To Hell and Back Again

Chapter Twenty-Eight

It started with Abbie Elstein, just a normal girl who attended Hawkins High. She was a cheerleader, but not one of the very popular ones, just one of the background girls who never really was noticed. She had the high school fame of being able to wear the uniforms but she never had the true cheerleader experience of everyone treating her like royalty. She had a normal day, with the exception of one small thing, someone new talked to her. A small boy with curly hair. She had been partnered with him during an English class. He looked a little nerdy so she was hoping that he would be able to help her with her upcoming midterm. "So it's called the Oxford comma. Some people use it, some do not. If you do use it then it's usually for things like formal papers." The small curly headed boy explained. She watched as he tapped his pen against the table. It made her smile, everything he did made her smile.
"What's your name again?" She asked, interrupting his rant about the Oxford comma.
"Dustin." He extended a hand, she took it with a cheerful smile. She liked the boy, but it wasn't because he was smart or great at English. It was because he was kind. He wasn't like the jocks all her friends were with. He actually cared about her and wanted to help her. Abbie smiled and watched as he pointed out all the mistakes in her rough draft.
"Maybe we could hang out sometime, Dustin." She leaned against the table and smiled over at him. He couldn't help but notice her silky brown hair that fell into her face. Or the way she smiled, her two front teeth sticking out slightly through her lips.
"Uh- um yeah, sure." Dustin looked back down at the paper, trying to hide his smile. He watched as Abbie crossed her legs, letting her skirt slide up her thigh a bit. His eyes darted back to the paper, hoping she wouldn't notice he watched it happen.
"What was wrong with it here?" Abbie's freshly manicured nails pointed at a line Dustin had circled.
"W-well it's um..." He looked down at her long skinny fingers on the paper. His eyes glazed over her jewelry, rings of little stars and flowers. "Those are pretty." He referenced her rings. She raised an eyebrow as she kept her finger on the circled line. "Oh, shit. Sorry. You didn't use correct grammar here." He started explaining the situation of the words. Abbie's eyes were glued to the paper but Dustin's wandered around Abbie's long eyelashes and colorful makeup.
"Will you help me fix it?" Abbie asked innocently. Dustin nodded trying to hide his flushness. He cleared his throat and looked back down at the paper, pulling his eyes away from Abbie's.
"Yeah of course..." He took a second look at Abbie then pulled out another piece of paper to start making suggestions.
"I'll be right back." Abbie's smile enchanted Dustin. He watched as she set down her pencil. She raised her hand, asking the teacher to excuse her. The teacher nodded and she stood to leave the room, making eyes at Dustin as she left the room. He smiled and looked back down at her paper, circling her mistakes in red pen. He was surprised that a cheerleader actually showed interest in him. A cheerleader! Abbie made her way to the edge of the hall, opening the janitors closet slowly, hoping not to draw attention. She snuck in and took a seat in the rickety chair the janitor used to take naps in during his shift. She riffled through her pocket, pulling out a cigarette and a lighter.
Dustin thought about the girl. A senior cheerleader smiled at him. What a day... he thought to himself as he turned to see Lucas staring at him with large eyes. Dustin made a purring noise, the one that made everyone's eyes roll, and winked at Lucas. Lucas scribbled down on a piece of paper, then crumbled it up into a little ball and shot it across the room. Dustin caught the ball in his hands and slowly started to unfold it.
How the hell did you bag Abbie Elstein?
Dustin made a sour face towards Lucas and scribbled under his note. He crumbled it up then tossed it back to Lucas.
She's cuter than Max.
Lucas' face turned red as he glanced at Max who was sitting a couple feet away. Max refused to associate with the idiots who were definitely going to get caught throwing notes back and forth. Dustin lifted his middle finger towards Lucas and stuck out his tongue, turning back around so he was facing forward.
Abbie puffed on her cigarette as she tapped her foot, letting go of all the things bothering her. A small piece of ash fell off the tip of the cigarette, lighting a dry mop on fire. "Shit!" Abbie stood up and started stomping on the small fire with her brand new shoes.
"It's a shame isn't it, Abbie?" A deep sinister voice whispered towards her. "Light the school on fire just like you lit the barn on fire... but it's not your fault right... it's not your fault that there was someone sleeping in the hayloft." The voice continued. Abbie turned around looking for the source. "Did Mr. Plack know that his daughter was in that loft? Did he know it was you who killed her, Abbie?" The voice haunted Abbie as she dropped the cigarette, running out of the janitors closet, trying to escape the voice. "Jennifer Plack is dead, Abbie. All because you dropped your cigarette in the hay. Are you going to kill all these kids with your habits too?" The voice boomed in Abbie's ears. She ran out the giant glass doors to the school. "You can run, Abbie. You can run from your problems Abbie.... But Jennifer will never be able to run from your flames, Abbie..." Abbie tripped over the stairs as she ran towards the football field. She couldn't stop running from the voice. Suddenly, she was running up to the barn. The flames engulfed the large barn as screams echoed towards her. "Listen to the screams, Abbie!" The voice boomed as the barn started to swell in front of her. The smell of burning flesh and cigarettes filled Abbie's sinuses. She covered her mouth in horror as Jennifer's burnt body approached her. "You killed me, Abbie. You never even said sorry..." Jennifer's mouth moved but the voice was the same as the booming one that followed her.
"Leave me alone! Leave me alone!" Abbie screamed as she fell to her knees. Her hands covered her ears as she sobbed uncontrollably.
"How can she leave you alone if you killed her, Abbie? She has every right to haunt you..." the voice responded.
Dustin looked down at Abbie's paper. He looked up at the teacher who was writing on the chalk board for her next class. Dustin's eyes traveled to the clock to see the bell was about to ring. He was worried about where Abbie went but he could only think about the weekend. He had plans to spend the entire weekend over at Steve's house. A movie marathon was in order and he had his eyes set on a nice selection of movies at the Family Video. Dustin glanced over at Lucas, whom was packing all his books back into his bag. Lucas stood and snuck his way over to Max, whispering something to her that made her smile and blush a bit. Dustin groaned and turned back around, watching the door to see if Abbie would come back. The bell rang before she could. Dustin packed up his stuff, leaving Abbie's stuff by her seat. "Where's your girl?" Lucas asked approaching Dustin's seat. Dustin shrugged, looking at her stuff with sad eyes. He grabbed his bag, flinging it over his shoulder and following Lucas and Max out. Max held her skateboard firmly in her hands, her other hand wrapped around Lucas' arm. "So you going to Steve's?" Lucas asked as he started to unlock his bike chain. Dustin got on his bike and flipped up the kick stand.
"I have to stop at the video store first, but yes." Dustin tightened his grasp around his bike handles as an ambulance rolled into the parking lot behind the football field. Lucas and Max immediately noticed the crowds of children on the football field. Dustin and Lucas dropped their bikes as they started running full speed over to the football field.