Shadows stirred in the darkness while creating the illusion that monsters were waiting in the unseen places of one's mind, waiting to strike and to kill without question and hesitation. But these monsters, these underlying fears that the young Marigold Lonsdale felt tickling at the back of her neck were not just figments of her imagination. They were real and would stop at nothing to remove her from the picture because she was a girl in too deep.

The summer of 1982 had been a dry snap, the sun's glaring rays burning soft skin and destroying everything that waited out too long in the sun. Kids had ditched their bikes, trying to cool down in the hot heat inside Palace Arcade or simply filling their days in basements playing boardgames. Marigold Lonsdale had not just spent her break gossiping with her sister and kissing strange boys down by the community pool, she had been digging deeper and deeper into the mystery that involved her family and a man named Dr. Brenner.

Her Aunt Beatrice was a woman burdened with great pain, her entire family killed in a fatal car accident years ago. They spoke about how her sheer grief had sent her spiralling into some strange void where she would talk about storms and bad men killing her little boy. Nobody really paid much attention to her, especially not the Lonsdale women. But one haunting night, Marigold had taken the time to sit by her aunt and actually listen to her. That's when the first seed was buried into her clever mind.

That was the very night she had started down a path which ended with her fleeing her hometown of Hawkins, Indiana and finding herself running for her life and in search for a boy the world believed dead.

At first, Marigold had just spun ideas around in her mind that summer. While her younger sister would stay down in their basement with Steve Harrington watching old movies and pretending not to be in love, she would pace up in her bedroom wondering why they had actually turned her aunt's mind to dust and why she didn't believe Duncan Downings was dead. Those ideas in the back of her brain were spun to gold when she found old dusty files in the family's office which listed Aunt Beatrice's medical documents which dated back nearly a full decade. Those files listed strange experimental treatments that were preformed in a location in Kentucky. These trials were involved with something called Project MKUltra. Digging a little deeper, the young girl found out that more trials were conducted in Hawkins too. That's when the leads started becoming clearer.

Marigold Lonsdale had disappeared into the hot day one morning, her family not even noticing. She had woven a creative undercover plan to get into Hawkins National Laboratory, pretending to work along with the electrical company that fixed odd lights every now and then. Nobody had questioned her when the van pulled up, scheduled for regular maintenance or questioned when she had pulled up in her mother's car, claiming she was a part of the team, but had been running late that day. The young girl had moved through the hallways, not quite sure what she was looking for at first but, when she stumbled across a room with a rainbow imprinted on it, that's when all her crazy theories became real.

Inside were a handful of children, boys and girls much like Duncan Downings. Marigold Lonsdale had peaked through the window for a moment too long, seeing things she should not have, when a man came to stand beside her. His hair was freakishly white and his face blank from all emotion. Her heart had quickened in her chest. "Miss Lonsdale, correct?"

"How do you know my name?"

He didn't even smile. "You have the Lonsdale appearance."

Weirdly enough, the man had pointed her into a seperate room without question and sat her down, playing nice for now. Marigold wasn't stupid, despite the questionable situation she had found herself in right now. Dr. Brenner, who was already awaiting orders to terminate the child, knowing she knew too much waited for more orders, but no orders came from above that day. Apparently, somebody important wanted her alive for now.

Marigold Lonsdale was released safely, although questions hung in her mind with why nobody had stopped her from entering the laboratory, or how they were simply letting her walk away. The next days that followed were some of the worst in her life. She had seen white vans parked outside her house, along with strange men following her down streets. She was growing severely paranoid. That's when she knew whatever she had stumbled upon, the truth that her aunt wasn't lying, that these bad men had indeed turned her mind sour and taken away her little boy, were not about to leave her alone.

A dark fear had crept into her heart, knowing that these men would take her life soon enough. They had killed Aunt Beatrice's husband because he was trying to take Duncan away. They had damaged her aunt beyond repair. They would do anything to keep the secret. But how far would these men go to keep their secret hidden? She didn't know and that scared her the most. She couldn't live with herself if they came after her and destroyed her family too.

That's when she knew she had to run. She had to pack her bags in order to keep her head on her shoulders and to keep her family safe from these men that were deadset on keeping Project MKUltra in the dark. She had to flee Hawkins without a single trace.

The Lonsdale girl hadn't wanted to leave her younger sister, leave everything she had ever known in her simple town, but her decisions were not her own anymore. She had spoken with her aunt again, asking about Duncan and where he might have gone or who might have taken him. With an idea to try and find him in Kentucky first and travel towards one city where nobody would find them, her plan was fixed for a dry and thankless night in July 1982.

Knowing her time was running out too quickly, she mastered a plan that would unfold soon enough. A plan that would lead Daisy Lonsdale right for her in about a year's time. A plan that would indeed lead another Lonsdale child down a path of mystery. Just like clockwork, or a clever girl's particular mind, both girls were reunited in 1983 in Memphis, Tennessee. They were brought back together in hopes to finally be safe again, but that was not the end of the mystery that fell upon all Lonsdale family members. If anything, that was just the beginning.

- author's ramblings -

I know, this wasn't what you were expecting but I needed a full chapter detailing a few key elements with how and why Marigold ran away in the first place. It's kind of an opening chapter for part two, which has already planted a few links for this part's storyline. Including somebody lowkey keeping Marigold alive for a little longer before she ran away (somebody with a bit of power in town, any guesses?) but yeah, I do promise loads of drama and angst between the main characters. It's going to be a fun ride and I'm going a little off canon maybe with a certain ship. I've already gotten some hate on Marigold, which is why this chapter was written. She was a scared child, who had gotten into some deep mess and feared her life and her family's life, because hey, those bad men killed Benny without hesitation, they would totally get rid of her if they thought she was a threat. Anyway, she was trying to protect her family which is why she had to leave and also to find Duncan, which she did!! We've got another mystery coming, so have fun guessing what's coming.

- tinkertaydust