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NINE THIS IS ME TRYING
(I'M HERE IN YOUR DOORWAY)
💀
ESME'S HEART WAS BEATING RAPIDLY against her ribcage as her eyes were locked with Steve Harrington's. He knew something. Esme knew that he knew something. Why else would she feel that terrible urge to talk to him; why else would her gut tell her that he had talked to India yesterday before she disappeared— got taken by the Midnight Man; why else would she feel anything that was connected to Steve Harrington at all if it wasn't important, if he didn't know anything? She only felt things like that when it came to her sisters because of the bond they shared. But Steve? Apart from anger and hatred, she had never felt anything about him...
Steve averted his gaze abruptly to Carol and Tommy H., which brought Esme back to reality. She blinked a few times, then quickly crossed the parking lot. What must Steve think now? She was staring at him for a solid minute, when, normally, she would avoid his gaze at all costs. OK, honestly, she didn't want to know what he was thinking now... Probably that she had a crush on him, or something along those lines, like every other girl at Hawkins High.
She shook her head, discarding those thoughts, and entered the school building. And immediately, everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at her. Esme froze. It was dead silent. No one said anything, there were no whispers heard, no insults thrown her way. Just silence. Suffocating silence. As if the whole world got muted.
Everyone knows, she thought. Everyone knew what had happened, what her dad had done. Allegedly. They all thought that her dad had ... killed himself, that Usher Deverell had decided to leave his family in the worst way possible. But he wouldn't do that, Esme was sure of it. Since Hopper had mentioned the possibility that it might not have been a suicide (although he didn't believe that himself), she couldn't stop thinking about it. The thought had been planted into her brain, and it had already bloomed into doubt and— and hope. Hope that this had not been her dad's choice, that someone had decided for him.
