Content Warning: Includes a suicide attempt and discussion of rape
Chapter Text
Dustin Henderson
As expected, the school board voted unanimously to disregard my complaint, but not before the chairman had given me a condescending lecture about being "respectful." We filed a lawsuit the next day, but there was no injunction so the lessons would go forward while the case awaited trial. The lawyer had told me that it would probably be three or four years before it made it to the Supreme Court, if it even got that far. But in the meantime, I had my tape recorder and access to Nancy and Murray Baumann.
I switched the tape recorder on at the end of Latin class, just before I met Will, Lucas, and Mike at the back of the health classroom. The regular teacher introduced Father Jeff, who I'd never actually seen before. He was friendlier than I expected from a priest, and used a casual tone of voice to introduce himself. For a moment, I was lulled into thinking that he might actually tone down the church doctrines, but once he got into it, it was clear that he was every bit as benighted as the most formal and elderly of priests.
He started out talking about how movies and pop songs and tv shows make casual sex seem fun and consequence-free, but if you have sex with someone who's not a virgin, you might catch an STD from them.
"If you have sex with someone, you're basically having sex with everyone else they've had sex with. So think about that next time a girl 'puts out' for you. If she's going to put out for you, she's probably done it before with some big, sweaty, hairy upperclassman…" The implication was obvious – having sex with a non-virgin was tantamount to homosexuality. And he kept going, about how girls who gave it up outside of marriage were 'dirty' and 'impure.'
Then he started on homosexuality. It was a myth, he claimed, that homosexuality was innate or genetic, because, "we know that homosexuality is unnatural, so it cannot come from nature." Instead, it could be caused by a frigid, overbearing mother or – he looked directly at Will – growing up in a fatherless home. Will was staring straight ahead, his hands balled into fists under the desk. Jake Szczepanski looked back at Will nervously, as if wanting to make sure the inevitable taunts were directed at Will instead of him. He was in luck, as a spitball landed on Will within a couple of minutes. There was an undercurrent of mean-spirited giggling running through the room as Father Jeff continued his lecture, in spite of the regular teacher's best efforts to quell it with shushing and dirty looks.
Father Jeff continued to explain that there was another way a boy could get "mixed up" in homosexuality. Adult homosexuals would seduce young men and boys, who would become tainted and dirty just like girls who put out, and in their confusion, they would be turned gay themselves. "Remember, gays can't reproduce, so they have to recruit."
He finished the hour by acknowledging that "we're all sinners," which I thought would be good evidence for the lawsuit, and instructing us what to do if we did end up getting a girl in trouble – marry her or talk her into giving the baby up for adoption. Finally, he concluded his lecture and the teacher had about five minutes to yell at us for not being 'respectful' during it before the bell rang.
We were blocked from leaving the classroom by Troy, James Dante, and Szczepanski. Without El to protect us, Troy had seen an opportunity to fuck with us.
"Hey Zombie Boy, you trying to 'recruit' anyone this week or are you planning to get 'lost' in the woods again with all your homo friends?"
It was the kind of comment we ordinarily would have brushed off, but for some reason Mike snapped.
"Fuck you!" He lunged at Troy, and it took me, Lucas, and Will using all our strength to hold him back. Troy knew that the three of them were more than a match for the three of us, and continued to taunt us until we were saved, oddly enough, by Greg McCorkle.
"Why the fuck are you assholes blocking the door? I'm going to be late for lunch."
"We're making sure Byers knows not to try any faggot shit with us."
"Shove it up your ass, Pampers."
Greg's invocation of the time El made him piss his pants took the wind out of Troy's sails and he slunk off. Greg stomped off toward the cafeteria, but Mike stomped off in the opposite direction.
"Where are you going?" I called after him.
Mike turned around and snarled "I'm ditching," before walking out the exterior door.
I started after him, but Will put a hand on my shoulder. "Just let him go."
We had to explain to a very irritated El that Mike would not be joining her for lunch – which was ordinarily the highlight of her school day. No one seemed to share my excitement that I had caught Father Jeff blatantly violating the First Amendment, and it seemed like Will knew more than the rest of us about whatever was bugging Mike.
Ordinarily, Jonathan gave me and El a ride home, while Nancy took Max, Lucas, and Erica. Today, Will insisted on going over to let Nancy know what was going on.
"Mike's not here. He ditched."
"Shit! Mom and Dad are going to kill him if they find out."
"He left right after health class. We had that presentation from Father Jeff."
"Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Do you know where he went?"
"I assume back home."
"Turn on your walkies. We'll radio if he isn't home."
Jonathan started driving toward Hopper's cabin, his first stop of the day, but Nancy radioed a few minutes later. "Mike's not here. I'm calling a Code Blue." Code Blue meant someone was in danger, but not because of anything supernatural. "Steve, are you on?"
"I'm here."
"Have you seen him?"
"No, but I can take my break early and do a sweep of the mall."
He wasn't at the mall, or the arcade, or Lucas' house, or my house, or Hopper's cabin.
"Does anyone have an idea where else he might be?" Nancy was beginning to sound frantic.
Will took the walkie. "When I talked to him Saturday morning, he was talking about the quarry."
"We're closer," Jonathan decided, and we sped off toward the quarry, his old car bouncing on the dirt road until we reached the spot where we'd encountered Troy and James two years before.
Mike was standing in the exact same place he'd been when Troy made him jump off the cliff, only this time, he seemed determined to jump of his own accord. Jonathan stopped the car, and Will got out.
"Mike, don't do it!"
Mike turned to look at us, but as soon as he saw El he turned back, and stepped off the edge of the cliff. There was a scream, I'm not sure from who, but I know it was Will who yelled at Eleven.
"Pull him back up! Use your powers!"
Once again, Mike came flying back up over the edge of the cliff, but this time, El kept him hanging in mid-air and the headlights on Jonathan's car turned on spontaneously. She was mad.
"You were going to kill yourself."
"I should have done it a long time ago."
"And leave me?"
"You're better off without me. I would just mess things up for you."
"Mike, every day I wake up scared of going to school, of Angela and Jake and feeling like I have no idea what I'm supposed to be doing. The only way I can make myself go is knowing that you'll be there to protect me, and you were going to leave me when I needed you. I need you, Mike! What was so bad that you were going to abandon me?"
"I'm dirty. I washed and washed and washed but the dirt wouldn't come off, and If I don't do this I'll make you dirty too."
"What are you talking about?" I had to agree with El that Mike wasn't making a whole lot of sense.
"I had sex with someone else. If I fuck you then you'll fuck him too."
Him? I had no idea Mike was gay, or why it would make him suddenly suicidal.
"I don't care if you had someone before me, Mike, and I would never cheat on you. I love you. Do you not love me any more?"
Mike didn't answer, but Will piped up.
"I can explain what happened, if Mike agrees."
Mike nodded his assent.
"Ok, then maybe we can start by putting Mike down," Will suggested. Mike crumpled to the ground and Jonathan pulled him into a tight bear hug, presumably to keep him from making another dash for the cliff.
Will sighed heavily and began his explanation. "Father Jeff, who gave the presentation today, molested Mike – probably raped him." Will glanced over at Mike, who nodded again.
I wanted to puke, and then I wanted to strangle that sick pervert and dump his corpse on the steps of St. Peter's. But El seemed more confused than anything else.
"What does molested mean?"
"It's when an adult makes a kid do sexual stuff with them. It's traumatic…like being in the Upside Down or the stuff with my dad is for me. Something like that will mess with your mind – make you think it's happening all over again when it's not, or that you're responsible for what you did when someone else was controlling you, or that you're something disgusting and evil when you're really a hero. Father Jeff convinced Mike that what he did to Mike made Mike dirty, and that he'd contaminate you if the two of you had sex. It got so twisted that I think Mike thought he was trying to protect you from himself by jumping."
Mike nodded a third time, and El's anger subsided. The headlights turned back off as she walked over to Jonathan and Mike and drew them both into a hug. "I would rather be contaminated by you than not have you." She held the hug for a minute, until Nancy's station wagon turned the corner.
She ran over to Mike. "What the hell happened?"
"He tried to jump," Jonathan answered.
"Jesus Christ. We have to call Hopper."
This finally roused Mike from his stupor. "You promised you'd never tell anyone."
"Mike you tried to fucking kill yourself!" It came out as a panicked shout, and Nancy paused to collect herself a little. "You can't just jump off a cliff and then expect to go back to normal. We have to get you some sort of counseling or something. I have to be sure you're not going to pull something like this again, because I couldn't bear to have that on my conscience."
"Fine," Mike relented, and allowed himself to be bundled into the station wagon for a trip to the police station. Steve had been alerted by Cerebro and met us at the station, but he barely spoke to me before going into the office to talk to Hopper, and it seemed like they were in there forever. I waited, alone, for Steve to come out. Mike and Nancy had left with their parents, and Jonathan had followed Nancy home with Will in tow. Mrs. Sinclair had come to pick up Lucas and Erica a few minutes later. I could have called my mom to come get me, but if she knew anything about what had happened, she would totally freak out. Besides, I needed to talk to Steve.
When he finally got out of Hopper's office, Steve looked surprised to see me.
"Henderson? You're still here?"
"Steve, is Mike going to be okay?"
"I can't promise anything, but I know he has more supportive friends than…than a lot of kids in this situation."