◦☆＊★ ━━━━━━ ★＊☆◦
The next day, Sam "left for school" early to "study." This directly translated to: I'm going to Mike Wheeler's house so we can find Will with the help of Eleven — the girl with superpowers.
Sam, Lucas, Mike, and Dustin were gathered around the D&D table while Eleven was on the basement's couch. Like before, she was playing with Mike's Walkie Talkie. That girl really seemed to like it, for some reason.
"We just tell our parents we have AV Club after school," said Mike, trying to finalize their plan. "That will give us at least a few hours for Operation Mirkwood."
Sam nodded in understanding, as did Dustin. Lucas looked in between Dustin and Mike to eye Eleven on the couch.
"You seriously think that the weirdo knows where Will is?" he asked.
"Just trust me on this, okay?" said Mike, causing Lucas to begrudgingly nod. He asked Lucas, "Did you get the supplies?"
Lucas responded, "Yeah," and the next thing Sam knew, he was rummaging in his backpack. As he pulled out items, he listed them, "Binoculars... from 'Nam. Army knife... also from 'Nam. Hammer, camouflage bandana... and the wrist rocket."
"You're gonna take out the Demogorgon with a slingshot?" Dustin asked, unamused.
"First of all," Lucas interjected, offended, "it's a wrist rocket. And second of all, the Demogorgon's not real. It's made up... But if there is something out there, I'm gonna shoot it in the eye," he stretched the elastic of the wrist rocket towards Dustin, "and blind it."
Sighing, Mike nodded to Sam, "Sam, did you get anything?"
Upon being addressed, Sam brightened up.
"Okay, so," Sam started, unzipping a separate bag she brought, pulling clothes out of it, and addressing Eleven. "I've been thinking about it all night, and I just know you'd rock the grunge look." She tossed Eleven all the clothes, to which Eleven did not catch. "I brought you a green flannel, which will complement the black tee, and a pair of jeans. But if I'm being honest, the sweatpants you're wearing would work, too. Plus, they're comfier. Ooh! This part is my favorite," Sam commented, holding up a pair of black combat boots. "I don't really know your shoe size, but—"
"Sam," Mike interjected, sounding annoyed.
Stopping in her tracks, Sam stared at the boys obliviously. "Yeah?"
"When we said scrounge around your house," Lucas began, also sounding frustrated, "we did not mean dress up the freak like she's some Barbie!"
Offended, Sam gaped and gave Eleven the combat boots. "Excuse me. These clothes are cute, and if you think I'm gonna let her wear Mike's stinky clothes for however long we ally with her for, then you're dumb."
"Hey!" cut in Mike with a wounded face, at the fact Sam called him stinky.
"You completely missed the point! Anything would have better than 'grunge clothes,'" bickered Lucas, ignoring Mike's input.
Her face screwed up in judgment, and she retaliated with, "What did you want me to bring, Lucas? A gun?"
"It could've been more helpful than this!" argued Lucas.
Sam pointed at him with much chagrin. "When you see her in my cute clothes, you're gonna be thanking me! That way we don't have to stare at 2 little Mike's dressed up like they walked out of GAP Kids!"
"Hey!" Mike interjected again, still hurt at Sam's words.
Rolling her eyes, Sam gestured to the left of her and said, "Dustin, what did you get?"
Instead of pulling out everything one by one, Dustin emptied his entire backpack onto the table for them to see. Sam was confused to see only food items on the table, but Dustin didn't seem the same.
"All righty," he nodded. "So we've got... Nutty Bars, Bazooka, Pez, Smarties, Pringles" — Sam, Lucas, and Mike shared looks that said, 'Are you hearing this guy right now?' — "Nilla Wafers, apple, banana, and trail mix."
Raising an eyebrow, Lucas asked, "Seriously?"
"We need energy for our travels," argued Dustin. "For stamina. And besides" — he motioned towards Lucas' things — "why do we even need weapons anyway? We have her—"
"She shut one door!" Lucas exclaimed in aggravation.
In retaliation, Dustin shot back, "With her mind! Are you kidding me? That's insane! Imagine all the other cool stuff she could do. Like..."
Brightening up with an idea, Dustin rushed over to an armchair in the basement. He lifted up the throw to reveal Mike's toy Millenium Falcon.
"I bet she could make this thing fly!" challenged Dustin. He held it in front of Eleven, saying, "Hey. Hey! Okay, concentrate. Okay?"
Dustin dropped the Millenium Falcon to the ground, hoping Eleven would make it fly, but the toy just clattered to the ground lifelessly. Eleven eyed it with a blank expression.
"Okay, one more time!" Dustin continued positively. He picked the toy back up into his hands while everyone else silently judged. To Eleven he said, "Use your powers, okay?"
He dropped the Millenium Falcon again.
Nothing happened.
"Idiot," Lucas muttered under his breath.
Sam sent Lucas a very disappointed mother look as Mike rushed forward. He grabbed the toy Millenium Flacon from the floor, so that Dustin couldn't try dropping it again. "She's not a dog!" Mike scolded.
"Kids!" Mrs. Wheeler called from upstairs, scaring all of them. "Time for school!"
◦☆＊★ ━━━━━━ ★＊☆◦
The Party took their opportunity at recess to hang around the grass behind their school; Sam, Lucas, Mike, and Dustin searched through the scattered foliage for a rock that would fit Lucas's slingshot.
"Hey, Mike. Think fast," commented Sam, as she picked up one of the biggest rocks she'd found. Sam pretended to throw the rock right at Mike's head, to which Mike screamed in terror, flailing madly.
Throwing her head back, Sam cackled in amusement at how Mike reacted. She hadn't thrown the rock anywhere near him, and it was still firmly in her grip.
"You're not funny, Samantha!" scolded Mike, having to amplify his voice over the joyous sound of Sam's laughter.
Pointing at Mike, Sam continued to laugh, "You should've seen your face!"
"Can we just keep looking?!" Mike snapped, face flushed with either embarrassment or anger.
Sam dropped the large rock when she threw her hands up in surrender. She waved her arms mockingly, as if pretending to be scared, although she very much wasn't. Sam shot a look at Lucas, and they shared amused smiles that they attempted to hide from Mike. To hide hers, Sam bent down again to search for more rocks.
"This one smells like piss," she heard Dustin comment, promptly before he threw the rock into the far distance.
For a few moments, there were more sounds of rustling as the group searched for an acceptable rock.
Behind her, Mike asked, "How about this one?"
Sam turned up to watch Mike hand Dustin his chosen rock. Dustin examined it only for a moment before deciding, "Too big for the sling." He dropped the rock to the ground, before rambling on. "So, do you think Eleven was born with her powers, like the X-Men, or do you think she acquired them, like... like Green Lantern?"
"She's not a superhero," said Lucas, disgusted. "She's a weirdo."
Mike's hands turned up into a defensive stance. "Why does that matter? The X-Men are weirdos."
"If you love her so much, why don't you marry her?" Lucas teased.
Sam snorted at Lucas's joke, but at the sight of Mike shooting her a nasty glare, she covered her mouth and pretended to wipe her nose.
"What are you talking about?" asked Mike, sounding unamused.
Lucas stared back at Mike for a little, before realizing that he wasn't joking. "Mike, seriously?" he wondered.
"What?"
"You look at her all, like... 'Hi, El! El, El, El!" Lucas launched himself at Mike, making his voice even whinier as he wrapped Mike in a mocking embrace. "El, I love you so much! Would you marry me?!"
"Shut up, Lucas," Mike glowered as Lucas got down on one knee, looking up at Mike in faux-admiration. Sam and Dustin chuckled quietly.
"Yeah, shut up, Lucas!" A crude voice interrupted their laughter and Sam immediately deflated.
Troy and James.
"What are you losers doing back here?" Troy leered as Sam stood a few inches in front of Mike, Dustin, and Lucas protectively.
"Probably looking for their missing friend," James smirked tauntingly.
The group of friends stiffened simultaneously, and Sam snapped, "That's not funny. Shut up."
"Yeah, it's serious," defended Dustin. "He's in danger."
Troy raised an eyebrow, mocking a genuine expression. "I hate to break it to you, Toothless, but he's not in danger. He's dead. That's what my dad says. He said he was probably killed by some other queer."
The two shared vile laugh that had a new anger arising in Sam. She was always most protective over Will, so this kind of fire was warranted. Sam urged to say something, but Mike grabbed the sleeve of her jacket, looking at her sternly.
"Come on," he requested. "Just ignore them."
Mike tried walking past Troy and James, with Sam following right behind him — she wanted to be done with this conversation immediately. But the unfortunate part was, that Troy discreetly stuck out his leg. This caused Mike to fall straight down, which caused Sam to fall down right after him. Mike's chin collided with the huge rock Sam had faked-out Mike with. Then, Sam's face fell straight into a root sticking out of the ground; her glasses flew off her face, a few inches away. Both Lucas and Dustin could hear their pained yells.
As Lucas and Dustin rain straight for their friends, pain coursed through the top of Sam's face. She groaned as Troy jeered, "Watch where you're going, Frogface. Annie."
Sam's head slowly turned up to glare daggers at Troy. The furrowing of her eyebrows actually hurt her, and Sam found this was because there was now a deep slit across her eyebrow. Blood was dripping down Sam's eye that she had to wipe away while Dustin tried helping Sam up.
"You guys all right?" Lucas asked Sam and Mike, trying to steady them both. He handed Sam her glasses, which were now broken because of the fall. The top right of the lenses cracked, and the frame was split.
Mike, wiping his bloody chin, said, "Yeah."
"My uncle's gonna kill me," Sam groaned miserably about her glasses, the boys looking over at her.
Little did Sam know, her glasses were the least of her issues right now. Her friends gaped at the deep, bloody slit running straight through Sam's eyebrow, a line of eyebrow hair cut off. Not only that, but Sam could feel the blood running down her face. It immediately made her panic, because Sam knew she was about to pass out if she thought about it further.
"Shit, Hughes," Lucas commented underneath this breath. He used the sleeve of his jacket to wipe the wetness on her face. "There you go. Try not to think about the blood, alright?"
Breathless, Sam said, "Thanks," to Lucas, feeling a little light-headed at all of that.
While her eyes trained on Lucas, Lucas was glaring heavily at Troy's and James's retreating bodies. So was Mike's, so Dustin tried lightening the mood by bending down. He picked up another rock with an optimistic look.
"Hey," called Dustin, gaining Mike's attention, although Sam was still staring at Lucas, who was still glaring. Dustin handed Mike his chosen rock, and asked, "How about this one?"
That caught Sam and Lucas's attention. A smile found its way back onto Mike's face as he cradled Dustin's rock in his hands.
He nodded happily at Dustin with, "Yeah."
"Yeah?" Dustin repeated, clapping Mike on the shoulder.
Their smiles were contagious to Sam, who was now smiling, too. Mike passed the rock to her, and as she put on her broken glasses (the crack in the lense was annoying, and the break of her frame was aggravating, but it was still better than her regular eyesight), she confirmed, "Yeah. This is it."
She gave the rock to Lucas, and his excited grin made up for everything that just happened. Holding the rock up proudly, he said, "Oh, yeah! Yeah, this is the monster killah! Wooh!"
Sam laughed, wiping off more of the blood falling down her brow yet refusing to look at it.
◦☆＊★ ━━━━━━ ★＊☆◦
School ended promptly at 3:15, but instead of going straight home — like Sam usually did — she, Lucas, Mike, and Dustin went to go pick up Eleven. When Sam and the gang rode over to where Eleven was waiting, Sam was happy to find Eleven was adorned in Sam's clothes she'd picked out for her. And just like Sam theorized, Eleven did rock the grunge look.
"El!" Mike called out after he noticed Eleven's back was turned to them, and it seemed as if her mind was somewhere else. Eleven turned around, watching the four Party members trudge up the hill, walking their bikes. "You okay?"
She nodded wordlessly, though she didn't look okay. But they didn't have time to dwell on it. Sam turned her bike around, so they could go down the hill they'd just walked up. All the boys copied her actions.
Mike patted the back of his bike, as it was able to hold 2 people. Lucas was the only other Party member whose bike had this cool attribute. Mike said, "Hop on. We only have a few hours."
Hesitantly, Eleven got on the back, and they all started riding.
The group of five rode all the way back to Mirkwood's forest — except this time, it was day and not raining, so the group could actually see. They trekked through the piles of foliage covering the forest floor — Mike and Eleven a few feet away from Dustin, Sam, and Lucas.
"I told you, Lucas," Sam broke the comfortable silence they were all in. "I told you her cute clothes were helpful."
She nodded to where Mike and Eleven were walking ahead of them. Her vision was slightly altered because of the crack in her lense, but everything was still visible. Sam had put a white piece of tape over her frames to reconnect the broken half, and Mr. Clarke gave Sam a Hello Kitty Band-Aid that was over the slit of her eyebrow. She knew she looked a mess, but there was nothing she could do about it at the moment.
"They're your cute clothes," Lucas corrected in aggravation. "And I don't know why you would let the freak wear them."
Sam sighed, but not unkindly. "Okay, I get being apprehensive about Eleven, but you're acting like she personally victimized you, Lucas. Why can't you trust someone for, like, once?"
"I can't," Lucas stressed. "Because you trust everyone, and Mike will trust anyone who needs his help. And, well, Dustin..." He trailed off, because Dustin wasn't really a part of this debate, but he felt bad to leave him out.
Dustin peered from behind Lucas, smiling and waving. "Hi," he chimed.
"Hi," Sam gave him a tight-lipped smile and nod, before addressing Lucas again. "You don't have to put your guard up all the time for us. I can protect myself, you know, Lucas?"
"Oh, yeah," Lucas rolled his eyes sarcastically, nodding to the slit up Sam's eyebrow. "Yeah, you're perfectly fine on your own."
Sam sent him a blank stare. "That was Mike's fault. I was following him too closely."
"Which is a totally ironic statement to make with the conversation we're having right now," pointed out Lucas.
"Lucas," Sam pressed, because she was really worried about how reserved he was being.
Lucas sighed, shoulders deflating in defeat. He refused to look at Sam when he confessed, "We already lost Will, Sam. I'm not... I can't lose anyone else."
"Will's not lost. We're gonna find him," Sam told him confidently, despite all the anxious thoughts that told her the opposite. Before Lucas could question how much Sam believed her own words, Sam tried brightening up the mood. She nodded to Dustin, teasing, "We have Dustin's snacks on our side to save us all."
Lucas grinned at Sam's joke, grateful for the subject change. He looked at Dustin, too, who just whipped his head up dumbly. Ironically, Dustin was eating some of his Pringles. Apparently, he wasn't listening, because he seemed completely out of the loop.
"Huh?" Dustin asked them obliviously, but it was muffled because he was still chewing Pringles in his mouth.
Sam and Lucas shared humored looks, very amused by Dustin's irony. The second they made eye contact, both Party members broke out into hysterical laughs. Their laughter only increased the more confused Dustin became.
And just for a foolish moment, it felt like things would be okay.
◦☆＊★ ━━━━━━ ★＊☆◦
They had been searching Mirkwood for so long that night had fallen all around them. Sam shouldn't have been surprised that they've found nothing so far, yet the decimating hope was still crushing her anyways. Sam and the boys continued following wherever the hell Eleven was taking them, but it was beginning to become suspicious to Sam with how much time Eleven was wasting.
Or maybe Sam's conversation with Lucas just had her on edge, and she should just ignore the creeping suspicion.
The whole gang was now walking downhill somewhere that definitely wasn't Mirkwood. They weren't even in the woods, anymore, and Sam had a bad feeling about this.
"I'm pretty sure this place feels familiar," Sam commented, only seconds before they walked past the rows of trees and stumbled upon someone's house.
Will's house, to be exact.
"Oh," said Sam, a little stupidly.
Eleven stopped her trek and turned to face Sam and Mike. Proudly, she stated, "Here."
"Yeah...?" confirmed Mike in confusion. "This is where Will lives."
"Hiding," said Eleven, as if that helped them understand any better.
Sam leaned on her bike, throwing her head back. She was tired, exhausted, and thoroughly done with today. Now, Eleven was giving them more riddles to solve, and believed Will was "hiding" in his own house. For the first time in two years, Sam just wanted to go home.
"No, no, this is where he lives," Mike countered. "He's missing from here. Understand?"
When Lucas and Dustin reached Sam, Mike, and Eleven, they through their bikes down exasperatedly. Lucas threw his hands up, asked, "What are we doing here?"
"She said he's hiding here," Sam answered, shrugging her shoulders.
With a judgmental face taking in the terrain around them, Lucas responded, "Um... no!"
"I swear, if we walked all the way out here for nothing—" Dustin began to complain, but Lucas frustratedly cut him off.
"That's exactly what we did!" he exclaimed. "I told you she didn't know what the hell she was talking about!"
Stalely, Mike's body swiveled from Lucas and Dustin to Eleven. He interrogated, "Why did you bring us here?"
"Maybe she has a good explanation," Sam attempted positively. "Eleven?"
But Eleven met her stare with a disturbed expression. She gaped back, "...I—"
"Sam. Mike," interjected Lucas. "Don't waste your time with her."
"What do you wanna do, then?" Mike snapped.
Immediately, Lucas answered, "Call the cops, like we should've done yesterday."
That's when Sam heard a very faint noise in the distance, but it was still there. Her head turned away from all the people around her, and instead to where the sound came from.
"We are not calling the cops," stated Mike.
Furrowing her eyebrows (and ignoring the pain that came from doing so), Sam muttered, "Hey, guys?"
"What other choice do we have?" Lucas asked Mike, not having heard Sam's interjection.
Sam walked in between and past Lucas and Mike as they fought. The more she focused on the noise, the more prominent it became. And that wasn't the only odd thing. They almost sounded like...
Sirens.
"GUYS!" shouted Sam in a panicked tone.
Finally, the bickering boys shut up. They joined Sam looking out at the roads far away from them. Amidst the tense silence, it was very easy to make out the sound of sirens from police cars.
NoNoNoNoNoNoNoNo—
A police car sped in and out of view almost instantaneously. It's red and blue lights were flashing, and its siren was most definitely on.
Then another police car zoomed past.
Then another.
Then an ambulance.
NoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNo—
Then, Mike mumbled, "Will."
NoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNo—
The kids all sprinted for their bikes as quick as they could. They scrambled over one another, everyone desperate to hop on their bikes.
It couldn't be Will.
It just couldn't be.
◦☆＊★ ━━━━━━ ★＊☆◦
It didn't feel real.
Being at the quarry when it was dark and littered with ambulances and police cars and paramedics and fire engines and when Will wasn't there with them to skip rocks across the suspicious-colored water on hot, summer days after school — it felt like some sort of fever dream. The part that didn't feel real was watching them pull the body out of the water.
"I-It's not Will," Sam stated, but it came out choked and shaky.
Mike shook his head, disbelievingly. "It can't be."
But there it was — a small, Will-shaped body that wasn't breathing. A blue, pale, lifeless body that couldn't have been Will because Will was alive.
Because Will was alive. He was.
The longer Sam stared at the limp clump of bones and blue veins, the more she began to recognize it and the stronger the sudden urge to blind herself became.
"It's Will," Lucas whispered. "It's really Will."
Sam's hands cupped her nose and mouth.
It's really Will.
Her vision almost immediately blurred. The five kids stopped peering from beside the fire truck, and really just stood behind it. Anything so they didn't have to see the corpse. Will's corpse.
"Mike—" Eleven tried, taking in the heartbreaking expression on Mike's face. She tried touching his shoulder, but he swatted her away quicker than Sam had ever seen him move.
"'Mike'?" he yelled at her, whilst Sam was shaking her head back and forth, hands still over her face. "'Mike,' what?! You were supposed to help us find him alive. You said he was alive! Why did you lie to us? What's wrong with you? What is wrong with you?!"
But Mike's voice was breaking and cracking, masking sorrow with anger. It was all so agonizing. Mike's berating finally made the tears fall down Sam's face. She choked into the cupping her hands had made around her nose.
"Mike..." Eleven tried again.
"What?!" Mike snapped, as if to say, 'I dare you to say a fucking thing right now.' He stared at her venomously, waiting for Eleven to try him. Then, when Eleven was thoroughly paralyzed in fear, Mike ran to grab his bike.
NoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNo—
"Mike, come on," Lucas choked out. There were already tears streaming down his face. "Don't do this, man... Mike!"
But Mike wasn't listening. Mike was hopping on his bike, instead.
"Mike, were are you going?" Dustin cried out, amidst his sniffles. "Mike!"
"Mike, please," begged Sam, and her voice cracked on the words. She was now clenching her fists at her sides instead of covering her face. "P-Please don't go. Mike. Please don't go."
But Mike ignored Sam. Mike left.
◦☆＊★ ━━━━━━ ★＊☆◦
Sam threw her front door open, barely even able to see where she was going. The tears clouded her vision, and her glasses were still thoroughly cracked. She felt like a wound, open for everyone to see; to look at, and know that Sam was breaking down on the inside.
Will. Her first friend Will, Will the Wise, sensitive Will, Will that took his shoes off at the front door even when Sam's uncle wasn't home, Will that loved art just as much as Sam did, her best friend Will.
Dead Will.
Corey, who had been sitting on the kitchen counter, eating cereal for dinner, immediately shot off of it at the sight before him. "Oh, shit," he commented, after seeing Sam slam the front door.
She was kneeled over in pain and crying and crying and crying. Sam had her arms wrapped around her torso, bent over, and she was crying and crying and crying.
"Sam?" Corey ran up to his younger cousin, but she did not give any indication that she heard him. He crouched before her, completely unsure of what to do. "S-Sam, what's wrong? What is it? What's wrong?"
Corey felt a spike of fear stutter down his spine, his heart racing, because this went beyond just a couple having issues; this was — this was really bad. Sam was sobbing so hard that she was hyperventilating, and she clung to herself so tight that it was like Sam thought there was something trying to yank her away.
In a panic, Corey gripped Sam's shoulders, trying to get her to look up. He got what he wanted, Sam's head whipping up for him to see her bloodshot eyes, damaged glasses, and covered eyebrow. "What is it, Sam? What can I do?" he asked again, now that he had Sam's attention.
And then, suddenly, Sam was crying so much harder as she jumped into Corey. She would have knocked them over if not for Corey's arms hastily swinging up to wrap around her, and everything was going from zero to one hundred so fast that Corey could barely keep up with it all.
She'd fisted one hand in the front of Corey's shirt, clinging, and she chanted, "He's gone. He's gone. He's gone. C-Corey, he's gone—"
Sam just kept repeating the same words over and over, and she was quite literally falling apart in Corey's arms.
Corey was admittedly panicking, overflowing with worry, and not sure what the hell he was supposed to do. Sam just kept sobbing against Corey's chest, her entire body shaking so hard that Corey was genuinely terrified. The lights were flickering like crazy, something that only freaked him out further.
He lifted his hand to cup the back of Sam's head, shakily pushing his fingers through her hair.
"He's gone, he's gone, he's gone, he's gone—"
"Come on, Sammy, you have to breathe," Corey whispered, because he can literally hear Sam struggling to. She's practically gasping for air through her deep, guttural sobs, only seeming to grow more distressed and cry harder by the second.
"Sam — Samantha — Sam —" he tried and tried to get Sam to come out of it. Corey wasn't sure she would even stay conscious for not breathing for so long, and it genuinely scared him. Desperately, he yelled, "Mom! Mom, please, help! It's Sam! MOM!"
He's gone, he's gone, he's gone, he's gone, he's gone, he's gone, he's gone, he's gone—
◦☆＊★ ━━━━━━ ★＊☆◦
so.... that happened
i've literally cried every time i've watched the end of this episode like it's not even funny
but meet corey! this is the only time he will ever be nice!
what'd you think?