For Whom The Bell Tolls

TWO.

⸻ ⊹ ⸻

MAY, 1983.

The final curve into Hawkins was long and never ending to Joey. The bike rumbled lowly underneath her, her helmet pulled over her head, sunglasses shielding her eyes from the harsh May sunlight. It was hot as hell, but there was no way she'd go anywhere on a bike without her jacket. So here she was, in eighty-five degree heat, in a leather jacket and jeans. It didn't feel like eighty-five, though, not with the amount of wind she'd been getting from her speeds down the blacktop roads.

The town was quaint, with a small grocery store and theater. There were only three gas stations that she'd seen, a public pool, one high, middle and elementary school. It was a stark contrast from the way Chicago was. Illinois in general was spread out, everything a million miles from the next, but Chicago was all in one spot. It was huge and there were way too many of everything. There were at least four high schools to cover the sheer amount of kids that resided in the city.

Hawkins, she figured, was one of those small-towns where everyone knew everything about everyone else. Josephine pursed her lips at the thought. She didn't want anyone knowing her business, a trait that came with the territory of being a Biker's daughter. She didn't want the old ladies gossiping about who she was and who she was related to while they got their hair crimped and curled. She didn't want the idiot jocks and cheerleaders knowing that all she owned were the clothes on her back and the shoes on her feet when they talked about her in the halls. And they would, because in small towns like these, life's too boring not to.

She pulled into the parking lot of one of the gas stations, not even bothering to take a glimpse at the name, removing her helmet and allowing it to rest on the seat before sauntering straight through the doors. Joey browsed the shelves for a minute, attempting to decide on one particular thing. She settled on a pack of Pall Malls, Juicy Fruit gum and a bottle of water.

The kid at the register was young, maybe only a year or two older than Josephine. "This all for ya?" He questions as he punches the corresponding buttons on the register to ring her up.

"Yeah," she nods, a strand of hair loose from her ponytail hanging down the side of her eye. "Hey, you wouldn't happen to have a Phone book in here, would you?"

"There's one in the phonebooth," he points toward the stall pressed up against the building.

She slides him a five and steps out, muttering a quick Thanks before reaching the doors. Joey flips open the book straight to the 'B' section, muttering the names until she found the one she was looking for. "Baker, Bismarck, Borden. Byers."

Joey finds the address listed, along with the phone number. "Should I call?" It's a question to herself, but she wishes someone were there to answer it for her. If she calls, the woman may not believe her, may hang up on her immediately. But if she shows up on her doorstep like a girl scout, dressed in her mostly-black outfit, looking like the spitting image of her father, she'll be forced to face the truth.

She rips out a blank corner of the page, pulling a pen from her bag to scribble the address down onto it before shoving it into her pocket. Her fingers brush against the polaroid and she gulps, the reality of it all becoming very real very quickly.

Josephine Carson was going to meet her mother for the first time in her life that she could remember.

She pops a stick of Juicy Fruit into her mouth, chewing on it pensively as she truly takes in her surroundings for the first time. She's got no idea where she is in relation to anything else in this town, including 1128 Cherry Lane.