Chapter Four

Piper looked at herself in the motel mirror as she worked to add another layer of concealer under her eyes – trying to get rid of the large, dark bags under them. It was another night of restless sleep when she and Billy came back from town. It was like the moment she stepped through the door that heavy dreadful feeling came back.

"Jesus Christ, I look like the dead," She groaned, before giving up and placing her makeup back into her bag.

Something told her deep down it was pointless to even try and look presentable seeing as she was most likely to cry. Piper opened up the door to the bathroom to see Billy sitting at the end of the bed tying on his shoes. He was dressed in a pair of fitted black jeans, a black button-up worn in his usual Billy style. It buttoned except stopping right at the last two at the top. The moment he heard the door open, Billy turned quickly to her. Piper fidgeted slightly with the skirt of her dress as she gave him a small.

"You look beautiful, doll." Billy smile, standing up from the bed and walking toward her.

"Think so? Not too much?" Piper asked, her voice a little tired as she looked down over herself.

Piper's dress was a simple black dress that stopped right at the knee and had a belt that cinched tightly around her waist. She wore a pair of black heels she'd always kept in case of special occasions like today. Her ebony curls were pinned back away from her face with a soft touch of makeup.

Billy could see that she was tired and it cause him to frown slightly as he stared down at her. "Not at all. You look beautiful. Do you have your speech ready?"

"Y-Yeah...it's in my purse. I wrote over it again last night...couldn't sleep, do...didn't have much else to do." Piper shrugged and walked around Billy and headed over to the table beside the bed. Billy's frown deepened even more as she turned around to face him, "Come on, we gotta go or we're going to be late."

"Piper, why didn't you wake me if you didn't sleep last night?" Billy asked, grabbing his keys from the top of the dresser.

"Just cause one of us is suffering from a bit of insomnia, doesn't mean we both have to." Piper caressed his cheek. "I'll be fine, maybe we can stop at a 7-Eleven on the way there for me to get a coffee?"

"Sure," Billy spoke, bending down to kiss her cheek.

The two of them left the motel quickly and drove back into Hawkins where the ceremony for Hopper was being held downtown. The closer Billy drove toward the town center the more and more knotted her stomach became. Piper watched out the window and saw the banners and decorations that were placed throughout the town. The ceremony would be held on the steps of the town hall with a majority of the town attending. Billy pulled up and parked right outside a small cafe for the two of them to grab breakfast before everything started.

"Max and your stepmom are coming right?" Piper asked

"They said they were," Billy sighed, passing off the to-go cup of coffee to her.

"I hope Steve and Robin can make it," Her voice had a slight shake to it as she spoke, her eyes darting around as she looked around downtown Hawkins. "And the kids. I hope the kids come."

"I'm sure they are," Billy reached over and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, making her jump slightly and stare at him. Her eyes were wide slightly. "Just take a deep breath, everything is going to go alright. You're gonna give your speech and get the plaque. You're on edge more than usual."

"I'm sorry...I-I'm sorry..." Piper shook her head and took a sip from her coffee. The warm liquid moved through her before she took a couple more. Piper opened her mouth to say more, but was interrupted by someone calling out for them.

"Billy! Piper!" a voice called out from the other end of the street. The couple turned and looked in the direction of the voice and saw Max walking toward the two of them with her mother trailing behind her.

"Max!" Piper perked up and rushed to the teenager, opening her arms up, and pulling her tightly against her chest. "Oh my god have you grown even more!?"

Max pulled back, her blue eyes shining as she stared up at her, the two nearly at the same height. Standing in front of her was no longer the middle schooler that she left nearly a year ago.

"A little growing learned how to use make-up, high school has opened my eyes to some things." Max laughed "You look different too, but a good different."

Max reached up and tapped the ring that looped through Piper's nostril before walking around her and moving to hug her brother. Piper walked to Susan, Max's mother, and gave her a quick hug. The small family quickly talked to each other and fell into an easy conversation. Everything around Piper seemed to fade into the background, people's voices sounding like they are fading off and underwater.

Tick

Tick

Tick

Tick

The sunny sky above soon faded off into the darkness with a dark fog wrapping around her. Piper started to feel that panic start to rise within her and make her chest feel tight. Her eyes moved up to the sky to see that it was cast in darkness, clouds rolling in like a storm with lightning dancing through them.

"Billy?" Piper spoke, looking around her and seeing that everyone around her was gone.

All of downtown Hawkins was gone and instead and a vast and vacant town. She stumbled back when she saw that Max, Billy, and Susan were gone. Even his car was gone.

"Piper," a soft, bell-like voice echoed from behind her, causing her to turn quickly as it echoed back out. "Piper."

Piper quickly turned around as the voice sounded like it was coming from every direction around her. "Mom!? Mom!?"

A figure caught the corner of Piper's eyes, moving across the street behind another building. Piper stood and watched for a moment before running across the street. Her heels echoed as they clicked against the concrete beneath her. The sky above rumbled and vibrated with another roll of thunder and lightning. When Piper finally got across the street she couldn't see which direction the figure moved. She looked around and felt her shoulders drop with sadness.

"Piper...how could you do this?" the voice spoke out, anger now in its tone. "How could you do this to us, Piper?"

Piper whimpered softly as she searched again for the source of the voice, looking around and finding nothing. Till a cold hand pressed down on her shoulder causing her to jump up and let out a scream, turning to see what had grabbed her. Piper screamed and fell back further as she looked down to see her mother standing behind her. Except it wasn't her mother. At least not the version that Piper knew fondly. Her face was sunken in and vacant with her cheekbones more prominent and sharp. Her face was covered in darkened veins that spread all over her pale skin. But in place of her eyes were dark, empty holes. Nothing stared back down at her it was just empty.

"Why did you do this to us, Piper!" Her mother growled "We died cause of you! How could you! How could you!?"

"No, no." Piper shook her head and felt tears start to fall down her cheeks, her chest heaving with shuddered breaths. "No...mom, please..."

"You killed us!" She screamed, her hand reaching forward for Piper.

Piper closed her eyes and waited for the pain to come.

"Piper? Piper? Doll, please...wake up for me!?" Billy spoke as she shook Piper's shoulders, watching as her eyes rolled to the back of her head and seemed to blink quickly.

But she let out a loud gasp and seemed to fall against him, her arms reaching out quickly and grasping tightly to his forearms. Piper looked into his blue eyes and could see that they were wide with fear as he stared down at her. His hand reached up and caressed her face.

"Piper?" He whispered as her eyes seemed to focus on him for a moment, her breath panting and heaving. "Hey...hey, are you ok?"

"W-What? What happened?" She spoke softly, her voice dazed and slurred.

"Y-You zoned out...you...it was like you were having a seizure." Billy's brows pulled together tightly.

"What?" Piper stared down at him confused.

Billy stepped closer and searched over her face, looking into her eyes to see if anything else was wrong. To see her like that made his stomach knot and twist in a way he hadn't felt since July of last year.

"I'm fine," Piper swallowed thickly and moved to take a step back from Billy, still feeling jittery. "I-I'm fine."

As Piper turned and walked away from him, Billy knew that she was far from ok. But he stood there and watched as she walked away from him. Her head ducked down as she walked and away from the crowds of Hawkins.

"Is she ok?"

"Y-Yeah, yeah," Billy nodded his head and forced a smile on his face as he stared at his sister. "She's just nervous for her speech and everything, just...she needed some fresh air."

~.~

"...and now we'd like to welcome Piper Canon, Jim Hopper's niece." Chief Powell spoke from behind the podium. "She is the niece of our Hero's of Hawkins recipient, James Hopper, former Chief of Hawkins."

Loud applause broke through the crowd causing Piper to jump slightly from her seat. She looked around, confused for a moment since she was in a slight daze. But the moment she looked around her and realized exactly where she was, her mind focused. Piper cleared her throat for a moment before standing from her seat and walking the few steps up to the stage.

Piper set the crumpled paper that was as tightly in her fist down onto the flat top of the podium. She gave a small hug to Powell, before stepping back behind the tall wooden stand. Her head looked to the side to see a poster with her Uncle's face on it, which looked to be the photo used when he became Chief. She felt a tightening in her chest before looking back down in front of her. When her eyes looked out into the crowd the first person she made eye contact with was Billy. He gave her a gentle smile that calmed her a little.

"H-Hello," Piper started, cringing inwardly at how shaky her voice sounded. She hated it. "Everyone here knows my Uncle as a hero, and that fact is true. He was. But he was beyond that. My Uncle Jim was a protector. He tried to come off hard and like nothing scared or bothered him. But even I know that wasn't true. He was a softy, a lover, someone that always looked out for those that couldn't look out for themselves."

"I looked up to my Uncle Jim. He took me in when I had lost my parents and being the only family that I had left." Piper frowned, feeling the familiar burn of tears behind her eyes. "A-And he quickly became someone that I looked up to. He was more like a father to me than he ever knew. I loved him deeply and dearly, and knew that he loved this town." Piper felt her throat start to clog, and her fists tightened around the side of the podium as tears started to blur her sight. She took a couple of deep breaths before continuing. "Hawkins missed a piece of itself that fateful Fourth of July, a piece that will never be repaired but we can surely try." Piper looked out to the crowd and gave a saddened smile, with tears running down her cheeks. "Because I know my Uncle Jim is still watching over this town...watching over me."

Piper whispered the last part to herself as she stepped away from the podium, reaching up to wipe away her tears as everyone around her began to applaud. Powell walked over to Piper and handed her the plaque that had 'Hero of Hawkins' across the top with her Uncles name etched at the bottom. She plastered a fake smile on her face as a photographer snapped a photo for the paper. She held onto it tightly to the plaque as she moved back down the stairs and to her waiting seat.

The moment that you sat down beside him, Billy reached and wrapped his arm around you, before bending down to press a kiss to your temple.

"You did good baby, you did well," Billy whispered.

Piper just nodded her head and kept her head down as her eyes focused on the golden words staring back at her. She could see her face in the shiny metal. But all her mind was focused on was the flashes of her haunted memory that seemed to echo back into her.

"You did this! You did this! You did this!" The ghost screamed in her mind.