"Couldn't we have tried a road, or something just slightly less creepy?" Robin asked as they hiked through the spooky forest as carefully as they could as to not alert the creatures of the Upside Down.

"I think we're getting close. We're almost out of here. Don't worry," Nancy assured her.

"Eddie. Chris. Hey, Chris, Eddie!" Steve called out, making the two boys fall back a bit. "Hey, guys. Uh...Listen, I just, uh...I just wanna say thanks. For saving my ass back there," Steve said as the girls marched ahead.

"Shit. You saved your own ass, man. I mean, that was a real Ozzy move you pulled back there," Eddie replied and Chris nodded, not knowing why Steve was thanking the both of them, especially himself.

"Ozzy?"

"When you took a bite out of that bat. Ozzy Osbourne? Black Sabbath? He bit a bat's head off onstage," Eddie listed to try to enlighten the Harrington boy.

"I don't—"

"You know?"

"No."

"Doesn't matter. It's very metal, what you did. That's all I'm saying," Eddie clarified.

"Thanks."

"Yeah, I didn't doubt you for a second," Chris added and Steve gave him a look, to which the Wheeler boy responded with a quick shrug. He honestly did kind of doubt the boy since Steve didn't have a good track record with fights, but it seemed like the guy battled the Upside Down better than actual human beings.

"Henderson told me you were a badass. Insisted on the matter, in fact," Eddie then said out of the blue, making the other boys look at him in confusion. Dustin never said that to me, Chris thought.

"Wait, Henderson said that?" Steve questioned.

"Oh, yeah. Shit. Kid worships you, dude. Like, you have no idea. Beverly, too. And you, too, Chris, which he said was surprising for some reason," Eddie confirmed, cause Chris to be a little taken aback since he didn't know that Dustin actually had also started to like him as more than just "Mike's older brother" after all these years.

"It's kinda annoying, to be honest. I don't even know why I care what that little shrimp thinks, but, uh, guess I got a little jealous, Steve," Eddie continued. "I guess I couldn't accept the fact that Steve Harrington was actually...a good dude. Rich parents, popular, chicks love him. Not a douche? No way, man. No way. That, like, flies in the face of all the laws in the universe and my own personal Munson doctrine." When Steve, nor Chris, said anything, Eddie added, "Still super jealous as hell, by the way."

"Great," Steve forced out.

"Which is why I would never have jumped in that lake to save your ass. Not under any, uh...normal circumstances." A branch snapped, making them stop and look around anxiously. They then continued on once nothing jumped out at them. "Nope. Outside of D&D, I am no hero. I see danger and I just turn heel and run. Or at least that's what I've learned about myself this week."

"Give yourself a break, man."

"Yeah, seriously. It's hard to learn how to deal with this shit in a couple of days. I mean, I'm still trying to," Chris told him, trying to make him feel better.

Eddie ignored their excuses for him. "See, the only reason I came in here was 'cause those ladies, and Chris of course, came in straight after you. Now, I was too ashamed to be the one who stayed behind. But Crawford right there, she didn't waste a second. Not one second. She just dove right in. Now, I suggest you try and be the best boyfriend ever 'cause she's definitely a keeper. 'Cause that...was as unambiguous a sign of true love as these cynical eyes have ever seen."

"Cynical? Don't tell me there's nothing goin' on between you and Flores over there," Steve pointed out, making Chris swallow hard although he wanted to know the boy's answer.

Eddie hesitated, which didn't go unnoticed by either of the boys. "Carmen? I mean...I don't know. She's different."

"Different? What do you mean by different?" Chris immediately questioned.

Eddie shrugged. "I don't know. She just doesn't care about my reputation and the fact I'm a total freak. She just likes me for...me."

"You do know that's what she does, right? She tries to make you feel all special and then right after, you know, happens...she just leaves," Chris explained, glancing over at Steve. Steve didn't know why Chris had cared so much about it, but just assumed it was because he didn't really like Carmen and didn't want to see her be happy.

"I know, I know. We've talked about that and...I don't know, I think it'll be different this time. Like, I feel like she'll stay. With me," Eddie responded, not picking up on Chris's jealous tone whatsoever. "But thanks for looking out for me, man." Eddie patted Chris on the back, making the boy flinch lightly at his touch before he looked forward at the girls walking ahead.

The girls had been careful not to step onto anything that looked remotely like a vine, not wanting to alert any of the monsters of their location. "You think we're almost there?" Beverly asked Nancy, who had been leading them.

"Yeah, hopefully. It looks familiar but then again, this place is just one disgusting mess," the Wheeler girl answered, stepping over a slithering vine.

"Tell me about it. I'm definitely going to need to shower once we get back home," Carmen commented, grimacing at herself since she hadn't been able to bathe in a few days.

"You're worried about having a shower right now?" Alicia asked, giving her friend a look.

"Yeah. So?" Alicia and Robin glanced at one another before they started to chuckle, making Carmen arch a brow at the both of them. "Well, okay, sorry that I care about my personal hygiene."

"No, no, it's not that. It's just...don't you think we have other things to worry about at the moment?" Robin queried, tilting her head to the side a bit.

"Yeah, duh. I just would very much rather be clean while I worry about those things," she replied, dodging a vine on the ground.

"Good luck staying clean if you decide to be with Eddie," Nancy voiced from the front before she glanced over her shoulder, giving Carmen a knowing look.

Carmen scoffed at her. "Excuse me? What did you just say?"

"You heard me," Nancy teased, looking back ahead.

"Okay, and what is that supposed to mean?"

"I think you know exactly what she means," Beverly spoke and Nancy nodded. "Is there something going on between you and Eddie?"

Carmen narrowed her eyes, looking around at the group of girls who seemed to be on the edge of their seats since they wanted to know the answer so badly. "Possibly," she said ominously.

Robin groaned. "Oh, come on, you're gonna have to give us more than that."

"Well, if you guys think he smells or whatever, then why should I?" Carmen questioned, crossing her arms.

"I was just teasing," Nancy assured her since she found herself slightly curious about Carmen and Eddie since they had been spending a lot of time alone. And it also took her away from the horrors at the present.

"You're kinda right about him smelling, though," Alicia said, making Carmen glare at her. "What? She is!"

"Like I said, that's why we need a shower after this," Carmen defended. "But fine, yes, there is something going on between us. We just haven't really established it fully."

"What do you mean, fully? You're not gonna just leave him after this is over?" Beverly asked since that was what Carmen usually did. The Flores girl's face scrunched up a bit, seeming a bit apprehensive to answer the question. "Oh, my God, Car...Are you thinking about actually dating him?"

"Holy shit," Alicia breathed out, her eyes going wide.

"Wait, hold on, why is that such a crazy thing?" Robin inquired about since she didn't really think of Carmen's reputation all that much.

"Because I don't date," Carmen answered briefly. "And I still don't."

"But...?" Nancy said.

"But..." Carmen drawled, "I don't know. He's...different. I don't know how to explain it. It's like he just wants me for...me. Not just to fulfill his sexual fantasies, or whatever all the guys in high school wanted. He doesn't care about all the guys I've been with or my past status. He actually seems interested about what I like and what I do."

Beverly and Alicia shared a look, a grin growing on both of their faces. "Is Carmen Flores falling in love?" Alicia taunted, wiggling her eyebrows.

"What? No! Not — not love," Carmen stammered, fixing her hair nervously. "It's just...maybe I want to try something new, that's all."

"In my experience, trying something new has led to great things," Nancy spoke, talking about Jonathan. "I just wouldn't recommend long distance."

"Good to know."

The ground then shook again, making them lose their balance once more. "Goddamn it!" Steve and Beverly shouted at the same time.

"Here we go again," Eddie seethed through clenched teeth.

"Fuck this!" Carmen screamed.

"Okay, second on my list of least favorite things, earthquakes. Seriously, I'm unsteady enough as it is," Robin voiced before Nancy started to head somewhere away from the group. "Nancy! Where are you going?! Nancy!"

The others ran up behind Nancy once the shaking had stopped, seeing the Wheeler house in the distance being illuminated by the red lightning in the sky. "Come on," she breathed out, continuing to lead all of them to her and Chris's house.

✦ ✧ ✦

The group walked into Nancy and Chris's house cautiously since it was swarming with wet, slithery vines. "Might be time to get a maid, Wheelers," Robin teased after she had taken a look around at the place.

"Come on. I don't want to stay here longer than we have to," Nancy said, ignoring the joke, before she began to walk up the stairs.

"You could say that again since I now know that it's not a literal saying," Chris voiced, earning a look from the ABC trio simultaneously. However, he was too busy following after his sister to notice the stares.

The others followed before Steve had stopped behind Beverly, causing her to stop as well. "What is it?" she asked him, noticing his confused stare. "Steve, what is it?"

"Do you hear that?" he queried quietly and Beverly furrowed her brows, walking closer to him to try and see what he was hearing.

She was able to hear the faint voice of...Dustin Henderson? "Holy shit. Is that Dustin?" she said with wide eyes and Steve quickly nodded, rushing downstairs to find the source of his voice. Beverly quickly followed, looking around to try and find the boy.

As she looked around frantically, she could have sworn she heard the sound of a faint clock chiming, but elected to ignore it since she thought she was just hearing things.

The others walked into Nancy's room, not knowing that Beverly and Steve had veered off, where the Wheeler girl took out a shoebox from her closet and opened it up to reveal...high heels? "Those aren't guns," Eddie pointed out.

"I mean, these heels are a bit pointy, but I was hoping for something along the lines of a deadly projectile," Robin commented.

"Unless you've made them look like heels. Which, in that case, that's pretty impressive," Carmen complimented with a shrug even though she knew that wasn't the case.

"I don't understand," Nancy said.

"Maybe you left them somewhere else," Chris guessed.

"There's a six-year-old in the house, Chris. I know where I keep my guns," Nancy replied defensively, making Chris hold his hands up. "And also, I threw these away years ago." Nancy then looked down at the desk, picking up some flash cards that were there and sorting through them.

"I get that grades are important to you, but perhaps studying can wait until we get out of here?" Robin voiced.

"These are from sophomore chemistry," Nancy spoke up, making Chris look over at the cards.

"Holy shit, yeah, I failed that test," he realized, recognizing some of the terms.

Alicia looked over at the cards, remembering that test from her own sophomore year. "That was like the easiest test," she told him, making him roll his eyes.

"And this..." Nancy pointed at the wall as she ignored them, "this wallpaper, this is old wallpaper. And this mirror, this went to a yard sale. And you..." she picked up a stuffed animal, "you're not supposed to be here. No, I gave you to Cousin Joanna two years ago."

Nancy then made her way over to the nightstand, where she picked up a notebook of some sorts and flipped through the pages. "What is it?" Eddie questioned.

"Nancy? You're freaking me out," Robin told her.

"Yeah, I think you mean she's freaking all of us out," Alicia added and Robin quickly nodded.

"I think the reason that my guns aren't here...is because they don't exist yet," Nancy said slowly.

"They don't...exist?" Eddie repeated, glancing at Carmen.

"This diary should be full of entries. It's not. The last entry is November 6th, 1983. The day Will went missing. The date the gate opened," she described, making all of their eyes widen. "We're in the past."

"Dustin! Dustin!" Steve shouted from downstairs, causing all of them to look at each other before they rushed down there. "Dustin! Can you hear me? Dustin!"

"Hello?! Dustin! Dustin!" Beverly added along to the yells, the both of them looking like a pair of complete lunatics.

"Maybe he really does have rabies and he passed it on to her," Robin whispered to the others.

"Wouldn't be surprised," Chris replied, making Robin snort a bit.

"Hello!? Hello!?" Steve and Beverly both continued to scream, not seeing the others' presence just yet since they were so distracted by yelling Dustin's name.

"Guys, what are you doing?" Nancy spoke up to interrupt the two of them.

Steve then flashed his light in all of their faces, blinding them for a split second before he shined the light away. "He's here. Henderson. That little shit, he's here. He's like...He's in the walls or something. Just listen. Listen. Dustin. Dustin! Dustin! Dustin! Dustin! Can you hear me?"

"It's Bev!" Beverly called out.

"I think you're right, Ro—"

"...brings us to the question you first raised," Dustin's muffled voice was suddenly heard by all of them, making their eyes widen. "How and...is there a...at Lover's Lake? Let's analyze. What do Eleven...have in...?" his voice continued, although it had been hard to make out some of the words he had been saying.

The others all looked at one another before they joined in with Steve and Beverly's shouts, wanting to find the source of the boy's voice. "All right, either this kid can't hear us or he's being a total douchebag," Steve spoke since it was obvious Dustin hadn't been answering them.

"Will found a way," Nancy recalled.

"What?"

"Will. He found a way to speak to Joyce through the lights!" Nancy remembered before she made her way over to the lamp, trying to turn it on.

"Lights?" Chris asked.

"The switch. Try the switch," Steve offered once the lamp switch didn't seem to be working.

"It's not working," Nancy seethed as she kept on flicking the switch up and down to try and get it to work.

Steve then shined his flashlight onto the chandelier, noticing something off about it. "Guys? You seeing this?" he asked and they all looked towards it, seeing some sort of glow illuminating from it as it made a thrumming noise.

"What is it?" Robin slowly questioned before Nancy reached forward, putting her hand into the glow.

"Whoa," Eddie breathed out once it started to shimmer as Nancy moved her hand around.

"Do you feel anything?" Alicia queried once Nancy pulled her hand away, an awe struck look on her face.

"It just feels...different," she told her before she blinked, reaching her hand forward again. The others cautiously followed suit, making the whole chandelier glow.

"It...tickles," Steve said.

"It kinda feels good," Carmen commented, making Eddie smile over at her for a quick second.

"Does anyone know Morse code?" Nancy asked, pulling her hand away.

"No," the others chorused.

"Wait, does SOS count?" Eddie questioned, making them give him a look. "Is that...is that good?"

"SOS is the most well-known Morse code. Of course it's good," Alicia sassed, scoffing at him. Carmen gave her a quick nudge, to which Alicia just rolled her eyes.

"Oh."

"So...do it," Beverly urged, sharing a glance with Steve as he also subtly rolled his eyes at the boy. Maybe he wasn't one of the dumbest there after all.

"Right." Eddie began to tap his hand in and out of the shimmery light in the chandelier, trying to alert Dustin of their presence.

"It's working," Robin pointed out with a light smile.

✦ ✧ ✦

The group went into Nancy's room like Dustin had instructed them to once he realized where they were. "...seeing this?" they heard Dustin's muffled voice echo before something lit up in front of them. It shimmered like it did with the chandelier downstairs.

Nancy reached forward and moved her hand away, causing Dustin to laugh like a maniac. "We're not moving...gonna unplug it. Stand by!" they heard him say before the shimmery light disappeared in front of them. "Try it now!"

"Um...uh..." Nancy hummed before she began to draw a word in front of her: HI.

"That worked!"

"Yes! Yes!" they all cheered, excited smiled on all of their faces.

"Hi!" Eddie said rather aggressively, making Carmen and Chris laugh while Steve gave him a weird look.

"Um..." Nancy began to write more letters, spelling out 'STUCK'. The others agreed with that, very much stuck in the Upside Down.

"...Can't get back through Watergate?" Dustin asked.

"What the hell's Watergate?" Steve said in confusion.

"'Cause it's in water and it's a gate," Robin slowly explained.

"Oh."

"That's cute."

"Makes sense."

"Right."

"Wow."

"Um, no, uh...It's..." Nancy trailed off, writing out the word 'GUARDED' in front of her.

"Uh, Watergate's guarded," Dustin realized.

"Perfect. Yes, yes, yes," Steve said as Eddie clapped excitedly.

"We think...have a theory that...help with that!"

"Genius child," Robin breathed out.

"We think that...only gate! That there's a gate...murder site!" Dustin's voice came through choppily.

"Does...anybody understand what he's talking about?" Nancy questioned.

"No," Chris shook his head. "But then again, I never do," he muttered as an after thought.

"No idea," Beverly sighed.

"I wish I knew," Carmen said.

"Something about having a gate at every murder site, I think?" Alicia guessed with a shrug of her shoulders, but she also didn't really know what Dustin was talking about either.

Nancy reached forward and drew a question mark. "Seriously?! How many times...have to be right...you guys just trust me?!" Dustin screamed angrily.

"Jesus Christ. This kid's gotta get his ego in check," Steve commented.

"It's his tone, right?" Eddie added.

"I know."

"Okay. So — so how far is your trailer?" Nancy asked Eddie since Chrissy had been murdered at his trailer.

"Seven miles," Eddie answered, making them all look down in disappointment.

"Nancy? Uh, I know your house here is, like, weirdly, creepily frozen in time and shit, but haven't you always had bikes?" Robin pointed out.

Nancy thought about it for moment before she nodded. "Yes...but not enough for all of us," she responded.

"My house is literally only a few houses down and we have some bikes there," Alicia spoke up. "We could go grab those and get the hell out of here."

"Perfect, 'cause I really can't stand to be here any longer. It feels like someone is just...watching us," Beverly said eerily, licking her lips nervously. "Let's tell the others."

authors note
ayyy i got to finally update again
i think i have one month of high school
soccer left so when that is over i should
have some more time (even tho im prob
gonna have like homework and stuff for
school obviously) so hopefully i can get
more updates in for this book and my others.
also I just wanted to ask...which OC of mine
is your guys' favorite? i'd just like to know
haha (honestly id have to say mine is
carmen) let me know in the comments!