Crybaby- Eddie Munson

Rainy Closes and Unwanted Guests

Tuesday close shift, if they were a person, Dawn would have taken them and shredded them into pieces, the worst shift, on the worst day. Why was it so bad?  Because on Tuesday, Hawkins High students would come in after their game at the court, feast on burgers, fries and other fried American 'goods', leaving the Dapper Diner covered in smushed fries, greasy tissues and ketchup kissing the tables, leaving that sickly smell of corn syrup and oil lingering in the air. 

Thunder seemed to cackle at her while she started to clean up, the duke box still blaring Bowie , hoping secretly it would make time go faster, she hummed to herself as she swept, anything that would distract her from becoming enraged at the youth, she refused to admit how bitter she could be. Untucking her shirt, untying her hair and throwing her cap on the bar , she took a deep breath, taking a moment to think to herself. How would she get home without disturbing her mom , her moped that slumped outside had only been rusting even more as of late , its olive colour twisting with a blood orange coat of rusting metal. Close shift thoughts, thats what she hated, the quiet of the night, the twilight of Hawkins would leave an eery void for thought. 

and so much could she think of, her past, her present, and how desperately she needed to get out of both, the town, the people, the life itself. You see, Dawn hadn't received the teenage dream she was promised on the TV, in the books and the comics, no homecoming invitations, no parties, and no friends, in a small town, the people are small, if you don't make connections, you don't exist. she was already the laughing stock of her class, having failed all her classes with no friends to show for it , only a large collection of bullies and nicknames. But thats what frustrated her so much, she was smart, intelligent even, before her dad walked out, she was acing her classes, headed straight to early graduation. To put it straight, her future was derailed the moment her father left, and they became the lowest of the Hawkins population.

All of these thoughts encapsulated her, and before she knew it , close had been completed, and the presents, litter and forgotten lip glosses and keys had been thrown into the back room, along with Dawn herself , she sat on the creaky leather recliner that had been dumped outback last month, and adopted as her rest point, she kicked her legs up onto the desk, littered with records, food orders and health and safety reminders, she let out a frustrated groan, rubbing her face with her hands aggressively before slumping them beside her , her eyes bloodshot and glistened , tears were always bordering her eyes, making her sage eyes look even more vibrant. After all she was known as Crybaby, her sensitivity had always been her biggest weakness, her skin too thin, her inability to take a joke, even if it was about her trailer park trash. Only having mutated to anger in recent years, the girl always branded rouged and bruised knuckles, her targets often the backroom of the diner, covered by admin posters whenever the manager actually showed up.

The rain started to slam against the windows, had it not been for the open door and Dawns caution on close shifts, she never would have heard the hushed whispers of what sounded like a man on the shop floor, thats when she remembered she forgot to double check the doors were locked -shit- so much for caution.

Brandishing the residential diner bat, Dawn quickly stood, propping herself into a somewhat 'defensive' position , as she stood just outside of view from the shop floor, where she could hear footsteps approaching slowly, almost as if breaking into a diner at nearly midnight was a casual occurance. Hawkins wasn't exactly free of crime, Will Byers had gone missing a few years back, along with her girl from her own class, Barbara.

Soaking denim came into view, a dark mop of hair covering any face Dawn might have seen, little was absorbed by her as she sprung into action, screaming as she swung her bat as hard as she could, resulting in what could only be described as a shriek from the invader, as they hit the ground, she had caught just around their shoulder with enough force to do some damage. her heart hadn't stopped racing, still screaming as the perp came to face her , a wincing, grimaced face , dark eyes glared up at her , it was a man, around her age , wearing a faded black denim jacket, with what looked like a band shirt underneath, she'd never heard of Hellfire before , but she didn't like them. his hair was drenched, she could tell it was curly, ringlets still visible even when they were dripping.