Something Infinite : Steve Harrington x You Series

oo4 • the house that built me *

SOMETHING INFINITE • PART FOUR
T H E  H O U S E  T H A T  B U I L T  M E

 ( content warning: abuse, death of a parent, language, pregnancy )

JULY 12TH, 1966 • INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA
Your aunt Joyce and her sister Ellie – your mom – grew up in Hawkins, Indiana with loving parents, a simple life, but they had everything they needed. They were like built in best friends, sisters sharing a room through high school, keeping secrets and laughter under the sheets even after mom told them to go to sleep. It all felt like it was building to something hopeful, something bigger, until the tractor accident. Your grandfather, Dell Byers, died leaving two daughters and a wife behind and everything felt fractured after that.

Joyce and Ellie's relationship with their mom stuttered and stalled like a truck on the freeway with a flat and instead of turning to each other they ran. Ran in opposite directions from the sting of grief, from the family photos hanging in the hallway, from what had been a false promise of forever. The whole town tried to come together to support your grandmother, Bea, and her daughters, but sometimes things can't be fixed. Bea further retreated into herself, making hermit and Byers synonymous, and the girls both coped very differently.

While Joyce stayed in Hawkins with her boyfriend Lonnie, Ellie wanted nothing to do with it and found escape in the city. Indianapolis was full of things she'd never experienced before and getting lost in the sheer size of it was intoxicating, like a drug, and Ellie went in on it full send.

As separate as they seemed though, the two sisters did finally have one thing in common after a few years. Unplanned, and kept, pregnancies. And while they could again have turned into one another, it was like any kind of contact would reignite the grief again. So they raised their children in parallel, Joyce and Lonnie struggling through everything and Ellie taking care of things on her own.

Joyce grasped at straws, wanted to hold onto what her mom and dad tried to build, happy family, white picket fence, little job at the corner store, but it was far from it. Lonnie was shitty and Ellie knew that before she'd left so she went without a man in her life, instead dumping every fibre of her being into her career. She had propelled herself so far forward into success early on that she didn't want for much, including a partner. Your father was never involved, a lot like Lonnie, but at least it was intentional.

It wasn't until things with Lonnie got worse that the two sisters spoke again. Joyce cracked first and made a phone call offering vulnerability and love and wanting her sister. Ellie almost hung up, but she heard the sadness in her sister's voice. Joyce told her she finally left Lonnie, and Ellie couldn't bring herself to put the receiver back on the hook. They talked regularly after that, and even though Ellie wasn't willing to go back to Hawkins, Joyce did visit Indianapolis a few times with the boys. They were really the only family you knew of.

But growing up without a dad didn't seem weird to you. Normal was just you and your mom when she was around. When she left for work your grandma, your dad's mom, would stay with you, but you didn't feel like you were necessarily missing out on anything until your first sleepover.

Your ex-best friend Samantha York's parents had been picture perfect and despite all the junk food and movies and silly, stupid games you all played all you could do was watch them. The give and take. The shared small smiles.

Love.

After that you didn't want to sleep over anymore and friends felt like a chore for you. The girls were mean and the boys were fine until you got older and all they wanted was to make out in the backseat of their car. So when your cousins visited it was always a nice reprieve, a moment to show Will and Jonathan something new, take them to the skate park, escape from the bullshit. From the popularity contests. And they genuinely cared and god it felt nice. You knew about Lonnie, the boys didn't mind talking about it, and for a while you thought maybe your aunt Joyce would be just as disconnected and aloof as your mom was, but you were wrong.