It was quiet in the Henderson house at dinnertime, save for the occasional sounds of the family cat, Mews, meowing softly in the other room. Anna pushed her spaghetti around her plate, her appetite having long vanished with the news of Will's disappearance, or the search party in the woods that night to look for him.

Dustin had hardly spoken a word since the two had arrived home, the polar opposite of the twelve year old's usually too-chatty demeanor, and his appetite modeled that of his sister's as his own plate seemed untouched. Meanwhile, Claudia looked back and forth between her two children, the frown on her face growing as she took in their somber expressions.

"They're going to find him." Claudia tried to assure them, and Anna looked up, giving her a small smile in return as she nodded. She reached forward, taking both Anna and Dustin's hands in her own. "But for now, I'm just glad the two of you are safe."

"You're right, Mom." Anna agreed. "They'll find him." she set her fork down, giving up on the rest of her plate as she went to wrap up the leftovers to put in the fridge. "I'm not really hungry, and I've got this impossible chemistry test to study for, so I think I'm going to turn in a little early tonight to get some work done. Is that okay?"

"Of course, dear," Claudia said, moving back to her own dish. "Study hard, alright?"

Anna nodded, making her way out of the kitchen and into her bedroom. Once the door was shut behind her, she moved to her stereo, hitting play on the David Bowie tape still resting inside from that morning and turning it up just high enough to drown out any noise coming from her room, including the click of the lock on the door sliding into place to keep her mother out.

Anna moved to her closet, swapping the shirt she'd worn to school for an old Hawkins High t-shirt and pulling a plain black hoodie overtop of it. Grabbing the tennis shoes from her closet floor, she quickly laced them up, looking up at the alarm clock sitting on her dresser to read that it was only a few minutes until she was set to meet Becca and Landon at the corner of Cornwallis and Old Cherry. She unlatched her bedroom window, pushing it upwards and climbing through, where she landed on the damp grass outside.

She looked back at the living room window a small distance from her own, backing away slowly to see Claudia's attention focused on the TV against the wall, not noticing the figure growing further and further away from sight until Anna rounded the corner of the house and disappeared from view. Anna sighed as soon as the coast was clear, but as she set foot on Cornwallis Street and turned around, she nearly bumped into Dustin, who stood poised and ready to hop onto his bicycle, which Mr. Sinclair had dropped off before dinner.

"What are you doing?" she asked in a hushed whisper, not wanting Claudia to hear them from inside.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" Dustin hissed back. "We're going to look for Will. What are you doing?"

"Becca, Landon, and I are going to join the search party the cops are putting together." Anna explained. "You on the other hand are going back inside before Mom realizes either of us are missing, much less both of us."

"Bullshit," Dustin insisted. "You can't make me go home."

"Dusty, you heard the cops." Anna said. "It's not safe out there."

"Which is exactly why we need to help Will." Dustin retorted. "If I have to go home, so do you, and he needs us." The frown deepened on Anna's face. "You know I'm right, Anna. Please let me help Will."

"Dustin, I'm not kidding." she insisted.

"Neither am I."

Anna stared her brother down, his gaze looking back at her with the same intensity, of the same pair of eyes they'd both inherited from their mother. "Alright, fine." she sighed. "Just... please be careful? I can't have you go missing too, Mom would kill me."

"I promise," he assured her. "You be careful too, okay?"

She nodded. "I promise."

Anna ran off while Dustin waited for Mike and Lucas, hurrying towards the road sign for the familiar intersection where Becca's car was already waiting, the muffled sound of music coming through the vehicle. She opened the door to the backseat to climb inside, Becca sitting behind the wheel and Landon occupying the passenger seat.

"She made it," Landon said as Anna shut the door behind her, and Becca reached forward to turn down the music. "Does your mom know you're out here?"

"Of course not," Anna scoffed. "She thinks I'm studying for Kaminsky's test all night. Does yours?"

He shook his head. "She left for work about an hour ago, won't be back until after six."

"My aunt and uncle decided to leave for their trip a little early." Becca explained. "Get a head start on the road, so they left a little while ago. Steve left to go see Nancy, so it was just me." she looked back in the rearview mirror at Anna. "Did Dustin say anything else about what might've happened to Will?"

Anna shook her head as Becca continued to drive. "Nothing." she said. "Just that they were playing D and D, they all left at the same time, but Will never made it home."

"That poor kid," Becca said. "Do they think he's just lost?"

"He has to be," Landon added. "Right? I mean, it's Hawkins. Nothing ever happens in Hawkins."

As Becca's car approached the intersection of Kerley and Cornwallis, where the search party was congregating, she parked along the side of the road near a stretch of other cars, all belonging to those aiding in the efforts to find Will Byers. The three got out of the car, holding onto their flashlights as they walked towards where a large group had congregated, made up of both the Hawkins Police Department as well as other Hawkins natives.

"Thank you all for coming," Chief Jim Hopper was saying to the crowd, and the three teenagers stepped up to the back of the crowd. "Let's all make sure we travel in groups, just to be safe, nobody's going off on their own tonight. We just want to find Will Byers and bring this kid home safe, good?" There was a collective murmur of agreement from the crowd as he continued. "Now, if we follow the woods east of here, we should reach Cartersville before the end of the night. I don't think the kid could've gotten that far, but it's just a precaution. Alright, let's get started."

As the groups began to move closer to the woods, a fourth figure stepped up behind them, and Anna turned to see Michelle Byers, the middle of the three siblings, with a flashlight held tightly in her grip.

"Michelle," Anna breathed, looking over the girl in shock before glancing behind her, to see if either Jonathan or their mother Joyce were with her, but to her surprise, the fourteen-year-old was alone. "What are you doing here?"

"Looking for Will, of course." she said adamantly. "My mom and Jonathan are back at the house, in case the Chief finds anything to report to them. She didn't want to let me come help, wanted to keep both of us home where she could see us, but being out with the police might be the safest place for me, honestly. I just had to promise her I wouldn't be out too late."

"They said we need to have a group system, so that nobody wanders off and gets left behind." Becca spoke up. "You're welcome to join us, if you'd like."

"Yeah," Michelle agreed. "Yeah, that'd be great."

Michelle began to follow along the three others, the sounds of the search party yelling for Will echoing through the trees in all directions. Anna knew these woods, both from all the times she'd hung out with Michelle and Jonathan in middle school to hanging out with Becca behind the Harrington house the past couple years, but that night, it felt foreign, with an eerie shadow cast across it. It seemed alive, almost, watching their every move. As they walked, a damp chill set in, nearly freezing her bones as she rubbed her hands together softly in an attempt to create more warmth.

"How's your mom doing?" Anna asked, turning to look over at Michelle as they walked.

"About how you'd expect." Michelle said sadly. "She worked late last night and assumed everyone was in bed, so she didn't notice Will was gone until this morning. I guess we all just assumed he was asleep, I was out late at Carrie's getting everything ready for our next Film Club meeting, and Jonathan last minute covered a shift at work for some extra cash, so nobody was home."

"Do the cops have any other leads?" Landon asked.

Michelle shook her head. "None." she said. "They found his bike out here earlier today, he must've left it behind. All I know is, he loves that bike, and he wouldn't have left it if he had any other choice. So why did he leave it?"

A silence settled amongst the four teens as they began to process Michelle's question, the only evident sounds that of others calling Will's name and branches snapping under their feet. Anna moved her flashlight around through the trees, searching for any sign of the sweet, quiet boy who played Will the Wise in all the campaigns she used to DM for the boys, but he was nowhere to be found.

"Will!" Anna called out, praying desperately that he would respond, but the trees stayed silent, still feeling as if they were staring at her.

"Will Byers!" Landon shouted. "Come on out, man!"

The group trekked along, calling out his name as they grew further and further from the town of Hawkins. As they continued to walk, a sprinkle began to trickle through the trees, drops first falling slowly on the search party before it turned into a downpour.

"Does anybody have an umbrella?" Becca asked, but the others simply shook their heads, Anna pulling the hood of her sweatshirt up to cover her head. "I left mine in the car."

As the rain continued to pour harder, the teenagers continued to look, though as the rain thickened, the visibility lessened, making it more and more difficult to see in front of them. Anna nearly tripped over a fallen log that had been nearly invisible in front of her, reaching out and grabbing hold of Landon's arm to steady herself before falling face-first on the forest floor. Wherever Will was, or even where her brother and his friends had been searching that night, she hoped the kids were safe.

"We should get back," Michelle called to them over the sound of the rain.

"Are you sure?" Anna asked.

Michelle nodded. "We aren't going to find Will in this weather. Hopefully he found shelter somewhere, and he's staying warm." she looked down at the watch adorning her wrist. "But if I'm not back home in the next thirty minutes, my mom's going to be seriously worried, and I can't say I blame her."

"I can't blame her either," Anna admitted. "But you're right. Let's head back."

As Becca and Landon nodded in agreement, the four teenagers turned away from the search party, instead following the tracks left behind by the group to find their way back to the main roads, not far from the Byers house. They emerged from the woods back at the lineup of parked cars, and Michelle looked back at them, a grateful smile on the girl's face as she shivered from the cold November rain.

"Be safe," she said to the three of them, and they nodded in return. "Thank you so much for coming out to help look for Will tonight. I can't tell you how much I appreciate it."

"Of course," Becca said. "Let us know if there's any updates?"

"I will," Michelle agreed. "Goodnight, guys."