Finding a Way Back Home - Mileven

Chapter One

June 3, 2005

Hawkins, Indiana.

"Brittany, why are we here?" Morgan asked.

"They never tore this place down. So we're sneaking in to see what shit we can snag from 20 years ago!" Brittany exclaimed as they attempted to pry the boards from the shattered windows.

"Didn't you know that a shit ton of people died here?" Sarah was nervous as she spoke.

"Yeah. Everyone thought your grandpa or whatever died here." Brittany snorted.

"M-my grandpa Hopper?" Sarah's eyes were blown wide.

It was strange. Her whole life she wasn't raised as Nancy and Jonathan's child. They were her aunt and uncle. Hopper and his wife Joyce were her grandparents on one side and the other side was her nana and poppa, the Wheelers.

That made her question who exactly her parents were. One side was Hoppers and the other Wheelers. quite bizarre, really. No siblings, and no parents around.

Right at that moment, they were prying open the shattered windows of Starcourt mall. A mall that was opened in the summer of 1985, but closed that very same summer after it "burnt down"

Burnt down remains in quotations as Sarah was told by her family that it didn't really burn down and that they were there and saw what happened. But they never did indeed tell her what truly happened.

Glass shards were crushed under Brittany's adidas as she looked around the place.

What once was an atrium was pulled down, the glass shattered everywhere like something crashed down through the ceiling.

Foot court signs were either still up or had crashed to the ground, or were hanging on by fraying wires.

Scoops Ahoy, Hot Dog On a Stick, Kaufman Shoes, Wicks-n-Sticks, and The Gap.

"Oooh I bet they have cool clothes still in The Gap!" Morgan squealed with glee, dragging the two girls into the store.

Everything was dusty. A mannequin lay on the floor by the displays, clearly knocked over forever ago. The front window shattered. Any pieces still remotely put together were veiny, as if they cracked under pressure.

Morgan was slightly correct. There were indeed still clothes in The Gap. But they weren't necessarily good or cool.

The clothes were extremely colourful. The belts shiny and leather in copious different neon colours.

They had button ups, polos, T-shirts, and dresses galore. Parachute pants, sweatpants, jeans, skinny and wide legged.

Suspenders, hats. Everything you could imagine in one store. It was almost overwhelming.

Some of the clothes were nice. A few tops caught Sarah's eye. One of them was yellow, with black and speckled patterns covering it. It made her nostalgic. She just assumed that was because it was old.

She didn't realize that nostalgia was caused by the fact that her very own mother had worn that shirt years before.

She grabbed the shirt in her hands. Feeling the soft fabric in her hands. She checked for sizes. Finding hers, she decided she would take the shirt. It wasn't technically stealing. Being that the store had shut down years prior.

They left the store behind, Morgan and Brittany ahead of her continuing to explore as she tried to put her finger on why she was feeling so nostalgic all of a sudden.