🔹️AnimeSmolBean🔹️

“I am so sorry, Mr. Clarke.” The kid apologized as he sat down.

Once Mr. Clarke started talking again, Dustin leaned towards his friends sitting behind him. “We have to meet. All of us. At lunch. AV Club.”

“Why?”

“I have something that you won’t believe.”

Mr. Clarke called on Dustin again but (Your Name) stopped listening. Her thoughts wandered back to where they were before. She thought about Halloween. About all that has happened in one night. She looked down.

Mike and Will look at the girl simultaneously, seemingly sensing her sadness but they both don’t say anything. Mike turned his head to look ahead. Will lingered for another moment, feeling the sadness clinging to his friend like smoke clinging onto clothes. He frowned a bit before turning back to the front.

🚲🎲📼♥️

During lunch, everyone; (Your Name), Mike, Will, Lucas, Dustin and Max stood in the AV room like Dustin told them; all standing in a circle around the table. Then, Dustin placed his Ghostbusters compartment from his costume onto the table and opened it. Everyone looked down. Inside was a slimy, faceless creature with only a tiny mouth being its only facial feature, and a long, thick tail. It chittered as the doors to the compartment opened.

“His name is D’Artagnan,” Dustin reached inside and carefully picked up the creature. “Cute, right?”

“Kind of.” (Your Name) muttered.

“D’Artaganan?” Mike questioned. “Dart for short.” Dustin told him. “And he was in your trash?” Max questioned. “Foraging for food,” Dustin replied, “You wanna hold him?” “No, no.” Max backed away, not interested. “He doesn’t bite.” Dustin places Dart into Max’s open palms.

“Oh God, he’s slimy!” Max says in disgust and plops Dart Into Lucas’ hands.

“Ugh, he’s like a living booger.” Lucas groans in disgust and slides Dart off his hands into Will’s.

“Ugh, oh, God!” WIll groans in disgust, too, and passes the creature to (Your Name).

However (Your Name) didn’t exclaim in disgust or try to pass him over to the next person right away. She observed the slimy creature, tilting her head to the side. “How strange.” She muttered as Dart chitters. Mike slowly walked closer to her.

“Can I see him?” His voice made (Your Name) suppress a shiver because of how close he was and how close his soft voice was to her ear.

(Your Name) nodded and with her permission, Mike reached his hands up as (Your Name) carefully slid Dart onto Mike’s open palms. She felt their hands caress each other’s briefly as she passed Dart to him, making her suppress another shiver and press her lips together to keep herself from letting a soft gasp escape her mouth.

“What is he?” Mike asks as he observes Dart closely as the creature chitters once more.

“My question exactly.” Dustin replies, excitement clear in his tone.

Dustin brought out books and explained to the group that he thought it was a pollywog, a type of tadpole and compared to two other pollywogs; their names too complex for (Your Name) to remember. But when he did more comparisons, he realized that it couldn't be either. The big clue was because Dart hated heat when reptiles were ectothermic.

“So, if he’s not a pollywog or a reptile…” Lucas starts.

"Then, I discovered a new species.” Dustin finishes with an excited smile.

Despite Dustin’s excitement, (Your Name) took a glance at WIll and immediately grew worried. Will was looking at Dart with wide eyes, and his chest was heaving a little.

Something wasn’t right.

🚲🎲📼♥️

After school, Mike and (Your Name) were getting ready to leave after Dustin shows Mr. Clarke his discovery, when Will approached them.

“Will, you coming? Let’s go show Mr. Clarke.” Mike tells his friend. But Will stays still, not moving,a look of fear on his features. “What?” Mike questioned, worriedly. “It’s about D’Artaganan.” He replies fearfully.

(Your Name) immediately felt a sense of dread wash over her. “What about him?”

“I have seen him before.”

“You’ve seen him before?” Mike asked.

“Yes,” Will confirms, “A year ago, on Christmas, after I was rescued from the Upside Down, I… I coughed up a slug. It looked just like Dart but only it looked more like a slug. Then, yesterday…” He pauses before continuing, “Last night… during my vision.. I heard it. The same sound Dart makes. Echoing all around me. I think it was Dart.”

Mike and (Your Name) are surprised to hear this news. They both share a look; one that says that they need to do something.

“Okay, we need to get everyone and tell them. This is now an emergency.” (Your Name) stated.

“I agree. Let’s get the others. Come on.” Mike runs to Mr. Clarke’s room, (Your Name) and WIll following close behind him.

They arrive at the classroom, open the door, and barge in. “Stop!” Mike yells as he stops at Mr. Clarke’s desk where their teacher, Dustin, Lucas, and Max were. “I’m sorry, Mr. Clarke. It was just a stupid prank.” He apologizes as he grabs the compartment.

“Whta are you doing?” Dustin questions Mike.

“I told him to stop. We need to go.” Mike continues as he backs away, out of breath from running.

“Mike!” Dustin calls to him.

“Right now. Right now!” Mike demands as he takes off running again.

Hearing Mike’s urgency, Lucas, Max and Dustin run after him, WIll and (Your Name), leaving Mr. Clarke confused.

🚲🎲📼♥️

“I don’t understand.” Lucas says.

The kids were now back in the AV room. Well, everyone except zMax. Mike told her to stay outside for reasons (Your Name) didn’t fully understand as she already saw Dart but there were more pressing matters right now.

“What do you not understand?” Mike asks.

“Will saw something that looked like Dart last year?”

“Kind of, but there was no tail.” Will replies.

“But then he heard it yesterday. The exact same sound." Mike informs the others.

“Why didn't you tell us before?” Dustin asked.

“I wasn’t sure.” WIll confessed.

“So, it’s a coincidence."

“Or not. What if WIll was stuck in the Upside Down,he somehow acquired True Sight?” Mike inquired.

“True Sight?” Lucas was confused.

“It gives you the power to see into the ethereal plane.” Dustin replies.

Lucas sighs, “Elaborate.”

“Maybe these flashbacks that Will keeps having aren’t really flashbacks at all. Maybe they’re real. Maybe Will can somehow see into the Upside Down.” Mike explains.

“So that could mean…”

“Dart is from the Upside Down.” (Your Name) concludes.

Lucas sighs again, “We have to take him to Hopper.”

“I agree.” Mike says.

“No. No way. If we take him to Hopper, Dart’s good as dead.” Dustin disagrees.

“Maybe he should be.”

How can you say that?”

“How can you not? He’s from the Upside Down.” Mike argues.

“Maybe. But even if he is, it doesn’t automatically mean that he’s bad.”

“That’s like saying just because someone’s from the Death Star doesn’t make them bad.”

“We have a bond.”

“A bond? Just because he likes nougat?” Mike says in disbelief.

“No, because he trusts me!”

“He trusts you?” Lucas questions.

“Yes, I promised I would take care of him.”

Just then, a sudden screech erupts from the compartment Dustin was holding Dart in and it starts to shake. The kids start to back away. Then, the compartment falls onto its side. Scared, and now on the defensive, Mike grabs a microphone and raises it over his head, standing in front of Will and (Your Name).

“Don’t hurt him.” Dustin tells him desperately.

“Only if he attacks.” Mike states, as he moves in front of Will and (Your Name) more.

“Just open it already.” Lucas demands.

The kids wait in anticipation as Dustin pushes the button and the doors to the compartment and Dart emerges with a chitter. “Holy shit!” Lucas curses as Dustin drops the controller and Dart crawls, letting out chitters for a moment. Mike slowly inches forward and WIll backs away in fear. (Your Name) follows him, standing in front of him protectively.

Then suddenly, the skin on Dart’s sides moved, and legs popped out with a squishing sound

“Oh, shit!” Lucas screams and Dart lets out a louder roar.

(Your Name) immediately grabs Will and backs away with him in her arms as Mike charges, swinging the microphone at Dart. Dustin grabs Mike, making him miss Dart as Dart jumps off the table and runs towards the door. Just then, the door opens, courtesy of Max, and Dart escapes.

The kids ran after him, and Dustin and Lucas collided with Max, who was kneeling by the door.

“What was that?” Max questioned, seeing the other’s frantic states.

“Dart!” Mike replied.

“What?”

“You let him escape!”

“Why did you attack him?” Dustin questions as he grabs Mike.

“Come on.” Mike ignores him as he runs after Dart.

“Don’t hurt him. Don’t you hurt him!” Dustin yells as the others run in different directions.

🚲🎲📼♥️

The girls' bathroom was empty.

(Your Name), panting hard, pushed through the door and let it swing shut behind her. She presses her back to the wall.

The search for Dart had scattered everyone throughout the school. Voices echoed faintly through the hallways outside, but here it was quiet.

Too quiet.

She approached the sink, turned the water on and cupped some of the water coming out of the faucet and splashed some in her face. She sighs shakily and stepped away from the sink and looked at her wet hands for a couple of moments. ‘What a great time for a mental breakdown.’ She thinks negatively, before looking up into the mirror. For a moment, she just stared at her reflection.

Her costume excitement from Halloween felt like it had happened months ago.

Now all she could think about was Will.

The visions.

The Upside Down.

The fear she'd seen in his eyes when he looked at Dart.

(Your Name) swallowed hard. "Come on..." she whispered to herself. She splashed more cold water on her face. The water dripped from her fingertips into the sink.

For a second, she thought about Will giving her the lollipop.

The way he'd noticed she was sad when nobody else had.

The way he'd quietly looked out for her.

Then her thoughts drifted to Mike.

To Halloween night.

Seeing him upset.

To the candy he'd given her before she'd gone home.

To the strange ache she'd been carrying around ever since.

Reader squeezed her eyes shut.

Everything felt complicated lately. Her friendships. Her feelings. Will's visions. Dart. Everything.

A shaky breath escaped her mouth. When she opened her eyes again, she suddenly froze. A cold feeling suddenly settled in her stomach. Not pain. Not fear exactly.

Just...

Wrong.

Something was wrong.

(Your Name) slowly lifted her head. The bathroom suddenly felt colder. Her pulse quickened. She didn't know why. Nothing had happened. Nothing had changed. Yet every instinct she had was screaming at her:

Find Will.

Now.

She fumbled for her supercomm. Her fingers nearly slipped as she switched it on.

"Will?"

Static.

"Will?"

Nothing.

Her heartbeat sped up.

"Will, come in."

Still nothing.

Reader's stomach dropped.

Will always answered. Always. Fear shot through her chest. She immediately remembers what happened the night he disappeared; almost a year ago.

Oh no.

Immediately, she switched channels.

"Mike?"

A burst of static.

Then:

"(Your Name)?"

Relief flooded through her for half a second. "Mike." Her voice came out shaky. "What? Did you find Dart?" "No."

Silence.

Then Mike immediately heard something in her voice. "(Your Name)?"

She swallowed. "I don't know why, but I have a really bad feeling." The words came out fast. "We need to find Will."

There was a pause.

Then Mike answered without hesitation. "We don’t know where Will is either. He was in the bathroom by Mr. Salerno's. But now he’s not here.

Oh God. No, no, no, no.

“Mike, we have to find him.”

“Where are you?"

"Girls' bathroom."

"I’m coming."

When she got downstairs, she was met with her mom, just finishing breakfast: chocolate chip pancakes with some black and orange sprinkles sprinkled on top.  She smiled and hugged her mom, thanking her.  Her mom smiles and kisses her temple.  The two pull away and start to eat.  

“You're not putting on your costume?” Her mom asked.  

The girl looked up from her food.  “Oh!  No.” She shook her head, “There's a lot of parts.  Also, the school doesn't allow masks and or weapons on the grounds.  The costume wouldn't look without either.  So, I opted for a shirt instead.  But I'll put it on right when I get home.”

“That's fine honey.  What are the boys going as?” 

“The Ghostbusters crew.”

“Ooohhhh.  Very cool.  How come you're not matching with them?” 

The question surprises (Your Name).  The thought had crossed her mind but she didn't dwell on it.  

“Oh.  Um… There's not much I could've gone as.  I could've gone as a ghost but I didn't want to wear a white sheet over my head and get it dirty.” She says softly.  “Plus, I had planned on being Jason way before Ghostbusters even came out and the boys didn't want to force me to change my plans.” 

Her mom nodded.  “That's nice of them.” 

The girl nodded.  ‘Why didn't I match?  Why didn't they ask me to match? Maybe I'm thinking too much.’ 

Breakfast was finished and (Your Name) said bye to her mom, getting a kiss on her temple, courtesy of her mom. 

She rode her bike to Hawkins Middle.  As she biked, she couldn't help but sing the Ghostbusters theme to herself softly.  She sang it up until she saw the school on sight and she spotted the four boys.  They were decked out in their Ghostbusters costumes and they looked great.  

“Well, look at you all!  You look like you could actually be the Ghostbusters.”

The boys turn to (Your Name) and they smile.  They greet her with hugs.

“Where’s your costume?” Dustin asked, pointing at her shirt.

“Oh!  Since masks aren’t allowed in school, I opted out of wearing it.  No one would recognize me without it.  I would just be some person in torn up clothes.”

“Oh, yeah.  That makes sense,” Mike says, “But hey, the shirt’s pretty cool.”

“Thanks.”

Just then, Mike noticed that Lucas’ costume also said Venkman.  They two get into a verbal fight about it.

“Did you guys plan out who was going to be who?” (Your Name) whispers to Will.

Will nodded, “We did, but I guess Lucas didn’t agree with Mike’s vision.”

As Mike and Lucas continue to bicker, Dustin brings their attention to something else.

“Why is no one else wearing costumes?”

Dustin was right.

The kids arriving now were dressed in normal clothes.  No costume spotted in sight.

(Your Name) looked back at her friends.

“Crap.” ‘Crap.’ Lucas said and (Your Name) thought at the same time. 

🚲🎲📼♥️ 

The group walked down the school hallway, trying to play it cool.  Well, the boys, more than (Your Name). 

The other kids looked at the group, mainly the boys, and laughed at their costumes. 

“When do people make these decisions?” Dustin questioned in annoyance.

“Everyone dressed up last year.” Will said softly. 

(Your Name) looked down in shame.  Maybe she should've worn her costume too so they wouldn't feel left out.

“It's a conspiracy, I'm telling you.” Dustin adds.

“Just be cool.” Mike told everyone, trying to ease everyone's discomfort. 

“Who are you gonna call? The nerds!”

(Your Name) looked at the boy who said the insult and gave him a dark stare that made the boy flinch and back away.  “Psycho.” The boy muttered.

The (Hair Color) haired girl paid no mind to the insult and wrapped her arms around Will and Mike's shoulders as they walked to their lockers. 

They arrive and Mike bids the others a farewell as he heads to his first class.  While the other pack away their things and get ready for their first class, Dustin spoke up:

“We should invite Mad Max to trick-or-treat with us.”  

The idea makes the others look at him.  

“Yeah!  We should.” Lucas jumps onboard.  

The two look at Will and (Your Name).

“What do you two say?” Dustin asked.

“I-” Will stutters out, “I don't think that's a good idea.  We need to tell Mike first.”

“Yeah,” (Your Name) jumped in, “We always tell Mike our ideas first before we all decide.”

“Come on, you two.  Mike will agree to anything you two have to say.  You three are like… a complete set.”

The two brush light pink.  “Oh.” They say at the same time.  They take a couple moments to think about it.  They were excited about tonight.  Being with the party again.  No one else.  But Lucas and Dustin looked so excited, they didn't want to get in their way.  Will wouldn't mind her joining, as long as Mike would be okay with it.  He was sure he would.  (Your Name) thought similarly; Mike will be okay with it.  Plus, it would be nice to make another friend. 

“Okay.” The two cave in.

Bright smiles spread across Dustin and Lucas’ faces.  “Thank you, you two!” He pulls them both into a hug.  Will and (Your Name) smile at their friends.  

“We're going to go to class,” (Your Name) motions to her and Will, “We'll see you guys soon.” The two grab their things and start to walk to their classes.

“Bye!” Lucas and Dustin waved at them as they left.

The two wave and smile back in response.  

🚲🎲📼♥️

After school, (Your Name) rode back home a different route than the boys, a faster route so she can get into her costume.  

When she arrived home, she immediately placed her bike on the side of the house and walked up to the front door and knocked.  Her mom stayed home because of the holiday.  

Her mom answered and let her inside.  

(Your Name) immediately runs upstairs to her room.  She gets into her room and quickly changes out of her normal clothes and slips on her costume.  Dark gray pants.  Plain, torn up black shirt.  Dark brown, baggy, slightly ripped jacket.  She kept her combat boots, knowing those would match the costume.  She slipped black gloves into her pockets in case it got cold.  She grabbed a fake machete with fake blood she made herself and grabbed the final piece: the hockey mask.  She slips it on and lets her hair down, mussing it up to make it a little messy.  Once she does that, she looks at herself in her full length mirror.  She smiles.  Those nights of creating it totally paid off.  

She walks downstairs and she is met with the sight of her mom, camera in hand, wide smile spread across her face.  

“Oh, honey, you look incredible!  Come here, come here!  I need photos!”

(Your Name) laughs and agrees, following her mom outside to their backyard.  Once there, her mom asked to pose for a couple of pictures.  She did a normal pose, a scary pose with her machete held up above her head and a pose where she placed the machete over her shoulder in a relaxed way.  

After the photos, her mom gives her a pillow sack for her candy.  “Don’t be out too, too late.” (Your Name) nods her head and hugs her mom.  “Have fun, honey.” “I will!” 

(Your Name) leaves out the front door and waves to her mom one more time before going to the side of the house and grabs her bike.  She bikes over to the Wheeler house and hopes the others aren't there yet.  

When she arrived there, she didn't see the others waiting outside.  She parked her bike on the side of the house and approached the front door.  She knocked and luckily, Mrs. Wheeler answered the door.  

“Well, hello, (Your Name)!  You look amazing!”

“Thank you, Karen,” (Your Name) says with a flattered laugh, lifting the mask up to look at the woman more clearly.  “Are the others here yet?” “Oh.  No.  They just left to pick up Dustin, and Will is on his way with Johnathon.” “Perfect!  Can you help me with something?” (Your Name) asked.  “Of course.  What is it?” (Your Name) smirks a little.  “I want to surprise them.  Give them a little scare.  Where’s a good spot to hide?” Karen catches on the girl’s plan and she smiles, matching her mischief, “Here. Come in.  I’ll show you.”

(Your Name) enters the house and follows Karen into the kitchen.  “Hide in the food pantry.  I’ll try to direct them in here when they arrive in a few minutes.” (Your Name) nods and she slips into the food pantry and closes the door, hiding herself completely in the small space.

She stays in the pantry for a couple minutes, thinking about how she was going to scare the boys.  ‘Should I just jump out and yell?  No.  Too overdone.  Should I bang on the door from in here and have them open it, and scare them like that?  Hmm.  No.  There’s a chance that they won’t be scared by that.  Wait.’ She smirks to herself.  “I know!’

Just as she thought of her idea, she heard Karen talking to the boys and heard footsteps heading to the kitchen.  She exhaled, prepared to do her prank.

Karen leaves and the boys stay in the kitchen and she hears them talking.

“What could be taking her so long?” Dustin.

“She mentioned that her costume has a lot of parts.” Will.  

“Not to mention she made the costume herself.” Mike.

“Let’s just hope she’s on her way.” Lucas.

Dustins speaks again, “Let’s hope so.  We don't want to miss all the good candy.” 

“I’m sure she’ll be here soon.” Mike, again.

Now.

Just as Mike finishes speaking, (Your Name) throws the doors of the pantry open and aggressively stalks towards the four boys, totally in character.

The four boys yell in shock and back away quickly.  Mike and Will back away, bodies pressed to one another’s, Dustin grabs the wand of his proton pack holding it like a weapon, and Lucas even lets out a high-pitched scream.

(Your Name) raises her fake machete over her head, like she’s about to slash at them with it.  The four coil up their bodies in fear, waiting for the blow.

But it never comes.

Instead, a familiar laugh sounds and they loosen up and look ahead.  (Your Name) stood there, Jason mask pushed up to the top of her head, laughing loudly and freely.

“Holy shit!  You should’ve seen your faces!  And geez, Lucas, your scream!  My God!” She says, all in between laughs.

The boys slowly recover from their fear-induced heart attacks.  “Jesus, (Your Name)!” Lucas exclaims.

“You nearly gave us heart attacks!” Dustin adds, hand on his chest where his heart is.  

“That was the point.” (Your Name) giggled.  

“Well, you certainly did a great job.  Your costume looks incredible.” Mike compliments with a smile.

A light blush blossoms onto the girl's cheeks and she smiles shyly.  “Thank you.  I'm glad you think it's cool.”

“How did you get the blood to look so real?” Lucas points to the blood splattered machete.

(Your Name) looks at the fake blade.  “Oh!  It's corn syrup dyed red.  Like they did for the pig's blood in Carrie.” She replies.

“Of course you would know that.” Dustin teased.  

(Your Name) playfully rolls her eyes, before picking up her trick-or-treat bag.  “Well, come on! Let's go!  Let's get our candy!” She heads to the door with excitement.  

The boys smile at her enthusiasm and they follow after her, ready to begin their night of fun.

🚲🎲📼♥️

“Trick-or-treat!” 

The night was loud with laughter, plastic candy buckets, and the rustle of people in costumes moving from porch to porch.  The five kids arrived at a house and (Your Name) and when the door opened, they said the famous line, smiles on their faces.  

The lady who answered chuckles at them, “Oh! Well, aren't you cute?  The little exterminators.”

(Your Name) stifled a laugh and she can tell the boys were offended by the lady's words.  

The lady then saw (Your Name).  “And Jason Voorhees.”

A smile made its way to the girl's face even behind the hockey mask and she waves at the lady.  

After receiving their candy, Lucas starts to go a tangent,

“If I get another 3 Musketeers, I'm gonna kill myself.”

“What's wrong with 3 Musketeers?” Dustin asks.

“What's wrong with 3 Musketeers?” Lucas copies Dustin's sentence mockingly.

“I mean it's unique from the other candy brands.” (Your Name) points out.

“No one likes 3 Musketeers, though.” Mike adds.

“Yeah, it's just nougat.” Will joins in the debate.

“Whoa.  “Just nougat?”  Just nougat? It's the top three for me.” Dustin tells them.

“Top three?” Lucas asks in surprise.

“Top three!” 

“Oh, God.  Give me a break.” Mike exasperates.

“Seriously, I can just eat a whole bowl of nougat.  Straight up.” 

A scream and someone dressed as Michael Myers jumps in front of them with a fake knife in hand, screaming and waving the knife at them.

The group flinch and backs away and Lucas lets out a squeal of fear and surprise.  

Then, the person starts to laugh and pulls the mask up, revealing Max.  “Holy shit!  You should've seen the looks on your faces!” She turns to look at Lucas, “And you?  Who screams like that?  You sound like a little girl.” She turns to walk away.

(Your Name)’s eyes lit up immediately as her lips stretched into an excited smile.  “That’s amazing,” she said, stepping forward without hesitation, clearly impressed by the costume.

Max smirked, clearly pleased with the reaction. “Hey, you guys coming or not? Oh, I heard we should hit up Lock Nora.  That's where the rich people live, right?” She chuckles.  

Without waiting for a vote, she turned and started walking.  The group immediately followed Max, excitement brimming to the surface of the prospect of getting more and better candy.

Well - most of them.

Mike lingered for half a beat, then sighed before he followed with visible reluctance.

(Your Name), meanwhile, moved faster, catching up to Max almost immediately.  The two girls fell into step beside each other, their voices lowering into easy conversation as the boys trailed behind.

“You actually did Michael Myers really well,” (Your Name) said, adjusting the fake machete at her side. “Like… that was kind of terrifying.” Max laughed. “Yeah? Thanks,” She looks at (Your Name)’s costume, “Jason Voorhees.  Classic choice.”  “Obviously,” Reader replied, a little shy but proud. “My mom thinks I’m insane for it, but I’ve been wanting to do it for months.”  “Also, I noticed how Jason doesn't actually look like your costume.  Did you make it yourself?” (Your Name)’s eyes lit up and she nodded excitedly.  “Yeah!  I don't like how boring Jason’s clothes were so I made this instead.” Max smiled, “That’s very cool.  Great craftsmanship.” (Your Name) blushes lightly, “Thank you,” Then she asks, “Was yours homemade too?” “No.  The mask I found easily but the suit I got from the boy’s section in the Halloween store.”  “Makes sense.” (Your Name) nods.  Their discussion as they walked stayed on topic - horror movies, favorite villains - like they’d known each other longer than a night.  At one point, (Your Name) glanced over and added, almost casually but also shyly, “My mom’s taking me to see that new Wes Craven movie that's coming out next week - ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’. If you want, you could come with me and my friends.”

Max raised an eyebrow. “Maybe. I’ll think about it.”  

(Your Name) smiles gently at the girl’s response.  But before she can speak again, Dustin and Lucas suddenly surged forward, cutting into the conversation with excited interruptions, both trying to get Max’s attention at once.

(Your Name) rolled her eyes dramatically and stepped back, letting them take over, drifting naturally toward Will instead.  

The group made it to Loch Nora and like Max said, they got better candy than they did in the regular suburb area.  At this point, Lucas and Dustin were solely talking to Max.  This time, trying to mimic the way people from California spoke; their accents exaggerated.  But Max laughed at their horrible impressions, seemingly amused.

(Your Name) hung back, watching them quietly.  She smiled, happy to see them enjoying themselves.  She slows her pace to match Will's who's right behind her.  He had Jonathan’s camera in his right hand, holding it carefully, recording everything.  He pointed it at her.

“Good evening, milady,” He said playfully through the lens.

(Your Name) laughed softly, instinctively relaxing. “Good evening to you, as well.”

“How are you doing tonight?”

“Better now,” she admitted. “It’s actually nice. Having another girl who likes horror around is… cool.  How about you?”

“I’m doing good too.”

Then Will turned the camera.

To Mike.

Mike wasn’t smiling.  He wasn’t even pretending.  He looked upset - distant in a way that didn’t fit the night.  Mike’s voice cut in immediately. “Did you two agree to this?”

Taken aback by the question, Will blinked as he lowered the camera. “What?”

“To her joining our party.” Mike clarifies.

“It's just for Halloween.” Will said softly.

“You two should've checked with me.”

This time, (Your Name) speaks, tone soft, “Well, they were excited.  We thought that you'd be okay with it.”

“She’s ruining the best night of the year.” And just like that, Mike moved ahead of them, leaving the space heavy behind him.

(Your Name) and Will stepped walking and exchanged a look.  Confused. A little hurt by the reaction. But neither of them followed.

‘He's mad at us.’ They both thought sadly.

“Maybe we should’ve told him,” (Your Name) said quietly.

Will didn’t answer.

After a beat, she exhaled. “I’ll go talk to him.”

She moved quickly, catching up to Mike as he reluctantly followed the rest of the group.

“Hey,” she said softly, falling into step beside him. “Are you okay?”

Mike didn’t look at her at first.

“I just don’t get why they’d bring her,” he said. “Without telling me.”

(Your Name) hesitated. “They were just excited. Besides… it’s one night, Mike,” She says, repeating what Will said earlier.  Then, she looks ahead at Max, Dustin and Lucas, still talking and laughing, “No one deserves to be alone on Halloween.” She adds quietly.

Those words seemed to land a little. Mike's shoulders loosened slightly, though his expression stayed tight.  He turned to look at (Your Name).

Before he could say anything else, they both stopped.  An uneasy feeling washed over them.  They looked around.  

“Will?” (Your Name) called out.

No answer.

Then again, louder - “Will?”

Mike was already moving; (Your Name) followed immediately.  The two run down the steps, searching for their lost friend.  They found him a moment later - back pressed against a brick pillar near a set of steps, small and trembling, arms hugging his knees which were pressed to his chest.

Mike and (Your Name) rushed to him immediately.

“Will!” Mike exclaimed, grabbing Will's shoulders, making Will let out a scream.

Mike checked him over, hands on Will's shoulders, tension returning instantly.  “Will, are you okay?  We couldn't find you.  Are you hurt?” He asked, tone panicked and laced with worry.  Will looked at the two, confused, scared and eyes glassy with unshed tears.  It broke the other two's hearts seeing him like this.  

“Hey, hey, what’s wrong?” (Your Name) asked, crouching beside him on his other side.

“Holy shit!” Dustin exclaims as he, Lucas and Max run down the steps and stop where Mike, Will and (Your Name) were.

“Is he okay?” Lucas asks, worriedly.

“I don't know.”  After a beat, Mike made a decision.  “I'm gonna take you, okay?  I'm gonna get you home. Hold on.” He helped Will slowly, who was still freaked out and whimpering in fear. Dustin goes to help but Mike said he got him.  Dustin says Mike's name in confusion. 

“Keep trick-or-treating.  I'm bored anyways.” Mike says before he guides Will away, arm around his shoulders protectively, leaving the group behind.

(Your Name) stood up and instinctively reached out to them but she pulled her hand away the moment it moved.

The voices of the others were faint as she watched Mike and Will leave.  Then the rest of the group went ahead, continuing the festivities.  (Your Name) sighs through her nose before she follows them.  Then, she looked over at the ground.  She saw Jonathan’s dropped camera and picked it up slowly.  She looked at it, checking it for any damage and luckily there was none.  She fiddled with it and started filming again, holding it in her arms, looking through it.  

She filmed everything - Lucas arguing with Dustin in the distance, Max laughing at something, the decorated houses and streets, people passing by in costumes that blurred under streetlights.  The feeling felt magical.  Then she turned the camera on herself for a second, offering a small, quiet smile.  

But it didn’t last.

As she turned the camera forward again, the sound of laughter around her started to feel farther away instead of closer.  Dustin and Lucas had fully drifted toward Max now, completely absorbed in her presence.  (Your Name) watched for a moment longer, then moved the camera so it was just dangling in her hand.  She stops walking and watches.  The others don't stop.  

That horrible feeling came back.  That familiar knot forming in her stomach came back and she felt sick.  She swallowed shakily to keep herself from shedding tears that started to form in her eyes.  

“I’m gonna head out,” she said lightly, trying to hide the tremble in her voice.

No one really responded.

She sighed, turned away and began walking back toward Mike’s house alone.  The noise of Halloween faded behind her as she went.

🚲🎲📼♥️

“It's like… like I'm stuck.” Will says.

The two boys were now back in Mike's basement, sitting on the couch; Mike sitting on Will's right side.  Their collected candy spread out on the table and some on the floor.  Most of it was untouched but some wrappers were there, too.  

“Like, like stuck in the Upside Down?” Mike asks, trying to understand what Will was trying to explain.  

Wil sighs, “No,” He pauses briefly before continuing, “You know on a View-Master, when it gets, like…”

“Caught between two slides?” Mike guesses.

“Yeah.  Like that.  Like one side's our world, and the other… the other slide is the Upside Down.” He explains, using his hands to indicate one side and the other.  Then, he pauses to look at Mike before he looks forward again, “And… and there was this noise coming from everywhere.  And then I saw something.” He thinks back to what he saw.

“The Demogorgon?” Mike guesses.

“No.  It was like… like this huge shadow in the sky. Only, it was alive.  And it was coming for me.” Will stares ahead, body still, but his eyes showing fear as he thought about the twisted image.  

“Is this all real?  Or is it like the doctors say, all in your head?” Mike asks Will gently. 

“I don't know.  Just… just please don't tell the others, okay?   They won't understand.” Will begs, looking at Mike. 

There was a pause as Mike looked down before he spoke up, voice soft.

“Eleven would.” 

“She would?”

“Yeah.  She always did,” he pauses again, then,  “Sometimes I feel like I still see her.  Like she's still around, but she never is.” He sniffles a little before he shakes his head a little, “I don't know.  Sometimes I feel like I'm going crazy.”

“Me, too.” Will agrees softly, looking down.

Mike waits a moment before he turns to Will, “Hey, well, if we're both going crazy, we'll go crazy together, right?” Mike says, tone joking but it sounded sincere and his tone was soft.

Will chuckles softly at Mike's words, a genuine smile spreading across his face as he looks at Mike again, “Yeah.  Crazy together.”

Mike chuckles softly too, a soft and sweet smile on his face.

The basement became quiet after that.

Not uncomfortable.  

Quite the opposite.  

Sure, there was a bit of unease because of the unknown regarding Will's vision.  But Will felt lighter after telling Mike.  And Mike listening to him and understanding him, made it all the better.  

The two stayed on the couch.  Mike looked forward while Will started picking absently at a piece of candy he hadn’t opened yet.

The sound of footsteps above broke the silence.

But then, the basement door creaked open.  

The two boys looked up as someone started the trek down the basement stairs.  

(Your Name) came down slowly.  She had her trick-or-treat bag in one hand - already partially filled - and Jonathan’s camera in the other. She adjusted her grip as she stepped onto the bottom stair.

Mike spoke up first.

“Hey,” he said.

Will followed. “How was it?”

(Your Name) paused for a fraction of a second too long, then gave a small shrug.  “It was fun,” she said lightly. “Dustin and Lucas just… got distracted with Max, so I left early.”

Her tone made it sound casual. Almost joking.  But the words didn’t sit lightly in the air.

Will noticed immediately; a sad frown forming on his lips.  Mike did too - but only in pieces. He could tell something about her expression that didn't match her voice.  Will looked down, quietly understanding.  (Your Name) didn’t elaborate. She just walked a little further into the room, setting her bag and the camera down carefully before she sat down on Will's unoccupied side.  The two boys made room for her before she sat down.

For a moment, the three of them just existed in the same space again.

Then Will spoke up.

“I need to tell you something.”

(Your Name) turns her head to Will.  “What is it, Will?” She asks gently, turning her body to face him fully.

He told her what had happened to him.  The vision he saw.  Exactly how he told Mike just a little bit ago.  His voice stayed low, careful, like he wasn’t sure how much of it was real even as he explained it again.

(Your Name) listened without interrupting.  Just steady attention.  When he finished, she nodded slowly.

“I believe you,” she said immediately. “And I won’t tell anyone. I promise.”

She said it with quiet but strong devotion.  Will relaxed slightly at that. Just a little.

The three of them sat again in silence.  Like earlier, it wasn’t empty.  It was shared.  They ate candy without really talking about it, occasionally trading pieces like it was normal - like nothing strange or painful had happened at all.

Eventually, 9 PM hit and Will stood. “I should go.  Johnathon is probably here,” he said softly.

(Your Name) nodded and stood up too.  She grabbed Johnathon's camera, placing it on the table.  She motioned to it as she spoke, “I filmed more stuff,” she said, “For you.” Will smiled faintly. “Thanks.”  Then he stepped forward and hugged her.  It was soft and comforting.  (Your Name) hugged him back just as gently. After a moment, he let go and grabbed his bag and Johnathon's camera. Mike and (Your Name) both walked him upstairs, saying goodbye quietly as he left.  They watched the front door close from the basement door before they headed back down the steps and into the basement again.  For a few seconds, neither of them spoke.

“He’ll be okay,” (Your Name) said eventually in a gentle tone. 

Mike nodded. “Yeah… he always comes back.”

There was a pause.  (Your Name) shifted slightly, then spoke a little more carefully.

“Do you… want to stay up and watch movies? Like last year?"

Mike hesitated.  “I can’t,” he said after a moment. “School tomorrow.”  His voice wasn’t harsh - just tired. Closed off.

(Your Name) nodded quickly, like she understood before she could feel disappointed.  “Right. Yeah. That makes sense.”

A beat passed.

Before she turned to leave, Mike reached into his pocket and pulled something out.  “Here.  I was saving this for you,” he said softly as he held it out to her.  (Your Favorite Candy).  (Your Name) blinked, then took it with a small, appreciative smile.  “Thanks.”

Mike looked like he wanted to do something else - maybe a hug, maybe something softer - but he didn’t move.  His exhaustion seemed to hold him in place.  (Your Name) noticed.  Without saying anything, she stepped closer and gently ruffled his hair.  Slow. Familiar. Lingering just a second longer than usual.  Mike froze slightly at the touch, surprised - but didn’t pull away.

When she let go, she gave him a small nod.  “Bye, Mike.”  “Yeah… bye.”  Mike said, looking to the side, shyly.  She turned and headed up the stairs.  The basement door closed behind her.

🚲🎲📼♥️

When she got home, she was greeted by her mom, who asked her how trick-or-treating was.  (Your Name) smiled a little and said she had fun and she might've made a new friend.  Her mom smiled, gave her a hug and a kiss on the side of her head before letting her get ready for bed.  

Once upstairs, she changed out of her costume and into clean clothes.  The house was quiet.  The kind of quiet that feels heavier after a loud night.  She sat on her bed, ready to rest, but then noticed something in the pants pocket of her costume.  She reaches over and digs inside.  She pulls out a candy.  Mike’s candy.  She unwrapped it slowly and started to eat the sweet.  She chewed slowly, savoring the taste of it, like she was trying to hold onto the moment a little longer than it lasted.

When she finished, she didn’t throw the wrapper away.  Instead, she placed it carefully beside the other one.  Will’s lollipop wrapper.

Two small pieces of paper on her dresser.

Two nights.

Two different kinds of quiet.

The sound of Will's voice coming from her supercomm broke the girl from her focus on tearing strategic holes on the clothes in front of her. She placed the fabric scissors on her desk and grabbed the supercomm, answering it,

“Will? Yes, I copy.”

“I was wondering if you're still on tonight. We're all going to the Palace Arcade.”

“Oh! Yeah! I'm still coming. Sorry, I was working on my costume.”

Will's laugh comes from the supercomm. “I figured. You're going to look so cool.”

“Thank you, Will.” (Your Name) smiled.

“Oh!” Will pauses for a moment and (Your Name) can faintly hear Joyce's voice in the background, “I have to go. I'll see you there.”

“Okay.”

“Bye, (Your Name).”

“Bye, Will.”

They hang up and (Your Name) immediately gets up and grabs her black zip-up hoodie and puts it on over her gray sweater with green, yellow and white thin stripes across the chest area. She brushed her dark jeans free of any fabric scraps and slipped on her black and white converse.

She heads downstairs. She checks her pockets once more and pulls out the six dollars worth of quarters her mom left for her before she left for her night shift at the hospital. She sighs in relief and places the quarters back in her pocket.

She goes out the back door and heads to the side yard. She finds her bike, gets on and rides it towards where the Palace Arcade is.

As she gets closer, she spots the familiar bikes of Mike, Lucas and Dustin. Will wasn't there since his mom was going to drive him to the arcade.

“Hey!” She exclaims.

The three boys hear her, and they turn and smile. They yell various greetings at her as they slow down a little to let her catch up to them. The boys discuss how much money they have. Apparently, Lucas got money for mowing someone's lawn, so he had more than the other two.

“How much do you have?” Lucas asked (Your Name).

The girl smirks a little. “6 dollars.”

The boys’ eyes widened in surprise. “What?!” Mike exclaims. “How did you get that much?” Dustin asked.

“Mommy's money.” (Your Name) says in a teasing voice as she picks up the pace on her bike, getting ahead of them.

“Spoiled little bitch.” Dustin quips playfully. Lucas and Mike chuckle.

🚲🎲📼♥️

Mike, Will, (Your Name) and Lucas intensely as Dustin plays Dragon's Lair. While the boys were reacting animatedly, (Your Name) just watched quietly, letting the boys have their fun. Eventually, Dustin dies and he gets mad.

“No! No! No! I hate this overpriced bullshit! Son of a bitch! Piece of shit!” He exclaims as he hits and kicks the machine.

“Chill, Dustin.” (Your Name) giggles, places a hand on Dustin's shoulder.

“You're not nimble enough. But you'll get there one day.” Lucas tells his friend before he smirks, “But until then, Princess Daphne is still mine.

Dustin scoffs. “Whatever. I'm still tops on Centipede and Dig Dug.”

“You sure about that?” Keith, the arcade worker asked, eating chips. His tone seems to suggest something.

“Sure about what?” Dustin asked.

Keith just smirks.

“You're kidding me.” Dustin runs around the arcade to check the machines' screens for the high scores. Each one showed that someone had beaten his high score on Centipede AND Dig Dug.

“No! No!” Dustin exclaimed.

“751,300 points!” Will said, looking at the Dig Dug screen in disbelief.

“That's impossible.” Mike says, disbelief also in his tone.

“Who's Mad Max?” Dustin asks Keith, talking about the name of the high scorer.

“Better than you.” Keith says like he's stating the obvious.

Dustin flips his middle finger at the worker.

“Is it you?” Will asks curiously.

“You know I despise Dig Dug.” Keith replies.

“Then, who is it?” Lucas asked impatiently.

“Yeah, spill it, Keith.” Dustin adds.

“You want information, then I need something in return.” Keith says with a knowing smirk directed at Mike. The kids know exactly what that means, and Mike's eyes widened in horror.

“No, no, no. No way. You're not getting a date with her.”

“Mike, come on. Just get him the date.” Lucas tells Mike.

“I'm not prostituting my sister!” Mike exclaimed.

“But it's for a good cause.”

“No, it is not! Setting up anyone for a cause like this is not good!” (Your Name) rebutted.

“(Your Name)’s right. Mike, don't get him the date. Know what? He's gonna spread his nasty-ass rash to your family.” Dustin says.

Keith looks absolutely offended and shocked at Dustin's words. “Acne isn't a rash and it isn't contagious, you prepubescent wastoid.” He corrects defensively.

“Oh, I'm a wastoid? She wouldn't go on a date with you.” Dustin retorts.

(Your Name) sighed exasperatedly and let the boys bicker and fight. She looked around the crowded arcade, watching the other teens, well, boys, playing the various games.

But then she notices something.

Will is missing.

Panic grows inside her and she feels a knot forming in her stomach. She looks around frantically. When she can't see him, she turns to the others. As she did, Mike also turned around, looking for something, too. The two look at each other and they both had the same thought running in their head:

‘We need to find Will.’

They nod at each other and start their search.

‘Shit.’ Mike thought to himself. ‘You promised yourself to stay close to him tonight.’

The pair zig zag their way through the crowd, looking for Will. It's not that big of a place; it shouldn't be this hard.

‘What if someone took him when we weren't looking? Wait. Don't jump to that conclusion yet. Maybe he just wandered off. I hope that's the case.’

They get to the front of the arcade, and they see him. Will. Outside. Standing in the middle of the blacktop.

Mike rushes forward and goes outside, (Your Name) following after him.

“Will! Are you okay?” Mike asked Will.

Will looks out at the sky again, his eyes still wide a little. “Yeah. I just… I needed some air.”

Mike approaches his friend and wraps his arm around Will's shoulders, gently ushering him back towards the arcade. “Come on. You're up on Dig Dug. Let's get that top score back, huh?”

(Your Name) opens the door for the two of them but lingers as she watches the two. She looks down before letting out a sigh and releasing the door as she walks to follow them back in.

🚲🎲📼♥️

The next day was a new school day. (Your Name) sat in Mr. Clarke’s class, listening to his lesson on the human brain.

But, she was only partially listening. Not because it wasn't an interesting topic. Mr. Clarke always made his lessons fun and interesting. No; it's because she was too busy looking at Will who was sitting on her right.

She noticed his tense and wary looks as he looked around as he walked the hallways. She doesn't know why, but it bothers her a lot.

“Ah, this must be our new student.”

Mr. Clarke's voice breaks her turn her head to look. A girl with ginger hair, wielding a skateboard, enters the classroom begrudgingly

“Indeed. All yours.” The principal says.

The redheaded girl tries to go straight to the desk, but Mr. Clarke stops her by saying,

“All right. Hold up. You don't get away that easy.” He ushers her to come to the front of the class. “Come on up. Don't be shy.” The girl reluctantly follows his directions, looking annoyed that she has to.

“Dustin, drum roll.” Dustin starts to drum his fingers on his desk in a drum roll.

“Class, please welcome, all the way from sunny California, the latest passenger to join us on our curiosity voyage, Maxine.”

“It's Max.” The redhead corrects quietly.

“Sorry?”

“Nobody calls me Maxine. It's Max.” The girl, Max, says again, but a little louder this time.

The party looks at each other in surprise.

“Mad Max.” Dustin and Lucas whisper.

“Well, all aboard. Max.” Mr. Clarke welcomes as Max goes to take a seat in one of the empty spots towards the back of the class.

The party looks at Max.

Could it be?

🚲🎲📼♥️

“There's no way that's Mad Max.”

“Yeah. Most girls aren't interested in video games. The only one we've known that is, is (Your Name).” Will says.

“Yeah, any time I bring up video games to girls, they give me weird stares.” (Your Name) adds.

“And even if more girls did, you can't get 750,000 points on Dig Dug. It's impossible.” Mike says.

“But her name is Max.”

“So what?”

“So, how many Maxes do you know?”

“I don't know.”

“Zero. That's how many.”

“She shows up at school the day after someone with her same name breaks our top score. I mean, you kidding me?” Dustin states.

“Exactly. So she's gotta be Mad Max. She's gotta be.” Lucas concludes.

“How about we just ask her?” (Your Name)’s question makes all four of the boys turn to look at her questioningly.

“What? Why do that?” Lucas asks.

“It's simple. Just talk to her, ask if she plays arcade games and bam, we have the answer.”

“But asking her would be too odd.” Dustin states.

“Just… let me talk to her. Besides… another girl who likes arcade games. I think it's cool.” (Your Name) adjusts her windbreaker and starts to walk towards Max. She can faintly hear Dustin talk about how cool Max is because she skateboards, but most of the conversation becomes muffled as she gets closer to Max. She approaches her, her stomach a little tight due to nerves.

“Hi. Um… you're Max, right?”

The redhead looks at the (Hair Color) haired girl incredulously before replying with, “Uh… yeah.”

(Your Name) swallows nervously, a little taken aback by Max's slight harshness. “We have Mr. Clarke together. I wanted to introduce myself. I'm (Your Name).” She reaches a hand out to her.

Max looks at the hand before, to (Your Name)’s surprise, Max takes it and shakes her hand. “(Your Name). Nice to meet to you.”

“You too, Max. Your… skateboarding is… really cool. I- I wanted to get one but my mom won't let me. She says she worries enough about me having a bike and roller blades.”

Max smirks a little at the girl's nervous rambling.

“Have you been doing it for a while?”

“Yeah. I have.” Max replies shortly but not harshly like her first words at her.

“Cool.”

A moment of silence falls between them as (Your Name) follows Max as she skates on her board.

“Do you… like… games? Like arcade games? Like Pac-Man, Centipede… Dig Dug?”

Max looks at the girl again, before responding with, “Actually, I-” She pauses when she looks around. For a brief moment, a sour expression shows up on her face before it changes into something more neutral as she turns to look at (Your Name) again, “Sorry. I have to do something. It was nice meeting you, (Your Name).” She finishes, tone nice but short.

“Uh- uh… yeah. You, too, Max.” (Your Name) stammers as she watches Max skate away.

‘What just happened?’ She thought to herself. She walks back over to the boys.

“What happened?” Mike asked.

“Is she Mad Max? Lucas asks.

“I asked her about arcade games, but she cut the conversation short, saying she had to be somewhere.” (Your Name)

“So, you didn't get an answer?” Dustin says, disappointed that they still don't know. But then he sees Max from a distance, dropping a paper ball in the trash. “Wait. There is she. She just dropped something in the trash. Come on.” He tells the others as he runs over. The other boys follow behind. (Your Name) sighs heavily, rolling her eyes before she follows after them in a slight jog, the soles of her converse lightly hitting the blacktop.

Dustin starts to rummage through the trash while the others stand close to him. Some girls walk past, look at them, their stares judgmental. The boys wave awkwardly, trying to seem chill. (Your Name) ignores them.

“Got it. There we go.” Dustin comes back up, holding the valedictorian up piece of paper in his hand. He unrolled it, and on it was a message:

“Stop spying on me, creeps.” All five read aloud.

“Well, shit.” Dustin curses.

Will smiles and stifles a giggle, and (Your Name) does, too.

“William Byers.”

The principal’s voice calls out, and the group turns towards his voice.

“Your mother’s here.”

Will stands there, tense, but he nods. He gives his friends a look, whispers a farewell, and he slowly walks away, following the principal back into the school.

“You guys think he's okay?” Dustin asks.

“He's always weird when he has to go in.” Lucas replies.

“I don’t know. He's quiet today.” Mike said as he watched Joyce's car take Will away, a worried expression on his face.

“He's always quiet.”

“No. This is different. This feels… deeper.” (Your Name) corrects softly, her look of worry matching Mike's.

🚲🎲📼♥️

The drive to the lab was silent. Will looked out the window, a blank expression on his face. He doesn't know what it'll be like this time. Well, he knows the normal procedure but for some reason this one feels like it'll be different. Probably because of his recent vision. The one he had while he was at the arcade with his friends. It felt… deeper. Closer. That feeling.

“You feeling any better? Will?”

Joyce's careful and kind voice breaks his thoughts.

“Huh?” “Yeah. Yeah, sorry.” He mutters.

“Hey. What did we talk about, huh? You've got to stop with the sorries.” Joyce gently reminds him.

“Sorry. I mean, yeah, I know.” Will mutters again.

“And listen, you know, there's nothing to be nervous about, you know. Just tell ‘em what you felt last night and what you saw. Hey, I'm gonna be there the whole time. So it's gonna be okay. Okay?” Joyce reassures her son.

“Okay.”

They arrive at Hawkins Lab and park next to Chief Hopper's car. Said chief was just outside the car, smoking a cigarette. The Byers emerge from the car, and Hopper turns to them.

“Hey, buddy.” Hopper greets him.

“Hey.” Will replies quietly.

“Hey.” Joyce greets the chief as the three walk towards the lab.

🚲🎲📼♥️

They get inside, check in and the appointment starts. He swaps his clothes out for a hospital gown. They take his weight before he lays on the bed. They take a sample of his blood, check his blood pressure and attach five sensors onto his face to monitor his heart rate. He just lies there silently.

Then, Dr. Owens enters the room.

“Sir Will, how are you? Mom. Pop. Let's take a look, see what's going on here.” He says as he addresses the visitors before sitting down in a chair next to Will's bed. He looks at the paper on his clipboard, “I see you shaved off a pound since we saw you last. Must be making room for all the Halloween candy,” He jokes, “What's your favorite candy? Desert island candy, if you had to pick one?”

“I don't know.”

“Come on. Life or death situation, what would you pick?”

“I guess…”

He sees his mom mouth ‘Reese's Pieces.’

“Reese's Pieces.”

Dr. Owens smiles. “Good call. Good call. I'm more of a Mounds guy, but I gotta say, peanut butter and chocolate, come on, hard to beat that. All right, tell me what's going on with you. Tell me about this episode you had.”

Will recounted what happened in the episode. “Well, my friends were there, and then they just weren't, and I was back there again.”

“In the Upside Down?”

Will nods his head.

“All right, so what happened next?”

“I heard this noise, and so I went outside and it was worse.”

“How was it worse?”

“There was this storm.” He recounts calmly.

“Okay. So, how did you feel when you saw the storm?”

“I felt… frozen.” He says,

“Heart racing?”

“Just frozen.”

“Frozen, cold frozen? Frozen to the touch?” Mr. Owens asks.

“No.” Will shakes his head, “Like how you feel when you're scared, and you can't breathe or talk or do anything. I felt… felt this evil, like it was looking at me.” He says calmly.

“It was evil? Well…” Owens clears his throat. “What do you think the evil wanted?"

“To kill.” Will replied simply.

“To kill you?”

“Not me. Everyone else.” Will says simply but his words were ominous.

A long horrible silence fills the room.

Dr. Owens nodded, coughing to break the tension. “Okay. That is all. You did a great job.” He reached into his lab pocket and pulled out a handful of lollipops.

“Here. Which one do you want?”

Will observes the options. Yellow, the lemon flavored is good but he wasn't in the mood for that. The purple and yellow question mark wrapper was also visible. No. Not in the mood for a surprise flavor. Strawberry is there. Red… He shudders, remembering the red glow from his episode. Then he sees it.

“The blue one. Blue raspberry.”

“Okay.” He plucks the blue raspberry lollipop out of the bunch and hands it to Will. “Here you go.” He goes to put the rest in his pocket.

“Wait, um… can I have another one, please?” He looks at Dr. Owens shyly. “Uh… a… a friend of mine has been feeling… sad… lately.” He stammers out thoughtfully.

Dr. Owens smiles. “Of course you can.” He shows Will the options again. “Which one do you want to give to your friend?”

Will looked the assortment once again until he spots it,

“The dark green one. Cream soda. Please.”

🚲🎲📼♥️

(Your Name) sat at the small dinner table in the Byers house. The family was eating the homemade macaroni and cheese Joyce prepared. (Your Name) had offered to help make it but Joyce told her to relax and hang out with Will. She did so, for a little bit before they were called in when the food was ready.

(Your Name) watched quietly as the family interacted. Joyce was laughing at something Bob, her new boyfriend, was saying, while Bob smiled. Johnathon sat, listening to the two adults flirt and laugh but he looked like he was enjoying the company. When she looks at Will, she can see his nervousness. The tension in his shoulders. The blank expression on his face. She frowns and picks up a bit of her food with her fork and eats it.

“(Your Name).”

Joyce's voice brings the girl out of her state, and she looks over the woman. “Yes?” She whispered.

“You can stay for movie night if you want.”

Oh, yeah. Movie night. Will has mentioned to her about the movie nights he has at home with everyone since Bob has come into the Byers’ lives. They seemed like fun, based on Will's big, wide smile every time he talks about it.

“Oh. I… I don't want to impose. I know it's family movie night.”

“Nonsense. You can stay.”

(Your Name) smiled. “Well… if you're all okay with me staying… then, I'll stay.”

Joyce smiles at the girl.

“The more the merrier.” Bob says with a smile.

Dinner is finished, and after (Your Name) helps Joyce with the dishes; which she insisted on helping her with, she heads back to Will's room and knocks on the door.

“Will? May I come in?”

“Yes.”

(Your Name) enters Will's room, closing the door behind her. Will was sitting on his bed, sketchbook in his lap.

“Hi.” She whispers as she sits on Will's bed.

“Hi.” Will whispers back. Then, his neutral expression changes to a smile, “Oh! I have something for you.” He reaches into his jeans and pulls out the cream soda lollipop Dr. Owens gave to him. He holds it out to (Your Name).

“Awww, Will. Thank you so much.” (Your Name) feels her heart burst at Will's simple but sweet gesture and takes the lollipop.

“You're welcome.” He replied with a smile. It seemed like forever since he saw her smile. It was nice to see it again. He watched her unwrap the lollipop and pop it into her mouth, the stick sticking out. She let out a muffled giggle, a sound that made Will smile even more.

“So, how have you been?”

“I've been… okay. But…” She pauses as she looks for the words, contemplating on what to say to Will. “I feel like… I'm drifting sometimes… with our friends… like a shadow.” She looks down, looking at the lollipop in her hand, twisting it in between her index finger and thumb.

Will frowned. He knew she's been feeling down lately. It has been going on for months now. He didn't know what to do to make her feel better. Heck, he still doesn't. But, he tries his best.

“But, I am excited for Halloween,” (Your Name) perks up, looking at Will now, excitement in her eyes. But then it quickly fades away as she looks at the lollipop again, “even if things feel different this year.”

Will nods, mentally taking note of her words. “Yeah. Halloween will be fun. Did you finish your costume?”

“Almost. Have a few more finishing touches.”

“I'm sorry we-”

A knock on Will's door interrupted Will's sentence. The two turned and it was Johnathon. He was holding some movies in his hands.

(Your Name) can sense Will going tense again. Thinking maybe the two brothers need some space, she quietly dismisses herself and leaves Will's room. She pops the lollipop back into her mouth as she slowly wanders into the kitchen. She stops just short of entering and silently watches Joyce and Bob interact, being lovey dovey; with Bob hugging Joyce as she laughs. She can't help but smile at the cuteness of the scene.

‘They're so cute together.’

She feels a sense of sadness wash over her. She thinks about what her home is like. She loves her mom but… she feels like… something is missing. It is obvious, with her dad not here to live with them anymore. She has no siblings or pets, either. She felt… lonely.

Deciding not wanting to disturb Joyce and Bob, she steps back slowly, heading back to Will's room. But she hears Will talking to Johnathon in annoyance,

“Like everyone else. Like there's something wrong with me.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Mom, Dustin, Lucas. Everyone. They all treat me like I'm gonna break. Like I'm a baby. Like I can't handle things on my own. It doesn't help. It just makes me feel like more of a freak.”

(Your Name) feels her heart squeeze painfully. She looks down. ‘How long has he been feeling this?’

Her thoughts are interrupted when she hears Johnathon ask Will who he likes better, Bowie or Kenny Rogers. She knew the answer to that.

“See, there's no contest.”

“Bowie or Kenny Rogers?” She asked.

The two brothers look up at the new voice, their shoulders relax when they see it's (Your Name). The girl smiles.

“Bowie all the way.” She says with a laugh.

The brothers chuckle. “See?” Johnathon says. “She's a freak, too?” He teases.

“Hey!” (Your Name) exclaimed with a laugh. She knows Johnathon is teasing her, but she plays along, acting offended despite her laugh, feeling the feeling of sadness she felt earlier disappear.

Johnathon chuckles. Then he continues talking, addressing Will, “The thing is, nobody normal ever accomplished anything meaningful in this world. You got it?”

“Well…” Will starts, “some people like Kenny Rogers.”

“Kenny Rogers? I love Kenny Rogers!” Bob's voice said as he approached the door with a chuckle.

The three look at each other, trying to stifle their laughs.

“What's so funny?” Bob asked.

“Nothing.” Will responds quickly, still trying to hold back his laughs.

Bob picks up the movies Johnathon placed aside. He looks at the options and his face lights up. “Mr. Mom.” He lets out an excited yell. “Perfect!” He takes the movies and leaves Will's room.

That was it. The three lost their restraint and started laughing.

🚲🎲📼♥️

During movie night, (Your Name) beside Will, watching Mr. Mom. Bob was laughing at almost every line that was said. Joyce smiled at her goofy boyfriend. Johnathon, Will and (Your Name) exchanged glances and held back snickers.

Once movie night was over, Joyce offered to take (Your Name) home. The girl wanted to politely decline, but Joyce insisted, saying she shouldn't ride out at this time of night.

(Your Name) gathers her things and gives Bob a handshake, thanking him for letting her stay. Then she went to Johnathon, giving him a hug. Johnathon hugs back, ruffling her hair a little, making (Your Name) giggle. Then, she hugged Will tightly, Will hugged back just as tightly. He said bye to her and said he'll see her tomorrow morning and how he couldn't wait. She expresses the same excitement.

Joyce leads (Your Name) outside, helping her put her bike in the trunk of the car. Joyce gets into the driver seat and (Your Name) gets in the passenger seat. Joyce starts to drive her home.

About halfway to her house, Joyce spoke up, “Thank you. You know, for being there for Will.”

The girl turns to look at Joyce.

“I know things have been weird lately… but I'm thankful he has you to help him stay calm.”

(Your Name) nods. “He's my best friend. I would do anything for him.” She says thoughtfully.

Joyce smiles and coos at the girl's words, reaching her hand over and stroking the girl's hair. “So sweet.”

They arrive at (Your Name)’s house.

“Thank you again, Mrs. Byers.” She whispers.

“Oh, sweet pea, I told you many times. Call me Joyce.” Joyce gently corrects with a smile.

(Your Name) blushes in embarrassment. “Sorry.” She said shyly.

Joyce chuckles.

(Your Name) undos her seat belt. “Good night, Joyce.”

“Good night, sweet pea.” Joyce replies as (Your Name) exits the car and closes the door. She goes to the back and takes her bike out of the trunk of the car before closing the door again. She pushes her bike to the front and stops. She turns and waves at Joyce as she drives away, receiving a wave back.

Once Joyce's car was out of sight, she pushed her bike to the side of the house, placing it on the side. She sees that the lights are off all throughout her house.

‘Mom's probably asleep now.’ She thinks to herself.

She goes to the trellis and starts to climb up to her bedroom window. She carefully opens the window, slips into her room, and closes it again as quietly as possible.

She sighs and looks around. She looks at her watch. It's around 10 PM. She looks on her bed. She sees her still unfinished costume there. She can work it and finish it before bed.

She removes her jacket and something falls out. She looks and sees it: the wrapper of the lollipop Will gave her. She picks it and caresses the wrapper gingerly. She smiles softly and walks over to her dresser and places the wrapper on top of it. Then, she grabs fabric scissors, sits on her bed and starts to add the finishing touches to her costume.

“They're gone.”

“What?” Lucas says.

“Nancy and Jonathan. Their car's gone.”

“They're probably just sucking face somewhere.” Dustin says simply.

“Gross.” Lucas exclaims.

“Dustin!” (Your Name) exclaims, too.

“No. No way!” Mike says.

“Did they go with the Chief?” Dustin asked.

“I don't know.”

“No.” El speaks up.

“What? Did you see them? Do you know where they went?”

“Yes.”

“Where? Where did they go?”

El pauses briefly before saying, “Demogorgon.”

This causes the group to exchange glances.

🚲🎲📼♥️

“Guys, guys! This is crazy! We can't just wait around.” Mike says.

“Mike, in case you forgot, we're still fugitives. The bad men are still looking for us.” Lucas reminds Mike.

“Yeah, and we don't even know where your sister is.” Dustin jumps in.

“El can find them.” Mike says easily.

“Mike, look at her. I think we should stick to the chief’s plan.” Dustin tells him.

“Exactly. We stay here, keep El out of sight and keep her safe. That's the most important thing, remember? Besides, she's okay. She's with Johnathon.” Lucas adds.

“Yeah, and she's kind of a badass now, so…” Dustin smiles as he starts to walk away from the group.

“Well, where are you going? You just said stick to the plan!” Mike calls out.

“I am. I'm just gonna go get some chocolate pudding. I'm telling you, Lunch Lady Phyllis hoards that shit.”

“Are you serious?”

"El needs to be recharged!"

Lucas follows after Dustin and El gets up. (Your Name) decides to follow Dustin and Lucas to help find food.

🚲🎲📼♥️

“Found it! I knew she was hoarding it. I knew it,” Dustin starts to take some out, Lucas joins in, smiling; then Dustin keeps talking, “Always lying, saying she's out. Bald-faced liar. Mike, I found the chocolate pudding!”

“Okay!” Mike yells in annoyance.

(Your Name) laughs at Mike's laugh.

“(Your Name)? You want some, too?” Dustin asked.

“Yeah. But I'll be back. I'll go find Mike and El and then we can bring all of these to them.”

“Okay.”

(Your Name) turns walks into the neighboring room to find where Mike and El were. She gets to the doorway, and she freezes at the sight.

Mike leaned forward and kissed El. The kiss lasted for a couple of seconds and the two looked at each other.

(Your Name) felt her heart sink into her stomach. That terrible knot in her stomach formed again. She felt tears well up in her eyes as she backed away from the doorway. Then, she jogs away. She jogs until she gets a good distance away from the room Mike and El were in. She leans against a wall and breathes heavily as the tears in her eyes slide down her cheeks.

The memories of all the times she felt this way. Mike calling El pretty, then correcting himself. El on the back of Mike's bike. Lucas' words at the junkyard during his fight with Mike.

Then, the knot in her stomach that she gets every time it happens.

It all makes sense now.

She likes Mike.

Not just as a friend.

More than as a friend.

And she had just lost her chance to say anything.

(Your Name) starts to cry softly. She fiddles with the blue gemstone necklace around her neck. “It's okay. It's okay, (Your Name). You're okay.” She whispered to herself. She sniffles and takes deep breaths to calm herself.

Once she's calm, she gets off the wall and walls back to the cafeteria where Dustin and Lucas are. She sees El there and feels a wave of sadness wash over her. But for some reason, she didn't feel any sense of anger towards her. Nor towards Mike.

Speaking of, Mike bursts into the cafeteria. “Guys! Guys!”

“What is it?” Lucas asked.

“They found us.” Mike panted out.

The kids abandoned everything and ran out of the cafeteria and down the halls.

“How did they find us?” Lucas asked.

“I don't know, but they knew we were in the gym.” Mike replies.

“Lando.” Dustin says.

Then the door at the end opens. Well dressed men spot them with their flashlights. “Got em!”

“Go, go, go, go, go!” Mike yells.

The kids turn around and run. They run down a different pathway, but stop when more lab workers appear in front of them, the flashlights in their faces. “There they are. Freeze.”

“Back! Go back! Go, go! Go left!” Mike instructed as they all turned around and ran again. But, they get trapped on both sides. The lab workers point guns at the kids. El freezes and scowls at the workers in front of her. Suddenly all of the workers in front and behind them stood still and started to tremble. The kids watched silently as the lab workers’ eyes started to bleed and blood ran down their faces then seconds later, they all collapsed, dead. Then, El collapses after. The kids kneel down to check on her.

“El, are you okay? El!” Mike says her name as he gently shakes her. “Something’s wrong.”

“She's just drained.” Dustin states.

“No, no, no, she won't wake up. El! El! El!” Mike yells.

(Your Name) feels for a heartbeat using her hand and placing it on the side of El's neck.

“She's barely breathing.” Mike says.

“And her heartbeat is slow.” (Your Name) adds.

“We gotta go.” Lucas says as they stand up.

“Leave her.”

A male voice rings out and a well dressed man with white hair comes in with a few more lab workers.

“Who are you?” (Your Name) questions the man.

“Dr. Brenner, and I must ask you to step away from the child.”

“No!” Mike refused. “You want her, you have to kill us first.”

“That's right!” Dustin exclaims.

“Exactly!” (Your Name) joins in.

“Eat shit!” Lucas rebutted.

Suddenly, lab boards grab the remaining teens and they all yell and struggle in their holds. Dr. Brenner approaches the weakened El.

“Eleven? Eleven, can you hear me? Eleven?” He calls out gently, holding her face in his hand.

“Papa?” She mutters, exhaustedly.

“Yes, yes, it's your papa.”

“Let her go! Let her go, you bastard!” Mike demands angrily.

(Your Name) continues to struggle against her captor and even tries to dig her nails into the guy's arms but it doesn't affect him. But then, the electricity flickers. Everyone freezes.

“Blood.” Mike says.

“What?” Lucas questions.

“Blood.” Mike repeats.

Then suddenly, the wall in front of them starts to crumble and break. It shows a fleshy gate and a clawed arm comes out and a head shaped like a flower pops out with a screech.

“Demogorgon.” Dustin says grimly.

The guards release the kids as they try to attack the creature. The kids take this chance to grab Eleven and make a run for it. Dustin carries El in his arms as they all run down the halls to find a place to hide. They find Mr. Clarke's room and get inside. Dustin lays El on a desk, and Mike takes her hand. (Your Name) closes the classroom door and looms out for any trouble. She can faintly hear Mike talking to El and even hears him saying they can go to the Snowball together. She feels that knot in her stomach again, but she shakes her head, refocusing on looking out. But when she hears silence, she backs away.

“(Your Name), come here!” Mike calls for her. (Your Name) runs over to them just as the Demogorgon barges in.

“Get the wrist rocket! Get the wrist rocket now!” Dustin yells at Lucas as he searches his bag for the weapon.

“Get the rocks, get the rocks, get the rocks!” Mike panics.

“Getting the rocks!” Dustin yells back, just as panicked.

“Give me one.” Lucas commands. He gets one and shoots it at the Demogorgon as he stalks closer. It doesn't do anything. Mike, Dustin, and (Your Name) yell at him to kill him and keep firing as Lucas keeps shooting at the Demogorgon with no effect as it gets closer and closer. However, on one hit, it sends the Demogorgon back into the wall, pinning it there. The kids look in confusion and see El, no longer exhausted walking towards the Demogorgon, eyes rimmed red and her nose and ears bleeding.

“Eleven, stop!” Mike yells for her.

El sticks her arm back and uses her powers to throw Mike back. He slides across the floor before hitting a cabinet softly.

“Mike!” (Your Name) exclaims and kneels down next to him.

El gets to the Demogorgon, and she looks back at the others, her eyes trained on Mike. Mike looks back, tears in his eyes.

“Goodbye, Mike.” She whispers sadly.

Mike feels a tear roll down his cheek.

El stretches her arm out and uses her powers to kill the Demogorgon. The creature screeches in pain, its cries are so loud that the others cover their ears. (Your Name) looks down and closes her eyes tightly.

When she doesn't hear the screeching anymore, she opens her again. The Demogorgon was gone.

But so was El.

All that was left was a small pile of dust. Mike gets up and searches for El.

“El? El? El!” He calls out.

“Eleven!” Lucas yells.

“Eleven!” Dustin joins in.

“El!” (Your Name) yells.

“El!” Mike screams.

“El, where are you? Eleven! El?” Mike's voice cracks as tears well in his eyes.

(Your Name) looks around, too. She feels tears well up in her eyes, too.

El was gone.

The Demogorgon was defeated…

But at what cost? They just lost a friend.

🚲🎲📼♥️

Ambulances arrive at Hawkins Middle School. Police question people, and the paramedics check over the kids.

(Your Name) sits in the back of one, trauma blankets wrapped around her. She looks down at her hands, processing the events that just happened.

But then, she hears voices in the distance.

“Mike!”

It was Karen Wheeler.

Then she hears another,

“(Your Name)!”

Mom.

She looks over and sees Karen and her mom walking towards her and Mike. At the same time, her and Mike get up from the back of the open ambulance and run to their moms.

(Your Name) feels her mom's arms wrap around her tightly. She hugs back tightly.

“Oh! Honey, you're okay.” Her mom sobs in relief and kisses the top of the girl's head.

(Your Name) looks up at her mom.

“Oh honey, we have good news.”

“Good news?” She mutters.

“He's alive. Will's alive. He's in the hospital now.”

Those words make (Your Name)’s eyes widen and her heart beat out of her chest.

“He's… he's alive?” She whispered in surprise, feeling hopeful tears well up in her eyes.

“Yes. He's okay.” Her mom whispers back,

“Can we… can we see him?”

Her mom nods. “Yes. You can. We're all going.”

(Your Name) nods.

Never in her life has she felt so relieved.

🚲🎲📼♥️

The whole group, plus the Wheeler parents but minus Joyce and Hopper, waited in the waiting area anxiously. Waiting for news on Will's condition.

(Your Name) looked around anxiously, her knee bouncing up and down. She saw Lucas and Dustin asleep on each other. Mike was on her right, looking down silently. She sighs shakily and her leg bounced faster. But then, she feels a hand on her knee, stopping it from bouncing. She looks over and sees Mike, looking at her quietly. He didn't say anything but his look showed concern and a sense of protectiveness. (Your Name) felt her nerves ease down and she whispers, “Thank you, Mike.”

Mike gives her a nod.

Just then, Johnathon comes in and gives them a nod.

Mike and (Your Name) exchange glances and they get up immediately. They wake up Dustin and Lucas and they run to Will's room.

The boys get there first. They see Will, laying awake in a hospital bed in a hospital gown and tube in his nose.

“Byers!” Mike yells happily and hugs him, laying his head on Will's chest.

“Be careful. Be careful with him.” Joyce gently scolds.

Lucas joins in the hug with Will and Lucas.

“Move.” Dustin pulls and pushes Mike and Lucas away and hugs Will. Will hugs back limply.

“Guys, guys. Go easy on him.” Johnathon says, smiling widely.

Then, (Your Name) stepped into the room, after catching up. Johnathon moves to give her room to enter. She sees Will there. She exhales a laugh and walks closer to Will. When she gets to the left side of his bed, the side not occupied by the boys, she hugs Will as tightly as she can without hurting him. She feels tears of joy and relief roll down her cheeks as she feels Will hug her back limply.

“You're here. Oh my God, you're really here.” She whispers into the side of his neck. She pulls away a little to look at Will. Despite his sickly appearance, he looked the same and he gives her a small smile.

“Hey. Don't cry, (Your Name).” His sweet, soft voice said to her.

She giggles wetly and smiles softly.

“You won't believe what happened when you were gone, man.” Lucas says, smiling widely.

“It was mental.” Dustin says.

"You had a funeral."

“Jennifer Hayes was crying.”

“And Troy peed himself.”

“What?” Will says with a laugh.

“In front of the whole school!” Dustin exclaimed.

“Yes!” Lucas exclaims.

Will starts to cough.

“You okay?” Mike asks Will, concerningly.

(Your Name) reaches a hand out to Will, taking his hand.

“It got me. The Demogorgon.” He says ti his friends.

“We know. It's okay.” Mike reassures Will. “It's dead.” He pauses, “We made a new friend. She stopped it. She saved us. But she's gone now.” Mike looks down sadly.

“Her name's Eleven.” Dustin told him.

“Like the number?” Will questions.

“Well, we call her “El” for short.” Lucas jumps back in.

“She's basically a wizard.” Dustin said with a smile.

“She has superpowers.” Lucas adds with a whisper.

“More like a Yoda.” Mike says.

“She flipped a van with her mind, and these agents were trying to shoot us-” Dustin starts to explain.

“Yeah, it was flipped over us-” Mike joins in.

“Then she squeezed the brains out-

"And blood was pouring out of their faces.” Lucas jumps in.

“It was pouring out their eyes.” Mike says.

The group continue to tell Will all that happened, their voices overlapping.

Will smiles at his friends. He was so happy to be back home. With his family. With his friends.

🚲🎲📼♥️

One Month Later

“Something is coming. Something angry. Hungry for your blood. It is almost here.” Mike narrates another DnD campaign in the basement of his home. Dustin, Lucas, and Will are there, focused. (Your Name) sits on the side, watching her friends with a smile.

“What is it?” Will asks.

“It's the thessalhydra, I'm telling you.” Dustin says.

“It's not the thessalhydra.” Lucas tells Dustin.

“I'm telling you, it's the thessalhydra.” Dustin insists.

Mike slams a game figure piece onto the table. “The thessalhydra!”

“Damn it.” Dustin curses.

Mike continues, “It roars in anger! Will, your action!”

“What should I do? I-” Will starts.

“Fireball him!” Lucas exclaims.

Dustin contemplates for a moment before smirking, “Fireball the son of a bitch.”

Will takes the die and shakes it and throws it onto the table.

“Fourteen!” Will yells in excitement.

The rest of the group goes wild in delight; even (Your Name) joins in.

Mike speaks again, “Direct hit. Will the Wise’s Fireball hits the thessalhydra. It makes a painful…,” he imitates the sound and falls onto the ground, “and then… it crumbles to the ground and reaches out to them, “Its clawed hand reaches for you one last time and, and, and… and…” He dramatically falls backwards, playing dead.

The others exclaim in joy and excitement and hug each other. They even go over and hug (Your Name), sharing this victorious moment with her even though she wasn't playing.

Mike gets back up and sits in his chairs before continuing narrating, “Lucas cuts off its seven heads, and Dustin places them into his bag of holding. You carry the heads out of the dungeon, victorious, and you present them to King Tristan. He thanks you for your bravery and your service.”

“Whoa. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, that's not it, is it?” Dustin jumps in.

“No, there's a medal ceremony-” Mike starts.

“Oh, a medal ceremony? What are you talking about?” Dustin interrupts.

“And-”

“The campaign was way too short.”

“Yeah!” Will jumped in, agreeing.

“It was ten hours!” Mike exclaims.

“But it doesn't make any sense.” Dustin says.

“It makes sense.” Mike rebutted.

“Uh, no, what about the lost knight?”

“And the proud princess?” Lucas adds.

“And those weird flowers in the cave?” Will jumps in with his own question, too.

“I don't know, it's-”

Luckily for Mike, footsteps can be heard coming down the steps of the basement.

“Saved by Johnathon. Thank God.” (Your Name) muttered exasperatedly but playfully.

“Jeez, what's that smell? Have you been playing games all day, or just farting?” Johnathon jokes.

“Oh, that's just Dustin. He farted.” Lucas replies.

Dustin’ smile turns into an unimpressed frown.

“Dustin farted.” Lucas teased before blowing a raspberry.

“Okay.” Dustin deadpans.

“Dustin farted.” Lucas repeats.

“Very mature, Lucas.”

“Lucas, shut up.” (Your Name) says.

Lucas ignores her and continues to trade Dustin, as Will grabs his things to get ready to leave. Everyone says bye to him.

“See you, Will.” Mike says with a smile.

As Will is about to leave, (Your Name) goes over to him and hugs him tightly. Will hugs back just as tightly. “Call me when you get home.” She whispers to him.

Will smiles. “I will.”

The two pull away from their hug and Will follows Jonathan out of the basement.

(Your Name) watches Will leave, with a smile on her face. Then, ignoring Lucas and Dustin roughhousing, she sees Mike look longingly at the fort he made for El. She frowns at the sight, feeling sorrow herself. Then she hears Karen call out to her,

“(Your Name)! Your mom's here!”

“I'll be right up!”

(Your Name) grabs her jacket and bag. She hugs Lucas first; he hugs back and pats her back, wishing her a Merry Christmas. Dustin hugs her tightly and shakes her a little. When she approaches Mike, they hug but it seems to linger longer than usual.

“Merry Christmas, Mike.” She whispers.

“Merry Christmas, (Your Name).” Mike whispers back.

The two pull away and she gives him a nod and heads upstairs. She walks past Mrs. Wheeler.

“Bye, Mrs. Wheeler. Merry Christmas.” She said with a smile.

“Bye, dear. Merry Christmas.” She says back with a smile.

(Your Name) leaves the Wheeler house, walks into the snow briefly until she gets to her mom's car. She gets in.

“Hey, honey. How did the campaign go?”

“They won!” She said happily.

“Awwww, that's great!” Her mom pets her hair.

Her mom starts the car and drives them home. As she does, (Your Name) admires the snow that fell slowly from the sky. She smiles happily. She watches the snow all the way home.

They get home and they get out of the car and get inside. After removing their jackets and shoes, (Your Name) heads up to her room. She gets there and lays her stuff down on the floor. She grabs her photobook and searches through the pages. She smiles at the photos of her and her friends. Then she hears her supercomm.

“(Your Name)? Are you there? I got home safely.”

The girl smiles and grabs her supercomm and answers, “Yes. I'm here. I'm so glad you got home safely.”

“Me too.” Will pauses before he says, “Merry Christmas, (Your Name).”

“Merry Christmas, Will.” She says back softly but sweetly.

“Bye.”

“Bye.”

The call ends and she pushes the antenna down. She looked down at her supercomm then back at the photo book, it was stopped at her 12th birthday page.

She smiles.

They have survived. She has survived.

Everything was back to normal now.

“Yes, I copy! Do you? They know about Eleven! Get out of there! They know about Eleven! The bad men are coming! All of them! Do you hear me? The bad men are coming! The bad men are coming!"

The line disconnects as the two keep pedaling. “Call Dustin! Tell them to meet at Elm and Cherry!” (Your Name) exclaims.

Lucas nods and radioes Dustin. “Dustin! Dustin, do you copy?”

“Yes, Lucas, they're on us.”

“Shit.” (Your Name) mutters breathlessly.

“Where are you?” Lucas asks.

“Cornwallis.” Dustin replies.

“Meet us at Elm and Cherry!”

“Copy. Elm and Cherry!”

The line disconnects and they continue to bike. They get to Elm and Cherry and see Dustin and Mike on their bikes, El on the back of El's, riding through someone's yard into the street. They all stop in the road to catch their breathes.

“(Your Name)! Lucas!” Mike says in relief.

“Where are they?” Lucas asks.

“I don't know.” Mike replied.

“I think we lost them.” Dustin says.

But then, the white Hawkins Lab vans turn the corner and approach the kids.

“Go, go, go, go, go!” Mike yells frantically.

The kids start to pedal again, going as fast as they can. Mike yells for them to go faster while Dustin mutters “shit” multiple times. Then, a van turns and heads towards them. In the opposite direction. The kids start to yell and freak out as the van nears them.

But then, the van is thrown into the air, flipping over them. Time seemed to slow down as the kids watched in shock and amazement as they bike over the flying van. Then, time sped back up to normal as the van landed on its roof, blocking the other vans. The kids continue to bike, not looking back.

They bike far away until they end up back in the junk yard they were in just yesterday. Mike and El get there first, and they stop, both of them tired for different reasons. (Your Name) comes in next and panting as she gets off her bike. Dustin and Lucas follow after a few seconds later.

“Holy… holy shit!” Dustin exclaims despite his exhaustion. “Did… did you see what she did to that van?”

“No, Dustin, we missed it.” Mike replies sassily. His reply makes (Your Name) giggle breathlessly. Mike feels his cheeks warm up at her reaction.

“I mean, that was…” Dustin starts.

“Awesome.” Lucas finishes. “It was awesome.” He walks over to El and kneels next to her, guilt evident in his facial expression. “Everything I said about you being a traitor and stuff… I was wrong. I'm sorry.” He places a hand on her back.

“Friends… friends don't lie.” El says softly. “I'm sorry, too.”

El looks over at (Your Name). She slowly stands up, despite her exhaustion, and approaches her.

“I'm sorry… to you, too.” She reaches out to gingerly touch the bruise on (Your Name)’s face. The (Hair Color) haired girl smiles softly at El, nodding her head to her, accepting her apology. Then, El mutters,

“Still pretty.”

(Your Name) blushes at her statement. But, her smile widens a bit more, “Thank you, El.”

“And… I'm sorry, too.” Mike speaks up and reaches his hand out to Lucas.

Lucas looks at Mike's hand for a moment, expression unreadable. But, then he nods and clasps his hand with Mike's, reaffirming their friendship.

🚲🎲📼♥️

“This is Randolph Road, right here.” Lucas explains the layout he and (Your Name) saw when they found where the gate was. “The fence starts here, and goes all the way around. And this is the lab right here. The gate's gotta be in there somewhere. It's gotta be.”

“Well, who owns Hawkins Lab?” Dustin asks.

“The sign says “Department of Energy.” Lucas replies.

“Department of Energy? What do you think that means?”

“It means government. Military.” Mike says.

“Then why does it say “Energy”?”

“Just trust me, all right? It's military. My dad's told me before.”

“Mike's right. There's soldiers out front.” Lucas says.

“Do they make, like, light bulbs or something?” Dustin asks.

“No. It's all a cover up for their real plan.” (Your Name) replies.

Mike adds, “Weapons… to fight the Russians, and commies and stuff.

“Weapons.” Lucas repeats.

“Oh, Jesus, this is bad.” Dustin says.

“Really bad. The place is like a fortress. Well, what do we do?” Lucas asks.

“I don't know, but we can't go home. We're fugitives now.” Mike says.

Dustin looks around, and he hears something. “Guys? Do you hear that?”

The others listen and hear it too. It sounded mechanical. They look up and see a helicopter in the sky.

“Shit.” (Your Name) mutters.

The kids grab their bikes and hide then underneath the abandoned bus and they jump inside, hiding in the bus before the helicopter can fly over them and find them.

“Mental.” Dustin says.

🚲🎲📼♥️

The kids sit in silence as they hide out in the bus. Mike looks over at (Your Name) and he gets a good look at the bruise on the side of her face.

“Hey.” He whispers to her. She looks up at him. “Does it still hurt?” He asked softly.

“Not, really. It's just sore now.” She admits in a whisper.

Mike reaches his hand out to her and gingerly touches the bruise.

(Your Name) gasps faintly. While El's touch was gentle, Mike's felt like a different kind of gentle. He always touched her like this. But she can see in his eyes: guilt. Even though he wasn't directly responsible for her injury.

“Hey.” She whispers to him. “I'm okay.” She smiles softly at him. “It'll take more than this to keep me down.” She jokes quietly.

Mike laughs softly at her joke, feeling relief wash over him.

Then,

“Mike, are you there? Mike?”

“You guys hear that?” Dustin asks.

‘It sounds like… Nancy.’ (Your Name) thinks to herself.

“Mike, it's me, Nancy. Mike, are you there? Answer. Mike, we need you to answer.”

“Is that your sister?” Lucas asks.

“It has to be Nancy.” (Your Name) replies.

“This is an emergency, Mike. Do you copy? Mike, do you copy?”

“Okay, this is really weird.” Dustin comments.

“Don't answer.” Mike says.

“She said it was an emergency.” Lucas argues.

“What if it's a trick?” Mike suggests.

“It's your sister!”

“What if the bad people kidnapped her? What if they're forcing her to say this?”

“It's like Lando Calrissian. Don't answer.” Dustin says.

“We need to know that you're there, Mike.”

A new voice speaks through the supercomm. “Listen, kid, this is the chief. If you're there, pick up. We know you're in trouble and we know about the girl.”

“Why is she with the chief?” Lucas questions.

“How the hell does he know about…” Dustin trails off, looking at El.

“We can protect you, we can help you, but you gotta pick up. Are you there? Do you copy? Over.” Hopper's voice says.

“Yeah, I copy. I'm here. We're here.”

🚲🎲📼♥️

After the call on the supercomm, it becomes silent again. The kids anxiously sit and wait. Then Mike looks up, irritated,

“Will you stop pacing?” He tells Dustin.

“It's been way too long. Do you know what? Maybe you're right. Maybe this is all a trap and the bad men are coming to get us right now!” Dustin starts to freak out.

“It's not a trap. Why would the chief set us up? Nancy, maybe, but the chief?” Lucas says.

Mike makes a face like, ‘What the hell, man?’

“Lando Calrissian.” Dustin says.

“Would you shut up about Lando?” Lucas shouts.

“I don't feel good about this. I don't feel good about this!”

“When do you feel good about anything?”

Just then, they hear a vehicle approaching. The kids get up to look. They see cars they didn't recognize pull up into the junkyard and decently dressed men step out of them.

It was people from Hawkins Lab.

“Shit!” Dustin curses.

The kids go to the back of the bus and duck down out of sight.

“Lando.” Dustin mutters.

“You think they saw us?” Lucas asks quietly.

“Both of you, shut up.” Mike scolds.

Silence falls over the group. The tension was so thick you can't cut it with a knife. They wait anxiously for the men to leave. But then, they heard a struggle outside. Grunting and fighting. They stay put, scared of what's going on outside. But then, the noises stop. Someone enters the bus.

It was Chief Hopper.

“All right, let's go.” He tells them. The kids don't move. “Let's go!” He says again more firmly and this time, the kids get up and follow Hopper.

🚲🎲📼♥️

It is nighttime when everyone is reunited at the Byers, the kids explain to Joyce, Hopper, Nancy and Johnathon about what they learned. They explained the flea and acrobat theory to them, saying they are the acrobat and Will, Barbara and the monster are the flea. They explain the Upside Down and the gate. Hopper knows exactly what they are talking about. Mike realizes it's because he's seen it. Joyce asks El,

“Is there any way that you could… that you could reach Will? That you could talk to him in this-”

“The Upside Down.”

“Down. Yeah.”

El nods.

“And my friend Barbara. Can you find her, too?” Nancy asks El. El gives her a look that says she can.

El tries to find Barbara using a photo of her and the supercomm playing static. However, the static fades and El leaves her space. She couldn't find them.

El leaves to clean herself and the kids tell the adults that El gets tired after using her powers. Joyce asks how long it takes for her to recharge. Mike says he doesn't know. But then, El comes back, saying she has another way to find them.

A bath.

Specifically, a sensory deprivation tank.

Dustin calls Mr. Clarke about this and after getting the information, and writing it down, they discuss where they'll be able to get the supplies they need. There's only one place they can do it.

🚲🎲📼♥️

They break into Hawkins Middle School.

They split into groups. Hopper and Johnathon go to get the salt. Dustin, Lucas and (Your Name) prepare a kiddie pool, with a lot of struggle. Mike and Nancy break into a shed and get a hose while discussing Johnathon and El. Nancy denies liking Johnathon while Mike denies liking El. Joyce stays with El and uses science goggles that she covers in duct tape to make it dark for her when she goes into the void.

When El is ready, they prepare the self-made tank. Nancy takes the hoses outside, connects them to faucets, and gets water coming out from the other side. Mike holds the other ends and lets the water pour into the pool. They check the temperature and make sure it's just right. Then, Jonathon and Hopper pour salt into the pool. They stop after a couple of bags, and Dustin tests it by placing an egg into the pool. It sinks to the bottom. More salt is added. Dustin runs the test again. The egg floats. The kids smile at the success. Mike sets up the supercomm and changes the channel so it can play static. Then, El removes her shoes and socks, then Mike's watch and hands it back to him, and as he puts his watch back on, she places the covered goggles over her face.

Everyone sits down around the pool as Joyce and Hopper help her into it. She sits down and lays back, her body floating. Seconds later, the lights flicker and surge, and then it goes black. El lays as she enters the void.

(Your Name) sits between Johnathon and Mike. She feels a sudden wave of nervousness watching El. She pressed herself closer to Mike, who lets her.

“Barbara?”

El's soft voice says. Everyone watches closely and keeps their ears open. El starts to breathe heavily and electricity pulses and flashes again before stopping.

“What's going on?” Nancy asks quietly.

“I don't know.” Mike replies honestly.

Worried, Nancy asks El, “Is Barb okay? Is she okay?”

A few moments of silence until,

“Gone. Gone. Gone.”

El's voice says, and Nancy feels sadness in her heart, and she covers her mouth, tears in her eyes.

Joyce comforts El as she starts to freak out. El refocused and started to search again, calm again. A couple moments pass until she speaks again,

“Castle Byers.”

Everyone listens.

“Will?”

Joyce and (Your Name) gasp, and the (Hair Color) haired girl grips onto Mike's arm. Mike places his free hand on top of hers to calm her.

“You tell him… tell him I'm coming. Mom is coming.” Joyce says.

El says this to Will in the void.

“Hurry.”

Will's weak voice speaks through the supercomm.

Joyce tells El to tell Will to stay where he is and that they're coming for him. El does so. El starts to pant and whimpers and she gasps as she abruptly sits up. Joyce hugs El as she calms down.

(Your Name) feels tears in her eyes and she grips Mike's arm tighter. Mike quietly comforts her, hand on top of hers.

🚲🎲📼♥️

The kids sit on the bleachers. El was wrapped in a towel and sat next to Mike, head on his shoulder. Mike lets her.

(Your Name) sits a bit further from them, but still close. She feels a pit in her stomach as she watches El being close to Mike. She shakes her head again and sighs shakily as she gets lost in her thoughts.

“Where have you been all day?!  I was looking all-”

Her mom stops her scolding when she sees the giant bruise on her daughter's face and the sad look in her eyes. 

“What happened to your face?” 

(Your Name) looks down.  “I… tripped… and fell on the way home.” She muttered.

It was obviously a lie.  But her mom doesn't question any further.  

“May I… have some ice?” She asked.

“Of course, honey.  Come on in.” Her mom takes her hand and pulls her into the house, closing and locking the door.  She lets her sit on the couch as she fetches an ice pack from the freezer and hands it to her daughter. 

“Thank you, Mom.” (Your Name) whispered as she placed the ice pack on her bruise.  

Her mom can tell something is wrong.  (Your Name) looked like she was close to tears.  She sat next to her daughter.  “What happened today?”

“Uh…” (Your Name) trails off, before muttering, “We… had a falling out.  About Will.” 

Another lie.  Well, a partial lie. 

Her mom nods.  She can tell Will's death is taking a toll on her daughter.  “Do you need anything?” 

(Your Name) looks at her mom slowly.  “May I…turn in early?” She asks in a murmur and looks down.  

“Of course, you can.  I understand today was a hard day.  You go to bed.  Sleep well.” Her mom says softly.

“Good night.” (Your Name) says back softly and heads upstairs to her room.  She goes to the bathroom and gets ready for bed.  

After she finishes, she changes her clothes into more comfortable ones for sleep: a black sweatshirt and red shorts.  She lays on her side in her bed, ice pack against her bruise.

The events of today replay in her head.  El’s betrayal.  The words she said when she questioned her.  Mike and Lucas’ fight.  El using her powers to break up the fight.  Her injury.  Her silent walk on the way home.

Tears well up in her eyes and they run down her face.  She cries softly on her bed, curling up into a ball.

This day was an absolute disaster.

🚲🎲📼♥️ 

(Your Name) woke up feeling heavy and she slowly sat up.  She looks around her room and sighs.  She sluggishly leaves her bed and heads to the bathroom.  She sees the tear stains on her cheeks and her puffy red eyes.  She looked down, realizing she must've cried herself to sleep.  

She rinses her face and dries it.  She sniffles, feeling a little better.  She examines the bruise on her side of her face.  It was a faint red with hints of purple and yellow.  It could be worse.  She walks back into her room and changes her clothes.  She slips into a blue sweatshirt, light blue jeans and puts half of her hair up in a ponytail, leaving the other half down.  She sighs as she sits on the edge of her bed.  She finds the ice pack on her bed and places it back on .  It was warm, but she didn't care.  She looks down and sniffles.

“God.” She whispers to herself and looks up at her ceiling.  She sniffled again.  

But then, she hears a voice over her supercomm.

“(Your Name)?  (Your Name)?  Do you copy?” 

It was Lucas.

(Your Name) grabs it with her free hand, pulls the antenna up and answers, “Lucas.  I copy.  Is everything all right?”

“Yeah.  Everything's cool.  Listen.  You still want to find Will, right?” 

“Yes, of course I do.”

“Good.  Meet me at my house.  And bring a weapon with you and anything else you might need.  Over and out.

“Will do.  Over and out.” 

(Your Name) pushed the antenna down with her chin and placed her supercomm in her non-school backpack.  She throws the ice pack back on her bed, slips on her combat boots and her black and white windbreaker, grabs her bag, places it on her back and heads downstairs.  When she gets there, she sees that her mom isn't around.  

‘She's probably at work.’ She thinks to herself.

She goes into the kitchen and searches the drawers for any kind of weapon.  She grabbed a debt sized kitchen knife and examined it.  She sighs and places it back in the drawer.  “That's not a good idea.” She then finds a multi purpose pocketknife.  “Perfect.” She slips the blade into her pocket and goes back upstairs to her room.  She opens her window, climbs out of it, steadies herself as she closes the window, and carefully climbs down the trellis onto the ground.  She finds her bike in the side yard and gets on, pedaling her way to Lucas’ house.

She pedals with purpose as she rides down the road towards the Sinclair house. When she sees it in sight, she slows down and stops in the driveway.  She gets off her bike and pushes her bike up to the front of the house and gently leans her bike against the wall.  She knocks on the door.  She can hear footsteps approaching the door and a few moments later, the door opens, revealing Lucas.  

“Great, you're here.  I'm almost-” He pauses when he takes in (Your Name)’s appearance.  “What happened?” He points to the bruise on the side of her face.  

(Your Name) gingerly touches the bruise and sighs.  “It was an accident.  When El threw you off Mike, your body knocked me down and I got hurt when I landed.” 

“That weirdo did this to you?” Lucas asks, anger starting to rise.

“Like I said, it was an accident.  I was in the way.  It's fine.” She told Lucas.

Lucas lets out a sigh and lets her in.  She steps into Lucas’ house and follows him to his room.  She takes in his appearance.  He was wearing a utility belt and a camo bandana with his outfit.  

They arrive in his room and he goes to make sure he has everything.  (Your Name) thinks for a moment.  

Then,

“You should apologize to El.” 

Lucas stops his checking and looks at (Your Name) like she grew a second head.  “What?” 

“El.  You should apologize to her.” 

“No way.” Lucas said, shaking his head.  “I'm not apologizing to that weirdo.  She sabotaged our mission yesterday!  She betrayed us all!  Used us!”

“Maybe she had a reason!” (Your Name) exclaimed.  Lucas stills at her words.  (Your Name) takes a moment to breathe before explaining, “When I talked to her, asked why she did this… she looked… scared.  Scared out for her mind.  She probably knows why and that's why she did what she did.  But… I also saw guilt in her eyes.  Like she didn't want to do what she did,” she pauses and looks down before looking back at Lucas, “Think about it.”

She stops there, afraid of going further and causing more trouble.  It's out of her hands now. 

Lucas stayed quiet for a couple of moments.  He lets out a sigh and grabs his bag, saying he has everything.  

“You have a weapon?” He asked.

(Your Name) pulls out the multifunctional pocketknife.  

“You're joking, right?” Lucas says, tone playful, “That's it? I would figure the horror expert would have more.”

“It was all I had.” Reader says with a playful scoff, “I can't go walking out and about with a whole ass kitchen knife like I'm Michael Myers.  I could get arrested.”

Lucas laughs, and she joins in.  They recover from their shared laughter and leave, ready to search for Will.

🚲🎲📼♥️

Mike and Dustin bike around the neighborhood, searching for El.  Mike was still upset about their talk with Lucas earlier today.  

Speaking of, they see his house in view.  The two stop to look.  They see someone pushing their bike up to the front.  Mike squints and he recognizes the jacket.  The white and black windbreaker.

It was (Your Name).

‘What is she doing at Lucas’ house?  Why is she heading over there?  Why didn't she tell him she was going over there?  Why is she going to talk to him first… and not me?  Is she… really mad at me?’ 

Many questions popped into his head and he felt his heart sink to his stomach in sadness.  He looks down.  

“Come on, Mike.  (Your Name) will come around.  She always does.” Dustin says to him encouragingly, “Let's keep searching.” He starts to pedal again.

Mike watches as (Your Name) enters Lucas’ house.  He sighs softly and starts to pedal again.  He has mixed feelings about Dustin's words.

🚲🎲📼♥️

(Your Name) and Lucas travel on their bikes into the woods.  Lucas tied his supercomm and a compass in between his bike handles to make it easier.  

They get out their bikes at one point and push their bikes as they walk through the dirt.  (Your Name) followed Lucas as he had the compass.  

They crease a hill and end up a wired gate.  Lucas looks at the compass.  The needle was moving.  He looks around and mutters, “Aww man,” before he walks to his left, (Your Name) follows after.  

They keep walking for a while, following the compass.  They turn around and see the needle is plotting North.  Lucas gets an idea.  

“Come on.  Let's climb up that tree.” Lucas says, pointing to a tree as he takes his bag onto his shoulders.  

“Are you sure?” 

“Yeah.  Come on.” He says as he starts climbing the tree.  

(Your Name) sighs and follows him up the tree.  They find a spot at a decent height, and Lucas takes out his binoculars. 

“Hawkins Lab.” (Your Name) mutters.  

“Yeah.” Lucas says.  “I see people walking in.”

“Do you see anything else?” 

“Not yet.” 

But then he pauses.  “I see vans lined up outside.”

“What?  Let me see.” (Your Name) looks through the binoculars as Lucas holds them out to her.  She sees the Hawkins Lab vans lined up.  Something about that made her stomach twist in knots.  

“Lucas.  We need to go.  We need to tell the others.  Now.” She says as she starts to climb down the tree. 

“What?” 

(Your Name) looks up at Lucas, fear evident in her expression.  Lucus felt fear and realization in his bones as she says, tone shaky, 

They heard him. Will. Through the radio. He was alive. But where was he?

“What was Will saying? Like home… Like home… but dark?” Mike asked.

“And empty.” Lucas adds.

“Empty and cold. Wait, did he say cold?” Dustin asks.

“I don't know. The stupid radio was going in and out.” Lucas replied.

“He did say cold.” (Your Name) jumps in.

“It's like riddles in the dark.” Dustin

“Like home. Like his house?” Mike wonders.

“Or maybe like Hawkins.” Lucas says, pointing at Mike, eyes wide in realization.

“Upside down.”

El's soft and tired voice rang out.

“What'd she say?” Lucas asked.

“Upside down.” Mike whispers.

“What?”

“Upside down.” Mike's eyes widened, and he sat across from (Your Name) and grabbed the flipped over game board, flipping it back to show the game. “When El showed us where Will was, she flipped the board over, remember?” He flips it back to show the black underside. “Upside down. Dark. Empty.”

“Do you understand what he's talking about?” Lucas asked the others.

“No.” Dustin simply says.

“I think I do,” (Your Name) jumps in, voice soft but knowing. “When El took us to find Will, she took us to his house, right?”

“Yeah. And he wasn't here.” Lucas said.

“But what if he was there? What if we just couldn't see him? What if he was on the other side?” Mike questions. He flips the board again, showing the game. “What if this is Hawkins and…,” he flips the board to show the black underside again, “this is where Will is? The Upside Down.”

“Like the Vale of Shadows.” Dustin says.

Dustin used Mike's DnD book and found the section on ‘The Vale of Shadows’. “The Vale of Shadows is a dimension that is a dark reflection or echo of our world. It is a place of decay and death. A plane out of phase. A place of monsters. It is right next to you and you don't even see it.”

“An alternate dimension.” Mike said grimly.

“But… how… how do we get there?” Lucas asked.

“You cast Shadow Walk.” Dustin replies simply.

“In real life, dummy.” Lucas says in annoyance.

“We can't shadow walk, but… maybe she can.” Dustin gestures to El. The others look at her.

“Do you know how we get there? To the Upside Down?” Mike asked her.

El shakes her head slowly.

Lucas sighed. “Oh, my God!”

This is getting more and more complicated with every discovery.

🚲🎲📼♥️

The next day was Will's funeral.

(Your Name) stood with her friends and her mom behind her. She was a simple black dress with quarter length sleeves and black flats.

Even though she knew Will was alive, it still hurts to stand there.

She hears Dustin whisper to the boys about how a popular girl at school was crying but she turns back to face the coffin, pretending to be the sad and devastated best friend.

🚲🎲📼♥️

After the service, everyone went up to Lonnie, Will's father, to give him condolences while Joyce looked out, spaced out.

(Your Name) slowly approached them. She goes to Lonnie and gives him a nod.

“You a friend of Will's?”

The girl nodded and whispered, “Yes.”

“I'm sorry for your loss, kid.”

“And I'm sorry you lost a son.”

(Your Name) kept it cordial. She remembered the stories Will told her about Lonnie. How he was abusive towards him, hated him for being so different and not ‘manly’ enough. Additionally, Lonnie was homophobic and often referred to Will as a queer or on worst days, fag.

She hated Lonnie for all of that. What he did to him. What he likely did to Johnathon and Joyce, too. What he did to the family.

But since it's a public place and considering the situation, she kept it civil.

Lonnie gave her a nod and walked off. (Your Name) let out a sigh and looked over at Joyce. She walked over slowly and carefully to her and then whispered, “Joyce?”

Joyce turned slowly at the sound of the girl's voice. When she saw it was (Your Name), her face melted into a more warm expression and she pulled the girl into her arms. The girl hugged Joyce back.

“Hi, sweet pea.”

(Your Name) melts at the nickname. “Hi.” She whispers.

The two pull away a little and look at each other. Joyce wipes the tears that were rolling down (Your Name)’s cheeks with her thumbs with a faint smile. “Thank you so much for coming.”

“Of course. Anything for you and Johnathon. And… Will.”

Joyce cups the girl's cheeks. “You're so sweet.” She comments. She turns to the coffin and looks back at (Your Name). “It doesn't feel real.” She whispers sadly.

“I know how you feel.” (Your Name) says. “Sometimes, I feel like… I can still see him. Feel him. Like he's still around… but he never is,” she pauses and looks around, and her tone becomes more serious but still soft, “But for some reason, I feel like… he's not dead.”

Joyce looks at the girl with confusion. “Wait. Did you see him, too?”

(Your Name) looked confused. “See him?”

Joyce looks around and leans closer to (Your Name) and whispers, “A few days ago, I heard Will. Through the walls of the house. At first, he communicated through the Christmas lights I had around the house, but this time, it was through the wall. I tore off the wallpaper and found him behind a clear, fleshy wall and he was speaking to me,” she sniffles, “He was saying he was at home but it was dark and empty and cold. And something was after him. I told him to run and promised him I would find him, no matter what.”

Joyce's words hit (Your Name) like a truck.

“I heard him, too.”

“What?”

(Your Name) sighs softly. “I heard him say those words, too,” she pauses, “Long story short, me and my friends believe Will is alive, too. We heard the exact same words you just told me through the radio in the AV Room.”

Joyce sighs shakily and hugs (Your Name), again. “Oh my God.”

(Your Name) hugs back. “I don't know what to do.” She admits to Joyce.

The woman pulls back from the hug and says to her, “I understand. But don't worry, I'll find Will. You just stay safe and don't get into any trouble. Okay?”

The girl nods, showing she understands.

If only Joyce knew.

🚲🎲📼♥️

Everyone moves indoors after the funeral. People ate, talked and gave condolences to the Byers again.

The kids walked through the crowd and found Mr. Clarke nearby, getting food. They approach him.

“Mr. Clarke?” Mike calls their teacher's attention.

“Oh, hey there. How are you kids holding up?” Mr. Clarke asked them carefully.

“We're… in… mourning.” Lucas says softly.

“It's… been… hard.” (Your Name) whispers.

“Man, these aren't the real Nilla Wafers.” Dustin complains.

“We were wondering if you had time to talk?” Mike asked shyly.

“We have some questions.” Lucas said.

“A lot of questions.”

“Please?” (Your Name) asked softly.

The kids and Mr. Clarke go to an unoccupied table.

Mike starts the conversation. “So, you know how in Cosmos, Carl Sagan talks about other dimensions? Like, beyond our world?”

“Yeah, sure. Theoretically.” Mr. Clarke replies.

“Right, theoretically.”

“So, theoretically, how do we travel there?” Lucas asks.

“You guys have been thinking about Hugh Everett's Many-Worlds Interpretation, haven't you?” The kids exchange looks. “Well, basically, there are parallel universes. Just like our world, but just infinite variations of it. Which means there's a world out there where none of this tragic stuff ever happened.”

“Yeah, that's not what we're talking about.” Lucas tells him.

“Oh.”

“We were thinking of more of an evil dimension, like the Vale of Shadows. You know the Vale of Shadows?” Dustin asks.

“An echo of the Material Plane, where necrotic and shadow magic-”

Mike jumps back in. “Yeah, exactly. If that did exist, a place like the Vale of Shadows, how would we travel there?”

“Theoretically.” Lucas adds.

“Well… Picture…,” He takes a paper plate and pulls a pen out of a pocket inside his jacket. He starts to draw, “an acrobat… standing on a tightrope. Now, the tightrope is our dimension. And our dimension has rules. You can move forwards or backwards,” he draws two arrows. “But, what if…,” he starts to draw again, “right next to our acrobat, there is a flea? Now, the flea can also travel back and forth, just like the acrobat. Right?” He says as he draws two arrows.

“Right.” Mike says.

Mr. Clarke continues to explain. “Here's where things get really interesting. The flea can travel this way…,” he draws another arrow, “along the side of the rope. He can even go…,” he draws another arrow, “underneath the rope.”

“Upside down.” The kids say at the same time.

“Exactly.”

“But we're not the flea, we're the acrobat.” Mike states.

“In this metaphor, yes, we are the acrobat.”

“So we can't go upside down?” Lucas asked.

“No.”

“Well, is there any way for the acrobat to get to the Upside Down?” Dustin asks.

“Well… you'd have to create a massive amount of energy. More than humans are currently capable of creating, mind you, to open some kind of tear in time and space, and then…,” he folds the paper plate in half and stabs a hole into it with the pen, “you create a doorway.”

“Like a gate?” Dustin asks, excitement in his eyes.

“Sure. Like a gate. But again, this is all-”

“Theoretical.” Lucas finishes.

“But… but what if this gate already existed?” Mike questions.

“Well, if it did, I… think we'd know. It would disrupt gravity, the magnetic field, our environment. Heck, it might even swallow us up whole. Science is neat. But I'm afraid it's not very forgiving.”

🚲🎲📼♥️

Mike explains the theory Mr. Clarke told them to El when they were back in Mike's basement.

“What we want to know is, do you know where the gate is?” Lucas, who's sitting in the chair he was in yesterday, asks El.

El shakes her head faintly.

“Then how do you know about the Upside Down?”

El only looks down, fidgeting with her hands. The group is silent for a couple of moments until they all turn to look at Dustin, who is walking back and forward, holding something in his hand. “Dustin, what are you doing? Dustin?”

Mike yells his name again, followed by Lucas, then Reader.

“I… I need to see your compasses.” Dustin said.

“What?” Mike questions.

“Your compasses. All of your compasses, right now!” Dustin demands.

The three grab all the compasses that they had, which was surprisingly quite a few.

“What's exciting about this?” Mike asked.

“Well, they're all facing north, right?” Dustin asked.

“Yeah, so?” Lucas replies.

“Well, that's not true north.” Dustin tells them.

“What do you mean?” Mike asks.

“I mean exactly what I just said. That's not true north. Are you all seriously this dense?”

Lucas only shrugs his shoulders.

“The sun rises in the east, and it sets in the west. Right?” He asked as he pointed in various directions that indicated what he's saying. “Which means that's true north.” He points in the direction of true north.

“So what you're saying is the compasses are broken.” Mike tries to understand what Dustin is trying to explain to them.

“Do you even understand how a compass works? Do you see a battery pack on this?” Dustin asks Mike, holding a compass.

“No.”

“No, you don't. Because it doesn't need one. The needle’s naturally drawn to the Earth's magnetic North Pole.”

“So what's wrong with them?” Lucas questions.

Dustin continues to explain, “Well, that's what I couldn't figure out, but then I remembered. You can change the direction of a compass with a magnet. If there's the presence of a more powerful magnetic field, the needle deflects to that power. And then I remember what Mr. Clarke said. The gate would have so much power-”

“It could disrupt the electromagnetic field.” Mike finishes, finally getting it.

“Exactly.” Dustin says.

“Meaning, if we follow the compasses’ north…” Lucas starts.

“They should lead us to the gate.” Dustin finishes.

“And lead us to Will.” (Your Name) adds, hope evident in her eyes.

But unbeknownst to them, El stared at them with fear in her eyes.

🚲🎲📼♥️

The group briefly separated to get ready. (Your Name) changed out of her dress into a plain light blue t-shirt, jeans, her converse, and threw on a black and white windbreaker.

They regroup, in more comfortable clothes now, and they start their journey to find the gate.

They walked for a long time. Now they were on train tracks in the woods, looking at their compasses to make sure they were staying on track.

“How much further?” Lucas asked Dustin.

“I don't know. These only tell direction, not distance. You really need to learn more about compasses.”

“I'm just saying. How do we know when we get to the gate?”

“Uh, I think a portal to another dimension is gonna be pretty obvious.”

Lucas sighs and looks behind them, looking at El and Mike, who are a few paces behind them.

“Do you two think she's acting weird?”

Dustin looks behind him, then back at Lucas. “You're asking if the weirdo is acting weird?”

“Dustin.” (Your Name), who is walking on Dustin's left, mutters in a scolding tone.

“Sorry.”

“I mean, weirder than normal?” Lucas asked, rewording the question.

“I don't know. Who cares?”

🚲🎲📼♥️

The group continue their trek until they end up in an old junkyard.

Dustin pauses as he looks up from his compass. “Oh, no.”

“‘Oh, no?’ What's, ‘Oh, no’?” Lucas asked.

“We're headed back home.”

“What? Are you sure?” Mike asked.

“Setting sun, right there. We looped back around.”

“And you're just realizing this now?” Lucas asked, exasperatedly.

"Why is this all on me?”

“Because you're the compass genius!”

“Hey, let's calm down and figure this out.” (Your Name) jumps in, not wanting an argument to start up.

“What do your compasses say?” Dustin asked the others.

The others look at their compasses. “North.” They all answer together.

“Makes no damn sense.” Dustin mutters as he looks around.

“Maybe the gate moved.” Mike guesses, looking around too.

“Can the gate move?” (Your Name) questions.

“No, I don't think it's the gate. I think it's something else screwing with the compasses.” Dustin concludes.

“Maybe it's something here.” Mike says.

“No, it has to be like a super magnet.”

Lucas turns to El, and a scowl appears on his face. “It's not a magnet. She's been acting weirder than normal. If she can slam doors with her mind, she can definitely screw up a compass.” Lucas accuses.

“Why would she do that?” Mike questions.

“Because she's trying to sabotage our mission. Because she's a traitor!” Lucas exclaimed. He walks over to El.

“Lucas, let's not start blaming people.” (Your Name) says, trying to mediate the situation.

“Lucas, what are you doing?” Mike questioned as he followed his friend.

“You did it, didn't you? You don't want us to reach the gate. You don't want us to find Will.” Lucas accuses.

“Lucas, come on, seriously, just leave her alone!” Mike exclaims.

“Admit it.”

“No.” El says but it's so quiet you can barely hear it.

“Admit it!” Lucas yells. He grabs her arm and looks at her sleeve. Blood on the cuff. “Fresh blood. I knew it.”

“Lucas, come on!” Mike says.

“I saw her wiping her nose on the tracks! She was using her powers!” Lucas tells Mike.

“Bull! That's old blood. Right, El? Right, El?”

El cries softly. “It's… not… it's not safe.” She stutters out fearfully.

‘What does she mean by that?’

Before anyone could do anything else, (Your Name) El to the side and takes her over to an abandoned bus, while she can hear an argument between Lucas and Mike starts.

“El.” She says softly. “I need you to talk to me, okay? What do you mean it's not safe?”

El doesn't say anything.

“Is finding the gate not safe? The Upside Down? Or both?”

El whispers fearfully, “Both.”

As (Your Name) processes her words, she hears Lucas say, “You're blind… blind because you like that a girl is interested in you. But wake up, man! Wake the hell up!”

Lucas’ words stab (Your Name) in the heart. She looks at El. ‘Does she like Mike? Or… does Mike like her? Or… do both like each other?’ As she thinks, the knot in her stomach returns. But she pushes that and her thoughts away so she can talk to El again, “Both? Okay, so finding the Upside Down and going in it is dangerous?”

El nods.

“Why? Is it… the monster?”

El nods again.

Just then she hears Mike yell and she turns. Mike and Lucas were fighting each other physically.

She gets up immediately and grabs Lucas’ jacket as he gets on top of Mike, trying to pull them apart. “Stop it, guys! Please!” She begged.

At the same time, El is begging them to stop, too. Then, with a scream, she throws Lucas off of Mike, who flies backward and slides onto the ground and hits a metal plate standing nearby, knocking him out. She had used her powers to stop the fight. And unfortunately, (Your Name) was stuck in the crossfire and when Lucas was flung off Mike, she was knocked down harshly, Lucas’ body hitting her, causing her to fall backwards and as she turned to catch herself, the side of her face and head hit the ground hard.

(Your Name) groans loudly as she lands and hears ringing in her ears. She can vaguely hear Dustin and Mike call out her and Lucas’ names and Mike yelling at El, saying, "What is wrong with you?!" She blinks hard as she tries to register what's going on around her. She looks up the sky blankly as the ringing continues. She closes her eyes.

“(Your Name)!”

“(Your Name)!”

(Your Name) slowly opens her eyes again to see Mike and Dustin hovering over her, worried expressions in their faces. But the sight of her opening her eyes, changes their expression to relief.

“Are you okay?” Mike asked.

She looks around, not seeing Lucas or El around. Then she remembers what happened. El’s betrayal. The words she said when she questioned her. Mike and Lucas’ fight. El using her powers to break up the fight. It all came back to her.

She sighs shakily and nods. “I'm fine,” She said.

Mike goes to help her up, but she declines this time. This surprised him. She normally lets him help if she gets hurt.

(Your Name) stands up and winces at the pain. “I'm just… I'm just going to go home.” She looks I'm the direction they came in then looks back at Mike and Dustin. “Put some ice on my head and… we can regroup and try this again.”

She starts to walk, not looking back once, as she feels tears well up in her eyes.

Mike watches her leave. She didn't even say goodbye to him. Or look back as she walked away. ‘Is she… mad at me?’ He thinks. The thought makes him sick to his stomach and presses his lips together to keep his emotions down but the mask slips a little and he looks down sadly.

She sniffled as more tears rolled down her red cheeks. The moments from last night replay in her head. The police cars and ambulance. Will's body being pulled out of the water. The moments just keep replaying in her mind.

She slowly reaches out to a photo album on her desk and opens it, flipping through the pages. The pages were filled with photos of her, her family, and friends. Some pages were marked for special occasions like holidays, birthdays, and other milestones. She stops at one page. It was marked: "12th Birthday".

The photos from that day show her smiling widely, dressed in a cute dress, holding her cake, blowing out the candles, and playing with the balloons scattered around the kitchen.

One photo in particular shows her in a group hug with her friends. Mike and Will.

Mike was hugging her from the front, his smile wide. Will was hugging her from behind, his smile, sweet and kind. She, of course, was in the middle, hugging them back as best as she could, smiling widely like her photo was taken mid-laugh.

She felt the tears roll down her cheeks faster, and she started to cry harder. She places the photo album down gently on her bed, and she hugs her knees to her chest. She buries her face into her knees, sniffling.

But then, she hears a familiar voice on her supercomm.

"(Your Name)? (Your Name), are you there?"

Mike.

She grabs her supercomm and pulls up the antenna, and presses down on the button to speak. "Mike? Mike, is that you?"

"Yes. Yes, it is. Listen to me. You need to come over to my house now. Like right now," There was a pause before Mike spoke again,

"It's about Will."

Not wasting any time, she replies back, "I'm on my way."

She hangs up the supercomm and places it on the bed. She slips on her shoes, grabs her backpack, and heads downstairs at the speed of light. She leaves her house, gets on her bike, and races to Mike's house.

🚲🎲📼♥️

The group was now in the Wheeler basement, sitting next to each other in front of the fort Mike made for El.  Speaking of El, she's seated in the fort, messing with Mike's supercomm.  (Your Name) sat on Mike's left.

“We keep losing the signal , but you heard it right?” Mike asked his friends.

“Yeah, I heard a baby.” Lucas replied.

“What?”

“Mike, you obviously tapped into a baby monitor.  It's probably the Blackburns' next door.” 

“Uh, did that sound like a baby to you?  That was Will!”

“Mike…”

“Lucas, you don't understand.  He spoke last night.  Words!  He was seeing that weird song he loves.  Even El heard him!”

“Oh well, if the weirdo heard him, then I guess-”

“Are you sure you're on the right channel?” Dustin jumps in, asking El.

“I don't think it's about that. I think somehow she's channeling him.” Mike says.

“Like… Professor X.”

“Yeah.”

“Are you actually believing this crap?” Lucas asked.

“I don't know, I mean… Do you remember when Will fell off his bike and broke his finger. He sounded a lot like that.” Dustin said.

“Did you guys not see what I saw? They pulled Will's body out of the water.  He's dead!” 

Lucas’ words silences the group momentarily.  They did see the body.  No one wants to think about it.  (Your Name) fidgets with the sleeves of her navy blue hoodie.  

“Well maybe it's his ghost. Maybe he's haunting us.” Dustin said.

“It's not his ghost.” Mike said.

“So how do you know that?” Lucas asked.

“I just do!” 

“Then what was in that water?”

“I don't know!  All I know is Will is alive.  Will is alive!  He's out there somewhere.  All we have to do is find him.” 

The group falls into silence again.

“I believe you.” 

(Your Name)’s whisper makes everyone, except El, look at her.  Mike looks at (Your Name) and smiles gently, showing that he appreciated her words.

Then, the group looks at El, as she messes with the supercomm, the static crackling as she messes with the channels.

“This isn't going to work. We need to get El to a stronger radio.” Mike says 

“Mr. Clarke's Heathkit ham shack.” Dustin says with a smile.

“Yeah.”

“The Heathkit’s at school.  There is no way we're gonna get the weirdo in there without anyone noticing.  I mean… look at her.” Lucas says.

The group looks at El, and she looks at them.  Lucas had a point.  She would stick out like a sore thumb.  They had to fix that problem.

🚲🎲📼♥️

The group goes upstairs to the second floor.  Lucas, Dustin, and (Your Name) search Nancy's room for any clothes El can wear. 

(Your Name) decides to check on Mike and El and sees Mike attempting to do El's makeup.  

“Here, Mike.  I'll do that for her.” She offers.

Mike looks over to (Your Name) and without arguing, hands her the makeup brush and goes to help the others.

(Your Name) walks over to El and gives her a soft smile.  “Okay.  I'm going to be as gentle as possible.  Don't worry, I'll make you look pretty.” She lightly brushes the brush against El's cheeks, giving them a little color.  Then, as she searches for a lip balm or lip gloss to use on her lips, El reaches over, and her hand caresses (Your Name)’s cheek.

“Pretty.” She whispers. 

(Your Name) blushes.  “I-uh.  Thank you.” She stammers out.  She finds a pink tinted lip balm and rubs the stick against El's lips, giving them more color.  

“All done.” (Your Name) whispers, smiling.

El smiles back.

The boys found an outfit and a wig for her.  

They wait out in the hallway as El changes.  She doesn't take too long cause after a couple minutes, she steps out.  She's in a pink, long sleeved dress, a blonde wig, white long socks, and white converse.  She looks so cute.

The others look at her in awe while (Your Name) just smiles.

“Wow.” Mike says.

“She looks-” Dustin starts.

“Pretty.” Mike finishes. 

El smiles softly.

Then, at the same time, (Your Name) suddenly feels that strange feeling again.  That feeling from before.  

“Good.  You look pretty good.” Mike corrects.

El walks to the mirror in the hallway and looks at herself in the mirror.

“Pretty.  Good.” She whispers.

🚲🎲📼♥️

The group rides their bikes to school, plan made.  

As she pedals, (Your Name) looks at Mike and at El, who is riding on the back of Mike's bike.  She feels it again.  That tight feeling she got yesterday.  What is this feeling?  She shakes her head and focuses on biking.

They arrive at school, park their bikes, and enter the school.

“Okay, remember, if anyone sees us, look sad.” Mike told the others.

Lucas, Dustin, and (Your Name) make sad faces and use their hands to make tears.  El copies by rubbing her balled up fists under her eyes.  They nod at her, happy to see she understood. 

They walk to the AV Room quickly and Mike gets to the door first.  He tries to open it but it doesn't budge.  “It's locked.”

“What?” Lucas tries to open it again.

“Hey, do you think you can open it?  With your powers?” Dustin asks El.

“Kids?”

Mr. Clarke's voice startles the kids, and they straighten up and look at their teacher.

“Hey.” Lucas said calmly.

“The assembly’s about to start.” Mr. Clarke informs them.

“We know.  We're just, you know…” Mike trials off, feigning sadness. 

“Upset.” Lucas says, smiling before dropping it to act sad.

“Yeah, definitely upset.” Dustin jumps in.

“We need some alone time.” Mike says softly.

“To cry.” Dustin adds.

“Yeah, listen… I get it.  I do.  I know how this is, but let's just be there for Will, huh? And then…” He gets keys and throws them to Mike, who catches them in his hands.  “The Heathkit is all yours for the rest of the day.  What do you say?”

“Thank you, Mr. Clarke.” (Your Name) says softly.

Mr. Clarke spots El.  “I don't believe we've met.  What's your name?” He asks.

“Eleven-”

Mike quickly corrects El.  “Eleanor!  She's my, uh-”

“Cousin.” Lucas finishes.

“Second cousin.” Dustin adds.

“She's here for Will's funeral.” Mike tells Mr. Clarke.

Mr. Clarke smiles.  “Ah, well, welcome to Hawkins Middle, Eleanor.  I wish you were here under better circumstances.” 

“Thank you.” El says softly.

Mr. Clarke then asks, “Uh, where are you from exactly?”

“Bad place-”

“Sweden!” Dustin quickly corrects.

“I have a lot of Swedish family.” Mike jumps in with a smile.

“She hates it there.” Dustin says.

“Cold!” Lucas adds.

“Subzero.”

Mr. Clarke looks at the students oddly but doesn't question anything.  “Shall we?”

“Yep!” Lucas quickly answers, wanting the awkwardness to end.

The kids follow Mr. Clarke to the gymnasium where the assembly is.  Dustin opens the door roughly, and it slams, alerting everyone of their presence.  (Your Name) resists the urge to facepalm.

“Abort.” Dustin whispers and turns to leave.  Lucas grabs him and pushes him in.  The kids find seats on the bleachers and listen to the speech about their “dead friend”.

🚲🎲📼♥️

(Your Name) honestly can't focus.  She looks around anxiously as the speaker's voice can be vaguely heard.  She didn't hear him, but she knows he's saying positive things about Will.

“Look at these fakers.” She hears Mike whisper to her left.

“They probably didn't even know his name till today.” Lucas whispers back on her right.

“Yeah.” She whispers.

Then, she hears laughing.

“Who is interested in this? This is so stupid.” 

The voice.  That irritating voice.  She turns and sees Troy and James talking and mocking Will.

“Oh, he was such a great student.  Oh, he's going to leave a hole in the community.” Troy mocks.

(Your Name) clenched her fists on her thighs, trying to suppress her anger.  

“Mouth breather.” El says softly.

She looks at her, along with Mike.  El only looks at them and sits back straight.

🚲🎲📼♥️

After the assembly, the students start to leave.  Mike finds Troy in the crowd and starts to approach him. “Hey!  Hey! Hey, Troy!  Hey, Troy!”

The bullies turn to look at him.  “You… you think this is funny?” 

“What'd you say, Wheeler?” Troy asked.

“(Your Name) and I saw you guys laughing over there.  And I think that's a real messed up thing to do.” 

The girl nods her head, crossing her arms.  Lucas, Dustin and El stand behind the two.  

“Didn't you listen to the counselor, Wheeler? Grief shows itself in funny ways.” James says.

“Besides, what's there to be sad about, anyway? Will's in fairyland now, right?  Flying around with all the other little fairies.  All happy and gay.” Troy mocks.  

(Your Name) growls lowly, clenching her fists tightly.  

Those words were enough for Mike to stomp over to Troy as he walked away with James, and shove him to the ground.  Everyone exclaims at the sight.

Troy gets up, anger on his face.  “You're dead, Wheeler!  Dead!” He goes to attack him, but he suddenly stops.  Like a force was holding him back. 

A couple of seconds pass, and then, someone says,

“Dude, Troy pissed himself.”

Laughter rings out from the students.  Lucas, Dustin and (Your Name) join in.  As she laughs, she turns and sees El wiping her nose and skipping away.  She couldn't help but smile and nod at her in approval.

“Hey! What's going on here?” The speaker yells out.

“Oh.  Mike!  Let's go!” Lucas grabs Mike's arm, and Mike follows after, a smile on his face.  The others follow behind them. 

🚲🎲📼♥️

The group run to the AV Room and Mike unlocks it with the keys that Mr. Clarke gave him.  “Come on.” He starts to fidget with the radio as El sits down in the chair in front of it.

“Now what?” Dustin asks.

“She'll find him.  Right, El?” Mike replies.

El immediately closes her eyes and starts to focus her power on the radio.  The static crackles as she starts to channel where Will is.  

“She's doing it.  She's finding him!” Mike says.

“This is crazy.” Dustin comments.

“Calm down.  She just closed her eyes.” Lucas says.

“Lucas, shut up.” (Your Name) scolds quietly. 

Just then, the light bulb goes out and breaks, plunging the room into almost pitch blackness.

“Holy…” Dustin mutters. 

Then they hear it.  A clanging sound.  They lean forward to listen more clearly.  The clanging starts to intensify.

“What is that?” Dustin asks.

No one answers the question.

But then…

"Mom?"

A soft, scared voice speaks through the radio.

"Mom?"

The friends are in disbelief.

“No way!” Lucas says.

“Mom… Please…”

“Will.” (Your Name) whispers. 

“Mom!  Mom!”

“Will!” Mike yells.

“Will, it's us! Are you there?” Lucas asks.

“Can you hear us? We're here!” Dustin speaks, too.

“Hello?  Mom?” 

“Why can't he hear us?” Lucas asks.

“I don't know!” Mike exclaims. 

Mom? Mom!

Mom… Mom, it's coming!

‘What's coming?  The person who took him?’ (Your Name) thought to herself, fearfully. 

“It's like home, but it's so dark… It's so dark and empty! And it's cold!” 

(Your Name) feels tears well up in her eyes.  She looks at her friends.  Dustin looks like he's on the verge of tears.  Lucas, too, but less obvious. Mike, too.

“Mom? Mom!"

"Mom, please!” 

Suddenly, the radio's fuse blows up, sending sparks out.  The kids yelp and step back.  The radio catches fire.  The fire alarm goes off.  Dustin quickly grabs a fire extinguisher and puts out the fire.  Mike checks in on El but she looks drowsy and out of it.

Reader stepped back as Mike and Lucas helped El get into a wheelchair and with the help of Dustin, pushed her out of the room.  She slowly steps out of the AV Room and leans against the wall.  She felt her heart race so fast that she could feel it in her ears.  She starts to breathe heavily.  

She couldn't believe it.  

Will is alive.

Will is still alive!

He's really alive!

But, he sounded like he was in danger.  Whoever it was that took him was still looking for him.  

“We just tell our parents we have AV Club after school.  That'll give us at least a few hours for Operation Mirkwood.  

Lucas asked, “You seriously think that the weirdo knows where Will is?” 

“Lucas.” (Your Name) growled in warning at Lucas calling El a weirdo.

“Just trust me on this, okay?” Mike tells Lucas.

“Okay.” Lucas agrees.

“Did you get the supplies?” 

“Yeah.” Lucas pulls out various items: binoculars, army knife, hammer camouflage bandana and the wrist rocket.  He pulls out the last one with finesse.

“Can't be without that, huh?” (Your Name) asked teasingly, knowing Lucas loves his wrist rocket.  

Lucas shakes his head, smiling at (Your Name). “No, I can't.” 

"You're going to take out the Demogorgon with a slingshot?"

"First of all, it's a wrist rocket.  And second of all, the Demogorgon’s not real.  It's made up.  But if there is something out there, I'm gonna shoot it in the eye…” He pulls back the rubber part of the wrist rocket and releases it, making a snapping noise, startling Mike, Dustin and (Your Name), “and blind it.” 

Mike sighs.  “(Your Name), what did you bring?” He asked the girl.

(Your Name) opened her bag and pulled out band-aids, hydrogen peroxide, medical tape, gauze, and three water bottles.  

“Geez.  Did you bring the whole emergency kit with you?” Dustin said.  

(Your Name) rolls her eyes.  “Hey, you never know.  Whether you get hurt by yourself or if someone or… something hurts us, you'll need it.” 

“That's a great idea.  Thank you, (Your Name).” Mike smiles at her.  (Your Name) blushes lightly at the praise, smiling softly.

“Dustin, what did you get?” Mike asked.

Dustin pulls out his backpack and dumps it, revealing a bunch of snacks and food.  “Well, alrighty.  So, we've got… Nutty Bats, Bazooka, Pez, Smarties, Pringles, Nilla Wafers, apple, banana, and trail mix.”

“Seriously?” Lucas asked, unimpressed.

“We need energy for our travels.  For stamina.  And besides, why do we even need weapons anyway?  We have her.” Dustin states matter of factly.

“She shut one door!” Lucas rebutted.

“With her mind!” Dustin argued back.  “Are you kidding me? That's insane! Imagine all the other cool stuff she could do.  Like…” He walks over to some of Mike's stuff.  “I bet… that she could make this fly!” He grabs Mike's Star Wars spaceship and gestures it to El, who is busy messing with Mike's supercomm.  “Hey.  Hey.” El looks up at Dustin silently.  “Okay, concentrate.  Okay?” He lets the toy go, and it simply drops to the ground.  “Okay, one more time.” Dustin picks it back up.  “Okay.  Use your powers, okay?” He drops it again, and it simply falls.  

“Idiot.” Lucas muttered.

Mike picks up the spaceship.  “She's not a dog!” He scolds.

“Exactly!” (Your Name) agrees.

“Kids!  Time for school!” Karen's voice rings out.

The kids grab their stuff and head upstairs, but Mike hangs back to talk to El.

Once he finishes, he comes back up and the kids ride their bikes to school. 

🚲🎲📼♥️

During recess, the four are outside, away from the other kids.  They are searching for stones for Lucas’ wrist rocket. (Your Name) shivers a little. She needed to put her jacket back on. Her mint green sweater, blue jeans, and combat boots weren't enough to keep her warm, especially since they had been out here for a while.

“How's this, Lucas?” (Your Name) shows Lucas a stone she found.

Lucas throws the stone into the air and catches it before nodding.  “Perfect.  Thank you, (Your Name).”

(Your Name) hums while nodding, smiling as she continues to search for more stones.

“How about this one?” Mike shows Dustin the rock.

“Too big for the sling.” Dustin told him, dropping the rock back onto the ground.  Mike continued to look.  Then Dustin asks,

“So, do you think Eleven was Bron with her powers, like the X-Men, or do you think she acquired them, like… like Green Lantern?”

“She's not a superhero.  She's a weirdo.” Lucas says.

“Lucas.” (Your Name) scolds. 

“Why does that matter?  The X-Men are weirdos.” Mike defends El.

“If you love her so much, why don't you marry her?” Lucas teases him.

“What are you talking about?”

“Mike, seriously?”

What?

“You look at her all, like… “Hi, El!  El!  El!  El!  I love you so much.  Would you marry me?” He teases him with an exaggerated and unlikely impression of Mike, hugging him dramatically and getting down on one knee after.  

(Your Name) didn't laugh at the joke.  But for some reason, she feels an unfamiliar feeling at the thought of Mike possibly liking El.  

“Shut up, Lucas.” Mike says, unimpressed.

“Yeah, shut up, Lucas.” Troy and James approach the group.  “What are you losers doing back here?”

“Probably looking for their missing friend.” James answered distastefully.

“That's not funny.  It's serious.  He's in danger.” Dustin says seriously.  

“I hate to break it to you, Toothless, but he's not in danger.  He's dead.  That's what my dad says.  He said he was probably killed by some other queer.” Troy says meanly, laughing after with James.  

(Your Name) growled lowly, clenching her fists.  How dare they mock Will like that.  She was about to step forward but Mike stopped her, arm stretched out to stop her.  

“Come on.  Just ignore them.” Mike told the others.  He goes to walk away, passing Troy and James.  But then, Troy sticks his foot out a little, tripping Mike, who lands face first, hitting his chin on a rock.  He groans in pain.

“Mike!” (Your Name) exclaims, jogging over to him, Lucas and Dustin following after her.

“What where you're going, Frogface.” James mocked.  Troy and James high five as they walk away from the group.

(Your Name) seriously considered confronting Troy and James, but her concern was Mike.  She helped Mike get back up.

“You all right?” Dustin asked.

“Yeah.” Mike replied, wiping the bottom of his chin gingerly.  

“Mike.” (Your Name) reaches out to his chin, seeing the cut.  

“Hey.  I'm alright, (Your Name). I'm okay.” Mike gently assures the girl.  Said girl only nods.

“Hey.  How about this one?” Dustin shows Mike a decent sized rock, patting Mike's shoulder with his free hand.  

Mike chuckles.  “Yeah.”

“Yeah?” Dustin smiles.

“Yeah, this is it.” 

Lucas takes the rock, smiling.  “Oh, yeah.  Yeah, this is the monster killer!”

The four kids laugh. 

🚲🎲📼♥️

After school, the four kids pick up El and start their search for Will.  (Your Name) walks on Mike’s right side, pushing her bike beside her.  She looks over at him and notices that he's not wearing his watch.  ‘Odd.  He never removes it.’ She thinks to herself.  Then she looks at El, and sees the watch on her wrist.  Something about the sight of that, makes the odd feeling from earlier when Lucas was teasing Mike about El come back.  She shakes her head and focuses on walking.

As they walk through the woods, El looks at Mike and asks, 

“Why did they hurt you?” 

“What?” 

El points to the scab on his chin.  The injury he got from Troy tripping him.

“Oh, that.  I just feel at recess.” Mike tells her. 

“Mike.”

"Yeah?"

“Friends tell the truth.”

‘She learns fast.’ (Your Name) thought to herself, nodding her head.

Mike sighs and tells El, “I was tripped by this mouth breather, Troy, okay?”

“Mouth breather?”

“Yeah, you know… a dumb person.  A knucklehead.”

“Knucklehead?”

“I don't know why I just didn't tell you.  Everyone at school knows.  I just didn't want you to think I was such a wastoid, you know?” 

‘I remember those words.  He said something like that to me when we first met in fifth grade.’ (Your Name) thinks to herself.

“Mike…”

“Yeah.”

“I understand.”

“Oh.  Okay, cool.”

“Cool.”

(Your Name) switched sides and whispered to El.  “Hey.  If anyone gives you a hard time.  Or… they hurt you… like what happened to Mike.  Call them a mouth breather.”

El looks at the girl, and nods her head.  

(Your Name) nods as well.  “Now, what do we call Troy?” She asked El.

“Mouth breather.” El replies almost immediately.

(Your Name) smiles.  “Exactly.”

El smiles back.

🚲🎲📼♥️

Night falls, and the group is still searching.  The kids are now using their bike lights to navigate through the dark.  They followed El around for hours.  

As they approached a clearing, (Your Name) recognized the path.  

El stops and (Your Name) looks.  They were at Will's house.  

“Here.” El said softly. 

“Yeah, this is where Will lives.” Mike tells her.

“Hiding.”

‘Hiding?’ (Your Name) thinks to himself.

“No, no, this is where he lives.  He's missing from here.  Understand?” Mike tries to explain. 

Dustin and Lucas catch up.  Dustin drops his bike, panting heavily.

“What are we doing here?” Lucas asked Mike.

“She said he's hiding here.” 

"Um… no!"

“I swear, if we walked all the way out here for nothing-” Dustin starts, but Lucas interrupts him,

“That's exactly what we did.  I told you she didn't know what the hell she was talking about!”

Mike, getting annoyed, asks, “Why did you bring us here?” 

El stammers.

“Mike, don't waste your time with her.” Lucas says.

“What do you want to do then?” 

“Call the cops like we should have done yesterday.”

“We are not calling the cops!”

“Hey, guys?” Dustin says.

As the two boys argue again, (Your Name) rolls her eyes, ready to break up the fight, but then Dustin yells,

“Guys!”

The kids walk over to Dustin and look ahead.  Police sirens can be heard.  They saw police cars and an ambulance drive by.  

“Will…” Mike whispers.

The kids grab their bikes hastily, get on them, and race after the police cars and ambulance. 

They get to the quarry and hide behind the fire truck.  They watch as paramedics pull a body out of the water and place it on a Waterboro.  (Your Name) feels her heart sink into her stomach.  

“It's not Will.  It can't be.” Mike whispers in disbelief. 

(Your Name)’s breathing becomes heavy and her hearing goes out as she steps back.  

There was no way.  

It couldn't be Will.  

No way.

She feels tears well up in her eyes.  She can vaguely hear Mike yell at El for lying and saying, “What is wrong with you?!”

Without saying a word, she grabs her bike and rides away, going unnoticed by the group.  She pedals home, tears blurring her vision and whimpers escape her lips.  She sniffles as the wind hits her face and messes up her hair.  

When she gets home, she hides her bike on the side of the house and knocks on the front door.  

Her mom opens it and she sees (Your Name) looking down.  

“(Your Name)! Where have you been?!” She asked worriedly.  

The girl looks up and sees her mom.  Then, just like that, the tears slip out of her eyes, and she starts to cry.  She throws herself at her mom and hugs her.  Her mother hugs her back and pulls her into the house, closing the door.  Her mom doesn't question her further, hearing her daughter's distraught cries.  

At the same time, Mike arrives back at his house and his mom comes over to him.  He throws himself at her and cries in her arms.  Karen hugs her son, letting him cry.  

The four kids stand as they watch the girl, who is sitting on the couch, drenched and covered in Mike's jacket as she breathes heavily.

“Is there a number we can call for your parents?” Mike asked.

“Your hair? Do you have cancer?” Dustin asked.

“Dustin.” (Your Name) says in a scolding tone.

“Did you run away?” Lucas asked.

“Are you in some kind of trouble?” Mike asked.

“Is that blood?” Lucas asked as he reached out towards the girl.

Mike slaps his hand. “Stop It! You're freaking her out.”

“She's freaking me out!” Lucas retorts.

“I bet you deaf.” Dustin claps his hands loudly close to the girl, who flinched away from him. “Not deaf.” He concludes.

“All right, that's enough, all right? She's just scared and cold.” Mike walks over to a laundry basket and pulls out some comfy clothes. He hands them to the girl. “Here, these are clean. Okay?”

The girl takes them and rubs her face against the fabric. She places the clothes down, slips Mike's jacket off, and stands up. Then, to the surprise and horror of the others, she grabs the end of her shirt and starts to pull it up.

The boys freak out and back away, looking away. Luckily, (Your Name) reaches out her hand to stop her.

“Whoa, whoa! You… You don't do that here. You have to go to a private place to do that.” She tells the girl. The girl looks at her in confusion. Mike recovers and directs the girl to the back where the tiny bathroom is. The others wait for him to come back. When he does, he tells them that she can speak, saying she said yes and no.

“This is mental.” Dustin says.

“At least she could talk.” Mike said positively.

“She said, “no” and “yes”. Your three year old sister says more.” Lucas retorts.

“She tried to get naked.” Dustin said.

“There's something seriously wrong with her, like wrong in the head.” Lucas said, pointing to his head.

“She just went like…” Dustin enacts what the girl did, accidentally knocking his hat off his head.

“I bet she escaped from Pennhurst.” Lucas says.

“From where?” Mike and (Your Name) say at the same time.

“The nuthouse in Kerley County.”

“You got a lot of family there?” Dustin teased.

“Bite me.” Lucas growls before explaining, “Seriously, think about it. Explain her shaved hair and why she's so crazy.

“Why she went like..” Dustin enacts what the girl did again.

“She's an escapee, is the point. She's probably a psycho.”

“Like Michael Myers.” Dustin says.

“Exactly! We never should have brought her here.”

“So you just wanted to leave her out in that storm?” Mike asked, upset.

“Yes, we went out to find Will, not another problem.” Lucas replied.

“Then what do we do, exactly?” (Your Name), arms crossing in front of her chest, her tone annoyed.

“I think we should tell your mom.” Dustin says

“I second that.” Lucas agrees.

“Who's crazy now?” Mike asked, exasperatedly.

“How is that crazy?” Lucas asked.

“‘Cause, we weren't supposed to be out tonight. Remember?”

“So?” Lucas says.

“So if I tell my mom and she tells your mom and your mom and her mom…”

“Oh man.” Dustin says with dread.

“Our houses become Alcatraz.” Lucas concluded dispawnedly.

“Exactly. We'll never find Will.” Mike tells them.

Dustin reenacts the girl again with his arms.

“All right, here's the plan. She sleeps here tonight.” Mike says.

“You're letting a girl-” Dustin starts.

(Your Name) coughs softly at that.

“Just listen!” Mike exclaims before he starts to explain, “In the morning, she sneaks around my house, goes to the front door, and rings my doorbell. My mom will answer and know exactly what to do. She'll send her back to Pennhurst or wherever she comes from. We'll be totally in the clear. And tomorrow night, we go back out. And this time, we find Will.”

The kids reluctantly agree.

(Your Name) watched Mike set up a fort for the girl and give her a sleeping bag. She watched Lucas and Dustin leave before she decided to head up. She went to go to the garage to get her bike and ride out until a loud clap of thunder sounded, making her freeze. She clenched her fists nervously. She bit her bottom lip.

“Hey.”

Mike's voice broke her out of her fear induced state, and she turned to him. “Are you okay?” He asked the scared girl. She just looked out the window, and Mike followed her gaze. He frowned a little and looked at the (Hair Color) haired girl. “You can stay here. You can stay in my room.”

“Are… are you sure?” (Your Name) asked nervously. “Your parents.. won't say anything? You know that your father doesn't-”

“I know.” Mike cut her off gently. “But, you can leave early in the morning and go out through my bedroom window. You've done it before a couple of times.”

He was right. (Your Name) has done that a couple of times. When they got into middle school, Ted Wheeler became more rigid about her staying in his room or even sleeping over at their home, stating that it’s not normal. He even says it about Will, which made no sense since he was a boy, too. But, sometimes, like in cases like this, Mike will sneak her into his room, and she'll sneak out through his window to avoid being caught.

The girl nodded. “Okay. As long as… you're okay with that.” She said softly.

“Of course I am. You're one of my best friends. I'll do anything for you.” Mike said, giving her a smile.

(Your Name) smiled at his words but for some reason, felt a tiny tug at her heartstrings. She brushed it off, thinking it was just her fear since another clap of thunder went off just after he said that.

Mike led her upstairs to his room, making sure to be as quiet as possible so they don't wake up Mike's parents or his sisters. They make it just fine and Mike grabs some clothes; a pair of dark gray sweatpants and dark blue sweatshirt. “Here. You can use these.” The girl looked at the clothes. “Are you sure they'll fit? I am way too taller than you, Wheeler.” She pointed out, teasing evident in her tone. Mike rolled his eyes playfully. “Whatever. Just them on.” (Your Name) laughed. “Okay.”

With that, Mike turned around and covered his eyes with his hands to let (Your Name) have some privacy as she changed. He heard the rustling of clothes but paid no mind. Then, half a minute later, he felt a tap on his shoulder. He uncovered his eyes and turned around. (Your Name) was now in his clothes and she had a point. The sweatshirt fit okay but the sweatpants were pretty short, showing the girl's ankles completely; on him, they almost touched the floor. He let out a chuckle. “Guess you have a point.” (Your Name) huffed out a laugh. “Told you.”

Then, (Your Name) turned around to give Mike privacy as he changed. He tapped her shoulder when he finished. She turned and saw him getting into his bed. Once he sat down, he looked at her. “Come on. You can come in. It'll be like a couple years ago.”

(Your Name) bit her bottom lip, trying to hide her smile. This wasn't the first time she shared a bed with Mike. She'd shared it with him a couple times during sleepovers. Sometimes, Will would share the bed while she slept close by. And even sometimes, all three of them shared Mike's bed. It was big enough to fit all three of them since they were small enough.

She yawns softly before walking over and climbing into his bed. She lays next to him and whispers, “Thank you,” as she slowly starts to drift into slumber. She can faintly hear Mike say, “You're welcome. Good night, (Your Name).”

“Good night, Mike.” She whispered once again before sleep overtook her.

🚲🎲📼♥️

(Your Name) wakes up by herself. She takes in her surroundings with her blurry vision. She blinks a couple times and her vision clears. She realizes that she's in Mike's room. She looks down and sees Mike asleep right next to her. She blushes faintly but smiles, the memories of last night replaying in her head. She slowly gets out of the bed and tucks the blanket back up, covering Mike again. She finds paper and a pencil and scribbles a note down for him when he wakes up:

“Mike,

Thank you for letting me stay.

-(Your Name)"

She places the paper on his bed so it'll be the first thing he sees when he wakes and changes out of the clothes Mike gave her and slipped on her clothes from yesterday. She places the clothes Mike gave her on his bed, too. She puts her bag on her back, goes to his window and opens it slowly, not wanting to wake her friend. She looks at his sleeping form one more time before smiling and she steps out of the window and jumps out with a yelp. She lands on her feet and she walks to the side of the garage, where her bike is. She grabs it, happy it's dry now, and she bikes back to her house. On the way over, she looks at the sky. The sun is mostly up, indicating that it's still decently early.

When she arrives home, she places her bike on the side of the house, since she'll be coming back out soon. She climbs the trellis on the side of her house that leads to her bedroom window. She carefully balances herself on the roof and she slowly opens her window. She slips into her room and sighs in relief once she's fully in. She quickly changes out of the clothes from yesterday and slips on a soft purple pullover, a new pair of jeans and her combat boots. She fixes her hair with her brush and grabs her bag again.

She heads downstairs and decides to have waffles, but Eggos. As she waits for them to pop up from the toaster, she wonders about the girl they found. Was she an escaped mental patient? Maybe a runaway from home? Whatever she was, she only hoped they could quickly help her, and then they can search for Will again. The Eggos pop up, and she places them on a plate and drizzles maple syrup on them. As she eats, her mom comes down in her robe and starts making coffee.

“Good morning, honey. Did you sleep well?”

(Your Name) nodded. “Yeah. I… actually stayed at Mike's. It was… storming… really badly.”

Her mom looks at her and gives her a smile. “He let you stay over again?” The girl nodded. “That's nice of him. I'm glad you have a friend like him.”

“Me too.” (Your Name) whispers, looking down at her now empty plate, blushing lightly.

She takes her plate and glass, which is now empty of milk, and places them in the sink. “Go on ahead. I'll wash them before work.” “You sure, Mom?” The mother nodded. “I'm sure. You go off to school now.” (Your Name) smiled and gave her Mom a hug. “Thank you, Mom. See you tonight.” “See you tonight.”

(Your Name) leaves her house and goes back over to her bike again and starts to petal, riding it to Hawkins Middle School.

🚲🎲📼♥️

(Your Name), Lucas and Dustin arrive in class. They sit in their respective seats. Dustin looks over at Mike's seat. “Oh, this is weird. He's never this late.”

‘Yeah. It's strange.’ (Your Name) thought to herself.

“I'm telling you his stupid plan failed.” Lucas said.

“I thought you liked his plan.” Dustin said.

“Yeah, but obviously it was stupid or he'd be here.” Lucas rebutted.

“If this mom found out a stranger spent the night-” Dustin started.

“He's in deep shit right about now.” Lucas finishes his sentence.

“I'm sure things are okay. Maybe he decided to stay home. It would make sense, especially if the plan didn't work out.” (Your Name) told them.

The boys agreed with her. Then Dustin asks,

“Hey, what if she slept naked?”

Lucas rolled his eyes. “Oh my God, she didn't.”

“Oh if Mrs. Wheeler tells my parents…” Dustin groans.

“No way, Mike would never rat us out.” Lucas said, defendingly.

“Exactly.” (Your Name) agreed.

“I don't know.”

“All that matters is after school, the freak will be back in the loony bin, and we can focus on what really matters, finding Will.” Lucas told Dustin.

Dustin silently agreed.

(Your Name) silently hoped that was the case.

🚲🎲📼♥️

After school, the three wound up Mike's room.

“Are you out of your mind?” Lucas asked Mike.

“Just listen to me.”

“You are out of your mind!” Lucas repeated.

“She knows about Will.” Mike says.

This causes everyone to freeze. (Your Name) looks at Mike. “She knows about Will?”

“What do you mean she knows about Will?” Dustin asks.

Mike grabbed a photo and showed the others. (Your Name) looks at it. She remembers that photo. When all five of them won at the science fair some time ago. She smiles softly.

“She pointed at him, at his picture. She knew he went missing. I could tell.” Mike told them.

“You could tell?” Lucas questions.

“Just think about it. Do you really think it was a coincidence we found her on Mirkwood, the same place where Will disappeared?”

“That is weird.” Dustin agrees.

“I agree.” (Your Name) says in agreement, too.

“And she said bad people are after her. I think maybe these bad people are the same ones that took Will. I think she knows what happened to him.” Mike finishes his explanation.

“Then why doesn't she tell us?” Lucas questions. He looks at the girl in annoyance before walking over her. “Do you know where he is?” He asked roughly. “Do you know where Will is?” He asked louder, grabbing her shoulders aggressively.

“Lucas!” (Your Name) exclaims in anger.

“Stop it, you're scaring her!” Mike yells at him.

“She should be scared! If you know where he is, tell us! This is nuts.” Lucas looks at Mike. “We have to take her to your mom.”

“No! Eleven said telling any adult would put us in danger.” Mike says.

“What kind of danger?” Dustin asked.

“Her name is Eleven?” Lucas asked.

“El for short.” Mike adds.

“Mike, what kind of danger?” Dustin asked again, louder this time.

“Dander danger.” Mike replies. He makes a finger gun and points it at Dustin’s head, then at (Your Name)’s, then at Lucas’. Reader swallowed nervously as he did. But when he gets to Lucas, he slaps Mike's hand away.

“No, no, no! We're going back to plan A. We're telling your mom.” Lucas says.

“Are you not listening to Mike?! If we tell Mrs. Wheeler, we'll put ourselves and El in danger!” (Your Name) exclaims as Lucas approaches the door.

But when Lucas tries to open it, it shuts again. Like a force is making it close by itself. He does it again, and the door shuts again, but this time, it locks by itself.

The four kids turns and they see El standing up now, an angry look on her face as blood trickles out of her nose and she speaks,

“No.”

🚲🎲📼♥️

Everyone was sat at the dinner table at the Wheelers; the whole Wheeler family, Lucas, Dustin, and (Your Name) there, too. They were eating in silence.

“Something wrong with the meatloaf?” Karen asked the kids.

“Oh, no, I had two bologna sandwiches for lunch. I don't know why.” Dustin makes an excuse.

“Me, too.” Lucas lies.

“It's delicious, Mommy.” Nancy reassures Karen.

“Thank you, sweetie.”

(Your Name) agrees that it is good but her focus isn't eating. Her focus was more on missing Will. She faintly hears about a special assembly for Will and Karen talking but she barely hears it. But then she hears the boys say no, causing her to look up from her plate suddenly.

“Don't you think you should be there? For Will?”

Mike suddenly chokes while drinking milk and Dustin bangs on the table with his hands suddenly.

“Sorry. Spasm.” Dustin apologized, sliding into his chair with a faint smile.

(Your Name) looks around and vaguely sees El walking down. She sighs, finding out why the boys reacted so suddenly. She sighs again and tries to focus on her food again.

🚲🎲📼♥️

After dinner, the boys come back down to the basement where El is. She's sitting in the fort that Mike made her last night, messing with a supercomm. Mike gives her food. El looks at Dustin, Lucas, and (Your Name) cautiously.

“Don't worry. They won't tell anyone about you. They promise. Right?”

The others nod. (Your Name) was still surprised to know El had powers.

“We never would’ve upset you if we knew you had superpowers.” Dustin said.

Mike reaches over and smacks Dustin's leg, making the boy whisper, “Ow.” (Your Name) rolls her eyes.

“What Dustin is trying to say is that they were just scared… earlier. That's all.” Mike tells El.

“We just wanted to find our friend.” Lucas adds.

“Friend?” El spoke.

“Yeah, friend. Will?” Lucas says.

What is “friend”? El asked.

“Is she serious?” Licas asked in disbelief.

(Your Name) smacks Lucas’ arm, making him recoil. “Shut up.”

Lucas recovers and decides to explain. “Um, a friend-”

“Is someone that you do anything for.” Mike finishes.

“You lend them your cool stuff, like comic books and trading cards.” Dustin jumps in.

“And they never break a promise.” Mike adds.

“Especially when there’s spit.” Lucas adds.

“Spit?” El questions.

“A spit swear means…”, Licas spits into hsibhand and clasps Dustin's hand, shaking it. “You never break your word. It's a bond.”

“That's super important because friends… They tell each other things. Things that parents don't know.” Mike tells El.

El looks down then at the kids, like she's quietly accessing their words.

🚲🎲📼♥️

While Mike, (Your Name), Lucas and Dustin talk in the corner. El gets up and walks over to the small table where Mike's DnD character pieces were placed on a board. She sits down in one of the chairs, hands on the table.

“What's the weirdo doing?” Lucas asked.

“Lucas.” (Your Name) hisses under her breath.

“El?” Mike speaks up.

El looks over at the pieces and picks up the one that looks like a wizard. Will's piece.

“Will.” She speaks softly.

The kids are surprised.

“Superpowers.” Dustin says. Lucas shakes his head and rolls his eyes.

Mike sits down next to her, his focus on her. “Did you see him? On Mirkwood? Do you know where he is?” He asked.

El wipes the remaining pieces off the board and takes the board and flips it upside down showing the back underside. Then, she places Will's figure on the board.

“I don't understand.” Mike says.

“Hiding.” El says.

“Hiding?” (Your Name) repeats.

“Will is hiding?”

El nods.

“From the bad men?” Mike asked.

El shakes her head.

“Then from who?” Mike asked another question.

El picks up a piece and places it on the board in front of Will's.

The Demogorgon piece.

This makes the group go silent.

(Your Name) stares at the black board with Will's figure and the Demogorgon piece. ‘Was Will hiding from him? The Demogorgon is real?’ She thinks to herself. If so… that means…

“Something is coming. Something hungry for blood. A shadow grows on the wall behind you, swallowing you in darkness. It is almost here.” A boy with black hair and dark brown eyes spoke dramatically.

“What is it?” A boy with a bowl cut asked.

“What if it's the Demogorgon? Oh, Jesus, we're so screwed.If it's the demogorgon.” A boy with curly hair and a baseball cap panicked.

“It’s not the demogorgon.” Another boy in a blue and yellow shirt assured his friend.

‘We'll see.’ A girl with (Hair Color) hair thought to herself as she watched the four boys play.

“An army of troglodytes charge into the chamber!” The lead boy yelled, slamming an action figure on the table.

“Troglodytes?” The curly haired boy said in disbelief.

“Told ya.” The other one sassed with a chuckle.

Everyone else laughed.

“Wait a minute.” The lead spoke again, ominous. “Do you hear that? That… that sound? Boom…boom… boom!” He slammed his hands on the table for effect, scaring everyone. “That didn't come from the troglodytes. No, that… that came from something else.” He paused for dramatic effect.

‘What is Mike planning?’ The girl thought to herself in anticipation.

Then, seconds later, he slammed an dragon-like action figure with two heads.

“The Demogorgon!”

The others groaned.

“We're deep shit.” The curly haired boy said.

“Will, your action!” Mike told his friend.

“I don't know!” Will exclaimed.

“Fireball him!” His friend said.

“I have to roll a 13 or higher.” Will said.

“Too risky. Cast protection spell.” The curly haired boy said.

‘Both are valid, but if Will listens to Lucas, he could potentially lose since it's a high number. But, on the other hand, Dustin’s idea to cast protection will further the game.’ The girl thinks to herself. ‘He should cast protection.’

“Don't be a pussy. Fireball him!” Lucas exclaims.

“Cast Protection.” Dustin said.

Mike slams his hands on the table again. “The Demogorgon is tired of your silly human bickering! It stomps towards you. Boom!”

“Fireball him!” Lucas yelled.

“Another stomp, boom!” Mike exclaimed.

“Cast Protection.” Dustin told Will.

“It roars in anger!” Mike exclaimed.

The boys clamored until…

“Fireball!” Will yells as he throws the die. The adrenaline causes the die to roll off the table and get lost.

“Oh, shit!” Will cursed under his breath.

Everyone in the room got up to search.

“Where'd it go? Where is it?” Lucas asked.

“I don't know!” Will replied.

“Is it a 13?” Dustin asked.

“I don't know!” Will repeated.

Dustin started freaking out as the others frantically looked for the die.

“Did you find it, (Your Name)?” Lucas asked the girl.

“No!” She replied.

As Mike went upstairs to talk to his mom, Will found the die. “Oh, I got it! Does the seven count?”

“It was a seven?” Lucas said. “Did Mike see it?”

Will shook his head.

“Then it doesn't count.” Lucas told him.

(Your Name) sighed as she dusted off her jeans and adjusted her pale, sage green sweatshirt. They slip on their jackets, grab their bags and head upstairs to get their bikes. Dustin grabbed the pizza box and looked inside. “Yo, hey, guys. Does anyone want this?”

“No.” the others declined as they continued up the basement stairs.

They get to their bikes and start to get ready to leave. Dustin comes out, looking at Mike. “There's something wrong with your sister.” He said, eating a piece of pizza that (Your Name) assumed was what was left in the box.

“What are you talking about?” Mike asked.

“She's got a stick up her butt.” Dustin replied.

“Yeah. It's because she's been dating that douchebag, Steve Harrington.” Lucas jumped in.

“Yeah, she's turning into a real jerk.” Dustin said as he got on his bike.

“She's always been a real jerk.” Mike pointed out.

“Nuh-uh, she used to be cool. Like that time she dressed up as an elf for our Elder tree campaign.” Dustin told him.

“Four years ago!” Mike exclaimed.

“Just saying.” Dustin said.

“Later.” Lucas said as he and Dustin left on their bikes.

“Later, you two!” (Your Name) called out.

“It was a seven.” Will said, looking at Mike.

“Huh?” Mike turned to look at Will.

“The roll, it was a seven. The Demogorgon, it got me.” Will told him.

(Your Name) couldn't help but smile a little. Will wasn't one for keeping secrets or lying. Especially not to Mike.

Will grunted as he started to pedal. “See you tomorrow.” He told the last two as he pedaled away.

“Bye, Will!”

(Your Name) pushed her bike closer to the entrance of the garage and got on. “Great job as always, Mike. It's always fun watching you guys play.”

Mike gave (Your Name) a small smile. “Thank you, (Your Name). You should join us. Give it a try. You would make an excellent Druid.”

(Your Name) chuckled softly, blushing softly. “One day, I will.” She said, giving the boy a smile. She placed her feet on the pedals and started to bike out of the garage. “See you tomorrow, Mike!” She called out when she turned left to go down the street.

“See you tomorrow!”

(Your Name) rode her bike down the street, the cool November air gently hitting her face and ruffling her hair. She smiled softly, thinking about her friends. She was so happy that she met them and gets to hang out with them.

She arrives at her home and places her bike in the garage. She enters the house through the garage door and closes it.

“(Your Name)? Is that you, honey?”

“Yeah, Mom!”

“How was hanging out with your friends?”

(Your Name) walked into the living room, seeing her mom laying on the couch, possibly relaxing from a long day.

“It was fun. It's always fun watching them play DnD. I might try it one day.” She replied with a smile.

Her mom chuckled.

“I'm going to get ready for bed. I want to get up early tomorrow."

“Okay, sweetie. Sleep tight.”

“I will. Goodnight, Mom.”

With that, (Your Name) headed upstairs to get ready to go to bed. She changed her clothes into more comfortable ones, a gray sweatshirt and sweatpants, brushed her teeth and headed back to her room. Her room was littered with horror movie posters and band posters she liked on the wall. Her dark blue curtains covered the window and her matching bedsheets were made. She got on her bed and reached over to her walkie talkie. She pulled up the antenna, messed around with the channels until she got a specific one and started to speak,

“Will? I got home safely. Are you home yet?”

The reply was static.

“Will? Are you still out?”

Still no reply. Just scratchy static.

(Your Name) bit her bottom lip nervously. She pushed the antenna down and sighed.

‘Maybe he went to bed early.’ She thought to herself. ‘He does that often, especially on school nights.’

She got under the covers and laid down on her bed. She reached over to a stuffed bunny her father gifted her when she was a baby. She hugged it to her chest and closed her eyes, sleep slowly overtaking her. The last thought she had before falling asleep was,

‘I hope Will is okay.’

Little did she know of the danger that was about to present itself to the town of Hawkins.

🚲🎲📼♥️

The next morning, (Your Name) woke up by herself. She let out a groan and dragged herself out of the bed. She headed into the bathroom to get ready. After brushing her teeth and hair, she steps out and picks out her clothes. She picked out a dark gray pullover, jeans and her combat boots. A simple outfit but comfortable and good for fall. She switched out her sleepwear for the outfit she picked and grabbed her bag before heading downstairs.

She didn't hear her mom walking around, so she assumed she was already at work. She grabbed bread from the dispenser and put two pieces into the toaster. She checked her bag to make sure she had everything and checked her supercomm. She looked at it and thought about last night.

‘Will didn't pick up last night. Maybe he's up now.’ She thought to herself. She pulled the antenna and found Will's channel.

“Will? You there?”

No reply.

“Will? Will, are you there?”

Still no reply. Just static.

Sighing, she pushed the antenna down again. ‘Maybe he's at school already.’ She thought to herself. She checked her watch and saw it almost time to leave. Just then, the now toasted bread popped out of the toaster. She grabbed the pieces and spread butter on them before prompting eating both pieces in a span of a minute. She put everything away and grabbed her bag again. She headed to the garage and got to her bike. She pushed it out of the backdoor of the garage so she wouldn't have to open the main door. Once out, she got on and started to pedal. She rode down the familiar stretch of road that led to her school, letting the wind caress her hair and face.

After a few minutes of biking, (Your Name) biked up to Hawkins Middle School, panting softly.

‘Just made it.’ She thought to herself. She got off her bike and pushed it towards the bike racks. As she did, she noticed Troy and James walking away. She scowled at them, but then she saw that they were walking away from her friends. Worried they messed with them again, she walked a bit faster to them. When she got there, her friends noticed her approaching.

“(Your Name)! There you are.” Mike called out.

“Sorry I'm late. Rough start.” She laughed while panting a little as she slid her bike into the bike racks next to Mike's bike. “Hey. I saw Troy and James walking away from you guys. We're they messing with you guys again?”

The boys let out sighs, silently telling the girl that the bullies were guilty. (Your Name) frowned. “I'm sorry-”

“No. No. Don't apologize.” Mike spoke softly. “It's not your fault.”

“They're just assholes.” Lucas added.

The girl sighed again. “Still.” She put her hands in her jean pockets. “They didn't go hard on you, did they?”

The boys shook their heads. “No,” Dustin replied, “Just the usual name calling. But hey, they left after I showed them this.” Dustin stretched his arms out and crossed his arms, making his shoulders touch. (Your Name) chuckled. “Nice going.”

Dustin laughed, “Freaks them out every time.”

“I think it's really cool. It's like a special ability.”

“That's what I told him.” Mike jumped back in. “He's like Mr. Fantastic.”

“Yeah. But it doesn't help fight evil.” Dustin laments.

“All right, come on. Will's probably already inside.” Lucas says as he starts the walk towards the entrance, Dustin following after him.

“I thought he might be. I tried to get him on the walkie last night and this morning but he didn't reply.” (Your Name) told her friends as she follows, pace slower.

“He didn't answer you?” Mike asked, concern etched on his face, as he slowed down to match (Your Name)’s pace.

(Your Name) nodded. “Yeah. He probably fell asleep as soon as he got home, though.”

“Maybe.”

“Come you two!” Lucas called out to them.

Mike and (Your Name) looked at each other, shy smiles on their faces before they quickened their pace to catch up to Dustin and Lucas.

🚲🎲📼♥️

The bell rang as students got up to pack their stuff and leave the science classroom. Mr. Clarke announced the assignment and the upcoming test as the students left. (Your Name) watched Mike, Lucas and Dustin approach his desk as she packed her bag.

“So? Did it come?” Mike asked, his excitement almost barely being contained.

Mr. Clarke looks at the three boys. “Sorry, boys. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but…” He paused before smiling at the boys, “it came.”

The boys excitedly followed Mr. Clarke out of the classroom. Mr. Clarke looked at the (Hair Color) haired girl. “(Your Name). If you want, you can join us.”

(Your Name) wasn't a part of AV Club, but the boys made her an unofficial member, after begging Mr. Clarke to let her at least let her see some of the stuff they do.

The girl smiled. “I'll be there in a minute, Mr. Clarke.” She told the science teacher with a smile. Mr. Clarke smiled back and followed after the boys.

(Your Name) smiled as she watched the teacher leave. She slipped all of her books and supplies back into her bag and slipped it on her back. Just then, someone enters the classroom. She looks up and to her surprise, it's the principal along with the Chief of Police Jim Hopper and Deputy Callahan.

🚲🎲📼♥️

Turns out there was a lot wrong.

(Your Name) couldn't believe Will was considered missing. She knew she had an off feeling when he didn't respond to her radioing in to him through the walkie.

The four friends sat on a couch across from Hopper and Callahan. Mike sat on her right and Dustin to her left. Lucas sat on Mike's other side. The three boys tried to tell the officers about Will but because their voices were overlapping Hopper told them one at a time. He picks Mike to explain.

“You said he takes what?”

“Mirkwood.”

“Mirkwood?”

“Yeah.”

“Have you ever heard of Mirkwood?” Hopper asked Callahan. “I have not. That sounds made up to me.” Callahan replied.

“No, it's from Lord of the Rings.” Lucas jumps in l.

“Well, The Hobbit.” Dustin interjects.

“It doesn't matter.” Lucas retorted.

“He asked!” Dustin exclaimed.

“He asked!” Lucas repeated mockingly.

The two start to bicker while Mike and (Your Name) try to diffuse the situation. But Hopper jumps in.

“What'd I just say? One at a damn time. You.” He gestures to Mike again.

“Mirkwood, it's a real road. It's just the name that's made up. It's where Cornwallis and Kerley meet.” Mike explained.

“Yeah, all right, I think I know that-”

“We can show you, if you want.” Mike offers.

“I said that I know it!”

“We can help look.” Mike adds. The other three friends agree.

Hopper refuses though. “No. After school, you are all to go home. Immediately. That means no biking around looking for your friends, no investigating, no nonsense. This isn't some Lord of the Rings book.”

“The Hobbit.” Dustin said.

“Oh my God.” (Your Name) sighed, leaning forward, covering her eyes with her hand exasperatedly.

“Shut up!” Lucas scolded lowly, hitting Dustin’s arm with the back of his hand. Mike pressed his lips together in annoyance. Dustin and Lucas start to bicker again and once again, Mike tries to diffuse the situation.

Hopper leaned forward towards the friends and asked softly, “Do I make myself clear?” The boys stop fighting and the four look at Hopper as he stands up to look at them. “Do I make myself… clear?” He repeats, tone low and more stern.

The kids nod their heads, (Your Name), Mike and Dustin saying softly a “Yes, sir,” while Lucas says, “Yeah.”

🚲🎲📼♥️

Later that night, (Your Name) sat at the dinner table at the Wheeler's house. Sitting on Mike's right. This was a normal occurrence. Since her mother works the late shift at the hospital, she stays at one of her friend's house for a couple of hours until her mom gets out of work and comes to pick her up. Although, sometimes, she can't, so she has to sleepover with one of her friends.

Mike was arguing with his mom, Karen Wheeler, about looking for Will. “We should be out there right now. We should be helping look for him.”

“We've been over this, Mike. The chief says-”

Mike interrupts his mom. “I don't care what the chief said.”

“Michael!”

“We have to do something. Will can be danger.”

“More reason to stay put.” Karen states.

“Mom!”

“End of discussion.”

Silence fell over the dinner table at her words. (Your Name) looked down at her plate quietly. She looked at Mike through her peripheral vision; she could tell Mike was annoyed and frustrated. She shyly reached a hand to him and gave his shoulder an almost silent pat, silently telling him that she gets it. Mike looks at his friend and gives her a nod before moving his head forward and leaning his head on his hand.

Then, Nancy, Mike's older sister spoke up, “So… me and Barbara are gonna study at her house tonight. That's cool, right?”

“No, not cool.” Karen replied.

“What? Why not?”

“Why do you think? Am I speaking Chinese in this house? Until we know Will is okay, no one leaves.”

“This is such bullshit.” Nancy says.

“Language.” Ted Wheeler, Mike's dad says lazily.

“So we're under house arrest? Just because Mike and (Your Name)’s friend got lost on the way home from…”

Her words caused the two friends to look up from their plates. “Wait, this is Will's fault?” Mike asked, tone upset. “How could you say that?” (Your Name) joined in, equally as upset as Mike.

“Nancy, take that back.” Karen demands.

“No!” Nancy retorted.

“You're just pissed off cause you wanna hang out with Steve.” Mike accuses her. But (Your Name) had a feeling Mike hit it on the nose because of Nancy's look at him, silently telling him to be quiet.

“Steve?” Ted looked at his eldest daughter.

“Who is Steve?” Karen asked.

“Her new boyfriend.” Mike replied.

“You're such a douchebag, Mike!” Nancy insults.

“Language!” Ted yelled.

Nancy groans and gets up from her chair, leaving the dinner table in a huff. Mike held back a proud smirk. Karen calls for Nancy to come back but her daughter doesn't. Karen sees her youngest, Holly, becoming distressed and she leans over to her to calm her.

“You see, Michael? You see what happens?” Ted tells his son, his nonchalant guilt tripping evident in his tone.

“What happens when what?” Mike shouts. “I'm the only one acting normal here! (Your Name) and I are the only ones that care about Will!”

“That is really unfair, son. We care.” Ted said. Despite that, his tone didn't give off the impression.

Annoyed, Mike goes to say something but instead gets up in frustration. (Your Name) watches Mike leave, worry gnawing at her insides. She looks down at her plate. She had officially lost her appetite.

She heard Karen get up and grab Holly from her high chair. “(Your Name). Sweetie, come on.” She hears Karen call for her. Without a second thought, she gets up and follows Mrs. Wheeler out of the dining room. Ted calls out to them.

“What did I do?”

‘Everything. That's the problem, asshole.’ (Your Name) thought to herself.

Karen took Holly and (Your Name) upstairs and once they were out of earshot, she spoke. “I'm sorry, (Your Name). About all of that. It must be stressful.”

(Your Name) looked at the woman and nodded. “It is. I… I just don't know… what to do. I mean…” she paused and let out a sigh. “Will's one of my best friends. To hear that he's… missing, it… it doesn't feel… real.” She hugged herself.

Karen strokes the girl's hair comfortingly. “I know. I know it's hard. But everything will be okay. The police will find him.”

A moment of silence fell between them before,

“Um… Mrs. Wheeler?”

Karen turns to the girl, a gentle smile on her face. “You know you don't have to call me that, dear. Karen is okay.”

The girl nodded her head. “I'm going to go back to Mike. Is that okay?” She asked.

“Of course it's okay. Go on ahead, dear.” Karen gently ushers her away.

(Your Name) headed to the basement entrance and opened the door. She peeked down the steps and saw Mike on the couch, looking down at his feet. She slowly enters, closing the door quietly and slowly descends the stairs.

“Mike?” She whispered.

He doesn't respond.

“Mike?” She tries again, a little louder this time.

He looked slowly at her. (Your Name) looked at the boy and frowned, stopping just as she got off the final step.

“Hey.” She walks over and sits next to Mike. “I get it. This feels… unreal. Will being… missing. I can't believe it, either.”

Mike looks at his friend quietly.

“I also hate that… that we can't do anything. We should. I want to…” She trials off and sighs, sniffling a bit.

Mike frowns and wraps his arm around (Your Name). “Hey. Don't cry.” He says softly.

“Don't worry, I'm not. It's just… I wish I could have known. I tried to call him last night and this morning but there was only static. I should've done it right when I got home like I normally do.”

“Hey. Don't blame yourself.” Mike told her. “None of this is your fault.” He reassures. He pauses and sighs. “And you're right. We should do something.” He continues, his tone no longer melancholic but determined. He gets up and grabs his walkie talkie.

“What are you doing?” She asked Mike.

“Calling the others. We're going to search for Will ourselves.”

“Really?” Her tone surprised but relieved.

Mike nodded. “Yes, really.”

Mike puts the walkie up and waits for someone to pick up. “Lucas, do you copy? It's Mike. Lucas?”

“Hey, it's Lucas.”

“I know it's you. And say “over” when you're done talking so I know when you're done. Over.”

“I'm done. Over.” Lucas said with sarcasm.

“(Your Name) and I are worried about Will. Over.”

The two heard Lucas sigh through the walkie. “Yeah. This is crazy. Over.”

“I was thinking… Will could've casted Protection last night, but he didn't. He cast Fireball. Over.”

“What's your point? Over.”

“My point is… he could've played it safe, but he didn't. He put himself in danger to help the party. Over.”

‘That's a unique and intriguing thought.’ (Your Name) thought to herself, thinking about the campaign the previous night.

“Meet me in ten. Over and out.”

Mike pushed the antenna on the walkie down. “Come on. We're going to find Will. Do you have a coat?” Mike told (Your Name) as he started to pack a bag full of stuff.

(Your Name) shook her head.

Mike looked over and found a hooded, denim jacket with red, yellow black and white flannel lining on the inside and on the borders of the jacket. “Here. You can borrow this.”

“Thank you.” (Your Name) grabbed the jacket and slipped it on as Mike got himself a dark blue hoodie and a tan jacket, slipping the hoodie on first then the tan jacket.

The two sneak into the basement and get on their bikes. As they ride towards the street, they spot Steve Harrington, Nancy's mentioned boyfriend trying to get onto the roof of the garage to get into Nancy's room through the window. The high schooler looks at the two awkwardly. The middle schoolers roll their eyes and continue biking, deciding to ignore it.

🚲🎲📼♥️

They meet up with Lucas and Dustin and the group ride down the dark street towards where Will lives, their bike lights and the occasional street light lighting their way.

They find the place where it's blocked off for investigation. They got off their bikes and suddenly thunder rumbled. “Hey guys. You feel that?” Dustin asked. “I think we should go back.”

“No.” Mike and (Your Name) say at the same time. “We're not going back. Just stay close. Come on.” Mike instructed as he slipped into the area. (Your Name) followed right behind him while Lucas followed behind. “Just stay on channel six. Don't do anything stupid.” He added. Dustin followed after and the four began their search.

It starts to pour rain soon after, soaking them. They pull their hoods and continue their search, their flashlights the only light provided.

“Guys, I really think we should turn back.” Dustin said.

“Seriously, Dustin? You wanna be a baby, then go home already! ” Lucas exclaimed.

“I'm just being realistic, Lucas!” Dustin argued back.

“No, you're just being a big sissy!”

Ignoring him, Dustin asked, “ Did you ever think Will went missing because he ran into something bad? And we're going to the exact same spot where he was last seen? And we have no weapons or anything?”

“Dustin, shut up.” Mike said.

“I'm just saying, does that seem smart to you?”

“Shut up. Shut up.” Mike stops them.

Rustling could be heard in the woods.

“Do you guys hear that?”

“I think so.” (Your Name) confirmed, looking around. “Could it be an animal?”

“Not sure.” Mike replied.

The rustling came back and the group turned. Indistinct screeching could be heard from afar.

More rustling and the group turn again, gasping in fright, pointing their flashlights at the direction of the sound.

Mike's flashlight lands on a kid with a shaved head and a yellow Benny’s Burgers shirt, drenched from the downpour. The kid looks terrified.

Chan scoffs and tears the paper off the door as Mike opens the door with his keys.  They enter the house, and Chan can hear the sound of the TV going.  He turns and sees Max on the armchair watching it.  As Mike talks with Max,  Han removes his shoes and ruffles his hair as he heads to Abby's room.  As he did, he looked at Max and thought, 

‘Is she wearing makeup today?’ 

Shaking the thought out of his head, he heads to Abby's room, Mike right behind him.  They knock before opening the door.  

Inside was Abby, sitting at her desk, drawing.  However, there were two more people there.  

“Chris!  Mike!  Hello!” 

The familiar Australian accent of Felix broke the quiet and calm atmosphere as he waved at the two men by the door, a bright smile on his pretty face.  

“Hey, Felix.” Chan greeted back then turned to the second person, “Hey, Hyunjin.” 

Hyunjin looked up from his painting and gave Chan a smile before resuming with his work, carefully stroking the marker against the paper.  Felix watched Hyunjin with a soft smile, abandoning his drawing. 

Chan smiled at the sight.  He knew there was some possible chemistry between those two.  He knew it was only a matter of time before they both realize that they both like each other.  

Mike hummed at the three and turned to Abby.  “What do we got?” He looked down at Abby's drawing, which showed some people in a campsite-like environment.  “Well, the good-looking guy I recognize.” He points to a male that looked like him.  “Who are these other punks?” 

“My friends.” Abby replied rather bluntly but quietly, placing the crayon she was using and switching it with another.  Chan leaned over Abby to get a closer look.  He saw the drawing of Mike and recognized eight other boys in the drawing.  He smiled, knowing who they were. “It's not done yet.” Abby added, going back to drawing the rest of her photo.  

“Well, you can finish after we eat.” Mike told his little sister.  Abby looked up at Mike and cheerily responded, “I'm not hungry anymore, sorry,” before continuing her coloring. 

Felix, hearing the conversation, pauses his drawing and stands up, walking up and standing next to Chan.  He kneeled down to be in Abby's line of vision.  “I have a deal for you, Abby.” He spoke softly.  

Abby paused her coloring, turned her head to the side, and looked at Felix, curious about what the boy was talking about.  “What is it?”

“If you come and eat, I'll make my famous brownies.  And even better, I'll let you help me.” Felix promised, his hand over his chest, a toothy smile on his face.  Then, he looked at the others, and his smile turned into a playful smirk, “Unless you don't want to, that's totally-” 

Abby immediately stood up from her chair, a big smile on her face.  She grabbed Felix's hand and rushed to the kitchen.  Felix laughed as the girl dragged him away.  Hyunjin laughed at the two and got up, following the two.  

Chan chuckled.  “Come on, Mike.” He ushered his friend to follow him.  As Chan left, Mike quietly looked out into the hallway, feeling a sense of insecurity.  

‘How are they better with Abby than me?’ 

🐻🐰🐥🦊🍕👾

Chan, Changbin, Hyunjin, and Felix arrive at the children's center, so Mike can talk with a social worker about Abby.  Mike had already gone in, but the others stayed back.  

“Mike warned me about his aunt.  Apparently, she's a piece of work.  Terrible and uncaring.” Chan told the others.  He let out a huff.  

“Chan, you'll be okay.  Everything will be okay.  Mike had you and Changbin.” Hyunjin reassured his friend.  

Chan let out a sigh.  “Okay.  And again, thank you, you two for staying and coming with so you can watch Abby.” 

“Of course, Chris.  We're family.  We help each other.” Felix stated.  

Chan smiled at the encouragement and exhaled a calming breath.  

Changbin came over and wrapped his arm around Chan's shoulders.  “Come on.  Let's go help Mike.” Changbin ushered Chan over to the entrance as Felix and Hyunjin walked off to watch Abby play with the other kids.  Changbin could tell Chan was tense.  

“Hey, man.  Come on.  How bad can this meeting go?” 

Chan looked at Changbin.  “Depends on what Mike's aunt is like.  If she's anything like Mike described this morning,” He let out an exasperated sigh, “We're in for a long meeting.” 

Changbin sighed.  “We can only hope she isn't as insufferable as he states.” 

🐻🐰🐥🦊🍕👾

“Just look at my nephew.” Aunt Jane states in an annoyed tone, pointing at the tired Mike who sat across from her.  “It's not even 10 AM, and he can barely keep his eyes open.” 

‘Well… Mike was right.’ Chan thought to himself, his arms crossed tightly across his chest.  

He and Changbin were in an office room at Abby's daycare school.  Both stood behind Mike from a distance to watch the meeting.  They look at Aunt Jane with bored expressions on their faces.  

“And this degenerate is who they entrust with the well-being of a mentally ill child.” Jane continued her rant before turning to the two other men in the room sitting next to Mike, “And don't even get me started on these two and their little band of miscreants.  If you ask me, those eight boys are full of-” 

She was cut off by Chan aggressively opening and closing the door to the office, causing everything to look up in surprise.  Chan, with a smirk on his face, sarcastically says, “Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt your super important opinion on me and my friends.  Please, continue.” 

Mike's annoyed flare turned into a suppressed, proud smirk hearing Chan's intervention.  Changbin bit his bottom lip to prevent a laugh from escaping his mouth.  Even the female doctor at the desk had to restrain herself to remain professional.  

“Jane, like I've said before, Abby is not mentally ill.” The dark skinned woman reminded Jane, hoping to ease the tension that she knew was starting to boil.

“Oh right,” Jane rolled her eyes, “Perfectly normal to sit around drawing pictures all day,” She laughed in mock amusement, “and talking to magical creatures who do not exist.” 

‘She's a kid.’ Changbin thought to himself.

At the same time, ‘At least she has friends you cunt.’ Chan thought to himself.

“Listen, I think we all just need-” 

Jane raised her hand up, “Don't tell me to clamoring down,” she interrupted the doctor, knowing what the doctor was going to say, “You're the doctor, and you're making Mr feel like I'm the crazy one?” She splutters and points a finger in Mike's direction, "And after what he did to that poor man… I just-” She started to fake cry over the subject, causing Chan to roll his eyes.

“I have really tried to play nice. I have.  But I have to think about Abby now.  Enough is enough.  Doug?” 

The frozen lawyer seems to snap out of whatever state he's in and pulls out some papers to hand over to Mike.  

Chan scoffed, stepping closer to Mike,  “You don't care about Abby or Mike.  Stop pretending like you do.” He stated bluntly.  Changbin follows Chan and places a hand on Chan's shoulder to calm him before the Australian starts throwing hands with the older woman.  

“In your heart, you know that this is the right thing to do.” Jane tells the three guys, ignoring Chan's comment, and the three read the title page, saying:

‘FAMILY COURT MATTER’

“I hope that you will sign.” 

Mike looked down at the yellow paper before looking up to share a glance with Chan and Changbin before turning to Jane, “And if we don't?” He challenged, tone annoyed. 

“Well, then, my lawyer and I will have to take you to court,” Jane motions to Doug who looked like he didn't want to be a part of any of this, “Where any judge with an ounce of sanity will see to it that you three, and your other friends won't ever see Abby again.” 

Mike scoffed in disbelief, rolling his eyes and getting up from his seat.  “Come on, you two, let's go.” He motioned the other two to follow him.  Chan followed first, giving Aunt Jane one more glare before leaving with Mike.  Changbin followed, but before he left, he turned to face Jane and spoke up, tone cold but defensive, 

"I hope you know that I have the money to make sure I get the best lawyers involved.  It's not something I brag about.  But I will gladly use my money to help my family, if it means you don't get Abby.  You don't deserve Abby's love.  You never will.  So, leave us alone.” 

Once he finished, he glanced at the doctor before leaving, not caring about Jane's reaction. 

🐻🐰🐥🦊🍕👾

The sound of children laughing outside the okay area filled the three boys’ ears, along with the excited chatter of kids inside the playroom they were standing in, alongside the doctor.  

“My aunt doesn't even care about Abby.” Mike tells the doctor angrily, “All she wants is the monthly check from the state.” 

The child doctor listened to Mike with no judgement as Mike inhales deeply to collect himself before he explodes, tucking his hands in his pockets, “But, I mean, she has some good points, though.  I'm hardly fit to be raising a kid.” He talked down on himself, eyes flickering to Chan and Changbin, who were frowning at the man, “If anything, these two and their friends are better suited for the role than me.” 

“Mike.” Chan and Changbin sighed, sadness evident in their tones.  

“That's a good thing, though, Mike.  You and your friends help each other.” She looks at Chan and Changbin before looking back at Mike with a gentle smile, “And based on your friends’ reaction just then, shows they disagree with what you said about yourself.  I also know a certain little girl will wholeheartedly disagree, too.” 

Mike's eyes softened as he glanced at the two guys, then looked out to the kids playing outside.  He got a glimpse of Felix and Hyunjin sitting on a table, watching Abby play with other kids.  He shook his head, “Come on.” He muttered, a frown forming on his lips, “Abby talks to air more than she talks to me.  I could drop dead tomorrow, and she'd be too busy drawing to even notice.” 

“You know, pictures hold tremendous power for children.” The worker told Mike, nodding her head to the drawings on the walls in the playroom, “Before we learn to speak, images are the most important tool we have for understanding the world around us.  What's real, what matters to us most.”

She purposely hinted at Abby, as she continued explaining, “These are things children learn to communicate almost exclusively through pictures.”

“You're saying that her pictures mean something?” Mike asked, looking at the doctor.  He thought about all the drawings Abby drew that had his friends and himself in them.  

“And who is at the center of nine out of ten of them?” She asked in a knowing tone.  “Like it or not, you're her world.  Your friends, too.” 

Chan and Changbin couldn't help but smile at the doctor's kind and insightful words.  

Mike shuffled in his spot again and sighed through his nose, frown still present, “But what if it's not up to me?  My aunt, she's an idiot, but she's right.” He said dejectedly, “No judge in their right mind is ever gonna side with me.” 

“Did you find a job yet?” She asked curiously.  Mike stiffened, knowing he hadn't.  Chan also stiffens a bit.  Seeing the reactions, the doctor reassuringly says, “That would be a good place to start.” 

🐻🐰🐥🦊🍕👾

As the three boys talk with the doctor, outside, Felix and Hyunjin sit a ways away on a wooden table.  The two were pressed up against each other as they watched Abby play and interact with other kids.  

“I like this.” Hyunjin says softly.  

“Hmm?” Felix looks up at his best friend.  

“I like this.  Us, sitting here, watching Abby play with other kids.” He sighed through his nose, “Makes me miss the days when I was a kid.” 

Felix hummed.  “Well… if you were a kid… you wouldn't have met me yet.” He replies softly but teasingly, a smile on his face.  

Hyunjin scoffs playfully, shaking his head.  “True.” He turns his head to look at Felix, quietly admiring the boy's freckled face and tousled honey blonde hair. “I bet you were cute as a kid.” He tells him.  

Felix bites his bottom lip, feeling his cheeks warm up a little.  “Could say the same thing for you.” He responds, looking at Hyunjin's beautiful face and his blonde hair; the pink just faintly there.  

The two shared eye contact for a long moment, looking into each other's eyes.  For that moment, nothing mattered to them.  Nothing outside of them mattered.  

Just then, 

“Hyunjin, Felix!  Time to go.” 

Chan’s voice broke the quiet moment.  The two turn to look to where the voice rang out.  Chan was seen walking out of the building with Changbin behind him and Mike following after, breaking off to get Abby.  They get off the table, and Hyunjin asks, “How did it go?” 

Chan let out an exasperated sigh.  “I'll tell you both later.” 

“That bad, huh?” Felix guessed.  

“Unfortunately.” Changbin replied.  

“The game?” Arisu questioned as he and (Your Name) walked forward more. “What game?” He asked out loud to no one in particular as he looked around. ‘That's what I'm wondering, too.’ (Your Name) thought to herself.

“I don't get it. A game? What's she talking about?” a young man with glasses wondered.

“I'd like to know… where did everyone disappear to?” A pretty woman dressed nicely wondered.

“There was no one at the Shinagawa Station either.” Another man said.

“Darn it! Ugh! Ugh. I guess I had too much.” A middle aged man groaned, hitting his head with his hand.

“Game, Sacred Fortunes. Rules. Draw ten fortune slips and test your luck. If you decipher the sacred fortune slips accurately and manage to survive, then you will clear the game. However each person may only draw a slip once. Time limit is one minute per draw. The game will now commence.”

“It must be some kind of ceremony or festival I guess.” A middle aged woman said.

“I'm not so sure. Didn't she say we need to survive the game? If we manage to survive so that means that we'll die if we get the answer wrong?” The nicely dressed woman pointed out.

“Nah, that'd be ridiculous.” A younger girl laughed.

“Well, if you ask me. This could be a lot of fun.” The middle aged man said as he walked towards the shrine.

‘He's definitely on something.’ (Your Name) thought to herself.

“Okay then!” The man shook the container and got a stick. He read the number on it out loud. “Seventeen!”

He looked for the number and just as he did the drawer popped open for him.

“First draw. Start!”

The man took the fortune slip out of the drawer.

“Great fortunes and blessings. And everything. You do you will succeed and bingo!” The man cheered.

The middle-aged woman clapped for him.

“We don't know if this is a good thing or not yet.” A handsome guy pointed.

“Well maybe nothing actually happens when the slip reads great fortune.” Arisu points out.

Everyone around him agreed.

“Okay. We should continue drawing the slips.” The man with the glasses said.

“But who's next? Do you want to do it?” The well dressed woman asked.

“I'll do it. I'll give it a try.” A young girl in a colorful shirt volunteered.

“Be my guest.” The glasses man said.

The girl approached the shrine and shook the container, pulling out a stick at the bottom.

“Twenty one.”

The drawer popped open.

“Second draw start.”

She pulled out the fortune slip.

“Good luck. Perseverance brings good luck. Marriage prospects are good. Study hard and you will graduate. West is your unlucky direction.” Then she noticed something on the slip and turned it around. “Hmm… There is a math problem written here.”

“Do you mind if I take a look?” Arisu offered as he stepped forward.

Everyone else followed him up to take a look at the math problem.

“Are we supposed to… solve this?”

A drumbeat echoed.

“Please provide your answer.”

“It's fifteen.” The well dressed woman said.

“Fifteen, I guess.” A young boy added.

The woman nodded.

“Fifteen.” Arisu and (Your Name) said.

“Isn't it eighteen?” The glasses man asked.

“What?” The well dressed woman said.

“It's five.” The high middle aged man said.

“It could be nine.” Another woman said.

“So which one is it?” The girl asked, panicking from all the different answers being provided.

“We don't have time. Hurry up!” The high middle aged man exclaimed.

“Ten seconds remaining.”

Panicking, the woman yelled, “Uh, it's 18! The right answer's 18!”

“The answer's 15.” Arisu and (Your Name) said at the exact same time.

“Isn't it 25?” Another woman asked.

(Your Name) shook her head with a hum.

A buzzer goes off.

“The correct answer is… 15.”

Everyone groaned.

“It's my mistake.” The glasses man said.

“If your answer is incorrect, fire arrows will be shot. One for each margin of error in your calculation. Everyone, please be careful.”

“Fire arrows?” The girl said in confusion.

Just then, a fire arrow shot out from the west and landed right into her neck. She falls over.

Some gasp and back away in shock and horror. Arisu and (Your Name) wide eyed.

Then, two more fire arrows shot out and struck a man in the back, killing him instantly. He falls over.

Almost everyone started to scream and back away in horror.

One guy tried to leave the place but as soon as he passed the door, a laser came down and shot him right through his head, killing him instantly.

Everyone witnessed it and screamed.

(Your Name) stared at the door in silent shock.

What was happening?

♠️♦️♣️♥️

On the third draw, the middle aged woman went up. She begged for good luck as she drew.

“It's 45.”

The drawer pops open and the PA signals the start of the draw.

“Some luck…”

“Is there a problem to solve?” The well dressed woman asked.

The middle-aged woman turned to everyone.

“How many people need to gather for the probability of two people having the same birthday to exceed fifty percent? One, twenty three people. Two, seventy eight people. 3, one hundred and eighty three people. 4, three hundred and sixty five people. Wow! I have absolutely no idea.”

“It's a probability problem.” Arisu stated.

“I think it has to be over 100 people. So it must be one hundred and eighty three people.” The glasses man said.

“It's 23 people.” The boy in the gray pullover said.

“Only 23?” Arisu wondered.

“So, maybe 183?” The younger girl wondered.

“I agree with him.” (Your Name) said, motioning to the young man in the gray pullover beside her.

“You think it's 23 people (Your Name)?” Arisu asked her.

She nodded. “Yeah. There's no way it's above 100 people.”

Drumbeat sounds.

“10 seconds remaining.”

“Okay… The answer is… the answer is number two, 78.”

“What? Why’d you say that?” The boy in gray pullover asked in surprise.

‘Shit.’ (Your Name) thought to herself.

“I just picked the number in-between.”

The buzzer went off.

“Oh, please!”

“The correct answer is number one. Twenty three people.”

(Your Name) groaned.

"I told you so!” The gray pullover boy exclaimed.

“Margin of error, 55.”

Just then, 55 fire arrows shot out of nowhere and shot a few people and other players ran and hid. The middle aged woman whimpered out apologizes for her mistake.

♠️♦️♣️♥️

The fourth draw started.

The glasses man went up.

“How long does it take for blood that is pumped throughout the entire human body to return back to the heart? Answer one. 5 seconds. Two. 30 seconds. Three. 80 seconds.”

‘I know this one!’ (Your Name) thought to herself. She stepped forward and spoke,

“The answer is number tw-”

“80 seconds! Answer number three!” The glasses man said.

“Two.” (Your Name) finished her sentence dejectedly.

The buzzer went off.

“The correct answer is number two. 30 seconds.”

“Why didn't you let the lady tell you?!” The man that was high exclaimed. “She knew the answer!”

The glasses guy looked at the dejected girl and made a face of shame.

“Margin of error, 50.”

As 50 fire arrows shot down, (Your Name) ran and hid with Arisu. “How did you know that answer?” He asked his wife. “One of my friends is in the medical field. He told me about it when we were hanging out one day.” (Your Name) replied to her husband. “Have I met this guy yet?” He asked curiously. “Not yet. You will, one day.” She replied.

♠️♦️♣️♥️

The draws kept going. One woman had to answer a question about zoo animals being flipped onto their backs in a specific order. She was asked about a lion specifically and was asked what number it was. She guessed 47. The answer was wrong. She asked for an explanation. It turns out when the name is flipped upside down, it makes 17. (Your Name) had to agree with the lady that that was a bullshit explanation and question. 30 fire arrows shot down and everyone ran.

In the next draw, the boy who guessed the birthday probability question went up. His riddle was regarding Roman numerals. He was asked what L was. He guessed 100. It turned out to be 50. The poor boy apologized to everyone as the fire arrows came down. (Your Name) had to admit it was a decent guess. She felt bad for the kid.

♠️♦️♣️♥️

As the draws continued, everyone was getting them wrong. More arrows came down until the whole festival was slowly burning around them. More people lost their lives.

During the eighth draw, Arisu and (Your Name) were kneeling down on the ground as they watched people die. (Your Name) suddenly felt her head hurt. She groaned and closed her eyes tightly.

Memories flushed in her mind. The fire that broke out on the Beach. The Ten of Hearts game. Standing by the Fire of Judgement. Arisu and her embrace after escaping the Beach as it burns down. (Your Name) reaching for Usagi's hand as the girl jumped and grabbed her hand. The Eight of Diamonds game. Her killing Akuma during the Nine of Hearts game. Chishiya and her completing the Jack of Hearts game and the moment they shared. Her, fighting with the King of Spades along with her other friends. Her kisses with Arisu, the first in the hot spring and the second at the end of the Queen of Hearts game, fireworks going off in the background.

She remembered now.

She looked at her husband who also had a look of recognition on his face.

He remembers now, too.

“I remember that we cleared so many games in this country.” Arisu said to her. He reached his hand out to her and held it.

“Yes. We did.” She muttered.

♠️♦️♣️♥️

It was now the ninth draw. The fire around them burned. People started coughing as smoke built up.

“To hell with this! I'm drawing “great fortune and blessings.” The younger girl growled as she removed her jacket and approached the shrine.

“Yeah go on you can do it!” The man who was high encouraged her.

“Ninth draw. Start.”

“Small fortune and blessings… If it's another math problem, I'm finished.”

“Small is better than none. Read the problem.” The well dressed woman told her.

“Okay. Milk is made from various nutrients contained in the cow's blood. How many liters of cow's blood do you need to make one liter of cow's milk? What?”

“Does anyone know the answer?” Arisu asked everyone left.

“What kind of person would know the answer to that nonsense?” The high man replied.

“I have no idea!” The younger girl whimpered, panicked.

“20 seconds.”

“Just give any answer!” The well dressed man exclaimed.

“Stop shouting at her. She needs to clear her mind.” The well dressed woman said.

“We don't have time! Hurry it up!” The same man retorted.

“I don't understand this kind of stuff!” The girl panicked.

“Just give any answer!” The man demanded.

The girl turned back to face the shrine.

“Ten seconds remaining.”

“The answer is… it's two liters!”

The buzzer goes off.

“The correct answer is 450 liters.”

“What?” The girl was in shock.

The middle aged woman was also in shock. “450 liters?”

“It takes that much blood? Uh, just to make one liter of milk?” The well dressed man asked out loud, disbelief in his tone.

“I'm sorry!” The girl apologized.

“Margin or error, 448.”

“You gotta be kidding me!” The high man exclaimed.

Everyone ran and hid as 448 fire arrows shot down. Arisu and (Your Name) hid behind a metal part of a stand. They crouched down and looked around. Arisu grabbed (Your Name) and pulled her down when a couple of arrows shot at them. The girl yelped and gripped the front of Arisu's shirt. She looked up at him, breathing heavily.

“Thank you, baby.” She whispered, looking at her handsome husband. Even when he's covered in soot, he still looks amazing.

“You're welcome, honey.” He whispered back, hugging her close as the last of the arrows came down.

♠️♦️♣️♥️

As the festival and shrine burned more, the remaining players got to the center. Many were coughing and wheezing and crying.

“This is the last chance we have. This is the tenth draw. Succeed and we clear the game. We are counting on you.” The glasses man told Arisu.

Arisu nodded. “Got it.”

They had agreed to let Arisu go.

“Good luck.” (Your Name) said to him.

“Thank you.” Arisu replied as he took his turn.

“Tenth draw. Start.”

Arisu looked at his fortune, and a sense of dread washed over his body. His fortune read:

‘Number 58. Extreme Bad Luck.’

“Well, I guess we're all screwed now… Congratulations.” The high man said.

“I'm sorry.” Arisu could only apologize.

“Read us the problem.” The glasses man said.

“What is the current total population of planet earth?”

Everyone was stumped on this one.

“I once heard that the world's population increases by eighty million people annually. A few years ago, it was about 7.88 billion.” The well dressed woman stated, leaning on the younger girl.

“If we get it wrong, they'll be shooting millions and millions of arrows at us.” The glasses man warned.

“Don't be ridiculous. That's impossible.” The high man retorted.

“20 seconds remaining.”

“Ten seconds remaining.”

“The answer is 7.9 billion.” Arisu replied.

The buzzer goes off.

“The correct answer is… eight billion.”

“You're joking.” Arisu was in disbelief.

“That's a margin of 100 million.” The gray pullover boy said fearfully.

“Shut the fuck up! That doesn't make sense! How could anyone shoot that many arrows?” The high man said.

Suddenly, loud rumbling could be heard from afar. Everyone turned to look. Above, the sky started to turn orange.

“You gotta be kidding me…” The high man said in disbelief.

“A hundred million arrows heading for us here.” The younger girl muttered fearfully.

“What are we gonna do now?” The gray pullover boy asked in fear.

“We're doomed. What do I do? Think, Arisu… Think!” The boy thought hard. He needed to get everyone out of here.

Then he remembered…

“The direction…”

“What?” The high man turned to him.

“What did you say?” The well dressed woman asked.

“Maybe the direction written on the slip is a hint to how to escape the arrows.” Arisu said.

“I already threw mine away!” The high man exclaimed.

“What about yours?” Arisu asked the younger girl.

“It says… “West is bad luck.” She replied, looking at her slip.

“Last time, the sorrows came from that direction.” Arisu evaluated, pointing in the direction.

“Okay, so does anyone have a compass?” The glasses man asked.

“Why the hell would I have a compass?” The high man asked.

“Mine says northeast is unlucky. The arrows came from there!” The middle aged woman told Arisu.

“Mine says, north is unlucky.” The glasses man added.

“Southeast is unlucky for me.” The well dressed woman spoke up.

“Mine says the east.” The gray pullover boy said.

“And mine is southwest.” The well dressed man added.

“Mine says south!” Another woman added.

“My fortune slip was blank.” Arisu said. “Which direction was “great fortune”? He asked the high man.

“I told you guys, I threw it away!” The guy exclaimed.

Everyone couldn't believe him.

“Look! Arrows!” The boy in the gray pullover yelled.

Everyone was freaking out as the rumbling intensified. The arrows were coming. (Your Name) looked around frantically, trying to think.