Home (Jim Hopper)

Chapter 1

Amelia Collins stared at the house in front of her for a final time. It was the first home she lived in alone. Moved in at 21 and now leaving at 40, she had every emotion and memory possible in that house. She'd gone through every sort of life situation a person could imagine, except the one that most would have gone through, having a family. She dug her nails into her palm, trying not to cry again. 

"This was a good decision," she tried to convince herself. "This will be good for me." With one final look she placed her bag into her car, a Jaguar XJ-S, a car that someone like her shouldn't be driving. At least most say she shouldn't be driving. But she could afford it, and she loved driving it around. She enjoyed the surprised looks she got from people when they realised she was the one who was driving it, not specifically because of who she was as a person but because of how she looked; she wasn't a rich man in a suit in his mid-twenties showing off his money, she wasn't a young gun looking to impress their friends. She was just a woman who loved cars and loved looking good while driving around. It also added bonus points with the kids she taught- not that she cared, it was just easier to control them. She had their respect.

The sun was just rising as she started the car, the orange sky illuminated the road she was about to go down, the journey was nine hours long, she wanted to get back to Hawkins before nightfall. With one final glance to the house, she left. She pulled the windows down and blasted her radio out loud, she never really liked her neighbours anyway. Snacks filled most of her car: sweets and chocolates, she was sure she would stop at many service stations to get herself coffees. She did love herself a coffee: mocha, latte, cappuccino- all of them, but a Black Coffee was her guilty pleasure. Her belongings were already in a delivery truck on their way to Hawkins; after she left he had bought a new place, though he hadn't done much with it in the 25 years that he had been there. She got to the motorway, the sun was shining bright. It was coming to the end of the summer but the weather was still beautiful. She rummaged around the glove box for a cassette tape, her cigarette burned, hanging loosely from her lips. The wind rushed through the windows as she sped down the empty road, singing the lyrics loud.

'Cause this is thriller
Thriller night
And no one's gonna save you
From the beast about to strike
You know it's thriller
Thriller night
You're fighting for your life
Inside a killer thriller tonight

Her head bopped throughout the whole journey, every song that came on, she knew all the lyrics, singing them all loudly. She was sad to leave her house but she was far happier to finally go back home. She missed her father, she hadn't been in contact with him for years and she was excited to reunite. The memories she had with him were only good, and it made her wonder why her mother was so persistent to leave when she was a teenager.

The roads starting filling up as hours passed. The sun was at its peak when traffic hit. Amelia groaned loudly- she hoped to miss this, but she obviously did not plan well enough. She picked up her third coffee of the journey and pulled the lid to her lips, taking a sip of it as the traffic slowly moved. The smell of the strong black coffee hit her nose and she relaxed back, remembering all the nights it helped her calm down, helped her unwind when the world was telling her to stay fixed.

A sudden loud beep took her out of her trance. Her head whipped to the left, seeing some men in a car with the hood down, all making eyes at her, wolf-whistling and trying their best to grab her attention. She internally rolled her eyes but gave them a sweet smile. She gave a tip of her hat as she said hi to the men, hoping it to be the end of the conversation.

"That's a real nice car you got their lady!" One of the men called, his southern accent thick as he spoke.

"Why thank you, you also had a very nice car yourself," she replied, her eyes looking back to the road, mentally cursing the traffic for getting her in the situation.