Risky Business ｡ Stranger Things

41 : The Goonies

"Come on, come on," Prue muttered as the dial tone died out again. The phone receiver shook in her hand and she gnawed at her bottom lip, waiting for someone, for anyone in the Hargrove house to pick up. The sun was scaling high in the sky the following morning and shadows hung under her eyes that were still fragile from crying last night. She slammed the phone back onto its hook on the kitchen wall, blowing out frustration from her cheeks. She had left a few messages for both Max and Billy, clogging up the Hargrove's message bank, but she hadn't heard a peep from the family. That only provided more proof to Prue that something was wrong, dead wrong. She knew biking over to the Hargrove house was useless because clearly, no one was home. She considered ringing Hopper but she wasn't sure what she would tell him and she still hadn't spoken to her father since he found out she had gone into the Upside Down. Both were keeping their distance: Prue from shame and Sam from anger. Yet the Owens house wasn't that big.

"Between you and your mother, I swear the phone bill is going to be outrageous," Sam humoured out as he moved through the kitchen to pull a beer out of the fridge.

Prue scoffed. "And how many secret calls have you made to the Morgantown Lab or your government pals again?" She leered over her shoulder at her father, trying to conceal her trembling hands: they had been shaking since last night.

Sam sighed, finding no chilled beers in the fridge. In reality, Caroline had tipped them all down the drain as a resentful strike at her husband over indirectly putting their daughter and son in harm's way again. "You're a teenager, Prue. Why can't you just be a teenager?" There was a pleading in his voice, in his eyes. He regretted moving to Hawkins, regretted taking the job at Hawkins National Laboratory. All of this strangeness and trauma that had befallen his family was because he had wanted to further his career, to study a new world. Through the kitchen window, both Prue and Sam could see Grey and the girls playing in the pool freely and happily. Alice had tied a plastic bag around Grey's cast so he could swim. Madison and Cynthia were both pretending to be mermaids and Jackie was lining up for a cannonball. The sun even made the water shimmer with rainbows as the surface rippled with movement: it was a perfect summer scene. "At least your brother is trying to be normal," Sam added with pointed words. Prue didn't have a response to that, but her throat was tight and she wasn't sure if it was from pity or fury. A part of her was desperate for normalcy, for the life she had before the strangeness embedded in Hawkins had invaded her life. Late at night when sleep would abandon her, she would wonder why she couldn't have just been happy with being a cheerleader, with Patrick Turner as a steady boyfriend itching for more from her like the way all boys do. She would wonder why she couldn't have just left the strange world alone. But that just wasn't who Prudence Anna Owens was. She was a girl on the threshold of womanhood that was curious, that had wanted more out of this world so had searched for it in another world and she had found herself in the dark returning to the light with a slice on her cheek and a racing heart that knew anything was possible. She hadn't asked for the strangeness, she had sought it out with flashing eyes and parted lips, a storm brewing inside of her, thunder rolling from her bones and lightning falling from her tongue.

The phone shrieked beside Prue and she hastily turned away from her father, frantically picking it up and pressing it against her ear. Please be Billy. Please be Max, she prayed. Sam settled for a cup of orange juice before moving into his office, picking out a new puzzle.

"Prue, thank god!" Selena Moreno expressed down the line. "Ronnie is with Patrick again and I need advice about an article I wanna pitch to the paper," she added, voice silvery.

Prue's heart dropped but it was nice to hear Selena's familiar and normal voice. "Sure. What's up?"

"Okay, get this," she started as Prue leaned against the wall. "That new girl in town, Jesse Fontana, she was the sole survivor of a serial killing spree at a summer camp. And I kinda wanna do an article about it," Selena explained and her overzealous was colourful.