The Chronicles Of Becoming A Buckley - Max Mayfield

Prologue

September 1984
Hawkins, Indiana
Family Video

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The sun shined through the store windows, shadows casted on the floor from all the posters and signs sitting on the outside to advertise upcoming movies. It was midday by now, a lonely Saturday in the small store. It was surprisingly empty given people tended to shop on days like this when they were free, teenagers especially. Well, not all of them.

Robin Buckley, an 18 year old senior at the Hawkins High School, stood at the front counter of the store flipping through pages of her comic book, music playing through the headphones connected to her Walkman. She should've been taking this free time to study for exams and work on all her missing assignments, but she was too far gone, she knew she had no chance at graduating, given her grades from prior semesters. The best she could do was work her days away and hope for the best next year. Not that there was really a reason for it. School is usually there to prepare you for your future, but there was nothing Robin saw in her future. I mean, what was supposed to do?

What she's already doing of course.

Work, work, and work. There was nothing for her in this world. Nothing to look forward to. No adrenaline. No fun. Just working to live. Yet she can't live because she's stuck working.

She sighed and set her book down having grown tired from reading. Not that there was much that she was really reading. It was mostly speech bubbles and a short paragraph every now and then to give context to the pictures she was looking at.

The teen rubbed her eyes and turned away from the front doors, slipping her headphones off and looking at the tv that sat above her. There was nothing important there, just the same movie trailers and soundtracks playing over and over. They may seem interesting to the common guest, but not when you have to stand there next to the screen, listening to the same thing over and over to the point that it's burned into your memory. There were occasions that the boss would switch to the news, but there was never anything important there either. It was a small town, not a single criminal to be found, no crimes, no accidents, nothing. The biggest thing to ever happen in the town was when Will Byers went missing over a year ago, but nothing, not a single thing after that.

From behind she heard the sound of the front door opening, the chime of the bell above it going off. "Welcome to Family Video." Robin said unenthusiastically. No response came from the visitor, as predicted, no one really cares for a greeting, they were just there for their movies and that was it.

Robin decided she couldn't keep her eyes to the repetitive screen forever and decided she should check in with the customer to make sure everything was going okay, but when she turned she was met with something completely unexpected. At the front, a young red haired girl sat up against a record rack with a skateboard in hand, her eyes full of fear as she tried to catch her breath. She must've been running from someone.

Robin stood there for a moment unsure of what to do. Should she intervene? I mean, something was clearly wrong, and it was just a kid. "Hey." She said, catching the girls attention. "You okay? Is someone looking for you?" The redhead stammered and looked back towards the doors, clearly too distressed to answer. "Here, you can hide over here." Robin said, motioning for her. The girl looked at her then back at the door unsure if she should take the chance. "Hurry."

Finally, with a huff the redhead hurried up from her spot and to the back of the counter. Robin quickly took her arm and guided her to a small space that sat behind the front. "Here, sit right here." She said. The girl didn't hesitate and did so. While she worked to get situated Robin took her skateboard and stuffed it in the closet sitting at the back of the store.