George and Nicole Harper had never had an easy life. From one set of divorced parents to another, these half siblings have had it tough.
Ever since their mother, Naomi, split from George's father and forced them to move from England back to her hom...
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The boys retreated back to Mike's basement. Some of them were standing around, George was standing around. He was too tense and sore to want to sit down and relax. The memory of Will's words played in his mind like a terrible echo. After what he heard, he was worried he'd never be able to relax again. Not even when playing D&D.
George glanced at his watch what seemed like every half hour but the slow ticking of the second hand showed it had only been three seconds, no more. It seemed like forever. He desperately wanted Mike to say something. To say that Will was definitely alive and that he had a plan to find him. George stared at Mike as he paced, taking a few steps at a time, his hands were pressed together under his chin like he was praying. They were all praying, in a way. Praying for a miracle. That Will might be okay.
"What did will say?" Mike said at last and George felt some of the tension in his chest fade away, "Like home...like home, but dark?"
"And empty." Lucas added softly, "He said it was empty."
"And cold." George spoke up, just because he felt obligated to contribute something.
"Did he say cold?" Dustin queried, cocking his head to one side in thought. George nodded and Dustin shrugged.
"I don't know, I can't be sure, the stupid radio kept going in and out." Lucas grumbled and slumped further back into Mike's old couch. El was sat on the other end and Lucas had squeezed himself right up against the arm, as far away from El as he could get.
"It's like riddles in the dark." Dustin frowned and sighed.
He too leant back against the wooden back of a chair they'd dragged down from the kitchen, against Mrs Wheeler's will, when they'd needed extra space for George to join them when they played D&D. Now it sat there, innocently, like nothing had happened. But to George, it was a constant reminded that he'd butted in and ruined everything. Just as he turned up, Will had disappeared. He knew, logically, that it was his fault. But logic had gone out the window when they'd met El.
"Like home?" Mike continued mumbling to himself as he kept pacing around, "Like his house?"
"Or maybe like Hawkins!" Lucas cried, sitting up suddenly. Were they on to something?
"Upside down." El said softly. It wasn't quite a whisper. No, she wasn't whispering, she wanted to be heard. But it was like she didn't want them to know. She was scared.
"What'd she say?" Lucas grumbled, agitated that he didn't understand.
"Upside down!" Mike cried as if it was obvious. Like it was the last piece to the puzzle. To George, this puzzle was double-sided and came with no picture on the box.
"What?" Lucas muttered bitterly and raised his eyebrows while looking at the others to show his distaste.
"When El showed us where Will was, she flipped the board over, remember?" Mike rambled wildly. He was onto something and wasn't going to slow down just so the others could catch up. He raced around the room and grabbed the D&D board from where it lay, unused, on a shelf. They'd stashed it up there waiting for the next time they could finish their campaign. That day still hadn't come.
