Nancy

Nancy had to admit that she really liked the small community and small campus that this college had to offer. But honestly the only reason she was here was because of spring break and because it was so close. She knew Clarity Christian was a good school… but she really had her sights set somewhere higher. Out of state, and Ivy League school. Harvard, at best.

She tried her best not to meddle with whatever was going on with Will, and the best she could do to help was prevent her parents from noticing too much. They didn't fully understand what happened to him, and they probably never will, but they can understand at least that he might have some permanent negative health from… whatever they think happened.

She was worried about him, sure, but she had to try to help everything go back to normal. Of course it could never be totally normal, but that's besides the point. She held on to the hope that Will's sickness would eventually disappear, and that Mike would be himself more. Ever since El went missing, it just seemed that he would be distant sometimes. Having a crush is one thing, but just finding someone in general and having them just disappear like that, in the way she did… it was heavy.

Her parents drove them all down to the iHop. For a place down the street, it really took a long time to get there. The tours aren't that large, but they're sure large for this college town. There isn't enough street to hold all these people, let alone their cars.

IHop was crowded. Nancy recognized a few people from her tour group, and she would glance over and smile politely. She didn't really know them to hold conversation.

"I can't believe you're getting the smiley face pancakes. What are you, five?" Lucas scoffed at Dustin.

"On the inside, man, on the inside," Dustin replied cheerfully. "Besides, Mrs. Wheeler said we could get whatever we wanted. And they're cheap."

"It's iHop, everything's cheap," Lucas said.

"It all adds up," Karen said from the other booth. There wasn't enough space to hold all of them comfortably, at least in any available booths, so the servers offered two newly cleaned booths back to back. The adults and Nancy sat in one, and the rest of the kids sat in another. But she didn't have much to talk about with her parents except for the boring college stuff, so turned around to join the conversation over the booth chair.

"Yeah, that's why I'm just getting water," Will explained. "Water's free here, right?"

"It should be," Mike agreed.

Nancy excused herself from the adult table and pulled up a chair to join the kids.

"What's up, Nancy?" Will said in greeting.

"Nothing much, just getting the college experience," she said. She pulled in closer towards Will. "Are you ok?"

He glanced around at the others before saying nervously, "Of course I am. Why wouldn't I be?" Nancy slid off her chair and moved into the booth next to Will.

"Well, you don't seem to be getting better, you know. Maybe you should consider going back to the hospital when we get back –"

"No," Will said quickly. "No, I'm fine, trust me, it's getting better." The lights flickered in and out for a moment, and everyone looked up at the lights.

"Excuse me, can we use this chair?" A thin girl, clearly in college, with wavy light brown hair asked. Nancy nodded and waved at the chair, and she smiled and quickly lifted it away towards a table.

Will turned back to Nancy after the girl had walked away, "I swear."

"Ok, I'm just worried about you."

Will smiled at her. "Thanks."

"What do you think of Clarity, Nancy? It seems like a pretty cool place," Dustin asked, trying to return the conversation to normalcy.

As they talked about the tour, the waiter brought over their waters. She turned around to give some drinks to the other table, with the brown haired girl. She seemed to be with other girls her age and a much larger, ginger guy. It looked like she had a case of some sort under the table. Nancy quickly looked away, not wanting to be thought of as weird.

"I liked the band, you know," Nancy continued. "The music was really nice. Especially the last song – uhm, piece. I wish I still played flute."

"You can play flute? That's cool," Lucas said, taking a sip of his water. "I mean, I tried playing drums once. I thought it was really cool. Turns out I sucked I quit and did church choir instead."

"I remember that," Will laughed. "Only lasted about a month till you quit."

"I never got into band, you know. I always like singing, too," Dustin added.

"No way dude," Mike said in awe.

"Yeah way, give me a base note."

Mike glanced at Will, clearly not willing to sing at all in public. Will rolled his eyes and started ah-ing a note.

Lucas jumped on the chance and harmonized another note above, looking at Dustin expectingly. Dustin grinned and sang a clear pitch on top of that. Will broke his pitch and started laughing, making everyone else stop too.

"Wow, Dustin, I never knew," Nancy laughed.

"Hey, that was really cool," called one of the girls from the next table over. It wasn't the brown haired girl, instead it was a taller girl with auburn hair and heavy framed glasses. Nancy recognized her from the band ensemble, standing up in the back with the shorter girl with black hair. "You guys all sing?"

"Uh, no just Lucas and him," Mike shrugged.

"How old are you guys?" She asked.

"We're gonna be freshman," Dustin said. The auburn haired girl nudged the black haired girl. "In College?" The black haired girl asked, clearly shocked.

"No, high school," Mike explained. "She's gonna be in college though," he said, gesturing at Nancy.

"Oh." Short girl said.

"Play any instruments?" Wavy brown hair girl asked.

"She used to play the flute!" Dustin said excitedly. Nancy kicked his leg under the table. "OW!"

"A long time ago. I haven't played in years," Nancy explained quickly.

"That's too bad," she said. "Well, it's a small college so we might see you around. I'm Beth."

"And I'm Marilyn, or Mary," auburn hair said. "This is Rosie," she said, gesturing to the shorter one, who waved. "And that's Justin. We're part of Theta Mu Pi. It's like a music club."

"That's cool," Nancy said politely. "Nice to meet you. But like I said, I'm not really into music anymore. But, I mean, you sounded really nice earlier. We heard you rehearsing."

"Thanks!" Beth said.

"I mean, if you ever change your mind, we'll be here," Justin added. Marilyn punched him in the shoulder, "don't be pushy."

The conversation seemed to end there, so Nancy turned back to the boys and they continued talking amongst themselves.

El

She got there quicker than she thought. Maybe the Upside Down wasn't as physical as she thought, either. She was walking through plains and marshlands until she saw a road, and across it a large brick building. The banging was deafening, and definitely coming from inside. Lights were violently flickering in all of the windows of the third floor. She walked closer, and stopped, pale.

She saw a moving shadow in one of the rooms.

Unsure, she found a door and opened it, entering the building. It reminded her of the lab where she grew up with Papa.

Bad.

This wasn't the same place, and Papa was gone. Dead. The demagorgon got him.

But there was another one.

She looked through all the doors until she found one with stairs, and made her way up to the third floor. Down the hall way, the lights flickered quickly, making electric buzzing noises all through the floor. She couldn't hear any growling, like the demagorgon from Hawkins. She walked down the hall, looking through the rooms.

"Hey!" She heard from behind. Startled she turned around quickly and snapped his leg. It was a man. As old as Nancy, maybe, or older. He collapsed, holding his leg. Panicked, El ran behind her and into the other room. The lights went out, and the banging seemed to stop. There didn't seem to be a way out… except the window… she could survive the jump…

She didn't even notice that the window was red, in stark contrast with the rest of the world. She noticed, but it didn't register. She also didn't notice that there was no window pane. She desperately tried to escape, confused about the situation, and what she had just done. As soon as she climbed through and let go, she hit the ground immediately.

She looked around, and she wasn't outside, on the ground.

She was back in the room. It was bright, there were lights, and there were two other men looking at her in shock.

"Where's Anthony?" One asked after a pause, eyes wide. El stared at him, not knowing what he was asking her. She looked at the other man.

"The portal's… closed," he breathed, staring at the window behind her. He took a step forward. Startled, she got up and dashed past him out the door. The men turned around in an attempt to run after her, but she slammed the doors with her mind, locking them in. They tried to open the doors to no avail. The one who asked her about Anthony started banging on the window. She took a few steps back, shaking her head.

"Please!"

"Bad," she whispered, but they couldn't hear her.

She ran down the hall, down the stairs, and out onto the road.