DARLING

PROLOGUE

STARCOURT MALL, known in Hawkins as the only mall and entertainment provider for the small town, was packed with people on a rather gloomy and rain filled afternoon. The bright indoors of the mall brought a shine to the day that was absent before. Parents were seen chasing after their kids, teenagers were gossiping about anything that had even the slightest interest in the small town, and people were working in the many shops that are provided in the mall.

It was an overall normal Sunday afternoon, the parents came home from church only to be bribed by their kids into going to the mall.

In Scoops Ahoy, one Steve Harrington and his best friend Robin Buckley could be seen working the counter, Steve constantly flirting with the female population and Robin continuously counting his loses on her YOU RULE/YOU SUCK board (hint: there are only tallies on the YOU SUCK side.)

But, as the common saying goes, 'nothing good lasts forever', that statement seems to always ring true to the town of Hawkins, and the next second there was a flash of light so blinding many had to shield their eyes.

Next thing we know, the entire mall is seen empty, not just the mall, but the entire town. It seems as if this light had surrounded the whole area and took everyone with it when it left. The only sound to be heard is the birds chirping and the wind blowing past the many trees.

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Of all the things that could possibly happen the Chief of Police, Jim Hopper, definitely did not expect to wake up in, what seems to be, a large theater with the whole damn town in it.

Definitely not on his agenda for today, but stranger things have happened.

From what he could observe, the majority of Hawkins was in this room, from children to police officials. And everyone was just as panicked and confused as the next person.

Teachers were seen trying to account for all of the students in their class which is useless as they were all searching for their families, Parents were seen looking for their kids, the officers were attempting to calm everyone down (unsuccessfully might i add) , and people in lab coats? Were just observing everything from the back of the room with stoic faces.

"Okay, everyone just SHUT UP!" he finally yelled over all the voices, catching everyone's attention. "Calm down so we can figure out what the hell is going on here!"

Powell, an officer at the police station, leaned closer to Hopper and asked him, "Chief, any clue what the hell we should do?"

Before he could even think of replying another bright light appeared  and a note fell down right in front of Oliver Munsons face.

He looked at his older brother, Eddie Munson, and then back to the note and then he looked over to the party, all of which were encouraging him to just grab the note and read it as they didn't want to. Everyone else was just staring curiously or impatiently.

"Go on kid" Wayne Munson spoke to his nephew.

"Its okay little bro" Eddie Munson said smiling at his little brother, "a piece of paper wont hurt you."

"Yeah, just go on and read it" Lucas Sinclair spoke encouragingly.

"It cant be too bad" Said Dustin Henderson with optimism, glad that the note hadn't landed in front of him.

Will Byers then spoke smiling softly at his best friend and the person he loved, "Its okay Oli"

Oliver looked over to them and then grabbed the note quickly, everyone sucked in a breath as if expecting something terrible to happen to him. He looked up again with wide doe eyes and the started to read the note.