In which Steve and Summer find themselves in the upside down where their lives, and love for one another, are put to the ultimate test.
EUTHORICSPIDEY | 2022
BOOK 4
STEVE HARRINGTON X OC
FAN FICTION
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
꒰꒰・┄┄・𓆩♡𓆪・┄┄・꒱꒱
"HEY, MOM..." Summer runs her fingers idly across the top of the tombstone, it's cool touch and rough edges course against her skin. There was a heaviness present in her chest that only seems to grow as she buries her knees into the soil. She takes in the memorial that splayed her mother's name, the grooves in which the letters had been engraved with black ink and there's a moment before she notices the semi-wilted flowers that lay just beneath it.
Heaving a sigh, she plucks the flowers from the ground and begins to twirl a petal between her fingers. They weren't fresh like they were when you'd get them from the store, but they were still smooth to the touch and vibrant in color. An array of yellow and orange mixed with white. It was clear that whoever had left them had to of been there within the past week.
Steve stops when he crouches down to join Summer's side, having let her trail on forward when she came across her mother's grave, "Who would've left these?" She turns to him.
"I'm... not sure," He shrugs, a loss as to who it could've been and then seeing the disheartened look in Summer's eyes before continuing, "Someone from the hospital, maybe? She helped a lot of people; it could've been a patient?" This time he plants a hand on her thigh, stretching his fingers back and forth to rub her skin affectionately.
Steve couldn't even begin to imagine how hard it must be to lose a parent so young, and especially in the way that Summer had, to just have them taken from you without any warning, and in such a gruesome way. It's why he agreed to accompany her so willingly when she mentioned it back in the car, and after being gone for so long, he knew it was something that she desperately needed to do.
"I'll give you both a minute," Steve says, pointing to a bench seat a few graves over and ambles his way across the grass, but not before pressing a kiss to the top of her head. Once seated, he raises his hand to give her a small wave, reassuring her that he was only a measly fifteen steps away.
With a deep breath and her fingers now tediously playing with a loose thread on the end of her sleeve, she sets down the flowers and returns her attention to the stone – Helene Bradshaw. 1942 – 1985. Courageous Mother, Friend, and Hero.
While Helene may have been under the guise of the Mind Flayer, it didn't make the last bit any less true. She was more of a hero than most and there was no doubt in Summer's mind of that. She had risked her own health for the sake of others, saving lives on an almost daily basis and putting them before her own needs. She lived so that others could too and, in most ways, Summer was just like her.
It was something Summer wished she had appreciated more when her mother was alive, and the longer she stared at her name, the more daunting it became to find the words to speak. What were you supposed to say to the grave of your deceased mother? Were you meant to just empty your heart out and confess all of the things you should've said but never got the chance to? But mostly, what were you supposed to say to a grave that was empty?
