CHAPTER ONE.
1x01: The Vanishing of Will Byers

"Something is coming. Something hungry for blood," Michael Wheeler said in an ominous voice.

Samantha Hughes was hunched over her character's information sheet, raising an intrigued eyebrow as he went on. Mike was looking around at the entire party.

"A shadow grows on the wall behind you, swallowing you in darkness... It is almost here."

William Byers leaned forward. "What is it?"

"What if it's the Demogorgon?" Dustin Henderson asked anxiously.

Sam's eyebrows widened. "No!" she gasped. "We'd be so screwed!"

"It's not the Demogorgon," Lucas Sinclair sighed, trying to calm his friends down.

Mike's hand slammed down on the table, placing down a figurine Sam had yet to distinguish. "An army of troglodytes charge into the chamber!"

"Troglodytes?" Dustin scoffed.

Lucas smiled, like a smart-ass. "Told ya!"

All of them chuckled at Dustin's overthinking and Sam's panicking. Sam took her time again to peer around the table through her glasses. Dustin, Lucas, Mike, and Will had been Sam's best and only friends since the second grade (well—Lucas joined the party in third grade and Dustin in fourth, but that was irrelevant). They were her idiotic nerdy boys, and she loved them all.

They cringed every time she said that out loud, but she didn't really care.

They were now reaching hour ten of their Dungeons and Dragons campaign—something the five of them loved more than life itself. It combined fantasy, imagination, combat, critical thinking, and adventure into one game they could play for the rest of their lives—ten hours was nothing.

Each member had their own respective roles and characters. Will was their Cleric, Mike was their Paladin (and Dungeon Master), Lucas was their Ranger, Dustin was their Bard, and Sam was their Druid.

"Wait a minute," Mike continued softly, eyebrows furrowing for suspense. "Do you hear that? That... that sound? Boom... boom... BOOM!"

He slammed his hands on the table, causing Sam to flinch again.

"Michael!" Sam hissed.

Mike smirked. "That didn't come from the troglodytes, no. That... that came from something else."

He slammed another figurine on the table.

"The Demogorgon!"

Everyone began groaning, throwing up their hands helplessly. Sam gaped incredulously at Mike, glasses inching down her nkse.

Dustin eyed the game board miserably. "We're in deep shit."

"Will, your action!" Mike called.

Will shook his head in distress. "I don't know!"

"Fireball him!" Lucas shouted.

"Cast protection!" Dustin argued.

Will's head darted between the two boys before he locked eyes with Sam. He was wordlessly asking for her input on the situation.

Sam felt suddenly touched to be addressed, because it was often that being stuck in a group full of boys meant being forgotten as the only girl there. But Will was Will, so Sam shouldn't have been surprised.

Sam shifted her glasses back up her nose in distress. "I mean," she started, frowning, "I don't know. I would fireball, but I think you should cast protection."

"No, Will, screw that!" Lucas disputed. "You need to fireball him!"

Will groaned. "I'd have to roll a thirteen or higher!"

"Too risky." Dustin shook his head. "Cast a protection spell."

"Yeah, keep yourself safe," Sam pleaded. Dustin was right. It was too risky, and Will could get hurt. Not only that, but the whole party could get hurt too.

Lucas rolled his eyes. "Don't be a pussy! Fireball him!"

"Cast protection," Dustin argued.

Mike slammed his hands on the table, gaining his friends' attention. Sam was about to fuss at Mike again before he interrupted her: "The Demogorgon is tired of your silly human bickering! It stomps towards you. Boom!"

Lucas turned to Will with wide eyes. "Fireball him!"

"Another stomp—boom!"

"Cast. Protection," Dustin urged.

"Can we all just take a few seconds to calm down?" Sam attempted, but was unsurprised when her voice went unheard.

"He roars in anger!"

Mike, Lucas, and Dustin were all yelling at Will over each other. Sam gave up trying to calm everyone down, now scratching her arm nervously and watching the anxious Will make his decision. She knew that all the shouting voices weren't helping at all.

Finally Will rolled the dice. "Fireball!"

Instead of rolling it onto the table, Will must have underestimated the strength of his throw. The dice slid across the board and onto the floor. It continued rolling until the location became unknown.

"Oh, shit!" Mike cursed.

They all scrambled out their chairs to look for where the dice went.

"Where'd it go?" Lucas asked.

Sam crouched down to look under Mike's stairs. She couldn't help herself from saying, "See, look what you guys did!"

Mike scoffed. "What we did?"

"Yeah!" Sam turned to argue with him. "If you guys weren't freaking Will out, he wouldn't have thrown like an electroshock patient!"

"That wasn't our fault!"

"Is it a thirteen?" Dustin questioned anxiously, trying to look for the dice.

"I don't know!" Lucas cried.

"Where is it?" Will searched.

Dustin put both of his hands in his hair, pacing back and forth. "Oh my God! Oh my God!"

"Mike!" Karen Wheeler called from upstairs. She was Mike's mother.

"Oh my God!" Dustin panicked.

"Can you find it yet?" Lucas asked Sam, Mike, and Will.

"Mike!" Mrs. Wheeler yelled.

Sam furrowed her eyebrows. "We can't find it."

Mrs. Wheeler opened the basement door with a hand on her hip. "MIKE!"

Mike, in return, wheeled around and threw his arms up. "Mom, we're in the middle of a campaign!"

"You mean the end?" Mrs. Wheeler mimed pointing at a wristwatch, suggesting Mike look at his own. "Fifteen after."

Mike threw his head back, running up the basement stairs to try and convince his mother for more time. Back downstairs, the remaining party members continued looking for where the dice went.

"Oh, I got it!" Will exclaimed. He stood up with dice in hand. "Does a seven count?"

Lucas tilted his head. "It was a seven?"

Will nodded.

"Did Mike see it?"

Will shook his head.

Lucas said, "No," though Sam answered, "Yes," at the same time.

Lucas whipped his head to look at her, but she didn't cower from his incredulous gaze.

"We can't lie," Sam said, disappointed.

"We wouldn't be lying," Lucas contended, "we would just me omitting a few truths."

"Omission is one of the textbook types of lying!"

Lucas put a hand on Sam's shoulder, but rather than continue going back and forth with her, he returned his gaze back onto Will. "The seven doesn't count," he said. "Don't worry about it."

Sam sighed, but ultimately shook her head and gave up. It was enough to make Will concede as well.

When Lucas let go of her shoulder, Sam figured she should gather her things so as to not further impose on Mrs. Wheeler's hospitality. She put on her jean jacket, then her yellow bomber jacket, then her backpack. She began to head up the stairs with the rest of her friends, until Dustin stopped them.

"Yo, hey, guys." He held up a pizza box with one last slice in it. "Does anyone want this?"

"No, thanks," Sam responded, while Lucas and Will gave a simultaneous and deadpan, "No." They turned around before successfully making it up the stairs this time.

Lucas and Will made it out the Wheeler residence before Sam. This was largely attributed to the fact that Sam sought out Mrs. Wheeler before she left—Mike's mother was cleaning up the kitchen.

Sam sent her a friendly smile and wave. "Thanks for having us over, Mrs. Wheeler. Sorry for staying so long."

"Oh, not a bother, Sam. Mike just needs to listen when I preach time management." She and Sam shared a grin: time management was notoriously difficult for him. "I assure you, you're always a pleasure to have around. Are those boys still treating you right?"

The question stumped Sam. "They're treating me like normal, I guess?"

Mrs. Wheeler pursed her lips. She always seemed to worry about the boys' friendship with Sam. Sam was the only girl in their group, and she didn't have much of a female influence in her life outside of her sister. Ever since Mike, Will, Lucas, and Dustin decided to pull out one of Sam's baby teeth with a door and string, the mothers were officially worried about their sons' effect on "sweet Samantha Hughes."

It was, of course, Dustin's brilliant idea to finally get Sam's last, loose tooth out of her mouth (so they could score money from the Tooth Fairy and use it toward the arcade). Will tied the string around Sam's tooth, Mike held her still, and Lucas slammed the door shut. They were successful in getting her tooth out, but that didn't end up being the problem in the end.

The boys thought Sam was dying because of how much blood Sam was losing—which made Sam panic so much she fainted. Then they really did think she died. Mrs. Wheeler thought the boys attempted murder, told all the other moms about it, and ever since then they were dubbed bad influences on Sam.

Sam's mom was the only mom who had found it funny.

Mrs. Wheeler sighed. "I worry about you, Sam."

"Most people do." Sam sent one last grin before continued to the garage door. "Bye bye!"

She finally left the house and entered the garage. Mike, Will, and Lucas were waiting for her. Mike was still upset about the campaign being cut short, telling his friends they needed to play again soon.

Sam remained quiet and listened to Mike rant until Dustin came outside as well. He had evidently given up on trying to hand out the last slice of pizza, because he was now eating it for himself.

"You know," Dustin said, shutting the garage door, "Specks is the only person in this world who has manners anymore."

"I'm sure that's not true," Sam said diplomatically.

Dustin had of course been talking about her. Sam would have rolled her eyes at the nickname, but she was accustomed to it for herself. Ever since she found out her eyesight was jack shit in the fourth grade, she'd been wearing her stupid glasses ever since. Sam had never had much street credit, but she was sure the nerdy spectacles weren't helping her case.

"It's totally true." Then Dustin point at Mike. "And there's something wrong with your sister."

Mike sighed, exasperated. "What are you talking about?"

"She's got a stick up her butt."

Lucas nodded in agreement as he mounted his bike. "Yeah. It's because she's been dating that douchebag—Steve Harrington."

Dustin, Sam, and Wall started hopping on their bikes as well. As Dustin responded, the four kids turned on their bikes' front lights.

"She should start hanging out with Sam's sister and her friends," he suggested.

Sam wrinkled her nose. "No way. Steph's friend group is so weird."

"And we're not?" Dustin returned.

"Of course we are," Sam had to admit, "but they spend their time smoking weed at Jo's dad's repair shop. Or literally anywhere, for that matter. It's gross."

"Well, good for them. I've always wanted to try weed."

"You've never wanted to try weed."

"Semantics." Dustin waved a dismissive hand. "The point is—maybe if Nancy was friends with them, she'd chill out and stop turning into a real jerk."

Mike frowned. "She's always been a real jerk."

"Nuh-uh. She used to be cool—like that time she dressed up as an elf for our elder tree campaign."

Dustin began peddling out of Mike's driveway, and Mike shouted after him: "Four years ago!"

"Just saying!" Dustin called back.

Lucas sent Mike a nod. "Later."

"Night, Mike." Sam sent him a sympathetic smile. "At least your sister doesn't smell like marijuana and motor oil."

She and Lucas biked off to the street where Dustin was. They were left waiting as Will held back for a moment to talk to Mike some more. Sam obviously couldn't see much from the distance she was at, even with her glasses, but she could spot the lights beginning to flicker. That made her brows draw together.

Dustin distracted her with, "Can he come on already?"

"Come on what?" Sam teased, throwing a proud smile Dustin's way.

Not only did she hear Dustin and Lucas's groans, but Will's as well. She laughed to herself as the smallest of the party finally joined them in front of Mike's house.

Lucas shook his head rather than laugh with her. "Let's just get out of here."

They began riding their bikes again. As the four of them began properly biking down the street, Dustin cursed under his breath. He sounded tired and exhausted when he said, "This is so not fair!"

"What is?" Sam asked.

"You, Lucas, and Mike all live down the same street, but Will and I have to ride to like, Narnia!" Dustin sounded more like a id of Holly's age rather than a twelve-year-old, and it made Sam giggle. But the smile faltered right off her face when her uncle's house came into view.

When they got in front of the Gray residence, there was no excuse for why Sam didn't progress biking through the driveway. She hesitated for a moment too long, because Lucas, Will, and Dustin were all watching Sam worriedly when she glanced their way—it was always easier to look at her friends rather than that house.

"You okay, Hughes?" Lucas asked.

"Yeah," but her tone did not agree. "Guess I just wish the campaign had run longer."

That wasn't it, but all the boys knew better enough than to call her out on that. Samantha Hughes was honest until it benefited herself. When her own well-being came in to play was where it got a little rockier. The strict rules of her morals could waver here, and Sam would let them, because everyone else let them too.

So: she wished the campaign had run longer rather than admit she didn't want to go back home.

Home was a kind way of putting it. This place was not Sam's home. It wasn't even her parents' home.

Once upon a time, Anthony Hughes married a beautiful woman named Diane Reynolds. Anthony and Diane had Stephanie and Samantha Hughes. They were known around town as a shining, lovely family. That was, until Sam was ten years old and her parents went out on December 4th to buy her a birthday present, four days before her birthday on December 8th.

They got into a fatal car wreck, and the bike was the only thing of theirs that ever did return.

Sam cursed herself for wanting the bike every single day, even if it was the bike she was currently riding right now. It felt like an insult not to. She remembered telling her dad how tired she was of having to ride on the back of Lucas's bike all the time. Back then, she didn't even know how to ride a bike. Now, she sat atop the cursed one as she stared at her extended family's house.

Sam and her sister were put under the care of their father's sister, Kathryn Gray (née Hughes). Care was a strong word Stephanie didn't like to use, but Sam did, just for the sole fact she could tell Aunt Kat was trying her best, sometimes. That had to count for something. The issue lay in the fact Aunt Kat was most unfortunately married to Daniel Gray, an angry and callous man. It wasn't much of a surprise that their son Corey Gray had such a capacity for cruelty and anger. Sam hated to think ill of her cousin, because she was well aware Corey struggled with his father possibly more than all of them, but she had to admit it stung when Corey lashed out on her for it. She missed when she didn't.

She missed her parents too. She missed a lot of things.

"Okay, sorry, being dramatic," Sam said, shaking her head at herself. She resumed riding her bike.

Will tried, "Sam—"

"Night, guys!" she cheered despite herself.

From behind, she heard a sigh. Lucas's voice came first with a resigned, "Night, Sam."

"Bye, Sam," Dustin said.

"Goodnight," Will said.

"Stay safe!" Sam called, but she didn't give into the temptation of looking back, in fear she'd freeze again. "I'll see you all tomorrow!"

Sam rode her bike until she couldn't, then turned around to lean it against the front porch. Hoping Stephanie was the one to answer, she knocked on the front door of the Gray household.

It was not Stephanie. It was Corey—at least he was better than Uncle Dan. He opened the door and crossed his arms, unamused. "You're late."

"Traffic," Sam snarked.

She brushed past Corey to head up the stairs and run to her room.

Sam kicked her shoes off and removed her jackets, admittedly unnerved by the dead silence the house was settled in, but definitely not surprised. She figured Uncle Dan was out "working late," and that Aunt Kat still didn't know what that meant. No wonder Corey was in such a pissy mood.

She also guessed Stephanie was still out with her friends—Josephine Foster, Gina Flores, and Warren Aquino—because Stephanie hated being here just as much as Sam did. Sam would also be sleeping out every night if she was a teenager and her friends weren't only boys.

Her thoughts broke as she heard Corey's pounding footsteps stomping back to his room. He slammed the door shut to brood further. Aunt Kat had given up fussing at him for it years ago.

Corey Gray was Sam's only cousin. He always could be little rude, but there once when a time when Sam listened to his angry rants rather than be on the receiving end of them. Either his father got worse, or he hadn't taken the idea of sharing his home with Stephanie and Samantha lightly, because his hatred of them and the world became unavoidable. He hated it most when Sam met his cruelty with kindness.

She did know, yes, that being mean to his cousin was the least of Corey's worries. He was constantly brooding, and Sam knew why. He was also constantly causing trouble in school. If Sam wasn't seeing him deface school property and get in fights with everyone around him, she was hearing him get yelled at for it.

Corey was one year older than Sam, but he was in her grade. He'd gotten held back in the seventh grade when all his disobedience caught up to him. Now he had to repeat a year. Sam wanted to judge him for it, but his parents gave him enough shit already, and she didn't even think he was all that bad anyway. She remembered knowing the softie-at-heart. She was still convinced she could find that part of him again one day.

But for now:

"Shut the hell up," Corey shouted from his room.

Sam stared at her walls, dumbfounded.

"You're the one who slammed your door!"

"You're the one whose nerdy thinking is audible!"

"That doesn't even make sense!" Sam cried, before forcing herself to calm down. Corey loved when he got a rise out of her. Sam didn't hate many things, but she did hate giving people the satisfaction of cracking her facade.

"Asshole," she hissed to herself. She could be genuine with herself.

She decided to change into her pajamas and call it a day.

Maybe tomorrow would be better. 

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"Sammy!" someone's voice was yelling. "Sam! Samantha Hughes, get up!"

Stephanie threw Sam's sheets to the floor, only receiving a tiny protest from her sister in return. She rolled her eyes, going to the side of Sam's bed.

A leg was being brought up to kick Sam off the bed. Stephanie watched as Sam rolled to the floor with a yelp.

A blonde head shot up to squint angrily at her older sister. "What the shit, Steph?"

Stephanie merely stared, holding up the phone being stretched by its cord from her room. "Ms. Byers is calling for you."

Sam stood up, patting down her messy hair. "You didn't have to kill me to let me now!"

"Warren's here to pick me up and I've got to go before I'm late!"

Sam continued to squint angrily at the vague shape of her sister. She was now thoroughly annoyed she was kicked awake for this particular reason. "What are you late for? School, or stalking Robin's band practice—?"

"Shut UP, Samantha!"

"It's the ass crack of dawn, why is everyone yelling?!" Uncle Dan bellowed.

Sam and Stephanie stilled, the fight draining out of them in an instant. Their uncle's voice came from downstairs of the house, but they weren't fools. He could storm up the stairs and be in Sam's room within a second.

Stephanie turned back to Sam, no longer in a defensive stance. She gestured to the phone in her hands, then urged a quiet, "Answer it."

Sam exhaled, nodding as she grappled around her night stand to find her glasses. She put them out, and now that she could see, walked over to Stephanie so as to hold the phone. The Hughes sisters retreated to Stephanie's room, so Sam could quit stretching out the phone cord, and so Stephanie could finish getting ready in her bathroom.

Sam put on a cheery voice to greet, "Hi, Ms. Byers! Sorry about that."

"Um, it's—it's all good. Are you... okay? I heard slamming. And shouting."

"I'm good," Sam forced a laugh. "It was just Steph. What could I do for you?"

Will's mother sighed from the other line. "This might sound odd, but did Will come home with you last night? Or do you know where he went?"

Sam furrowed her eyebrows, despite the fact Ms. Byers couldn't see. It did sound odd. "I actually got home first, so I don't know. You'd have better luck asking Dustin. Why? Did he not come home?"

Mrs. Byers hesitated for a moment.

"Oh. Oh, no. I just... I think he just left early for—for school," Ms. Byers assured, but her tone was odd and put Sam on edge. "Thank you so much though, sweetie."

Sam frowned. "Um, no prob—?"

"Bye now," she said, before promptly hanging up the phone.

Sam pulled the phone away from her ear, staring at it in confusion. She lingered for a moment before putting the handset of the phone switch hook. That was when Stephanie popped out of her bathroom, and Sam had to fight her body not to get scared over it.

"Well?" Stephanie asked. "What did she want?"

Sam turned around to face her sister, urging to keep herself calm. "I don't think Will came home last night."

She tried to keep the shakiness out of her voice, but it managed its way in there anyway.

Stephanie's demeanor changed, catching Sam's discontent. "Oh, shit," she cursed, shocked. "Mini Byers?"

Sam nodded, her worry increasing by the second as she thought about it more and more. "Y-Yeah. But... But Ms. Byers said he probably... went to school early."

Something felt wrong, wrong, wrong.

"Well he probably did then, yeah?" Stephanie dismissed, trying to calm her little sister down and shoot for casual. She even moved to ruffle Sam's hair. "Go get ready for school before you're late too."

Following her sister's method of deflecting tension, Sam forced a laugh. "I don't have to get anywhere early, because my crush doesn't have morning band practice—"

"Get out of my room!"

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Stephanie didn't know how to drive. Seriously. Like, she'd taken her driving exam three times and failed with flying colors. She wasn't legally allowed to drive, so all Gray-Hughes kids had to find their own form of transportation to and from school. Usually, Stephanie rode with her friend Jo to school, but on days like these—where Stephanie wanted to watch the band practicing for no particular reason whatsoever—Stephanie carpooled with her friend Warren. He was a drummer in the band, so he usually notified Stephanie on the days they had early practices.

Obviously, both Sam and Corey were under the age of sixteen, so they couldn't drive either. Aunt Kat and Uncle Dan both had to get to work (aka, they didn't feel like driving the kids to school), so both of them rode their bikes to school—separately and respectively. They left the house at separate times so Sam could bike to school with the people who could actually stand her.

Today, that group consisted of Lucas, Mike, and Dustin. Sam tried really hard not to think about how Will didn't join them, but it obviously didn't work.

"Did you guys get a call from Will's mom too?" she asked anxiously.

Dustin shrugged. "I think so, but she just told my mom something about leaving early for school."

"Yeah, same here," Lucas answered. "He probably did too."

"I don't know," Sam worried. "Something doesn't... feel right."

Mike made a little noise as he rode next to her. "Something doesn't feel right?" he asked, his tone deadpan.

Sam knew she sounded crazy, and so the callout made her deflated.

"Yeah. Or something. I don't know."

"I don't think you have anything to worry about, Sam," Lucas assured, and his tone was familiar. Sam was aware of how often her anxiety surfaced, but today her dread felt different.

She frowned, looking at the dirt beneath her before she hopped off her bike and chained it to the bike rack. Mike finished locking up his bike first, then scouted the outside area for Will.

"That's weird," Mike muttered. "I don't see him."

"I'm telling you, his mom's right," Lucas dismissed. "He probably just went to class early again."

"Yeah, he's always paranoid Gursky's gonna give him another pop quiz," Dustin added.

Sam searched with Mike. "But he always tells us good morning. I mean, it's Will."

"The same Will who's probably studying for a pop quiz. He's fine, Sam," Lucas said, walking backwards just to face her.

"Step right up, ladies and gentleman!" There was a monster by the name of Troy Walsh yelling for everyone to hear. He smirked at the party of friends. "Step right up, and get your tickets for the freak show!"

Troy Walsh. Just the sound of his voice made anger crawl up Sam's spine. She turned around to look at his ugly face, but Troy was glancing at his best friend, James Dante.

"Who do you think would make more money in a freak show? Midnight, Annie, Frogface, or Toothless?"

He gave each one of them a punch when he reached their designated title. Midnight was Lucas, Frogface was Mike, and Dustin was Toothless. Sam was of course Annie, because she was an orphan. Unfortunately, she had to give them a little credit, because it was kind of a clever nickname. But only kind of.

James pretended to think, which must have been hard, because Sam was sure he never had in his life. His gaze darted between the group of four.

"I'd go with Toothless," he decided.

"I told you a million times, my teeth are coming in," Dustin tried to explain. "It's called cleidocranial dysplasia."

"I thold you uh million thimes," James mocked. Sam wanted to cut his tongue from his mouth. Dustin barely even had a lisp! And even if he did, so what? He was a million times better than James and Troy combined.

Troy pointed at Dustin. "Do the arm thing."

Dustin glared back at their bullies, and the expressions of his other friends weren't too far off. Sam wore an empathetic frown. "Don't do it, Dustin."

"Shut it, Annie!" James snapped. He took a step forward, causing Sam to take one back. The boy seemed satisfied at Sam's quick retreat, nodding back at Dustin. "Do it, freak!"

With a defeated sigh, Dustin shrugged off his brown corduroy jacket and backpack. He twisted his arms into each other, showcasing his lack of collar bones.

Troy and James gagged when they heard his other bones cracking, as if they hadn't just forced Dustin to do it.

"God, it gets me every time," Troy groaned.

He began to walk inside the school, James at his side. They split the group of four in half by shoving Sam and Mike aside.

As they got further in the distance, Sam heard Troy call out to her. "And tell your psycho cousin hi for me, Annie!"

Sam stepped forward. She admittedly didn't know what she would have done, but she never would have found out. Lucas and Mike were already grabbing her arms and pushing her back. She narrowed her eyes at them.

Troy wasn't allowed to say shit about Corey. He could say as much as he wanted to Sam, but he couldn't say anything to Corey—especially when Corey wasn't there to hear it. Sure, Sam thought Corey hated her; sure, Corey was mean to her 24/7; but only Sam and Stephanie could say shit about him. They were the only people who knew what Corey went through. Anyone else was crossing a line.

"It's not worth it, Sam," Mike consoled.

Sam thought it was worth it, but she also thought Troy and James would beat her to a pulp, so she conceded.

"Assholes," Lucas spat, shaking his head.

Dustin bent over to pick up his belongings, looking dejected. Sam's focus moved to lifting everyone's spirits. "I think it's kinda cool," she complimented Dustin.

Mike shot Dustin a smile. "Yeah!" he said. "It's like you have superpowers, or something. Like Mr. Fantastic."

"Or Ms. Marvel!"

"Yeah, except I can't fight evil with it," Dustin said, dismissing any attempts to make him feel better.

The group of four started walking for the school again, Will still nowhere in sight.

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The bell rang, signaling the end of Mr. Clarke's science class for the day. As most of his students began to pack his bags, Mr. Clarke tried to continue talking while he still had a chance.

"Remember," he announced, "finish Chapter 12 and answer 12.3 on the difference between an experiment and other forms of science investigation. This will be on the test, which will cover Chapters 10 through 12." He realized none of his students were listening to him, and frowned at the door they all exited. "It will be multiple choice with an essay section...!"

Sam and the rest of her friends waited until Mr. Clarke was finished talking to eagerly walk up to his desk. Their teacher was met with four excited smiles staring up at him.

"So, did it come?" Mike asked eagerly.

"Sorry, boys," Mr. Clarke frowned, and so did Sam before he remembered she was there, "and girl. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but..." a smile replaced his frown, "it came!"

The kids wasted no time in sprinting to the AV room. Mike opened up the door, face lighting up at the sight of what they'd all been waiting for: the Heathkit ham shack.

"Yes!" Mike cheered, sitting in the chair behind it. Sam, Lucas, and Dustin were right behind him, inspecting everything they could.

"The Heathkit ham shack," Mr. Clarke revealed. "Ain't she a beaut?"

"Woah." So overcome by her awe, Sam had no problem in completely shoving Mike out of his seat so she could sit down instead.

Sam wasn't usually that type of person, but she was also the biggest tech freak out of her whole friend group. Science and math were hers, and she understood the subjects as easily as she could breathe. Devices like radios and computers amazed her to no end. Sam didn't even notice she had pushed Mike, really. The Heathkit ham shack was just so cool. She picked up a pair of blue headphones with delight.

Dustin turned the radio on with one of the knobs. "I bet you can talk to New York on this thing."

"Think bigger," Mr. Clarke said, smiling.

Lucas glanced at him in disbelief. "California?"

"Canada!" Sam guessed, putting the headphones over her ears.

"Bigger..."

"Austraila!" said Mike.

Mr. Clarke nodded, amping up the kids' excitement.

"Oh, man!" Lucas exclaimed. "When Will sees this, he's totally gonna blow his shit!"

"Lucas," Mr. Clarke scolded.

"Sorry," Lucas said, though he didn't seem sorry at all.

Dustin chuckled while Mike reached for the headphones Sam was wearing. "Give me that," he said before he snatched them, putting the headphones on for himself. Sam glared, but neither of them truly cared. He bent forward—since Sam was sitting in the chair—and picked up the microphone so he could speak to it in an Australian accent: "'Ello, this is Mike Wheeler, president of Hawkins Middle AV Club!"

It was Dustin's turn to steal the headphones now.

"What are you doing?" Mike laughed.

"'Ello, this is Dustin, and this is the treasurer of Hawkins Middle AV Club!" Dustin greeted, mocking an Australian accent as well. "Do you eat kangaroos for breakfast?"

The four friends all laughed together in glee. Lucas went to take his turn with the radio before a knock on the door stopped him.

"Sorry to interrupt." Principal Coleman walked in, followed by two men in uniforms. "May I borrow Michael, Samantha, Lucas, and Dustin?"

╰━━━ ◦ ✸ ◦ ✸ ◦ ━━━╯

As it turned out, Sam wasn't so crazy for being worried about Will.

Ms. Byers had filed a missing persons report, because Will hadn't been seen since leaving Mike's house last night. Sam, Lucas, Mike, and Dustin were now squished together on their principal's couch, talking over each other. They were currently being interrogated by the Chief of Hawkins: Jim Hopper.

"—saw him leave—"

"He takes—"

"—we were playing Dungeons and Dragons—"

"He—"

"I was racing him for a comic—"

"He—He takes Mirkwood home—"

"—and now he's gone—"

"Okay, okay, OKAY!" Chief Hopper interjected. "One at a time, alright?"

He pointed to the only girl of the group. Sam nodded nervously. She hadn't really talked to Hopper since he'd told Sam about her parents' accident.

"You said he takes what?" he asked.

"Mirkwood," Sam answered, nodding.

Hopper raised an eyebrow. "Mirkwood?"

"Yeah."

Chief Hopper turned to his deputy. "Have you ever heard of Mirkwood?"

"I have not." He looked up from his notepad. "That sounds made up to me."

Lucas shook his head. "No, it's from Lord of the Rings."

"Well, The Hobbit," Dustin corrected.

Lucas turned toward Dustin, an incredulous expression on his features. "It doesn't matter!"

"He asked!"

Sam and Mike wore matching, deadpan expressions, stuck in the middle of Lucas and Dustin. She exhaled tiredly while he shook his head in annoyance.

"He asked," Lucas mocked.

"Well, he did!"

"Shut up, guys!" Mike cried.

Lucas and Dustin reached for each other, which quickly caused Mike to give up and lean back. Sam tried to push them both away with her arms. "Guys, stop!" she struggled.

"Shut up—"

"—can't even get The Hobbit right—"

"—so annoying—"

"He asked—"

"Do you see where we are right—"

"Hey, hey, HEY!" Hopper interrupted again. "What did I just say?! One at a damn time. You." He nodded toward Sam again.

"Mirkwood," Sam explained. "It's a real road. It's just the name that's made up. It's where Cornwallis and Kerley meet."

Hopper leaned back in his chair. "Yeah, alright, I think I know that—"

"We can show you, if you want," Mike said, eager to help search for Will. Sam was worried enough—she couldn't even imagine how stressed Mike was. Will and Mike were each other's first ever friends. Of course Mike wanted to find him.

No, he needed to find him.

"I said that I know it!" Hopper snapped in exasperation.

"We can help look though," Mike pleaded.

"And we're smaller," Sam agreed. "We can reach the places you guys can't!"

Dustin lit up. "Yeah!"

Hopper huffed. "No."

The kids gaped, desperate to convince Hopper otherwise.

"Yeah, come on—" Mike started.

"No," Hopper cut him off, more firmly this time. "After school, you are all to go home. Immediately. That means no biking around looking for your friend, no investigating, no nonsense. This isn't some Lord of the Rings book."

"The Hobbit," Dustin corrected.

Lucas leaned across Sam and Mike to hit Dustin. "Shut up!"

Dustin hit him back, causing the middle two to grow annoyed again. They both began to fight each other, accidentally hitting Sam in the face and causing her glasses to fall off.

"Dude," Sam said.

When she slid her glasses back on, she saw Hopper's face was even more peeved than hers.

"Do I make myself clear?" Hopper demanded, and the two fighting boys dropped their hands to their laps. He stood up, forcing the four of them to crane their heads up at him. "Do I make myself... clear?"

They nodded their heads rapidly. "Yes, sir."

"Yeah," Sam mumbled. Then she whispered, "We can stop by Castle Byers after school—"

"I heard that, Samantha!"

"Sorry."

╰━━━ ◦ ✸ ◦ ✸ ◦ ━━━╯

Sam had her head in her locker as she tried not freaking out about Will's disappearance. While she knew Ms. Byers could be quite overprotective with Will, Sam really meant it when she said something didn't feel right. And it was starting to freak her out.

The fluorescent light right above Sam started flickering the more she thought about Will. She slowly looked up, confused by the intermittent electricity. Then, wanting to know if anyone else was perturbed by this, Sam glanced down the right-side of the hallway. It seemed as if no one else was on edge today. Why did—

"Hey, Hughes!"

With a tiny yelp, Sam whipped around in the other direction she hadn't looked yet. To her left was a taller, sandy-haired boy who wore a friendly smile; although, it faltered at Sam's freak-out.

"Agh!" Sam squeaked Sam, kind of flailing but trying to straighten up. "Zim—I mean—Justin! You—I—shit!" She attempted as much normalcy as possible, leaning against her locker. This caused a strand of hair to fall in front of her face. Sam blew it away, then forced a smile. "Hi. What's up?"

Justin Zimmerman. Friends called him Jay. In the seventh grade with Sam. Birthday was July 16th. Quarterback of the middle school's football team. Sat promptly one desk in front of Sam in Mr. Clarke's class. Sam knew this last one, because she spent a lot of her time daydreaming and staring at the back of Justin's head.

The very obvious secret was that Sam has had a minor crush on Justin since last year. During PE, the boys were playing football while the girls were given laps. Sam had been walking the track that surrounded the football field when their football went flying towards her head. The ball never made contact though, because none other than Justin jumped in front of her to catch it. They toppled over, and Justin helped Sam stand up again with a friendly hand and perfect smile, and Sam's fate was sealed from there.

Of course, her friends teased her relentlessly about Sam's behavior around Justin. If they saw her little spasms right now, they'd be dying of laughter.

But they weren't here. Sam reminded herself she had no reason to be nervous.

"Sorry to scare you," Justin apologized, looking as if he didn't know whether to laugh or be sorry.

Sam huffed nervously. "No, you're good, I'm just..." a little on edge. "That was my fault. Anyways." She gestured toward him, as if to say, go on.

Justin matched her smile. He shrugged as he put his hands in the pocket of his jeans. "I was just wondering... What did Mr. Clarke say about the test? Did you catch any of it?"

Okay, Sam. You're actually doing it. You're actually having a conversation with Justin Zimmerman that lasts more than 20 seconds.

"Oh, the science test?" Sam straightened up off her locker. "Just that we have to finish Chapter 12 and answer 12.3 on the difference between an experiment and other forms of science investigation, 'cus the test is gonna cover Chapters 10 through 12. It's multiple choice with an essay question."

(These were the most words Samantha Hughes had ever said to Justin Zimmerman.)

Justin scoffed a laugh. "'Just,'" he repeated, because apparently all of what Mr. Clarke said was too complex. "God, I don't know how you listen in that class, Hughes. It's all like, in one ear and out the other for me."

"Well," Sam shrugged, adjusting her backpack strap over her shoulder, "it's not that bad. I kinda like science, so..."

Justin nodded incredulously. "Yeah, you're literally a genius."

Sam tripped over nothing again, falling into her locker. She straightened up, adjusting her glasses after they'd slid down her nose. "You think I'm—?" She cleared her throat. "You think I'm a genius?"

"Um, yeah," Justin scoffed as if it was obvious. "I'm pretty sure you're the smartest in our grade."

"I doubt that's true," Sam said, because she did, and she also thought her friends were pretty smart too.

"Nah, it is. I wish I said behind you. That way I could cheat and not have a C anymore."

He laughed, but Sam unfortunately hesitated too long to do the same. She just nodded stupidly at Justin, hand clenching around her bag's strap. "If you need help in the class, maybe we can study—"

"Jay, are you coming or what?"

Justin peered behind Sam, and Sam turned her head to see who the new figure was. Carrie Cunningham was standing right behind her with an impatient glare.

Carrie Cunningham. The evil, younger sister of Chrissy Cunningham. Also in the seventh grade with Sam. Birthday was unknown. Cheerleader for the middle school's football team. Hated Sam for no apparent reason. Sam new this last one, because Carrie was always staring at her, like...

Well, like this.

"My mom's here," Carrie continued impatiently.

Sam faced Justin again to see him sending her an apologetic look. "Shit, sorry," he muttered. "Carrie's my carpool. You understand, right? Same neighborhood and all that."

"Yeah," Carrie drawled, annoyed. "Loch Nora."

With a deadpan expression, Sam didn't even face Carrie to say, "Yep, Carrie, I know that. Thanks."

"So you get it then, right, Ann—I mean, Sam?" Carrie asked, but it was condescending at best. "Come on, Jay. Let's go."

As she trailed down the hall further, Sam sighed at the abrupt end of her one, successful conversation with Justin Zimmerman. Of course it was Carrie who interrupted it. Sam was convinced she was in love with him.

"I'm sorry about her. She just..."

"Hates me?" Sam finished, although that wasn't what she'd wanted to say. Is a bitch came to mind first.

Justin winced. "She doesn't hate you. She's just... protective."

"Right." Sam nodded, unconvinced.

"I'll see you later?" Justin attempted to bring the mood back, but it was long gone.

Sam sent him a tight-lipped smile. "Right. Later, Justin."

Justin surprisingly smiled again. He quickly corrected her with, "You can call me Jay, Hughes."

Sam surprisingly smiled again too.

"Okay. Later, Jay."

╰━━━ ◦ ✸ ◦ ✸ ◦ ━━━╯

The Gray-Hughes family didn't eat meals together, which was a surprise to absolutely no one. Usually, Aunt Kat would make food and each member of the family would eat whenever and wherever they pleased. On the days Aunt Kat didn't cook, they had to fend for themselves.

Sam had her headphones on, listening to the album "Rumors" by Fleetwood Mac (her favorite band ever, of all time, seriously this will be a prominent theme throughout the book) on her Walkman. Her dad used to be big on music, so Sam ended up getting really into it too. He was the one that played her all of her favorite artists, and even taught her how to play instruments like the guitar and piano. In fact, Anthony Hughes's old guitar was propped up in the corner of Sam's room right now. She inherited the instrument after he...

As Sam hummed along, she idly drew on a blank piece of paper with her alcohol markers and tried distracting herself from all thoughts of Will. Although there was music playing in Sam's ears, she was able to hear a knock on her bedroom door.

Pausing the music, Sam took her headphones off and asked, "Yeah?"

"It's me, honey," came the voice of Aunt Kat on the other side. "I made hamburgers, if you're interested."

Sam inhaled, scratching her thigh with the hand placed on her lap. "I'm good. I ate earlier," she answered.

The truth was, Sam didn't eat earlier. Or at all. She couldn't stand to eat knowing that Will was out there and lost. If she ate, Sam would just throw it all back up, she was sure of it.

"...Alright, sweetie. Just... let me know."

Sam assumed she walked away by the sound of her treading footsteps.

She rolled her eyes and turned toward her desk again. It wasn't that Aunt Kat had actually done anything wrong (actually, she was the only one beside Stephanie that was quasi-nice to Sam in this household), but that was just it—she didn't do anything. She sat back and let Uncle Dan traumatize all of the children. She turned a blind eye to the fact Uncle Dan had been cheating on her for like, eons.

Sam assumed it was all out of her grief for her late brother, but Sam and Stephanie had lost someone too, and they were still functional members of society.

(Forgive Sam, that was rude. She usually gave people the benefit of the doubt, but maybe she'd been living in this house for too long.)

Before Sam could put her headphones back on, she was interrupted again. She heard her walkie-talkie making noises on her bed. Sam furrowed her eyebrows in curiosity, but her internal questions were quickly answered by the sound of Mike's voice.

"Sam? Lucas? Do you copy?"

Sam, Mike, and Lucas's houses were all electronically in range of each other, whereas Will and Dustin lived too far away to pick up the signal. Most of the time it was just the three of them communicating via radio.

Sam grabbed her Walkie off her bed and sat back down at her desk. As she pulled the antenna out, Lucas responded in the meantime.

"Guys—?"

"Hey," Lucas said. "It's Lucas."

Sam clicked on her walkie to add, "And Sam!"

"I know it is," Mike said in annoyance. "And say 'over' when you're done talking so I know when you're done. Over."

Sam rolled her eyes. If Lucas was actually present with her, they'd be sharing the same, unamused expressions. Her assumptions were confirmed by Lucas passive aggressively adding, "We're done. Over."

"What ever could you want, Oh Dear Mike? Over."

"I'm worried about Will," he confessed. "Over."

Sam sighed, her attitude faltering. "I am, too. Over."

"Yeah," Lucas added. "This is crazy. Over."

Her walkie was quiet for a little before Mike spoke up again. "I was thinking," he paused, "Will could've cast protection last night. But he didn't. He cast Fireball. Over."

"What's your point? Over," Lucas wondered, and Sam could picture the confused face he was making in her mind.

"My point is... he could've played it safe. But he didn't. He put himself in danger to help the party. Over."

And the channel went quiet again. Both Sam and Lucas mulled Mike's words over. Will put himself in danger to help the party, then went missing the same night. As Sam had been saying all day, something about it didn't feel right.

An idea popped into her mind. "Meet outside my house in ten. Over and out."

╰━━━ ◦ ✸ ◦ ✸ ◦ ━━━╯

After Sam gathered her things in her backpack, put on a raincoat, and met Lucas and Mike outside her house, the three of them picked up Dustin. It was pitch-black outside now, so the friends turned their bike lights on to help them see. The group of four pedaled all the way to Mirkwood—the place Will was last seen before his disappearance.

Going against all of Hopper's words, they were going to try and search for Will.

As they pulled up to Mirkwood and parked their bikes, thunder sounded and lightning flashed. Looking out at the woods, Sam noticed the police had tried barricading off this patch of the forest. That was unfortunate for the police, because the kids were about to go straight into the woods.

Dustin tilted his head up the sky, holding out a hand. A droplet of rain fell onto the lens of Sam's glasses when Dustin asked, "Hey, guys? Do you feel that?" The drizzling started to become more prominent. "I think maybe we should go back—"

"No," Mike cut him off. "We're not going back. Just... stay close."

Mike walked past Dustin, who was rooted in the ground out of fear. Lucas followed Mike, but Sam stayed back to nudge Dustin encouragingly. She beckoned for Dustin to join Sam with a king smile. "Come on."

She went third in ducking underneath the police barricade. As she did so, Mike ordered, "Stay on channel six. And don't do anything stupid."

Now that Sam was actually in person with Lucas, she was able to share an expression with him about Mike's bossy behavior. Thunder clapped. Sam put the hood of her light blue rain jacket on and broke eye contact with Lucas. They caught up with Mike, who was deeper in the woods than them.

"Hey, guys, wait up!" Dustin called. He'd finally grown the nerve to venture past the barricades. "Wait up!"

He ran toward them while Sam and Lucas turned on their flashlights. Once Dustin finally caught up, they faced the depths of the forest and began their journey.

╰━━━ ◦ ✸ ◦ ✸ ◦ ━━━╯

The rain was now hammering down on Sam, Lucas, Mike, and Dustin the further they traveled into the forest. Their flashlights and raincoats were barely any help with how dark and stormy it was, but they searched for Will regardless. Sam's hair was beginning to curl with how the rainwater was drenching her hair.

"Will?!" Mike called out, in search of his best friend.

Sam squinted, trying her best to make out anything here in the dark. The less she could see, the more nervous she became. She even had to take off her glasses, because they kept getting covered by the pounding drops of rain.

She hated that feeling of anxiety inside of her, so she decide to deflect it onto her friends instead.

"You guys know what kind of stuff happens in these woods, right?" she asked.

Lucas nodded rapidly. "Oh, yeah. No, I do."

"Honestly, guys," Mike hissed, because of course he did. "The stories of this place are just a load of bullshit—"

"Shhh!" Dustin panicked.

"What?" Mike asked, offended.

Sam walked ahead of Mike and Dustin as they bickered in the background. Soon enough, their voices were drowned out by the rain. She led the group, shining the flashlight for them to see, even if she couldn't. Lucas appeared at her side. He clearly didn't want the boys to know he was freaking out too.

Lucas got quiet and close to Sam's ear to worry, "Which stories did you hear?"

"The one about the boy who killed his family by breaking all their bones and cutting out their eyes. He's been living out here ever since. On certain nights, when the moon is full, you can see his silhouette behind the trees—WAAH!"

Sam wiggled her fingers in Lucas's face, giggling at his terror.

"No, Sam, it's not funny though," Lucas snapped, now that he'd realized she was just messing with him. "What if it's all true? And what if Will is next?"

Mike shoved himself in between Sam and Lucas, pushing the two apart. "Speaking of Will," he interjected, now thoroughly annoyed, "can we keep looking for him?"

"Yeah, before we're next," Dustin mumbled anxiously.

"Sam's just fucking with Lucas, Dustin," Mike groaned. He shined his flashlight in Sam's face as payback for spooking their friends.

Sam yelped and squinted and tried to swat away the beam of light. His flashlight flickered, which gave Sam an oppurtunity to smirk. "Or am I?"

Mike rolled his eyes and pushed Sam, which caused her to laugh. She did shut up though, joining the boys in pointing their flashlights back out toward the woods.

"Will!" Mike called.

"WILLIAM!" Lucas shouted.

"Will Byers?!" Sam tried.

"I've got your X-Men 134!" Dustin baited.

The search for Will was becoming more and more uncomfortable by the second. They were all officially drenched by the rain, even despite their raincoats, and the walk was growing harder the more that dirt became mud. A prevalent issue was that Sam still couldn't see, though she had yet to speak up about that.

"Guys, I really think we should turn back!" Dustin yelled anxiously over the thundering weather.

"Seriously, Dustin?" Lucas shot back. "You wanna be a baby, then go home already!"

"I'm just being realistic, Lucas!"

Again, Sam and Mike were stuck in between their fighting. They looked at each other with the same unamused expression.

"No!" Lucas yelled. "You're just being a big sissy!"

Dustin glared back at Lucas. "Did you ever think Will went missing because he ran into something bad?"

"Like the boy in the woods," Sam added, just to spook Dustin further.

"Samantha!" Mike scolded, on his last leg.

"No, she's right, Mike!" Dustin argued. "And now we're going to the exact same spot where Will was last seen! And we have no weapons or anything!"

Mike's head was craned in a particular manner. Sam couldn't see the expression on his face from how it was tilted, but it wasn't annoyance in his tone when he said, "Dustin, shut up."

"I'm just saying, does that seem smart to you?"

Mike shot out a hand in front of Dustin. "Shut up! Shut up, shut up."

Sam, Lucas, and Dustin stared at Mike, confused as to what he was getting at.

"Do you guys hear that?"

And then Sam did. There was a rustling of leaves and sticks to the left of them. The four party members whipped to the side, shining their flashlights at the potential threat. Sam's heart dropped down to her feet in fear. Maybe there actually was a boy that killed his family by breaking all their bones.

They shone their flashlights where the sound came from, but none of them could see anything. For just one second, Sam calmed down enough for her shoulders to relax. But that moment was cut very short. Because then there was another rustling that came from their right side this time.

The four of them jumped, flashlights following their line of sight.

But this time...

This time, they weren't looking at nothing.

Sam, Lucas, Mike, and Dustin were met face-to-face with a bald girl their age in an oversized Benny's Burgers shirt.

And she looked terrified.

╰━━━ ◦ ✸ ◦ ✸ ◦ ━━━╯

Published: January 13, 2024
Re-published: October 30, 2025

BAILEY YAPS...

SO HEY GUYS

Basically if you're new here: hello, happy first chapter. If you're not, then you've definitely read this chapter before. I know I said this in the intro chapter but I just never understood why anyone liked this story and I'm trying to prove that I can do so much better by editing/rewriting it. Don't worry I'm not going crazy and switching up on y'all but I hated my writing style/lack of depth/annoying ass author notes. So back it again we are.

This is crazy to me because 1) This was my first published story and 2) I first wrote this story at 13. So yeah I'm very convinced I can do better, I just didn't think I'd ever care enough to come back to it

(Surprise surprise, Hughclair has captured my heart again)

((I'm alwaysss foreverrr running back to youuu)