A young Nell was being walked down an empty hall of the hospital, holding the hand of an orderly in a pristine white uniform who led her to a room designated with a rainbow sticker beside the door.

"Do we get to play now?" Nell questioned the man, staring up at him with wide eyes as he pushed the door open.

The room was empty, spare for a few toys that lay in a neat line on the floor.

"Of course, take your pick." The man's voice was gentle, far from the harsh tone of the doctor.

Releasing the girl's hand, the man watched as she approached the toys, taking a moment to study and analyze her options before settling on an open box, inside rested the jagged pieces of a puzzle.

"Where's the picture?" She questioned, all the puzzles she'd done came with a picture that helped her to sort out the pieces."It adds to the challenge, silly." He remarked simply from his place beside the door, earning a shrug in response from the girl as she moved to sit cross-legged on the ground, pulling awkwardly at her hospital gown.

Nell distracted herself with the multiple pieces, separating the border from the others while the man slowly approached her, taking a seat in front of her, mimicking her poster.

"How are you feeling?" He questioned, blue eyes scanning her features as she focused on the puzzle in front of her.

"You said that shot wouldn't make me sleepy... You lied." She mumbled, still holding a grudge against the man that had been assigned as her caretaker while at the hospital.

"I had no choice but to lie, little one. We wouldn't have been able to run our tests without it." It was the truth, it was a vital part of the testing and she had already put up a fuss with everything that came before, fighting against something as simple as listening to her heartbeat.

"Still hurts..." She whispered, obviously still affected by what had happened. She was after all a sensitive child. "Can you tell me where it hurts?" He questioned, curious to see what the young girl's answer would be.

Slowly raising a hand, the girl placed a finger where her heart rested inside her chest, eyes still trained on the pieces in front of her. "It's like a bruise..." She mumbled out, "You don't forget the pain, even after it fades." She whispers.

"And where did you hear that from?" He questioned softly.

Looking up at the man with a furrowed brow, she tilted her head slightly to the side. "Hear?" She questioned. "Where'd you get the saying from, silly." He elaborated, seeming to forget he was talking to a child. "No one?" She questioned, confused as to why it would matter.

The man grins to himself as he lets her words sink in. "You promise?" He questioned, before holding his pinkie out to her, "Promise you're not lying?"

She looks at his finger in confusion as the man carefully placed a hand on top of hers before pulling it towards his own. "It's like an oath of honesty... between friends."

"Friends?" She questioned with a raised brow. "I never had a... No one ever wants to be my friend." She mumbled, scowling slightly at the memory of the other kids her age.

"Well, that isn't nice. You're lovely." He scoffed out.

Smiling up at the man, Nell quickly linked her finger with his as the sound of the door opening reached their ears.

March 23rd, 1986

Hawkins, Indiana

Harrington Residence

"Peter-"

"Peter..." I whispered out the orderly's name breathlessly as the man who had just entered the rainbow room called out to him.

My eyes fluttered open as the man's voice continued to ring in my ears. The room was silent, dark. The way a room should be in the middle of the night but unease still ate away at my gut. Sitting up carefully, my blurry eyes scanned across the room before landing on Steve's sleeping form.

He was still fast asleep on his side of the bed, laying on his chest and facing away from me. Watching as his shoulders slowly raised and fell, I took in a deep breath to calm myself before laying back down.

Running a hand through my hair, I slowly allowed my eyes to close once again. It was just a nightmare, already a fleeting memory.

I laid in silence for a few moments, waiting for my mind to drift back off to sleep until the feeling of fingers dragging across the skin of my cheek disrupted my concentration.

"I'm okay, baby... It was just a bad dream." I whispered to Steve, my eyes remaining shut as I caressed the back of his hand before dropping it back to my side.

But his fingers continued their descent, ignoring the words that were meant to soothe the movement. Now tracing the bow of my upper lip before their thumb mimicked the action on my bottom lip.

"Not really in the mood, Steve." I groaned out jokingly as I pushed his hand away from me.

"Focus, sleepyhead."

Flinching away from the figure I assumed to be standing beside me, I release a shocked cry as I sat up in the bed, moving to wake up Steve.

My reaction to the figure and sudden touch only aided in startling Steve and caused him to fall off of the bed with a loud groan while my eyes scanned the empty room.

"What the hell?!" Steve yelled, turning on the lamp on his nightstand to shoot me a tired glare, still not quite awake. "I-- I'm sorry... I thought- There was..." I stammered, eyes still nervously searching the room only to find that it was just us. The bedroom door was still closed and the window was still locked shut.

"Hey, hey..." Steve quickly noticed my fear, seemingly no longer tired as he sat beside me on the bed and pulled my hand into his. "It's okay... Don't apologize. Do you wanna talk about it?" He questioned gently, rubbing circles on the top of my hand.

Shaking my head slowly, I offered him a reassuring smile. "It was nothing... I just thought I already woke up." I explained with a shrug in the hopes of brushing off what had happened. "Just startled me a bit..."

~~~

I couldn't sleep for the rest of that night. My heart wouldn't stop racing and my thoughts... Well, these days once they start running it's practically impossible to get them to stop. I stayed with Steve until he drifted back off to sleep, but once his breathing steadied I carefully slid out of the bed and moved toward his desk.

It was a lot neater since he wasn't in school anymore, now loose sheets of paper, pens and pencils, and random knickknacks decorated the wooden surface. Scanning my eyes over the desk, my sights landed on a notepad, small enough to fit in a pocket but still enough room to take notes.

Flipping through the notes I found that Steve had yet to use it. Figuring he wouldn't miss a few pages, I clicked on the lamp that rested in the corner of his desk before grabbing a pencil.

What did we know... Honestly? Not much. I kept replaying everything Eddie had told us yesterday and yet none of it felt like enough. The lights flickered at Max's, a telltale sign of the Upside Down. But, there were no monsters. We've never dealt with anything that can kill people from the other side without using some sort of vessel.

Bones broken... Eyes pulled into skull... Lifted into the air... Lifted... It wasn't far off to assume that whatever was doing this, let's call them Vecna, has some sort of psychokinetic ability like El... Eleven.

Hawkins Lab ran experiments on children and if they numbered them in order then that means there were at least ten other children with the same abilities as El. But they would have to be in the Upside Down, how else would they not have been seen? How could they even survive down there? A week in there nearly killed Will and the last known gate was closed almost a year ago.

"Did you ever go to sleep?" I flinched away from the hand that clasped tightly onto my shoulder. "Nell?" Steve shook me lightly as my eyes moved between him and the light that poured through the window.

When had the sun risen... Maybe I zoned out again?

"I couldn't sleep... Too many thoughts." I mumbled to him before nodding down to the notepad in front of me. At least three of the pages were littered with my messy handwriting. Sporadic thoughts and ideas looked to be written out of order in a feeble attempt at piecing together how anything fit together. "What exactly am I looking at?" Steve questioned, rubbing a fist into his eye before fixing his messy hair.

"Everything we know... Or anything we can assume from what we know. It's not much but we have to start somewhere if we want to help Eddie." I stated, moving to give him a better view of the notepad. "Remind me again how you know Munson?" Steve questioned with a frown as he pulled the notepad from my hands.

Starting up at him, I squinted my eyes at the question. "Why are you jealous?" I teased, jabbing a finger into his side only for him to stay quiet. "No... Is it because you think he has better hair than you?" "Nell!" Steve scoffed placing a hand on my forehead to push me back lightly causing me to laugh. "Just observation!" I giggled.

"More like acquaintances," I informed him finally as he continued to stare down at me. "Do you know how boring it is to play D&D with kids in elementary? Like super boring. Eddie was the only person cool enough to admit that he played so there, that's how I know him. Happy?" I questioned standing from the chair to hold my hand out for the notepad.

"Extremely, actually." Steve admitted as he handed back the notes before placing a kiss on my forehead. "One down, one to go." He smirked before moving to the closet on the other side of his room. "Jesus, Steve. Dustin idealizes you, chill." I groaned, pulling an outfit from my bag.

~~~

The rest of the morning was a rush, driving around to pick up Robin, Dustin, and Max before stopping at the grocery to pick up a few essentials for Eddie. Seeing as we didn't have a concrete answer, much less a solution to his problem, it was safe to assume that we'd have to keep him hidden until further notice.

Thankfully, he was still in the shed that next morning. Still clutching tightly onto his makeshift weapon as he hid in the corner, the fear in his eyes quickly shifted into a glare once he realized it was just us. "Maybe announce yourselves? Just a thought." He groaned, dropping his weapon on the windowsill before moving to sit in the boat while we placed the groceries in front of him.

"Eleanor the Ensnarer... You remembered..." Eddie grinned as he pulled a box of Honeycomb cereal from one of the bags. "I'm sorry, the what?" Steve questioned with a furrowed brow while Dustin laughed at the player name that he hadn't heard in ages. "D&D." I mumbled awkwardly, the only thing filling in the awkward silence was the sound of Eddie crunching on his cereal.

"So... we got some good news and some bad news," Dustin informed the teen as he continued eating, the five of us spreading out on either side of the boat. "How do you prefer it?" Dustin questioned while Eddie stared at him with wide eyes. "Bad news first, always." He stated through a mouthful.

"All right... Bad news. We tapped into the Hawkins PD dispatch with our Cerebro, and they're definitely looking for you." Dustin informed him quickly, causing his lip to quiver slightly as he pulled his gaze away from the boy. "Also, they're, uh- pretty convinced you killed Chrissy. Like a hundred percent kind of convinced." Max stated awkwardly.

Eddie nodded slowly, taking in the bad news before turning back to Dustin. "And the good news?"

Robin was quick to answer, "You're name hasn't gone public yet. But if we found out about you, it's a matter of time before others do. And once that gets out, everyone and their shallow-minded mother are gonna be gunning for you." "Hunt the freak, right?" Eddie questioned, the only good news quickly souring.

"So, before that happens, we find Vecna, kill him, and prove your innocence." Dustin quickly brushed off the idea, as if our solution was just that simple. "That's all, Dustin? That's all?" Eddie scoffed, throwing a handful of cereal at the boy. "Pretty much it..." Dustin mumbled, wiping the cereal off the rim of his hat.

"Look, Eddie... I know what Dustin is saying sounds delusional, but we've been through this before, like way too many times." I explained in the hopes of not making the only option so hopeless. "Well, I have once." Robin spoke up quickly, "Mine was more human-flesh-based, theirs was more smoke-related," Turning to face Robin with wide eyes and a shake of my head, she quickly got back on track. "But the bottom line is, collectively, I really feel we got this."

Steve nodded in agreement, awkwardly scratching his neck. "Yeah, we usually rely on this girl who has superpowers. But- uh- those went bye-bye, so..." He mumbled with a shrug. "So, technically more in a sort of-" Steve quickly cut Robin off, "Kinda..." "-Brainstorming phase." Max helped him.

"Right, brainstorming. Nell's got notes on everything." He stated with a snap of his fingers. "It's not like a test we can study for..." I mumbled, placing my head in my hands before running a stressed hand through my hair. "So... There's nothing to worry about." Dustin sputtered, earning an encouraging scoff from Steve as the two smiled down reassuringly at a terrified Eddie.

"Think we spooked him..." I mumbled as the sound of sirens suddenly ripped through the air, quickly nearing the hiding place. "Shit..." Steve mumbled as he moved to look out the window while Robin quickly waved a hand at Eddie. "Tarp! Tarp. Tarp." She yelled at him repeatedly until he finally understood to hide in the boat like he had last night.

The sirens grew louder as we crammed ourselves together and crouched in front of the window to watch as the police cars shot down the road and past Reefer Rick's house, an ambulance following close behind.

"Let's go..." I mumbled, looking over my shoulder to spot Eddie staring up at us from under the tarp. "Stay here, okay? We'll be back." I reassured as the five of us hurried out of the boat house and towards Steve's car.

Pulling out of the driveway and following close behind the police cars, we found that the road ahead of us was blocked off by police tape and cars. The flashing red and blue lights contrasted against the stark woods that surrounded the road.

Parking behind the ambulance, the five of us scanned our eyes around the scene to quickly find that a body was hidden beneath a white tarp, officers hurriedly passing and speaking to one another while a few feet away stood three more officers as they questioned a teen. Not just any teen, though. "Is that Nance?" I questioned, quickly pushing open the passenger side door in order to step out of the car.

Connecting eyes with the girl, her furrowed brow quickly turned into a relieved smile once she spotted the five of us watching her. Offering her a sad smile, I slowly waved to her and she was quick to return the gesture.

~~~

"You're saying that this thing that killed Fred and Chrissy. It's from the Upside Down?" Nancy questioned slowly, still soaking in the information that Dustin had pushed onto her as soon as we found a safe place to talk. The center of the trailer park was practically empty since everyone had flocked to the road to find out what had happened.

His name was Fred Benson and his body had been found the exact same way as Chrissy. His bones were completely broken and his eyes were pulled into his skull. This thing, Vecna, he had a method. He was following a pattern but we didn't know his reason for killing them. How did he choose them? How was he doing this? Why was he doing this?

"If the shoe fits." Steve muttered, sitting between Dustin and me while Nancy, Robin, and Max sat on the other side of the picnic table. "Our working theory is that he attacks with a spell... Or a curse. Now, whether or not he's doing the bidding of the Mind Flayer or just loves killing teens, we don't know." I explained slowly, the theory wasn't much but it was all we had. "All we know is this is something different. Something new." Max continued while Nancy shook her head at everything she was hearing.

"Doesn't make sense." That was all she said, still staring down at the picnic table. "It's just a theory." Dustin tried to reason with her but she was quick to explain what she meant, "No, Fred and Chrissy don't make sense. I mean, why them?"

We thought over her question, she was right to wonder what exactly they had in common. The answer was not much. Chrissy was the popular girl; the cheerleader. Fred was a nerd; a know-it-all that didn't have many friends. Unless Vecna is using cheesy horror movies as reference material; there was no pattern there.

"Maybe they were just in the wrong place? They were both at the game." Dustin tried to reason while Robin slowly thought over the new idea. "And near the trailer park." Max's statement caused Steve to look over his shoulder anxiously. "We're at the trailer park." He mumbled awkwardly, "Uh- Should we maybe not be here?" He questioned, quickly turning back to us.

Nancy slowly nodded, tracing her wide eyes over the trailer park. "There is something about this place. Fred started acting weird the second we got here." She informed us carefully. "Acting weird as in..." Robin nodded for the girl to continue. "Scared... On edge, upset." Her description caused Dustin to jump in his place. "Max said Chrissy was upset too."

Max nodded but frowned at the memory, "Yeah, but not here. She was crying in the bathroom at school." She informed us, causing Robin to slowly lean across the table, "Serial killers stalk their prey before they strike, right? So, maybe Fred and Chrissy saw this Vecman--" "Vecna." Dustin cut her off with a squint of his eyes. "Dunno about you guys, but if I saw some freaky wizard monster, I would mention it to someone."

"Maybe they did!" Max exclaimed quickly. "I saw her leaving Ms. Kelley's office. If you saw a monster, you... you wouldn't go to the police. They'd never believe you. But you might go to--" "Your shrink." I stated, Max nodding before standing from the table, the rest of us following close behind.

Hurrying back to Steve's car, Nancy slowly started to separate herself from us. "Hey, Nance? Nance!" I quickly grabbed onto the sleeve of her jean jacket to stop her. "Where are you going?" I questioned, nodding my head back to the car. "Oh... There's just something I wanna check on first." She explained, pulling her own key from her bag and slowly moving back to her car.