I WISH THINGS WERE EASIER.

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MAGNETS (book one).
°• CHAPTER FIVE •°

" LET'S HOPE SHE'S
NOTHING LIKE ME. "

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DYLAN HARGROVE WAS QUITE WELL KNOWN FOR RUNNING AWAY FROM HER PROBLEMS. At least, she was known to do so to herself. It was the only way to free herself from her mind when the worst happened. She didn't want to get stuck in there. It was a dangerous place to be. Dylan could clamp her hands over her ears all she wanted, but it wouldn't block out Neil, it wouldn't block out Billy. It certainly wouldn't heal bruises any faster. No one else saw that part of Dylan Hargrove, the middle child who wouldn't break no matter how much pressure she was placed under. She was sure not to let them. Her mind and heart had one track; if she failed, she'd fall apart entirely.

Make-up would've been useless to paint over the purple and blue splotch on the side of her face that Neil had bounced off the kitchen table since the sweat would've just bled through it. Dylan could easily talk her way out of any questions. Excuses always tumbled off her tongue swiftly instead of clumsily. I fell down the stairs. I tripped on my run and hit my head on the curb. I accidentally hit myself with the door. Billy and I were wrestling for fun and things got too rough. She always had to make them believe her. Neil would be furious if there was a hint of doubt. It was always the same type of story spun with a few different words. However, a sweatband is secured to her still throbbing wrist. A bruise in the shape of fingertips is a lot harder to explain.

Every quick step that propelled Dylan forward is like leaving her troubles behind. Leaving her home. Losing her mother. Neil's A+ parenting. Billy blaming her for it. Max hating her guts. Clara ignoring her after a sudden friendship that she pushed for. Dylan wished it was that easy. That she could jog and go home within the next hour to her troubles vanishing into thin air. It never got easier.

The last thing Dylan needed was to add to her troubles. But when a woman standing on the side of the road is flagging her down with a wave of her hand, Dylan slowed to a stop. She flicked the button that would shut her walkman off and pulled the headphones down so they hung around her neck. Dylan's eyebrows knit as she cautiously approached her. The stranger stood before a small house with a fretful look on her face, eyes clouded with worry, bouncy curls shaking in the autumn wind. She was dressed as any modern-day woman and upon a closer glance, Dylan saw stray, orange cat hairs stuck in the cotton of her clothes as if it was made of thread too.

"Oh, dear, I'm so sorry for the trouble," she greeted. Dylan heard the worry in her words. "I've seen you jog through our neighborhood many times, Miss Hargrove, is it? - " Dylan flinched. " - The new family on Cherry Lane. I don't mean to be a bother, really, but my baby Mews has been missing all morning. I've been so worried." She pressed a hand with rings that shine with gems over her chest as if her heart was racing. "I can't find her anywhere."

Dylan stood there like a dumbass, at a loss for words. Then she repeated the name she heard slowly, "... Mews?" Since she needed to double-check she heard whatever the fuck a Mews was.

"Oh! Mews is my cat, dear. She's a little orange girl," she explained as if it was obvious.

Dylan snapped out of her daze. She tried to smile at the poor cat woman but it was uneasy. "Oh, I'm sorry, Miss...?"

"Henderson!"

"Miss Henderson," Dylan repeated politely.  "I'm Dylan. I am the, um..." She cleared her throat before agreeing. "The Hargrove girl on Cherry Land." She held out her hand and Miss Henderson grasped it so tenderly that it made Dylan's heart ache for her own mother. She placed her hand over hers in an attempt to soothe her and gain her trust. Having a neighbors trust in a place like Hawkins couldn't hurt. "I'm sorry. I haven't come across a cat, but I'll be sure to keep an eye out for you as I run," Dylan promised.

A kind smile filled Miss Henderson's full cheeks. "You're such a sweetheart, Dylan, thank you so much." She fanned herself with her free hand as fresh tears sprung in her eyes. "Oh, I've been so worried. It's so wonderful to hear a neighbor care."

That's me, Dylan thought sourly as she tilted her head with a bright smile. "That's me," she said, sickly-sweet in a way that Miss Henderson couldn't tell was fake. They part ways as Dylan reached for the walkman on her hip again. "It was nice meeting you, Miss Henderson."

"You too, dear! Thank you again!" She called before Dylan flipped her walkman on again and yanked her headphones back over her ears.

The action caused strands of Dylan's hair to tug a little harshly at her scalp. She flicked her ponytail over her shoulder and continued the long path she was taking with the thoughts that she'd take a different route tomorrow. Dylan's reached her limits of running past houses with weird neighbors looking for lost cats already.

She had better things to do then look for a stupid cat that probably took off because it felt smothered.

Dylan's glad that she doesn't bump into any other weirdos on her run. One was more than enough. She's breathless as she entered the Hargrove-Mayfield house and immediately went to the kitchen for a glass of water. Neil was at work which meant Billy was free to blast music as loud as he wanted and the angry, metal music could've shaken the walls. Dylan rolled her eyes and blocked it out. She was so used to it that it became background noise of annoyance as she powered through life.

The glass of water that Dylan had started sipping from nearly fell from her hand as a flash of red hair passed her. Max had her skateboard dangled at her side with a scowl on her freckled face while her mother, Susan, was hot on her heels. "Honey, I already asked Billy if he'd bring you to the arcade. It's a little far and you don't know your way around the town yet," she said, ruby lips pressed into a thin, concerned line.

"I don't want Billy to bring me," Max snapped. "He's such a - "

"Max," Dylan firmly cut in before she could finish. She didn't particularly care if Max wanted to insult her brother. Hell, if they could bond over anything, it'd be that. But Dylan was more concerned over how the girl spoke to her mother. How Neil would react if he was there to hear it. Dylan took a deep breath and lowered the cup onto the counter. "Do you want me to go with you?" She offered. "I can be ready in, like, five minutes."

The white flag she was waving in the proposition only made Max flush with anger. "No. Go take your shower. I can take care of myself," she spat in Dylan's direction. Dylan couldn't help but flinch. She hadn't meant any harm and it still backfired. Max shot another glare in Susan's direction. "Whatever. I'll be waiting outside for him."

The door slammed shut twice in the next few minutes. Once, when Max left, and another, when Billy shut his music off, and came clambering after her with a pair of sunglasses over his eyes that couldn't hide the annoyance in his furrowed eyebrows. Dylan doesn't glance his way but she hid the jerk of her shoulders when the door slammed after him as well. It left her in the house alone with Susan. A silence, anything but peaceful, had followed.

With Susan... Their relationship was complicated. Dylan couldn't tell if Susan cared about her. She wasn't a wicked stepmother from a fairytale. She was actually quite nice. And she seemed to care about Max. But if she cared about any of the three kids, wouldn't she have stepped in? Dylan can faintly recall on more than one occasion that Susan just... Watched. A glimmer of tears in blue eyes, maybe, a turn of her head in disgust, but she never told Neil to stop. She turned a blind eye. She handed Dylan an icepack without a word if needed. But she did nothing while two teenagers, her stepchildren, were beaten under her own roof.

Dylan wished she could ask why. It was a simple question. How easy could it be to be married to a man that taught his children respect and responsibility with his fists or whatever he had lying around? Dylan didn't think she could understand. She didn't think she could forgive Susan either.

"She's a spitfire, that one," Susan mumbled. Dylan blinked and noticed the woman was cleaning the dishes in the sink. She thought for a moment maybe it was her day on the chore, and Neil would raise hell if it wasn't done by the time he got done, but maybe she was wrong. Susan tried to flash the girl a smile when Dylan didn't respond. "I don't know where she gets it from, but I'm hoping it's from you."

Wordlessly, Dylan shared a long stare with her stepmother. She couldn't tell if Susan was insulting her or trying to deliver a compliment. Did Susan think she was angry enough, strong enough to handle herself? Is that why she never stepped in? Dylan did everything Neil wanted. She didn't fight back. She tried not to beg for him to stop. And it still wasn't enough.

"Let's hope she's nothing like me," Dylan mumbled. She didn't glance at Susan's reaction to that and instead left her in the kitchen to take a shower.

Underneath the spray of hot water, Dylan hoped one last time because she wouldn't wish it on anyone. That Max would be nothing like her.

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Dinner was an awkward silence that Dylan tried to fill with mentions of the woman she had been stopped by while on her run. She gave it her all so Neil wouldn't be angry at the tension he could feel. Dylan placed her finger on it the second it wafted through the door. Max was furious with Billy about something secretive and the feeling was mutual. Neil had stepped outside for a cigarette afterwards and Dylan had a hunch it was to ease his strain before he snapped because of the silent spat the oldest and youngest were having. She didn't care. She hoped he would choke on the lit stick if it meant he wouldn't come back inside and use her as a punching bag instead of Billy.

It was Billy's "responsibility" to watch his sisters. To make sure they understood their place and they wouldn't stop out of line or, God forbid, do something unlady like. It was Dylan's "responsibility" to be the mediator and keep the perfect family image picture as it was. Flawless. Neil didn't have to tell her to watch out for Billy and Max. She did it anyway. She did it because she loved them even if the feeling didn't flow both ways.

Dylan knew Billy didn't deserve her love. He wasn't a good person. He didn't even try to be. He had grown into their father's boots a little too well. And most of the time, Dylan thinks she hated him too. Was it possible, to hate someone as much as you loved them?

Because after Dylan put the dishes from dinner away, and turned the corner into her bedroom, Billy was there. And the sight didn't fill her with a wave of love. It made her stomach boil with rage.

He towered above Max. Their sister hadn't reached Billy's chin quite yet, but her lip curled into a mean sneer, and her blue eyes glimmered with fury that matched his. They were whispering angrily about something. Dylan couldn't make-out what. But Max's beloved skateboard was in Billy's hands and there was hatred carved into his features.

A threat Billy often made rang in Dylan's head. "You know what happens when you disobey me ... I break things."

"Do you want Neil to hear you?!" Dylan hissed as she stepped into the room. "Billy. Give Max her skateboard. It isn't worth it."

"Oh, I think it is," Billy challenged. He shot another scowl at Max. "She didn't listen when I told her to stay. Away. Maybe she will this time - "

He grasped each edge of the skateboard and Dylan lunged. She attempted to sneak under Billy's arm and snatch it away, but it's no use. His grip was too tight. Max watched with her lips parted in shock and wide eyes as the Hargrove siblings struggle over her skateboard. Dylan thought she had a good grip on the wooden platform and gave a yank as hard as she could.

Dylan felt it before she saw it coming.

Billy's elbow suddenly jolted upward and smashed directly into Dylan's nose.

She cried out at the sudden impact and released what they were fighting over. A blast of pain even brought her ears to start ringing. She stumbled backwards as blood gushed from her nostrils and lifted her hand to cup over the blood that was making its way past her upper lip and into her mouth. The palm of Dylan's hand quickly filled with the warm liquid as she gasped to catch her breath again.

Her eyes flickered to meet Billy's just as he spat at her, "Now look what you did."

Dylan didn't reply. She couldn't even if she wanted to. Her mouth was already filling with blood.

Then he brought his knee upwards and snapped Max's skateboard in two pieces.

It made an awful cracking sound as it split. Wood pieces stuck out from both edges. Max took one look at it before she nearly released a shriek of either anger or despair at something she loved dearly before she thought better about dragging Neil into this. All Dylan could do was stare with a handful of blood, her shredded heart sinking in her chest, and a horribly throbbing pain starting to reach her skull.

Billy threw each piece onto the ground and stormed out of the room. He slammed the door shut behind him so hard Dylan thought it would've been thrown off the hinges.

Dylan thought that was the end of things. That was the worst of it. Billy might've accidentally broken her nose, didn't apologize for it, and took off after breaking Max's board. Things sucked in the little house on Cherry Lane but at least it was over -

"Why did you even bother?!" Max suddenly snapped.

The blood stuck to Dylan's hand as she lowered it. Two streams of the crimson liquid had slowed its river and the pain was starting to subside - maybe she was use to it - but she stared at Max in surprise at her outburst. "What are you talking about? I was trying to help you!" Dylan spat back. She didn't mean to sound angry. She was furious with Billy more than anyone, but the nasal in her tone from bleeding didn't help.

"Oh, you did such a great job," Max drawled sarcastically. "It's - it's in pieces! You should've just stayed out of it!" She crouched to gather the two separate boards and furiously tried to blink away tears building up. Max's nose curled as she sniffled. "He's your brother. Not mine. Why - why did..."

Max doesn't finish her sentence. The words full of hate dug under Dylan's skin and welded themselves there.

"He's your brother."

Dylan felt like she was going to be sick. She avoided Max's enraged glare and left for the bathroom. Tears poured seconds before she got there. They mix with the blood as she tried to carefully clean it with the occasional wince when she pressed too hard on the sore spots. Dylan wished it was that easy to do the same to her genes. She wished she could clean them of the sin of having the Hargrove genetics.

A sob fell from Dylan's throat. She grinded her teeth together before another could escape. She scrubbed at the porcelain sink as a stream of water ran to clean the blood that had dribbled and left its mark. It didn't go easy. Nothing ever came that way either.

Dylan felt as if it didn't matter how hard she tried, what she did was never good enough.

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author's note:

so this was like a way shorter chapter compared to a lot of mine but i needed this little filler. it's right before everything starts going to shit SO! yeah. 🫶🏻

anyway the first half was cute but the second half was ☹️ very hard to write. the scene takes place after billy found out max was seeing lucas still and he broke her skateboard for it. while elbowing dylan in the nose was an accident, anyone decent would've apologized for it. instead, like neil, he blamed her. and then my poor baby cried in the bathroom and blamed herself. she deserves so much better.

onto happier (sorta) things! i did publish a new nancy wheeler fic if anyone is interested. it's called "atonement" and it's filled with equal angst as "magnets" is. please feel free to enjoy it anyway if you're interested ❤️

i've really been lacking updates lately cause mentally im going thru it and reaching burn out from also a crap ton of schoolwork on me. adjusting has been a pain in my ass. im trying to get back in the groove of things. i miss writing so much though so i'll try to get back into it! please let me know your thoughts about this chapter in the meantime, i love reading comments ❤️

- koda

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