𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐄𝐋 𝐄𝐘𝐄𝐒, eddie munson

000.

prologue

hellfire

"What about this one?" Vivian held up a dress in the middle of a consignment shop to her best friend Nancy. She studied Nancy's face, searching for an answer as Nancy clearly seemed to be preoccupied while staring at the pink polka dotted fabric. "Nance, it looks just like you, cmon." Vivian finished her sentence with a hint of disappointment as she lowered the hanger down to her side. They had been searching all day for some new wardrobe pieces and while Vivian had finished her shopping, nothing peaked Nancy's interest, which was very unlike her.

"I just- I don't know," Nancy sighed out. "I wouldn't say I'm trying to reinvent myself, but-"

"This is about Steve isn't it?" Vivian cut her off with a hint of annoyance in her voice. She wasn't one to snap at her friends, or anyone for that matter, but Nancy has been hung up on Mr. Hawkins High: Steve Harrington for weeks, yet she refuses to admit it.

"Steve?" Nancy questioned with what she tried to make it sound like, a disgusted tone. "Steve Harrington?" She confirmed, to which Vivian gave her that look. "No, no, I told you I don't want anything to do with Steve, I'm not thinking about Steve." Nancy tried to defend herself, but she too knew that everything that was coming out of her mouth was a fabricated lie.

The girls' conversation was soon interrupted as fits of laughter was heard outside. Nancy and Vivian both turned to look out of the store's window trying to locate where the laughter was coming from. They then turned to each other as if they were confirming that the scene in front of them was actually happening. "Oh my god," Nancy cried out as she witnessed a bunch of kids from school pushing around another until the victim fell on the ground.

Vivian and Nancy both ran up to the big glass window as the kids continued to laugh, poke, and kick a boy who was now pressed against the brick wall under the window. "Is that Jason Carver?" Nancy questioned, recognizing one of the bullies, resulting in a gulp from Vivian next to her.

"And his brother, Johnny." Vivian pointed out another boy among the group bullying whoever was helplessly on the ground. Vivian always had a crush on Johnny Carver. He was a beautiful boy, came from a good family she could only dream of being apart of, and he was someone whom her snobby step mother would approve of. She felt a pain in her chest as she and Nancy stood there, dumbfounded, and she wished that she had the courage to run outside and stop them. But she was too scared of the confrontation and standing up to her crush. She didn't want to see any wrongdoing in his eyes, but looking at him now he was plain evil.

The boys soon ran away in a fit of laughter after they must have felt like the poor victim of their bullying had enough. "Who is that?" Vivian questioned trying to figure out the face of the boy, who looked around their age, as he slowly rose up from the ground, looking around to make sure his enemies were truly gone. She tried to look at his face but all that was capturing her attention was his shirt. It read: Hellfire Club, which made a weird feeling arise in her stomach, an unsettling yet excited, curious feeling.

"I-I don't know." Nancy shook the situation off as the Hellfire boy ran away and she stepped back from the mirror. Vivian watched as he quickly ran and she felt sorry for the boy; a string of empathy. She didn't know what Hellfire meant, but with the way she was programmed to think she wondered what if the boy deserved the bullying he got from the Carver brothers and their friends? Sporting a shirt with those profane words on it sure wasn't a good look in a town like Hawkins. It gave Vivian an eerie feeling and she was a little too hung up on it, yet was too embarrassed to bring it up to Nance, in fear of her wondering why she was so curious about it.

Vivian looked back at her best friend who had shaken the situation right off like it never happened and was was picking up clothes, giving them a quick judge, and putting them back on the rack with a force. Nancy glanced back up at Vivian, feeling the lost presence of her beside her. "Vivi, are you ok?"

"Yeah, yeah," she reassured her, putting a smile back on her face as she rushed over to Nancy's aid. "Why wouldn't I be?"

The two continued their day pretending as if they didn't just witness a full-on attack between their fellow classmates. Vivian tried not to think about it, but every time she closed her eyes the following weeks all she could see was that white shirt with the red devil on it: Hellfire.