Hey guys! Sorry for the issues I've been having with writer's block and general life issues but I am determined to finish this fic no matter how long it takes. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy! (Also sorry for the updates to the story that weren't updates, I was fixing the typos that I didn't notice at first lol) Chapter 24 is already in the works so I hope it won't take me too long. Thanks for your patience.
Note: Please know that I keep money inflation in mind and the prices of things reflect that. Namely, rent in this chapter. I would kill for rent under 500 dollars but for the time and the characters, their rent is rather high for their income.
I do not own Stranger Things
Odette raced back to the trailer park, pulling up to see Eddie, Max, and Steve all waiting nervously on the steps. She'd not even turned off the van by the time Eddie got to the door of the van. He yanked open the door with a thunderous expression on his face. "Why did Henderson just call?!"
She lets out a breath, hugging her arms close to her body before answering "I think Billy just killed his dad"
Eddie's brows shoot up "You didn't go in or anything did you?! If the cops can place you-" He grabs her shoulders but she pushes him off, gnawing at her bottom lip. "No. He made me leave and wouldn't talk about what just happened...I...I think he called the cops himself. Why would he do that?" She whispers the last part to herself, brows furrowed in a tight line.
The Night Before (Hargrove/Mayfield Household)
Supper was still in the oven when the screen door swung open with a creak, announcing Neil's arrival home from work. Max, who was sitting at the kitchen table froze, her fingers no longer turning the pages of her mother's most recent magazine from the grocery check out line. She kept her eyes on the photo of Madonna rather than the man who'd just stepped into the house. The soft click of a turning doorknob narrated his usual routine of putting away his uniform jacket and the thumps of him kicking off his boots. When the door shut back just as quietly Max let out a silent thanks to whoever was watching over them, if he'd come home angry they'd certainly know by now. She returned to the magazine, flipping to an article about the making of Gremlins...mostly about how they made the puppets move on camera. She reached for her glass of ice tea absentmindedly, imagining what it must have been like to puppeteer the little green monsters. A sudden thump and the sound of wheels skidding jolted her eyes up from the magazine. Her mother froze at the sink, the sponge no longer moving over the dishes in the sink.
"Maxine!" Neil's voice thundered from the entrance, his voice surging through the air and killing what little peace had settled. Her mother looked at her for a second with her lips pressed in a thin line. She quickly shook the soap suds from her hands, drying them on the dish towel hanging on the oven handle. "Neil honey...is something wrong?" she calls, Max can see her hands shaking as she slides the towel back through the oven handle. He appears in the doorway, sneering as he holds up Max's skateboard "Why was this in the hallway?" His tone is low, murderous to match his eyes.
Max's mouth went very dry, swallowing nervously as her mind raced, trying to think of a good reason it was in the hallway. "I...I left-"
"She left it in the hallway Neil, I asked her to come help me peel potatoes for dinner and she must have forgotten to put it away." Susan smiled widely "Max honey, go ahead and put it in your bedroom-"
"No." Neil glared at the pair of them "I'm sick of the lack of accountability in this damn house." He holds up the board and glares at the pair of them before pushing past the two red haired women to the back door of the house. He shoved the screen door open and threw the board to the ground, watching it bounce slightly as it hit the concrete of the back patio. He then lifted up his steel toed work boots, grimy from the weeks of dirty work and slammed it down onto the middle of the board. A sickening crack met their ears "Neil!" Susan's voice sounded hoarse with shock at the sudden sound. Neil didn't stop. He brought his boot back up, revealing the thin splinters of wood peaking out through a crack in the middle. He brought his foot back down again and with another harsh crunch the board was broken into two pieces, lying in the miserable rubble of itself, pale splinters being held together by the stickers at the bottom of the board.
Max fought with the tears that were now clouding her vision. She turned on her heel, knocking into the chair with her elbow as she did and sending it tumbling to the floor. "Don't you fucking move." Neil's voice cut her movements short as though she was a puppet with her strings cut. She stayed exactly where she was with her eyes closed, facing the hallway to the bedrooms. She could feel his boots thunking against the linoleum as he approached her. One large calloused hand fell on her shoulder and pulled her roughly around to face him. She cried out as pain shot through her shoulder to her neck but he paid her no mind. "Neil!" Susan gasped again
"No. You, little girl, need to learn to take fucking responsibility. He was leaning down to her level, she could smell the tobacco on his breath, and feel the brutal squeeze of his fingers into the joints of her shoulders. "You're careless, then shit gets broken." Her eyes shoot open at another painful squeeze of her shoulders, her eyes meeting his slightly sunken eyes, dead save for a sadistic glint. "You hear me?"
She nodded mutely, unable to break the gaze.
"Respectful answers are spoken. Now, did you hear me?" His voice had dropped lower, almost gravelly. When she didn't make a sound beyond a dull croak in the back of her throat he shook her hard, a soft cry coming from her again only for him to be startled into releasing her newly bruising flesh. "HEY"
Billy's booming voice had pushed his father to stand bolt upright. "What the hell do you think you were doing?" Billy had stepped into the kitchen, wearing a stained white wife beater and his skin covered in a sheen of sweat from the weights he'd been lifting in his bedroom.
"What did you just say to me?" Neil's mustache twitched, his blue eyes locked on his son's. Billy didn't flinch, instead he stepped forward and pressed a firm hand against Max's shoulder to move her out of the way. Only she was able to feel his nerves, from the very slight shake of his fingers. "I asked what the hell you were doing?" The corners of Billy's lips twitched slightly upward as he felt Max scramble out of his way, to the edge of the kitchen and keeping her back to the doorway. Neil's face was beginning to go very red, he surged forward and managed a smack across Billy's face before he'd moved out of range. Billy's lip slowly reddened as the blood pooled amongst his teeth. But he was grinning, rather mad looking when the blood stained his teeth red.
"Losing your touch old man?" he laughs, hardly noticing when Susan had ushered her daughter out of the room near silently. Neil swung again, closed fist landing on his jaw triumphantly, sending the teen stumbling backwards. Billy briefly recalled Harrington landing one nearly like it on him not so very long ago. He wiped his mouth with his bare arm and clenching his fist and sending it sailing in return and allowing it to deliver a satisfying blow on Neil's eyebrow, his head snapping backwards with the force of it. Neil's teeth bared, as though he'd lunge for Billy's jugular like a wild animal "You ungrateful little-" Neil's words were cut short by the hiss of his wife as she came running into the kitchen. "Will you two stop?! Mrs. Glick next door is listening on her porch!" She pointed out of the back door to where they could just see the glow of her cigarette as the little old woman sat in a rocking chair on her own back deck. Neil grunted and slammed the sliding door to the patio shut and turned to his bloodied son, ignoring the trickle of blood from his own brow.
"Let's just eat dinner Neil, it's almost done!" Susan said with a soft tone, imploring silently for peace. Neil sends Billy an evil glare "Go to your fuckin room, and thank god for nosy old bats."
Back at the Munson/Harrington trailer
Max sat on the couch, munching half heartedly on the grilled cheese Steve had made her while Eddie flipped through the fuzzy channels on the television. "Anything on the news?" Steve asks, flipping the grilled cheese that was currently cooking on the stove. Eddie shook his head, eyebrows furrowed beneath his mop of wild hair "Nothin yet...try the radio?"
Eddie clicked off the television as Steve reached over to the windowsill above the sink, flicking the little radio there on and turning the dial to the Hawkins News Station. The feed fuzzed for a moment, before pulling up a religious newscaster's voice.
Hawkins residents, there's been a tragedy yet again here in Hawkins Indiana.
For a few weeks we thought we'd gain a reprieve in the death toll as we searched for the still missing loved ones of the inexplicable earthquaked that rocked our community. Early this evening one resident Neil Hargrove lost his life. From the surface, paramedics believe he's had a massive heart attack, yet another death to add to the lives lost. May I lead our community, in the prayers for his family, his wife Susan, and their children William and Maxine.
Steve clicked the radio off and looked at the other two. "Heart attack..."
Eddie scoffs a little but spares a look at the redhead on the couch. She didn't look too fazed by his death...but the implications that Billy had killed him...and not in a way that any paramedic would find.
"Angel?!" Steve called out into the hallway towards Odette's open bedroom door. She peaks out, her hair tied up tightly in a messy bun on the top of her head. "Yes?"
"We just heard on the news...his dad's dead...and they're saying it was a heart attack." She pressed her lips into a thin line and padded her way down the hallway, a thick black book in her hands. She shuts the book and places it gingerly on the table, running a hand over Max's arm comfortingly. "I assumed it would be something that could appear...natural." She squeezes past Steve towards the phone hung on the wall "Calling the coven?" Eddie asks, his tone muted as though they were at a funeral.
She nods while dialing the number into the thick plastic buttons. She presses the receiver to her right ear and begins twirling at the cord anxiously. The room was hushed besides the soft sizzling of the pan on the stove while Odette spoke in hushed french to Madame when she'd finally picked up. Steve had saved the grilled cheese from burning, handing it off to Eddie right before she'd finished the call and hung the phone up abruptly. "They're coming soon...they told me to steer clear of Billy until they get here."
"What about me?" Max asks, her fingers clutching her long forgotten grilled cheese. It was going cold but she didn't seem to notice, instead focusing on the older girl before her. "Mom isn't going to let me stay in a trailer with a bunch of teens she doesn't know...not when she's planning a funeral." Max looks at her hands, dropping the sandwich onto her small plate with a sniff "I...I don't-" A sharp knock on the door pulled everyone's focus. Eddie was the first to reach the door and swings it open to reveal the man himself. Billy looked right as rain, his golden curls artfully swept back, his deeply tanned face unmarred by the swollen cuts and bruises that normally stayed after a fight with his old man. He grinned at Eddie with his hands shoved in his jean jacket pockets. "Munson! How ya doin?"
Eddie balks a little, sparing a bewildered glance to Steve before turning back to Billy. "I'm good...sorry to hear about your old man." Billy's smile faltered just a little "Well, he's always had high blood pressure...bound to happen some time you know...is MadMax here?" He asks, not so subtly looking over Eddie's shoulder for her. Eddie stiffens just a little "Why?"
"Eh, her mom's asked me to find her...and I've got this." He leans down to a large brown paper bag and pulls out a shining new skateboard. "My uh...my old man snapped hers the other night."
"I'll let her know if I see her Hargrove." Billy sighs, sparing another look for over Eddie's shoulder. "Deja vu here Munson...Look. I know she's here. I'm not gonna...I'm not gonna make her come with me. But her mom's not doing so hot." Billy holds out the board to Eddie with a grimace "Just give her this and tell her I won't be home tonight. I'm making a trip out to Cali for a couple days...my grandmother is getting a couple days outta the home to come to the funeral..." Eddie took the board, nodding at him "I'll let her know..."
Billy nodded along with him awkwardly for a moment "Well...See ya Madmax!" He calls out over Eddie's shoulder before turning on his heel and heading over to the camero sitting in the gravel drive.
Eddie gripped the skateboard in his long fingers for a moment, watching the curly haired teen get into the driver's seat and light a cigarette. The car pulled away with a plume of smoke floating from his open window, the sounds of gravel crunching beneath his tires playing him out.
Two Days Later
Steve leaned over the edge of the counter at Family Video, drumming his fingers over the counter boredly. He'd not expected this job to be very entertaining...but the silence of the little shop with the music playing only just audibly over the speakers was beginning to be mind numbing. Keith, their manager had been adamant about making sure Steve could handle the oh so delicate job of recommending films to stoned teens and tired moms without Robin who'd vouched for him. But it was a Tuesday morning in the middle of July. Of course it would be a slow day. The soft music was starting to drive him nuts, not loud enough to hear the lyrics but not soft enough to miss the mumbled words. After more than an hour of nothing but that, it was beginning to feel like a buzzing in his brain.
His fingers continued to drum on the counter top, wondering idly if anyone would come in before noon when the telltale sound of thundering metallica announced the arrival of Eddie's van. He watched through the front windows of the store as the silver metal van pulled haphazardly into the lot and park just barely in the space in front of Family Video. He watched with interest as well as growing concern in the back of his head as Eddie got out of the van and rushed into the store, his hair more wild than normal as it stuck out from underneath the black bandana wrapped around the top of his head. He looked over his shoulder before entering the store "Hey Harrington." He grimaces in place of a smile and leans over the counter with his eyes scanning the room briefly "Just you today?"
"Yep. You ok?" He asks, standing up a little straighter. Eddie nods looking a little distracted "Listen...I uh...Chrissy told me something a little concerning when she was over the other night." His fingers are spidering over the stacks of candy on the counter as though they had a mind of their own. Steve's stomach felt like he'd swallowed rocks. "I take it...it was bad...right?" Steve asked, trying hard to be nonchalant.
Eddie's fingers stilled, he swallowed audibly and met Steve's gaze again "Yeah...So uh...someone bought Forest Hills." An anchor dropped into the pit of Steve's stomach, he felt sick. He found himself leaning on the counter and nodding. He didn't know what he was nodding for but he kept on doing it. Drumming has hands on the counter. "Ok. So...how long do we have till we're booted out?"
Eddie shrugged "No clue, she didn't even know who bought it." Steve ran a hand through his hair "What's the rent?"
"250 for the space before water and electric...since Wayne owns the trailer...but we don't have anything that'll move it anymore. So if we got kicked off...we'd be living in your car, my van, and Wayne's truck." Eddie shoved his hands into his pockets with his face stuck in a grimace. "Regretting choosing us commoners now?"
Steve gritted his teeth at the jab but brushed it off as much as he could "No...we'll figure it out. Between me and Wayne we could get a place...not a great place but a place. We could possibly swing the rent on a house with three bedrooms..."
"I'm not exactly sitting on my thumbs Harrington-" Eddie growled leaning forward over the counter on his elbows. Steve sighs inwardly "I know...but we can't exactly report weed earnings as an official income." Steve hisses quietly. He stills his hands on the counter and lets out one long slow breath. "Ok...we don't even know who bought it and why...maybe we'll get lucky and it's just under new management?"
Eddie groans and puts his face in his hands. "God...sorry King Steve, here on earth Lady Luck doesn't visit us often." Hit sits up, shaking his wild curls out of his face and fiddling with his rings tiredly "I haven't told Wayne yet man..."
Steve sighs, turning and grabbing a pile of movies that needed to be rewound. "We'll plan for the worst and hope for the best then. We've got at least a month before anyone can be evicted. So, grab a newspaper from the corner and we'll look for some rentals...and hope we won't need them. Right?"
Eddie nods and lets out a final long suffering sigh. "I'll be back then Harrington...and uh...this stays between us for a while eh?"
Steve's face relaxes just a little "Yeah...no need to worry Wayne and Odette for nothing huh?"
Soon, Steve and Eddie had a small stash of newspapers with ads circled in blue pen locked in Steve's glovebox. Not wanting Wayne to spot them if he had to borrow the van for work or Odette to find them out in the open, so in the glove box they lived. It would only be a few days before the coven re-conviened, this time at the trailer, thankfully during a day where Wayne was taking on extra hours. The witches had arrived in immaculate black Cadillacs, Madame stepping out first. The lot of them were dressed in black, in various styles of course and looking grim. Odette ran out to them, embracing Suki first as Madame looked around the trailer park with a curious expression. Neither Eddie or Steve could quite read it. She didn't look pleased with what she saw...but she didn't look like she was overly disappointed either.
"Where is Billy?" Her thick french accent and deep alto voice boomed through the now quiet park. Odette sniffed a little from her place with her head on Suki's shoulder "He's currently driving to California...picking up his grandmother for the funeral." Madame nodded slowly "So, we have time then."
"What's going to happen to him?" Eddie asked a little trepidatiously, pulling the gazes of them all. Suki looked over to him grimly "It all depends on the trial"
It only took a questioning look from her brother and boyfriend for Odette to clarify "Not a trial for the state...a trial of witches. Every coven is a little different...but murder is frowned upon in nearly every one of them...ours is no different...Billy's committed a murder as far as we know...if he's honest...and if there's just cause there won't be a severe punishment..."
"What's the worst he could get?" Steve asked quietly, suddenly thankful for the absence of their youngest members of the party. Suki looked at him worriedly, as though she thought he'd flip at her answer. "We don't do it often...and only for the worst crimes we can think of...but the very worst we can dish out is burning at the stake."
Silence landed over them like a bomb, Eddie and Steve gaping like fish as the women exchanged quiet looks of fear, fear of what could come in the passing days.
"What's the best he can hope for?" Robin asked, breaking the silence with her gaze locked on Suki. The asian girl looked like she was entranced for one long moment...then two...then three before she answered the other witch "The best he can hope for is a power transfer...he committed a murder and took a life without the go ahead from the coven...so the best we can offer him is to take his power...and give it to another who will use it with kindess and thought."
Eddie shakes his head a little "And how do you decide who gets his power? One of you?"
Madame finally looks to the younger coven members "We cannot take on more power than we currently possess...taking on the power of another witch is harrowing...it will burn from the inside out...and if given to one wrong for his power...or with their own inside them...it will burn through them. They'll be dead in minutes."
"And who's gonna volunteer for that?" Robin asked with a nervous laugh. Suki's dark eyes observed her silently, almost as if she'd been starved for the sight of her. "There's a test...a simple spell to see who would be most able to take on his power...but I wouldn't expect many to volunteer...it would mean tying a piece of their soul to a piece of Billy's..."
Madame clapped her hands together, the crack of it echoing through the nearly empty trailer park. "Enough. We will speak of it if it comes to it...until then there are other matters. "Harmony, Penny, I want the two of you to go seek the widow...speak to her about Billy and his father?...And be sure that the truth is found." The two witches nodded and got back into one of the Cadillacs, Penny being the one to drive them off into the distance.
Madame clicked her tongue, turning on her heel "It is not what I envisioned...Odette dear?" Odette stood a little straighter under the gaze of her mentor "Oui madame?"
She reached out a hand to her with a sad smile "Jai beaucoup de projets pour cet endroit..." Odette took it and cocked her head to the side. Madame casts her eyes onto the two teenage boys staring after Odette. "We cannot have the coven split like it is...so I have bought some space here in Hawkins...to have a second coven home for you all...and of course that will include anyone we hold dear." Her dark eyes glinted at Eddie and Steve with a knowing stare that shook them. "Your uncle, brother, and...suitor are of course welcome."
Odette frowned "Madame...I appreciate the offer but I'm not sure Uncle Wayne will want to leave the park-"
"She's bought the park. That's what you're getting at isn't it?" Eddie asked, leaning against the side of the trailer and allowing his long fingers to play with the little lighter he'd kept safe in his pocket. "What's the catch?"
Madame bristled a little but didn't reply right away, first she released Odette's hand with a pat to it and turning her flashing eyes back to the older teen. "Do you expect to be turned into a toad Mr. Munson?"
Eddie scoffed slightly "No. But I know there's no such thing as a free lunch. You say you want to build us a new home, a home for the coven...but what will happen to us if you tire of non witches? My uncle, me, and Steve are out on our asses? Or do you expect us to pay some new york priced rent-"
"No. I'll be honest, I'd ask for help maintaining the home. Repairs. Lawn mowing. You see, allowing handymen and strangers in to do those things...they're liable to see something they ought not...but you'll not be cheated by a witch. Not one of mine."
The two males looked at one another silently, before Steve shrugged "I...the house won't be finished for a while...what until then?"
Madame pressed her hands together, the long black nails on her dark skinned hands shining in the morning light. "The trailer will remain until there's another suitable place for you, and don't worry about the other residents. They're going to be allowed to keep their lots...the whole park isn't needed for my purposes. But a good fence will be needed...moonlight rituals are best kept private." With that final note she turned to the remaining girls, shouting out in french and watching as they began to unload the remaining Cadillac, pulling out books, herbs, and bags of crystals.