Chapter Text
The “Welcome To Hawkins” sign that falls on the road leading into Hawkins was covered in thick red paint. The message was clear: “STAY OUT”. It was a silly message for somebody to have taken time out of their day to write. Everybody within the state of Illinois. At this point everyone within America was aware of the curse of Hawkins. The death that followed the town was just the type of news that people who were in no way affected love to divulge in. Devour in.
“Stay Out” Dustin thought about it sometimes. It was a simple, fleeting thought. But he couldn’t leave Hawkins. Not when the rest of the town didn't know the truth. Not when they all believed that the ‘fire’ that took place in Starcourt mall was an actual fire. He sometimes wonders why the other residents of this town didn’t see the things he saw. It was a divine curse. For the residents and for him. They were blessed with ignorance of the upside down, but were stuck with never knowing what was truly happening to the people of their town, to their community. They knew nothing of the upside down, of Eleven, of the government working behind the schemes to ruin life as it was in Hawkins. Dustin sometimes thinks the rest of the down must be as thick as bricks to avoid seeing what he sees. Yet maybe he was the dumb one, judging them. They must live simpler, happier lives. He guesses that although the idea of a curse may upset them, those who simply didn’t believe in such things would feel fine. Maybe even happy as prices dove down in the area following the recent trauma. But for those who did believe in the curse they must only feel a fraction of the pain that the party had felt.
He could have small amounts of sympathy for those who aren’t in the know. He felt more sympathy for the party's families. For their mothers, their fathers who know nothing about where their children find themselves in the dark parts of the day. He could tell it bothered his mother, that Dustin was pulling away and falling more into his friends. What his mother didn’t know was that his friends were the only ones who understood him and the only people who would ever understand him. It was as if everyone who interacted with the upside down was transported far far away from the Milky Way and into a whole new galaxy where they and only them could understand.
And even though his mother couldn’t understand him anymore, or stroke his hair to signal his life would be okay, or help him through the nightmares because she could never know about the things that go bump in the night. She was alone now. No cat, no husband and her son was drifting; Drifted into another galaxy, so very, very far. And his mother was a social woman and it was tearing her into hundreds of thousands of pieces. As if a planet had blown up leaving debris to float around.
Dustin was lucky to have the friends he does, trauma tends to make or break friendships and he found that he had survived and grown. It was the thing he had to cling onto as they all recovered from what they had seen and experienced in regards to the battle of starcourt mall. What was breaking the party however was the moving of the Byers family. With Hopper dead and Joyce simply having enough of the mind flayer destroying her children’s lives they had up and left. The party was maintaining contact over the summer but it was becoming harder to maintain the friendship as it had been when they were all together.
The aircon hummed silently, sounding like an artificial bird. His mother had long given up on conversation with Dustin on the ride home from his second year at camp know where . Dustin had talked about what he learned and saw (although he found most of the science didn’t interest him anymore, he knew too much about science, far more than most of the camp counsellors there) but the words had dried up in his throat as the re-entered Hawkins and the talk turned to home.
Home was such a funny topic for Dustin. What do he used to think of when he thought of the word home. The quiet sounds of the T.V from the other room, a comfortable bed, hot chocolate with his mom. Safety. Love. What did he think of now? Home wasn’t a place anymore. He knew demogorgons could roam the streets. He knew victims of the mind flayers could enter homes with a charming smile. So, his house no longer entered the front of his mind when he thought of home. No. It was Steve and his car, the party, the wheeler's basement that came to mind when thinking of home. They were the only safety and love he knew anymore. The rest of Hawkins was not a home for Dustin Henderson but with his friends it just might be.
“Stay out” Dustin thinks of the sign again. Hawkins was meant to be safe now. The mind flayer was gone. Billy died and so should have the threat. But it seemed that whenever the threat was gone it only came back stronger. He was on edge. As if he had drunk too much coffee in one night's gulp. He had left so soon after the ‘fire’ he hadn't had a chance to really catch up with his friends following what had happened. Especially Max, he found his mind drifted to Max a lot. How was she coping following the death of Billy. He was a bastard for everything he’d done to her and Lucas. But, he was her step brother none the less and a loss is a loss no matter the person's moral groundings.
The rest of his friends will have been changed too. Dustin couldn’t get the image of Billy’s impaled body from his mind. The way his limbs twitched with the final impulses from his nerves, even though the boy was dead. Dustin’s mind goes blurry after that. He knows the government interviewed them, and they were wrapped suffocatingly tight in safety blankets. Government agents pretending to be police told his mom about the fire, and he was promptly in bed; his mother was outside the door, and he lay awake the whole night.
Dustin finds himself ripped from thought at the sight of buildings. His head is cold from leaning against the window, but he can’t bring himself to lift it. The streetlights burst to life as the streets grew dark. Dustin found he had grown less afraid of the dark. He thought that was a bit of an oxymoron. Dustin knew was could hide in the dark. The real nightmares one could find in the night. But, that was comforting. The whole fear of the night he due to have (despite having to bike home in the dark an awful lot) was not knowing what it hid. He knows now. He knows how to fight it too. The chill from the freezing window travelling through him is grounding. He focus on the buildings once more, Hawkins still remained a comfort to see despite all.
In a way Dustin is happy to be back in this town. The air was familiar, the sights he knew like the back of hands. He was happy to see everyone, or be close to seeing everyone. This town was cursed but was cursed by science and the men whose curiosity knew no bounds. He knew the secrets of Hawkins better than most which was a sickening comfort. He felt a hole as his car pulled into his street. He couldn’t place the feeling but he knew it was there.
His house was in view. “Stay Out” in red dripping paint. He took a deep breath in. He was on home terf. The one place he could never stay out of. At least his dealings with the upside down gifted him plenty time with friends. Friends he couldn’t wait to see