Hopper storms into the cabin after using the secret knock and no one answered.  He had to break the damn door down to get inside.

"Kid? Hey, Kid!" He rushes through the rooms, searching for Eleven. "El!  El, where are you?" He calls out.  He runs back outside, hoping to see her. He pants heavily in fear. She was gone.  But he knew she'll be back.  If they haven't found her yet.  He grunts and kicks the ground in anger.  Pissed off with Eleven's rebellious stage.  He sighs and turns to sit down and wait for her.  He needed a cigarette bad.  He pats his jacket and pulls out his hidden pack.  Lighting up one.

With a content sigh, he blows out a cloud.  God, he needed that.

Meow...

Jim shouts in surprise, "Shit!" Nearly falling out of his seat.

Meow...

He looks down and sees Theo sitting by his feet, looking up at him with a coy look.  Like he just discovered Jim's dirty secret.

"Hey, Theo." Jim scoffs and takes in another drag.  "Don't give that look. I need this. And you better not tell Amelia, or I'll tell her who really stole that last batch of icing." He threatens.

Theo's ears go flat as an annoyed meow leaves his whiskers.

"What'd you got there?" He asks and grunts as he bends over to pick him up.  He was carrying a piece of paper attached to his collar. He places Theo down once he got the letter detached.

It was a letter from Amelia.

Jim,

I'm trusting that Theo has reached this letter to you.  I have been trying to contact you desperately.  Will had another episode and this time... it's bad. Worse than ever. Something happened. I can't explain it on paper, you need to see it for yourself. Please come to Joyce's as soon as possible.

And... please, Jim. Don't be so hard on our Starshine.  I had a feeling she was going to sneak out.  No, I didn't allow her and no, I wasn't here when she left.  Don't lose your temper.  Please.  I'll see you soon. 

(Flip paper)

Jim frowns and flips the paper over.

P.S.  Put out that damn cigarette!

Jim snorts, shaking his head as he laughs, taking in another drag.

"Damn woman."

Night was beginning to fall when Eleven finally made it back to the cabin. She makes sure she misses the trip wires, but when she looks up, she sees Hopper waiting for her on the porch as his cigarette glows in the shadows.

She sighs softly, knowing what was waiting for her. But after what she saw with Mike and the female, she didn't care anymore. She paces up to the porch and heads inside with Hopper glaring at her. She shuts the door in his face, and he snatches the door open in fury as he follows her back into the cabin.

Hopper's furious voice erupts as storms inside behind her, slamming the door shut.

"'Friends don't lie'. Isn't that your bullshit saying?" He asks sarcastically.

Eleven sighs and rolls her eyes as she paces towards her bedroom. She just wanted to be left alone.

"Hey, hey! Hey! Don't walk away from me!" He shouts, but he flinches when she turns to face him. Her face was full of pain, rage, and emotion exhaustion as she sends him a glare. He was cautious, in case she uses her energy against him.

"Where'd you go on your little field trip, huh? Where? Did you go see Mike?" He demanded her for answers.

Eleven looks away, "He didn't see me." She says.

"Yeah, well, that mother and her daughter did, and they called the cops. Now, did anyone else see you? Anyone at all? Come on, I need you to think!" Hopper shouts.

"Nobody saw me!" Eleven shout back at him.

"You put us all in danger!" Hopper glares at Eleven. "You put us in danger. You realize that, right?"

Tears begin to form in Eleven's eyes as her anger and pain rises, "You promised...I go! And I never leave! Nothing ever happens!" She shouts, frustrated with the whole thing. Stomping the floor in rage.

"Yeah! Nothing happens and you stay safe!" Hopper states strongly.

"You lie!" Eleven screams.

"I don't lie! I protect and I feed, and I teach! And all I ask of you is that you follow three simple rules. Three rules. And you know what? You can't even do that!" Hopper meets her tone.

Hopper storms into the kitchen and grabs the trashcan with a loud bang. He opens the fridge and begins throwing away all the Eggos they had in the freezer.

"You're grounded! You know what that means? It means no Eggos...And no TV for a week." Hopper states and paces towards the TV he moved from Eleven's room to the living room, but when he tries to lift it, it felt welded to the floor. He looks up and sees El sending her glare and using her energy to hold the TV in place.

"All right, knock it off. Let go." Hopper grunts and tries to lift it, but El didn't let go. Blood runs down her nose as she continues to use.

"Okay. Two weeks. Let go!" He shouts at her, but El slowly shakes her head, putting her foot down and keeping it down, but Hopper wasn't going to let her win. "A month!" He shouts.

"No!" El shouts back.

Hopper grits his teeth and lets go of the TV. Turning towards her with a scoff, he straightens, "Well, congratulations. You just graduated from no TV for a month to no TV at all!" He shouts as he rips the cord right out of the TV, making it go blank.

"No!" El's eyes widen in shock and she rushes towards the TV, trying to make the power come back on, but it was useless. "No! No. No!"

"You got to understand that there are consequences to your actions." Hopper states as he walks away.

Eleven snaps towards Hopper with a furious look as tears continue to form in her eyes, "You are like Papa!" She screams.

Hopper scoffs at her, "Really? I'm like that psychotic son of a bitch? Wow! All right. You wanna go back in the lab? One phone call. I can make that happen."

El sobs silently, "I hate you." She growls at him.

"Yeah, well, I'm not so crazy about you, either. You know why? 'Cause you're a brat. You know what that word means? How about that be your word for the day, huh? Brat." Hopper storms over to the bookcase and snatches the dictionary, "Why don't we look it up? B-R-A-T. Brat." He tosses the book at El, but she catches it with her powers.

With a furious glare and wave of her hand, she sends the book hurling towards Hopper.

Hopper grunts and protects himself from being hit by the book, "Hey! What the hell is wrong with you?" He exclaims.

El waves her hand again and makes the whole couch slam into his knee. Hopper winces in pain and watches El storm away, using her powers again to make the whole bookshelf slam to the floor.

"Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!" Hopper shouts and rushes to follow her, but with a wave of her hand, El slams the door in his face again, locking it tight. He jiggles the knob and pounds on the door.

"Open this door! Open the damn door! You need to come to your  ***damn senses!" He shouts at the door, "You wanna go out in the world? You better grow up! Grow the hell up!"

Eleven couldn't take it anymore, she screams and lets everything out. All her emotions explode like a bomb and at the same time, the windows explode from the inside of the cabin. Hopper grunts and ducks for cover.

Eleven leans on the wall, sobbing her heart out. She was tired and hurt by everything. By Mike, by Hopper. The lab and these rules. She was tired.

Hopper pants softly, looking around at the mess.  He sighs as he realizes let his temp get to him. He didn't mean to go so far.  She scared him to death and it pisses him off when he's scared. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As Joyce woke up this morning, she sees that Will was still asleep. She didn't want to disturb him, so she carefully gets up.  After what happened to Will, she didn't want to leave him out of her sight.  So, she stayed with him all night, sleeping with him in her arms.  Amelia took Joyce's bed but she couldn't sleep.  Not without Jim next to her.   

Joyce walks into the kitchen and sees Amelia awake and cooking breakfast.  She sighs softly and sits at the table, "You didn't have to do this." She chuckles as Amelia sets a plate down and a coffee mug.

"I don't mind.  Gave me something to do than sitting on my ass on the couch, waiting for Jim." Amelia sighs as she holds her own coffee in her hands.

Joyce eyes her face, examining the small bruise forming around her nose and under her eyes, "He still hasn't called or came by?" She asks. 

Amelia shakes her head and lightly touches her nose until Joyce stops her, "It doesn't look as bad as yesterday.  The swelling is almost gone." 

"But it's bruised and Jim..." Amelia scoffs, knowing Hopper was going to freak.  

"Could be worse.  At least, it's not broken." Joyce shrugs and takes her mug, sipping her hot coffee.  She sighs in bliss, "You have got to show me how you make coffee." 

Both of them chuckle, "A magician never reveals their secrets.  But after this is over, I might float a hint or two." Amelia smirks. 

Joyce smiles but sighs, "I wish we knew more about what's happening to Will.  I just want him safe." 

"I know." Amelia sighs deeply and pats her hand, "I wish Jim was here.  I just feel like we need more help, but..." Amelia shrugs and scoffs, "Who can?  I mean, this is way beyond wiccaning skills.  Look what it did to me after I summoned Ozark to help.  Its strength scares me.  I feel like if we got to him earlier, I could have got it out of him..." She sighs in distraught, angry at herself for missing the window.  

Joyce was silent, scared and worried about everything.  She, suddenly, gets up and heads to the phone, "I'm going to try and call Hopper." Over and over, she or Amelia has called the station, but Hopper wasn't in. No surprise there.  She even tried his personal phone number...nothing at all, except his annoying answering machine.  She calls again, sighing anxiously as she waits for Flo to answer.

"Hawkins Police."

"Flo, it's Joyce again."

"Oh, hi, Joyce. Listen, I gave him your message--"

Joyce frowns in interrupts Flo, "He's still not there?"

"No, but--"

"Did he get any of my messages from yesterday or Amelia's? Did you give--"

"Yes, do you wanna talk to-"

Joyce stutters and interrupts her again, "No, no, we need Hopper. Just tell him to call me the second he gets in. Please."

"I will. Bye, Joyce."

"Thank you. Bye." Joyce sighs and hangs up the phone, rubbing her face with worry. Where was Hopper? 

Amelia sighs and turns to the pantry door, she whistles and, suddenly, Theo comes running out, meowing softly.  

"Come here, Theo." Amelia pats her lap and watches him jump into her lap.  When Theo looks up at her, he lets out a startled yowl.  

Meow! "I know I look bad.  Thank you very much, you asshole." She grimaces and lightly touches her face. Meow? "I don't know what hit me.  Something happened to Will. Something was taking him over and I tried to get it out of him...this is what it basically said to me.  A big 'fuck you'." Amelia scoffs. Meow... "Yeah, I'm ok.  Just sore.  Please, tell you got the letter to Jim." Meow... "Oh, thank go-. Meow...Amelia frowns, 'What?" Meow... Amelia sighs, "Oh, dear." 

"What?  What did he say?" Joyce asks, startled by Amelia's disappointed voice. 

Amelia shakes her head, "Nothing to worry about, it's just Jim did something stupid.  But he got my note." She said to Joyce and looks down at Theo, "But is everything calm now?" Meow... "Good." She sighs, still worried about Eleven.  Boy was Jim gonna get a big piece of her mind when he gets here.  Meow... Amelia chuckles and scratches his neck, "Yeah, I know." She sighs.  "Is he coming soon?" Meow... "Ok." Amelia looks over to Joyce, "He's coming.  He's gotta clean up his mess first." 

Joyce sighs and smiles when Theo climbs up and gives Amelia some kisses, meowing softly. 

Amelia chuckles, "I'm okay, my friend.  I promise.  Just sore.  Promise me when you get the chance, kick this monster's ass for me." 

Theo's ear goes flat as he hisses loudly.  Determined to fulfill the promise.  Suddenly, Theo turns and growls at the figure walking down the hallway.  Amelia and Joyce both frown but they see it was just Will.  But Amelia knew he was sensing the being inside Will.  

"Shh, it's Will inside.  I know you feel it.  Try to avoid him, to be safe.  Go take care of my Starshine." Amelia whispers and watches Theo take off.  Disappearing into the closet.  

Joyce welcomes Will with a smile and guides him to sit and kneels to meet his height, "Hey. How you feeling, sleepyhead?" She asks as she runs her hands through his hair and watches him sits down. "Any better?"

"Mmm-mmm." Will shakes his head.

"Same as last night? Still weird?" Amelia asks, patting his hand.

"Yeah." Will says.

Joyce sighs, touching his forehead. He didn't feel like he had a fever, but she needed to make sure. She gets to her feet and moves to head towards the medicine cabinet in her bathroom for the thermometer. She shakes it to make the mercury to go down to its normal temperature and places it under Will's tongue. She times three minutes on her watch.

"All right." She sighs and removes it from his mouth to read it, "Hmm. Okay, let me see." But instead of seeing either normal temperature or higher, 97.6. She frowns in confusion as it reads '95' degrees. Which was very strange.

"Is it a fever?" Amelia asks.

Joyce stutters and hands her the thermometer, "Am I reading that right?" She asks. 

Amelia frowns, "95?  That can't be right." 

"Do you feel cold?" Joyce asks Will.

Will shakes his head, "No. Just a little out of it. Like I haven't really woken up yet." He eyes his mom, knowing what she was going to ask, "You promised no doctor."

"And I meant it. No doctor." Joyce states.  

"Maybe a nice hot bath will help.  Get your temperature back to normal." Amelia suggests.  

Joyce nods, "How's that sound?"

Will nods, "Okay."

"If that doesn't work, I'll make some of my famous hot chocolate.  Extra marshmallows." Amelia gives him a smile.

Will gives her a small, weak smile back, but when they both leave him, Will felt a terrible fear overcome him. The idea of a hot bath...it...scared him, especially the Hot Chocolate.  Why?  He loved Amelia's Hot Chocolate. But the idea of consuming a hot drink made him feel so ill.  

After Joyce had the tub all filled up, she let Will take his bath. But when Will walks into the bathroom and eyes the tub. Full of hot, steamy water. He feels terror rise in his chest. Feeling something that wasn't his to feel. He felt something inside him telling him to get rid of the hot water. Get it away. Make it go away.

Sweat pours down his back as his heavy breaths come rapidly with the terror creeping up his back. He rushes towards the tub and slaps the stopper to make the water go down the drain. His breathing calms as he watches the water swirl down the hole.

While Amelia was warming up Hot Chocolate, she cradled the phone bettween her ear and chin, calling Jim once more.  

"Come on, babe, where are you?" She whispers to herself.  She sighs in disappointment when she reached the machine...again.

"Hey, you reached Jim. I'm probably doing something incredible right now and I can't..." 

Joyce waits impatiently, but scoffs when Amelia looks over and shakes her head.  Slamming the phone back on the hook.  

"God, where the hell is he?" Joyce grits her teeth.

"Lord, I cannot wait when caller Id is created." 

Joyce frowns at her, "What?"

Amelia waves it off, "Future thing." 

"Mom."

Will's voice makes her turn around in concern, wondering why Will wasn't taking it bath, "Yeah, sweetie, what is it?"

"It's too hot."

Amelia and Joyce both frown and moves towards the bathroom, she sees that he was draining the tub. Before the tub could be empty, Joyce sits on the side and feels the water. It felt normal. She didn't understand why he says it was too hot.

"I... I can cool it down a little bit, baby, but we gotta get your body temp back up." She says as she moves to turn the water back on to refill it.

"No." Will says sharply.

Will's tone startles her and stops her from turning the water back on, she frowns in confusion at him, "What?"

"He likes it cold."

Joyce's eyes widen when he says that. She watches him walk away as if it was nothing, but she was scared to death. What did he mean by that? Who was 'he'? 

"Okay, now, I'm really scared." Amelia says as she leans on the door frame. 

Suddenly, they hear windows being yanked opened.  They quickly rush towards the Will's room and watches him opening his windows, letting in the cold, winter air blast inside the house.  

"It needs to be cold." Will says urgently.

"For him?" Amelia asks.

Will stops and slowly turns, giving her a creepy look as he studies her.  He slowly gives her a crooked grin but drops it as he continues to go through the rooms and open the windows.  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From the moment the sun began to rise, Hopper boarded up all the windows that Eleven broke with her powers.  He looks over his shoulder and sees Eleven peeking out of her door.  She slams the door shut once he sees her.  Ok, she was still pissed.  But so was he.  He wants things to cool down before they could talk...in a calm manner. 

Once the last window was boarded up, Jim was exhausted.  He sighs and places the tools back into the box and puts it away before heading towards Eleven's door.  

He plays with Sara's hairband in on his wrist as he tries to find the right words to say to Eleven.  He wanted to apologize.  He truly didn't mean to lose his temper and...he noticed how much pain she carried yesterday.  Maybe she saw something Mike was doing she didn't like.  Or maybe it was the fact that she couldn't talk to him when she found him.  

"Hey, kid. Listen, um...about last night, I, uh..." He begins to apologize, but he couldn't. It felt so...foreign to him to express his feelings. So, he changes the subject quickly. "I want this place cleaned up by the time I get back and then maybe I'll consider fixing the TV. You hear me?" He states and turns to leave.  He needed to go check on Amelia and Joyce and Will.  

Hopper walks to his truck and as he drew closer and closer, he could hear the radio blaring with Flo's voice.

"Come in, Hop. Come in, Hop. Come in, Hop." Her voice was filled of annoyance and frustration.

Hopper grunts as he gets into the truck, "Yeah. Yeah, I'm on my way in, and, yes, I do know what time it is." He answers the COMM.

"Joyce Byers and Amelia Holloway has called eight times already this morning. Eight times each! For my sake, please deal with them!" Flo exclaims in exasperation. "I'm happy your dating again, Chief and I love Amelia better than those other floozies you've wham bam thank you ma'am, leaving me to deal with the mess, but don't do this to Amelia." She begs. 

Jim sighs and scoffs, "Flo, I would never do that to her.  I'm heading to Joyce's now." He starts up the truck and heads off towards her house to find out.

When he got to Joyce's, he was confused with the sight of her door wide open, he gets out of the truck and walks up to the door, knocking on the door. "Hello?" He was about the shut the door, but Joyce's voice stops him. 

"Leave it open." She says as she stops him from closing the door, "Where the hell have you been?" She frowns at him as she exhales a trail from a cigarette she recently lit up. 

"I overslept. What the hell's going on? It's freezing." He exclaims at how cold it was inside.

Joyce doesn't say anything but urges Hopper to follow her as she explains everything. Soon, they walk into her room. Hopper frowns at what she told him and what she shows him.  She traced the image of the creature she saw on the camcorder.  She told him about the episode, about what the creature did...and say.

"He said he feels it everywhere inside him.  Something happened to him on the field.  Amelia could feel it, too." Joyce says. 

Jim looks around, "Where is Amelia?" He frowns when Joyce was hesitant, "Joyce...where is she?" He starting to grow worried. 

"Ok, Hop.  I want you to promise that you won't freak out.  Not in my house." Joyce states. 

"Joyce...where is she?"

Joyce sighs, "Amelia was trying to help yesterday.  She tried to get the creature out of Will...but...well..." She stutters and looks over, pointing at him to look.  

When Jim turns, he sees Amelia...with a bruised nose and small bruises under her eyes.  His heart dropped to his stomach when she walked into the room.  

"What the hell happened?!" He exclaims and paces towards her, cupping her face in his hands as he looks over her.  "Are you okay?" He asks. 

"I'm fine, Jim.  Just sore." Amelia shakes her head.

He glares down at her, "Who did this to you?" He grits his teeth.

"Whatever is in Will...that's what did this.  It put up a hell of a fight to stay inside him." Amelia sighs. 

Jim continues to look at the damage, "Jesus!  Is it broken? Can you breathe?"

Amelia shakes her head, "No and yes, I can." She grips his hands that still cradled her face, "I'm really scared, Jim.  I never felt something this strong before.  It's so evil." 

Jim became more worried, what the hell did this to his girl?  What is inside Will that was powerful enough to hurt her?

"It wasn't his fault.  It's the creature.  Don't get mad at him.  He didn't hit me." She says, sensing his anger towards Will, but she was right, it wasn't Will's fault, it was...that thing.  

Jim sighs deeply and leans down to kiss her forehead, still holding her face in his hands.  He was glad she was ok but pissed that she was hurt.  He looks over to Joyce, "Where is he?" He asks. 

Joyce leads them towards Will's room and there he was, sitting on the bed, shirtless with the windows around him wide open. He didn't even seem affected with the cold. It was as if he liked it.

"Will, honey, we have a visitor." Joyce says as they walk inside.

"Hey! Knock, knock." Hopper greets.

But Will seemed so focused on something. He didn't acknowledge Hopper's presence.  Will was never like this before.  Before this, he was always open and smiling. But now, he seems closed off and faded. Hopper moves to sit next to him, eying how quiet he was.

"So, uh, your mom told me what happened yesterday...at school." Jim says. "And now you're feeling...strange?" He asks. 

"Well, best as I can describe it. It's...it's almost like I'm still asleep. And...I feel...like...weird feelings. Knowing things that...I shouldn't. Like they're not my thoughts." Will frowns.

"Like what?" Jim asks. 

"I don't know." Will says, almost as if he was struggling.

"Your mom told me about the Shadow creature. About how you know he likes it cold." Jim looks around at the windows, pointing at them, "He wants you to keep these open for him?"

Will trembles when she brings up the creature, "Yeah."

"Yeah."

"How do you know that?" Hopper frowns.

Will stutters, not sure how he knew, "I just know."

"Does he talk to you?" Hopper asks.

Will begins to strain a little to explain, thinking hard how to say everything, "No. It's like...I don't have to think. I just know things now. Things I never did before."

"And, uh...what else do you know?"

"It's hard to explain. It's like old memories in the back of my head, only... they're not my memories." Will says.

Amelia sighs softly, "Can you try and give us an example of those memories? Like what kind?" She asks softly.

"I...I can't really explain it. I mean, I don't think they're old memories at all. They're...they're now-memories, happening all at once, now." Will says.

"Can you describe these now-memories?" Hopper asks.

"I don't know. It's... it's hard to explain." Will struggles to find the right words as he tries to think.

Joyce rubs his back, trying comfort him as she senses him growing distraught, "I know it's hard but can you just... Can you try? For us?" She asks, almost begging him.

"It's like...They're growing and spreading...killing." Will shudders in fear, tears beginning to form in his eyes as he could see flashes in head again. He saw them when he was staring at the bathtub. Something roaming, spreading all over. But he couldn't see further. As if something was hiding from him.

"The memories?"

Will struggles to think, tears begin to fall, "I don't know."

His breathing picks up as an emotional pain covers his face, he breaks down in sobs and Joyce pulls him into her arms, "I'm sorry."

Joyce shakes her head, "No, no, no. It's okay, sweetie."

"Don't be sorry. Nothing to be sorry about. Just take your time." Amelia says gently.

Joyce, suddenly, had an idea when she spies Will's drawing of his D&D character, "Hey, hey, sweetie...what if you didn't have to use words?" She asks.

Hopper and Amelia looks over to where she was looking, following her idea. Amelia rushes to get the crayon box and papers. As soon as Amelia hands Will the box, he dumps all the crayons on the table and begins to draw frantically.

All three of them were too focused to realize the phone was ringing. Right now, that didn't matter. All that mattered was finding out what is going on with Will.

Hours have passed and Will continues to frantically draw what he's seeing in his mind. But he has draw over a dozen of pictures already, but none of them made sense. She sighs as she gives him more paper and gathers up the ones he drew that were scattered all over the floor. Joyce and Hopper were scanning through the first batch to see if they could figure out what he was drawing.

Amelia  walks into the living room, holding up the papers, "This is more of the same." She says and places them down in the pile and sits on the coffee table in front of Jim as the three of them go over the drawings, trying to figure it out.  

Joyce sighs and Hopper grumbles, "Oh, it's nothing. It's just scribbles." He shakes his head.

But, something catches Joyce's eye as she stops Hopper from tossing the picture in his hand, "Wait!" She grabs it and holds another picture next to it.

"What? What?" He asks, frowning in confusion.

"Wait. Wait. These black lines, see?" She points at one picture.

Hopper didn't understand, "What?"

"Look, they connect. They connect." She says.

Amelia gasps, "She's right. This isn't just several pictures, he made only one."

Hopper finally catches up and gets up from the couch, "Get off the table." He says as he helps her up.

Together, the three of them moved the furniture to make room and begins to spread the pictures around, connecting all of them together like a giant puzzle.

The three of them now stood over a living room covered with Will's drawings and they could see the drawing formed into a vein-like path. Neither of them could figure out when could it be or even mean.

"Does this mean anything to you?" Hopper asks.

Joyce shakes her head, "No." She sighs. "I mean, is it some sort of maze or a road?" She looks over to Amelia, "Do you sense something about this?"

Amelia rubs her forehead, "No.  But..." She tilts her head as Joyce and Jim wait for her to say something, "It does look a little familiar. It looks like some sort of forking and branching like...like lightning." 

"You think it's that storm?" Hopper asks.

Amelia, shakes her head in disagreement, "No, the storm he drew was completely different. He used red.  Like what I saw in Upside Down. This is a little different." 

"She's right.  This is all blue and it has some weird dirt color. I mean, maybe it's roots. 'Cause remember, he was saying it was spreading and--" Joyuce stammers. 

"Killing. He said they were killing." Hopper, suddenly, had a theory. Growing. Spreading. Killing. Like weeds. The farms! "Vines. He's drawing vines." Hopper says in realization and, suddenly, takes off out of the house.

"Jim!" Amelia shouts and rushes to catch up with him.  "Where are you going?"

"I'm gonna check on something." He turns swiftly and grabs her by the shoulders, "Go home and stay there with El.  I don't want you anywhere near Will." He whispers.

"I'm not leaving Joyce alone.  She's gonna need me.  And Will is going to need everyone." Amelia states.  

Jim sighs, "Again being a damn woman." He scoffs.  "Just please...don't get hurt again." He says gently and begins to lean down, but Amelia stops him.

"No kisses for you." She scoffs and slaps his arm.  

"Ow!  What was that for?" He frowns at her in confusion.

"You had to yell at her like that?"

Jim sighs, "I know.  It was stupid, but she was stupid, too, for going out and getting caught.  She's lucky though that no one else saw her.  I'm gonna apologize to her when this is over...and..." He stops and sighs.  "I'm thinking about letting Mike into this." He mutters.

Amelia looks at him in surprise, "What?"

"I can't stand seeing that poor girl in pain anymore. Maybe...we should let only the ones we really trust to know about her.  After this is over..." He states.

Amelia smiles big, she couldn't believe he was doing this...for their Starshine, "Okay, you deserve a kiss!" She jumps into his arms and kisses him passionately.  

Jim catches her in his arms and kisses her back, moaning softly against her lips, "Mmm!" He gently breaks the kiss.  "I gotta go.  I need to check something.  Stay here...and be careful." He says strongly and kisses her one last time.

Amelia nods, "I will.  Please be safe." She pants.  

He puts her down and turns to leave, driving away.  His lips still tingled from their kiss as well as hers did.  Amelia frowns when a dark feeling was filling her soul.  She slowly looks over her shoulder and sees Will standing by the window, watching her with a very angry look.  She could see his nails digging into the window frame.  Why was he so angry?

Joyce walks out and scoffs, "Where the hell is he going?"

Amelia walks towards her, "He's going to one of the farms in town." 

Joyce stutters in confusion, "What? Why?"

"All of the farms in town have been experiencing some sort of rot with their crops. All of their pumpkins. Vegetation. Everything. Dead." Amelia says. "What Will is seeing is connected to what's killing the crops!"

Joyce's eyes widen with fear. Her worry grew for Will, for this town. She worried for Hopper, wherever he went. She just hopes he'll find the answer and come back to let her know

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Amelia was cooking some food in the kitchen when she hears the knocking at the door.  She looks over her shoulder and watches Joyce rushing towards the door, thinking it was Jim, but another voice calls out. 

"Hello? Will! Mrs. Byers?" He calls and rings the doorbell.

Joyce sighs and answers the door, not completely surprised to see Mike on their doorstep. Joyce gives him a greeting smile, even though her eyes said different.

"Hey." Mike sighs in relief.

"Hey, Mike." She says.

"Is Will here?"

Stammering as she tries to come up with an excuse, "You know what? Now is not a really good time." She says.

"Is he okay?" Mike asks.

Sighing softly, impatient to go back inside, "Yeah. You know, he's...he's just not feeling real well. He's laying down, so I'll tell him you stopped by, okay?" She stutters and was about to go back inside, but Mike's worried voice stops her.

"It's about the shadow monster, isn't it?" He asks.

She turns and looks at him in surprise, "You know?" She asks, then scoffs, "I shouldn't be surprised, you two are best friends." She chuckles.

"Can I see him?" He asks.

Joyce nods, "He might like that." She walks inside with him following her.

When Mike walks in, he was startled to see the trail of drawings all over the room, "Woah." 

Amelia wipes her hands clean and walks into the living room with a smile, "Oh, hey, Mike. How are you, sweetie?" She walks over to him and hugs him, kissing his head.

"I'm ok, Amelia. How's Will?" He asks as he hugs her back and watches her pull away.

Amelia sighs, "He's ok. Taking a break from his artwork." She scoffs as she gestures all over the room. 

Mike looks around in shock at the state of the living room was. The pictures were everywhere. Even in the hallway and kitchen.

"When did this start?" He asks.

Joyce sighs, "A few hours ago. We've been trying to get Will to tell us about what happened yesterday and about the monster. When he couldn't, I suggested him to draw his feelings. This is what we got." She runs her fingers through her hair with worry, "He's in his room, honey. Go on." Joyce says as she gestures him to go.

Mike turns and leaves her to go through the rest of the drawings to figure this out. She wishes she knew what this was. What was Will telling her? It was frustrating. And where the hell is Hopper?