It's been months since Will Byers, Charlie Williams and Barbara Holland's fates were revealed — two of them surviving, one not. But the town wasn't strained by all that had happened within that one week in Hawkins, they had moved on.

       Will Byers and his friends went back to playing D&D and riding their bikes through town as though nothing had ever happened. Nancy Wheeler sulked back into her routine of only focusing on her academics — and occasionally Steve Harrington, whom she had taken back during the Christmas season the year before.

      Jim Hopper continued working as Chief, although barely acknowledged for finding the two sole survivors, Will and Charlie — instead, most focused on that one girl he hadn't been able to save, poor Barbara Holland. But still, he turned a blind eye to it all and continued with his job — now sober.

     Joyce was relieved to finally have her son back, so much so that she barely let him leave the house without her. But she was just being protective and she wanted him to be safe, however, Jim did stop by a few times a week to keep her in check and make sure she were doing alright — the woman always welcomed his presence and his daughter when he brought her with him.

      Mary Hopper's life was consumed by trying to graduate high school and work in the station with her father at the same time. She barely had time to focus on anything else, thus leaving no time to spend with the likes of Carol and Tommy — who Mary was glad she had broken away from, but without them, Mary was still Mary; she still had her Queen title, despite Steve no longer being King.

      Mary and Charlie Williams had been almost inseparable — they did cliché couple things like going on double dates with Steve and Nancy and making out in her bedroom when her father wasn't around. They also spent a lot of time at his father's garage, since Charlie would take over the company when he left school.

      Mary had tried to befriend Corina — she truly had. But the girl remained insufferable. She refused the friendship, saying she was better off on her own and mostly was, except for the times she was occasionally with Tommy and Carol, but it was rare.

     Mary had respected that Corina didn't want anything to do with them, she wanted her chance at being a normal girl under a fake name with fake parents living in a house alone — one that Mary found had been abandoned for years. And so, the two teens went back to pretending as though they hadn't saved Charlie's life and went back to loathing each other.

     Hawkins was back to normal, as were the people in it. Or at least, that's what they made people believe.