I woke up with a start. Flying into a sitting position, I looked at the empty bed beside me. I felt sick to my stomach. Had that... had that thing come back? Had it taken Jonathan?
"Mom-"
"I know. I know," I heard Joyce's voice say, an I-can't-believe-it-either tone clear in her voice.
I breathed a sigh of relief, rubbing my eyes before getting out of bed and padding towards Will's room.
"Just watch," Joyce's voice was getting louder as I got closer, "Will... your brother's here."
"Will?" I asked, opening the door.
"Gracie," Joyce breathed, throwing a questioning look Jonathan's way.
"It's a long story," he muttered.
"Where is he? Where's Will? You found him?" I asked, approaching the pair.
"Not quite, honey, but he is here," Joyce said, gesturing for her to sit on the other side of her.
"Mom-" Jonathan said again, disbelief seeping into his voice.
"Just.. watch," Joyce commanded, gesturing towards the dozens of lamps she had displayed in front of us, "Will... Jonathan's here... and Gracie too. Can you show them what you showed me, baby?"
After a pause one of the lights flickered on for half a second.
"Look! Look!" Joyce gestured madly at it.
"Mom!" Jonathan groaned, "It's the electricity! It's the same thing that fried the phone!"
"No, Jonathan, it's not the electricity! Something is going on here. Yesterday, the wall-"
"What about the wall?" Jonathan asked, throwing his hands in the air.
"I don't know, I don't know. I just know that Will is here," Joyce all but yelled, tears streaming down her face.
"No, Mom," Jonathan said in a small voice before sighing, "Look... I'm going to go and make some breakfast. Try and get some rest, okay? Can you do that for me?"
Joyce sighed, defeated, before nodding.
"Gracie? Do you want anything?" Jonathan asked.
"No thanks, I'm good," I replied, eyes still glued to that one lamp, "I need to go and see Hopper."
"Do you need me to go with you?" Jonathan asked, worry clear in his voice.
"I'll be fine. I'll walkie Dustin and take it from there. Thanks though. I'll see you at school."
Jonathan nodded before padding down towards the kitchen, rubbing the back of his head exasperatedly.
"He doesn't believe me," Joyce said, voice small.
"About what?" I asked.
"About Will being here. Gracie, he talks to me... through the lights. I know it sounds crazy, but it's true. And yesterday! There was a phone call and I picked it up and there was this breathing down the other end of the line and then suddenly, he asked for me, Gracie- he asked for me! But then the phone was fried just as he was about to tell me where he was."
"He called you?" I asked, in disbelief, "Have you told Hopper?"
Joyce scoffed, "I don't think Hop would believe me if I did... they all think I'm crazy down at that station."
"Yeah well they'll be thinking the same about me once I've been this morning," I muttered.
"Gracie, what's wrong? Are you in some kind of trouble?" Joyce asked, putting a gentle hand on my arm.
"No," I replied, finally peeling my eyes away from the lamp, "Well... I could have been. Something followed me last night. In the woods-"
"Honey, why were you out in the woods?" Joyce asked, wide-eyed.
"I wasn't in the woods, I was... it's a long story that basically involves me going to this party (although I'm not sure you can call 6 people a party) to keep an eye on one of my friends and then I stupidly didn't factor in getting a ride home."
"And someone followed you?" Joyce pressed gently.
"Not someone..." I revealed, tears pricking at my eyes again, "Something. I saw it, Joyce. It was tall... like taller than Hopper, and it had limbs like a human but it was all black... and it had no face. Joyce, it had no face," I sobbed, letting her hug me tightly.
"I need to tell Hopper," I hiccupped, "If it followed me, it could follow someone else. It could have something to do with Will. I just need to tell him."
"Do you want me to go with you?" she asked.
I shook my head; "I'll be fine. I can run to my house from here and grab my bike... God if this is the universe's way of telling me I need to learn to drive, message received loud and clear," I joked.
Joyce let out a little chuckle as we both stood up. I hugged her tightly.
"I'll try to come by later," I promised, "You need to tell me more about the wall. Jonathan might not believe you, Hopper might not believe you, but after what I saw last night, I will."
Joyce gave me a watery smile as she pulled away, nodding vigorously; "Now go," she said, "Have a good day."
She gave me a peck on my forehead and I nodded back, heading back down the corridor towards the kitchen. I grabbed my bag and opened it, searching through it madly for my walkie.
"Hey," Jonathan said softly, "Walkie. Waffle."
He handed me the two one after the other and I breathed a sigh of relief.
"Thank you," I whispered, throwing my arms around his neck, "See you later."
"Of course," Jonathan said, a small smile on his face, "You're sure I can't drop you off?"
I shook my head; "I've got this. I've got a feeling nothing that creepy would come out in the day anyway."
Jonathan shook his head with a smile, giving me a little wave as I headed out of the door.
I didn't even stop to survey my surroundings as I took off at a run, not wanting to scare myself if I ended up seeing something in the treeline.
"Come in, Dustin. Over," I pressed the button on my walkie.
"Gracie," Dustin breathed a sigh of relief, "Where are you? And why are you panting? Over."
"I'm running to our house now. And I'm very unfit. Over."
Dustin chuckled, "Are you going straight to school after? Over."
"No," I replied, rounding the corner of Mirkwood and trying to push it to the back of my mind as I could see my house at the end of the road, "That thing I saw last night... I need to tell the Chief about it. Over."
"Okay. Then what are you doing? Over."
"The plan is to head back home so I can walk with you guys and catch up on everything I missed last night. Failing that," I said, sticking my key in the lock and opening the front door, scaring the shit out of Dustin, "Just go without me. Over."
"Gracie!" Dustin cried, throwing his arms around me, "Don't hit me, but once again... you look like shit."
I gave him the best stink eye I could muster before I rolled my eyes at him.
"Okay, I'm going to change, and then I'm going to cycle to the station. I'll walkie in if I'm on my way back. If I don't, just head to school with the guys. Deal?"
"Yeah," Dustin nodded as I headed towards my room, "Hey, Gracie?"
"Yeah?" I swung around to look at him.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
I ignored the feeling of dread in the pit of my stomach as I mustered the most convincing smile I could come up with; "Never better," I replied, taking a bite out of my waffle.
About two minutes later, I was changed and pulling my bike out of the garage. I couldn't be bothered with fussing over checking my hair and makeup today; talking to Hopper right now could quite literally be a matter of life or death, and if Steve Harrington made a comment, I'd punch him in his perfect nose.
"See you!" I called over my shoulder to Dustin as I pedalled as fast as I could towards town.
As I sailed through the high street, I took comfort in the quiet bustling of people going about their morning business. There was life to Hawkins during the day, and as far as I was concerned, a high street was a much safer place than the woods. I offered a few small smiles to the people who shouted morning greetings to me, before skidding to a halt outside the police station. I dumped my bike and dashed inside.
"What's the rush?" the receptionist, Flo, asked me eyebrows raised over her glasses.
"I need to talk to Chief Hopper, please," I panted, "Like now."
"You're in luck," Flo deadpanned, "He's usually not in until past noon, but today he-"
"Kid?" Hopper stepped out of his office, a worried look on his face, "You okay?"
I gulped as I tried to compose myself, shaking my head as he approached me.
"There was something in the road last night," I whispered, "By the woods."
Hopper's face hardened as the whole department went completely silent.
"Where the Byers boy went missing?" Officer Callahan piped up.
"Zip it," Hopper rounded on him, "My office, kid. And nobody else comes in."
The officers sighed at Hopper's threat, obviously knowing that with him there'd be hell to pay if they disobeyed, and I followed Hopper into his office as he shut the door behind us.
"Which road?" Hopper asked, sitting forward in his chair and sitting his chin atop his folded hands.
"The main road by Steve Harrington's house."
"What were you doing there?"
"There was this party-"
"You went to a party?" he snapped quietly at me, "At a time like this?"
"Look, it was only because I needed to keep an eye on my friend- you know Barbara Holland, right?"
Hopper nodded slowly.
"Well she was going to keep an eye on Nancy Wheeler... basically there's a lot of boy drama and Barb wanted to make sure that Nancy didn't do anything stupid. But I went to keep an eye on Barb because nobody ever has her back. Look this is a lot of girl talk you don't need right now, so basically, I stayed for an hour and Barb opted to stay for longer. She was meant to be driving me home but obviously didn't so I figured I'd get the bus. So I'm walking down that main road towards the bus stop- the one at the end of the street. You know the one?"
Hopper nodded again.
"So I walkie talkie Dustin so he can make sure you know if something ends up happening to me, and I hear this rustle in the bushes, so I start walking as fast as I can. But then the rustling starts following me through the treeline. I told Dustin and he told me to run and it kept following me, getting closer and closer and... I thought it was going to get me. That's when I saw Jonathan. I don't know why he was out there, before you ask, but I'm sure as hell glad he was because I jumped in his car and he sped off. But I looked back and I could see in the middle of the road there was this thing... this figure."
"A figure?" Hopper's interest peaked, "Like a person?"
"That's what I thought at first, but it had no face," I stammered.
Hopper frowned; "Could you draw it?" he asked.
I nodded shakily and he handed me a pencil and a piece of paper. I began drawing the outline of the thing and to the naked eye it would look just like some tall, lanky man with a slightly large head. I shut my eyes and tried to imagine what I had seen again, trying to ignore how clammy my palms were getting at the thought and how my breathing and heart rate were picking up.
"You're doing great, kid," Hopper murmured.
I nodded stiffly, before continuing. I drew the grooves I could see in the thing's torso when the dim streetlights had glinted off it, and the few grooves in his head where its features should have been, but weren't. Then, much to Hopper's surprise, I began shading in the whole thing, and he sat back in his seat and watched me curiously.
When I was done, I slid the paper over to him and he blinked at it.
"I know you must think I'm crazy," I said in a small voice, "I would too if I wasn't so sure I'd seen it."
"Kid, don't take this the wrong way, but were you drinking last night?" Hopper asked slowly.
I threw my hands up in the air and stood up, pushing my chair back with such force that it crashed into the door.
"And that's taking it the wrong way," Hopper muttered.
"I had half a can of beer," I admitted, "But I'm not about to get drunk off that, and who the hell could even imagine that up when they've had one too many?" I exploded, gesturing at the paper.
Hopper sighed.
"Look, I'll take a breathalyser test if that's what it'll take to make you believe me, but please, Hopper... please. You know me. I don't make stuff like this up," I begged, my voice breaking.
"I know," Hopper sighed, "I believe that you saw this last night. I'm not sure what it is or who, but I do believe that you saw it. So I'll go and have a look. How far down that road?"
"Just over halfway between Steve's house and that corner that takes you towards the high street."
Hopper nodded, making a quick note of it.
"And you're okay?" he asked, "No cuts or bruises."
"I'm just a little shaken up," I admitted.
Hopper nodded, pulling me into a one-armed hug.
"Hey, you did good, kid," he said, pulling away, "And you'll make a great sketch artist one day," he complimented.
I smiled as he walked me towards his office door.
"I've got another lead to follow up as well but I'll look into this straight after, okay? Now go and do some normal kid stuff- that's an order."
"Yes, sir," I mocked, rolling my eyes, "Please be careful."
"Always am," he winked as he walked me towards the front entrance of the station, "Same goes for you, Detective Henderson."
Looking at my watch, I didn't think I'd have time to make it home to get Dustin.
"Come in, Dustin. I'm out. Where are you? Over."
"We're just coming up on Mike's house, Gracie. We'll be there in about two minutes. Over," Dustin's voice crackled over the radio.
I looked at my watch again- I can make that.
"See you there. Over and out."
I hopped back on my bike and pedalled in the direction of Mike's house.
"Guys!" I called, jumping off my bike and running to catch up with them.
"Gracie!" the boys yelled, enveloping me in hugs.
"What the hell happened out there?" Mike asked, eyebrows furrowed in concern.
"It's a long story," I sighed, "You guys catch me up first- I feel like I've already told my story way too many times already since it happened."
"Did Hopper believe you?" Dustin asked, as we all started walking.
"Debatable, but he's going to check it out for me, which is good anyway," I replied, "So?"
"The weirdo-" Lucas started.
"Lucas!" I snapped.
"Fine," he huffed, "'El' apparently knows where Will is."
"And?" I probed, frustrated.
"And... to be honest, it's kind of confusing," Dustin admitted, "She said he was hiding."
"Hiding? From who?" I asked.
"Well that's the thing," said Mike, "She used the D&D board as a visual- it started off the right way up, then she took off all the figures, flipped the board onto the black side and put Will's wizard on it."
"So she made a point of flipping it over to the black side?" I asked, "What could that mean? Like he's hiding at night or he's hiding somewhere dark?"
"We don't know," admitted Lucas, "But it's what she said he was hiding from..."
"Which was?" I asked, frustrated with how much drama they were building up.
"Gracie, she put the Demogorgon figure down," Dustin said.
My blood ran cold. I'd only actually played D&D with the guys a few times- I mainly helped them write the campaigns- but I knew the Demogorgon was bad news. Then I had an idea.
"Remind me what the Demogorgon looks like again," I said, dreading the answer.
"Oh it's like... it's kind of like a person?" Mike starts, gesturing to the guys for help with the description.
"Yeah only it's like nine feet tall, and it's limbs are kind of elongated," Dustin added.
"And it's all black and slimy and disgusting," Lucas laughed.
"And then it's face opens up in like these five petals all lined with razor sharp teeth!" Mike added, putting on his Dungeon Master voice.
"Yeah but you only see that when it's about to go in for the kill," Dustin said, "Other than that, it keeps it's mouth closed so it's just like a head... a lot of players call the Demogorgon 'The Man with No Face'."
"Spooooooky!" Lucas laughed.
I stopped walking.
"A man with no face?" I stammered.
They nodded.
"Completely black?"
"Gracie, what-" Dustin started.
"I think I'm going to be sick," I admitted, holding my stomach.
"What? Why?" Lucas asked, worried.
"Because that sounds exactly like what I saw in the road last night."
"Holy shit," Dustin squeaked.