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November 7, 1983

         Winnie groaned as Jonathan yanked her curtains open. She turned her head to look face down into the pillow, only for the boy to pull the entire comforter off the bed.

"Up!" He laughed.

"Go away, dad," she told him, though the pillow muffled he voice.

"C'mon Sleeping Beauty," Jonathan left the room as he teased her.

Winnie's heart fluttered a bit at the nickname. It didn't take long after meeting Jonathan for her to develop a crush on him. She quickly grew fond of his caring nature and bashfulness. She loved how easily he blushed at a compliment, whether he was giving or receiving one.

Over the years though, as they've grown closer, she knew it would never happen. But she never could quite push away all her feelings for her best friend.

Slowly, Winnie slid off her bed. She carelessly tossed her comforter back on the bed before shutting her door to change in private. Throwing on an old Fleetwood Mac t shirt and some light wash Mom jeans, she then made her way to the bathroom.

After brushing her teeth and hair, the girl headed to the kitchen for Jonathan's homemade breakfast. Her favorite.

She sat at the small kitchen table, letting Jonathan scrape some eggs onto her plate. Immediately digging in, the girl glanced around noticing the absence of her favorite middle schooler.

"Where's Will?" She asked with a mouthful of food.

"I haven't gotten him up yet," Jonathan answered.

"Why were you so determined to get me up then?"

"Because you take forever to get ready."

"It literally took me three minutes. I checked."

"Twice as long as I take," the boy teased.

Winnie snorted, "Yeah, that's cause you wear whatever you find on your floor that smells the best."

Jonathan opened his mouth in mock offense, "Do not!"

"Do too," the girl laughed.

Suddenly, a frantic Joyce ran into the room.

"Have either of you seen my keys?" She asked in a panic.

"Check the couch," Jonathan suggested.

The woman did, and lo and behold, "Ah, found 'em."

Joyce then walked into the kitchen to say bye to the two teenagers.

"Have a good day at school," she patted both their shoulders and turned to pat Will as well, realizing he wasn't there. "Where's Will?"

"Jonathan hasn't woken him up yet," Winnie told her surrogate mother.

Joyce groaned, "Seriously?" She rushed down the hall to Will's room, calling out to him to wake him up. Then she quickly appeared in the kitchen again, "He came home last night, right?"

At her words both the teenagers looked up. "He's not in his room?" they asked at the same time.

Joyce shook her head, "Did he come home?" she repeated.

"I- I don't know," Jonathan stuttered.

"You don't know?" the mother asked in disbelief.

"No, I, I got asked to pick up another shift and I thought we could use the extra cash."

"Jonathan, we talked about this. You can't take shifts when I'm working!" Joyce turned to the sitting blonde girl, "Win?"

"I don't know. I was at the library until like 9, I have that APUSH test today," Winnie told her, concern evident on her face. Joyce sighed, bringing her hand to her forehead. "I told you that, though,"

"No, I know. I remember," the woman said.

"Look, he was at the Wheeler's last night. I'm sure he just slept over," Jonathan reasoned.

With another sigh, Joyce walked over to the phone. "I can't believe you!" She said to Jonathan.

"I'm sorry," he muttered as he watched his mom dial the number.

Winnie couldn't hear the other side of the conversation, but her heart sunk fifty feet when she heard Joyce say, "You know what? I'm sure he just left early for- for school. Thank you." Then she hung up.

A heavy silence fell over the room as they all stared at each other. Winnie breathed heavily, and she could see Joyce's hands shaking. The blonde brought her own hand to her mouth as the three struggled to find words.

"Um. . ." Joyce started, "ok. . . You two just go to school. I'll keep calling some places."

"Are you sure?" Winnie asked quietly. The woman responded the a mere wordless nod.

The ride to school that morning was silent as the two best friends couldn't think straight. Winnie zoned out, her hands fidgeted aggressively. Her chest rose and fell dramatically as she thought about where Will could be.

When they arrived, they didn't even say bye to each other as they separated to go to first period. Winnie didn't know how she would be able to focus on her test that day
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School was a blur. The whole day, all Winnie could think about was when she could go home and look for Will. Sitting in her final class of the day, she leaned against her hand and zoned out. Her head filling with memories of the young boy.

"What did you just call me?" Winnie asked with mock offense.

Will laughed, "No! It's not an insult! I'm just saying that if you played DnD I feel like you would be a Tiefling!"

"I have no idea what that means."

"Of course you don't. You're boring."

"Ouch, Willy."

The pair sat at the dining table. Winnie did her Chemistry homework while Will procrastinated by working on a new campaign. The young boy had taken up almost the entire surface area of the table with all his supplies, leaving Winnie to lean her binder on the edge.

"Maybe if you finally let me teach you, you wouldn't be boring anymore."

"Ok number one, I keep telling you one day I'll learn and I intend to keep that promise. Number two, what about me is so boring?!"

"Oh just your taste in music, movies, books-" Will tried to avoid hurting her feelings though the smiles on both their faces meant that the conversation wasn't being taken too seriously.

"Ok, ok, we get it," Winnie cut him off. The pair laughed. "Tell you what: this weekend, I'm gonna let you help me make a character. How's that sound?"

"Really?" The boy got excited.

"Yes but only if you're nice to me for the rest of the week."

"I can do that."

"Good," reaching out a hand, Winnie ruffled the young boy's hair. She then returned to her homework with a smile on her face.

"Ms. Hopper?"

With a jolt, Winnie came back to the present. She looked up to see the teacher standing my her desk and an empty classroom around her.

"Did you need something?" The teacher asked.

"What?"

"Is there a reason you stayed behind?"

"Oh- No. . . Sorry," then the blonde girl stood up and bolted out of the classroom. The teacher watched her run in confusion before shrugging and going back to her own desk.

Finding Jonathan in the parking lot, they both got in the car and sped home. Winnie hopes they had found him by now. That it was all a false alarm. But she also has a gut feeling that the reasoning for Will's disappearance were much scarier than getting lost or forgetting to tell anyone where he was going.

When they got home, Joyce and the two teenagers immediately set out to look for Will on foot. They spent about an hour going up and down the street and what felt like three hours in the woods. Apparently, it was only 45 minutes though.

Deciding to head back, Jonathan and Winnie rummaged through photos to put on the Missing poster. The blonde girl sat on the floor facing the couch where the boy sat. Meanwhile, Joyce argued with Lonnie's girlfriend on the phone in the hallway.

"Bitch!" The woman yelled, slamming the phone onto the receiver.

"Mom!" Jonathan called out, "We need to stay calm."

With a huff, Joyce picked up the phone again, redialing Lonnie. Of course, she got the answering machine.

The woman scoffed, "Lonnie. Some teenager just hung up on me. Will is missing. I don't know where he is. I need you to just—call me. Call me back, please—" Then the answering machine was turned off.

Joyce, filled with anger, began to slam the phone repeatedly into the receiver, "Dammit! Dammit!"

Then, Winnie and Jonathan heard cars pull into their driveway. The boy stood up and Winnie followed suit.

"Mom, cops." Jonathan said.

Winnie shifted uncomfortably at the sight of her dad getting out of the car. She still talks to him on occasion, but only for brief moments at a time. She felt like they were strangers. However, she followed Joyce and Jonathan out the door anyway.

Leaning against the door frame, she saw her dad holding Will's bike. The sight made her feel like her throat was closing up.

They let the Chief and his two deputies inside. Winnie's father held her gaze for an extended period of time as he walked past her through the door.

"It was just lying there?" Joyce asked.

"Yeah. . ." Hopper muttered, signaling his deputies to start looking around.

"Did it have any blood on it or—" Joyce inquired, but the Chief interrupted.

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

As the two Byers' followed the Chief around the house, Winnie stayed planted by the door. She leaned back against it, suddenly feeling out of place as she watched Jonathan comfort his mother from afar.

It was a brief moment, but for a second Winnie forgot she had been living with these people for the last 3 years. She shook it off quickly and proceeded to trail behind the group at a distance.

When she caught up to them outside, Joyce was dragging the dog back into the house. Hopper made his way inside the shed to look around, leaving Winnie to contemplate which direction to go.

Then, one of the deputies came to get the Chief. After calling him a couple times, the man finally responded. The three cops began to leave the house while talking about organizing a search party.

With all of them gone, the house was silent again as the Jonathan, Joyce, and Winnie tried to find words.

That night, Winnie laid on her bed. An open folder sat sprawled out with drawings spilling from within. Will's drawings. The girl filed through them, admiring each one and remembering the moment she was given them. Salty tears cascaded down her face as she lost the ability to breath out her nose due to the mucus.

It became too much. She dropped the drawing she was holding and lifted her hand to cover her mouth. Her breathing became short and startling. Laying back to try and calm herself, she felt her whole body begin to shake. Hot tears pooled in her ears due to her position on her back. Her body racked with sobs, and her eyes were so blurry that she couldn't even see the water damage on her ceiling.

A commotion from the other room caught her attention. She heard Joyce yelling something intelligible. Cracking her door open, she peered into the hallway, eventually spotting Joyce and Jonathan next to the phone. The woman wept loudly, her son pulling her away from the wall phone. He held his mother as she broke down.

Then the feeling came back. The one where she felt out of place, like she wasn't supposed to be there. This time, the feeling stayed with her for the rest of the night. It weighed her down as if she wore a backpack full of rocks.

For the first time in three years, she debated calling her dad.

But Winnie wasn't an impulsive person. Plus it was late. So instead, she allowed herself to weep alone. That night, she slept with the lights on. Though, either way, she knew she would be met with a less than peaceful sleep.

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hi :)

yay chpt one!!!

i think I'm gonna try to do one chapter per episode to get through the show faster :)

unless it gets too much ofc

btw I know in the prologue I kinda trashed on hopper but I want u to know I love him very much he's a top 3 character to me. I was just trying to be realistic to the plot and how I think Winnie would play into it.

anyway hope u love Winnie as much as I do even tho she was really sad this chapter.

much love <3
chloe