Chapter Text
Sunday, November 6th, 1983. The night is clear and darker than ever, due to the season.
The Wheeler household, as was its wont, was lively and loud. Focusing on a crucial DnD campaign, little Mike Wheeler and his friends were playing, arguably making the most noise. Excited shouts and anticipating gasps echo from the basement, right underneath Nancy's room. She mimics choking herself, groaning into her pillow and kicking her legs.
'Can't they be quieter?!' Nancy huffs, throwing her hands up. Jude, who sits next to her with a candy cigarette in her mouth, leans over to crank the radio volume higher. A slightly crackly version of Bowie's Rebel Rebel feeds back to them, Jude swaying slowly with the music. Eventually, the boys' chatter dies down as Karen dismisses their campaign for the night. A sigh of relief is exchanged between the girls, both flopping onto their backs.
The door creaks open, and Dustin Henderson is standing with a pizza box in his hands before them. 'Hey guys, want the last slice? Sausage and pepperoni!' He grins toothlessly, his eyes squinting as he smiles. 'Gimme a sec.' Jude rolls off the bed
She swings off the staircase bannister and patters down to the garage door, still barefoot. 'Will!' she calls out to the smallest boy, about to get on his bike. His face lights up.
'Yeah?' he replies, heading over to his big sister.
'Get home safe, ok?' She takes him by the shoulders, bringing herself to his level.
'Ok-' he agrees, before Jude takes off her bracelet and puts it around his wrist. It's silver with little pearls inserted throughout, each a little bigger or smaller than the last in the pattern. It was one of her favourites, as her mother had given it to her for her 7th birthday. She loved it, yet she loved Will more.
'For luck. And safety, of course,' she gives a crooked smile. Though she wouldn't admit it, Jude was always afraid when Will went out by himself at night. Maybe it was just her frequent paranoia, or maybe it was a gut feeling of worry for his safety. She'd shared this with Jonathan before, yet he had just told her that Will was a brave kid and he got around just fine on other nights.
Will beams down at the bracelet, then back up at Jude, 'I promise I won't lose it,' he replies in a small but sincere voice.
'You'd better not, buster.' She ruffles his hair, earning a playful shove from her brother. Upon glancing further on, she notices Mike staring at Will. Almost like he wanted to tell him something... he immediately picks up on this and suddenly finds the ground very interesting. She lightly chuckles, not wishing to hold Will up any longer, and retreats up the stairs.
Back in the bedroom, Nancy is lying on her front, on the phone. She twirls the cord around her finger, yapping on and on to Barb Holland. Great. The thing about Nancy is that once she engages in a call with Barb, she can't seem to stop. That girl was so talkative. Yet, Jude held no grudge against Barb. She was nice and good company, but just so talkative.
Jude knew that trying to do something with her would be useless, as she'd reply with 'In a minute' or 'I'll be there in a sec', just like she always did. Jude sighs and creeps out the room, leaving Nancy to chatter and chatter on to Barb.