Should We Stay or Should We Go? || Chapter Ten
-A ST Rewrite Feat. Steve Harrington x Henderson!OFC-
Main Masterlist || Series Masterlist
🎲Chapter Summary: After Will sees something terrifying on Halloween night, it prompts Mike to wonder if Eleven is still alive, or if he's going crazy as well. Meanwhile, Steve’s love life starts to unravel, and the Hellfire Club crashes a party.
🎲Pairings: Will x Platonic!OFC; Dustin x Sister!OC; Slow burn! Steve x Henderson!OFC (Ex-bestfriends to Lovers); Eddie x Platonic!OFC; Slow burn! Byler
🎲Rating: Teen-Mature
🎲Word Count: 19, 173 (It's a chunky one)
🎲Date: 8/9/25
🎲Warnings: Angst; Heavy Language & Dialogue; Implied Bullying; Heavy Guilt; Mental Strain/Breaking Down; Implied Mental Health Issues; Smoking; Panic Attacks; Child Abuse; Child Neglect; Implied Verbal/Mental Abuse; Talks of Dying; Mention of a Sexual Favor; Lying; Heavy Alcohol Use; Minor Blood; Vomiting; Slight Stalking; Possible One-Sided Attraction (With a few Characters). READ AT YOUR OWN RISK
(And let me know if I missed anything)
🎲A/N: Hello, readers! I'm sorry for disappearing for a bit. I just started a new job and have been focusing on that for a while, but I'm back! Back with a really, really angsty chapter. The shit basically hits the fan for everyone in this. It's gonna be great 😭😂 . As usual, Enjoy!
|| November 6th - December 31st 1983 ||
When she awoke in a world not like hers, she knew that her life had officially changed. Eleven had woken up with a nasty cough, her eyes burning, and her skull pounding. The girl who was the same age as her name sake finds herself wandering the school, shouting all the names of the people she just met. Could they hear her? Could she use the lights like that boy Will and teenager Stephanie used to contact that nice older lady? What was her name again? …Joyce?
Yeah. She was nice.
Was she listening, too? Did she find her son after their communication was cut off from the bathtub? Did her, the Police Chief, and Steve make it back from the other world? Are they okay? Are their loved ones okay?
She wanted to know. She needed to know. So she ran. Ran until she found her way out of the Upside Down.
Getting out of the streets wasn’t that hard, finding her way back to Mike’s place wasn’t either; However, I don’t know what she expected to find when she arrived at his place. She should have known people were still looking for her. Of course the bad men would take her “death” with a grain of salt. So, she stayed in the bushes, watching as they talked to Mike and his family one-by-one before moving onto the next house to see if she was stowed away. One by one she watches all her new friends get talked to, all of them lying and standing their ground that they didn’t know anything about a girl with a shaved head.
She felt truly loved that they were lying to keep her safe, but felt guilty when she realized that the bad men were persistent in their questioning. She notices Mike’s mother was very defensive, circling around her three children like she was a monster waiting for the kill. El notices Lucas’ mom was like this too, and even Dustin’s. But Dustin’s mom -- Claudia? Is that what she heard? -- went from all bark to straight up bite. She lashed out of the group to get out of her face so she could see her daughter in the hospital.
Hearing that relieved some tension off her shoulders. She was happy to hear that they managed to get their loved ones back after all, but it pains her to realize she can’t get near any of them. The heat was on her intensely. Even after the questioning, the bad men were on her tail. So, the poor girl hid the best she could, occasionally setting small fires to cook her small game, or to keep warm when the winter season really kicked in. She kept hiding and hiding, and moving and moving. But…
How long can she truly keep this up on her own? She’s cold. She’s tired. She’s starving. Truthfully, how long can she keep this up? She feels herself shiver, her tiny arms wrapping around herself as slows her pace. Eventually she fell to her knees with a loud thug. She felt like crying, or screaming, or maybe both all at once. She was sooooo tired. She needs sleep. A good night’s rest without having to worry.
Her vision begins to blur as she starts to recall distant memories again.
Her meeting Mike, Lucas and Dustin in the heavy rain.
The first time she made contact with Will using the Heathkit.
Steve coming over to help with the investigation.
The five of them escaping Papa and the vans.
The homemade bath.
Her “Goodbye” to Mike.
Everything seemed so close, yet so far away. Should she… just lay here and let the cold take her?
.
“Eleven!”
.
She shutters. Another memory clawing at her brain.
She cranes her neck to a nearby log, one similar to where she was sleeping in after she accidentally flung Lucas across the junkyard, and knocked him out. She remembers she slept decently, remembering she was a great distance away from the junkyard, so she was surprised when she heard a familiar voice.
.
Eleven peeked over the log, slithering back down when she noticed he had a flashlight. He was wandering around with a baseball bat too, a backpack that looked overstuffed with supplies, and wearing different clothes than the black suit he had on for the wake. He kept shouting her name, looking tired and distraught, his perfect hair was a mess.
Eleven almost couldn’t believe what she was seeing. He was actually looking for her? After everything she did? Throwing Lucas and messing with the compasses? She kept a close eye on him, and remained hidden from Steve’s view.
“Look, kid, I… I don’t know if you can hear this, but if you can, I’m not mad about what happened. Frankly, I’m more worried about you. And that’s the god’s honest truth, I swear, I just…” He sighs. His breath could be seen in the cold air. “It’s cold, and I don’t want you freezing. I just… I-I just want you to be alright, kiddo. Okay?”
She’s surprised she didn’t gasp out loud from his reply. His words sounded so genuine… something that was very foreign to her.
She sees him frown after a moment of silence. “Listen, if I don’t see you in the next few hours or you don’t want to approach me, just… please consider going back to Mike’s place, or… you can even come to mine.”
But he pauses again, realizing his mistake and clarifies. “Um, if– if you remember where Will’s house is, I’m not too far from there. The woods across the street just take that straight through. The walk’s about… forty minutes, and uh, my house has a big pool in the backyard and… I’ll be waiting for you. Um…”
He looked so hurt not getting an answer.
“I’ll probably have to repeat what I just said in a few hours but–” His face morphs into something warm and greeting. “I really hope you heard what I said. And please consider.”
And then he kept going, moving onto the next area where he’ll repeat his speech again.
.
She never did tell him that she did hear him that night. And she did hear him yet again on the very next day. Somewhere above the Quarry, he found her somehow, this time more desperate, this time more pleading than the last.
.
“I promise you, none of us are going to be angry. But you have to understand, time is of the essence right now, we have to find Stephanie, we have to find Will. So…” She hears his voice trembling towards the end. “Please. Will you come out? Come out and talk to me? Please, Eleven?”
.
And she almost didn’t until she heard the screams of Mike and Dustin, making Steve drop everything to take a look. Eventually she did come out to join him, and thank God she did. The older teenager nearly gave up his life for Mike, and if she was just even a second late he would’ve perished. Then even after she reveals the truth that she opened the gate, they all reassured her that she wasn’t the monster she pictured herself as. She almost cried as they gave her a hug.
She misses that. She wants to feel that love again. But who could she go to? Who could keep them both safe until the heat dies down?
Judging by the memories she’s being reminded of…
She knew exactly who to go to.
.
.
.
|| January 1st, 1984 ||
It was slowly turning pitch black when she arrived at her destination. She thought about it all day, slept on the very thought last night, and almost turned away.
Almost.
Besides Mike, he was the only other person that truly showed her any kindness -- He made sure she was okay, to gift her food and praises for when she did right instead of telling her to “do better”; He treated her like the eleven year old she was supposed to be, and not some experiment, not some “super weapon”, that’ll change the world.
.
“Eleven.” He begins. “I want to thank you for everything you’ve done. I’m sorry we didn’t find you sooner.”
“Are you…” She whispers, almost scared to say what she wanted. “Are you really not coming back?”
His heart clenches. “I promise I’ll try. But if I don’t, remember what I said to you, back at the Quarry, after you saved me?”
She nods slowly. “You said, ‘Whatever you did in the past, that’s all said and done. All that matters now is what you do in the future’.”
He chuckles. “Exactly. Remember that. Go out there and do something great for yourself. Don’t let anyone try to change your mind.”
.
Don’t let anyone try to change your mind.
He was right.
She was NOT going to change her mind about this decision.
Approaching the end of the woods is when she finally saw him for the first time in (and in her mind) a very long time. He was wearing an obnoxiously yellow sweater, a pair of worn down jeans, and shoes that haven’t been cleaned since he trekked through the woods to find her after the junkyard incident. His hair looked a bit longer, and very, very unkempt which she quickly noticed while hanging around him was very unusual. He looked like a mess in her eyes, his movements very sporadic as he looked for something inside his shed; His sighs could be seen as a cloud in the cold air.
She almost turned back around to leave, especially seeing how stressed he looked -- the nerves were eating at her because why should she want to add more stress to his life by just being here? She knew Steve was smart enough to know that people were still looking for her, so why should she risk her neediness for his freedom?
But when saw him pull out a suitcase, her nerves shot through her body, her heart sinking as her feet moved without her consent…
Her feet crush a twig beneath her.
In the fading sunlight she saw him turn around, his face full of terror before it quickly faded into something else.
Shock.
“Holy shit…” He eventually muttered, still lost for words that she was even in front of him.
Eleven felt nervous again, guilt crawling in the pit of her stomach when she realized that maybe this was a bad idea. Maybe she should take off. Maybe she should make a break for another state. Maybe she should just find a place to lie down and di–
She was cut off from her rambling mind when he halted her up into his arms. His coco orbs surveying one more time around the area before heading towards the house, his voice coming in a harsh whisper that wasn’t intended to be mean, “Don’t make a noise, and don’t say anything until we get to my room.”
El complies without a doubt as they make it inside, her body flinching when she feels how warm the house is. She hasn’t felt heat since they left Mike’s place on bikes. Not to mention that Steve was radiating heat and comfort. She’s been missing this feeling since he gave her that piggyback ride back from the Quarry. She buried her aching head into his neck as he raced up the stairs, trying to out run the vultures circling around the house.
Steve enters the room like his feet are running over hot coal, so frantic and paranoid that his parents might see her and that’ll be another big problem he’ll have to deal with. Maybe in a few minutes he will, but for now, his focus was back on Eleven. He set the empty suitcase and child on the bed before locking his room; He even decided to pull his desk chair around and prop it under the doorknob.
He felt his heart in his throat as he turned around to take another good look at her. Somehow, she looked so much more tinier than the last time he saw her. Like she could pass off as being eight and not an almost twelve year old. A million thoughts raced through his head, like, ‘Where has she been?’, ‘How did she survive?’, ‘What brought her here?’. But those died off as soon as he touched her face to examine for injuries.
“Jesus, you’re freezing.” He says, grabbing his winter coat he laid out for himself, and slings it around her. He zips it and rolls up the sleeves, the coat looking like a dress on her small frame, that even the fur line hoodie would go past her nose if she tried to put it on. But it was thick, and it was toasty, and it was just what she needed at this moment. He then slid a beanie on her head, before taking her icy hands into his warm ones.
He starts moving his giant palms around to create some circulation before asking, “Where have you been? They…” Steve swallows. “They told me you had sacrificed yourself for them. To take down the Demogorgon and that evil doctor.”
“I thought I would die…” She replies, quietly. “But I… ended up in the Upside Down.”
He pauses his movements. “You were there?” She nods, and strikes him hard. Had she given herself up at the same time as him, Joyce and Hopper were in the Upside Down too? If he had known she was there, he would have–
“Not your fault.” She says, like she could read his mind (I mean, could she?). “I was going to find you guys but I saw the bad men with you.”
“The bad men, huh?”
Yeah, now he knows why she didn’t make an appearance sooner. After that whole fiasco, people were looking for her, people like the feds or people that claimed to have worked with the lab but didn’t stand with Brenner (He never believed them. Hell, nobody did). But thanks to his involvement, of course someone had to come knocking on his door. That one knock, that one talk with him and his parents is what started the dominos falling. That one moment led him to where he is now -- Packing as much as he can until his parents change their minds about kicking their “beloved” son out.
Some parents, they are. He was so deep in thought he almost didn’t feel one of her hands slipping out of his and touching his cheek with concern.
“What happened to your eye?” She asks, the skin growing dark with each passing second.
“I’m okay. It’s nothing I can’t handle.” He explains, trying to sound reassured. Steve locks eyes with her as she looks like she wants to ask something else, but that was short lived when they both heard his parents’ voices raising up another hundred notches. His heart sank even more.
“Listen–” He makes sure she’s really paying attention before continuing. “We can trade stories about what happened to each other later, but as of right now, we need to get out of here.” If he doesn’t leave now he’s not sure what’ll happen.
And that terrifies him.
He swallows the rising bile, and continues, “I’m gonna finish grabbing a couple of things, and I’m going to carry you to my car. But listen carefully to this, okay? ‘Cause I’m only going to say this once.” She nods subtly, a gesture to let him know he has her full attention. “If you hear yelling as we’re leaving, don’t look up and don’t answer. Stay as still as you possibly can. Can you do that?”
She gave another nod, and Steve wonders if she can hear his heart racing yet. “The next thing, my hands are going to be full, so I’m going to need your help, alright?” He pulls out his set of keys from his pocket, and specifically shows her off the fob. “This is key to my car. When I tell you to do so, press the button*, and it unlocks the car. Okay? You think you got it?”
Another nod, and Steve was ready to go. “Okay. Let me finish up.” He says, handing the keys over to her.
It was one big haze the moment he stood back up and started going around the room like he was the Flash. He just needed to get a few more things that he deemed valuable inside his suitcase… or otherwise he’ll never see it again. He nearly jumped out of his shoes when someone started erratically messing with his doorknob.
“STEVEN! OPEN THE DAMN DOOR THIS INSTANT!!” His mother screams, her palm pounding the frame. “STEVEN!!”
At any other time Steve would have just stayed frozen just from her voice, or even cave in and complied… but not this time. Not when he locks eyes with Eleven who looks just as terrified as he does.
Now’s not the time, Harrington. Get your shit together! His orbs get around the room, looking for something he could use as a distraction as someone else comes to his door.
“STEVEN, LISTEN TO YOUR MOTHER! GET YOUR FUCKING ASS OUT HERE!” His dad yells, as his fists rams on the door. “I KNOW YOU CAN HEAR US!”
Steve gathers his thoughts, bracing himself that these next few moments were going to have to be lightning fast if they’re going to get out of here in one piece. He opens the window up, the sound of it creaking was blocked out from his parents’ screaming, as he then scrambles to unplug his computer. He scoops it into his arms, slightly upset that he has to sacrifice this. He chucks it out the window, the sound of it shattering on the concrete was loud enough to get the adults attention.
“Was that outside?” His mother asks.
“STEVEN!” His dad shouts, as they move away from the door to go look.
Steve sucks it a breath as he kicks it into high gear. He rapidly shuts his suitcase close, removing the chair and unlocking his door before pulling El into his arms. He’s going have to fucking book it at this point. Using the quick steps of his feet like he was playing basketball, he flies down the stairs to the front door. His already full hands start fiddling with the knob, cursing at himself that he forgot about opening this part.
Thank God the girl he was carrying had telekinesis, because she managed to unlock it for him. He mutters a small thank you (and slaps himself for being so forgetful about this part of the house and her powers), just as the sliding door in the back creaks. He heard someone scream his name. He picked up the pace, and raced down his driveway to his car on the curb; His parents were hot on his heels.
“Steven, get back here this instant!” She yells, her voice starting to go hoarse from all the yelling the last few hours. “Steven!”
“Don’t you dare get in that car, son!” His father snaps, as Eleven uses her abilities once again inside of using the key she was given (It seemed quicker this way).
Steve threw himself inside the driver side, El sliding off his arms, his suitcase sitting in his lap as he took the keys from her. “Stay low.” He whispers, and shoves it into the ignition. He steps on the gas, just as his dad reaches the curb. But it wasn’t over just yet.
His car whips around their cul-de-sac, tires screeching as he now has a clear shot out of here. Now, why would his parents just admit defeat? They told him to get out, but once they realize that they might not be the picture perfect family anymore to the public, they suddenly want him back? Hell, no! But they got into their heads that they had already won.
Steve was just about to slam onto his brakes when his crazy father put himself in front of the car if it wasn’t for Eleven. Coming through for him once again by using her powers to flick the older man off to the side, and out of harm’s way. The teenager uses this to speed up again, not even looking at his rearview mirror for the damage.
The sixteen year old sped until he was far, far away; Tucking the car into an area where no one would even look. When the engine started to become quiet is when he finally let go of the breath he was holding. It came out sounding more like a gasp of relief, and his adrenaline was dying down too. He just… could fathom that he just did that. He could comprehend that he just packed up his life and escaped like it was a jailbreak.
I can’t believe this. I can’t believe this. I can’t believe this. I can’t believe–
“Crying.”
He faces his passenger, who’s looking at him with concern. “W-What?”
“You’re crying.” She points out, and that’s when Steve realizes that there were in fact tears coming down his cheeks.
“Oh. Uh–” He starts wiping his face with his sleeve. “Y-Yeah, I guess I am. Uh… I’m f-fine. I’m just… relieved.”
“Who are those people?”
“Oh, um… they’re… my parents. They…” He sniffles, and wipes his nose. “They threw me out. They didn’t want me anymore.”
“Oh.” She says, not sure what to say (and really, neither does he). Instead, she reaches and pats his hair; Like silently saying, ‘There, there. I’m here for you.’
He chuckles, genuinely happy at the gesture. Steve flashes a smile at her, and despite the circumstances, he’s glad she’s here. In a way, her arriving at the nick of time saved him from chickening out. But…
There was still a tiny bit of a problem.
“They’re still looking for you.” He states the obvious, referencing the lab and anyone else that wanted their hands on her.
“Yes.” She whispers, saddened at the reality.
“Then we gotta go.” He frowns. “The thing is, I don’t know where. I didn’t even know where I was going to go after being kicked out.”
I mean, where do they go? A teenager that has only his wits and a baseball bat, and a young girl once compared to an X-Men going to survive? His fingers drummed against his steering wheel, his eyes trailing to the clock. They could stay in a motel somewhere, but then what? Can he really support himself and El by moving around like a circus group?
He scratches his chin, and soon an idea hits him hard.
.
.
.
|| January 2nd, 1984 ||
Hopper wasn’t sleeping. Well… he hasn’t been sleeping for a while now. It’s been kind of hard since the whole disappearance between two local kids. He’s been on edge ever since, and even though it’s over, and everyone’s safe, he still feels like he might get slapped in the face with something horrid again.
Kind of like right now.
His eyes flash to his alarm clock on his nightstand, the red numbers shining 2:03 in the morning. Those numbers were just as annoying as the sound of his phone ringing. Who in the world could be calling him at this time at night? And on his day off too.
I swear, if it’s Flo or Callahan, I’m going to lose my mind. He rolls to his side with a loud groan and swipes the phone off its receiver. “Hello?” He says, clearly annoyed.
[ ‘Heya, chief. It’s me. Uh, Steve.’ ]
Steve? His eyes widened. He hasn’t really spoken to him since his last hospital visit to see Will and Stephanie. Why was he calling him? “Harrington? What’s wrong?”
There’s no point in beating around the bush.
[ ‘I’m fine.’ ]
He doesn’t sound like it. Hopper thought as he sat up straighter.
[ ‘Uh, I kinda need your help. I don’t know who else to call.’ ]
“Help?” His heart skips a beat. “What kind of help?”
[ ‘It’s my… little sister. She’s sick.’ ]
“Your sister?” Hopper repeats, confused. Since when did he have a sister?
Not that he was a stalker or anything, but this was a small town; And he’s been the Police Chief for an X-number of years now. He knows pretty much everyone by now… and he certainly doesn’t remember the Harringtons having another kid.
Something’s not right. And that’s when he really started paying attention to the way he talked.
[ ‘Yeah. Um, Evelyn. I think she might have eaten some bad ice cream. You know… those sandwich ones?’ ]
Hopper froze. Ice cream sandwich? Evelyn? Wait…
There’s no fucking way.
Is he seriously implying about…?
[ ‘It also could have been that bath bomb she was gifted. I think she swallowed some of the water in the bathtub.’ ]
Yep. He’s totally talking about her. No doubt about it.
Hopper has to give this kid props for speaking in code. “Where are you guys? At home?” He asks, as he starts searching for something to wear.
[ ‘Uh, the Quarry Motel off Jackson and Monroe. Room 114.’ ]
Ah, the Quarry Motel. That place was just on the cusp of leaving Hawkins. Hopper was once again impressed by the kid’s skills of camouflage.
[ ‘Should I be concerned?’ ]
“No. Don’t be. I’ll be right there.” He sets the phone back on the receiver.
.
.
.
Hopper was extremely nervous as he pulled his truck into the motel parking lot. A million things were going through his mind. How’d she survive? Why did she stick around? Are the two of them okay?
His hands grip the steering wheel. Don’t jump to any conclusions, Jim. Just hear them out.
He pulls into a spot right next to Steve’s car, where the teenager, who was wearing just a sweater out in the cold, was leaning against the hood of his car waiting. Hopper gets out quickly, surveying the teen for any clues to what happened. His gaze remained on his face. “What happened to your eye?”
“Oh, it’s nothing.” Steve adverts his gaze for a brief second. “Thanks for coming. I didn’t know who else to call, or what to do.” He points to the motel door in front of them, getting straight to business. “Here.”
Hopper follows close as Steve opens the door just enough for the older man to see Eleven sitting crisscrossed on the bed, her eyes on the tv screen, and eating whatever Steve had gotten out of the vending machine. El, who sensed a new presence, cast a look to the door; Her eyes filled up with light again as she waves.
Meanwhile, Hopper was truly lost for words as he closed the door quickly. “Where’d you find her?” He asks, speechless.
“She found me, actually. She was standing in my backyard when I went to grab something out of the shed.” Steve replies, honestly. “She’s apparently been surviving in the wilderness on her own. Poor girl.”
He started crossing his arms to keep warm, a subconscious movement to be honest since he was more focused on the little girl in the room. Hopper notices this and starts shrugging the coat he threw on without looking.
“Hopper–” Steve begins the protest, but the adult shushes him.
“Stop. I don’t want a kid freezing to death on me.” He replies, and slings it around the teen’s shoulders. While doing so he was checking his surroundings out of caution, and it was kind of hard not to notice the back seat in Steve’s car being packed full with stuff. “You going on a trip?”
Steve’s face flashes with hurt. “No.” He chokes out in a whisper. “My parents kicked me out.” He felt the adult’s eyes on him intensely. “It’s a long story…”
“Long story, huh?” Hopper pushes, upset, but not at the teenager. “Is this part of the long story?” He tips his chin up and points to the black eye.
Steve shakes his head out of the hold. “Kind of.”
“Uh, huh. And why did they feel like they needed to do that?”
He frowns. “It wouldn’t be the first time…”
“Steve–”
“Can we hold off on this?” Steve asks, sounding like a scared child. “I promise I’ll spare you the details, but we kind of need to deal with her first.”
Hopper couldn’t agree more on that. And without hesitation he replies, “We can’t stay here.”
“I know.” He locks eyes with the adult, the fear going away and getting replaced with his ‘all business’ personality. “So what do we do?”
•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°
|| Present Day: October 31st, 1984 ||
In a shack in the middle of the woods, Hopper was up bright and early cooking breakfast, a nice plate of french toast and bacon, for his new miniature family when all of a sudden he was startled by a little girl covered in a white sheet. “Oh, Jesus!”
“Ghost.” El says, pointing out the obvious.
“Yeah, I see that.”
“Halloween.”
“Sure is. But right now, it’s breakfast, okay?” He sets the three plates down at the table, beckoning her over. “Come on, let’s eat. Where’s Steve?”
“Bathroom.”
“Of course he is…” He mutters under his breath. “Steve! Breakfast!”
“Coming!” Steve yells muffled from the end of the hall.
“They wouldn’t see me.” El continues, trying to get him to understand what she wanted.
He gives her a look as he sits down. “Who wouldn’t see you?”
“The bad men.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Trick or treat.”
“You want to go trick-or-treating?” Hopper asks, in disbelief as she nods. “You know the rules.”
“Yes, but–”
“Yeah, so you know the answer.” He pushes, and steers her to the table for her to sit.
“No, but they wouldn’t see me.” She pleads.
“Hey– I don’t care.”
“But they wouldn’t see me!”
“I don’t care, alight?” He repeats with a stricter tone. “You go out there, ghost or not, it’s a risk. We don’t take risks. Alright? They’re stupid, and…”
“We’re not stupid!.” She replies, matching his tone out of irritation.
“Exactly.” Hopper lets that jab slide, and says, “Now, you take that off, sit down and eat. Your food’s getting cold.”
She listens, but is not happy about it as she takes her homemade costume off and sits down at the table. Her arms were crossed as Hopper tried his best to let her attitude not get to him, but he soon gave in (I mean, how can he stay mad at her?).
He sighs while pinching the bridge of his nose. “Alright, look… How about I get off early tonight, and I buy us a bunch of candy, and we can sit around and get fat, and we watch a scary movie together? How’s that for a compromise?”
She tilts her head in confusion. “C-Com-Compro-mise?” She asks, the word rather foreign.
He nods. “C-O-M-promise. Compromise. How about that’s your word for the day? Yeah? It’s something that’s kinda in-between. It’s like halfway happy.”
“By 5-1-5?” She asks, getting another nod.
“5:15. Yeah, sure.”
“Promise?”
“Yes.” He says, without a beat. “I promise.”
El, who was now satisfied with that answer, picks up her fork to begin eating. “Halfway happy.” She says, as Hopper smiles and ruffles her hair.
“What’s going on?” Steve asks as he finally joins them, all ready for the day ahead.
“We’re going to watch scary movies tonight, and eat junk.” Hopper replies.
“Halfway happy.” El adds.
“Halfway happy?” Steve asks, eyebrow raised.
“Compromise.” Hopper clarifies.
“Ah.” Steve nods. “Got it. Makes sense when you put it that way.” He sits down and picks up a fork, while getting past the maple syrup. “Thanks.”
“So… you still going to that party tonight?”
“As far as I know it. As long as Nancy still wants to go.”
Hopper watches him for a second before asking, “How are things with Nancy?”
“They’re fine.” Steve says, after downing most of his food. “Why do you ask?”
“Nothing. I just know you said it was a bit weird between the two of you after the Hollands’ dinner.”
“Of course it was weird, I mean it was Barbra’s parents.”
“I know that. But you mention the last few times you’ve got really hung out, you said it was a little weird. So, I thought I’d ask. That’s all.”
“Well, it’s… it’s…” Steve pauses. Why can’t I come up with a reply? I mean everything between me and her is fine… right?
Yet he can’t come up with anything. It was just like the last time Hopper asked something similar months ago, when he and Nancy kind of hit a roadblock in their relationship. But they got over the hump. They figured it out, so why can’t he say anything other than ‘fine’?
He must have been quiet for too long, ‘cause Hopper called out his name.
“I gotta get to school.” Steve replies, and pushes his plate towards the center of the table, half-eaten and ready for anyone else to take. “I’ll see you later.”
He grabs his school bag and hustles out the door; Eleven’s awkward stare going back between the door and the empty seat. Meanwhile, Hopper sighs once again while rubbing his face.
“Is my goal to piss off all the kids today?” He whispers.
“What’s ‘piss off’?” El asks, now with a curious stare instead.
Hopper blinks, not realizing he said that out loud. “Uh… let’s save that word for another day, alright? Just finish eating.”
•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°
“What’s with all the cologne?” Stephanie asks, as she slows her pace to stand in her brother’s bedroom. He nearly dropped the expensive bottle (she’s not sure where he got that from) at the unexpected visit from his sister.
“N-Nothing!” Dustin slurs, face turning red, as he hides the bottle behind his back that could clearly be seen in his free standing mirror.
“Ooooh.” The older girl cooed as she grins. “Is there a girl you’ve taken a liking to?”
“What?!” He scoffs. “No! … maybe. I don’t know.” He adverts his eyes. “Kinda…”
“Kinda?”
“...Yes.”
She chuckles quietly, amused. “Well, who is it? Someone I know?”
“No.” He shakes his head with a smile creeping up on his face. “It’s this new kid. Her name’s Max, and she plays videogames, and she skateboards, and she’s totally the coolest girl I’ve ever met.”
“New kid, huh?” Steph ponders on that for a second. “Does she happen to be from California?”
“She is.” He tilts his head. “How’d you know?”
“I think her brother’s in my class. Is her last name Hargrove?”
“Hmm, I’m not sure. I’ll have to ask.”
“You want some advice?” Steph asks, after noticing he keeps fiddling with his hair and clothes, obviously trying to look his very best. He nods eagerly, and with pleading eyes. “Just be yourself. Girls will appreciate that more.”
“I’ll take your word for it.” Dustin replies, not a hundred percent sold on the advice as she chuckles. He sends her a look. “What?”
“You’re just so cute, and growing up.” She says, with a small pout. “My little brother isn’t so little anymore. I’m not sure what to say.”
Dustin, being the sweetest kid, comes over to give her a hug. “Awe, Phanie, I’ll always be your little brother. Even when I finally grow taller than you.”
“Who says you’re going to grow taller than me?” Steph pokes.
“Uh, duh. I’m a guy, of course I’ll be taller than you.”
“Well then, I’ll just have to wear taller boots than you.” She pinches his cheek and makes his squeal, just as you could hear a car’s horn outside. “That’s my ride. Sure you and your buddies don’t want to tag along? I’m sure Eds won’t mind giving you a lift.”
“Pfft. No way. I don’t need to be around rowdy teenagers.” Dustin waves her off in a non-malice way, that made her shake her head.
“Okay, now you sound too mature. Slow down.”
“See you later.”
“You, too. Go catch some ghosts, Dr. Stantz.”
•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°
Meanwhile, down the infamous Mirkwood, Joyce was helping her youngest put on his costume for school, completely homemade and looking as authentic as she could get it.
She smiles as she helps him with the straps on his proton blaster. “Oh! You need some tape.” She says, noticing a part had come loose. “Hold on.” She heads over to his desk, grabbing the tape as her eyes shift on something. “What’s this?”
She holds up a drawing of black and red -- The drawing contains telephone poles, trees, a spinning sign, and clouds. Nothing too out of the ordinary, right? Well… not when there’s some kind of strange and large figure in the middle of it; It’s arms taking up most of the page.
“Nothing.” Will says, as his heart sinks at her concern. “It’s just from, um... a sketch for a story I’m writing.”
For a story, huh? Well Joyce wasn’t buying it, but she didn’t want to ruin her son’s favorite day by prying. So she lets it go for now. “Alright.” She then finishes taping the last piece before bringing him into the living room, Jonathan all ready to take pictures with his camera.
“Three, two, one–” He snaps one, both him and his Mom watching Will in awe. “Great. Hold up the proton blaster–” Another snap. “Alright, now turn to the light–”
.
.
.
Claudia snaps another pic, and joyfully laughs at her son. “Oh! I want to see those pearls.” Dustin smiles and she takes another one “Yeah!”
Dustin holds up his ghost trap with pride. “How about this pose, mom?”
“Yes!” She takes one more. “Who you gonna call?”
“Ghostbusters!!”
.
.
.
Sue Sinclair howls at how cute her son was being as she snaps away on her camera. “Oh! Adorable, baby. Just adorable!” She praises, as Lucas eats her compliments up.
“God. You are such a nerd.” His younger sister, Erica, says from the sideline.
Lucas scowls. “Shut up.”
“No wonder you only hang out with boys.”
“Erica!” Her mother scolds.
“Just the facts.” She replies, as her mother shakes her head and continues to take pictures.
“My God, I love this costume. Keep it up.” Sue starts the love bombing again, ignoring her youngest for a second.
But when Lucas’ gaze met his sister’s again, she mouthed the word. ‘Nerd’, which was enough to start another bickering session between the two as their mother played referee.
.
.
.
And for the last one in the group, Karen Wheeler was taking polaroid after polaroid in hopes to get the best shot, while her son was just over it (Frankly he was over it after she just took one).
“Alright, that’s the last one.” He said, not putting any effort to pose anymore.
“No, just one more. Come on, please?” She takes another one and gets all excited.
“Can I go to school?”
“Wait, wait–” She stops him from moving. “Okay, say, ‘Who you gonna call?’”
“No!”
.
.
.
But despite not saying the famous line, Mike ended up singing it all the way to school with Lucas and Dustin. They all had bright smiles on their faces as they rode down the sidewalk and straight into the bike rack.
“♪ Who you gonna call? ♪” They shouted, as Will behind them yelled,
“♪ Ghostbusters! ♪”
“Hey, Spengler!” They replied, pulling him into a hug.
“Hey, everyone.” He says, all smiles. They were all smiling too until Mike noticed something.
“Whoa! Whoa!” He begins, stopping in front of Lucas.
“What?” Lucas asked, confused.
“Why are you Venkman?”
“Because I’m Venkman.”
“No, I’m Venkman.”
“Why can’t there be two Venkmans?” Will asks, not really seeing the point in arguing.
“Because there’s only one Venkman in real life. We planned this months ago.” Mike points out, and gestures to all his friends. “I’m Venkman, Dustin’s Stantz, Will’s Egon, and you’re Winston.”
Lucas glares. “I specifically didn’t agree to Winston.”
“Yes, you did!”
“I don’t think he did.” Will says, getting a surprised look by Mike.
“No one wants to be Winston, man.” Lucas states, with his arms crossed and Dustin even nodding along.
“What’s wrong with Winston?” Mike asks, getting another look
“‘What’s wrong with Winston?’ He joined the team super late, he’s not funny, and he’s not even a scientist!”
“Yeah, but he’s still cool!”
“If he’s cool, then you be Winston.”
“I can’t!”
“Why not?”
Mike adverts his eyes. “Be-Because…”
Lucas makes a mocking sound before quipping with, “Because you’re not black?”
“I didn’t say that!”
“You thought it.”
“I didn’t say that!”
“Mike! Come on, man! You–”
“Guys!” Dustin cuts in a loud, shutting their bickering down for just a second. His friend caught him gazing at the school bus with kids getting out in swarms. His face held worriedness. “Why is no one else wearing costumes?”
“Crap….” Lucas winces, as the school bell rang. And that’s how the four of them found themselves wandering the hallways, looking all embarrassed as everyone stared at them and laughed.
“When do people make these decisions?” Dustin whispers just for them to hear.
“Everyone dressed up last year.” Will adds, sadly.
“It’s a conspiracy, I’m telling you.”
“Just be cool.” Mike advises, as they all head to their lockers. His and Will’s were a few ways away near each other, while Lucas and Dustin’s were side-by-side somewhere else. As they gathered their things for class, the sound of someone skateboarding broke their concentration. The duo watches as she rides all the way to her locker, opening it up to swap out her means of transport for her books.
“We gonna do this?” Dustin asks, after a few minutes.
“Not right now. We look like morons.” Lucas pointed out.
“Maybe she likes Ghostbusters?”
“Of course she likes Ghostbusters, but that’s not the point. The point is we’re dressed up and she isn’t.”
“I didn’t bring regular clothes.” Dustin admits, embarrassed again. “Did you?”
Lucas shakes his head. “No.”
“Then we have no choice. We gotta do this. It’s now or never.”
“Right.”
“Let’s engage.” They both take a step forward–
But then they see her wandering off… and they took that as their cue to chicken out.
“We could ask her after class…?” Dustin asks, as Lucas nods eagerly.
“Yup!”
•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°
“Can you help me re-sew this?” Eddie asks as he dramatically lays across the table to reach her. Their Chemistry teacher had called out, and couldn’t find a sub in time, so the students were free for a few hours. Steph spares him a glance as he bats his big doe eyes for more effect. “Please?”
“No.” She shakes her head as she continues to sew up a hole in her own costume. “I’m already fixing mine and Gareth’s.” He sighs loudly, his head resting on the table in defeat. Steph rolls her eyes at his antics. “Just ask Grant. I’m sure he’ll do it.”
He sends her a funny look. “Grant knows how to sew?”
“Yes.” She nods, and raises an eyebrow. “How long have you known him for?”
Before Eddie could say anything, the rest of the Hellfire gang arrived at the theater room. “Grant!” He shouts, doing a poor roll over the surface towards his friends. “You know how to sew?”
“Yeah.” Grant replies.
“See?” Steph says, with a smug look.
Now it was Eddie’s turn to eye roll, but still kept his boisterous expression. “Well, can you help me fix my tail?”
Grant laughs, and holds his hand out for the faux tail. “That is the weirdest sentence you’ve ever said to me.”
“Hey, is Annie coming?” Stephanie asks, pausing her action to look at her friend.
Jeff blushes a bit at his girlfriend being mentioned, and replies, “If she can get off work early she’ll swing by.”
“I can’t believe we’re crashing this place. I mean, Tina Russo’s party? She lives in a nice neighbourhood.” Gareth said, as he leaned back in a chair and put his feet up.
“We’re technically not ‘crashing’ since one of us has an invitation.” Grant points out, his ring leader agreeing.
“Exactly.” Eddie points at him as he starts bouncing around the room. He makes his way around Jeff and replies, “I still don’t know how you got one and no one else did.”
Jeff becomes all smug and poses like there’s a camera in front of him. “Because, obviously I’m the best looking one out of all of us.”
“Fuckin’ nerd.” Gareth said between a fake cough that made everyone laugh.
“Truth be told is that Annie’s friends with Tina, so that’s why I got an invite.”
“I trust your girlfriend, Jeff, but are you sure this isn’t a party where all the nerds get tarred and feathered?” Steph asks, looking rather concerned. “Last year at Carver’s you guys got expired milk dumped on you.”
“Nah, I think we’ll be fine. I don’t think they expect us to be there anyway.” Eddie replies, casually.
She shrugs. “If you say so.”
“Awe, don’t you worry your little head, Red.” Gareth says, slipping to character as Jeff nods along. “The huntsmen will protect you!”
“Oh, forget them.” Grant cuts in, cuing up his ‘granny voice’ that was making her laugh as he hugs her from behind. “Grandma will keep you safe, dearie.”
“You know, Grandma, you’re supposed to get eaten by that big bad wolf over there.” Steph replies, and points to their DM.
“Oh, hell no.” Grant scoffs back to his normal voice. “I’ll beat him with my cane. He ain’t taking my cookies.”
“Oh, that’s all you care about?” Eddie begins, his face blooming with a devilish smile. “The cookies? And not your precious granddaughter?” He manages to nab Steph’s foot, making her shriek as Grant pulls her away to run. “You won’t beat me, old lady!”
Forgetting that they’re almost adults, they slipped back into their early childhoods, running around the theater room like it was their playground.
“Oh, Red, this forest ain’t safe. Here.” Grant shoves a water gun into her arms. “Take this family heirloom, and use it well.”
“Guns are no match for me!” Eddie shouts as he hops onto the table in a heroic stance. “My protective armor from the wicked witch will protect me!”
Grant throws a styrofoam block at him. “That’s from Wizard of Oz, you jackass! Don’t mix fairytales up.”
“You’re the one encouraging her to go all Rambo on me.”
“Rambo Riding Hood actually sounds pretty good.” Steph teases, as the two boys continue to go at it. I swear, it’s like hanging out with Dustin and his buddies.
The lights about her flickered on and off, catching her attention quickly. She felt an ache in her chest, and her body tense up. No. Don’t tell me–
.
Tick. Tock.
Tick. Tock.
Tick. Tock.
Tick. Tock.
Gears Turning…
.
The lights flickered again, just as she felt the blood drip onto her lip.
“Shit…” She says, loud enough to get their attention. “I’ll be right back.” And she leaves the room with her hand over her nose. They waited until they couldn’t hear her footsteps to say something.
“Do we need to kidnap her and take her to get looked at? I’m getting really worried.” Gareth admits from his spot in the room, everyone else silently agreeing.
Yeah, you and me both, Brookes. Eddie tells himself as he keeps his eyes trained on the door. Meanwhile, Stephanie was hurrying down the halls, getting irritated with herself (even when this wasn’t exactly her fault).
I swear, every time I try having a good time, it has to be ruined by something. She sighs quietly. “I just want November 6 to get here already… hmm?” She slows around the corner, she shows up just in time to see a small group of jocks sticking something onto a locker. Ironically it was her locker. “Hey!!”
Her shouting got their attention; They both snickered and scurried away. She quickly snatches the flier off her locker, a year old news article about her “return from death” with red marker spelling: Trick or Treat, Freak, all over the page.
She groans. “Of fucking course…” I mean, why wouldn’t they do this? It was the perfect holiday for it. Great. Just great. Just when I agreed to crash a Halloween party.
Just because Eddie thinks nothing will happen, doesn’t mean she didn’t. Should she even bring this up? I mean, her friends seem so excited to do this. And Jeff was confident enough to say that his girlfriend convinced Tina to get a proper invite with no strings attached. But…
What if Annie is like Tina? What if Annie was like all the other high school bullies? What if dating Jeff was an initiation for something, and humiliating the nerds is the final task? Yet, Steph mentally slaps herself. Okay! That’s enough! I am reading way too much into this.
Of course she was…
She was just being paranoid. She was petrified at what her mind was going to cause her to remember when the 6th came around. Could she really handle reliving the nightmares of last year again?
She starts moving without thinking, and her luck gets worse as she runs into someone. “Geez– I’m so sorry. I’m not paying attention.” She apologizes and takes a small step back.
“It’s fine.” The man says, as he fixes his collar.
Steph stares for a sec, recognizing the man from the parking lot yesterday. What was his name again? William?
Billy looks at her like he’s waiting for her to say something. Instead, he replies with, “Your nose is bleeding.”
She felt her cheeks heat up from embarrassment. “Oh, yeah. I’ve been dealing with it all morning.” She says, covering the lower half of her face as she side steps around him. “Excuse me.” She starts speed walking away, only for an him to snort and say,
“Oh, don’t worry about that.” They lock eyes briefly. “I don’t mind a little blood.” And he winks.
She felt the heat turn up as she moved away, still embarrassed but also very, very confused. What was that all about?
•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°
Joyce lays down a pile of drawings on the table for the Police Chief to see; The one directly on top was the one she wanted him to take more notice towards. “Take a look at this and tell me what you think.” She says, settling down in a chair.
Hopper takes it in hands and studies it carefully. “What is this exactly?”
“A drawing Will made. He says it’s for a story he’s working on, but… I don’t buy it.”
He hums and looks at it again. “The sign kind of looks like the arcade’s.”
“Right? That’s what I thought, too.”
“Has he said anything strange to you?”
She shakes her head with a sigh. “He’s just mentioned that he’s been really tired lately. He told me that it’s probably because November 6th is around the corner. Said it’s called an–”
“Anniversary Effect?”
“Yes. That’s it. He told me that’s what Stephanie found out it was called. Apparently she hasn’t been sleeping much either.”
“Do they talk a lot? Together?” He asks, eyebrow raised as he takes puff from his cigarette.
“As far as I know, yeah. They talk during recess a lot. See how each of them are.” Joyce explains, sadly. “I’m just worried. Not just for Will, but for her too. I can’t imagine what those seven days were like for them.” She sighs again. “Do you think maybe we should get them to talk to someone?”
“Maybe, but who? Therapist or not, if one of them explains where they’ve been, you know what they’re gonna say. ‘Your kid belongs in a nut house’. That or they’ll say they need to be on some unnecessary meds.”
“Yeah. Yeah, you’re right.” She rubs her tired face, as Hopper tries to be somewhat reassuring in his next few words.
“Look–” He begins. “I think everybody’s on edge. Me, you... the kids most of all. I think we just gotta get through the next few weeks. We gotta help them get through the next few weeks. I know Stephanie’s not one of our kids, but we can still help in some way.”
“True…”
“The truth is, Joyce, nothing’s gonna go back to the way that it was. Not really. But it’ll get better. In time. I can assure you that.” She nods at his words with another heavy sigh, knowing he’s right but it is still a tough thing to accept. He holds out his cigarette for her to take. “Here.”
“Thank you.” She huffs, but quickly chokes and coughs at how packed full the cigarette really is. She chuckles immediately at his shenanigans. “Jesus! Hopper…”
Hopper smiles, memories from his younger days came flooding in that gave him a sense of euphoria. “Brings me back to old times.”
“What?”
“Sharing my cigarettes between–”
“Fifth and sixth period.”
“Yeah, under the steps. Mr. Cooper caught us that time, remember? He was like–” He clears his throat and does his best impression of their old teacher. “‘Hey, assholes’.”
She grins. “We ran. We just ran.”
They both shared a laugh, locking eyes for a very long time. Something unspoken was there, something they both secretly long for -- Something that’s stayed untouched for many decades.
The guilt got to Joyce first, breaking eye contact with the very euphoric Hopper, who wanted nothing more for this to last, to live in the fantasy that they both couldn’t have (A lot of ‘What if’s’ ran through his head too).
“God, I want this to be over.” Joyce says, as she hands the cigarette back over.
“I know. I know.” He says, reassuringly again.
“It’s just…” She trails off as she looks at her son’s drawings. “Hang on…” She shifts one over to pick another one up. Her worried gaze returns as she shows off the sketch. It was done in black and white too, only this time it was that of a person, one who was covered in blotches of red head-to-toe. “Does that look like…?”
“Like Stephanie.” Hopper says, staring with wide eyes.
“But is this supposed to be blood? I don’t remember her being like that when we found her.”
“I mean she had a couple injuries, but nothing too serious.”
“Then why would he draw her like that? Did we miss something?”
“I mean if she was like that, I would have found out through the hospital.” He pauses. “Unless…”
“Unless, what?”
“They haven’t told us everything. Besides him not sleeping, has he mentioned anything about his time there recently?”
Joyce purses her lip in concentration. “Only a little bit here and there. He’s told Jonathan stuff, and then he tells me. Like how they escape the beast, or how they beat it, or even when they had to go out looking for food. But it’s not a whole lot.”
“What about Claudia? Has she mentioned anything?”
“The last time we spoke she said she stopped trying after a while. Stephanie didn’t want to say anything, and doesn’t know what to say. So, she quit.” She frowns, sadly. “But also, you gotta remember, we kept Claudia in the dark about the real kidnapping. So, that could explain why the poor girl hasn’t said anything. And we both know she’s not going to talk to Dustin.”
“Oh, no. She won’t.” Of course she wouldn’t. That was her baby brother, for crying out loud! It’s her job not to permanently scar him. “Then who is she talking to? No one?”
“I think her and Will might talk to each other, but how is that for therapy? One traumatized kid to another. I mean, whatever else happened to them, they’re obviously too scared to talk.”
“Or… they want to forget. Maybe not talking about it would make it go away. That and…” He grabs both pictures, staring at those before looking at some other ominous looking ones down below. “Keeping it between just them shields the rest of us from the horrors they witnessed.”
“So…” Joyce couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Is that what her son was doing? Was he protecting her and Jonathan from what he saw in that place? “S-So what do we do?”
That was the million dollar question right now. What can they do for two kids who refused to relive what they went through?
“I don’t know.” He admits, sounding very small. He couldn’t believe those words were coming out of his mouth, but it was the truth. “I actually don’t know, Joyce.”
•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°
“I can’t keep doing this.” Nancy admits to her boyfriend. They both were currently in a private room in the library, Steve having to pull her away from her homework after hours of her zoning out and brushing his concern off. It was pretty obvious something was bothering her, and Steve had a hunch at what it was about.
“Doing what?” He asks, waiting to see if he was right.
“Pretending like everything’s okay.”
“Barbara?”
She nods. “It’s like everyone forgot. It’s like nobody cares. Except her parents. And now they’re selling their house.”
He frowns, knowing where her mind was spiraling to. “Nance–”
“And they’re going to spend the rest of their lives looking for her.”
“I know.”
“It’s destroying them.”
“I know. Okay? I get it.” Steve says, as she bites in her lip nervously. “I know it sucks, but listen, there’s nothing we can do about it. Nothing.”
“We could tell them the truth.” Nancy says, quietly.
His eyes widened slightly. “Nance, you know that we can’t do that.”
“We don’t have to tell them everything.”
“This isn’t some game, Nance. If they found out that we told any…” He pauses and quickly shuts the blinds to the small window. “They could put us in jail. Okay? Maybe even to Pennhurst if we mention anything about the Demogorgon. Or worse, they could destroy our families. They could do anything they want. Okay? Just think about what you’re saying.”
She adverts her eyes and crosses her arms. She understands, she really does, but she still can’t help but feel awful about keeping quiet as Barb’s family drives themselves into debt.
He sighs quietly. “Hey…” He grabs her biceps gently. “Hey, hey… Hey, it’s… It’s hard, but let’s…” Should he suggest it? I mean maybe getting her mind off things for a bit could really help her.
He continues, “Let’s just go to Tina’s outrageous fucking party… wear our silly ‘Risky Business’ costumes that we’ve been working on for a crazy amount of time, and just pretend like we’re stupid teenagers, okay? Can we just do that, just for tonight? It might do us some good to kind of loosen up a bit.”
Nancy eventually nods, caving in. “Okay.”
“Okay.” Steve repeats, and holds his arms out. “Come here.” He takes her in for a hug, rubbing soothing circles on her back as she closes her eyes. “Everything’s going to be alright, Nance. I’m gonna make sure of it.”
•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°
The two young boys have finally worked up the courage after class to speak with the ‘girl of their dreams’, and began approaching her locker where she was at.
Dustin clears his throat when they get close, getting her attention. “Um… Hi, Max. I’m Dustin, and this is–”
“Lucas.” The other party member said, with a smile.
“Yeah, I know.” She states. “The stalkers.”
The boys shared a guilt-filled look, trying to brush it off. “Uh, no. Ac-Actually–” Lucas begins.
“We weren’t stalking you. No, w-we were just concerned because, y-you know, you’re new and all.” Dustin clarifies.
“Y-Yeah! For your safety.”
“There are a lot of bullies here.”
“Sooooo many bullies, it’s crazy.
“Yeah.”
“Is that why you’re wearing proton packs?” Max pokes, with a cocky grin.
“Well, these don’t function. But–” Dustin shows off his makeshift ghost trap. “I do have this handy-dandy little trap here. And look, it even opens and closes. Look, look, look…” He presses a button and it pops open, both him and Lucas acting all joyful. “Voilà!”
“It’s cool, right?” Lucas tries to sell it, but she wasn’t buying -- she just looks rather unamused.
“No? Okay.” Dustin puts the trap away. “But, um… So, we were talking last night, and you’re new here, so…” He looks at Lucas who silently tells him to keep going. “You probably don’t have any friends to take you trick-or-treating, and you’re scared of bullies, so we were thinking that it would be okay if you come with us.”
She raises an eyebrow. “‘It’d be okay’?”
“Yeah. Our party’s a democracy, the majority voted you could come.”
“Didn’t realize it was such an honor to go trick-or-treating with you.” Another poke that they didn’t seem to catch.
“We know where to get the full-sized candy bars. We figured you’d want in.”
She hums. “That’s presumptuous of you.” She replies, her “mature” vocabulary stunning them.
“Y-Yeah.” Dustin blinks. “Totally. Uh, so, um... you’ll come?” She shrugs and closes the locker before walking away. “We’re meeting at the Maple Street cul-de-sac at 7:00. That’s 7:00 on the dot!” They watch her round the corner and disappear. “‘Presumptuous’. That’s a good thing, right?”
But then his friend decides to leave too, and Dustin was left with a not-so-great feeling. “Is it bad? Lucas, is it bad? Lucas?” He keeps walking. “Son of a bitch– Lucas! Is it bad, or not?!”
•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°
Hopper sped back to the station after getting an urgent call from Flo. Apparently the whole pumpkin field fiasco hasn’t stopped like he thought. Another farmer, Eugene, who was accused by the farmer yesterday of messing with his crops had come to the station to complain about the same thing. And he too was pointing fingers.
“So, you’re telling me that Merrill poisoned your farm, because he thinks you poisoned his, which, of course, you didn’t?” Hopper asks, trying to understand this from the comfort of one the desks.
“No, sir.” Eugene said, proudly. “And I got me an alibi the night he accuses me. My Jenny and her boys were in town. I was with them all night.”
“Did you actually see Merrill?”
“No need. That man done lost his mind. Went around slandering me, threatening all sorts of madness.”
Powell chuckled from the other desk. “A pumpkin conspiracy.”
“Hawkins’ very own Chinatown.” Callahan laughs.
Hopper ignores them and sits up straighter, making his words very clear for the civilian. “Merrill threatening to do something and him actually doing something are two very different things.”
“You got a better explanation?” Eugene asks, with a pushy tone.
The Police Chef shrugs like it was evident. “Cold weather.”
“It’s October.”
“Yeah, it’s a cold one.”
Eugene scoffs and holds up his hands for them to see. “You see these hands?”
“Yeah…”
“You know why they look like that?”
“Because you’re old?”
“You’re damn straight.” The Farmer snaps back, making Powell chuckle again (He gets a tiny, tiny glare sent his way). “And I’ve been doing this a long time, Chief. A long time. And I ain’t never seen anything the likes of this. None of us have.”
Hopper raises a brow. “None of us?”
“Merrill didn’t just hit me last night. He hit damn near everyone.”
“What are you talking about?”
Eugene starts counting with his fingers. “Jack O’Dell, Pete Freeling, Rick Neary, the Christensens. All of their crops, dead.”
And just like that, Hopper felt a chill run through him. For some reason, his “theory” about it just being the weather didn’t make any sense. He immediately pulls out a notebook and pen. “Give me those names again.”
•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°
“You’re late again.” Billy snaps as he pushes himself to stand from leaning against his prized car.
Max, who was trying not to sigh or shrug at his attitude, moved around him to the passenger side. “Yeah, I had to catch-up on homework.”
“Jesus. I don’t care. You’re late again, and you’re–” He trails off.
“I’m… what?” His step-sister asks as she opens the door. It takes her a second to realize he’s distracted. “Billy?”
She follows his gaze to the distance. And there she saw her two “stalkers”, along with another boy, all standing around with their bikes talking to some people next to a black and blue colored van. The youngsters were talking to an older boy who had crazier hair than Billy; While the other teenager present, a very pretty girl, was checking out the boys’ proton packs.
Their expressive conversation could be heard from here, all talking about their plans tonight before it turned into the van owner offering the kids a ride instead of biking the long way home. The three boys begin to debate amongst themselves about his offer (They obviously knew the teenagers well enough to not freak out about getting into a “stranger’s” van).
Max this instant knows for a fact that her step-brother wasn’t looking at the kids, nor the teenage boy. “Billy?”
He finally breaks eye contact, his expression unreadable. “Let’s go.” He mutters, and repeats it again when she didn’t comply fast enough.
“Alright! Jesus…” She whispers the last part, and gets in; She spares the group one last look, wondering how the girl knew her classmates.
°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°
Hopper, along with Eugene, arrived at another farm -- the owner watching a few feet away with his heartbroken family. Just like yesterday, the smell was absolutely wretched. The pumpkins and the whole field just rotted like it’s been sitting under an imaginary heat lamp, ready to spoil from the blaze.
“Now, you tryin’ to tell me, with a straight face, cold did this?” Eugene finally asks, as Hopper takes it in.
“How far does it go?” He asks, soon being led a few ways away. He finds himself standing in front of a tree in the same condition as the pumpkins, only this time it was covered in something sticky. So sticky that when he touched it he almost couldn’t get his hand off. There was something… familiar about this slime…
[ ‘Hey, Chief, you copy?’ ]
Hopper uses his free hand to grab his walkie. “How’s it looking over there?” He asks Powell.
[ ‘Like a giant pissed all over Jack’s bean field. Smells, too. It smell over there?’ ]
“Uh, yeah, little bit.”
[ ‘Smells like a nursing home, man.’ ]
He heard Callahan complain. He mentally sighs, and follows up with, “Listen. I want you guys to track the rot, see how far it goes. Just, uh, mark anything that’s dead.”
[ ‘That’s gonna take some time.’ ]
He heard Powell chime back in, and Hopper gets stern. “So take it. And, look, we don’t know what caused this. Could be poison. So don’t touch anything without gloves.”
[ ‘Copy that, Chief.’ ]
Hopper slides his walkie away, and faces Eugene to ask, “You got any marking flags?”
°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°
Her mother gasps in surprise and joy as she steps into the living room. Stephanie’s costume consists of a very long, flowing red cloak, a black and white cottage dress, big black boots and gloves, and a little straw basket. She also had done her makeup which was with cat eye, a deep gray eyeshadow, and ruby lipstick.
“You look great.” Claudia said, as her daughter gives her a twirl. She quickly snaps a few photos with her camera like she did with her son this early morning.
“Thank you, Mom.” She said, and started looking around. “Did Dustin already leave?”
“Yeah, he left for Mike’s a few minutes ago.”
“Of course he did. Little shit couldn’t wait for me…” But there was no hatred there. And he calls me impatient.
She then hears the familiar van’s horn and a few howls from the boys that left her grinning. She was glad that they’re doing this together, but the concern she felt earlier at school came creeping in. The what ifs started, and the bad thoughts came in on how this night could be ruined.
What if this goes south after all? What if something happens and I ruin it? What if this is all a prank– She felt her mother lift her chin, looking all worried.
“Are you okay? You haven’t been yourself today?” Claudia asks.
“I’m alright. I’m just… in my head I guess.”
“Well, don’t be too much. Just clear your mind and go have fun.” She smiles. “It’s Halloween. And you have a wonderful group of friends that want to spend time with you. Enjoy it.”
She’s right. I need to stop worrying and enjoy this. Steph returns the smile. “Thanks, mom.”
They hear the van honk again, and Claudia starts ushering her out the door. “I love you. Have fun. And be safe. All of you.”
“Love you, too.” She says, wandering down the driveway to the vehicle. The back door slides open, and she crawls in next to Jeff and Grant. “Sorry. My mom was taking a million photos.”
“It’s quite alright. I could barely get out the door myself.” Gareth said from the passenger seat, and looking all love struck. “Eden didn’t want to get off the phone.”
Jeff rolls his eyes. “Are we ever going to meet this ‘girlfriend’ of yours?”
“Hey! I told you she lives in Utah. I’m trying to convince her that she and her family should come out this way for a visit.”
“I’ll see it to believe it, Gareth The Great.” Eddie says, and starts pulling away from the curb while his young friend pouts. His eyes glance in the rear view mirror. “You okay, Red?”
“Hmm?” Steph perks up. I guess her mom’s pep talk was already starting to falter. But she mentally shakes that off quickly, and responds, “Yeah. I’m good. My mom wants me to let you guys know that, ‘Let’s have fun’ and ‘Be safe’.”
“And I think we can manage that.” He smirks. “Right, gentlemen?”
“Right!” They shouted.
“Don’t you worry. Everything’s going to be great.” And his words convinced her enough to feel fine. Even though…
There was something nagging in the back of her head.
°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°
Meanwhile, across town, Jonathan was getting a video recorder tutorial by Bob, while Joyce double checked her youngest’s costume before sending him off.
“Listen. Stay close to your brother, okay? And listen, listen, listen…” She makes sure he’s really paying attention. “If you get a bad feeling or anything, you tell him to take you straight home. You promise?”
“Okay.” Will replies, and gives a thumbs up.
“Are you ready, bud?” Jonathan asks, and Will agrees quickly.
“Be safe!” Joyce ushers as they head out the door. Her boyfriend even chiming in with a very bad impression of Dracula:
“I hope it doesn’t suck!” He smiles with his horrible vampire teeth as she laughs at his antics.
Jonathan eventually breaks the silence after they’re a few miles down the road. “I just don’t get what she sees in him.”
Will, who was in his own head again, turns to look at him, confused. “What?”
“Bob.” The eldest Byers said, stating the obvious. It was just saying how he really felt about him. Although, he’s obviously way nicer and non-abusive to his mother, unlike his bio-father, he still doesn’t understand the appeal.
“At least he doesn’t treat me different.” Will points out, sinking into the seat, sulking. “I mean, I can’t even go trick-or-treating by myself. It’s lame.”
“What?” Jonathan looks over for a second, all hurt. “You think I’m lame?”
“No–” Will says, honestly. “But it’s not like Nancy’s coming to watch over Mike, or Stephanie with Dustin, you know?” His words hit hard, his brother suddenly having a thousand thoughts, and a thousand different scenarios running through his head.
They finally got to the Wheeler house, honking the horn as the other young boys were coming out of the door just in time. They all smiled and waved for their last member.
Jonathan turns the engine off, making up his mind at the last second (and hoping it doesn’t come back to bite him in the ass). “Hey, listen.” He begins, stopping his brother from getting out.
“Yeah?” Will says, pausing his actions.
“If… I let you go on your own–” His brother’s eyes widened with hope. “You promise to stay in the neighborhood?”
“Yeah!” He shakes his head eagerly. “Yeah, yeah, totally.”
“And be back at Mike’s by 9:00.”
“9:30?” Will tries pushing.
“9:00.” Jonathan says, holding out his hand. “Deal?”
“Yeah, deal.” He shakes his hand, and starts getting out.
“Alright.” The eldest said, as he passed the video recorder over. “Hey, Will. Don’t let any of your spazzy friends use this, alright?”
“Okay.” Will says, taking it carefully.
“I hope it doesn’t suck.” Jonathan pokes fun, making his little brother laugh as he joins his friends at the end of the driveway. He watches them for a brief second before taking out the flyer Nancy handed him yesterday for Tina’s party. He could feel his heart racing as he started the engine back up.
Here goes nothing.
°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°
“Alright! This is my kind of music.” Eddie says, as they exited the van. Mötley Crüe’s: ‘Shout at the Devil’ played loudly on the multiple stereos throughout the very lively house. The smell of alcohol was in the air, and everyone present was having the time of their lives.
“I think the whole school might be here.” Gareth said, with widened eyes.
“Well, I hope there’s enough booze to go around, ‘cause it’s time for the Hellfire Club to get fucked up. Come on!”
The little group went inside, immediately blending into the crowd of teenagers. The party had everything, dancing like nobody was watching, a whole wad full of Mary-Jane getting passed around, sickening sweet food that makes your guts puke, a giant pool in the back to throw your oblivious buddies in. What more could you ask from a party meant for rowdy teenagers?
In the front part of the yard, a crowd of people counted to forty-two just as Hawkins’ newest member came falling back to his feet from slurping from the keg upside down. He pumped his fists into the air as they cheered and spat some of the amber liquid into the cool air.
“We got ourselves a new Keg King!” Tommy Hagen yells, while gesturing to the winner. They started chanting his name, which fuels his ego more.
“That’s how you fucking do it, Hawkins!” He shouts back, and lights up a cigarette as his celebration. Him and his new allies headed inside, as Tommy guided him to a person he no longer considered his own friend.
“We got ourselves a new Keg King, Harrington.” Tommy pushes, interrupting Steve and Nancy’s somewhat nice conversation with another classmate.
“Yeah, that’s right!” Another of Billy’s new right hand people said.
“Yeah. Eat it, Harrington.”
Billy chuckles. “Yeah, Harrington.” He tilts his head. “How does it feel to be number two?”
Steve, who senses his girlfriend and classmate shift uncomfortably, slips his shades off and stares into the ‘new king’s’ eyes. Those blue eyes were full of intenseness, and a look of ‘try me’. Now… how does one say ‘fuck off’ and ‘I don’t care’ polite enough not to get their jaw broken?
He takes a mental deep breath. “Listen–”
“Hey.”
A familiar voice interrupts, as everyone turns to face Stephanie who was passing by with a few unopened beer bottles. Her face was stoic and not taking any BS from anyone tonight.
“Knock it off, Blondie. It’s rude to interrupt someone who doesn’t give a shit about your achievements. Besides–” She states, and gives a vague shrug. “Chugging a keg doesn’t make you the King of High School. Just keep being an a-hole and you’ll always be on top.”
She flashes a look to Steve and Nancy when she leaves that stuns the other party. The couple were silently grateful (and shocked, to be honest) for her stepping in, and took this opportunity to slip away from the hostile situation.
Tommy scoffs after a moment of silence. “The audacity of that bitch. I mean… how dare she disrespect you.”
“Who is she?” Billy asks, as his gaze stayed where she once stood.
Tommy blinks in surprise at his question. “Her? That’s Stephanie Henderson.” He frowns knowing that look from experience. “Trust me, you don’t want to get your claws into that.”
“Why not?”
“Because she’s a fucking freak.” He starts counting on his fingers. “She dresses like an emo, loves the devil’s music, and plays fucking D&D, and hangs out with freak who also plays D&D. Plus… she’s kind of fucked in the head after last year.”
Billy looks at him, genuinely curious. “What happened last year?”
“Zombie girl here got kidnapped along with some other kid one night. The whole town thought they both drowned in the quarry after running from the kidnapper. We even had a funeral.” Tommy crosses his arms in disgust. “Turns out, the sicko who took them faked their bodies as a decoy to throw the cops off. And just a few days later they returned. They said she had the worst of the injuries, almost succumbing to them. Lucky bitch.”
“How’d she escape?”
“Rumor has it that she killed their kidnapper to escape. Others say she had sex with the dude in exchange for freedom.” He snorts. “I highly doubt about the last one. Who wants to have sex with that?”
“So, does that mean she’s a killer then?” Billy asks, while blowing smoke.
“You really think someone like her is capable of killing? I doubt she can even put her hands around someone’s neck. They’re rumors, man.”
“Rumors or not. I’m definitely intrigued.”
Tommy watches in disbelief as his new blond friend leaves him behind. “Seriously?”
Meanwhile, the couple had moved in the kitchen area; Steve being his usual, friendly self and chatting at someone else he knew, while Nancy starts migrating to where the drinks are, not really feeling the vibe tonight despite saying she’d make an effort. She noticed there was one drink that people were specifically going for seconds, even thirds, and became intrigued.
“What’s in this?” She asks, as a man dressed in a toga burps loudly after finishing his drink.
“Pure fuel! Pure fuel, baby! Whoo!!!!”
Nancy didn’t say anything as she decided to test the waters with it. Taking a plastic cup she tries just a sip, which is deathly sweet but you can feel the tingling of the alcohol. She dips her whole cup in and starts jugging, Steve suddenly appearing beside her with worriedness.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa! Take it easy. Take it easy.” He says, and tries to grab the cup from her since he knows what this actually is. “Nance, Nance, Nance–”
“We’re just being stupid teenagers for the night.” She snaps back. “Wasn’t that the deal?”
Her quip digs into his skin as he helplessly watches her take another drink and heads to the dance floor to let loose like she promised.
°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°
Bob hums to himself as he places a record on the stereo to play. The song: ‘Islands in the Stream’ , by Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers starts off strong, and he begins to move with the beat; His feet swaying towards the woman he loves.
“No. No, no.” Joyce chuckles from her comfy spot on the couch.
“Come on. Yes.” He encourages, and takes the wine glass from her hand and guides her to stand. “Yes. Yes. Yes. Come on.” He tries to help her sway gently in the rhythm. “You playing Frankenstein to my Dracula? Come on, you’re stiff as a board. Relax.”
Joyce places her head on his shoulder, apologetically. “I’m sorry. It’s…” She didn’t need to finish her sentence for him to understand.
“He’s fine. Okay? Jonathan’s with him.” He reassures her.
She sighs. “I know. It’s just every time he’s away from me, it’s like I-I can’t function. I know it sounds silly.”
“No, it’s not silly. It’s not silly.” Bob says, letting it go quiet for a moment before dropping the ball. “What if we were to move out of Hawkins... together?”
Joyce blinks and looks at him in shock. “What?”
“I know. Whoa, Nellie, right? No, I just…” He pauses to make sure he phrases this right. “I’ve been thinking about what you said. About how we’ve got all these memories here, and you wish you had enough money to move. Well, my parents are selling their house in Maine. There’s a RadioShack nearby. I’m sure they’d take me on. We could just…” Now it was his turn to look surprised by his own actions. “My turn to be silly now.”
“Bob…” She says, softly.
“No, it’s fine. Wine makes me crazy.”
“Oh…” She looks at him with concern as she says, “It’s just so hard to explain. It’s just this... This is not a normal family.”
“It could be.” He gives her a warm smile. “It could be.”
Nothing more was said as she placed her head back down on his shoulder and they continued to dance as peacefully as they could. Maybe… tonight will be okay to let loose for the single mom. Just one night couldn’t hurt.
.
.
.
Right?
°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°
“Trick or treat!” The boys shouted as the door opened to an elderly woman.
She chuckles at their little faces, and smiles at the camera Will was holding. “Oh! Well, aren’t you cute?” She cooed. “The little exterminators.”
And their smiles faded away fast. They took a handful of candy from her bowl and stormed off for the next house.
Lucas sighs. “If I get another 3 Musketeers, I’m gonna kill myself.”
“What’s wrong with 3 Musketeers?” Dustin asks, genuinely offended.
“‘What’s wrong with 3 Musketeers?’”
“No one likes 3 Musketeers.” Mike backs up.
“Yeah, it’s just nougat.” Will adds.
“Whoa!” Dustin shakes his head at their antics. “‘Just nougat’? Just nougat? It is top three for me.”
“Top three?” Mike asks, in disbelief.
“Top three!”
“Oh, God.” The Wheeler gags. “Give me a break.”
Despite the jab, Dustin continues his love letter to the candy bar. “Seriously, I can just eat a whole bowl of nougat. Straight up–”
They all became screaming machines when suddenly someone jumped out in front of them, waving around a knife while dawning a Michael Myers rubber mask. They bunched up together, ready to run away when the culprit slid the mask off while laughing up a storm.
“Holy shit! You should have seen the look on your faces.” Max grins like a maniac as the boys stare in shock. “And you?” She gestures to Lucas. “Who screams like that? You sound like a little girl.” She starts wandering off, only stopping when she notices they weren’t following. “Hey, you guys coming or not? I heard we should hit up Loch Nora. That’s where the rich people live, right?”
She slides the mask back on, both Lucas and Dustin sparing a look. They both cheered that their crush had actually joined them after all, and ran after her along with Will. Mike stayed behind a few seconds, irritation was clear enough to see from space as he joined them with a distasteful groan.
°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°
Hopper continued to mark every contaminated area he could find for what felt like hours. Oh, yeah…
That’s right.
Because it had been hours.
The sky was already pitched black as he finally made his way around the farm, nearly getting scared to death when the farmer’s kid, who was dressed like a cowboy, “shot” his toy gun at him. He even got the fancy one that made the noise too.
“You’re dead.” The kid laughs with a toothless smile.
Hopper, who was fed up with this whole day, irritatedly replied, “Yeah, you got me, kid.”
“Happy Halloween!” He yells, and laughs again. And that’s when it finally hit the older man like a freight train.
His eyes widened as he checked his watch, noticing that he was extremely late for his movie watching with Eleven, he starts muttering a string of heavy cuss words that were not made for young children’s ears. He rushes to get into his truck and starts bolting off.
…But not before hitting the brakes when he remembered something else he promised her he would do.
He slowly backs up, stopping and rolling down the window. “Hey, kid.” He says, getting his attention. “Give me some of that candy, would you?”
The little cowboy shakes his head. “No way.”
Hopper sighs, and starts digging into his pocket. “Alright.” He pulls out a five dollar bill. “How about now?”
°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°
Eddie and Steph’s game of stacking empty beer bottles with some other classmates ended when they heard a huge splash from the pool, followed by loud cheering. The wolf man howled when he saw who it was, while the girl in red shook her head.
“I knew Grandma would end up in the pool eventually.” She says, watching Grant float on his back, his wig slowly coming off along with his tiny glasses.
“Grandma for the win.” Eddie snorted, as a few more people either jumped or got pushed in. He watches the crowd roar some more, his gaze somehow finding a small part of Hawkins High cheer squad amongst them. His face softens, yet saddens a little.
Steph follows his gaze to the team captain: Chrissy Cunningham. Her beautiful red hair twisted into twin buns, and was wearing the same white dress Princess Leia wore during the movies. She nudges Eddie and says, “You should talk to her before… you know? Someone puts the moves on her.”
Eddie shakes his head. “She’s way out of my league.”
“You don’t know that. She could think otherwise.”
“I doubt that, Henderson.”
Stephanie sighs, and is planning to give up when she spots Jeff and Gareth. “Hey, huntsmen?” She says, getting their attention. “This wolf here wants something that Cunningham has and doesn’t know how to approach. Think you can help him not go all mangy?”
“Roger that!” Jeff salutes as him and Gareth wastes no time to do what she asks. Eddie didn’t even have time to react, or protest, before being manhandled away.
“Henderson, you asshole!” He shouts as she laughs. “I’m going to get you for this!”
“I’m sure you will, Eds!” She waits for them to blend in with the pool crowd before leaving. “Knock her dead, Munson.” She heads back towards the kitchen for another beer. As she was grabbing one out of the cooler, she nearly fainted when someone appeared right beside her. “Jesus…”
“I heard you killed someone.” Billy said, as he props his hand up against a nearby wall.
She blinks, heart racing a bit at the statement. “I’m sorry?”
“Rumor has it that you got out of a kidnapping by killing the dude.” He explains, making her blink again (but for a different reason this time).
Seriously? That’s what they’re coming up with? What a joke. She almost rolls her eyes. “Is that what they’re saying now?”
“Is that true?”
“And if it is? Should you be around me then? I am a ‘freak’, you know.”
“So, I’ve heard.” He says, amused. “You seemed too nice to be nice to be a freak. And you don’t dress very ‘emo’ either.”
“I wouldn’t call myself ‘emo’.” She looks at him curiously. “Who told you that?”
“Hagen.” Billy replies, as she now rolls her eyes. “What? Not a fan?”
“He’s a lying prick.” Steph states, irritated. “So no, I’m not.” He hums at her response, like he’s really taking her words into consideration. …What’s his deal?
“So, did you kidnap after all? Do you like the ‘devil’s music’? And do you play that strange board game that nerds are obsessing over?”
“Uh–” She nods slowly. “Yes, yes, and yes. I also play in a club with the nerds who like it.”
“I’ve heard.” He tilts his head, cigarette being pulled out to blow the smoke in the opposite direction of her. “Is it weird hanging out with all dudes?”
Okay, now I see what he’s doing. (See how oblivious she was to this kind of thing?) “No.” She replies, truthfully. “Most of them have girlfriends. And I don’t see them like that. Nor do they.”
He quirks up an eyebrow. “No?”
“No.” Now she raises an eyebrow. “Is this game of twenty questions over yet?”
“Nah, baby, it just got started.” Billy says, with a grin and a delightful look. “I’m sorry, I’m just trying to figure you out. You see, no one’s ever called me out like that before. Especially not a girl. I gotta say, I’m impressed.”
“You’re impressed?” Steph asks, surprised as he hums again. ( Huh.) I guess this is what it felt like to be flirted with. “Well, if you want to keep asking me questions, you gotta promise me something.”
“And that is?”
“Don’t pick on my friends.”
Both his eyebrows shoot up. “What? You’re friends with Harrington?”
Her chest tightens . “Not really.” She says, ignoring the underlying hurt. “But go easy on him while you’re at it. I’m talking about the boys in my club.”
“Okay…” Billy pauses like he’s really thinking about it before asking, “And if I don’t?”
“Well, then…” She smirks as the butterflies start to flutter. “I guess you’ll be seeing if the rumor is true.”
“What rumor?”
“You pick on them then I’ll have to kill you, too.” She says, casually while plucking the cigarette from his mouth. “Simple as that. Blondie.” She gives him a wink and takes a huff while leaving the room.
I can’t believe I just did that. She tells herself and wonders if her face is as red as her hood. She giggles as she steps back outside. Wait until the guys hear this–
Her breath immediately gets caught in her throat.
The outside had become deserted and darker; The pool drained of water, and the music blasting had disappeared from her ears. It didn’t take her long to start noticing the white substance falling down from the sky.
No… not again. Not now. Panic filled her features, and it got turned up even more when she started to hear noises. “H-Hello?” She asks, to the wind.
.
// FIND HIM //
.
She whips her head in the other direction. “Find who? Find who, damn it?!” Who the hell keeps telling her that? What does this voice want from her?
.
// FIND HIM //
.
// FOLLOW //
.
“Follow, what?” What is she supposed to do? And for once, the mysterious voice had given her an answer. A few steps away a small silhouette appeared, staring at her before it ran away. “W-Will? Will!”
She runs after the boy, running down the driveway and out into the road, passing a few houses. The silhouette of Will ran, and ran, eventually stopping only to fade away.
She hits the breaks, confused. “What…?”
.
// FIND HIM //
.
// HE NEEDS HELP //
.
And that’s when the hairs on her neck stood up, and something rose into the sky above her. She stares up at it, the shadow reminding her of the one she and Will say at the arcade, only this time it was much bigger… and much more terrifying. It had stretched out its limbs, and began heading in a different direction from her, like it was trying to tell her to follow–
Stephanie starts screaming as someone grabs her by the shoulders. The person’s hands, despite scaring her, had brought her back to reality, everything that was the ‘Upside Down’ had disappeared instantly.
“Hey! Hey! What’s wrong?!” He asks, face full of a different panic than she had.
Her breathing came in harsh gasps, as she slowly focused on the person in front of her. “Ed-Eddie?” She whispers, in disbelief.
“What’s wrong?” He said again, taking her whole appearance in.
“W-What?”
“Y-You spaced out for a while.” He frowns. “God, I thought you were having a seizure or something. I-I didn’t know what to do.”
He came looking for me. He… saved me from another vision? Her eyes started to well up big time now. “E-Eddie…” She cries, and she goes in for a hug. She squeezed him tight, tighter than she anticipated, but she needed to feel like she was grounded.
Eddie wastes no time wrapping his arms around her, holding her close as she lets her have a moment to cry this out before saying, “Hey, don’t cry. I’m here. I…” He gives her a squeeze. “Are you okay? What happened?”
She sniffles into his chest. “Eddie, I…” She trails off as her stomach begins to turn. Steph then pulls away from him lightning fast, turning away to puke all over the road.
°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°
Down in the ‘Loch Nora’ area of the neighbourhood, the party, including their honorary member Max Mayfield, just hit another house that was yet another jackpot for their hunt for candy.
“Another full-size. Like, seriously, rich people are such suckers.” Dustin said, grinning. But it fades when he looks at Max. “Wait. You’re not rich, right?”
“No, I live up Old Cherry Road.” She explains
“Oh.” That wasn’t… the best of areas.
She notices his pitiful expression, and reassures him by saying, “No, it’s fine. I mean, the street’s good for skating.”
“Yeah, totally tubular.” He gets a look from her and Lucas. “What? Did I say that right? Or is it, like, tub-U-larrrrr.”
Lucas snorts, and says, “It’s, like–” He starts imitating a surfer dude you would hear on tv. “Totally tubular.”
“Totally tubular!”
“What a gnarly wave, dude.”
“Totally brodacious, bro!”
Max laughs. “Stop. My ears are hurting.”
The three of them continued talking while Will filmed their interaction from a few steps behind. Eventually he pans to his other friend who still seemed to be in a sour mood since she “rudely” cut in on their adventure.
“Did you agree to this?” He snaps.
“What?” Will asks, confused, and shuts the recorder off.
“To her joining our party.”
“It’s just for Halloween.”
“You should have checked with me.”
“Well, they were excited. I guess I thought you’d be okay with it.”
“She’s ruining the best night of the year.” Mike says, and storms ahead.
Will, who felt like he was suddenly caught between two sides, made no effort to go after any of them. Instead, he takes his time, fixing his hold on the recorder and his pillowcase, and starts making his way up the cul-de-sac. Now… the next few moments he couldn’t figure out if it was reality, or the cruelty of nightmares were starting to seep in and mess with him, because people started to pop out from thin air in front, and shouted at him like he was at fault.
“ Watch it, Zombie Boy!”
“Trick or treat, freak!”
“Get lost, Little Nerd!”
“The boogeyman’s coming to get ya!”
“BOO!!!”
The last one frightened him so much, he ended up falling backwards in shock, falling straight on his back…
.
.
.
And into the Upside Down.
He stared up into the sky, the same one Stephanie and him stared at almost a year ago. The same dark sky with an ominous blue hue that sprinkles the faux snow around.
He scrambles to his feet, his belongings falling to the ground. He frantically starts looking for his friends, for really anyone that was walking by, but they had all disappeared from his personal nightmare.
“Mike?” He chokes, his heart racing. “MIKE!!!” He didn’t hear a response, but instead he heard a very strange sound that started surrounding him. “St-Stephanie…?”
Maybe she was dealing with this too. Maybe she was looking for him like she did the other night at the arcade. But, my God…
He wished that was true.
He really, really wished that had been true.
Instead something else had found him.
A figure, one that was extremely large, had floated into the air in the distance; Its tentacles spewing out, its blank face looking straight at Will. Even without a mouth or eyes, the boy could tell it was looking at him. A little voice in the back of his head told him that this thing was looking for him.
It made a noise, the strangest noise he’s ever heard as it started to move. That was enough for the boy to start running.
He ran, and ran, all the way down some stairs near a house, soon crawling into a corner that he hoped he remained untouched. He closes his eyes, bringing his knees to his chest for him to curl into, and singing something quietly, something that maybe if this beast heard it would leave him be. He hoped that maybe humming his favorite song would make it go away, just like it did the Demogorgon.
He sings, and sings, and sings, and sings, and sings, and sings, and sings, and sings, and sings–
He let out a scream when someone touched his shoulder, and was ready to go down fighting when he saw who it was.
“Will, what’s wrong?” Mike asks, frantically as Will checks out his surroundings. “I couldn’t find you. Are you hurt?”
“Holy shit!” Dustin says, and the others join them.
“Is he okay?” Lucas asks, worriedly.
“I don’t know.” Mike admits. “I’m gonna get you home, okay? I’m gonna get you home. Hold on.” He slowly helps him up. “Alright, take it easy.” Mike then swats Dustin’s hand away, and sends him a glare. “I got him.”
“Mike?” Dustin says, quietly, and hurt by the action.
“Keep trick-or-treating. I’m bored anyway.” He throws shade one last time, and starts leading Will away.
Max, who was genuinely concerned for Will’s being, asks, “What’s wrong with him?”
Lucas and Dustin exchange knowing glances. Not sure how to explain to her what just happened, and how she would even believe the crazy backstory behind it.
°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°
“Are you sure you don’t need my help?” Eddie asks, worriedly as guided her through the crowd.
“I’m fine. I just need the bathroom.” Steph says, trying to stay upright as her head begins to pound.
“Okay.” He stops a few steps before the door, letting her go on her own. “But if you’re not out in a few minutes I’m going to check on you. Alright?”
“‘Kay…”
Stephanie sways into the tiny bathroom, immediately falling to her knees to puke in the toilet bowl. She lets out a loud, and tired groan when she gets done, and finds herself resting her head on the corner of it. She felt she had been hit by a bus. She feels sick in a way she never experienced before, and she feels like she might get worse.
Fuuucccckkkk… She squeezes her eyes shut, preparing herself for round two that was creeping up. Why did this have to happen at the party? Why did I have to ruin the fun like always?
Her train of thought was interrupted when someone barged in (Cursing at herself for not locking the door). “Uh, occupied.” She slurs, and looks up. She felt all her bones in her body freeze up. “Oh… it’s you two…”
Her and Steve locked eyes in probably the first time since his last hospital stay which was almost a year ago. He looked just as surprised as she was, nervous too as he helped Nancy to the sink. A small apology passes his lips for intruding, making her look away. She wanted to get up and give them space, but she was afraid of getting up too fast and puking again.
Maybe puking all over the floor would give them a hint. But those words were interrupted as well when the couple started a conversation that you can tell Steve was trying to cut short for his drunk girlfriend’s sake.
“Nance. Nance, I’m sorry.” He says, quietly. “That’s not coming off, Nance.”
She shakes her head as scrubs the already soaked towel on her stained shirt. “I-It’s c-coming.”
“Come on–” Steve tries taking the towel away. “Let me just take you home, okay? Come here.” She shakes him off. “Let me take you home. Come on–”
“Y-You wa-wanted thisss.”
“No, I didn’t want this. I told you to stop drinking.”
Stephanie winced at both their tones, and was silently praying that maybe Eddie would come for her already and stop this awkwardness. Drunk or not, this is still a private conversation she didn’t need to be eavesdropping. I gotta move. I need to move.
And so she tries, but at the slightest movement her nausea comes back, as she chokes out whatever’s left in her stomach into the toilet. Steve, hearing this, spares her a worried glance before he feels Nancy sway into him.
“It’s b-bullshit.” She jabs. “Bullshit.”
“No, it’s not bullshit. Okay?” He tries deescalating as she shakes her head again. “No, it’s not bullshit, Nancy.”
“No, y-you. You’re bullshit. ”
That one sentence was enough to drive a knife into his heart. “W-What?”
Stephanie’s eyes widened, shocked by what she just heard. She’s not implying what I think she’s implying…?
And to clarify what she meant to both parties, Nancy continues with, “Y-You’re pretending l-like everything is okay. You know, like we d-didn’t... like w-we didn’t f-fucking kill Barb. Like, it’s gr-great. Like, w-we’re in love and we-re partying. Y-Yeah, let’s party, huh? Party. We’re partying. Th-This is fucking bullshit.”
“‘Like we’re in love’?” Steve repeats her words, his voice and whole mannerisms mimicking that of a very small child. There’s no way that she said that. She was just… confused. Right? She had to be. Because… because…
He finds himself not being able to come up with something as she stabs in the heart again.
“It’s bullshit.” She says, making it more loud and clear for him to hear.
The knife stabbed him again. “You don’t… you don’t love me?”
“I-It’s… bullshit.”
And that was the final straw that broke the camel’s back. The last two years of their relationship has crumbled to the floor, and burned to ash immediately.
Steve stares at her with the most heartbroken expression, letting go of her arm as she leans over the sink in another attempt at cleaning her sweater. Whether she was drunk or not, she spoke the truth -- Funny, how just a small sip of alcohol can make anything come to light. He almost broke down there as he took a step back, feeling like a train had run through him as realized they weren’t alone.
He takes a look behind, back to Stephanie who looked lost for words as well. But when his teary eyed browns meet her blues, he sees the shock, but also sees that she looks rather hurt by this conversation she accidentally witnessed. They shared the gaze for a few seconds too long, just as tears rolled down his cheek, and he excused himself from this mess. Steve nearly runs into Eddie who was about to open the door, barely muttering an apology as he continues his escape out of here.
Eddie watches him for a moment before looking inside the bathroom, surprised to find Nancy in here as well. He didn’t know what he had just missed, but he can tell it wasn’t pretty.
“Stephanie?” He begins, as her hurt starts shifting into something else.
“I just want to go home.” She replies, as starts pushing herself up to stand.
“Steph–”
“I just want to go home, Eddie.” She places her hand on the counter to stop herself from rocking. From there she saw how worried he was getting again. “...Please.”
“Okay.” He nods. “Okay. Let me just… let me just sober real quick. Uh, give me a few minutes.”
He leaves to find something other than alcohol to drink, leaving poor Stephanie behind who is trying not to get all dizzy again. She spares a look to the newly singled teen who was still oblivious to what she had done, and was still trying to get the stain out. Steph just wanted to leave, feeling really awkward about the whole thing; Yet… it didn’t feel right just leaving her be. Especially in her state.
Stephanie somehow manages to get herself out of the bathroom, down the hallway to search the crowded living room. She was hoping to find someone that cared for Nancy other than Steve to help her out. But who? Steph didn’t exactly have her list of friends on her.
And for the first time today she got lucky, and spotted someone making his way through everyone, clearly trying his best to step out of his comfort zone. She starts swaying towards him.
“Stephanie?” Jonathan starts moving her way. “I didn’t think you be here–”
“Can you help Nancy out?” Steph cuts to the chase, she’ll just apologize later to him for her rudeness.
He looks at her funny. “What’s wrong with Nancy?”
“Apparently she just drunkenly confessed to Steve that she didn’t love him.” She watches his eyes widened. “Yeah. I know. She’s in the bathroom. Just help her out if you can.” She then moves around him to go find Eddie, Jonathan calling back out to her,
“Hey, where’s Steve, then?”
She doesn’t reply. Why should she? She had done more than enough for the exes already.
°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°
“It’s like... like I’m stuck.” Will explains after he finally calmed down. He was sitting in the basement of Mike’s home, their candy scattered on the coffee table -- they were trading them until Will was ready to confess what really happened.
“Like, like, stuck in the Upside Down?” Mike asks, curiously.
Will sighs. “No. It’s…” How does he explain it to someone who hasn’t experienced it? “You know on a View-Master, when it gets, like–”
“Caught between two slides?”
He nods. “Yeah. Like that. Like one side’s our world, and the other… The other slide is the Upside Down. And…” He swallows. “And there was this noise coming from everywhere. And then I saw something.”
“The Demogorgon?” Mike asks, worriedly.
“No.” Will shakes his head. “It was like this huge sh-shadow in the sky. Only, it w-was alive. And it was coming for me.”
Mike’s worriedness grows. Even after a whole year he still didn’t know what really happened to Will and Steph. He has no clue what else they saw other than the Demogorgon. “So…” He has to choose his words carefully. “Is this all real? Like is it actually here? Or is it all in your head?”
“I don’t know.” Will admits quietly. “Just… Just please don’t tell the others, okay? Unless it’s Stephanie.”
“Stephanie?”
“Yeah. We’ve been talking a lot when this stuff happens.”
“She’s like that too?”
“Yeah. She’s the only one who gets it.” He hugs himself. “The others won’t understand.”
“Eleven would.” Mike says, sadly.
“She would?”
“Yeah.” He nods. “She always did.”
Will cracks a small smile. “I wish I could have met her.”
“Yeah, I wish you did, too.” Mike agrees, copying his expression. “Sometimes I feel like I still see her. Like she’s still around, but she never is. I don’t know. Sometimes I feel like I’m going crazy.”
“...Me, too.”
Mike nudges him lightly. “Hey, well, if we’re both going crazy, then we’ll go crazy together, right?”
Will nods. “Yeah. Crazy together.” He chuckles. “In the words of Stephanie, ‘Us freaks have to stick together’ .”
Mike laughs at that, also nodding. “Yeah. Freaks totally stick together. Forever and ever.”
°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°
Hopper races through the woods and up the stairs, immediately doing the secret knock on his cabin door. “Hey, kid. Open up, alright?” Nothing. But what did he expect? He screwed up. Big time. “Look, I know I’m late. I got candy here, alright? I got all the good stuff.”
He lays his tired head against the door, hearing nothing on the other side. He frowns. “Please , will you open the door? I’m gonna freeze to death out here.”
I guess she took pity on him for that, and opened it up, making him rush inside. He finds her not in the living room waiting, but instead she has locked herself in her bedroom, and even took the TV in with her (The only source of entertainment in this place). It dawned on him that she wasn’t just mad. Nah, she was pissed.
Guess she learned what ‘piss off’ means today after all.
“Hey, kid. Open up, would you?” Hopper says, his tone laced with regret. “I got, uh... stuck somewhere, and I lost track of time. And I’m sorry.” Silence. “El, would you please open the door?” She didn’t even sound like she was attempting to move. “El?”
He tries to see if he could break the silent treatment by guilting her a bit, as he plops down on the couch close to her room. “Alright. I’m just gonna be out here by myself, eating all this candy.” He announces and starts unwrapping a piece of chocolate. “I’m gonna get fat. It’s very unhealthy to leave me out here. Could have a heart attack or something. But, you know, you do what you want.”
Yeah… she was definitely pissed. And in a way, he was grateful, but a little jealous that she didn’t show the same treatment to Steve who was suddenly at the front door using their special knock -- He barely even did it as Eleven opens it up for him.
“Hey, do you want candy?” Hopper asks the teen. His already defeated look worsened when he saw Steve’s. “What’s wrong?”
Steve, who still looks like he’s been kicked repeatedly, sighs and says, “I think Nancy just broke up with me.”
“You think?”
“She said… s-she d-didn’t love me.”
Hopper almost winces at those words. Yeah, he remembers when an old girlfriend of his said that to him in the 10th grade. “Do you want to talk about it?”
“No.” Steve mumbles as he takes a seat, while rubbing his face. “Why do you look depressed?”
“I fucked up.” Hopper replies, looking at the bedroom door.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
“No.”
Steve nods and takes the pail of candy from his lap, and pulls out a tootsie roll. “Then let’s get fat.” He says, and he starts off into space like the adult was doing prior.
Hopper doesn’t say anything anymore, both of them staying silent as they ate all the candy until they felt disgusted with themselves.
°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°
After dropping the rest of his friends off, the Henderson household was the last stop. Eddie hugs the curb with his van, coming to a complete stop and shutting the engine off. It had been pretty quiet for most of the ride, leaving him to wonder if there was more to Stephanie’s story. He casts his gaze to the passenger side, the girl leaning her head against the window, a hollow, but haunted, look on her face.
“Hey.” He begins, getting her attention. His voice was soft and kind. “How about you talk to me?”
Steph gives him a look of pity. “Eddie–”
“No, I’m serious. I can tell something’s been bothering you for a while, so why don’t you talk about it?” He just wants to know what happened at the party. He wants to know what triggered her panic attack. “Come on, Steph. I’m your friend. Just talk to me. You know I won’t judge.”
“I know you won’t, Eddie. It’s just…” She swallows. “You’re not going to believe me.”
“About…?”
“About when I got kidnapped.” Steph quickly clarifies with, “The anniversary’s around the corner, and I think it’s just caught up with me. That’s all.”
Ah, now that makes sense. Eddie thought, as he chose his word carefully again. “Well, then tell me about it. You don’t have to go about in crazy detail, but just tell me. I’ll believe you.”
“You’re going to believe me?” She asks, putting pressure on the first word which confuses him (and tries not to take offense to it).
“Yeah.” He nods slowly. “I don’t see why you think I wouldn’t.”
Uh, ‘cause you’ll think I’m bat shit crazy. She tells herself, and she almost, almost, gets out of the car to just leave him in the dark. Almost. But it suddenly came crashing through the dam before she could even catch herself.
“So, if I told that me and Will were taken by an eight foot monster with no face, and it dragged us to a world like ours, but with no people; And that we had to fight off bats that also had no face, and had tentacles like an octopus; Or that I got stuck inside my own head and almost died because of a completely separate monster, you would believe me?” Steph spills rapidly and looks his way. “Like… if I just came up to you as a stranger, you would believe me?”
“Well, maybe not as a stranger.” He replies, still trying to follow.
“Then what about as a friend?”
He nods. “Well, as your friend, of course I would.”
“Then do you?”
“Do I what?”
“Believe me? Do you believe me?”
Eddie snorts before it turns into laughter. But he soon finds himself cutting his reaction short when she notices she wasn’t reacting the same. His eyes widened. “W-What? You’re serious?”
Stephanie breaks eye contact as she feels like she’s about to cry again for the millionth time. “This is why I can’t talk to anyone.” She whispers, hurtfully. “You’re looking at me like I’m crazy.”
“Stephanie–” He tries as she shakes her head, and opens the door.
“No. Just… leave me be.” She replies, and leaves.
Eddie was left speechless, worried, and hurt. You can add guilt to the mix too. I mean… did that really happen to her? Or did she think that’s what happened while she and Will were kidnapped? But either way, his reaction was extremely poor.
He groans and rubs his face with his hands. I fucked up. I really fucked up.
Now he’s debating if he should march inside and attempt to start over. However she did sound dead serious about leaving her alone. But would that actually be okay? Is that what she really needed tonight? Before he could make a decision he spots someone coming up the driveway, dressed in the costume Stephanie told him about, was her younger brother, holding onto a pillowcase full of candy while muttering something to himself. Sensing his presence, Dustin turns around briefly, flashing a toothless smile and a wave.
At least she’s not alone. Eddie returns the gesture, his mind made up now. I really need to respect her wishes. I’ll just try to talk to her tomorrow at school.
With that being said, Eddie turned his van back on and drove off -- Not realizing that by driving off so soon that two things were happening at the home behind him.
One was that Stephanie had officially barricaded herself in her room, letting no one in, not even the cat, as she cried herself to sleep.
And two, was that Dustin wouldn’t be checking on his big sis tonight. Why, you may ask? Well… because he suddenly had made a discovery in his own yard. What has he discovered, you may ask? Well… he discovers a strange looking lizard living in his trash can. A lizard…
That may or may not cause problems in the near future.
(TBC)
A/N: I forgot how grouchy Mike was this whole season 😅 Especially when I rewatched this episode. I mean, I get it, he's a kid, but chill the F out, man. Lol. -- Eddie (until the last part) deserves MVP status for being a great friend. I'm glad I decided to add him early on. -- Love Nancy, but I'll admit, I never thought she was a good GF for Steve. And, no, I'm not saying that because of this story. I just never thought she was. I'm kind of hoping they don't end up back together in the last season. But that's just my opinion. -- Also, don't worry, The Hopper, Steve, & Eleven flashbacks aren't over yet. We got one last chapter with those, so hang tight.
Answer: *BMW's in the 80s did in fact come out with fobs that just unlocked/locked cars.
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