1This fanfic is entirely different from most of the others I've written. First time I've had a go at a Hopper-centric story. Still set in Hawkins, Indiana in the Eighties, though some details are changed. I don't want to give away any spoilers, so you'll have to discover changes as they come up...I've tried to keep true to the characters as they are in the show as much as possible.
Chapter 1: The Vanishing
It had been an unusually mild start to November in Indiana; Temperatures barely dipping below the high fifties and golden leaves still clinging to branches. For the last ten years Jim Hopper had been used to the freezing Winter chill of NYC, and the late apple-crisp Autumn of Hawkins had been a shock to the system. He'd grown up in Hawkins, spending his childhood and late teens here, before college, when he left his small hometown in search of something bigger.
Jim found it in Diane, a larger than life girl whom he swiftly fell head-over-heels for. He had followed her across the country after graduation, back to her home state. Their marriage had been passionate but brief, a direct consequence of her pregnancy. He knew the only reason that Diane had allowed him to stay as long as he had was Sara. She'd never wanted children, so when the ink on the divorce papers had dried he took his daughter and left.
Jim had returned to Hawkins broken-hearted. With his blond haired, blue-eyed daughter in tow, he'd found his grandfather's cabin exactly how it had been left more than a decade before. Him and Sara scrubbed floors and stripped walls for the whole Summer to the soundtrack of Jim Croce. Creating a home for the fragile Hopper family to rebuild themselves in safety.
Oil splattered across the counter top, burning perfect circles into the brown Formica. He waited for the bottom of the pan to glisten, as his mother had taught him, before cracking in an egg. The fat mixing with the clear liquid, turning it white almost instantly. The radio crackling above the sound of frying eggs was, unusually, the only sound in the house.
"Sara" Jim's voice vibrated with a hollow echo off of the wood-clad walls. He covered the length of the hall with long, even strides, continuing to call his daughter's name. Her door creaked open, revealing a purple backpack propped against the foot of her neatly made bed. Despite her age, this was not an unusual sight; Sara, so much like her mother, was tidy and organised. Jim turned, calling her once again. He expected her bright eyes to peer around the door, questioning his worry, telling him to calm down. Only she didn't. His anxiety rising with every call she did not answer.
Sara's stuffed bunny lay abandoned in the middle of the unkempt lawn. It's tatty, well loved ears barely poking above the long grass. Spotting it from the back porch, Jim surged forwards with hope in his heart, only to have it ripped away again, realising that the bunny lay alone without the girl. He fell to his knees, repeating her name with more desperation than before. He clutched it to his chest, breathing in the sweet smell of his daughter. Back in the kitchen, congealed eggs lay on untouched plates and the radio played static between stations.
Wind blew through trees that edged the Hopper's yard, they seemed to call Jim towards the woods. He walked with purpose, despite not knowing where he was heading. Jim's strides not as confident as usual, his voice now shaking as Sara's name echoed from his throat. Her bunny hanging from his large hand, his head snapping back and forth, searching for a flash of white blond in the dull morning light. As the trees began to thin, Jim realised that he'd subconsciously stumbled to a familiar house and he was momentarily grateful.
Will opened the door to see Jim Hopper standing on the Byers' front porch. The young boy stepped aside, holding the door, allowing him to step inside. His gap-toothed smile soon dropping with the realisation that Sara was not with her father. Before he could question Jim his mother stepped into the room, her grin similarly disappearing at the look on her friend's face.
"Hop" Joyce's concern evident in her voice "Where's Sara?", Sara filled any room she was in, and her absence was immediately noticed. Panic rising, just as it had done for Jim half an hour before, Joyce repeated her question. Forgetting the bunny until it hit the floor with a thump, Jim stepped forwards, his large body crumpling before Joyce. She took a step towards him in an attempt to catch him, despite knowing the physical impossibility of that. They slumped to the ground, he grasped at the fraying ear of Sara's bunny, determined to hold on to anything that meant she was close. The realisation hitting Joyce for the first time, as she saw the strongest man she knew break in front of her eyes; Sara was gone.
There wasn't a second thought that crossed her mind, she was going with him to the station. Donald's response to her absence from work was less than pleasant, she'd had to take the day unpaid just to get him to agree. She then phoned the hardware store, Jim was in no fit state to do it himself and he clearly wouldn't be working today's shift. The manager there was much more understanding, and Joyce couldn't help but feel a flicker of jealousy despite the situation. Whilst she was on the phone, Jonathan picked up the pieces of Hopper, trying his best to put them back together over a cup of coffee. Will, floating on the outer edges of the atmosphere, ate breakfast in near silence. He thought about Sara, wondering if she'd run away because of today's third period Math test.
Using both hands to fumble with the lock on his bike, Will had slung his backpack on the ground beside him. Jonathan casually walked towards the open shed, picking the bag up with one finger. Joyce looked over to her boys from the porch, shouting to her youngest "Will, Honey!" Her hand shielding her eyes from the weak sunlight that had begun to break through the clouded sky of the morning "Go with Jonathan in the car" the beg of her voice convincing him not to argue. He dropped the lock with a tinny clang, following his older brother to the rusted car, as his mother ushered Jim into her green pinto.
"Are you not hearing the same thing I am, Powell?" Flo frowned at the Chief's office, hearing Joyce's frantic shout from behind the closed door. "She's missing, gone, and you're just sitting here" her arms flailing above her head in exasperation. Jim sat beside her broken, and the Chief of Police was choosing to ignore that. She couldn't understand why he wouldn't listen. "Mrs Byers, with respect, she's been missing less than 12 hours and.."
"You don't know that, you don't know!" She interrupted. Powell raised his hand, silencing the woman for what seemed like the first time since she entered the station.
"Are you suggesting that Mr Hopper wasn't watching his daughter closely enough to notice if she was at home last night?" The pair looked on in shock, round mouths hanging open in disbelief at the suggestion. Powell smiled almost smugly. "If she's not home in a few hours come back, okay?" He rubbed at the back of his neck, his other hand tapping a repetitive pattern on the desk with a pencil. "Okay?" Powell demanded an answer, and Joyce complied with a single, sharp nod, though she made no move to leave the office. The Chief's phone rang, causing Jim to jump from his seat. Powell eyed Joyce, his hand moving to pick up the receiver, an indication that their time was up. Jim, forcing himself to be the level-headed one once again, took Joyce's hand, pulling her out of the office without a backward glance. His teeth ground against each other, forcing his breath out in small puffs. He didn't let go of her hand until they reached the pavement.
