George and Nicole Harper had never had an easy life. From one set of divorced parents to another, these half siblings have had it tough.
Ever since their mother, Naomi, split from George's father and forced them to move from England back to her hom...
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It was nightfall by the time they had driven from the airport all the way to the small town of Hawkins, Indiana. But they took no time in removing boxes from the removal van. They'd only paid enough for another two hours and they had a hell of a lot of boxes to shift. They couldn't afford to waste a single second.
Nicole Harper hopped out of her car. She'd protested with her mum for four days straight before they'd moved from London. It was a hassle getting the right paper work signed to move her car from Britain to America and make it road legal but she'd worn her mum down as well as the government and here she was now with her beloved, if slightly run down, car in a strange and foreign country.
Her mum wasn't as pleased. Nicole's mother, Naomi was perched on the hood of her own car, facing away from Nicole and her brother, George. Nicole saw the familiar orange glow of a cigarette at her lips. Nicole sighed. If her mum was smoking, she wasn't going to stop for a long few minutes. It looked like she and her younger brother were moving the boxes on their own.
Nicole threw open the back of the van revealing towers of boxes. The van was completely packed. She looked down at her brother who looked up equally defeated. They both knew they were going to be there for the best part of the night. After the move and long drive, all they wanted to do was sleep. As of yet, they didn't even have a bed to sleep in. It was all packed up in the van.
"Better get started, eh?" Nicole sighed and smiled a weak, crooked smile at George who looked up at her defeatedly.
George hopped up into the van with a leg up from his sister and hopped back down again, eagerly clutching a box messily marked 'George's Toys'. Nicole smiled at his childish eagerness. George had recently turned twelve and Nicole loved the way he had clung onto his childlike naivety and love. But the other kids at school back in England hadn't had the same opinion. She only hoped there would be other kids at their new school in Hawkins would be like him.
Nicole herself jumped down from the van with a box marked 'Kitchen'. George was waiting on the porch and Nicole fumbled with the keys to their new house. George ran in eagerly. Nicole lingered on the doorstep, watching her mum smoking and not giving them a second glance. She was kidding herself if she thought their move to America would change anything.
On her way to the kitchen, Nicole passed her brother's new bedroom. She knew it was his as he had immediately chosen the second biggest room (not wanting to anger their mum when she realised she hadn't got the biggest) and was making noises as he made each of his toys fly out of the box. She smiled to herself and lingered, taking in the peaceful innocence before their mum kicked off. It was only a matter of time.
Nicole didn't look up from the box of kitchen supplies as she heard Naomi enter. She stopped in the hallway, fiddling with the phone to try and get it to work. Naomi barely looked up at Nicole as she passed her, on the way to retrieve another box from the van. On her return to the house, Naomi looked up and caught the disapproving look on her daughter's face.
"A woman's got to establish her social life." Naomi reasoned with a fake smile plastered on her dark red lips.
"And a mum's got to raise her kids." Nicole replied under her breath, only daring to utter the words when she knew she was out of her mum's earshot.
"George!" Naomi belted making Nicole jump and drop a fork. It clattered to the ground, as did George's toys, "You'd better not just be playing with those toys! There's still at least twenty boxes left in that van and we've only paid for the van for another hour. Get moving!"
Nicole rolled her eyes at her mum as she passed through the hall again, joining her brother who sheepishly emerged from his bedroom. Nicole gently ruffled George's hair and the usual smile returned to his face.
"Come on, let's finish unloading. We've already been allowed to hit the arcade while mum stopped for petrol so we'd better get a move on." Nicole coaxed, "Once we're done, I'll come and play with you." She bargained, a sly smile on her lips as she cocked her hips and folded her bony arms. George's face lit up and he nodded enthusiastically. He practically raced Nicole out to the van.
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