Home To Hawkins

Chapter 1 - Hell and Highwater

The car was too hot. My ass hurt from sitting on it for too long. I had not missed summer in Hawkins, Indiana. It was always too humid. But I thanked god for AC. I had missed AC. The heat was not the only thing I hadn't missed about Hawkins though. My little brother was already getting on my nerves.

"This is Gold Leader, returning to base. Do you copy? Over." Dustin fiddled with his idiotic walkie talkie set and tried again. "This is Gold Leader, returning to base. Do you copy? Over. I repeat, this is Gold Leader, returning to base. Do you copy? Over." 

I kicked the back of his car seat. "Quit it will you?"

"Vanessa," Mom called over her shoulder, "don't be mean to your brother."

He turned around in his seat and flashed me the bird before saying into his headset, "I repeat, this is goddamn Gold Leader,-"

"Dusty!" Mom interrupted him.

"WHAT?" 

"Relax! For goodness' sake." She sighed.

"I'm in range! They should be answering!"

I rolled my eyes. "Your stupid friends are probably off having fun somewhere, give it a break, you're giving us a headache!"

"Vanessa, what did I just say!" Mom turned her attention back to Dustin. "You've been away a whole month honeybun, maybe they just..."

"Forgot." I interjected. This time Mom didn't tell me off.

Dustin sighed and looked out the window. 

I clicked my walkman back on, just wanting anything to fill my ears other than my brother's incessant whining. I got lucky. Queen was next. 

I want to break free! 

Yeah, Freddie Mercury, me too. Me too. 

The rest of the journey was pretty uneventful, with Dustin only annoying me about three more times before we pulled into the driveway. The trunk was packed full of both our stuff, but it was more mine than Dustin's really. Six years of my life, packed into the back of one car. It didn't look like much really. A lot of it was my music and book collections. Mom had not been pleased that I was bringing it all home with me. She'd wanted me to sell some of it, but I'd absolutely refused. It was partly Julie's anyway, so this was only half of the original collection. She'd got the other half. 

Dustin slammed the passenger door and sprinted to the trunk, wrenching it open and grabbing his backpack and that huge duffel bag, the contents of which he'd been nattering on about nonstop since they'd picked me up from the airport. He was donning Camp Know Where gear head to foot and looked like a bright green hobbit, what with his curly hair and everything. 

"Hey!" I called after him as he dragged his duffel bag inside. "You could at least help!" 

He didn't even reply. I snorted.

"He's just excited to be home." Mom told me, helping me carry a couple of boxes. 

"At least one of us is." I grumbled. 

I had just finished my last trip when I heard a strange noise coming from the living room. I stood in the doorway between the living room and the kitchen and watched as my little brother bent down to inspect a robot, a can of what looked like hairspray in his hand. In fact, it looked like half of his toys were all over the floor. I frowned and looked up to see a group of kids around Dustin's age behind him, holding a banner that read 'Welcome Home Dustin'. I felt a pang of jealousy hit me. He'd been away a month and his friends had made him a banner. I'd been away six years and all I had were forgotten memories.