Chapter 1: The Aftermath

Eleven

I laid in bed as I thought about the Hawkins Middle Snowball of '84. It was one of the best nights of my life. I had a lot of fun dancing with my friends, but the best part of the night was sharing a kiss with Mike. I was replaying that moment in my head when I heard the secret knock on the front door

*Knockknock...knock...knockknockknock*

I snapped out of it and opened the door. Jim Hopper came in, late as usual, apologizing that he got caught up at a job. "It's fine, honestly," I said "I was just doing some thinking anyways." He entered the kitchen and grabbed some stuff out of the fridge to make dinner. "What were you thinking about?" He asked while preparing our meal, "...The snowball" I responded. "Do you miss your friends?" "Yes, I've been thinking about them a lot in the past two weeks... I want to see them." He pondered for a moment "Maybe I can set something up, you can see them once a week so you don't have to miss them? Maybe I can get you one of those walkie talkies too." "That sounds like a good idea," I responded "I'll finally be able to talk to them again."

The next morning, I woken up and Hopper had already left for work. "Perfect" I thought as I walked over to the television with my blindfold, "Time to see how things are going." I turned the television on to static and tied the black piece of fabric around my head before sending myself into the void. It was cold, and dark, I could feel the water moving around my feet as I looked around. I was here to see one person, and one person only, Kali. I spotted her in the distance, sitting by the barrel that her and the rest of her crew made a fire in every night. I started walking towards her, hearing her soft voice. She was talking about me with someone, I couldn't see them, but she was telling them that she missed me. She wanted me to return. I tried to get closer, but as I took my next step I watched her vanish into the air. I pulled the blindfold off my eyes and wiped the blood dripping from my nose, I missed Kali as well but I knew I wouldn't be able to see her anytime soon.

I looked at the clock on the wall and it showed 11:30 AM. I knew I had to eat something, but I didn't know what I could make other than Eggo waffles. I opened the fridge and stared for a minute, scoping out my options. There was a loaf of bread, some mayonnaise, butter, cheese, lunch meats, and various vegetables. I took out the bread, mayo, bologna, mustard and a cheese slice and made myself a sandwich before sitting down in front of the television and turning on a movie. I had only got a few bites into my sandwich when I heard the radio start beeping. "Hopper" I said to myself out loud. I walked over to the radio which was set on channel 11 to start deciphering the morse code he was sending me. "H-O-M-E-E-A-R-L-Y... Home early..." Why would he be coming home this early? I thought to myself. I walked back over to the couch and finished my sandwich while watching my movie, thinking about why Hopper would be coming home before he was done with his job.

I was washing my dishes when I heard the secret knock on the door. The clock read 12:35 so I knew it had to be Hopper. I unlocked the door with my back facing it. I heard the door slowly creak open, "hey kid, I have a surprise for you." Hopper said while entering our small, hidden rancher. "Oh, what is it?" I asked while rinsing my plate, "you will have to see for yourself" he said, I turned around after putting my dishes away, and that's when I saw what he brought home.