Night was starting to fall and everyone was hitting the streets early to get the best candy in town.  Will and his friends were getting ready to hit the town for Halloween.  Joyce had Jonathan on watch duty for Will.  Just to make sure he will be ok and no episodes tonight.  She hopes.  

Bob joined to help Joyce with trick or treaters, plus he hoped he could turn it into a date night since Joyce will have the house to herself.  Just the two of them.  But, first, he wanted to make sure Jonathan could capture memories of tonight with more than a camera.  So, he introduced Jonathan to a camcorder and teaches him how to use it.  

Dressed in his Dracula costume, Bob watches Jonathan handles his camcorder and shows him how it works. 

"So you hit 'T' to zoom in, and 'W' zooms back out." He gives Jonathan instructions and smiles when he gets the hang of it, "See? Easy-peasy." He says and watches Jonathan remove it from his shoulder and checks it out, "Just make sure to turn off the power to save energy there." He reminds him.

While Bob was giving Jonathan tips about the camcorder, Joyce was helping Will with his costume and his 'proton pack' while making sure he knew the rules for his safety.

"Listen. Stay close to your brother, okay?" She asks, watching him nod, but she wants to make sure he was listening.  She grips his shoulders to gain his full attention, "And listen, listen, listen...If you get a bad feeling or anything, you tell him to take you straight home. You promise?" She asks. 

Will nods, "Okay."

Jonathan holds the camcorder as he and Bob walks up to them, "Are you ready, bud?"

Will smiles big, excited to finally go trick or treating, "Yeah."

Together, Joyce and Bob watch the boys head to the car.

"Be safe." Joyce smiles and waves at her boys while Bob places his fake fangs in his mouth.

"I hope it doesn't suck!" He says, imitating Dracula's accent and snickers at the joke he made.  Joyce giggles, but Jonathan and Will both grimace, still chuckling at how awful that joke was. 

While on the road, Jonathan couldn't help but think about his mom and Bob being together.  It confused him in a way. 

"I just don't get what she sees in him." He sighs out.

Will frowns, "What?" 

Jonathan nods behind them, "Bob."

Will sighs, "At least he doesn't treat me different. I mean, I can't even go trick-or-treating by myself. It's lame." He scoffs.

Jonathan scoffs back at him, "What? You think I'm lame?"

Will laughs, "No, but it's not like Nancy's coming to watch over Mike, you know?" He shrugs.

Jonathan sighs, he had a point.  He knew how tough it has been on him because of the episodes.  Maybe...Will deserves to have a night to himself.  

Once he pulls up to Mike's house, Mike, Lucas, and Dustin were all there to greet him.  They wave over at them.

"Will! Hey!" Dustin calls out as Jonathan honks his horn at them. 

"Hey, don't cross the streams. Don't cross the streams!" Dustin was chortling with his friends.

Will sighs and gathers his stuff to meet with his friends to hit the streets with Jonathan, but Jonathan stops him. 

"Hey, listen."

"Yeah?" Will looks up.

"If I let you go on your own, you promise to stay in the neighborhood?"

Will's eyes light up in happiness as he nods rapidly, "Yeah! Yeah, yeah, totally."

"And be back at Mike's by 9:00." Jonathan states. 

"9:30?" Will gives him a small sly grin.

"9:00." Jonathan says as he chuckles. 

Will nods and grabs his proton pack, "Yeah."

"Deal?" Jonathan holds his hand out to shake on it. 

"Yeah, deal." Will shakes his hand and nods. 

"All right." Jonathan says as he lets Will go, but stops him again as he reaches for Bob's camcorder, "Hey, Will. Don't let any of your spazzy friends use this, all right?" Jonathan states. 

Will takes it and holds on to it, "Okay."

Jonathan leans out, "I hope it doesn't suck." He mimics Bob's Dracula accent, making Will chuckle and shut the door. 

Jonathan sighs and watches Will rush to his friends, hearing them chatter excitedly. 

"Will!"

"Egon!"

"Yeah! You ready for tonight, man?"

"Awesome!"

Jonathan sighs as he reaches into his coat pocket for the flyer Nancy gave him.  The party.  Maybe he did need a night to be normal for once.  Mainly, maybe see Nancy again.  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Speaking of the party, it was already overruled by teenagers.  Drinking, smoking, destroying the house that wasn't theirs.  Several teens were TPing the trees and bushes as cars filled up in the driveway and grass.  Hard rock blared over speakers as teenagers held Billy upside down over a beer keg as he downs gulp after gulp of beer.  Teens counted down how many gulps he takes.

"...thirty-eight, thirty-nine, forty, forty-one, forty-two!" 

Billy finally couldn't handle anymore and shoves himself back to his feet, spraying the beer all around from his lips as they cheered for him. 

"Yeah!"

"Forty-two! We got ourselves a new Keg King!" A cobra kai teen cheers with the crowd as they chant Billy's name over and over.  

A teen gives Billy a cigarette as Billy fist pumps the crowd, "That's how you do it, Hawkins!" He shouts as he stands before the crowd, passing by several cheering teens as he's dressed in his modern costume.  Jeans, black boots, and nothing but a black leather jacket.  Beer trailed down his muscled chest and abs.  

"Billy! Billy! Billy!"

Billy heads inside as everyone was dancing in the living room, crowding the whole house left and right.  He walks over the furniture as he spies Steve Harrington.  He has heard from several classmates about Harrington's reputation.  How he was one of the most populate classmates in the school.  Loved by many.  He eyes Harrington as his next target.  Seeing this could be an interesting competition.  

"We got ourselves a new Keg King, Harrington." The Cobra Kai teen gloats as he throws his arm over Billy's shoulder with a grin. 

"Yeah, that's right!"

"Yeah. Eat it, Harrington." 

Steve scoffs as he snatches his sunglasses off, eyeing Billy in a stand-off stare.  He didn't even notice Nancy walking away.  

She didn't want to deal with the battle of testosterone.  She just wanted to forget everything that's going on in her life.  All this bullshit.  She heads for the kitchen, passing by several teenagers who were making out and sees a toga teen chugging the punch that had an overpowering alcohol scent with bubbles topping it.  

She frowns as she eyes it and looks at the teen, "What's in this?"

The teen stops chugging, "Pure fuel! Pure fuel! Whoo!" He yells and cheers as he pounds on his chest to get out a loud burp.  

Nancy sighs and gets herself a cup, scooping some 'pure fuel' and tries some.  She grimaces at the burning taste, but pushes through it.  It was just what she needed.  She scoops some more but Steve paces towards her, stopping her from getting more. 

"Hey... Whoa, whoa! Hey... Whoa, whoa, whoa! Take it easy. Take it easy. Nance, Nance, Nance..."

She swallows the punch and frowns at him in confusion, "We're just being stupid teenagers for the night. Wasn't that the deal?" She scoffs and gets some more, chugging down the liquid and wiping away the drips.  She walks away to join her friends, but Steve was a little concerned.  He needs to keep an eye on her.  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, while the kids have gone off to play, it's time for the grownups to have some fun.  Bob smiles as he turns on the record player and gently places the needle down at the right spot.  'Islands in the Stream' begins to play over the player.  

"Yeah." He chuckles and turns towards Joyce, who sends him a smile from where she sat.  She chuckles when he reaches to get her to her feet. 

Protesting, but laughing, Joyce shakes her head, waving him off, "No. No, no."

"Come on. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Come on." He grins as he gets her to her feet.

"No. No. No." Joyce laughs.

"Oh, there it is." Bob chuckles as he pulls her close to dance with her in the middle of her living room.  But he frowns when she felt so stiffed, "You playing Frankenstein to my Dracula?" He teases. "Come on, you're stiff as a board. Relax."

Joyce chuckles and sighs, "I'm sorry. It's..." 

Realizing she means Will, he nods in understanding, "He's fine. Okay? Jonathan's with him."

Sighing heavily, "I know.  It's just every time he's away from me, it's like I can't function. I know it sounds silly." She shakes her head, feeling almost stupid for saying that.  

"No, it's not silly. It's not silly." Bob shakes his head, waving it off.  He sighs softly, "What if we were to move out of Hawkins...together?" He suggests.

Joyce looks up at him in surprise, "What?"

"I know. Whoa, Nellie, right? No, I just...I've been thinking about what you said. About how we've got all these memories here, and you wish you had enough money to move. Well, my parents are selling their house in Maine. There's a RadioShack nearby. I'm sure they'd take me on. We could just...My turn to be silly now." He sighs, almost regretting what he said. 

Joyce sighs softly, "Bob..." She wasn't sure what to say to him.  Sure, she has thought of it before.  But...

"No, it's fine. Wine makes me crazy." Bob waves it off, chuckling softly. 

Joyce wanted to tell him so badly about the secrets she carry.  About Will.  About Hawkins.  But she couldn't.  

"Oh, it's just so hard to explain. It's just this...This is not a normal family." She says. 

"It could be. It could be." Bob says as he pulls her closer, feeling her bury her face against his shoulder as she holds on to him.  

Joyce sighs as the music continues to play.  She could barely focus as he held her.  To move away from Hawkins, start over in a new town.  That was what she wanted. To start fresh, away from the lab and the horrors it carried.  But...she wasn't sure how she felt about Bob.  She loved him.  Yes, she does.  But is he the one she wants to be with?  She wasn't sure. 

♪ Everything is nothing, If you got no one ♪ ♪ And you just walk in the night ♪ -♪ Slowly losing sight of the real thing ♪

Suddenly, the doorbell rings and knocks are being made at the door.  Trick or treaters have finally arrived.  Bob grins as he moves to get his fangs. 

"Finally. Huh?" He smiles, showing off his fake teeth, and moves creepily towards the door, "Victims." He imitates Dracula's accent again. 

Joyce chuckles and sighs as she watches him give out candy.  She needed time to think about the decision of moving or not.  But she needs to make sure Will is well enough to move first.  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Knocking and doorbells ringing filled the streets that were loaded with trick or treaters.  Including, Mike, Lucas, Dustin, and Will.  They headed off to another house and Will holds the camera up to record everything they do.  A middle aged woman answers the door with a bowl full of candy bars. She gasps in awe at their costumes.  

"Trick or treat!" They say in unison. 

The woman chuckles in adoration, "Oh! Well, aren't you cute? The little exterminators."

All of them frown at her, but they get the candy anyway.  That was more important that correcting another senior citizen.  

As they walk towards the streets, Lucas sighs in disappointment as he sees another 3 Musketeers candy bar.  He was tired of getting the same candy bar over and over again.

"If I get another 3 Musketeers, I'm gonna kill myself." He grumbles. 

Dustin frowns at him, "What's wrong with 3 Musketeers?" He scoffs. 

"'What's wrong with 3 Musketeers?' No one likes 3 Musketeers." Lucas states.

"Yeah, it's just nougat." Mike agrees, shrugging. 

Dustin scoffs and holds his hands up in disbelief, "Whoa. 'Just nougat'? Just nougat? It is top three for me." He couldn't believe his ears when his friends said that. 

"Top three?" Lucas scoffs at him. 

"Top three!"

"Oh, God. Give me a break."

"Seriously, I can just eat a whole bowl of nougat. Straight up." Dustin says. 

"GRRRRRRRRRR!"

The boys scream as a figure dressed as Michael Myers jump in their way, waving around a large kitchen knife.  Scaring them half to death. Lucas was so terrified, he squeals in a high-pitched voice.  

The figure burst into fits of laughter and takes off the mask, it was Mad Max.  She giggles and looks at them in shock.

"Holy shit! You should have seen the look on your faces." She laughs hard and scoffs at Lucas, "And you? Who screams like that? You sound like a little girl." She turns to head off to go to another house, but turns and watches the boys' confused look. "Hey, you guys coming or not? Oh, I heard we should hit up Loch Nora. That's where the rich people live, right?" She laughs and goes off. 

Dustin and Lucas chuckle and rush to catch up with her, "Yeah!" They shout in glee and Will rushes to join them.  

But Mike sighs in disappointment.  He couldn't believe they were letting a girl into the party against his wishes.  They didn't need anyone else.  Eleven was the only girl welcomed in their party.  Not Max.  

Grumbling, Mike had no choice but to follow his friends with Max.  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hopper grunts as he kneels down to place the last marking flag into the ground.  He sighs, seeing his breath fog over his lips as he looks at how far it goes.  It looked like it goes further than the flags he had.  He needed to head back to the station first light and find the source of the rot.  

"Hey, Unc, come back."  Jace's voice erupts from his COMM. 

Hopper sighs and gets his COMM, "I read you, Jace. Over." 

"I tracked the rot all the way to the train tracks.  But, it looks like there's more of it on the other side.  I ran out of flags.  What should we do next? Over."  Jace asks. 

Hopper looks around as he heads back towards the farm.  The rotten crops were now covered with a thick fog, "Mark your coordinates and make sure Powell and Callahan do the same before they call it a night.  We need to track the source.  Let's regroup in the morning. Over." 

"Got it, Unc.  I'll see you in the morning.  Over and out." Jace says as he cuts the call. 

Hopper was heading towards his truck, but skids to a halt when he senses he wasn't alone.  He turns and shines his light through the crops.  He clicks his holster to get his gun.  He grips it tight as he gets ready...

He turns fast, gun ready to be drawn, but he sighs in relieve when it was just Eugene's grandson who was dressed up like a cowboy.  Shoot his toy gun at Hopper, which made loud gunshot sounds. 

"You're dead." The kid grins. 

Rolling his eyes, Hopper grumbles at this Halloween Holiday, "Yeah, you got me, kid." The kid continues to fire the toy gun, "Happy Halloween." He says, but his eyes widen in realization that he was late.  He checks his watch and sighs in frustration.  "Oh, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit." He rushes to his truck and drives off.  But he stops when he remembers noticing the kids plastic pumpkin.  He promised Eleven and Five candy.  He puts the truck in reverse and speeds backwards to talk to the kid. 

Groaning in frustration, he quickly rolls his window down, "Hey, kid. Give me some of that candy, would you?" He asks.

"No way." The kid shakes his head strongly.

Hopper reaches into his wallet and pulls out five bucks.  He holds it up for the kid to see, "All right. How about now?"

At the cabin, Fiona and Eleven were snuggled on the couch, eating popcorn as they watched Frankenstein on the tv.  

"Who are you? I'm Maria. Will you play with me? Would you like one of my flowers?"

Fiona watches the little girl talk to the Frankenstein monster.  Showing him the gentle side of the world.  He takes her flower and her hand as they walk off together.  Eleven munches on popcorn as Fiona was glued to the TV.  But in the back of her mind, she couldn't help but think that the book was better than the movie. 

Both girls gasps in surprise when beeping is made from the police HAM radio.  Eleven and Fiona perk up when they realize it was a message.  They scramble to their feet as they rush toward the radio, listening to the beeping.  Morse code.  Hopper taught them that code.  Eleven looks up at the paper that was pinned to the wall.  It was the alphabet with the code.  Letting them know what was being spelled.  

"L...A...T...E." Eleven spells as she listens, pointing at the letters.

Fiona sighs in disappointment, but she wasn't surprised, "Late."

Eleven drops her hand in disappointment. In fact, she was more disappointed in Hopper than Fiona was.  She hated it when people did not keep their promises.  

Fiona sighs and slumps back on the couch.  She knew how much Eleven was counting on tonight.  To go trick or treating, be normal for once, and get candy like any kid gets on this night. Since they can't leave the cabin, they should, at least get candy.  But she knew she wanted to see Mike.  Even though she denies it.  But tonight, it was about Hopper.  He was their only parental figure they had right now.  Now that Papa was gone, he was all they had.  And yet, he continues to give them disappointments.  

But, Fiona thinks back to when they were still out there in the woods.  All alone in the night as the snow lightly fell from the sky.  Eleven managed to hunt for food.  Rounding up several squirrels.  The two of them carried them over their shoulders as they roam to find a spot to cook.  Both of them were tired, dirty, and so cold and hungry.  

But, soon, Eleven spies a wooden box.  Fiona and Eleven both remembered seeing a box like this.  It was always filled with supplies they could use.  That's how Fiona and Eleven found the coats before running into those hunters.  

Hoping for something they could both use, Eleven and Fiona walk towards the box.  Brushing the snow off of it, Fiona opens it for them.  

Both of them gasp at the sight.  Their eyes widen in shock as they see food.  Eleven was more focused on the Eggos.  Fiona could smell sweets coming from the green Tupperware.  But who left it?  Someone left it here. They grabbed the food and rush away before anyone could find them.  But...Fiona looks back, wondering who could it have been.  She needed to know.  Maybe it was Jace.  Mike.  Someone they knew.  

Fiona snaps out of her thoughts as Eleven clicks the radio off in anger and turns to the TV.  She glares at it, using her energy to move the TV from the living room to her bedroom. 

"Woah, woah, sister!" Fiona protests, but Eleven was upset.  

Eleven sets the TV down and waves her arm to use her powers to slam her door shut. 

Fiona sighs and rubs her face.  She knew Hopper was in big trouble when he gets home.  She turns and sits on the couch and continues to eat her popcorn.  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Music blared from the streets as Mike and his friends continue to trick or treat.  But it seems that he was the only one who wasn't having fun.  He watches as he follows Lucas, Max, and Dustin as they chattered back and forth after they left another house.  

♪ He did the mash ♪♪ He did the monster mash ♪♪ The monster mash ♪♪ It was a graveyard smash ♪♪ He did the mash... ♪

"Another full-size. Like, seriously, rich people are such suckers." Dustin grins, but stops when he feels that he stepped over the line with Max, "Wait. You're not rich, right?" He asks quickly.

"No, I live up Old Cherry Road."

"Oh."

Max waves it off, "No, it's fine. I mean, the street's good for skating."

"Hmm. Yeah, totally tubular. What? Did I say that right? Or is it, like, tubular." Dustin chuckles as he tries to speak the California slang. 

"It's, like, totally tubular." Lucas imitates a surfer's voice. 

"Totally tubular!" Dustin tries again. 

"What a gnarly wave, dude." Lucas says, doing the Hawaiian hand gesture, 'shaka, brah!'. 

"Totally brodacious, bro!" Dustin chuckles.

Max couldn't stop giggling at them both as they continue to try and be cool in front of her, "Stop. My ears are hurting."

Lucas and Dustin continue to try and impress her. Make her laugh. Will was recording the whole thing.

"Did you agree to this?" Mike scoffs. 

Will turns to face the camera at Mike, "What?" He asks. 

Mike nods at Max and the others, "To her joining our party." He continues to frown.   

Will lowers the camera and shrugs, "It's just for Halloween."

Furious that they didn't even talk to him about letting her join the party, he glares at Dustin and Lucas' back, "You should have checked with me." He says and looks to glare at Will. 

"Well, they were excited. I guess I thought you'd be okay with it." Will couldn't see anything wrong with someone joining their group.  

"She's ruining the best night of the year." Mike grumbles and stomps off to follow Lucas and Dustin to another house with Max. 

Will sighs, he didn't want Mike to be in such a mood, not tonight.  For once, he wanted a night off from being watched to be with his friends and have fun.  He walks to follow Mike, but jumps when a teenage boy dressed like a werewolf gets in his way, making animalistic growls.  

"Watch it, Zombie Boy." 

Will gasps in surprise and moves to follow his friends, but jumps again as another teenager dressed as Jason Voorhees pop up to scare him more.  

"Trick or treat, freak."

Another dressed as a clown jumps in his face, "Boo!"

Will gasps and falls backwards on to the ground, hearing the camera clatter on the pavement.  But when he opens his eyes, they widen in terror as he sees he was back in Upside Down again.  The cold, eerily setting sends goosebumps up his back to his neck again as he slowly gets to his feet.  Again, he was alone in the dark.  Seeing the neighborhood covered with dark vines.  The houses in ruins.  The ash floating in the air.  He could hear the familiar faint rumbling around him.  

Panting in terror, Will scouts around him, "Mike? Mike? Mike!" He calls out, his voice echoing around him.  He hopes and prays that Mike can hear him and help him wake up from this nightmare he was stuck in once again.  

But, instead of hearing Mike, he jumps as he hears chittering all around him.  Surrounding him like he was prey. 

Will gasps as the rumbling grows louder and from the distance, he sees a gigantic shadow rising from the darkness.  It forms into the monster and begins to growl at him.  Breathing heavily in panic, Will runs for his life, hearing the monster stalk him.  He rushes towards the nearest house and runs down the steps to the back of the house.  He ducks behind the brick staircase and pulls his knees up to his chest. Hugging himself as he closes his eyes.  He whimpers in terror as he feels the monster getting closer...and closer...and closer...

"Will!"

Will screams as he feels a hand grab his shoulder.  He snaps his eyes open to see Mike kneeling next to him with worry. 

"Will, what's wrong?" Mike asks.

Will looks all around with wide eyes.  As if the monster was hiding in the corners, waiting to strike at him at last.  Breathing heavily, Will looks at Mike with terror in his eyes.  Pure terror.  Mike has never seen Will so terrified before. 

"I couldn't find you. Are you hurt?" Mike asks carefully. 

Soon, they hear footsteps running towards them and sees Lucas, Dustin, and Max hovering around them in concern.  

"Holy shit!" Dustin exclaims. 

"Is he okay?" Lucas asks. 

"I don't know." Mike shakes his head and turns to give Will attention, "I'm gonna get you home, okay? I'm gonna get you home. Hold on." Mike helps Will to his feet and helps him walk. He could feel Will's entire body tremble.  

"All right, take it easy. I got him." Mike says as he waves his friends off as they watch the two of them walk away.  They were both really scared for their friend.  Worried what could be going on with him. 

"Mike?"

"Keep trick-or-treating. I'm bored anyways." Mike says and walks Will home.  

Max was confused about the whole thing, why did their friend freak out like that?  She had so many questions.  

"What's wrong with him?"

Lucas and Dustin didn't know how to answer her. Even they didn't even know what was wrong with Will.  

*It's so hard to find the right pictures for the scenes.  I can't find anything to match the scenes, it sucks.  Hope everyone is doing great and hope you're enjoying my book. Trying so hard to update as much as possible.  I'm in the process of redecorating and my plans to pick out furniture got screwed with, but i'm improvising right now so it's all good.  Just want to get this done with before my next semester starts next week.  Will work on Hemlock Chronicle's next chapter soon.  lots of love! ~Song~*