Author's Note: Hi everyone! Thanks for choosing my story to read! I've been working on this one for the last couple of months, and it's my first ever fan fiction. I hope you all enjoy reading it as much as I have writing it! It's basically been all written and will be 11 chapters total, but I just keep finding little things to add in or tweak every day. I'm publishing the first three chapters to start and then will add another chapter every week or so.

Chapter One: The Mansion

It's now July of 1985, eight months after Eleven closed the gate to the Upside Down. Summer vacation started a few weeks ago, and we were making the most of it — crazy long campaigns of Dungeons and Dragons, pool parties at Steve's house, and extended trips to the arcade. We even got to see Back to the Future, a super awesome time travel movie, when it was released at The Hawk, our local movie theater. We camped outside for hours so we could get good seats. Our party was the largest it had ever been, now seven members. There was Mike, the de facto leader of the group who usually came up with the Dungeons and Dragons campaigns. He had pale skin with freckles on his face and raven colored medium length hair. He was the tallest out of all us. Mike was pretty open-minded about most things and extremely optimistic. He was the force that pushed us to have faith that Will was still alive when he had been taken by the Demogorgon, and he never gave up hope that El was still out there somewhere when she disappeared after killing the Demogorgon. Lucas, a skinny black kid with a very short afro, was the pragmatic and skeptical one. He always made sure we thought about things and situations realistically before moving forward. He and Mike would often find themselves on opposite sides of an argument because of their contrasting approaches. Then there was Dustin, who moved to Hawkins in the fourth grade. He had a medical condition called cleidocranial dysplasia, which affected the development of his teeth, and he almost always wore a baseball cap over his curly brown hair. He always tried to keep the peace and make sure our party functioned at its best. Will, who had a brown bowl cut and was the shortest out of all of us, was very creative and usually quieter than the others but had a great sense of humor and showed it off when it counted. He's had a very troubled past couple of years, first being taken by the Demogorgon and then possessed by the Mind Flayer, but our party never gave up on him and did everything it could to get him back, twice. Then there was me. My name is Robert, and I was the fourth member to join the party. I was just a tiny bit shorter than Mike, making me the second tallest of the group. I had medium length dark brown hair and was fairly skinny. While I was always pretty shy, like Will, being in the party gave me more self-confidence because there were others like me who didn't quite fit in with everyone else. Nancy, Mike's sister, told me once I was the most emotionally mature one out of the group but quipped I was her second favorite after Dustin, whom she thought had the best sense of humor, which I couldn't help but agree with. I guess it was because I always tried to be polite and considerate of people's feelings. I didn't like making a scene, but if my friends were, I would be right there with them. To Nancy, I was the little brother she wished Mike would act more like. Sometimes when I would go over to the Wheelers' for playdates with Mike, I'd end up spending more time with Nancy because we both liked playing with dolls, but when after a while I realized Mike felt left out and a bit jealous, I apologized and went back to playing with him. When Nancy started middle school she stopped hanging out with me, but she always stayed friendly. Mike never told the other party members I used to play with dolls, which I was grateful for.

Mike and Will met on the first day of kindergarten and Lucas joined them shortly thereafter. I met Will in the first grade, and he introduced me to Mike and Lucas. Before I knew it I was absorbed into the party. I lived on the same street as Mike and Lucas, Maple Street, but a little farther down.

The week Will was taken by the Demogorgon was the worst week of my life. I took the whole ordeal particularly hard because he was my first and best friend. When it dawned on the party that Will was actually missing and not just home sick or hiding in Castle Byers, I had to hide my tears from Mike, Dustin and Lucas. I'd cry every night he was gone, hoping he was still alive and safe somewhere. I did my best to stay strong when I was with the party. Mike helped make it easier to hold on to hope of finding Will, and I could never thank him enough for that. I remember how euphoric it was when I finally saw Will again in the hospital bed after he was rescued from the Upside Down. The look on his face when I came over to hug him was one I could never forget. While it was incredibly painful to watch Will suffer while he was possessed by the mind flayer a year later, I took solace in him still physically being with us, and by that point I was already used to Upside Down-related stuff.

Now, our party had two girls, which was cool. Of course there's Eleven, or El, though her real name was Jane. She didn't really care which name we called her but we usually called her El. The brown curly haired teen had crazy telekinetic powers and had saved our butts so many times. She had a troubled past, being raised inside Hawkins Lab like a lab rat by the despicable Dr. Brenner, but she's doing much better now living with Chief Jim Hopper as his adopted daughter. One time during our search for Will, when the other party members weren't around, El caught me crying. At first I was extremely embarrassed, but then she approached me and gave me a hug. It was like it was instinctual for her. She just told me she understood as she embraced me. That was when I knew El wasn't some crazy Russian spy or juvenile delinquent like Lucas thought but a good person. From that moment on, I trusted El as much as Mike did and took his side in his spat against Lucas. Then there was Max, or Mad Max, as we initially called her. She had long red hair and fair skin. She recently moved here from California and started hanging out with us around Halloween last year. She defied all our expectations on what a girl is supposed to like. She skated and was amazing at video games, beating Dustin's high score at Dig Dug by a lot. She always told it like it was, which was refreshing for our party when we would sometimes get stuck in our ways. It took a bit for her to get fully on board with all the craziness the Upside Down brought into our lives, which made sense, considering how insane it all would sound to someone who hadn't seen a demogorgon up close. At first, El hated Max because she believed that Max was flirting with Mike and trying to replace her. Once it was clear to her Max liked Lucas and had no intention of replacing El in the party, the two became inseparable. Now Max was dating Lucas, and El was dating Mike. Both couples were basically cemented at the Snowball dance back in December.

That dance, while it was in some ways cathartic for all of us after the demodog fiasco back in the fall, I remember it being very awkward. Although a girl asked me to dance and I accepted, I didn't really feel anything particularly toward her. All I could focus on was how hurt I was watching Will dance with some other girl in our grade. I guess I should be thankful that at least I wasn't stuck having to dance with Nancy like Dustin was. The others think she's annoying but like I said, she's always been nice to me. Generally, I've always been more comfortable around girls than Mike, Dustin, Lucas or Will were around them. I did my best to make Max feel welcome in the party while Mike tried to push her away. That was a point of contention between Mike and me, but he eventually backed down after El showed up in our lives again, a year after we had seen her last.

It was a Saturday afternoon in July that ended up being the most significant event in our lives since El closed the gate. We all rode our bikes around the woods after hitting the arcade for an hour. We usually stay longer, but we were all out of allowance money. Figures, considering how often we're at that arcade. We've been riding our bikes all over Hawkins for years now, so we had a good lay of the land. That's why it was so strange when Mike spotted a completely new path.

"I'm telling you, Back to the Future makes no sense," Lucas declared. "How would Marty's parents not recognize him back in the present if he was responsible for them meeting in the first place?"

Dustin groaned. "They saw him for like one week thirty years ago. You really think they're going to remember Marty's face long enough to realize it was actually their own son who time travelled, which, by the way, they didn't even know was a thing that existed?"

"Oh, and then Marty comes home and everything is different but he still lived through the original timeline. There would be so many inconsistencies between his life and the one he apparently lived in the new timeline," Lucas argued.

"Not everything is different. He's just richer and his parents and siblings are cooler," Dustin corrected him.

"It's just a movie, can't you guys enjoy how awesome it was?" I asked Dustin and Lucas.

"It's not just a movie, it's like the coolest thing since Star Wars," Dustin insisted.

"Don't even compare it to Star Wars," Lucas glared at Dustin.

"Hey guys…" Mike said, looking uneasy. Dustin and Lucas continued to argue. "GUYS!" he shouted.

We stopped our bikes. El was riding on Mike's bike because she was still learning how to ride. Everyone else had their own bike.

"Mike, what's going on?" Will asked.

"There's a path here that I'm pretty sure wasn't here yesterday," he responded.

"I don't remember that path being there either," I added.

"Danger," El said softly. She could feel the presence of something powerful down the path.

"Danger?" Mike asked.

"I don't like the sound of that," Lucas said.

"I think we should see what's down that path," Dustin decided. "If there's something dangerous here, we should figure out what it is."

I agreed. "Seems reasonable to me."

Max and Mike nodded. Will looked puzzled.

We all looked at Will.

"Will, what do you think we should do?" Mike asked, speaking for all of us.

Will stared at the ground for a few seconds. He looked up. "I think we should go see what's down the path," he said. "Maybe it's dangerous, but at least we'll all be together."

I always admired Will's optimism. Despite everything he's been through, he had faith in our party. I guess a lot of that had to do with El playing a big role in saving his life twice.

"I really think we should reconsider this," Lucas said. "We could be walking into a trap. Maybe we should listen to the girl with psychic powers."

"The majority votes for going down the path, so that's what we're gonna do," Mike declared. "Besides you have your wrist-rocket if things go south."

"Yeah because it's helped me every other time we've faced something from the Upside Down," Lucas muttered.

Max put her hand on Lucas's shoulder. "Don't worry, stalker. The gate's closed. It's probably just rough terrain or something." Lucas looked at her, still worried but knows nothing will change the party's mind at this point.

As we biked down the tree-flanked path, a ginormous Craftsman style mansion came into view. We were all in awe of the size of the place as no one in Hawkins had a house this large, at least that we knew of.

"Who lives here?" Mike wondered out loud.

Max scoffed at our bewilderment. "Please. You guys look like you've never seen a mansion before. In California, lot's of people live in houses this size. Some even bigger. It's probably just some rich guy who owns property in town."

"I don't think anyone lives here. It looks like it's been vacant for years," I replied. The landscaping was overgrown and ivy vines overtook some of the exterior walls. The grayish blue paint of the exterior was chipping in some spots. The windows were coated with brownish dirt, making it difficult to see inside. I took a snapshot of the place with my Pentax MX that I carried with me everywhere. I was like the group's historian, documenting our adventures, especially when Will's brother Jonathan wasn't around, because I believed that photographs strengthen memories.

"I say we check it out! Maybe there's a key under the door mat," Dustin said.

El looked visibly uncomfortable. Mike grabbed her hand.

"There's nothing to worry about. We're just exploring a cool house. Besides if there really is something dangerous, you're here," he assured her. El smiled quickly at him but her worry returned just as fast.

I turned to Will. "Pretty cool place, huh?"

Will looked at me with his big hazel eyes. "Yeah! It's as big as the library, if not bigger." The Byers family didn't have a lot of money, so Will hadn't gotten to travel very much and see bigger cities.

We parked our bikes at the foot of the stairs leading up to the front door.

"How about a picture, guys?" I asked.

"Sure," Max said. Dustin nodded, while Mike groaned. He was never really into people taking his picture, especially not his mom.

Everyone grouped up in front of the steps. I took a few large steps back to accommodate everyone in the frame. From left to right it was, Lucas, Max, Will, Mike, El, and Dustin.

"Smile!"

Lucas, Max, Will and Dustin grinned, but Mike just kept a straight face. El attempted to smile, but I could see the worry in her face even from as far back as I was standing. I pressed the shutter button and took the shot.

"Hey, Robert! Don't you wanna be in it?" Max asked me.

"Oh, um sure, I guess."

"Here, I'll take it," she offered. Max walked over to where I was standing and took my camera.

"Thanks." I sauntered over to everyone else.

"You can squeeze in here." Will said cheerily, gesturing to where Max had been standing before.

Lucas let me in. Will put his arm around my shoulder. His touch gave me butterflies. Blushing slightly, I put my left arm around Will and my right arm around Lucas.

"Alright guys, smile!" She took the shot. Lowering the camera from her eye, Max called out, "I think that turned out really well!"

"He did set up the shot for you," Dustin snarked. Max glared at him.

"Can we just go inside already?" Mike groaned, tired of our little photo shoot.

Max gave me back my camera. We ran up the steps, eager to see what awaited us inside, danger or no danger. Mike moved his hand to the door latch and pushed down.

"It's unlocked," Mike said. He opened the door inward.

The inside did not match the outside, that was for sure. Everything looked immaculate and polished. The carpeting looked fresh and the furniture new. There were no sign of personal items that normally make a house a home. No personal touches. Strange, I thought. We all gazed at the grand double staircases in front of us, leading to another floor with many additional rooms. It was at this moment that everything became a bit hazy. I know we all broke off to explore different parts of the house. Mike went with El and Lucas with Max, while Dustin, Will and I were the remaining three. Mike and El took the left downstairs wing. Lucas and Max took the right upstairs wing. I decided to take the left upstairs wing and lost track of Dustin and Will. It was as if someone was calling me toward this particular part of the mansion, like it was tailor made for me.

I moved through the hallway, which seemed to snake every which way. There was one door I needed to open and I knew which one it was. It didn't look different from any of the other doors, but it was my door. Time seemed to move at a snail's pace as I continued following every turn. It reminded me of those dreams I would have where I'd find myself in an obnoxiously laid out public bathroom with stalls in configurations that made no sense, some elevated off the ground and none of them laid out linearly. I would try to find the perfect stall to use but was never satisfied and kept looking for a better one. Finally, I found the door at the end of the maze of a hallway. At this point I couldn't hear the others and had no idea where in the mansion they were, but that was not going through my mind at this moment — just this door and that I had to open it.