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"PARKER! WHERE THE FUCK DID YOU PUT MY HEADPHONES?"
"They're right here on the table! Jesus Christ."
"Language, the both of you!" Naya Morrison yelled as she frantically stirred the burning oatmeal on the stove before her.
The mother held a wooden spoon in her right hand so tightly it might have broken into splinters if she wasn't careful, while her left pressed the yellow house phone against her ear. The repetitive dialing tone was enough to make anyone go crazy on a morning like this, bouncing off the corners of her mind with aching symptoms. Today was special. Today had to be good. Today, Marley and her younger sister were beginning their first day at Hawkins High School... Naya's alma mater. Of course, her graduation was almost thirty years prior.
Since then, Hawkins had transformed into a nearly unrecognizable town. It was one plagued with rumors of sacrilegious monstrosities and satanic whispers. The devil waltzed through the streets, some locals claimed. He crept in shadows, hooded and cloaked like a vagabond... searching for his prey. Others found the devil to lie within weaker-minded hosts. Stories of abductions, murder, and intrigue were difficult to ignore as the family settled in Naya's hometown. But Marley, being her usual twisted self, found these rumors to be the most exciting aspect of moving to central Indiana. After all, the Big Apple was where her heart lied.
And she sure as hell resented her mother for pulling her out of school three fourths of the way through her senior year. After everything they'd been through together...
"Marley, c'mon! Breakfast is ready. Get your ass down here!" Naya yelled in the direction of the stairs as she spooned some oatmeal into the two bowls on the kitchen table. "I swear to God, that girl is gonna give me a—"
"Hello?" a tired voice on the other end of the phone questioned in the middle of her complaints.
Naya dropped the spoon and pot mid-pour and pressed the phone tighter against her cheek, jogging over to the living room to flee the noise of her daughters. "Hi! My name is Naya Morrison. I'm just calling..."
Her voice faded away just as Marley clambered down the old wooden steps of their newly-acquired home. She noticed her mom's absence but spotted the long curled cord leading into the other room, so she turned to her little sister. "Hey, squirt. What's for breakfast?"
"What do you think?" Parker muttered, poking the overcooked oats in her bowl with the back of her spoon. "Same thing as always."
Marley tossed her backpack to the floor beside her chair and sat down. She pulled her Walkman out of her jean jacket pocket and tossed it in the open satchel, taking the headphones she had lost (not uncommon for the scatter-brained individual that she was) only to throw them in afterward. She then pulled her braids over her shoulder and began to plate up some oats into her own bowl, sneaking glances at Parker every now and then.
