Chapter 3
Joyce slapped Lonnie's hand away. "Why are you here?"
"Joyce, there's a funeral for our little boy tomorrow, I'm here to help," said Lonnie.
"Help?" asked Joyce. "You couldn't even bother to return my phone calls when Will went missing and now you want to help?"
"Oh course I want to help," said Lonnie. Joyce leaned against the door frame and covered her face with her hands. Maybe Lonnie was really mourning Will, but every instinct in her told her that she couldn't trust him with the truth. He wasn't even apologizing for not returning the calls. She started to cry as she thought of Will being in danger-Will and the little girl from the lab.
"C'mon, babe," said Lonnie as he took Joyce's arm and led her inside. "You look like you've been through hell." Lonnie was carrying a bottle of vodka. He grabbed a couple of glasses from the kitchen on their way to the couch.
"What happened to the wall?" asked Lonnie.
"I'm probably just losing my damn mind," said Joyce.
"I can fix it tomorrow after the funeral," said Lonnie. "I could fix up a few things around here over the next few days. I'm here as long as you need me."
Joyce eyed him skeptically, but gave a silent nod. "Take the couch," she said. Memories flooded her mind of all the times Lonnie had degraded Will and Jonathan. She couldn't recall him ever telling either of them that he loved them. Joyce had always been very proud of Jonathan's photography talent and Will's drawing talent. Lonnie had always called both things a waste of time. Joyce had no intention of letting him sleep in Will's room.
"Here, have some of this, it'll calm your nerves," said Lonnie as he poured some vodka.
"I'm fine," said Joyce as she held up her hand. She didn't want to risk getting drunk and telling Lonnie something that could put Will or Eleven at risk.
"You're completely frazzled," said Lonnie as he pushed the drink into her hand. Joyce held the glass to her lips and looked away as she pretended to take a sip. Just then, Jonathan walked into the front door. His face was full of concern as he noticed the hole in the wall.
"Mom, what happened here?" he asked. He noticed Lonnie and glared. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm here to help for a few days," said Lonnie. Joyce got up and hugged her older son.
"I'm so sorry about our fight earlier. Are you alright? I called the funeral home and they said you'd left with Nancy Wheeler?"
"We were just developing some pictures in the photo lab and talking about Will and Barb. Are you okay, mom? Did that thing come back?"
"Jonathan, that's enough!" said Lonnie.
"I've been under a lot of stress this week, honey," said Joyce as she gave Jonathan a meaningful look that Lonnie couldn't see. She knew she wanted to get rid of Lonnie, but had to find the right opportunity to do so without arousing suspicion.
Jonathan eyed the Vodka on the coffee table and scowled at his father. "Can we talk?" he asked Lonnie. "Alone?"
Joyce heard her older son and ex-husband arguing in Jonathan's room. She grabbed the bottle of Vodka and dumped it into the sink. She figured she'd simply tell Lonnie that she didn't want to be hung over at her son's funeral. Chester whimpered as he sat next to her. She scratched behind his ear. "He'll be home soon, boy," Joyce whispered to the dog. She started to feel very worried that she hadn't heard from Hopper.
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Eleven didn't know most of the words she needed to tell people the things she needed to tell them. Somehow, Will could see her memories and thoughts. He understood her better than anyone, even Mike. She knew that Mike was right when he said that the demogorgan had been after Will. She wasn't sure how she knew, but she just knew. The demogorgan had killed everyone else that it took-almost instantly. But Will had survived somehow.
Despite starving for nearly four days, Will barley touched the food that Dustin and Lucas brought for him and Eleven. He was thirsty, but not particularly hungry. Eleven could tell that he was feeling sad and scared. It was exactly how she had felt the first night she spent in Mike's basement during the storm. She remembered laying alone in the pillow fort as the storm raged on outside. She was partially upset at seeing Benny killed earlier that day and seeing the demogorgan kill so many people the night before when she had escaped. She had also seen Will in the Upside Down, huddling in a small space hoping the demogorgan wouldn't find him, just had she was huddling in the pillow fort hoping that the bad people would find her.
"Sorry I'm not very good company right now," said Will to Eleven as they sat in the basement while their friends were upstairs having dinner.
"It' okay, Will. I understand," said Eleven.
"I just...I want to go home and I can't," said Will as he wiped his eyes. "And I feel so, so drained. I was in that place for almost four days and didn't feel drained until jut before I got out. It's weird. I'm happy to be back in our world, but I'm really tired and the same time and don't want to go to sleep."
"I-I don't think I have a home," said Eleven. Will looked at her sympathetically and squeezed her hand.
"I think you will when this-whatever this is-is over," said Will. "Maybe you can stay here with Mike's family or maybe stay with my family. I know that my mom wants to take care of you and my brother is an awesome big brother. "
"Home," said Eleven with a serene smile.
Will brought his knees up to his chin and wrapped his arms around his legs as his friends came down from dinner. He stared at nothing as Mike, Lucas, and Dustin discussed what they would do next.
"Will, are you okay?" asked Mike as he brought Will out of his trance.
"Huh?" asked Will as four faces watched him with concern. "I mean, yeah, I'm fine...Just feel kinda out of it."
"That's understandable, you've had a very weird week," said Dustin.
"We were just talking about expanding that pillow fort so you can sleep in it tonight, just in case my parents come down or something.," said Mike.
"Oh, okay," said Will.
"Sorry, it's not the greatest sleeping arrangement," said Mike. Will shrugged.
"It's better than sleeping around all the rotting slime in the Upside Down,"
"Are you gonna be alright tomorrow, you know, while we're at your..." Lucas asked.
"I'm not in the Upside Down anymore, so I'll be fine," said Will.
"What is going on here?" asked Nancy from the stairs, startling the four boys and Eleven. Nancy looked stunned at the sight of Will.
"Nancy, I-We-Uh," Mike stammered. Nancy held up her hand, put her finger to her lips, then ran to the top of the stairs and closed the basement door.
"Last night you came home crying because you thought Will was dead," Nancy said to Mike as she came back down the stairs.
"Yeah, I did think he was dead, but the body was a fake. Eleven proved he was alive. Y-you'd better sit down, Nancy. This is a very weird story," said Mike.
"I know," said Nancy. "I was just talking to Jonathan this afternoon about Barb and we thought maybe her disappearance was connected to Will's... That they both might be alive." Nancy slowly sat down, she was deep in thought, then she suddenly stood up, walked over to Will and knelt down next to him. "D-did you see Barb?"
Will shook his head. "I didn't see anyone else. I was just staying by my house when I was trapped there. I could sometimes hear my mom or Jonathan talking or I could communicate with my mom through the lights or make my cassette player work."
"What? You were by your house the whole time. How?" asked Nancy.
"He was trapped in a sort of shadow dimension," said Mike when Will appeared to be struggling to find the words.
"A shadow dimension?" asked Nancy as she looked over at Mike. She turned back to Will and gently took his hands. "Will, if this is too difficult to talk about, just tell me. I'm trying to figure out what happened to Barb so I can save her." Will nodded. "What happened to you? How did you get stuck in the shadow dimension, or wherever you were..."
"The Upside Down," Will finished as he exchanged a glance with Eleven. "I-I was riding down Mirkwood after Dustin got to his house and the monster suddenly appeared in the middle of the road. I was startled and fell off my bike. I looked up and saw it coming toward me and just ran as fast as I could to my house. I called out for Mom and Jonathan, but t-they weren't home. It was somehow able to telekinetically unlock the front door from the outside, so I ran out to the shed and started loading my dad's old shotgun. It suddenly appeared behind me and I just froze. The light bulb glowed really bright, then everything went dark. It was all just..." Will paused and looked at everyone watching him very intently. He felt very self conscious even though he was surrounded by friends. He wrapped his arms around his legs and rested his chin on his knees.
"Dark, cold and empty?" asked Mike when Will appeared to be at a loss for words. Will nodded.
"Everything was dead... just dead. It smelled like rot. The monster seemed confused for a moment and I used the gun..."
"You fire-balled it," said Lucas. Will smiled slightly for a brief moment and nodded. His smile quickly faded. Mike noticed that Will had a terrified look in his eyes as he told the story. Nancy appeared to be deep in thought. She hesitated, then pulled something out of her pocket. She unfolded a picture, showed it to Will, then pointed at something in the corner.
"Is this the thing that took you to the-the Upside Down?" asked Nancy. Will lifted his eyes and looked to where Nancy was pointing. His eyes widened in recognition and horror as he nodded. Large tears formed and started pouring down his cheeks. Mike rushed to Will's side and pulled him into a tight hug.
"It's still out there," Will sobbed as he started to tremble. "Oh God, it's still out there!"
"It's okay, Will," said Mike. "It won't get you again. We won't let it."
"Jonathan took this picture when he was looking for Will," Nancy said to herself more than to everyone else in the room. "He said she was there one minute and when he looked up again, she was gone... The same thing must have happened to her."
"Mrs. Byers thinks so too," said Dustin.
"Yeah," said Lucas. "We think that lab that El escaped from has something to do with it. Why else would they fake Will's death?"
"El?" asked Nancy. She had seen an extra person sitting with her brother and his friends but had been so distracted by her search for Barb and her surprise at seeing Will sitting in the basement alive and well that she hadn't really registered the new person. "Is that my dress?" asked Nancy as she noticed Eleven was wearing her old pink dress. Eleven squirmed uncomfortably in her chair.
"We, uh, found her on Mirkwood when we were looking for Will Monday night," said Mike. "She's been hiding from the bad people down her since then. She helped us find Will and get him out of the Upside Down."
"There was a portal," said Will as he wiped his eyes. "It wasn't completely open, but I was talking to my Mom. The demogorgan started coming and Mom told me to run. I started running and saw El. She stopped the monster long enough for me to crawl through the portal and get home."
"She has super powers," said Dustin when Nancy had a confused look on her face. "She made Troy pee himself today when he was about to attack Mike."
"She can find people with her mind too," said Lucas. "She found Will with the radio and we could hear him in the Upside Down.
Nancy started to message her temples as she absorbed the new information. "Barb's car was right where she parked it Tuesday night when I went to look for her yesterday afternoon," Nancy muttered to herself. "But the police said her car wasn't there anymore when they were talking to me this morning and they think she ran away. The same people who faked Will's death must have faked Barb running away."
"Oh, Jesus, this is bad," said Dustin. Nancy walked over to Eleven and knelt down next to her just as she had knelt down next to Will a few minutes earlier. She held up the picture of Barb sitting by Steve's pool.
"Do you think you could find my friend Barb like you found Will?" Eleven looked at Nancy carefully and gave a half nod. She had recognized Barb when she saw a picture of her with Nancy the day before when she was waiting for the watch to say three-one-five and Mike to meet her after school. She had a vision when the demogorgan took Barb. She had a similar vision earlier that day when it took two men in the woods. There was a scientist who worked with Papa who was taken as well. The truth was that she feared that Barb and the three men were gone. She had seen the demogorgan hurt them and nothing else.
"How do we do this? Do we need a radio?" asked Nancy. Lucas grabbed his supercom out of his backpack, turned it on and handed it to Eleven. She hesitated for a moment, then grabbed the radio, closed her eyes and focused on finding Barb.
Eleven couldn't see or feel anything beyond the emptiness of the Upside Down as she focused. She started to feel dizzy as the blood bubble formed and burst inside her nose.
"Stop!" said Will. "She's hurting herself!"
"I-I can't find her," said Eleven tearfully to Nancy. Will stood up, walked over to Eleven and squeezed her shoulder. Mike followed.
"You're just tired, you need some rest," said Will.
"Yeah, you blew up the Hamm radio today, that probably took a lot of energy," said Dustin.
"We can try again tomorrow after the funeral," said Mike as he noticed that Eleven looked upset and Will looked frightened.
"Alright," said Nancy. She squeezed Eleven's hand. "Get some rest." She didn't want Barb to spend another night in the Upside Down, especially after the way Will described it, but she didn't want to push an obviously traumatized child either. She glanced at Will. "I'll bring Jonathan over after the funeral. I know he'll want to see you."
"Thanks," said Will.
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Eleven struggled to sleep that night. She'd been struggling to sleep most of her life. Mike, Lucas, and Dustin were all sleeping in the room and Will was in the pillow fort next to her's. It was probably the first time in her life that Eleven wasn't alone in a room while she slept. There was a small comfort in that.
Kindness was a word that she didn't know, but it was a concept that she suddenly understood very well. Benny had been kind to her when he gave her food and dry clothes. He was trying to help her and the bad people had killed him. Mike had been kind to her by taking her in from the rain.
Mrs. Byers had been kind to her, offering to help protect her from the bad people. Will, Nancy, and the others had been kind to her when she was trying to find Barb. They cared that it was making her sick and scared and told her to stop. Papa would never have told her to stop if she felt scared or sick when using her powers. He locked her in the small dark room when she didn't obey.
She had heard the the word 'friend' before escaping the lab. When Lucas, Dustin, and Mike had told her that they were trying to find their 'friend' Will, she was confused. She had heard Papa use that word when he told her the people watching her trying to contact the demogorgan in the bath were 'friends.' They were all bad people who wanted her to use her powers to hurt others. She liked the way that Mike used the word 'friend' much better.
She heard Will get up and go to the bathroom. It sounded like he was getting sick and she wanted to help him because she wanted to be a friend to him, but couldn't bring herself to move.
Will started to dry heave as he was kneeling next to the toilet. Nothing more was coming up and the muscles constricting in his digestive system was causing him a lot of pain. When it finally stopped, he took a couple of deep breaths as he reached up and flushed the toilet. He got up and washed his hands. He saw dark circles under his eyes as he looked at his reflection in the mirror. The was a nagging feeling in the back of his mind that there was something worse than the demogorgan in the Upside Down. He had felt some sort of sinister presence. He still felt it, like it was watching over all of Hawkins.
You're just imagining things. Will told himself. He desperately wanted to believe that. His heart started racing and he sat on the floor and leaned against the wall as terror gripped him. Will tried not the cry, but it didn't work. He had very little success suppressing the sobs.
"Will?" Will looked up to see Mike standing in the doorway, his face was full of concern. "What's going on?" Will opened his mouth to say something but words failed him. He shook his head.
"I d-don't know, just a bad feeling," Will finally croaked. Mike sat down next to him and pulled him into a hug. Mike had experienced an unbearable couple of hours the night before when he'd seen Will's fake body pulled from the quarry and thought that his best friend was dead. When Eleven had tuned into Will singing his favorite song over the supercom, Mike had developed a special affection for the Clash.
The events of the last couple days had left Mike with a continual overwhelming urge to hug Will and reassure himself that his friend was safe and alive. Mike also recalled the sound of Will's voice over the Hamm radio that morning as he called out to his mother from the Upside Down or the the way Will had broken down a few hours earlier when he told Nancy about how he ended up in the Upside Down. Mike was determined to do everything he could to keep Will safe.
"There's a lot of bad things happening. If you're having a bad feeling, you should listen to it,Will," said Mike. "We can all work together and do something about whatever it is."
"I think something else was in the Upside Down... something much worse than the demogorgan. I have no idea what it is, but I feel like it's somehow everywhere," said Will.
"We'll figure it out," said Mike. He silently held Will for a few minutes until they found themselves engulfed in a third pair of arms as Eleven joined them.
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Joyce woke up Friday morning feeling a bit disoriented. She remembered pulling Will through a portal the day before. She remembered holding him and not wanted to let him go. She remembered fighting off a monster that was trying to steal her son back. She remembered a brave little girl who had helped him escape. She remembered all of that, but was gripped with the fear that it had been some sort of delusion.
Will was hiding in the Wheelers' basement with the little girl because some mad scientists had fake his death and were possibly after him. Lonnie was there and Joyce didn't trust her ex-husband, so she couldn't even tell Jonathan about Will being alive. Not having Will there to hug and reassure herself that he was really alive and well and not even being able to say that he was alive an well out loud was causing doubts to grown in Joyce's mind.
"Babe, C'mon, you gotta get ready," said Lonnie as he lightly shook Joyce's shoulder. She was curled up in a fetal position on her bed. Joyce balled up her fists and pressed them to her eyes, silently praying that she hadn't imagined the events of the previous afternoon. "The funeral's in a couple hours," Lonnie continued. Joyce fought the urge to scream at him to leave.
Instead, Joyce wordlessly got up and walked over to her closet. She found the dress she'd worn to her Aunt Darlene's funeral in 1978. She didn't own many dresses and didn't care to. After she got dressed, she walked over to Will's room. She heard Jonathan trying on ties in his own room and wanted to go in and talk to him, but decided it was too risky with Lonnie in the house.
Chester was sitting on Will's bed looking sad. He gave a slight wag of his tail as Joyce entered and sat down next to him. She decided to talk to Mike as soon as she got the opportunity. She needed to hear someone else say out loud that Will was alive and well..
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"Wait until we tell Will that Jennifer Hayes was crying at his funeral," said Dustin as he poked Mike and Lucas and pointed at their blonde classmate.
Mike glanced over and saw Jennifer and a few other girls from their class in tears. He thought that Will was too preoccupied at the moment to care who was crying at his funeral. Mike had feared that some of the classmates who had been less than kind to Will throughout the years would use the funeral as an excuse to skip school. Even though he knew that Will was alive, he didn't think he could tolerate anyone doing that.
After the service. Mrs. Byers approached him. "How is he?" she asked after she looked around to make sure no one was listening-other than Lucas and Dustin.
"He was feeling a little sick last night," said Mike. "But Nancy made him some sort of mix with ginger and honey this morning and he was feeling better."
"Nancy knows?" asked Joyce.
"Yeah," said Mike. "She came downstairs to check on us last night. Will told her what happened and she thinks the same thing took Barb. El couldn't find Barb, but she got some rest and we're going to try again today. Nancy said she was working with Jonathan. She was going to bring Jonathan to our house after the funeral to see Will."
Joyce glanced around the cemetery and saw Jonathan sitting behind a hedge talking to Nancy. "Good," said Joyce. "With Lonnie around, I haven't felt safe enough to talk to Jonathan about what happened. Tell Will that I'll come to see him as soon as it's safe." Joyce was feeling increasingly worried that she hadn't heard from Hopper. She also felt that Will should probably see a doctor, but was frustrated that it wasn't safe to take him to one.
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Will smiled as he looked up from his drawing (Mike had left a pad of paper and some colored pencils for him) and saw Eleven levitating Mike's Millennium Falcon.
"Mike, Lucas, and I saw that movie three times in the theater," said Will. "I don't remember a whole lot from being six, but I remember that. I was just so happy that they were my friends."
"Friends," said Eleven with a small smile.
"Yeah. The first thing we did with Dustin when he moved here was take him to see Empire Strikes Back. Even Nancy and Barb liked Stars Wars, but they won't admit that anymore. They kept arguing about whether Leia was going to end up with Luke or Han. They took us to see Return of the Jedi earlier this year because they didn't want to admit to the other people at school that they like Star Wars." Talking about Star Wars had always helped Will keep his mind off things he didn't want to think about.
"Mike said Yoda can move things with his mind," said Eleven as she uttered the longest sentence that Will had heard her use since he'd met her the day before.
"Yeah, Yoda's pretty awesome," said Will. "Barb kept saying that Leia was going to end up with Luke and she was really horrified that they turned out to be twins."
"Twins?" asked Eleven.
"Yeah, they were brother and sister, but they were born at the same time and separated at birth because Obi Wan was hiding them from the Emperor. It's really gross watching that scene where Leia kisses Luke at the beginning of Empire now."
Eleven smiled. She didn't know what Star Wars was, but really wanted to see it because she knew it made Mike and his friends happy. She reached over to pick up the can of lemonade Dustin had left there. It was empty.
"Thirsty?" asked Will.
"Yes," said Eleven. Will looked at his watch.
"No one should be home for a while, we can get something from the kitchen. C'mon." They went up stairs and avoided the windows just in case any neighbors passed by. It wasn't the first time Will had hidden in Mike's basement, though it had been just over four years since the last time. He had frequently hidden at Mike or Lucas's house when his father said or did something that upset him while his mother was at work. Jonathan always told him that he was good at hiding. When Lonnie would come looking for him, he never found him. He always managed to stay hidden until his mother came to find him.
When they got to the refrigerator, there was some sort of dessert Mrs. Wheeler must have made. It was covered with saran wrap. Will grabbed a couple of sodas as Eleven walked over to the TV and turned it on. The Incredible Hulk was on. Eleven leaned against Mr. Wheeler's recliner. Will sighed. A little TV couldn't hurt. He handed Eleven one of the soda cans and sat down next to her.
They watched to the end of the show. Will explained to Eleven that he was really starting to relate to David Banner because now the world thought that he was dead too. Hopefully, that wouldn't last. Eleven decided that she liked the Hulk. He seemed scary at first, but we really nice to people who needed help. When they show was over, they changed the channel to The Price is Right. Will explained to Eleven that he was always annoyed when people bid a dollar over someone else's bid.
Suddenly, they heard a car pull into the driveway. Will quickly crawled over to the TV and turned it off just as the front door opened and Mr. and Mrs. Wheeler came in with Baby Holly. Will took Eleven's hand and gestured for her to follow him to duck behind the couch as they couldn't get to the basement without being seen by Mike's parents.
"You get the sandwiches while I take this parfait out to the car, Ted," said Mrs. Wheeler.
Baby Holly walked around the sofa and smiled with delight as she saw Will. He had always been her favorite of Mike's friends. Will raised his finger to his lips and Holly imitated him.
"Holly, what are you doing over there?" asked Mrs. Wheeler. Will felt Eleven cling to his arm. He closed his eyes and focused on remaining as still as possible, hoping that Mrs. Wheeler wouldn't notice him.
"We need to talk to the kids about not leaving their junk lying around," said Mr. Wheeler as he picked up the pop cans.
"We'll cut them some slack for now," said Mrs. Wheeler. Will started feeling dizzy. "Mike's best friend just died and Nancy's best friend is still missing. They're both probably having the worst week of their lives. Let's get to the lunch."
She picked up baby Holly and the three Wheelers headed back out to their car and left. Will looked over and noticed that there was no reflection in an old science fair plaque. He thought that it was probably nothing until he saw both Eleven and himself distinctly reappear in the reflection.
"Did you just make us both invisible?" Will asked Eleven. She shook her head.
"I-it wasn't me," said Eleven. She pointed at Will's nose. He raised his fingers to his nose and brushed his nostrils with the tip of his fingers. When he looked at his fingers, they were covered in fresh blood.
