The Freak of Hawkins High

The Freak of Hawkins High pt 1

My name is Julie Martin. I'm a senior at Hawkins High, class of 1986. I'm a cheerleader and have been since middle school. It used to be that the most exciting thing that happened in Hawkins was when we played a tournament with one of our most heated rival schools. Unfortunately, in recent years, the town has taken a weird turn. There have been dozens of disappearances, gruesome murders that remain unsolved, a mall fire that killed several people, and rumors about Russian spies infiltrating.
I used to think it was the perfect small town to grow up in but now? Now it seems like you're lucky to survive Hawkins, Indiana.

*****

The buzzer sounded and everyone in the gym rose to their feet as Lucas Sinclair, a freshman, threw the basketball toward the goal. I clenched my pompoms as the room went silent. The ball landed on the rim and bounced. I chewed my bottom lip. Another bounce. Then swish.
We all erupted into cheers and whistles as the scoreboard added a point, meaning we had officially won the tournament.
I jumped up and down, clapping and cheering and shaking my pompoms as the basketball team lifted the rookie on their shoulders and chanted his name.
"Lu-cas! Lu-cas!"
****
As the game ended, the spectators began filing out of the gym but the jocks and cheerleaders were chatting and making plans to celebrate.
"You're coming to the party tonight, right, Julie?" My friend Chrissy Cunningham asked me with a smile as I readjusted my ponytail and gathered up my things.
Her boyfriend Jason, a basketball player, was having a party at Benny's old place. I've never been and always hesitated to. Something didn't sit right partying in a place where a man committed suicide.
I gave a weak smile. "Maybe. I don't know." I responded noncommittally.
Chrissy grabbed my hands. "Come on," she pleaded. "It should be fun. Besides, your folks are gone right?" I nodded. "Do you have to babysit Ricky?"
I shook my head. "No, he's at a friend's this weekend."
Not that my parents knew that. They were not as involved as they pretended to be. They had left this morning and would be away for the week for a "let's attempt to rekindle our marriage instead of going to couple's counseling" trip to a ski resort across the Canadian border.
I figured Ricky being at his friend's would mean less time I had to take care of him so when he asked me if he could do a weekend long DnD campaign with parental supervision, I quickly agreed.
"Then you ought to come!" Chrissy smiled. "They'll never know. I've got to do something before but I'll be there later and we can laugh as the guys fail at drinking games. What do you say?"
I shrugged. "Maybe. What are you doing?" I asked so I knew how long to wait in my car before going in. I was terrified to go into that place alone. Honestly, I was more than a little superstitious and tragedy can cause some weird energy to stick around in a place. I wasn't about to walk in there without my friend distracting me with something, anything, other than the fact that a poor man was driven to ending his own life right in that very spot.
Chrissy paled a bit and I was puzzled by the sudden change in her countenance. "I, uh, I'm… just meeting up with a friend beforehand." She gave me a shaky smile and I had a weird feeling. Who was she meeting with? Jason and all of our friends would be at the party.
Surely not a boy…and surely not behind Jason's back? That couldn't be it. That wasn't like Chrissy. But she had been acting really strange lately and whenever I pressed her about the change in her usually sunny demeanor, she just blew it off. Were she and Jason having issues? Why hadn't she told me if that was the case? I'd made it evident I never liked him so it's not like I wouldn't take her side if they split up. Was he hurting her and she didn't know how to break it off? My mind was racing with questions.
"Just…meet me at the party ok?"
"Yeah. Sure. Okay." I said slowly.
Chrissy smiled but it looked forced. "Great! I'll see you then." She leaned in to give me a quick hug, so quick I couldn't even hug her back, and then we trailed behind our squad out of the gym.
Oh, I was definitely going to be following her tonight.
As I was leaving the gym, I got a little swept up in the crowd of lingering spectators, cheerleaders and jocks all hooting and laughing and talking and became disoriented.
"Chrissy?!"
I had lost her.
Damn. That didn't take long.
I spun around and wham! I walked straight into someone, bonking my head on their chest.
"Ooof!"they grunted.
I rubbed my forehead. "Oh, I'm so, so sorry!" I opened my eyes, which had squeezed shut on impact, and was about to say something else until I noticed who I ran into. I almost bit my tongue in surprise as I clamped my mouth shut.
Standing before me, very close to me, was Eddie Munson, repeat senior and known freak of Hawkins High. He was the leader of a Dungeons and Dragons group called Hellfire Club and many people called him a freak - or a devil worshipper, a cult leader, you name it-because of it. My younger brother played so I never really bought into the mass hysteria over it. I'd never played it myself but it just seemed like a silly, geeky game to me. Nothing to get so worked up over.
Still, Eddie could be intimidating. Since he was a repeat senior, he was 20 when the rest of us were 18, like me, or even 17. He was a metalhead with long, messy dark brown hair and bangs. He wore his Hellfire Club tee under a leather jacket and his denim vest covered in buttons and patches of bands today and the skull's snarling face was right at my eye level.
I looked up and Eddie's dark brown eyes met mine. "I'm so sorry." I said again, a tad awkwardly now.
He smiled and I felt relieved. I'm not sure what I expected. I never believed he was a Satanist like everyone else said or anything but he was pretty eccentric and unpredictable. He'd just caused a scene in the cafeteria at lunch today. I had to admit…it was kind of amusing to watch, especially because it riled up Jason.  
"It's all right.''
"I, uh, hope I didn't break your sternum with my hard head." I weakly joked.
He looked amused. "I'm fine. Julie, right?"
I nodded, a little surprised he knew my name. He didn't seem like the type to keep tabs on the 'popular kids'. "Julie Martin. And you're Eddie Munson."
His eyes flew open in exaggerated surprise. "Another cheerleader knows my name? Man. This really could go to my head."
I chuckled for a second before the word 'another' locked itself into my brain. Another? Like…Chrissy? Is.. is Chrissy meeting up with Eddie Munson? Is she cheating on Jason with the person her boyfriend picks on the most? Jason was a certifiable douche to people like Eddie and was always buying into the crazy religious people's delusions about music, movies and hobbies that didn't exclusively consist of hymnals, Billy Graham specials and evangelizing (i.e. screaming at people) on street corners.
"I think almost everyone knows who you are, Eddie Munson." I finally responded, realizing there was an awkward pause and he was looking at me expectantly.
Eddie raised an eyebrow. "Is that so?"
"Well, yeah. You're the notorious DnD club leader." I gave him a smile to soften my words and show him they weren't my thoughts at all. He didn't look convinced so I added, "But it's just a game, right? People are ridiculous. They just like to judge what they don't know and it's stupid that they're so mean to people who like different things. I've never played but, like, what's the big deal with people doing things they like right? My brother likes to play. He's- well, he's actually doing a campaign all weekend- he's in middle school so maybe he'll join Hellfire when he gets older." I babbled then bit my lip so I'd shut up. How embarrassing. I wasn't this awkward around people usually. Quieter, maybe, than the other girls on the squad but certainly not this awkward.
"Mmm." He tapped his finger to his chin thoughtfully and began talking but I was too busy noticing all of the rings on his left hand. A skull, a cross surrounded by four skulls, a pig's head… and then just a plain black watch which seemed very simple in comparison to the other jewelry. He dropped that hand as he continued talking, something about the kids he was leaving his club to when he graduated and suggesting my brother talk to them. My gaze landed on his right hand, thumb hooked into his pocket with a chain dangling from it and other fingers laying flat against the outside of his black jeans. Only a class ring adorned his ring finger and a chain bracelet circled his wrist. And then I realized I was staring at his right hand which was dangerously close to his groin and my cheeks heated as I snapped my head up. I hope he didn't notice.
His raised eyebrow told me he absolutely did. I pointed to his ring. "I was wondering what year was engraved on your class ring, since…" I trailed off.
"Since this is my third senior year?"He finished.
I was really not nailing this interaction.
"Well…yeah." I grimaced. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean-"
He cut me off with a laugh. It was deep and hearty, much like his low voice. "You're about as awkward as a nerd, Martin, you know that?" He smirked down at me. Was my heart rate speeding up?
"You're nothing like I thought." I blurted.
"I get that a lot." Eddie replied, a tad mischievously like he was telling a joke only for himself. The jovial look faded from his face into a more serious expression. "And it seems like you're not the stuck up, airheaded cheerleader type, like people tend to assume."
I held his gaze for a moment. It was like I was in some weird trance. He had an odd magnetic pull to him, unlike anyone else I'd ever met. And judging by the heat in my face spreading down to my neck and across my collarbones and the way my heart rate was speeding up, his odd charm was working. It dawned on me that we were still weirdly close. I hurriedly stepped back and shook my head to clear it.
He cleared his throat. "Well, this unexpected collision has been fun but I have someone I have to meet so I'm gonna go." He brought two fingers to his temple in a casual salute and gave me a slow grin that made my disobedient heart react. "See you around, Martin."
"See you," I echoed. He offered one last smile before heading off to his car. I half sprinted to my own car, fumbling with the keys before finally unlocking my door, sliding in and starting the engine. I casually got into line behind him as the crowd was slowly exiting the parking lot, trying to look as unbothered and natural as I could until I realized it was too dark for him to see into my car anyway.
As we reached a darker road, I shut off my headlights and drove slower, keeping him at least within my visibility. After awhile, I noticed a figure on the side of the road and he pulled over. I slowed waaay down.
The person opened the passenger door and got in quickly. They were still for a moment before Eddie continued driving. After a few moments he pulled into Forest Hills, the local trailer park. I waited for a moment before following suit. I saw Eddie lead a figure into a trailer but was too far away to tell who it was in the dim lighting scattered around the trailer park. I put my car in park and quietly opened the door, leaving it open for now so no one would hear it shut.
I crept up towards the trailer they went into, presumably Eddie's, and looked in the window as covertly as I could. I recognized the figure immediately despite her having her back to me. Standing there in the middle of the trailer talking to Eddie was none other than Chrissy. He was rooting through stuff and then eventually disappeared down the hall into a room. Chrissy stood there for a second, shifting her weight.
I knelt down on the ground for a moment. What was she doing here? Was she really hooking up with him? I hated Jason but at least break up with the prick. And why was she hiding it from me? I thought we were friends.
I was dragged out of my thoughts by Eddie calling her name multiple times. I slowly raised back up and peered into the window again.
She was standing completely rigid and Eddie looked confused as he said her name and then confusion melted into concern as the lights began to flicker. My eyes widened. This was no average light flicker from a, say, power surge. The lights were blinking wildly, making my head ache as flashes filled my vision.
He shook her by the shoulders and tapped her.
"Chrissy, wake up! I don't like this, Chrissy! Wake up!" He kept screaming her name and I was about to walk in there to figure out what the hell was happening when suddenly, as the lights strobed faster, Chrissy began to lift up from the ground, her feet slowly peeling up until they were hovering over the floor. I felt my blood run cold and the hairs on the back of my neck stand straight up and my gut twisted as I watched her rise higher. How?!
I knelt down more to bring her back into view. Eddie had since fallen backward onto the floor, shrieking.
Suddenly, I heard a sickening crack, followed by three more. My stomach lurched and I had to bite my tongue to keep from screaming as my brain caught up to what my eyes were seeing. Chrissy's limbs were snapping in mid air as she floated up against the ceiling of the trailer. After each bone broke, her limbs were jutting out at all the wrong angles and hanging limply from her body. Eddie screamed and I had to press my lips together so tightly my teeth dug into them in order to not join him.
One last snap, presumably her neck, and a weird squelching noise and she fell to the ground in a heap of broken bones, limbs laying in ways you should never have to see on a body and twisted flesh pulled tight around her injuries. Her lifeless head lolled over from the impact and I could see her face in the flickering light. My knees grew wobbly at the sight and bile filled my mouth.
Her jaw was broken, open and twisted to the side in a silent, tortured scream. But her… her eyes. They…were empty, bloody sockets like her eyeballs had melted in her skull. Some liquid seeped from orbits, grazing the tops of her cheekbones.
I squeezed my eyes shut but the image was stuck in my mind. I whimpered and sucked in air, trying to stay grounded, trying to make sense of what…what I just saw.
The trailer door slammed open and Eddie was running like hell to his car. I peered in the window again, hoping, praying that I had hallucinated for a second but Chrissy's empty sockets and dislocated jaw stared back at me. Her chest was completely still. I tried to clear my head, took deep breaths, tried to soothe the nausea churning my stomach into knots. My head spun as it tried to make sense of the situation.
What had happened? I needed answers. I needed to get out of there. I couldn't see her like this. I couldn't stick around for it- whatever it was- to happen to me.