November 1st, 1984

Hawkins High School

Once Nancy and Jonathan had left, the rest of the school day passed by agonizingly slow. Having no one to walk to class with or talk to when the teacher strictly says not to seriously ruins the day.

Once the bell had rung releasing us from school for the day, I made my way to my locker, taking my time since half the time Will is late for pick up because he gets caught up talking to Mike.

Turning the corner, I spotted an unwanted visitor. "Need help, Steve?" I cocked an eyebrow at the boy as I put in the combination to my locker.

"Yeah, have you seen Nance?" He asked, awkwardly scratching the back of his neck as I threw my books in the locker. "She left early." I stated, slamming the locker shut and turning to make my way towards the school's entrance.

"Why? She never leaves early." I shrugged him off and continued on my path with him close behind. "Nell, wait." Steve said as he pulled me back by my shoulder. "Steve, I gotta go."

"Did I do something? Why are you acting so, I don't know, off?" He asked, the question seeming genuine as it fell from his lips. "I'm the one that's off?" I let out an annoyed chuckle and turned away from him to continue walking.

"Yeah, off. If it's about last night, don't take it seriously." Shaking my head, I stopped in my tracks and let out a sigh.

"Seriously? Steve, I don't care." I stated but that seemed to only hurt him more. "I just want to focus on myself, maybe you should do the same." I continued, though he only stayed silent.

With him still staring down at me quietly, I nodded a goodbye and continued out of the school, walking a little way down the road until I was at the Middle School entrance.

Walking over to the bike rack, I found that the party's bikes were still locked in, with them nowhere to be found.

Looking down at my watch, I figured it wasn't too bad for them to be five minutes behind. But soon those five minutes turned to ten and now all the students had finished leaving.

Rolling my eyes, I made my way through the entrance and walked aimlessly around the halls until I found a red-headed girl around the groups' age banging on the AV club door.

"Come on, guys! Can I come in yet?" She yelled as she hit her fist on the door. "No!" A voice that I assumed belonged to Mike yelled back.

"Everything okay?" I asked walking up to the girl as she rested her back on the door. "The stalkers locked me out." She stated, kicking the door with her foot.

"Sounds like them." I nodded and walked over to the door. "Guys, it's Nell! Is Will with you?" I yelled as I hit the door also.

The door flung open revealing Mike, with Dustin, Lucas, and Will behind him. "Hey, let's go." He said quickly, pulling me through the door and slamming it shut before the girl could follow. "Asshole!" She yelled hitting the door again.

"Why won't you let her in? And why is she calling you guys stalkers?" I asked, raising my brow at the group while Mike went back with the boys as they surrounded the makeshift ghost trap from Dustin's Halloween costume.

"Because Dustin found something." Will said. "Well, what is it?" I asked, standing next to him, looking down at the closed box. "His name is Dart. I think it's a new species but they think he's from-" "The Upside Down." Mike cut Dustin off.

"I don't understand?" I looked between the boys, hoping they'd just open the box. "Well, Will saw something that looked like Dart last year." Lucas said causing me to turn back to Will.

"What? Why didn't you tell me, or mom?" I asked, causing him to shrink slightly into his spot. "Well, I thought I saw something, I wasn't sure. But it didn't have a tail like this."

"And then he heard it yesterday, the exact same sound." Mike added. "Wait, you heard that too?" I asked causing the boys to turn their attention on me. "What you heard it too?" "Why didn't you tell us?"

"I didn't think it was related to last year." I shrugged, "I wasn't sure what I heard." Will answered as well, playing with his fingers.

"A coincidence, then." Dusting tried to defend the creature. "Or not. What if when Will was stuck in the Upside Down, he somehow acquired True Sight?" Mike explained to the boys.

"True Sight?" "It gives you the power to see into the ethereal plane." Dustin answered Lucas who still looked confused.

"So, maybe these episodes that Will keeps having aren't really flashbacks at all. Maybe they're real. Maybe Will can somehow see into the Upside Down." Mike continued, Lucas slowly understanding.

"So if Will can see into the Upside Down, then..." "Dart is from the Upside Down." Mike finished for Lucas while Dustin shook his head at the thought.

"We have to take him to Hopper." I said, looking down at the box that shook slightly. "Exactly." Mike agreed, "No, no way. We take him to Hop he's as good as dead." Dustin shook his head.

"Maybe he should be." Mike stated annoyed with the boy. "How can you say that?" "How can you not? He's from the Upside Down." The two boys voices had raised drastically

"Maybe. But even if he is, it doesn't automatically mean that he's bad." Dustin tried protecting the creature while Mike leaned over the table. "That's like saying just because someone's from the Death Star doesn't make them bad."

"We have a bond." Dustin whispered looking down at the box. "Aw, Dusty." I whispered, slowly feeling bad for him, seeing that he must really care for the creature.

"A bond? Just because he likes nougat?" Mike questioned with a frown edged on his face. "No, because he trusts me." "He trusts you?" Lucas asked, obviously not buying it.

"Yes, I promised I would take care of him-" Dustin's explanation was cut off by a screeching sound coming from inside the box, followed by the box shaking violently. "I think he can protect himself." I whispered, slowly backing away, pulling Will back with me as the noise continued and the box moved faster.

"Guys, what's going on? Come on." The girl outside knocked again, but all of our focuses remained on the box.

Picking up the intercom microphone, Mike held it in the air above the box. "Don't hurt him!" Dustin yelled, "Only if he attacks." Mike responded, his eyes still trained on the shaking box.

"Just open it already." Lucas stated as Dustin grabbed the controller and slowly pressed the release button.

Falling out of the box, a lizard or frog-like creature crawled onto its legs before chippering quietly to Dustin.

Slowly the animal fell quiet until it let out another screech, followed by two hind legs popping out of its skin. "Shit!" Lucas screamed as we all jumped away from the creature, except for Mike who went to slam the microphone against it.

"No!" Dustin yelled, pushing Mike away from the table while Dart jumped over the side. The sound of the door unlocking and then Dart running across the floor towards the exit grabbed all of our attention.

"What the?" The girl watched as the thing ran towards her while the five of us ran to stop it.

With Dustin and Lucas running ahead of Mike, Will, and I. The two ended up falling onto the red-headed girl while the three of us looked down the halls for any sign of the creature. "What was that?" She asked before pushing Dustin and Lucas off of her.

"Dart. You let him escape!" Mike yelled with unneeded rage pointed at the girl. "Why did you attack him?" Dustin moved in front of Mike, shoving his finger into the boy's chest angrily.

"Guys! Come on, let's go!" I pushed the two apart allowing Mike to run down the hall that he thought Dart went down. "Don't hurt him!" Dustin yelled after the boy as Lucas and the girl went down the opposite hall.

"Dustin, it's okay. Just go look for him in the West Wing. Will and I will take the South." I stated as the two boys grabbed their Walkies from their bags.

"You find him, don't touch him." Dustin commanded before quickly making his way down the West Wing of the school.

"So the episodes have been getting worse?" I asked Will as we made our way down the hall.

Staying silent, Will looked down at his shoes. "Are you mad?"

Stopping in the middle of the hall, I lightly turned Will around to face me before crouching down to be eye level with him.

"I could never be mad at you, Will. I know you told Jonathan and me that you hate this treatment, but if things get worse, you tell us."

"I tried explaining it to the doctor, but he just kept writing it off." Will mumbled, placing his hand in his pocket. "You told him it was worse?"

"Well, I told him they felt worse like something wasn't right. But, everyone keeps telling me that it isn't real. Is it?" He asked quietly looking around us as if someone was listening.

"Maybe, Mike's right with his theory. Maybe you do have this True Sight. But, you have nothing to worry about. We're all here for you, to protect you."

"What if you can't?" He asked quietly, sending a chill down my spine. "No such thing. Will, we lose this fight the moment we give up, so what do we do?"

"Don't give up." He nodded, a small smile on his face. Grinning at him, I slowly stood from my crouched position in front of him and messed up his hair with my hand. "Precisely, now let's go find Dart."

~~~

Making our way further down the South Hall, Will stopped in front of the boys' bathroom. "Do you think he could have gotten in here?" He asked as he pushed the door open slowly.

"With how fast he was running, it possible." I nodded and followed him into the bathroom.

Staying quiet, the familiar chittering sound of Dart met our ears.

Hearing the noise, Will stopped in his tracks and looked at the closed doors of the stalls. "Hey, it can't hurt you." I told him softly, placing my hand on his shoulder.

Nodding, the two of us slowly made our way towards the stalls, pushing each stall door open before reaching the last one.

Looking up at me, Will slowly placed his hand on the door before pushing it open, and there we found Dart hiding in the far corner of the stall.

"Guys... we found him." Will spoke into his Walkie, never taking his eyes off the creature. "Where?" Dustin answered the message instantly. "In the bathroom by Mr. Salerno's." He answered before Mike responded, "Copy that."

"It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you." Will spoke softly to the creature as it pushed itself away from us.

Suddenly, the creature let out a screech causing Will to drop his Walkie to the floor before running out of the bathroom.

Looking down at the animal, I picked up the Walkie and followed behind Will out of the bathroom to find him staring distantly down the hall, the only emotion his eyes held was fear as he took in deep, heavy breaths.

"Will?" I spoke quietly and went to touch his shoulder, only for his head to snap towards the hall that connected to ours and run away from whatever he saw.

"Will!" I yelled as I followed behind him, though he stayed significantly ahead of me as he ran to save his life from something I couldn't see.

"Will, it's okay!" I yelled again as he slammed through the school's exit and ran into the field. Still chasing after him, Will slowly started to slow down his pace before coming to a halt in the middle of the field.

Stopping a few feet away from him to give him some space, he slowly turned around to face me, only he wasn't looking at me but rather at something above us.

"You can't hurt me." Will whispered more to himself rather than the being that only he could see, "Will, snap out of it." I stepped closer to him.

"Go away!" He screamed, tears prickling the edge of his eyes. "Go away! Go away!" Will continued to scream, though it seemed whatever he spoke to only got closer as the fear in his eyes grew more and more.

"Go away!" Will screamed one last time before growing silent, holding his breath as his eyes slowly lowered down to my level. "Will?" I whispered, my voice cracking slightly as my fear for his well-being grew.

Throwing his head back, Will's eyes rolled into the back of his head.