I own nothing. I'm really trying to build up her relationships with everyone in a realistic way. Lemme know what you think guys.

November 11th, 1983

HAWKINS, INDIANA

During class, Georgie picked all the boys up from school and dropped them off at their houses. She had coordinated it with their parents last night, since she was already having to pick up Dustin early for the funeral.

After Georgie and Dustin got home, they said next to nothing as they got ready. Going to a funeral for someone who wasn't even dead (unconfirmed) was somehow worse, and morbid. Georgie put on a plain black dress and some black flats. She was sure to have blisters, since the only pair of none sneakers she had were those flats from her eighth grade graduation.

She looked in the wall length mirror at herself. Her hair was down for the first time in months, she was wearing a dress, and nothing she was wearing said ADIDAS or had stripes. She flattened the dress over her sides, and grabbed the simple silver chain from the dresser and put it on. Dressing up for an event like this felt ridiculous. She felt ridiculous. But if she disobeyed her mother today, there would be hell to pay. And she had plans with the kids tonight.

Oh, the best part of all of this? Suddenly her best friends were a bunch of twelve-year-olds. It felt like they were her only friends.

"I feel weird," Dustin said, standing in the doorway. Georgie turned around to look at her brother. He was wearing a suit, his signature ball cap was somewhere in his room, and he looked much different without it. Not better or worse, just different.

"Me too," she said, walking towards him. She pulled him into a hug. "But it's only a couple of hours, and then we have some things to do."

"Right," Dustin said, frowning. "We have to find Will."

At the funeral, everyone stood around a casket that had a fake Will in it, and cried. Georgie didn't know for a fact that the body in the child sized casket was fake, but she was clinging onto the fact tightly, and letting go of it now would be a quick crash into reality. And the fall would be devastating.

The service was short, and sad. Georgie never took into account that Will was still in danger, in a place that she can't get to. He could still die. This really could be Will's legitimate funeral. Or worse, what would happen if this wasn't Will's funeral and he comes back. How do they explain that?

"I don't know how to react right now," Dustin whispered, leaning in close to Georgie.

"Me either," she whispered back, only to be tapped on the back of her head by her mom.

Georgie held her hand out to her little brother, who grabbed onto it. He held onto her hand, looking down as if trying not to cry. He had to act like he believed it, all of the boys did. They had gone over that at school earlier.

After the funeral, everyone went inside the funeral home for some food. Georgie only drank the free coffee, not feeling very hungry after that. Even if Will wasn't really there, the sight of a child's coffin still hurt the eyes. It was a staring contest between Georgie and a harsh reality, and a harsh reality always wins.

"How is she today?" Georgie asked, sitting next to Mike.

"Good," he answered. There was no need to ask who. "She asked about you."

"Did she?"

"Yeah, I think she really likes you."

"Well, good. She needs someone in her life who isn't her age." Georgie took a sip of the coffee. It wasn't the best, but it was coffee all the same. Mike just nodded in response. "How are you doing? Feeling alright?"

"I'm fine, I just," he took a breath. "I just hated every second of being there."

"I don't blame you," she said.

"Hey, we need to borrow Mike." Dustin walked from behind Georgie and pointed at their science teacher. "We want to ask Mr. Clarke a few questions."

"Okay, I should find Joyce anyway. Let me know how it goes."

Georgie left the table, joining Joyce at hers. Joyce looked more disoriented than sad. And Georgie thought this would be a good time to talk. She's had this picture tucked into her shoe for hours.

"Care to take a walk? I want to talk about something," Georgie said. Joyce nodded and the pair walked outside.

For a while, they walked quietly side by side. Until eventually, Georgie had to bite the bullet. Her and Joyce were on the same page, and she needed to talk about it. See if Joyce knew anything that Georgie and the kids didn't, all while keeping El a secret.

"So," Georgie started. "Monsters."

"What did Jonathan tell you? I'm not crazy – I know my boy is alive," Joyce said, slightly raising her voice.

"No, no, please, I believe you." Georgie bent down and grabbed the little piece of paper. "This looks like nothing, I know. And I don't even know where it came from. But if you look right here," Georgie said pointing to a tree. "There's this blur, and by the trees and the edge of the pool – I think this is Steve Harrington's house. Which is where my friend Barb was last seen. I think Barb and Will are in the same place."

"Wait, they said the Holland girl ran away," Joyce said.

"They also said that Will was dead. They've been wrong before."

Joyce looked at Georgie for a minute, as if trying to detect any sort of lie in the younger girl's features. But Georgie held her stare, calmly, and proved that she wasn't lying. She was being sincere.

"I saw it," Joyce said. "I know what I saw. Will can see it too, he spoke to me through the lights. It came through my wall." Joyce took a breath. "Wherever he is, he can control lights here. But he's not dead – it's not a ghost."

"I don't think he's a ghost," Georgie said.

"I'm getting him back," Joyce said.

"Let me know if I can help. And please don't tell Jonathan that I'm talking to you about this stuff. I can't really afford to have him mad at me." Georgie gave Joyce a sad half smile, and she just nodded.

Georgie put her car in park, and all the kids scrambled out, running into Mike's house. Georgie followed behind, scanning the area before she went inside. She couldn't help but feel like someone was watching her, and it drove a shiver down her spine. The last thing in the world she needed was something creepy. She's had enough creepy for one day.

As Georgie entered the basement, El smiled at her slightly. Georgie took a seat next to her, ready to get schooled by Mike. He got some theoretical answers from Mr. Clarke, and wanted to explain it to her and Eleven. Mike was holding a paper and pencil, and there was a rough drawing of a line and a stick person.

"Ready to science?" Dustin asked, getting up from his seat to pace back and forth. Georgie hated how anxious her brother seemed.

"Always," Georgie said. Finally she got to tell a full truth. She didn't know how to explain the upside down to Joyce, so she didn't tell her about it. She lied to Steve about why she was at his house – but that was justified, he would've called her crazy for monster hunting on his property. But she was genuinely always ready for science.

"Okay, so, Mr. Clarke told us through this metaphor. Our dimension is the tightrope and it has rules, you can go forwards and backwards. But the flea," Mike made a small dot beside the stick person. "Can go back and forth like us as well as along the side or even upside down. And to get to the other side you would need massive, massive amounts of energy that we don't have yet. But if we did..." Mike folded the paper in half and shoved the pencil through it. El flinched, and Georgie put a soft comforting hand on her arm. "It would take a lot of energy to build a gate like this, but that's gotta be what happened. Otherwise, how'd Will get there, right?"

"Right," El said.

"So, we're the acrobat," Georgie said. Mike nodded. "The demogorgan is the flea. What does that make Will?"

"The acrobat as well but sucked through the gate," Lucas said.

"But how did Will get to the gate? To travel through it?"

"What?" Mike asked.

"How did Will get to the gate?" Georgie asked again. "Because wouldn't the gate just suck everyone in? There's no way to control that type of power. That raw energy."

"There has to be a gate," Mike said. "And we have to find it."

"We're missing a piece," Georgie said. "We can't make moves without all the facts." She felt power slipping through her fingers. They weren't listening to her.

"What we want to know is: do you know where the gate is?" Lucas said to El, bypassing Georgie's concerns. She shook her head no. "Then how do you know about the upside down?"

"I talked to Joyce today," Georgie said. Eleven looked at her with wide eyes but Georgie just gently squeezed her arm. "Not about you, sweets. And she said it was coming through her wall. And I believe her. I don't know who did this – but I'm telling you, I think that people lost control and the demogorgan has it now. That's how people just go missing. It can take people away with it. Or make a gate wherever it goes. This monster has enough power to tear through the dimensions anywhere."

"So, you think there's no gate?" Mike asked.

"On the contrary," Georgie said. "I think that someone out there made this gate – and accidentally taught the demogorgan how to do it. How to tear through reality."

"That would explain how Will got taken, and how it's just starting now." Lucas nodded, finally listening to Georgie.

"Humans had to have taught this thing how to get here, and now it's out of control – doing whatever it wants." Georgie looked over at her brother, who was spinning in circles.

"Dustin, what are you doing?" Mike asked. Dustin didn't stop looking at something in his hands. Georgie called out to him, but got no answer. All three of them were shouting at him until they finally caught his attention.

"I need to see your compasses," he said, ignoring the question. "Your compasses, all of you compasses! Right now!"

Mike looked confused, but went with Lucas upstairs to get more out of his room. Dustin scanned around the basement for the ones he knew were around. Georgie turned to El, brushing a few stray pieces of the wig off of her forehead.

"How are you?" Georgie asked.

"Okay."

Georgie raised an eyebrow. "How do you feel?"

"Scared."

Georgie put her arms around El, and rested her head on top of the younger girls'. Georgie felt the same way.

One time, when Dustin was six, he was swinging on a tire swing. Georgie was nine at the time – counting the days until her tenth birthday when she would hit double digits and leave her brother in the dust. But as he was swinging, the rope snapped. Georgie had been so terrified that she was gunna lose her little brother. And suddenly, she didn't want to leave him in the dust. She liked having someone to play with just a few doors down at home. And someone to hold onto when mom and dad were fighting in the kitchen.

The fear she felt then, feels about the same now. The panic she felt when he hit the ground is how she feels every time she thinks of Barb or Will. She feels like someone is hitting the ground after a rope snapped – but this times there's nothing she can do to help.

All she had to do all those years ago was help him up, brush off the dust and give him a hug and a kiss. Now, she needed to fight, but she didn't know who to fight. And she needed to plan but she didn't know what to plan. It was like, she needed to act as soon as possible. But she also had so many missing pieces to the puzzle that she couldn't even figure out what the picture is anymore.

"Okay?" El asked.

"What? Yeah, I'm okay." Georgie smiled sadly at El.

"Scared?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty scared."