"Hello? My name is Amanda Schwartz. If you can hear me, I'm stuck in a tunnel and I need help."
The little hairs on the back of Will Byers's neck stood on end. But the way they stood told him that it wasn't the Mindflayer inside his mind communicating with him, it was something different. "Did you guys hear that?" he asked.
"Hear what?" asked Mike. He, Lucas, and Will were all in Mike's basement hanging out and waiting for the all clear from El to welcome Dustin home from Camp Know Where. "I don't know. It sounded like someone talking. I couldn't hear much because of all the static but it sounded like they said that they needed help," Will responded and shrugged. "It's probably just the Mindflayer playing tricks on me again."
"Will. The Mindflayer's gone now. It can't hurt us anymore. It can't hurt you anymore," Mike assured him with a squeeze to his hand, a tell that they had to let Will know that everything was real, that it wasn't all in his head.
*･゜ﾟ･*:.｡..｡.:*･'
Amanda clamored her way through the tunnels, trying to find an exit. She found a stick and poked at the ground above her head, trying to find its weak points so the dirt could give way.
The dirt eventually caved in and the sun was shining down on her, like the light that you would find at the end of a. . .tunnel. Huh. She grabbed onto a root and pulled herself up, thankful that all her tree climbing skills came in handy. Getting a good grip on the grass, she dragged herself out of the ground and onto sweet land.
Standing up, she realized that she wasn't where she was when she fell, but in an out-of-season pumpkin patch. She heard the sound of a truck revving up, so she was quick to hop into the bed of the truck, grateful that the driver didn't see.
Considering that she was above ground now, she figured that her mental radio antenna would work better now that she had a stronger signal so she closed her eyes and tried again. "Hello? If you can hear me, my name is Amanda Schwartz and I need help."
*･゜ﾟ･*:.｡..｡.:*･'
"There's that sound again."
Will, Mike, Lucas, Max, and El were all at Dustin's house to surprise him now when Will heard the static message for a second time. He didn't know where it was coming from and he decided not to entertain it, but he needed somebody else to know.
"The Mindflayer isn't messing with you, Will," Mike said, squeezing Will's hand for reassurance, "I know this, you know this. Now hush so Dustin doesn't hear us."
Will went silent as El made the walking toys come to a stop. "Huh," said Dustin as he observed his toys. The kids tiptoed out from behind the wall and Lucas went up to tap Dustin on the shoulder when Dustin turned around, yelped, and gave Lucas a face full of Farrah Fawcett hairspray. The "Surprise!" fell off the kids' lips as they took in what just happened. Max was quick to get Lucas under the sink to flush his eyes as they all hugged Dustin welcome.
*･゜ﾟ･*:.｡..｡.:*･'
The truck came to a stop in front of Melvald's General Store in the deserted streets of Hawkins. Amanda got out of the bed and went to go look at the telephone poles to see what was up with this part of town. Between mattress-selling flyers and tutoring sessions with pull-away phone numbers, she finally found the culprit. The Starcourt Mall: the brand new hotspot for adults, teens, and everyone in between!
Under that flyer was a white sheet of paper that looked like a missing child poster. Pulling it down, Amanda took a look at it. Staring back at her, was a picture of herself. HAVE YOU SEEN ME? was in bold and below that was a description of what she was wearing the last time she was seen. Looking down, she was wearing the exact same outfit, except it was covered in dirt. She needed to find a calendar. Fast.
Heading into the store, she saw Mrs. Byers chatting with Chief Hopper about a possible date or whatever as she made her way around to look at the calendar. The date was June 28. Of 1985. She'd been missing for a year?
Then she remembered her mom.
Getting past the counter and accidentally knocking into Hopper, who had stumbled a little but blamed it on the wind, Amanda left the store and ran the two blocks to Padded! where her mom worked. She opened the door and the bell jingled, but Linda didn't look at the door to see who it was. "Mom?" Amanda asked as she got to the counter. "Mom!" No response.
She grabbed her mom's hand, but her mom pulled away and shivered. "They really oughta fix the air conditioning in here. It may be hot outside but it's not that hot." Her mom got up to go take a look at the thermostat.
Air conditioning? The wind?
Amanda was quick to look in the mirror to see that her reflection was there, so she wasn't sure why no one could see her. She was alive. Right?
She made her way around the counter to sift through the papers on it and found a memorial pamphlet. For her. So not only had she been missing, but she wasn't alive, either.
In Loving Memory
Amanda Michelle Schwartz
April 12, 1971 - November 6, 1983
"Who told you you were allowed to rain on my parade?"
She was dead.
SIDE NOTE!
i. . .i have no words
although i should because i'm the one writing this