The Disappearances ➙ Steve Harrington [01]( complete )

viii. deadbeat dad of the year

viii. deadbeat dad of the year

It had just stopped raining when the twins turned onto the street that Lonnie lived on.

Similar looking houses painted the same lined the street on the right side, while cars that looked as though they had been chipped of paint and with enough dents to compare an aluminum can to. Once were parked in front of them against the curb.

She hated seeing Lonnie.

He went downhill after he left them: his hair turned grey, his eyes were always bloodshot and he had gained well over thirty pounds. He never called, only when Will or Jonathan did something that was worth calling for, he never called for Jackie.

The rain had quickly picked back up when Jonathan parked the car across from the busted up house, the paint peeling with the roof tiles falling off from the years of weather tearing it up. The twins ran, with her behind Jonathan, they walked across the road and onto the porch, where they could hear the echoing of a tv blaring from inside the trashed house. Jonathan rose his hand and slapped it against the door multiple times, "Hello?"

No one answered due to the loud volume of the annoying tv, "Hello?"

Suddenly a brunette woman, just slightly older than them, ran from around the corner, "Yeah—" She screeched, the voice immediately ringing familiarity in her ears, and she smiled in annoyance. The girl threw open the door and chewed her gum obnoxiously at the two twins, "Can I help you?" Before Jonathan could answer Jackie stepped forward and smiled, "Hi, is Lonnie around?" She asked as politely as she could muster to the woman in front of her.

"Yeah, he's out back. What do you want?" She spat looking at the girl up and down. She was about to list off a Hell range of insults at the woman before her brother stepped in, "We just want to look around—"

He pushed Jackie forward and went straight into the house as Cynthia screamed, "Hey, what do you think you doing? Hey!"

Jackie turned around and looked at Cynthia up and down, "Funny— I imagined you blonde."

"Excuse me?" She asked crossing her arms with an eyebrow raised. Jackie let out a sigh, "I imagined you blonde—" She paused to smile at the woman, "Cynthia."

Cynthia's eyes filled with familiarity and was about to scream for Lonnie, but the teenager interrupted her, "You know, when you hang up on your boyfriend's daughter—" She paused to look at the framed photo of Jonathan and Jackie, pointing to it, "—you should have the fucking decency to call back, it's called common courtesy."

She turned around and followed the screaming voice of Jonathan, "Will? Hey, Will?" Jonathan went to the door and opened it, looking inside but not finding his little brother.

Just as Jackie and Jonathan made eye contact when he turned around, Lonnie gripped him on the throat and shoved him against the wall. Jackie screamed out a short, 'what the hell' before Jonathan pushed Lonnie off with ease.