Season Three Inspired Oneshots~

~Background On Me~

Please note that this is not a oneshot! If you don't want or feel the need to read, that's okay! I'll see you in the next one. :)

When people see me, the first thing they see is the merchandise I'm wearing, the music I listen to, and the little references I make in speaking.

When I refer to merchandise, I am referring to my abundant amount of Stranger Things Merch from Hot Topic. Socks, T-shirts, necklaces, Funko Pops. You name it. People think I just like this show, or love it. But it isn't necessarily that simple. Not at all.

I mean, yeah, I do love the show. But it isn't just me loving a good show. Stranger Things saved my life in a way. In 2018, I hit a very deep point in my mind. So deep I nearly lost myself.

Stranger Things 2 was a few months away from its release when my old friend Katelyn insisted I watch it. I mean, just hearing that it was a horror based drama sparked up my anxiety. Sparked it up enough I couldn't get past the point where Will Byers vanished in the very first episode. She egged me on to watch it for months, and until November of 2017 (weeks after season two was released) I finally gathered up enough courage to watch it with my mom.

I could barely get through seeing the shadowy figure of the Demogorgon as it stalked slowly towards the Byers home. I don't know why my anxiety was so bad. Maybe, perhaps it was a fear of the unknown. No less, I continued on. Making it through that first scary scene was the best thing I ever did. The most courage I had as a cowardly eleven year old. I used that courage and it was the best thing I ever did. 2017 was an excellent year, I finished the series and waited as patiently as one could for the third instalment of the show.

However, 2018 was nowhere near as generously kind to me as 2017 was. Sure, I was 11 turning 12, but it wasn't like I didn't know what lies and betrayal felt like. I wasn't naive. My dad, he broke a promise to me. A promise which to most people on social media won't find that interesting or very compelling. It still mattered a lot to me. Because for once in my life I saw the lying side of him. I'd grown up being 'Daddy's Girl' watching him play video games and sports; loving him as much as I could as a 4 year old. My parents split when I was around 4 or 5. I don't have much recollection of it, though. Only really, loud yelling, and arguments. Those are the only moments truly engraved in my mind.

After he broke his promise, we didn't speak for a month. That was unheard of for my dad and I, we talked practically every single day. But something in me broke. I shut off my communication with him. I didn't answer his calls. My mother and him got into countless fights. It hurt a lot, but it helped shape who I am today. I finally sat down with my dad in May of 2018 to discuss. I didn't shed a tear. I achieved what I wanted, and in that same day, I discovered Stranger Things 3 was going into production.

While away from my dad, that show was everything to me. I watched numerous episodes daily and immersed myself in it. In the cast, too. Watching interviews from late 2017, giggling at the cast antics, falling in love with the dynamic between Mike and Eleven. Everything. From the gorgeous hues of the lights Joyce Byers had strung up in her home to the spectacular closing of the gate. It was all so magical. Every last bit of it. I adored it with my entire being.

End of 2017 and early 2018 I found out what Hot Topic was and let me tell you, you don't wanna give me money and tell me to get whatever I want. I got my first Stranger Things shirt, followed by a few more at Christmas, to what is now a plentiful collection of graphic tees I love. Although I knew all the words to Millie Bobby Brown's Season one 'Recap Rap' it still wasn't as much as it is now. I had other things going for me, like, gaming YouTubers. Pop music, other TV shows. Stranger Things didn't have as much an impact on me then as it does now. In fact, now, it is one of the first things that pops into my friends' heads when they think, what encapsulates Bella?