As the months passed and winter finally drew to a close in the town of Hawkins, things finally began to settle into what its citizens would call normalcy, even if the select few who knew what really happened behind the closed doors of Hawkins National Lab would beg to differ. Aside from Will going for weekly appointments with the new scientists in charge, to make sure he was alright after everything he faced, the rest of them had agreed to put the events behind them, and instead focus on cherishing the time they now had to celebrate together.
As for Anna Henderson, this new pattern simply meant tricking herself into thinking that everything was finally okay, that whatever events had taken place the week Will had gone missing were in the past, and didn't need to be discussed any further. Stolen glances at the empty desk chair in Mr. Kaminsky's chemistry class that had previously been occupied by Barbara Holland were simply passed off as a force of habit, or staring at the spot in the Byers' family living room where the Demogorgon had knocked her into the wall were excused as zoning off into space when asked about it.
"Anna," Claudia's voice pulled her daughter from her slumber, as she gently shook her awake. "Annie, dear, you're going to be late for school if you don't get up."
"Hmm?" Anna asked, groggily, her eyes opening to reveal her mother looking down at her, rather than Anna's alarm clock that usually went off on her nightstand.
However, as Anna's vision grew more and more into focus, the sleep wearing away from her eyes, she noticed that the alarm clock wasn't on the nightstand next to her; nor was the nightstand itself. Instead of lying in her bed, as she'd remembered doing when she'd fallen asleep the night before, she now lay on the couch in the living room, with Mews curled up at her feet. Below her, her left shoulder grew stiff from the uncomfortable sleeping position, and she grimaced as she sat up on the sofa, trying to stretch out her arm and get some of the feeling back.
"It's time to get ready for school." Claudia repeated, and Anna could faintly hear the muffled sounds of the alarm clock sounding through her closed bedroom door. "Was your room too hot last night? Is that why you came and slept out here?"
Anna's eyebrows furrowed together as she rose from the couch, but nodded finally in response. "That must've been it." she said with a slight shrug. "I could've sworn I fell asleep in my bed last night, but I probably just came out here to get some fresh air and was so tired I didn't remember it."
"Are you feeling okay, honey?" Claudia asked, reaching a hand up to feel Anna's forehead. "If you feel sick, I can always call Karen to have her daughter pick up Dusty for school."
"I'm okay, Mom, I promise," Anna assured her, already making a beeline for her room to hurriedly get ready for school. "Just needed a good night's sleep, was all."
Anna quickly searched through her closet for something to wear, settling on a gray sweater and a pair of jeans as she combed her fingers through her hair, suppressing a yawn. Despite having fallen asleep nearly an hour earlier than she normally would that night, it felt as if she'd gone days without sleep, her energy nearly depleted. As she pulled the dark strands up into a ponytail, she tried her hardest to remember something, anything from the night before, but all she could get were flashes of a dream she couldn't completely piece together.
She remembered seeing Barb at Steve and Becca's party, long before she'd cut her hand and unknowingly lured the Demogorgon to the Harrington house that evening. Rather, she'd been looking at the Barb that was simply bored of the party and desired an escape, instead of the one who'd been forced into the spotlight and had hurt herself because of it. But somewhere, in the deep recesses of her mind, she could faintly recall the same growling sound she'd heard from the monster at the Byers house the night they found Will, the low, guttural sounds that emanated before the creature attacked.
The last sound Barbara Holland had heard before she met her unfortunate fate.
Anna hadn't bothered to put on her usual makeup that morning, opting instead for only mascara before quickly shoving her feet inside her boots and lacing them up. She grabbed her backpack and headed back for the kitchen to grab her keys, spying Dustin at the kitchen table finishing up his bowl of cereal.
"You look terrible," Dustin said, taking in his sister's tired appearance. "No offense."
"None taken," she said, hardly registering his words as she spun her keys around her index finger. "Are you ready? I don't want to be late."
"Ready," he said, pulling on his jacket and grabbing his backpack. "Bye, Mom!"
"Have a great day!" Claudia called to her two children as they walked towards Anna's car, hurrying inside the vehicle to escape the crisp March morning air.
Despite the chilly morning, the snow was finally beginning to melt as spring started to fall over the town of Hawkins. As silence settled over the two siblings, with Anna still trying to piece together her dream from the night before, Dustin reached for the radio, turning up the volume as an Elton John song began to drift from the speakers, though it did little to calm Anna's racing mind.
"Are you sure you're okay?" Dustin asked, watching Anna with a leery glance. "Why were you on the couch this morning?"
"I'm fine," she assured him. "I probably just got up in the middle of the night and fell back asleep there. It's just... do you ever dream about what happened? Last fall, I mean."
"Sometimes," he said. "What did you dream about?"
"I don't know," she said. "Not completely, anyways. I remember seeing Barb, back at the party, and then I remember something about the monster. I've had dreams about seeing the monster, sure, but never quite like this. I don't know if I want to remember what all happened in it, truthfully, but I feel like I have to, or else it won't leave me alone."
"I get those too." Dustin admitted. "But we just have to remember that it's over, right? That thing's dead. Eleven killed it. It can't get to us here."
"Right," she agreed. "You're right, Dusty. It was just a dream, I'll be okay."
Anna pulled the car into the dropoff line for Hawkins Middle School, Mike, Lucas, and Will already standing in front of the school waiting for Dustin. "I think that's your cue," she joked as she put the car in park, and Dustin quickly grabbed his bag, hopping out of the car.
"Bye!" Dustin shouted, slamming the car door behind him as he raced to catch up with his friends, their conversation long fading behind him as he reached them.
As for Anna, she tried her best to push whatever images from her dreams still lingered in her brain, but after sitting through lectures in her chemistry and government classes and using whatever brain power was left over from the day before on keeping up with taking notes, she nearly dozed off in algebra, if not for the lingering growling sound of the Demogorgon in the back of her brain and a swift kick to the leg of her desk chair from Becca to jolt her awake. By the time she'd managed to finish her laps in PE, Anna felt as if she could fall asleep right on the wrestling mats, but instead pushed herself forward to the lunchroom, hoping that maybe a slice of pizza from the cafeteria would help boost her energy for the rest of the day.
As she found a seat at her usual table, the three spots previously occupied by Anna, Becca, and Landon now having grown to seven to fit Michelle, Jonathan, Steve, and Nancy, she noticed the latter two already sitting as Nancy copied down notes into her notebook, her math textbook open on the table next to her.
"Look who made it to lunch," Landon observed, taking a seat next to Anna as Becca followed suit not far behind, taking the seat on her opposite side as the rest filed into their seats one by one. "Good thing Becca woke you up when she did. I think Mundy would've popped that vein in his forehead if he caught you sleeping through binomial equations."
"What the hell is a binomial equation?" Anna asked, looking over at the boy in confusion.
"You can copy my notes later." Becca offered. "What's up with you today? You're never like this."
"I'm okay," Anna insisted. "Just a stupid dream, that's all."
"No, no," Becca reminded her. "Remember, no secrets policy. Spill, Henderson."
"I just don't get it." Anna sighed, her pizza already long forgotten on her tray. "I fell asleep early, so I should be fine, right? Except I had this dream that I can't seem to piece together, and at some point I must've gotten up because my mom woke me up on the couch this morning, and I feel like I haven't slept in days. It doesn't make sense."
"What was the dream about?" Michelle asked.
"Barb," Anna said, Nancy instantly looking up from her notes at the mention of her best friend's name. "I remember seeing her at the party, and something about the monster. But I can't remember the full picture, and I don't even think I want to remember all that happened. Does that make sense?"
"It makes perfect sense." Becca assured her. "I dream about that night too, sometimes. All of those nights, and it sucks what happened. To us, to Will, to Barb. We might all be completely different after that, but we have to learn to move on, otherwise we're just stuck back there."
Anna nodded. "Right," she said, "You're right."
"I think about that night all the time." Nancy admitted. "How could any of us not? Steve and I have been going over to her parents' house for dinner from time to time, just visiting with them. They're still looking, even though the evidence they found all points to her running away. But it's just a matter of time before they learn, right?"
"Yeah, except we can't tell them." Steve added. "This shit may be over, but we'd be absolutely screwed if we let any of this get out. Those lab people know our names, our families. They'd be in danger if we slipped up."
"He's right," Becca begrudgingly admitted. "We'd just be putting everyone back in danger if we told, you heard about what happened to Benny Hammond. And all he was doing was trying to help Eleven when she showed up at his diner."
Anna grimaced as she thought of the owner of the local diner, the establishment closing down after the front page of the newspaper detailed his death after his body was found at a table in the dining area. The same man who always greeted her family with a smile and milkshakes for the two Henderson kids had paid the unfair price, simply for trying to help the young girl from the lab.
"The point is, we're all here to talk to each other about what happened, right?" Landon pointed out. "But just remember, Anns, it's over. The Demogorgon's dead. We're free from that night, yeah?"
"Yeah," Anna said, nodding and attempting one final shove to get the dream away from her thoughts before forcing her attention back to her friends, and to the untouched tray in front of her. "We're free."