SOMEHOW, night had fallen and Mike and Mariella hadn't even noticed. They sat in Will's room quietly talking about what was happening, Will telling them about 'him' and the connection he has to the shadow monster. All the while, Joyce tore around the living room and halls taping up the drawings Will made in an order which made a map — she also was calling Hopper continuously, needing to show him Mariella's diagrams.

The three kids had ended up asleep, Will in his bed while Mike and Mariella slept on the floor on the side of the bed, her head on his arm and their limbs scattered all around the floor. Joyce opening the door to check on them and sighing at the sight before she turns to the telephone to call their families, telling them that they had fallen asleep and that it would be fine for them to sleepover for the night.

♧

The next day, Will shot up from bed gasping and covered in sweat. Mike bursting awake and sitting up, not noticing Mariella's head on his chest causing her to hit the ground loudly and wake up as well, groaning.

"What the-" Mariella begins rubbing her head as she sits up.

"Will, what's wrong?" Mike ignores her, looking to Will who continued stared down at them with wide eyes.

He stammers out, shaking his head as sweat began to drip down this forehead. "I saw him," He whispers.

Mariella stands and sits next to him. "Who'd you see, Will?" She asks, voice groggy and eyes drooping as she wraps an arm around his shoulder and rubs his back.

Will stays silent before taking in a shaky breath. "Hopper, he's in trouble," He says as he leans into Mariella's arms and stares at the ground with wide eyes, shaking.

A moment goes by before Mike looks to Mariella with a worried expression before speaking. "Will, we should tell your mom. We need to help him," He gets up, helping Will up from the bed.

He nod, shakily. Mike and Mariella slowly leading him out of his bedroom and into the map covered hallway, following down to the living room. Will breaks away from his friends lead, going to the middle of the living room where his mom sat with the telephone trying to decipher what was on her walls.

"Mom... Mom?" He begins, walking towards her. She ignored him, in a trance and concentrating on figuring out the mystery. "Mom!" He repeats, putting a hand on her shoulder and shaking her softly, her snapping her head towards him in shock and gasping.

"Yeah?" She asks, putting her hand atop of his and staring.

"I saw him," Will responds.

Joyce squints at him, Mariella and Mike standing to the side and watching the scene unfold. "You saw who, baby?" She asks.

"Hopper," Will breathes shakily, staring down at his mom. He pauses, Joyce tilting her head confused. "I think he's in trouble. I think he's going to die," He whispers out, voice dying out at the end.

"What do you mean? Where is he?" Joyce chokes, eyes becoming glassy as she gets up from her sitting position.

"I don't know. Underground, somewhere. I think... I think I can draw it," Will stammers out, standing straight and breathing heavily.

"Okay, okay," Joyce nods, putting a hand on Will's shoulder and leading him towards his bedroom. "Let's go, baby. Let's go draw it," She stutters as Mike and Mariella follow behind nervously.

In his room, he sits down at his desk, taking a scrap piece of wrapping paper and beginning to scribble all around it with blue and purple crayons. His eyes wide as he works, his hands moving violently across the page. 

Joyce stood to his side while Mariella and Mike watched from behind, the drawing slowly getting harder to understand until he finally stops. Placing the blue crayon he used onto the desk and staring blankly. "Is this where you saw him? Is this where you saw Hopper?" She asks, slouching closer to the drawing and feebly touching at the paper.

"I think so. Yeah," Will answers, voice devoid of emotion.

Nodding, Joyce takes the paper as her, Mike, and Mariella begin searching the walls for where it fit in the puzzle.

They exit the room, scouring the halls and searching the walls hurriedly. Joyce holding it up to the wall every now and then, Mike scanning the kitchens walls while Mariella looks at the grounds map. "Here!" Mike calls to them, pointing to the fridge as they both rush over.

Joyce placing it against the fridge and breathing out. "Okay, so... so Hopper is here?" She stammers, gesturing to the drawing and connected papers.

Mike leans closer, nodding. "Yeah. Now we need to find out where here is, right?" He points.

"Right," Joyce responds, looking at the drawings around them.

Mariella sighs. "What do we know?" She ponders, tapping her hand against her corduroy pants. "Obviously, this is some sort of puzzle," She goes on.

"Did he say anything? I mean, before he left?" Mike pipes up as the kids look down at Joyce with hopeful eyes.

Joyce exclaims, sighing. "Uh, some... Something about vines?" Her head looking towards the door at the sound of a car approaching the house, getting up and rushing towards the window. Mariella and Mike following begins. 

She stops at the sight of Bob exiting the car, looking to the kids and telling them to wait before she opens the front door and exiting the house, shutting it.

Mariella breathes out, looking to Mike anxiously as she leans into his arm. "This is crazy," She sighs. "I've literally got nothing. I'm not even lying — I wish I was. I'm literally not thinking," She goes on, shaking her head.

Mike ruffles her hair, comfortingly. "It's okay to not have anything. You've done enough," He says softly, looking down to her tired eyes, heart skipping a beat as he brushes her hair out of her face.

She shakes her head, head falling onto his arm. "Not enough. Will isn't okay yet," She looks up at him with a sad smile before turning her attention back to the window where Joyce turned Bob away and is about to enter the house. But stops and inaudibly calls out to Bob.

"What do you think is going on?" Mike tilts his head wrapping an arm around Mariella.

She shrugs. "I'm telling you, my brain is not working," Blinking a few times at the door as if it would 'reboot' herself.

In the next few seconds, Joyce throws the door open, Bob following in after her holding a few boxes as he stares around the messy house. Mariella and Mike breaking away from each other, nervously. 

Will comes out of his room, hearing the door open, thinking it was Hopper, he walks over to Mariella and Mike, standing next to them as Bob stared at the walls.

"Huh. Hm," Bob shrugs, looking around before turning to Will. "You drew all these? Yourself?" He asks.

He nods, humming. Bob looking back at the walls curiously. "Why, exactly?".

"I... I told you the rules. No questions, okay?" Joyce butts in as Mariella, Will, and Mike look between one another, lips pursed tightly.

Bob nods. "Yeah," as Joyce turns and walks around the house.

"We... We just need you to help us figure out what..." She speaks, going over to the kitchen before pausing and turning back towards their four frozen figures. "Bob? Bob! Over here," She gestures them over with her hand.

He turns giving the Mind Puzzles he brought for Will to Mike and saunters over to Joyce. The kids trailing behind him as Joyce kneels down by the fridge and drawing a large X in red crayon. "Where... Where this is," She explains.

"That's the objective, find the X," Mike pipes in, raising his eyebrows.

Bob chuckles. "Yeah? What's at the X? Pirate treasure?" He asks, looking to the kids then to Joyce with a smile.

"Bob, no questions," Joyce responds seriously, Bob's smiling fading.

"Okay," He says, sighing and clicking his tongue while looking around. "Let me talk to you for a second. Hang on, guys," He goes on, putting an arm around Joyce as he leads her somewhere private after giving the kids a look.

Will looks to Mariella. "He thinks my mom's crazy. Doesn't he?" He sighs out.

Shaking her head, she returns the look. "No. I think he's just confused," Mariella tries to ease his nerves while tying her hair back messily.

Mike nods in agreement, patting Will's back gently. "Yeah. Mars is right. It looks weird, it's a puzzle around your entire house. He's just curious," He adds on with an easy-going smile which wasn't by any means, real. He was only putting it on to keep Mariella and Will calm. It didn't matter what he felt at this moment, he thought. He had to keep calm for them.

Will shrugs, looking between them with upturned brows. "If you say so," He sighs again as he sits down at the dining table. The others following, sitting in silence as they find odd ways to occupy themselves. Mariella scratching the tops of her nail beds, Will drawing shapes in the table, while Mike stares into space.

They're snapped out of their trances , hearing Bob bustle through the hall, pointing at the walls. "Okay... I get it. That's Lake Jordan," He says, gesturing to a shape on the wall.

He continues walking, Joyce trailing behind him as he babbles. "And if that's Lake Jordan, then you can probably find... Yeah, that's, uh, Sattler's Quarry," He continues, snapping towards another shape.

The kids look at each other, eyebrows furrowed, staying seated as they listen in on the conversation curiously. "And if you just follow it naturally... It moves to... The Eno River," He goes on, waltzing into the living room, pointing to one of the shapes. "And there it is. That's the Eno, do you see it?" Bon turns to Joyce who tilts her head.

"Okay, so, the lines aren't roads. But they act like roads. And they act like roads 'cause when you follow 'em, you'll see..." Bob walks into the kitchen where the children followed him with their eyes. "They don't go over water. And that's the giveaway. That's the giveaway. Ha!" He announces excitedly, clapping his hands as he walks towards the fridge.

"Don't you get it? It's not a puzzle. It's a map. It's a map of Hawkins," He outstretches his arms, gesturing all around the house with a laugh.

Will's eyes going wide while Mike looks to him. Joyce's jaw going slack, Mariella shaking her head as Bob looks to Will. "Right, Will?" He asks.

Will stays silent, head shaking airily as all eyes turn to him. This just got a whole lot messier.