╭ ╮
━━━━  " 📂 "

𝙋 𝘼 𝙍 𝘼 𝘿 𝙄 𝙎 𝙀

╰ ╯

"OF COURSE THERE'S A GATE." Sadie was muttering to herself, not entirely aware she was even doing so, tapping her pencil against her palm as she thought. "Of course there's a gate, because Will wouldn't have been able to... is pass the right word in this context? He wouldn't be able to pass through it."

"And I'm betting he didn't do it on purpose." Dustin added, pacing across the wooden floor of the basement as he thought. "Which means something else opened it - and left it like that."

"Which is how that something managed to get out again and take Barb - take anyone else whose gone missing." Sadie nodded, now chewing on the end of her pencil. "So. Now we need to find this gate."

Behind the pair of - self-titled - genius siblings, Mike and Lucas were explaining the theory that Mr Clarke had told them to Eleven, who was in the blonde wig and dress from the previous day. Sadie couldn't believe that the poor girl was stuck in her old clothes, and living in a basement - she really needed to help her sort that out, to try and reason with Mike that this wasn't the most ethical of situations.

"What we wanna know is, do you know where the gate is?" Lucas asked, Sadie directing her attention over to the pair of boys as Dustin's pacing got too much to handle. Eleven shook her head and the Sinclair boy sat back. "Then how do you know about the upside down?"

Sitting back in her own chair, Sadie realised by now that Eleven probably knew on account of her powers, not because she knew where the gate was. But there had to be another way for them to figure something out form what Mr Clarke said and -

"Wait." Dustin came to a stop. "Sadie, stay still." He instructed, his wide-eyed sister doing as he said and remaining complete motionless. He dug around in his pocket until he pulled out a slightly rusted silver disk, taking a step towards her, leaning down and grabbing the charm of the necklace that hung around her neck; a tiny, completely usable compass.

"What is it?" She asked, instead taking off the chain to the necklace then just sitting there with Dustin dragging her forward by the neck. "What have you seen?"

"Dustin, what are you doing?" This time it wasn't Sadie asking, but Mike, as he, Lucas and Eleven stared at the pacing boy. "Dustin? Dustin - hey - Dustin! What are you doing?"

The youngest Henderson sibling came to a stop, staring down at the charm attached the chain spilling from his palm. "I... I need to see your compasses." He announced.

"What?"

"Your compasses." Dustin repeated. "All of your compasses, right now!" He demanded, watching as his friends got up and began to scramble around the room to collect them up, Sadie herself reaching for her bag and managing to find two in there alone.

It was almost absurd how many they owned all together, quite a number of compasses coming together on the surface of the table. Dustin peered over them, sliding them over until they were all facing upwards and straight.

"What's exciting about this?" Mike asked, as Sadie looked over his shoulder. Quite frankly, she didn't know either, and was quite excited to find out what Dustin was thinking and the theory he came up with.

"Well, they're all facing north, right?"

"Yeah that's kinda the point." Sadie frowned, looking over to him. "That's what the do."

"Well, that's not true north." Dustin replied, and quickly, his sister regretted her words, her mind clicking straight after he said it.

"What do you mean?" Mike asked quickly, seeing the recognition bloom in Sadie's eyes, only hoping he'd be able to feel the same way.

"I mean exactly what I just said. That's not true north." Dustin repeated, rolling his eyes at the sight of his friends' clueless faces. "Are you both seriously this dense? The sun rises in the east, and it sets in the west, right?"

"Actually, your arms should be..." Sadie stepped forward and adjusted where his arms were. "Sorry - not relevant."

"It's fine." Dustin replied, before moving one of his arms and pointing in another direction. "Which means that's true north."

"So what you're saying is that the compasses are broken." Mike stared down at the tabletop.

Dustin let out a sigh. "Do you even understand how a compass work?" He asked. "Do you see a battery pack on this?"

"No."

"No, you don't. Because it doesn't need one." Dustin continued, clearly exasperated by his friends' lack of knowledge.

"The needle is naturally drawn to the Earth's magnetic North Pole." Sadie cut in, reaching forward and picking up her necklace.

"So what's wrong with them?"

Dustin glanced towards Sadie, who gestures for him to go on. "Well that's what I couldn't figure out... but then I remembered. You can change the direction of a compass with a magnet. If there's the presence of a more powerful magnetic field, the needle deflects to that power."

"Which leads back to what Mr Clarke said." His older sister said. "The gate would have so much power-"

"It could disrupt the electromagnetic field." Mike finished her sentence.

"Exactly." Dustin nodded.

"Meaning, if we follow the compasses' north..." Lucas' eyes widened as he looked up between the two siblings.

"They should lead us to the gate." Sadie finished. "Or you guys, at least. I can't come along this time." Heads snapped towards her.

"What?"

"I thought you were supposed to be chaperoning!" Mike seemed to have come around on the idea of her presence a lot, and now apparently favoured it.

Sadie shrugged, stuffing her compass necklace into the pocket of her jacket before pulling it on. "I've got to go change so I can work a couple hours at the Hawk. Besides, this is something you guys should be doing anyway, I shouldn't be imposing all the time."

"You're not imposing." It was Lucas this time, shaking his head rapidly.

"I can't really give up on Mr Green now." Sadie replied. That being said, if you do find the gate - do not go anywhere near it, and most definitely do not go through it. You come back here and tell me. Swear on it?"

"Got it." Dustin nodded. He saw the apprehension cross her features. "I swear, Sadie - we won't do anything remotely dangerous. Just find the place, that's it."

"Good." The older sister picked up her bag, making her way towards the stairs. "And look after Eleven, okay? Maybe get her a new dress or something. There should be something in the bag I packed."

"Right. Okay. We'll be fine." Dustin reassured her yet again, ushering her towards the stairs. "I swear. We won't do anything dangerous, we'll just try and find it. That's it."

For some reason, Sadie couldn't quite believe it.

✧

It had taken the Henderson girl a considerably amount of time to get through the Wheeler house, because as soon as she surfaced from the staircase down to the basement, she had been bombarded by Holly, still in her funeral dress and quite unable to understand why everyone was so sad.

Then, after spending five or ten minutes with her, Mrs Wheeler let her know that Nancy was in the garage if she wanted to say goodbye before she left for the Hawk, and Sadie managed to pry Holly's hands away, just as she reached the door, pushing it open and coming face to face with not just Nancy, but Steve as well.

"Sadie?" The Wheeler girl asked, blinking as she saw her friend surface.

"You didn't know she was here?" Steve looked between them, before raising his arm and jabbing is thumb in some direction over his shoulder. "That's her car parked there."

"Right.. it is." Nancy peered over, twisting her wrist and swinging the bat in her hand for a moment. "I didn't know you were here."

"I was in the basement... babysitting my brother and his friends." Sadie wrinkled her nose just slightly in distaste. "I'm definitely not hanging out with a bunch of kids.. no - I'm chaperoning. hi Steve, by the way." She corrected.

"Hi." He waved his hand in a half raise and smiled just a little, a lot friendlier than Carol or Tommy whenever she was nearby.

"I hope you didn't get in too much trouble with your parents." Steve glanced over to Nancy as Sadie spoke, realising that she had told her about their conversation outside the gym hall.

He swallowed, slightly embarassed. "I did.. but its fine. Thanks."

"Where are you going, Sadie? I thought you were be helping Mike with their campaign or something." Nancy reverted the question back towards her as opposed to the small argument that had occured between the couple.

"Me?" Sadie blinked. "I was going to go to Radioshack and buy a Walkman.. ask about fixing a camera, check out his range of compasses, go work a couple hours at The Hawk.. you know, errands." She shrugged.

"Oh you lost your necklace?" Steve asked. Both Sadie and Nancy turned to look at him.

"Pardon?" Nancy said.

"Her necklace has a compass on it." The Harrington boy replied. Both girls were still staring at him and he cleared his throat, a hand scratching the back of his neck. "I noticed it at the party. I can check my house if you want."

"I'm good." Sadie smiled at him, adjusting her bag over her shoulder. "Actually it was for Dustin.. he has a habit of breaking things."

"I thought you were chaperoning?" Nancy looked really confused.

"Right." Sadie's eyebrows are raised. She didn't exactly know what was going on with her. "Right.. and you're - uh - trying out for softball?"

Nancy swung the bat back and forth. "Apparently." She shrugged.

"I'm just gonna go back to the basement." Sadie was backing up towards the door again, turning towards it slightly and twisting the door handle. "I think I left something down there."

She pushed the door open agains and slipped inside. There was no denying the slight awkwardness that transpired during the interactions between the two girls. A sigh left her lips, ready to go back to the basement and escape through the door down there, before pausing.

Sadie could hear what the couple were saying outside. And she was far too curious for her own good.

"Did something happen between you two?" Steve asked, seemingly concerned. The Henderson girl could hardly believe he had even realised the strange energy.

"No.. it's just been weird since Barb left. And she was really close to Will." Nancy replied, a shadow of regret in her tone. "And her necklace is from her dad, so if you do see it..."

"Yeah, I'll find it." He promised. "... She's the smart one, right?"

"Really smart." The Wheeler girl agreed. "Above perfect GPA, knows all this weird stuff. Really nice as well."

"Did you tell her about what you saw at my house?" That got Sadie's attention and although she had been thinking that perhaps eavesdropping was bad no matter how curious she was, she didn't move. "Maybe she'll know some animal or something."

She didn't want to brag, but quite honestly it did seem likely. And even if she didn't know the animal, if Nancy just described it a bit then she could find out. And Sadie really wanted to find out, seeing as it possibly could've been the thing that had taken Barb.

"I don't know.." Nancy let out a sigh, and there was a noise that quite possibly have been her hitting something with the bat in her hands. "Maybe I'll mention it."

There was a pause.

"But she hangs out in your basement?" Steve asked, seemingly in disbelief about this fact. It was then which Sadie decided that perhaps it was a little rude to eavesdrop and hurried away back into the house, needing to hurry now so she could get home before her shift.

And she could only hope that Dustin, Mike, Lucas and Eleven would stay safe.

✧

Sadie was bored. She was sat behind the counter at the Hawks, the sound of the movie playing muffled and mixing with the popcorn moving around. Eric - her coworker, and in the grade above at school - was watching her as her pen moved languidly across the page of her notebook, and looking confused as he saw all the books spread across every spare inch of surface.

The sound of a door opening and closing caused them to look up, and Sadie stopped herself from rolling her eyes as a giggling Carol dragged Tommy H out of the bathroom, wiping the corner of her lips with her thumb.

"Well thats just lovely." Eric pushed himself off of the counter and turned away from Carol winking at them before pushing her boyfriend towards the doors back into the theatre. "Come on Henderson, tell me why you're looking at all this stuff."

"I'd rather not." Sadie pushed herself up so she was sitting straight as opposed to slumped over a book and she turned away from him, ignoring at the boy tried to get a look.

"Come on." Eric insisted. "I'm bored out of my mind here, just let me look at your nerdy shit."

Sadie let out a sigh. She didn't know how much longer she could last with him whining, but there was at least forty-five minutes until the movie ended and an hour until the next one began - and she surely couldn't last until then.

But then again, he was pissing her off far too much for her to give in. Her research into monsters of the Upside Down in D&D lore was actually quite interesting and a good refresher for whenever the boys wanted her help again, and could she really be bothered to answer Eric's questions?

The answer seemed to be yes, as she picked up one of the closed books and handed it to him without even looking. "Knock yourself out." She muttered, hearing the book open and he began to flick through the pages.

"Oh." Eric stared down at one of the pages, eyes scanning over the picture.

Sadie finally looked away, eyebrows raising. "The Demogorgon?" She asked. "Huh." It was a coincidence, for sure, that he had decided to look at that one first - she knew all about Eleven choosing the piece to represent Will hiding in the Upside Down, and could remember very clearly how Will had been defeated by the piece in the campaign the night he went missing.

The phone began to ring and startled, Eric slammed the book shut, a frown covering his face as he pushed it towards Sadie's pile. "Ass." She muttered, before reaching for the phone. Evidently, Eric didn't seem to like just how interested he had been upon seeing the creature in the book. "The Hawk, Sadie Henderson speaking."

She picked up the phone, and almost instantly took it away again as loud words came through. "Woah there." She blinked, glancing towards Eric who was staring at her before pulling the phone cord around the corner and into the backroom. "Okay, try that again, but quieter."

"There's a problem." Dustin was saying, voice a little too booming for Sadie to be able to hear properly, but lucky she was used to getting these sort of calls from any member of the party, and could almost translate.

She glanced back to Eric, making sure he wasn't listening before turning back to the phone. "Okay Dustin - you're gonna have to elaborate because right now, a problem could mean anything. At least, just tell me that you didn't find the gate and go in it!" She hissed.

"No - not that problem, we didn't find the gate... which is kind of the whole problem." Dustin replied, and his sister was just getting more and more confused by the second.

"Explain, please."

"So.. El might have been stopping us from finding the gate." The Henderson boy said. "And then Mike and Lucas got in a fight about it.. and we might have lost El."

"You lost El?" Sadie didn't keep her voice lowered this time, and Eric's head shot up. "How can you lose El? Wait - no, don't answer that, Eric's listening and we all know how that will go.. God knows who else as well." Sadie's mind flickered back to the buzzing on the end of the phone line and her research on the lab.

"Hey!" Eric pushed himself up from the counter as he heard the comment, only seeing Sadie rolling her eyes. "Who's El, by the way?"

"Geez." Sadie muttered. "You heard that, didn't you? Nevermind, are you at home? Or are you at Mike's?"

"Home."

"Okay... I'll be back as soon as I can. Try and figure this out please - because I'm not launching an overnight search party and I have another shift in the morning." Sadie hung up, paranoia filling her as she wondered whether or not the phone lines were being tapped, or if she really was just imagining herself as a character in a novel.

"Whose this El person?" Eric asked as Sadie placed the phone back onto the wall. "Where did you lose her?"

"None of your business." Sadie was busy stacking up all of her books and collecting her notebook and pen, Eric trailing behind her as she recovered her bag and coat from the back room.

"You're leaving me here? You still have an hour left!" Eric complained, and in all honesty the Henderson girl was ready to punch him, but she restrained herself.

"I'm barely even on minimum wage - I work here as a favour." She spun round to face him. "I'm gonna go ask Mr Green to leave early. Surely you're more than competent enough to hand out some popcorn and tickets. There'll be hardly any people."

"Fine." Eric grumbled, as Sadie headed towards the office, knocking on the door.

There were many things that could have gone wrong in the group's trip to find the gate, but losing Eleven wasn't one that Sadie could have prophesied. And other than them actually getting past the gate, was perhaps the worst outcome of them all.