EPISODE SEVEN
the massacre at hawkins lab.

THE FOUR kids were brought back to mike's house, and lucas' parents and dustin's mum had been called over too since their kids arrived with the cops.

they were sat on the sofa, staring up at all the adults awkwardly. "what exactly were you all doing at the lake?" officer powell asked.

they all just stared at each other awkwardly. "we were on a walk." nova spoke up, nodding slightly. "a walk? at nine pm!" callahan asked.

"to the lake!" dustin nodded squeakily. "we were gonna...take a little swim...little night swim."

"dusty!" mrs. henderson gasped as nova bit her lip, trying not to laugh. "someone was just murdered there!"

"yeah...we didn't realise that until we got there." dustin chuckled, "that's why we didn't swim." lucas added.

"and nancy, was she with you at this night swim?" karen spoke up.

"yes."
"nope."
"uh..."

max and dustin spoke, before awkwardly looking at each other. nova sighed. "she was, then she went to go and talk to robin buckley...you know, girl problems." nova spoke up, smiling as the two cops grimaced, causing her to raise a brow.

"then that's when you guys came." lucas nodded. "right, then they dared me to say what i said. about the kill." max said as lucas, nova and dustin started to laugh forcefully, pointing at each other.

"you're lucky you didn't get shot." ted wheeler spoke up, the kids all looked at him weirdly before looking away.

"have you had any contact with eddie?" powell asked, "eddie munson? the psycho killer? god, no way." nova lied, "the freak killer? oh, god. no!" dustin nodded.

"absolutely not. we haven't heard from him." max agreed as lucas was nodded, trying not to say a lot since he was a terrible liar. "we barely know the guy." he nodded.

"oh, that's a bunch of bull." erica spoke up as they all turned to her with wide eyes.

"erica!" both sinclair parents exclaimed. "i mean, you realise they're lying. the whole couch is on fire!" erica continued, "erica!" they snapped. "just the facts!"

"are you lying to these policemen, dusty?" mrs. henderson asked worriedly. "no!" his voice cracked.

"lying to the cops is a crime, son." lucas' dad spoke up.

"he's not lying...we aren't lying." nova answered immediately, correcting herself as mr. sinclair raised a brow, sharing an amused look with his wife as they looked at lucas and nova.

"the fire is consuming us." erica sighed. "threaten them with a little jail time. maybe that'll loosen their lips." ted spoke up as karen rolled her eyes.

"you wanna send our kids to jail?" mrs. sinclair scoffed, "we need to take this seriously." ted shrugged.

"he didn't mean it like that!" karen sighed as everyone began to talk over each other.

"shut up." powell sighed. "oh, my god." nova leant her head back, groaning in annoyance.

"shut up!" powell yelled loudly as they all quietened down. "jesus." karen whispered. "shh." callahan whispered.

"we're gonna try a more civilised approach. one at a time...you first." he pointed at max who scoffed, "wait, what? why me?"

"follow me." powell ordered, "i'm not even in hellfire!" max exclaimed in annoyance.

"do i need to cuff you?" callahan pointed a finger at her. nova giggled quietly before closing her mouth and looking around the room awkwardly.

max pulled a face, and stood up, following powell.

LUCAS AND nova were in the kitchen now as dustin tried to contact robin, eddie, nancy and steve from in the bathroom so it wouldn't be suspicious.

"i never told you." nova suddenly spoke up, he frowned and looked at her, "what?"

"i forgot to tell you i liked your new hairstyle. it's really cool." she smiled and he returned it, "w-well, thank you...i like yours."

"it hasn't changed except from the fact it's always messy now." she pulled a face and he stared awkwardly. "oh...well, i like it either way. i like the braids the best. the ones you have now."

she blushed slightly, smiling. "thanks..." she looked up at him. the reason the braids were his favourite was because that's what she had when they first met, and what she wore the day they got together. 

dustin soon walked in as they looked up at him, "anything?" lucas asked, "no." dustin shook his head.

"you don't think they went through..." lucas began slowly, "through watergate? without us? without a plan? without weapons?" dustin raised his bows. "they wouldn't be that stupid."

"they must just be laying low 'cause the law got us." dustin whispered, "the law?" erica walked in with a scoff as they turned to her.

"what is this, gunsmoke? the stupid and the ugly, not counting nova?" she raised her brows as nova smiled.

"erica." lucas snapped, sighing. "please, just go away."

"here's the deal. either you tell me what's happening, or i tell them what i found under you bed." erica smiled and lucas' eyes widened in horror as nova's jaw dropped and raised her brows, turning to look at him.

"please, no." lucas whispered with wide eyes. "spill your guts, cowpuncher."

"what's she find under your bed?" dustin asked, "nothing." he immediately answered, his eyes flickering worriedly from nova to dustin.

"is it gross?" nova asked erica with a slight smirk, erica nodded. "scale of one to ten." dustin asked.

"a hundred." erica spoke as both dustin and nova gasped, turning to lucas. "a hundred?"

"the serial killer is a dark wizard from the upside down!" lucas exclaimed quietly. "and we've been looking for him, but he's in the upside down, which we can't reach. at least we thought we couldn't, until we found a gate at lover's lake. that was the reason why we were there, but these stupid cops grabbed us!"

"and if you tell anyone about this, that's including mom and dad and tina...especially tina. i will smother you in your sleep. do you understand?" lucas mocked her as erica slurped her juice.

"hmm..." erica looked away, "erica?" he moved closer to her, eyebrows raised, do...you...copy?"

"the smothering in my sleep part, but not much else. why would they open up a gate at lover's lake?" erica asked. "what?"

"the commies." erica frowned, "the commies didn't." lucas answered, confused.

"then who did?"
"nobody!"

"so it just opened up for fun?" erica argued, "erica. you have no idea what you're talking about."

"no she doesn't, yet she raises an essential question. how did watergate open up? only two gates have opened so far as we know. one by el, one by the commies. but it's not the commies or el this time, so it..."

"vecna." nova spoke up as dustin widened his eyes. "holy shit...you're right. there's one thing we've never understood. why vecna is killing people. what's his motive? killing teens? always seemed too random. too prosaic. on top of that, how does the mind flayer figure into all this? maybe this is it. this is the answer!"

"what is the answer?" lucas asked, confused. karen came in with a cop as she offered him a drink so they moved by the stairs.

"hear me out. how did el open the mothergate?" dustin asked, "she contacted the demogorgon." lucas answered slowly.

"with psychic contact. just like..." he waited for lucas to finish. "vecna when he casts his spells." lucas realised.

"exactly! so, what if, with each kill, he's not simply killing them, he's making a powerful psychic connection with his victims? a connection powerful enough to rip a hole in the fabric of time and space."

"jesus, you're smart." nova mumbled.

"he's opening more gates." lucas widened his eyes, "bingo." dustin smiled. a cop walked near them so they walked away.

"why would he be opening gates?" dustin whispered, "to take over the world." lucas spoke, "and who do we know that wants to take over the world?"

"the mind flayer." lucas raised his brows.

"so if the demogorgon was just his foot solider, vecna's his five star general. a five star general with the power to open gates."

"holy shit." lucas's hands went to the back of his neck.

"holy shit, that was incomprehensible. you lost me at mothergate. please be kind, rewind." erica spoke up.

dustin began to explain it simpler for erica to understand as nova looked over at the door where max was inside being questioned.

what's under ur bed lucas??? 🤨🤨🤨🤨