"I'M TELLING YOU, EVE," Eli continued to ramble in annoyance, his hands fanned out in front of him. "It was this big," he exclaimed, shaping the size of the dead rabbit he had seen with his palms. "And it was completely covered in blood. It looked like an alien had eaten it or something, it was completely unnatural!"

Eve nodded quietly, spitting the rest of her wet toothpaste into the sink bowl. "Right, and you think this weird creature you might have possibly seen in a dream ate the rabbit?" The female Brooks twin retorted, rinsing her toothbrush with a look of disbelief.

"Maybe!" Eli squeaked, growing defensive at his sister's teasing expression. "I don't know, okay? But the monster in my nightmare made the same sound I heard two nights ago when I was feeding Winnie!"

"Listen, E. I don't know what kind of Sci Fi prank Rene's pulled you into, but I'm not falling for it," Eve huffed, clearly annoyed as she crossed into the hallway to retrieve her backpack from their bedroom.

"It's not a prank!" Eli groaned inwardly, scrambling behind his sister's heels. "I haven't even told Rene."

"Well, either way, I don't believe you," she threw back, her lips pressed into a thin line of disappointment. "You're always making up all these stories, it's hard to keep up sometimes."

Eli froze in his place as his sister roughly brushed past his shoulder, letting the pain in those words sink in. He knew he was a writer, but hearing his sister accuse him of blatantly creating fantasies to mess with her brought sadness to his heart. Silently, he hauled his backpack over his shoulder, following his sister out to the car.

The entire car ride was a quiet one, Sandra not bothering to scrounge up conversation with her children this morning. She had something clouding over her vision, her cobalt blue orbs telling Eli she was deep in thought. He couldn't help but wonder if it was the same thing he heard his mother crying over last night, downstairs on her bathroom floor.

Eli knew his mother battled with something, something that made her cry late at night or swallow pills in the morning. He wasn't sure however, and his mother often tried her hardest to conceal those little white circles from her children. One day Eli even tried to ask Brandy about it, but his older sister just shut down and grew quiet with foggy eyes.

"Okay, I have an idea," Eli proposed to Eve, slamming the car door shut as they moved towards the bustling front doors of the school.

"What?" Eve inquired with furrowed eyebrows, clearly confused on what her brother was talking about.

"Let's skip after lunch," Eli flatly said, earning himself a gaping expression from his twin. "What?" He demanded, clearly too determined to prove his sister's doubts false to even see the wrongdoings of his plan.

"Eli, you're talking about skipping school!" She gasped, her eyes warily searching the nearby students to see if anyone had heard.

"Yeah, what's wrong with that?" Eli cocked his head to the side in a puppy-like manner, his huge oak eyes peering at his sister.

"Eli, you would literally never skip school in a million years," Eve pointed out sharply, crossing her arms over her chest and pulling her books closer to her body. "You enjoy it too much".

Eli's cheekbones flushed a dark pink at that. Admittedly, he did enjoy school. A lot. The social aspects frightened him (unless he was with Will, Eve, or Rene), but learning and doing assignments was something he grew fond over. "Y-Yeah..."

"So why do you wanna skip so badly?" Eve shook her head incredulously. "All because of a dumb rabbit?"

"This is why I want to skip!" Eli exclaimed in annoyance, waving his arm wildly at his sister as if it was a noodle. "You don't even believe me!"

"Even if you could prove me wrong, why do we have to skip?" Eve challenged, staring him down with a stubborn look.

"Why are you being so complicated right now?" Eli huffed honestly, running a frustrated hand through his curls. "You hate school, it shouldn't be that big of a deal."

"Sure, but what about Mom? And Rene? And the school? They'll probably call our parents and say we aren't in class," Eve explained, conjuring every excuse that would make Eli's plan faulty.

The male Brooks twin simply rolled his eyes. "Rene doesn't have to know. And we can just say I felt sick so we decided to walk home."

"You felt...sick?"

"Yeah," Eli modded vigorously, encouraged by his own words. "I'll say I ate something bad at lunch and we walked home instead of going to the nurse."

"E, literally no one is going to believe that," Eve deadpanned.

"Yeah, well, it's better than saying we went into the woods to find a rotten bunny corpse," Eli spat.

"Then why go at all?"

"Because Will is in danger!" Eli yelled, immediately catching the attention of every nearby student. Kids froze in their place, some even dropped their notebooks or stopped their juicy gossip to glance over at the usually shy and timid boy. The Brooks boy retreated into himself, his chin pointed down and straining towards his chest in shame.

He couldn't help but avert his eyes to a painfully familiar group of boys gawking at him. Mike, Lucas, and Dustin were all visibly shaken by his words, their astonished expressions glued to the embarrassed Brooks boy. Eli could see Dustin and Lucas begin to hiss at one another, but they were too far for Eli to hear any of their exchange. Mike, however, just continued to gaze at the brunet boy, his mahogany eyes filled with curiosity.

Eli rapidly looked away upon making eye contact with the Wheeler and, without another word to his sister, dashed inside the school building. Eve was also taken aback by her brother's outburst, the heels of her sneakers kicking up gravel as she ran after him.

"What the hell was that all about?" Eve murmured through gritted teeth, but her irritation melted away upon seeing the fury painted in her brother's face.

"We're leaving at lunch," he grumbled over his shoulder. "End of story."

Eve didn't fight her brother on the subject anymore, and immediately before the final lunch bell rang, the two twins hurriedly scampered out of the double glass doors that brought them to the outside courtyard. "I cannot believe we're doing this," Eve droned, her chest warm with anxiety and adrenaline.

"Relax," Eli said distractedly, and Eve realized for the first time just how much Will's disappearance had affected Eli. Never would the studious boy even consider leaving school in the middle of the day. Their very own mother had to force him to stay in bed one day when he came down with a high fever. Not only that, but the younger twin had grown bitter and sharp-tongued, and it wasn't hard to annoy him these days. Usually, Eli had a lot of patience and would always prefer to quietly wallow in his frustrations.

"E?" Eve chirped up in a whisper once they had reached the woods, the fallen leaves crunching under their shoes.

"Yeah?"

"Is everything...okay?"

"What do you mean?"

Eve gazed at her brother in disbelief, noting how the curly-haired boy didn't even realize his own personality change. "I don't know...you've been so...different, these last few days."

"My best friend is missing," he replied sourly, every word coated with bitterness. "What do you expect?"

Instead of throwing another sharp comment at her brother, Eve felt the sudden urge to reach out and wrap her warm hand around Eli's cold one. The action was enough to stop the Brooks boy in his tracks, and he finally met his sister's pointed gaze.

"They're going to find him, okay?" Eve cocked an eyebrow, determination simmering in her tone. "And if they can't, then we will find him. But whatever happens, you aren't alone. Okay?"

Eli, unsure of where this random confidence in finding Will was coming from, swallowed a lump of bile in throat and nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, okay."

The two twins moved on in complete yet comfortable silence after that, though a heavy feeling of anxiety hung in the air. Despite the lesser connection between Will Byers and Eve Brooks, the female twin still felt the effects of the boy's disappearance.

"I don't understand," Eli panted, coming to a sudden halt at a large patch of dead leaves and soil. He lowered himself into a squat, staring inquisitively at the ground and further intriguing his sister. "It's not here."

"The rabbit?" When her brother didn't answer, Eve let out a dry sigh and kicked a pinecone with the toe of her sneakers. "Look, a predator probably just took it."

"No way," Eli denied with a furious shake of his head. "There was hardly anything left of it. No animal would take scrawny flesh and bones."

"Maybe a hungry enough one would," Eve responded pointedly, but her attention was soon entranced by a strange flickering of red light coming from a nearby tree.

"It just doesn't make any sense," Eli scratched his curls in contemplation, unaware of his slowly retreating sister. He continued to scour the ground, noting the old blood splatters left in the soil. "It was definitely here, you can tell."

When Eve didn't answer, Eli finally glanced up to find himself suddenly alone in the opening. "Eve?" Eli called out, dread deepening in his gut as he received no reply. "Eve?"

"Eli!" The female twin suddenly burst through the hedges again, her lips parted open and her eyes wild with fear and amazement. "You need to come check this out."

Bewildered, Eli scrambled after his sister as she disappeared back into the drudge of greenery. "Slow down!" He demanded, quickening his pace to catch up to his sprinting sister. She abruptly came to a stop, causing Eli to clumsily tumble into her back.

"Watch it!" Eve scowled, but before Eli could respond with a sour remark she was jabbing her thumb at a strange hole in the side of tree. Eli inched forward, emerging from behind his sister's shoulder and towards the strange opening.

"What the...?"

A large hole, just the right size for any child to squeeze through, sat glaringly in the side of a wilting oak tree. Inside the hole were strange web-like tendrils that served as a protective cover for whatever awaited. Eli could see just past the dark wiry tendrils a furious amount of red-orange light that would otherwise glow if it weren't for it being the middle of the day.

"Did you find this last time you were out here?" Eve demanded, a hint of wonder in her voice. She had grown a little more invested in her brother's narrative now, whether she liked to admit it or not. "Was this in your dream?"

"No, not at all," Eli breathed, continuing to gape at the unearthly gap in the tree. "It looks like...it looks like..."

"A portal," Eve finished for her brother, strutting up to the hole boldly. She reached out a hand, to Eli's dismay, and allowed her fingers to brush the dark vines lightly. "I wonder where it leads to."

Eli, though just as curious, suddenly gained full understanding of their situation. They had skipped school in the middle of the day, ventured out into the woods, and now stood in front of a dangerous portal of some sort. "We should probably go."

"Are you kidding?" Eve gasped, her voice coated with slight bitterness. "It was your idea to come out here, brother. There's no way we're leaving now."

"Wait, what?" Eli drew back, his huge eyes boring into his sister's face as she continued to inspect their new discovery. "You want to go inside there?"

"What's the worst that could happen?"

And even though their circumstance seemed not all dangerous or deadly yet, Eli felt as though he didn't want to know the true answer to her question. "It was stupid to come out here, Eve."

"That's not what you were saying five minutes ago!" She exclaimed defiantly, a flash of annoyance in her eyes. Silence passed over the twins for a few short moments, and Eli casted his glance at the ground awkwardly, mostly because he knew she was right.

"Look, why don't you just wait here and keep a lookout?" Eve proposed.

"A lookout?" Eli echoed in confusion. "You're not actually going to crawl inside, are you?"

"Just wait here, okay?" Eve huffed, growing more agitated with her twin by the minute. "It's probably a dead end, anyway. I'll be right back."

And Eli, desperately wanting to believe her, let her go.

Eve gradually pushed past the sticky tendrils, her body growing submerged in an uneasy coldness. Darkness enveloped her as she further crawled into the hole, and already she was beginning to wonder if she had made the right choice.

"What do you see?" Eli called into the hole, tugging at the bottom of his ear nervously. "Eve?"

Eve glanced up at the new world she found herself in, and was immediately paralyzed with fear. Surrounding her was a forest that mirrored that of Hawkins, but was much darker and much colder. The trees were blacker than night, and the sky was a menacing shade of dark blue. All around her, specks of white dust danced in the air.

"I...I don't know," the Brooks twin answered uncomfortably, taking a few hesitant steps forward. "It looks like another world in here, Eli."

Those words were enough to worsen his growing anxiety. "Well, come out, why don't you?" He lowered himself to his knees, inching closer to the hole. "It's not safe."

Eve, just as she was about to return to her brother, caught movement in the trees ahead of her. "Wait," she murmured, her quiet voice echoing in the hollow landscape she stood in. "I see something."

"Eve!" Eli was suddenly screaming his sister's name, and the dark-haired girl whirled around dramatically.

To her dismay, the gap in the tree was beginning to close, and the light from the outside world was diminishing quickly. "Eve, get out of there!"

"Holy shit!" She cursed, dropping to her knees and scrambling into the tree. Unfortunately, the bark was too thick and too fast for her to get back through. "No! Eli! Help!"

His eyes grew wild with terror as he began pounding furiously on the tree, but the hole had already closed, and he could no longer hear his sister. "Eve!" He cried, his cheeks growing wet with tears

The Brooks boy leaned back on his haunches, bursting into a fit of shaky sobs. "No," he blubbered, running his fingers along the rough bark of the tree. "Eve..."

He had no idea how it happened, or why it happened, but his sister was gone.

~

Brandy didn't know what to expect as she sat in the leather chair of her principal's office, but it certainly wasn't that her father had checked her out of school. "Are you sure, Mr. Wormhill?" Brandy raised an uncertain eyebrow.

"I'm positive, Miss Brooks," he answered with his deep voice, cleaning his round spectacles with the end of his jacket for the eighth time. "He called the school. You're free to go. I assume you have your own vehicle?"

"Uh, yes sir," the Brooks teen answered nervously, questions burning in her head that she wanted to ask her father. "Thank you, sir."

And without another word, Brandy clambered out of her seat and made a beeline for the student parking lot. She was just a few feet short of the glass doors when she heard a painfully chipper voice call out to her.

"Hey, Bran!"

Brandy sighed deeply, her lips trilling in exasperation. "You know," Brandy huffed, leaning coolly against the cement wall, "nobody actually calls me that."

"I know," Steve Harrington appeared beside her, sending her one of his typically bright smiles. "So, uh, what are you doing out of class?"

"Could ask you the same thing," she threw back, but when she saw the Harrington boy wouldn't answer she continued, "my dad checked me out. Why, I have no idea."

"Ah, well, I wouldn't complain," Steve chuckled lightly, placing his hand against the wall and just a few inches above Brandy's head. "So how's everything been with you lately?"

"Shouldn't you be somewhere, Harrington?" Brandy redirected, growing anxious under the close vicinity of the tragically handsome teen. "In class? Or making out with your girlfriend somewhere?"

Steve's cheeks grew crimson at the mention of Nancy Wheeler, and he quickly ducked his head to hide his face behind a mass of hair. "Uh, sure," he replied uneasily.

"What? You think I wouldn't notice you two?" Brandy interrogated, hurt unintentionally slipping into her tone. "What happened with us? This summer?"

"Listen, Brandy," Steve began, removing his hand from the wall and easing Brandy's nerves. "This summer was...amazing—"

"Yeah, it was," Brandy cut him off, and the boy finally looked back up to meet her honey colored eyes. "But it's over. Time to move on, right?" She murmured drily, growing bored of the conversation and anxious to leave school. "I'll catch you later, Harrington."

"Wait, Bran—" But the Brooks girl was fast, and was already shuffling her way past him and out into the school parking lot. She made a quick pit stop at the payphone, figuring she would call her father at work and find out why he checked her out.

"Your brother and sister aren't at school," Alan answered sternly after one ring of the phone. "They're not at home either and your mother is worried sick."

"Wait, what?" Brandy drew back, nearly losing her grip of the phone. "You mean to tell me Eli and Eve skipped school?"

"Or something of the sort," Alan grumbled, his voice coated with bitterness. "It's that damn boy, I tell you. Always getting his sister into trouble."

"Wait, you think it was Eli's idea?" Brandy cried incredulously. "Dad, this is Eli we're talking about." She knew her father certainly wasn't fond of her little brother, for whatever reason, but she didn't expect him to accuse him of skipping. Eve was clearly the more rebellious of the two; even just the thought of breaking the rules sent Eli into tears.

"Whatever, just find them. Preferably before dark. With that boy missing, everyone is certainly on edge," Alan mumbled before immediately hanging up the phone.

"Damn," Brandy hissed, placing the payphone back. Her father was in a particularly sour mood today, which spoke volumes. Nonetheless, she climbed into her maroon Impala, but another voice stopped her from shutting the door.

"Brandy?" Jonathan Byers was sitting beside his car, which was just a few cars over from hers.

"Jonathan?" Brandy questioned, stepping out of her car. "What are you doing out here by yourself?"

"Skipping. You?"

"Gotta go find my brother and sister," she replied, waving her keys in the air. "You gonna go look for Will?"

"Uh, maybe," Jonathan answered, thrown off guard by how she casually mentioned his younger sibling. "Wait, what happened to Eve and Eli?"

"They're not at school," Brandy responded, and it wasn't until then did she become fully aware of the urgency of the situation. "Do you have any idea where they could be?"

"Um," Jonathan paused for a moment, thinking. When his eyes lit up with an idea Brandy felt relief ease its way into her chest. "Try the woods behind the library."

"Wait, what?"

"Oh," Jonathan murmured, remembering his secret with the younger Brooks boy. "I found him in the woods behind the library yesterday. He was looking for Will."

"What?" Brandy exclaimed in disbelief. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Before he could answer, Brandy was grumbling and slipping back inside her car. "Why, that little shithead, I'm—thanks Jonathan!" She called out with a wave before slamming her car shut and starting the engine.

Brandy speedily drove through town, turning into the suburbs and making a quick pit stop at Martha's house. Her best friend had skipped school that day, claiming she needed to catch up on work. So much for that, Brandy thought to herself, there's no way I'm doing this alone.

"What's going on?" the Baker girl demanded upon sliding into Brandy's car. Her brown eyes illuminated with concern when she saw the frazzled expression on her best friend's face. "Brandy, what is it?"

"Eli and Eve are missing," Brandy breathed heavily, her eyes glued ahead on the road.

"What?" Martha gasped, her grip on her seat belt tightening. "You don't think—"

"I don't know," Brandy cut her off, not allowing her friend to finish whatever dark sentence she was going to say. "Jonathan told me to try the woods behind the library. That's where Eli was yesterday."

"Wait, what?"

"Yeah," Brandy huffed, her grip tightening on the steering wheel in annoyance. "Apparently Eli lied when he said he was doing research in the library. He was actually snooping around the woods."

Martha drummed her fingers against her thigh thoughtfully, chewing on her bottom lip. "Why?"

"Will Byers," Brandy answered, "why else?"

"I mean, yeah, but, it's not like Eli," Martha hummed.

Brandy cast a suspicious glance at her dark-haired friend. "You and Eli sure have gotten close, huh?"

A knowing smirk spread across the Baker's lips. "You jealous?"

"I wouldn't say jealous so much as I would say...weirded out," Brandy fires back, mirroring the smile pasted on Martha's face. The rest of the ride consisted of apprehensive silence, both teenagers secretly hoping the Brooks twins wouldn't end up like Will Byers.

"How do we know where to look?" Martha inquired once they parked in front of the forest, Brandy leading the way into the undergrowth.

"Just...keep an eye out, I guess," Brandy murmured, her chestnut eyes wildly scanning the area. "God, my dad is gonna kill me if I don't find them."

"That's what you're worried about?" Martha asked, and the judgement in her tone caused Brandy to grimace.

"No! I'm worried about them too," she cried defensively, though she wasn't sure how true her words were. Sure, she was never close with her siblings, but she still cared for them somewhat.

"Wait," Martha abruptly halted, her dark eyes reeling as she spun in frantic circles. "Do you hear that?"

Brandy opened her mouth to reply with no, but was stopped by the faint sounds of childish sobbing. "Is that...?"

"Sounds like it's coming from here," Martha jabbed her thumb in a targeted direction before speedily racing through the bushes.

Brandy found herself jogging just to keep up with her oddly stealthy friend. "Hey, can you slow down?" She demanded, but found herself speechless when they reached a clearing.

Eli was knelt in front of a tree, his knees drawn to his chest and ugly cries shuddering from his lips. His head was burrowed between his two legs, and upon further inspection Brandy could see her brother was shaking and gently rocking himself back and forth.

"What the hell?" Brandy murmured, and at the same time Martha screeched "Eli!".

Both girls rushed forward, Martha protectively sweeping an arm around the crying boy and Brandy awkwardly patting his knees. "Eli, what happened? Where's Eve?" Martha questioned gently, afraid of further upsetting him.

"Eve...she...she's gone," he blubbered, and raised a jittering hand towards the tree next to them. "She crawled into this weird hole, and it closed up behind her!"

Brandy eyed her brother and the tree in disbelief, noting how there was no apparent hole in the bark. "Are you sure?"

Martha's head snapped up as she sent Brandy a harsh expression, and the Brooks teen recoiled with regret. "Right, no, sorry. Do you have any idea if she's okay?" Brandy asked, swallowing bile down her throat. She had never seen her brother so beaten and broken down, and she had no idea how to reassure him.

"I know she's alive, but, I don't know where she went. She said," Eli paused, using the sleeve of his coat to wipe his snooty nose. "She said it seemed like another world."

The words coming from her little brother sent goosebumps coursing down Brandy's arms. So much so she had to stand up and pace a little to wrap her head around what was happening. That was when she caught eye of a violet red light glowing from a nearby tree.

"Hey, what's this?"

Martha and Eli looked up in sync, watching Brandy curiously shuffle towards what looked to be a rotting tree. The moment Eli caught sight of the glowing light from the hole in the new tree, he scrambled to his feet. "There!"

"What—Eli!" Martha joined him and Brandy, finally gazing at the strange portal. "What the hell?"

The three eyed the portal warily, but Eli felt his hands ball into fists confidently. "She's in there. This is what it looked like before it closed up and trapped her in there." The Brooks boy spun around and looked up at the older girls desperately. "My sister's in there, all alone and trapped. We need to get her back. We have to rescue her!"

"All right, slow down," Brandy fanned her hands out in front of her. "Didn't you say she went in that tree? How can she suddenly be in this one?"

"I know it doesn't make sense, but," Eli glanced back at the glowing light. "I think this is the way we get her back. Please, Brandy."

That's when Brandy realized her little brother was staring up at her, his eyes huge like moons and full of hope. He wanted her to find Eve. Brandy bit down of the insides of her cheek in thought, her eyes glued to the red light and the webs shielding whatever was inside the hole.

"You really think Eve is in there?" Brandy pondered. Her only answer was an affirmative nod from Eli. Martha glanced over at her best friend, worry glazed over her eyes.

Brandy continued to think, taking maybe another minute of silence to glare at the abnormal hole. "Alright," her voice finally cut through the silence. She began peeling her jacket off, leaving it in the safety of the dirt outside the tree. "Alright. I'll go get her."

"Really?" Eli gasped happily, the corners of his lips moving upwards. Brandy couldn't help but share a smile with her brother, ruffling his curls.

"Sure. What are older sisters for?"

"Hey," Martha's arm lashed out in front of Brandy, preventing her from advancing forward into the hole. "Stay safe, okay?"

"Yeah, okay. I'll be fine. Eve and I will be out in no time," she announced with feign confidence, because secretly her stomach was buzzing with nerves. She had no idea what she was getting herself into, and from the way her brother had been crying earlier she wasn't sure if it was safe.

But Brandy knew she hadn't been the best sister lately, and this was her way to make up for it. With one final look at the hole, she lowered herself onto all fours and began her descent into the hole.

And inside it was darker and colder than she ever imagined.