Prologue

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Hawkins, Indiana
October 1984

A BLACK SHINY CAR stopped in front of the small market in the town of Hawkins. The driver looked at the side mirror to see her own reflection staring back at her.

She can see the small tint of fear in her blue eyes before looking at the big building that stood tall far away from her. The fear and uneasiness she felt disappear as soon as her eyes darted at the building that stood so terrifyingly. The fear replaced by hatred and the uneasiness disappeared as the feeling of determination and vengeance surfaced in her chest.

"You are doing the right thing." She assured herself and stepped foot outside of her own car. She looked around for a moment to analyze the small town.

Nothing has changed, at least that's what she thought. Since she was busy running and escaping, she doesn't really have the time to look around the town before she fled to another, literally.

She shook her head out of her thoughts before she turned around and went straight to the market. The bell rang as soon as she entered the door catching the attention of the cashier.

The cashier smiled, ready to greet the customer but stopped as soon as she noticed that she didn't know who this girl is. The girl went straight to the aisle of snacks and snatched everything her arms can handle.

She made a beeline to the cashier and put the armful of snacks to ring them up.

"Do you accept card?" An angelic voice echoed in the quiet market. The cashier snapped back to reality before answering the customer's question.

"Yeah, we accept cards." She said while ringing up what the girl brought with her arms.

"You know, we have baskets in here." The cashier advertised. Noticing the puzzled expression of the girl she quickly added, "for the next time you shop." Then she finished with the smile.

"Oh..." the girl just said, feeling awkward because of the interaction. "Yeah, I was in, ummm, in a hurry." She answered timidly.

"You're not from here are you?" The cashier asked while ringing the last food and getting a big paperbag behind her.

"Excuse me?" The girl questions, following the woman with her gaze, not quite sure if that was an offensive question or a nice one.

"Oh you know, small town. Everybody knows everybody." The woman answered with a motherly smile.

"Oh." The girl smiled in relief that the lady means well, "yeah, I just move here. New scenery for a piece of mind." She chuckles awkwardly, still feeling awkward with the interaction despite the eagerness of the woman to make a simple conversation.

"That's nice. I hope you will like our small town. Is it just you? Where are your parents?" The woman asked to feed her own curiosity of the new resident of Hawkins.

The awkward and timid girl went quiet for a second before answering the question of the woman who's currently packaging the things she brought.

"They died." She answered plainly. The woman stopped packaging before looking up, shocked at the new knowledge.

"But it's fine, I moved on. It's really fine." She answered quickly when she noticed the pity and guilt in the eyes of the woman in front of her.

The cashier just smiled and continues her own work. The woman can't help but feel as if the girl wasn't reassuring the other person but her own self.

"That'll be $21.5," she announced with a smile before accepting the card that the girl gave.

She scanned the card and the receipt quickly went out of the machine before she took it and place it inside of the paperbag and handing back the card.

"I never really introduced myself, how silly of me. My name is Joyce, Joyce Byers. But you can just call me Joyce." The lady named Joyce introduced and gave a smile so motherly it almost make the girl stop what she was planning for the small town. Almost.

The girl reciprocated the smile before introducing herself.

"Naomi. Naomi Scott." She smiled before lifting the paperbag and gave a curt nod indicating it as a goodbye to the lovely cashier.

She went out of the supermarket, stopped, sighed heavily and went straight to her parked car.

Not before causing a little mischief.

She formed a red hue from her hands before releasing it. The camera instantly broke.

-*-

March 1975

The kid sprinted faster, not looking back. She can still hear the shouts of people looking at her. Shouts and flashes of light can be seen and heard in the middle of the night, in the middle of the forest.

Until she stopped when she heard that voice, "002! Come back home now with papa." A shout that caught her attention and weaken her knees, almost pulling her down and collapsing but she stood her ground.

Her eyes started to water as she remembered what happened this morning. She wiped her eyes with her dirty hands as she watched the lights come nearer and nearer, questioning her own options. Until she decided.

"Papa always lie." She whispered breathlessly as tears started falling like waterfall in her electric blue eyes, passing her nose, down to her chin and dropped to the ground, and then she started running.

She knew that all those people will come get her. She doesn't have a chance in running, however, she does have the advantage. She stopped, catching her own breath, closed her eyes and started feeling her surroundings.

As she let herself listened to the howl of the wind, the crunch of the leaves, the shouts of the people, and the beat of her heart.

She felt the vibrations in her chest, almost high as her emotions that she's feeling currently as the tingling sensations spread from her chest to her arms and finally a ball of red light went out of her palm. She closed her eyes, concentrating and guiding her power.

"There!" A shout was heard, almost making her lose focus. Her eyes started glowing red as she pushed herself to the ground making her fly to the sky. When she knows that she's high enough, she looked downwards to see a group of people watching her, but her eyes only looked at the eyes of the person she now hated the most. Papa.

She casted a long final glance before fleeing to another town.

Papa always lie.


-*-
EDITED

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