The Harrington Effect

𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙷𝚊𝚛𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚝𝚘𝚗 𝙴𝚏𝚏𝚎𝚌𝚝 | 𝙿𝚛𝚘𝚕𝚘𝚐𝚞𝚎

_____༛༛ᰔ༛༛_____
𝟚𝟙𝕤𝕥 𝔻𝕖𝕔𝕖𝕞𝕓𝕖𝕣 𝟙𝟡𝟠𝟚
ℍ𝕒𝕨𝕜𝕚𝕟𝕤, 𝕀𝕟𝕕𝕚𝕒𝕟𝕟𝕒
_____༛༛ᰔ༛༛_____

𝒞𝒽𝒶𝓇𝓁𝒾ℯ'𝓈 𝒫𝒪𝒱:

Christmas songs were blasting from the radio, the smell of fresh cookies baking in the oven wafted around the house and the laughter of four boys echoed throughout the rooms. Christmas was my favourite time of year and Christmas spirits were high in the Wheelers house.

Their huge Christmas tree with piles of presents underneath, stood proudly in the middle of the living room, surrounded by a bunch of middle-aged men. The fathers of the friend group stood around the tree making lame attempts at Christmas cracker jokes and laughed heartedly at each new twist of boring humour.

The mothers stood around the kitchen; drinking wine, gossiping about other moms from their kids school, stressing about the Christmas dinner and chatting about gifts. Christmas lights were strung about on the beams of wood around the house and fake snow was sprayed against the windows.

The boys that tied these four families together were crowded around the dining room table playing an intense game of 'festive' dungeons and dragons. They were told they had to socialise and not hide away in the basement like they usually did, so they decided to bring the game upstairs. Their dramatic shouts bounced around the walls and travelled into each room with joyful festivities. 

I wasn't part of any of the cheerful groups of people. I had been placed in the unofficial teenager group where we were all sitting in awkward silence. Nancy Wheeler was talking quietly to her friend Barbara on the opposite sofa to me and Jonathan Byers. I had been told that Jonathan was quite an awkward person but I had not expected him to be this awkward. Every time I saw him even glance at me he'd apologise and stare out of the window like he'd personally offended me. After the fourth time of me telling him that it was okay I had given up and just let him do whatever he felt comfortable with - even if it was apologising every ten seconds.

Nancy's younger sister, Holly was currently passed out on my chest and I could feel her dribbling but I didn't have it in me to care right now. I was so bored in this room while everyone else was having fun that even the three year old had fallen asleep on me.

Nancy and Barbara decided to test their luck again and attempt to sneak away up to the safety of Nancy's bedroom. They made it to the bottom of the stairs before Karen Wheelers voice called out to them and stopped them in their tracks.

"Girls, you're not going upstairs. It's Christmas time, you need to be down here with family." Smiled Karen sweetly, she glanced over to me and Jonathan. "Why don't you talk to each other."

"But mommy." Pleaded Nancy. She was shushed by her mother who grabbed her hand and walked her back into the living room. I stifled a laugh at the pained expression on Barbara's face, as if she was gaining a migraine from being forced to try and spark conversation with one of us. Karen gently pushed Nancy to sit back down on the sofa and Barbara begrudgingly followed.

"I can take Holly from you." Smiled Mrs wheeler. I went to protest but she took Holly's sleeping form off me anyway. "Don't be silly Charlie. You didn't come here to babysit."

I faked a smile and then sighed as Karen and my only source of entertainment left the room. My eyes slowly drifted over to Nancy and Barbara and we all smiled awkwardly at each other. Jonathan continued to completely avoid eye contact with us all and sat on the furthest point on the sofa from me.

I went back to aimlessly looking about the room and my eyesight snagged on a certain picture of a younger looking Nancy. She had her hair in two pigtails and she was grinning while she sat on a sled deep in the snow. It sat front and centre on the mantelpiece, showing off the Wheelers picture-perfect Christmas memories.

I felt the corners of my mouth tilt upwards as I glanced from the picture to Nancy. "You look cute in that picture Nancy." I smiled, still looking at a younger Nancy with bright red cheeks from the cold and a massive hat snuggled on her head. Nancy let out an embarrassed laugh.

"I forgot about that picture." She smiled at it and I swear that I could see the memory playing in her eyes. I smiled at her and then everyone went back into silence.

Sometimes life is too awkward to even try.