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003. 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝗵𝗶𝗴𝗵 𝘀𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗼𝗹, 𝗯𝗮𝗯𝘆.
“𝐇𝐎𝐖 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐈𝐑𝐒𝐓 𝐃𝐀𝐘! Any clubs, dances, events yet,” Maureen was ecstatic when her daughter entered Claudia Henderson’s home that afternoon. “Look at my little girl, all grown up in her senior year!” She beamed.
The first thing that Lori saw when pulling up to her aunt’s house was tombstone decorations, skeleton hands, and fake cobwebs on the front lawn. Her little one-story home was on an inclining hill, and it looked welcoming from the street, with its large carport and pots of plants out front. Certainly, it looked like a Claudia Henderson home— except for the decorations, which would soon be gone anyways, she’d already pictured what the inside would look like before she even made it up the driveway.
It wasn’t all that hard to find her aunt’s house, since the address was also written on Lori’s wrist that morning— this time by her mother— so she could head straight there after school. What she was supposed to do, was wait for her cousin, Dustin, to lead the way, but Lori couldn’t find a head of hair in the lot that matched his description and neither did she care to search. So she pedalled away from Hawkins High, as fast as she could, for she didnt want to linger in the second-hand smoke by the bike racks any longer than she needed.
On the other side of Hawkins, said-cousin was hiding behind a large truck, across the street from The Palace— the local arcade. Dustin Henderson was with Lucas Sinclair, who held binoculars up to his eyes in order to see clearly across the road at their point of interest. A speeding blue Camaro— the speeding blue Camaro— skirted up to the front of the arcade with smoke clouding behind it, and the short redhead got out and slammed the door, flipping off the driver. So, yeah, Lori’s cousin had other plans than to play tour-guide like his mom.
So, she biked home from her first day of school, by herself. Not that she cared none— being alone never bothered her, never did, and probably never would.
Lori had dropped the bike in the driveway of Claudia’s home and left it there, marching her way up to the front door. The was cute. It was one-storied and cozy, with a rocking chair in the living room, wall-papered hallways, and an oak panelled kitchen. From the moment she stepped in, Lori could tell that she’d be spending a lot of time there— since it was going to get quite lonely in their big old home on the rich side. But also, immediately when she passed over threshold of the front entrance, Maureen, who was sitting on one of the barstools in front of the kitchen peninsula, beamed brightly.
“Claudia, she’s home,” Maureen called to her sister, who was somewhere else in the house. “Come on, Lor, tell us all about it!”
At this point in her life, Maureen knew far too well what her daughter was like. Most of the time, Maureen would never ask such questions in such enthusiastic tones, because she’d learned that Lori reacted the same no matter how she was spoken to. But the woman just could not help herself— she was stressed, yes, she was tired, and she was heavy-hearted, but none of that was showing. Maybe it was because Maureen herself had also been a senior student at Hawkins High, and seeing her one and only daughter in the same position sent admirable flashbacks.
Lori wiped her hair out of her face, and let her bag fall onto the chair next to the front door.
“Yeah, can I go get sheet-faced on Friday night?” The girl said, monotone, and began to approach where her mom was sitting.
Maureen scoffed.
Lori climbed onto one of the barstools. “Don’t look so appalled. This is high school, baby.”
She began to flip through a stack of magazines on the kitchen island where they were sitting.
Her mother crossed one leg over the other— her usual sitting position wherever, whenever. Maureen always had pin-straight posture, her back was always upright and her shoulders were always square with the rest of her body. “You want to go to a party?” She questioned, eyes squinting only slightly.
“Absolutely not.” Lori emphasized the ‘t‘, and continued flipping through the magazine, her shoulder hunched over. The mother and daughter were even more opposite than Maureen and her Claudia.
“I think it’d be a good way to make friends,” Claudia waltzed into the kitchen, carrying a cardboard box in both hands. “I can help you come up with a costume, hun.”
Lori gave her aunt a small smile, which really was the only smile she’d given anyone so far in Hawkins. Aunt Claudia was just too nice to be glared at— even the most angsty teenager in all of Indiana thought so.
“Thanks, Claudia, but I’ll spend my Halloween committing hara-kiri instead,” Lori poked the magazines with a stiff finger. “It’s the same thing, really.”
Maureen nudged her daughter’s shoulder with her hand, scoffing blamefully— even though she was used to those sort of replies— as the girl let out a laugh at herself.
“Seriously, I think it could be a great idea.” Claudia was folding blankets on her couch. She had a sweet smile on her lips.
“Did you meet anybody? Any boys?” Maureen changed the subject, her eyes boggling.
“Yeah, I talked to everyone,” Lori affirmed, acting proud, “Yeah— guess what, I’ve overthrown the it-girl in school and it’s only my first day,”
Claudia was taking things out of that cardboard box, and cleaning them off near the couch. A fat cat purred beside her leg.
“Really?” Her mother’s eyes brightened for a moment.
“No.” Lori tapped her feet on the edges of the tall chair.
“I’m sure you’ll make some friends,” Claudia added. “Oh, did you see Mike’s sister? Well I don’t suppose you’d know what she looks like— but Nancy, she’s got short hair, and I’m pretty sure she was driving in that boy’s car— your neighbor.” she got caught short when she dropped an item from her hands, landing it right in the cat’s bowl. “Goodness!”
“About the neighbours,” Maureen caught onto a snippet, “What was it that happened this morning? I heard you talking to someone.”
Lori stared down at the stack of magazines she was fixated on poking. “The hair curlers must’ve been too tight on your head, then.”
After a few moments of silence and Claudia cleaning up the little mess, the front door opened, and in spilled a short boy with a mop of brown curly hair, pressed down with a baseball cap.
“There you are!” Claudia exclaimed, and then quickly trotted over to her son at the door. “Why didn’t you wait for your cousin? She had to ride here all by herself, Dusty!”
“How was I supposed to know what she looked like,” The small boy slid his shoes off, narrowing his eyebrows towards his mom, seeming preoccupied.
“This is Dustin,” Claudia had her hands on his shoulders, and presented him to the pair.
When he rolled his eyes, Lori looked at him.
“Dustin— this is your cousin, Lorraine, and her mother, Maureen. You weren’t even born the last time they came down.”
“Just call me Lori,” the girl said.
“Hi, Lori,” Dustin put on a smile, displaying his teeth. “Very nice to meet you both.” He looked up to his mom, “Can I go now?” When she nodded, he wiggled from her grasp and scurried off down the hallway with his bag still on his shoulders.
“He’s probably off to go see his friends, or start one of his projects,” Claudia whisked a hand through the air. “So, how was school, Lori?”
Lori looked up at the ceiling. “Painfully boring, dreadful, excruciatingly tedious. I died a thousand deaths.”
“She’s only joking,” Maureen assured.
Claudia giggled, “What are you two going to do for Halloween? I could get some movies if you’d like.”
Maureen agreed on the idea, and Lori stayed transfixed on the lightbulb above her.
Claudia spoke about some details, while grabbing onto a beige piece of fabric draped over one of the kitchen chairs. In front of the chair, there was small black gadgets and a tube, and with fabric patches and zippers.
“Oh, hey!” Claudia suddenly perched up when she touched the odd materials, as if they gave her an idea, “Why don’t you go trick-or-treating with Dustin and his friends, Lori? I mean, if you’re not doing anything! Will’s brother is going, but they could always use another chaperone with them.”
“I’d rather get sheet-faced.” Lori answered.
“You should go with your cousin,” Maureen commented, taking a sip from the glass of water on the kitchen island. “You can bond.”
Lori slid off the tall chair and landed on her feet.
“Dusty?” Claudia called. “Lori’s gonna go trick-or-treating with you tomorrow. Is that alright?”
“No,” Dustin called back from his room. Claudia whisked her hand through the air again at the response, signifying he didn’t mean it.
Lori walked around to the living room, looking at the walls and shelves that seemed to have no pictures, but instead, certificates from science clubs and science competitions. While her mother and her Aunt talked about god knows what in the kitchen, the teenager walked slowly down the hallway, trailing her eyes along the walls. Her converse squished on the beige carpet. There was a window at the end of the hall, which let the gloomy light spill through.
She stopped at the end, where there was a door open.
“… Where’s mike? Over.” There was a static sound, a voice of another boy speaking over what seemed to be a walkie-talkie. Dustin was holding one of his own, as he crouched over his backpack on the ground.
Dustin rolled his eyes, pressed on the button and rose the walkie-talkie to his face. “We don’t need Mike right now, Lucas, how many times do I have to keep saying it? Ov—”
“Cool room,” Lori voiced, from the door.
“Who’s that?” The boy on the other line spoke, after the static.
Dustin looked up from searching through his backpack on the floor and noticed the girl standing in his doorway. He sighed, and then looked back to the device, “It’s my cousin— give me a minute.” He spoke over the line, “Over and out.”
Lori was still standing in the door, casual.
Dustin looked up. “Look— it’s not that I don’t want to hang out with the cousin I’ve never met, or whatever,” he felt the obligation to speak up when she didn’t say anything.
“Huh,” Lori leaned her shoulder on the open pocket-door, calm and casually. She crossed her legs at her ankles, and her arms over her chest.
A little bit of tension released from his face, like he was waiting for her to be some sort of sensitive teenage girl. He was gathering things from off his bed. “You don’t wanna come trick-or-treating? I mean, no offence, but it’s kinda—”
“Lame? If I went.” She stepped into the room. “I get it, Sammy Hagar.” She looked at his curly hair. “Do me a favour though? We’ll call it like a welcoming gift.” Her feet took her around, and she picked up little items off the dresser and examined them while she spoke.
Dustin hummed, crouching on the floor to close his bag. He was sort of perplexed at her ability to speak so freely to an unknown person, at her comfortability walking into the room like she’d known him for years. She was weirdly casual. But also weirdly intimidating.
“Pretend I’m good company so my mom doesn’t badger me, alright?” Lori placed a figurine back in its spot, and twirled the ring on her index finger around. “God, I hate badgering.” She rolled her eyes.
“Yeah, alright.” Dustin nodded, seeming a lot more comfortable at the suggestion. “Son of a bitch, where is it?” He cussed, looking back into his bag.
“Alright.” Lori nodded once, and that was that, she was walking away from the door.
Dustin looked at the space where she was standing, feeling confounded all of a sudden. He’d barely imagined what his cousin would be like— but still, Lori ticked none of his expectations at all, and he didn’t know whether that was a good thing, whether it was a bad thing, or whether he should care all at, because she didn’t seem to care none either. Nonetheless, he returned to his walkie-talkie, and tried to explain to Lucas Sinclair that the voice in his room was his cousin from Michigan, and not any popular girl from school.
When Lori made it back into the kitchen, Maureen turned her head. “What was that,” She asked, smiling.
“Bonding.” Lori answered, using the word her mom had used herself, earlier.
The girl walked past her aunt, and opened the front door.
“Where are you going, Lori?” Maureen perked, her voice now confused— as she watched her daughter.
“Claudia?” Lori paused in the doorframe, “D’you know where I can find a last minute Halloween costume?”
Where main street connected with Johnson street, Lori was riding her bike along the side of the road. She had her hair in the wind and the dull glow of the clouds over her face, a backpack on her shoulders and her hands clamped around the handles tightly against the current of the breeze. Around her, the usual Hawkins citizens rallied around and went on with their days, faint voices buzzing in and out of vehicles and along the streets.
It was almost as if Lori was placed into the town like a pin on a pinboard, right in the middle of a long intermission— and she was feeling that more than ever in the middle of town. She couldn’t help but notice that sometimes the air felt still, like everyone was just on pause, and she assumed that it had something to do with what happened, even if she didn’t know exactly what happened. Trauma or not, Lori felt like she was in the middle of a blank.
She pedaled down main street, riding past the general store and it’s milling occupants, past the Hawkins Post, past the convenience store, and past the town library. People glanced at her as she drove by them, their eyebrows narrowed and faces half-curious and half-judging. This was when Lori realized that Hawkins probably didn’t get a lot of newcomers— which was another realization, perhaps, that something really did happen before Lori arrived. Although, she didn’t dwell on the idea of it for too long because she also didn’t want to care all that much.
She kept her eyes looking forward, at the end of the street where she would turn. This time around, she didn’t stop at the pumpkin patch, neither did she even drive by it. Rather, she rode straight through the middle of town and then right through the middle of all the hotspots, with her body ignoring the stares and gazes. She stopped for no one.
Although, someone did stop for her. Technically, it wasn’t even a full-stop, but if he wasn’t in a car, maybe he would.
When Lori had made it into the suburbs— the neighborhood just next to her own— a deep maroon BMW turned onto the street. At this point, she was away from all the talking and craze, she was riding through a long, quiet, post-card perfect street of suburban houses where no one bothered her. She recognized this BMW, because Lori Philbin never forgot anything.
But she couldn’t be bothered to look in through the front windshield, because she already knew who was driving. Out of the corner of her eye, the Harrington boy was turning his head, looking at her past the girl who sat in his passenger seat. He almost stopped the car— but why would he stop the car at the sight of some new girl, who happened to be a brat, and who also happened to be his neighbor that he would see anyway. And besides, Nancy Wheeler would’ve questioned something from the passenger seat anyways.
So he glanced at the Philbin girl who didn’t even so much as bat an eye at his car, and that was it.
Lori kept her eyes forward like usual, and before she knew it, the BMW was long gone behind her and she was turning onto her new street— the street with the mansions.
A grin of satisfaction slid onto her lips when she took notice of the truck in front of her beige house down the road, a truck that had a moving company’s name plastered on its side. The sun was beginning to go down; her driveway finally had a car in it, and the driveway beside her’s was empty.
𝙅𝙐𝙇𝙄 !
NOT TO TOOT MY OWN HORN but i promise the story gets WAYYYY better
so stick around if you’d like!!
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