Hypnotized ❀ Steve Harrington

ZERO: an introduction

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3rd pov

"When Josie comes home, so good. She's the pride of the neighborhood" Josie listened to her dad sing as they rode home in his dull 1980's Chevy. 

He held both hands on the slim steering wheel, tapping along to the beat of the Steely Dan song playing through the crackling speakers with his thumbs. His brown uniform hat bobbed up and down as he continued to sing, pointing over to Josie as the song said her name. 

He hid his true emotions well from his daughter, not wanting to worsen the bad day she's already had. Even if he thought she couldn't see through his extravagant act, she could. She always could. 

Josie sat in the passenger seat with all of her body weight leaned onto the cold metal door. She side eyed him, growing beyond annoyed with the attempt to make her smile. She rubbed her eyes with the tops of her fists, trying to get rid of the burning sensation due to how dry they had been. Her face was blotchy and red, displaying her saddened and exhausted state. Without a word she reached into the center console, roaming around with her fingers till she found what she was looking for. She latched onto the small bottle of eye drops, placing one small drop in each eye. She sighed in content, finally feeling some type of comfort.

"Stop, dad" Josie mumbled, finally allowing her voice to unevenly croak out, speaking up for the first time since she got into his truck. She dropped the bottle of eye drops at her feet, allowing it to fall into place beside her dirty converse.

Jim slowed his singing, taking small glances between the road and his daughter, deciding weather or not to give up his cheerful attitude. His smile glumly dropped, returning back to its original grumpy state. He understood her frustration, reaching to turn the song down slightly. He took a deep breath, adjusting his pants at the knees from bunching up due to the excruciating long drive it took to pick her up. His mouth opened and closed as he fought to find the right things to say. He was never good at this part of parenting, he would avoid it as much as he possibly could--usually avoiding a problem till it just goes away while simultaneously hoping Josie somehow learned a lesson or two along the way. 

"You know," He spoke up as his mind was still trying to come up with the right words. He rubbed his jaw with his hand, hoping the sentence would somehow piece itself together along the way, "your mother just took the situation with your sister hard-"

Josie immediately stiffened at his words. She slightly winced before shaking her head back and forth urgently to shut him up. Her eyes clenched shut as she tried to block out his voice, "Dad, stop. No" She begged, trying to end his sentence before he could, "that's no excuse, everyone took 'the situation' hard" She finished, using his own words to slightly mock him. The conversation topic of her younger sister was difficult for the girl in general, but giving any amount of pity to her mother was overdoing it.

He huffed as he looked out his side window, not finding it in himself to continue on with his original thought. He knew the death of Sara was a touchy subject, even for himself. He also knew it was no excuse for Diane's sour behavior toward their oldest daughter. He tried everything he possibly could to hide his arguments with Diane from the kids. He just wished Diane tried as hard as he did.

"Well, you're back home now. You don't have to worry about her anymore." Jim announced. He reached his hand over, gently giving her knee a comforting squeeze. Josie slightly calmed at his words, finally being able to feel a dense weight lift from her shoulders. He was right, she's home again and it felt comforting. 

The past summer she spent with her mother was horrendous. She hadn't spoken to, much less seen the woman since the death of her little sister. The day Sara died in the hospital, she lost her mother too. It took a few weeks for her to finally move out, but those weeks were very straining on the already broken family. The late-night fights got louder, the house grew quieter, and her mother turned colder.