#we are what mike and nancy could become if they had more emotional intelligence

[bylertruther]

I’m not trying to argue I’m actually asking here but Nancy also got the “can’t say I love you” storyline w Steve though didn’t she? in her case she was physically attracted to Steve and actually liked him romantically but just wasn’t in love with him. Couldn’t that be the case for Mike too? I think we all know he’s not actually in love with El but that doesn’t mean he never even had a crush on her.

you're being friendly and respectful, so i don't take this as you trying to argue. don't fret!

nancy did, but does everything have to be the exact same? even the parallels that we do have when it comes to relationships are similar but not exact. what brought mike and el together is also vastly different from what brought steve and nancy together—the nature of their relationships and their approaches to romance are even more dissimilar as well.

either way, that could totally be the case for mike. i prefer gay mike because i feel it especially represents the story of many who have battled with heteronormativity, denial, and the inner turmoil that causes, but i'd be happy with him being any flavor of lgbt.

"the first i love you" playing while el kisses him and tells him she loves him in front of an open closet as he plays clueless and frozen, as well as the one way sign and how he becomes a "shitty knockoff" in lenora, the mention of sodomy in eddie's speech, how he never once has said ily, how he's always likening her to family even in the first time he said ily, how he calls her superMAN, how he can't list anything about her actual personality when talking about her and what he likes about her all make me feel like .... idk. it's deeper than just not loving someone like that. if he had a crush on her, why can't he say anything about her? why is it always about her powers? why does she have to be superior? why is he paralleled to her parental figures CONSTANTLY? why does he tell her she'd be his sister in s1? why is it that he IS good at communicating his emotions and conflict resolution, but only when it comes to will? why is he only capable of doing everything that people push him to do for el when it comes to will? why is it so effortless with will but it's pulling teeth and superficial when it comes to her? if the point is that he does like her like that, but he just doesn't love her? why does he feel like he'd lose her if the issue is that he does like her, but he just doesn't love her yet or feel ready to say it YET? why is he so scared that they won't even be able to be friends anymore if they already HAVE broken up and it's not like they became mortal enemies after?

like yeah he said it's because he was afraid that day would hurt more, but why can't he be emotionally available with her anyway? why are their scenes always/usually lighthearted compared to byler's romantic and serious tone? why do they never have a genuine and emotional heart to heart or a serious conversation if they do like each other but don't love each other?

like. where is the real deal serious romance. it's not like mike was incapable of that, because season three shows him, as i said, doing everything right with will but not with her. he does have the capacity and the intelligence, he just doesn't show that with her. and it's like... if he does like her like that... why not show it? in a serious way, not just making out in your room from dusk till dawn but never actually talking to each other? why is he a shitty knockoff and not being himself? why is HE the one always facing homophobic comments directly that are specifically aimed at homosexual men?

mike can be anything and we won't know for a while, but i just see a lot of myself reflected in him and i know that his experience is especially realistic for many men and women out there, especially those that lived in his era in such a conservative place and family. when i say i prefer gay mike, i'm not making a statement that everyone else is dumb and wrong for not agreeing. that's just what i think, because they could've played the "i genuinely like her romantically As A Person And Individual" much better than they did in s4 but they didn't. again, i don't care at the end of the day as long as he isn't straight lol. we can all think whatever we want, we should just be wary of the things that we say and use as support for our headcanons or speculation.

[hawkinsschoolcounselor]

Love your post about Jonathan "parentified"! Do you think this applies for the rest? What about Nancy? She is despicted on s1 as the aloof big sis, but she is clearly more into protecting Mike that he is in her (Holly doesn'tcount). What about Lucas, he ever has been "the big brother" or enjoyed time with Erica? What about Billy? He was awful, but the parents assigned him as Max's chofer and leave him in charge for a full week, do you think Max knows he's being abused or her actions affects him?

I think Stranger Things has gone to lengths to show a continuum of family/sibling relationships. I wouldn’t say any of the other older siblings show parentification. I think Nancy and Steve simply show the typical older sibling responsibility, and they each react to it in accordance with their respective personality.

Nancy talks a big game about wanting to have a better relationship, but she doesn’t really do a lot to make it happen. This goes along with her general tendency to want to accomplish something (reveal the truth about Barb, avoid her mother’s mistakes, be a good reporter) while making mistakes that ruin her chances. She does want a good relationship with Mike, but generally does things to push him away. Mike does care about her, as seen when he adamantly refuses to “prostitute” her to Keith, but we’ve seen that Mike is often uncomfortable with his emotions. They both suffer from being part of a supposedly model family, but one that struggles to show affection.

Billy’s entire worldview had been warped by his dad. This isn’t an attempt to excuse his behavior, but context is important when considering someone’s behavior. I do think that Billy felt a real desire to take care of Max, but the only way he knew to do it was in an abusive manner, similar to how his father had treated him and his mother. To him, fear is what kept you safe. Keeping Max in line with fear was a twisted attempt to keep her safe. None of this excuses what Billy did, but it’s still important to keep in mind. Few people are genuinely what many would consider “evil” in that they get pleasure from harming others. It’s a twisted cycle where the victim becomes an abuser. Max is aware of this, and she actively wants to avoid continuing the cycle. It’s tragic, but Billy dying while showing a glimpse of his long-buried good side could end up being what allows Max to see it’s not inevitable that she’ll become like him. She can be herself and not live in fear of some sort of retribution. She may have to deal with Neil next season though, so her days of fear may not be over just yet. She may not have known of Billy’s own history of abuse, but she does now, and it may slightly change how she remembers him.

Lucas and Erica are a bit harder to work with. Lucas isn’t really old enough to be in a position of responsibility towards Erica, and she is the stereotypical precocious TV little sister. Their dynamic is mostly defined by their harmless, but constant. bickering. We also don’t get to see a lot of their greater family dynamic beyond a couple scenes in season 2. They do seem to have a similar age difference to the other sibling pairs, though. The Duffers may want us to compare them to the others. They’re both intelligent and proud. I think they care about each other, and they’ll show it in Season 4, but they’ll refuse to admit it.

Sibling relationships, and family relationships in general, seem to be very central to the Stranger Things story. One could even include Dustin & Steve in this as siblings who chose each other instead of being born into it.

[serendipitous-magic]

My Initial Rant - Warning, Spoilers!!!!

No, seriously, SO MANY SPOILERS. OKAY? This is your warning.

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For real, look away now.

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Okay, my main problem with this trainwreck of a season? It completely lost touch with the emotional aspects of the story. Like... entirely.

There was a plot there, but a) it didn’t address like... anything that they set up in the first two seasons, emotionally, and the plot felt more like a cheesy, over-the-top comedy/action/adventure/??? than anything else, and b) it was not character driven at all. The plot just kind of happened to the characters

Moreover, the first two seasons felt like they were about real people. Season 3 felt like it was about characters. Empty, one-dimensional characters. Every single character was reduced to a cheap caricature of themselves - and I mean every one. I’m not sure I can think of a single moment that felt emotionally complex or even in-character. The writing of seasons 1 and 2 felt like we were hearing and seeing real people talking and reacting to things and relating to one another - this season felt like every single line was from a bad B-list movie. I mean, the actors did the best they could with what they had, I’m sure, but... The writing did not sound like real people. It sounded like the characters were just being fed cheesy, over-used lines that would further the (action-and-drama-driven, paper thin) plot.

They reduced Hop to a bumbling moron who doesn’t even act like a cop, much less his real self. I mean, really, who in the fucking hell is this new character? I don’t know him. He’s just an alcoholic who stumbles around saying, “I’m the chief of police, I can do anything I want,” punching people and being a fucking dick to Joyce.

They reduced Joyce to just... yelling. Like, her character just became this somewhat headstrong woman that yells. No complexity. No character at all, really. She’s barely even seen trying to take care of her kids except for saying, “Our kids are in danger!” once or twice. Who. The fuck. Is this?? Where’s Joyce Byers? Because I don’t know this woman who looks like her.

They reduced Will to a non-entity with maybe half a relevant moment. He just becomes an evil-barometer, and that’s about it. He’s the main fucking character. And we get a single scene that’s actually about him, it never gets closure, and after that he’s shuffled over to the sidelines.

They reduced Mike to a jerk. Like he’s just a walking stereotype of a teenage guy. Like, I see none of Mike’s character in this season. Where’s his kindness and empathy? His earnestness? His leadership? His nerdiness? His (relative) emotional intelligence? His intelligence? His loyalty? His relationship with Will (and that’s even besides being shippy - like, the first two seasons hinged on Mike being very close to Will, and them being best friends since they were five, and Mike being determined to get Will back and then keep him safe, and now it’s like... Do they even know each other? At all? They seem like vague acquaintances.)

I think they might have forgotten about El’s backstory and personality entirely. The only good thing I can say for her in this season is that she did get her character arc of going out in the world and establishing her own personality more, outside of the lab or the cabin or her boyfriend. But aside from that arc, in this season it was like she was just a magic bullet. They reduced her to her powers. She slammed shit around with her mind for a while and went into the Void and like... giggled with Max? And don’t get me wrong, I really appreciated the Elmax content, but it just seemed like it was not earned in the slightest. She did not feel like the same character. (Like all the other characters tbh.)

And that’s not even to get into all the other characters that just kind of moved around like puppets on a stage depending on what the plot required of them, who got, like nothing as far as actual character content or arcs. (Nancy, Jonathan, Steve, Dustin, Lucas...)

And speaking of plot? Nothing felt deserved. Nothing felt built-up-to or significant. The characters got beaten up and thrown around a lot (seriously, there was a lot of violence in this season, and all of it felt very unnecessary and artificial), but none of it really... Meant anything? Like, Steve gets the crap beaten out of him and almost tortured by Russians (??? why the Russians. Why. Whyyyyy.), Jonathan gets the crap beaten out of him by the not-zombies, Nancy gets beaten up and thrown against a wall by the not-zombies, El gets choked, B*lly gets hurled around a fair amount, Hop both takes and deals a fair amount of violence (apparently for no reason??? like none of it really makes sense)... But none of the action or violence really seemed to have a reason or meaning beyond just “look, action!!” It didn’t mean anything beyond just moving the plot forward to the next shock-factor scene.

Why was the Party never together?? Like, ever. I think they had like two scenes where the Party actually had plots that touched at all. Other than that it was like they were just off doing their own thing in like 3 or 4 completely separate stories. We didn’t get any moments of them crossing paths, really, in the organic way that stitched together the interweaving plots of seasons 1 and 2. 

They treated women like shit in this season??? What the actual fuck. And not just the season, but the characters treat each other like shit! Hopper tells Joyce to “stick to sales”! Jonathan tells Nancy that she should give up on her case! Not to mention that Nancy is humiliated and treated like shit at her job, and it is not handled well at all by the writers - it feels like a bad, cheesy movie where the villains just holler out some sexist shit and then guffaw about it, and that’s like... Never addressed. Lucas and Mike call girls “a different species.” And then they spend the rest of the season doing their weird girls-are-mysterious-creatures-that-you-can-win-back-with-presents thing???? The cougars at the pool were unnecessary and really uncomfortable. Robin was a cool character until all the sudden they had to be like “oh and she had a crush on Steve in school!!!111!!11!!” ......... why. 

And on that note, why any of the heterosexual bullshit?? Why?? It didn’t even feel deserved or organic in this season. At least in season 2 the straight ships felt well-deserved (mileven, lumax - they were built organically, over the course of the season, and their love story felt like it meant something). Here it’s like they just paired up as many male-female pairs as they could and shoved it in our faces, with no real emotions or meaning behind it. Even Jopper, which was a great ship in seasons 1 and 2, just got... uncomfortable. Like, they treated each other like shit. It was really uncomfortable. They had no chemistry. They just bumbled around like idiots, being mean to each other. I.... I don’t understand.

Furthermore, why did Billy get a kind-of-redemption-arc?? Why did they have to do the whole “oh, he was abused as a child and that’s why he’s a monster, boo hoo!” thing??? The message they send with that is so fucking awful. Billy is a human piece of shit (abuser, violent, racist, sexist, etc., etc., etc.) and they’re like “But we show you his shitty childhood, which means he’s pathetic and worthy of redemption!!!” FUCK. NO.

The monster made no sense. I mean, emotionally. Symbolically. All the setup they did with the Mind Flayer in season 2? All the foreshadowing about how only the undead can defeat it (aka Will, zombie boy)? They made a fantastic monster and villain... And then they just made it into a gooey meat monster that turns people into zombies for shock factor. And its whole connection with Will, and all that? It was used as, like... like Will was just an evil barometer who occasionally said, “He’s here,” and that was it. The Mind Flayer went from being a fantastically horrifying, effective, interesting, powerful villain to... a cheesy movie monster.

Why the Russians. ... Why. There was literally no reason for them to be there. To open the gate, I guess, but... Honestly what significance did that whole plot have? Okay, so the Russians infiltrated Hawkins to take advantage of the Gate, to try to open it again, and they used the mall as a front to do that, and one of them was basically the Terminator and he was after Hop and Joyce (which also just felt so artificial and contrived), and... And they were in cahoots with the mayor...? Honestly, from a storytelling perspective, they could (and, I think, should) have used either Hawkins Lab or Brenner or Kali or something, anything they’d already established to fill that exact role!! Because the Russians in Hawkins just felt like stereotypes that marched around holding guns. They added no emotional relevance or impact to the story. They didn’t really add anything to the story except for some convenient plot devices (that weren’t even very clever or compelling). They could have had Brenner come back (they hinted he wasn’t dead) with the New Hawkins Lab or whatever and fulfill the same exact role, plot-wise, and that would have been so much more emotionally relevant than just shoveling a bunch of Russian stereotypes into Hawkins and making them punch people.

The fucking ending. The Byers leave? That’s it? That’s the story? After all that pain and suffering and struggle and victory and relationship building and everything (I’m talking about S2 here), they just... pack up and leave? And there’s a 30 second scene of Will crying while he hugs his friends and then Joyce shuts the door and that’s it? The end result - the ending is that they need to cut ties and move on and grow up? That’s the moral? After all that, “sometimes change is good even though it hurts,” and the Byers leave all the people that care about them? How in the hell is that an emotionally satisfying ending? How is that an ending at all? And I’m not even talking about ships here (again, that’s a whooooole ‘nother rant). Just for the story, it fell so completely and entirely flat. It did not feel deserved. It did not feel meaningful.

And honestly, I think that’s the problem with the whole season.

It did not feel deserved, or meaningful, because there was no emotional connection from the beginning. We never connected with the characters emotionally. There was hardly anything there to connect with. It started out off-key and kind of bland and emotionally distant, and it stayed that way through the entire season, to the point where I wasn’t even engaged. I was just watching so I could be done with it.

The plot was rushed and driven by shock factor. It felt over-the-top and cheesy, and not in the good-old-fashioned-80s-movie-nostalgia way. The characters were treated as side notes, and all of them felt paper-thin and completely out-of-character for themselves, lacking any complexity or emotional depth. Very few things in the plot actually engaged me or made me feel for the characters, because it was all so rushed and meaningless. None of the relationships (family, friends, ships, etc.) felt real or genuine at all, and frankly many of them were just uncomfortable because they were jerks to each other the whole time with no real closure or arcs. 

Not to mention they completely threw away all the interesting loose ends from season 2. What happened to all that hinting that Will has powers?? What happened to Brenner possibly being alive? What happened to Kali? What happened to “it was the best thing I’ve ever done” and that whole arc? What happened to “the way to defeat the Mind Flayer is with an army of the undead (Will, zombie boy)” (which they turned on its head and made the Mind Flayer into zombies???? What?? What?)?? What happened to literally every good and interesting and complex thing in the show, and why did they replace it with meaningless, unearned, paper-thin, badly written action and drama, coming from characters that are bumbling imitations of themselves?

Y’all, I’m fucking mad. Like. I don’t even know what the hell to say right now. I don’t fucking know if this fandom is even salvageable. I don’t fucking know.

And that’s not even to really get into byeler, which... fucking ouch. I was expecting angst, but we didn’t even get that - we didn’t even get that! We got nothing. We got a single 30-second interaction of them one-on-one, in which they’re fighting, and then their relationship is literally never addressed in any real capacity again. After S1 hinges on Mike trying to get Will back. After “crazy together,” after “we won’t let him,” after “it was the best thing I’ve ever done,” after all that - it’s like they barely know each other. Are they even friends, let alone best friends for life? Do they know each other? Do they even look at each other? They hug for half a second and we’re supposed to believe that Mike and Will - attached at the hip for the entirety of S2 Mike and Will, who have been one of the main close relationships on the show, who the show focused on as being one of the most complex and deep relationships - they just hug for half a second and walk away, while there’s narration about how “change is painful sometimes but it’s good, time to move on.” Fuck. This. Entire. Season.

[bylerly]

alright everyone. after my rush of emotions after that season, i’ve had time to decompress, and make an actually cohesive list of my thoughts about the season. as you could probably guess - MAJOR SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT!

first, let’s get the (much) shorter list out of the way. here’s what I enjoyed:

the acting. i want to mention how good millie was, because she was fantastic, but i almost feel like i shouldn’t, bc el took SO MUCH screen and plot time, that millie was given every opportunity to be good. she doesn’t really need any more special mention. otherwise - noah (with the little he was given) and sadie were particularly great. so were winona & david, but that goes without saying.

the elmax friendship. these two deserved it. and max bringing el out of her shell, showing her how to become her own person.... incredible. 10/10 i love them both

alexei. feels weird saying this, but he was probably the new addition I enjoyed watching the most. it would have been kind of cool to see him live past season 3.

an lgbt+ confirmed character. this one is a little.... tricky for me. as happy as I am that there is a queer woman written into the show... I feel like it’s a cop out to not have to confirm will’s sexuality. robin confirms her sexuality in less than a season, but after three with will, we still only get ~subtext~? still, this is a positive portion, so.... I guess that was something I was happy with

el moving in with the byers at the end. finally. this is one of the only things that is keeping me excited for s4. i guess i can only hope for there to FINALLY be some good willel interactions next season, but if this season has taught me anything, it’s not to get my hopes too high :-)

jancy ending s3 on a good note. parts of their storyline were fantastic, some were disappointing. but i really dug their dynamic, and the realistic struggle between the two of them, with nancy not really understanding jonathan’s class struggles, and jonathan not grasping the weight of the misogyny being thrown at nancy. their final moments at the empty byers house at the end were especially lovely.

el no longer being OP, and not being undefeatable. i love el. i really, genuinely do. i love her character, i love her traits, i lover her power. but the duffers were relying too heavily on her to constantly save the day with her powers, and it was happening too often. one of the faults of s2 was the constant thought of how easily el could’ve fought off all these threats if she was just there. i think it’s incredibly interesting to not only see her get completely worn out, but totally lose her powers. like mike said, i’m sure they’ll come back, but i want so badly for el to not just be defined by her powers.

a platonic m/f friendship. yes, one of them is confirmed queer, and they would’ve probably been romantically linked if she was straight. but i’ll take what i can get when it comes to this. platonic opposite sex relationships?? r i s e

now for the meat of my thoughts ~ what I didn’t like:

mike’s characterization. the writers completely made him into a dick this season. i get it, he’s a teenager, so he’s going to be an asshole sometimes. hell, in a recent post, I defended that, saying it’s good writing. but I underestimated just how awful he’d be, completely blowing off his friends for any chance for a second alone with el. I understand that he loves his girlfriend of course, but s1-2 mike loved his friends just as much. he was so utterly unlikable this season, that it seemed like he was a different character.

lucas as comic relief. this is so lazy, and i’m so angry for both the character and caleb, both of whom deserve so much better. he really had nothing to do if it wasn’t related to max, and the writers further reduced him down to a one-dimensional, kind of dumb, mediocre boyfriend, and that is not the highly intelligent, brave, kind lucas that i know and love.

will’s sidelining. god, this made absolutely no sense. noah fucking shined last season. he stole pretty much the entire thing. every critic, even those who disliked the season, had nothing but good things to say about his performance. furthermore, will has so much potential in so many different directions in so many aspects of his character. however, once he revealed to his friends that he was feeling the upside down/MF’s presence... they may as well have written out his character. he was sidelined almost to the point of background character. they gave him very little to do emotionally after that castle byers scene, and even fewer lines.

total lack of willel scenes. phew, if this wasn’t a bummer. will spoke a single line to el, and maybe one or two throwaway lines about her. if there is one thing most of the fans can agree on, it’s that will and el have the biggest connection to the upside down, the biggest unspoken connection, the most parallels, and the most intriguing potential relationship... and they really just said “fuck it” and didn’t have them interact at all. (that’s poor writing folks!) they better make up for this now that they’re living together.

amount of eleven scenes. i love her so dearly. i really do. and i’m so happy she grew into her own, not through mike or hopper. but the amount of el plot and screen time this season was actually difficult to watch. every other scene centered around her. so many characters and so much of the story went undeveloped, while she got way, way more than was necessary. additionally, take any kid’s plot (other than dustin), and guaranteed, it revolved around el. people were starting to catch on that the show was favoring her character more than even most shows’ mains.... and this season took it to a level i actual didn’t think it would.

the comedy. it was so awkwardly written. so much of it threw off the pace of the show. it seemed forced, and just... not very stranger things-esque, where the comedy was typically well-written and blended into dialogue.

the baddies. this was a huge letdown, too. i understand that the monster was large, but it was far less menacing to me than, say, the MF’s physical form. it had gore points, sure. it felt incredibly boring and predictable. in the same vein, i thought the ‘zombie’ style storyline of heather & co. would be deeper than that, but that was literally all it was. again... not interesting to me. billy was a rehash as well. the russians definitely had potential, but even that plot wound up being incredibly one-dimensional.

billy’s screentime. this was one of the things i was absolutely furious about. he got more screentime than the party (minus el) combined. they wanted for us so badly to empathize with him, to humanize him... i’m sorry, but you wrote a character that almost killed a boy for being black, that abuses his sister, and is a misogynistic asshole. abuse doesn’t excuse that, and it’s insulting to abuse survivors to say that billy inevitably became this way because of his dad, and that he deserves our uwus for it... and actually got el’s. he took screen time away from characters who desperately needed it, and that’s something i will never look at the duffers the same way for.

the scoops troop. I wanted to love erica... but i feel so indifferent to her. she was way too much this season. and robin. again, i love that she’s confirmed queer. and i dug her character more. but even then... i don’t know. i would have rather never had her introduced, and allowed established characters to have been better developed. and as a whole, the whole storyline of the troop was just what I feared: underwhelming and awkwardly placed.

high steve & robin. won’t elaborate on this too much, bc there’s not much to elaborate on. it just felt so wildly out of place and unnecessary.

that dustin/suzie number. what the hell was that? what could have been a 20 second joke was stretched out WAY too long and was bizarrely placed. just because you have an actor from broadway, doesn’t mean he needs to sing. and even if he does sing... you couldn’t have found a better time or situation? i literally was just staring at my screen in disbelief as that whole thing happened. entirely unneeded.

the amount of flashbacks. i understand most casual viewers wouldn’t remember certain things because of how long it’s been. but they literally put a recap at the beginning of the season. that’s what it’s for. and there were also plenty from like.... the episode before??? the amount they included took away so much time, that it almost just seemed like they didn’t have enough footage, and they had to fill their time stamp somehow. at some point, it just becomes insulting to the audience’s intelligence.

the overall tone. this season did not feel like stranger things in the slightest. off the top of my head, the castle byers scene and the byeler scene in mike’s garage were the exceptions. the first few episodes did have some moments. but overall... it kind of felt like some weird, high budget commercial or something. the charm, distinct aesthetic, and nuance of seasons 1 and 2 was non-existent.

the post-credit scene. there was some last-minute hype up in the reviews for this. was that supposed to be shocking in some way? i suppose this is more the fault of the reviewers who hyped it, but... really? a demodog? we’ve seen that before... i guess more the point was to show that the russians officially have some kind of technology for this. but still, an underwhelming reveal. more intriguing to me, was if hopper was the american in the cell he mentioned at the start of it. or maybe brenner?

the neutral:

that ending. on one hand, it was incredibly predictable. they literally placed an obvious shot of it in the trailer (easy to deduce that the byers had moved out, and that it was fall, so it was an epilogue scene). i was convinced that there would be a twist element they weren’t showing us, but nope. on the other hand, i thought some things were done beautifully (which wasn’t exactly a trend this season). as i mentioned, i loved the jancy moments. i really did like the hopper voiceover, although it was a little trope-y and heavy-handed... i still got a little emo, ngl. those goodbye hugs were somethin’. and, as i said before... el! moving in! with the byers! gimme

so uh... that’s it, i guess. no one really asked, but i needed to get my thoughts out. what did you guys think of the season?

[she-writes-imagines]

Safe Haven, Pt. 1

A/N: Billy moves into the house across the street from Piper, a girl with a mysterious past.

Timeline loosely follows Season 2 and disregards certain elements of Season 3.

Disclaimer: I don’t approve of, or excuse some of Billy’s behavior. I just enjoy how well exicuted the character is and its interesting to write for him.

Chapter 1

The town of Hawkins, Indiana was always a bit peculiar. Strange things always seemed to happen there and they got stranger every day. This story begins in October of 1967. That’s when I was born. My mother was a scientist and researcher in a very top secret government lab that was housed in Hawkins. Cherie Lindell was her name, she and her sister, Diane, grew up in Hawkins. My father's name was Jeff Callahan and he went to school with my mother. And they were different as different could be. My mother was a science nerd, anti-social and completely lost in her own world. My father played football, and was incredibly mechanically inclined and took auto shop basically every period his senior year, or so I’m told. But somehow they found their way to each other and managed to form a strong relationship and managed to keep that going while my mother was away getting her degree and my father stayed in Hawkins growing his auto shop and becoming a pillar of the community and all that. By the time my mother graduated and secured her government job, my father had bought a two story house with a white picket fence for the two of them to grow into together. Not long after they were married and I was on the way. That’s when things began to get a bit dicey.

The project that my mother was working on was so top secret, so secret that not even my father knew. But the lab was working on human experimentation working to develop mental and psychic abilities. My mother allowed herself to be experimented on while she was pregnant with me. And that is how I, Piper Callahan, was born with some scary abilities. To be exact telekinesis and empathic tendencies. As a child I Thought it was normal. I thought every other child could do the things that I could and I never questioned why I was homeschooled and the only places I ever went, were to my aunt Diane’s and uncle Jim’s house, and my moms lab. And that's when the bad thing happened. I was seven years old, I didn’t have good control of my abilities and I was throwing a tantrum. A big one. Things flying around the room and a side table hit my daddy in the back of the head. After that I spent a lot of time alone. And then Diane and Jim convinced my mother to put me into the public school system. My powers seemed to be gone after the bad thing. Or so I let everyone believe. The only people that knew were my mother and the doctors at the lab. They were stupid and easy enough to convince. I grew and had a relatively normal childhood and a normal adolescence. A rough transition through puberty and all that good stuff. I mourned the death of my cousin and watched my aunt and uncle's marriage fall apart. My aunt moved away from Hawkins and got remarried. We didn’t talk much. My mother went off the deep end and almost never came home. I found solace in my uncle. Uncle Hop as I so affectionately called him. He was the chief of police. He knew of my abilities and believed they were gone. I never wanted anyone else to know about me ever again. We spent a lot of time together and I took care of him more than he took care of me. I had plenty of friends at school. I was a floater and liked by almost everyone. Nancy, Steve, Barb, Jonathan and many others. I was intelligent, athletic, artistic, good with cars like my dad. I became someone that I like. And then the next bad thing happened.

The disappearance of Will Beyers. A tragedy felt by almost everyone in the community. And at the same time I felt another presence in town. A familiar one but I couldn’t place it. A lot of crazy things happened. Monsters sneaking their way around town. Mysterious disappearances. My friend Barb, taken into what seven year old me called “the scary place.” And then with a series of insane events Nancy, Jonathan and I ended up meeting up with Nancy’s brother and his friends. And the familiar presence. She was eleven. I had been number one. Soul sisters in a project that should have never existed. She was untrusting and skittish. She could barely speak in coherent thoughts. She must have been kept in almost total isolation. Focusing on growing her powers. She was younger than me. Younger than Mike and the other kids. Maybe twelve. I didn’t want to reveal my powers I didn’t want anyone to know. But I pulled her aside and i showed her the number on my arm as well. She touched it with her fingers, then my face, “Sister,” she said and smiled, “Pretty.”

“Sister,” I repeated. “You’ll keep my secret?” I asked her.

She looked confused.

“I can’t do it anymore. I’m broken. No one but you knows.” I said to her.

“Sisters keep secrets.” She said determined.

We found will. Saved the day. Defeated the bad guys and all that jazz. After the commotion eleven disappeared. I told Uncle Hop everything. And together we were able to find eleven in the woods and she came with us. Hop had a cabin in the middle of the woods. Almost no one knew about it and we knew she would be safe there. As time went on I began to let El in on the secret that I still had my powers and made her promise not to tell anyone. It was dangerous for all parties involved if anyone found out about my abilities. Together we worked on controlling and growing our gifts and Hop was happy we had each other. And I was happy that she had Hop. I loved El and she adored me right back. Things looked like they were going to be ok.

I hadn’t seen my mother in over a week. She hadn’t come home from her lab and I was sure at this point she had her own apartments deep within the sub levels. Across the street a moving truck pulled into the driveway of a previously vacant house. After that a station wagon and a sexy ass blue Camaro. I was sitting on the couch in my living room, not even trying to pretend to not be staring at the car. And the boy that got out of the car was just as sexy. From his boots up to the ass hugging jeans. To the button up lazily tucked in and the leather jacket. And god the hair on that boy. He saw me looking and I didn’t even care. He raised an eyebrow and cockily smiled at me and gave a little wave. I didn’t return any of the gestures but hopped off the couch, ran upstairs to my room and put on my own ass hugging jeans, a black Harley t shirt, my chucks and looked at myself in the mirror. Delicious. I thought to myself. I had quite a reputation around town that I did thoroughly enjoy. Everyone said I reminded them of Stevie Nicks if she had dark hair. So if mother Stevie was the white witch then i was the Black witch. My skin was very fair, and my hair was a stark contrast, it was nearly black and my eyes were electric green. I was incredibly petite but my small stature was nothing in comparison to my aura. I won’t lie, I used my telekinesis to make my hair float about and make me appear lighter on my feet. I flittered down into the kitchen and thanked the almighty that i had the gumption to bake cookies earlier that morning. I piled the chocolate chunk cookies onto a plate and headed out my door and across the street. The first person I met was the daughter, “Welcome to the neighborhood neighbor, I’m Piper.” I offered her a cookie which she took.

“I’m Max.” There was rustling behind her, she turned around and saw the guy I watched get out of the Camaro earlier. “That’s my brother, Billy. Or Jackass, whichever suits you better.” She said just before turning around to carry another box inside the house.

“Cute kid, you must be the luckiest big brother ever. Would you like a cookie, Jackass, was it?” I joked.

He clenched his jaw briefly and then cracked a smile, “I think Billy will do just fine beautiful.” He said snatching a cookie from me. I held my hand out for him to shake and when his skin touched mine I felt a powerful emotion practically kick me in the stomach. Suffering, pain, loneliness, sadness, anger. Violent rage. Lust, insecurity. A lot to unpack for sure. I didn’t know what could cause so much pain in someone the same age as me, save for my own experiences. A cold and steely voice broke our eye contact.

“Can I help you?” The man said. I assumed Billy and Max’s father. Quite the unpleasant man. I immediately noticed that when he approached Billy seemed to shrink. He seemed smaller, eyes cast to the ground. I immediately didn’t like him. “Hi, its nice to meet you. My mom and I live across the street. I’m Piper Callahan, I brought you cookies.” I said as I held out my hand for him to shake. Again when the skin touched my hand, a gut punch of feeling. Primal rage mostly. And black and sticky evil. I understood so much more about Billy now. And I was worried for the rest of the family. His wife came around the truck and we went through the same process. I got almost nothing from her. She was almost like the shell of someone who used to be a person. She took the cookies and disappeared into the house. Her husband soon after her. Max reappeared from around the backside of the truck. I said to her, “It was real nice meeting you Max, I live mostly alone over there, my mom works a lot, if you ever need anything, girl time, a sleepover, a ride to school, just come over ok? My car is cooler than your brothers by far. And my motorcycle is even cooler than that.” She smiled at me and thanked me before disappearing again with another box.

“That was awful nice of you,” Billy said quite flirtily. “Thanks for stopping by. Will I be seeing you around school?”

“You’ll be seeing me, Billy.” I said, gently flirting back at him. I had a rule, I wasn’t going to ever get close to anyone. I didn’t want another bad thing happening. I couldn’t bear to know that I hurt someone else close to me again. But god damn was he a specimen. And there was no shame in some harmless flirting. “Will you let me see the insides of that beautiful beast you have down there?” I said motioning to his car.

“I think that might be a little out of your league princess.” He said.

“Oh sugar, I bet you I know more about it than you do. I have a ‘69 impala up in the garage and my dad was a mechanic. He died when I was seven but I inherited the talent from him. The guy that owns his shop now is great, I work there on weekends and in the summer. Pop the hood?” He looked behind him quickly and walked down the slope to the road. He opened the door and popped the hood. I opened it and looked inside. I whistled. It was a gorgeous and nearly immaculate block. But it looked like his ignition cable was a little loose. “You ever have problems starting her up? Mostly just when its cold?” I asked him.

“How’d you know?” He asked actually surprised that I seemed to know what I was talking about.

“Come here I’ll show you.” When he came around the front I pointed to the cable. “You see the screw you have securing the ignition cable? It’s the wrong size and its not attached properly. Which isn’t really that big of a deal, but when its cold and the metal shrinks up the connections aren’t as good. So it's a little harder to start. Bring it up the driveway later and I can fix that for you.”

“I don’t know...were kind of busy unpacking and all. Neil might not let me.”

I reached up and stroked his cheek, a spark of softness beifely shot through him. I could feel it. It made me wonder how long it had been since he had had any true compassionate human interaction. I’m sure he was having physical contact on the regular of the good and not so good variety. But something so gentle and kind, I wasn’t sure about. He seemed a troubled person but something in him sparked something in me and I knew in my heart I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I didn’t try and show him some compassion and genuine human contact.

“I get it, its ok Billy. Same goes for you by the way. If you ever need anything, a ride to school, some girl time, a sleepover,” I paused and became a bit more somber when I said, “somewhere safe, to escape too. I’ve got the space and I don’t like being alone all the time. So really you’d be doing me a favor.”

I didn’t let him respond before sauntering back off to my side of the street, swinging my hips back and forth the entire way. Before I walked back inside the house I turned around, Billy was still looking at me. I wiggled my fingers at him before spinning around again and walking inside and shutting the door behind me. I was worried. I’d hardly met the family, but I knew that things were off. I knew that BIlly was going to be trouble, that he was trouble. I knew the kind of guy he was. Hard on the outside to hide the sadness that was inside him. Taking it out on other people. I was going to have to watch out for that. I was going to have to be careful not to get to close. None of the boys in Hawkins could ever tempt me like I knew that one out there could do. But that wasn’t the thing I was worried about the most. I was worried about that little girl, Max. The same age as El. I was worried she would be the next punching bag for Mr. Hargrove

[elevenseggbros]

Truth or Dare - Byler