𝐃𝐀𝐃𝐃𝐘 𝐈𝐒𝐒𝐔𝐄𝐒 [Stranger Things x Billy Hargrove]

PART II - [season three] - // twenty one //

'It's this stupid hat. I am telling you, it's totally blowing my best feature' - Steve

// THE SUMMER OF 1985 //
(six months later)

Today was the day. My knees were tucked tight to my chest as I stared out through the dirty bus window and watched in anticipation as the scenery slowly began to seem familiar. It was an uneasy sort of feeling to return to Hawkins after so many months away.

The five months had felt more like five years. Five months with no contact to the outside world. Five months without my mother and her abusive boyfriend. Five months without my friends. Five months without alcohol. Five months sober. Five months without Billy. 

That last one had been the hardest. Over the course of those long months in rehab I'd often looked back and wondered if things might've been different had I not pushed Billy away. After the horrific events of last year, it hadn't taken long for me to fall quite literally off the deep end. 

Since I had isolated myself from all of my friends, been too much of a coward to speak to Billy, and with Jesse MIA since the big fight with Billy, things had gotten pretty dark. On one of my especially bad days and after drowning my sorrows in hard liquor, I'd decided to go for a midnight swim at the public pool. If it weren't for a man walking by with his dog who had heard my struggling, I probably would have drowned. 

I didn't have time to tell anybody where I was going before the doctors at the hospital shipped me off to the closest rehab facility, so I could only hope my mother hadn't gone and spun up some wild story. I like to imagine that Steve or Billy had come asking after me, but I wasn't sure how to feel about the possibility of them knowing where I had been this whole time. 

Now as the bus approached my final stop, I found myself feeling more anxious and jittery than I had in a very long time. I couldn't deny that being sober had done wonders for my mental health but I couldn't help but worry about whether or not I could trust myself to stay strong now that I was out. 

Rehab had also been a nice escape from the scary adventures I'd been part of those six months ago. That was another thing I was uneasy about. How much had changed since I had last seen everyone? 

The feeling of the bus coming to a complete stop roused me from my intense inner monologue and I stood up quickly. I stretch my legs gratefully as I grab my bag from the seat beside me and exit the vehicle.