence he was going to say immediately forcing him to close his mouth. "It's the best thing I've eaten in weeks, honest. I appreciate it so much."

Eddie wanted to push this topic more but seeing as he had only just picked up this girl from the side of the road an hour ago, he shouldn't push his luck at upsetting her. He watched as she ate the soup in absolute bliss, it didn't take her long to finish. He took the bowl from her hands and placed it on the kitchen bench to clean later. "Look I only have one bed, so you take the bed and I'll take the lounge. And don't bother arguing, it'll fall on deaf ears." He grinned at her.

"Thank you, Eddie." She looked up at him with bright eyes, a small smile on her face, she tugged at the elastic that held up her hair and let it cascade down her back, giving her head a shake to release the hair from its previous restriction. It went down to the small of her back, while out he saw that her hair was wavy, near ringlets. Eddie felt God dam winded again. This girl was making him weak at the knees. He felt like he had never seen anyone so pretty in his life right at this moment.

He had always seen her walking through the hallways, although she was head cheerleader, she always preferred either the solitude of being alone or with Steve. Most days she would be found in the library, large books opened in front of her and taking notes. She never seemed to take notice of others around her unless Steve or Nancy came to join her. People could be gossiping about her right in front of her and she wouldn't even look up. Eddie had taken to preparing for his dungeons and dragons' campaign in the library every Tuesday just to watch her. He found her concentration while studying impressive. "Let me show you to my room."

Leading her to his room he opened the door and moved to the side to allow access. Sarah looked at the guitar that hung up in the room, running her hand along the edge. Eddie was leaning up against the door frame with his arms folded, watching as she walked around his room looking at everything. "Do you still play in the Um... corroded coffin?"

Eddie unfolded his arms in a sort of shock, mouth falling open and eyes widening. "You remembered?"

Sarah turned back around to face him, a nervous laugh and a tint to her cheeks. "Um. Yeah. Sometimes you were the only interesting person to listen to at lunch."

Eddie smirked, so the watching from afar wasn't one sided. "Yeah, I do. You should come listen to us practice sometime, think you'd enjoy it."

Sarah sat down on the bed, moving to the corner and leaning against the wall. "I'd love that." She pat the spot next to her.

He smiled not needing a second invitation. The two spent hours talking about anything and everything. It had been five long months since Sarah had been able to have a conversation with anyone, she missed hearing someone talk to her not at her. Eddie told her all about the hellfire club and the campaign he had been working on, he expected her to be bored but she hung on every word. Without even meaning too they both fell asleep.

Sarah woke up in a start gasping for air, sweat beads across her forehead, fingers digging into the bed sheets. Eddie sat up half asleep reaching out for her unsure what had happened. "What's wrong?"

Sarah wasn't used to waking up from a nightmare with someone there to comfort her. When she had night terrors her father would come in yelling at her for waking him up, telling her to shut up before he'd give her something to cry about and a few times, making good of that threat. She threw her arms around him and buried her face into his neck. Uneven breathing announcing that she had started crying.

This woke him up as if ice cold water had been thrown in his face. He hadn't meant to fall asleep on the bed with her, they had just been talking. He carefully wrapped his arms around her back, pulling her onto his lap and allowed her to cry. "Hey... sweetheart, deep breaths. I'm here."

"I'm sorry." Sarah choked out between strangled breaths. "I'm sorry for waking you up. Please... please don't be mad."

Eddie gently stroked her hair, holding her tight, giving gentle shushing. "I'm not mad."

He held her that way for as long as she needed, allowing her the time to calm down. She pulled back to look at him, her eyes puffy and red. "I'm sorry."

Eddie reached up, gently using his thumb to wipe away a tear that slid down her cheek. "You have nothing to be sorry about."

"You will only ever be a nuisance to people around you, Sarah. You are too much trouble for what little you're worth."

Her father's words rang through her mind crystal clear, etched in stone. She was already putting too much on this boy and it made her feel guilty. Eddie turned his arm to get a better look at the watch fastened around his wrist seeing that it was six fifty-five. "Well Princess, your chariot will await you in exactly twenty minutes. If you still wanna head over to the school?" Sarah's blush coloured her cheeks and she turned her head to let her hair fall in front of her to hide this fact giving a nod. It made her heart flutter hearing him call her such pet names. Eddie smirked, pat her hand softly and got up off the bed, picking up some clothes hanging over his dresser. "See you in twenty then, showers just down the hall."

It hadn't taken Sarah too long to find the shower in question, after all, it wasn't very big. She only had a quick one as to not keep Eddie waiting. She chucked on a pair high waisted jeans and a long sleeve black shirt that she tucked in. She didn't need the looks that came with her wrists. She pulled her hair half up leaving half down and looked at herself in the mirror. This was the first time she had really looked in a mirror in a long time, her bottom lip was swollen, little fingernail bruises on the back of her neck, she had lost weight; now she almost looked all skin and bones, but food had been scarce over the last few months. She poked at her cheeks and sighed. Exiting the trailer, she headed over to Eddie's van where he stood waiting for her, cigarette in his mouth.

"Sorry if I kept you waiting." She said climbing into the van.

"Not at all." He took a deep puff of his cigarette before putting it out and climbing in.

The ride to school was a quiet one, Sarah spent it looking out the window wracking her brain about what she would say to the administration office. Eddie didn't push her to talk instead just tapping along to the music. When they arrived at school Sarah gave him a wave and a thank you before heading off. She had been sat in the office for an awfully long time, she knew they didn't know what to do as she had just disappeared for the first half of the year and not only that it would be break soon. She was hoping that her grades would give them the push to allow her back, she had studied really hard to get straight A's, it was the only time her father would leave her alone because he loved to brag his perfect daughter got perfect grades. Finally, they had come out to let her know she was welcomed back to school, but she had to catch up on the work she had missed, deciding to use her Aunt's address as a place of residence. The lunch bell had chimed by the time she finished in the office, and she strolled towards the cafeteria, hoping she'd find Eddie.

When she entered her eyes landed on the table almost instantly, her cousin and Mike hanging on every word that was coming out of Eddie's mouth. "Hey shitheads!" Sarah called out to the two younger boys, big smile on her face.

"Sarah!" The boys said in unison jumping up and running to the girl.

She held out her arms awaiting the boys, laughing as they slammed into her in a giant hug. Oh, how she missed these kids. She wrapped her arms around them and squeezed them so tight. She knew everyone was looking and whispering but she didn't care.

"Where were you?" Dustin was the first to ask, leaning back from the hug to look up at his cousin.

"Ah. You know your uncle." Was all she said squeezing him.

"We tried to contact you." Dustin continued but Sarah simply hugged him tighter, pulling both boys so she could kiss the top of their heads.

She looked over and saw Lucas sitting at the 'jock' table, his eyes shining as soon as she saw him. He wanted a hug too, but she knew he was just trying to survive high school as a freshman. She simply gave him a small wave before pulling the boys over to Eddie's table.

"Ah. Sweetheart. Did you get what you wanted?" Eddie asked as the three came to a stop in front of them.

"You know Eddie?" Dustin asked, eyes wide in surprise.

Sarah nodded. "He was my knight in shining armour and rescued me from the side of the road."

"...Eddie?" Both boys muttered under their breath in confusion.

Sarah laughed at that until a voice from behind her stopped her. "Well... look whose back."

Sarah turned around to look at Jason with a bored look across her face she grunted. "Hello Jason."

"Sarah Henderson, it's been a while."

"Not long enough." Sarah quipped.

"Feisty." Taking a step towards her, Sarah unwrapped her arms from the boys, pushing them slightly behind her as if protecting them; her fight or flight response activating. "We were just wondering." A step closer. "If you were coming back to our table." He was now directly in front of her, mere inches from her. "Instead of with these freaks. Don't want a bad reputation after being gone for so long, now do you?" He looked over her towards Eddie at that, lip tugging into a flat line.

"What makes them freaks, Jason? Cause they'd rather play with their minds then be a mindless meathead playing with balls."

Jason clicked his tongue against his front teeth, he reached out and grabbed her wrist, pulling her into him, smirking at the squeak of pain that came from her lips, ignoring the hellfire table jumping to their feet to come to the rescue. He put his lips against her ear. "Daddies loosen the leash I see."

She pulled her arm free from his grasp and threw her arms out in front of herself as hard as she could forcing him to stumble backwards. Before she could even acknowledge what her body was doing, she balled her hand into a fist and sucker punched him in the nose. The whole cafeteria looked on in shock, sounds of gasping mixed with laughs and 'oohs'. Her hand hurt, she knew that much, shaking the throbbing hand out. "Don't. Ever. Touch me. Again."

Jason stood upright about to retaliate before Eddie stepped in front of her, arms crossed, baleful glare telling Jason to just try it. Jason fixed his jacket and scoffed, wiping the blood from his nose. "Watch yourself, Henderson, you freak." He turned on his heels. "What are you all looking at." He jeered, heading for the exit. The fellow basketball team getting up to follow after him.

Eddie turned around to face Sarah as she examined her hand, muttering curses under her breath. Eddie took her hand into his and examined it for himself, it was definitely going to bruise. "You okay?"

"You just punched Jason freaking Carver, that was bad ass!" One of the boys from the table spoke up, Sarah wasn't sure who he was.

"It was stupid." She sighed.

"Sarah, that's Gareth, Jeff and Andrew." Eddie introduced the members of his band and hellfire club.

"Nice to meet you."

"Sarah." A quite voice behind her spoke. Lucas was standing there with a sad smile on his face. "I'm really sorry about Jason."

Sarah smiled and moved forward giving him a tight hug. "Don't apologise for other people." She pulled back to make him look at her. "You're just trying to survive. I get it. Go before you get in trouble." She winked at him before spinning him around and pushing him towards where the basketball team had left.

"It's good to see you, Sarah!" The boy called out over his shoulder, jogging towards the exit.

Sarah pulled Dustin in to ruffle his hair with a smile on her face. Eddie found himself truly infatuated with this woman. No one had ever spoken up in defence of them before, especially not to Jason Carver. "Oh hey, Eddie." Sarah said softly, breaking the boys' concentration. "I was wondering if you wouldn't mind taking me somewhere after school."

"After you just so valiantly defended our honour, milady? I would take you to the moon."

Sarah had spent the rest of lunch sitting at the table talking to the boys, Dustin and Mike had questioned her religiously and Eddie could tell she was getting tense and apprehensive with their relentless probing. He took it upon himself to wrangle the young teens focus back to the campaign, not missing the grateful look thrown his way. Once the bell had rung Sarah waved goodbye to the boys telling Eddie she'd wait for him after school and to not worry about her. Classes would start back up on Monday so Sarah strolled down the hallway, heading for the library to pass time.

When the bell rang to signal the end of the day Eddie had found himself wondering exactly where he would be meeting up with Sarah, she had never told him where she would meet just that she'd wait for him. He walked to the carpark but was nowhere to be seen. He thought for a moment before turning on his heels and heading back into the school. He entered the library and saw her immediately, she was sitting in one of the armchairs near the windows, her legs over one armrest, book opened resting on her lap. She looked so at peace as she read the book, in her own world taking no notice of her surroundings. He walked up to her and realised she wasn't studying; she was reading a book he was all too familiar with. "Lord of the rings, the return of the kings." He spoke causing Sarah to look up at him. "Who knew you could get any hotter."

Sarah rolled at eyes. "I've read the series before, I used to read it as Dustin's bedtime story, but sometimes I just like to escape... speaking of which... I mean I have no idea how to play but... I mean the campaign sounds really cool."

Eddie clasped his hands to his chest, dramatically falling over. "Take my heart, Sarah Henderson, it's yours forever! Are you saying what I think you're saying?"

Sarah laughed at the boys' antics, closing the book and placing her legs on the floor, leaning forward to look at him. "Would you teach me to play?"