It's been a while but I AM BACK. I really just wanted to get this chapter out and finish it before I watched Vol. 2 (although I did get spoiled so like all my condolences guys). We're getting into the more interesting parts of the fic, especially because we're starting to explore the Upside Down a little bit more. Hope you enjoy and have fun watching!

CHAPTER FOUR:
THE DISAPPEARANCE OF ALICIA HENDERSON

DATE: NOVEMBER 8TH, 1983
LOCATION: UNKNOWN

Steve was on top of the world.

He'd woken up to a hastily written note from his mom saying that not only would his dad be out of town for a solid week, but that she would be following him.

Oh it was common knowledge that Janet Harrington didn't trust her husband with a single bone in her body, and John Harrington was just as bad.

Steve was frankly surprised they managed to last as long as they did. There was no love in his house, no love in their marriage anymore, his brothers had seen that a long time ago and moved out as fast as they could, now it was Steve's turn.

In one more year he could apply to college and he'd be out of this hellhole. But for now, he had more important things to focus on.

No parents, big house.

It was finally his moment to get Nancy Wheeler alone and help her let loose and have some fun.

She was hot as hell, but she really needed to get rid of the stick up her ass. He knew she had it in her. He'd seen her that night at Danny's party, he just needed to get her plastered full of alcohol.

And there was no better moment than now.

He intercepted Nancy and her nerdy red-head friend on the corner of the hallway near the counselor's office. Nancy was still reciting chemistry definitions and studying for a test that she will very much ace and Steve knew it was up to him to save her from her own nerdy tendencies.

He plucked the flashcards from the redhead's hand, shaking his head, "I don't know, I think you've studied enough, Nance."

"Steve–" the whine that left her mouth tickled something in his chest and he pocketed the notecards.

His eyebrow shot up playfully, "I'm telling you, you know, you got this," he placed his hands on his hips, meeting her disapproving but smiling gaze. His lips twitched upward slightly, "Don't worry, now, on to more important matters."

Carol and Tommy shared a familiar laugh and Steve's smile grew wider, "My dad has left town on a conference and my mom's gone with him - cause you know she doesn't trust him–"

"Good call," Tommy heckled as he wrapped his arms around Carol's waist. Steve pushed down the tiny bit of irritation in his chest at his friend's words and fixed his focus back on Nancy, eyebrow arching playfully, "So…are you in?"

Nancy's brows furrowed, as if he'd spoken in some kind of language she didn't understand, "In for what?"

Carol broke free from Tommy's wandering hands long enough to push Nancy in the shoulder, "No parents? Big house?"

Nancy scoffed, "A party?"

Steve's cheeks grew red as Tommy and Carol's laughter echoed across the hall, momentarily gesturing for them to keep it down before turning back to Nancy and nodding.

She rolled her eyes, "It's Tuesday."

Carol echoed her words with a sneer, "Oh my god."

Steve shook his head and rolled his eyes, trying to ignore the scratching in his chest and the agitating giggle coming from his friend, "Come on, it'll be lowkey," He spoke in a casual voice, trying not to let her know just how important this night would be, "It'll just be us."

For a moment, Nancy almost looked like she was considering it, but Carol's incessant voice cut her off again.

"Oh, god, look."

Everyone in the group turned, and Steve's stomach twisted. Jonathan Byers was standing by the bulletin board just outside the counselor's office, papered with posters and ads for different organizations around the school and Hawkins in general, placing a missing poster for his brother underneath a poster of someone looking for a math tutor.

Steve wasn't an older brother. He had siblings, but they'd grown out of the house long before he'd been able to form any sort of meaningful connection with them. As far as he knew, he was the last one in the house, and that meant he was an only child. Or he considered himself one.

But something in his gut tugged as he stared at the teen he used to be friends with once upon a time. The Byers kid had clearly not gotten any sleep, sunken eyes and greasy hair leaning into his creepy loner persona, shoulders hunched over as he pulled another missing poster up and placed it on the bulletin board.

Steve knew he should go over, say something to make him feel better, for his own conscience if nothing else, but all he could muster up was, "Oh, God, that's depressing."

Nancy seemed to be wearing a pained expression on her face, and Steve suddenly remembered that she had a little brother too. "Should we say something?"

Carol scoffed, a look of disgust passing over her face, "I don't think he speaks."

"How much do you wanna bet he killed him?" Tommy's whisper twisted something in Steve's gut and he smacked his friend.

"Shut up."

Nancy's eyes remained fixated on Byers, and Steve gulped down something lumpy in his throat that had formed. She moved her gaze to Steve's and grimaced, "I think…I think we should, I mean–"

Steve bit down on his cheek, hands on his hips as he stared at the teen. The Byers kid was very much aware of the group's attention on him. He was a creep, but he wasn't stupid, and so against the tiny voice in his head that sounded a lot like Tommy's, Steve gestured his head toward Jonathan and moved to follow Nancy.

He tuned out the conversation Nancy had begun with the Byers kid, nodding when she gestured to him and moving his gaze between the pair and the bulletin board.

The first poster was pretty par for the course, blue marker outlining a HAVE YOU SEEN ME headline and detailing what Byers's younger brother looked like.

The one beside it was more professional, a bright red MISSING sign on yellowed paper, but when Steve's eyes landed on it, he felt something in his chest drop into his stomach.

"Wait hold on," Steve narrowed his gaze at the poster Byers was currently putting up next to his brother's, interrupting what little conversation Byers and Nancy were having. Both of them turned to look at him.

He tore it down with ease, still conscious of the way Tommy and Carol were looking at him. So as not to draw too much attention to his concern, he flipped it around to face Byers, "What the hell is Alicia doing on here?"

"What?!" Nancy turned around and snatched the flyer from his hands, scanning the picture Byers had chosen to distribute around town. It was her yearbook photo from this year, hair tucked behind her ears as she gave the camera a small smile, one of the few ones where she was showing her teeth.

The Byers kid shot a look between the two of them, brows furrowing at their behavior, "You guys didn't hear? Alicia didn't come home last night. I ran into Mrs. Henderson at the xerox place and she asked me to put these up."

Steve's throat lumped up at the thought, heart dropping to his stomach at the thought of Alicia ending up like Byers's brother, or worse. And he hadn't even had a proper conversation with her since the eighth grade.

Nancy's eyes grew wide at the news and she turned her gaze back to the poster, examining it like it might hold clues as to where she'd gone, "Alicia…?"

Steve ran a hand down his mouth, "I swear to god Byers, if this is some prank–"

The other teen's eyes widened and he lifted his hand up in surrender but he didn't get the chance to reply to Steve's remark, cause the basketball player was cut off by the sound of sirens coming from the street, a trio of officers who had shown up yesterday arriving in such a similar fashion, Steve felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

The double doors opened and Chief Hopper stood there with what could only be described as an apologetic look on his face, deputies flanking him on either side.

"Jonathan Byers? Nancy Wheeler? Steve Harrington?"

All three of them stared at each other, unable to do anything but stand there in shock as Hopper traded sorry looks with the cops beside him. The knot in Steve's stomach tightened. "We're gonna have to ask you to come with us to the station."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Nancy's redhead friend–Belinda? Brandy?-spoke up before things could get out of hand, "You can't just take them down there without cause."

"Actually we can," Deputy Callahan's face broke out into an insufferable smirk and Steve's fingers flexed before he realized how pissed his dad would be if he ended up in jail for assaulting a cop, "These three are active suspects in a murder case–"

"Hold up, murder?" Nancy's eyes threatened to bug out of her head and Steve wanted nothing more in that moment than to disappear, "I thought Will was just missing."

The Chief sighed and shot an apologetic look at Byers, "This isn't about Will. Believe me I almost wish it was."

Byers was next to talk, "Who's it about then?"

Hopper let out another sigh and turned toward Deputy Powell, who Steve only just realized had been carrying a bag with something blue inside it.

Powell handed it off to Hopper, who unwrapped the plastic to reveal a very familiar piece of clothing.

Steve wanted to throw up.

It was a jacket.

Alicia's jacket.

The one she had been wearing yesterday and it was bright blue and puffy and currently splattered with blood.

Byers looked paler than a ghost.

"We found this in the woods behind your house Miss Wheeler," Hopper spoke rather plainly, Nancy's eyes growing even wider at the news.

"That's not– that's not possible," Nancy choked out, trying to keep her composure when Steve knew she was incredibly close to breaking, "Alicia wasn't anywhere near my place yesterday,"

"Actually she was," Deputy Powell finally spoke up, a sympathetic look washing over the three of them, "We have a witness that places her and Mr. Byers there about an hour before she disappeared." A pause, and Powell inhaled sharply, "We also found her body there early this morning not long after her mom reported her missing."

All three cops turned to face the trio of kids, sympathetic looks on each of their faces. Steve's chest twisted as he stumbled back. It wasn't true. It couldn't be true. Jonathan had fully collapsed against the wall, and Nancy's hand flew to her mouth.

Alicia couldn't be dead. There's no way she was dead. That body had to have been a fake or-or-or some kind of-

His mind stopped when he realized where he was again.

The entire hallway had stopped to stare at the three of them at this point, Tommy and Carol blending in with the rest of the crowd of students and teachers poking their heads out of their classrooms in morbid curiosity.

Steve was very much aware of the many pairs of eyes suddenly pointed at him, accompanied by whispers he knew his parents would not appreciate. Especially if he was actually brought down to the station, "Excuse me, officers," He spoke up, ignoring the dryness in his mouth as he stared down three members of Hawkins PD, "I still don't understand how I'm involved in all this." It was a blatant lie.

But maybe it would be enough to get him off the hook.

The smirk on Deputy Callahan's face told him otherwise, "We also have a witness that places you at Miss Wheeler's house during the time of the murder, Mr. Harrington."

If possible, his mouth grew dryer and the lump in his throat grew bigger, trying and failing to swallow it. He shared a knowing look with Nancy and tried to ignore the narrowed gaze of Jonathan Byers beside him, shifting on the balls of his feet.

"As it stands right now," Powell spoke up again, sympathetic look replaced with something more detached and professional, "You three were the last people to see her alive."

The Chief poked his cigarette through his teeth and gestured toward the squad cars, and the group of three shared an apprehensive look before following the cops out of Hawkins High and an unsettling feeling churned in Steve's stomach.

Because if what they were saying was true then Alicia hadn't just gone missing.

She'd been murdered.

The three of them piled into the squad car and Nancy laced her hand with his.

Green eyes flew open, breathing hard and fast as flashes of the night before shuffled through her mind.

A tug on her ankle, strong enough to break it if they tried. Herself, kicking the unknown shadow with such force she'd elicited an unholy shriek from it. The world around her was dark, the lights of the Wheeler house a few miles away, just within range.

Her puffy jacket abandoned on the forest floor.

The shadow shrieked and she'd fallen to the ground, staring up in abject horror at the being who had grabbed her. It was a biped nearly the size of a flagpole, or maybe that was just from the angle she was in. Covered in slime and shrieking like a warrior who'd caught his prey, the most terrifying thing about it wasn't the layers of teeth that lined its mouth.

No.

It was the fact that it had no face. Instead, the monster's mouth opened up into a floral shape, drenching her in slime and spittle and saliva.

She'd grabbed at the forest floor, trying to anchor herself against a tree but the monster grabbed hold of her leg again and pulled, the tree root she'd been grabbing onto flying out of her hand, leaving a nasty bark burn.

The weight of the flashlight was heavy in her hands as she clocked the shadow where his face should be and scrambled to her feet.

Pain exploded across her back, something sharp and long digging into her skin, ripping apart her tank top and drawing fresh blood.

Her scream echoed through the forest and she collapsed once again, the world going black.

Until now.

Alicia Henderson had woken up in a place that was familiar yet unfamiliar, shadows of bluish green surrounding her, enveloping her.

She tried to move her hands but found them bound. Her gaze drifted toward her legs, which were stuck in a similar fashion.

Thick, black vines cut off the circulation to her wrists and ankles, and everytime she struggled they seemed to grow tighter, causing the veins to bulge out and a sharp pain to erupt underneath her skin, igniting her nerves.

Alicia forced herself to breathe.

Now would be a good time to figure out where she was. The tree she was tied to remarkably held no clues, sweat beginning to form in tiny beads on her forehead and back. Fuck, how was she going to get out of this?

How was she supposed to get out of this?

By the looks of things, she supposed she wasn't too far from civilization, although she had no idea how the monster could've dragged her so far–

She froze, the lump in her throat returning.

The monster.

Alicia whipped her head around, peering around the trees and straining her ears to listen for the familiar shrieking and chittering from her nightmares.

If it wasn't hiding somewhere right now, it would be back eventually and then she'd be a goner. But something worse paralyzed her, sent her shaking in fear as her eyes grew wide and stomach dropped.

Oh god. What if the same monster that came for her already got to Will?

"Will?!" She called out, voice hoarse and echoing off the empty skies and barren forests. "Will, are you there?"

Nothing answered except for a harrowing chittering, which sent the hairs on the back of her neck standing.

Dammit.

She tried to pull her hands free once again, but the vines tightened themselves. Stupid, stupid, stupid, she chided, even though her body was still attempting her own rescue.

Something howled in the distance and the chittering continued.

It was getting closer this time.

"Fuck!" Alicia yelled, scanning the ground around her for anything remotely sharp, scraping her nails against the bark of the tree to see if she could peel a piece off. "Somebody help!"

The rustling started back up and Alicia's blood ran cold.

Her eyes moved back and forth while her hands continued to scrape against the tree for a tool to use. "Come on," she muttered, unable to scrounge anything up, rustling growing closer and closer and closer, "Come ooooonnnn."

The vines came free with an unceremonious thump! And Alicia turned to face her savior, mouth dropping open at what she saw.

It was a girl, no more than Dustin or Mike's age. Or at least she thought it was a girl, she couldn't tell by the shaved head. Her face was sallow and sunken in, and the only thing the girl wore was a bright yellow t-shirt, her arm outstretched.

"Will?" The child's voice was soft and unsure, but Alicia shook her head, standing up on her feet and trying to ignore the pain that rattled in her bones and underneath her skin.

"Do you know where he is?" Alicia's voice was slightly hoarse, breathing uneven as she stared down the child who had supposedly saved her, "I'm friends with his brother, Jonathan."

The girl's brow creased and she tilted her head, as if trying to understand her words. "Friend?" She asked.

Alicia pointed to herself, "Friend."

The girl's lips twitched upward and she pointed toward Alicia's hair, even though they appeared to be miles apart from one another. "Pretty."

Alicia smiled and touched the ends of her hair, "Thank you,"

Thunder rumbled above her and when she turned back around, the girl was gone.

The lump in her throat dropped into her stomach, and she quickened her pace, beginning to move through the trees and stepping over vines, not sure if accidentally hitting them would cause the flora to tie her to a tree once again or not.

She reached into the back pocket for her flashlight. She flicked the switch, but nothing came out. The only thing she saw that remotely resembled the yellow beam was a cluster of red and orange dots near where the broken bulb had once been.

Against her better judgment and every rational thought in her body, she held it up to her face, her other hand reaching out to try and see what it was. Her fingers drifted through the material, a soft laugh echoing in her chest as warmth enveloped them, the colors growing brighter and then dimmer and then brighter again with each wave.

Her mouth burst into a soft smile.

A hand snatched her wrist and suddenly she was staring into a pair of almost pitch black eyes in a pale face. A teenage boy, dressed in flannel and a dark green army jacket stood in front of her.

"Run." He implored.

She did.