"Hey," Anna said, knocking lightly on Dustin's door, which lay open just enough to reveal where the young boy still lay tightly tucked into bed, though by the looks of him, he hadn't slept much aside from where he'd fallen asleep on her on the couch the night before. "I'm about to head to school, but is there anything I can pick up for you on my way home? Pizza, a movie, some new trading cards, anything?"

Dustin shook his head, hugging his pillow a little tighter. "That's okay," he said. "Thanks."

Anna stepped hesitantly into the room, kneeling down by her brother's bedside and pressing a quick kiss to the top of his head. "Get some rest today, okay? I'll see you later."

Dustin nodded as she bid him goodbye, shutting the door behind her and grabbing her backpack. Though, from the second she set foot in the door of Hawkins High School, the atmosphere was gloomily abuzz with people gossiping about the body of the twelve year old boy found in Sattler's Quarry the night before. As she'd expected, Jonathan and Michelle were nowhere to be found that morning, likely at home with their mother Joyce, but everywhere Anna looked, the only name tumbling out of the mouths of her classmates was that of Will Byers.

"I heard he was pushed."

"Somebody said his body was so mangled they couldn't even tell it was him."

"Poor kid probably got lost and fell right off the edge."

"How's Dustin taking it?" Landon had asked as Anna shoved her backpack into her locker, the blonde boy standing next to Becca as both of them watched her with concerned expressions.

"About as well as you'd expect." Anna said with a slight shrug. "I've never seen him like that. The boys were riding their bikes last night when the emergency vehicles went out, and they followed the sound of the sirens. They watched the cops pull him out of the water, can you imagine?" She quickly shut her locker as tears pricked at the corners of her vision. "God, I just wish Dustin would have been anywhere else last night. He was an absolute wreck when he came home. Mom and I tried to calm him down, but what do you say to a kid who witnessed his best friend like that?"

"Poor kid," Becca said, shaking her head and nervously running a hand through her hair. "All of them, Dustin, Mike, Lucas. And Will, he was such a smart kid, how'd he get lost in the woods like that?"

"I don't know," Anna said, the bell overhead cutting them off with the reminder that they were running out of time to get to their first class of the day.

Even during the class periods, Will's name floated around the room, both from gossiping students as well as teachers offering support to anyone who may be affected, and giving a reminder that the social worker Ms. Kelley's office was always open to anyone in need. Anna had grown used to hearing these words at the beginning of each class, although she hadn't been quite prepared for those that followed at the beginning of her third period algebra class, once Mr. Mundy had finished going over the same introductory subject matter Mr. Kaminsky and Mr. Sanderson had both gone over during the past two class periods.

"Anna Henderson?" a voice rang out, and Anna's attention was quickly pulled to where Principal Murphy stood in the doorway, watching her expectantly. "If you'll come with me, please?"

Anna suddenly seemed to shrink in her seat as everyone's heads turned in her direction, each pair of eyes in the room trained intently on her, though for the life of her, she couldn't figure out what the principal wanted. She shared a quick look with Becca and Landon, who both narrowed their eyebrows at her in confusion, but she simply shrugged in response as she gathered her things, carrying them with her as she rose from her desk, following the principal out of the room.

"Can I ask what this is about?" Anna asked, hurrying to keep up with Principal Murphy, but the woman continued to walk quickly through the halls, her high heels clicking against the linoleum floor with each step.

"There are a couple of officers here today from the Hawkins Police Department who would like to speak with a few of you." Principal Murphy said simply, causing a nervous knot to form in the pit of Anna's stomach as her eyebrows pinched together in confusion.

"Is this about Will Byers?" she asked as the two women rounded the corner into the cafeteria, where two officers came into view at one of the lunch tables, with a lone figure sitting across from them: Anna's mother.

"Go on, Miss Henderson." Principal Murphy gave her an encouraging smile, nodding in the direction where Claudia sat with the two officers, and Anna slowly stepped forward, suddenly cautious of her every move as the three of them watched her intently.

"Miss Henderson, please have a seat." one of the officers, whose name tag read Powell, said, gesturing for the open seat next to Claudia, and Anna slowly sat down, looking over at her mother with a confused glance.

"Hi," she said. "I'm sorry, what is this about?"

"Over at Hawkins PD we're currently investigating a case about a missing persons, a classmate of yours named Barbara Holland." Officer Powell explained, causing Anna's eyes to widen in response. "According to a report we were given with Miss Holland's information, you were part of a group that was at a house party with her the night she went missing, and are one of the last to have seen her."

"House party?" Claudia asked softly as Anna attempted to digest the words as best as she could, though they tasted bitter on her tongue as she began to process them.

Anna's brain was soon flooded by the mental images of Nancy searching all over the school for Barbara the day before, asking everyone she came in contact with if they'd seen her at all that day, or even since that night for anyone who had been in attendance at the Harrington house. A lump formed in her throat at the sickening realization that what she'd merely brushed off as Barb just being tired or mad at Nancy about the party was, in reality, much much worse.

"Miss Henderson?" Powell spoke up again, pulling Anna out of her thoughts as he waited for her response, the three of them all watching her expectantly.

"That's right," Anna said, nodding as Claudia's face fell.

"Can you tell us what happened the night of the party?" Powell asked, and Anna nodded again.

"It wasn't a big party or anything, just Becca and Steve having some friends over while Mr. and Mrs. Harrington were out of town." Anna explained. "We were just hanging out by the pool, and at one point Barb accidentally cut her hand. She went inside to clean it, and the rest of us went for a swim. I didn't see her after that, Becca and I got out of the pool and went upstairs to do our homework before she came back out of the bathroom."

Anna forced herself to look at Officers Powell and Callahan while she spoke, not allowing her gaze to move to where her mother watched her with a disappointed expression. It killed her to break her mother's heart as she learned the truth about the other night at the Harringtons', but whatever she could say to help the police find Barbara, she knew it was the most important thing.

"How'd she cut her hand?" Officer Callahan asked, and Anna was silent for a moment, taking a deep breath before giving the answer that would only twist the knife further between her and her mother.

"Some people in the group were shotgunning beers." Anna explained, a small gasp audible from where Claudia sat. "When Barb tried it, the knife they were using slipped and it sliced her hand open."

"Were these parties normal for Barbara?" Powell asked, but Anna simply shrugged.

"I don't really know her all that well." Anna admitted. "She just tagged along with Nancy. But no, I don't think so. She didn't look like she wanted to be there, like it was her normal scene. You could tell she just wanted to go home, so when we didn't see her after we went upstairs to change and do homework, I assumed she left."

"But you know the two who threw this party?" Callahan asked. "Steve and Rebecca Harrington?"

Anna nodded. "Becca's been my best friend since I first moved here in seventh grade. I wouldn't say Steve and I are good friends, but he's usually around whenever I go over to their house."

"So you spend a lot of time over at the Harringtons'?" Powell asked, and Anna nodded.

"Yeah, I'd say so." she said.

"Have you ever seen anything out of the ordinary while you're there?" Powell asked. "A bear, or any other type of large animal? According to Nancy Wheeler, she's under the impression a large animal may have attacked Barbara that night."

"No," Anna said, shaking her head. "We've camped out in the woods behind their house a few times before, but I've never seen anything like that. Rabbits, squirrels, the occasional possum or raccoon maybe, but no bears."

"Alright," Powell said, jotting some notes down onto a pad in front of him before flipping it shut. "Thank you for your time, Miss Henderson. Mrs. Henderson, thank you for coming out to join us. If we have any other questions, we'll be in contact, but for now, you're free to go back to class."

"Thank you, officers," Claudia said as she rose from her seat, Anna slowly following suit, and she turned to retreat from the cafeteria, her eyes glued to the floor as she exited into the empty hallway, her mother hot on her heels. "Anna, are we going to talk about this?" she asked as soon as they rounded the corner, Callahan and Powell now shielded from view and out of earsight.

"Mom, I should really be getting back to class," Anna said, but Claudia stood firm, crossing her arms over her chest as Anna finally slowed to a stop, looking up at her mother.

"You lied to me about the other night, Anna." her voice was firm, nearly shaking with anger. "And I had to find out about it by getting a call from the police that my daughter was in the same place as a girl who's gone missing?"

"I didn't lie, I just..." Anna trailed off, thinking for a moment. "I didn't tell the entire truth, and I'm sorry about that. Yes, Steve and Becca had others over that wasn't just me going to study for a test. But we stayed at their house the entire time, I spent the night, and that's all that happened. I swear, we didn't know what was going to happen with Barb, and I don't know where she is."

"After all this time we've spent worrying about Dusty with everything happening with Will, and now a second girl going missing, I don't want to have to worry about you, too." Claudia insisted. "If something's seriously going wrong in Hawkins right now, I can't take losing either of you two."

"Mom, I'm sorry." Anna insisted. "I truly didn't think it'd be a big deal, or that it'd end up like this. I didn't know Barb was missing, and I told the police all that I know about it. I never meant to make you worry like this, I promise."

Anna willed her voice to keep steady as she spoke, but she could feel her hands shaking slightly as the weight of her conversation with the police officers continued to sink in. That Barb going missing so soon after Will could mean the two disappearances were most likely connected, and that, if it were the case, maybe it was no accident that left Will in Sattler's Quarry the night before.

Except maybe, just maybe, if Anna and Becca hadn't been playing their music so loudly the night before last, maybe they would have heard if Barbara had tried to scream for help.

"I'm sorry," she said again, though her voice came out as hardly more than a whisper as tears began to streak down her cheeks. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I never meant for you to worry, it was just supposed to be some stupid night for us to have fun while Becca's aunt and uncle were out of town."

Claudia nodded, reaching up to wipe the tears away from her daughter's eyes at the realization of how shaken she appeared following their conversation with the officers. "We'll talk about this more when you get home, alright?" Claudia asked, and Anna simply nodded in return. "You and Dusty are safe right now, and that's all that matters to me. They'll find Barbara, we just need to trust the policemen, right Annie?"

"Right," Anna said as her mother pulled her into her arms in a tight hug, which she reciprocated.

"For now, you should get back to class." she said. "You don't want to miss any more of your lesson, and I should get back to Dusty in case he needs anything."

"Yeah," Anna said, nodding and wiping away any remaining tears, "You're right."