"okay that totally freaked me out. did that not freak you guys out?" max asked, not having a clue what just happened and thinking will was just a psycho.
"two episodes in two days." lucas says.
"it's getting worse!" i add.
"you think it's true sight?" lucas asks.
"what's true sight?" max asks, again, being completely clueless.
"nothing it's- it's nothing." says lucas.
*time skip*
we're digging through the trash, and dustin finally decides to join us.
"what the hells going on?" he asks, walking up to us.
"what do you think? we're looking for dart." says mike.
lucas flings a rubbish bag full of old food our and nearly hits dustin with it. we all manage to move out the way in time though.
"well well well. look who finally decided to show up. after i drew the short straw, teal convenient." lucas fake smiles.
"you stink!" max says, backing away from him and me holding my nose at the atrocious smell.
"hi max." dustin smiles.
"hi?" she asks, confused. i put my arm around her, giving dustin the fakest smile i've ever made. was i jealous again? oh my, i really did like this girl. they looked at us a bit funny but that just caused us to get closer.
"anyways...where's will?" dustin asks.
"he'll be here." mike responds.
"are you just gonna stand there? or are you gonna help?" lucas addressed.
we start poking the trash, looking for dart. however, no luck. surprise surprise.
mike rung the byers's house, but no answer.
"we need to talk. av room. right now." mike said. we all went to follow him, but when max got up, mike refused.
"party members only."
"come on mike, don't be like this." i said, arguing with him.
"no! this is non negotiable." he said, i squeezed max's hand and apologised on behalf of mike, and followed the boys.
"will didn't want me to tell anyone, but on halloween night he saw a sort of shadow in the sky." mike said.
"a shadow?" lucas repeated.
"what kind of shadow? i asked.
"i don't know. but it scared him. and if will really has true sight... i mean if he can really see into the upside down,maybe he saw that shadow again yesterday." mike suggested.
"so that's why he was frozen like that?" dustin questioned.
"maybe." said mike.
"can it hurt him? i mean if this shadow thing isn't from our world..." asked lucas.
"i'm not sure. y/n?
"well if you're in another plane you can't interact with the material plane, so theoretically no, the shadow can't hurt him." i said, not knowing how i knew all that. probably because i'd been hanging round dustin for so long.
"yeah, if that's even what's happening. this isn't d&d. this is real life."
"so what do we do?" lucas questions.
"we acquire more knowledge. i'll go to will's after school. see what's going on. you guys stay here and find dart." mike suggested.
"dart? what's he got to do with this?" asked dustin, being protective.
"will heard him in the upside down. i don't know how yet but he's gotta be connected to all this. he's gotta he. if we find dart, maybe we can solve this thing. maybe we can help will." said mike.
it was the next day, and it was a saturday so we didn't have to go to school. i layed in bed as i usually did on a saturday morning, and decided to radio mike.
"hi wheeler." i said, just wanting to talk to my best friend and know he was okay. but he didn't answer. i left it and just got up and dressed. as my dad was at work today, my mum out of town and heather out with her friends, i had the house to myself. so, i decided to treat myself with some eggo waffles. it made me emotional, giving me flashbacks of when el was here. she was the first other girl in our friend group, and actually being the reason i had found out i like girls. no one else knew but me and her kissed shortly before she disappeared. she apologised and said she lived mike, and that was the last time we spoke.
i was crying on my bed, listening to madonna and eating eggo waffles. my cuts were hurting but i decided to get out of the house and go to the arcade, because i used to love doing that but since my dad started drinking and became abusive i hadn't got out the house a lot. i rode there on my bike and when i got inside, i discovered that max was there too. she was talking to that boy, keith, that was a year above my sister.
"hey y/n." she said. she looked like she was in a bad mood, so i just gave her a smile and said hey. she said dig dug was broken and keith had one in the back, so i followed max whilst keith unlocked the door. when we got in there, lucas was in there too. it looked like max was made at him when she saw his face, even more so when we started talking to him.
"what is this shit, stalker." she asked.
"sorry. i just needed a safe place." lucas replied.
"a safe place to what? be creepy?"
"listen. i'm gunna tell you the truth about everything that happened last year. but if anyone finds out, you could be arrested. possibly killed."
"lucas. this isn't such a good id-" i was saying until lucas interrupted me.
"she needs to know." lucas told me.
i nodded my head in agreement and let him carry on talking.
"killed?" max asked.
"i need to know. do you accept the risk?"
"oh my god! this...this is so stupid."
"do you accept the risk?" he repeated himself.
"yeah. sure. fine. i accept the risk." max said, whilst putting down her skateboard and sitting on a chair. i sat down next max, looking at her.
"let's hear it." she said, obviously not knowing how serious the things we were about to tell her were.
"last year. will didn't get lost in the woods. he got lost somewhere else." the boy began saying.
max had a confused look on her face, until he told her the whole story of what had happened last year when will went missing.
