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.*･｡. A DEAL WITH GOD! .*･｡.
————TRICK OR TREAT, FREAK
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007.
GHOST-BUMPS AND
GUILT-BUMPS.
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   Waking up on the couch of Jim Hopper's dusty trailer that very next morning had Ashley Miller feeling like she was a twelve year runaway, all over again. Except when she was twelve, her dad was so up to his eyes in grief and alcohol that he had hardly noticed it, at first. Eventually he clocked on to his daughter's disappearing acts when Jim gave him a harsh reality check, but even then, the nights were always the same: Ashley would delve into her father's mind, it would prove too much, she would flee, and her father would give a call to Jim and let him know.

   It was always the same.

   Then Ashley would show up at his door and go home when she was finally ready. It became a system, one that had faded since the time she turned thirteen. By then, her father was all back on track.

   Ashley hadn't expected to run off to Jim's again.

   Certainly not at age seventeen, anyway. She was older, now. This world made more sense; her father was sober; and she hadn't used her ability in years. But then she had — Ashley had found herself in Will Byers' head completely by accident, twice!, and now her father was worried for her sanity. Last night, Ashley panicked. She fled in haste without any further thoughts, bumped into Steve Harrington at FAIR MART, and found herself at Jim's. Just like she was a small and scared twelve year old, all over again.

   She felt like it, too.

   Ashley woke to an empty trailer, no Jim Hopper in sight, which was strange. He was known for drinking too much then being late to work the next day, but Ashley didn't spot him anywhere. In fact, the trailer looked like he hadn't been there in months. It was empty, literally, and actually kinda clean.

   Ashley didn't think Jim Hopper knew how to clean.

   But while it didn't look like Jim had been there for very long, in spite of her arrival, it did look Stanley Miller had. Ashley knew the man had, actually.

   Her clean cheer uniform was hung on the bathroom door, so it wasn't exactly hard to guess. Not unless Jim could magically make her clothes appear out of thin air, or something, and that was very unlikely. Though, Ashley supposed stranger things had happened.

Part of Ashley was bugged by the fact her father could show up and use the spare key to bring her uniform, but not stick around to give her a ride to school. What was that about?

Though, she knew she should he grateful. He was giving her the space she so desperately desired.

Still, now she had to walk.

With no sight of Jim as she got dressed and ready for the day, it occurred to Ashley that the man might really have changed. He'd stopped drinking, he was off to work early doors, and he had even left her a note with eggos in the freezer, squirt for her breakfast. It had weirded her out a bit, honestly. Of course Jim had always cared for her, just like a daughter, but he had never been so attentive — not since Sarah passed, anyway. Now what? He turned over a new leaf or something?

   Again, stranger things had happened.

   After shoving a couple of barely toasted eggos in her mouth to tide her over for the long walk ahead, Ashley tossed her bag (that her father had also dropped off) over her shoulder and decided it was time for her to leave. Locking the door to Jim's trailer behind her and placing it under the pot of a dying plant, the girl trudged her way across Hawkins.

   It was a long walk, but not long enough that it made her late. In fact, she strolled her way through the parking lot as the bell for all Hawkins Middle kids to get to homeroom rang. She passed a rather familiar trio and stopped, watching them pull their little bikes into the bike rack. Ashley arched a brow.

    "And what are you guys supposed to be?" She asked.

   They turned to face her, recognising her voice immediately. As per usual, Mike frowned in the older girl's presence and huffed, a certain attitude to his movements. Both Dustin and Lucas, on the other hand, beamed up at her and hurried over to hear her speak.

    "Who ya gonna call?" Lucas sang as Dustin aimed a handheld metal box at her.

    "Uh—" with brow furrowed, Ashley smiled awkwardly at them and observed their outfits. She didn't think many kids got dressed up at school for Halloween these days, but she found it endearing nonetheless. They all donned these matching beige jumpsuits, the packs on their backs larger than the kids themselves, and they did look pretty adorable. Even if she couldn't quite tell who they were and what the reference was. Maybe it was something nerdy so she hadn't a clue, or maybe she had stopped listening to one of many tangents Dustin had gone on about cool movies. Either way, she'd little choice but to widen her smile as much as she physically could, and just hazard a guess. "The three jani-teers?"

   Their grins fell.

    "Ashley!" Dustin groaned.

    "We're Ghostbusters, moron." Mike scowled, sulking his way to their little circle, if only just to insult the older girl for free. "Don't you ever watch movies?"

    "Not nerdy ones," she retorted.

    "How do you not know we're Ghostbusters?" Lucas looked and sounded gobsmacked; a part of him had almost agreed with Mike.

    "I told you about this, Ashley!" Dustin was in disbelief.

    "You did?"

    "Duh!" He pressed a button that opened up his metal box, the item being shoved under Ashley's nose. Her eyes crossed and her feet quickly backed her away from him.

    "It's a movie," she rolled her eyes at him.

    "It's life-changing!"

    "Don't you know the song?"

   Ashley shrugged.

   Lucas immediately started singing the tune, the others following in tow. Amusement twinkled in Ashley's tired eyes.

    "Da-da-da da-da-da! D-d-d-d-du-duh!"

   For the first time perhaps since he was born, Mike wheeler got that excited grin on his face — the smile a kid should have, rather than that pout permanently etched in his lips. Ashley's nose soon wrinkled at the sweet, albeit embarrassing, image in front of her; she didn't babysit them anymore, but they were still the same trio she had known since they were just little kids. Her heart warmed.

   Despite her terrible night prior, the second in a row, and despite how exhausted she felt and looked, and despite how little interest she had in showing up to school that day — or anywhere else, for that matter — Ashley suddenly didn't mind; not as much, anyway. Watching them sing and shove each other like losers made Ashley feel better than before. Part of her missed being a kid, until there came the recollection that her life at their age wasn't as fun. That was something she missed out on, back then. Fun. Ashley was too busy making deal with God and handling her drunkard father for life to be fun; watching movies and singing with friends like dorks. She could only imagine, and appreciate watching them do all that she had never.

    "Who ya gonna call?" Lucas sang, again.

   Ashley froze.

   Her neck danced with goosebumps.

    "Ghostbusters!"

   The three boys whipped around, facing the fourth member of their quartet. They slapped each other's backs and greeted them using their character names, and while Mike and Lucas argued a storm about who was Venkman, Ashley scattered.

   She couldn't face Will Byers.

   Not after last night.

————

"Is your costume ready?"

Ashley jumped, "Jeez, Lind! You scared me!"

"Sorry?" The girl frowned, poking Ashley's side playfully. "It's not my fault you've been out of it, all day!" Linda jeered, dancing on the balls of her shoes as they made their way through the halls side by side. Cindy wasn't lucky enough to gain a free final period of the day, unlike her two friends. She was retaking the bio test in hopes of passing— an hour she would spend with Eddie Munson, maybe one or two others who failed.

Linda and Ashley were both headed for the library, unlikely to study but likely to chat. Maybe Ashley would get some in while she listened to Linda go on about their costumes for Tina's party that same night, but it would otherwise be unproductive. Especially in light of Ashley's exhaustion.

Linda was right.

She had been out of it, all day.

   Ashley hadn't meant to be. Then again, she hadn't meant to find herself in Will Byers' head, either. She wasn't even sure how that had happened — twice, now. It was a mess, a nightmare, and one hell of a conundrum that Ashley had no answers to. It was awful.

   That was why she had been out of sorts since homeroom, that morning; where Ashley had swiftly avoided Eddie Munson's eyes as he slid into his desk beside Linda. From what she could tell, he hadn't breathed a word about her being in FAIR MART so late. It had helped her relax a little; the last thing Ashley needed was her friends questioning her late night wandering; but still, Ashley had been no less tense as the hours passed. Especially after seeing Will Byers in the parking lot, so unexpectedly. It felt wrong seeing him now, even after having babysat him throughout the years, and the terrible year he'd just had. She didn't want to run away before the boy could say hi, but she just couldn't face him. Not yet. Not when she felt like she was violating his privacy, his sanity, and his reality. It was wrong. If it was anything like being in her father's mind, the kid had no idea she was even in there. That was why it was wrong. Will Byers was just a kid.

   He was a young, vulnerable and emotionally ruined kid. Ashley had no right being inside his head. Even if she had no idea how it was happening and despite it being completely unintentional, she knew she shouldn't be there. It riddled her with inexplicable guilt, and that guilt made her anxious. So anxious that she spent all day toying with the dinosaur bandaids on her palms, hoping that they would distract her for long enough.

Since seeing Will Byers, although she was out of there so fast it was just a blur of his face and the sound of his voice, Ashley had made it her mission to avoid everyone and everything that would remind her of last night.

Luckily Will Byers himself went to the middle school, Jonathan managed to disappear in each hall, and Ashley hadn't seen Eddie Munson since homeroom. So far, so good. She just about made it to last period.

"Sorry," she sighed, shaking her head.

"What's up?" Linda nudged her shoulder with a small smile, a bit more worried than she let on.

"Nothing," Ashley pulled her books closer to her chest.

"You can talk to me, you know?" Linda's voice softened as they entered the library; partially due to the quiet rule and partially to sound reassuring, which she did quite naturally. While Linda had spunk and vibrance, she was also kind and gentle. Possibly the best of both worlds. "Always."

Ashley smiled.

"I know," she reassured, and she did know.

Linda had been her friend for years and hopefully would be for the rest of her life. They spoke about everything — school, families, clothes, boys. The two girls chatted endlessly about anything, and they loved it. But this was something Ashley could never speak of to anyone. Not Linda, not her father, not Jim, not Doctor Owens. As far as Ashley was concerned, this was something she would have to take to her grave.

Deciding that she wasn't going to open up yet, Linda moved on and glanced around the library; "So — where do you wanna sit?"

"Anywhere," Ashley shrugged.

As they walked past the front desk, the two greeted Miss Davis, the librarian, who smiled at them widely. They were favourites in the library, unlike Cindy who never stopped swearing and kicked her feet on the desks, and Miss Davis liked them more than she'd ever liked most high schoolers. Apparently she had been at Hawkins High since Ashley's father had been at school and despised him as he made too much noise. Ashley, on the other hand, was far more like her mother: a quiet, composed student who didn't create tons of troubles everywhere she went. Her father was the king of 1967, very much like—

"Harrington!"

Ashley froze.

"Quiet!" Miss Davis reprimanded.

"Sorry, Miss D." He smiled.

"You can talk to your girlfriend later," she tutted. Steve waved her off with that same charming grin, turning back to Nancy. He whispered something under his breath to which she forced a tight smile and rolled her eyes when he wasn't looking.

Still frozen, Ashley stared at the boy with wide eyes. She'd been trying to avoid reminders of the night prior, and now she'd walked into one of the biggest.

"Ash?"

"Hm?" She blinked.

"You coming?" Linda asked, eyes flitting between Ashley and the direction she'd been staring. When she found no one looking back, she decided the girl had just zoned out.

"Yeah!" Ashley's tone was high.

Linda nodded, slowly.

They walked over to the closest free table and sat down. And it just so happened to be directly behind Steve and Nancy.

Brilliant.

Whether Steve noticed her or not, she wasn't sure. She spent a large portion of that hour staring at the dinosaur bandaids stuck to her palms, and pretending to listen to Linda talk about the last touches for their Halloween costumes.

————

"And then Eddie said—"

It wasn't that Linda's current fling with Eddie Munson wasn't a good listen but Ashley couldn't find it within herself to pay actual attention. Not when hearing about Eddie made her think about his job at FAIR MART, and that made her think about being there last night, which in turn made her think about Steve— whose presence in the seat behind her had left Ashley squirmy and anxious. She'd tried to ignore him; to think about literally anything else; but it had proved way harder than she thought. Especially when the boy kept drumming his fingers on his desk and humming an tune under his light breath.

Ashley rubbed her face, what was he?

Nine years old?

Close to the hour mark, a chair shifted behind her and Nancy soon rounded their table to get to the pencil sharpener. Ashley'd looked up from her book instinctively, watching the Wheeler girl for a few moments, not really certain why but unable to look away — she didn't know Nancy, so well. They had never made friends over the years, and they only spoke through Barb and on the odd occasions Mike was at Dustin's while Ashley was babysitting. She just never really clicked with Nancy. Not for any real reason. The girls were actually quite similar, but Nancy had always been more reserved while Ashley was frontline— a name in Hawkins High; an achiever amongst teens. Nancy was smart, but she wasn't captain of the cheer team and she wasn't student council rep, and she got homesick too much as a kid to ever go to summer camps, let alone be a camp counsellor. They were similar, but just... different. There wasn't any more to it.

   Nancy looked around absently, in turn catching Ashley's stare. She sent her a small smile and Ashley mirrored it, then looked at her books with an awkward sigh.

    "Are you getting ready at mine, after school?"

    "Yeah," Ashley tuned back into their prior conversation with a lacklustre nod, straightening up in her seat. Her forced smile fell.

    "What?"

    "My costume's at home..."

    "That's okay," Linda shrugged. "We can grab it," she had just passed her test and was very rampant on the roads. Ashley hadn't quite decided if she was a good driver or not. "I think I left boots at your place, anyway."

    "Which ones?"

    "The cute little blue ones."

    "Really?"

    "I think so, unless I—"

    "Nancy!"

   Their conversation came to an abrupt halt, reeling around and finding Steve holding into Nancy's shoulder with concern. Nancy was breathing heavily, bright eyes bloomed with duress, seemingly transfixed on something across the room. Out of respect, Ashley's stare returned to Linda, the latter girl mirroring the actions, while Steve guided Nancy toward one of the private study rooms. What they were talking about, Ashley wasn't sure, but she knew it wasn't any of her business. Maybe she should have gone over and asked if Nancy was alright, being the student council rep and all, but all of her own stress from the last two days made her think otherwise. Plus, it looked like Steve had it handled.

He had a habit of that, it seemed.

As the bell rang, Ashley and Linda gathered their items, giving Miss Davis hurried waves as they left the library.

    "Meet at my car?"

    "Totally," Ashley told Linda, nodding.

    "Coo—"

   Before she could finish, Ashley dashed off to her locker.

   She knew she was being standoffish, and guilt crept through all her veins, but she just wanted to get out of there. The sooner that Ashley got dressed in her costume and attended Tina's Halloween party, the better.

   Ashley wanted to have fun. She wanted to go back to how it was two days ago when she wasn't plagued with the thoughts from Will Byers' mind. When she hadn't used her ability in years, when there was no reason to, when she'd almost forgotten she even had it. But everything was suddenly different, and Ashley had no idea why, or how to fix it.

   It was suffocating.

As she walked, she thought back to Nancy Wheeler — the way she had looked so freaked out back in the library. Was it wrong for Ashley to feel a little relieved? Not that Nancy was having a weird turn, but that it wasn't just her?

Then again, Nancy's issues were probably normal.

    "Miller!"

Or maybe they revolved around her boyfriend, who was calling after Ashley in the hallways.

   Ashley walked faster.

    "Miller! Hey!"

   Don't talk to me. Don't talk to me. Don't—

    "Hey," a hand gently grasped her arm, but Ashley was quick to tug it away and look up at him. Steve. He looked kinda offended, a little taken aback, but he played it off by pushing his hand through his hair. He threw her a smile, somewhat bashful. Awkward. Ashley was glad. She felt awkward too. Extremely. When she didn't pause in her pace, he quickly followed her. "I just wanted to ask—"

"You don't have to," she assured him.

His brow furrowed, "But you don't even know—"

    "I do," Ashley said, trying to find that forced smile that usually came so naturally to her. In his presence however, it was harder to find, like she feared Steve would see straight through it. "I'm fine."

Was he that obvious?

Cheeks tinged pink, Steve wondered if he should just turn and leave her alone. He knew they weren't really friends but after the night before when he found her all bloody and bedraggled in the local FAIR MART, he knew he couldn't not check up on her. That would be wrong, right? There had been something off about her, just as there was right now.

She wasn't the Ashley Miller he was used to seeing around the halls and during pep rallies. She had lost all of that pep, and her enthusiasm. Her ponytail was loose and she didn't have a bounce in her step. Ashley Miller was just... not very Ashley Miller. That was all. Then again, what did he know?

   Steve nodded, "Good. Good, yeah. Great."

   Ashley rose a brow.

    "Um," Steve peered around, looking for something to say. The two paused at her locker and as she opened it, he rested his hand against the one beside it. He could tell she didn't want to speak to him about their 3am Slurpees. And if he wasn't as dumb as he had thought, then Steve had a slight suspicion she didn't want to speak to him at all. Acting casual, the boy cleared his throat and tried to make his smile less charming and more approachable. "So, I heard Linda talking costumes," he told her, wondering if that sounded a lot creepier than intended, "You're coming to Tina's party, right? It sounds bitchin.'"

   Ashley blinked, "Bitchin'?"

    "I—" Steve trailed off, "—don't know why I said that."

   In spite of herself, her lip twitched.

   Steve noticed and relaxed a tad. He cleared his throat and did his best to sound welcoming, "You need a ride? I'm on car duty. I said Nance needed to let loose."

    "Is that your way of saying I need to let loose?"

...what?

Eyes wide, Steve shook his head. The last thing he wanted to do was offend her, but it appeared he had already made a bang up job of that. Classic Steve.

    "No, I—"

"Look, Steve—"

Sucking in an irritated breath, Ashley tried her best not to lash out at the boy. She knew Steve was only checking in on her, like a decent human being would, but the last thing Ashley wanted was to talk about the night prior, or be told to let loose, or anything else that made her feel defensive.

Deciding to take a kinder approach, knowing she had to keep a good reputation like she usually did, Ashley straightened her back and tried to look calm.

    "Look, Steve, I appreciate you giving me a ride last night. And you were really sweet to pay for my Slurpee," she said, shoving all her books in her locker. It didn't sound genuine, he noted. It was a bit robotic, less enthusiastic and preppy than he'd observed Ashley Miller to be, and he struggled to figure out why. "But I don't need you to hover, okay? Hell knows I get enough of that at home," her words were muttered lowly, but he still heard. As she slammed her locker door shut and turned to him, the girl forced a kind smile up at him. "I'm alright. Seriously," she assured, and it wasn't a total lie. At least she didn't think so. Was it a lie? Was there any truth to it, at all? Deep down, Ashley felt her guts squirm. She changed the topic, as quickly as possible. "Yes, I'm going to Tina's party. No, I don't need a ride. Thanks for the offer, though."

   With that, Ashley tightened her ponytail and left.

Steve blinked.

He didn't know what to say to that.

Then again, she hadn't given him much of a chance to say all too much of anything. Ashley was already exiting the school, hair swishing behind her as she walked. It was strange how quickly it had changed up — last night, Ashley Miller had been so... really not Ashley. She still wasn't, he could see that now, but she did her best to hide it. She put up a whole front, a character, and now he had this itch to know why.

    "I'll, uh—" he watched her go, scratching his neck. "I'll see you at the party, then?"

A moment passed.

"Wait, obviously— don't answer that."

   Ashley didn't answer, though his words were amusing. Rather, she kept walking until she found her way to Linda's car, finding a ranting Cindy perched on the bonnet, already relaying how badly her re-take test had gone. As the three girls set off to grab Ashley's costume and Linda's boots that she was sure hadn't been left at her house, Ashley peered down at her palms for the dozenth time that day. When she did, she faced the dinosaur bandaids once more. It forced a breath out of her lungs.

   Bandaids were great, but they couldn't piece her back together as she slowly fell apart.

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