THE LIGHTS FLICKERED. That's always what Mariella would remember best about this experience. The rapid flashing of the electricity and the panic which set through her. Getting up and rushing towards the window staring out to the shed, Dustin right beside her as they stop, close to Nancy and Steve.

It stops. That's always what Mariella would remember the least. The panic was still in her, the lights felt like they were still flickering. She didn't even bother to breathe out the sigh of relief Dustin, Nancy, and Steve had. She still held her breath.

Turning away, she stalked off towards a wall, leaning against it and sliding down. She brings her knees to her chest, her head falling onto them. She felt so lost in thought, she hadn't even noticed Dustin slide down the wall next her.

Dustin puts an arm on her shoulder, noticing the blank stare she had in her face. "You okay?"  He asks her, attempting to put on a small smile to cheer her up. The party knew that one of true main things that made Mariella happy was them smiling.

She snaps from her thoughts, turning to look at him. She shakes her head, searching for her words to form. "What if he finds out where we are? And... What if we never get Will back?" She asks, beginning to pick at the loose thread hanging on her shoelace. Her voice sounded so broken. So strained.

"He won't. We disguised that place up and down. There's nothing that could give us away," Dustin starts, looking forward and tapping his fingers against his crossed legs. "And we're going to figure it out. We did it last year. We can do it again," He adds on.

Mariella scoffs lightly. "We had El last year," Rolling her neck around and bobbing her head before she rests it against the wall. "My, God. I miss El," She whispers.

Dustin nods slowly in agreement. Opening his mouth to respond but is cut off by Hopper bursting through the door, grabbing a ripped envelope and pencil from the counter. "What happened?" Dustin asks, pushing at the floor and getting up. Mariella following after him.

Hopper goes to the table, leaning over and beginning to draw. They all crowd around him, with preening eyes towards the paper. "I think he's talking, just not with words," He say as he puts down dot after dot in clean pencil.

Steve stares at the paper with squinted eyes. "What is that?" He asks.

"Morse code," Nearly all of them say in unisons, Hopper beginning to write down the letter translations under the dots.

"H-E-R-E," Hopper spells.

"Here," They all say, reading out the word.

Hopper brings his hand to his mouth before throwing the pencil down on the table. "Will's still in there. He's talking to us," He says.

They exchange looks, wondering how they'd accomplish this. "How are we going to do this then?" Max asks, tilting her head. "How are we going to write it all down without him knowing?".

It was silent for a moment. They hadn't any ideas before Lucas' eyes linger over to the living room. There sat Mariella's purple backpack zipper wide open, her walkie's antenna pointing out in all its glory. "Our walkies," He mumbles, walking towards it and plucking it out of her bag.

"What?" Nancy questions, all eyes on Lucas as he retreats back to the group with the walkie in hand.

Lucas holds it up to them. "We can use our walkies," He goes on, placing the walkie onto the table and sliding it towards Hopper. "You repeat it back to us. We'll translate," He goes on.

And, heck, Lucas Sinclair might as of well of been a superhero in the eyes of the public. After all, he really did just save the world with that idea. Nearly.

♧

Translations are a long, strenuous activity which are not fun at all. They're dull. Boring, even. But, when you have the future of the world itself in your hands, you Behring to be more clouded with frenzy and panic rather than boredom.

Each one of them took a turn shouting out the letter translation to Nancy as Hopper tapped on Mariella's walkie from inside the shed. It felt as if it was an eternity until they all crowded around Nancy, looking down at the red crayon which spelled out the message Will sent them.

"Close gate," They read out in unison, excitement wasn't able to rush through their body when they read out the message. Realization wasn't either. Instead, their panic was worsened. The frenzy was lifted. The phone rang.

They all disband, Dustin rushing towards the phone. "Shit... Shit!" He yells, lighting it off the hook and slamming it back down. It goes silent and they all breathe a breath of relief. It rings again and the panic continues.

This time, Nancy takes it, ripping it out of the wall and throwing it down the hallway, grunting. They knew it was over. "Do you think he heard that?" Max asks.

"It's just a phone. It could be anywhere. Right?" Steve attempts to calm everyone's nerves with logic.

Mariella shakes her head in response, pacing around. Taking the hair tie off her wrist and tying her hair up. "If he heard, he knows. It's the most predictable place we'd be," She sighs, suddenly feeling her hands go clammy, face go cold. She felt sick.

She sucks in a breath to try, at the very least to calm down. She does it again. Again. And again. Until they here the sounds of monsters screeching in the distance from outside, it sounded so close. Her eyes go wide as they all begin to walk towards the living room, the front door.

"That's not good," Dustin breathes out, staring at the door.

The back door flies open, Mike, Joyce, and Jonathan flooding in. Mariella, Lucas,  Max, and Dustin looking back from the window as Mike rushes towards them and stares out with them into the black nothingness of the night.

They watch the stillness, how nothing moved and how it seemed so peaceful. They stayed silent for a while, just gazing. That is, until Hopper rushes into the living room, guns in hand. "Hey. Hey, get away from the windows!" He raises his voice, all of them instantly retreating to the back wall.

"Kid," Hopper begins, loading the pistol he had given Mariella earlier which she had left on the kitchen counter. He walked towards her. "Use it," He tells her as he hands the cold metal handle to her hands.

She breathes out, nodding. Taking the safety off, the boys looking to her and nodding assuredly. A way to tell her that she has this. Max stares in disbelief, curiosity, awe. Mariella stretches her neck, bending it to both sides as Lucas digs the Wrist Rocket from his backpack.

Hopper looks to Jonathan, holding up a rifle. "Do you know how to use this?" He asks.

"What?" Jonathan breathes out nervously.

Hopper shakes the rifle in hand. "Can you use this?" He asks again.

Jonathan stumbles over his words, shaking his head before Nancy jumps in. "I can," She says. Hopper nods, tossing it to her as Mariella and Lucas quietly slipping towards the front of the group, the party behind them as they stand next to Hopper with the pistol and Wrist Rocket outstretched in their hands.  

They wait. The screeching continuing on the outside. It was a waiting game. Some sick, twisted rendition of it. But a waiting game, nonetheless. "Where is it?" Nancy mumbles quietly, more so to herself than the others as they all gaze out with one eye squinted.

"Where are they?" Max panics from behind them.

Mariella shaking her head in response, her lips parted as she responds. "They're gonna attack when we don't expect it,".

Their breathing is heavy, listening to the outside sounds in fear. A loud thud comes from the back of the house, all of them exclaiming, turning towards the noise.

"What are they doing?" Nancy asks the group shakily, rifle pointed to the window where the bushes rustled

More panic. Snarling from outside the front door, all of them turning towards it while exclaiming once again. There wasn't a point in being quiet. It knew they were in there.

The sound of monsters wailing and groaning and snarling continues, it only made they more scared. Why weren't they coming in? It abruptly stops. The world going silent. They kept their guns out, Steve ready with his bat.

Suddenly, one of them bursts through the window, shattering the glass as everyone backs away in fear, screeching and exclaiming. It stays still, just laying there on the ground. Hopper inches towards it.

"Holy shit..." Dustin breathes out.

All of them inching towards it now. "Is it dead?" Max asks.

Hopper kicks it with the bottom of his shoe. The creature turning to its side limply by the impact, it's skin sloshing. It was.

The front door creaks before Hopper could answer Max. All of them turning towards the sound, the door somehow unlocking from the outside. Instantly, they get ready in their fighting positions with their guns, slingshot, and bat. The deadbolt slides.

The door opens. All of them pointing their weapons to the ground, eyes wide. Mariella's breath catching in her throat, her pistol dropping to the floor in a thud as she stares at the person who had walked in through the doorway.

She whispers out, voice quiet and meek as a small smile forms on her lips. "Hey," That's it, as if it were normal, she shakily whispers out to her lost friend. "Hey, El,".

And, for the first time, in a long time, Mariella felt as if they could defeat this thing.