November 2, 1984

Hawkins High, Parking Lot

"Can we talk about this later?" Steve asked, awkwardly pulling on the straps of his book bag and pulling out the same Risky Business sunglasses from Halloween.

"There's nothing to talk about." I shrugged and turned away from him for hopefully the last time and made my way down the sidewalk until I came to a stop in front of the middle school when two young voices grabbed my attention.

"You know what? Forget it! I don't wanna be a part of your stupid party anyway. I'm out!" The red-headed new girl from yesterday raised her voice at Lucas before storming off.

"Max!" Lucas called after her, throwing his hands in the air. "You still stink, by the way." She called back not turning around as she hopped on her board and skated towards Billy's roaring Camaro.

Leaving Lucas alone, watching her as she entered the car. "So, what did you do?" I joked as I walked towards Lucas who smelled his jacket with a disgusted face. "Nothing!" He groaned throwing his arms in the air again.

Raising a brow, I looked from him and towards the still parked car that belonged to Billy. "No offense, but I find that incredibly hard to believe." I stated and looked back down at him.

"It's stupid. It's not even my fault, honest." He mumbled the last word and the two of us started back down the path towards the bike stand. "So then, what happened?" I asked and placed my hands in my jacket pockets.

"Mike doesn't want Max in the party, but she really wants to be a part of it. At least she acts like she does but she wouldn't understand." He explained the situation slowly.

"Well, what do you want? You know, Mike can't control you." "It's not that simple. I mean, I want her to join but then we'd have to tell her everything."

I shrugged as we came to a stop next to his bike, the other two already having left before him. "Screw it." I stated, earning a confused look from the boy.

"Screw it. I mean, you would hate being excluded from your friends, right? Being treated like an outsider? I mean, last year you did the same thing towards El."

"But this is different." He tried to explain and avoided my knowing gaze. "Yeah, this time you like the girl." I joked, causing him to scoff but still blushed slightly at the statement. "What! No, Max is... different." He mumbled the last word.

"Trust me, Lucas. Tell her, I'm sure she'll come around after."

Nodding, the boy jumped on his bike before peddling off.

~~~

"Holy shit..." I whispered under my breath as I opened the door to my house.

Letting the door slowly open more to reveal the full mess that was my living room, I was able to get a better view of the drawings that decorated the floors, walls, and even up to the ceiling.

"Mom?" I called out, stepping over the drawings of the black mass and closing the door. "Thank god your home." Mom rounded the corner from the kitchen, a lit cigarette hanging from her lips, her eyes wide with an odd glint in them.

"What is all this? Is everything okay?" I asked, tracing my finger over the crayon coated pieces of paper. "That's what we're trying to figure out, Will found something." She stated and turned around and waved for me to follow her down the hall.

In Wills room, we found Mike seated next to Will as he crazily scratched a black crayon down the center of another piece paper.

Looking down at Will, his eyes stayed wide-open though it seemed as if he was staring into nothing.

Dropping the crayon, Will blinked a few times before looking over at Mom and I. "I need more paper." He whispered.

"What is this?" I asked him, pointing down at the new drawing, now seeing that when a piece wasn't connected it just looked liked random scratches on a paper rather than vines of some sort.

"That's what we are trying to figure out." Mom stated as she placed the new drawing on a stack of old ones.

~~~

"It's like I feel what the shadow monster's feeling... See what he's seeing." Will spoke blankly from his spot on his bed, his grey sweatshirt somehow soaked with sweat even though all the windows where open, letting the cool November wind blow through.

"Like the Upside Down?" Mike asked as he traced the vines that now also decorated Wills room. "Some of him is there. But, some of him is here too." Wills voice slowly grew scared and shaky.

"Here, like in this house?" I asked from beside him. "In this house and... in me." Wills eyes grew glossy as he averted his gaze away from Mike and I. "It's like he's reaching into Hawkins, more and more. And the more he spreads, the more connected to him I feel. Then, I start seeing more of these Now-Memories."

Now-Memories, that's what the two boys had decided to tag the meaning behind these drawings. "At first I just felt it, in the back of my head. I didn't even realize it was there." Will glared a hole in the wall as held the back of his neck.

"It's like when you have a dream, and you have to think really hard to remember it. But now it's like, it's like I remember it all."

Mike and I looked between each other, "Well, maybe that's good?" Mike tried but Will looked away from the spot on his wall to glare at the boy, "Good?"

Nodding, I grabbed Wills hand smiled sadly at him, "Yeah, you could be like a super spy." I joked with him as he went back to staring at the wall, concern raising in his green eyes.

"Spying on the Shadow Monster. If you know what he is seeing and feeling, maybe that's how we can stop him." I continued, "Maybe all of this is happening for a reason."

"You really think so?" Will asked softly as he squeezed my hand, almost as if to make sure I was really there. "Yeah, I really do."

Will nodded and turned away from the both of us to look down at a drawing he had made of the Shadow Monster, dark clouds and red lightning surrounded a looming creature that stared down at the town. "What if he figures out we're spying on him? What if he spies back?"

"He won't." Mike answered reassuringly. "But how do you know?" Will asked again, the fear in his voice growing as his hands began to shake. "We won't let him." I answered for Mike as he grabbed Wills other hand.

~~~

"Nellie."

Turning over in my bed, I ignored the voice and tried to fall back asleep.

"Nellie, get up." The voice now shook my shoulder.

"What?" I groaned and slowly opened my eyes to find Mike standing over me, wearing the same clothes from last night. "What's wrong?" I asked, slowly sitting up from my spot.

"Will had another Now-Memory." He said and turned around to leave the room.

Getting out of my bed, I followed him into Wills room to find him sitting up straight in his bed basically trembling.

"What did you see?" I asked softly and sat on the edge of his bed. "Hopper..." He whispered, looking me directly in the eye.

"We have to tell mom." He continued and quickly slipped out of his bed.

Following him back down the hallway and into the living room, we found mom sitting on the floor, looking around at the vines that traced all over the living room.

"Mom?" Will spoke but she seemed to ignore him as she stared a little harder at the wall. "Mom." He raises his voice slightly, getting her attention. "What is it, baby?" She asked, her voice coming out in a whisper as she reached out to hold his hand.

"I saw him." He spoke to her, crouching down to be eye level with her. "You saw who?" She asked confused. "Hopper, I think he's in trouble."

Mom shook her head slightly, not wanting to believe him. "I think he's going to die." "What?" She asked, shocked as he nodded, "He's somewhere in there." He pointed at the vines on the wall, just as the phone to the left of us rang on the wall.

"I'll get it, Will do you think you can find him? Again." I asked as I walked towards the phone. Nodding, Will, Mom, and Mike made their way back into Wills room as I picked up the phone.

"Byers Residence." I spoke into the phone as I held it up to my ear. "Nell, it's Dustin. I need your help." He spoke quickly into the phone.

"Why? Do you want me to bring the party? What's wrong?" I asked, "No! I mean, no. Uh, something happened with Dart and I know the others won't help me." He spoke so fast that I found it hard to understand him.

"Yeah, I guess? Dustin, what happened." "No time to explain, just meet me at The Wheelers, we can get Nancy too."

"Dustin, Nancy's-" "Dusty I can't find Mews anywhere." The voice of Dustin's mom cut me off. "Dustin, did Dart hurt Mews?" I asked, starting to realize the real issue with Dart.

"Uh-huh. Thank you so much, Mr. McCorkle. Really, thank you. You are a true lifesaver." Dustin spoke causing me to furrow my brow. "Are you serious right now?" I asked.

"All right, this was great, thank you. Have a good one. Bye-bye, now. Uh-huh you, too." He finished and hung up the phone, leaving me stuck on the line with static feedback. "Seriously?" I rolled my eyes and placed the phone back on the receiver.

Walking into Wills room, I found him scribbling on another piece of paper, while Mom and Mike stared down at him. "I've gotta go check on something, I'll be right back." I spoke out, though it didn't really grab their attention. "Okay, please hurry." Mom spoke quickly as she continued to looked down at the drawing.

~~~

After changing into a pair of slightly ripped jeans and a loose black sweater, I practically ran towards the Wheeler house to find Dustin standing at the front door.

"Well do you know where Nancy is?" The boy asked Mr. Wheeler who looked slightly bored and unamused by the boy's question. "Karen! Where's Nancy?" He yelled into the house as I made my way up the driveway.

"Eleanors!" Karen yelled from somewhere in the house. "Eleanors. Morning, Eleanor." Mr. Wheeler nodded at me, not seeming to realize that Nancy wasn't with me, either that or he didn't care.

"Am I done here?" Mr. Wheeler asked, ready to close the door. "Son of a bitch. You're really no help at all, you know that?" Dustin rolled his eyes and turned around to face me.

"Hey, language." He called out from his place still behind the door, before making his way back into the house. "I don't think that man has ever had more than two brain cells." I joked as he and I made our way back down the driveway.

Picking up his bike, Dustin glared at me. "Why didn't you tell me Nancy wasn't home?" "Dustin, I tried. You kept talking to me like I was old man McCorkle." I shrugged as a familiar BMW drove past us, stopping only a few feet away from us.

"Right, sorry." He offered a goofy grin before looking over at the BMW and dropping his bike as Steve hopped out of the drivers' side, mumbling to himself.

"Listen, I've been thinking. I'm sorry, I love you, but..." He stopped and fixed his hair, clutching the red roses that he held in his other hand a bit tighter. "I'm sorry? What the hell am I sorry for?" He asked himself, growing slightly annoyed at the idea of apologizing.

"Wait, Steve!" Dustin called out to him before jogging up to the boy. "Are those for Mr. or Mrs. Wheeler?" He asked stopping in front of Steve who looked between the two of us confused.

"No?" He looked down at the roses and back up at the two of us as I made my way beside Dustin. "Good." Dustin smiles up at him before snatching the roses out of his hand. "Nancy

isn't home and we have bigger problems than your love life, so let's go."