(      darkest before dawn      /      act four    )
episode one   |   stranger things

❛  FITTING IN  ❜

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     THERE ARE FIVE STAGES OF GRIEF: denial, anger, depressing, bargaining and acceptance.

It had been over half a year since the events that occurred at the Starcourt Mall in Hawkins, Indiana, and Aurora had never even made it out of the denial stage. She liked to believe she had even come to accept the death of her aunts, but each time she glanced at the door, she had hope that both of them would walk through the with a smile.

      Even after moving over two thousand miles from her home town, Aurora still had hope. On her Aunt Fauna's birthday, her Aunt Mary had offered to take her to the cemetery to leave some flowers at her aunts grave, Aurora had refused. Mary had buried Flora and Fauna in Hawkins, but had placed two headstones in the cemetery near their new home. The same happened when Flora's birthday came and went. Mary never pushed but she just wished that Aurora would at least speak to her about what she was feeling.

Mango sat on her bed, meowing as Aurora stood in her connected bathroom. Her hands were shaking slightly as she held the scissors up to her face, she sighed once before bringing it to her hair and closing the blades. The long locks of her hair fell into the sink as Aurora kept cutting, successfully making a full circle around her head as she sighed. Her hair that once fell to her lower back rested at her collarbone, but Aurora never felt more free.

Aurora had even gotten her permit, and while she couldn't drive by herself, she was inching closer and closer to that day. Becaude Jonathan's car was still broken, Aurora caught a ride with his friend Argyle, along with Eleven and Will. Aurora rushed to grab the rest of her schoolwork, tossing everything into her backpack as she ran out the door, when she heard the sound of Argyles horn. Eleven and Will walked to the car slowly, both of them carrying an art project with them that the sat in the backseat.

      Argyle parked in the front parking lot and Aurora took off running from the four to greet her track friends. Normally she would've walked with Eleven to class but Aurora got to skip today because it was her first track meet after making varsity.

"Hey, Rory!" Lizzy cheered when Aurora approached the group. The varsity team was small, consisting of ten girls in total, while the entire team was made up of twenty-four.

Lizzy, Rocky, Harper, and Grace were all seniors; Isabella G, Carlee and Lucy were juniors; Isabella K and Blake were sophomores; and that left Aurora as the only freshman. Everyone treated her as an equal, knowing that she deserved her spot on the team with her incredibly fast times.

"Nice hair, Rory," Blake commented, smiling as Aurora gave them all a little twirl.

"It's probably a little lopsided, last minute decision before I left for school." Aurora laughed.

Harper smiled, "well, we can fix it for you on the bus! We're heading up to Collin's High School, so it's a long drive."

Aurora nodded, smiling as the girls all loaded onto the bus when it arrived. And true to her word, Harper helped fix the lopsided mess for her as the drove, even braiding it into two pigtails that Aurora tied into buns at the base of her neck. The rest of the drive, Aurora was emailing back and forth with Mike. Making sure the boy was ready for his trip down to California during spring-break.

mike
are you okay? you sound a little weird?

aurora
yeah, don't worry! just stressed
see you soon

      She swallowed harshly, turning off her phone after her email sent. To be fair, she hadn't lied, she was stressed. That just wasn't her main reason. When Aurora had moved, Mike had sworn that the two of them would make it through whatever was thrown at them. But god, the smallest fear had filled her stomach that Mike was only coming to California to tell her he didn't want to date her anymore. That he had found a better girl—closer to him, closer to Hawkins. So before he could tell her, she started to distance herself.

      She left her phone on the bus as she followed the rest of her team off the bus to the meet.

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"ITS THE MAYFIELD HOUSE, SORRY we couldn't answer your call, leave a message at the beep." Max's voice filled Auroras ear as she road home on the bus. Her team cheering as they had won their first meet—all thanks to Aurora and her times.

      After the beep had sounded, Aurora spoke, "hey Max. You haven't been answering my calls but I'm going to keep calling. I lost someone too, so if you're looking to talk to someone, I'm here. We were best friends, Max. Please just talk to me."

      She sighed before hanging up the phone, and turning to the girls on her team. Cheering louder as Aurora joined them in their cheer. A golden medal and a silver medal sat on her neck—having received it after beating a senior from Collin's by over a minute in the eight-hundred and one from the four-hundred relay. Lizzy supported a silver medal for the relay, as well as Carlee and Isabella G. It had been the first time their team had placed in any heat for years, all thanks to Aurora—as the rest of the girls cheered.

      When they got off the bus at school, their coach was waiting for them. All the girls screamed, all hugging their coach and squishing Aurora in the middle of it all. All of them happy for what they managed to do. In the middle of cheering, Auroras legs caved in and her vision went black.

      Lizzy and Harper had known about her narcolepsy—that's what Aurora had called it when she stopped using her powers and she started passing out again. Her coach had allowed her to compete under the premise that if she felt anything, she needed to tap out. Lizzy and Harper had caught her quickly, making sure her head didn't hit the ground as Blake ran to go get the nurse.

      It wasn't even a full minute that Aurora was out, slowly waking up to Lizzy looking over her. "Not something I want to see when I wake up."

      Lizzy scoffed, but helped the girl sit up, "you're welcome."

      "Thanks," Aurora nodded, blushing as she noticed the rest of the varsity girls surrounding her. "Sorry, think I just got overwhelmed."

      "Glad you're okay, Aurora," Summers—their coach—spoke up, "but Blake still ran to get the nurse so we'll keep you there until she says you're good."

      Aurora nodded, listening as all the girls talked to her, trying to keep her mind off of everything. This had been her third spell this week—mind you it was only Thursday—it was getting a lot more frequent and it was only getting more frustrating. Once the nurse had cleared her, Aurora headed to where she knew Argyle had parked, knowing the bell would ring in a few minutes anyways. Lizzy and a few of the other girls had offered to walk with her but Aurora declined.

      Once the bell rang, she watched as students rushed to the quad, and Aurora started to head over there when she noticed Eleven. She picked up her pace when she watched Angela purposely stick her foot out and trip Eleven. Angela laughed as her and her friends walked away, one of them jumping on her art project.

      Knowing she couldn't do anything to stop Angela, Aurora rushed over to Elevens side, helping her stand as she made sure she was okay. Eleven pushed her to the side, as she spoke, "Angela."

      Auroras eyebrows pulled inwards, watched Eleven cautiously. "El..." She almost whispered in warning as Eleven stomped forward a few steps before throwing her hand out and screaming.

      Eleven had expected her powers to work, even if they had been missing for months, but nothing happened. Everyone in the quad stood and watched with judgement as Eleven glanced at her hand in disappointment.

      "Holy shit!" Angela laughed.

      "What the hell was that?" One of her friends mocked. Soon enough, the entire school was laughing at Elevens expense.

      "Okay, El, let's go," Aurora muttered, reaching for her arm to pull her away.

      "Be careful! She might scream at you too," someone from the crowd mocked, which Aurora only glared at.

      A teacher began pushing through the crowd, shoving past students laughing to check on Eleven, "Jane? Are you alright? Did someone do this?"

      When they had moved from Hawkins, it was Elevens idea to move away from the name Eleven. At least in public, so she took her mother's name, Jane. To everyone that didn't know her, Eleven was only ever Jane Byers.

      Aurora glanced at Angela, "um yeah. That little—"

      "No one. I tripped, it was just an accident," Eleven cut Aurora off, knowing it wouldn't be worth it to cause her more of a fight. Aurora huffed, but nodded when the teacher glanced at her for confirmation.

The teacher hadn't believed her anyways, "alright Angela, you come with me."

"What? I didn't do anything," Angela protested as she was pulled away from the crowd, "tell her Jane! Tell her!"

Aurora bent down to pick up the smushed box, her vision going black for a few moments before she stood back up, the broken art cradled in her arms, "it's okay. We'll fix it at home."

Will joined the two, helping collect the pieces, "we'll fix it together, don't worry El."

She cradled the broken figure of Hopper in her palms, tears falling from her eyes as she sighed before standing up and the three walked back to their homes.

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THE LAST DAY BEFORE SPRING BREAK was supposed to be a chill day in every one of their classes, the next day, Mike was supposed to be flying in.

When Aurora had gotten her permit, her aunt had purchased an older, beat-up Volkswagen bug for Aurora to drive when she turned sixteen. Before school started, Aurora had snagged the keys to her car—Mary always worked morning shifts at the Lunchbox, a diner, which meant she was always gone before school started—and dressed in her swimsuit with a simple pair of shorts and a tee-shirt over top.

      She entered the Byers household without knocking, and headed straight to Elevens room. There she knocked before entering, and demanded Eleven come to Wills rooms. Without much complaining from the brunettes end, she followed Aurora to Wills room—which she also knock before entering once again.

      "Rory? What are you doing?" Will questioned as he shrugged on a shirt.

      "Okay, something is going on, and we seriously need a beach day." Aurora nodded her head.

"A beach day! I can't skip school, my mom will kill me!" Will scoffed.

"Beach day?" Eleven spoke slowly, "what is beach?"

Aurora raised her hand to point at Eleven, "see, it's needed."

"And how would we get there?" Will questioned. Aurora smirked, shaking the key ring in between her fingers, "oh god no! Aurora you don't even have license!"

"Oh come on, Will. Loosen up! Your birthday is tomorrow and Mikes coming tomorrow. We need a relaxing day before everything goes to shit, please."

Will sighed, before nodding softly making Aurora cheer. "Okay, put on your swimsuits and meet me downstairs in ten minutes. El, I know you probably don't have on so here's two opens, pick the one you like the most!"

She shoved a green two piece and a blue one piece into Elevens hands before rushing downstairs and back to her house. She quickly scribbled a note to Mary, entailing that the three had run off to the beach and would be back before dark.

Then the three were off, during the hour long drive to the nearest beach, Aurora and Will happily explain what a beach was and thirty minutes in Eleven was antsy to see the ocean and the sand. Aurora made sure to follow every traffic law, terrified of getting pulled over, but the three had made it to the beach with no tickets or traffic violations.

They spent the entire day tanning, swimming or laughing. For once the three kids didn't have to worry about school, or supernatural creatures—the only thing they worried about was their ice cream melting over their fingers.

For the first time since she had lost her aunts, Aurora felt as free as she could be.

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( LET ME SPEAK : )

i fear this chapter is all over the place, ngl.
but i wanted to give aurora another life
that isn't just depending on el or will!

also pls, i don't care if they didn't have phones
like that im not having them send letter as romantic
as that sounds that's too much work. pls just imagine
i beg.

credit goes to fivehxrgreeves