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9 July 1985 Music Shop
Joan had dreamt about that night over and over againwondering if she could have done anything to save anyone. From Billy's mind invasion, she had known that Heather had already been... absorbed gruesomely into the Mind Flayer. She got to watch through Billy's eyes as Heather's body was forced to move forward towards that beast, her bones cracking in unimaginable ways and her skin flaying from the bone as she was murdered to become part of something horrifying. Joan would never forget the little scream she had head in the distant corners of Billy's mind.
What if Joan had just gotten help that night at dinner?
And what if she hadn't ran at the mall that night? Could she have done anything to save at the very least Billy who had apparently fought the monster off?
If he had been strong enough to fight it, why couldn't she have been there to pull him away in the first place or get the kids out of there safely?
Why did she run when things got hard?
All of the coulds, shoulds, and woulds plagued Joan's dreams along with a certain blonde hair freshman with blood dripping from her nose and flashing lights illuminating the horrific face that left an imprint on in her mind. Part of Joan wanted to tell someone that she was from the future for the main reason being that there was something wrong and now that she knew what flashing lights meant...
She needed to get back to 2022 and save her friends.
But first, Joan had decided after waking up one morning dripping in sweat and breathing like she had participated in a marathon that a trip to the local music store was in order. It had been one of the very few shops that managed to stay open through the mall's takeover, struggling to stay up, and thankfully the little shop on the corner lived. Mr. Turner sold instruments, music books, and everything you needed to fix your musical instruments, and would even fix them too. Next to his store was Mr. Davis' record shop, followed by the Family Video store that Robin and Steve worked at.
The Henderson piano was just out of tune and it was driving her insane. It wasn't by much, but she had snapped at Dustin a little too harshly when he had said "it's not a big deal"and she knew what it was like trying to hide tears. It was a big deal for Joan because that was all she could do to calm the feeling of pure anxiety rushing through her veins like a shot of heroin.
The walkman only did so much to placate her emotions.
All she could do was pray that Mr. Turner could tune pianos, knew someone who could, or at the very least had the tools to do so herself. She had only helped her teacher do it once before and that was a few years ago, but fuck it.
