Barb parked the car on the side of the road and turned to look at Nancy. Barb asked, "What are we doing here? His house is three blocks away."
Nancy said, "We can't park in the driveway."
Barb asked, "Are you serious?"
Nancy said, "Yeah the neighbors might see us."
Barb said, "This is so stupid. I'm just gonna drop you off. I don't want to hang out with them anyway."
Nancy said, "Come on, Barb. I said that I would take the blame already. Plus, you said you would go. We're gonna have a good time."
Barb said convincingly, "He just wants to get in your pants."
Nancy laughed and said, "No, he doesn't. He just wants to hang out."
Barb said, "Nance... seriously. He invited you to his house. His parents aren't home. You're usually not this dumb.
Nancy said, "Tommy H. and Carol are gonna be there."
Barb said, "Tommy and Carol have been having sex since, like, seventh grade. It'll probably be a big orgy."
Nancy said, "Gross."
Barb said, "I'm serious. Plus, don't you like John more?"
Nancy said, "I do, but he is with April. You can keep an eye on me and make sure I don't do anything stupid. All right?"
Barb sighed, then she noticed something. Barb asked, "Is that a new bra?"
Nancy said unconvincingly, "No." Barb went silent and watched as Nancy got out of the car. Barb sighed before she got out as well, she knew she couldn't let Nance go by herself. She would definitely do something she would regret. Barb got out of her car and locked the doors before she jogged to catch up to Nancy.
They walked on the side of the road for about a mile before they arrived at Steve's house. They walked up to the front door and rang the doorbell. They could hear rock music blaring from inside the house. Nancy said, "Barb, chill out."
Barb said, "I'm chill." Steve opened the door and his brow furrowed when he saw Barb, but he acted normal and said, "Hello ladies." Steve led them into the house and they started to have fun.
Meanwhile, Hopper just had some "fun" with Sandra and was laying in bed. Hopper moved her arm off of him before he climbed out of bed and put his pants on. He walked out of his trailer and leaned against the rail of his deck. Then he lit a cigarette and took a long drag, filling his lungs before he blew the smoke out slowly.
Sandra had gotten out of bed when she noticed that Hopper was missing and put on her shirt before she walked out of the trailer as well. Sandra asked, "What are you doing? It's freezing."
Hopper turned to her and grabbed her hands before he asked somberly, "Do you ever feel cursed?" Sandra stayed quiet.
Hopper said, "You know, the last person to go missing here was in, uh... the summer of '23. The last suicide was in the fall of '61."
Sandra joked, "When'd the last person freeze to death?" Hopper didn't laugh at all and he was clearly not in the mood for jokes.
Sandra said, "Hey, come back inside. Warm me up, just..."
Hopper said, "Just give me a minute out here." Sandra sighed before she walked into the trailer hurriedly. Hopper stood on the porch as he listened to the animals making noise all around him.
John said, "Eleven shouldn't overuse her powers, the strain may be too much, and she may take permanent damage. You should use them with caution, El." Eleven nodded her head as she looked over at John.
El suddenly though of something and sat down at the table where the D&D game board was on. Lucas asked, "What's the weirdo doing?"
John smacked Lucas in the head lightly and said, "Stop calling her names." Lucas nodded as he held his head.
Lucas said, "You didn't have to hit so hard."
John said, "Sorry about that." John and Lucas joined Mike and Dustin who were standing behind Eleven. Eleven had her eyes closed and she had her hands pressed against the table.
Mike walked to her side and said, "El?"
Eleven ignored him and seconds later opened her eyes before she grabbed the wizard figure on the board. She raised it to eye level and said, "Will."
Dustin said, "Superpowers, cool." Lucas looked at Dustin and shook his head slightly.
Mike sat down at the table and asked, "Did you see him? On Mirkwood? Do you know where he is?" Eleven looked at Mike before she cleared the board, knocking all the figures onto the floor. Then she flipped the board upside down and put the figure of the wizard down on the black side of the board.
Mike said, "I don't understand."
Eleven said, "Hiding."
Mike asked, "Will is hiding?" Eleven nodded her head.
Mike questioned, "From the bad men?" Eleven shook her head.
Mike asked, "Then from who?" Eleven picked up the figure of the Demogorgon from the ground and placed it on the black board next to Will.
John asked, "He's hiding from some kind of monster?"
Eleven nodded and said, "Scary." John looked over at the boys and saw that they were each looking at each other. Dustin sighed heavily.
John said, "I'm gonna head out. Make sure you come to me, if you're going to do something stupid or you need help." John then walked up the stairs out of the basement and walked through the house. Then he walked out the front door and walked over to his house before he walked inside and went into his secret room to train.
Joanathan had just arrived back in Hawkins and decided to check out the place where Will had gone missing and take some pictures to try and find some clues. Jonathan arrived at Mirkwood and parked on the side of the road, if you looked carefully down the road you would see Barb's car parked on the side of the road as well.
Jonathan turned off his lights and car before he got out of his car and locked the doors. Jonathan walked to the backside of his car and opened the trunk, then he grabbed his camera and bag. Jonathan slammed his trunk closed and then walked over to the police barrier, which he swiftly crouched under as he moved into the woods.
Jonathan took some picture right at the beginning, a flash of light going off in the dark woods along with a clicking sound. Jonathan though aloud, "Where are you?" Then he started walking once again. Jonathan noticed a discarded tire and took a picture before he continued moving. He took one more picture before he was startled by a high pitch scream from deep in the woods.
Jonathan didn't hesitate to run straight towards the source of the scream. Running through branches and hopping over logs and bushes for a couple minutes, he stopped. He saw that it was just Carol shrieking because she was about to be thrown into the pools. Jonathan was about to turn away when he saw some more movement, so he stayed to check it out.
Nancy and Barb were sitting in some pool chairs and were also watching Carol and Tommy. Tommy set Carol down on the ground, and she immediately smacked him in the chest. Carol said, "You're such an asshole, Tommy." Tommy just laughed.
Steve came out of the house and grabbed a beer before he stabbed the can with a knife. Then he popped the cap and chugged all the beer that began to flow out. When he finished, he exhaled in satisfaction and sat down at another chair.
Nancy asked, "Is that supposed to impress me?"
Steve grabbed the cigarette from his ear and said, "You're not?"
Nancy said, "You are a cliche, do you know that?"
Steve remarked, "You are a cliche. What with your... your grades and you band practice."
Nancy laughed and said, "I'm so not in band."
Steve said, "Okay, party girl. Why don't you just, uh, show us how it's done, then?"
Nancy said, "Okay." Then she grabbed the knife from Steve and grabbed a beer. Barb saw this and shook her head in disappointment.
Steve said, "You got to make a small hole in the bottom."
Nancy said, "I got it."
Tommy said, "Yeah, she smart, you douche!" Nancy successfully made a small hole, and she popped the top and began to drink.
Everyone but Barb started to chant, "Chug, chug, chug." Nancy drank all of the beer, only a little sliding down her face. Everyone cheered or hollered for Nancy.
Nancy looked over at the silent Barb and asked, "You want to try, Barb"
Barb said, "What? No." Nancy walked toward her after grabbing a beer.
Barb said, "No, I don't want to. Thanks."
Nancy said, "Come on."
Barb said, "Nance..."
Steve said, "Come on, yeah."
Barb said, "Nance, I don't want to."
Nancy said, "It's fun! Just give it a--"
Barb said, "Nance..."
Nancy was already feeling the beer, so she slurred, "Just... Just give it a shot."
Barb finally gave in and grabbed the beer and knife from Nancy. She stood up and tried to make a small hole but the knife slipped and she cut her hand.
Tommy said, "Gnarly."
Nancy walked forward and asked, "Are you okay?"
Barb said, "Yeah."
Nancy looked at her hand and said, "Barb, you're bleeding."
Barb said curtly, I'm fine." Then she looked at Steve and asked, "Where's your bathroom?"
Steve said, "Oh, it's... It's, uh, down past the kitchen, to the left."
Barb said, "Okay. Thanks." Then she walked off into the house to dress her minor wound. Jonathan who was in the bushes peeping took a picture of Barb rushing into the house. Then he took another picture of Tommy and Carol.
Carol was standing at the edge of the pool and Tommy was standing behind her. Suddenly he pushed her from behind into the pool. Then Tommy jumped into the pool next to her. Nancy watched this happen and was unsuspecting of Steve, which was a mistake as she was pushed from behind into the pool. Then Steve jumped in as well, then they started to chase each other around and Jonathan was taking many pictures of the whole thing.
At that moment, Joyce was sleeping in her chair with the phone on her lap. Suddenly the phone rang, startling her awake. Joyce picked up the phone quickly and said, "Hello." She received no reply, so she repeated herself. All Joyce could hear from the other end was some muffled breathing.
Joyce asked, "Who is this?" She received no answer.
She asked, "Will?" Some indistinct noise was heard over the phone.
She said, "Will, it's me. Talk to me. I'm here. Just tell me where you are, honey. I can hear you. Please." Suddenly static was heard over the phone and the lights began to flicker.
Will said unsure, "Mom?" Joyce gasped.
Joyce said, "Will!" She started to sob.
Joyce continued, "Yes, it's me. It's me. Where are you? Where are you? Just talk to me--" She was cut off when electricity shot through the speaker and hit her, causing her to scream and fall to the floor. She crawled up to the phone and saw it was broken.
She sobbed, "No! No! Oh, no! No, no..."
She threw the phone as she yelled, "No!"
She slammed her fists against the floor in anguish as she screamed, "No!" The lights started to flicker and didn't stop. Joyce noticed this and stood up before she followed the lights and walked down the hall.
She said in confusion, "What..." She continued down the hall and arrived outside of Will's door. She was startled when the stereo began to blare by itself. Will's favorite song playing. Joyce could see the lights flickering from beneath the door and backed up against the wall, the entire situation was very overwhelming for her.
Regaining her baring, she walked to the door and opened it. Then she walked into the room and looked at the stereo and lights on at Will's desk. Suddenly, the lamp began to flicker, and she walked to it before she removed the lamp shade. She said, "Will... Will, is that you?" The light glowed brightly before it turned off suddenly.
Joyce whimpered as she looked at the lamps, but she stopped when she heard growling next to her. She looked to her left and saw the wall pushing out into a large bump. Joyce screamed as she backed away from the wall and ran out of the room. Then she ran straight through the hallway and burst through the front door. She didn't stop and kept on running, her breathing was heavy as she ran to the car and got inside.
She pulled down the sun visor and her keys fell into her hand. Then she started the car in a panic and the car started with a quiet rumble. She looked to the house when she heard Will's favorite song start to play again. She said, "Will." She turned off the car and walked back to the front door. She walked back inside, and everything was back to normal, or at least that was how it seemed.
Back at Steve's house, Nancy and her new "friends" got out of the pool and were inside the house trying to dry off with some towels.
Carol said, "I'm freezing."
Tommy said, "Hmm... well, I hear his mom's room has a fireplace."
Steve said, "Are you kidding? Okay, well, you know, you are cleaning the sheets."
Steve walked over to Nancy and asked, "You alright?"
She said, "Yeah?"
Steve said, "Come on, let's get you some dry clothes." Nancy sighed as she wrapped up in her towel.
Nancy started to follow Steve up the stairs, when Barb said, "Nance. Nancy. Where are you going?"
Nancy answered, "Nowhere. Just... upstairs. To change. I... fell in the pool." Nancy chuckled but Barb wasn't having any of it.
Nancy said, "Why don't you just go ahead and go home. I'll just... I'll just get a ride or something."
Barb said, "Nance..."
Nancy said, "Barb... I'm fine."
Barb said, "This isn't you. Think about how John would react."
Nancy said, "John isn't here and even if he was, he wouldn't do anything. He doesn't care about me... Just... go home, okay?" Barb sighed and went to sit out back near the pool. Nancy went up the rest of the stairs and followed Steve into his room.
She stood in front of the window and was unknowingly photographed. She received the clothes from Steve a minute later and saw that he stood in front of her. She took of her shirt with a little effort, being photographed once again. Steve said, "Damn."
Nancy giggled and said, "Shut up." Then Steve moved towards Nancy, and they began to kiss slowly, another picture being taken. Jonathan stopped looking at Nancy and Steve and turned his camera towards Barb who was sitting by herself on the diving board. He took a couple pictures of her as well.
He was going to continue but his camera's shutter jammed, therefore he couldn't take any more pictures. Barb was sitting on the board holding her wounded hand that had been wrapped in gauze, the wound was pretty deep as blood was starting to show through the bandage. She kicked her feet in the water slowly, enjoying the warm water.
Blood dripped from her wound and fell into the pool, so she looked down at her wound. Suddenly the lights around her flickered and the water darkened. She looked around, but it was too late as a monster with a face shaped like a flower with rows upon rows of teeth bit her leg and dragged her into the water.
Barb shrieked as she was dragged away, but when Jonathan looked over at the pool, he saw nothing. She was just gone, without a trace. Jonathan seeing as there was nothing else to take pictures of, he started to head back through the woods to his car.
Barb was currently being dragged in a dark world and there were big trees all around her. A strange particle was in the air. Barb was panicked so she kicked the monster many times in the head, and it eventually let her go. Barb limped away from the monster as fast as she could with her injured leg. She weaved through the trees to obscure the monster's sightline and successfully escaped.
She was only able to escape because she managed to disorient the monster and she had fallen into a vile smelling pit of goo. She climbed out of the pit and continued forward, she eventually arrived at a hollow tree and went inside. She started to shake heavily as she had been dragged through the water and was now in a cold, damp place. She leaned against the tree and then passed out.