For months, Lillian heard the kids in Hawkins whispering about strange happenings in the city. She never believed them - always thought they were just being silly children with wild imaginations. She never thought less of them for it. She was a kid once, too, with imaginary friends to keep her company, and making up stories of faeries and wizards. She wanted more than anything to think they were real, which was why she was more than keen on joining the Hellfire Club. Sure, Eddie and his crew were rather on the eccentric side, but it allowed her an occasional evening to pretend, and being around like-minded individuals (even though most of them were dudes) was not so bad.

Lillian never considered dating any of them. When she was in school, she was focused on her studies, but she made time for other things, too. Outside of Hellfire and classes, she liked gardening with her dad. She kept herself busy with enough on her hands without boys getting involved. She learned that pretty quickly when one in particular, Billy Hargrove, had tried to make a move on her. He was new to Hawkins High School, but already seemed to think he was every woman's dream. It didn't take long for her to figure out her first boyfriend was a pig, and she was only going to be a notch on his bedpost. So, she cut it off before things got too deep.

She convinced herself that boys were just stupid.

That all changed when on one summer night in 1985, she spotted someone in her front yard. A figure was standing on the grass by the sidewalk, just outside of the circle of light from the nearest street lamp. Had she not been getting herself a late-night glass of milk, she would have never known someone was helping themselves to the generous, fig tree in their yard.

She also didn't know at the time that her dad was on the hunt for whoever it was. This was clearly not the first offense.

From the side yard, she heard her father's booming voice break the midnight silence. "Goddamnit, Munson! I'm calling the police if I see you here one more time!"

The figure darted across the street in a panic, and Lillian realized it was Hellfire Club's dungeon master that was snacking on figs on their property.

Furious, her father came charging through the front door and into the kitchen. "Damn that Eddie Munson. If it's the last thing I do, I will put an end to that rascal."

Lillian, who was still looking out the window, didn't even realize she was smiling, brushing her messy, auburn hair away from her face. Even with Eddie long out of sight, she was watching - waiting to see if he might come back.

For a while, he didn't, but her father went away a lot, leaving the senior student to herself a lot of the time. Mom passed away from lung cancer when she was still in middle school, so when her dad departed for business trips, Lillian was left to her own devices. She was usually well-behaved, although Eddie liked to use the house for the occasional campaign if it was open.

However, there was no campaign scheduled for this weekend, which allowed her time to catch up on some house chores in her dad's absence. Lillian was waiting for her laundry to finish washing so she could stick it in the dryer before going to bed when she heard the doorbell ring. To her surprise, Eddie stood on the porch, sporting his usual Dio, denim vest, leather jacket underneath, and his Hellfire Club logo displayed under that. Because of Eddie, Lillian had explored a lot of the louder music that was becoming popular with the youth nowadays. Where she used to have posters of Madonna and Duran Duran, she replaced with posters of Joan Jett and Metallica.

"Ross," he greeted her by her last name. "Saw the lights were still on, so I figured you were still up."

"Good observation, Munson. What do you want?"

He held up a cassette tape, his smile broadening. It had been a while since he shared anything new with her. He clearly remembered she had mentioned her father going out of town, though it was odd time of the night to introduce her to something new, but to be fair, it was summer time. She had officially graduated, enjoying her well-deserved vacation, had nowhere to be in the morning, and she wasn't even tired yet.

"If you thought Ride the Lightning was good, then you need to check this out."

Lillian hadn't had the chance to listen to Metallica's latest album, Master of Puppets. There was no way in hell her dad would let her get it. Overall, the band's music was considered too brutal and too heavy. While her dad was usually really chill, he did have some limitations. As far as he was concerned, little ladies should not be listening to heavy metal.

Screw that. She enjoyed it, and listening to it put her at ease and helped her relax, and somehow, being able to bond with someone else over that music made it all the more satisfying.

They played side one of the cassette tape as they hung out in the kitchen. While Eddie sat on the countertop, banging his head, Lillian would make an Italian sandwich for each of them. Slapping some salami, pepperoni, and ham onto a piece of bread, she would brush on some Italian, salad dressing and stick it in the oven for a few minutes. They socialized as they listened to the music, Eddie doing most of the talking. He loved to talk about the band members and how bands worked. After all, he was aspiring to become a musician, as well.

"As soon as I graduate," he insisted, "we're hitting the road, and we'll be big-timers. You'll see Corroded Coffin all over the magazine covers..." While his likeliness of graduating anytime soon seemed low in her perspective, he had her full support.

Absolutely floored by her cooking, simple as it was, he gobbled down the sandwich when she put it in front of him. As far as she knew, Eddie lived with his Uncle Wayne, so he didn't have someone that cooked nice meals for him. He was used to eating canned foods... anything that could be nuked in the microwave. Easy stuff.

With a satisfied appetite, he left her the cassette tape to enjoy more of it on her own time. Happy to accept, she watched him leave through the front door. Even as his feet reached the asphalt of the road, she still stood by the front door, just watching.

"Oh, shit."

She nearly forgot about the laundry.