OUTCASTS • Eddie Munson

Drawing Attention

Ellie lay in her bed in shock for a couple of minutes before the smell of burning hit her nose and caused her to move.

She turned her head to the right and noticed her joint laid next to her pillow, still alight burning a hole into her bedsheets. "Shit." She said, no urgency in her voice, as a burn mark on her bed was the last of her worries right now.

She reached blindly towards her bedside table and picked up the half empty glass of water that had been left there since the night before, dumping it onto the joint.

"What a waste of good weed." She mumbled.

The rest of the evening went by slowly, each second feeling like an hour, and her uncles grandfather clock in the hall causing Ellie to flinch every time it struck the hour, reminding her of the sound she heard in her vision.

She had her portable cassette player in her hand, headphones placed on her head, with only one of the speakers on one of her ears, playing Shoot to Thrill over and over again, only moving to rewind the song every time it came to an end.

Her mind raced through what had happened to her over and over, she knew now that this was nothing to do with an illness, she was being preyed upon by some kind of other worldly being. Or at least that's the theory she had come up with.

Due to the fact that her visions in the past had involved her picking up the phone to only hear breathing on the other end, and on one occasion her mother screaming down the phone to her asking "where were you?!", Ellie had come to the conclusion that if she was being haunted, it had something to do with the guilt she felt over what her mother had done. Ms. Kelly may have been on to something, as much as she'd hate to admit it.

At about 4:00 a.m, Ellie fell asleep.

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When she awoke it was to the sound of the front door slamming shut. She could hear her uncle stumbling down the hallway before turning into his room a couple doors down from hers, and then his door was kicked shut behind him.

As annoying at it was when he came in making this much noise, she knew that it was time to get up for school, as coincidentally that was the time he gets in after work.

She sat upright, still wearing the same clothes as yesterday. Her surroundings were how she left them, the soaking wet joint still on her bed. She cringed at the fact that she just left it there like that.

Her hand raised towards her hair, about to comb through it before pain shot through her body. "Ouch" she said, squeezing her eyes to clear her vision before examining her hand.

It was covered in dried blood, cuts and gashes covering her skin on both her palm and the back of her hand. A rather deep cut in between two of her knuckles.

She thought back to punching her way through the glass, and turned her head to look at her window, which was fully intact.

"How the fuck is that possible?" She thought to herself, wincing as she bent her fingers.

As if she needed anymore she proof, she now fully believed that she was in another dimension or world last night.

Red coloured water swirled down the drain in the shower as she carefully washed her hand. The cut in between her knuckle looked like it would need stitches, but there was no way that was happening.

She grabbed a bandage from the medicine cabinet, wrapping it tightly around her palm, and ignoring the fact that it probably wasn't helping in the slightest.

Getting dressed and swinging her bag over her shoulder, she headed for the door, lit cigarette already between her teeth.

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School was a drag. Ellie was playing Shoot to Thrill on repeat in her head, knowing full well if she were to listen through her headphones she would've had them confiscated.

The school was holding an assembly in honour of The Hawkins Tigers making the final in the tournament. Ellie sat watching the cheerleaders doing their dance, hating the vibe that was being created.

Moral and enthusiasm, who needed it? She leaned against the wall at the back of the gym, trying to drown out the cheers as the players made their way onto the court.

"Good morning Hawkins High!" Ellie rolled her eyes as the team captain shouted out, she wasn't sure why she even bothered to come to this pep rally type shit when she could just have easily gone off to smoke. Maybe she found it more comforting knowing she was around people after what happened last night.

Ellie zoned back into what was being said as the team captain spoke to his girlfriend, "Chrissy, I love you babe." He said. Ellie felt the need to gag.

"You know, I think I can speak for all of us when I say, it's been a tough year for Hawkins." The captain spoke, Ellie was unsure of his name, she wasn't sure of the name of many people who went to this school, most of the time she just kept to herself, never talking to people outside of when she absolutely had to in lessons.

"So much loss." He continued. "And sometimes I wonder, how much loss can one community take? In dark days like this, we need something to believe in. So last night, when we were down by ten points at half to Christian Academy, I looked at my team, and I said, think of Jack, think of Melissa, think of Heather, think of Billy."

Ellie's eyes darted towards the team captain, now focusing intently on what he was saying. "How dare you speak his name." She thought.

"Think about our heroic police chief, Jim Hopper. Think about each one of our friends who perished in that fire. What did they die for?" He shouted.

"Don't fucking say it." Ellie thought to herself.

"For us to lose to some crap school?" Ellie clenched her teeth together. "For us to return home with our heads hunt low in defeat? No!" He shouted. "Let's win this game! Let's win this game for them."

Ellie couldn't take anymore. "Fucking bullshit!" She shouted over the crowd.

The gym went silent, everyone turning to look at her, or at least turned towards where the sound was coming from.

Her fist clenched, causing the cuts she had to reopen in places, but she didn't feel the pain, adrenaline running through her veins once again.

"You think they would give a shit if you won or lost a stupid game?" She asked, now walking down the stairs in the gym towards the court, her voice calm, and levelled.

"You really think Chief Hopper would have even known there was a game going on?" She asked, eyebrow raised, focusing solely on the team captain.

You could've heard a pin drop. Everyone was silent, apart from the slight rustles of the cheerleaders pom-poms, only angering Ellie further.

"Do you really think Billy would appreciate his death being used to instigate moral in people he fucking hated?" She asked, trying not to show emotion as she thought of her best friend.

"Fuck you." She told him, flashing him her middle finger, before striding with confidence out of the gym, letting the door slam behind her.