Julie helped clean Michelle up. She was going to help Eleven but Mike insisted on doing it, because he needed to talk to her.

Charles talked to Dustin about what had happened before they found them.

"Guys! It's Lucas! Do you copy? Over."

Julie and Michelle rushed over to the other two boys.

"Bad."

"What did he say?" Charles questioned, as static took over.

"Bad. Bad?" Dustin thought for a second before a look of fear washed over his face and he rushed to the bathroom.

"Guys! It's Lucas. I think he's in trouble."

Mike and Eleven rushed out behind him, Mike looking very suspicious.

"Do you remember how he said he was looking for the gate?" Dustin asks.

"Yeah." Michelle says, Mike nodding with her.

"No." Julie and Charles said in unison.

"What if he found it?" Dustin suggests.

"All we could hear was "bad", how do we know if he found a gate?" Charles scratched his head.

"What's he saying?" Mike huffs.

Lucas was yelling over the walkie, but nobody could understand what he was saying.

"I don't know, he's way out of range." Dustin sighed.

"...son of a bitch!"

Julie picked up the walkie, since no one else was going to. "Lucas, it's Julie. If you can hear us, slow down. We can't understand a damn thing you're saying. Over."

"Yes, I copy! They know about Eleven! Get out of there! They know about Eleven! The bad men are coming! All of them! Do you hear me? The bad men are coming!"

" "Mad hen." Does that mean anything to you?" Dustin asks. "Like a code name or something?"

"Shh! I think he said bad again." Michelle put a finger up to her lips.

"The bad men are coming!"

" "Bad men" I told you!" Charles snaps his fingers.

"Wait, who exactly are the bad men?" Julie's eyebrows furrowed.

"Bad men...bad men! We gotta go!" Mike gasps. "Stay here!"

"Mike!" Julie runs after him, Dustin and Charles following after.

"What's that guy doing?" Mike looks out the window.

"You don't think..." Dustin trails off.

"Who are the bad men?" Charles asks.

"They're after El. We need to go and hide." Mike informs, running back downstairs.

"Is he home?" Karen stammered into the phone.

"Mom!"

"Hi, Mrs Wheeler."

"Michael, I'm on the phone-"

"Did you schedule any repairs?" Mike frantically asks.

"What?"

"Is there anyone supposed to come and do repairs on the house?" Mike asks.

"I don't understand- is there something wrong in the house?" Karen shakes her head.

"No, mom, nothing's wrong in the house." Mike says.

"Mike! Julie!" Dustin rushes in.

"One second." Mike held up a finger.

"Guys!" Dustin screams. "We need to leave...right now."

Mike looked back at his mom before running.

"Michael!"

"If anyone asks where I am, I've left the country."

"What? Julie? Do you know what's going on? Or where Laura and Nancy are?" Karen panics.

"I haven't seen them, I'm sorry. The boys are um— playing a game. They wanted us to play too! We're gonna take them for ice cream, I'll keep them safe! Promise!" Julie fake smiles, and runs after the boys.

"Ugh...what?! Wait- who are you?" Karen throws her hands up. "Aren't you the chiefs son?"

"Yeah! I'm a friend of Julie's. Gotta go!" Charles smiles and runs downstairs.

"What the hell!" Karen sighs.

The teenagers ran after the four younger kids, rushing off on their bikes.

"You guys know anywhere safe? Somewhere that nobody goes to?" Mike pants, as Eleven hops on the back of his bike.

"Um, the place we went yesterday? I don't think anyone goes there." Julie answers.

"Got it." Mike nods.

They all looked over, making eye contact with a tall man with white hair.

Charles noticed the terrified look on Eleven's face. "He's after you?"

"Abort!" Dustin screams, and they all peddled as fast as they could. "Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God."

"Go, go, go, go, go!" Michelle yells, trying to get Dustin to peddle faster.

"Dustin! Julie? Do any of you copy?"

"Yeah, Lucas, they're on us." Dustin answers.

"Where are you?"

"Cornwallis."

"Meet me at Elm and Cherry!"

"Copy. Elm and Cherry!"

"Okay." Julie nods, leading the way.

"Oh, shit!" Charles yells, noticing four white vans behind them.

"I thought you were the chief's son and everything would be okay?" Dustin screams at him.

"It will be!" Charles screamed back. "I hope."

"Out of the way!" Michelle screamed, as they all rode down a huge hill.

"There he is." Julie sighed in relief, coming to a stop.

"Lucas!" Mike smiled.

"Where are they?" Lucas pants.

"I-I don't know." Mike stammers.

"I think we lost them." Charles nods. "We can go to my house and my dad can help."

"You're dad hasn't even answered you. It's safer to go to the car dump." Julie orders. "Come on."

"Go, go, go, go, go!" Mike screams, as tires screeched behind them.

"Dear God, please save us all!" Michelle screamed out, eyes closed as she prayed.

"Open your eyes! We'll pray later!" Lucas yells.

"Go, go, go!"

"Faster, faster!"

"Shit, shit, shit, shit!"

Dustin screamed out in fear as another van pulled out in front of them.

"Dodge them and go as fast as you can!" Julie demands.

As soon as she said that, the van flipped high in the air, and landed on another van behind them.

They all slowed down a bit, mouths agape, blood dripping from Eleven's mouth.

"Superpowers." Michelle pants.

...

Once they arrived to the car dump, they all caught their breath in silence. Like always, Dustin was the one to break it.

"Holy...holy shit! Did you see what she did to that van?" Dustin pants, slamming his bike to the ground.

"No, Dustin, we missed it." Mike shook his head sarcastically.

"I mean that was..." Dustin looked for words, but Lucas found them first.

"Awesome." The boy smiled.

Eleven looked back at Lucas, Michelle beside her, opening her backpack.

"It was awesome." Lucas stated, walking over to her. "Everything I said about you being a traitor and stuff...I was wrong. I'm sorry."

"Friends...friends don't lie." Eleven spoke softly. "I'm sorry, too."

Lucas patted the girl's shoulder, a soft smile on his face.

"Me, too." Mike nods, holding out his hand, getting a firm shake from Lucas'.

"Sorry about my head breaking your nose, man." Lucas cringed at the nasal packaging on Charles' nose.

"Me, too. It was my fault." Eleven stuttered.

"Don't worry about it. I've had worse." Charles shrugged, a smile on his face.

"I'm glad everyone made up." Michelle smiled, forming a group hug.

"I love you guys, but now it's time to explain everything. You caught us up a little bit, but we're still very confused." Julie says.

...

Laura looked up from the table, taking the frozen peas off her eye as a furious Joyce Byers stormed in. A calm Jim Hopper walked behind her.

"Hey. Jonathan? Jesus, what...what happened? Why is he in handcuffs?!"

"Well, your boy assaulted a police officer. That's why." Officer Callahan rolled his eyes.

"Take them off." Joyce orders.

"I am afraid I can not do that." The officer shook his head.

"Take them off!" Joyce demands.

"You heard her. Take 'em off." Jim nodded.

"Chief, I get everyone's emotional here, but there's something you need to see." Officer Powell spoke.

Jim walked out with the two officers, coming back a few moments later with a big box of weapons.

"What is this?" Joyce gasps.

"Why don't you ask your son? We found it in his car." Jim shrugs.

"What?"

"Why are you going through my car?" Jonathan snaps.

"Is that really the question you should be asking right now? I wanna see you in my office." Jim leaned down.

Laura and Nancy looked at each other, and both knew to not say a word unless asked. Jim Hopper was scary. as. hell.

"You won't believe me." Jonathan mumbles.

"Why don't you give me a try?" Jim crossed his arms.

...

"This is Randolph Road, right here." Lucas explains, drawing a line through the mud with a stick. "The fence starts here, and goes all the way around. And this is the lab right here. The gate's gotta be in there somewhere. It's gotta be!"

"Well, who owns Hawkins Lab?" Dustin asks.

"The sign says "Department of Energy"." Lucas answers.

"Department of Energy? What do you think that means?" Dustin questions.

"It means government. Military." Charles answers.

"Then why does it say "Energy"?" Dustin furrows his eyebrows.

"Just trust him. His dad is the chief." Michelle shrugs.

"Yeah." Charles nods. "It's military. There's soldiers out front all the time."

"Yeah, I saw a lot." Lucas says.

"Do they make, like, lightbulbs or something?" Dustin asks.

"No, weapons." Mike sighs. "To fight the Russians, and commies and stuff."

"Weapons." Charles repeats, looking at Julie with worry in his eyes. They're coming after the girl with weapons!

"Oh, Jesus, this is bad." Dustin gasps.

"Really bad. The place is like a fortress." Lucas nods.

"Well, what do we do?" Dustin huffs.

"I don't know, but we can't go home." Julie tells them.

"We're fugitives now." Mike adds.

"G-guys? Do you hear that?" Dustin stutters.

The sound of a helicopter got louder and closer.

"In the bus! Now!" Charles jumps up, pointing to a red and white bus.

Panic filled everyone as they shoved their bikes under the bus and ran inside of it.

"I'm scared." Michelle whispers, wrapping her arms around Julie.

"Whatever happens, Charles and I will protect you guys." Julie says, rubbing the girl's arm. Charles nodded in agreement, motioning for them to huddle together.

...

Laura, Nancy, and Jonathan sat in front of a suspicious, somewhat angry Jim Hopper, and a nervous Joyce Byers.

Jonathan's leg shook, as Nancy stared at her lap, a look of worry washed all over her face. Laura bit her nails, wondering how she was gonna lie to her parents about all of this.

"You say blood draws this thing?" Jim asks.

"We don't know." Jonathan shrugs softly.

"It's just a theory." Nancy adds.

"I'm sorry, mom." Jonathan says, his head hanging low.

Joyce stood up, glancing at Jonathan and leaving the room. He followed after her.

Laura sighed, bringing a finger to her face.

"Ouch." The girl winced, causing a look from Jim.

It wasn't an angry look. There was no expression on his face. Yet it still scared the shit out of Laura, as she looked back down at the floor.

Suddenly, there was yelling coming from an angry woman. Jim groaned and rushed in there, the two teenage girls going with him.

"Name and badge number, both of you!" The woman screamed at Officer Callahan.

"What the hell is going on here?" Jim shouts.

"Chief..." Officer Powell starts.

"These men are humiliating my son." The woman spat, waving her hand in the air, causing an "accidental" judgmental look from Laura.

Laura recognized the boy. Michelle and Michael had told her about him. Troy the bully.

"No, no, no. Okay, that's not true." Callahan argued.

"There was some kind of fight, Chief-" Powell starts, once again.

"A psychotic child broke his arm!" The woman exclaimed.

Laura's eyes widened and a hand flew over her mouth to cover her mouth. Did one of her little siblings break the kid's arm? Holy shit!

"A little girl, Chief. A little one." Callahan sighed.

Michelle? Laura thought, a proud smile creeping on her face now, earning an odd look from Nancy now.

"That tone! Do you hear that tone?" The woman raged.

"Honestly, I'm just trying to state a fact." Callahan throws his hands up in clear annoyance.

"I don't have time for this. Will you please take a statement..." Jim mouthed, "and get her out?"

"Yes." Callahan gladly nodded.

"So what'd this girl look like?" Powell questions.

Laura wanted to know for sure if it was her little sister that kicked this kid's ass, so she very slowly walked behind Jim and Nancy.

"She had no hair and she was bleeding from her nose. Like a freak." Troy says.

What the fuck. Laura thought.

Jim stopped in his tracks, turning around slowly.

"What'd you just say?"

"I said she's a freak!" Troy fumed.

"No, her hair. What'd you say about her hair?"

"Her head's shaved. She doesn't even look like a girl. And..." Troy trailed off.

"And what?" Jim's eyebrows raised.

"Tell the man, Troy." The woman spoke softly.

"She can...do things." Troy gulped.

"What kind of things?" Jim asked, in an even more serious tone.

"Like...make you fly." Troy began.

What the fuck! Laura thought.

"And piss yourself." Troy looked down at his feet.

What the fuck? Laura thought.

"What?" Powell chuckled.

Nancy looked at her sister, eyebrows raised.

Jim held a hand up. "Was she alone?"

Troy shook his head. "She always hangs out with those losers."

Laura scoffed, but knew she had to keep her mouth shut.

" "losers?" What losers?" Jim asks.

...

"I have to go home." Nancy tells Jim Hopper.

"No, you can't." Jim replies.

"My mom...my dad are there." Nancy protested.

"Our little siblings!" Laura adds in distress.

"They're gonna be okay." Jim reassured.

Nancy glared at Jim before walking away, but immediately got pulled back.

"Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey." Jim warned.

"Let go." Nancy demands. "Let go!"

"Hey! Listen to me. Listen to me. The last thing in the world we need is them knowing you're mixed up in all this. If my son was mixed up in all this, I'd lose my shit." Jim explains.

"Mike and Shelly are over there—" Nancy starts.

"They haven't found them. Not yet at least." Jim pointed to the helicopter in the air.

Laura sighed loudly, walking away. Joyce grabbed her hand gently, noticing that the girl was shaking.

"It's okay, sweetie. We're going to find them." Joyce smiled weakly.

"Come on, get in the car." Jim nods.

They all rushed into the car, the teenagers in the backseat. Nancy was in the middle.

"Look, we need to find them before they do." Jim says.

"No shit!" Laura scoffed.

Jim glared at her, but sighed. He would react the same way if his loved one was mixed up in all of this. Or, if he knew.

"Do you have any idea where they might have gone?" Jim asks.

"No, I don't." Nancy shakes her head.

"They only hang out at the house." Laura shrugged, biting her nails.

"I need you to think." Jim tells the girls. "Have you talked to them much recently?"

Nancy shook her head, guilt filling her body.

"I talked to Mike for a while the other night. He was just upset about Will. If that helps." Laura tells Jim.

"Is there any place that your parents don't know about that they might go?" Joyce asks.

"I-I-I don't know." Nancy stutters.

"I might." Jonathan speaks up.

"What?"

"I don't know where he is, but I think I know how to ask him." Jonathan nods.

They immediately drove off to the Byers' house, running straight to Will's room, all in search for the Walkie Talkie.

"Holy shit." Laura whispers, examining the house.

"I got it." Joyce announces, pulling Will's walkie out from under his bed.

...

Julie wrapped one arm around Michelle, and one around Dustin. Charles sat between Mike and Eleven.

"Mike? Are you there? Shelly?"

"You guys hear that?" Dustin gasps.

"Mike, it's me, Nancy. Mike? Michelle?"

Mike shot up, snatching his walkie talkie out of his bag.

"Are you there? Answer. Guys, we need you to answer."

Mike held it up, his eyebrows furrowed.

"Is that your sister?" Lucas questions.

"This is an emergency! Do you copy?"

"Okay, this is really weird." Dustin comments.

Michelle went to grab the walkie, but Mike pulled it away.

"Don't answer."

"She said it was an emergency." Michelle shouts, getting shushed my Julie.

"What if it's a trick?" Mike shouts back.

"Stop yelling!" Julie whisper shouts.

"It's your sister!" Lucas argues.

"What if the bad people kidnapped her?What if they're forcing her to say this?" Mike suggests.

"It's like Lando Calrissian. Don't answer." Dustin shook his head.

"We don't know that. Just wait a minute and listen." Charles told the kids, holding a hand up.

"We need to know that you're there. Mike. Michelle. Answer!"

Everyone looked at one another.

"Listen, kids, this is the chief. If you're there, pick up."

"Oh shit." Charles gasps, his eyes going as wide as ever.

"We know you're in trouble and we know about the girl."

Julie rubbed her temples. What the hell has she gotten into?

"Why is she with the chief? Wait, isn't he your dad, Charles?" Lucas questions.

"Yes. Everyone shut up." Charles panics.

"We can't panic!" Julie scolds the boy.

"My dad is going to kill me!" Charles exclaims.

"We can protect you, we can help you, but you gotta pick up. Are you there? Do you copy? Over."

Charles swallowed his spit nervously, grabbed the walkie talkie, took a deep breath, and finally answered.

"This is Charles. I'm with Julie Newby. We've got the kids, dad. We copy. We're here."

"You're gonna get us killed! Lando!" Dustin yells, his mouth quickly getting covered by Julie's hand.

...

It had been a long, nerve wracking wait. Dustin was pacing. Charles' head was in his hands. Julie was twiddling with her thumbs. Michelle, Lucas, and Eleven were staring into space. Mike was watching everyone.

"Will you stop pacing?" Mike snaps.

"It's been way too long. Do you know what? Maybe you're right. Maybe this is all a trap and the bad men are coming to get us right now! All because Charles opened his damn mouth! We're gonna die!"

"Hey!" Charles gasps.

"Calm down!" Julie yells, standing up. "Everyone calm down and stop panicking. There's no way that it's a trap if the chief was there. Why would he set us up?"

"Nancy, maybe." Michelle comments quietly.

"But the chief? No way." Lucas adds.

"Lando Calrissian." Dustin repeats.

"Would you shut up about Lando?" Lucas huffs.

"I don't feel good about this. I don't feel good about this!" Dustin yells.

"When do you feel good about anything?" Lucas shouts.

"What did I just say? Nobody panics. IF the bad men come, Charles and I are going to protect you like we promised." Julie states firmly.

They all stared at Julie in silence, until the sound of vehicles got closer and closer.

They rushed to the front window, two unfamiliar cars pulling up.

"Shit!" Dustin shouts.

"Go, go, go, go, go." Charles points to the back of the van.

Julie and Charles sat on each side of the kids, motioning to duck down.

Michelle and Dustin looked at each other in fear, but once they looked down at their fingers interlinked they quickly pulled them away, looking the other direction.

Charles and Julie nodded at each other, ready to fight once a door opened. But something shocking happened, all the men got knocked out suddenly.

Then, Jim Hopper appeared in the van.

"Dad!" Charles sighed in relief, engulfing him in a hug.

"All right, let's go. Let's go!"

...

After a long car ride back to the Byers' home, and a dreadful conversation about how Julie and Charles got involved in this,  and how Charles broke his nose, they arrived.

"Mike? Shelly?"

"Oh, my God. Guys!"

Nancy and Michelle ran into a hug, Michelle crying silently. She was so happy to be back with her sister.

"Mike." Laura smiled, hugging her brother so tight his ribs almost broke.

"Okay. Stop." Mike patted his sister's arm, pulling away.

"I was so worried about you!" Nancy pulls Mike over.

"Laur!" Julie smiled, hugging her best friend.

"Holy shit, what happened to your face?" Charles pointed.

"I fought a stuck up bitch- I mean girl."

"You're telling me all about it once this is over." Julie laughed.

"I think you have things to tell me, too." Laura smirked.

"Shelly, is that your dress?"

...

Everyone was sat in the living room, the kids were trying their best to explain the situation to the others.

"Okay, so, in this example, we're the acrobat. Will and Barbara, and that monster, they're this flea. And this is the Upside Down, where Will is hiding. Mr. Clarke said the only way to get there is through a rip of time and space." Mike explains.

"A gate." Michelle added.

"That we tracked to Hawkins Lab." Lucas nods.

"With their compasses." Charles adds, sitting beside his father.

Laura looked over at her best friend in confusion who was holding onto her arm; she just shrugged.

"Okay, so the gate has a really strong electromagnetic field, and that can change the directions of a compass needle." Dustin explains.

"Is this gate underground?" Jim asks.

"Yes." Eleven answers.

"Near a large water tank?"

"Yes."

"H-How do you know all that?" Dustin questions.

"He's seen it." Mike realizes.

"What?" Charles looks back at his dad.

Joyce looked at Eleven. "Is there any way that you could...that you could reach Will? That you could talk to him in this—"

"The Upside Down." Eleven finishes.

"Down. Yeah." Joyce whispers.

"And my friend, Barbara? Can you find her, too?" Nancy asks.

Eleven slowly nodded. Laura smiled in relief.

...

Everyone sat around the kitchen table, a walkie and pictures of Barbara and Will sat in front of Eleven.

Eleven sat still, her eyes closed. The light flickered, and the static stopped.

"I'm sorry." Eleven whispers, tears filling her eyes.

"What? W-What's wrong? What happened?" Joyce stuttered.

"I can't find them." Eleven revealed, her voice breaking.

Charles put his hand on her shoulder as a sign of reassurance before she walked off to the bathroom.

Julie had her arm wrapped around her best friend, her head on her shoulder.

"It's okay." Julie said.

Laura shakily sighed, trying her hardest to not cry.

"Whenever she uses her powers, she gets weak." Mike explains.

"The more energy she uses, the more tired she gets." Dustin adds.

"Like, she flipped the van earlier." Lucas nods.

"It was awesome." Dustin smiled.

"Yeah." Charles nodded. "It was."

"But she's drained." Mike continued.

"Like a bad battery." Julie finishes.

"How do we make her better?" Joyce asks.

"We don't. We just have to wait and try again." Mike shrugs.

"Maybe food will help give her energy?" Michelle suggests.

"How long do we wait?" Laura asks.

"The bath." Eleven appears.

"What?"

"I can find them. In the bath."

...

Soon enough, they were scattered around the kitchen while Dustin called his science teacher, Mr. Clarke.

"Mr. Clarke? It's Dustin......Yeah, yeah. I just, I..." Dustin looked at Michelle for help.

"Science question." Michelle mouthed.

"I have a science question.....Do you know anything about sensory deprivation tanks? Specifically how to build one?"

"What is this for?"

Michelle tried to mouth a lie to Dustin, but he wasn't paying attention.

"Fun.....You always say we should never stop being curious. To always open any curiosity door we find."

Jim rolled his eyes; a loud, annoyed sigh leaving his mouth.

"Why are you keeping this curiosity door locked?"

"Don't worry. He's good at this." Julie nods, chuckling.

Dustin sat down with a pencil and paper, writing away. "Uh-huh. Uh-huh. How much? Uh-huh. Yep, all right. Yeah, we'll be careful. Definitely. All right, Mr. Clarke. Yeah, I'll see you on Monday. I'll see you on Monday, Mr. Clarke. Bye."

Michelle picked up the paper, her eyebrows furrowing as she read it.

"Do you still have that kiddie pool that we bobbed for apples in?" Dustin asks.

"I think so. Yeah." Joyce nods.

"Good. Then we just need salt. Lots of it." Dustin points with his pencil.

"How much is "lots"?" Jim asks.

"1,500 pounds." Dustin answers.

"Well, where are we gonna get that much salt?"

...

Soon enough, everyone was pulling into Hawkins Middle School.

Charles, Jonathan, and Jim were getting the salt.

"Hey, wait." Jonathan pants. "It's not gonna snow next week, is it?"

"Worst case, no school." Jim shrugs.

"Hope that's the case." Charles mumbles.

"Even if we find Will in there...what are we gonna do about that thing?" Jonathan asks.

"We're not gonna do anything. I don't want you," Jim pointed to his son. "or you anywhere near this, all right? Joyce and I have been through enough already."

"He's my brother." Jonathan protested.

"Yeah, and I want to help." Charles added.

"Listen to me. I'm gonna find him. All right? You gotta trust me on this." Jim held Jonathan's shoulder. "I am going to find him."

"Fine." Jonathan rolled his eyes.

"Charles, you're staying here with him, and all the other kids. Just like you have been." Jim says.

"All right." Charles huffs. He just wanted to help find the little boy and save him. If he couldn't save his little sibling, maybe he could save someone else's.

...

Julie, Lucas, and Dustin set the pool up.

"This damn thing is heavy." Dustin complains.

"It's upside down." Julie sighs, struggling to flip it over.

"No, this way." Lucas points.

"Okay, um..." Julie scratched her head.

"How does this even work?" Dustin asks.

"Try that side." Lucas nods.

"Son of a bitch!" Dustin grunts.

"Pull it back. Pull it back." Julie orders.

"I am!" Dustin whined.

"One, two, three."

"Damnit!" Julie cursed.

...

The Wheeler siblings were getting the water hose. It really wasn't a four person job, but they all needed to talk.

"Ugh." Nancy sighs, failing to get the door open.

"I've got it." Mike nods confidently, but ended up just slamming his shoulder into the door harshly.

Michelle laughed loudly at her brother.

"Shut up."

"I'm sorry." Michelle laughed even louder.

"Here." Laura pushes her siblings back, and hit the lock with her gun.

"Holy shit! How'd you do that?" Mike gasps.

"You don't have eyes?" Laura chuckles.

Mike and Michelle got the wagons, while Laura and Nancy got the water hoses.

"What did she even eat?" Nancy asks.

"What?"

"Eleven."

"Candy, leftovers, Eggos...." Michelle answered.

"She really likes Eggos." Mike grinned.

"I knew you were acting weird. I just...I thought it was because of Will." Nancy says.

"I knew you were acting weird, too. I thought it was 'cause of Steve." Mike shrugs.

"Hey..." Nancy dropped the wagon. "No more secrets, okay? From now on we tell each other everything. All of us."

"Okay." Mike nods. "Do you like Jonathan now?"

"What? No." Nancy scoffs.

"You sure?" Laura raised an eyebrow. "I see the way you guys looked at each other."

"No!" Nancy gasps. "It's not...it's not like that. Mike, do you like Eleven?"

"What? No. Ew. Gross." Mike stammered, earning another loud laugh from Michelle.

"Liar." Michelle wiped tears of laughter.

"Do you like Dustin?" Mike snaps.

Michelle stopped laughing.

"Exactly. I saw you guys holding hands." Mike rolled his eyes.

"Whoa. What?" Nancy and Laura ask in unison.

"Nothing." Michelle mumbles. "Gross."

"I don't have anything to be accused of." Laura smiled proudly.

...

Finally, after testing the water out, Eleven was ready to get into the bath.

Charles sat beside his dad, Julie and Laura sitting beside him. Michelle sat between Dustin and Lucas.

Eleven floated in the water, and the lights went off. It was going to work this time. It had to.

The lights started flickering, causing everyone to be a bit frightened.

"What's going on?" Nancy asks.

"I don't know." Mike replies, a fearful look on his face.

"Is Barb okay? Is she okay?" Nancy asks.

"Gone. Gone. Gone."

Laura gasped, her hand covering her mouth. Julie held her hand, watching the tears slip out of her best friend's eyes. Jonathan put a hand on Nancy's back, her hand over her mouth.

"Gone! Gone!" Eleven cried.

"It's okay. It's okay. It's okay, honey." Joyce whispered, holding the girl's hand. "It's okay, we're right here. We're right here, honey. I got you. Don't be afraid. I'm right here with you."

"Castle Byers."

Jonathan and Joyce gasped, immediately turning toward each other.

"Will?"

This time everyone gasped, emotions and thought racing through them.

"You tell him...tell him I'm coming. Mom is coming." Joyce stammers.

"Hurry."

The four young kids shared the same look. A look of relief. But hearing their best friend in that state brought tears to their eyes.

"Okay. Listen, you tell him to...to stay where he is. We're coming. We're coming, okay? We're coming, honey." Joyce stuttered.

Suddenly, Eleven rose up, gasping and shaking.

"Oh, okay. Okay. I've got you. It's okay." Joyce cried, holding the girl.

...

The five kids comforted Eleven, while everyone else figured out (and tried to help figure out) how to get to where they needed to go.

Lucas put a towel around Eleven, rubbing her shoulder comfortingly. She lay her head on Mike, who was deep in thought. Michelle and Dustin's pinkies very slowly intertwined. It wasn't really a romantic mood, they were just kids. It was a comfort thing.

After Joyce and Hopper left, Nancy and Jonathan sat in the hallway, Charles stayed with the kids, and Julie and Laura were in the bathroom.

Laura was trying to wash her face and calm down, but she went back to sobbing into her friend's shoulder.

"Hey, it's okay. It's okay, Laur. I'm here."

...

Word count: 4895

A/n: what would y'all think if I put a new character in the next book??

Xx- Gray ✩