Eleven was nervously playing with the radio, semi secluded in her fort in the Wheeler basement.
"Can you please stop that?" Mike asked.
"Why, does it bother poor Mikey poo?" Null asked, annoyed that he'd snapped at her not long ago for not being able to find Will, and then being upset that she brought him to a seemingly dead Will.
Mike chose not to respond to Null, in efforts to avoid an argument with her. Eleven continued to play with the radio, static crackling as she did so.
"Are you deaf?" Mike asked El.
"No," Null replied, looking up from chipping her nail polish off. "I can hear your prepubescent voice just fine, unfortunately."
"Not you, her," Mike looked at Eleven. "I thought we were friends, you know? But friends tell each other the truth. And they definitely don't lie to each other. You made me think Will was okay, that he was still out there, but he wasn't. He wasn't! Maybe you thought you were helping, but you weren't. You hurt me. Do you understand? What you did sucks. Lucas was right about you. All along."
Just then, Eleven switched the radio and you could hear a young boy feverishly singing "Should I Stay Or Should I Go."
"Will, is that you? It's Mike! Do you copy? Over. Will, are you there? Will!" Mike asked, anxiously. "Was that..."
"Was it..." Real? Null wanted to ask.
"Will," Eleven confirmed, with a small smile on her face.
~~~~~
The next morning Null made her way over to the Byer's house, pounding on the door at 7am.
"Go away," Jonathan's firm voice said behind the door.
"Jonathan, open up, it's me," Null insisted.
He swung open the door to reveal himself in yesterday's clothes, with messy hair and eyes red from apparent crying.
"What do you want?" He asked, looking down to her feet.
"Let me in, please. It's Will, he's not dead. Whatever was found in the quarry, it wasn't him," Null pleaded, trying to push past him into the house.
He groaned. "Not you too," he began to close the door.
Null put her hand up, stopping the door from closing. "Just let me in, I can explain everything. Well maybe not everything, but as much as I know."
"Jonathan, who's there?" Joyce asked from behind him.
"No one mom, just go back to bed," he insisted.
"Joyce!" Null called out. "It's me, Null. This is gonna sound crazy but Will's not dead. Just here me out."
Joyce looked at Null from over Jonathan's shoulder before looking at her reluctant son. "Let her in."
They all sat down at the dining room table, Null trying not to look too long at the Christmas lights now hung all over the house. Null cleared her throat.
"Right so this'll probably sound a bit crazy, but uh something tells me that that's become some what of a norm in this house-"
"Null," Jonathan warned.
"It's okay Jonathan," Joyce reassured. Joyce was simply eager to hear if her suspicions would be confirmed.
"So I think it's all connected. The killing at Benny's, Will's disappearance, Barb's disappearance. All of it."
"Go on," Joyce urged, leaning forward, intrigued.
"I was there, at Benny's, when it happened. The people killed are from Hawkins Lab, which is basically a place where the scientists there experiment with people, things, really anything they can get results out of," Null took a deep breath.
"Okay..." Jonathan said, confused on how this had anything to do with Will.
"And then there was that monster in the picture-"
"What monster?" Joyce asked. "Jonathan?"
Jonathan sighed, before going to retrieve said picture from his bedroom, sliding back into his seat and showing the picture to his mother. She covered her mouth, concerned and in shock.
"Right, well I'm thinking that monster came out of Hawkins Lab. It's the only thing that would make sense, since they're used to dealing with supernaturals-"
"What-" Jonathan tried to interrupt.
"It'd only make sense that eventually they'd fuck something up along the way and create something like this."
"Can we go back to-" Jonathan tried.
"And then last night my sister was tuning the radio and we heard what we think was Will singing this song and-"
"What song?" Jonathan asked urgently, making sure to get Null's attention this time.
"Should I Stay or Should I Go," Null replied, watching Jonathan and Joyce exchange a look of understanding.
"So he's out there, somewhere?" Joyce asked, hopeful.
"Yes," Null replied. "At least I think so."
"Okay let's say I believe this, and that this is all true-" Jonathan started.
"It is," Null confirmed.
"Well then whose body did they find in the quarry?" Jonathan asked.
"Well did anyone get a good look at him? Have you went to see him yet?" Null asked.
"No," Joyce said, before standing up and grabbing her keys, leaving the two kids still sitting, watching her. "Well what're you two waiting for, let's go."
The two kids sat down in the lobby of the coroner's office as Joyce went to see the body.
"So, penny for your thoughts?" Null asked.
"You'd need more than a penny for my thoughts," Jonathan grumbled.
"Hey now, that's not very fair." Null pouted. "As your supposed girlfriend, you're supposed to spill all your feelings out to me. In a poem, preferably."
Jonathan shook his head, fighting a smile. "How do you always know what to say?"
"How do you always manage to try to change the subject?"
Jonathan laughed a little. "I feel like shit. One minute my brother's missing, then there's a monster we drunkenly find, then I'm a stalker with a stranger for a girlfriend, then my brother's dead, but then said stranger tell's me he's not, but also that supernatural shit exists. I'm confused, I'm sad, I'm angry because I'm sad and confused, but most of all I'm curious to know what you know."
"Maybe once this is all over, I've tell you everything. But for now, we need to save your brother," Null gave Jonathan a small smile and gave his hand a comforting squeeze.
Joyce rushed into the lobby, "I don't know what you think that thing is in there, but that is not my son!"
Joyce left the coroner's office, leaving Jonathan and Null to jump up and rush after her.
"You sure it wasn't him?" Jonathan asked.
"I think I'd know what my own son looks like, Jonathan," Joyce snapped.
"Okay," Jonathan relented. "Well if it's not him, then who is it? And what do we do?"
"We play the part," Null answered. "If it's not Will, then that means it's a cover up, a convincing one at that, which Hawkins Lab is great at doing. Which means-"
"That you were right," Jonathan interrupted. "That it's all connected."
"We need to get into that lab," Joyce said, burning with the fire of a new purpose.
"Yes, but we also need to play the part, as I mentioned. We need them to think that we believe their plan," Null stated.
"So how do we do that?" Jonathan asked.
"We plan a funeral," Null answered.
As Joyce went home to research Hawkins lab, to find something she could bring to Hopper to make him check out the facility, Null and Jonathan went to the meet the funeral director.
"It's made of soft wood with a crepe interior. Uh, now, I... I don't know what your budget is, but over here, we... we have copper and bronze," the man said, thankfully interrupted by one Nancy Wheeler.
"Uh can you give us a second?" Jonathan asked the man, who obliged.
"Hey," Nancy said, as they made their way over to her.
"Hey," Jonathan replied, while Null acknowledged her with a nod.
"Your mom, um... she said you'd be here," Nancy continued. "Can we talk for a second? Alone?"
Null rolled her eyes, which was a movement Jonathan caught. Using his cover, he said, "I think my girlfriend would like to know what you have to say too."
Nancy looked uncomfortable with that, but went on nonetheless. "So these pictures that you had, there's this thing in the corner, behind Barb. Did you guys see anyone else out there?"
"No," Jonathan answered carefully.
Meanwhile, Null simultaneously answered, "Does that look like a someone to you?"
Nancy bit her lip in thought. "And I went back to Steve's... and I thought I... saw something. Some... weird man or... I don't know what it was. I'm sorry. I... I shouldn't have come here today. I'm... I'm so sorry."
"What'd he look like?" Null asked.
"What?" Nancy asked, surprised Null was talking to her.
"This man you saw in the woods," Jonathan clarified. "What'd he look like?"
"I don't know. It was almost like he... he didn't have— "
"Didn't have a face?" Jonathan finished for her.
"How did you know that?" Nancy asked, making Jonathan and Null exchange a knowing look.