It was a slow day at the diner, not that it was expected for business to be booming when the town was suffering a great tragedy. Even the few customers that were seated were eating in mostly silence. A silence that Samantha was not grateful for because it just meant that she would get lost in her own thoughts.

Although Will Byers was all she had been able to think about since the new broke, as she set the dirty plates on her tray her mind wondered back to Julian.

Julian, who she still had not heard from for three days now. It wasn't difficult to assume that his father hadn't gone to the police. The man must have assumed that Julian runaway. But he didn't know Jules. He would have never left town without telling her. Even if he had gone to visit his mother Samantha knew without a doubt that he wouldn't have left without letting her know.

And the more she thought about, the more determined she become to stop by the police station after her shift and talk to Sheriff Hopper.

The sound of a small bell snapped her out of her thoughts and to her surprise Jonathan Byers and Nancy Wheeler had stepped inside the diner. They both looked around uncomfortably until they finally met her eyes from across the room.

Setting the tray on the counter Samantha skated to Jonathan and Nancy, surprised to see them in the diner considering that she couldn't think of at least one instant where the three of them were in the same room together.

"Jonathan." Sam muttered as she pulled him into a tight hug, she felt as he awkwardly returned the hug but it was clear the her that it was a gesture that he didn't entirely appreciate. "I'm so sorry."

"Sam..."

Shaking her head she gestured towards the kitchen trying to think of anything that she could do to help him.  It was a pathetic attempt, but it was the only thing that she could give. "If you want something to eat, it's on the house. I can't even imagine..."

"Samantha." He tried again, this time his tone was more stern effectively causing her to stop rambling. Again he surprised her, she had never heard Jonathan use the forceful tone. Not that she was going to hold it against him while he was grieving.

"What?"

"Do you have a moment to talk?" Nancy questioned, her voice soft but there was an urgency in her eyes that sparked curiosity in Sam. Everything about this situation was unusual, and she knew that there had to be a damn good reason why Nancy Wheeler was suddenly choosing to hang out with Jonathan Byers. Especially after the incident with the photographs.

"Sure."  Sam replied with uncertainty as she looked over at the cash register where Viviane was already looking in her direction. The other girl made no attempt to hide the fact that she was eavesdropping on their conversations, not that Sam could blame her. She was just as curious where all of this was headed. "Viv can you take over my tables for me?"

Viviane simply nodded, and Sam gestured for Jonathan and Nancy to follow her as she took a seat at a booth in the far end of the diner. All the nearby booths weren't occupied, meaning that they would have some privacy.

"What's going on?" She questioned as she looked across the table at Jonathan and Nancy who looked at each other with uncertainty.

"Look at this picture." Jonathan finally said after what felt like a long moment. Reaching into his pocket he set a torn piece of paper in front of her. She quickly realized that it was a torn photograph, but not just any photograph. It was one of the photos that he had taken at Steve's house. "What do you see?"

Picking up the remainder of the photograph, she remembered that this was the photo that Steve had handed to her. Only the portion of Nancy undressing had been ripped away. All that was left was Who she recognized as Barbara Holland sitting at the edge of the pool. "Is that Barbara?"

"Yes." Nancy said quickly. "Take a closer look."

This time Samantha picked up the photo and brought it closer. As she did she spotted something in the corner of the photo that she had missed before. She couldn't tell who the dark figure was but it sent a chill through her. "You mean the shadow?"

"What do you think it is?"

"Were you using a wide angle?" Samantha questioned as she took an even closer look at the photograph trying desperately to find an answer to the figure hidden in the shadows. "It could be some kind of perspective distortion."

"I thought so too at first but I wasn't using a wide angle." Jonathan said quickly dismissing her theory before growing even more serious than he was before. "Have you heard from Julian?"

"No."

"Barb is missing too." Nancy declared, the worry in her eyes mirroring her own.

Immediately Samantha felt her mouth go dry. Because if Barbara Holland was missing too then maybe there was a pattern that she couldn't see. This couldn't all be a coincidence, and yet she couldn't find it in herself to think of some kind of conspiracy of what was happening. "I don't understand."

"Remember when I told you that my mom saw a man without a face?" Jonathan questioned, and Samantha nodded slowly remembering their odd conversation in the school parking lot. She didn't believe him then and even know that he seemed serious she still couldn't believe it. Before he had told her that his mother was coming up with that story out of grief. And now he seemed entirely serious. "She said that he came out of the wall and that it has my brother."

"What if this thing took Barb and Julian too?" Nancy questioned

"So you think this man took them?" Samantha continued as she pointed at the blurred shadow in the photograph. The rational part of her wanted to dismiss everything they were telling her, but she couldn't deny the connections between Barb and Jules going missing within the span of a few days. What she couldn't find an explanation for was Will's body that they had just found in the quarry. "But they found Will."

"Do you want to know what happened to Barb and Julian?" Nancy asked her a determination in her voice that even with all her doubts made Samantha want to hear more.

Up until this moment Samantha had never considered the fact that Julian might have been taken or kidnapped. Hearing what Jonathan and Nancy were saying only caused her to fear for Jules' safety even more. 

The high school was quiet, everyone having already gone home from the day. The sun had already begin to set by the time the three teenagers arrived at Hawkins High. It was clear that they didn't really know what they were doing or what they were exactly looking for, but Samantha couldn't shake the feeling that they wouldn't like what they were going to find.

Jonathan turned on the lights in the darkroom, and the red lighting only increased Sam's anxiety. She had been in this room before to develop some of her own photos, but suddenly the room felt unfamiliar. She realized that she was letting the situation get to her head. Whatever conspiracy they had created could turn out to be nothing at all.

And as Jonathan worked on developing an enlarged version of the photograph of Barbara by the pool, the only sounds in the room was Jonathan moving around tools.

Nancy watched Jonathan in silence as she leaned across the desk. "And you're..."

After a long moment of Jonathan not saying anything Samantha decided to answer, realizing the Jonathan was much too focused to have heard a word Nancy said. "Brightening and enlarging."

Nancy nodded and the three teenagers once again slipped into an awkward silence. It was an odd realization that their brothers were all best friends and yet they couldn't find anything in common. Or really the ability to continue a  real conversation long enough for it to be even considered a conversation.

Luckily Nancy seemed determined to not remain silent as she took a step closer to Jonathan. She was clearly someone who asked a lot of questions, and not having any answers was frustrating her.

"Did your mom say anything else? Like, um, where it might have gone to, or..."

Jonathan paused for a moment as he carefully removed the undeveloped photograph from the wash bath of chemicals. "No, just that it came out of the wall."

"How long does this take?" Nancy questioned again.

"Not long."

"Have you guys been doing this a while?"

"I just know the basics." Sam dismissed not really open to talking about photography or anything really. Normally she tended to be very social but Nancy's inability to stop asking questions was making her more nervous than she already was. "I mostly just take photos of things I want to paint or draw later."

Nancy and Sam then turned to Jonathan waiting for his answer, and he suddenly seemed surprised that all the attention was now on him. Although Samantha had more of a relationship with Jonathan than she did with Nancy there was still so much that she didn't know about him. Whenever they did talk it was mostly Sam doing all the talking. In many ways Jonathan was a lot like Jules. He liked to listen instead of talk. "Yeah. I guess I'd rather observe people than, you know..."

"Talk to them." Nancy finished slightly amused by his answer.

"I know it's weird."

"No."

Jonathan shook his head as he straightened, the photograph finally forgotten as he attempted to put what he felt into words. Something that clearly wasn't easy for him to do. "No, It is. It's just that sometimes people don't really say what they're really thinking. But when you capture the right moment... It says some more."

"What was I saying when you took my picture?" Nancy questioned, and Samantha couldn't help but be surprised that she was mentioning what had happened the other day. Up until this moment it had seemed that the two of them had decided to not mention the incident.

"I shouldn't have taken that." Jonathan said immediately, the regret and embarrassment clear in his eyes. "I'm, uh.. I'm sorry..."

"That's it." Nancy suddenly declared as she pointed at the photo that had finally finished developing. "That's saw."

Looking down at the photograph Sam felt her heart instantly drop at the image. Now that they had could see the silhouette of the figure more clearly, there was no denying that something was indeed terribly wrong.

"What the hell is that?" Samantha asked as she leaned forward to take a closer look at the twisted figure. And the more detail she was able to distinguish she felt all the air leave her lungs and un indescribable chill run through her body. Because whatever was in that image was not human. It was a tall humanoid creature with elongated limbs. And although they couldn't see its face through the photo, Sam knew without a doubt that it was terrifying.

Jonathan's voice was shaky, but there was also relief in his eyes. "My mom..I thought she was crazy girl cause she said that's not Will's body. That he's alive."

Slowly Sam began to realize what all of this meant. That this thing had to be the reason why there were people going missing in Hawkins. That if Joyce had been able to somewhat contact Will, it meant that he had to be alive. And if Will who had been missing for days was still alive that meant that there was hope for the others too. "And if he's alive..."

"Then Barbara and Julian." Nancy finished, her eyes also sparking with relief.

They all remained silent for a moment, almost like they were all afraid to speak what was really on their minds. Although Samantha wasn't sure she would like the answer to her next question she also knew that it was a question that needed to be answered if they were going to get Will, Jules and Barbara back. "If this thing... took them. Where did it take them to?"

"I guess that's the next big question we have to answer."

Even with the photograph right in front of her it seemed impossible for Samantha to wrap her mind around everything they had just discussed. But there was no denying what was right in front of her.

Because there were no such thing as monsters.

Monsters only existed in movies and that stupid game that Lucas and his friends liked to play.