and we can be heroes..
...just for one day.
In which whilst trying to bring some normality back to her mundane life in Hawkins, a sarcastic babysitter finds herself plunged deep into a world in which her 'cursed' town seriously begins to live up to...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
TWO - IN THE SHADOWS
"WILL BYERS IS MISSING"
That was it. A full sentence that caused her heart to jerk right out of her chest.
Cassandra sucked in a shaky breath, eyes trained on the headstone before her. Her knee bounced in anxiety, legs crossed over one and other.
"I don't know, dad."
In many ways, this particular plot in Hawkins Cemetery had become her safe space, her father's name carved delicately into the concrete. They never found a body, but just about everyone in the miserable Indiana town knew one of their finest Sheriff's deputies was long gone, his grave but a place of memorial.
It took them weeks to find anything, a lead, some evidence, but for a while, the dull town shared a sense of hope for their friend. That was until, the police department recovered a shirt, stained in blood by the Quarry, with a trail that only really led to one conclusion. Animal attack, according to the 'staties', Deputy Cohen was presumed dead, and his three surviving family members left to deal with the repercussions.
"Will is a good kid. You know that. I've reached out to Johnny but...If I'm honest, I have this god awful feeling." The Cohen gulped, cautiously eyeing the burial grounds for any listeners. She seemed safe, by now, even the sun had passed, choosing not to listen into her secret thoughts.
"I just- I feel like something is wrong. Like, really wrong. Nothings been the same since you died, dad. And- I wanna find Will, I really do-" She sniffled, wiping a stray tear from her cheek. "But, if you didn't make it out there, what chance does a twelve year old have? God it's stupid, I know. I just miss you like hell...I was thinking about handing your research over to Jim, maybe they could finish it?"
Cassandra paused the tape on her Walkman, although the headphone was only covering one ear. The excessive rustling by the bushes caught her attention. She squinted her eyes to see in the darkness, but nothing seemed to be there. The girl gulped, changing the subject out of paranoia. "Anyway, I uh, I picked up a job at the RadioShack when I'm not at the Sinclair's, you know, to help mom out with the bills. She's really struggling, but I think I'll keep checking on Johnny...Losing you was by far the worst experience ever, and if I can help him even a little, it's worth it. And I think you'd agree, especially since Steve and his clique are just as insufferable as they were last fall, I think he might need someone looking out for him-"
The rustling continued, cutting the girl off from her speech. In a swift move, she raised shakily to her feet, staring into the darkness praying it was nothing but a wild animal. "Hello?"
No one answered.
Cassandra Cohen was struggling to determine imagination from reality, her breath hitched in her throat at what she saw.
A humanoid figure, that easily towered over her in stature, but it wasn't a groundskeeper, something was off about it. It seemed to take a slow step forward, a squelching sound replaced that of a normal footstep, in-human growls eliciting from the same direction.
