1983 || Stranger Things

ᴇʟᴇᴠᴇɴ | sᴇᴄʀᴇᴛs ʀᴇᴠᴇᴀʟᴇᴅ

      "Calm down. He called me to tell me that he's been to anger-management classes, and that he has improved immensely. He wants you to go home for the summer. Says your siblings miss you, and that he does as well."

      "Bull. Are you sure Neil Hargrove told you all that?"

      "I am very sure. It's up to you, J, but maybe it would be helpful to calm the waters a bit. You'll be seventeen when?" Hopper asked as he finished up stitching.

      "March 29th."

      "I'm not going to force you, but I want you to think about it, okay?" Hopper finished his stitching and did a new bandage on Julie's hand.

      "I'll think about it." Julie promised, even though she didn't want to.

      "You're a good kid, Julie. You'll be just fine." Hopper said, smiling.

      "You're not a very bad Chief, Hop. Thanks."

      Hopper was about to made a snide remark, but a woman shouting made both of their heads snap up to the door. Hopper left his office towards the sound, and Julie got up slowly, joining Joyce and Jonathan in the hallway.

•••

      Julie had made the biggest mistake of her life. She had told Joyce and Hopper about the things she heard from the other world. The screams, the growling. Hopper and Joyce were byond pissed that she had kept this massive secret, but the secret was revealed, and everybody had to figure out how to deal with that.

      Right now, however, Julie was standing next to Nancy, who was hanging onto the car door. Hopper was in front of them, observing the Wheeler's house with a pair of binoculars.

      "I have to go home." Nancy pleaded to the Chief.

      "No you can't." Hopper said, eyes still glued on Maple Street.

      "My mom... my dad are there." Nancy said.

      "They're gonna be okay." Hopper said with a monotone voice, putting the binoculars down.

      Nancy walked around Julie and tried to go to her house. "Nancy, don't." Julie said, but Hopper stopped her once he heard Julie's words.

      "Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey."

      "Let go. Let go!"

      "Hey! Listen to me. Listen to me. The last thing in the world we need is them knowing you're mixed up in this." Hopper said to the teen, and Julie kept a careful watch on the government people.

      "Mike is over there--"

      "Nance, they haven't found him. Any of them. Not yet." Julie called to her best friend, pointing to the sky where helicopters were flying.

      "She's right." Hopper said, and Julie smiled.

      Nancy looked at the helicopters in shock. "For Mike?"

       "Come on, both of you get in the car." Hopper pulled Nancy back, and she got into the middle of the car with Julie behind the driver's seat.

      Hopper closed his door and turned back to Julie and Nancy, who knew the kids the best. "Look, we need to find them before they do. Do either of you have any idea where he might have gone?"

      "No, I dont." Nancy said.

      "I need you both to think." Hopper said, and Julie got an idea.

      "I don't know. We haven't talked a lot. I mean, lately..." she trailed off, and Julie's brows were furrowed as her idea formed.

      "Is there any place that your... your parents don't know about that he might go?" Joyce asked, but Nancy didn't know.

      "I might. I think I have an idea." Julie spoke up, and all eyes turned to her.

      "What?" Hopper asked her.

      "I'm sure where they are, but I know how to ask them. Their radios. If they're somewhere in range, we can use Will's radio to talk to them." Julie explained, and Hopper nodded.

      Hopper drove the car off to the Byer's home, all of them climbing out quickly upon arrival. They walked through the house in the direction of Will's room.

      Nancy stood in the living room, looking at all the lights after Julie passed her. She walked back and grabbed Nancy's hand, pulling her to the hallway where Will's room was. "Find your brother now, gawk over the insaneness of this house later." Julie said, and Nancy snickered.

      The girls joined the other three in Will's room jut as Joyce found his radio. Julie pulled the antenna up and passed it off to Nancy who was seated on the bed next to Joyce and started speaking right away.

      "Mike, are you there? Mike?" she asked. No response. "Mike, it's me, Nancy. Mike, are you there? Answer. Mike, we need you to answer." Nancy kept trying, but no one was picking up. "This is an emergency, Mike. Do you copy?" Nancy continued. "Mike, do you copy? I need you to answer. We need to know that you're there, Mike."

      Julie was getting tired of the one sided conversation. She felt confident that if she spoke, the kids would answer. Julie has spent every second of her free time that she could spare babysitting Mike, Lucas, Will and Dustin for two years straight. She knew how they thought and she knew about their games. So, she took the radio.

      "Listen, guys. It's me, you know it's me. I know you know that I know all of your games. This is not Lando Calrissian, this is not a trap, we are not kidnapped. We know about the girl you're with and we know that you're in trouble. We can protect all of you, just please pick up. Do you copy? Over." Julie said quickly.

      When nobody picked up, Julie placed the radio on Will's dresser, feeling defeated. "Anybody got any other ideas?" Hopper spoke up, scanning the room.

      "Yeah, I copy. It's Mike. I'm here. We're here."