Silver starlight gleamed down on Marigold Lonsdale as she moved through the shadows, her heels clicking on the pavement as she walked towards the lonely house that she once called home. There was a fresh chill in the night air, which made her skin crawl and her heart freeze. Although her Halloween was finally over, midnight long gone, she still felt like tonight would last forever, all because there was a dreadful and unsettling fear sitting in the pit of her stomach. A fear that made her pack her bags years ago and flee Hawkins.

The street was eerie, no sound on the wind and that made her eyes dart around, watching the bushes and the darkened houses for movement. Despite not being deep within the woods now, she could still smell that foul oder of decay, almost like it had clung to her clothing and promised to remind her that something strange was going on once again. Marigold picked up her pace when there was a screech of tires on the road further down the street, her head snapping towards the direction of the sound. Nothing moved behind her. Nothing but the sway of the trees and the glowing lights from above. Fucking hell, stop being paranoid, she mentally told herself.

Paranoia was something that had weaved into her body though, components that had become like a second nature to the young girl. Years ago, she had gone snooping for the truth and found herself in too deep with something she was not supposed to know. Before Marigold Lonsdale had ran away into the night, only leaving clues for her darling sister, she had been followed by men without mercy. These men were clever, they were cunning and without a doubt, would pull the trigger of a gun without a second thought, even if that meant murdering a child. That's why Marigold had left town. That's why ever since that night, she always looked over her shoulder wherever she went, just incase somebody was still watching her and waiting to remove her from the picture because she was a girl that caused too much trouble.

Little did Marigold Lonsdale know, somebody was still watching her.

Hurrying up the front steps, Marigold fumbled with her house key, her nerves on fire and her heart racing against her chest. There was that all too familiar feeling washing over her skin, almost like her body was trying to tell her somebody lurked in the shadows tonight. With a blurted out curse, the key dropped from her cold fingertips and landed on the wooden porch. Marigold bent down, her costume skirt brushing at her ankles and that's when a dog barked randomly in the distance. Marigold jumped, her eyes scanning the street. Her lips trembled, fear nipping at her thoughts.

Suddenly, the front door was yanked open, a pool of soft light breaking the darkness around her. Marigold was pressing a palm to her chest, trying to remain calm. Her cousin, Duncan Downings was staring across at her, eyes wide with question. "Mari, where have you been? It's past midnight. I was worried something had happened."

"God, sorry. I should have called or something." Marigold mumbled, collecting her key from the wooden porch and moving by Duncan, who stared into the darkness, maybe trying to see something the girl could not. The older boy was almost frozen and the oddness had Marigold wondering something terrible.

Dropping to the staircase, Marigold unclipped her heels. "Can you close the door, please? You're letting in the cold." she asked quietly and that's when Duncan twirled around, something hidden in his dark eyes. Although he was not truly a Lonsdale, he shared every resemblance to the clan. His dark blond hair, the way his lips turned into a scowl so naturally, the way he always seemed to be hiding something. That was the true Lonsdale way.

Duncan closed the door loudly, the bang against the wood making Marigold jump in her skin for the second time tonight. Slowly, the boy folded his arms and continued to stare at her. The pair had shared a lonely life together in Memphis, always on high alert, always ready to run just in case somebody had found them. They both knew the struggle of paranoia, it was like the very concept was drilled into their minds now and would never truly leave them, even when they thought it was safe now. "Are you okay? You're jumpy."

"It's fine, it's nothing..." Marigold attempted weakly. Duncan didn't believe her. "It's just something weird happened in the woods tonight. The trees, they're dying. Almost like they're rotting from the inside out. That's weird, right?"

Her cousin offered a small shrug of his shoulders, not quite understanding the oddness. He had not witnessed the events that had occurred in Hawkins, he had not seen, only heard of the monsters that waited in the shadows. "I don't know, I suppose."

Marigold frowned deeply, a little afraid to be voicing her fears to him tonight, worried that it might set him off and he would run for the hills without her. "Do you ever feel like you're being watched? Like that feeling you get down your spine when eyes are on you? I don't know, maybe it's all just inside my head."

Duncan blinked, fear touching his heart. "We're safe here, aren't we? You promised in coming home that we wouldn't be followed anymore. That everything would be okay. You promised me, Mari. You promised they wouldn't find me."

"We're safe," Marigold reminded him, trying to hold onto the hope that the words falling from her lips were not lies. "I promise."

***

Many students that had partied too hard last night had arrived to school hungover and grouchy, Dottie Fields included, but her mood was sour for a very different reason. All last night she had cried till her cheeks were red and her bones exhausted. Her father had been the person to hear her screams last night, hurrying into the backyard and scooping poor Butterball into his arms, the dog's body limp and wet with thick blood. Dottie had numbly followed him to the car, where he had driven to the nearest vet that was still open. The hours waiting for news had been filled with dread and anxiety. However, thankfully, Butterball would be alright, the wounds mostly surface tears to the skin.

"What kind of animal would attack Butterball like that?" Marigold Lonsdale questioned as the girls were gathered in the courtyard between classes. The sunlight was warm on their skin, a desperate move in the cold months coming quickly. "I mean, there aren't wolfs in Hawkins, or coyotes, or anything like that."

Dottie chewed at her bottom, trying her hardest to resist the urge to crack open one of her candy bars and douse her heartache in chocolate. Daisy Lonsdale felt a very familiar scowl work upon her features with the idea that once again, something terrible had been lurking in the woods behind the Fields' house. Which surely, should have been impossible since the monster was killed last winter. "I can think of one," Daisy finally said.

Dottie sniffled. "This wasn't that. This was different, but kinda' the same. It was smaller and shaped less like a person and more like an animal. Whatever was in my backyard last night, it wasn't the Demogorgon."

"Because we killed that last year." Daisy pointed out.

Marigold puffed out her cheeks, watching as a crowd of students made their journey across the dry football field and away from the gymnasium where the school's basketball were currently training. The bell that signalled the next period would ring any moment and they still hadn't figured out what was going on in town yet. "You know, I feel like just running back to Memphis, at least there I didn't have weird monsters and woods rotting from the inside out." Marigold complained quietly, kicking at the dirt under her shoes.

Daisy glared at her. "That's your solution to everything? Just running away?"

"I didn't mean it like that—" Marigold started.

Dottie found herself once again caught between two sisters. "Look, bickering won't help. Honestly, who else in town would have any clue to what's going on?" she questioned, hating the idea of stomping towards the middle school and hunting down a group of boys. "They must know something. After school, I'll talk to them, okay? See if they know anything."

At that point the bell sounded, a distant echo. Marigold was giving a little tilt of her lips, not overly pleased with how the conversation had crashed with her sister. Dottie was frowning again, her thoughts dusted with fear. She even mumbled a quiet, how does this shit keep happening? under her breath as she walked away. Daisy, however, had spotted a lonely boy standing not far away, Nancy Wheeler leaving him with sad eyes.

"Daisy, are you coming?" Dottie called out, turning around when she noticed her best friend was not following her towards the main building.

Something unclear chewed at Daisy's insides. "I'll catch up, yeah?"

Quickly, the blonde was treading towards the gym, bypassing Nancy, who didn't even catch her eye, too lost in her own mind. When she reached the alleyway, Steve Harrington was already gone. Huffing out a sigh, she backtracked towards the doorway that led into the gym. She spied Steve standing on the sidelines, a towel wrapped around his neck as his teammates went up against Billy Hargrove, who apparently, was the shining star now. Without thinking, she stepped into the overly stuffy gym and made her way towards him. He didn't even notice when she stepped inline with him. Daisy glanced across at him, seeing something sad and painful resting in his eyes. That was the moment she knew something was broken and maybe Nancy Wheeler had been the girl to break it.

"Hey," Daisy bumped him with her elbow. "Wanna' get out of here?"

Steve finally looked across at Daisy Lonsdale, seeing the girl who had kept him company in his foul mood last night. Seeing the girl who drew on her skin when no paper was around, who laughed at his stupid jokes and always rested her muddied boots on his dashboard. He saw the girl who had once showed him her entire collection of horror movies in the basement and the girl who had asked him to drive her across state lines to find her sister. He finally saw the girl again, who never judged him, never really hated him, even when she promised herself she did.

He let out a long sigh, not rejecting her offer. "Where are we going to go?"

Daisy gave him her classic smirk. "Anywhere but here, Harrington."