"Whose dumb idea was it to play Monopoly in the first place?" Dustin grumbled with his head slouched against his fist in defeat as Lucas threw his money around Mike's basement.

The rest of the group watched with equally disappointed faces and crossed arms while Lucas ran in circles around the table gloating.

"Hotel on Boardwalk, baby!" Lucas laughed as he fanned himself with the money he hadn't yet thrown around the room.

"I still don't understand this game," One announced with a sigh and slapped her hands against her legs.

"What game should we play next?" Mike asked the party after Lucas had calmed down and taken his seat once more.

"Not Monopoly," Max answered with a roll of her eyes. She looked over to Lucas who innocently flashed his teeth and she nearly rolled her eyes again.

"We could resume our campaign," Will offered hopefully.

"I don't think we'll be able to play another game," One announced with a sullen smile. "That game went longer than I expected and Hopper will be here any minute to pick us up for dinner."

Eleven looked to One with pleading eyes but she knew that One was right. Hopper had only let them come over with the contingency that they'd be home for dinner. Ever since Hopper had discovered that One was Sarah, he had become more adamant about spending quality time together as a family. Eleven also assumed that One may want to get home to see James and she didn't want to get in the way of that, although she wasn't aware how wrong her assumption was.

One and Eleven sat around in the basement with the others, watching them play Boggle while they waited for Mrs. Wheeler to come down the stairs and announce their father's presence but it never came. Thirty minutes had gone by and One found herself looking up at the clock more and more. He had said dinner would be ready around six, and now it was six-thirty. What was the hold-up?

"Wait here," One said to Eleven. "I'll go upstairs and see if Hopper has arrived. He probably got caught up in a conversation with Mr. and Mrs. Wheeler."

Eleven nodded her head and watched One make her way up the stairs but deep down she was skeptical. In the few years she'd known Hopper, she never knew him to like small talk. In her experience, it was more likely that he was caught up at work and had forgotten to come pick them up. Eleven's suspicions were confirmed when One re-emerged on the staircase with a confused frown.

"He's not here yet, I guess," One informed the curious party.

"Maybe we can start another game while we wait?" Mike offered, waiting for a nod of approval from One and Eleven.

Eleven looked to One for the answer, and after a moment of contemplation she hesitantly gave it. "Might as well," One answered, eliciting a large smile from Eleven. "But only if it's not Monopoly. I do not like that game."

Everybody except Lucas vocalized their agreement and together they settled on Clue. One ended up sitting out to watch since the game only allowed for six players and there were seven of them. Eleven offered for her to join her team but One was too preoccupied with worrying about why Hopper hadn't arrived yet to focus on a game and declined. She knew there was probably a reasonable explanation for why Hopper was so late, but something in the pit of her stomach kept gnawing at her.

They played through another game of Clue, a game of Life, and got part of the way through a game of Yahtzee when Mrs. Wheeler poked her head around the door leading down to the basement and called out for Mike. "Mike, it's eight o'clock and you've got school tomorrow. It's time for your friends to go home. And Will, honey, your mother is here!"

"But mom, we're almost done with the game!" Mike called back up the stairs but Mrs. Wheeler just shook her head no.

"Has our dad shown up yet, Mrs. Wheeler?" One asked hopefully.

"I'm afraid not, honey, but if you need I can give you and El a ride home," Mrs. Wheeler informed her with a reassuring look.

"You can ride with me," Will offered before One could answer Mrs. Wheeler. "I'm sure my mom won't mind dropping you guys off."

One felt inclined to say that they'd just wait for Hopper, or if it came to it, walk, but she had Eleven to look after and she wanted to make sure she got her home safe and sound. It was times like these where One wished she could drive. She had attempted to teach herself in the Upside Down, but every vehicle they found either had an empty tank or missing parts and loud noises seemed to attract demogorgons anyways, so she had to resign to pretending. James and her had found great joy in sitting behind the wheel and pretending they were racing. James would even make funny sound effects and move around wildly in his seat whenever One took sharp turns. It was memories like these that One tried to hold onto in moments of doubt, but she still couldn't bring herself to trust the James they had found.

"Thanks Mrs. Wheeler, but I think we'll get a ride with the Byers'!" One called up the stairs after she had made her decision.

"Sounds good, dear!"

One and Eleven waved goodbye to their friends before following Will out to the car where his mom was waiting.

"Is it okay if they get a ride with us?" Will asked his mom through the rolled-down window.

"Of course!" Joyce answered, unlocking the back doors for One and Eleven to climb in. "Is Hopper working late?"

"We don't know," One answered sullenly. "He was supposed to pick us up at six but he never showed."

"I'm sure he just got caught up in something, you know how he is," Joyce tried to reassure them as she pulled out of the Wheeler's driveway and began the drive to Hopper's cabin.

One tried to take Joyce's words to heart as she silently watched out the window but once they turned onto their street and the cabin loomed into sight, her worries tripled. All the lights were off in the cabin and Hopper's truck was nowhere to be seen.

"If you girls want, you can come back to my house until Hopper gets home," Joyce offered as she parked the car.

"It's okay," One answered for the both of them. "We have a key and I'm sure James is inside waiting for us."

"Are you sure? James can come too. I've got some leftovers if you guys are hungry."

One felt her stomach rumble but she knew that nothing would sit right in her stomach with all her anxiety. "We're sure."

"Well, give me a call if you need anything, okay?" Joyce said with a concerned look on her face. With everything they had been through together, she considered One and Eleven to be her children too.

"Will do, thanks Ms. Byers!" One said as she scrambled out of the car and shut the door behind her. One and Eleven stood in the driveway to wave goodbye to Joyce and Will before heading for the front door of the cabin.

"Where do you think Hopper is?" Eleven asked One with a tinge of worry in her voice. She had thought that maybe Joyce was right, and Hopper was caught up at work, but now she wasn't so sure.

"I don't know..." One's voice trailed off when she noticed something about the front door and immediately held out an arm to stop Eleven before she went to investigate. The door was creaked open a couple inches and an inky darkness spilled out from the other side. One gave Eleven a stern look that indicated to stay where she was before she slowly pushed the door open and peered inside.

It was impossible to make out anything in the darkness so One built up her bravery before thrusting her arm around the door and feeling for the light switch on the other side. It took a few slaps to find it, but eventually a warm light spread through the space and quelled some of the anxiety building in One's throat. Upon a cursory glance everything looked fine, but One was still hesitant to let Eleven enter before she ensured that everything was safe.

"James?" One's voice echoed around the cabin as she called out. Stray bolts of electricity began to dart between her fingertips as she waited for a response. "Hopper?"

One nearly shot to the ceiling when Eleven barreled in behind her, having become impatient waiting outside. Eleven pushed past One and began to look through the rooms, but found an empty space behind every door. She looked to One with a shrug and a shake of her head and One felt her face drop. Not only was Hopper missing, but now James was too? What was going on?

One ran her fingers through her hair as her eyes combed the cabin. They fell to the kitchen table where she found a newspaper sitting open to an article with a headline that read: "Hawkins Laboratory Still Sits Vacant; What Does the City Plan to do with the Space?" and something clicked. Hopper had made a passing comment about stopping at the Lab after he dropped One and Eleven off at the Wheeler's, but if he was still there it could only mean that something had gone wrong.

One rushed over to the phone and began pounding numbers with her finger. As she pressed the phone to her ear, Eleven gave her a confused look. "I think I know where Hopper is, but we're going to need a ride."

☆ ★ ☆

Hours later, the demodogs were still pacing outside the cage. They had stopped snapping and clawing through the bars, but their low growls still rung in the stale air. Hopper and Brenner remained pressed against the back wall, unsure of how they were ever going to get out of their current situation when a new sound entered their ears.

Footsteps echoed outside the room from down the hallway, not only catching the attention of Brenner and Hopper, but the demodogs as well. Their growls turned into whimpers and Hopper watched curiously as their legs trembled beneath their bony bodies. With each footstep, the demodogs became more and more skittish until one-by-one they bolted out of the room, leaving Hopper and Brenner alone, if only momentarily.

Hopper waited with bated breath to see who or what would emerge on the other side of the door. He wanted to hope it was a someone coming to save him, but the way the demodogs responded it seemed more likely that he was about to be in an even worse predicament than before. Before their mystery visitor could reveal themselves, Brenner dropped to the floor, covering his ears and screaming in pain. Hopper was so distracted by Brenner's contorted body rolling around on the ground that he didn't see who entered the room until after they spoke.

"Would you look at that, the spider got caught in his own web."

Hopper's face turned stark white as he met the eyes of the new person in the room. "James?"

★ ☆ ★ ☆ ★