Coming back to Hawkins was never Melissa's plan. Nothing but nightmares installed in her mind and preternatural pain followed. She was here for her family, to find her little brother. It never processed in Melissa's brain how she'd not healed from trauma but simply was away from what triggered her. Being deep in the woods, wind whistling an eerie unearthly tune, her voice follows the air waves. " Will! It's me. I'm home. It's time to come back, now, Willie."

'Willie' is her little nickname curated because of wills love for chocolate. 'Willy wonka and the chocolate factory' terrified will but he loved his sister too much to retract the name. " Will!" Jonathan copied his sister's calls, Melissa rubs her fluffy gloves coming out of 'castle Byers' a made shift house of sticks and wood. " Will!"

Joyce offers her hand for Melissa to take, she stands rocking unsteadily on her heels. 'Should have switched my pumps to shoes. Shit. These are NOT acceptable feet wear for the out doors. I'm gonna ruin these.' Autumn leaves fallen on the ground crunch under her feet's weight as Joyce and Jonathon shout into the miles of trees. 'Melissa. Melissa.' Whispers carry in the breeze. Her eyes snap to where an odd but violent gust of wind begins gathering speed lashing progressively fast, almost as if to get her to look. Voices call to her inside will's stick build 'castle'. " Mill.. mill? Is that you.. i don't know where I am. I'm scared." Melissa frowns.

'Will? Can't be..' she gets closer. Closer. Going down on her hands, bending her knees to the floor, Melissa inches forward and as she is about to enter, there is a glimpse of red for a split of an millisecond before unassertively gasping. That isn't what freaked her out at first though. No— not the fact she is positive she'd seen her brother, even for a moment hidden. It is the thing.

Hands trembling Melissa scrambled back, not caring about any dirt getting on her designer gloves. 'That is impossible. No. He's back. How did he know I am here again. I can't even call it a human. That thing is a monster.'

Those protruding, repulsive, moving black vines. That thing's pitiless dark eyes. It was enough to send her into a deep psychosis at a point where doctors had to sedate her. All those therapists, psychologists, Joyce had paid for. He came back but this time he had targeted her little brother. She didn't care to know what its name was. All she knew is will is in need of her help to escape from where he is. The upside down. It's all connected. he's out to get her. Melissa trembles an hesitant sigh. Her eyes shift unconsciously. 'I'm coming for you, will. Just hold on. Milly is here. Don't afraid.'

Home. Her childhood house didn't feel as good to be in then it suppose to be. Not for Melissa. Nothing of the sort changed, Joyce had left her room undefined and notably there was a small amount in space. It had shrunken or she had gotten older. Posters ranging to Elvis, Cher, ABBA and the Jackson five discoloured from time passing are duct tape on each wall. Joyce voice echoes down the hall, using a dial phone wanting to speak with Lonnie. Her dead beat father. " Hello. Is Lonnie there? Can you please put him on.. who is this? Cynthia? Cynthia this is Joyce. Lonnie's ex-wife." Melissa walks out to her brother, Jonathan, hand crafting posters wanting to hand them out to people in town.

" Do you need help, Johnny?" Jonathan nods as saying 'Yes.' Handling the ruler, diagonally placing the stick down on paper she made a disproportionate effort of an attempted arrow pointing to wills photo plastered on the paper, " You can tell art was your strong suit. Thought you was' meant to be a visionary for art, Mills." Scowling Melissa kicks him in his shin. Even in times when their brother has disappeared, he finds time to take the piss out of her drawing.

" I can work perfectly fine with doing actual ART designing, Johnny. Mind you. It's.. these simple things that are a bitch to work with." he gives a noise imitating the sound of a snort. 'That sounds right.'

" Bitch!" Joyce curses out Lonnie's newest 'girlfriend' shoving the phone. Melissa and Jonathan move their heads at the same moment to look at their mom. " Mom." he sighs. Melissa gets up, going over and gives her mom comfort.

" You need to calm down. I know you are in distress, but you will end up in hospital. I don't want that to happen right now. Not when will is out there, please, Mom."

Joyce held in her sobs, tremors in her hand, as Melissa takes over the mustard yellow rotor phone. " No, baby. I don't want you to talk w-with him. Remember the last time, I won't put you through that ever again. Let me. I will be fine. " Joyce shook her head, reflecting back on how when her little girl had her seventeenth birthday Lonnie had 'Called' to give her a half-assed drunken birthday wish and it ended in Melissa crying. Joyce came to find he had said 'You are just like your mother. A whore who wants nothing more then to have a guys attention and money to feel a sense of worth.' She was not going to let Lonnie succeed. 'No.'

" I am fine, Mom. You don't have to worry."

Joyce trusted her daughter decision. However not before holding her pinky finger for support and dialling the same home phone number.

" you have reached Lonnie. Leave a message after the beep." The voice recording tone trills.

" Lonnie. This is your daughter, you know the one you called a whore, over the phone like a coward that you are. Will, you know your Son, my brother is missing. Mom, Jonathan, and I are worried. We don't where he went off to. I.." there the phone rings out disconnecting as her timer for how long she could leave a voice mail runs out. 'Ugh. Stupid dial tone.' She puts the phone back in its place. 'Seriously.'

" Mom. Mills. Cops. They're.. outside. Here."

'Will. He's been found.' Listening to Jonathan Melissa follows Joyce out of the room, outside. Jim Hopper had rolled his police wagon to a stop retrieving a royal blue bicycle. It belongs to will. There is no sign of him.

She expected him to have come sprinting over, laughing at how he pranked her good.

But nothing, she searched Hoppers passenger seat to straining her eyes wanting a glimpse of him in the back.

'Will.' She whimpers, mentally. This had to be a joke. Refusing to think he was actually gone.

" It was just lying there?" Joyce exclaims, as Jim enters the house and closed the door. Two police sheriffs had been dispatched out to her home wanting to inquire more information of her brother vanishing. " Yes it was. Cal?" Jim points to one end of her house, instructing Cal to search. " Did it have blood on it, or.."

Joyce's fears were echoing in her imagination of her little boy suffering, afraid, and that made her feel helpless.

Melissa caught Jim lingering his gaze on her face conspicuously but pretended he was staring at the worn down house paper.

" No, No, No. there was no blood of the sort."

" if there was no blood found at the scene, why of all things are you here, and not out there on the look out for my little brother. Jim? You won't find anymore clues here to help your case. Wait.. you don't think he is hiding here?"

That couldn't be farther from the truth. If Will was home all of this time, he would have came out of hiding. There was liminal space to stay hidden in the house. Jim, amazed in the bit at how quick Melissa was quick to figure out what he was conjecturing, hums.

" Correct. Maybe you missed some place he could be in. You do not know how easy he could have hidden in a nook you've missed. Maybe." Jim shrugged.

'Smart girl, indeed.' He hums internally.

" You don't think I have checked my own house?!"

Joyce emphasises on the word 'House'. She threw her hands both up in the air, frustrated.

Jim touches a punctured kitchen wall. It was the size of a child's thumb, Melissa rests her shoulder on the refrigerator slanting her head to her side. Showing discretion Jim glazes his eyes across her long athletic built legs.

" has this always been here?" Joyce, Not taking notice to the chief of police checking out her daughter, sputters in indignation. She had two sons of course the house would be untidy.

" Probably. I mean, I have two boys. Look at this place. And a girl that acted like her brothers growing up. Of course my house is going to be in ruins, Hopper."

Jim opens then closes a door which lead to an extra decor room in the back of the house. A sun room. It's a dent from force, ruining the wood. Barking outside made hopper then Milly move from inside wanting to know what Chester is barking for.

Jim held the door, Melissa stares at his face for a split of a minute before raising her eyes to meet his gaze. " Thank you." He nods.

" Hey, what is going on with this guy, huh?".

Joyce puts two fingers under Chester's collar.

" Nothing. He's probably just hungry, Come on boy." Meanwhile Melissa follows him to the creepy, derelict, shed in her backyard as Joyce takes Chester in to the safety of her house.

Jim didn't need any assurance it was Milly who is following. Smelling her strawberry infused conditioner and honey lemon shampoo. 'God. Why does she have to smell so intoxicating. You've gotta focus finding Byers, Jim. Come on man.' Melissa wasn't positive on what to say.

I mean what could you do and say right now while searching for clues on her brother. Her grey hoodie sleeves crunch up.

" it's Good to see you, again, j-Jim. These are not the exact circumstances I wanted to meet in, again. I never got to say t-that yesterday. You left before I could." He pauses mid-search of inspecting the area behind the decrepit shed and grunts. " I could say I did miss hearing, seeing, you 'round town but that would be a lie to say. I'm kidding." He chuckles; gruffly. In all honesty Melissa Byers had inhabited chief Jim hoppers mind. all of his previous thoughts were substituted by Milly, after his first visit to her store in town. All he could think of is Her.

" Oh, I'm feelin' the love from here, Jim. Real classy." She sasses, flicking her pony tail over her left shoulder. One foot on the decaying ply of wood. He stood to full height.

In retrospect, his height overshadows just how he differentiated and taller he is, compare to her structure of five feet four inches.

Not including the height heels added.

Jim leans over, to the door lock, maintaining his eyes on Melissa. Goosebumps piercing her skin at his close contact. 'Gosh he smells good. He kept that after shave he uses. I'm not religious by thank god, he did. It fits him really well. Real well.'

Milly, remembering to breathe, puts on an act as though he didn't have an ounce of affect on her. " What could you possibly need to find in here, Chief Hopper?" Is her first question to ask. Jim felt a weird tingle in his soul at her using his formal title. It felt great, actually. He felt for a light switch, finding the electrical out-let. " Clues."

He is a man of few words think's Millie. Melissa checks around the old dust over shelves, nothing of interest to her, and Jim had inspected shotgun shell casings in an old package.

Will would at time use the storage shed as his old hiding place when Joyce wanted him to come inside for supper. During the evenings.

The power surges, there is a small fault and before Melissa could react she let out a small yell of fright to the sudden light blowing out. Jim, alarmed, had his first instinct to check on Milly. He checked over her body for any signs of injury best to his ability in the pitch dark.

" You 'right? Heard you yelp there. You hurt?"

Shaking her head 'No' Melissa still held on to him a little frighten by the ominous silence. It was too quiet for her likeliness. 'I hate this shed. So much.' To the corner of Jim's eyes, he finds rain damaged duvets and moving boxes.

He nods over where he sees a potential hiding spot. Understanding him, Melissa kept close to Jim clutching at his bicep, afraid, but wanting to appear courageous. He wasn't complaining though. Switching an industrial flash light on, on the spot broken boxes, gross squelching is heard in the corner but what made Millie jump was a rat chittering. It ran out in a gape. Jim purses his lips raising a brushy eyebrow. " Rats scare you. As well. Hmm." He observes, which she hits his peck. As to say 'shut up.' He keeps on his search for the source to the sound.

What made Melissa jump is how light flooded in, gaining visibility finally and now realising how close she is to Jim. Jumping back when taking a notice 'Callahan', Jim's partner, stood pointing and aiming his flashlight in her face. She didn't know how long he had stood there but hopeful enough it wasn't obvious she was being physical with Jim. Not that he looked he cared enough.

" Jesus. Callahan!" Jim express, he speaks in a crack voice; Gruff.

" what are you, deaf. I've been calling you. Joyce, your m-mom, is wondering where you went off to as well. Melissa. You better run along, now, don't want to keep her worried more than she is."

Melissa opens but quick to shut up when Jim speaks. " She can stay. Don't talk to her like that, Callahan. I'm sure Joyce knows where she has been all this time. She was with us. Listen, I want you to call Flo. I want to get a search party together, all right? All the volun-teers she can just muster."

Milly caught up to Jim copying his paste. He had much larger legs using big strides in his steps. " Bring flash-lights, too." This was the perfect opportunity to lend her help. " Let me go with you guys. Come on, I mean this is my brother, we are speaking 'bout here. Hopper. You said it yourself just right now! All the help you will need." Immediately to her annoyance Jim response is an instant blunt 'No.'

" I won't have you out there. It's dangerous, Milly. No, you are not going out there. I think Joyce- your mother would agree on my answer. Listen." She scoffs. " Hopper." She grabs a hold of his wrist, Callahan and the other officer both vacate to the house not wanting to see Hopper in his annoyed state.

" This is my brother. You are talking of, here. Let me be a volunteer in this search party." Jim throws his head, vexed. Melissa Byers is all but just like her mother. Hard headed, stubborn, doesn't take bullshit.

It was as if going back through time and seeing Joyce again at her age.

His eyes lightened as he locks in on her gentle face features. How stress lines crease creating crows feet dents on her eyes, which are pinching forward narrowing in concentration. " Please. Jim. Just.. even if I c-can't actually go in the woods. I can still be on the look out Incase he sees the lights and he'll see help.. I .. am there. Allow me that. Least."

'Fuck. Don't give me those eyes. Milly.' He groans. " Fine." Grunting, he soften his gaze to see how relieved she seems at his answer.

'You'll be the death of me. Melissa Byers.'

-

JASMINE SPEAKS;

Look at that, I updated, again. Roll out of the fan-fare. I sound sarcastic lmao sorry. But genuinely I think this will be the first time I will actually ( Hopefully ) end up getting to finish a stranger things book. I don't wanna possibly jinx that and get my own standards high for this fan-fiction.

I love Millie too much to think of discontinuing this book right now.

What are your theories on how Melissa knows about the upside down? She can hear 'Will' in his little castle? Her with Jim? Basically the whole chapter? I would love to know what you are thinking. Leave your votes and thoughts.