Here's chapter 3! Since I haven't made it totally clear what's happening, it would be cool if anyone tried to guess in the reviews, you know, if you care enough. It's chill if not though. Just, what do you think is happening?

Love Y'all,

mudezami

Will

The lights went out while the tour group had walked through the auditorium. No big deal right? It happens. But when they came back on, Will started to feel nauseus. He knew he was going to have a coughing fit, and he was afraid he was going to go back to the Upside Down. Why now, he thought.

Then the lights began to flicker on and off, and the boys glanced at each other with a shared sense of Déjà vu. That's when Will felt it, and started coughing. The band ensemble they had been briefly observing began to look at him. It was too much, so he pushed Lucas out of the way and ran out the doors.

"Will!" Karen called after him.

"I'll check up on him," Mike assured his mom.

Will looked around in panic, trying to hold back his coughs. He saw a nearby classroom, empty, and hoped the doors were unlocked.

They were.

He let himself in and found the nearest trashcan and hunched over right before the slug forced its way out of his mouth. He saw Will at the door, hesitant to follow after him. And then he was gone, and the classroom flickered into disarray. Black slime oozed down the walls and grey ash fell around him. Will hugged himself to fight the sudden cold, and tried to stay calm. He thought he heard banging somewhere, like loud footsteps or someone using a hammer, but knew it was probably nothing. The demagorgon was gone, there weren't any monsters to hide from.

Suddenly Mike was in front of him, holding his shoulders. The classroom was normal again, and Will was hyperventilating.

"Are you ok?" Mike said, steadying him.

"Yeah…" Will said, unfocused.

"What's wrong?"

"I'm just, sick, you know. The Upside Down… it messes with you."

"It's ok buddy, it's over." Mike assured him. "Are you sure you're ok for now?"

"Yeah, I'm sure."

There was knocking at the door and both boys started, turning quickly. An adult opened the door and said, "Hey kids, you're not allowed in here. Where's your parents?"

"They're in the auditorium. We were just going back," Mike said, holding his chest from surprise.

The two kids went back to the auditorium, where the lights were finally stable, and the ensemble had begun stacking chairs and leaving the stage.

"You missed it," Nancy muttered. "It was a good song."

"Song?" Lucas asked. "What were the lyrics?"

"Shut up you know what I meant," Nancy retorted.

"And now we're going to have small break for food. Please meet back at the Union by 1:00 pm. And if any of you are interested in the music program, please talk to me and I can let you know how to proceed for auditions and ensembles…" the student tour guide said.

"Hey kids," Mikes dad began, "we passed a couple of joints by the hotel. How about we get lunch there?"

"Heck yeah!" Dustin said.

"Anywhere's good, I'm starving," Will said, a bit shakily.

"Ok well, there's a breakfast place down the street I thought," Mike's mom suggested.

"Oh yeah, iHop?" Dustin said, excitedly. "I've heard of it! There isn't one in Hawkins."

"That's the place," Karen said. "Sound good, Nancy?"

Nancy shrugged. "Yeah, ok. I don't care."

Eleven

She tried following them, but it ended up being too hard. They moved much too quickly, it was a doomed mission from the start. She tried to use her powers to move the Upside Down version of their car, but it took too much effort and didn't move that fast. She only got a few miles outside of Hawkins before their voices faded away.

Frustrated, El stopped in the middle of the road. She wasn't too far from Hawkins, and she could easily just turn back and wait.

But she kept walking in the same direction. She could do anything here, really. She probably had an eternity to do whatever she wanted, and she could always come back to Hawkins.

As she continued to walk north, she began to hear… something else. Like Will, it was louder, as though it was in the Upside Down. But it wasn't the boys.

It was banging. Stomps, clinks, and it was getting louder as she walked north.

Curious, she redirected her destination. She ended up going off the driving road, rundown as it is, and made a diagonal path, trying to follow the noise.

She had no idea what it could be. Could it be another monster? Another demagorgon?

If it was, she wanted to find out. See if she could destroy that too. She would rather sacrifice herself than let it get back to the real world somehow.

She wouldn't let it get to Mike and the others. She wouldn't let it get to Will. She would rather die.

Of course, she really, really didn't want to.

Marilyn

Justin walked slightly ahead of them as they made their way down the road. The traffic was busier than normal because of the tours and the larger amount of cars than normal made her slightly anxious.

"Remember that one time Matthew pushed you into the road?" Beth asked. Matthew was Marilyn's twin brother. His hair was darker and he was much taller, and looked a lot more like their mom. He studied education at CCU. Sometimes he hung out with Marilyn and her friends, but not often.

"You're not helping," Marilyn replied, eyeing the road.

"But that time you just laid there!"

"There weren't any oncoming cars."

"That's true. You're right." Beth gave up.

"Yeah honestly I can't wait until tours are over. It kind of ruins Spring Break," Justin commented. "I mean, at least it's just the weekend."

They walked for a little bit, tired. They talked about school and band things, like any group of band geeks might.

"Oh and by the way, Michael can't make the concert," Beth said. "He has a midterm that day and can't really leave." Michael was Beth's boyfriend, but he lived in Indianapolis. He goes to a larger university and is studying composition. He comes up relatively frequently, like every other weekend. Sometimes they might call him in the lobby of their dorm, when receptions good and they have the money.

"You know, I've never actually met Michael. Does he actually exist?" Justin asked.

"Of course he does, why wouldn't' he?" Beth huffed. They were finally leaving the outskirts of campus, and passed the old Chemistry building. Technically only half the building was in use because a new lab building was built a few years back, and often other clubs and organizations will meet there. It looked like someone was meeting at the moment, oddly enough, but no one noticed that until they saw the light flickering on the third story.

"Wow, there really must be something up with the power here," Rosie sighed. "Guess we can't call Michael tonight."

"All evidence points to the fact that he doesn't exist." Justin repeated.

"He exists. You're being so dumb right now."

Suddenly a loud banging could be heard from the building. "What is going on up there?!" Rosie asked.

"Probably construction. Who knows what goes on in that building," Marilyn mused. It sounded to her like they were building something, maybe fixing a wall or building a sculpture. "Or welding?"

"Welding." Rosie repeated.

"I don't know, Rosie," Marilyn said defensively.

Justin took out his camera from his backpack and began to take pictures of the window.

"That's a little weird, Justin," Beth told him. He shrugged, "We're working on contrast."

"It's day time."

"So?"

"The suns out."

"I'll take what I can get," he said matter-of-factly. "It's not the only picture I'll take."

"You're so strange." Rosie concluded.

"Not as strange as you," Justin muttered under his breath.

"What?"

"Nothing," he said, putting his camera back in his bag. "Let's go."