After The Storm - Harringrove

[chapter one]

Warnings: gore[?], angst

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Steve's POV:

July 11th, 1985

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It's been about a week since Billy was put in the hospital. Me and Max seem to be the only ones that care at all. Me and Max visit him about every day since the incident . . . The government is trying to say it's a mall fire. But we know what really happened . . . It's not fair that they get to dismiss everything this other world has done to us.

Will getting kidnapped.

El going missing.

Will getting possessed.

Billy getting possessed.

Billy almost dying.

It's like they just want to torture us. Trying to dismiss our trauma. Trying to make it seem like everything's ok. But it's not. Nothing's ok. It'll never be ok. Not as long as the Upside-Down still exists. It's just gonna be never-ending suffering until they shut down this whole thing. They should've never started it in the first place.

They should've never tried to make superhumans. None of this would've happened. El wouldn't have been taken from her mother. She wouldn't have been used. She wouldn't have opened the gate. The Upside-Down might not have even existed if Dr. Brenner just . . . Didn't exist.

But that's all happened. So there's no stopping what comes next. Let's just hope we're prepared for it.

***

Me and Max are sitting next to Billy's bedside, hoping he wakes up soon. He's been in a coma for about a week.  Max is currently asleep on my shoulder and I've just been sitting here . . . Thinking. About everything. About before this all happened. When Billy and Max arrived in town.

Billy had taken my 'throne' and became King of Hawkins High. After a while, I honestly didn't even care about that title anymore. It was always useless. Got me into nothing but trouble. Always drinking, always smoking, always throwing parties. I honestly thought that's what I was supposed to do as 'king'. And all my friends pressured me into doing it.

"It'll be so much fun!" They said. "You'll be loved forever!" They said. The only reason I wanted the attention from everyone at school was because I never got the attention that I needed at home. It's hard to admit sometimes, but my parents haven't been home since, I don't even know when. I haven't celebrated holidays or birthdays with them since I was 8. Once I turned 8 they decided to leave me with my grandmother. My mom's mom. It was the worst decision they could've ever made.

She always had some shit to say to me. But after a while I able to take care of myself. So my grandma just started leaving me alone all the time. Then she just left. Never walked in the front door again. She moved out. I don't even think my parents knew until they came back home. I was thirteen. I didn't know how to take care of myself. I'd always had someone to make me food. I didn't know how to cook for myself. I almost died from starvation. I think my parents were disappointed that I lived to be honest.