Heyyyyyy... I need an intro. But anyways, this is just something I put together for fun. I may not continue, but I hope it's enjoyed. Dustin is my favorite character, but I can't ever seem to find any stories about him, so I made one. Also, Tews is the Hendersons new cat, I had to look it up, see if I was right. The info for Echo is on my profile.

Dustin was at home. He was bored, with nothing to do. Lucas was at home, grounded from fighting with his sister. Mike was hanging with El, and he didn't feel like being the third wheel. Everyone knew Mike likes El, and El likes Mike. He could hang with Will. Will was fun.

He got up, heading for the phone.

"Hey mom! I'm gonna call Will, see if we can hangout." He called to his mom, who was watching TV with their new cat, Tews.

She turned to him, smiling. "All right Dustie, just be home by 8."

"Will do." He nodded, grabbing the phone. He had always made sure to memorize all his friends numbers, so it just took a moment to think before dialing. The phone rang, but in the end, no-one answered. Ugggghhhhh.

Maybe he could just to the arcade. He slowly walked back to his room. "He isn't picking up. I'm gonna go on to the arcade!"

He heard his mom approve, and he grabbed some coins. Maybe now he could beat Dragon Knight without his friends yelling at him, or get all his high scores back.

He headed out, grabbing his bike and getting on and pedaling off.

Echo was walking along the train tracks. She had just gotten off a small cargo train, and was heading towards Hawkins. It wasn't that far, so she walked. She had never been to Hawkins, and it wasn't that big of a town, so she shouldn't get too much attention.

She dug around in her pocket, kicking a few rocks out of her way. She pulled out 2 dollars, a quarter, 2 dimes and 2 penny's. She sighed. Well, maybe she could get a small job. Or maybe this would be enough for a meal. Her stomach growled.

"Great." She muttered. Definitely not enough money. She cut into the woods, figuring there was a road she could follow if she walked far enough.

Sure enough, after a bit of walking, she found a dirt road. The ground was gravel ad dirt, but looked like it hadn't been used in ages. She knew the direction she had to go in, but as she looked both ways, the road seemed to go on forever. With another sigh, she headed down the road.

The sun seemed about to go down, and she had been walking down that road for a while. She figured no hope, and decided to head through that woods. Echo did know that dark woods would be dangerous, but what if a car or an unfriendly person came down there. If a car couldn't see her, since the only clothes she had were dark, they may not be able to see her and she could get injured. Maybe this was someones property, and they felt at liberty to shoot intruders.

The sun was still up, so maybe she could get through the woods. She glanced behind her, then hurried into the bushes.

She had to shove away plenty of branches, and narrowly avoided plenty of plants that she was sure carried poison. She was exhausted, having also ran out of water down that road. Fuck me and my inablility to pack. She thought, and took off her backpack. It had been feeling heavy, and slowing her down. She just held it as she walked, feeling more comfortable. Soon, ahead, she began to see lights through the tree's.

"Finally." She murmured, hurrying through the trees. Unfortunately, she wasn't watching where she went, and felt her foot get caught on something a she flung up in the air. She yelped, and steadied. She was now upside down, and hanging from her foot. Her bag was flung away, and she began to feel her knife slide out of her pocket.

"No no no no no!" She lunged her hands at it, but completely missed it. "Goddamnit!" she shouted, reaching for her knife. She couldn't reach it, and looked back up. She was being suspended by a snare trap.

"Who the fuck makes snare traps so high off the ground?" She muttered to herself. She hung there for a minute, then leaned up to try to pull her foot loose. Echo knew she wasn't that flexible, and it took a bit to get her foot. She picked at the noose knot, but it wouldn't come. "Son of a bitch." She swore.

Wait... wasn't there a town up there? Maybe she could get someones attention. "Hey! Anyone up there?" She began to call.

Dustin was riding towards home, having spent all his quarters. He hadn't managed to beat Dragons Lair, and was pretty pissed about that. He had just barely gotten under Max's score on Digdug, and all the other games. He spent some time picking up quarters under the games, and finding some coins people had left behind. Keith had gotten angry at that, saying that those quarters were like 'half his paycheck', and insisting Dustin give them to him, which caused an argument.

Pretty good time though, he thought, and on one game, he did get over Max's score. Yay for me! He had thought, though it was a crappy game that he didn't care much about. He left at 7:54, and had to hurry.

"Uugghh, moms gonna kill me." He knew, pressing on some speed.

"Hey! Anyone out there?"

Dustin skidded to a halt, peering down into the woods. He could have sworn he heard someone. Maybe it was someone else. It sounded like a girl, maybe his age?

"You, person who just stopped! Can ya help?" Shit they saw him.

"U-um, yeah? Who's there."

"Wow, great way to say hello." The voice sarcastically called back.

Dustin slowly began to put his bike down. "Yeah, I say only the best greetings."

He heard laughing. His joke must have actually been funny.

"But really, can you help? I promise I can not reach my knife."

"That's reassuring." He muttered, making his way through the trees. Soon, he saw the glint of something on the ground, and a slightly spilled back a few feet away.

"Up here!" He glanced up. He expected to see someone caught by the shirt, or just unable to get down at all. He blinked as he saw a girl hanging from her foot, upside down.

"Told ya I couldn't reach my knife." She stared at him. She had bright green eyes with hints of yellow, and short, fluffy hair that barely fell past her nose. "If you could just hand it to me though, that'd be dandy." She pointed to the glinting object.

He nodded, and reached down, looking over the object until he found a handle. It was a black switchblade, somewhat looking like Troy's, except this one had markings on it. It looked like the girl had taken a rock or scrap-metal, and drawn dragons into it. He lifted it and handed it to her.

"Better stand away." She said, moving until she could reach the rope, and cut through it. It must have been a sharp knife, because it cut through that thick rope very quickly, causing her to fall on top of Dustin with an "Oof!"(Cue the memes) and knocking the wind out of Dustin. She rolled off, and Dustin looked at her through a better lighting. She was pretty, and looked like quite dirty. She smiled at him crookedly, and he noticed that her jaw was dis-aligned, looking like it had been broken.

"You alright?" She held out a hand for him to stand up with, which surprised him. The only girls that were nice where either moms, Nancy, El and Max. He took her hand, and she pulled him up.

"Yap, totally didn't just have a girl fall on me from the trees." He nodded jokingly. She chuckled. "Now that I'm preetty sure I don't have to say hello, who are you? I've never seen you here before. And never seen someone hanging from a tree like that." He had never seen her around, even though he didn't know everyone at his school, she looked like a Middleschooler.

"Oh, I'm Echo, new here. Moved in a couple blocks away, just was exploring." She shrugged.

"This late?" He raised an eyebrow.

"I like the night." She answered a bit too fast.

Dustin figured she was lying. He had heard lies, and experienced them enough, so he was suspicious.

"Well, I better go. My moms gonna kill me." He shook his head, hurrying out and grabbing his bike, he began to pedal away.

"Wait!" Echo called after him. "I never got your... name..." She trailed off, watching him pedal away.