Note: This story is inspired by Stranger Things. Knowledge of the show is not needed to follow this fic (which is why I don't have it under crossovers), though there are possible spoilers for season 1.


"Party's finally back together again!" Jessica commented as she set her tray of college cafeteria pizza on the table between Mike's own slice and Sam's salad. She sat down, making room for herself as the seventh person at a six-person table.

"Finally feeling better, Jess?" Sam asked. She refrained from mentioning that certain "party members" were still missing, since it was an unspoken rule to not bring up Josh unless necessary.

"It's been a full week since I've had vertigo," Jessica replied. "So my mom finally trusts me enough to be out on my own without fainting. Have I missed anything?"

"Boring classes are even more boring after excitement. And without you," Mike replied, kissing Jessica's cheek at the end.

"Chris and Ashley are actually a thing now," Matt chimed in.

Ashley opened her mouth to say something, but the lights in the cafeteria flickered and shut off for a moment. A few of the other students screamed and there was a sudden increase of noise until the lights came back on. Chris had his arm around Ashley, both of them still jumpy, and Mike and Sam tensed up.

"Okay, that was weird," Emily commented.

"Just a power surge," Chris replied, though he sounded slightly unsure of himself. He rubbed Ashley's arm in a calming gesture, both to calm her as well as himself. "Something probably hit the power line or something."

"Well, we know one thing it's not, so we don't have to worry," Sam stated in a hushed tone. "Since I don't think anyone here would have any reason to eat human."

"Yeah, right," Ashley agreed, letting out a breath she didn't realize she was holding. Tension seemed to leave the whole group at once as the brief power outage seemed more and more to have just been that.

"Anyways, Chris, Ashley, what dates can you even go on that you didn't already do as friends?" Jessica asked the new couple, trying not to let anyone freak out too much about the power surge.

Chris and Ashley glanced at each other a moment before looking back at Jessica. "It's pretty much the same thing, just with more cuddling and hand-holding," Chris replied.

"And more other things I hop-OW!" Mike added, though he got cut off when Ashley kicked him in the shin. She glared while Chris put his free hand up as if to say "wasn't me."

Jessica giggled a little, then turned to her former best friend. "And, uh, Em? Anything new?" she asked tentatively.

"Nothing that's any of your business," Emily replied, not even looking up from her food. There was no insult thrown her way, which was an improvement. Matt had visited Jessica in the hospital and mentioned once that he and Emily were on rocky ground with their relationship, but were still together for now.

"Mmkay," Jessica replied, knowing not to push Emily.

"Well, my next class is about to start. See you all a little later," Sam said, standing up to leave the table.

"I should probably start heading towards my programming class. It's all the way on the other end of campus," Chris added. Ashley got up to walk with him as she tended to do every day.


The next morning, something was bothering Sam. Her dorm roommate didn't socialize much, but Sam didn't see her at all that night, then in the morning her bed didn't seem like it was slept in. She waited outside of Emily's second class for her friend.

"Sam?" Emily asked, not expecting to see the blonde.

"Hey, Em. I was just wondering, was Jade in your first class with you?" Sam asked. "She never came home to the dorm last night."

Emily shook her head. "Probably just playing hooky. Maybe she decided to spend the night with her parents or at a friends' place," she suggested.

"It's possible, but it would be really unlike her," Sam commented. She pulled out her phone and scrolled through her contacts. "I don't think I ever got her number either."

"Don't worry about it. It's not your job to worry about her," Emily said with a dismissive tone, waving her hand.

"It's kinda hard for me not to worry sometimes," Sam stated with a sigh.


It was nice to be able to be outside enjoying the fresh air again, without everyone worrying that she could collapse at any moment. Mike was in class, and Jessica didn't care where anyone else was. She had her earbuds in, walking across campus with a bounce in her step as she listened to her music.

Jessica noticed off in one corner of the campus there was a construction fence, and walked over to investigate what was going in. There was nobody there besides the workers far on the other side of the fence, so nobody was there to witness Jessica tripping on a stray piece of debris.

"Ouch! Fuck!" Jessica hissed in pain as she caught herself on her hands and knees. She rolled over to investigate herself, finding a skinned knee and the injury on her chest slightly reopened.

Suddenly she was cast in shadow and looked up, scrambling to her feet when she saw the figure that had appeared out of nowhere. But just as quickly as it appeared, it disappeared with Jessica in its grip.