"Beautiful in spite of the scabs, bruises, and smutches of dirt."

IT ~ Stephen King

JUNE, 1985

KEENE'S PHARMACY, HAWKINS

The four boys were biking as fast as they could across town. Will was awkwardly sat behind Mike, his arms very loosely wrapped around the other boy's waist despite Mike telling him to hold on tighter. Dustin was jabbering to Lucas about the AIDS epidemic and the potential risk of Will's dirty blood which the dark skinned boy ignored. His face gained a slight pale twinge as they pulled into the alley between Keene's pharmacy and the butchers. He eyed the loading door furtively as they propped Will against it and let their bikes clatter to the ground. "You stay here." Dustin told Mike, "Lucas and I'll get the stuff." Relief washed over Lucas, he'd been prepared to protest but hesitant to divulge his weird hallucination to his friends, now he didn't have to do either. He made a mental note to be nicer to Dustin.

The pharmacy shone bright white with the combined effort of the sun and fluorescent light bulbs. From behind the counter Mr Keene watched them with beady eyes as Lucas pulled a few crumpled dollars from out of his pocket and tried smoothing out the wrinkles. "Do we have enough money for this?" He asked as Dustin pulled almost every available medical product of the shelves from cotton balls to antiseptic and bandages. He eyed the scruffy notes with distaste. "It's all we got." Lucas affirmed. Dustin frowned with his arms full before minutely jerking his head towards the door. Lucas shook his head. He disapproved of stealing, and besides Mr Keene was watching like a hawk. "Don't you have an account here?" He asked.

"Don't be an idiot Lucas, if my mom found out I bought all this I'll be spending the entire weekend down in the emergency room getting x-rayed." They both glanced back at Mr Keene who still hadn't taken his eyes off of them even as he refilled the prescriptions. Little boys had no business being in a pharmacy and so he adjusted his glasses to keep a better eye on them.

Two aisles over Max was almost as red as her hair as she tried to choose between the selection of tampons and pads. It wasn't her first period but it didn't make it any less uncomfortable every time she had to come down. She went with tampons, at least those could be flushed down the toilet. Choosing the ones with the least conspicuous packaging, Max headed over to the counter. Or she would have was Greta not coming down the same aisle. For a second Max panicked but luckily Greta had her nose in her bag and she was able to duck into the next aisle over. Unfortunately that meant she ran straight into Lucas and Dustin, sending the bandages rolling across the floor. "Great." Dustin muttered. "Now we have to get clean bandages." He scowled at Max like it was all her fault and she scowled right back, tucking her Tampax behind her back.

"Where's the fire?" She asked sarcastically, gesturing to the heap in his arms. Lucas grinned.

"None of your business." Dustin growled at the same time Lucas said,

"Our friend outside looks like he's been killed." Dustin wiggled one arm free to smack him. Max creased her brow and blinked rapidly trying to understand. "We don't have enough money though." Lucas elaborated, unaware or simply ignoring the betrayed look Dustin was giving him. Max nodded, not quite sure what she was supposed to do since she couldn't afford all that either. Then she spotted the boys' eyes darting to the door and leaned around Lucas to see Mr Keene glaring at them suspiciously.

"I got an idea." She said.

In the next couple seconds Max was standing before Mr Keene and placing her purchase on the counter with a charming smile. Never one to ignore a pretty girl's attention, he smiled right back whilst he rang it up on the till. Max leaned forward over the counter, not in an immodest way but enough to block the boys from view. "I love your glasses Mr Keene." He shot her an odd sort of look as he handed back her change but Max smiled disarmingly and carried on, "You look just like Clark Kent." He chuckled slightly and adjusted them on his nose all flustered.

"Oh, well I don't know-"

"Can I try them?" Max interrupted, ignoring his blustering and pretending to be eager. She smiled again to help persuade him, idly thinking that she'd smiled far more in the last few minutes than she had in the last couple days.

Mr Keene swept his gaze over the store for a moment before fixing back on the redhead in front of him. "Um, sure." It was a peculiar request but Max's radiant beam washed away any doubt. She settled the wire frame on the bridge of her nose and adjusted the lenses to angle more flatteringly on her face. She took a moment, almost as if shy, before raising her head to look at Mr Keene. If she hadn't been only fourteen the look she gave him would certainly have been described as coy.

"What d'you think?" She asked innocently.

"Well would you look at that." Mr Keene said, balancing on his elbows to lean across the counter closer to her. "You look just like Louis Lane." His eyes were not on the glasses and Max's smile tightened.

"Really?" She asked with enough force to bring his eyes back up to hers. She fixed him with that innocent look again and he nodded with a weighted glance. He's probably heard the rumours from that bitch Greta Max thought. "Here you go." She took off his glasses and held them out towards him, at the last moment veering her arm into the gum display case and knocking it to the floor. "I'm so sorry." She said when actually she wasn't the least bit sorry at all. The crash had killed the weird vibe he was trying to send her as he sighed wearily and surveyed the mess on the floor.

"It's ok." He said blandly, getting onto his knees to pick it all up. Perv Max thought as she turned around and shot a glance behind her to make sure the boys were gone. They both caught her eye and went for the door, Lucas tripping over the sunglasses display and almost bringing Dustin down with him. Thankfully the noise didn't call for Mr Keene's attention, neither did the bell above the door as they exited. Max felt a genuine smile tugging at her mouth as she watched the clumsy boys go. Mr Keene coughed from the floor and Max rolled her eyes, making no effort to help. Instead she picked up her tampons, slid a pack of Camels off of the counter and apologised a couple more times before leaving as well.

Outside she spotted Lucas waiting for her by the entrance of the alley. He smiled goofily and waved as she approached. "Hi Max." She huffed out a laugh. "Um thanks for y'know uh helping us out back there." He pulled the few crumpled dollars out of his pocket and offered them to her. She waved him off, flashing the stolen pack of cigarettes.

"Even Stevens." She said, turning her body around to see into the alley. Dustin was crouched before a boy with Mike hovering anxiously at his side.

"Buzz off Mike, I know what I'm doing and you're not helping."

"Do you though?"

"Yeah now piss off. Lucas'll probably have something in his fanny pack."

"Why does Lucas have a fanny pack?"

"I don't know do I?" Lucas blushed in embarrassment, slightly turning away from Max to try and conceal it. Max laughed at him. Her laugh drew the attention of the others and as they all swivelled around to see her, she was able to make out the familiar boy's face.

"Will?" She knew all about his queerness from Billy but more importantly she knew that he was the kindest of souls that would never even harm a fly. "You ok?" She asked and he flushed in embarrassment.

"I just fell." He mumbled.

"Yeah straight into Billy Hargrove." Mike said. Dustin swatted him and Lucas sent a nervous look her way but she ignored both in favour of assessing Will's puncture wound.

"You sure they got the right stuff? That doesn't look too good." She gestured to the blood soaked bandages and soiled shirt.

"What would you know?" Dustin said, defending his medical skills. For some reason it rubbed Max the wrong way and she bristled at his hostility.

"First you stop the bleeding, then you clean the wound and then you bandage it." She said acidly. "Trust me I skateboard." She said in response to their blank looks. Dustin grumbled but removed the bandages anyway. "Keep your hand pressed firmly over it and keep the pressure constant to ease up the blood flow." She commented. Dustin whispered something snidely under his breath that Max ignored. She knew he probably meant well.

Lucas awkwardly sort of tapped Max's arm to get her attention. "Hey, uh Max we were thinking of going down to the Quarry tomorrow morning. Maybe we'll see you there?" He asked hopefully. Max smiled at the invitation but didn't miss the frosty look Mike sent their way.

"Maybe you will." She replied. Lucas's eyes practically sparkled and there was just something about him that made Max want to start grinning uncontrollably. She managed to hold it in though, aware of the rest of group and realising that she'd probably overstayed her welcome. "Well it's been fun, I guess I'll see you guys around." She did a little sort of half-wave before backtracking out of there and leaving them behind.

Lucas was still smiling when Mike nudged him angrily. "What the hell Lucas? You can't just invite anyone to Party events without consulting the rest of the Party." Lucas scowled.

"What's your problem Mike? She basically just saved Will."

"So what? That doesn't automatically make it ok. Or did you forget that we're a democracy?"

"So what?! Geez Mike. Y'know, never mind just forget about it because she probably isn't even coming anyway, nice job bringing up Billy in front of her."

Will turned to Dustin. "What about Billy?" He whispered. Unlike the others he tended to actively avoid any and all gossip so was usually left out of the loop about everything.

"You know they're siblings right?"

"Step." Will automatically corrected, remembering Max insisting on it in health class.

"Yeah, anyway I heard that the whole family is in to freaky shit. Like seriously messed up stuff. Apparently they moved from California because Billy killed people and the cops are still looking for them." Dustin whispered. Will scrunched his nose up.

"That's so not true." He said but Dustin was nodding vigorously.

"What's so hard to believe, look at what he did to you." He pointed out. By now Lucas and Mike were paying attention.

"So what'd she do?" Will asked but this time it was Mike instead of Dustin who answered.

"More like who'd she do, I heard the list is longer than my wang." Lucas punched Mike lightly in the shoulder.

"That's not saying much." Will commented innocently and Mike's mouth dropped open whilst Lucas and Dustin almost lost their shit. Will rarely ever made a joke at the expense of someone else but when he did you could guarantee it would be funny.

"Hey, no, stop." Mike complained whilst the other three continued to laugh.

HOPPER CABIN

Meanwhile outside of town on the very outskirts of Hawkins El Hopper sat curled up in the corner of her bed. Hopper wouldn't be back for a couple more hours and for the entire time that it had taken to walk home the day's harassment had been replaying over and over in her head. Now within the confines of her bedroom El allowed herself to break down. Flashes of memory and overwhelming surges of various sensations and emotions clouded her head. Her papa was not a nice man, neither were the other children and El felt the panic peak to an almost insurmountable level. She knew that if she tipped past that point that she'd spiral into an awful uncontrollable depression that she'd be unable to reign in for hours. Instead she tried to calm her racing heart and even out her breaths, focusing on the present and the surroundings. Hop was going to come home and she'd be fine, she tried practising the techniques he'd showed her to calm down. Hop was the nice policeman that rescued her. Everything was going to be ok. She finally managed to reach the stage where her head wasn't so crowded. Tears still streamed down her cheeks and her stomach was cramped from being all hunched over but now her chest was hollow instead of tight and she felt exhaustion rather than just blind panic.

With a clearer head El moved into the bathroom to try and wash away the sticky tear tracks off of her face. The bulb flickered several times before it finally remained still and the feeble rays of light glanced harshly off of her hair. El stood staring at it in the mirror, twirling her fingers around the ends loosely. The boys liked her hair. So did papa. A surge of disgust rose up inside of her and she felt the awful taste of bile sliding up her throat before she managed to force it back down. Her silver scissors practically whispered to her. Surprisingly El obliged to the temptation and rose the shiny blades to the end of her locks. For a brief moment she met her eyes in the mirror and the full force of the boy's words plagued her. Instead of panic and desperation though, she now felt anger. Hot anger that spiked sharply through her and caused her hand to sever a huge chunk of hair. More confident now she continued, hacking at the brown curls with a viciousness she didn't fully understand. A circle of hair surrounded her on the bathroom tiles as she continued cutting and snipping. Finally she raised her head again to the mirror, her anger hollowing her out even further and leaving an empty cavity that quickly filled with self doubt. She'd managed a semi-decent bob that just tucked under her jaw and curled prettily around her face, emphasising her big doe eyes. She thought that she looked like a boy. Tears welled up again but she forcibly reminded herself that this is what she wanted, no one else would harass her now she wasn't pretty. She turned away to go back to burying in her bed covers and crying.

HARGROVE RESIDENCE

Speaking of crying, Max was not a crier. She did not cry simply because she refused to give anyone the pleasure of watching her break down. But now she felt like she was about to cry. She'd walked home to avoid Billy and prayed that Neil would be out at work. When she'd first entered the house she thought she'd gotten lucky. Unfortunately she was rarely lucky and as she tried darting down the hall towards her bedroom she was intercepted by a great hulk of a man. He wasn't very tall nor was he wide but what he lacked in build he made up for with presence, his anger and discipline adding an extra foot of shadowy fear. When Max was younger she used to believe monsters were long slender things with devil horns and cruel smiles. She still thought that, although now they were more humanoid in shape with malicious eyes and calloused palms.

"What've you got there Maxine?" His voice was low and rough like sandpaper which reminded Max of a volcano simmering just before it decided to erupt.

"Just some things." He caught her wrist sharply and raised a warning brow. "Dad." She tacked onto the end. It appeased him slightly and he let go of her arm, his fingerprints likely bruised onto the tender skin. Heart still beating loudly Max made to duck past him but was once again stopped when he reached out and snagged her paper bag. In that moment she was thankful that she'd had the foresight to hide the cigarettes in her shorts. The moment didn't last long though as his hand withdrew brandishing the Tampax package. She froze as panic reared its ugly head and her saliva ducts seemed just as paralysed as the rest of her as her mouth dried up and her brain desperately scrabbled for an excuse that wasn't what it actually was. Her chest started heaving and any words that had half formed immediately died in her throat as his large hands reached for her neck.

"What did I say about lying Maxine." He whispered threateningly.

"I didn't lie." She protested feebly. His hand tightened around her neck and she felt completely and utterly powerless beneath him. He regarded her malevolently, feeding off of her fear before he slowly loosened his grip- his hard eyes softening slightly as he moved his hand to cup her cheek. The many scars scratching against her skin reminded Max of the many scars he and his son had had inflicted on others and a surge of helpless hate lodged itself in her throat.

"Are you still my little girl Maxine?" He asked almost tenderly were it not for the cruel mirth dancing in his eyes. She wanted to scream NO! to run away or fight back but instead she looked away and lowered her head demurely.

"Yes sir." His lips tightened but he replaced her purchase and after a tense pause nodded his permission for her to leave, ruffling her hair as she scurried past. In the relative safety of her room Max let a single tear escape and slide down her cheek.

© ELIXB|2020