"Shit," Y/N muttered in exasperation as she slammed her home phone down in frustration. Running a shaking hand through her hair, Y/N leaned against the kitchen counter as she tried to think of a solution to her problem. Her problem being that not a single member of the Party was picking up their phone.

Y/N stared at the phone hesitantly before picking it up and quickly dialing her friend's number. "Steve Harrington, I swear-" Y/N began to mutter, but she was once again met with no answer. She slammed the phone down even louder than earlier before slumping against the counter, her head falling into her hands.

This couldn't be happening. The Upside Down being back. Pennywise being back. Mike being missing. . .

None of this was real. There was just no way.

For a moment, Y/N felt as if she was about to cry. The stinging feeling in her eyes as her vision began to blur ever so slightly only made her more frustrated, her body shaking out of both fear and stress. Fear for her friend and for anyone else that these two threats could harm and stress over how she was supposed to find a solution.

Without the Party, Y/N was the only one that understood how to fight back against the Upside Down. But much like the Losers had to fight together to be able to defeat Pennywise, Y/N and the Party had to do the same with the Upside Down.

How was she supposed to fight the same creatures that had been haunting her nightmares for years now without the very people who had helped her defeat the place not once but three times?

How was she supposed to save Mike?

"Y/N?" a small voice called out making the girl jump in surprise and turn to see both Eddie and Richie standing in the kitchen doorway. Eddie was looking at her in concern while Richie tried to play it off like he didn't want to be there even though they all knew he was worried for her too.

Y/N quickly wiped her eyes to get rid of the small tears that had started to form and plastered a fake smile on her face. "Oh, hey," she said as she waved ever so slightly at the two.

"Shit, you aren't crying, are you?" Richie asked, the tone in his voice making even him wince at his harshness although Y/N was unaffected.

Eddie whacked the boy and glanced over at the girl. "I think what Richie was trying to do was ask if you are okay."

"I don't know about-" Richie began, but Eddie was stomping on his shoe within a second, the boy stopping mid sentence to mutter a bunch of curse words as he hopped up and down on one foot.

"I'm fine," Y/N said, making both boys glance at each other before looking to her with their eyebrows raised. "Really, guys. I'm fine."

"Well, I'm fucking not. So if I'm able to tell you just how not fine I am, you should be able to do the same without lying to my face," Richie told her in slight annoyance as he walked over to stand closer to her, Eddie following right behind.

"Richie's right. None of us are fine and we all know it. Then we have Bill out there worrying more about if you're okay than if he's okay. We had to stop him from coming in here five times by the way since we knew you were on the phone. So don't give us the whole 'I'm fine' crap cause we know you aren't," Eddie said.

Y/N stared at her two friends in silence before she leaned her back against the counter with a sigh and let her head fall back into her hands. Richie was the first to go over to the girl which wasn't really a surprise to any of them. Richie may try to act like he didn't care about things, but when it came to Y/N or even any of his friends, he cared a lot more than he let on.

The boy's arms wrapped around her and Y/N let her body fall against his as her shoulders began to shake, tears filling her eyes. Eddie smiled sadly and walked over before hugging her from the other side and leaning his head on top of hers. Y/N instantly latched her arm on top of Eddie's and was quick to hold his hand as the three stood there comforting one another.

It took a minute, but Y/N eventually managed to stop crying and sniffles as she wiped her tears away. "I'm not fine," she admitted. "And I haven't been fine since the last night after the arcade."

"Why? What happened?" Eddie asked while Richie took his sleeve and helped wipe the girl's tears away. Eddie and Y/N both glanced at the boy and he rolled his eyes at the two before ruffling Y/N's hair just to mess it up and make a point.

Y/N let a small smile peak through and that was enough to make her realize that she could tell them what had happened, that she wanted to tell them what had happened.

"It was late last night, right before the storm hit. I was taking the trash outside to help my parents out when I heard something in the bushes across the street. I thought it was just the wind, but then something started to walk out of the bushes and the lightning flashed, revealing the one thing I thought I would never see again," Y/N told them. Her face paled slightly and for a moment it was as if she was seeing the events of last night all over again.

"A demogorgon."

"Demogorgon? You mean those things you have mentioned before? The ones you fought in Hawkins?" Eddie asked.

Y/N nodded and let her eyes flicker over to Richie, waiting for a snarky response to come from the boy, but all he did was watch her in silence, waiting for her to finish with her story. She let out a small sigh of relief at that and continued.

"It was like I was paralyzed, but then the thing started to come towards me and I snapped out of it and ran inside. Then came the freaky part cause I looked outside my window and instead of the demogorgon, I saw that thing, that clown," Y/N shuddered.

"You saw It?" Richie asked, his eyes wide.

Y/N nodded. "Yeah. Then the lightning kept flashing and all of a sudden both the demogorgon and It were together and with each flash they got closer and closer until they were just on the other side of the window. I was so freaked out that I screamed and fell back, but by the time my father came running in, they were both gone," she finished, her body shaking slightly just from retelling what had happened.

"Well, fuck. No wonder you were acting so weird all day. You were scared shitless," Richie muttered as his eyes flashed with concern.

"That's why you were so concerned about Mike," Eddie concluded causing the girl to nod.

"I wasn't sure if what had happened last night was real or not, so when Mike didn't show up, I got a little scared. It reminded me too much of what had happened to my friend Will back in middle school. Then I saw that portal and fucking clown earlier tonight I knew what I had seen wasn't a dream and that Mike had been taken," Y/N explained.

"So that's why you're trying to call your friends. You're hoping they can help," Eddie realized.

"Exactly," Y/N said.

"Well what did they say?" Richie asked. "Were you crying cause of them? Did they say something?" He was starting to get a little defensive of the girl and for a moment she was reminded of Steve Harrington, the boy who was practically her brother.

"No, they didn't say anything actually because they didn't answer. That's why you found me crying—because I was so stressed about not knowing what to do," Y/N explained.

Eddie and Richie frowned, but they didn't get a chance to respond because there was a knock on the door. The trio turned to see Bill standing in the doorway, concern in his eyes as they flickered over the three before landing on Y/N.

"E-E-Everything okay?" Bill asked, although he was really asking to see if Y/N was alright.

"Not really," Y/N admitted. "No one's answering my calls."

Bill frowned and looked to the ground for a moment before looking back up at the girl. "W-W-Wait, today's M-M-Monday, right?" He asked.

"Yeah," Y/N replied, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion. "Why is that-?" A loud gasp escaped her lips as a lightbulb went off in her head. "Billy boy, you are a genius!"

"What's so fucking special about Monday?" Richie asked as Y/N sped by the boys and out the door, but not before stopping to kiss Bill's cheek in a thank you.

Bill instantly turned red in the face and blinked a few times to get out of his daze before looking over at his friends. "S-S-Since it's Monday, Y-Y-Y/N has another way of c-c-contacting her f-f-friends," Bill explained. "However. . ." He trailed off and looked to the ground as he realized what everyone was going to have to do in order for her to be able to contact the her friends in Hawkins.

"I'm lost," Eddie muttered.

"M-M-Monday is the day Y/N t-t-talks to Dustin," Bill explained. "B-B-But she doesn't exactly c-c-communicate with him over the ph-ph-phone."

"What does she do? Write a letter?" Richie asked sarcastically. Bill just gave the boys a small almost apologetic smile.

"Y-Y-You'll see."

- - -

"You've got to be shitting me," Richie muttered as he stared up at the huge hills in front of them, the rest of the Losers all looking at the view in front of them with wide eyes as they realized they would have to climb it.

Bill and Y/N glanced at each other, both of them knowing how tired their friends would be by the time they reached the top. Y/N often hiked the small mountain, knowing it was easiest to reach her friend from up there, and Bill had even joined her on a few occasions so they both knew how difficult it was and just how much complaining to expect.

"Oh, it's not that bad," Y/N assured them as she tried to keep her voice as optimistic sounding as possible so that the Losers wouldn't give up hope.

"Y-Y-Y/N's right. We w-w-walk it all the t-t-time," Bill said.

The Losers all glanced at each other and Beverly sighed before nodding her head. "Then lets get going. This might take a while," she sighed.

Y/N sent the girl a thankful smile which Beverly returned. "Come on guys," Y/N said as she turned, tightened the straps of her huge backpack, and began to hike up the mountain. Bill quickly followed after her and Beverly began hiking only a few seconds after them.

It was no surprise that Ben went next as he hurried to catch up to Beverly. That left Stan, Richie, and Eddie. "I'm going to have a fucking asthma attack," Eddie muttered with a shake of his head as he took a puff of his inhaler and began to climb after the four.

"I can't believe we are doing this," Stan whispered to Richie, turning his head to look at the boy.

"Me either," Richie said as he looked up at the hills one last time. He took in a deep breath before slapping Stan on the back. "Come on, Stan the Man. Let's start moving or we'll never get up this fucking mountain."

Stan nodded and reluctantly began to walk up the hill with Richie by his side. "I mean, it can't be that bad," Stan pointed out before he glanced over at his friend. "Right?"

- - -

"I'm dying," Richie cried out as he plopped down on the ground on the top of the hill, his breathing fast and shallow. "I think I'm developing asthma cause my lungs fucking hurt. I can't breathe. I'm going to die."

"Shut the hell up," Eddie muttered with a roll of his eyes as he lightly kicked the boy who had laid on the ground by his feet. In Eddie's defense, Richie has been the one to lay there and he was being a bit of a prick.

Richie sent a glare in his friend's direction before reluctantly pulling himself up and turning to see everyone — except for him and Eddie — was watching Y/N as she rummaged through her bag and began to pull out equipment.

"What the hell is that?" Richie asked as he pulled himself up onto his feet. He walked over to where Y/N was, Eddie right behind him, before he scrunched up his nose in disgust and said, "Is that a fucking radio?"

"Yep," Y/N replied, not fazed by the person that was Richie Tozier.

"No offense, Y/N, but how is that supposed to help us?" Stan inquired.

"Yeah, didn't you tell us before that Hawkins is like a little less than a day's car ride away?" Ben questioned, everyone's eyes falling on the girl.

"Well, for starters, this radio is unlike any radio you have ever seen. Not only did I make it myself, but there are only two like it, one of them being this one while the other belongs to my friend Dustin who helped me make the radios. We made them one summer at science camp and they help with long-range communication," Y/N explained.

"So why did we climb this hill?" Eddie asked.

"Because the higher up we are, the better signal we will have," Y/N replied.

"What if Dustin doesn't have his radio on?" Beverly asked.

"That's where the whole it being a Monday thing comes into play. Dustin and I usually try and talk on the radios every Monday if we can. It's the only time I can really talk to my friends without any interruptions. And since it's a Monday, Dustin should be on. However, since we were at the Well House and the back at my house trying to call everyone, I missed the usual time we talk. So right now we are going on pure hope that Dustin is still there," Y/N told them.

"We're going off hope? Hope?" Richie asked, his eyes wide as he looked at his friends as if to confirm that they thought this idea was crazy as well. However, none of them seemed to agree with the boy. Richie rolled his eyes and let out a sigh, "This is fucking stupid."

"You know who else said that? Your mom when she gave birth to you," Y/N retorted before she proceeded to pretend to be the boy and let out a holler as she held a hand out to Eddie. Eddie snickered and high fived the girl while Richie frowned.

He could tell this was going to be a long night.

- - -

The night turned out to be just as long for the Losers as Richie has predicted, each of them so tired that their eyes struggled to stay open. The only thing keeping them awake was their fear for Mike and the sound of Y/N desperately talking into the radio and repeating every five minutes, "Guys? Dustin? This is Y/N. Does anyone copy? I've got a code red situation. I repeat, a code red situation. Over."

Besides Y/N, Bill was the only other person fully awake, both him and Y/N talking about nonsense as they kept each other awake and awaited a response. The others had all walked a little ways away to lay on the mountain-like hill as they talked, leaving Bill and Y/N by themselves.

This led to the two taking about anything they could think of, even going as far as for Y/N to open up to Bill about what had happened the previous night with It and the demogorgon. Bill had been a little upset that she hadn't told him, but understood seeing as she hadn't wanted to cause a panic when not knowing if what had happened was real or not.

But as the time drug on, the two slowly began to grow tired. Before they knew it, Y/N had found herself leaning against Bill and was struggling to keep her eyes open while Bill was resting his head on top of the girl's with an arm wrapped around her and his eyes closed.

Y/N let out a small sigh and spoke into her radio as she let out a tired yawn, "Guys? This is Y/N. . .again. Does anyone copy? This is a code red situation. I repeat, a code red situation. Over."

Just like the other times, she got no response. Y/N huffed and tried again, "This is Y/N. I have a code red situation. I repeat, a code red situation. Is anyone there? Over."

A groan escaped Richie's lips as he looked at the watch on his wrist to see that it was eleven o'clock. "That's it!" He exclaimed as he got up onto his feet, his sudden actions and booming voice startling everyone awake including Eddie who gave Richie a deathly glare.

Bill jumped from beside Y/N and his eyes shot open before he looked down to see just how close he had gotten to the girl while he was asleep. The two blushed slightly and sat up straighter before looking over at Richie.

"This is ridiculous!" Richie yelled. "They obviously aren't going to answer, so why are we wasting time when we could be using it to help Mike?"

The Losers didn't respond, each of them looking down as they realized Richie was right. Y/N, however, shook her head. "You don't get it, Richie," Y/N began, but the boy was quick to shake his head and cut her off.

"No, you don't get it, Y/N! That fucking clown has our friend and the longer It has him, the less likely it is that Mike is even alive!" Richie yelled.

Y/N frowned and got up onto her feet. "You think I don't know that? You have no idea what I've been through, Richie! The Upside Down is not something you want to fuck around with and I'm sure It is not any better!" she argued.

Richie let out a groan of disbelief. "You're seriously still going on about this? You know what, we shouldn't even be arguing right now. We need to save Mike because it's our job as his fucking friends to help him!" Richie yelled.

Y/N was seething at the point, the anger and fear coursing through her body only making her think irrationally. She opened her mouth to yell at her friend, but she felt someone lightly grab her wrist and tug on it.

The girl spun around and instantly softened at the sight of Bill. He gave her a small sad smile before whispering, "Y/N, Richie's right. I'm sorry, but we need to help Mike."

She hesitated at that, her eyes flickering over all of her friends as she realized they all agreed with Richie, that the longer they waited, the more harm that would come to Mike.

A small sigh escaped the girl's mouth and she gently pulled her arm away from Bill before hugging her body. She was just abut to open her mouth and give up when the sound of static filled the air. Y/N instantly turned at that, her eyes landing on her radio as a voice began to fill the air.

"Y/N? This is Dustin. Did I hear you say a code red situation? Over."

Y/N didn't know whether she wanted to cry or yell out in joy, so the sound that escaped her lips was a mix between a squeal and a sob. She rushed over to the radio and quickly picked up the com before pressing a button and spewing out at a hundred words a second, "Dustin! Oh boy, am I glad to hear you! Sorry for not being on earlier. I was a little busy. Yes, this is a code red situation. I repeat, a code red situation! I need you and the gang to get to Derry as quick as possible. Over."

There was a moment of static before Dustin said, "You're messing with me, right? You want us to go to Maine? That's at least a seventeen hour drive! Are you crazy? Over."

Y/N groaned in frustration while the Losers all watched her. "Dustin, listen to me. I wouldn't ask this of you all if I wasn't serious. Over," she insisted.

"Give me one good reason why we should come down there. Over," Dustin said.

The girl paused, her eyes flickering up at the look at the Losers who had all crowded around her before she glanced down and whispered, "They're back."

There was a long silence before Dustin's voice came through sounding both scared and confused, "What?"