The sweet embrace Cora found herself in quickly turned into a nightmarish chokehold. Eleven had pulled her tight, holding onto her like she was the last being on this Earth. But all Cora could think about was the hum of electricity, and the bite of it around her neck—right where Eleven's arms were wrapped tightly.

Quicker than she wanted, Cora withdrew away from her and offered her a smile.

"Stephanie," Eleven breathed, and Cora saw the wetness in her eyes.

The kids that were a few steps away slowly approached them. Three boys. Eleven noticed them and stepped to the side.

"Stephanie," Eleven repeated. "These are some people who have helped me."

Cora's eyes snapped to each and every one of them. They were barely teenagers, much like Eleven in front of her.

None of them spoke, and Cora could guess that their spectacle had put them a little on edge.

"Hello," Cora began, and noting the name Eleven was using, "please call me Cora."

There were mild, reluctant hellos from the group of three boys, though none offered a name.

A siren immediately started wailing in the distance, and the group visibly tensed.

"We should get out of the streets," Cora said, sweeping a gaze over the destruction around them. "I have an apartment not too far away."

Though the boys had seemed uncertain, they didn't hesitate to follow. It was clear that they had already established a rapport with Eleven, and they certainly seemed to trust her.

Cora urged them on, and the group hurriedly made their way down the street. Once her apartment came into view, she made a quick effort to scan their surroundings before motioning the kids into the building.

"Just up here," she told them, as she led them up the stairs. She took a moment to work her key into the door and opened it for them to enter.

Eleven gestured the boys further into the apartment. As Cora shut the door, she took one more quick peek down the hall, then locked it firmly behind her.

"Please." She held out a hand towards her couch, and the boys passed the kitchen and arranged themselves on the cushions. Eleven followed them and sat at the corner of Cora's bed.

The apartment was chilly, mostly due to the broken window in her kitchen. Cora rubbed the goosebumps on her arms as she approached the kids.

"Eleven," she said, lingering in the center of the room. "Are you okay? That was quite a show."

Eleven simply smiled at her—warm, and genuine. "Yes, Stephanie." She paused. "It is Stephanie, isn't it?"

"No," she replied softly. "My name is Cora. Stephanie was… invented."

"By Papa?"

Cora's mouth dried before she could speak. She had averted Eleven's eyes by then, staring at her worn carpet. "Yes, and—"

"Alright," one of the kids interjected, slapping his knees. His curly hair bounced as he looked between the ladies. "Sorry, but can we talk about the monster—who's thankfully not—in the room?"

Eleven turned to look at him blankly, then extended an arm. "This is Dustin." She went down the row. "Mike, and Lucas."

"Hello," Cora said, again—and she remembered a flash of their names from just a few days ago. "Do you by chance go to Hawkins High?"

"Yes, ma'am," Lucas answered promptly.

"It's nice to meet you—all of you. I'm sorry it's under such strange circumstances."

"Speaking of…" Dustin urged.

Cora took a moment to look at Eleven, and then back to the boys. "That thing—that monster—I can't tell you what that was."

And that was true. What she had witnessed that night was something out of nightmares. It wasn't anything she had seen or interacted with before.

"I can," Dustin said, to Cora's surprise. "It was a demogorgon." And given the blank look Cora gave him, he added, "You know, from D&D."

D and D. Cora looked at him, shaking her head.

"Dungeons and Dragons," he clarified, as if she would be quick to catch on. "Only the most inventive, creative, and absolutely insane game to ever exist?"

"I'm sorry, I haven't heard of it."

"Well," he said, "there's a monster in our current campaign—" He was interrupted by a sharp jab into his side by Mike's elbow. "Ow, what? She's cool with it." He turned back to Cora. "D&D is cool."

"We're nerds," Lucas explained.

Cora smiled at that. "What is a campaign?"

"Well, it's just what we call a very, very long, continuous session of the game," Dustin went on. "Our current one has been going on for the last… what, guys, three months?"

Mike cleared his throat. "Three and a half."

"Right, well we have this monster that we're fighting, right?" Dustin's hands became more animated the more he spoke. "Alien looking, slimy thing—sometimes has two heads. That's what it was out there—a demogorgon."

Cora tilted her head to the side. "A demo…?"

"A demogorgon," Lucas repeated, eyebrows drawn toward Dustin. "It didn't look that much like one."

"And you think anyone has ever see one?" Dustin baited. "Besides us?"

Cora watched them curiously. "So, to clarify, you pretend to fight these things?"

"Well, as a level five, it might be a little tough," Dustin explained, "but we're already level eights, so…"

Eleven pronounced each syllable one by one. "A demogorgon."

"Right," Mike murmured, seemingly a little embarrassed.

Cora watched the boys, and after a few moments said, "Well, I'm okay to call it a… demogorgon. Do we know where it came from?"

The room fell quiet, and Cora noticed Eleven's hands begin to fidget.

"I think I know," she said eventually, and continued tentatively, "I widened the portal."

Cora shifted. "Widened a what?"

Her next sentences were jumbled, as if her brain was flashing between ideas. "The portal at the lab. I think it was a portal—it always just looked like a little sliver on the wall. And then, I remember… I was in the bath." She locked eyes with Cora then. "You know, the one."

Cora nodded in acknowledgment.

"And in the bath, I was roaming this… dark—very dark—place. I must have called it or connected with it somehow. I don't know. But the portal expanded, and it was able to get through."

"What….portal?" Cora asked. "A portal to where?"

"At the lab," Eleven said, almost insistently. "Remember? You could always see it through the window. In the rainbow room. Well, it wasn't much of a portal, then…"

Cora's eyebrows drew together. "I don't recall."

"I don't know where it leads to, but I know that's where it came from."

"Wait," Mike said, holding out a hand towards Cora. "You're from that lab, too?"

A shiver ran through her almost instantly. "I was an orderly there."

"One of the nicer ones," Eleven said with a little smile, but then it faded into something heartbreakingly disappointing. "Why did you leave?"

Mike cut her off before she could answer. "Are they looking for you, too?"

Cora's eyes quickly flashed to Eleven. "What does he mean by that?"

"That thing was tearing the lab apart after it got through. I ran, but I think they're trying to find me."

"Papa," Cora said sternly. "Papa is trying to find you?"

"We've seen black vans," Lucas said, his leg bouncing. "They've been in our neighborhood, going door to door."

"But we've hid her well," Mike said, "though they seem very persistent."

Of course, they were persistent. Papa was always persistent. Demanding. Impatient. And every visceral instinct within Cora wanted to protect Eleven from all of it.

"I don't even know if Papa survived," Eleven said in a small voice, and the amount of empathy and sorrow she demonstrated for this man was enough to spike Cora's anger. But she controlled it, because that was not their issue at the moment.

"It's late," she said. "Rather, very early morning." She squinted at the simple clock above her bed. "It's about two hours until dawn. Are you all okay to stay here until sunrise? We shouldn't roam the streets now."

"That's a good idea," Lucas agreed.

Eleven turned to the boys. "Mike, your parents—"

"—think I'm soundly asleep, and I won't wake up until about noon. We have time."

Eleven smiled at him, and then at Cora. "I've been staying in his basement."

"How did you meet?" Cora asked curiously, as she veered towards the open kitchen.

"We met a week ago. Just about," Mike said. "It was pouring rain, and she was running like mad through the woods near my house."

Eleven crossed her arms. "So were all of you." But then she grew quiet, then stole a glance from Cora. "They were looking for their friend."

"Will," Dustin said a little quietly. "Will Byers."

Will Byers. She knew that name.

"He's missing," Eleven said. "He went missing…"

"Almost a week ago," Lucas finished for her. "Right before we found you."

That didn't sound great, and Cora couldn't hide her grimace as she leaned her weight forward on the kitchen counter. "If that timeline is right—that demo-thing had been out, roaming Hawkins…for a week?"

The was silent, and Cora could guess what they were all thinking.

"We can't lose hope," Mike said eventually. "We can't."

Cora agreed with that, but she couldn't give reason to what had just happened in the streets. It was truly a miracle that her and Eleven were even able to best the creature. How had they even done that? And what was this portal?

"Cora," Eleven said. "You will help us, won't you? We need to find Will."

Cora hoped there was a Will to find, but she replied with no hesitation nonetheless. "Of course."

"El," Mike said. "The portal you mentioned, is it still open?"

"I don't know."

"Could more of them be coming out of there?" He pressed.

Fear started to creep up her face. "I only connected with one. Just one."

"It's alright," Cora reassured her. "We seemed to be able to deal some good damage to it. We should be able to handle more, right Eleven?"

"Damage? You both obliterated that thing," Lucas said, eyes wide with disbelief. "I mean, this is just insane. Am I the only one who's blown away by this?"

Dustin smiled a toothy smile. "If this isn't some immersive roleplaying, I don't know what is."

"We could have died," Lucas emphasized. "And not just because of an unlucky d20."

D20? Cora didn't want to question the semantics of their game further. Her uneasy smile quickly tightened into concentration, pulling the group back to a more important topic. "Where was Will seen last?"

Will Byers was the topic of conversation for the next half an hour, until Dustin plopped down onto the carpet and began resting his eyes. Eleven had already lounged directly on Cora's bed, and the two remaining boys were sprawled on the couch. Soon enough, the kids were asleep.

As Cora watched them with an uneasy feeling in her stomach—the demogorgon, a missing boy, and the overall uncertainty of it all—she took a moment to pause.

Inappropriately, she soon realized the clarity she felt in her mind.

The kids in front of her had distracted her enough that she could admire how her visions had stopped. In the bathroom, she slapped some water on her face, and then smiled at the empty kitchen through the mirror. Then, to pass the time, she went through her pantry and noted anything she'd need to fetch to provide some food for the kids.

Occasionally, someone would shift—Eleven would throw an arm, Dustin would hiccup through a snore. Her eyes would dart over to them, and know for certain that they were there. Real. She wasn't imagining their presence.

It was a sobering feeling.

Now, as she watched the sun begin to tiptoe its way up the horizon, she walked up over to Eleven and gently shook her by her arm.

"Eleven," she whispered, "I'm going to grab some things for breakfast. I'll be back very soon."

Firmly locking the door behind her, she climbed down the stairs and into the morning.

The daylight was little, but enough, as she walked down the street. The first thing she noticed were a slew of cop cars further ahead, where they had faced the creature. She kept a good distance, but walked by anyway out of curiosity.

There were civilians being questioned, and Cora recognized one of the officers who had spoken to her a few days ago. The partial destruction of the two buildings remained—red brick, heaps of rubble, and shattered glass littered the ground.

Her steps slowed as she tried to find any evidence that they had fought a demogorgon, but it just looked like a car had smashed into the first building, and the veered directly into the next.

Deciding not to draw too much attention, she hurried to the grocers to pick up some eggs, juice, and more bread. After paying, she paused momentarily at the missing poster that had been hung up a few days prior.

Will Byers.

She examined his face—young, and innocent, and hoped with great fervor that the creature hadn't gotten to him.

As she made her way out, Cora was used to her ways of scanning the streets, sidewalks, and dark corners. She repeated her ritual, a small part of her hoping to catch a glimpse of him so that she could predict where he would be as she made her way up the street. But this time, she saw nothing.

But perhaps if she had focused hard enough, or wanted it hard enough—or even made the effort herself—she would have seen him across the street.

When she turned a corner, she might have seen him watching her from the bench at the other side. As her feet shuffled up the sidewalk to her apartment building, she certainly could have noticed the frustration in his expression.

But no, she didn't see the way his hands were clenched into fists, or how intently he watched her.

The grocery bag in hands, she climbed up the stairs to her apartment. But before she cleared it entirely, she turned around to stare back down at the ground floor.

The anticipatory tension in her body eased when she saw that it was empty.

But when she turned back around and continued her ascent, she could have sworn she felt something behind her. And if she had turned around once more, she might have caught a glimpse of his face. She might have noted how skeletal he appeared, or sickly. The dark circles beneath his eyes might have stood out—but the thing that would have captured her full attention? His pure, unmasked anger.

But she didn't turn around, because she had kids to feed, and he was never real, anyway.


A/N: Are the kids really doing a good job of distracting Cora, or have her visions paused for an entirely different reason?

See you next time.