November 1st, 1984

Hawkins Middle School

"What's wrong with him?" Mike asked me as he tried shaking Will out of his episode.

"I-I don't k-know." I stuttered, worrying not only about why he was having this episode but why it was so bad this time as his eyes stayed rolled back, but blinked quickly.

"I'll go get someone!" Lucas yelled as he ran back up the field and towards the school's entrance.

"Will? Will!" Mike spoke close to Will's ear but he stayed frozen in place. The sound of running footsteps grabbed our attention as we turned to find Dustin, Lucas, mom, and the new girl running towards us.

"I'm sorry, I just found him like this! He's having another episode!" I yelled to mom as she stood in front of him, placing her hands on the side of his face. "Will! Will!" She yelled in his face but that did nothing.

"Will, it's mom!" She yelled again. Nothing.

"Will, please wake up!" Nothing again.

"Will, please. It's me." She yelled one last time before finally, his eyes shot open revealing his green eyes.

"Oh my god." Mom let out as she pulled him into a hug while the rest of us slowly let out a sigh of relief.

"Are you okay?" I asked, kneeling next to them as mom let the boy out of her death grip. "I think... I think so." He whispered as he looked around us, still scared of whatever he saw in that place.

"Come on, let's get you home." Mom whispered to him, wrapping an arm around him and taking him to her car. "Nell, where's Jonathan?" She asked as we made our way up the hill, leaving the party alone.

"Oh, I-uh. I don't know." I stated, opening Wills door. "What do you mean, you don't know? How do you not know?" She asked, closing the door on Will. Turning towards me, she crossed her arms and gave me the look.

"How am I supposed to know?" I tried as I walked past her and towards the rear passenger side. "He talks to you, he would have told you." She said moving in front of the door.

"Not like before." I muttered, instead of responding, she stared down at me for a few seconds before looking back at Will. "We're talking about this later."

Leaving it at that, she moved out of the way of my door and quickly walked to the drivers' side as the party watched us from the front of the school.

~~~

Once we had made it back home from the Middle School, mom ushered Will to the kitchen while I made a quick escape to my room to avoid any future conversation with her.

Throwing my bag on my bed, I stood over my little cheap phone I had bought over the summer with some saved-up cash.

After debating on the idea for a few seconds I decided to call Nancy.

Maybe it was just to check up on what exactly was her and Jonathan's plan, or maybe it was just meant to check on her.

Picking up the phone, I dialed her number and awkwardly tapped my foot as the phone rang.

"This line is busy. Please, try again later."

"Seriously." I muttered, placing the phone back down on the receiver. Sitting on my bed, I stared at the dark green phone waiting for something to happen, anything.

After waiting for nothing, I stood from my bed and walked into the dining room to find that mom had sat Will down. "What happened?" She asked him, though he avoided looking at her, instead he picked at the edge of the dining table.

"I can't remember." He muttered as I sat down. "I need you to try." Mom stated, leaning closer to him. "I was on the field and then- then it all went dark, and then you were there." He stuttered out, but mom could tell he was hiding something. "Will, I need you to tell me the truth." "I am." He whispered.

"Eleanor?" She looked up at me with a stern gaze. "What? That's all he remembers." I stated, causing her to roll her eyes and stand from her seat.

Walking into the living room, mom came back with a piece of paper with a poorly drawn figure on it. Placing it on the table in front of Will, she pointed down at the sketch. "This shape, I saw it on the tape from Halloween night." She stated as Will stared down at the drawing with wide eyes.

"It's the same shape as your drawing." She continued. "Wait you've seen it before?" I asked Will before he slowly nodded his head. "These episodes that you're having, I think Dr. Owens is wrong. I think they're real. But, I can't help you if I don't know what's going on. So, you have to talk to me. Please."

Will stayed silent, looking away from mom and back down at the drawing. "No more secrets, okay?" She whispered as he looked back up to her. "Okay. Did you see this thing again on the field?"

Will nodded slowly, "Yes." "What is it?" My question seemed to make his breathing heavier as he looked down at the picture. "I don't know." He whispered as tears began to grow in his eyes. "It's almost like a feeling." He stammered out, a look of fear grew behind his eyes. "What does it want?" Mom questioned.

"I don't know. It came for me and- and I tried. I tried to make it go away." His voice shook as he began to cry from the memory of what happened. "But it got me." "What does that mean?" Mom placed a hand on his shoulder as she continued to cry.

"I felt it... everywhere. Everywhere. I-I still feel it. I just want this to be over." Mom pulled Will in for a hug as he sobbed ou what had happened. "It's okay, it's okay." She whispered to him as she lightly rubbed his back. "Listen. Look at me." She whispered to him, pulling him away from her shoulder.

"I will never, ever let anything bad happen to you ever again. Whatever's going on in you, we're gonna fix it. I will fix it." She stated, holding his face in her hands. "I promise. I'm here."

~~~

The sound of my door creaking open pulled me out of my sleep.

Jumping slightly at the sudden noise, I rubbed my eyes with my hand as I found the figure behind the door to be Jonathan. "What are you doing? Did you just get home?" I asked, rolling onto my side as he closed the door behind him.

"Shhh... yeah I did. What's up with Will?" He asked as he leaned on the closed door, stuffing his hands into his jacket.

"He had another one of his episodes at school, it was really scary. Why? Is he okay?" I answered him, slowly rising out of my spot on the bed. "Yeah? I mean, mom's sleeping in his bed so I think he is."

"I think she's scared to leave him alone. Speaking of alone, what happened with you and Nancy? My calls kept getting blocked."

Jonathan stayed quiet from his place still leaning on the door. "Nothing. I mean, we are gonna talk to Barbs mom." "So she's gonna tell her what happened? Can we do that?"

"Well, we are. Something like that." He nodded with an awkward smile on his face. "When?" "Tomorrow, Nancy and I are skipping."

Staying silent, Jonathan avoided my confused gaze, "What about me?" I asked quietly as he shook his head, "She thinks that maybe we should do this on our own, it's safer."

"Bullshit. She's mad, and you're taking her side." Rolling his eyes, Jonathan ran a hand through his hair, "There are no sides, Nell. You did it to yourself, so just stay out of it, okay?"

Letting out a sigh, Jonathan opened the door again, "If mom asks just tell her I went to Dad's."

~~~

Stepping out of my room, I looked into Jonathan's room to find it empty, his bed for once was neatly made. Walking quietly down the hall, I noticed Will's door was left open, finding him alone in his room still asleep.

"Mom?" I called out as I made my way past the living room and into the kitchen.

Holding a finger to her lips, she leaned on the wall next to the phone, holding it between her ear and shoulder.

"Hey, Flo." She started quickly only to be cut off by the woman on the other end, "Wait, don't-"

Groaning, she slammed the phone back against its receiver. "Shit.." She mumbled before turning to me and crossing her arms over her chest. "Wanna tell me where your brother is?"

"Did he not tell you? I thought he'd leave a note." I shrugged and walked towards the counter to grab an apple. "He did. That doesn't mean I believe it."

"All he told me was that he wanted to go to dads for a while, clear his head or whatever."

Rolling her eyes, she nodded and sat at the table. "Still don't believe it, but okay."

"So, is Will okay?" I asked as I bit into my apple. "I don't know. I think he's just traumatized, he doesn't know what he's feeling."

"Do you want me to walk him to school?" I asked as I took another bite before grabbing my bag that I had placed on the floor. "Thanks, but no. I called off, I think it's best if he takes a day off too."

~~~

Resting my cheek against the palm of my hand, I let my eyes slowly close as I listened to the sound of the basketball against the gym floor and the scraps of the players' tennis shoes.

The sharp pitch of the coach's whistle, however, pulled me back out of my daze, forcing me to stare back out at the boys playing their game. Mostly at how Billy practically toyed with Steve.

"All right! All right! King Steve everyone!" Billy hollered with a smirk on his lips as he carelessly bounced the ball between his hands while Steve paced from left and right in front of him.

"Not so tough? Huh?" Billy continued causing Steve to roll his eyes and wave his hand towards the ball, "Jeez! Do you ever stop talking?"

"What? Afraid that now I'm here, coach is gonna bench you?" Billy continued to tease, walking to the side of Steve, still lightly tapping the ball against the ground.

As Steve went to follow Billy's movement, Billy pushed him down to the ground with his shoulder, a loud bang echoed through the gym as Steve landed on his back.

Now satisfied with how he left Steve, Billy ran past the other boys and shot the ball straight through the hoop.

The girls on the bleachers and boys on the skins team cheered, while I rolled my eyes and stood from my spot on the bleachers to make my way towards the locker room.

Making my way past the players, I watched as Billy offered Steve a hand to get up, whispering something to the boy before pushing him back down. "Looking good, Nell." Billy winked before walking towards the locker room as well.

Rolling my eyes, I looked over to see Steve slowly holding himself up with his elbows, glaring in Billy's direction.

"You alright?" I asked, stopping in front of Steve, offering him my hand. "Will be." He muttered, as he grabbed my hand and let me help him up. "Just ignore him, he's a douche. I think." I tried to smile up at Steve, though he still held a frown on his lips. "Think?"

Rolling his eyes, Steve walked away and into the locker room.

~~~

After taking my time getting changed out of the baggy gym uniform, I made my way out of the locker room alone.

Looking around the empty gym, I could hear the sound of the other students' voices in the halls as they left the school. "Hey, Nellie."

Stopping in my tracks, I turned around to spot Steve jogging up to me, his hair still damp from showering in the locker room. "What do you want?" I groaned as he stopped in front of me.

"Look, I just wanted to apologize. I've kind of been a jerk towards you." He tried to talk smoothly but he still struggled to find the right words. "You could call your behavior that, sure." I nodded and went to walk out of the gym.

"Wait! Just, I really am sorry." Reaching out to stop me from walking, he lightly pulled my hand into his.

Letting out a sigh, I softly squeezed his hand in mine. "It's okay, we both are in the wrong." I stated and tried to smile up at him but it proved difficult as he looked down at me sadly.

"So, Jonathan and Nancy haven't been back since yesterday." He spoke softly.

Letting out a scoff, I dropped my hand out of his and turned away from him. "So, that's why you apologized? To talk about Nancy." I shook my head and started to leave again.

"Wait, no. I mean yes, but no." He stumbled on his words and followed me out of the gym. "Which one is it, yes or no?" I asked looking over my shoulder as we made our way down the hall.

"I am sorry, but I need to know if there's anything going on between them."

"I don't know. They won't tell me anything now, I'm not a part of whatever they're up to." I stated, growing annoyed with his persistence.

Pushing hard against the schools' doors, I stepped onto the concrete sidewalk, with Steve still close behind.

"Nell, can you please just answer one thing for me?" He asked, and for the first time, I couldn't place the tone in his voice. "Fine." I nodded and stopped to turn around and face him.

"Should I be worried?" "Worried about?" I furrowed my brow at the open-ended question.

"Will Nancy be okay? Will they be okay? Will we be okay? I don't know..." He thought hard about what he was really worried about, but couldn't seem to come up with a clear thought. "Honestly, Steve. Yes, we all should probably be worried."