Here's the next chapter! Enjoy!
When Jim woke up and took a nice, long shower to wash away his hangover, he got out with a towel around his waist and a couple of medical pills he needed to take. He used the sink water to fill a glass he had before he popped the pills and drank them down with it. He then turned around to see a yellow note on the fridge. It was from Mike and it wrote in his imperfect writing:
Gone to Lucas's to sleep over with him and Will
-Mike
He couldn't help but smile a little. At least his son was happy again and he was going to hang out with his friends. So long as it's secret though...
He opened the fridge and got out a carton of milk, opening the cap and drinking it down...an unfortunate habit that was passed on to Mike. However, he heard a knocking on the door. He felt cold for a second. Could it be Mike returning to get something...? Or Terry, about to give him a piece of his mind about not having the talk?
Surprising to him, it was neither, as he heard Joyce's voice say through the door, "Hopper! Are you here?" He felt his heart sink hearing her voice. At first, he didn't want to answer because she stood him up last night like Alice Gilbert in the 9th grade. But at the same time...
He needed to know why.
"Hopper!" she called out, still knocking before he went to the door and opened it up. Joyce looked a little panicked, but Jim didn't realize that at first, asking right away, "Why?"
She gave him a puzzled look. "Huh?"
He sighed. "I think you know what I'm asking about."
She did, making her sigh. "Can I come inside? I'll tell you everything." He reluctantly did, her walking in and him closing the door.
"Please do." She walked to the fridge and dug for something in her purse, making him give her a puzzled look. "The hell are ya doing?" She then dumped...magnets on the floor, puzzling him even more as he got his police shirt and slipped it on. "Joyce, what's going on?"
She whipped her head towards him and exclaimed, "Hey!" He raised his eyebrows and his eyes grew a little. "Just watch." He shut the hell up and watched her put the magnets on the fridge...them falling down. Now he looked concerned, now realizing Mike's note was taped on instead of being hung by a magnet, they had a few. She looked at him again, seeing his concerned face. "See what's happening here?"
He nodded a little, sitting on the armrest of the couch. "The fridge is working though..." he said.
She nodded. "Yes, but its magnetism isn't."
He raised an eyebrow. "Its what?"
She sighed, gathering her magnets and putting them into her bag. "Its magnetism. What makes this-" She held up a heart-shaped magnet. "-stick to this." She shoved it on the fridge, letting it go and letting it fall. She crouched down to pick it up. "My magnets fell in the store yesterday and the same thing happened in my house before." He nodded slowly.
"Okay...?"
"And I thought, 'Well, that's weird.' Right? Because these things shouldn't lose their magnetism."
"Uh-huh..."
She grinned and took a step close to him. "So, I went and saw Scott."
That name threw him off the conversation. "W-wait..." He shut his eyes before opening them up to look at her. "Scott?"
She nodded. "Scott Clarke?"
He raised his eyebrows again. "Your kid's science teacher?"
"He's actually really brilliant." Well, if that wasn't a kick in the gut...
He rubbed his face as she continued, "And I asked him why this was happening. So..." He stopped rubbing his face and looked at her again. "He built this magnetic field with this A.C. transformer plugged into a solenoid..." He had no idea what the hell she was talking about, making him feel even more shitty. "A-and with that solenoid, which basically-"
He stood up from the armrest and held his hands up. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down, slow down." She stopped talking, looking a bit concerned. "Can you...explain that so that I can understand?"
She sighed again, leaning against the kitchen counter. "I went to Scott Clarke's house to see why my damn magnets are falling off my fridge and the board at the store." Now he sighed, looking away for a bit. "And we performed an experiment and that experiment showed that a large-scale magnetic field could be built with some kind of machine or other experimental technology."
He nodded, now understanding. "And that's why you didn't come by last night?"
She nodded back at him. "Yeah. Sorry." He sighed heavily, taking his time processing what she's told him as he went and grabbed a shirt on one of the chairs. She now felt bad, her walking towards him. "I said I'm sorry, Hop-"
"You didn't even call," he replied, cutting her off.
She frowned. "I...forgot, because of this discovery." He got into his room, shutting the curtain behind him as he dropped the towel and began to change. She began rapidly thinking of some way to cheer him up or at least, soften the blow. She then decided to say, "I think it's them." He stopped what he was doing, knowing who she was talking about. "I mean, to build a machine like this, you need resources..." She held her fingers up for everything else she was going to list. "Scientists, funding, tens of millions of dollars..."
If he wasn't in his underwear right now, he would've gotten out and looked her in the eye to see if she wasn't overreacting. At the same time, the magnets thing was pretty odd. Still...
"I dunno, Joyce," he replied, shrugging as he slipped on the shirt, put his police shirt back on, and went to get his pants.
She huffed. "It HAS to be them!"
"How can you be so sure?"
"Do YOU know any other organization that would have that kind of stuff?!" Welp, she got him there and she knew she got him there, thanks to his silence. "I wanna go back there."
He looked like a deer in the headlights. "What?"
"I wanna go back to the lab and see if my hunch is correct!"
He mumbled, "It probably isn't."
She raised her eyebrows and put her hands on her hips. "What was that?"
He sighed again, slipping on his pants. "You wanna go back there, I'm coming with you."
She scoffed. "Why do you think I'm here, Hop?"
When he was finished, he opened up the curtain and looked her straight in the eye. She looked serious, sincere. She really believed this shit, huh? Well, it wasn't like they had anything else to off on...
He took a deep breath and asked, "Should we get Terry too?" Even if that woman was going to beat his ass, he thought it was important to consider that.
She shook her head, much to his surprise. "We know she's got enough of that lab. We'll tell her when we find something."
He was going to object to that, but he didn't really want to confront Terry, so he had to agree with her. "I'll get the tools from my shed."
She nodded. "I'll wait in my car."
He nodded back. "Sure." And with that, they departed to do what they needed to do, Jim grabbing a pair of working boots to wear outside.
Biking in the cloudy and windy weather, the boys proceeded to the pool. They had made a stop to Lucas's to get raincoats: Lucas wore yellow, Mike wore red, and Will wore green. They wore those in case it rained. Mike wore a warm-colored shirt with a geometric pattern, black shorts, white socks, and yellow and white sneakers. Lucas wore a red, yellow, and white muscle shirt, a white cap, jean shorts, short socks, and red and white sneakers. Will wore a yellow collared shirt with white and red uneven stripes, blue sports shorts, gray shin-high socks with white and yellow stripes at the top, and gray and white sneakers.
Lucas looked up at the sky while biking, now Mike standing to ride with him. "It's gonna pour soon, so we gotta be quick," he said.
"We should be getting close," Will also said, Mike nodding.
A couple moments later, they stopped, seeing a police car at the entrance. Not only were they surprised to see those, but also...some graffiti on the walls. They read:
STAY AWAY!
THIS IS A CULT!
LEAVE IF YOU WANNA LIVE!
"Holy shit," Lucas muttered.
"What the hell is this?" Will asked.
Mike thought of something. "Let's get closer." The two other boys nodded before they biked close. Officer Callahan was questioning one of the lifeguards, a blonde Caucasian teenage guy.
"Do you know who would do this?" Callahan asked. "Anyone sketchy or you or your other lifeguards had a problem with?"
The teen shook his head. "No. There was this little kid who was being annoying yesterday, but what five-year-old does this?"
The boys processed that information. They also saw that there were some people at the pool, not a bunch like it usually was. "Looks like that graffiti's working," Lucas said. "Question is, who wrote them?"
"Whoever wrote them...must know about what Billy did too," Will stated.
Mike nodded. "Before he disappeared...I saw him look up." The two boys looked up at him. "Somebody else must have been there."
"But who?" He shrugged before the boys began parking their bikes and going in, seeing if Billy was around. Surprisingly, he wasn't.
"Maybe he's in the changing room or something?" Will asked.
"Or maybe the back," Lucas suggested. "Weirdos like him always do something in the back of...something."
While they were talking, Mike spotted a billboard with pictures of the lifeguards. Curious, he got closer, seeing six pictures of the different lifeguards: Adam, Katie, Zoe, Billy, Heather, and Freddy. For some reason, he's got a feeling that one of these female lifeguards might have something to do with their investigation. He looked to see if the lifeguard at the desk was looking. She seemed really focused on her magazine before Will went up to ask her something. He also didn't see more people coming in, so he took the photos of the females and put them in his pockets.
He saw that Lucas was looking at the parking lot, shaking his head and going back to him. "I don't see his car," he told him.
Will then said to the lifeguard, "Thanks." He walked towards the boys and told them, "No one saw Billy come here."
Lucas scoffed. "Makes him all the more creepy and suspicious." The auburn-haired boy just nodded before they looked at Mike. "What now?"
Mike pursed his lips, thinking. "How about we go into his home?"
Lucas's eyes widened. "And risk encountering the girls? After all they said about us last night?"
He sighed. "If they're not at Jane's, then I would." The boys sighed, Mike frowning. "I don't know where else he could be."
The African-American boy nodded slowly, taking a deep breath. "Yeah, you're right. Besides, if they are there, we should try to warn them, especially Max."
"And if they don't believe us?" Will asked, worried.
The freckled boy took a deep breath before Lucas replied, "Then we're on our own, I guess."
"Let's go."
...
Lounging on a sun chair in a pair of blue, yellow, green, and white swimming trunks, Dave spotted the boys leaving. He had also saw Mike take those photos. With a walkie-talkie that hasn't been used by him for years, he pressed a button and spoke into it, "I saw a few young boys come and leave."
In Stacey's car were the woman herself and Andrew. However, he was driving, since she was still shook by what she had seen last night. He wore a tie-dye shirt, denim shorts, white socks with red stripes at the top, and fading with tennis shoes. Stacey wore a multi-colored kneaded headband on her hair, a multi-colored, geometric-patterned shirt, denim shorts, and yellow flats. She had only black eyeliner and lip gloss on.
She held the other walkie, her and Andrew listening to their friend back at the pool. "One of them took the pictures of the female lifeguards. I don't think it was because they wanted to...you know." Stacey sighed. "They could also be a part of the cult."
She pressed a button and said into it, "Okay."
Andrew looked unnerved. "Sounds like it could be a de-womanizing cult if that's true," he muttered under his breath. She shuddered at that.
"Have you seen him yet?"
Dave shook his head. "Not yet. I'm sure he'll come, even in this weather."
Stacey looked understanding before she said into the walkie-talkie, "Be careful."
"I will. You guys be careful too."
"We will," they both answered before the curly-haired woman shortened the antennae. She took a deep breath, trying not to close her eyes because every time she did, she just sees that...monster.
Andrew had a quick glance at his friend, stopping at a stoplight and asking, "You alright, Stace?"
She looked at him. "I will be once we've cracked down on the cult." He just nodded before having his eyes on the light.
"So, you'll be looking during work and I'll take laps around the mall to see anything suspicious?"
She nodded. "Yes."
"Seems simple enough for me." The light turned green and they both drove off, getting close to the mall.
After breakfast, everyone put their dishes in the sink and Tina was crying, so Becky took it upon herself to get her upstairs to get her diaper changed. Before she and her baby daughter left, she looked back at Jane, who now wore a plain blue shirt, blue and white striped pants, and white sneakers. She then looked at Max, now wearing a white shirt with a blue interior Jane had, navy-blue shorts, multi-colored short socks, and yellow and white sneakers. Her hair was down. She exchanged glances between the two and said, "Well, I hope you two have fun at Max's!"
"We will!" they replied in-sync, making her smile before she finally went upstairs with a crying Tina. "It's okay, my little baby..."
"Be safe as well, alright?" Terry also said, starting up the kitchen faucet to wash the dishes. She wore a pink, yellow, and cyan-colored shirt, skinny jeans, and white sneaker with short white socks. "There's going to be a storm."
They both nodded at her, Jane saying, "We will."
"Don't worry about it," Max added.
The dirty-blonde-haired woman nodded back, smiling at them. "Alright, then I'll see you two later!" Jane hugged her mom and she kissed the top of her head before the two girls left to get some raincoats and go to Max's.
As Terry proceeded to do the dishes, Carl, who wore a white polo, dark shorts, white socks, and black leather shoes, cleared his throat and began approaching her. "Terry, can we talk for a little bit?" he asked her.
Without looking back at him, she nodded, having a sponge soak up water and soap. "Sure. What is it?"
He sighed, stopping a couple feet before her. "I have to ask, how can you afford to keep a house like this on your salary?"
She looked a little weirded out by the question, but decided to answer, "Well...I have a bank account I've been saving in since high school. I always pull savings from there to pay the bills." That was a half-truth. Yes, she did open a savings account in high school, but it was getting really low before she called and met with Dr. Owens.
He nodded, crossing his arms. "Is it getting low?"
Due to the checks Dr. Owens was giving her? "No." She then started scrubbing one dish.
He got a little closer to her. "You can be honest with me, Terry."
She sighed and finally looked back at him. "Why are you asking me?"
He looked concerned. "Because...Becky and I have been talking..." She gave him a puzzled look as she set the cleaned dish to the side and started up on another one. "And we both agreed that you and the girls living here is not healthy for all of you."
She narrowed her eyes at him, setting another clean dish next to the other, turning off the sink, and leaning against it. "What?"
He nodded. "My family's company has been creating this new neighborhood in Anderson. I can get you a house and-"
She shook her head and said, "Stop, stop." He did, his arms still crossed. "Are you saying we have to move away?"
He looked serious. "What else do you think I was going to say?"
She scoffed. "No, we're not moving."
He sighed again, dropping his arms down to his sides. "Terry-"
"We're not moving, period." Her voice was a lot more sharp and stern. With a defeated look on his face, he looked away while she resumed washing the dishes.
Just in the nick of time, Becky appeared with Tina in her arms, her talking to her in her baby voice before she looked up and saw the solemnness. "What happened?"
Carl walked to her and said, "I tried to talk to her about our agreement." Becky frowned, handing her husband Tina and walking towards her sister.
"Terry-"
"No."
Becky sighed before he gestured Carl to leave with Tina. And so he did with her. She looked back at her sister and crossed her arms. "Listen, this town wasn't what it used to be."
Terry set two glasses she cleaned next to the clean dishes. "That doesn't mean we should move-"
"That's EXACTLY what it means!" The dirty-blonde-haired woman turned off the sink again and turned to her sister, looking irritated. "All the shit that happened here for the last two years..." She held up one finger. "Will going missing-" Another finger and another. "Barbara and Joyce's boyfriend dead from that shut-down lab's shit-"
"Exactly, that place is SHUT-DOWN," Terry retorted, making her sister furrow her brows. "It shouldn't give us any more problems."
"Will didn't go missing because of that lab, so anything can happen." Terry drew her lips to a flat line, knowing that Becky didn't know and will never know the truth behind his disappearance. Becky shook her head, now looking worried. "And I don't want anything to happen to you and the girls either." She got closer to her sister. "That's why I agreed with Carl about getting you guys a new home."
Terry frowned, feeling sad. "I can't...the girls would be separated from their friends."
She nodded. "That's right, but that doesn't mean you guys would be permanently banned from here." She shrugged, looking away for a second. "You can drive the girls to see their friends." Terry closed her eyes and ducked her head down, making Becky squeeze her arm gently. "Hey, we're just suggesting this to help you guys, okay?" She opened her eyes and looked at her sister, seeing her sympathetic face. "I know it'll be hard for the girls, but we wouldn't suggest this to you if we didn't put your health and care into consideration."
She sighed again, thinking about it for a second before she looked at the clock. She turned around, Becky backing away a little, and washed her hands. "I need to go to work," she said, turning off the sink and drying her hands with the washcloth. "Finish the dishes for me, Becky." There was no reply as she walked out of the room, to the coat rack to get her purse, and then out of the home. Becky watched her, frowning and sighing.
She hoped Terry would understand, but she was being stubborn...runs in the family. But maybe she'll come around it, she knew she will.
The boys had finally arrived at Max's house, seeing that it was empty. "Car's not here," Lucas stated. "Neither are the girls' bikes."
As Mike got off of Lucas's bike and they parked them near the house, Will gulped and asked, "Should we get in though? It feels like we're intruders."
"We might find some clues in there. It's worth a shot, at least." Mike just nodded as they walked to the door. Mike tilted his head down and used his power to unlock it. He then opened it, the boys getting in before he closed it behind him. They walked with slow, quiet steps, looking around.
They heard a radio blast some hard rock music from a room, probably Billy's, so they went to that door, Mike opening it up again, without his powers. They slowly walked in, seeing empty beer cans, posters of bands, movies, and half-naked women, used cigarettes on an ashtray, clothes and shoes on the floor, and a dart board. They looked concerned, Will muttering, "I hope we don't find anything gross in here."
"You and me both," Lucas also muttered. He went to a drawer near Billy's bed while Mike and Will walked out more to find anything that could clue in what happened last night. He opened the top, letting out a whistle, getting the two boys' attention. He then pulled out some...sexual magazines. Mike began to blush as well as Will, though his auburn-haired friend looked disappointed. Lucas only raised his eyebrows a couple of times before putting them back.
Mike entered into the bathroom, turning on the lights and looking around with Lucas and Will. It didn't take long when he reached the bathtub and saw that it was full of water...and empty ice bags. Weirded out, he held up a bag for his friends to see. Will looked weirded out as well. "Ice?" he questioned before looking down at the tub. "And there's more of these."
"Well, there WAS," Lucas stated. "Also, I heard ice is good for the muscles."
The auburn-haired boy gulped again. "Or getting cold..." The boys looked at him as he suddenly got unpleasant déjà-vu about him...getting possessed by the Mind Flayer. Cold...HE likes it cold...
His eyes widened and his breathing became heavier, getting goosebumps at the back of his neck and him feeling it. This couldn't be...there was no...
"Hey, Will, you okay?" Lucas asked.
He took a deep breath, looking at his friends' concerned faces. "Guys...I think..." He trailed off when he saw something red from the corner of his eye. He and the boys looked down at the sink cabinet...its knob having blood splatter. All of them felt chills go up their spines and their blood run cold.
"Oh God...I think that's blood," Lucas said in a serious voice.
Mike crouched down to it and opened the opposite door of the cabinet, opening the other from the inside. He saw a small trash can and pulled it out, standing up with it. The boys got near him as he took a deep breath and pulled out...a lifeguard bag. The boys' eyes widened before he pulled out...a blood-stained whistle. They all tensed up, Lucas and Will stepping back.
"Holy shit!" the African-American boy interjected. "This means one of the lifeguards..."
"...was the screaming girl last night," Mike finished for him.
He sighed. "Shit, we'll have to go back to get a picture or something-"
He shook his head and faced his friends. "I got them." They looked a little puzzled before he pulled them out of his pocket. "It has to be one of these girls."
They both nodded before Will suggested, "Let's go find out in my house." Mike threw the whistle and bag back in the trash, put the can back under, closed the cabinet, exited the bathroom with the boys, and closed the door. They all then left as fast as they could to find the one girl that screamed when Mike visited last night.
In Hawkins Post, Kali and Jonathan were checking out his picture of the rabid rat in the processing room. Jonathan gave her one last photo before asking, "Are you really sure about this?"
She scoffed as she evenly packed the photos together. "When have I ever not been sure, Jonathan?"
He snorted a little. "Never?"
"Exactly." He playfully sneered at her before she added, "You really are your mum's son."
He raised an eyebrow. "What's that supposed to mean, Kal?"
"You worry too much." Now he scoffed as she patted his arm, giving him a reassuring look. "I got this, alright?"
He nodded and smiled at her. "Alright." She then left to show the men the photos. His smile dropped and now he looked worried. He hoped she would succeed, but she was showing these photos to THESE men, so...
...
As the men looked at the photos and passed them around to each other, Tom asked, "What exactly are we looking at here? The Driscoll lady's stuff?"
"No," she replied, puzzling the other men. She was smiling though, looking enthusiastic. "Well, I mean, that's the thing. I thought she was crazy too, but-"
"She told me that Johnson killed Kennedy," one of the men snarkly interrupted, getting a laugh from Bruce.
She decided to ignore that, pointed at Tom, and continue, "But as it turns out, she's not alone." She then used her fingers to list off some companies. "Blackburn's Supply, Hawkins Farming, the Crawleys: they've all had their supplies missing within the past few days and NOT just fertilizer." Bruce skeptically sipped his coffee. "They're missing pesticides, cleaning supplies, even diesel fuel!" She then looked at Tom, who took off his glasses and looked down at his coffee. "And that's all from just one day of calling around. And you know what?" She shrugged, looking at all of the men. "There could be more."
As Bruce was done drinking, he said, "Wait, wait, hold up, let me get this right for your..." Kali looked at him, still looking enthusiastic. "...crazy, little story." She didn't smile again, but she still had her composure. "So, a bunch of furry little rodents went a little coo-coo in their furry little minds-" She was getting annoyed, but she tried not to look like she was. "-and they're skittering around in this little town of Hawkins, dining on chemicals."
She nodded. "I know how that sounds, Bruce, but-"
"But you've got proof!" He showed her the photos, her smiling a little and nodding, pointing at them.
"Yes." That made the men laugh, making her feel a little more annoyed and embarrassed.
He packed the photos together and said to his fellow employees, "Well, fellas, ya gotta admit, it's a hell of a headline." He moved his hand in a wave as he said, "'Rodents of Hawkins Prefer Poison: Nutjob Tells All.'" The men laughed again, her sighing and still trying to keep her composure.
"Hey, hey, that's enough, guys," Tom says, the laughter halting. Kali looked at him, a flicker of hope in her eyes. He looked at the photos and nodded. "I think this can be big." She began smiling a little. "Bigger than one article-in fact, this could be a book." Her smile got a little bigger until he said with a straight face, "'The Case of the Missing Fertilizer, a Kali Drew story.'" The men laughed once more, her smile dropping again as her eyes widened.
He stood up and threw the photos back to her. "Next time a call comes in, do what you were hired for and let us know, yeah? We'll decide what's a real story and what's not."
She looked up at him, never feeling so annoyed and mortified in her entire life. However, she scoffed and took the photos, faking a smile. "Okay, since it's your job to decide what's a good story and what's not."
He looked stern at her. "Don't talk to me like that or you'll never be here again."
That'd be a relief, but it wouldn't look good on her resume. "I'm just stating the facts, Tom." She then left the meeting room, looking like she was about to break out in anger.
"Well, bye, Curry Kali!" Bruce said, him and the men laughing even more.
"Bastards should drop dead," she muttered to herself. She saw that Jonathan was there around the corner and heard everything.
He tried to look reassuring, saying, "Hey, it's okay, Kal." She brushed past him without replying, making him worry more. "Kal!" She'll show them...she'll show those bastards what's a good story.
Done with this chapter. How was it? Any typos or mistakes I might've missed?
Now look at Hopper and Joyce talking to each other like adults do. Isn't that nice? Too bad Terry won't join them.
Now it looks like Joyce isn't the only one with the choice to move away. But who will move away in this AU? The Ives? The Byers? ...Both? ...Neither?
Look at the boys being detectives and not screwing around while the plot begins happening. Isn't that also nice?
Poor Kali. Now she couldn't be any more furious with those pigs.
Review, follow, favorite, and I'll see you guys in the next chapter!