Enjoy!

HAWKINS,INDIANA,2019

Hawkins remained mostly the same in 2019 as it did in 1985. New buildings stood and more people came through the streets, but it still had that sense of mystery. Erica always found that she enjoyed the mysterious looking town from her office tower. Being CEO of Hawkins's very own 'Myth Records' had its perks, and an office on the top floor was the best one. As she walked around her office, reading some of their recent deals, her assistant, Johnathan, knocked on her door.

"Come in," she insisted.

"Good morning, Mrs Gershwin," the young man said as he put the files on her desk," I got our recent sales numbers. They're even better than last month's!"

"Great work, Johnathan," Erica praised," I'll sign off of these and you can get them back to George. Please call my husband up and Johnathan? Please get some rest this weekend. You look frazzled, dear."

Johnathan nodded and ran off. She knew how it felt to be working from the bottom up. He'd been her assistant since she became CEO, and she knew exactly how he felt. Her boss was a bitter, cold man who was used to having women working at his every command. He was cruel and Erica told herself that no assistant of hers would ever be treated that way- especially if they couldn't stand up for themselves like she could. Within a few minutes, her husband came through the door. Erica smiled and walked over to Zach and gave him a kiss.

"Hello Boss," he said," Is everything alright?"

"Hi baby," she said," What do you say we leave a few minutes early today? I need the weekend more than anything right now."

Zach agreed and left to grab his things. Erica packed up and left her office without another thought. She bid many works a good weekend and that she'd see them on Monday. As she got into the elevator, Mrs. Gershwin thought about how lucky she was. She'd had a great job, a great family and great adventures along the way. She admitted (to herself) that she missed all of the weird shit that occured in Hawkins. All of the monsters in her hometown were right under her nose and she didn't realize it until all of the cool stuff stopped happening. Naturally, it was her luck.

She stepped out of the elevator and made her way over to the door. Her husband waited patiently in their car and smiled as she got in. they soon left as they talked about their day, shuffling papers and signing off new records. They loved their jobs, but even the life in a record company got boring.

"I'm just glad to be going home," Zach sighed," I need the weekend to sleep in."

"Me too," Erica sighed,"but we have the weekend to you, me, and the kids."

Her husband smiled at the sounds of that. They kissed once again as the car pulled up into the driveway. Zach was busy fumbling for his briefcase while his wife walked up the stairs that led onto her front porch. She opened the door with ease and called for her children. They didn't answer, but her mother quickly answered. The older woman smiled as her daughter came up to her, giving her a tight hug.

"How was work, dear?" she asked as Erica set her bags down.

"Tiring as usual," she said with a small laugh," Have the kids been giving you trouble?"

"No, they've behaved themselves just fine," Mrs. Sinclair stated proudly," They've been busy upstairs playing their games."

Erica knew her sons would be busy playing their new video games instead of spending time outside. She couldn't complain much, being that her boys always did their work and stayed on top in class. They were good kids and that's all she could ask for. But the only problem was…

"Mom!"

Roseanna came running down the stairs, anger in her little face. Erica tried to hide her laughter as her daughter came up to her. Roseanna reminded Mrs. Gershwin so much of herself. The attitude, the looks and even the voice were the same. She had literally given birth to a 'Mini Me'. Mrs Sinclair knew it too, but she kept quiet as she was talking to her son-in-law.

"What's wrong, Roseanna?" Erica asked her daughter.

"Jack and Eddie have been playing 'Dragon Trainer 3' since they got home," she angrily explained," and they won't give me a turn!"

"Of course," Erica mumbled, then raised back to her normal voice," Alright, I'll talk to them, dear."

She bid her mom a goodnight and went upstairs into her eldest son's bedroom. The boys were taking down enemies and letting fire spread throughout the fields. They laughed about their positions and how they had the evil king bowing before them. As they high-fived each other Jack, the youngest, noticed his mom and little sister standing in the doorway. Eddie rolled his eyes and paused the game.

"Hi mom," he sighed.

"You know you need to let your sister play," their mom demanded," Everyone needs to take a turn training dragons and slaying bad guys and that's final!"

"But mom," the younger boy said," We don't have enough controllers."

"Besides," Eddie turned the game back on," if we can't play the game, there's nothing else to do."

Erica pondered for a moment. In fact, there was something to do. After a quick toss of her high heels and a trip to the attic, Mrs Gershwin sat the kids in front of the coffee table and pulled out a stack of boxes. The three looked confused at the boxes, while Erica shuffled through and opened them up.

"What is it?" Jack asked as he pulled out the weird dice that came with it.

"Dungeons and Dragons," Erica said," It's a game me, Uncle Lucas, Aunt Max and our friends used to play. We would play for hours and hours until we had to do something or to be somewhere. Those were the days. It's something you can all play without having to worry about taking turns with controllers."

"How do we play?" Roseanna asked.

Before she could answer, Erica heard her phone ring. She told the kids she'd be right back, and went off to talk. Eddie's first idea was to pull out of his phone and begin playing Youtube…

"Alright, John," she said," I'm going to talk to my husband about dinner. I'll talk to you later. Have a good weekend."

Erica shut off her phone and went to check on her kids. She heard the excitement from the living room, and peered in. Her kids were jumping around and laughing as they rolled dice and exclaimed moves and such. Erica gave a proud smile as she walked past, seeing herself in those kids. Perhaps, after dinner, she could join them as the bard she once was.