||𝟑𝐑𝐃 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐎𝐍 𝐏𝐎𝐕||

"Hello?"

Hopper had already been worried when he heard Joyce had called for him eight times that morning. But showing up at their house to find front door wide open and the house seemingly empty, that was enough to scare him.

Thankfully, he heard Joyce's shaky voice call from down the hall.

"Leave it open."

Taking off his hat, he stepped into the living room, Joyce came pacing in from the other room. She wore a thick wool sweater that she kept wrapped tightly around her body, and she had a lit cigarette in one hand, ashtray in another.

"Where the hell have you been?" She whispered harshly.

Hopper looked around the room, scanning for possible signs of distress.

"I overslept. What the hell's going on? It's freezing."

She beckoned him forward, placing the ashtray down on the table in the hallway, putting out her cigarette before leading Hopper down the hall.

"Hey! Knock, knock." Her tone was softer as she made their presence known to Will.

She slowly opened his bedroom door and stepped inside, revealing Hopper.

"We have a visitor."

Will was sitting on the edge of his bed, his back to them. He was uncharacteristically stiff, and perfectly upright. He was looking straight ahead, and he declined to acknowledge their presence.

He was perfectly still and unmoving.

⊹ ⊹ ⊹

"So this thing, this shadow thing,"

Hopper was sat next to Will on his bed, looking at the drawing Will had made of the shadow monster, and Joyce's tracing from the tape of Halloween, side by side.

Joyce had taken a seat next to them.

"You told your mom it likes it like this. It likes it cold?"

Will looked at the drawing then looked away, when he spoke, his voice was barely above a whisper.

"Yeah."

Joyce sat wringing her hands, unable to hide her worry for her son as she listened.

"How do you know that?" Hopper asked gently.

Will shrugged his shoulders.

"I just know."

Hopper stared tentatively at the drawing, while Will looked at it in slight fear.

He couldn't shake the feeling that he had to be careful about what he shared, like he would be listening.

"Does he talk to you?" Hopper asked again.

Will shook his head slightly.

"No. It's like..." he quickly sighed. "I don't have think. I just know things now. Things I never did before."

Joyce looked to Hopper, anxiously awaiting his reaction.

"And, uh..."

The man stood, and took a step forward. He sighed, turning around before taking a seat at Will's desk, and facing them.

"what else do you know?" He asked.

Will looked as if he was searching his brain for the right words.

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

Will had begun to tear up.

"Okay," he said, encouraging him to continue.

"I mean, I don't think they're old memories at all. They're... they're now-memories, happening all at once, now." His voice cracked, and they could hear the frog in his throat.

"Can you describe these now-memories?"

Will saw the familiar flashes of vines. The dark and dampened tunnels that stretched and weaved through his mind.

"I don't know. It's... it's hard to explain."

"I know it's hard," Joyce soothed, wrapping her arms around her son. "but can you just... Can you try? For us?"

Will's face reddened as tears brimmed his eyes, threatening to fall. His body began to shake slightly as well as his voice.

"It's like..." He saw the tunnels again." they're growing and spreading..."

His voice broke and it came out in a harsh whisper as he trembled.

"killing."

He saw the visions. Like he was navigating the dark and cold tunnels, they never stopped moving and he knew they were out to kill.

"The memories?" Joyce asked quietly.

"I don't know," Will sobbed, and single tear escaped his eye and he collapsed into his mother's arms. "I'm sorry!"

"No, no, no," Joyce cooed, hugging him tight and gently stroking his hair. "It's okay, sweetie."

She looked to Hopper gauging his reaction before her eyes fell on Will's wall behind him.

Particularly, the drawing of Will had made last summer of him and Y/n, more specifically, their dnd characters.
Will the Wise and Y/C/N.

It gave her an idea.

"Hey, hey sweetie..." Will pulled back to look at his mom, tears stained his pink cheeks. "what if you didn't have to use words?"

⊹ ⊹ ⊹

Will sat at his desk, soft yellow light spilling onto his desk illuminating his pile of lined paper and crayons.

He grabbed a blue crayon and his hand flew across the paper as he drew feverishly.

Joyce and Hopper stood back, watching him at work, too distracted to hear the phone ringing from down the hall.

||𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐄𝐑'𝐒 𝐏𝐎𝐕||

"Hey, you've reached the Byers. We're sorry..." sighing, I hung up the phone harshly and but my lip.

Me and Mike fought over who got to use the public phone in the school yard to call Will and check on him.

I yelled at him in my fit of worry and he reluctantly backed off. For once.

"Still not answering?" Mike asked from my side.

I turned swiftly on my heel to look at him.

"Nothing!" I rub my eyes, taking deep breaths trying to prevent the anxiety from creeping back up.

"Shit!" He hissed.

I look at him oddly and he sighs, and gestured to the others.

"Come on, we need to have another party meeting."

I give him a worried look and he looked at me urgently, raising his voice and began running in the direction of the others.

"Now! Come on!"

Snapping out of it, I follow and Lucas calls to us from his spot on the landing.

"Anything?"

"We need to talk. AV room. Right now."

We both headed up the stairs, and Dustin and Max rise from where they were sitting on the steps.

Mike looks over his shoulder and sent Max a venomous look.

"Party members only!" He sneered, and she took a step back, obviously hurt.

"Come on, Mike." Dustin urged.

"No! This is non-negotiable."

I gave him a nasty look.

"Oh, get your head out of your ass, Mike! You don't have to be such a dick about it." I snapped.

Everyone seemed taken aback, including Max. Reluctantly, he retreated inside and the others followed.

"Sorry, Max." Dustin mumbled.

"Yeah, sorry." Lucas added.

The two boys followed Mike inside and I lingered by the door, turning to Max.

"Let me guess, you're really sorry but I can't go in because it's super important and life-threatening. Something like that, right?" She asked, though her face didn't match her angry tone.

I sighed, nodding.

"Something like that. I really am sorry, but I think it's about Will, and I... I'm sorry, I just have to."

I gave her an honest sympathetic smile and turned, reaching for the door.

"Y/n?"

I paused, looking over my shoulder at her, showing I was listening.

Max seemed reluctant but she spoke up finally.

"Thanks... for standing up for me I mean. I know you're trying."

I smiled sadly, nodding my head.

"Of course."

And then I slipped inside.

⊹ ⊹ ⊹

We met up in the AV room, and we all took a seat. Mike was on the desk next to me while Dustin and Lucas got to the two comfortable chairs first.

"Will didn't want me to tell anyone, but on Halloween night he saw sort of a shadow in the sky."

Lucas beat me to the question.

"A shadow?"

Mike nodded.

"Well, what do you mean by a shadow?" I asked.

"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,"

"Then what he saw on the field..." I trailed off, looking at the floor.

"Was the same shadow." He concluded.

"Maybe."

"Can it hurt him?" Lucas asked. "I mean, if this shadow thing isn't from our world..."

"I'm not sure. Dustin?" Mike asked.

"Well, if you're in another plane, you can't interact with the material plane, so theoretically, no, the shadow can't hurt him."

"Yeah, if that's even what's happening. This isn't D & D. This is real life."

"True, but..." I shook my head slightly, unable to get the image of his episode out of my head. "Yesterday, he was so... different."

My vision blurred but I swallowed the lump in my throat. I looked tearfully at my feet.

I'm hurt that he didn't tell me, but I understand he needed space. I just wish he could've said it to my face directly instead of making me feel lonely and scared for him.

"So what do we do?" Lucas asked, breaking the silence.

"We acquire more knowledge." Mike said firmly. "I'll go to Will's after school. See what's going on. You guys stay here and look for Dart."

I looked up at Mike, brows furrowed.

"Then I'll go with you." I stated, sitting up.

He looked at me as if he would snap at me again, but it disappeared and he sighed.

"No, stay here and lo-"

"No, Mike." I said, cutting him off. "No, you're not gonna push me away again. I need to see him. Tell him I'm here for him. Actually be there for him. You're not gonna bully me out of it this time."

He sighed, a guilty look flashed across his face.

"I haven't been trying to bully you. And, I'm sorry for being a jerk."

I nodded in thanks, and he continued.

"but he didn't tell you specifically, because he didn't want to worry you. He knew you'd get stressed and overthink it"

I chuckled weakly, breaking the small beat of silence and I looked at him, shaking my head.

"Well, jokes on him because I'm always stressed and overthinking things."

Everyone laughed weakly, and my chest warmed up. Mike and I met each others eye and we each smiled in understanding and relief. The past behind us.

"Okay," Dustin spoke up, gesturing between us. "Not that I'm not happy this little make up is happening, and super relieved, cause frankly this is long overdue, but Mike what does Dart have to do with all this?"

Mike looked back at Dustin, and his face hardened.

"Will said he heard him in the Upside Down. I don't know how yet, but he's gotta be connected to all this. He's gotta be."

He stood up and the rest of us followed suit. Mike looked between all of us.

"If we find Dart, maybe we can solve this thing. Maybe we can help Will."

||𝟑𝐑𝐃 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐎𝐍 𝐏𝐎𝐕||

At the cabin, El sat in front of the TV, fiddling with it hoping she could get it to work, but to no avail.

She sighed sadly, and stood up from her spot on the ground. She peeked behind the TV set and picked up the cord, twirling the frayed end slightly as she examined it.

She had no idea how she could ever plug it back in and she threw it to the ground in frustration.

She looked around at the mess she had unintentionally made in her fit of anger the previous night.

El's eyes fell on the dictionary that played sprawled open by her feet.

The one she had thrown at Hopper.

It had large chunks of glass were piled on the cover and she carefully picked it up. The glass shards fell and she held it closed in front of her before gently blowing the dust off of the cover.

She had to start somewhere. But she didn't have a spot to put it.

She focused on the bookcase next. She firmly planted her feet, focusing squarely on the fallen bookshelf and it gently rose up back into place against the wall.

El returned all the items to their proper place on the shelf. Puzzles and books alike.

She got to sweeping next. Remembering how Hopper had showed her.

The cabin was already coming back together, she had swept away most of the debris and was getting the last of the larger shards.

El moved the chair back slightly with her foot to reach some stray glass, she swept the larger shards. She had to repeat a few times when one piece wasn't budging. She noticed it was caught, wedged between a small gap between the floorboards.

Only then did she notice how deep the gap went, and there was more glass hidden beneath.

There was a false board.

Never taking her eyes off the floor, she flicked her head sending the chair backward.

She let the broom drop to the ground and she bend over, discarding the shard and looping her finger in to the gap and pulled.

Surprisingly, she had no trouble. A large trapdoor opened up and she peered inside, but could hardly see anything.

Having grabbed a flashlight, El laid on her stomach, poking her head through the trapdoor, and the dim light of the flashlight fell across many labeled boxes.

It was a storage area.

She was disinterested, seeing labels with words she only partially recognized.

That is, until her eyes landed on a box that was labeled,

HAWKINS LAB

⊹ ⊹ ⊹

El grunted as she climbed back up onto the floor, having just retrieved the HAWKINS LAB box. It now lay on the floor before her.

What could he possibly have in this box?

She had no idea he even had information on them.

Her heart pulse quickened and she opened up the lid. One of the first thing she spotted was a yellow folder. She recognized what it was. Lots of people at the lab carried these around.

Curious, she opened it and began reading.

She scanned the many documents enclosed inside, there were plenty of big words she didn't recognize but beyond that she soon lost interest.

However, a single word caught her on the folder below it. It was a word she was often called in the lab.

She picked up the folder, it was light but it had many papers spilling from it. But that wasn't what drew her to it, nor was how old it seemed in comparison to the others. It was the label.

The original text had been crossed out, several times in fact to a point where El couldn't make out what it had originally said. Several things had been scratched in but the only text that wasn't crossed out was written hastily. It read,

SUBJECT 009: THE MISSING EXPERIMENT