November 12th, 1983

Hawkins Middle School

Gymnasium

With the lights shut off in the empty gymnasium, the only source of light for us was the soft beam of moonlight that drifted through the windows at the top of the building. Through the quiet of the gym, El's heavy breathing was all that could be heard as she concentrated on finding Barbara and Will.

Suddenly El's breathing began to shallow as she found what we assumed, was what she had been looking for. "Barbara?" She whispered, her breathing slowly beginning to grow heavy once again. Looking over at a hopeful Nancy, I smiled slightly at the thought of getting our friend back home safe.

Though the hopeful dream was soon shattered as El spoke again in a faint whisper, "Gone..." She repeated the word over and over again, her pitch raising in anguish as she began to tremble in her place in the center of the pool.

"Gone! Gone!" She continued to scream from her place, now thrashing her arms rapidly through the water. "It's okay, it's okay... I got you. I'm right here with you." I reached out for her hand and she gripped it tight, pulling herself closer to me.

Her screaming slowly came to a halt, the words dying in her throat as her heavy breathing remained and began to pick up yet again. After a few seconds of silence had passed she spoke again, "Castle Byers..." she whispered.

Letting out a gasp, Mom leaned closer to the girl, "Will..." She muttered with relief. "Tell him I'm coming. Tell him, Mom is coming." Mom called out from beside me before Eleven spoke again, only this time to a boy we couldn't see.

The Walkie Talkie from the edge of the pool turned on by itself and the voice of Will carried through the static, "Hurry..." He whispered weakly; we didn't have much time.

"Tell him to stay where he is. Tell him we are coming." Mom spoke again and Eleven repeated the words to Will again, though this time instead of hearing Will's voice through the Walkie; the sound of El's cries and whimpers reached our ears.

El thrashed in her place in the pool, trying to escape from her mind until she was finally able to pull the goggles away from her eyes. Pulling her towards me, I wrapped my arms around her and whispered to her in hopes of calming her down. "I've got you... Hey, it's okay... It's okay." I lightly rubbed her arm as she cried into my neck.

Helping the small girl out of the pool, she continued to cling to me, only allowing Mike to wrap a towel around her to keep her warm. "Let's sit down, come on..." I whispered to her and slowly walked her towards the bleachers while Hopper spoke to Mom about where Castle Byers was located.

"It's in the woods behind our house." She answered him hurriedly as the party, El, and I sat down on the bleachers. "I'm going." Hopper stated and slammed through the doors of the Gymnasium's exit, though Mom and Jonathan followed close behind him.

Slowly but surely, El began to calm down. Moving on from holding on to me, to instead now place her head on Mike's shoulder. The boy flushed slightly at the girl's contact but grinned to himself while the other two boys rolled their eyes at his reaction.

Spotting Jonathan coming back through the gymnasium doors, I excused myself from the group and hurried toward him. "We should go check on Nancy... We have to." I mumbled to him once he came to a stop in the middle of the gym.

"I think she'd rather just talk to you..." He looked towards the doors that led to the hallway that connected to the gym, the same doors that Nancy had rushed to once Eleven had broken her communication with Will. "It'd mean a lot to her if you were there too... I know it would." I stated with a small frown.

Walking into the hallway, we found that Nancy had sat on the floor with her back pressed against the wall, her head resting on her knees as she took slow, shallow breaths to keep herself calm. Sliding down the wall next to her, Jonathan and I sat in silence, not knowing what to say to make things right.

"We have to go back to the station." She spoke first, her voice cutting through the silence as she picked her head back up only to stare off into the distance; or rather the blank wall that rested in front of us. "What?" I questioned her, confused by the comment.

"Your mother and Hopper are just walking in there like bait... That thing is still in there and we can't just sit here and let it get them too... We can't." She held back the tears growing in her eyes as she spoke, her voice wavering slightly.

"You still wanna try it out?" Jonathan questioned Nancy with a quirked brow. Nancy slowly nodded her head in response before speaking again. "I wanna finish what we started. I want to kill it." She muttered before turning to look at Jonathan.

"Then let's go," I muttered, quickly standing up from my place on the ground before holding my hand out for her to take. "We've got no time to waste. This thing dies tonight."

~~~

Making it back home, Jonathan dropped the supplies from Harvey's shop on the floor as the three of us looked up at the bare cords of the Christmas lights that still decorated the ceiling of our home. "You think we should put them back on?" Jonathan asked as he picked up a blue bulb and then back up at the multiple cords. "It would help signal when that thing is close..." I mumbled, picking up a yellow bulb, from off the table before reaching up towards the cord and screwing it back in place.

And after what felt like almost an hour of screwing back in the light bulbs, the house was back to looking like what had now become normal for Jonathan and me. The three of us all separated into our own plans around the house to prepare for the monster.

With Nancy loading her gun to its max with ammo, Jonathan setting up the bear trap in the hallway, while I decided to hammer the nails into the end of my bat to make the weapon deadlier; well, all things considered.

Once Nance and I had finished our weapons, the two of us grabbed the cans of lighter fluid, making a path from the living room, down the hall past the bear trap, and stopping just outside the door of Will's room. The final piece that completed the trap was a small yo-yo that Jonathan had found in Will's room. Rolling it out along the entrance of the hall, he placed the plastic piece on a chair in front of Will's door.

Making our way back into the living room, Nancy and I stood in front of the door while Jonathan went into the kitchen to grab the knives.

Coming back in, he handed the two of us our blades. "Alright, so what's the plan?" He questioned us, to confirm that we all understood what to do. "When the lights blink, run straight to Will's room," I spoke first. "Don't step on the trap." Jonathan continued, turning to Nancy as he waited for her to finish the plan off, "Wait for the yo-yo to move." She confirmed.

"And then..." Jonathan pulled out his lighter, flicking the top off causing a flame to spark. "Are you ready?" He asked us as he put the lighter back in his pocket and centered the blade in the middle of the palm of his hand.

"Ready." Nancy and I spoke at the same time, repeating my brothers' actions. "On three..." I said and the three of us started counting down.

"You don't have to do this Nancy." Jonathan mumbled to the girl as we had reached two but she quickly shook her head. "I want to do this." She muttered firmly, "Three!" I called out; signaling for the three of us to slide the blades across our palms at the same time.

"Bad fucking idea." I groaned as the blood from my hand dripped down into the carpet. "It'll be worth it..." Nancy said with a grin as she and Jonathan glanced at each other. After a few seconds of letting the blood slide off of our hands and onto the ground, I ran to the bathroom and grabbed the first aid kit to patch the three of us up.

Coming back into the room, Nancy and Jonathan had sat down on the couch and I quickly wrapped my own bloodied hand.

Grabbing Nancy's I lightly wrapped the bandage over her palm before slowly making it tighter in order to stop the flow. "I can do Jonathan's." She spoke up once I had finished and moved to wrap Jonathan's hand next.

Keeping my smile to myself, I handed the wrap to her and picked my bat up from off the ground, "I'll leave you to it then..." I said and made my way down the hall and toards Will's room to give the two some space.

After a few minutes had passed I made my way back down the hall to see that the two remained seated on the couch. Silence had fallen over the two while Nancy continued to hold on to Jonathan's hand. "Nancy, I-" Jonathan was cut off by a loud banging against the door.

"Nellie! You there? I just wanna talk!" A voice yelled from the other side of the door causing the three of us to jump. "Is that..." Nancy looked towards me and I quickly placed my bat on the table and ran towards the door. "Steve, what are you doing here?" I asked frantically and tried to keep the door as closed as I could, though the boy pushed lightly on it to see me.

With Steve's face in view, I could see just the amount of damage Jonathan had inflicted on the guy, with dry blood around his eye and nose, and a swollen black eye; the least he deserved after everything he had said in the alley.

"You need to leave, Steve." Nancy called out from behind me, making her way to the left of me so that he could see her as well. "No, no... Listen, I messed up, okay?" He tried but all I could do was shake my head, "Steve..." I whispered for him to stop but he continued anyways.

"Please, I messed up... I'm sorry, I want to make things right." Nancy moved me out of the way and placed her bandaged hand on the door frame, "No, Steve. You need to go, now."

"Nancy, what happened to your hand? Is that blood?" He asked, genuinely worried for the girl. "It's nothing... It was an accident." Nancy tried to blow it off but Steve couldn't let it go.

"No... No, wait a second. Did he do this?" Steve questioned, pushing harshly against the door, moving Nancy out of the way, and allowing him to enter the trashed house.

Steve's eyes widened at the state of our home and then they soon landed back on Nancy and Jonathan. "What the... What is all of this?" Steve asked while Jonathan made his way toward the boy. "You need to get out of here." He spoke quickly, as he tried to push Steve back out the door onto the porch while I held the door open for him. "Seriously, I'm not asking. I'm telling you, leave." He demanded.

"No, wait-- What is that smell? Is that- Is that gas? What is going on!" Steve grew scared but his questioning was cut off by the sound of a gun cocking.

"Steve, get out!" Nancy yelled, pointing the gun directly at Steve causing Jonathan to jump out of the way and back on Nancy's side. "Wait! Wait, wait!" Steve yelled, throwing his hands in the air while Nancy kept the gun trained on him.

"Please, Steve. You gotta go." I tried, causing him to turn and face me, a pleading look shined in his eyes as he looked down at me. "You have five seconds to get out of here!" Nancy grabbed his attention again and raised the gun higher.

"No, I'm sorry... Please, tell me this is a joke or something, right?" Steve yelled but Nancy only continued her countdown.

As Steve continued to argue with Nancy to put the gun down, the lights around the house began to flicker on and off; slowly but as more time passed they began to flicker around the house rapidly.

"Nancy! You have to let this go!" I tried to grab her attention but she continued to count down, her main focus now resting on Steve. "Nancy!" Jonathan and I yelled, finally grabbing her attention, and causing her to glare in confusion at us. "The lights..." Jonathan stated, pointing up to the Christmas lights as I picked my bat up from off of the table and swung it up into the air.

"Steve, you have to go before it gets here." I yelled, grabbing onto his hand, and trying to drag him towards the still-open door but he planted his feet firmly into the ground. "Before what? What are you guys talking about!" Just as the question had left Steve's mouth, a banging came from the wall opposite of us, before slowly breaking down until it had finally collapsed in on itself, and out of it came; the monster.