Raising Hel | a Stranger Things fanfiction

Chapter 1

Timeline check: sets in the night between Friday 21st and Saturday 22nd of March 1986 - between ST4 episodes 1 and 2

*

Hellen squints her eyes to read the names on the mailboxes by the car's ceiling light, finds the one she's looking for and moves her car a little further down Forest Hill trailer park. She steps out and stretches to get rid of the strain of this 8-hour ride from Georgia. Leaving right after class was foolish!

She wanders randomly among the park's lanes, knowing she's at the right place but unsure of how she will find the specific trailer. It's too late – or too early – for anyone to be outside or for her to knock on a random door. Not that she would do that in daylight either. She hopes for a sign, like the van he's driving maybe? But as she walks back up the main lane, she's exhausted and still clueless. She sits back in her car, calling it a night and going back to her hotel. She just needs a minute to rest her legs a little. Her eyes too...

*

Hellen wakes up with a start. She must have fallen asleep in the car because dawn is making her blink as she stares at the man standing by her window. She sits up, shakes her head to clear off her mind and fumbles to get the window down.

– You lost, kiddo? asks the man with a gruff but kind voice.

He looks familiar even though she can't put a name on his white bearded face. After all, she left Hawkins almost five years ago.

– Hi, uh ... Sort of. I was looking for Eddie Munson.

– Looks like he's not home, he says with a glance at his trailer, I can't see his van.

He looks down at her, frowns and asks.

– You're not here for drugs, are you?

– Drugs? N-No! I'm an old friend. From high school.

She gives him a queasy smile, feeling stupid.

– A friend of Eddie's, uh? he asks, doubtful.

She nods. He hesitates then sighs.

– Eddie's my nephew. You can come wait for him on the porch. Have a coffee if you want.

She wants to refuse but the soreness of her body gets the best of her. They walk in an awkward silence toward the trailer, Wayne – she remembers now – grumbles about the door left unlocked and stumbles.

– What in the name of – No, don't come in!

But Hellen has already seen it and her face is frozen in shock.

*

Sitting on the porch of his trailer, Wayne lights up another cigarette and gives a worried glance to the girl that claimed to be Eddie's friend. He wished she'd left before the cops come – Damn, he wishes he'd left her finish her night in her car! – , but she seems too shaken to drive. Since he forced her to step away, she's been staring in the far, her knees clenched against her chest, shaking her head when he asked if she wanted some water. He was glad she did, walking back inside his trailer was not something he was looking forward to. Not with the twisted body of that poor girl lying on the floor...

He only had a glance while he was calling the police, nothing more than the strict necessity. Enough to identify the Hawkins High logo on her cheerleader uniform. Enough to see the broken bones and bloody eyes. What kind of deranged soul could do something like that to a teenage girl? And why here? Wayne takes a long draw from his smoke, wondering why this looks somehow familiar.

Since his nephew's friend declined the cigarettes too, they've been quietly waiting for the cops. When three police cars approach, it lures some neighbors out to see what's going on. Wayne lets out the smoke in a long sigh. He already knows what everybody is going to think. If he has no doubt his nephew didn't kill that girl, he prays nothing bad has happened to him.

He stands to meet the policemen. He's tired from his night shift, but something tells him is not going to get some sleep anytime soon.