Joyce
I found Castle Byers in the woods, knowing he'll be there. I pressed the "doorbell" and said, "Ring-a-ding-ding! Anybody home?"

"Password?" he requested.

"Uh, Rada . . . uh, Radaga— Radagast?"

"Yeah. You may enter," he said.

I opened the curtain to find Will sitting in there, reading his comics. "Thank you, sir," I said as I joined him inside the makeshift hut. "So guess what?" He put his comic book down. "I got off early and . . ." I pulled out the two tickets I bought him. "Poltergeist!" I said in a creepy-like whisper.

"I . . . I thought I wasn't allowed to see it!"

"I changed my mind. As long as you don't have nightmares for a week."

"No, I won't. I don't get scared like that anymore."

"Oh, yeah? Not even of . . . clowns?" {Cough cough, Pennywise, cough cough.}

"No."

"What about . . . my witch?" I said and wiggled my finger in a witch-like way.

"No. Mom. I'm not five anymore."

"But Will Byers . . ." I reached my fingers over and tickle him.

"Stop. That's so stupid. Mom!"

"I'm going to cook you up in my—"

He's not there. I thought Castle Byers would've been the place, but . . . he's not here.

I sigh and turn back to Jonathan and join him in screaming Will's name.

Benny {Because yes.}
I throw a patty on the grill and it sizzles with grease. I finish cooking it and make a burger for that strange girl. Once I hand it to her, she eats it like it's going to run away if she doesn't eat it quickly enough.

"Geez, your parents forget to feed you?" I ask her. She keeps stuffing the burger into her mouth like no tomorrow. {Eleven is me when I'm hungry.} "Is that why you ran away?" Still no answer. "They, uh . . . they hurt you?" Nothing. "You went to the hospital; you got scared; you ran off; you wound up here; is that it?" This time, she at least looks at me, but still without a word. I take the burger out of her hands and slide the basket away from her. "All right. I'll give you this back, all right? And you can have as much a you want. All right? Maybe even some ice cream. But you gotta answer a few of my questions first, all right?" Still a blank expression. "We got a deal?" When she still gives no response, I say, "All right, let's start with the easy stuff, all right?" {Someone needs to eliminate "all right" from Benny's vocabulary.} "My name's Benny. Benny Hammond." I hold out my hand for her to shake. When she doesn't, I put her hand in mine, reassuring her that it's all right. I shake her hand. "Nice to meet you. And you are?" All she does is look from me to the food I took away.

I sigh and drop her hand, just noticing the little tattoo on her arm. 011. "Eleven? What's that mean?" I ask her. "What's it mean?"

"No," she utters for the first time.

"Well, I'll be damned. She speaks." I let out a single laugh. "'No?' 'No' what?" No answer. I click my tongue. "All right. I guess no more food, then."

As I get up, taking the basket with me, she says, "Eleven."

"Yeah," I say, confused. "What's it mean?"

She points to herself. "Eleven."

"All right, then." I nod, thinking I understand. I slide the basket back in front of her and she starts wolfing it down again. "Here you go. Take it easy, take it easy."

As she eats that, I call Social Services. "Yeah, look, all I know is that she's scared to death. Yeah, I think maybe she's been abused or . . . kidnapped or something. Yeah, it'd be great if someone would come by. Yeah, we're at 4819 Randolph Lane. Yeah, Randolph."

Eleven
The machine blowing air is making a lot of annoying noises and so I stop it and keep eating.

{Shortest POV in history but oh hwell.}

Hopper
Callahan and Powell call for Will, whereas I figure it's probably no use. Instead, I look around the street and woods, and I spot something unusual down a bank. "Hey! I got something!" We jump down to check it out and find a bike next to a tree.

"That his bike?" Callahan asks.

"Yeah, he must have crashed," I say, looking around for any more signs of him.

"You think he got hurt in the fall?"

"Not so hurt he couldn't walk away. Bike like this is like a Cadillac to these kids. He would've walked it home." I grab the bike and look around more, wondering what the hell happened to this kid.

Joyce
"Is Lonnie there?" I ask the woman on the phone.

"Lonnie isn't here right now," she answers.

"Can you please put him on—?"

"I told you; Lonnie's not here."

"Who is this?"

"His girlfriend, Cynthia. Who the hell is this?"

"Cynthia, this is Joyce."

"Who?"

"Lonnie's ex-wife. I really need to speak to him."

"Lonnie's not here."

"Can you please put—?"

"Why don't you call back later?"

"No! No, not later. Now! Can—?" The line disconnects. I slam the phone on the holder. "Bitch!"

"Mom," Jonathan says.

"What?"

"You have to stay calm," he says.

I call Lonnie again and this time, his voicemail picks up. Better than that Cynthia woman. When I hear the tone, I say, "Lonnie, some teenager just hung up on me. Will is . . . is missing. I don't know where he is. I need . . . I just need you to call me back. Please, just—" The phone beeps again with disconnection. I throw the phone in its holder again. "Damn it, damn it!"

"Mom?" Jonathan says.

"What?"

He stands up, staring out the window. "Cops."

I rush outside to see Hopper's car and other police cars parked outside. Hopper comes out of his, holding a bike . . . Will's bike.

.^.^.^.^.

"It was just lying there?"

"Yeah," he says.

"Did it have any blood on it, or—?"

"No, no, no, no, no."

"If you found the bike out there," Jonathan asks, "why are you here?"

"Well, he had a key to the house, right?" Hopper asks.

"Yeah," Jonathan answers.

"So . . . maybe he came home."

"You think I didn't check my own house?" I stutter.

"I'm not saying that. Has this always been here?" He runs his fingers over a hole in the wall.

"What? I don't know," I say. "Probably. I mean, I have two boys. Look at this place!"

"You're not sure?" he asks, opening the door. The door handle lines up perfectly with the hole as if someone swung the door open so hard it dented the wall.

The dog barks from outside {wHaT iS tHe DoG's NaMe?} and Hopper walks outside to see him. "Hey, what's up with this guy, huh?"

"Nothing; he's probably just hungry." I take him by the collar and lead him inside. "Come on."

Hopper
Joyce takes the dog inside and I notice a shed out behind the house. I step inside and turn the light on, looking around. On the workbench is an open box of bullets. I feel around some hooks on the wall and the light blinks off, startling me half to death. I look around in the dark and find something unusual in the corner, so I grab a flashlight and kneel down to the corner to check it out. It appears to be a jacket, covered by wooden boards and cardboard boxes. I hear a strange noise and stand up; the light flickers on.

"Hey," Callahan says.

"Jesus!" I exclaim.

"What are you, deaf? I've been calling you," he says. "What's going on?"

I walk out of the shed.

"Hello?" Callahan says, following after me. "You sure you're okay, Chief?"

"Listen, I want you to call Flo," I say. "I want to get a search party together, all right? All the volunteers she can muster. Bring flashlights, too."

"Hey, you think we got a problem, here?" Callahan asks.

Mike
"We should be out there right now," I say. "We should be helping look for him."

"We've been over this, Mike," Mom says. "The chief said—"

"I don't care what the chief said!"

"Michael!"

"I agree with him," (Y/N) says. She had stayed for dinner and I'm beginning to be even more glad about it so she can back me up. "We've got to do something. Will is our best friend and he could be in danger!"

"More reason to stay put," Mom says. "And, (Y/N), I'm sure your mother would not want you out there, either."

(Y/N) scoffs and mutters something along the lines of "Like my mother would care."

"Mom!" I argue.

"End of discussion," she says.

(Y/N) sighs and rests her head in her hand, looking deep in thought. She's hardly touched her food.

"So . . . me and Barb are gonna study at her house," Nancy breaks the uncomfortable silence. "That's cool, right?"

"No, not cool," Mom says.

"What? Why not?"

"Why do you think? Am I speaking Chinese in this house? Until we know Will is okay, neither of you can leave."

"This is such bullshit!"

"Language," Dad says.

"So we're under house arrest?" Nancy asks. "Just because Mike's friend got lost on the way home—"

"This is not Will's fault!" (Y/N) defends, almost taking the words right out of my mouth.

"Nancy, take that back," Mom says sternly.

"No!"

"You're just pissed off 'cause you wanna hang out with Steve," I say. Nancy glares at me.

"Steve?" Dad asks.

"Who's Steve?" Mom asks.

"Her new boyfriend," I say.

"You are such a douchebag, Mike!" Nancy says.

"Language!" Dad scolds again.

"And you aren't?" (Y/N) fires back at Nancy.

"(Y/N)!" Mom shouts.

"What! I'm sorry that my best friend's in trouble and now we're calling it his fault and I'm a little pissed about it!" (Y/N) says, adding a high-pitched shriek of annoyance.

Nancy groans and shoots out of her chair, storming upstairs, probably to moon over Steve.

"Nancy, come back! Come back!" Mom demands, but she doesn't. Mom sighs. "It's okay. It's okay, Holly. Here, have some juice, okay?"

I want to leave, too, my parents are being so unfair. But I know I can't leave with (Y/N) here, especially seeing her closer to breaking into tears than I've ever seen her before.