the mind flayer

﹌﹌﹌

TO SAY the five were scared was an understatement. They had no clue where the creatures had gone, but slowly put two and two together to hear monstrous roars erupting from Hawkins Laboratory. Walking down the dark train tracks, they thought of all the possible options, all of the pros and cons of the situation and of course, Dart. The star of the show.

While all of the children were aching for more adventure, Steve and Scarlett couldn't help but think it would be better to play it safe at the nearest house. But then again, they wouldn't mind venturing further into the darkness, as long as they didn't die and stuck close together.

"You're positive that was Dart?" Lucas faced Dustin, they ing to sort out all of the details of their unfortunate dilemma.

Dustin sighed, having explained this to Lucas one too many times. "Yes. He had the same exact yellow pattern on his butt."

"He was tiny two days ago." Max stated, annoyed as well as confused. Scarlett thought she stated a valid point.. for someone who has yet to fully experience Hawkins. Scarlett would be just as puzzled as Max if she hadn't experienced the horrors of the Upside Down first hand.

"Well, he's molted three times already." Dustin continued trudging along, not bothering to explain himself as he was growing agitated. He had already thoroughly explained the situation to everyone at least twelve times, and he knew it wasn't the last.

"Malted?" Steve questioned Dustin in a mumble, not quite understanding what Dustin was talking about, but embarrassed to admit it due to everyone else knowing what he said.

"Molted." Dustin corrected. "Shed his skin to make room for growth like hornworms."

Scarlett pat the taller boy's shoulder, "Looks like someone didn't pay attention during Biology." She joked, Steve responding to her with a laugh and a gentle shove. Scarlett regained her balance by grabbing his arm, using it to pull herself up. "When's he gonna molt again then? From the looks of it, one more and he's an actual demogorgon."

Dustin shivered at the thought of Dart becoming the nine foot tall beast, "It's gotta be soon. And you're one hundred percent right, he'll either be fully grown or close to it. And so will his friends."

"Yeah, and he's gonna eat a lot more than just cats." Steve added with a shake of his head. Scarlett's head snapped in his direction, jabbing his side with her elbow. He mouthed a, 'what?' to the girl, then turned back towards Dustin.

"Wait, a cat?" Lucas stopped in front of Dustin. Scarlett slapped a palm to her forehead as Steve began spilling out information that was never meant to be spread. Dustin was totally, utterly busted. "Dart ate a cat?"

"No, an elephant." Scarlett said sarcastically. "Yes, a cat! Isn't that what he said?" She had to admit Dustin was a little wrong for keeping Dart, but she kind of saw where he was coming from.

"No, what? No." Dustin denied, backing away from Lucas.

"What are you talking about? He ate Mews." Steve inputted. Scarlett sighed in disbelief, he couldn't actually be that dense, could he?

"Mews? Who's Mews?" Max asked.

"It's Dustin's cat." Steve enlightened her, the small smile that had grown on his face wiped off as soon as Scarlett and Dustin yelled his name in frustration.

"I knew it! You kept him!" Lucas shoved Dustin, staring at him in disbelief that he had been lying to them for so long.

"No!" Dustin exclaimed, though it wasn't very convincing. All Scarlett could do was watch the two boys bicker with disappointment written all over her face. "No. No I- No I.. He missed me. He wanted to come home."

"Bullshit!"

"I didn't know he was a baby demogorgon, okay?"

"Oh, so now you admit it?"

"Guys, who cares? We have to go." Max interrupted them. She was clearly fed up with their useless arguing as it would obviously lead them no where.

"I care! You put the party in jeopardy! You broke the rule of law!" Lucas argued, turning back to Dustin.

"So did you!" Dustin bursted out at Lucas, shoving him.

"What?" Lucas stopped suddenly, just as confused as the three others who were waiting for the two to quit their bickering.

Dustin aimed the beam of the flashlight into Max's eyes, causing her to stumble back. "You told a stranger the truth!"

Max scoffed, "A stranger?" She said angrily, stomping up to them as Steve and Scarlett shared a wide eyed look. Scarlett stepped away from the argument, motioning for Steve to follow her as the the wandered away from the tracks, but not too far.

"They are some weird kids." Steve turned to look at Scarlett as she aimed her flashlight at a tree in front of her.

"Tell me about it." She let out a laugh, directing the flashlight beam elsewhere. "You know-" She stopped herself, something in the distance catching her eye.

"What?" Steve looked at her, confused as to why she had suddenly gone silent. He walked up beside her and directed his gaze towards what she had been looking at. The roars in the distance caused nothing but panic within the two teens. "Oh, shit."

"Guys?" Scarlett called out to the three middle schoolers behind them in hopes to gain their attention.

Steve sighed at the misbehaving kids, turning to face them. "Guys!" He yelled, causing them to immediately stop arguing and silently turn to him with wide eyes.

Scarlett had already begun trekking towards the sound, Steve trailing not far behind her along with the three others. As they came to a clearing atop a tall hill, they looked upon all the possible places Dart and his friends could be. They weren't able to see much though, the fog covered Hawkins like a thick blanket. Dustin shrugged, "I don't see him."

"No shit Dustin, we're on a hill and there's fog everywhere." Scarlett shook her head, a sigh escaping her lips.

Lucas placed his binoculars onto his eyes, looking through them to see the Lab glowing in the distance, the roars coming straight from the building. "It's the lab. They were going back home."

"Glad to see you're using those things," The brunette pat her cousins shoulder, referring to the binoculars she had given him for Christmas. "But shit, we gotta get down there."

"Agreed." Dustin nodded, starting down the hill with no hesitation. Scarlett quickly followed after him with Lucas and Max in suit, leaving Steve on the hill to question his choices.

"Guys! Come on.. no!" He groaned. "We don't need to go to the lab, I'm sure they've got it covered with their high tech weapons and stuff.." Realizing he was talking to himself, he began running off after them, "For fucks sake."

They slowed down as they neared the lab, following the tall fence that trailed the perimeter of the building. Scarlett fell behind the three kids, matching Steve's pace. She nudged his side, "Scared?"

He looked down at her, letting out a small laugh, "No. You?" He gently elbowed her back, earning a grin from her.

"Not at all. These things have nothing on me, I can just.." She imitated shooting a gun, including sound effects. "And you can like, y'know.. beat it up." She could barely finish her final sentence before laughing.

Steve scoffed, "Oh come on, that was once!" He couldn't help but laugh along with her though, her laugh was quite contagious.

"Twice! Ben. My freshman year, your sophomore." Scarlett stated.

"That doesn't count!" Steve said, then stopped for a moment. "I did say some pretty shitty stuff to him though, so I guess I deserved it."

"The stuff you said about his dad was fucked up." Scarlett admitted. "But I'm glad you two worked it all out and are friends now. And the stuff you said about his hamster was kind of funny."

"Oh, Fredrick the Third?" Steve laughed, Scarlett nodded in response. "I just don't understand how it fit into the vents, but couldn't get back out."

"We'll never know. There is a Frederick the sixth now." Scarlett pointed out. Ben's mom was allergic to dogs, and his dad hated cats. So his little sister, Lindsey and him had asked for a hamster in hopes to finally own a pet. And so, Christmas of '79, Frederick the hamster was brought into the Clemson household.

"Frederick the sixth? What happened to Frederick the fifth?" Steve asked, wondering if she meant something else and accidentally skipped a number.

"Dead and gone." Scarlett said sadly. All of the Frederick's had met a horrible end. A terrible death fated for each of them. The original Frederick had fell from its cage, Frederick the second had wandered straight outside, the third had bit Ben and got accidentally thrown, the forth had gotten lost in the vents, and the fifth? Too gruesome to say. Long story short, he died a very fiery death.

"Guys! Shh." Lucas shushed them, motioning for the two to join the rest by the bushes. "Let's keep going. Just be quieter. The powers out and I'm not sure about guards."

The five emerged from the woods, almost immediately met by two voices they knew very well. "Steve?" Nancy and Jonathan's voices were shocked.

Scarlett and the kids parted from behind Steve, distributing themselves to see the two they did not expect would be there. Jonathan's eyes flitted to Scarlett, immediately lighting up. "Scar!"

"Jonathan, hey!" She grinned at the boy. Nancy glanced over at her and politely waved, to which Scarlett returned with a small hello.

"Nancy?" Steve matched Nancy's tone, furrowing his brows and glancing between the two.

"What are you doing here?" Nancy questioned harshly, her words demanding as she stomped over to the group.

"A little harsh?" Max whispered to Scarlett, crossing her arms over her chest. Scarlett knew Max wasn't dumb, she picked up on things easily. She could tell something was going on, it was obvious. Scarlett nodded, shooting her a look that read 'I know.'

"What are you doing here?" Steve shot back, avoiding Nancy's identical question.

"We're looking for Mike and Will." Nancy's tone changed, becoming sweeter and more welcoming, confusing Max.

"They're not in there, are they?" Dustin nodded to the lab worriedly. If his friends were in there, they were in danger.

"Why?" Jonathan asked. As if on cue, a monster screeched from inside the lab, followed by a chorus of screeching and roars from multiple monsters inside the building. The seven turned their heads towards the sound, fear sweeping over their faces as they stared at the now foggy building that is, Hawkins Laboratory. Scarlett pointed with a shaky finger, "That's why."

"I don't mean to point fingers, but-" Nancy began, immediately getting shut down by Scarlett.

"By saying that, you are literally pointing fingers. Let's not." She put emphasis on 'literally,' the group agreeing.

it soon turned into an arguing mess, everyone standing in a group and bickering. Putting the blame on each other, and not even realizing that the most valuable thing they could do is strategize. Nancy suddenly pushed past the group, staring at the lab before finally speaking up, "The powers back."

It drew them all from their bickering to silence, with one glimpse at the building, they took off running to the gate, Jonathan consistently hitting the button in hopes the gate would slide open.

With no luck, Dustin tried his. "Let me try, Jonathan!" He exclaimed, pushing the older boy out of the way and pressing the open button. But still, no luck. "Son of a bitch! You know what.." He began pushing it with  his fist, almost punching the button. Over and over..

And over and over..

"Dustin, stop!" Scarlett yelled, running to the booth and shoving him out of the way. "You're gonna break it, and then we won't be able to open it at all, Einstein."

She pressed the button gently, everyone watching in shock as the gate slid open. "See? There." She grinned triumphantly, looking over at the two scowling boys on either side of her.

"Son of a bitch." He muttered, flipping her off and exiting the booth, followed by Jonathan and Scarlett. Both Jonathan and Nancy rushed off without another word, presumably to go find their siblings.

It wasn't much longer before two cars sped down the road, nearly running the kids over. "Holy shit." Scarlett breathed out as she had just yanked Lucas and Max out of the street.

The chief slammed on the breaks, looking over at the crew. "Let's go." He said breathlessly, motioning for them to get in. Steve was the first to jump out, swinging open the car door and pulling the seat down with urgency.

"Come on, let's go! Let's go! Hurry, get in!" He urged, letting everyone into the back seat. Lucas, Dustin and Max clambered in, followed by Scarlett who had made them go in first.

Hopper peeled away from the lab faster than lightning. "What the hell happened in there?" Scarlett gasped while steadying herself on the seats.

"I'll tell you later kid, now's not the time." Hopper said, pressing his foot all the way down on the accelerator causing them to laugh forward.

Getting to the Byers house was an easy feat, as Hopper had driven straight after Jonathan's car, the two vehicles speeding as fast as they could. Upon arrival, they urgently rushed a limp Will into the house, laying him down on the couch with a blanket over him. Jonathan softly spoke to the boy as Nancy laid a comforting hand on his shoulder.

Listening to the Chief's phone call, Scarlett no longer needed an explanation, as she pieced everything together herself. The same creatures that had tried to attack the teens, had viciously mauled Bob, and were predicted to take on the rest of Hawkins next. Hopper slammed the phone back into the mount, sighing in frustration as all the teens stared at him.

"They didn't believe you, did they?" Dustin spoke up, leaning against the table as Hop slowly turned towards them.

"We'll see." He answered simply, causing a spark of anger to ignite within Mike.

"We'll see? We can't just sit here while those things are loose!" Mike cried out, the younger teens agreed with him while Steve and Scarlett shared a nervous look.

"We stay here, and we wait for help." Hopper stated, turning his back to the group as he began waking down the hallway, stopping at Will's door and disappearing inside.

"Well, isn't he just Mr. Macho man?" Scarlett said sarcastically, crossing her arms over her chest as she scoffed.

"Big boss man, Chief Hopper." Lucas mumbled next to his cousin, mimicking her movements. He glanced up to see Hopper had disappeared, "Wait. Where'd he go?"

"Who knows." Max sighed, tapping the table she stared at.

The group sat in silence, deep in thought as they strategized their next move. Will laid on the couch, still out of consciousness with Nancy and Jonathan by his side. Was Will a spy for the Shadow Monster? Or was it something even bigger?

Mike got up and made his way over to the coffee table, where a rubrics cube and a few books and games sat. Picking it up, he turned back to everyone. "Did you guys know Bob was the original founder of Hawkins AV?"

"Really?" Lucas said, equally as shocked as the other middle schoolers at the table.

"He petitioned the school to start it and everything. The he had a fundraiser for equipment." Mike explained. "Mr. Clarke learned everything from him. Pretty awesome, right?" Dustin and Lucas agreed with Mike, nodding with small smiles on their faces. "We can't let him die in vain." Mike said, placing the cube down on the table.

"What do you wanna do Mike?" Dustin began, "The Chief's right on this. We can't stop those Demo-dogs on our own."

"Demo-dogs?" Max and Scarlett scoffed, confused as Dustin had named the creatures as if they were a species of dog.

Dustin stared at the girls in silence for a moment. "Demogorgon. Dogs." He clasped his hands together, "Demo-dogs. It's like a compound. It's like a play on words-"

"Okay." Max nodded with wide eyes.

"We got it Dustin. It just sounds kinda stupid. Stupidly smart." Scarlett shook her head at the younger boy.

"I get that a lot." Dustin grinned cheekily.

"God, you're annoying." Scarlett laughed, kicking his legs under the table with her own.

"I get that a lot too!" Dustin added with a shrug before continuing his spiel. "I mean, when it was just Dart, maybe.."

"But there's an army now." Lucas cut in, providing a valid point for everyone to agree with.

"Precisely."

"His army." Mike finally spoke up from his silence, gears seemingly turning rapidly in his head.

"What do you mean?" Steve asked.

"His army. Maybe if we stop him, we can stop his army, too." Mike exclaimed, ushering everyone to Will's room where he grabbed the drawing of the shadowy creature.

"The shadow monster." Dustin took the paper from Mike, showing it to everyone.

"It got Will that day on the field." Mike nodded. "The doctor said it was like a virus, it infected him."

"And so this virus is connecting him to the tunnels?" Max presumed, connecting the pieces of the puzzle herself.

"To the tunnels, monsters, the Upside Down, everything." Mike listed, getting excited as they figured pieces out one by one.

"Whoa. Slow down. Slow down." Steve shook his head, not quite getting everything Mike was explaining.

"Little slow in the head, are we?" Scarlett joked. "Basically this shadow monster thing is inside everything.."

"And if the vines feel something like pain, then so does Will." Mike cut in.

"And so does Dart." Lucas added in.

"Yeah. Like what Mr. Clarke taught us. The hive mind." Mike said, and Scarlett had to crack a smile at the young group of boys smarts.

"Hive mind?" Steve questioned.

Scarlett's smile was wiped off her face as she slapped her palm to her forehead. "A collective consciousness. It's a super-organism. God, do you ever pay attention in class?"

"No." Steve answered honestly. He never paid attention in class because she was in it. He never got the best grades but it was all worth it whenever she was his lab partner. She was a grade below him, but he ended up in her class as he was never the smartest.

"And this is the thing that controls everything. It's the brain." Mike pointed at the thing in the drawing.

Dustin's eyes widened, a light bulb turning on above is head as he came to a realization. "Like the Mind Flayer."

"What?" Steve and Max said in unison as the three boys shared a knowing look. Scarlett simply just shook her head in disappointment, "Another DND character? Seriously?"

They followed Dustin down the hallway while he called for the people strayed out in different rooms in the house, and as soon as he reached the table, Dustin slammed the book on the table as everyone quickly gathered around. The book was opened to a specific section Dustin's finger jabbed at, "The Mind Flayer."

"The hell is that?" Hopper asked the young boy, seemingly unimpressed.

"It's a monster from an unknown dimension. It's so ancient that it doesn't even know it's true home. Okay, it enslaves races of other dimensions by taking over their brains using its highly developed psionic powers." Dustin explained thoroughly.

"Oh my god, none of this is real. This is a kids game." Hopper argued to which Dustin was quick to disagree.

"No, it's a manual. And it's not for kids." The curly haired boy fired back. "And unless you know something we don't, this is the best metaphor-"

"Analogy." Lucas corrected, interrupting Dustin's argument.

"Analogy? That's what you're worried about? Fine. An analogy for understanding whatever the hell this is."

"Okay, so this mind flamer thing-" Nancy began, leaning over the manual.

"Mind flayer." Dustin corrected.

"Mind flinger?" Scarlett furrowed her brows.

Dustin opened his mouth to argue, then let out a long breath, "Flayer. Mind flayer."

"What does it want?" Nancy shook her head, getting to the point.

"To conquer us, basically. It believes it's the master race." Dustin answered her.

"Like the Germans?" Steve stammered.

"Uh, the Nazis?" Dustin turned to the boy, staring at him for a moment.

"Wow." Scarlett mouthed as everyone else joined Dustin in staring at Steve in shock.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, the Nazis." Steve panicked, embarrassed at his own actions.

"Uh.. If the Nazis were from another dimension, totally." Dustin continued after the awkward moment. "Uh, it views other races, like us, as inferior to itself."

"It wants to spread, take over other dimensions." Mike stated confidently.

"We are talking about the destruction of our world as we know it." Lucas added, sending Steve into panic.

"That's great. That's great. That's really great. Jesus!" Steve stressed, turning away from the table.

"Okay, so if this thing is like a brain that's controlling everything, then if we kill it.." Nancy picked up the book.

"We kill everything it controls." Mike finished. Scarlett's head snapped in Mike's direction, her brows furrowing as the gears in her head spun. She realized an obstacle stood in the way of their plan.

"We win." Dustin nodded.

"Theoretically." Lucas shrugged.

"Great. So how do you kill this thing? Shoot it with Fireballs or something?" Hopper cut to the chase, waiting for Dustin's response.

"No. No, no fire- No fireballs. Uh, you summon an undead army, uh because.. because zombies, you know, they don't have brains, and the mind flayer, it.. it.. It likes brains. It's just a game. It's a game."

"What the hell are we doing here." Hopper sighed in frustration, slamming the book onto the table.

"I thought we were waiting for your military backup." Dustin mocked the chief, scowling.

"We are!"

"Even if they come, how are they gonna stop this? You can't just shoot this with guns." Mike fired at Hopper.

He spun around, "You don't know that! We don't know anything!" Hopper argued with the boy.

"We know it's already killed everybody in that lab." Mike stated.

"We know the monsters are gonna molt again." Lucas added.

"And we know that it's only a matter of time before those tunnels reach this town." Dustin finished.

"They're right." A solemn Joyce emerged from the hallway, everyone's heads snapping in her direction. "We have to kill it. I want to kill it."

"Me too, me too Joyce, okay? But how do we do that? We don't exactly know what we're dealing with here." Hopper came to Joyce's side, grabbing onto her shoulders comfortingly.

"No. But he does." Mike spoke up, walking towards the couch where Will laid. "If anyone knows how to destroy this thing, it's Will. He's connected to it. He'll know its weaknesses."

"I thought we couldn't trust him anymore. That he's a spy for the mind flayer now." Max stated.

"Yeah, but he can't spy if he doesn't know where he is." Mike replied.

Scarlett let out a short, nervous laugh. "Um, sorry to interrupt this. But that's exactly the problem. If Will's connected to this thing, wouldn't that mean he's kind of in the danger zone here? You know how the hive mind works, kill the brain, kill the body?"

"We aren't killing it just yet, first we have to figure out where it is. Then figure out a way to get it out of Will." Mike explained loosely.

﹌﹌﹌

Scarlett had quickly called Ben after Dustin had explained the plan. They needed an extra person if they wanted this to run smoothly and efficiently. After he arrived they throughly explained what was going on and how everything was going to go, and soon enough they were off in twos. Steve was disappointed when he was with Nancy instead of Scarlett, and Scarlett was with Ben instead of him.

Ben and Scarlett were on sheet duty, and Ben had brought over tons of sheets that would be unfamiliar to Will, adding to the spy's confusion factor. Of course, since their task was quick and easy, they could just head straight into the shed and begin covering the walls. As they approached the shed, they heard murmuring that could only be from Steve and Nancy. "Is it wrong I kind of want to know what they're saying?" Ben whispered, a smile on his face.

Scarlett shrugged and laughed, "Nope." And so, the two proceeding to lean against the door, knowing they had the time to spare, and eavesdrop on Nancy and Steve's conversation. They knew if it was too personal they would back away and find somewhere else to be, it was something they had done since they were kids. They were always respectful when it came to certain conversations, but the funny ones were always a joy to laugh about.

"What you did, um, helping the kids... that was really cool." The two heard Nancy say to Steve. Ben shot her a look to which she shrugged at in response.

"Yeah." Steve sounded uninterested in having a conversation with Nancy Wheeler. "Those little shits are real trouble, you know?"

"Believe me, I know." Nancy laughed.

"Hm. I'm glad Scarlett was there though. She helped me keep 'em in line. Well, she did most of the work. The threatening and stuff. Funny to watch, she's great." Steve let out a small chuckle as he thought about the girl, climbing up the ladder.

"Oh yeah, real great." Nancy mumbled sarcastically, sighing.

"She's pissed." Ben mouthed to Scarlett, and they shared a playful grin, holding back their laughter. Composing themselves, they swung open the door to the shed, walking in with the sheets in hand.

"What's up, guys?" Ben exclaimed as if they weren't just eavesdropping on the two's conversation. Scarlett mentally face palmed at the boy's enthusiasm.

"Just putting up these tarps." Steve replied, pointing to the tarp in front of him. Nancy just sent the two a nod, turning back to Steve.

"Great. Hope you don't mind, we do have these sheets to put over the tarps." Ben explained the mission of the sheets, holding them out in front of him.

"Oh! Perfect, the wall behind you is ready for them." Nancy nodded behind them, a smile on her face as she knew the plan was coming together.

The two nodded, turning to the other wall and tackling the left side first, Scarlett taking initiative to climb up the ladder with a sheet in hand. She lined up the cloth with the top of the wall, holding out her free hand, "Staple gun."

"Of course, madam." Ben replied, placing the item she asked for in her hands.

She smiled, piercing the staple through either side of the sheet before climbing down and moving the ladder to the next section.

Although as she was climbing up, she misplaced her foot and fell back. Ben was quick to catch her in a swift motion, returning her feet to the floor as she regained her composure. "One point for Robin." Ben cheered, earning a shove from Scarlett.

"I would've landed on my feet." She scowled and flipped him off before brushing her shirt off. "But, thanks I guess." She laughed.

If only she could feel Steve's eyes boring into her and Ben, then maybe she would turn around and look at him. Shockingly to him, he wanted her to look at him.

But if only he knew how much she longed for him to look at her, the same way she looked at him. And for her, she didn't just, look at him. She looked at him as if he were the most gorgeous sunset to ever fall in the sky. She wished he saw her like that, but all he saw her as was his best friend.

Soon enough, the sheets were done, as well as the entire 'interrogation' room. Hopper had brought the boy in and sent everyone out, ordering those close to Will to stay. And that included Scarlett.

Ben and Steve led the middle schoolers into the house with Nancy, where they would wait for any sort of sign from the shed.

Will jolted awake after Hopper had placed ammonia under his nose. Quite shaken up, he tried to pull himself out of the binds that held him. "What? Wha- What is this?" Staring into the bright light, he still got no answer. "What is this? Why am I tied up?"

Joyce knelt before him, placing her hands on his. "Will, we just wanna talk to you. We're not gonna hurt you." Joyce whispered to her son.

"Where am I?" He demanded an answer, making direct eye contact with Scarlett. Scarlett was taken aback by the storm that swelled in his eyes, whatever had happened to Will certainly had taken over fast, for whoever was speaking, wasn't the Will she knew and loved.

"You recognize this?" Hopper asked interrogation style, holding up the picture the young boy had drawn. "Do you recognize this?" He asked again, this time more demanding. Will shook his head, stating no as his answer. It would be impossible for him not to recognize it, as it was his own drawing.

"Hey. We wanna help you. But to do that, we have to understand how to kill it." Joyce said to her son.

"Why am I tied up?" Will yelled in her face. "Why am I tied up? Why am I tied up? Why am I tied up?" He continued demanding, beginning to thrash around within the binds, as Hopper and Joyce tried to calm him down.

Jonathan gripped onto Scarlett arm, turning away with a sniffle. Scarlett brought the boy into a hug, her eyes still on Will. "That isn't Will." Jonathan whispered, fear laced in his tone.

"I know." Scarlett whispered, taking into account the lights flickering just like they had a year ago, when they had fought the demogorgon. Will continued screaming, the light flickering increased as his anger grew.

"Let me go! Let me go!" Will shook, thrashing even more as his voice began to distort. "Let me go! Let me go!"

Scarlett could only watch in horror, Mike rushing into her open arm out of fear, she held both Mike and Jonathan tightly by her side. The same thing was happening inside the Byers house. Ben was the first to notice as he rushed to the window, his eyes on the shed.

"This is the same thing that happened last year." Ben began, earning confused looks from every other person in the house. "I mean, the lights flickering and shit.. creepy right?" He pointed to the light, letting out a nervous laugh.

"For sure." Dustin nodded slowly, furrowing his brows. "But whatever's happening in there, definitely didn't happen last year."

"Let me go! Let me go! Let me go! Let me go!" Will cried, giving up and easing his head into Hoppers arm. His face didn't look quite right though, an expression Scarlett couldn't quite read. "Let me go.." Will shook, catching his breath as Joyce took a seat in front of him.

"Do you know what March twenty-second is?" Joyce began. "It's your birthday. Your birthday. When you turned eight, I gave you that huge box of crayons. Do you remember that? It was 120 colors. And all your friends, they got you Star Wars toys, but all you wanted to do was draw with all your new colors."

Scarlett wiped the tear falling from her eye on the shoulder of Jonathan's jacket. She remembered the story all too well. The fact Will was no longer thrashing around made the two boys comfortable enough to relax a bit, turning and watching the emotional scene in front of them unfold.

"And you drew this big spaceship, but it wasn't from a movie. It was your spaceship. A rainbow ship is what you called it. You were the captain, and you made Scarlett your first mate. You told her it was because she had all the right qualities a best mate could have, so she was perfect for the job. And you must have used every color in the box. I took that with me to Melvald's and I put it up and I told everyone who came in, 'My son drew this.' And you were so embarrassed." Joyce laughed, "But I was so proud. I was so, so proud."

Jonathan let out a shaky breath before speaking up, "Do you remember the day Dad left?" Will's head turned to his brother, and Jonathan released himself from Scarlett's side and knelt in front of him. "We stayed up all night building Castle Byers... just the way you drew it. And it took so long because you were so bad at hammering. You'd miss the nail every time. And then it started raining, but we stayed out there anyway. We were both sick for like a week after that, but every day that week Scarlett came over with this big pot of chicken noodle soup, your favorite, and we would eat all of it. But we just had to finish it, didn't we? We just had to."

"Do you remember the first day that we met?" Mike said, causing Will to look up at him next. Mike struggled to find the words against the tears that threatened to fall. "It was the first day of kindergarten, I knew nobody. I had no friends and.. I just felt so alone and so scared, but.. I saw you on the swings and you were alone, too. You were just swinging by yourself. And I just walked up to you and.. I asked. I asked if you wanted to be my friend. And you said yes. You said yes. It was the best thing I've ever done."

"Will, baby." Joyce placed her hands back on his. "If you're in there, just please.. please talk to us. Please, honey, please, can you do that for me? Please, I love you so much."

Will's soft expression hardened once again. "Let me go." He demanded. Scarlett's teary eyes narrowed as she stared at the boy, noticing his shoulder slightly moving her gaze traveled down his arm. She discovered his fingers tapping the side of the chair in an ordered fashion, and elbowed Hopper to gain the Chiefs attention. He looked down at her with a confused look on his face, but as soon as she nodded in the direction of Will's hand, his expression dropped as he came to a realization.

Barging into the house, Hopper yanked a pen off of the wall mount and immediately got to work at the table, drawing dashes and dots on a piece of paper. "What happened?" Dustin asked, startled by the sudden arrival.

"While we were in there, Scarlett noticed Will tapping the chair in a certain fashion." Hopper began. As he spoke, both Steve and Ben offered their hands up to Scarlett for a high five, to which she happily slapped her palms with theirs. "We think he's talking, just not with words." Scarlett explained their theory.

"What is that?" Steve questioned.

"Morse code." Everyone else answered in unison.

"H. E. R. E." Hopper spelled out as he wrote the letters on the paper.

"Here."

"Will's still in there. He's talking to us." Hopper concluded, looking around at the people standing on either side of him.

"We don't know how long he'll be able to though." Scarlett informed. And in no time, they were back in the shed, Jonathan sitting in front of Will with the radio. He clicked the play button, and Should I Stay Or Should I Go? began playing.

"Do you remember the first time I played you this? Mom and Dad were both arguing in the next room. So I played you the mix tape I made you. And it was the first time you got into music. Real music." Jonathan told him, Hopper taking into account his tapping on the side of the chair, recording it in the walkie-talkie.

"Dash, dot, dash, dot." The middle schoolers in the house repeated out loud, Dustin writing down every symbol.

"C!" Ben exclaimed triumphantly from behind Lucas, observing the Morse Code alphabet. Nancy nodded, writing the letter down.

Jonathan passed his seat to Scarlett, "Do you remember my birthday last year? Since it was the fourth of July we had a bunch of fireworks, poppers and sparklers to use. So of course we had an annual 'party in the Sinclair's backyard' and when it got dark enough, we could start the festivities. Of course you being the craziest boy i've met, wanted to light a firework, so my uncle helped you out. And gosh, I was so scared you were gonna light your clothes on fire, but you did great. If fact, you did so great that it was the brightest most radiant firework of the night! And then we played Charades with the sparklers, and of course me and you won. Because we're obviously the better team." She laughed, and could almost see Will trying to crack a small smile. "Don't tell Jonathan and Mike though, they're still a little butthurt." She leaned in and whispered to the boy.

"Hey! I heard that. I'm not butthurt." Mike crossed his arms over his chest, taking offense to Scarlett's words. Scarlett stood up from her spot, passing it to Mike
and messing up his hair in a playful manner.

"L." Lucas stated the next letter after hearing back from Hopper in the shed, Nancy following up with writing it down.

"And then the party escaped into the sewers, and there were those big insect things, and you guys were still on level one." Mike continued his story, and Hopper continued his duty of recording Will's taps.

"O." Lucas said, also continuing the routine for every letter. And soon enough, they had a phrase. "Clo Segate? What's that supposed to mean?" Ben questioned. Everyone looked at him with unimpressed expressions, causing him to rethink the spelling of the phrase. He looked back down at it for a moment, "Ohhh."

"Close gate." They concluded in unison. Suddenly, the phone rang and startled them. Dustin was the first to react, rushing over and putting the phone back into the holder, hanging it up. But it was too late, Will's eyes followed the direction of the sound, and he knew where he was. It rang once more, but this time Nancy reacted, slamming the phone onto the ground and breaking it.

"Do you think he heard that?" Max asked worriedly.

"It's just a phone. It could be anywhere. Right?" Steve responded as if he were trying to convince himself.

Will's eyes shut as he was sucked into a trance, his eyes moving back and forth behind his eyelids was enough to strike fear in everyone in the shed. "Hey, hey! Can you hear me?" Joyce pat Will's cheek in an attempt to wake him.

"He heard it." Scarlett announced, jumping forward to where Joyce knelt. "The phone. He heard it."

"It knows where we are." Hopper realized, causing Joyce to shoot up and grab the needle, cussing under her breath before jabbing it into his arm. His breath hitched and his neck fell limp, indicating he had fallen unconscious. Without a second thought, Scarlett had rushed out of the shed and into the house. Her hand fell on the doorknob before she heard distant screeching, panic forming in her gut.

Swinging the door open, she stumbled inside. "It knows we're here." Those few words sparked fear in everyone as they scrambled to the windows. Scarlett ran to the front door where she had set her shotgun down earlier. Picking it up, she began loading it with ammo.

"Do you always have a gun on you?" Lucas questioned.

"Only when necessary. Which is apparently all the time now." Scarlett replied, readying her gun for any threats that came their way.

Hopper barged into the living room, immediately shouting orders. "Hey. Hey, get away from the windows!" He turned to Jonathan, holding out a gun. "Do you know how to use this?"

"What?" Jonathan stammered, not really knowing how to answer the question he was being asked, as he really didn't know how to use a gun but was afraid to admit it.

"Can you use this?" Hopper demanded urgently, growing frustrated.

"I can." Nancy stepped in. Hopper didn't hesitate to toss the gun to the girl, as he didn't doubt her abilities and they were in danger.

The chittering grew closer to the window, then silenced. "Where are they? Where are they?" Max cried, tucking herself behind Lucas.

A thud came from the window next to the dining table. Immediately, everyone pivoted in the direction of the noise. "What are they doing?" Nancy asked.

As they sat in silence once again, another thud came from the window in front of them. Then another one, and another, and another. The screeching that once once heard came to a stop, and suddenly the monster flew through the window, landing in front of the table and causing the group to let out screams of terror.

As the demo-dog lay limp in the corner, the Chief slowly approached it. "Holy shit." Dustin said, leaning over it.

"Is it dead?" Max queried, following Dustin's actions with caution. used his foot to nudge the creature, causing it to squelch, confirming it was of fact dead.

The door creaking open causing everyone to turn around once again, those with guns returning their aim to the door. Their shock grew as both locks on the door fell, and the newly unlocked door swung open.

And suddenly, a converse wearing, denim clad, Eleven entered the house. Her nose bleeding and determination on her face they knew all too well. Scarlett dropped her gun, her favorite fighter was back.

Steve leaned down to Scarlett's level, feeling as though he was at a complete loss as to what was happening. "Who's that?"

"Eleven."

﹌﹌﹌

i feel like throwing my phone after this one bye