it's the summer of 1985! and it's shaping up to be a hot one.
with the opening of starcourt mall, it seems like things are finally looking up for owen webb and her group of friends. summer jobs, late night swims, a budding romance, and tons of ice...
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𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐃 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐓 : 4.0k
☆゜·。。·゜゜·。。·゜★
𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐂𝐊, 𝐒𝐇𝐀𝐃𝐎𝐖𝐘 𝐓𝐑𝐄𝐄𝐒 𝐙𝐎𝐎𝐌𝐄𝐃 𝐏𝐀𝐒𝐓 both sides of Diana's Ford Pinto as it rumbled down one of Indiana's dark country roads. With Hawkins High closed for the summer, the young teacher had decided to take advantage of all of the free time she suddenly had. The local community college was offering night classes for a reduced cost, so Diana enrolled for a couple administrative courses a couple nights a week. It seemed like a pretty good investment, as a two-year degree of some sort might make her a promising candidate for vice principal in a couple years.
She was nearly in town, just past Brimborn Steel Works, when she spotted something out of the ordinary. A car was pulled just off the side of the road, in front of a phone booth and still running. Diana's foot pressed lightly against the brake, slowing to get a better look at the parked car. As soon as she noticed the smoke drifting from the hood of the car, she carefully swerved to park on the opposite side of the payphone to make sure the driver was alright.
Once she was out of her car, she was able to get a better look at the vehicle. It was bright blue and pretty fancy, worth more than anything she could afford — even with the huge crack in the front window. Diana couldn't help but feel as though she recognized the car, though, like she had seen it somewhere before. Not that that was exceptionally helpful; she had probably seen every car in their tiny little town at least once.
But when she walked around the back of the car and saw the California plate, she was suddenly able to visualize the owner's face in her mind. She recalled having seen the car in the high school's parking lot many times while she was on morning duty. It belonged to Billy Hargrove, the troubled transfer student from California. He had just graduated in the spring, but it was hard to forget a car like that. It certainly stood out amongst all of the low-budget beaters most teenagers drove.
The sudden flickering light inside of the phone booth caught Diana's attention from over the top of the Chevy. The last thing she expected to see with the sudden illumination was a pair of eyes blankly staring right at her through the glass. She froze in place, unable to identify the other person through the bright flashes of light. But everything quickly pieced together in her racing mind.
It was Billy, of course, likely making a call to the police station after getting in an accident.
God, she had probably scared him as much as he scared her.
With a calming hand placed on her thudding heart, Diana walked around the car again in hopes of apologizing for catching him off guard. But when she arrived at the door to the phone booth, it was clear that something was very wrong with Billy.
Beneath the flickering fluorescent light, Diana was able to see the dirt that coated every visible inch of the boy's skin. A large gash across his forehead was actively dribbling blood down his temple. The long curls of his hair were tangled and damp with a mixture of sweat and... something else. Something thicker, stickier than sweat.
