Chapter Text
Set in Hawkins-Upon-Trent:
6th November 1983:
The four lads clustered around the family dining table in Mike’s backroom. The evening had drawn in and Mike could hear his Mam making tea in the kitchen whilst she squabbled with his dad, and his little sister fussed because she was getting hungry. It was completely ruining the creepy ambiance he was trying to create for his Party. He wished he had one of those cool basements like they had in American sitcoms to play D&D in. Despite his and Lucas’ families being the most well off in their small friendship group, they lived on the same cul-de-sac with larger semi-detached houses. Mike’s house had four bedrooms and two reception rooms downstairs and a 22 inch tv, the best money could buy, his dad was usually camped out in front of it at this time watching the Pools. He had no clue what today’s argument was about, but it was really pissing him off.
“Turn up the radio, Dustin.” Mike fumed as he asked the curly haired boy with no front teeth across the table from him, Dustin lent back in his chair to turn the radio up and the boys grimaced as Culture Club blared from the speaker as Sunday night’s Top 40 commenced.
“It’ll have to do.” Lucas shrugged. “It’s better than listening to your mam and dad argue as Will decides what fucking spell he wants to cast.”
"Language!" Mike's mam shouted from the kitchen. This was fucking killing him, he groaned into his hands, he'd rather do his campaign in the spider filled shed at the bottom of his garden than in the dining room with his family so close by.
The lights flickered, which wasn't unusual, Hawkins-Upon-Trent was plagued with power outages, his dad blamed Hawkins Light and Power which according to local rumour had nothing to do with running the local power grid at all and everything to do with MI5. Mike didn't believe that either, as if the government had any interest in a shit tip like Hawkins-Upon-Trent.
"Jesus, Will, stop being an absolute donkey and make a bloody choice! We're nearly dead anyway, the least we could do is go out with a bang." Dustin complained.
Will finally rolled the dice he needed to decide whether or not his attack hit and what damage it did as his mam called through to the backroom again, "You've been playing for hours, dinner's ready in ten minutes, it's time for your mates to go home!" Will's dice skittered across the floor as he jumped at the sound of his mam's voice. Mike had been at Will's house and witnessed the way his dad used to shout at him before Will's mam had kicked him out. Mike understood why Will would react that way to raised voices, he felt sad for him. His mam and dad may shout but not in the way Will's dad had, nor did they call him names either. Will was better off without his dad at home, it was much nicer going there now it was just his mam and his older brother. He wished he had an older brother, it would be better than having a cow like Nancy as a sister, who always thought she was better than everyone else.
"Maaaam! We're not finished yet, we just need another hour!" Squealed Mike, getting up from the table to argue his point.
"No, ifs nor buts, Michael, we need the table to eat at." She handed him a fistful of knives and forks. "Set the table, I don't want to hear anything else about it. Get your stuff cleared away or I'll give you something to complain about."
Mike groaned knowing he wouldn't be able to get out of doing what she asked without him being grounded and turned to his friends.
"Suppose we better do what she says or we won't be able to play next week." He moaned to his friends. The three boys began to collect their stuff complaining as they went. Once the table was cleared of the boys belongings, Mike set the table. He could hear his mam plating up in the kitchen.
They headed into the hallway to pull on their shoes and coats. Lucas was the first to leave, he only had to go nextdoor.
Dustin got on his bike and pedalled off as the lights flickered once again. "Come on, Will, I'm starving I want me tea!" He called over his shoulder.
"The demogorgan got me." Will said out of nowhere, pulling Mike's attention from the flickering street lights.
"What?"
"The demogorgan. It got me. I only rolled a seven…" He explained.
Mike frowned, "I rolled a three, you would of hit it. What was your damage?"
"Thirty, but it was too close, everyone else would have been got by my fireball too." Will continued, his large dark eyes looking up at Mike from where he sat on his bike.
"Yeah, that thing had, like, a hundred and seventy hit-points left. Doing thirty damage to it and the party in that confined space would mean you were all dead even if you did hit it. Good job, I didn't see you roll, so it didn't count." He clapped Will on his shoulder with a grin.
Will huffed a laugh, "Yeah, true. Anyway, I'll see you at school."
"See you at school." Mike turned to go into the house as Will cycled after Dustin, the lights flickered once more. "Fucking lights." Mike muttered as he slammed the hallway light off.
His mam was calling Nancy down for tea, she was complaining because she was waiting for someone to call her. That could be one of two people; either her posh twat of boyfriend, Steve, that she'd just started seeing who their parents didn't know about, that went to the local further ed college in the next city over and had his own car whereas Nancy had to take the bus, or Babs who had been Nancy's best friend since they were at play school, like him and Will had.
"I don't care who you're waiting for. It's Sunday, that means bath night." His mam told her.
Nancy groaned and joined the family at the table. They were about halfway through the roast when the phone rang.
Nancy was partially stood up when their dad told her to, "Leave it. We're eating, you're social life isn't as important as eating with your family." Nancy flounced back into her seat with a huff.
"This is so unfair!" She pleaded as the family ignored her.
"Are you going to eat that?" Mike asked, indicating her Yorkshire pudding with his fork. She shoved her plate at him with an eyeroll and put her head in her hands.
Mike ate the Yorkshire in one giant bite as Nancy grimaced at him. His mam clipped his ear with her hand. "Manners, Micheal! Can you please tell your son that eating like pig won't get him a girlfriend?" She pleaded with his dad.
"As if our son's ever going to get a girlfriend. You've seen his interests. No girl round here is ever going to look his way if he keeps playing those weird fantasy games of his." His dad groused, mopping up the gravy from his plate with a roast potato.
"I'm right here!" Mike yelped indignantly. "I can hear you."
"Good. Maybe you'll keep that in mind next time your mates turn up to play weird games in our dining room." His dad told him. Mike huffed. His dad was such square, what his mam ever saw in him was beyond him. Nancy gave up at that point, grabbing her plate, taking it to dump in the kitchen.
"You didn't ask if you could leave the table, young lady!" Their mam called after her.
"May I leave the table?" She screeched from the kitchen.
"Please." Their mam reminded her.
"Urgh! May I leave the table, please?" Nancy asked shrilly.
"You may." Their mam responded politely.
"What was the point of all that. I had already left. It was just a bloody power trip." Nancy shouted as she stormed up the stairs. "I hate this family!" He heard her door slam.
"Language!" His dad called after her.
"Help clear the table, Mike." His mam told him, sounding thoroughly done with the ordeal of their family meal time.
"But I've not finished yet." He squawked at her as she picked Holly up out of her chair and placed her on her hip. Holly was always first in the bath, then Nancy, then him. The bath water was always lukewarm by the time he got in, he hated that. He began clearing the table and running the hot water to fill the sink. Ignoring the fact that his dad was still eating.
It was his job to wash up, Nancy dried. He sullenly scraped the plates into the bin then rinsed them off before filling the washing up bowl with warm water. His dad finally came through and placed his plate on the pile Mike had scraped off by the sink and wandered through to the lounge, he heard the sound of the TV turning on and the theme tune for the Antiques Road Show start. A pit settled in Mike's stomach at the thought of the sound of the weekend being over as he began the process of cleaning the plates and stacking them on the draining board for Nancy to dry whenever she'd finished her mardy.
He hated school even though, like Nancy, he didn't really need to try hard to do well and had an natural inclination for learning, just like his friends. It should have been something he enjoyed, but the bullying made him dread going. He and his friends were the target for bullies, their name calling and constant threat of physical violence unsettled Mike. He didn't really understand what their problem was, other than thinking his group of friends were a bunch of faggots and fairies. The teachers and his parents simply told him it was boys being boys when he mentioned them, and so he stopped talking about how much it worried him.
Even though his dad never said anything like that in front of his friends, he'd overheard him say similar things to his mam about himself and the boys he hung around with. He knew it was bad to be suspected of being those things, it was even worse to actually be a puff.
He'd finally worked his way though the pots and pans when the lights in the house began to flicker rapidly and finally went out leaving the house dark. He could hear Holly crying upstairs at the sudden darkness, as his mam comforted her. He could hear Nancy heading downstairs.
"Considering we have a power company in town they could guarantee us electricity when we need it most." His dad griped as he shuffled into the kitchen and rummaged through the cupboard for some candles and matches, using his lighter to see what he was looking for.
He lit a few candles, placing one next to Mike, Nancy took one lit it from Mike's before heading to the odds and ends drawer. His dad went back to the living room, probably to read the paper.
"Have we got any batteries? I was in the middle of recording songs off the radio." She huffed like Hawkins Light and Power had done it on purpose just to piss her off. Mike lit another candle and took them both upstairs to his mam and Holly. They were in Holly's bedroom, his mam trying to settle her in bed. She'd got his torch out of his bedroom and had placed it on Holly's chest of drawers facing upwards like a lamp.
"Thanks, Mike, that was really thoughtful of you." She pulled him in for a hug and kissed the top of his head. He set the candle he'd lit for them down next to the lamp, he took the other one to his room and put his candle on his nightstand so that he could read a comic in bed to take his mind off school the next day.
He looked around his room at his poster of the Dark Crystal and his Star Wars toys that he'd saved his pocket money for before fishing under his bed for the pyjamas he'd shucked off in a rush that morning as the boys arrived for their campaign.
Once he'd been to the bathroom to brush his teeth he snuggled down into his blankets with a stack of Beano comics. Despite his anxiety about school the next day, he found his eyes beginning to close and his head start to nod after a few comics. He blew out the candle on the his bedside table and pulled the eiderdown round him. His last thoughts before drifting off was looking forward to seeing Will at school the next day.
*
Will and Dustin lived in the same direction. Dustin in a terrace house on Orchard Street with his mam, where as Will lived in a single story prefab his mum rented from the council on the outskirts of Hawkins-Upon-Trent. Once they left the the more well off cul-de-sac Lucas and Mike lived on they cycled through the centre of town, past the Gateway Supermarket, the newsagent, the butchers and the bakers, then eventually passed by the school which both boys flipped the V's at. Then they cycled by the Black Swan pub where they both spotted Hopper one of the local coppers sat outside with some locals enjoying a pint, a natter and a fag.
"Oi, oi, if it isn't Copper!" Dustin shouted with a toothless grin as they went by.
"Your mam know where you are, Henderson?" Hopper called out before taking a drag.
"Of course!" Dustin grinned toothlessly at the off duty policeman.
"You best not be lying to me, you little shit, 'cause if I find out you are, I'm gonna come over to your gaff and stamp on all your toys." The police inspector deadpanned as he stared at the two boys.
"You wouldn't dare!" Dustin retorted, sounding less confident now.
"You wanna try me, Henderson?" He enquired, supping on his pint.
Dustin gave him the V's and he and Dustin pedalled off as fast as they could.
Soon they were amongst the older rows of terrace houses where Dustin lived.
They stopped for a chat outside Dustin's terrace house for a bit, nattering about homework they needed to hand in the next day and the new AV equipment their science teacher and club leader had said was arriving. They were due to try it out after school tomorrow. Dustin's fat ginger cat, Marmalade, wound himself round their ankles asking to be let in.
The streetlights flickered as Dustin took his bike down the passageway between his house and nextdoor, with Marmalade shouting at his heels.
"See you later, alligator!" Dustin called, his voice all echoey.
"In a while, crocodile!" Will responded in a terrible impression of an Australian accent as he cycled off towards the copse of trees his house was in. It had been built directly after the second world war by the council along with a few others prefab's before the more populated council estate had been built on the other side of the small wood.
The street lights flickered as he cycled out of the densely populated terrace streets and on to what he and his friends called Mirkwood, the road that Will lived off which was actually called Meadow Lane. Will had always hated the dark, he hated that his mum still lived out here past Hawkins Light and Power. Why she couldn't live in one of the terrace houses like Dustin's mam he didn't know. He didn't care that he'd have to share a bedroom with Jonathan, having bunk beds would be cool.
He didn't like that the light on the front of his bike didn't light up as far as he'd like, that his bike light flickered at the same time as the street lights. It was beginning to freak him out, the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end as the lights dipped and then came back on.
There in the middle of the road was a tall, spindly humanoid, it hadn't been there before the lights flicked off and came back on, it made Will jump, his heart in his throat, the hair on the back of his neck rose and goosebumps raced over his skin. It turned to Will, his bike light illuminating it, but it didn't have a face. It didn't have a face. That was the scariest thing about it, not the elongated fingers that ended in knife like talons. Will swerved to avoid it. Terrified. He crashed his bike off the road, cutting the leg of his jeans open and skinning his knee in the process when he fell to the leaf littered ground between the trees. He looked over his shoulder, the thing wasn't there. His heart hammered in his chest, panic making him feel sick. An owl called further off in the woods and Will took off running. He wasn't too far from home on foot. He abandoned his bike and legged it through the trees, dodging roots, branches and brambles snagging his clothes as he tore through the woodland refusing to look behind him.
Will burst through trees into his front yard, dragging the key that was on a bit of sting round his neck and over his head so that he could get it into the lock. He knew it wasn't worth knocking as his mum was at work and so was his older brother. He was shaking but managed to get the key in the lock and wrench the door open.
He slammed it behind him and lent all his weight on it, catching his breath. He turned and quickly pulled the dead bolt at the top and bottom of the door across and ran to his mum’s bedroom where he dived on to the floor to rummage under the bed.
His mum had gone out the day she'd kicked his dad out and got herself a shotgun in case he decided to come back. His fingers touched the butt of the gun as he heard the deadbolts slide open on the door, fear washed over him like he'd been dunked in icy water. His other hand the box of shells. He bolted out of the room and into the kitchen, unlocked the kitchen door an ran for the shed, fumbling with the box of shotgun shells as he went.
He threw himself into the shed and his slim body against the door in an attempt to barricade it, as he tried to load the shotgun with trembling fingers.
The next thing Will knew he was being dragged backwards, sharp claws digging into his upper arms. He screamed and clung onto the shells in one hand and the gun in other. He wiggled and kicked and fought with everything in him, using his sharp, bony elbows to dig into the chest of the monster and the heels of his trainers to kick the thing's legs. Eventually it dropped him and he turned and swung the butt of the gun across where its face should be. He felt the impact and knew he should have hurt it.
The creature stood their stunned for half a second, then suddenly the monsters face unfurled like a flower, revealing rows upon rows of needle like teeth as it screeched at him. Will took off into the woods, if he could reach the den he and his brother had created he could hide and stop his knee from bleeding…
*
Eddie was meeting one of his best customers on the corner of Orchard Street and Meadow Lane, just before it got to that wooded area between the town and the prefab houses. He pulled his curls into a messy bun at the nape of his neck and shoved a woolly hat on his head. It was bastard cold out.
He turned the lights off in the reclaimed tram carriage he and his uncle Wayne called home, grabbed a torch and headed through the woods to meet the bloke. His home was on a slight slope and he could see that parts of Hawkins-Upon-Trent were without power. His uncle hated the light and power place, and totally bought into all the rumours about it being an MI5 base of operations. Eddie shook his head and stuffed his hands further into his denim Sherpa jacket that he was wearing over his leather one.
He came out of the woods and hopped onto the pavement whistling Number of the Beast whilst air guitaring as the song ran through his brain. He could smell the bloke before he could make him out in the darkness, this part of town having been affected by the power cut. He flashed his torch up into the dude's face making him wince.
"Gimme that." The bloke bit out, as he snatched the torch from Eddie.
"Now now, Copper, you gotta treat little old Eddie nice now, or I'll squeal about our arrangement to your pals down the cop shop." Eddie grinned at him. Hopper shoved his torch back at him, nearly winding him as he did so. "How much have you had, mate? I could smell you up the road."
"Shut it, and give me what I asked for." Hopper slurred, swaying as he pulled his arm back once Eddie took the torch. Up close he smelled like he'd downed an entire brewery, and he was struggling to stay upright.
"Jesus, thought we could have a bit of banter between us lads, but obviously not. You've got a proper cob on tonight, you know that." He pulled a baggie full of little blue pills from the pocket of his jeans and handed them to Hopper. "That'll be two hundred quid."
"Fucking rip off…" Muttered the off duty inspector, as he swayed precariously in an attempt to pull his wallet out.
"Look, mate, you can quibble about it all you like, but if this was a load of molly you'd be looking at double that." Eddie explained as Hopper riffled through his wallet trying and failing to count the notes therein. He was struggling to keep track of what he'd counted. "Fuck sake, gimme that, you're absolutely muntered." He swiped the wallet out of the drunk bloke's hands. Then slowly counted it out so that he couldn't be accused of swindling him, before handling the wallet, now significantly lighter, back to the older man along with his contraband.
Hopper pocketed the pills and stashed his wallet. "Wayne know about your little side business?" He mumbled.
"Not exactly, and I'd rather we keep it that way." Eddie folded his arms and pursed his lips. "If Wayne ever 'accidentally' finds out I'll cut off your supply, you mardy old git. Good luck dealing with Rick, he don't sell to the filth."
Hopper huffed and began staggering back into town. Placing his hands on the nearest wall for support, he looked like he was trying to climb it. Eddie huffed a laugh.
"Easy there, Spidey, you're never gonna make it home in that state." Eddie called out to him. "Fuck sake." He muttered to himself, before he jogged a few steps forwards and ducked under Hopper's arm so that he could take his weight.
They staggered back to Hopper's place, using the torch, as the street lights were still off, to navigate to the other side of the council estate, as Hopper sang Sweet Caroline at the top of his lungs much to Eddie's amusement.
Once they got to Hopper's place, a single story prefab, like the Byers. He helped the chap with his shoes and covered him in a blanket from the back of the settee, where he passed out straight away. The bloke's place was a mess, it smelled of stale mushy peas and old Indian takeaway. There were open cans on the work surfaces, and the rubbish was over flowing in the bin. He obviously wasn't coping.
Eddie sighed. He wondered if cutting Hopper off would be for the best, or if the drugs and the alcohol were the only things preventing him from deciding to shuffle off the mortal coil. He rummaged through Copper's disgusting kitchen for a black bag, then began to dump all the empty cans and chippy tea papers into it.
Once he'd chucked all the rubbish in the kitchen and lounge into two black bags, he stuck the washing up bowl on the rug next to Hopper's head and a glass of water in a stolen Watneys beer glass on the coffee table. He grabbed the bags and left Hopper's house making sure that the latch on the door had caught. Then threw the bags into the bin and headed back the way they'd come.
As he was heading out of the estate, he noticed a garden with quite a few gnomes decorating it. He gave a quick look around, there were no lights on in any of the nearby houses. He swiped as many as he could carry and dropped them off in various places on the way back home. A couple on the tables outside the Black Swan, one guarding the gate to the school, another on top of one of the panda cars parked up outside the cop shop.
The last one went on the door step of a house on Orchard Street before he headed down Meadow Lane out of town towards the copse of trees where his home was hidden.
*
The next morning Mike woke up to the sound of his mam calling him to get up for school.
"Maaaam, just five more minutes!" He whined.
"No, Mike, now!" She retorted, he could hear her at the bottom of stairs.
He groaned and pulled himself out of bed, shivering in the cold morning as he tugged on a polo shirt and a woolly jumper, then a pair of jeans.
He headed downstairs where his little sister was already eating jam on toast. He was just pouring himself a bowl of Frosties when the phone rang. It was probably Babs checking to see if Nancy had left to catch the bus. He ignored it, heading to the fridge to get some milk.
His mam headed into the hallway to answer the phone as he sat at the dining table with Holly.
"Hello?" His mam greeted.
"…."
"Hi Joyce-" Joyce was his mam's best friend and Will's mum, he began to zone out when he heard the concern in his mam's voice. "Slow down, slow down, ok…"
"…."
"What do you mean Will didn't come home last night?" He heard her ask, he was up out of his seat like a shot, breakfast forgotten, panic flooding him, making him feel sick.
"Mam, what's happened to Will?" His voice didn't sound like his own.
She covered the phone with her hand, whilst keeping it to her ear, "Did Will go home with Dustin last night?" She asked.
"They went that way, but Will said he was going home." He clarified his throat feeling tight.
"Can you find out for me?" She asked. He raced up the stairs to grab his walkie-talkie from his room, he and his Party had spent all last summer washing cars and mowing lawns to get them.
"Dustin, come in, this is a code red. Over" He raced back down the stairs to sit with his mam on the bottom step. He could tell by the set of her face that she was worried. Things like this didn't happen in Hawkins-Upon-Trent.
"This is Dustin answering the code red. Over." Mike's mam held the phone to the walkie-talkie so that Joyce could hear what was being said.
"Did Will stay over yours? Over." Mike asked, his voice shaky.
"N-no, why? Over." Dustin's anxiety filtered over the airwaves. Joyce gave an intake of breath over the phone and Mike's mam brought it back to her ear.
"Stay put, I'll be over as soon as I'm dressed." She told her, then she put the phone down and went to fetch Holly. "Mike, get your coat on you're gonna be late for school."
"Mike! Come in! Ov-" He turned the walkie off.
"I can't go to school! Will is missing!" He squawked.
"You'll get your arse to school, lad, so I know you where you are. You best be there when I call reception from Joyce's house, or you won't be able to sit down for a week if you aren't there." She told him, Holly on her hip as she ran upstairs to get them both dressed.
Mike huffed as he pulled his shoes and coat on and went out the back to grab his bike from the side of the house.
He found Lucas waiting for him as usual. "What's going on? Dustin is losing the plot. He said Will's missing."
They pedalled out of the cul-de-sac heading for the secondary school, as Mike filled Lucas in about what had happened, then made plans for getting Dustin up to speed and going out to look for Will later of they hadn't found him already.
*
Hopper woke up with a heavy, pounding head and a bad back from having spent the night on the settee. He was still wearing the clothes he'd worn down the boozer the night before. He struggled to sit up, but he managed it, he was no stranger to feeling like shit of a morning. He patted himself down and found his fags, as he took them out of his pocket of his jeans, a baggie with a large quantity of Valium fell on to the floor. He pulled a cigarette out of the pack with his teeth, taking a spare lighter off the coffee table to light it.
He took a drag, and noticed that the place looked significantly tidier than it had when he left for the local, either he'd taken it upon himself to tidy up in a drunken and possibly drugged up stupor or he'd brought someone back home with him last night. Which probably explained why there was a glass of water and a washing up bowl next the sofa. He rubbed his face with a groan. Gawd knows who that had been, there had been a string of women since he'd returned here from Manchester. Even the librarian hadn't been out of bounds.
He must have met up with that lanky streak of piss that was the Munson oik if he had the pills he'd ordered. Hopper downed the dusty tasting water from the beer glass he'd nicked from the Swan in the summer and staggered to the bathroom to relieve himself.
He located his uniform and cap from the day before gave the armpits a suspicious sniff before dousing them in Brut aftershave and shrugging it on. He smoked another fag to settle his stomach before he left, finding his keys where he usually left them, in the bread bin.
His red Audi Quattro, his pride and joy, was parked out front. He'd had it imported from Germany earlier in the year with the proceeds from the divorce. No panda car for him, no siree, the perks of being a police inspector.
He got into the car tore off his drive and into the estate, it didn't take long to get to work. He parked up outside and noticed that one of the cars had gnome on top of it. He stuck it under his arm, lit another cigarette and entered the building.
"Mornin' Flo." He greeted the Woman Police Officer who was on the front desk, she had short auburn hair and was around her early thirties.
"Nice of you to turn-" She started. Luckily for him the door closed behind him cutting off her remark. He went over to kitchenette to make himself a cuppa before he faced the constables, placing the gnome on top of the microwave.
"You look like shit, Hop." Powell told him honestly, taking a sip of his own tea.
"That's what your Mrs said as I left her in bed this morning." He told him, making the Callahan constable snort tea out of his nose. That kid was beyond useless, he was lucky nothing ever happened around here because he wouldn't last five minutes somewhere like Manny.
Flo bustled through the door looking pissed off at him. "Whilst you were drinking, snoozing or whatever else you do before you finally deem fit to turn up here, Phil Larsen called to say some kids had pinched his gnomes again-"
"Look's like you solved that one before you even got here." Callahan nodded at the gnome.
"Just call me Bergerac." Hopper told the three of them smugly. Flo was having none of it he could tell. She was like a dog with a bone that one. The other two men chuckled. He lit another cigarette and headed in the direction of his office. Flo hot on his heels as he attempted to ignore her.
"Another, more important problem than bloody garden gnomes, is the fact that Joyce Byers can't find her son this morning." She told him.
"I'll get right on that-" He began to tell her, his hand on the doorknob to his office.
"But, sir, Joyce is beside herself-" She tried to tell him, her tone letting him know how pissed off she was with him in that moment, but with the massive hangover he was experiencing he just didn't have it in him to care about Joyce and her missing kid, who was most likely skiving school to swap spit with his girlfriend.
"Look, Flo, we've discussed this. Mornings are for tea and thoughtfulness. That means quiet." He reminded her in a patronising voice.
She folded her arms and looked at him with equal parts frustration and disbelief, "But, there's a missing chi-"
"Tea. And. Thoughtfulness." He told her forcefully, bringing his index finger to his lips to indicate quiet.
She turned with a flounce and a "On your head be it." And stormed from the room as Powell and Callahan chorused "Oooooo, handbags."
"Bet she's on her period." Powell commented shaking his head in the direction of the door she'd left from.
He turned to open the door to his office, looking forward to the peace and quiet it would offer him to get his head together after yet another night of excess. On opening the door he found two women in his office one of whom looked visibly upset.
"About bloody time." The honey blonde with the Farrah Fawcett flicks told him with a scowl. "We've been waiting for over an hour. The only person with any sense of urgency on your team is the WPC at the desk. The other two made no effort to take any notes or begin a search." She folded her arms and glared at him.
"Exactly, we've been waiting for over an hour, Copp- Hopper." Joyce joined in.
"I can only apologise, I was investigating another matter." He bullshitted. Joyce's friend scoffed. He wondered how much they'd heard of his and Flo's conversation.
"A fucking hour. What's going on in town that's more important than a missing kid?" Joyce's stance now mirrored her friends, her arms folded and clearly annoyed despite the obvious evidence of tears on her face.
"I've already apologised." He bit out trying to navigate a way to his desk to begin typing the report.
"I wouldn't call that an apology." Muttered the other woman as he sat down and put the proforma into the typewriter.
"Look, kid his age is probably just skiving school to get a little action." He told them. Joyce's friend gave her a knowing look.
"Not my Will." Joyce told him emphatically. "He's not like that. He wouldn't-"
"You never know with kids. My mam thought I was in the scouts and I was actually in the woods shagging Janice Hardy-" He attempted to tell them, but floundered when he saw Joyce's friends disgusted expression.
"He's not like you, he's not like me…" Joyce tried to explain, "He's not like most." Her friend stood and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Thanks, Karen. He's- he's got a couple of friends. But the other kids at school, they-they make fun of him…" She explained quietly. "Call him names, take the piss out of his clothes-"
"What's wrong with his clothes?" Hopper asked confused.
"Nothing. I dunno." She waved away his concern. "Lonnie always said he was queer…"
"Is he?"
"That doesn't matter." Karen told him sternly. "What matters is that he's missing, you're focusing on the wrong things here."
That got Hopper's back up, he didn't like being told what to do, especially by a woman. "You heard from Lonnie lately? Maybe the kid ran away."
Joyce shrank back at that, his blow had landed and it had stung.
"Will doesn't like his dad, he's scared of him, he'd never runaway to be with him." She explained voice shaking. She pulled a packet of fags from her pocket, and lit one. Offering the packet to the other two in the room. He ignored her.
"What's his number?" He wanted to know. This would be open and shut, the kid would be with his dad. All they needed to do was give him a bell.
"She's already told you, he's not there." Karen insisted.
"Has she already called to find out?" He spat at her. That shut her up. She shook her head.
"Then what's his number?" He repeated.
"Lonnie has nothing to do with this-" Joyce told him emphatically.
"Look, ninety-nine percent of the time a kid goes missing they're with family or a relative…" He explained in exasperation.
"What about the other one?" Joyce wanted to know, she sounded scared.
"Huh?"
"The other one, Hopper, the other one percent?" She looked at him desperately.
Hopper lent forwards his hands under his chin, he let out a sigh of frustration, his head throbbing, he used the same condescending tone he'd used with Flo, "This is Hawkins-Upon-Trent. You wanna know what my most interesting case has been since I moved here to be Inspector?" He didn't wait for them to respond. "It was when a wood pigeon thought that Jilly Thorpe's hair was a nest. All that bouffant and frizz, I can understand why." He chuckled at the memory.
Karen did not look impressed by this at all.
"I'll call Lonnie," Joyce told him appearing to thaw slightly, "he'll talk to me be for he talks to a-a copper." She stubbed her cigarette out. "Just find my son, Hop. Find my son."
Her large dark eyes bored into his soul, and something that had calcified with the death of his daughter began to soften.
He nodded. "I'll do my best." He told her gruffly.
*
Benny was putting the glasses away from last nights punters at the Black Swan, belting out ABBA's Mamma Mia as it played on the jukebox in the corner. He was just in the middle of wiping down the bar and was about to head into the back to grab a new box of salt and vinegar crisps when he spotted a kid stuffing their face with a load of ready salted.
They hadn't noticed him. Benny knew the place like the back of his hand, he'd been the landlord of Hawkins-Upon-Trent's favourite drinking spot for donkey's years. He quietly left the front of the pub locking the door behind him, then ran around the back, entering through the saloon door. He tip toed quietly through the bar and into he kitchenette/store room that connected the two sides that made the ground floor of the pub up.
"Oi! You thieving git!" He yelled making the kid jump as his hand came down on their shoulder, they dropped the packet of crisps they had been filling their face with, looking terrified. Eyes all huge, as they struggled to get out of his grasp. It was then that he began to take in details about them, they were wearing a hospital gown, and he could feel how skinny they were through the thin fabric. Their feet were mucky as fuck as they weren't wearing any shoes.
Initially Benny thought the kid had been a boy what with the buzz cut, now he wasn't so certain. "Hey, hey, kid, you're ok. You're safe." He told them making sure to moderate his voice. The kid stopped struggling. "You hungry? Let me make you a bacon cob or summat." The kid stopped wiggling and looked at him, eyes still scared, but they weren't trying to run. "Come with me." He led them upstairs to the flat he lived in above the pub. The kid looking around the curiously as they followed. He set the frying pan on the hob, and stuck some bacon in it to sizzle, the aroma filled the kitchen as he buttered two cobs. "You want mushrooms on yours?" He asked. The kid raised her eyebrows.
He plucked the punnet out of the fridge and showed her what he meant. He began peeling and slicing them as she watched closely. He wondered if she'd been neglected in someway. It felt like she'd been dropped here, she was continually looking around her interestedly like she'd never been in a kitchen before. He added the mushrooms to the pan and took the bacon out, placing the slices into the buttered bread. Once the mushrooms were done, he added those too, put the tops back on and put them on a plate.
He handed one to her and she pretty mush dislocated her jaw in an attempt to get as much in her mouth as possible.
"Easy, gal, there's more where that came from." He reassured her with a chuckle. She slowed down a bit and actually started to chew her food, a smile spread over her face as the flavours assaulted her tongue. "Good, eh?"
She nodded and carried on with her breakfast. He noticed that her thin arms were covered in muck and goosebumps. Once she'd finished he'd find something warmer for her to wear and they'd come up with a plan of action to help her.
It didn't take her long to finish, she was already looking around for some more. He wondered if she'd been starved too. "You cold?" He asked her. She looked at him as if she wasn't used to being considered in that manner for a few seconds and then nodded slowly. Maybe the neglect had stunted her speech…
"Wait here, I'll be right back." He told her, she nodded. He headed back downstairs to the lost and found box, people were always leaving their belongings there after a night out. He had a rummage through and came back up with a navy blue zip through hoodie that would be much too large for her, but would at least keep her warm.
He went back upstairs and handed it over to her, she quickly put it on. "Right, before I make you anymore food, let's get the niceties over with. I'm Benny," he placed a hand on his chest, then held it out for her to shake, "and you are…" When she simply stared at him silently he prompted her. "Come on, gal, you gotta give me something, can't keep calling you 'gal' every time I want to get your attention. You must have a name, what do they call you?"
She gave a put upon sigh and pulled the left sleeve of her hoodie up, to reveal a tiny tattoo that stated zero one one. The bottom fell out of his stomach, it reminded him of photos he'd seen of Nazi concentration camp victims. He felt sick. Whatever she was involved in wasn't good, he desperately wanted to help her. Then she suddenly spoke, "Eleven." Then she tapped her chest.
"Well then, it's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Eleven…" He gently took her hand, so that she could pull back if she wanted, and shook it. She gave him a twinkly smile at that. His heart broke for her, this sweet girl hadn't even got a name of her own.
Benny didn't know what to do for the best. Did he call social services, call the rozzers, call Wayne over their walkie-talkies, he knew about helping kids in trouble, after all he'd taken on Eddie. The fact that she was wearing a hospital gown and had a very official looking number tattooed on to her, that she referred to herself as, did not bode well. All of Wayne's conspiracy theories crowded his brain. He needed a fag.
"You still hungry, Ellie?" He asked her. He couldn't bring himself to call her Eleven. It was dehumanising. "Is it ok if I call you that?"
"Ellie?" She asked, he nodded. She repeated it quietly to herself a few times, like she was tasting it on her tongue, then she gave him a big smile that reached her eyes and nodded in acquiescence. "And, I am still hungry." She added quietly.
He grabbed a box of Sugar Puffs from the cupboard and poured her a bowl full which he topped with milk. She gave it a sniff and then started to eat.
"Help yourself if you're still hungry when you finish that, there's more crisps downstairs if you get through that box of cereal. I've got some work to do before I open up for lunch. Do you know how to work the telly?"
She shook her head, "Telly?"
He led her into his living room, and gestured to the TV. "Television?" He turned the TV on and showed her how to change the channel. There were only four of them, so she didn't have a lot to choose from. He chose to leave it on Rainbow as it felt most suitable. She was rapidly captured by the moving images and she went and sat down on the carpet in front of it with her bowl of cereal.
"Toilet's through there." He told her, pointing down the hallway. "I'll be downstairs if you need me."
Benny spent most of the afternoon um-ing and ah-ing over where or not he should call social services, but he eventually decided that it was the best thing to do. Someone in authority should know what was going on. He knew he'd get flack from Wayne about it, but he needed to get Ellie help. During a lull in customers between the lunch time and evening rush, he gave them a call.
*
Mike had noticed Will's absence the whole day at school, they were in the same form group and had a lot of classes together. It felt different from when Will was home poorly, they'd just catch up once he got home and he'd be able to call to tell the other boy what he'd missed. Tonight though, he'd go home and wouldn't be able to share his thoughts, feelings and minor grievances he experienced and he felt that keenly. He hadn't noticed how important Will was to him until that moment. They had been close since they had been babies, their mam's were best friends from high school, had grown up together, they'd always been in each others lives. There wasn't an important event that Will had been missing from. The thought of Will not being there left him feeling like a huge part of himself was missing.
He spent the day moving around the school in a daze, only dimly aware of Lucas and Dustin's constant squabbling. He just wanted to get out of there so he could do something proactive to find Will.
The boys were on their way out of school after having tried out the new AV equipment, they'd been pulled from the club that afternoon to talk with Copper about the last time they had seen Will. They didn't feel particularly hopeful about how much help rozzers would be, given that Dustin had told them he and Will had seen the Inspector down the Swan on their way home last night.
They stopped off at Dustin's before they went home to finalise their plans for looking for Will after one of the other coppers had let slip that there was going to be a search party arranged.
"What the fuck is that?" Lucas asked, pointing to a particularly ugly garden gnome that was perched on Dustin's desk.
Dustin looked over to what Lucas was pointing at, "Who Colin? He was on my doorstep this morning. He lives here now."
Lucas rolled his eyes.
"Can we please focus!" Mike bit out in frustration, it felt like the pair of them weren't taking Will's disappearance as seriously as they should be. "We need to check Castle Byers, the quarry, the park, the old pit…" He checked off.
"As soon as we've had tea, we'll meet up outside the Swan, the last thing we need is our parents freaking out because we haven't come home from school." Dustin reminded them.
"Yeah, otherwise we'll be grounded and won't be able to look for him." Lucas agreed.
Mike groaned, they were wasting time. Will could be hurt somewhere, and the longer they left him the more likely something bad would happen to him. He could feel it. Something bad had happened to his friend. He just didn't know what.
"Fine! Let's get going." Mike agreed heading out of Dustin's room. Lucas rushing to keep up. They grabbed their bikes from Dustin's back yard and pulled them through the passage way. Once they were on the street Mike didn't waste any time pedalling home, ignoring Lucas' pleas for him to slow down. They dumped their bikes in their respective front gardens and headed into their homes.
"Maaam! When's tea?" Mike called as soon as he entered the hallway.
"When it usually is." She called back, sounding miffed. "Go wash your hands and set the table."
"Urgh!" He groaned and stormed up the stairs, he could hear music playing from Nancy's room as he passed by meaning she was home. He washed his hands and went downstairs as his dad was arriving home from work.
He grabbed the cutlery and place mats and pretty much threw them on the table, then went into the kitchen to see what his mam was dishing up. It was stew and dumplings, which wasn't too bad. At least it wasn't liver and onions, that made him want to yack. He took the one his mam indicated was his and went to the table, he heard her call for Holly and Nancy, then the rest of the family joined him.
His mam was talking about going with Joyce to the nick to report Will missing, and how the filth had later come to the Byers' house after they had found his bike abandoned in the woods off Meadow Lane. Now a search party was being put together to look for him as they spoke.
"I want to go, mam-" He started.
"Not happening, Michael," She stated, "we don't know why Will is missing." His dad snorted at that, but they all ignored him. "What if something happens to you. Inspector Hopper said that-"
"Copper doesn't know shit!" He told her his voice rising with the feeling of impotence at not being able to help his friend.
"Language!" His dad reminded him, sounding bored.
"Will could be hurt, and we're sitting here doing nothing!" His voice was growing pitchy now that he was becoming more upset.
"Michael, I know that you're worried about him, I am too, but you need to stay put. It would only hinder us finding Will if you got lost too." His mam attempted to mollify him, she put her hand over his.
"But, Mam-"
"I said 'no', Michael!" She warned him sternly.
"Listen to your mother." His dad said around a mouthful of food. Mike shoved his plate away with a huff and crossed his arms.
"So… Babs and me were going to go to the library to study for a test tomorrow-" Nancy began.
"I don't think so, young lady." Their mam's tone was sharp. "Did you not just hear the conversation Mike and I just had. No one is going anywhere tonight." Both older kids started to complain.
"Urgh, I hate this house!" Nancy announced bitterly.
"No need to be such a drama queen." Their mam scolded her.
"This is utter wank!" Nancy bit out, her face screwed up in anger.
"Language!" His dad reminded them again.
"Babs only lives round the corner and the library is down the road. Just because Mike's friend is too stupid to find his way home doesn't mean I should be punished too!" Nancy cried at the perceived injustice she was receiving.
"You think this is Will's fault?!" Mike turned his ire on to his sister.
"That's completely unfair, Nancy, you need to apologise to Mike." His mam frowned at his sister.
"As if!" She folded her arms and turned away from him.
"This is all just 'cause you wanna swap spit with Steve!" Mike ratted her out, she deserved it due to what she'd said about Will. She kicked him forcefully on the shin in retaliation.
"Steve?" His dad asked, finally taking notice of the conversation.
"Some posho she's seeing." Mike spat out.
"YOU'RE SUCH A BELL-END, MIKE!" Nancy screamed at him on the verge of tears. She shoved her chair back and stomped up the stairs. Holly started crying due to all the raised voices.
"Get back here!" His mam called after her ineffectually as she rocked Holly.
"See, Michael, this is what happens…" His dad told him.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Mike sneered at him, before finally giving up and following Nancy upstairs to escape the inevitable argument his parents were now having in the dining room.
He slammed his bedroom door and grabbed his walkie. "We are go, but I've got to wait until my mam and dad have gone to bed. Over." He told them.
"Received. We'll meet on the corner of Orchard Street and Meadow Lane at twenty-three-hundred hours. Over." Dustin responded.
"Confirmed. All for one and one for all. Over." Lucas agreed.
"Over and out." Mike told them.
*
Steve was anxiously faffing with his hair, he had just got off the phone with Nancy, where she had pretended to be calling Babs, to tell him she was under house arrest and that she couldn't see him that night.
That just wasn't going to do. He'd really enjoyed getting to know her over the past few weeks since they'd started at Nottingham College, she was the first girl he'd been interested in like that. It was nice to be able to finally pursue someone he liked, before that it had always been boys that had caught his eye that way. It had been so hard trying to push his feelings down and ignore how he felt about them lest he'd branded a woofter like his dad already feared he was.
He'd always been attracted to big eyes, dark hair and smart-arse personalities, Nancy was no different. They'd met at the Freshers Fair the first week at college and had been unable to take their eyes off each other, the other person that had caught his eye had been Eddie Munson. Steve had fancied him since year eight, when the dude had first arrived in Hawkins-Upon-Trent Secondary School, even though he was sporting a Buzz cut that really didn't suit him. He loved the way he pushed boundaries, hated injustice and dressed exactly how he wanted.
Eddie's curly hair was longer now, his denim jacket had more patches since he'd last seen him a year ago, rumour had it he was now in a band. No matter how hard he tried not to look at Eddie, his eyes wandered over to him and he was always aware of where he was in the room. Apparently he was doing a BTEC in drama, and was the year above Steve, whereas Steve's was in Early Years Education. Though he told his parents that he was doing A-Level PE. Nancy was doing an NVQ in journalism.
Steve had turned seventeen last month and his parents had forked out for him to do an intensive driving course over October half-term, he was now a newly qualified driver. His parents had bought him a silver, three door 1982 Nissan Micra for his seventeenth birthday, which he had christened Nessie. It was his pride and joy. He'd planned to take Nancy out for a romantic evening of star gazing at the quarry, but her parents had put the kibosh on that, so he had to get more inventive.
He'd dropped Nancy and Babs off at her place several times now, so that they didn't have to get the bus. She had pointed out her window, and he knew that there was a garage directly under it. It would be a piece of piss to climb the drainpipe to see her. And it was romantic as fuck. He loved that shit, and it was the first time he could actually do that with someone he liked. He wasn't gonna fuck this up.
He finally decided his hair was as good as he was going to get it. He checked himself out in the mirror and left his empty house. His parents would be back at the end of the week.
He got into Nessie, and turned the tape player on. The Jam's Set the House Ablaze blared out of the car's sound system. It didn't take him long to get across town to the 1930's housing estate where Nancy lived. He parked up on the next street over, so that her parents wouldn't see a strange car parked outside their place if they happened to be of the curtain twitcher variety.
He could see Nancy's light on as he got there. He carefully walked up their driveway and grasped the drainpipe, then shimmied up and clambered on to the flat roof of the garage, before softly knocking on her window.
Nancy's face appeared with a puzzled expression on her features, she looked so cute with her face all scrunched up like that. He gave her a bashful finger wave as she swung the window open to talk to him.
"What are you doing here?" She sounded peeved and surprised in one go.
"Trying to see my favourite girl." He grinned, as he leaned his elbows on to her windowsill to talk to her, pecking her chastely on the cheek as he did so.
"You're an idiot, Steve Harrington." She giggled, moving to one side to let him in.
"I'm your idiot." He told her as he clambered through the window in a purposefully ungraceful manner.
*
Eddie and Wayne stood side by side outside of the Byers place. They were well versed with the woods around it having lived off grid there for years. Their knowledge of the area would come in handy now that news had spread about the lost boy. His uncle believed that the best way to stick it to the man was to invest in community, so here they were with plenty others to look for Will Byers: Scott Clarke the science teacher from the secondary school was there, one of the librarian's from the public library, some patrons from the Swan, and others he didn't know and some of the local fuzz.
Eddie had brought his torch, Wayne had a lantern and was talking to Scott about the lad that'd gone missing and what he looked like. Eddie knew Scott from being in his science class when he was younger, and from the local D&D crowd.
Copper was at the front sipping a cuppa, Mrs Byers had probably brought it out to him. He and Wayne had brought their own flask of tea that they were sharing with Scott whilst they were waiting to start. The groups of people huddled together chatting amongst themselves.
"Thanks for coming everyone." Hopper greeted them his voice carrying clearly through the night air. "We'll be fanning out through the woods between here and Orchard Street. Take it slow, call out Will's name. Callahan is coming round with a whistle for each of you to blow should you find anything of interest. Let's get going."
They waited until they had been given a whistle by the young constable and the three of them turned in the direction Hopper had indicated and began walking. He could still hear Scott and Wayne talking, this time about how beside her self Mrs Byers would be.
Eddie focused on the brush underfoot, keeping the torch light low so he didn't trip, as he was ridiculously clumsy. It started to rain and Eddie hated the rain, hated being cold, even though he'd come to terms with the fact that his body seemed pretty shit at regulating his temperature. He was too hot in the summer, and cold the rest of the year no matter how many layers he put on.
Eddie thought about college that day, he'd run into Steve Harrington in the car park which had pissed him off. The dude was a tosser with rich parents, and he represented everything Eddie's personal doctrine was against, he had all the luck and the looks. He even had a swanky new car which had apparently been gifted to him by his parents according to rumour. And Eddie hated him for it. He hated the unfairness of it all, why should some people get everything handed to them and others have to fight for scraps. It shouldn't be allowed. He huffed.
"You ok there, Eds?" Wayne asked. The old man was always sensitive to his melancholy moods and he couldn't blame him. Having found him overdosed on Special K when he was fifteen would do that to someone who cared about you as much as Wayne did.
"I'm good, old man, take a chill pill." He waved off his concerns. After he'd come to in the hospital he promised himself he wouldn't do that to his uncle again. He'd never seen him that upset before, and since then he'd stayed away from downers. Now he mainly toked, and occasionally dabbled in a bit of molly if he wanted to get out of his own head for a bit on a night out at Rock City.
Eddie liked the woods, he did his best thinking there, he liked the quiet, the way he could hear the birds in the mornings and evenings, the squirrels running through the trees, it quietened his mind. The woods were like the sea though, in that they had their own moods each day in the same way the sea did. Tonight, the animals had all disappeared, he'd noticed how quiet it was last night after his return from Hoppers place. The owls, and foxes were unusually quiet. They were again tonight. It felt like the woods were waiting, there was a sense of anticipation, like the quiet before a storm. Eddie didn't like it, it set his teeth on edge. It reminded him of the flat he used to live in with his mam and dad at the seaside before his dad came back home from a bender. He and his mam would be on edge, not knowing what to expect.
The search party spent hours out there looking for the missing kid but they never saw hide nor hair or him. Eddie was forcefully reminded of himself hiding after his dad came home, and he started laying into his mam. It felt like Will was hiding for some reason he couldn't understand.
He'd have to go and check out Skull Rock in the morning, just in case he'd made his way out there. That boy would know the woods as well as, if not better than Eddie, he'd lived there all his life after all.
*
Will ran as fast as his legs would carry him, it was only as he had been running for a solid ten minutes and was nearly at the den he and Jonathan had created, that details of what was around him started to register. The way everything glistened in the eerie blue light, like it was slimy, the weird flecks that hung in the air that looked like dandelion fluff, that clogged his throat and made him cough. The deathly quiet and absence of wind. It made his path through the woods that much more noticeable, but thanks to the odd atmosphere sound didn't appear to carry far. He faltered not knowing if running would be for the best or if slowing down and trying to creep through would be a better idea.
Once he finally got to the den it looked so different, it was barely recognisable, it was covered in thick black vines and looked far more hostile and daunting than it usually did. He faltered at the thought of entering, but it was somewhere he usually felt safe and it was the memory of him, Jonathan and his mum building it on the day she'd finally kicked his dad out that finally got him to pull back the tarpaulin and enter. Inside there were still vines but not so dense as outside. He rummaged around looking for the first aid kit. His jeans growing steadily damper from kneeling on the ground, the cold seeping into his legs.
He finally found the first aid kit and used some iodine to clean his knee before sticking a plaster over the wound. He shivered in the dim light, huddled into the corner, rocking himself in an attempt to self sooth, as he realised he wasn't in Nottinghamshire anymore. Only this wasn't like what happened to Dorothy, and there was no good witch coming to help him find a Yellow Brick Road out of here.
At some point he must have dozed off, because he jolted awake after he thought he heard something move outside. He waited with bated breath to see if there was anymore movement or sounds, but none were forthcoming. He formulated a plan and then stayed put for a while longer singing his favourite song under his breath.
It reminded him of dancing in his living room with Mike when they were a couple of years younger. It had been raining outside and they had been bored, his mum had just kicked his dad out. They were playing musical bumps; whenever his mum had paused the music they had to sit on the floor as fast as possible, the last one down was the winner, only they kept drawing and they were in fits of giggles as the song came to an end. Happy Together had been his favourite song ever since. He sung the lyrics softly to himself as he hugged his knees to his chest
Me and you and you and me
No matter how they tossed the dice, it had to be
The only one for me is you and you for me
So happy together
Will finally got up the courage to leave the den and cautiously and quietly made his way to one of his neighbours houses, he tried the back door and to his surprise it gave way. Once he was inside the building he located the phone in the hallway and dialled his home number, as it began to ring the spot just above his eyebrows began to hurt, he ignored it and hoped beyond hope that his mum would pick up. He felt a dribble from his nose make its way to his lip, he used the back of his hand to wipe it away, as he pulled his hand away to wipe it on his jeans, he noticed a dark smear of blood there. Trust him to get a nose bleed now.
"Ye- Yes, hello?" His mum's voice crackled across the line sounding so distant, he was so pleased to hear her he couldn't say anything even if he wanted to.
"Lonnie?… Hopper?" She asked, sounding confused.
His breath caught and he felt like he might sob.
"Who is this?" Her voice sounded earnest. Then he heard the floorboards creek in the kitchen behind him, he whipped round and the monster stepped into view, his breathing began to pick up pace as he started to panic.
"Will?… WILL?" His mum screamed down the phone line. Will dropped the phone it bounced on it's curly phone cable as the creature shrieked at him, and swatted at the space he'd been standing in moments before, tearing the phone from the wall. Will tore through the house, out the front door and into the terrifyingly silent world beyond.
*
Mike and the rest of the party had been traipsing through the woods for at least an hour, they'd been all the way to Will's den but he hadn't been there, they were currently squabbling because they were wet, cold and miserable, they were in the middle of a disagreement about whether they should go all the way out to the quarry in the middle of the night to check their regular haunts there when the rustling of bushes caught their attention and a kid in a zip through hoodie and shaved head burst through the bushes almost barrelling them over. She was dripping wet just like they were and shivering with cold.
She looked at them with huge dark eyes, she was plainly scared as she asked them stiltedly to "Please… Help."
For those of you wondering what Steve's car looks like in this, I present you Nessie, Steve's pride and joy:
