El

The car and the van pulled into Lafayette. Evening was approaching, the clear sky and the setting sunlight cascaded over my new house. The outside wooden porch was painted sky blue, the steps beckoning me towards the white front door. The numbers 148 were nailed into the mailbox in the front yard just next to the paved path that escorted us towards the house. It was not a particularly large house. It had two floors, plus an attic. Joyce reached into our mailbox and pulled out two sets of keys. She scuttled towards the front door, a gleam in her eye as she put key in keyhole, and we entered our new home.

Mike

The setting evening sun made the whole sky look pink as we dragged ourselves over to Dustin's. His house looked the same as ever, the third house on the right down Kennedy Drive. Lucas and Max were right behind me as we slowed our bikes down to a halt in front of his house. We waited. Max and me both rang our bells before we heard a disgruntled Dustin shout 'Give me a minute!' He came out with his bike and his backpack, which looked way larger than ours.

'What's in the backpack?' Lucas asked. 'You got your whole bedroom in there or something?'

'Shut up' said Dustin. 'I just bought some extra stuff.'

'Yeah, a whole house' I said back, much to Dustin's annoyance.

'Nah, it's just a little something I'm working on' he said back with a glare.

'Little' said Max. 'If that's little then I'm a giant.' Me, Lucas and even Dustin laughed a little at this.

'Right then, lets get going' I said, and we started to ride out to Castle Byers to get ready for the night. About a 15-minute bike ride later we were nearly there. It usually didn't take that long but because that idiot Dustin had a huge and quite heavy backpack, we had to ride slowly so he could keep up.

'Jesus Dustin, did you really have to bring that huge lot with you?' I asked when we finally reached our campsite.

'Yes' he said, panting considerably. 'It'll all be worth it, trust me, I'll show you later. Now move, I need to unpack.' They left me alone to start unpacking my heavy bag.

Steve

The trek up to Castle Byers was a long and tiresome one. Me and Robin were practically panting when we saw the bike lights of the kids in the distance.

'Why is this place so far away from civilisation itself?' I asked my walking partner.

'I don't know' said Robin between panting breaths. 'I think its for the privacy it gives you, and to make sure no one from the outside invaded it.' She said this while eyeing him up.

'What?' I asked. 'You think we're invading their space?'

'No, I just think that this place wasn't made for you or for me' she shot back at me.

'Well, you can't blame me for this' I said. 'It's not my fault Nancy wanted me to make sure the kids were safe'

'Oh, so you're doing this for Nancy' she said, a grin on her face.

'No' I said sharply. 'She has Jonathan, and ever since I spray painted that shit over town, well let's just say I owe her big time and I have a soft spot for these kids. If anything, I'm being strategic about this, killing two stones with one bird.'

'Ah yes, Strategic Steve' Robin said back. 'The saviour of all Hawkins.'

We both laughed at this.

'And you do know the saying is killing two birds with one stone, right?' Robin interjected.

'What?' I said quickly. 'Are you serious?'

'Please tell me you didn't actually think that was how you said it' Robin said back at me, struggling to contain the trademark raging laughter she held inside her. 'Oh my god, have you been saying it like that for your whole life?'

'Well, yeah' I said back, starting to go red from embarrassment. It clicked in my head. 'No wonder Tommy and Carol would look at me funny when I said that. Why didn't they tell me?'

'Probably because its so funny when you fuck up' said Robin, still chuckling away to herself.

'Well, getting back to the point about Nancy, you didn't have to come if you didn't want to' I said to her, in a mock serious tone.

'What and miss the famous Strategic Steve attempt to go camping with teenagers? Never' and with that she sped up in a sprint towards the camp with me hot on her heels. I obviously won, but Robin was much faster than I thought she would be. She kept up with me for a long time, but eventually she got tired and slowed down. It was just another of the things that surprised me about her. I guess being a high school basketball player has its advantages, and its disadvantages.

Dustin

Big Steve and Robin came sprinting into our view, Robin trying her hardest to keep up but Steve was just too fast.

'Good run' said Steve and reached out to shake Robin's hand. She pushed it away.

'I'll beat you someday' said Robin back to Steve and they took off their backpacks.

'Hey Dusty, what's up?' said Steve, before he saw my backpack. 'By the looks of that bag you've brought the whole sky with you. I hope you've left some stars up there for us to actually look at tonight.'

'Does anyone have any jokes that aren't related to the size of my bag?' I said, in mock frustration.

Quick as a whip Robin chimed in. 'You'll never guess what Steve just told me.'

She told us about Steve's misinterpretation of the phrase. We were cry-laughing at the end.

'Killing two stones with one bird doesn't even make any sense' said Max.

Once everyone had calmed down, including me, we set out about assigning sleeping arrangements. Eventually it was decided that Robin would share with Max because they were both girls, much to Lucas' disapproval. I think I caught Steve's face drop at this as well, but I couldn't be sure. I got to go with Steve, mainly because Lucas and Mike didn't know him as well as I did. That left Lucas and Mike sharing. Once everything was set up, we started to set up our campfire. After all, you can't go camping without a huge fire hazard to tell stories around and roast marshmallows on. We set about grabbing some wood and stuff to start it up.

At camp, we learnt how to make a campfire and how to keep it going. That was when I met Suzie. It was the first night and we had to do some icebreaking sessions, or whatever shit they called it. I got put in a group with Suzie and well, I wouldn't say I had my own Eleven, but I had someone I liked. About 10 minutes later we had a campfire. I popped open the bags of marshmallows that were taking up considerable space in my bag.

'Is this what was in your bag?' asked Mike.

'Yeah' I said proudly. 'You idiots better thank me' and I handed out the bags I had. We were one short of one each so Max and Lucas shared a bag.

'Does anyone know any campfire songs?' asked Max.

'No' was the response from most people.

'Well, I do' said Dustin and I started to stand up when I heard Max speak.

'Ooh, can I go first Dustin, I know one. I taught it to El and Sophie when…' she cut herself off at the mere mention of her name, of both of their names. A solemn look appeared over everyone's face, even Robin's who hadn't even known Sophie that well. That night started to replay in my head, the lights, the blood…

Robin

I could sense the atmosphere getting sadder, so I tried to start a conversation. 'Forget the songs, lets tell stories. Happy ones, or sad ones, or scary ones. I didn't know Sophie, but I know she was close to you, so why don't you guys tell me some good stories you remember about her.'

'That's a brilliant idea Robin' said Lucas, wiping his eyes. 'I'll start. Remember when we went kayaking and...

El

The house was beautiful, we had spent the whole afternoon exploring and settling in, unpacking and we had just eaten dinner when I went upstairs. We said goodbye to Cal as he drove back to Hawkins. We tried to get him to spend the night, but he said he wanted to get back to Hawkins. I'll admit the house was great, but how I wanted to be on that van going back to the town where Mike lived. Anyway, I thought since I had nothing better to do with my time, I would try and get my powers to work. I told Joyce that I would be in the bathroom. I grabbed a portable radio, turned the static on and grabbed the blindfold. I locked the door, entered the water and waited. Nothing happened. I waited and waited for what must have been 10 or 15 minutes. But nothing happened. I was getting ready to take off the blindfold when I heard a faint voice. 'Remember when we went kayaking.' It was Lucas. They were all there, Robin, Steve, Dustin, Max, Lucas and Mike. My heart jumped when I saw him. I listened to what Lucas was saying. My eyes started to water when I heard what he was talking about. He was talking about Sophie. It was the time when we went kayaking for the first time. She fell in the water after about a minute and would not get back in the boat for about 30 minutes. Eventually we persuaded her, and I used my powers to knock her into the water again. She got me back by teleporting me into the Hudson in New York. I wished I were with them. I whispered one word. 'Mike.' Then someone knocked n the door in the bathroom and I jumped.

'I'll be out in a minute' I said back, and I looked back but the campsite was gone. I took off the blindfold, turned off the radio and left the bathroom.

Mike

'Mike' I heard the whisper. It was El. I knew that voice anywhere.

'Guys, I heard her' I said, interrupting Lucas. 'I heard El.'

'That's impossible, she lost her powers' said Dustin.

'I know what I heard' I said back. 'I think she must have got them back.'

'That's great' said Lucas, his face brightening up even more.

'I hope you're right' said Max.

'I'll never mistake that voice' I said. 'It was her, plain and simple.'

'We believe you Mike' said Steve. 'It's a good thing.'

Dustin's watch beeped. It was 9pm.

'It's only 9pm? You gotta be shitting me' said Dustin. 'I guess Lucas should continue the story. The sooner we get to bed, the sooner I can wake up tomorrow and talk to my Suzie.'

'Jesus Dustin' I said.

'It's no different than you with El' Dustin said, and started to imitate kissing noises down a phone.

'Shut up' I said and we all started laughing again. This camping trip was already a good one.

Brenner

'Last seen in Chicago…near Willis Tower… Thanks Charlie, I owe you one.' I put down the phone.

'Jesus, I hated local law enforcement' I said, thinking aloud. 'They just get in the way, cause you so many unnecessary problems. If only I had the clearance I'd had at the lab' My aloud thinking was stopped by a knock on my door.

'What is it?' I asked, annoyed that I had been disturbed. 'I'm in the middle of something very important, I have just managed to trace #008.'

'Sir, I think you need to see this' said Bill, one of my 'employees.' I snatched what appeared to be a picture from his hands. There was no mistaking who the picture displayed. After all this time, she had finally showed her pretty little face.

'Gather the task force, it's time to start Phase 1.' Bill smiled.

'With pleasure sir' and left. Tonight had already off to a good start, and I took a sip of my coffee, staring out of the window at the beautiful nightscape of Atlantic City.