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𝓹𝓻𝓸𝓵𝓸𝓰𝓾𝓮: "𝚢𝚘𝚞'𝚛𝚎𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚘𝚗𝚕𝚢𝚘𝚗𝚎𝚠𝚑𝚘 𝚞𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚜."
╚═════ ∘◦ ミ ☾ ◦∘ ══════╝
hawkins, indiana. circa 1985.
MACKENZIE TATE HAD realized her favorite subject was astronomy on July 4th, 1985.
She remembered that night in the mall — that absolutely horrendous night in the mall. The night that went to shit, the night that Jim Hopper died, the night that Billy Hargrove sacrificed himself to the Mind Flayer to save Eleven. That night left her with trauma, so much trauma, but it had a silver lining, one in the form of stars and planets.
Because that was also the night that she had kissed Will Byers once and for all, and they had finally expressed their deep love for each other.
She remembered how they were looking at each other after their kiss, the screeches of the Mind Flayer fading to a dull noise in the background. It was just Mackenzie and Will, like it had always been, but so much more. The lights inside the mall had shone brighter as a new universe formed, one that was still young, warm, and full of light. Stars came from the freckles on Will's face and planets came from Mackenzie's eyes. The two of them could see that multiple types of galaxies swirling around them with new life. This new universe was begging to be discovered, and Mackenzie and Will had done that.
But suddenly, everything turned dim, like a black hole came and sucked all the light away. Joyce Byers had made the final decision that her family had to leave Hawkins after all the horrible tragedies that had happened to her and her family — especially Will. So they packed up the house that Mackenzie had practically grown up in, and the Byers plus Eleven moved to California. Mackenzie was left standing outside of the empty house, tears in her eyes and the lingering feeling of a kiss on her lips as she watched a second mother, an older brother figure, a girl who had grown to become her sister, and the boy she loved drive away towards The Golden State.
The bruises Billy gave her back in the sauna had long faded, but nothing could heal the bruise in her heart.
It was clear to everyone that Mackenzie was hurting. Without Will by her side, it felt like a piece of her was missing. After all, he basically did take most of her heart with him to California. The small part that was left in Hawkins stayed with her, but she wasn't the girl she used to be. She didn't know who she was without him.
