Chapter 60: What's Wrong with Hawkins?
"Hey Mia…" Bill says pulling up to the house on his bike.
His cousin looks up as she sits in an old rocking chair on the front porch to escape the still lingering humidity trapped in the house, reading a book and drinking some ice water. Even with her window still stuck open, Mia had found that finishing her English homework had caused her to work up a sweat, enough so that she'd fled for cooler areas within or surrounding the Denbrough house. The shade on the porch provided a nice safe space for her to read and plan her tutoring lessons.
"Hey," she says.
"A-Are my Mom and Dad home? What a-about Georgie?"
"Nope, Aunt Sharon took Georgie to the Wheeler's house for a play date and Uncle Zack got called into work."
"Okay good," Bill says, walking his bike to the side of the house.
"Why? You're not throwing a party, are you?" she jokes before going back to her book.
"Hey Bill wait up!"
Mia looks up to see the mass number of kids following behind her cousin. She's a little shocked and recognizes only two of the faces, smiling at both of them.
"Maybe you are…" She stands up and goes to the edge of the porch.
"Hey Beverly," she says.
"Hi Mia. You can just call me Bev by the way."
"Cool. Hi Jane. I didn't know you knew Bill."
Eleven smiles upon seeing her tutor and hurries up the porch steps. "Hi Mia. Yes, he's my new friend."
She notices The Tempest on top of the stack of books next to the rocking chair. She sees the sticky note peering out from between the pages and reaches forward.
"Uh uh uh," Mia smirks, quickly grabbing the book to keep it out of El's reach. "No peeking."
"Why?" she jokingly whines.
"Because the next scene is really funny. I don't want to ruin it for you by having you know the jokes before hand."
"Are you going to act it out?" Eleven asks eagerly.
"You insult me Jane," Mia smirks, pretending to be wounded by the comment. "Of course, I'm going to. It's the best way to learn."
El laughs as Mike walks up to join his girlfriend.
"So, you're El's tutor?" he asks.
"El?" Mia says in confusion. "Who's El? Why does he call you El, Jane?"
The colour drains from Mike's face as he realizes that she doesn't know about Eleven's nickname. His mind races to think of an excuse for why anyone would call her this if her legal first name started with J. Fortunately, Eleven/Jane/El was used to this and had the same excuse ready to go.
"My middle name is Ella," Jane explains. "And they decided to call me El for short."
"Okay…" Mia says, skeptical but some people do prefer being called by their middle names rather than their first.
Dustin walks up to the porch. "Also, when she plays Dungeons and Dragons with us, she liked the name Eleven for some reason, so its kind of stuck since then. El or Eleven, you can take your pick."
"Okay," Mia repeats. The overexplaining of Jane's nickname made her think that they weren't telling the truth at all. But why would anyone be called El or Eleven for that matter? It was too weird.
"I'm Dustin by the way and this is Mike, Lucas, Will and Max," the curly-haired teen introduces everyone.
"And you're all friends with Bill?" she asks, eyeing each of them with lingering suspicion.
"Yeah sure," Max says before walking past the others and heading inside.
"We just need to check something out," Ben says, climbing the stairs and entering the house.
The others slowly trickle into the house, leaving a stunned Mia on the porch. She watches as the group heads down into the basement for some reason. Fortunately, Sharon wasn't around, otherwise she'd go nuts and try to bake cookies for all of Bill's friends. She was happy that her cousin had some friends, and he seemed much happier because of them.
She turns and tries to go back to the book she was reading.
However, after she read one page, she couldn't tell anyone about what she'd just read. Her mind was elsewhere. Curiosity was getting the best of her, wanting to know more about what they were up to. It sure as hell wasn't chemistry homework. What was in the basement anyway?
Shutting her books, she gets up and carefully begins sneaking towards the basement door. She goes up on the balls of her feet to lessen the noise while also walking on any areas with carpet to muffle any potential footsteps. A technique she learned when trying to avoid waking up her father from a hungover stupor.
The door is slightly ajar, allowing her to push it open enough to listen in. It felt lame and intrusive, but if the kids were up to something, she might need to know.
…
Meanwhile, down in one of the farther corners of the basement, Bill turns on the bare bulb hanging above the wooden workbench to illuminate what he'd been talking about.
"This is it?" Lucas asks, disappointment evident in his voice.
"Pretty m-much," Bill says.
Everyone steps forward to get a closer look at the heavy amount of equipment piled high on the workbench. Tangles of wires dangle underneath the table, hang from above and spread out from the side plugged into outlets, closely resembling a spider's web. It was a mess of what looked like junk as if the person had no idea what they were doing. For those from Hawkins and Ben, it resembled the kind of equipment in the A/V club room, but it was uncertain whether it was an H.A.M radio or not.
Dustin sits down in the swivel chair set in front of the device and takes a closer look at it.
"Definitely a radio," he confirms to everyone around him. "Definitely an older model." One could see in his eyes that his mind was reeling as he analyzed every piece of the massive radio. "Almost military degree of sophistication…"
"Where'd this even come from?" Max asks.
Bill shrugs. "It was-s here when w-we moved in."
"Does it work?" El asks.
Turning on the machine, the thing whirrs to life, startling all of them and answering the question. On one of the dials, Dustin sees the number of frequencies it's on. Suddenly, his mind snaps back to what felt like ages ago… the first weekend after school started… after talking to his girlfriend and before the weird clown voice came through… a little boy by the name of…
"So, this is how your brother got in contact with me," Dustin says, blinking in realization.
He remembers talking to a little kid named Georgie on the radio and telling the kid it was better to leave such equipment alone. While he'd since learned that Georgie was Bill's little brother, it was still a mystery as to how the kid had managed to contact Cerebro. There were a few other things that you had to do besides turn it on… maybe the kid just got lucky.
"W-Wait you t-talked t-to Georgie?" Bill asks.
"Yeah, it was almost two months ago. I had just finished talking with Suzie and suddenly I heard a kid's voice coming through. Told me his name and that he broke the rules by turning on the radio in his basement. I'd almost forgotten about this until I noticed the number on the dial… it's the same frequency Cerebro uses… used."
El bites her lip, another wave of guilt washing over her.
"D-Do you think it will b-be strong enough?" Bill asks.
Dustin puts in the headphones that look military-grade and really old. He hears the static in his ears.
"It's possible, but being underground is usually a disadvantage. It's why I have Cerebro at Weathertop. It's the highest point in Hawkins, providing me with the most signal."
…
Meanwhile, Mia continues to listen to the kids' conversation from the top of the stairs. So far, she was completely lost about what was happening, aside from Georgie playing with something that he shouldn't have and contacting… was it Dustin the one with the curly hair? Why are they so interested in the radio anyway? Who would they be trying to contact?
For a second, she wants to just stop and mind her own business, but what would a bunch of teenagers want with a large radio? If it was for something bad, she needed to stay and continue listening.
…
"Could it pick up IT again?" Beverly asks.
"Not sure…" is the response.
Dustin flips a few switches and begins to fiddle with the dials of the system. He hears a lot of static but not much else.
"It might take me some time to get used to this equipment and I might need to make a few repairs since it's so much older."
"Time we might not have," Will says. "If the clown is communicating through the radio, we need to find IT as soon as possible."
…
What the hell? A clown? Mia thinks. What the hell are they talking about?
…
"I understand the time crunch, but I have a life outside of this," Dustin adds. "I'm also not a magician."
Meanwhile, Max has wandered away from the group, bored by the technology crap and noticed several bulletin boards covered in sketches, diagrams, Post-It Notes, and newspaper clippings, yellowing with age. She notices that several of the clippings are from papers like the National Inquirer and other tabloid rags.
Some headlines pop out at her, ones that were all too familiar:
Missing Hawkins Child Found
Boy "Lost in Woods"
Toxic Spill Blamed for Death of Student
Justice for Barbara Holland
DOE and MK Ultra
Woman Claims Government Stole Her Baby
Alternate Realities Possible in Hawkins
Strange Creatures Sighted in Woods. Links to Loss of Crops
Russians in Hawkins?
"Whoever lived here before you was interested in some weird shit," she says aloud, getting their attention. "That and golf."
"What do you mean?" Beverly questions.
She and Eleven wander over to what Max is looking at, followed by Will, Lucas, Ben and Mike. The redhead points out the baskets of golf balls, one of them Bill recognizes fell out of the closet in his room the night they moved in. Guess his dad hadn't gotten around to throwing them out.
"A regular conspiracy theorist," Will agrees.
Of course, there were articles about UFOs and Bigfoot, but the guy had taken an interest in what had happened to Will in 1983, Nancy's friend Barb's death, all the connections to Hawkins Lab, Eleven's past, the Demogorgon and Demodogs and the Russians under Starcourt Mall. It was eerie to see so many pieces of their history displayed on bulletin boards, a history that those from Derry were just starting to learn about.
"Was this you?" Bev asks Will, looking at the article about him being found.
Will swallows and nods his head.
"This is literally all that's happened since Will went missing," Lucas mutters.
"It's like a weird form of stalking," Max jokes.
"Who did l-live here b-before us Mike?" Bill asks.
"Mr. and Mrs. Winchester," Mike answers.
"What were t-they like?"
"Mrs. Winchester was really nice. She'd be out in her garden all the time, bring over homemade jams to my mom, and on Halloween, she always made candy apples. She passed away last year."
"What about Mr. Winchester?"
Mike frowns and bites his lip. "He was a… bit of an unusual guy."
"Unusual is an understatement," Dustin says, removing the headphones to join the conversation at the "conspiracy" board. "He used to sit in a lawn chair on his roof, drink beer and throw golf balls at cars or anything that moved, including us."
"He'd also steal Mike's Dad's magazines," Lucas adds. "And also blast music late into the night."
"What magazines…?" Ben asks.
Mike cuts in before anyone can answer, saving him the embarrassment. "My mom said that he had dementia and didn't know what he was doing, He's in a home now," he says, defending his neighbour slightly. He felt bad for Mr. Winchester losing his wife and being alone. He was always a bit unusual but if he was sick, then it wasn't his fault.
"Well clearly, he fell hard down the Hawkins Rabbit Hole," Dustin states. "More than Murray ever did."
He takes a closer look at the Post-It notes about Russians and their use of radio. There was even a Russian dictionary on top of a stack of books next to the workbench... could the old man have heard the same message that he'd heard over the summer that Robin managed to translate, revealing the presence of a secret underground base? What if he heard before Dustin? It was interesting to see an outsider's observations about what had happened in their sleepy little town.
"Who's Murray?" Ben asks.
"Another guy who knows about what's happened in Hawkins. He helped get the lab shut down," Will explains.
"Add Mr. Winchester to that list," Beverly says in amazement.
"But my Mom said he has dementia," Mike shakes his head in disbelief.
"He may have it now, but he clearly knew something was wrong in Hawkins," Max says.
…
What is wrong with Hawkins? Mia wonders, shaking her head in disbelief. What the hell are they talking about?
…
"We n-need to decide o-our next move," Bill announces, trying to bring everyone back to the task at hand.
"I think that while Dustin works to find… IT on the radio, we keep vigilant about the Demogorgon in your house," Mike suggests.
"Great so I do all the work, while you guys sit around and do nothing," the curly-haired teen grumbles.
"Not even close," Mike snaps. "We need to find out how the Demogorgon is getting through again. If it's found a way through there must be another…"
"Gate," Eleven swallows heavily.
"Exactly," Mike says. "We find it and close it."
"How do we do that?" Beverly asks.
No one from Hawkins answers because they hear the sound of a car pulling up and doors slamming.
"Shoot m-must be m-my Dad," Bill says. "W-We'll meet up again as soon as w-we can."
"It's probably a good idea to leave before your Dad asks why we're all hanging out in your basement," Will points out.
"And m-my m-mom with her o-ver hospitality…" Bill adds, in embarrassment.
"G-Good call," Bill agrees. He turns off the radio and the kids head towards the basement stairs.
Mia stands up quickly and walks away from the basement door, hiding her eavesdropping from the kids. She busies herself with clearing the table and setting it for dinner, acting as normal as can be as the other teenagers appear from the basement. They barely acknowledge her existence as they are in a rush to get out.
Bill hurries to the window to see his dad rummaging around in the trunk of the car.
"Back door!" he calls out.
The group rushes through the living room and out to the back door.
"See you later Bill," Eleven says before they all hurry out.
"Bye," Bill says.
Mr. Denbrough struggles to open the door and Mia hurries over to let him in.
She gives Bill a slight nod before opening it.
"Are you okay Uncle Zack? Let me help you," she offers, taking a heavy load of folders from his hand. She also shuts the door to obscure the view of the front yard full of bicycles.
"I'm fine, just bringing work home with me again," he grumbles.
Bill hurries over to help his dad as well, glancing out the window to see his friends gathering their bikes and disappearing.
"Also, what is with the mess of bikes in the front yard?" he asks.
Bill's heart sinks a little until…
"What bikes Uncle Zack?" Mia asks, giving him a feigned puzzled look.
"On the front lawn, there's a whole pile of bikes there… Lousy kids…"
"There's nothing on the lawn Uncle Zack," his niece continues, putting the stack of folders on a nearby chair.
"What are you talking about there was just…" Zack does a double take, looking out the front window and seeing nothing on their front lawn. "That's strange… I swear I saw like five bikes out there."
"It wasn't me," Bill says. "M-My bike is on the s-side."
"That is strange," Mia says. "Should I call Aunt Sharon to bring Georgie home from his playdate?"
"Huh? Yes sure, let's get dinner going."
Mia and Bill exchange a few knowing glances, the younger thankful for his cousin's help in covering what happened this afternoon.
…
That night as Mia attempts to go through her tutoring for her next session, but can't focus because she continues to ponder the conversation that she'd overheard in the basement. It was so weird that Bill suddenly had ten new friends who were all interested in a large radio, a clown, a Demogorgon and a demo-dog. Most of it sounded like gibberish to her along, with the history of the house she currently lived in. She'd written everything down on a piece of notebook paper, front and back because that's how many questions she had. She examines a few of them:
What happened to Will?
Why do you need a radio?
What is a Demogorgon?
What does Mr. Winchester know?
What is going on in Hawkins?
She wants so badly to slip this paper under Bill's door and demand he answer all of them, but that would give away she'd been listening, giving in to her curiosity and nosiness. She didn't want her cousin to hate her for spying on him, but the way those kids spoke about… whatever they were speaking about, it sounded very serious and some of them even sounded scared. What was wrong with Hawkins?
She hears something behind her. She looks down to see a piece of paper has been slipped under her door.
She hurries over to pick it up.
Thanks for covering for me today. You're the best.
- Bill
Mia smiles and realizes that if she wants answers to all her questions, she's going to have to get them herself.
She tucks the piece of paper away in her desk, knowing that she'll start as soon as she's done planning her lessons.
A/N: What is wrong with Hawkins? Mia is on her way to finding out. Please follow and leave a review, it is always great to read them.
Response to Reviews:
GlaringEyes: Yes, we feel for El because none of this is in her control. She's being tormented and you're right it's with past and present terrors in her life. I agree that it's a smart strategy for both entities to team up because they have opponents with different skills and experiences.
The radio has become a part of the story, something I planned for quite a while and I am glad it's finally paying off. As for the other messages, no spoilers yet.
Larry: If I'm being honest, I wasn't planning to have Suzie come to Hawkins. It's just an idea that something suggested and I will probably not use it, though I would like to feature her over the radio a few more times.
I'll look into the suggestion.
The crossover is a fun one and I'm glad you like In the Reptile Room as well.