THE SCHOOL DAY WENT ON AS USUAL, going from class to class begrudgingly. Though, Will hadn't shown up to school which did worry the party quite a bit.

It was lunch and they were seated on the front steps, Mariella popping grapes in her mouth as she babbled to Max, asking her questions about California curiously. Lucas and Dustin talking about the new theories they had come up with for Star Wars. Mike was off from the group, standing at the payphone which was attached to the front of the school, phoning the Byers residence worriedly.

Angrily, he slams the phone which emitted the Byers voicemail into its hook before jogging back to where his friends sat.

"Anything?" Lucas calls to him, curiously.

Mike ignores the question, shaking his head. "We need to talk. AV Room. Right now," He says climbing the stairs hurriedly as they all jump to pack up their things.

He stops at the top, noticing Max getting up and sighing softly. "Max, can you sit this one out? It's kind of private," He looks to her, uncomfortably. He was conflicted. He couldn't just tell her what had happened last year.

Max freezes, looking up at him, eyebrows furrowing and frowning. "Come on, Mike," Dustin looks to him, squinting.

"It's non-negotiable," Mike shakes his head, turning back towards the doors before giving Max one last look and entering, mumbling a "Sorry" as he walks.

♧

Entering the AV Room, following behind Mike, Mariella glares at him. "Did you really have to do that? I thought you were good with her," She says, sitting down at a chair as Dustin and Lucas e tee in after her.

Mike looks away from her piercing eyes, letting out another sigh. "I am good with her," He responds.

"Then why'd you do that?" Lucas asks, squinting his eyes tightly at Mike.

"Because, this is about Will," Mike responds looking back to them and noticing all their hard glares softening.

"What do you mean, it's about Will?" Dustin presses, sitting down next to Mariella.

"Will didn't want me to tell anyone but, on Halloween night he saw a sort of shadow in the sky," He explains, walking over to the desk and sitting down on it.

"A shadow? What kind of shadow?" Lucas stammers out, confused.

Mike shakes his head. "I don't know. But, it scared him and if Will really has True Sight... I mean, if he can really see into the Upside Down, maybe he saw that shadow again yesterday," He theorizes.

"So that's why he was frozen like that," Dustin nods.

"Maybe," Mike responds.

Lucas jumps in, "Can it hurt him?" He asks. "I mean, if this shadow thing isn't from our world..." He trails.

The stay engrossed in their conversation, going on about their plans. Mariella listening in loosely as she furrows her brows before shaking her head. She was on the verge of something. She knew something. She just had to figure out what.

"Wait!" She screeches, standing up from her chair and eyes widening as she rushes over to her backpack and unzipping it, grabbing her purple notebook.

The boys cover their ears at her shrillness, groaning. "What?" Dustin asks, uncovering them as they all watch her pull out a black pen and rushes over to the desk, pulling Mike off but his hands before she slams the notebook onto the desk.

"I think I got something," She mumbles, biting the pen cap off before drawing a long line across the paper, the boys now crowding around her.

"Okay, look, remember how Mr. Clarke showed us the flea and the acrobat scenario?" She says, drawing five X's along the top of the line and one single X under it. 

The boys nod. "Yeah," Lucas responds as he tilts his head and tries to understand what was going on in her busy mind.

"Good. Listen, as we already know this is the Upside Down," She says pointing to the single X. "That's Will, last year,". Then, pointing to the five X's, "This is us and El," She goes on. "You guys following?".

They nod, slowly — looking to each other as if it would help them figure out what was going on in her mind. Though, they all knew well enough that it was no use. Mariella DeGray had the mind of her father's, it was always running and it never stopped for anyone. You'd have to be a magician to even get past her moving gears.

"Well, you remember all that talk about the gate? And remember how El said she had opened it and of course, it makes sense because of her power," She explains as she writes down 'Gate is opened by Eleven' in the top left corner in neat printing.

The boys nod once again. "We already know this, Mars," Mike says as Mariella flips to an empty page and draws another line across it.

"I know we know. This is where it gets more complicated," Mariella responds, drawing four exes at the top of the line. "Alright, again. Here's us. This is now," She goes on before she write down 'Gate is closed' at the top left corner.

"Where's the fifth? Where's the fifth person?" Dustin asks, pointing to the blank space. Knowing well that Eleven wouldn't be drawn on, so obviously, one of the boys were missing.

Mariella ignores him. "But look, the Upside Down was able to take Will from our world. Who says that our world can't take from the Upside Down? What if, parts of the Upside Down seeped into our world? Take for example, Dart," She continues, writing down Dart on the top of the line.

"Dustin, you ask me, where the fifth?" She says turning to Dustin with a raised brow, Dustin nodding in response before Mariella draws an X right on the side of the line. "There you go. That's Will," She says, looking up to them.

"What do you mean?" Mike asks nervously.

"Yesterday on the field, he was frozen. What if that episode wasn't really an episode but some sort of... I don't know, possession? None of his episodes have ever been like that," She responds, placing the pen down for a moment.

"Possession? Ella, what are you trying to say?" Lucas presses her.

Mariella shakes her head. "I'm saying that what if, Will's physically here but somehow his mind is still somewhere in the Upside Down? Or, something is keeping part of him down there. It's like the Phineas Gage case. How his brain and attitude was impacted by the incident ," She responds, looking between her friends who now were beginning to understand.

"But instead of it being neurological, it's... Some sort of physical impact? Like a possession," She flips back to the page of notes she had written down about Phineas Gage, pointing to each bullet which affected Will in some way.

"But see, how would Will get possessed if the gate wasn't opened again? Or was actually never closed at all?" She continues, turning back to her diagram.

Their eyes widening as they all scan the diagram rapidly. "If the gates opened," Dustin starts.

"That would mean..." Mike mumbles, looking to Mariella, breathing heavy.

"Eleven might be..." Lucas adds in, breathing getting cut short as Mariella writes down her final point.

"Alive," She nods, looking up to her friends as she drops the pen.

"Holy shit, Mariella Sloane. I think you just cracked the case," Mike whispers, looking down at the diagram the girl had drawn.

"Will wasn't ever suffering from PTSD... Whatever was possessing him was just waiting until he was weak enough to take control over," Lucas adds on before looking to Mariella. "You're a genius, Ella!".

"Mars most likely got the Will part right. But if Eleven is still alive, where is she?" Dustin pipes up.

"That's the thing, we've got nothing that points to El being alive other than the gate probably being open," Mariella responds, shrugging her shoulders.

Mike shakes his head. "The gate isn't probably open. It is open. How else would Dart get here? And El? She's the only person we know can open the gate, we have to believe it," He says confidently.

"We got to get more knowledge," Lucas says, referring back to Mike's plan from when Mariella was thinking. "Mike, Ella, go see Will after school. Dustin and I, we'll find Dart and then we'll put an end to this," He continues, looking between the group with a stern face. "Once and for all,".