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Chapter Text

Chapter One – Not For The Weak

Hawkins, Indiana 2021

“Sleeping bags?”

“Check!”

“Night vision camera?”

“Got it!”

“Spirit box charged!”

“Yep!”

Lucas tightened the strap holding down his sleeping bag and his backpack one last time, standing back and wiping his forehead. He was glad it was nearing the end of summer, but the days were still warm. Nearby, his girlfriend Max knelt next to the rv, trying to cram as much as she could in her backpack while carefully arranging her camera on top.

Dustin was fiddling with his microphone pack, frowning as he did.

“Shit,” he swore, nearly tearing out a cord by accident. “This just…. That goes… Dammit, Lucas, help me out here!” Lucas laughed as he went to help, clipping Dustin’s microphone pack in an easier spot and adjusting it on his shirt pocket.

“Stop putting it so far back, it does this every time,” Lucas told him with a shake of his head. “Besides, they don’t need to be perfect, they just need to pick up what we say if Max’s doesn’t.”

“I know, it just gets in the way,” Dustin grumbled. “It’s harder to wear this stuff in summer.”

“That it is,” Lucas agreed as Max finally stood up triumphantly. “But Erica wanted to come and only had summer off, we’ll get what we need to. The Creel house isn’t too far.” Dustin opened his mouth to argue, but Lucas quickly cut across, “We can’t get the rv in there, Dustin, it’s been cut off from roads for years, remember.”

Dustin ran his hands over his face. “What are we looking for again?”

Leaving their bikes and Max’s backpack, Lucas led Dustin and Max up into the much cooler rv. Erica was sat in their editing and tech room, sipping a green smoothie as she tapped the keyboard. In front of her were five monitors, one turned on over the door of the rv, showing the bikes.

She sipped as she pushed the chair across the floor, sliding over to an open laptop. Hitting the keyboard, music flowed out of a nearby speaker. Erica nodded along as she went back, ignoring her brother, his girlfriend and best friend as Lucas scooped up the laptop.

“Alright, let’s go over it again before dinner and sundown,” Lucas said, taking the laptop as he went to sit at the kitchen table.

“Don’t turn the music off, loser!” Erica yelled after him.

“I won’t, butt munch!” Lucas shouted back, resisting the urge to pause and unpause the music to annoy her. Dustin checked the food before climbing over Max to sit between her and Lucas. Lucas tapped through the laptop, finding his notes, and spun it to face the two.

“Alright,” he said, leaning his elbows on the table. “Hawkins, abandoned 1994. Apparently, there was a lot of strange activity here back then, and now… the activity, most frequently at night.” He extracted a map he’d found from someone who’d visited Hawkins in 1991, unfolding it.

He’d already made notes, circles, his handwriting scribbled around the outsides. He pointed at a house on the outskirts of town, which was circled in red.

“This here is the Creel house,” he explained, tapping the map. “This place is rife with activity. It was abandoned and closed off to the public back in the fifties¸ after Victor Creel killed his wife and daughter. To this day, no one knows what happened to his son.”

Max was listening intently, as was Dustin, but he had that familiar look of skepticism on his face. Lucas ignored him.

“There are accounts of people going anyway, to see what is going on.” He clapped his hands together as both Max and Dustin shivered. “Any questions?”

“You know I hate little girl ghosts,” Dustin mumbled.

“How bad is the house?” Max asked. “Which room are we staying in?” She sat back, arms crossed as she raised an eyebrow. “At least we aren’t gonna freeze our asses off.”

“Henry’s room,” Lucas supplied, taking the map and folding it quickly. “No one knows what happened to him, maybe we’ll find something.”

“You know he could still be alive,” Max pointed out. Dustin gave Max a withering look.

“Why would you mention that?” he asked, to which she laughed.

“Just to annoy you, Henderson.”

“You wound me, Maxine.”

“Don’t call me-”

All three of them jumped when the oven timer went off. Without waiting for Max to get up, Dustin stood on his seat and climbed over her again to her protests. Lucas took the laptop back as Dustin started grabbing plates and cups.

“Max! Can you put this all on the outside table?” he asked her. Max rolled her eyes, but took the places, cups, and cutlery that Dustin piled into her arms. Lucas opened the door for her before going back to Erica, who was tapping away on her phone.

“Hurry up, Erica,” Lucas told her, setting the laptop down and hitting pause. “Dustin just finished up dinner, come and eat something with us, you’re gonna be alone here all night.”

She rolled her eyes, not looking up from her phone. “Alright, nerd, alright.” She got up, locking her phone, and got pulled aside by Dustin to help dish up the food. Lucas went outside to help Max.

Max hadn’t set anything up; everything was in a pile on their picnic table as she skateboarded around it. They had parked near a park, so they could use the bathrooms there, and she rode around on the concrete.

Lucas couldn’t stop her if he tried. Instead, he shook his head, smiling as he watched her. Max’s eyebrows were pinched in concentration, arms held up as she performed a kickflip. She landed it, of course, using her foot to gain momentum.

Unlike Lucas and Dustin, who were on bikes, Max would be skateboarding to the Creel house, as she always did. All three had to walk in the surrounding brush and forest, but where they could, they would all be riding. Easier, quieter, and a quicker get away than their bulky rv.

Max nearly spilled when she realized Lucas was watching. He chuckled as she stopped, stomping on the back of her skateboard to carry it as she walked over.

“Staring at something, stalker?” she asked, leaning her skateboard against the rv. Lucas just grinned wider, looping his arms over her shoulders, running his hands through her red hair.

“Definitely, just my hot skater girlfriend,” he said without hesitation or shame. He pretended to grunt in pain as Max lightly smacked his stomach. She was smiling to though, her hands on his hips and dragging him closer as she walked backward.

“Nice save, stalker,” Max laughed, her blue eyes twinkling in the setting sun, and Lucas ducked down to her. She was ready for him – Lucas had a feeling she had planned exactly this – and the plates clattered as Max put a hand on the table to steady herself.

Lucas kissed her, his hand tangling through her hair. Max wrapped her other arm tightly around him, pulling him closer, and Lucas could feel her smiling against his lips.

There was a clang from the rv, raised voices from Dustin and Erica followed by both of them laughing, and Lucas regretfully drew back. His eyes darted over Max’s face; she had that rare, sweet smile on her face, keeping eye contact with him.

“Movie date when we get home?” she asked.

Lucas nodded quickly. “Yeah, absolutely.”

Max grinned, kissing the tip of his nose, and the two disentangled themselves.

“We should set up before Chef Henderson comes after us with a frying pan,” she joked, and Lucas laughed at her words, holding out the cups and cutlery to her. She took them, and the two finished setting up. Max jogged up into the rv to grab the jug of lemonade Dustin had poured out earlier, and the three trooped down with all the food and lemonade.

Max slid next to Lucas, who slung his arm around her and kissed her cheek. Erica mimed gagging as Dustin served out the meal for everyone – hot dogs with various toppings – and they all dug in. Erica put some music on her phone, setting it on random and face down so she could be fully in the conversation.

She leaned her elbows on the table, pointing a manicured finger at Lucas, Max, and Dustin in turn.

“Do you nerds think you’re actually gonna find anything?” she asked, taking a bite of her hot dog. Lucas nodded at the same time Dustin and Max shrugged.

“We haven’t really found anything before,” Dustin said slowly. “I mean, we’ve looked at a lot of places and we’ve got a decent following online, but this one seems a stretch. I looked it up, Hawkins just seemed to be at the end of its tether and stuck in the eighties. No wonder no one wanted to stay anymore.”

“It still has a weird history though, Dustin,” Lucas pointed it. “Even without the Creel house stuff, there’s been disappearances, a few deaths, even rumors of kids with superpowers. Descendants from people involved with MK-Ultra apparently.”

“Isn’t that the weird experiment with LSD and shit?” Max asked. Lucas and Dustin nodded.

“Yeah, it was bad. One of the scientists on it, Martin Brenner, apparently he took a bunch of kids the test subjects had and the kids had powers,” Lucas explained. “You have to admit, Dustin, you might not believe in the ghost stuff, but the science stuff is cool.”

Dustin rolled his eyes. “You got me, I watched so many documentaries on that,” he conceded to laughs from the other three. “It was fascinating! And one of the scientists escaped a bunch of lawsuits to raise a bunch of superpowered kids? Did Gerard Way write this?”

“I’m gonna take that streaming service and beat you to death with it if you make another reference,” Max warned. Erica was covering her mouth, head down as her shoulders shook with laughter. Lucas just shook his head as Dustin gasped in mock-offence.

“You would never, Max, you love me!” He clasped his hand over his heart. Max nearly speared him with her fork.

“Shut up and eat your wiener!”

“Remember to lock up,” Lucas instructed as he pulled the outside shutters over the windows down, locking them tightly. Erica, carrying a flashlight, rolled her eyes for maybe the fiftieth time that afternoon alone.

“I know, Lucas, I’ve done this before,” she told him, crossing her arms as Lucas rolled down the one over the front windows. He locked it and turned to her, giving his head a shake.

“Not for this long! Me, Dustin, and Max are literally sleeping there overnight!” Lucas said, shaking his head. “I’m just making sure you’re gonna be alright. No light shining outside. Everything locked to the maximum. The night vision camera on so you can keep an eye out. Dustin even brought his mattress into the tech room for you, and-”

“Lucas!”

Erica clapped her hands on Lucas’ shoulders, giving him a shake. “It’s going to be okay! I know everything you’ve shown me, I know where to hide in the absolute worst situation, you guys have satellite phone for emergencies!”

Lucas took a deep, shaky breath, nodding as he put his hands over Erica’s arms.

“Ok, ok, I don’t mean to worry. We’re just out in the middle of nowhere and you’re gonna be alone,” he said, giving his head a small shake. “I’m just taking every precaution, we take the same ones with Max if me and Dustin stay somewhere overnight.”

Erica laughed at that. “Yeah, I remember when you two stayed in that church that you said had heaps of activity. At most there was that presence on the fifth floor.”

Lucas shivered. “Don’t remind me, I had nightmares for a week and neither me or Dustin could really get warm in that time.” He let go of Erica, and the two walked back to the door of the rv. Max and Dustin were finished setting up, Dustin attaching his go-pro to the end of his cap, making sure his sleeping bag and easy carry mattress were secure.

“I put the leftovers in the fridge,” Dustin told Erica, helping Lucas with his go-pro and double checking both their microphones. “That mattress will be alright for the night?”

Erica shrugged. “If not, I’ll just sleep in Lucas and Max’s, theirs is in the loft anyway,” she decided slowly, laughing when Lucas flashed her a Look . “I won’t actually do that, calm down, you nerd.”

Lucas wasn’t really mad; his mind was running a mile a minute. He saw Max watching him out the corner of his eye, but he had to ignore her for his own sanity. Swallowing heavily, he took the keys out of his jacket and handed them to Erica.

She took them slowly, his eyes on his jacket which was a varsity, but said nothing. She pocketed it and eyed them all. She took in an uncharacteristically shaky breath, and Lucas and Dustin watched as she went to hug Max.

Erica now towered over Max, but it wasn’t exactly hard. She stood a few centimetres shorter than Lucas, though her hair occasionally made up in distance. Now box braids swung over Erica’s shoulders, down near her elbows, and she had six beads in her hair.

One was red, another green, orange, blue, yellow, and purple. Lucas had asked the significance of the colours, and Erica had just shrugged, saying she liked them.

The lock clicking to the rv seemed to echo behind them. Lucas was shaking as he went to his bike, kicking the kickstand up. Max let her skateboard fall to the ground, a foot on it as she waited for Lucas and Dustin. Lucas clicked on his go-prop, so Dustin and Max followed suit.

“You know the way? To the Creel house?” he asked Dustin, talking a little more now they were on camera. Dustin swung his leg over his bike. Lucas quickly followed, and the three were off, cicadas chirping around them as they rode.

Max kept easily up with them, as she always did. Lucas focused on the road ahead, his torch shining down, keeping an eye out on the debris-filled road.

“The Creel house,” he said aloud, for the crowd, but also Dustin and Max to fill the silence. He felt Max grab the back of the rope on his bike so she could keep up, but she was fumbling for her action camera with her other hand. He waited until she mumbled a ‘go ahead’ to him.

“The Creel house has been abandoned since the fifties, nearly forties years since all of Hawkins was,” Lucas explained. “That has not still stopped thrill seekers from breaking in and discovering the town for themselves.” He shot a glance at Dustin. “To think we grew up in Indianapolis, not far from this place.”

“I know,” Dustin agreed, tweaking walkie talkie headset. He, Lucas, and Max had one each just in case. Max’s was on the back of her jeans while Lucas’ was strapped to the handlebars of his bike for now. “We used to hear about this place, but it was made so clear it was abandoned and dangerous.”

“Steve told us it was dangerous,” Lucas reminded him. “Remember he was dating the photography teacher in high school neither of us had? Apparently, both of that guy’s younger siblings were involved.”

“Steve’s getting a little old, though,” Max pointed out from behind them. “Last time I saw him he called me Carol.”

“Head injuries catching up,” Dustin muttered, then quickly turned to Lucas. “Cut all that out, dude, cut it all out.”

Lucas gave him a thumbs up as they came to an obstruction in the road. All three had to stop and inspect around it. Dustin called out he’d found a way through, though the three had to snap off a few branches to get the bikes through, but they managed.

“Many residents of Hawkins did not feel safe or comfortable even driving by the Creel house,” Lucas said aloud, waiting as Max fixed the microphone on her camera. “Many believed it to simply have bad energy, especially with the unexplained whereabouts of Henry Creel.”

“Do you remember any theories for that?” Dustin asked as they set off again, the occasional sound of Max’s foot hitting the ground as she kept up.

“Some, they’re all written on my phone, but I remember three,” Lucas confirmed, thinking for a moment. “The most common one, the one people believe the most, is simply that Henry was killed too, and his body moved before Victor took his wife and daughter.”

“Yeesh, lively place,” Max joked weakly, but the nerves were beginning to set in for all three. Lucas continued.

“The second is that somehow Henry escaped, and hasn’t been seen by anyone since, including his own father.”

“Perhaps he wasn’t traumatized to the point he can’t remember,” Dustin suggested. “The guy would be in his seventies he was alive too.”

Suppressing a shiver, Lucas opened his mouth to say the third when Max said, “Hey, is this it?”

Jolting upright, Lucas looked up. With the sun nearly set, it made the Creel house all the more menacing, looming overhead. He swallowed heavily, his hands tightening on the handlebars as he, Dustin, and Max all skidded to halts in front of the house.

He wasn’t sure if it was bats or birds that swooped around the top of the house, but it didn’t make him any less uneasy. In truth, Lucas wasn’t to throw up a little. Dustin, appearing unphased but the shaking in his hands gave away that he felt a little uneasy too, swung his leg over his bike and started suiting up.

Lucas helped Max to get her skateboard through the bottom of the straps of her backpack, making sure it was secure. He grabbed her camera and the bigger microphone for her, directing his flashlight so the three could work.

It was quiet as Lucas adjusted his go-pro, grabbed his spirit box, and stashed his walkie talkie in the pocket of his jacket. He took his stress ball out of his pocket, in the shape of a basketball, and gave it a few squeezes to calm down. He put it back when Max glanced over, but she looked away quickly.

“Are we ready?” Lucas asked after he and Dustin had set their bikes in ideal getaway mode. It was something they did just in case, despite never being attacked by murderous ghosts. They’d had to start doing it after Lucas panicked and bolted one time, straight out the front door and nearly tripped on Max’s skateboard.

“As we’ll ever be,” Dustin spoke for him and Max. Max swallowed heavily, nodding.

Leading the way, Lucas walked up the steps, Dustin and Max close behind.

“We are approaching the front door of the Creel house,” Lucas announced, looking about the dilapidated front porch and steps, boarded up windows and door, and the door handle was barely hanging on, it seemed. Broken locks lay scattered about, Max accidentally nudging one with her foot.

“As we said, this place has been abandoned since the fifties,” Lucas continued, nodding for Dustin to help him open the door. It took a few shoves, hitting their shoulders against it, before it splintered and gave way. It creaked as it swung inward, showing a dusty, empty front entrance way with broken furniture, torn curtains, and one grandfather clock across from the stairs.

“There have been others coming here, to see if they can discover what happened in the Creel house.” Lucas shone his flashlight up at the ceiling, turning slowly as they walked into the house. Max kept her camera steady and on them, the microphone jutting over the top of it. Lucas saw her brush a little bit of her hair out of her eyes but kept the camera still.

Steady as a rock, as always.

“What happened to Victor Creel?” Dustin asked, approaching the nearest door, which was half open. Max slid off her backpack as they went into what originally looked to be some sort of sitting room. The couch was in half, a cloud of dust flying up when Dustin gave the fabric a slap. A fireplace sat empty, whatever having been in it long since turned to ash, and across the room was a shelf with an old radio on top.

The chandelier overhead was covered in cobwebs, as were the corners of the room and above the fireplace. It made Lucas feel more than a little unsettled.

“Victor Creel was arrested after he tried to take his daughter for help,” he explained instead, suppressing a shiver in his shoulders. “Though Alice Creel bore no injuries, his wife Virginia certainly did.”

Dustin shone his flashlight over at Lucas, who stood looking at the radio now.

“Apparently, Creel fell into hysterics, saying some sort of entity killed his wife and daughter. He didn’t know what happened to his son, but something had been in his house, and it had taken his wife.”

Lucas turned his head to look at Dustin. Max set her camera next to the radio and began setting up motion cameras and microphones around the room. She did so in the front hall too, keeping the door open so Lucas and Dustin could still see her.

“Creel was taken to Pennhurst Asylum after resisting arrest. He said whatever had killed his wife and daughter and taken his son would surely come back to him. He said he saw images of what he saw in the war in the fireplace, Alice began finding dead animals around the property, and Virginia and Henry were becoming out of sorts too.”

Lucas swallowed heavily, turning back to the radio and reaching out to sweep his hand over the top of it, clearing the dust off.

“No word of what happened to Henry, to this day.” Lucas took a step back. “Apparently, Victor Creel sang ‘Dream A Little Dream Of Me’ by Ella Fitzgerald until his dying days, saying it warded off whatever was coming to him. He blinded himself, and he died alone, never clearing of the charges laid against him.”

Dustin gave a shiver. “I hate it when you get your ghost-hunting voice on. It’s so eerily creepy.”

Lucas rolled his eyes. “The viewers like it, you know I don’t talk like that in person a lot.”

With Max’s cameras and audio set up, they slowly ventured through the rooms of the first floor. When they stepped into the dining room, Lucas felt a shiver run through him. He was cold, as though a bucket of ice-cold water had been dumped over him. He glanced at Dustin and Max – Max was the only one wearing jeans, and none of them had brought jackets, just their sleeping bags. Both Lucas and Dustin were in shorts,

“This is supposedly the room Virginia Creel was, in Victor Creel’s words, lifted into the air. Alice began screaming, and Victor claims his wife’s limbs were snapped and bent into unnatural ways. Something seemed to squeeze her eyes from the inside, her jaw was broken, and she was dropped to the floor.

“God, Lucas,” Max gagged, shaking her head. “I hate it when you describe their deaths.”

Lucas knew why Max hated it. He hated it too. But he felt it was better to say it outright in the simplest terms, rather than not the one time he didn’t on a particularly gruesome case and people found pictures of the body itself.

Never again. That disclaimer was in huge letters at the beginning and end of every single video.

“Alice didn’t appear injured at all,” Lucas quickly added. “All in all, there has never been an official reason of death revealed for either woman.”

He swung his flashlight over the dining table, still in relatively good shape. It appeared this room was untouched even more so than the other rooms.

“It was here Victor Creel claims he was saved and protected by Ella Fitzgerald’s song.” Lucas extracted his spirit box from his pocket, ignoring eyerolls from Dustin, and switched it on. Dustin and Max both flinched at the unflattering sound that erupted from it.

Lucas glanced at his best friend and girlfriend one last time before saying aloud to the room, “Is there anyone here? We have something with us to allow you to communicate with us.”

He waited, looking down at the spirit box. Nothing happened, nothing changed. He tried again.

“Is anyone present? Virginia Creel? Are you able to confirm your husband’s claims that an evil, dark entity had entered your home, taking your life? What happened to your daughter, Alice, and your son, Henry?”

Lucas jumped as something crackled from the spirit box. He listened closely, knowing he would have to double back on the audio later, but turned as Dustin joined him, looking over Lucas’ shoulder at the spirit box.

“Did you hear that?” he asked.

“Lucas, we never hear anything from that piece of junk.”

“I swear I heard someone say ‘Henry’, I swear, Dustin!” Lucas fiddled with the spirit box, continuing to speak aloud. Max, her camera still on Lucas and Dustin, was looking about warily, seeming more uneasy than usual.

Lucas and Dustin listened intently again, and both jumped when they heard a voice. Max’s head snapped to face them, and Lucas held the spirit box closer.

“Can you say that again, please?” he asked, giving the spirit box a small shake. “Say it again, please!”

They jumped again when the box didn’t crackle like before… but Dustin’s walkie-talkie did. He grabbed it, holding it up, his hand shaking. A few seconds of silence passed before they heard a whisper, a whisper to faint to understand, before it faded away.

Dustin shook his head, clipping his walkie-walkie back on his waistband. “Come on, dude, that was interference!” he said, waving Max over. “Let’s head upstairs and find this kid’s room, see if it will tell us anything.”

Lucas was at a loss for words, his mind reeling. “Dude, wait-”

But Dustin was already walking about. Lucas did not want to be left behind, so he hurried past to take the lead against. The floorboards and stairs squeaked beneath their feet as they ascended the stairs. Clearly Max was shivering a lot from her ragged breathing. Lucas stopped on the second floor landing to check on her.

“You okay?” he asked her gently as Dustin strode down the hall, opening doors and sticking his head in. Max nodded, her hand shaking as she ran it through her hair.

“Yeah, just a little cold, don’t worry, Lucas,” she insisted. “This house is a little creepier than the others though, the backstory is a little extreme, maybe even for us, Lucas…”

Lucas looked down the hallway at Dustin straightening up, shooting them a thumbs up. He and Max approached together.

“I thought about that,” he admitted as they went into what was meant to be Henry Creel’s room. Like the rest of the house, it was run down, falling apart a little. The boy’s bed stood, but it had no mattress. Many of his possessions were gone too. “But I think that everywhere we go, Max.”

Max sighed, nodding. “You do worry about that,” she conceded. Alright, talk about this kid, I’ll set up nightvision on this camera.”

Dustin was walking about inspecting the floor on where to put the crappy little but easy to carry around foam mattress for the three of them. He and Max decided on beside Henrys bed as Lucas directed his go-prop at himself.

“Unlike Virginia and Alice, there isn’t much on Henry,” Lucas supplied, slowly walking around the room. “Virginia was glad to have her husband back, her family safe, excited to be in a lavish house and moving up in society. Alice was a sweet girl, inquisitive, often outside in the sunlight.”

He turned to face Dustin and Max. Max had set her camera on the bedside table, ensuring it had a good view of the room and them. She set up a light in one corner of the room. Dustin had taken his sleeping bag and Lucas’, both doubles, and unzipped them both to rezip them together.

The three had squished in this sleeping bag before, and without admitting it, all three preferred it. Sometimes Max stayed behind while Lucas and Dustin stayed places by themselves, and they sometimes shared, sometimes didn’t.

On those nights, Lucas never slept.

“Henry is a mystery though,” Lucas said. He went to shut the bedroom door as Dustin knelt down, taking out various portable chargers. “According to his father, Henry was a quiet, sensitive boy, but that is all that was said of him. Victor didn’t sound particularly close with either of his children, and couldn’t offer much else on them no matter how many times he was asked.”

He approached Dustin and Max as Dustin straightened up, stretching his arms around his head. “You two ready to camp out in the haunted Creel house?”

Dustin nodded, stifling a yawn. “Ready as I’ll be, dude. House is surprisingly sound despite standing for likely a hundred years, maybe more.”

“I don’t like how quiet it is,” Max admitted.

“Yeah, it is really quiet, almost abnormally,” Dustin agreed. “Did you bring your headphones? I could put on a podcast or something?”

Max nodded. “Always. Brought my switch too.”

Lucas couldn’t begrudge them, like he had done to Dustin at some places. If these things helped them settle, they could all sleep, get the footage they needed, and the night would pass quickly. In all honesty, with house much Lucas was beginning to shiver, that sounded pretty good right then.

With cameras and lights set up, the three climbed in the sleeping bag, Lucas in the middle. It wasn’t the comfiest place to sleep, but it was better than the time he and Dustin tried to rough it without the mattress, in that one old city jail way across the country. That had been a long night, and Dustin had almost thrown out one of his hips.

Dustin only slept with one headphone in, the other kept out so he could still hear. He was listening to a podcast. Lucas slept without, even though it was harder to sleep doing so. He had Dustin and Max on either side to provide him with the comfort he needed. And Max, like always ended up pulling up her switch and playing Dr Maroio.

Everything was set to record for the night. Lucas shot off a quick text to Erica asking if she was ok – she just sent back a thumbs up. Lucas yawned, took a sip from his water bottle, and shuffled down to sleep.

For a while, all he could hear was the faint sound of Dustin’s headphones, Max’s breathing, and the occasional creak and groan from the house. Despite the warmth emanating from both Max and Dustin, the air outside the sleeping bag was cold. Lucas rolled over to face Max, draping his arm over her and burying his face in the crook of her neck.

Like always, Dustin shuffled over so he was right up against Lucas’ back, which he didn’t mind. Dustin began faintly snoring soon after. Max shuffled her arm up so she could grab her switch, turning the volume and brightness down before clicking into her game.

“Please sleep soon, Max,” Lucas whispered. He felt her nodding.

“I will, Lucas, I just wanna beat Wario really quick, promise,” she whispered back.

Perhaps it was the cold, traveling so far, or just how heavy this story was, Lucas was overcome with exhaustion. He gripped Max a little tighter as he began to drift off… off…

Another bout of cold woke Lucas abruptly. He gasped, waking, finding himself still on the floor of Henry Creel’s room. Max was asleep, finally, her switch turned off on her chest. Dustin’s back was pressed against Lucas now, his headphones still faintly heard.

Lucas closed his eyes again, taking a deep breath. His nose and ears felt as cold as though it were Fall. Shivering, he went to turn his head back into Max’s neck, only to realise a faint blue glow against his eyelids.

He sat up, Max’s arm falling.

They were alone in Henry Creel’s room. Only the yellow light from the one Max set up earlier was on still, in the corner of the room.

Still when Lucas glanced down, he, max, and Dustin were all bathed in a soft blue light. Not very strong – it flickered a lot – but it was there. There was no source, no one he could see.

He gulped so hard his throat hurt. His voice trembled as he whispered, “Is there anyone here?”

No response. He wasn’t about to turn on the spirit box; he’d done that once and woken up Dustin, who nearly tossed him out into the snow in his pyjamas.

Lucas blinked, looking around the room. There was no one there, and no indication of a blue light. Thinking it was simply a trick – he was still half asleep, Lucas turned back to snuggle down.

He only stopped when Max’s walkie-talkie, which was next to her, crackled. Lucas looked over her at it, holding his breath. Interference, perhaps? He wasn’t sure, and right now, was a little too tired to deal with it.

Yawning, Lucas went to lie down, when the walkie-talkie crackled again. This time, he definitely heard something. A voice still too soft to hear, to make out, but Lucas reached out anyway, scooping it up. Against his better judgement, he extended the antenna, and waited.

He almost leaped out his skin when a voice said, “Leave. Leave now.”

Lucas almost dropped the walkie-talkie on Max, but held his grip. He stared at it, which was coming to life now quite defiantly, and he carefully held down the talk button.

“C-… Can you repeat that?” he asked shakily, his teeth bordering on chattering. He nearly threw the walkie-talkie up into the air when the voice spoke again. He had no idea who or what it was, but it wasn’t a woman’s voice, nor a young boy’s voice.

“You need to leave, now. Leave now, take your friends, and don’t look back. Don’t come back. Don’t ever think about this place again.”

Chapter Text

Chapter Two – Welcome, Nerds and Freaks

“You’re still awake?” Max yawned, walking into the tech room where Lucas was half-asleep at the desk, slumped on the table. He jolted awake at her voice, whirling in his seat. Max stood in the doorway, wearing pyjama shorts and an oversized shirt, a cup of coffee in her hands.

Lucas rubbed his face, yawning as he checked his watch.

“Yeah, shit, I didn’t realise the time,” he mumbled, giving his head a shake. “I was just editing and trying to figure this out… I heard it, Max, you can clearly see me waking up here!” He turned back to the laptop, going back slightly on the video file. The two watched, yet again, Lucas waking up, looking around the trying, going to go back to sleep only to grab the walkie-talkie.

“The audio didn’t pick up very well, except for my voice,” Lucas told her. “You don’t just forget something like that, Max, and I wasn’t dreaming! Before that, I was dreaming about Dustin painting the rv orange, I remember that felt surreal because he was using marshmallows to put white dots on it too.”

Max sighed, putting her mug down and wrapping her arms over Lucas’ shoulders from behind, resting her head against his.

“You need to rest,” she insisted, giving him a light squeeze. “I know you need to get the editing done but it’s been two nights and you’ve hardly done anything.”

Lucas pursed his lip, putting his hand over Max’s arm. He knew she was right – he’d edited the same five minute section maybe ten times – but he couldn’t get that voice out of his head. Or the blue light. That cold feeling that had washed over him, despite the heat of the summer night.

Yet… the voice had sounded sad. Urgent, but sad. Something told him it hadn’t belonged to any of the Creel’s, yet he didn’t know of anyone else who had potentially died in that house. Maybe years before, but in terms of what happened to the Creel’s, there was nothing else, no one who had died as abruptly or gruesomely.

Sighing, he tilted the seat back.

“Get some sleep, Lucas,” Max insisted, leaning over to save what he working on and close the program. “I’ll wake you up at lunch time. I know you wanna stick around Hawkins a little longer, but Dustin said we need a few things from the next town over. He’s already putting things away outside, we’ll be back by sundown, promise.”

Even though this sort of thing frustrated Dustin occasionally, he loved the footage they’d gotten, and even listened intently to everything Lucas pointed out. He was still skeptical, but that was part of the draw and appeal of their channel.

A believer, a skeptic, and a very tired camerawoman being dragged after the eccentric hosts.

Max gave Lucas another tight squeeze. “I love you, sleep well the next few hours.”

She stepped back as Lucas stood up, turning to her so he could tug her back, pressing a kiss against her hair. “I love you too, Mad Max. Wake me up soon.” She smiled gratefully, and he ambled past her, down to the loft above the driver’s seat.

She’d left the sun blocking shades drawn, keeping the light out. Only one of the lamps was on, on Lucas’ side. The blankets were scrunched, likely from Max drifting to the middle without Lucas there, her pillow in weird shape. His was untouched; Lucas closed the door, putting him in silence, and flopped down on his side. He made an effort to at least get out of his shorts and plug his phone in to charge.

Lucas tossed and turned, only sitting up a few times to get a drink of water. He couldn’t hear much outside the loft – Dustin had done an excellent job decking out the rv so they all had as much privacy they could – but he could tell when they moved finally.

He had to turn on some music after a while because his mind kept drifting back to the voice. He couldn’t sleep when he was so focused on it – that mindfulness stuff Erica preached about be damned.

It did take him a while to drift off. The rv rumbling along actually helped somewhat, and he fell dead asleep after two nights of no sleep and one restless night in the Creel house. Max peeked in on him a few times. When Lucas did wake for longer than a few seconds, he could only manage to have some water before falling asleep again.

He awoke with a gasp to find the rv still. It was very quiet, and he realised he wasn’t alone. Max was curled up next to him, her hair done up in two braids, the blanket twisted around her legs. She was asleep. Shaking his head, Lucas grabbed his phone, seeing with a jolt it was almost four o’clock in the morning…

The next day. It was the next day.

The light of Lucas’ phone caused movement next to him, and Max stirred. He looked down at her as her blue eyes blinked open sleepily, and she yawned.

“Lucas, go back to sleep,” she mumbled, sitting up to put her arm around Lucas’ shoulders and yank him back down. He went with her, lying down with his head on her shoulder. His mind was racing now, having caught up on sleep, and he grimaced.

“You’re frowning, what’s wrong?” Max asked without looking at him. Lucas resisted cursing aloud; of course she could tell what was wrong without looking at him. Clenching and unclenching his fist a few times, Lucas sat up faced her, shifting onto his knees.

“After I upload this episode, I want to go back to the Creel house,” he blurted out. Max lifted herself on her elbows, raising an eyebrow at him. “I do! Max, I really think we’re onto something here, I do!”

“Lucas,” Max said, struggling to sit up. “That was hands down one of the creepiest places we have been. Erica looked it up, apparently the government’s been discussing demolishing Hawkins for years and rebuilding.”

“That’s why we have to go back.” Lucas shuffled closer to her. “Max, I wasn’t asleep. I heard that voice. I have never heard something so clearly before, even through a walkie talkie. There’s always static with you and Dustin.”

Plus, if this meant ghosts were actually real, and could commune with the living, then…

Max sighing brought him back. “Well… it could make for some good content,” she relented. “Are you almost finished with this one?”

Lucas was quick to throw a shirt on, descending down to the tech room. Dustin was asleep on one of the bean bags, snoring as the pause menu for Far Cry 5 was on the screen. He jumped awake as Lucas flicked on the light.

“Huh, wha-… Lucas, what are you doing? Hey!”

Lucas was dragging the beanbag over next to the desk chair, making sure it was far back enough Dustin to see too. Max found of the folding chairs, setting it up on Lucas’ other side. He checked the door to Dustin’s area was shut – Dustin slept in the tech room or a tent sometimes when Erica was with them – before booting up the editing computer.

Dustin rubbed his eyes, sitting up and reaching out to grab his half-empty can of Mountain Dew Kickstart, taking a sip. “Now, Lucas, really?”

“Yes,” Lucas replied simply, tapping in the password. “We have to go back to the Creel house. I heard something there, you two, we have to figure this out! There are no other records of Victor killing anyone else in that house, and any other deaths there don’t match the approximate age of the voice I heard.”

Dustin yawned. “And what age would that be? Non-existent?”

“Bite me,” Lucas snapped back, clicking through to the file and opening it up. “Here, listen again.” He clicked play. Dustin and Max both leaned forward, listening intently. For a few seconds, there was nothing, just the faint sound of Dustin snoring and Lucas shifting about.

Then, Lucas sat up, looking around the room. Lucas watching himself shifted nervously, turning up the volume and straining to listen. There really wasn’t a microphone that was on closest to them, but he heard it again. Faintly, he heard it.

“Leave. Leave now.”

“There!” Lucas, pointing at the screen as the him on it froze. “I heard it, there was that voice again!”

Dustin was just frowning, while Max was trying to see if anything was materialising.

“I’m serious about this,” Lucas insisted, turning up the sound. It was still faint, a little crackly. “It tells me to take you guys, run, and never go back.”

Dustin almost facepalmed. “Lucas, aren’t you a horror geek?”

Lucas, satisfied with the editing finally, set up the render and let it run; it was going to take a few hours. He spun in the chair to face his partners-in-crime, leaning his elbows on his knees.

“I am, why?”

“What’s the first thing you say when someone goes back to a place a ghost or demon tells them not to go?” Dustin asked, raising an eyebrow. Lucas almost deflated, but he shook his head.

“Okay, I see your point, but this is real life, Dustin, not some movie!” He slapped his hand on the desk. “It was just a voice. Can we check it out one more time?” He hated saying it, but it was likely the only way to convince Dustin. “It could have just been radio interference, somehow.”

Dustin narrowed his eyes, and Lucas stared back. They didn’t say anything, but he could tell Dustin was arguing with himself. Max sneakily took Dustin’s drink from his hand – he was too in his own head to notice – and had a sip herself.

“Fine,” Dustin relented. “Okay, we’ll go. Let’s get our paddles and get this curiosity voyage going.” He slapped a high-five with Lucas, who was smiling widely.

“Alright, after this video is uploaded, we can go,” Lucas decided. “This is a huge deal, you two, we could really be onto something here!” He paused, glancing at his watch. “Where are we, actually?”

“Next town over,” Dustin yawned, stretching as he took up his game controller again, unpausing his game. “Needed to refuel, and Erica needed a few things. We’ll get the rest of what we need in the morning, then head back after we upload the video.”

“What’s the deal with Hawkins being demolished?” Lucas asked as he clicked onto YouTube, scrolling through their latest comments. “Max said Erica found something?”

“Speaking of me,” Max interrupted, standing. “I’m going back to bed. You.” She pointed at Lucas. “Don’t take too long.” She left as Dustin waved, not taking his eyes from the TV.

“Yeah, they’re demolishing Hawkins is the talk,” Dustin told Lucas. “Though not a lot has been done, no one’s actually come in. I think they’re hesitant because of the lab, a lot happened there.” He shook his head. “I looked into the history of that lab too. The residents barely knew it was here. Twelve kids kidnapped and experimented on, mysterious disappearances, Martin Brenner being connected to MK Ultra.”

“Wait, wait, wait!” Lucas said quickly. He assessed his appearance and Dustin’s. Dustin looked fine, his clothes only a touch rumpled, but Lucas was still only in a shirt and his underwear. He went to change his clothes, deciding his hair was fine, and went back to the tech room.

Dustin was in the middle of a mission, gunfire ringing through the room at a low volume as Lucas dragged the beanbag Max had been sitting on next to Dustin, then found their tripod, setting up their video camera in the spot they put it under the TV. Dustin saw what was doing and sat up a little better.

“Now?” he asked as Lucas grabbed the ring light and the laptop, using the TV remote to turn it down even more. Lucas nodded, and Dustin agreed, reaching out without getting up to snatch his cap off the desk, smoothing down his hair and putting his cap on.

“Ready?” Lucas asked. Some of what they filmed was scripted, which was mainly all the information Lucas had written down, but most of it was his and Dustin’s genuine reactions with occasional cameos from Max.

“Yep, start it,” Dustin told him. Lucas leaned over and hit the record button.

“Welcome back to the adventure, nerds and freaks,” Lucas said, smile becoming serious as Dustin added, “It’s The Ranger And The Bard back at it again, this time in the town of Hawkins investigating whether or not the mystery of the Creel House can be solved.”

“Yesterday we went to the Creel House for the first time, and we’ll link to the first episode of this adventure for you,” Lucas continued. “And today, on our way back to Hawkins, we’ll talk a little about the history of this small, forgotten ghost town.”

“We have Lucas’ sister Erica with us on this journey,” Dustin said, picking up his drink. “She’s the one who delved into the history while Lucas, Max, and me were camper out at the Creel house last night. There’s been attempts to return for a few years, other aspiring adventurers like ourselves, and all began and ended at the Creel house.”

“Too scared to keep going, but we’re not gonna stop until we either uncover something or we get scared,” Lucas said, sharing a nod with Dustin. “Dustin here, being our resident skeptic, has been looking for scientific reasons behind what has been going on, even though…”

Lucas pretended to look about, then leaned forward and whispered, “We picked up something on our walkie talkies last night. A voice, I think a young man’s. Could have been interference but we won’t know until we go back and investigate!”

“Hawkins is home to the Hawkins lab,” Dustin said, still playing Far Cry as he spoke. “It was run by Dr Martin Brenner. I have a few articles that I found. He was a scientist who helped with Project MKUltra, and allegedly, kidnapped twelve children and experimented on them. The rumour is these twelve children had powers beyond any normal human could achieve.”

“The lab was shut down back in 1983,” Lucas chimed in, scrolling through the document Erica had put together complete with newspaper articles and news reports from back then. She’d done really well; for someone who called him and Dustin nerds all the time, Erica was a huge nerd herself.

“Martin Brenner has vanished, along with two of the children taken.” He scrolled through Erica’s notes, frowning. “There’s… nothing in what happened to the other kids.”

Dustin paused the game, leaning over to read as well. Lucas angled the laptop to him. “Maybe they were rescued and put into hiding,” Dustin suggested. “Sometimes that happens with kids who are rescued, even adults.”

For some reason, Lucas’ skin crawled. It wasn’t the first time it had happened on camera, but it genuinely made him uneasy rather than just scaring him. He and Dustin were quiet for several moments, slowly looking at each other, before Lucas took a shaky breath.

“Anyway,” he mumbled, knowing he’d had to cut this out. “Today, we’re going back to the Creel house to see if we can hear someone speaking through the walkie-talkie again, and search for any more activity.”

“It’s gonna be a long night, folks,” Dustin said, pointing his controller at the camera. “But it’s sure to be an interesting ride!”

“Have I mentioned that your fans are insane?” Erica said, scrolling through the YouTube comments on the first Hawkins video. “Damn… Some of these people really like you guys, a few saying just ‘fake’ in capital letters… Oh gross, don’t say that about my brother!”

“Ignore the weird ones, Erica!” Lucas called, carefully packing Max’s equipment while she showered. “We have to, no matter what we say to them.”

“Dusty-buns, really?” She ignored what he said, walking into the tech room and shoving her phone in his face. “DUSTY-BUNS? What the hell does that mean?”

Dustin swiveled around in the desk chair, scowling so hard that both Lucas and Erica laughed. “Don’t even get me started on the Dusty-buns.”

“It’s the name for Dustin’s fans,” Lucas explained between chuckles. “I don’t have one because they haven’t come up with a clever enough name.”

“Oh please, Lucas Lovelies is damn adorable and you know it,” Dustin bit back. “At least they aren’t talking about your ass, they just like that you’re a scaredy cat everywhere we go, and they always say you have a hot girlfriend.”

“What happened to you and Trucy?” Lucas asked, grabbing Max’s microphone and handing it to Erica. “I thought you two were a thing.”

Dustin frowned, letting out a huff. “I thought we were too, but I’ve barely heard from her since we left. She doesn’t want to hear about what we’re doing, which is weird, she was down when we told her about that church in California. She’ll ask about the rv, at least.”

Erica snorted, accepting the three go-pros from as Lucas took back the microphone and carefully packed it securely in Max’s backpack.

“Doesn’t this rv belong to her mom?” Erica asked. They heard the shower snap off, Max humming to herself.

“Her grandfather, actually,” Dustin corrected. “She hasn’t seen him in a long time, but he and her grandmother used it then passed it to her mom, and now they’re lending it to us as long as we’re careful. It’s basically ours now, considering the work I’ve done to it over the last few years.”

“We’re close to paying it off,” Lucas grinned, taking the go-pros now and setting them down on the desk, snatching Dustin’s hat off his head. “Can’t wait for it to be ours. Trucy’s agreed to keep an eye on it if we go international.”

They were interrupted by Max calling out for Erica, who left the tech room to the tiny shower walled off in the corner of the kitchen. Dustin turned back to the laptop, testing their personal microphones as Lucas began attaching Dustin’s go-pro to his hat, then adjusting the straps and stocks for his.

It was quiet for a while; Max and Erica were barely heard in the next room, the laptop keys clacked as Dustin tapped away, and the go-pro stick clicked as Lucas adjusted it. As he worked, he thought of the Creel house, and his eyes traveled to Max’s walkie talkie, still charging.

He had heard that voice. It was the first time he’d heard a definitive voice, not just occasional words, or scrambled answers to their questions (or responses to Dustin’s threats against demons). This had been a clear, defined voice, like someone had been talking through his or Dustin’s walkie talkies. Theirs had been in their backpacks though, they’d left Max’s out.

As Dustin drove them back, Erica in the passenger seat while Lucas napped and Max played her switch next to them, all he could think about was that guy’s voice. A young man, he really thought, probably not much older than himself. And his tone…

“You need to leave, now. Leave now, take your friends, and don’t look back. Don’t come back. Don’t ever think about this place again.”

It hadn’t been angry, or a threat. It had been desperate, pleading. Telling them to get out, or it would be too late.

Too late for what, though? No one had lived in Hawkins for years. There was limited cell signal, and the plumbing didn’t really work beyond toilets. Lucas was glad the rv was well stocked and had a good water filter. Dustin had really thought of everything, providing them a home away from home.

He’d watched a good number of YouTube and TikTok tutorials for this, but it still worked.

“So you guys are gonna get there before it gets dark?” Lucas heard Erica say as she returned, pushing her hair back from her face. Lucas nodded as he finished with their equipment and Dustin unplugged the mics from the laptop, putting them back together.

“Hopefully, if nothing has happened with our path from when we came back,” Lucas said. “There’s no one here and no weather changes so should be fine.”

Erica nodded, flopping into a beanbag and pulling out her phone. “I’ll lock up after you leave,” she said. “I’ve seen you do it enough times and I want to sit outside for a while when it cools down, then I’m gonna play Dustin’s Xbox later.”

“You’re lucky I considerately put an account on there for you,” Dustin shot back, and Lucas laughed as Erica rolled her eyes.

“Sure sure, thanks, Dusty-bun.”

As Dustin swiveled around in his seat, Lucas decided to check on Max. She was sitting at the foot of the ladder to the loft, lacing up her converse. Her hair was in two braids on either side of her head, clearly done by Erica. She looked up as Lucas approached, smiling as he leaned over and kissed her forehead.

“Are we ready to go?” she asked. “I kind of wanna get there while we still have light to set up, since I’ve got cameras in every room now.”

“Dustin just needs to get the snacks and we can head out.” Lucas said as she stood, slinging her arms over his shoulders. “I think we should focus on Henry’s room, that’s where I heard the voice.” With Max dressed now, they returned to the tech room, where Dustin and Erica were engaged in a heater conversation about the three main characters of GTA 5.

Lucas ignored them, crossing Max’s backpack and zipping it up. He handed it to her along with her go-pro.

“Hey!” she barked at Dustin and Erica, who stopped mid-argument. “We gotta get ready to leave, I wanna set up before dusk.”

“The cam to the rv is ready to go?” Erica asked, sitting at their editing computer and tapping in the password. Dustin had set five screens for various things; one was open on their channel, showing their first Hawkins video up. Another was the editing program open, the footage from the morning already being editing and chopped up by Lucas. The main one was used for basically everyone, which included gaming for anything that didn’t work on the laptop. The fourth screen was for social media, and the last was blank, for the remote camera they kept so Erica could male sure they stayed safe.

Sometimes Lucas was grateful for the amount of technical work Dustin had done. Lucas dealt a lot with the business and talking to sponsors, and organizing shows and fan meet ups. And Max worked hard with getting the right footage and making sure the sound worked and giving suggestions how it should all clip together. She was usually the girl in the chair, as Dustin would call her, then when Erica came on board for the end of summer, she took over Max’s job so Max could be on location.

“I’ll grab the food and my backpack, then we can go,” Dustin said, closing the laptop and leaving to the kitchen. Lucas helped Max with her backpack, go-pro, and mic, clipping the battery pack to the waistband of her shorts. He set up his own stuff, fetching his sleeping bat and the foam mattress for another night in the Creel house.

“Ready!” Dustin called out. Lucas grabbed his cap, and Erica followed them out with her phone, a drink, a book, and her Bluetooth speaker. She found their foldout lounge and pulled out the shade on the side of the van, slipping on her sunglasses.

“Have fun, guys,” she said, sitting down and stretching out her legs. “I’ll lock up before it gets dark.”

Lucas still went around the rv, pulling down the shutters over the front windows and on the far side, locking them up. When he returned, Max was ready to go, and Dustin was still adjusting his mic. Lucas tossed the keys at Erica, who caught them without looking.

“Remember to radio us if you need anything,” he told her, and she nodded, still scrolling through her phone. “We’ll set up the remote camera in the room we’ll be sleeping in.”

Erica just nodded, taking a sip of her drink. “Got it.” Lucas rolled his eyes, smiling as Erica turned on the speaker and put some music on. She only look up when Max walked over to give her a hug. Lucas and Dustin climbed on their bikes, and the three were off, the wheels of Max’s skateboard rattling against the ground.

They didn’t really talk along the way, just focusing on getting there before it got dark so Max could set up in the gloom of the house. Lucas was distracted thinking about what he’d heard two nights before, the voice of that young man. Not questioning if he’d heard it, but whose voice it was.

Dustin had been asleep, and it definitely wasn’t him. Maybe it had been Henry Creel? No one knew what had happened to him, so maybe they would discover what had happened to him. Lucas doubted it was one of the disappearances in the eighties, which had been a twelve-year-old boy who was found a week later.

They hadn’t been able to find anything online about that. Just the kid had been found and returned home safely. No names, nothing.

Lucas let out a groan of frustration, breaking the silence. Max, who was holding onto the rope attached underneath the seat of his bike again so she kept up, said, “Hey, are you okay?”

Lucas shared a glance with Dustin, whose expression matched Max’s tone. Lucas slowed slightly, sighing.

“I just… I’m a bit frustrated with how we found information on some things happening in the eighties, but we found no names, nothing,” he said. “I’m not looking to talk to anyone, but having a bit more to the mystery, maybe it could have explained what happened to the Creels. It could be connected to that lab, to those kids, to why this town was abandoned.”

“We’re ghost hunters, not the Scooby Gang,” Dustin reminded him. “We’re going back to find your ghost, not find out the mysteries of Hawkins. We’ve had enough doo-”

“Don’t,” Max snapped, cutting off Dustin angrily. “Shut up, Dustin. Just don’t. Not now.”

Dustin quickly looked back at the road, and Lucas’ stomach dropped again, recognizing Max’s tone. It was uncomfortable the rest of the way to the Creel house as Lucas tried not to let his thoughts overcome what they were trying to do.

Trying to contact the ghost, figure out the young man Lucas had heard.

When they reached the Creel house, Lucas and Dustin situated their bikes again in case of a quick getaway. Lucas helped Max with her skateboard while Dustin got out her handheld camera, handing it to her, and everyone double checked their equipment. Lucas clicked on his and Max’s mics, and everyone’s go pros turned on.

“You guys ready?” Max asked as she lifted the camera to her shoulder, pointing it at Lucas and Dustin. The tense atmosphere from before evaporated as Lucas and Dustin took on their seriousness, and Lucas spoke.

“Here we are… back at the Creel house, investigating what I heard yesterday,” he said, gesturing to the huge house behind them. “How are we feeling today, Dustin?”

Dustin thought for a moment. “I think there could be some merit,” he said slowly, his eyes flicking up to the sky as birds flapped overhead, screeching. Max’s camera followed them before focusing on the guys again. “I mean, we’re too far away from anything to have interference over the walkie talkie’s, and I doubt your sister would prank you with something like this.”

Lucas gestured for Max to follow as they walked up the steps and into the house. “We’re setting up cameras in every room and having a better look around while we have light,” Lucas said, pushing open the door. He wrinkled his nose as dust rose, more evident with the streaks of light shining in through the boarded up windows and holes in the walls.

“We’ll be staying in the same room we stayed in a few nights ago too,” he added, Max turning the camera about the dilapidated front hall. “With the history of this house, we felt it was worth coming back and checking out what’s going on.”

Max gave them a thumbs up, and held the camera out for one of the guys to take, which Dustin did. “If you guys wanna check out the house again, I’m gonna set up motion cameras down here,” she told them, kneeling down and sliding off her backpack. “I’ve got my walkie, just give me a buzz if you need anything.”

She smiled reassuringly at Lucas, Lucas grinned back. Dustin pretended to gag as he and Lucas went into the dining room to have another look around.

The house was a different level of creepy in the light of day. At night, it was dark and all the shadows blended together, as well as the unnatural chill. In the day, it showed the extent of the damage of the house, ravaged by time and people wrecking the house. Lucas approached the table; he and Dustin clicked on their go pros.

“This must have been the seat Virginia was sitting in,” he said, turning to look at Dustin. “Look at the other chairs, a lot of stuff has been trashed but looks like this room was left untouched.”

“Wasn’t this where Virginia and Alice died?” Dustin asked, setting the camera carefully on table that had the old radio, angling it so it captured the room. They both slowly walked around the table, examining it, and ended up at the chair at the end.

“I wonder if this was Henry’s,” Lucas said, scratching the back of his head. “There’s so many questions about this house, what happened, what happened to Henry. Even with Victor being arrested and committed for this, they couldn’t get a lot of details out of him. He just said the devil would come back to get him.”

“He was saying he had hallucinations before what happened,” Dustin added, adjusting his cap. Max came into the room then, setting up a motion camera in the corner of the room. “Something about something that happened when he was in the war, he ordered an innocent family to death in France.”

Lucas let out a breath. “That’s… that’s intense,” he said, Dustin nodding his agreement. “Maybe he wasn’t as innocent as he claimed to be.”

Max moved onto the next room, and Dustin retrieved her camera, following Lucas up the stairs to the second floor. Lucas stopped, noticing the dust was far worse up here. They really hadn’t seen a lot the other night.

They could hear Max still downstairs, so they walked down the hall to Henry’s room. Just as Lucas reached out for the door handle, he heard Dustin say, “Wait.”

“Hm?” Lucas said, turning.

“There’s another set of stairs there. To the attic maybe?”

They glanced at each other for a moment, nodded, then made their way down the hall. As they walked up to the attic, Lucas took out his walkie talkie.

“Max, come upstairs, we’re heading into the attic. Over,” he said into it, stowing it in his back pocket. A few moments passed, and Max’s voice crackled back.

“Be there in a second. Over.”

The attic was mostly, surprisingly bare as Lucas poked his head up into it. It was surprisingly quite dark in here. Lucas glanced back down at Dustin, who nodded encouragingly. Lucas stepped up into the attic as Max appeared behind Dustin, taking her camera back.

“We haven’t be up here yet,” Lucas said, turning slowly as he looked about. There were only a few bite of furniture here, all broken, as well as a small table in the center of the room, a few empty jars and pieces of charcoal on it.

That chill was back. Lucas shivered as he stepped up to the table, kneeling down next to it. Dustin followed suit, crouching down.

“I… don’t know what this,” Lucas said uneasily, tilting his head. “This looks like the charcoal you draw with, but it looks like these jars have been completely empty for a while.”

“Maybe someone who was an artist was here,” Dustin suggested. Lucas glanced at him, only to see his own uneasiness reflected in Dustin’s face. He couldn’t shake the feeling something was very wrong with this room.

He glanced back at Max, who still had her camera aimed at them, but she was looking about, shaking. She felt the same way they did.

All three of them jumped wildly when Lucas’ walkie crackled, and he and Dustin shot to their feet. Max’s head snapped back to face them, still keeping the camera steady as Lucas took out his walkie.

“Who’s there?” he asked, holding the talk button down. “Erica?”

There was no answer, only more static. Lucas looked at Dustin, who shrugged, so he spoke again.

“If anyone’s there, do you copy? Over.”

The static snapped off, leaving them in silence. Lucas’ hand shook as he stared at the walkie, and he felt Dustin’s hand on his arm.

“Let me have a look at it. Is something wrong with it?” he asked, taking it from Lucas and turning it off, emptying the battery out.

“I don’t think so,” Lucas mumbled. Max came closer to capture what Dustin was doing, which was inspecting the battery and giving the walkie an experimental shake. “I charged ‘em this morning, they should be fine.”

Dustin frowned, quirking an eyebrow. “It looks fine,” he mumbled, putting the battery back in with a click. “Try it again. Should be okay now.”

Lucas took it back, flicking the power switch on.

He nearly threw the walkie with a shriek while Dustin jumped as a voice came out, clear as though it was right next time.

“I told you and your friends to leave! To never think about this place again! You need to go! Now!”

“Who are you?” Lucas asked, locking eyes with Dustin as he shook. “What do you want? Why are you telling us to leave?”

He held his breath, waiting for a response. Max was barely able to hold the camera up now, and Dustin had his hands on his head, staring at the walkie.

As Lucas stared at the walkie, he realized the lighting had changed. It was no longer ever so faintly golden, from the fading sunlight outside. Dustin’s breath was coming out in nervous huffs as the temperature dropped. Max, still aiming the camera at them, slowly lowered it, her eyes going wide.

Lucas and Dustin turned toward the light, which was now blue. The same blue Lucas had seen nights before. They looked across the creepy table in the center of the room.

A guy was standing on the other side of the table. Lucas’ eyes went wide. The guy was roughly their age, but a bright blue color. His hair and eyes were white as he stared back, and Lucas reached out, pushing Max’s camera down and standing in front of her.

“Who are you?” he asked, barely able to say anything. Dustin’s arm was almost touching his, the only warmth close to Lucas. The guy looked up at them, a faint white glow around his body. His face twisted, and he shook his head.

“I told you to leave. This place is cursed. It’s what almost destroyed my life and nearly took everything away from me.”

“Who are you?” Dustin asked again, his voice louder. The guy clenched his fists, pinching the bridge of his nose, letting out a long sigh.

“My name is Mike Wheeler. And you need to leave. Right. Now.”

Chapter Text

Chapter Three – Bad Dreams & A Ghost’s Wedding Ring

Lucas was frozen, his breath from the sudden drop in temperature rising in front of his face. He didn’t know what he was feeling. Confusion? Fear? Complete and utter disbelief at what he was seeing in front of him?

He reached out behind him, where he was standing in front of Max, and she took his hand, threading their fingers together and squeezing.

Next to him, Dustin’s eyes were wide, and his eyebrows were almost vanishing into his hair. The blue light was reflected in his eyes. Lucas saw as Dustin inched closer just so their arms touched. Swallowing heavily, Lucas looked back at the figure before them.

Mike Wheeler, the ghost had introduced himself. He was in his early twenties, like them, which oddly saddened Lucas. This Mike had died quite young, if he was appearing to them like this.

Lucas took a tentative half step forward, Max’s grip immediately tightening and Dustin grabbing his sleeve.

“What are you doing?” Max hissed.

“Is this even real?” Dustin whispered, shaking Lucas slightly. “It’s not just a hologram or projection?”

“Rude,” Mike cut across Dustin, making the three of them jump. “I died in 2011 and have seen sci-fi movies, I didn’t die to be called a hologram.”

“Uh… sorry,” Dustin stuttered awkwardly, still not relinquishing his claw on Lucas’ shirt.

“We don’t mean to be rude,” Lucas said, his voice trembling slightly. “You’re the first one we’ve ever seen. It’s just… insane that you’re here. I knew I heard you, I knew I heard your voice.”

Mike was beginning to look a little ticked off. “Yeah, I hope you did, because you need to leave. This house is doomed, it started everything.”

“Is that why you’re here?” Max asked, and Lucas felt her shifting slightly. He glanced over his shoulder, seeing Max’s camera pointed at Mike. Mike didn’t seem to register it, or care as he looked about the attic.

“I’m… not sure,” he said, putting his hands in his pockets. “I think… I think I lost something. Something went missing.”

Lucas was able to take in Mike’s appearance. Aside from the blue, his hair and eyes being completely white, and the fact he was see through, he was tall, taller than Lucas. Gangly arms and legs, wearing a sweater with a collared shirt peeking out, and ripped jeans, which was an interesting choice. His hair was tied back in a ponytail, revealing a dangly earring in one ear.

“How long have you been here?” Lucas asked, his voice low. He was afraid to speak too loud for some reason. Mike looked back at them, blinking once.

“… Awhile. A few days, maybe? A month? A year? I… don’t know.” Mike sighed, and to their surprise, he sat down on the floor, crossing his legs. He trailed one of his fingers across the wood, brow scrunched in confusion. “I lost something. I think I’m trying to find it.”

Lucas took another step forward, Dustin and Max stepping in time with him.

“What are you doing, stalker?” Max whispered, tugging his hand back. “We… we don’t know what happens now. There’s one right in front of us! What happens if we get too close?”

Lucas glanced back at Mike, whose earlier hostility was replaced with confusion. He did look lost. Lucas gestured for Max to stay behind him but follow, and he walked slowly around the small table to stand closer to the ghost. Mike looked up at them, surprised they were close.

“Can I… sit?” Lucas asked. He wasn’t sure what to do. All he could do was get Max to keep filming. He wasn’t sure what being so close to a ghost would do to him, but he and Dustin couldn’t miss this opportunity.

He’d been right. He’d been right.

Mike nodded, and as Lucas sat, he realized the loose strands of Mike’s hair, as well as his bangs, were moving about like they were in water. This was weirdest thing he’d ever done, easily, and he and Dustin had once experimented with tazing various fruit, thanks to their friend Gareth from dnd getting his hands on a tazer.

“You… lost something?”

Dustin sat next to Lucas, Max remained standing, watching while holding her breath.

“I think so,” Mike repeated. “… I died in 2011. I was forty years old.”

Lucas’ eyebrows shot up. “Forty? But you look like you’re twenty-one, why would you go back to that age?”

Mike rolled his eyes. “There isn’t really an encyclopedia on being a ghost, you know,” he mumbled. “We’re not given an instruction booklet. I died, my husband died a few years later, and I checked, he was buried next to me. But he isn’t here. I don’t know why I’m back and he isn’t.”

He paused for a moment, his eyes looking over Lucas, Dustin and Max. “… What year is it? You guys have a lot of technology I’m not really familiar with.”

“I’m not sure you wanna know that,” Lucas said gently. “Just know it’s been years since 2011 and we’re all 21.”

Mike stared back at him, almost like he wasn’t registering what Lucas was saying. “Why isn’t Will here?” he asked. “Why did I come back and he didn’t?”

Lucas shared a quick look with Dustin. “Who’s Will?” Dustin asked, leaning his elbows on his knees. Mike stared at nothing for a few moments, then at Dustin.

“… My husband. We got married in 2004. We weren’t even married ten years before I died.”

Lucas pressed his hand to his mouth. Dustin sighed, rubbing his eyes, and Lucas felt Max’s hand on his shoulder. He put his hand over hers, running his thumb over her fingers. Mike watched as he did so, and a soft smile appeared on his face.

“I miss Will. He wasn’t just my husband, but my best friend. We’d been together since 1986.” Mike came back to the conversation now, focusing on Lucas and Dustin. “I think he’s what might be missing, but I don’t know why, or again. It’s so cold. I can’t do anything but wander, and I’m stuck in this house.”

“Missing again,” Lucas started to say, then his eyes went wide. “Missing again? Is Will the kid that went missing for a week back in the eighties?”

But Mike was done with the conversation. He stood, and began to walk along the edges of the room, as though searching. Lucas and Dustin stood, Dustin dusting off his shorts. Max shakily ended the recording, lowering the camera. She looked a little queasy.

“I’m… I’m gonna finish setting up my cameras downstairs,” she said, and left the attic quickly. Mike didn’t register her leaving. Dustin nudged Lucas.

“What do we do?” he whispered, keeping an eye on the ghost. “We found your ghost. Should we stay here tonight still and figure out how to talk to him?” Lucas glanced over at Mike, not really sure what to do.

“Mike, are you able to get into the rest of the house?” Lucas asked, watching as Mike looked up. He shook his head and returned to his search.

“OK.” Lucas ran a hand over his hair, leading Dustin back to the stairs and back down to the second floor. “At least we know he isn’t going anywhere. Don’t have to worry about the first ghost we ever see booking it on us.”

“I can’t believe you were right, holy shit, man,” Dustin gasped out. Now that they were away from Mike, they saw the sun was almost fully set. It was still a lot warmer down here than in the attic, which Lucas didn’t realize he’d be so grateful to be back in the heat. “You were right! It’s insane, there is a ghost upstairs!”

“So you’re finally on board?” Lucas asked, grabbing Dustin’s arms and shaking him.

“Shit yeah, I’m on board! That was a ghost! A real ghost!” Dustin grabbed Lucas’ arms back and they almost began jumping in a circle. “We actually found something! Can anyone else say that?”

“Can you two not do that?” Max asked, poking her head out of what they thought was Alice’s room. “You don’t want him to hear you, we need him to cooperate! We still have questions that need answering.”

“Right, yeah, sorry,” Lucas said quickly, releasing Dustin, and all three went into Henry’s room. It hadn’t changed at all since they left other than their footprints in the dust on the floor, and a rectangle where their mattress had been.

Max set up the last cameras, and Lucas and Dustin began setting up their sleeping area again. Max plopped down on the mattress once Dustin had set out the sleeping bags, zipped into one big one, and she pulled her knees to her chest.

“… I really wasn’t expecting this,” she admitted, staring at the floor. “I mean, I wasn’t sure what to expect if we ever did see a ghost, but now we have, and he seems so… lost.”

“He doesn’t seem like he knows what happened in this house,” Lucas said, lying down on the mattress and stretching his legs out. “And if I’m right, this husband of his, Will, was the kid who went missing back in the eighties. Mike said that Will was gone again.”

“He wasn’t really with it,” Dustin mused, sitting where he was going to be sleeping. “Maybe there is some merit to the whole thing about ghosts being lost if they can’t pass over.”

Max turned to face them, still hugging her knees. Lucas reached out, and she took his hand. He could feel her shaking.

“Are you saying Mike’s been about for a while to be like this?” she asked Dustin, who shrugged.

“He said he’s been here a while. He’s been going in and out of it, but usually ghosts already stick around if they had a traumatic life and/or death,” Dustin said. “God, I hate being so far out with poor cell signal, I need to Google this.”

“But he would have been a ghost right from the beginning,” Lucas countered. “He said he’d seen Will’s grave, then he was here. Why would he be here? Did he die here?”

“Sometimes ghosts attach themselves to sentimental objects,” Dustin said. “I’m not sure how true that is, though the Warrens did say demons can’t possess inanimate objects.”

“He isn’t a demon though, he’s a ghost, they mainly dealt with possessions, remember,” Lucas reminded him.

“They don’t exactly have the best reputation, I’m not sure how much I believe from them,” Dustin mumbled. “At least those Conjuring movies are good.”

“So good,” Lucas and Max agreed, and the tension in the air finally dissolved. Away from Mike, sitting in a room that was mildly familiar, they were able to relax a little. Lucas was glad to be able to breathe again.

It still made his hair stand up that there was a ghost wandering around the attic, but they didn’t hear anything from Mike. Unless he called out to them, they weren’t sure if they’d hear anything else. Lucas exhaled, running his thumb over Max’s knuckles to calm himself.

As it got darker and the temperature began to drop, Dustin brought out a thermos of stew he’d made up, pouring out bowls for everyone. Lucas felt himself tensing again as the time ticked by. After they’d eaten, Max picked up her camera, counting down for Lucas and Dustin to start talking.

“So,” Lucas began, glancing at Dustin.

“So,” Dustin responded, slower.

“We… found a ghost,” Lucas told the camera, shivering.

“We found Lucas’ ghost,” Dustin added, patting Lucas’ knee. “We found your ghost. Mike Wheeler.”

“I can’t believe we found him,” Lucas breathed, shaking his head. “We’ve been all over the country looking for proof of ghosts, and paranormal activity, and we’ve experienced a lot of weird stuff…”

“Only to stumble on a ghost in an attic in a house it doesn’t have a connection to,” Dustin said. “Though he did tell us this place is the reason it all started, why his life nearly fell apart.”

“He was likely a resident from Hawkins in his youth,” Lucas added. “He hasn’t given us a lot, mainly he’s not quite with it. Lost. He’s been saying he’s missing something. We’ll be staying here another night to see if we can talk to him some more and figure out what’s going on. Max has cameras and mics in every room, so…”

“Shaping up to be a lively night,” Dustin joked. “We’ll see how it went in the morning.”

Max gave them an approving nod and turned off the camera, putting it next to her bag. As they got ready for bed, Lucas listened hard for Mike the entire time. He was worried that Mike might no longer be there, that they had lost the only ghost they had ever seen.

He climbed into the sleeping bag between Max and Dustin, shuffling down as Dustin organized his podcast and Max connected her switch to a portable charger. Lucas stared at the ceiling, trying to see if there was any blue light peeking between the cracks or through any holes, but it was hard to tell. The light itself came from Mike, not an actual light source.

He had so many questions about the logistics, the science behind this, but Mike himself didn’t appear to know, and there was no certain way to find out. Ghosts were portrayed in so many different ways in society. Mike himself looked like a cross between two kinds of ghosts from video games Lucas, Dustin, Max, and Erica had played.

Maybe ghosts appeared differently to different people. Lucas had so many questions, and he sat up, grabbing his backpack from above his head to find his phone, opening the notes app. Max watched as he typed out several questions, and he heard her Ocarina of Time game start up.

“Are you okay?” she asked softly as Dustin peeked over his shoulder, seeing the light from Lucas’ phone out the corner of his eye.

“Yeah,” Lucas mumbled, then gave a shake of his head. “I’m okay, I just have… so many questions. Do you guys see Mike the same way I do?”

Dustin and Max both frowned.

“Like… I can see him?” Dustin asked slowly, confused. “Because I can see him.”

“Are you asking in terms of what he looks like?” Max continued, sitting up as they heard the main screen theme from Ocarina of Time.

“Yeah. Ghosts are shown differently in different movies and shows,” Lucas said. “Like in Ghosts, they look exactly the same as they died. In a lot of horror movies, they’re a little grotesque. Harry Potter, they’re white and transparent.”

“I thought Mike kind of looked like the ghost of the main character from Jade Empire,” Dustin admitted, and Lucas clicked his fingers.

“That’s it! I was trying to place it, and I couldn’t remember.” Lucas sighed, locking his phone and lying back down. “Not exactly the same but similar. I wonder if that’s normal.”

“It has to be, I got it all on camera,” Max said. “If it looked different to everyone, we might be accused of faking it.”

“We’re gonna get accused of that anyway, we always have naysayers,” Lucas reminded her. Dustin scowled.

“I hate those assholes. They clog up the comments for people genuinely interested,” he grumbled.

“It’s the internet, man, we signed up for this.” Lucas rubbed his face, letting out a long breath. He felt Dustin roll over, and heard his podcast start up. Max was tapping into her game, turning the sound down so she could just barely hear it, and Lucas focused on the ceiling again, concentrating.

“Don’t play for too long, Max,” he whispered to her as he felt Dustin shuffle over, his back pressed against Lucas’ side. She nodded, running around Kakariko Village, and Lucas looked back up, glancing toward anything that would indicate Mike was still upstairs.

He wished Mike would knock something over, but either he couldn’t or he just wasn’t making an effort to touch anything. He wasn’t making any other noise either, which made Lucas really nervous.

Despite feeling like ice was spreading in his bones, Lucas was exhausted. He rolled to face Max, draping his arm across her. He rested his forehead against her shoulder, and in minutes, he was asleep.

The fire had started so fast that everyone barely had time to react. Lucas felt bewildered, bodies pushing from every direction trying to escape, but he couldn’t leave. Not yet, not until he found him. He had to find him.

He pushed his way through the panicking throng, hearing people screaming, security yelling for everyone to not panic (like that would work), looking about desperately as he went. Toward the stage, it was starting to clear, but that was where the lights had collapsed, the fire starting behind the stage.

Why? Why had Lucas recommended this place to him, this show? If he hadn’t done that, he would never have decided to go, not when something catastrophic happened.

He could hear someone calling out his name, but he just kept going, nearly tripping as someone shoulder-checked him hard, then he went down as someone knocked into his knees. Lucas braced his fall, crying out when his hands made contact with the ground and he felt an odd crunch in his left wrist.

Craning his neck, Lucas peered through the sea of people’s legs.

“Lucas!”

He gasped, his chest tightening painfully as he saw him. Lucas saw him, lying on the ground, eyes closed.

“Lucas!” Erica’s voice was closer.

His fault. He should never have told him. His fault.

“Lucas!”

Lucas jolted awake, his hand clutching his shirt over his heart. He was breathing hard, and felt sweat drenching his forehead and neck. Dustin had his hand on Lucas’ shoulder, giving him a shake.

“Lucas! Man, are you alright?”

Lucas took a few deep breaths, massaging his chest. Dustin’s hand on his shoulder and Max curled up against his hip, still asleep was comforting, and helped him to calm down.

“Yeah, just… a bad dream,” he mumbled, grabbing water out of his backpack and taking a long drink. “A bad dream.”

He could barely see Dustin’s face in the gloom, but he could tell Dustin understood. Lucas didn’t want to talk about it, capping his drink bottle and putting it back. He checked his watch; he and Dustin had only been asleep a few hours.

“This is gonna be a long night,” Lucas muttered, rubbing his hands over his face. “I guess it’s not as easy to sleep knowing there’s a ghost here.”

“A ghost that we have no idea what he can do,” Dustin agreed, yawning. “He’s been quiet, I woke up before to go outside to pee.”

“Thanks for that, man,” Lucas said to chuckles from Dustin. He looked up at the ceiling, freezing when he heard something. “Wait, shhh, listen…”

Dustin froze too, listening with an eyebrow quirked. A few seconds passed, then they heard it again. Lucas slowly stood up, careful not to wake Max, and went to the door, opening it and sticking his head out into the hallway, Dustin was hot on his heels.

With the door open, the sound was clearer, coming from upstairs. Lucas shared a look with Dustin, who frowned.

“Is he… singing?” he whispered. Lucas waved his hand, pointing to their go-pros as he kept listening. Dustin fetched them and their mics, he and Lucas quickly clipping them on.

“Yeah, he is.” Lucas waved again for Dustin to follow. “Careful, I can’t figure out what he’s singing yet. Come on.”

They left the door partially open to listen out for Max, approaching the stairs to the attic. Lucas was straining to hear what Mike was singing. He was actually a pretty good singer, even without any music.

“I think… He’s singing Smalltown Boy,” Dustin whispered as they started up the stairs. Lucas frowned.

“That eighties song by Bronski Beat?”

“The very one.”

“Not my first choice,” Lucas whispered back as he reached the entry to the attic, sticking his head up, looking around. Sitting across the room, slumped against the wall with his knees to his chest and his arms around them, was Mike, singing to himself. The blue light was as strong as before.

Lucas looked back at Dustin once, made sure his go-pro was on, then stepped up to the attic. He approached Mike carefully, not wanting to spook him.

Could he even spook a ghost? The questions just kept piling up.

Mike stopped singing when they were a few feet away, looking up when they stopped near him. Lucas crouched down.

“Are you okay?” he asked, a little unnerved by Mike’s white eyes. Mike blinked a few times, then sighed.

“…Will liked when I sang,” he told them after a few moments. “I used to sing quite a bit. Did I wake you?”

Lucas shook his head as Dustin said, “Nah, you’re good, dude.”

Mike stood so abruptly that Lucas and Dustin reeled back. He walked over to one of the windows, staring down at the broken table beneath it. Lucas and Dustin followed, standing next to Mike, joining in his staring.

“What are we looking for?” Dustin asked.

“I think something of mine is here,” Mike said, crouching down. “But I can’t reach it. I have no way to see.”

“What do you mean you can’t reach it?” Lucas started to ask, only for Mike to stick his hand out, his hand going straight through the wood. “Oh.”

Dustin snorted a laugh as Mike, in frustration, started grabbing at the table. “I can touch walls and floors but nothing else!” he said, grabbing at his hair. “I doubt I can touch you guys!”

“Wait!” Lucas tried to protest only to fall back as Mike’s hand went through his chest. It was like an electric current was shooting through his body, starting where Mike’s hand had been. Dustin called his name as Lucas hit the floor, clutching his chest. The moment Mike’s hand was gone though, the pain was gone.

Lucas coughed, sitting up. “Don’t ever do that again,” he gasped. “I felt as though I licked a plug socket.”

It was the first time he saw Mike smile.

He sat up, shuffling over to the table and flipping one side of it away. Dustin saw what he was doing and quickly cleared the other side away, and together the two tried to get rid of the dust and debris until Lucas saw something glinting.

“Wait!” He held up a hand to stop Dustin, taking his flashlight out of his pocket. He clicked it on, pointing it at the glinting object. Mike’s mouth dropped in surprise.

“My ring!” he gasped, reaching out to grab it only for his hand to go right through it. “That’s my wedding ring, what the hell is it doing here? I was buried with mine and Will with his.”

Dustin shuddered. “Please don’t tell me we’re dealing with graverobbing here.”

Every part of Lucas that loved horror movies was screaming to not directly touch the ring. He sat back on his heels, thinking for a moment. “Dustin, wait here,” he said, getting up and running to the stairs, bounding down them and back into Henry’s room.

Max was sitting up, half asleep and confused. “Where were you guys?” she yawned. Lucas grabbed his backpack, rooting around for his spare pair of socks.

“We heard singing, we’re up in the attic,” he told her, leaning over to kiss her forehead. “Mike’s wedding ring is up there.”

Max rubbed her eyes. “Is that what’s keeping him here?” she asked, and Lucas saw her eyes were already drooping closed.

“Maybe. We’ll be back down in a little while, you can keep sleeping,” Lucas told her, and Max was already lying back down, yanking Lucas’ pillow into her arms.

“Thanks stalker,” was the last thing she said before she was asleep. Lucas smiled at her, and quietly left the room, leaving the door open a little again for Max. He hurried back up the stairs, where, to his surprise, Dustin and Mike were engaged in conversation… and a really weird one at that.

“You actually had a thing for Princess Daphne?” Mike was asking, shaking his head. “Me and Will played that a lot but she wasn’t that great, it was just the goal of the game to rescue her!”

“She’s not ‘just a goal’, dude, she’s the driving force behind the whole game!” Dustin argued back, using air quotes at ‘just a goal’. “She’s a hot princess and the one you need to save, man, she’s not just a goal!”

“Have you forgotten I’m literally married to a man,” Mike reminded Dustin, who facepalmed.

“Dammit, I forgot about that,” he mumbled to laughter from Mike. “But it’s still a good game, one of the better arcade games.”

“I’m partial to Burger Time,” Mike told him.

“OK, dude, serious-”

“Can we focus here?” Lucas interrupted, unballing his socks. “Max suggested your wedding ring might be keeping you trapped in this attic, Mike. I’m gonna pick up your ring without touching it with my skin, and we’ll see what happens.”

Mike frowned. “Why are you picking it up with a sock?”

“Have you seen a horror movie?” Lucas asked, slipping the sock on his hand and kneeling down, reaching for the ring, “Never touch a ghost’s personal possessions with your bare hands until you know you won’t be possessed.”

“I was never a horror fan, but Will was,” Mike said as Lucas carefully picked up the ring. For several moments, Lucas held his breath, staring at the ring… and nothing happened. Lucas didn’t risk it; he pulled the sock over the ring and held it up like a little bag. Mike’s eyes stayed focused on it.

“You think this is what’s keeping you here?” Lucas asked. Mike shrugged.

“I don’t know, I told you there’s no guide to being a ghost,” he said.

“Try going downstairs,” Dustin suggested. “We can see if Mike can leave the attic.”

“What happens if you try to leave?” Lucas asked Mike, who showing them by walking over to the stairs. He took a step out into the middle of the stairs – Lucas reached out like he could stop Mike from falling – but Mike didn’t fall. He stood on the opening like an invisible barrier was stopping him from falling.

He turned back to them, stepping off the opening with his hands in his pockets. “See?”

Dustin gave Lucas a slight push. “See if you can take his ring down and if he can follow.”

Mike stepped aside so as to not electrocute Lucas again, and Lucas walked down the stairs, stepping onto the second-floor landing. He waited, hearing Dustin encouraging Mike, but he just waited. His hand holding the sock was shaking slightly.

As he waited, he saw the hallway becoming blue. He turned quickly to see Mike standing next to him, his eyes wide with amazement.

“Thank you,” Mike whispered, staring at his hands. “I have no idea how long I was up there, it’s not like I can sleep.” He let out a shaky breath, and Lucas realized he was crying. “Now what do we do?”

“First things first,” Lucas decided as Dustin joined them. “Before we figure out where to go next, we have to introduce you to my sister. She’s at our rv, but maybe… Dustin, can you head back in the morning to get her and bring here?”

Dustin nodded. “Probably best we show her before we go anywhere.”

Lucas’ body gave a great jerk when he felt something zap his shoulder, and he gasped when it stopped as Mike said, “Sorry, sorry, I forgot! I was just going to ask if you’re gonna leave me here? My ring is here, clearly someone took it from my grave, it needs to go back.”

“Dude, we aren’t grave diggers,” Lucas said, massaging his shoulder. “Once we talk to Erica, we’ll figure out what to do next. Where are you even buried?”

“Outside of New York,” Mike supplied. “I think Will’s sister still lives in the town we lived in, though she might not even be alive anymore.”

“Alright, alright.” Lucas waved his hands. “Let me radio my sister and let her know what’s going on.”

Max was still asleep when Lucas, Dustin, and Mike walked into Henry’s room. Lucas found the walkie talkie to the rv as Dustin began to ask Mike if he really couldn’t pass through doors and walls.

“Erica? Erica, wake up, do you copy? Over,” Lucas said into the walkie, releasing the button. He looked over to see Mike walking through Henry’s bedroom door, sticking his head back in surprise.

“Erica? Come on, Erica, do you copy? Over.”

A few seconds passed, then he heard a crackle.

“I’m awake, nerd,” Erica grumbled. “I was playing Dustin’s Xbox, lost track of time. What’s going on? Is everyone okay?”

“We’re fine,” Lucas said, his eyes going to Max, who was still asleep, lying on her stomach with her arms under her pillow. “But Dustin is going to come back in the morning to get you. There’s something you need to see. Over.”

Erica didn’t respond. Lucas gripped the walkie tighter and said, “Erica?”

“Yeah, I heard you. OK, I’ll go sleep for a few hours and be up when Dustin gets here. This better be good because I never get to go in the field with you,” Erica responded, and Lucas breathed a sigh of relief.

“Alright, he’ll leave here around eight, will probably take him about forty-five minutes to get there, so be ready by nine. Over.”

“Got it, Lucas. Good night.”

“Night, Erica, over and out.” He pushed the antenna down, leaning back on his heels. “Dustin, Erica will be ready when you get there in the morning.”

Dustin nodded as he sat back on his side of the mattress. “Got it. I’m gonna sleep a little longer.” He started setting up his headphones after turning off his mic and go-pro. Lucas did the same, looking up at Mike standing by the door. He looked uncomfortable, and that look of not being with it was starting to come over his face.

“I’m gonna wander this floor,” he mumbled. “I lost something, remember? Maybe it’s here.”

Lucas shook his head as Mike left. He didn’t know what was happening to Mike, but it was gradual, and they had to figure what to do with him, and how this house was connected to all of it.

Chapter Text

Chapter Four – Mouses Out Of Houses

Lucas could hear Dustin and Erica returning, chatting as Dustin set his bike back where it was. He turned to Max, indicating for her to start filming.

“Dustin just got back with my sister, Erica,” Lucas said into the camera. “I haven’t told her what happened or that we found a ghost. Erica is even more a skeptic than Dustin was, so this should be interesting.”

The front door of the house opened, Dustin stepping back to let Erica in. She stopped to observe the room, furrowing her brows and wrinkling her nose as she took in the sight.

“…You guys go into some really bad places,” she said. “That one jail you guys went to, that was straight up disgusting.”

Dustin grimaced, shutting the front door as Lucas sighed, rubbing his eyes as he said, “Don’t remind me. But right now, we’re not there, and this place isn’t even that gross, it’s just beat up.”

“Did you find anything?” Erica asked, already looking a little bored. “You know I’m trying to get perfection in Stardew Valley-”

“And you will, but right now, just follow,” Lucas interrupted. Max fell into step last in the group as Lucas led Erica up the stairs. Erica was still looking around, trying not to touch the staircase railing as much as possible. He couldn’t blame her; in all honesty, this house felt like a death trap.

No wonder Mike had been so adamant that they leave. In the light of day, Lucas was scared he’d fall through the floor.

“This better not be a joke, guys,” Erica’s voice cut through his thoughts.

“This actually isn’t a joke, Erica,” Max said from the back, the one person Erica believed without needing to be convinced. “We couldn’t leave until you were brought into the loop.”

“Thoughtful,” Erica said as Lucas reached Henry’s door, hand on the door handle.

“Ready?” he asked, and Erica put her hands on her hips.

“Yes, I’m waiting for whatever it is you needed me to come see!”

Dustin nodded, and Lucas opened the door, leading Erica into the room. Erica walked in, Max and Dustin in the doorway, and froze when she looked across the room at the window. Standing there, peeking between the boards on the window, was Mike.

He turned at their footsteps, locking eyes with Erica. Erica’s eyes widened, reaching out to grab Lucas’ arm, her manicured nails digging into his arm.

“What… the fuck?” she gasped. “Are you real?”

Mike scowled. “Another one,” he grumbled. “Yes, I’m real. I died in 2011. Been stuck here for I don’t even know how long, and your brother here found my ring, so now I can leave the attic.”

“How old were when you died?”

“Forty years old.”

“Where are you from?”

“Hawkins.”

“Married? Kids?”

“Married my husband Will in 2004, no kids.”

“Erica!” Lucas interrupted, appalled at Erica’s rapid fire twenty questions.

“Just getting the facts!” she shot back, focusing on Mike again. “What was yours that was here?”

“My wedding ring,” Mike answered, looking a little confused, but Erica wasn’t done.

“How did you die?”

“Car accident. All I remember is a semi-truck hitting the car with myself, my sister-in-law, and my niece in it. I’m pretty sure they both survived.”

“You haven’t seen your husband?”

“No.”

“Do you know anything about what happened in Hawkins in the fifties to the eighties? Is this house connected to them?”

Lucas had to give Erica credit, she was just asking what he and Dustin had been trying to build up to, trying to gain Mike’s trust. In the process though, Lucas had been zapped twice, and Dustin had gotten into an argument with Mike about Dragon’s Lair.

Mike was frozen at Erica’s last question, staring at her as it looked like he was debating whether to answer or not. He clenched his fists and let out a sigh.

“… Yes. I know all about that. And how it’s connected to this house.”

That got Lucas, Dustin, and Max’s attention. Erica smirked, turning to Lucas and crossing her arms. “See? Easy.”

“I don’t understand what’s happening,” Mike said. “Why am I being interrogated?”

Lucas was caught on the fence between being grateful that Erica was so straightforward and being frustrated that he had to explain what was going on. He didn’t know Mike, Mike had been dead ten years now, but Lucas didn’t want to hurt him.

“What year is it?” Mike asked Erica, cutting across Lucas’ thoughts. His heart dropped, and he opened his mouth to stop Erica, but she answered before he could make a sound.

“2021.”

Mike looked as though someone had just punched him in the stomach. Lucas saw Erica’s face fall, and he knew she realized she’d gone a little too far. Mike collapsed to his knees, staring at his hands for several minutes in total silence.

The silence was deafening. Lucas didn’t know what to say or do – how do you comfort someone who just found out they’d been dead for ten years? It was going to come out eventually, and maybe it was better Mike found out sooner rather than later.

He heard something behind him, turning his head to look; Max was lowering the camera, and had odd expression on her face.

“Mike?” she called. “Are you… what are you thinking?”

Lucas knew better than anyone how much Max hated being asked if she was okay when she clearly wasn’t. Max was good at shutting down and shutting everyone out when things weren’t going well, or when her depression was bad.

He’d figured out it helped her to ask what she was thinking. That way, Max didn’t have to talk about her pain, but just what she was thinking, no matter how jumbled her thoughts were. She did have her weekly zoom call with her therapist, but it had taken time for her to do that. Lucas had had to figure out a way to help her when he could.

Mike was quiet for several more minutes, then sighed. “Just… ten years? Lucas was right that it would be a lot to know.” He looked up at the four of them, Lucas and Erica still closest to him. “You didn’t do anything wrong,” he said to Erica, and gave her a smile. “I did want to know. By the looks of it, you’re the only one who isn’t walking on eggshells around me.”

So he had noticed how Lucas, Dustin, and Max were acting. Lucas had hoped Mike just thought they didn’t know what to do around a ghost, and that was a huge part of it. They could see him, and he could give them light electric shocks by accident, but there was more. How did his wedding ring get here, and why did he go with it?

That question had kept Lucas awake until Dustin left that morning.

Max was still filming as Erica turned back to the group. “How do we get him to the rv? I’m guessing he can’t touch a lot.”

That silenced everyone, even Mike. Lucas thought, then sighed.

“I’ll stay with him,” he decided slowly. “I’ll walk with him.”

Erica’s eyebrows shot up. “Are you sure?”

Lucas nodded. “We can’t leave him here. I’ll stay with him.”

Mike watched as Lucas struggled through the bushes with his bike, Max, Dustin, and Erica long gone. He looked awkward, shuffling from one foot to the other.

“I wish I could help somehow,” Mike said guiltily as Lucas yanked his bike free, directing it back to the crumbling road. “It is nice being outside though, I didn’t know ghosts could be out in the daylight.”

“They’re out in the daylight more often on tv these days,” Lucas said, stopping to take a quick drink of water. “Though they tend to look a little more… like they were when they were alive.”

Mike grimaced as they kept walking. “Even I know I don’t look exactly like what humanity thought ghosts would look. I’m not even sure if I’m the only ghost who looks like this.”

“It’s not bad, it’s just different,” Lucas assured him. “Dustin and I are just glad we even saw you. We do have a successful YouTube channel where we ghost hunt all over the country but we haven’t seen anything so far.”

Mike shrugged. “Guess you got lucky,” he mumbled. “Um… I… Wow, YouTube must have changed a lot since 2011.”

“I can show you when we get to the rv,” Lucas offered. “You have… a bit of catching up to do… Ten years of stuff to catch up on.”

Mike froze, staring at the ground. Lucas stopped, leaning against his bike as he waited. He could only guess how much this was for Mike, on top of being stuck in limbo. Mike ran his hands over his face and through his hair.

“Ten years?’ he asked weakly, looking up at Lucas. “That means Will died only a year ago, I only saw his grave for a second before I was in the attic. I can't believe it's taken me this long to remember.”

Lucas’ eyebrows shot up. “He died last year? That means… oh no.” His shoulders slumped as he realised, and he nudged down the kickstand on his bike, leaning on the seat. “Mike, I’m so sorry, I think I have a feeling I know how Will died.”

Mike stared for a few seconds. “Oh?” he whispered.

Lucas let out a shaky breath. “This is just a theory, we won’t know until we track down his sister, but there was a pandemic last year. It was really bad, the entire world shut down, I caught it, Dustin caught it, we had to remotely make content for over a year.”

“A pandemic?” Mike asked, his voice rising. “You mean the crisis from the eighties came back?!”

It took Lucas a moment to realise what Mike was getting at. “No! No, not that, this is completely different. I recovered, Dustin’s fine, a lot of people recovered. I mean… A lot of people did die, and there’s a possibility Will might have gotten it.”

Lucas knew that if Max were there, she’d been setting him on fire with her glare.

“Sorry… It’s just a theory right now,” Lucas mumbled. “We won’t know until we meet Will’s sister. Are you… are you sure you want to know?”

Mike frowned, and he started walking, Lucas kicking up the kickstand to walk beside him.

“So much changed so fast,” Mike sighed, frowning when he tried to kick a rock and his foot went right through it. “I thought technology changed a lot from the nineties. One minute Will’s holding a cellphone bigger than our niece’s head when she was born, next they were small enough to fit in our pockets.”

Lucas fished into his back pocket, taking out his phone which was one of the latest models and almost the width of his hand. “It keeps changing every day.”

“Holy shit.” Mike approached as they stopped again, staring at Lucas’ phone. “I had one of those touch phones back before I died for a while, I had to be talked into moving on from a flip phone, but it was smaller than this. It was cool to have music on it.”

“It can do way more than music now,” Lucas told him, unlocking his phone. Then he looked at Mike. “For a nerd, you surprisingly don’t know a lot about phones.”

“I grew up in the eighties, man, Will had that brick for way too long,” Mike shot back. “I’m more interested in space and the human body rather than little computers in our pockets.”

“Alright, alright.” Lucas waved his hand. “Here, we’ve got music, apps, videos, photos, the internet, pretty much everything.”

“What about YouTube?” Mike asked, his hand going tap the screen. Lucas quickly moved away.

“If you can electrocute me, I don’t know what you’ll do to actual electronics.”

“Sorry, sorry.”

Mike leaned in close enough without touching Lucas as Lucas held up his phone again, tapping to YouTube and scrolling through his and Dustin’s channel. Mike watched, his eyelids the only indication that his eyes were moving to read as quick as he could.

“So Dustin and I, with Max, we travel around investigating places that are haunted or have strong paranormal activity,” Lucas explained, tapping one of the videos. “We don’t really find a lot, hut we provide history and facts about different places, and a lot of people like that Dustin and me are best friends.”

“Welcome, nerds and freaks,” Dustin on the screen was saying, and Mike was quiet as he watched the episode. Lucas only wanted to show him a few minutes; it was a hotel in New Orleans, which had admittedly been Max’s favourite place due to a festival a few days later.

“Ok…” Mike said slowly, nodding. “This is… actually kind of cool. You guys do your research.”

Lucas took the phone away, closing the app and locking his phone as they walked again, pocketing his phone.

“How did you guys get into this?” Mike asked, falling into step. Lucas thought for a moment.

“We used to be in this dnd club together, Hellfire. We encountered an army of the undead in one of our campaigns, and Dustin’s bard and my ranger got separated from the group. We got surrounded by ghosts and zombies, and after we got back to the dorms, Dustin made a joke about ghosts being not that hard to find if they did exist, something like that.”

Mike nodded, listening.

“We had Max and this girl Dustin was seeing over a few nights later for video games and drinks, and we got a little hectic. We decided to go to this old abandoned house down the road to see if we could find anything, Max brought her phone to film and… the rest is history,” Lucas shrugged.

It wasn’t the greatest of origin stories for their channel, and they had gotten reprimanded for drinking by the school board and given a demerit point each, but it had led to more. More travel, research, money to buy equipment as their channel grew. Four years later, they were among the more popular ghost hunting channels.

“How did you and Dustin meet?” Mike pressed. Lucas glanced at him; Mike had been alone for a while now, maybe up to a year, maybe longer, so it wasn’t surprising he was asking questions.

“Fourth grade,” Lucas answered, lifting his bike over some branches. “We were paired up for an assignment, barely spoke, than ran into each other at the arcade later. We became best friends that day.”

Mike laughed at that. “I became friends with Will the day I met him. It was the best thing I’ve ever done.” He took a deep breath, looking up at the sky.

“What about Max?”

“Middle school,” Lucas told him, walking around a tree hanging onto the road. Mike didn’t have to follow him but he did anyway. “She moved from California, was super cool and skateboarded. Loved video games. Dustin and I both had a crush on her but Dustin moved on while I started dating Max. We were on and off until high school, then been together ever since.”

Mike was smiling listening to Lucas. “You all sound very close,” he said. “Will and his sister El were my best friends. I miss them a lot.”

Lucas glanced at Mike. “I couldn’t imagine losing Max and not knowing what happened to Dustin. And Erica, too, she’s still in high school but she comes along during her breaks.”

“Girl in the chair?” Mike asked. Lucas clicked his fingers at him.

“Bingo.”

“I have two sisters,” Mike said. “One older, one younger. They were still alive when I was alive. My sister Nancy was a reporter back then.”

“Nancy Wheeler?” Lucas clarified, and Mike’s eyebrows rose.

“You know her?”

“Yeah,” Lucas laughed. “She interviewed us for an article on ‘Influencers Working During The Pandemic’.” He took his phone out, quickly googling the article, and scrolled to the part about him and Dustin. It had been toward the end of the last year, when they could be back in their office with social distancing and masks, and Nancy had visited.

Mike’s face brightening with smile made Lucas smile when he showed it.

“That’s Nancy alright,” Mike choked out. “She looks happy, well. I’m glad she’s still reporting, she’d be in her fifties now.”

“She was nice, very professional,” Lucas said, taking his phone back. “I won’t lie, Dustin was a little smitten with her, he was all heart eyes for about four hours after she left.”

Mike was laughing again, and Lucas was glad he could confirm that someone in Mike’s life was still alive. That someone was living and happy.

There were so many questions around Mike. Why was he here? How long was he here for? How long had he been here already? Could they take him to see his loved ones? Could he even get on the rv?

Lucas needed to talk to Dustin about this. They had gone into this channel unsure they would ever find anything, and now they had found Mike. Mike wasn’t just an angry vengeful ghost from two hundred years that was stuck, he had been a person.

In some ways, he still was. He retained his memories (for the most part). He still felt the way he felt about those he loved. And he had his own questions, his own confusion about what was going on. Lucas had more questions written in his notes, and he knew he needed to discuss their next moves with Dustin and Max.

Mike couldn’t do anything beyond accidentally electrocuting people. He was bonded to his wedding ring, which was safely wrapped in Lucas’ sock in his pocket. He couldn’t leave, he couldn’t move on for some reason, he was stuck.

Lucas pursed his lip as he thought. There had to be some way they could help Mike move on. This was more than their channel now. This was about a man who had died and somehow ended up in the very place he claimed almost destroyed his life when he was young. He hadn’t even died there.

He glanced over at Mike; Mike was in his own world, that look of confusion and questioning on his face as he looked at their surroundings. Lucas let out a small sigh, shaking his head slightly. Were there therapists in the afterlife?

They walked mainly in silence for the rest of the way, Lucas sweating and pretty much baking under the sun as the rv came into view. He was glad Max had covered almost every inch of him, even the parts covered, in sunscreen before they left. His water was almost empty, and he was desperately wanting a cold shower then lay in the shade of his bed in only his underwear for an hour.

“What the hell is that?” Mike’s voice interrupted Lucas’ daydreaming, and he startled back.

“Oh, that’s our rv, like a mobile home,” Lucas said, pushing himself through the last of the trek. “We’re buying it from our friend’s grandfather, only a little more to pay off. Dustin’s done a ton of work in it.”

“Home away from home?” Mike asked as they approached. Max was outside, freshly showered and changed, skateboarding around. Erica was underneath the shade from yesterday, stretched out relaxing, and Lucas could hear her music from where they were. Dustin wasn’t with them.

“Yeah. Max and I sleep over the drivers seat. Dustin’s room is at the back. It’s technically only two rooms with privacy areas for us to sleep, but it fits us. We’ve been traveling in it for about three months now.”

“Where do you guys actually live?” Mike said as Erica sat up, lifting her sunglasses and giving them a wave.

“LA. Moved there about a year ago.”

“Lucas! Mike!” Erica called, waving again. Max turned to face them, then skateboarded her way down. Lucas knew what she was planning, and he was quick, dropping his bike and slinging off his backpack.

Mike let out a yell as Max knocked right into Lucas, bowling him over. He caught her straight away, managing to roll back without hurting himself or her, laughing as Max kissed his cheek hard.

“Hi,” he got out between laughs before Max was kissing him, cutting him off, and they heard Erica let out a cough.

“Geez, you two, PDA much?” Her voice was close, having followed Max. Lucas grinned as Max just leaned into him, hugging him tightly, and he flipped Erica the bird.

“Shut it, Erica. Where’s Dustin?”

“Inside trying to get a hold of his girlfriend,” Erica said, taking a sip of her drink. “She’s being weird.”

“They aren’t dating, and she’s busy, she just started work at that bakery,” Lucas said as Max finally rolled off him, and they climbed to their feet. Max fetched her skateboard as Lucas grabbed his backpack and bike, heading up to the rv.

“Alright, alright, but yeah, that’s what he’s doing.” Erica waved her hand, returning to her relaxing. “Have a shower, nerd, you stink.”

Mike looked a little awkward as Max plopped down at their picnic table, lifting their mosquito nets to fetch her snacks. Lucas carefully stored his bike under the rv, slamming the cover closed.

“I’m going, I’m going. Come on, Mike, I’ll give you the tour and put your ring somewhere safe.”

Mike jumped at Lucas’ words and followed him to the door. It was open, and Lucas could hear Dustin in the tech room, talking to Trucy. His voice was weird. Lucas looked back at Mike, gesturing for him to follow. Mike hesitated at the door, then slowly lifted his foot to stand on the first step.

Lucas watched, holding his breath, as Mike’s foot didn’t go through the step. He walked up into the rv, looking about the space.

“You live here?” he asked, raising his eyebrows. Lucas nodded, setting his backpack on the bench around the table.

“Yep, home sweet away from home,” he said, stretching. “This is the kitchen, and where Max gets her work done. We sleep up there.” He pointed to the ladder next to the right wall. “That doorway goes to the drivers seat. Our shower is there.”

He hesitated at the door to the tech room, turning to Mike. “Uh… I need a moment to check on Dustin, can you wait?”

Mike nodded, looking uncomfortable and confused.

“I’ll be just a moment,” Lucas assured, opening the door to the tech room and slipping in, shutting it behind him.

Dustin was sitting in front of the monitors, the keyboard pushed out of the way with the laptop in front of him. He had his head in his hands, on video call with Trucy.

“I don’t understand, Trucy,” Dustin was sounding worried, running his hands through his hair. “This town is a ghost town. You’ve been so weird about this place since we told you we were coming.”

Lucas could see Trucy on the screen, kneading dough, “I’m sorry, Dustin, it’s a ghost town, they’re talking about demolishing it. How can you hope to find anything there?”

“This is my job, Trucy, I just thought-”

Lucas quickly opened and shut the door again, louder to alert Dustin. Dustin jumped, spinning rapidly to see Lucas. “Lucas! Shit, dude, you scared me!”

“Hey, Trucy!” Lucas called, stepping into frame and waving. “What are you making?”

“Lucas!” The relief on both Trucy and Dustin’s faces was immediately evident, and Lucas knew he had just stopped a potential argument between them.

Dustin and Trucy weren’t together, but it was obvious they liked each other. They had their reasons; Dustin was traveling a lot, and Trucy was living in New York and was focusing on her career and making sure her mother was alright. It just wasn’t the time.

“I’m making sourdough loaves,” Trucy said, wiping her hand over her forehead, leaving a flour smear. “Well, practicing at least. Another year and I can look at opening my own bakery!”

“That’s amazing, Trucy, we’re all rooting for you out here!”

She smiled, and Lucas saw her eyes flick to Dustin. “Thanks, Lucas.”

“I really hate to cut the call short, Truce, but I need your Dusty-buns here!”

“Lucas!” Dustin hissed, horrified. Trucy just giggled.

“That’s okay, Lucas, I really need to focus. I’m glad you’re all okay. Heading to Indianapolis?” she asked, picking up her phone.

“Yep. Heading your way, actually,” Lucas told her. “After visiting our parents.”

Her eyebrows rose. “Here?”

“Yep. Have some things to sort out.”

“Ok, have fun! Call when you’re near!” She waved. “Love you, Lucas! Bye Dustin!”

Lucas glanced at Dustin, who managed a weak, “Bye, Trucy.”

“See you, Trucy. We’ll introduce you to our ghost friend when we get there!” Lucas waved back as Trucy’s eyes widened and her mouth dropped open.

“Wait, what-”

“Love you, Trucy, talk later!” Lucas closed the laptop, turning to Dustin, who was blushing furiously. He grinned victoriously. “You are so down bad for her.”

“I’m not!” Dustin shot back. “But thank you for coming in when you did, it was getting a little tense there. I don’t know what her deal is with this place.” He leaned back in the desk chair, crossing his arms. “I need a drink.”

“Not right now, I’m finishing giving Mike a tour then we need to talk. I just wanted to check on you before I brought him in,” Lucas said, leaning against the desk. “Are you alright? I’ve never seen you and Trucy like this before.”

Dustin waved his hand dismissively. “It’ll be fine. She’ll be freaking out with what you just said and abruptly hanging up,” he said to a laugh from Lucas. “Don’t laugh, I’m gonna have to call her later.”

“Don’t tell her everything yet,” Lucas said quickly. “Just that we did find someone. No information about Mike, not yet, not until we find his sister-in-law.”

“Alright.” Dustin sighed, flopping into one of the bean bags. “Got any ideas?”

Lucas took out his phone, tapping to his notes and passing it to Dustin. “Read through this, I’m gonna finish the tour with Mike, but I think we should stay in Hawkins for the night and look for as much information as we can while I put together the next episode,” he said as Dustin took the phone, skimming the notes.

“I might see if I can find anything on Mike and Will’s deaths online,” Dustin suggested, scrolling slowly, frowning. “Geez, you wrote a lot.”

“I have a lot of questions!” Lucas defended himself. “I barely slept last night after we found Mike, every time I tried to sleep, a new question would come into my head.” He took off his backpack, setting it on the desk and fishing through it for his go pro and mic. Dustin and Max’s cameras and mics were already there, ready to go.

“Didn’t Erica ask at least half of them?” Dustin quipped, rereading the questions. “We found out Mike didn’t die here, he died in a car accident. If his sister-in-law and niece live in New York, he might have passed somewhere around them.”

Lucas shuddered, sitting slowly in the desk chair. “I’m trying to not think about the fact we had someone who died in this rv right now. It’s a bit much for now.”

“It’s probably a bit much for Mike,” Dustin mumbled, and Lucas shot him a look as they heard, “Guys?”

Mike’s head poked through the door, his face pinched in concentration. “Things went quiet and I got scared I’d fall through the floor,” he admitted, walking into the room. His face relaxed as he passed through the door and stood before Dustin. “I didn’t realise being a ghost would require so much concentration.”

Dustin laughed as Lucas quickly stood. “You’re fine, I’ve got the ring here.” He took it out of his pocket, carefully turning the sock upside down over the desk and sliding the ring out onto the printer. He was careful not to touch it, but Mike came over quickly to lean over, staring at it.

His face fell. Lucas shared a look with Dustin, who had Lucas’ phone pressed against his chest to hide the screen. Mike sighed, closing his eyes and shaking his head.

“I miss Will so much,” he admitted, straightening up. “Our wedding was one of the best days of my life. I don’t like the thought that he died in a pandemic, but I have to know how he died. Maybe he’s out there, maybe his ghost is wandering like I am.”

“That’s certainly a possibility.” Lucas leaned against the desk, rubbing his chin. “I mean, you ended up at that house. Maybe Will’s somewhere in Hawkins? Or in the graveyard you were buried in?”

He was hesitating with theories. He didn’t want to get Mike’s hopes up about this, since they had no idea how Mike himself was even here. It had something to do with that house, though, with what happened in Hawkins all those years ago.

He heard Erica’s music start up outside, and Max and Erica laughing about something. Lucas shook his head, standing up properly.

“I need to take a shower. We should find Will’s sister after we stop in Indianapolis to restock, and see my parents.”

Lucas wished he could put his hand on Mike’s shoulder, but he knew it just wasn’t possible. But he gave Mike a warm smile.

“We’re going to do our best with this, Mike. We’re going into unfamiliar territory here, but we’re going to find out what happened, and why you’re still around. There has to be a reason this happened. We’ll figured it out.”

Dustin looked up, pushing his cap up. “I’m guessing we’re gonna be coming back to this house at some point?”

Mike’s face contorted with fear as Lucas looked back at Dustin, swallowing heavily and painfully.

“...Yes. I don’t think we’ve seen the last of the Creel house just yet.”

Chapter Text

Chapter Five – Grave Of The Innocent, Heart Of The Diligent

A cool breeze was comforting to Lucas in the evening, sitting alone where he was. He stared ahead, twisting a stick in his hands, not really sure what to say at the moment. Usually, it was easy to talk, to let him know what was going on, but Lucas was lost for words now.

Finding a ghost had changed a lot of what he originally believed. There was a way for people to come back, but Mike didn’t want to be back like this, not without those he loved. There were people Lucas wanted back. He wondered, now, if there was a way to talk to him.

Sighing, Lucas dropped his head, counting to ten as he took deep breaths. Then he looked up at the grave, reaching into his pocket and taking out the candle his mother had given him, leaning forward to shuffle it into the dirt. He took out his father’s lighter, lighting the candle, and sitting back, making sure the breeze wouldn’t start a fire.

“Hey… Patrick,” he said slowly, his voice shaking. “Long time, no see, sorry about that. Work takes up a lot of my time, Mom does complain when I don’t come home often enough, but I live in LA now so…” Lucas took a deep breath, staring at the Patrick McKinney etched into the stone.

A lump formed in his throat, and he swallowed painfully.

“Been at this for four years, still feels surreal, everything that has happened,” Lucas continued, raising his knees and hooking his elbows over them, clutching his hands together. “You would have loved hearing about that abandoned school we went to, not sure if it was actually haunted, but they had an impressive basketball history, spanned fifty years before they closed down thirty years ago. Dustin was really bored when I talked about it but I didn’t really care.”

He smiled slightly, still turning the stick around. Lucas could smell the sandalwood candle.

“… You’ll never guess what we found in Hawkins,” Lucas said, watching the candle as the breeze picked up momentarily. “We found an actual ghost. I’m not kidding, we actually found something. He’s… been gone about ten years.”

Lucas chuckled, tossing the stick off into the grass next to him. “He was as shocked to see us. He’d been stuck in the Creel house for who knows how long. Erica asked him about half the questions we were building up to, just getting the facts, as she always does. Max and Dustin love having her around.”

Lucas lowered his knees, leaning forward on them. “We thought about having guests a few times. Friends who might have enjoyed travelling and exploring places like that. Jeff’s been wanting to come along for a while, he’s just busy with his doctorate, changed his mind about three years ago. Shocked all of us. He’s fascinated with a hospital that’s haunted outside DC, but he also doesn’t want to land himself in a horror movie.” Lucas chuckled again.

“Apparently a lot of our friends are wondering how we’re still alive, but we’ve never encountered any danger.”

The breeze died down and the flame stopped dancing. Lucas stared at Patrick’s grave, wishing hard that he could hear his voice. It had been two years since he last heard Patrick’s voice, and he sighed, feeling himself deflate a little.

Patrick grinned at him, clapping Lucas on the back. “Thanks for letting me know, man, it’s gonna be a good night!”

“I wish I’d never told you, Patrick,” Lucas whispered, clenching his fists. “I should never have told you.”

He fell silent, staring at the grave, a small part of him hoping Patrick would say something. Mike came back, why couldn’t Patrick? What was the trick to it? He couldn’t help hoping even though Mike clearly didn’t want to be here. He was lost, trapped on a plane of existence that he couldn’t even interact with.

What existence was that? Was it selfish of Lucas to want Patrick back like that, even for five minutes? Just five minutes of seeing a guy he had considered an older brother?

Lucas shook his head. “Anyway… The summer’s coming to an end, and I think Erica’s gonna be staying here, she’s got some schooling left. I’m gonna miss her, I won’t lie.”

“Awww, isn’t my brother the sweetest?” a voice said behind him, making Lucas jump. He turned quickly, seeing Erica walk toward him, a small smile on her face. She was wearing a thin hoodie over her jogging gear, unzipped, and she stopped next to Lucas, staring down at the grave.

He stood quickly. “Erica! Don’t scare me like that!”

Erica nudged him with her elbow. “Nah, I’ll never let you forget that, but I was talking to Dustin about staying on longer,” she admitted. “I kind of want to see this whole ghost thing out to the end.”

Lucas stared at her for a few moments, then looked back down at Patrick’s grave. Erica fell silent, looking at the grave too, and they watched as the breeze almost blew the candle out. Lucas knelt down, reaching his hand out to cover the flame as best he could, not wanting it to go out yet.

“I wish we knew how Mike came back,” he said, almost to himself. “Because then maybe… Maybe…”

Erica let out a sigh. “...Are you sure you really want that, Lucas? Mike doesn’t even want to be here. He doesn’t belong here. He isn’t with it a lot of the time, and right now, he’s stuck on the van so no one sees him.” She fell silent for a few moments, and Lucas heard her sigh again. “Do you really want to see more of that?”

He knew what she was getting at. He knew Dustin and Max were wondering the same thing, but not for Patrick. That day, a little over two years ago…

Lucas grit his teeth, blinking hard, and gave his head a shake.

He didn’t say anything. He didn’t have to, and neither did Erica. They remained where they were, staring at Patrick’s grave, and Lucas hung his head, taking a deep breath.

Grass crunched behind them. Lucas twisted on the spot, looking behind him as Erica turned as well. Lucas’ eyes widened as he saw the newcomer look up and freeze.

“Well… I didn’t expect to see either of you here,” Jermaine said, hands in the pockets of his jeans as he looked over Lucas and Erica. “Especially you, Lucas, you haven’t been back in months.”

“Jay,” Lucas breathed, standing quickly. “I’m sorry, man, I was gonna text you that I was in town but it slipped my mind. Filming and travelling’s been a little crazy lately.”

Jermaine stepped over and hugged Lucas tightly. He was well over 6 foot now, his afro even bigger than Lucas remembered, and he was wearing a muscle shirt. He had a bouquet of flowers in one hand that rustled against Lucas’ back.

“I know, I’m just messing with you,” Jermaine said, smiling as he stepped back. “I’ve kept up with your uploads. Hawkins, huh? That place is almost being advertised as a wrecking room nowadays.” He gave Erica a hug too, towering over her, before turning to Patrick’s grave.

“I definitely didn’t expect to see you here, of all places,” he added, crouching down to place the flowers at the foot of Patrick’s gravestone, adjusting them slightly so they weren’t near the candle.

Lucas pressed his lips together at Jermaine’s words, knowing he was right. He always tried to avoid anyone who wasn’t Erica when he visited. Max never came to the graveyard while Dustin visited at different times to Lucas.

“Yeah, well, I thought Patrick was missing my presence,” Lucas tried to joke. Erica smiled weakly while Jermaine breathed a laugh as he straightened up.

“He missed you too,” Jermaine said, taking a step back to stand between Lucas and Erica. “He’s not the only one though.”

Lucas took a deep breath to keep himself calm, trying to focus on the current moment. Erica’s mindfulness stuff was usually just a bunch of nothing to Lucas, but very rarely – he would take it to his grave before ever admitting to her – that it helped. Right now, as he leaned his head against Jermaine’s shoulder. He felt Jermaine shift slightly, and guessed he was putting his arm around Erica’s shoulder.

Jermaine was only a year older than Lucas but he seemed much older somehow. Lucas met him through his brief stint in high school trying basketball, but he’d stayed friends with Jermaine and Patrick afterward. The captain of the team, Jason, and another teammate, Chance, were alright, Lucas didn’t keep in contact but had nothing against them.

Andy, on the other hand… He had one hundred percent deserved that punch Max had given him when he tried to purposely trip her while she was skating. The guy was a total asshole. But thanks to Jermaine, Lucas had met Patrick and become friends with him.

Patrick was now gone though. A little over two years, Patrick had been gone.

And it was all Lucas’ fault. He knew it was his fault.

“How long are you two in town?” Jermaine asked as Lucas lifted his head, taking his phone out of his pocket to check a message from Max. He shot back a quick reply as he thought.

“Not long, maybe two or three days. Just restocking, catching up with our parents, then heading off to New York,” Lucas told him as he saw Erica turned away, trying to discreetly wipe her eyes with the ends of her sleeves. “Dustin also wants to charge all our electronics in an actual house for the first time in weeks so that’ll take a bit.”

“Perfect!” Jermaine clapped his hands. “Can I come with you to your parents?”

Lucas frowned at him. “Why, Jay?”

“You’ll see,” was all Jermaine said as he knelt down in front of Patrick’s grave again, reaching out to place his hand on the stone gently. “I’ll be back later this week, man,” he said softly, giving the grave a pat. “I’ll come after the game. We’re down our captain this week so I’ll be covering.”

Lucas waited as Jermaine stood again, stepping back so Lucas could sit in front of the grave again. “Gimme a sec,” he told Erica and Jermaine, who both nodded, and walked out of earshot as they chattered away, talking about some influencer they both followed on Instagram.

Watching for a few moments, Lucas let out a breath, turning back to the grave. He reached out, picking up the candle again as he read Patrick’s name and dates of birth and death. Beloved son, grandson, friend, boyfriend, teammate. Taken too soon.

Lucas’ stomach curled uncomfortably, and he managed to whisper, “I’m sorry,” as he lifted the candle, blowing it out.

Dustin, Max, and Mike looked up as Lucas stepped into the tech room, quickly shutting the door behind him. Dustin and Max were sitting in beanbags, one of the Halo games on the xbox in splitscreen. Mike was sitting cross-legged behind them, watching, taking care not to touch either of them.

Max, as quickly as she could from a beanbag, got to her feet as Lucas took deep breath. Dustin paused the game as she reached Lucas, taking his face in her hands as his eyes swam with tears.

“Hey,” she said softly, her pale blue eyes looking up into his. “It’s okay. You’re in here now. How did it go?”

Dustin and Mike were standing up too as Lucas stared back at Max, trying to ignore the clenching in his chest and the stone the size of LA in his stomach, both twisted painfully. Lucas wrapped his arms around Max, burying his face into her shoulder and breathing her in, trying to distract himself.

He felt one of Max’s arms wrap around him, her other hand on the back of his head, hugging him tightly. He just clutched her back, almost desperately, and tried his best to calm down. It wasn’t working, and he knew that Max could tell. His head was spinning, and he was trying to keep himself grounded, with Max, and Dustin nearby.

It took a few minutes, Max just holding him, her fingers running over his hair down to the back of his neck. Lucas could smell the deodorant she wore, which was usually one of the men’s brands because it was cheaper and in Max’s words, ‘lasted twice as long as women’s deodorant’. He didn’t argue, she was the most physically active of the four of them so he just took her at her word, even though Dustin wanted to conduct an experiment.

Lucas had gotten a few odd, unwelcome questions when people found out that about Max, and he just told them to mind their business.

Thinking about this helped Lucas to calm down, and his mind stopping racing. He let out an uneasy breath, slowly drawing back. Max lowered down from her tippy toes, having stretched up to hug him, and she watched him now, waiting for him to speak.

He realised Dustin and Mike were still there, watching quietly, though they had different expressions. Dustin’s brow was furrowed, concern written all over his face, while Mike just looked confused, not understanding what was happening.

Now that the initial feeling had passed, Lucas was able to let go of Max, giving his face a quick rub. “Alright… I’m okay. Better,” he assured Max and Dustin, and Dustin smiled in relief. Max nodded, still worried.

“That’s good. How was Patrick?” Dustin asked as Lucas sat in Max’s beanbag slowly. Dustin and Mike both sat back where they had been before while Max rolled over the desk chair to sit next to Lucas.

“Same as he has been the last two years,” Lucas mumbled, shaking his head. “Erica showed up, and you’ll never guess who else was there.”

Dustin raised an eyebrow as Max asked, “Who?”

Poor Mike just looked even more lost, and that looked was coming over his face, where he wasn’t fully with it. Lucas decided to respond after telling Dustin and Max.

“Jay. He visits, like, twice a week, apparently.”

“You’re kidding!” Dustin sat up higher. “We haven’t heard from him in a while, how is he?”

“He’s good,” Lucas told him. “He’s coming over later, wants to hang out with us before we go again.” He frowned, earning a head tilt from Dustin. “He said something I can’t get out of my head.”

“Oh?” Max asked, and Lucas felt her head on his shoulder.

“Yeah, he’s got a game this weekend, and he said Jason isn’t gonna be there. I forgot to ask him if anything had happened, if Jason’s okay.” Lucas shook his head. “They’re all meant to be at college for another few years, feels weird that Jason is suddenly not there.”

“Maybe he’s sick,” Dustin suggested. Lucas shook his head.

“I’m not sure, he might be. But he’s never missed a game, dude has an immune system stronger than steel,” he thought aloud, tapping the beanbag. “He could be injured, but I really don’t know, I’m gonna ask him when he gets here-”

A knocking on the rv door interrupted Lucas, making him, Dustin, Max, and Mike all jump. A voice called out, “Hey, Lucas! I said hi to your folks, you in there, man?”

Lucas, Dustin, and Max were on their feet. Mike remained sitting, not sure what to do, as Lucas looked about.

“Shit, that’s Jay,” Lucas hissed, thinking. “Okay, we can’t let him in here, he can’t see Mike.” He looked at Mike, who hadn’t said a word since Lucas arrived, just bewildered. “I hate locking you in here, but can you stay in the tech room until we get Jay out? He’s a nice guy, but he doesn’t know about you, and we’re not sure how he’ll react?”

“Does he play video games? He’s not gonna want to come in here, is he?” Max asked. Lucas shook his head.

“Aside from that thing he went through with Dragon Age and Mass Effect, Jay isn’t much of a gamer,” Lucas assured her. “Chance is the only other avid gamer on the basketball team, though the other guys will play occasionally.”

Max rolled her eyes.

“Bunch of dudebros,” she mumbled as Mike finally spoke up.

“I’m okay with staying in here,” he said quickly. “I really don’t want a priest being called on me.”

Dustin laughed as Lucas nodded. “That makes sense. Alright, we’ll be back as soon as we can.”

Dustin found a show on Netflix for Mike to watch as Lucas and Max went out to greet Jermaine, who grinned when Lucas opened the door.

“Hey! I just stopped in to say hi to your parents, your mom loves me as always,” Jermaine said as he stepped up into the rv. He raised his hand to highfive Max, who returned it. “Hey, Red, how have you been?”

Max smiled at Jermaine as Dustin slipped out of the tech room, shutting the door gently behind him. He gave Lucas a small nod, and Lucas sighed in relief as Max said something about being good to Jermaine. Dustin gave Jermaine a hug, the wind nearly getting knocked out of him when Jermaine thumped his back, and he stepped back to look over Lucas, Dustin, and Max.

“You guys don’t look like ghost hunters,” Jermaine said to three pairs of raised eyebrows.

“...What are ghost hunters supposed to look like?” Lucas asked slowly, confused.

“I don’t know, the guys with the brown jumpsuits and… I can’t remember what their called, proton packs?” Jermaine scratched his head. “I haven’t seen that movie in a while-”

Lucas huffed. “Do you mean Ghost Busters? Two completely different things, Jay, though it would be awesome if that were the case, we’d have so much more work.”

Jermaine clicked his fingers. “That’s it, I don’t know why the name escaped me, I loved those movies as a kid. Yeah, they are different, but I have seen your videos and with the cameras and mics and spirit box, you guys do look like ghost hunters.”

Dustin laughed. “Most ghost hunters online look like total nerds, and that’s exactly what we are,” he chuckled, then jumped as Max lightly pinched his arm.

“Speak for yourself, nerd.”

“You are a nerd, Max, someone who plays video games, reads comic books, and knows about the history of skating to the extent you do makes you a nerd!” Dustin pointed out, rubbing his arm.

“Knowing what the GOAT himself Tony Hawk has done doesn’t make me a nerd!” Max shot back, and Lucas held his hand up between them.

“Shush, you two! You’re a nerd, Max, it’s not a bad thing and you know it. Dustin, stop antagonising her,” he interrupted, hearing Jermaine laughing behind him. Dustin was laughing again too as Max huffed, tried to look annoyed but being unable to hide her smile.

“Fine, fine, I am a nerd. We’re rewatching those CKY videos later, Dustin,” she told him, crossing her arms, and he just nodded.

“Fine by me, I love watching a bunch of idiots do dumb shit.”

“You might want to hold off on those plans for later,” Jermaine cut in now. “I actually came here for a reason. Chrissy’s been trying to get in contact with you guys for months, but do you check your work email or socials?”

Dustin went pale. Lucas sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck.

“We don’t have the email we gave out anymore,” he admitted. “We had to make a new work email because we were getting spammed by people trying to get us to do sponsorships for stuff that were clearly hacks. We try to avoid doing any sponsorships nowadays in case we get ripped off again, but I guess we forgot to tell a few people. Why? Is she okay?”

Jermaine grinned. He pulled out his phone and tapped through to Instagram. “I don’t know how Erica missed this, but I guess it only happened last week. Look.” He held his phone out, and Lucas, Dustin, and Max crowded around. Max put her hand over her mouth as Dustin gasped.

“Chrissy and Jason are engaged?” Lucas asked. Jermaine nodded, swiping to the next photo.

“Yep. We all saw it coming,” he said, letting Dustin take the phone as he and Max swiped through the engagement post on Chrissy’s Instagram. “Jason told us a few months ago he was thinking about it, then last week he finally did it. They’re having an engagement party tonight.”

Lucas immediately saw where this was going, and felt a blow to his chest. “Chrissy’s been trying to invite us, hasn’t she?”

Dustin froze. Max looked up at Jermaine for confirmation as he took his phone back, tapping through it for a few seconds. Lucas could only stare at Jermaine guiltily, and he knew Max and Dustin were feeling similarly. They had struggled with finding a balance between their own lives and their former lives in Indianapolis.

If Max had her way, she’d never come back here at all. Dustin felt the same, and he really didn’t have to, since his Mom travelled so much that he could really meet her in any city he wanted. Lucas came back for Erica and his parents, but he also came back to see Patrick. He had tried to not do it, to not come back and see Patrick for nearly a year after the funeral, but he’d caved in the end.

They’d met Trucy barely out of high school, and moved to LA next long after. They had other content creator friends, as well as friends from the various groups they’d formed through online university, but Indianapolis had taken a back seat in the grand scheme of things. A lot of their high school friends had stayed behind. Lucas’ friends from the basketball team all went to university here.

Patrick was the one who couldn’t leave. He wasn’t the only one, but Lucas didn’t want to think about it. It was too much, even after two years.

“Chrissy,” Jermaine’s voice cut through Lucas’ thoughts, and he shook his head as he felt Max’s hand on his arm. Dustin was still frozen, staring straight ahead. “Hey, guess who I’m here with? Wait, wait, let me put you on speaker.” He lowered his phone and tapped the screen, holding it out. “Say hi, guys!”

“Hey Chrissy!” Lucas and Max called while all Dustin could manage was a weak, “Hi.”

“Hello!” Chrissy’s sweet voice cheered back. “Who am I speaking with?”

“Hey Chrissy, it’s Lucas, Max, and Dustin,” Lucas said, leaning closer to the phone. “We forgot to tell you our new email, we’re so sorry, we’ll have to make a new one for friends!”

“We heard you got engaged!” Max added, smiling despite the fact Dustin was barely moving. Lucas could almost see Dustin’s mind racing, trying to return to earth. “Congratulations!” Max was saying.

Lucas leaned away quickly as Chrissy squealed excitedly. “Oh, hello! I have been emailing you, yes! Jason and I got engaged last week, and we decided to throw an engagement party tonight, I saw in your video talking about where you were headed next that you’d be stopping in Indianapolis for history research at some point, and I wanted to invite you in case you were in town.”

It was like being knocked down by wave; Lucas was almost shrivelling at the guilt swirling in his chest, and Max took over the conversation, taking Jermaine’s phone.

“We’re stopping through on our way to New York, our findings are taking us there,” she said, glancing at Lucas and Dustin. Dustin was moving again, flexing his fingers, while Jermaine hadn’t noticed, still smiling. “We’re at Lucas’ parents for the next few days, restocking and getting what we need for the trip. I’ll send my number through Jermaine’s phone.”

“That’s why I’ve been trying to email you,” Chrissy said quickly, and they heard a shuffling as she moved her phone. “I’ve been trying to send you three the invitation. We’re having it at Benny’s place, and it’s only our friends, we had one with our families last night. Jason wanted it to be a little bigger with our friends, and you three are the last ones I had to get in contact with.”

Now Max had an expression like someone had just broken her skateboard in front of her. Lucas took over now.

“I’m so sorry, Chrissy, work just got a little hectic, and Hawkins is a little out of the way,” he said into the phone. “What time is it? We should be able to make it.”

He heard Chrissy gasp. “Really? It starts at 6, I’ll make sure to add you to the list!” She sounded so excited, and happy, that the guilt was finally beginning to dissipate. Lucas knew Chrissy; she was genuinely the sweetest person he’d ever known. She and Eddie had been best friends since middle school, and while she didn’t play dnd, she was often around just to watch.

It really had been awhile since he’d seen anyone from Indianapolis that weren’t his family. Max barely visited her own Mom and only came back because of Lucas and Erica. She had no intentions of seeing her Mom on this trip.

“This is so exciting, I want to hear all about where you’ve been!” Chrissy gushed, and Lucas heard someone calling her name in the background. “Oh, sorry, I have to go, but I can’t wait to see you all! Bye guys!”

Lucas, Max, and Dustin all called their goodbyes, and Jermaine took the phone back, holding up a finger as he took it off speaker phone and stepped out of the rv to talk to Chrissy. The moment the door closed behind him, Dustin let out a whoosh of breath.

“I can’t go,” he said quickly, shaking his head. “I can’t. I just can’t.”

Lucas stepped in front of Dustin and grabbed his shoulders, squeezing assuringly. Dustin shook his head, his curly hair flying.

“I really just can’t go, Lucas, I just… I promise I’ll see Chrissy another time, but this is too much, I can’t stop thinking how… how happy he’d be glad Chrissy is so happy.” Dustin was mumbling now. Unlike Lucas, who shut down whenever he thought too much about Patrick, Dustin became a bumbling, incoherent mess when thinking about what happened two years ago.

Dustin was staring at his hands, shaking, and Lucas quickly took one hand while Max grabbed the other. Dustin looked up, his eyes a little watery.

“It’s ok, Dustin,” Lucas insisted, Max nodding. “We’re not gonna force to go, and I think Chrissy will understand. Of everyone, she will understand the most.”

Dustin stared as Max hugged him, and he nodded, absentmindedly patting her back. “Yeah… she would, wouldn’t she?”

Lucas squeezed his hand. “The party’s not for hours and I really need to get in some editing, what if you and Max went to get Chrissy and Jason a congrats gift? I’m sure they’d appreciate it, especially Chrissy.”

The shaking in Dustin’s hand lessened. Lucas almost see the panic seeping from Dustin’s body now that he had voiced his thoughts and given his reasoning as to why he couldn’t go. He knew Dustin wanted to, in his own way, but he couldn’t right now.

It was a lot, right now. Lucas going to see Patrick while they had Mike, an actual ghost who wanted to find out what happened to his husband and how he was even now, was a lot to swallow. Lucas hadn’t finished editing the footage they had of Mike, and even he was a little hesitant to upload it.

That was a matter for later. He hadn’t mentioned his worries to Max or Dustin, but he knew that Max knew something was up. She always did.

The door opened again, and Lucas turned as Jermaine came back in, pocketing his phone. “I was just getting more details from Chrissy,” he said, stopping as he saw the scene before him. “...Is everything okay?”

Dustin nodded weakly as Lucas said, “Yeah. Just sorting things out for tonight.”

Erica grinned as Lucas handed her the food he had ordered, immediately opening the bag to check he’d gotten it right. She nodded approvingly, sitting in the desk chair and taking things out.

“Don’t get any food on the keyboard,” Lucas warned, and Erica waved her hand.

“I’m neater than you, nerd, you know I won’t. Besides, I’m not gonna eat and work at the same time, Mike’s here too,” she said as she set her sandwich down, putting the drink and chips next to it. Lucas glanced over at Mike, who was sitting against the wall next to the door to Dustin’s bunk, his knees against his chest, leaning his head against the wall.

Mike had barely said a word all day. He looked drained; Lucas knew Mike couldn’t sleep or eat. Dustin had changed their Netflix so it just kept playing instead of asking if someone was still watching, but Lucas knew Mike was bored. He wasn’t sure if he could leave the rv, but they couldn’t risk anyone seeing Mike, not yet.

“Mike?” he said, approaching and sitting next to him. “Are you ok?”

For a few moments, the ghost didn’t answer, his hair slowly, almost lazily, floating around his face. He opened his eyes – Lucas couldn’t help being unnerved that they were completely white – and looked at Lucas. Mike sighed, his thin shoulders falling as he stretched his legs out, letting his head fall back.

“Just… tired, I guess,” he said in a low voice. “Existing between life and death sucks. I can’t do anything except sit around, really.”

Erica watched silently, munching on her sandwich. Lucas sighed, wishing he could pat Mike on the shoulder.

“We’ll find out what’s going on with you, okay?” Lucas assured Mike. “We’re going to find out. We’ll find out what happened to Will, and we’ll help you to pass on, ok?”

Mike was silent, twisting his hand together. He shook his head. “I was… trying to find something, wasn’t I? I lost something. I can’t remember what it was though.”

Confused Mike was back. He kept going back to this. He had lost something, he was trying to find it, but he couldn’t remember what it was. Lucas pursed his lip as Mike fell into talking to himself, asking himself what was going on, and what he had lost.

The desk chair squeaked behind Lucas. “It sucks that we have no information to go off of helping ghosts,” Erica whispered. “I’m really not a fan of seeing him like that.”

Lucas sighed, yanking his hand away when Mike accidentally touched it with his pinky finger, sending a jolt up Lucas’ arm.

“...I really don’t like seeing him like this either.”

And to think, Lucas had wanted, for a moment, for Patrick to come back like Mike had.

Chapter Text

Chapter Six – Party Lights & Ghost Might

Lucas took Max’s hand, smiling as she laughed when he twirled her. Jason and Chrissy’s engagement party was in full swing, surrounded by love, laughter, happiness. There was a buzz in the air that settled in Lucas’ body, setting him alight, burning the brightest whenever Max touched him.

He pulled her towards him, her head resting on his shoulder, and he smiled as they swayed, lost in their own world. Chrissy and Jason had a weird, yet romantic taste in music – 1940’s music. Lucas twirled Max again as ‘Dream A Little Dream Of Me’, pulling her back, and her chin was warm against his shoulder, nuzzling into his neck.

If they had been closer to New York, Dustin would have asked for Trucy to be his plus one. Instead, he was in the rv with Mike, playing a video game with the ghost watching.

In a way, Lucas was glad. He and Max hadn’t had a date night in a long time. Just for them to dance, to drink, to eat, to chat. Chrissy had given them both excited hugs before dashing off to her other guests, and Lucas didn’t mind, dragging Max to the food. They had a few drinks before joining the dance floor.

And now, Lucas had Max in his arms, swaying with her, pressing light kisses to her temple and her hair. He could feel her smiling.

“This is nice,” she mumbled, rubbing her nose against his neck. “I’ve wanted you alone for a while now.”

Lucas smiled, pulling back so Max had to look up at him.

“I’ve wanted this too, Max. We never have enough time off. Just us.” He leaned down, kissing her lightly, bumping his nose against hers affectionately. Max smiled against his lips, giggling, and they went back to swaying, her face snuggled in his neck again.

It was short-lived; the music changed, and the chatter got louder. Lucas felt his phone buzzing, again, as Max disentangled herself and grabbed his hand, dragging him to the drink table. Lucas used his free hand to extract his phone, seeing yet another text and selfie from Dustin and Mike.

They actually looked like they were having fun. Dustin had started up Life Is Strange, and apparently they were spending more time arguing over dialogue choices than actually playing. Lucas was a little jealous – he’d never been big on parties – but he and Max went for Chrissy.

Dustin had tried, made it a foot out the door, before he decided he really couldn’t and he’d see Chrissy before they left.

“Lucas! Max!”

The bride-to-be herself’s voice cut through Lucas’ thoughts, and he accepted a glass from Max as Chrissy appeared beside them, Jason and Jermaine in tow. She hugged Max first, then Lucas, almost knocking his drink out of his hand.

“You both made it!” she gushed. Lucas high-fived Jason as Jermaine reached past Lucas to grab a shot glass filled with what looked like red vodka jello, downing it quickly. “I’m so happy you could make it, I’ve been keeping up with your channel and was so happy when you said you were passing through here!”

“Of course, I’m sorry about the email again,” Lucas said, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck. “Congratulations to you both! Any plans yet for the wedding?”

Jason looked happier than Lucas had ever seen him; he’d been different two years ago, when Chrissy had gotten injured and was in hospital for weeks, but now, he looked so happy that he could do a backflip. Seeing Jason so happy made Lucas glance at Max.

“In a year, probably,” Chrissy was saying, as Lucas took a quick drink. He felt another buzz in his pocket as he heard Max ask another question, but he checked his phone quickly after it buzzed another two times. His eyebrows rose seeing three messages from Dustin, all in capital letters.

LUCAS.

MAN, YOU WON’T BELIEVE WHAT ME AND MIKE FIGURED OUT.

THIS IS INSANE SHIT, IT’S GONNA BLOW YOUR MIND WHEN YOU GET BACK.

“Just try, Mike,” Dustin insisted as he flopped into the orange beanbag, looking up at Mike. He was staring at the other beanbag, Max’s usual one. “We figured out how to get you to move through walls and doors, surely, if you put your mind to it, you can sit on things.”

Mike rolled his eyes. “The phasing through walls thing is easy now,” he said, walking to the tech room door and into the next room, returning a moment later. Simple, but still something that amazed Dustin. “I can only sit on the floor, and I can still lean against walls if I want.”

“That’s right!” Dustin pumped his fist. “We figured out the phasing thing through sheer will and determination! We’re figuring out ghost logic! We gotta test everything, though I can’t explain the electricity thing…”

Dustin saw that ‘lost spirit’ expression – as Max had taken to calling it – wash over Mike’s face, and he was back a second later.

“Alright, alright, gimme a sec…”

Mike stood with his back to the beanbag, facing the tv which showed the xbox home screen, hovering over Fallout 4 with the main menu music playing. Mike’s face scrunched up, and he slowly stuck his butt out and began to lower. He gritted his teeth, and Dustin tried to hide a snort.

“Dude, you’re just sitting on a beanbag, why do you look constipated?”

Dustin laughed out loud as Mike gave a shout, falling right through the beanbag and hitting the floor.

“Dustin!” Mike sat up, phasing right through the beanbag. “You scared me! I was concentrating!”

Dustin tried to take a deep breath, hand over his chest as he shot off a text to Lucas. “Sorry, it looked so funny! Okay, I’ll be quiet. We’re testing out theories here.” He turned his cap backwards, a joke from when he and Lucas were younger and played a lot of Pokemon.

Backwards cap meant business.

Mike pulled himself up. Dustin was used to being around Lucas, who was plenty tall, but Mike was 6 foot. Not as tall as Jermaine, but still, tall and gangly. He must have been a sight in high school.

He stayed silent, watching intently as Mike tried again. Mike took a deep breath, closing his eyes, and let himself fall.

Now it was Dustin who let out a yell as Mike flumped into the beanbag, the foam beads inside making that weird noise they made when someone sat on them. Mike’s eyes flew open, his hands going to grip the beanbag. His fingers sunk in, leaving dents, but didn’t phase through.

“Holy shit!” Dustin and Mike gasped at the same time.

“It worked!” Dustin clapped his hands, lifting his hand to highfive Mike. He remembered too late when Mike swung his hand to deliver. “Mike, wait-”

The clap that sounded seemed to echo forever, Dustin and Mike staring at each other with wide eyes. They yanked their hands back at the same time, unable to look away as Dustin felt like his brain turned into the blue screen of death.

“Did I hurt you?” Mike asked after a few moments as he looked down at his own hands, shaking. Dustin shook his head.

“No, it felt like a regular highfive… How… How did you do that?” he asked in a low voice, too bewildered to speak any louder. “Weren’t you straight up electrocuting Lucas?”

Mike nodded, letting out a shuddering breath. “Yeah, but my hand phased right through him.” He thought for a moment, then reached out to tap Dustin’s shoulder. Dustin jumped, digging his sneakers into the floor as he pushed himself away.

“Ow! What was that for?!”

Mike drew his hand back, opening and closing his mouth like a goldfish. “Just… testing something.” He frowned. “I really don’t know how this works, all I know is I was thinking of highfiving you back, and I did.”

Dustin stood up, hurrying to a drawer underneath his bunk. Mike watched, not moving, probably afraid he’d end up on the floor again. Dustin yanked the drawer open fully, picking up the whiteboard they kept in it, covered in their Hawkins theories. He kicked the drawer shut as he stood.

There was a magnetic strip across the ceiling over the door to his bunk, turning the whiteboard so the empty side faced them and stuck it up. He found the markers and started writing quickly, the marker squeaking across it.

“Okay,” he said, stepping back as he pressed his forefingers together. He turned as Mike shuffled carefully in the beanbag. “There wasn’t much in that attic because it’s one big room, but you couldn’t leave. You only could when Lucas found your ring.”

He crossed out Creel Attic. He circled where he’d written Wedding Ring in blue marker.

“You’re connected your ring. Wherever your wedding ring, you are, and you can’t be anywhere without it.” Dustin looked back at Mike. “I’m convinced your ring is what is connecting you to the physical world, bringing you back, keeping you here. And I have a theory.”

Dustin was writing again, quickly. His mind raced, and his hand couldn’t keep up with what he was writing.

He wished Lucas was there. He wasn’t used to writing his ideas down without Lucas to bounce them off of, but he knew Lucas and Max wanted to go to Chrissy’s engagement party. And really, Dustin knew that Lucas and Max were dying for a night alone together.

Dustin shook his head as his thoughts drifted to Trucy, his thoughts swimming as her smiling face filled his face, her short brown hair tucked under her hairnet, faced brushed with flour.

He missed her. What was her problem with Hawkins? He wanted nothing more than to tell her about Mike, about everything, about all his work.

Dustin always wanted to tell Trucy everything. It was out of dedication to his work and to Lucas that he held off, even though he’d fall asleep imagining Trucy with them, travelling, doing her baking on the road.

“Dustin?” Mike asked behind him. “Can I see what you’re writing?”

Dustin snapped out of his thoughts, shaking his head, shoving thoughts of Trucy and the smell of her chocolate chip cookies to the back of his mind. He stared at his writing, a jumbled mess, and took a step back.

“I… I lost it,” he mumbled, clutching the marker. “Dammit, I had it!” This happened sometimes. He would get distracted, which seemed to happen whenever he thought of Trucy at the worst times, and without Lucas there to nudge his mind in the right direction, Dustin would lose his train of thought occasionally.

He tapped his chin with the marker, desperately trying to get it back. Mike spoke up behind him.

“You were saying I’m connected to my ring, that that’s what’s keeping me in the physical world,” he said, trying to help jog Dustin’s memory.

“Yeah,” Dustin mumbled. “Uh… I’m so sorry, Mike, I had it, but it’s gone now… Lucas would remember if he was here.”

Dustin went to his phone, shooting off a text to Lucas, a few actually. Then he held it up, pointing the front camera at him and Mike.

“Smile!” he cheered. “I’ll send a selfie to Lucas of our recent discovery!”

Mike grinned, and Dustin snapped the pic, sending it off. As he texted Lucas, he walked over to the door, opening it. Mike walked silently, but his light gave away that he was following Dustin.

“Oh, sorry,” Dustin said, pocketing his phone. “This is huge though, it might not seem like a lot, but you’re actually able to do things if you think about it!” He opened the cupboard above the fridge, about to reach up, but stopped himself, glancing back at Mike.

“Do you mind if I have a drink or two?” he asked. “Lucas and Max are at that party, and we sometimes have a few drinks and play video games.”

Mike nodded. “That’s fine with me. Not like I can stop you.”

Dustin took down a bottle of vodka and quickly made himself a vodka and coke. “I wonder how strong your electric thing is,” he mused as they went back to the tech room. He found their small camp table, setting it up and putting the drink down.

He sat as Mike carefully sat down again, successfully staying in the beanbag. Dustin grinned, taking up xbox controller and clicking through to Life is Strange. Mike watched, raising his eyebrows as he saw the calm forest background and the name.

“I thought video games were gonna get more violent,” Mike admitted as Dustin took a sip of his drink. “I remember really liking Oblivion and Fallout, I’d been looking forward to Skyrim but I died before it came out.” He shuffled down comfortably as Dustin started up the game.

“There are plenty of games with combat,” Dustin told him with a shrug. “But there are heaps of amazing storytelling games that are just as compelling and intriguing. Some are even both, you wouldn’t believe the waves the Last of Us made. That’s one of Lucas’ favourite games.”

He clicked new game, putting his drink back down, and Mike jumped as the lightning sounded, the game starting up at the lighthouse. He grinned hearing the protagonist’s name was Max.

“...I’m gonna guess Max likes this game?” he suggested to a laugh from Dustin.

“Yeah, she does. She and Erica are doing their own playthrough right now, but wait until you see Max’s favourite character,” he chuckled.

Mike raised an eyebrow. Dustin knew that Mike’s completely white eyes unnerved Lucas a little, but he found them fascinating. Mike’s blue hair floated around his face like he was underwater, and that ever present, ever so faint white glow around his body mingled with the blue.

His appearance fascinated Dustin. Why did Mike look like this? What did he really look like?

“Wow,” he heard Mike breathe. “This is actually pretty cool… I wasn’t sure what to expect. So she’s a photography student?”

“Yeah,” Dustin confirmed, directing Max around the environment, looking at people, speaking to Mr Jefferson, and ending up in the bathroom. “She’s a photography student. But there’s a whole thing going on, remember the storm?”

Mike nodded. “I’m guessing that’s connected? Or are you tricking me and it’s just a dream?”

“Mike, I would never.” Dustin placed his hand over his heart, and Mike opened his mouth to argue. “Nah, I’m not tricking you, the storm’s important.”

Dustin jumped as Mike purposely poked his knee, sending a shock through his leg. “Gah! Don’t do that, dude!”

Mike laughed. Dustin had another drink, watching as the blue butterfly came in, flapping across the room, and he stared for a few moments as Max mused that she didn’t have a photo op like this every day.

He glanced at Mike, blue and white, sitting next to him. He looked back at the butterfly, then back at Mike.

“Mike… what’s your favourite colour?” he asked slowly, getting Max to snap the photo. Mike blinked at him in surprise.

“Blue,” he answered, a little confused. “My favourite colour is blue. Will’s was yellow.”

Dustin paused the game and was up quickly. Mike struggled to his feet, his own limbs getting in the way as Dustin fetched Mike’s wedding ring, inspecting it. Silver, with a small band of sapphire in the centre, all the way around.

His mind reeled. Maybe this was a thing. Maybe it was connected to why Mike looked the way he did.

He set the ring back where Lucas had been storing it. Mike was waiting, watching as Dustin sat back down and shot off another text to Lucas.

Dustin and Mike played Life is Strange for a few hours, Dustin shooting off texts inbetween to Lucas, before he and Mike got into argument about Kate, in the game.

“She should tell someone!” Mike argued, pacing back and forth, running his fingers through his hair. “She needs to! She has to!”

“If she does, she’ll die!” Dustin argued back, gripping the xbox controller harder than he needed to as he watched Mike. “We have to choose, Mike! Save Kate or not! Our choices now matter!”

“Then tell her to report!”

“We should gather more evidence!”

Dustin, in frustration, threw the xbox controller at Mike, who automatically held up his hands to catch it. Both of them froze when the controller stopped at Mike’s chest, resting in his hands, both Dustin and Mike staring at it.

Nothing. Neither made a sound.

Dustin managed to choke out, “SIRI. TEXT LUCAS.”

Mike stared at him as Siri clicked on.

BEEP BEEP.

“LUCAS.”

“MAN, YOU WON’T BELIEVE WHAT ME AND MIKE FIGURED OUT.”

“THIS IS INSANE SHIT, IT’S GONNA BLOW YOUR MIND WHEN YOU GET BACK.”

Chapter Text

Chapter Seven – Games & Lanes

It took Lucas four tries to get Max into the rv. She was a lot more drunk than him, those keg stands with Jason’s teammates obviously getting to her. She’d gotten along with them better than Lucas thought she would, but a few were into skateboarding, surfing, and snowboarding.

She’d gotten into a conversation about Jackass with them, and now had three new numbers simply Friend #1, Friend #2, and Friend #3 in it.

First, she hit her head against the rv door. Lucas made sure she didn’t have a concussion before getting the door open. She had wobbled, falling and getting an abrasion on her calf. Not an unusual injury for Max, who was constantly patching herself up after falling off her skateboard.

She missed the step twice before Lucas finally got her in. He was a little wobbly himself – Jason really had gone the extra mile for their guests – but he was still somewhat coherent.

He got Max to sit at the table, fetching her a glass of water and two Advil, making her take them. He was fetching himself a glass when the door to the tech room slid open, the door banging loudly. Lucas jumped, nearly dropping the glass, whirling to see Dustin standing there, a glass of coke in one hand.

“Get in here!” he said, his voice slightly slurred. “I told you that you’d lose your mind, and prepare!”

“Let me put Max to bed first,” Lucas started to say, but Max interrupted him.

“N-no!” she said, hiccuping. “I want my mind blown. Show me, Henderson!”

Lucas rolled his eyes but helped Max up. She leaned against him as they walked into the tech room. Lucas saw Mike sitting on the beanbag behind Dustin; they had figured that out, which was good. Mike wasn’t stuck sitting on the floor anymore.

“Look at the tv!” Dustin said, pointing at it. Lucas and Max looked to see Life is Strange playing, Max in the game running around. Lucas stared for a few moments, something trying to click in his head.

“Are you watching a playthrough?” he asked, and Dustin grinned, shaking his head.

“No way! We’re playing it!” He stepped to the side, and Max spat out her water as Lucas let out a shout. Mike grinned at them, giving a thumbs up, the controller clutched in his hands. His face was lit up in a way Lucas hadn’t seen, and he saw their whiteboard stuck up over Dustin’s bunk, theories written down on what Mike could do.

“I also figured out the reason why Mike is blue, maybe,” Dustin continued, on a roll as he walked over to the whiteboard. “Here! Mike is blue because that’s his favourite colour, and his ring has sapphire on it. I think if Will was here as a ghost, he’d be yellow, apparently he has topaz on his wedding ring.”

He looked so proud of himself. Lucas stepped forward to read what Dustin had written. Quite a bit of it was a jumbled mess, but seeing that Mike could walk through walls and doors, could sit if he focused, and he could hold things that ran on electricity were all clear, as well as Dustin’s theory about why Mike was blue.

He’d written quite a bit for someone who was now playing rock-paper-scissors with Max. Lucas hoped he would remember to talk about this in greater detail when they were all sober. Max cheered as she won, and Mike looked up at Lucas, raising an eyebrow.

“Are they like this every time they drink?” he asked as Lucas flopped into Dustin’s vacated beanbug. Max cheered as she won, and Dustin groaned, challenging a best two out of three.

“Pretty much,” Lucas chuckled, shaking his head as he watched them. “We don’t get to drink or party very often, usually when we’re in New York or LA we hit the party scene. We get invited to panels at conventions.”

“Like comic con?” Mike asked, and Lucas nodded.

“Something like that. I thought Dustin was gonna pass out when we got invited to Vidcon.” Lucas laughed at the memory. “That was a big deal, we got to meet some of the big YouTubers, like the ones who have been the most subscribed.”

“Do you have any favourites? I probably won’t know any of them, except for that high-pitched one, my niece really liked him…”

“Fred?” Lucas clarified, and Mike made the motion of clicking his fingers, though there was no sound from it.

“That one. So annoying, I thought Will was gonna lose it.”

Lucas was laughing so hard he was clutching his middle. Mike glaring at him as he paused Life is Strange.

“Fred! That’s a blast from the past, he hasn’t been around in years,” Lucas got out between drunken laughter. He heard Max and Dustin making stakes from their game, the first being who picked music. “The guy who played him, Lucas Cruikshank, he’s been himself for years, he’s still around but with his regular voice. He’s been married to his husband for a while now.”

Mike raised his eyebrows in surprise at that. “He’s gay?”

Lucas nodded. “I know things were different back then, but it’s getting better, if slowly. There’s a lot of YouTubers out now, even I’ve been out for a few years.”

Mike, who had picked up the controller to unpause the game, immediately dropped it. “What?! What do you mean you’ve been out a while now?”

As Max won the game and Lucas heard her start a Spotify playlist, Lucas shrugged. “You never asked. I’ve been out as bisexual for about four years now, Max has been out as bi too for about seven years. Some people call us ‘bi4bi’, which just means both of us only dates other bisexuals, even though we’ve only dated each other.”

Mike looked so bewildered. “It… really has changed since I was alive. Back then, I wasn’t out to a lot of people publicly, but Will was, as an artist. He’d always been more comfortable with it than I was, and he didn’t mind. When we got married, it didn’t really matter so much anymore.”

Lucas settled back in the beanbag, straining to hear Mike over Max and Dustin laughing. “Can I ask about your engagement and your wedding?” he asked slowly, as Mike clicked back into the game. He waited patiently, Mike focusing, but it was clear he was thinking.

Max and Dustin took the laptop with them as they went into the other room, still chattering away, the tech room much quieter. Lucas could hear the tv now, and hear Mike better, but his head was spinning slightly from the drinks at the party. He really needed to convince Max and Dustin to go to bed soon.

“Sure,” Mike said finally, pausing the game again. “It wasn’t an engagement like in the movies; gay marriage had just been legalised in New York. When I found out, I took an early leave and drove home from the university – I used to be a professor – and found Will outside our front door, unlocking it with his easel under his arm.”

Lucas smiled as he listened. Hearing Max’s laugh in the next room only brightened it.

“It wasn’t majestic or typically romantic, but I thought it was romantic, for us,” Mike continued, and a fond smile crossed his face. “I just said I knew, and I wanted to marry Will, more than anything in the world. He just put his easel down, kissed me, and said of course he’d marry me. That was it.”

He sighed, holding his hand up, the ghostly vision of his ringing glinting white on his wedding finger. “His sister planned out wedding within a few weeks. She was so excited. She was up there with us, a groomsmaid? Will’s brother was his best man, and I didn’t have one. My sisters stood on my side, and our parents were invited, as well as a few other friends. A small ceremony, but just right for us.”

Mike frowned, giving his head a shake. “I don’t know how my wedding ring got out of my grave. I really don’t want to think someone robbed my grave, but why wouldn’t they just sell it, instead of putting it in the Creel house of all places?

Lucas felt so bad then, and had to hold his hand up. “I’m so sorry, Mike, hold that thought… I am not really in the right state of mind to discuss this,” he admitted sheepishly. “As it is, I really should be trying to convince Max and Dustin to go to bed.”

Mike pouted. “Don’t go yet! Surely there’s some two player games on here that you can sort of play…”

Scoffing, Lucas managed to haul himself up. He found their Switch controllers, changing the tv over to it, and turned on Mario Party 2, grinning as he flopped back down.

“I can absolutely, one hundred percent kick your butt at Mario Party!” Lucas declared, his voice only slightly slurred. Mike burst out laughing now too as Lucas handed one of the controllers to him, taking the xbox one back and setting it on its charger.

“You’re on, Lucas!” Mike said. “I can’t really make any stakes since I can barely do anything, but the victory will be enough.” He eyed Lucas as Lucas clicked his way through the menus, choosing the western land so everyone was dressed as cowboys and picked to play as Princess Peach. Mike chose Yoshi.

“You never said who your favourite YouTubers are.”

Lucas chuckled. “There’s a few,” he said, tapping through the dialogue from Toad explaining the game. “Smosh has been a favourite for a long time, Hank Green, Game Grumps. Dustin and me were a little younger than when the OG YouTubers were huge, but Max likes the ones that didn’t turn out problematic.”

Mike frowned. “Problematic?”

“Just… losers that did not good things.” Lucas shook his head. “Dustin and me both liked Buzzfeed Unsolved, and watch a lot of those urban explorers. We ended up delving into it, making it our own, and the rest is history.”

“Urban explorers?” Mike repeated, and Lucas nodded.

“Yeah, they explore abandoned places. A few of them research places, but don’t talk about it as much as people who go to haunted places, or rumoured haunted place.” They were interrupted by a three on one mini-game; Lucas as Peach versus Mike as Yoshi, as well as Mario and Luigi being on the same team.

Max and Dustin returned at that moment, leaving the laptop out on the dining table. Max flopped into Lucas’ lap, who hit the home button as quickly as he could. Dustin tugged over the desk chair.

“What are playing? Heyyyyy, where’s Wario?” Dustin pouted. Max got comfy, Lucas putting his arms around her as she rested her head on his shoulder, watching the game.

“You play as Wario?” Mike asked as they resumed, Lucas starting the game. They got right into it, mashing the right buttons.

“You think that’s bad, did you know Max mains as Mario?” Dustin revealed conspiratorially. “Even in games with loads more characters, she chooses Mario!”

“Hey, the games are named after him for a reason!” Max protested, albeit weakly. She snuggled against Lucas more, still watching. “And you lie, I play as Bowser, Princess Daisy, and Link as well. It’s you and Lucas who only choose one character every time.”

“Princess Peach solos and you know it,” Lucas argued to a scoff from Dustin. Mike cheered as he, Mario, and Luigi won, Lucas cursing.

“Excuse you, Wario is clearly the winner! And Waluigi too!” Dustin bit back.

“You choose them to troll us!”

“Okay, I troll with Waluigi, but Wario is the real deal!”

“Excuse me, but what does trolling mean?” Mike interrupted. Max tilted her head to pull a face at him.

“When you ask stuff like that, Mike, you sound the age you actually are, not how you look!” she told him wrapping her arms around Lucas’ waist. “How old was your niece back… well, how old is she? She never explained anything to you?”

Mike thought for a moment, ignoring Dustin drunkenly yelling for him to go one way. He did go that way, but he clearly had already made his decision.

Max and Dustin were taking sides – Max on Lucas’, Dustin on Mike’s.

“She was ten last I saw her,” Mike said, his tone a touch glum. “Too young for the internet, her grandpa had been fighting for her to wait. My sister-in-law always said no too.”

“When I’m sober and not dying over a hangover, I’ll show you some tutorial videos,” Max said to a laugh from Mike.

“Thanks, Max, I definitely need this knowledge stuck in the space between life and death,” Mike joked, shaking his head happily. “Now if you don’t mind, I have someone to beat at Mario Party.”

Lucas wandered into his parents kitchen the next morning, awake before Max and Dustin, yawning as his father stood at the stove. He was flipping bacon and eggs, as well as cooking his signature hash browns in another pan. Lucas knew the smell immediately; Charles added a few extra ingredients that you’d never find at McDonalds.

He turned hearing Lucas pull out a chair, the legs scrapping against the floor.

“Lucas! Good morning, son,” he said cheerfully, turning back to the stove. “Last day here, I’m guessing?”

Lucas yawned, leaning his elbow on the table, his hand supporting his cheek. “Maybe. Max had a lot to drink at the engagement party last night, and Dustin had a few to drink while waiting for us. We might spend another night here so I’m not left to all the driving.”

“Smart,” Charles quipped, flipping another egg. “It’s sad Dustin didn’t go, but after the concert, I’m not surprised he didn’t. It was nice seeing Jermaine yesterday, he visits sometimes, bringing those amazing cookies his sister bakes.”

Lucas perked up a little at that. “Cookies? Yasmine made some?”

Charles laughed at that, leaving the stove for a moment to get a plate out of the fridge, covered in a clean dish cloth. “Your mom guessed you might like some when you got here, so…”

He placed the plate down, taking the cloth off. He went back to the stove as Lucas snatched up Jermaine’s sister’s famous chocolate chip and raisin cookies. She was a fantastic baker, Yasmine; he had half a mind to text Jay and ask if he could introduce Trucy to Yasmine.

Lucas had to resist scarfing them down in one sitting, putting the cloth back over them. “I’ll grab a container from the rv later, before I eat them all,” he said through a mouthful of cookie. Charles laughed, grabbing a clean plate and piling it with two eggs, three slices of bacon, and three of his hash browns.

A breakfast tray was set next to the sink. It had a vase with flowers in it, from Lucas’ mom’s garden, and a steaming cup of coffee. Charles set the place on it, as well as a bowl of cup up fruit. He turned to Lucas.

“Can you take this to your mom while I finish up breakfast for you, your sister, and your friends?” he asked, still smiling, his moustache twitching. “I’m sure she’ll appreciate it.”

Lucas nodded, wiping away cookie crumbs as he stood up quickly. “Sure! Here, I’ll go see her.”

“I appreciate it, Lucas,” Charles smiled as Lucas picked up the tray. “Let her know I love her and I’ll be in after I feed the army.”

Lucas rolled his eyes, grinning. “Sure thing, Dad, I’ll be back soon.” He left the room, heading to the stairs and up to the second floor. He passed Erica’s room, her door open, sitting at her dressing table as she carefully arranged her box braids into a high ponytail, securing it in place. She was singing along with a playlist, not noticing Lucas passing.

The door to his parents room was also open. The house was bright and airy, taking in the early summer morning before it got too hot. Lucas, Dustin, and Max didn’t fight when Lucas’ parents gave them decorating their advice for their rv, supplying a few things too.

None of them complained. They had utilised as much space as they could, with Lucas and Max sleeping on one end of the rv and Dustin down the other end. Dustin had done the majority of kitting out the rv, but they still got their decorating advice from their parents, Dustin just made sure it all stayed in place.

Lucas’ mom, Sue, was sitting up in bed, her silk bonnet still on as she watched a show on Netflix. Her smile brightened her face as Lucas walked on, holding up the breakfast tray. He walked over, setting it across her lap, and she took a deep breath.

“I could smell your dad’s cooking from here,” she smiled, taking a sip of her coffee. “He makes everything just the way I like it.” She gave Lucas a momentary stink eye as he sat next to her on the edge of her bed. “I just hope you’re treating Maxine well, Lucas. She is a good girl, and I’ve never seen you happier.”

“She prefers Max, remember, Mom?” Lucas reminded her. Sue nodded, picking up her knife and fork.

“Yes, sorry, Max,” she apologised quickly. “And that girl Dustin was seeing? Trucy?”

Lucas let out a huff, nodding. “They’re having a few… issues right now, Mom. I don’t really know how to help.” He hated seeing Dustin without Trucy and Mike without Will – they missed someone they cared about dearly, maybe the person they cared about in the world.

Sue was quiet for a few moments, putting a forkful of bacon, egg, and hash brown in her mouth. Lucas didn’t mind; the tv was still playing, and he could hear Erica singing down the hall. He felt younger, before he’d moved to LA to live with Dustin and Max. If he listened carefully, he could hear his dad crooning along with whatever was on the radio.

“Maybe you can’t,” Sue interrupted his thoughts. “Maybe this is something Dustin and Trucy need to sort out themselves, no matter how much you want to help. All Dustin can do is see how you and Max interact, and maybe it will inspire him.”

She was right, of course. Sue was always right.

Lucas sighed, flopping back across her knees, being careful not to hit the tray. He felt Sue’s hand over his hair, making him feel much younger, comforting him. He sighed, opening his eyes and staring at the ceiling.

“...I’m trying not to worry. Our last place we went to has been… interesting. Things are a lot more complicated than I thought they would be,” Lucas couldn’t help admitting as he heard footsteps. Charles came into the room, climbing onto the other side of the bed as Lucas heard Erica yelling out the front door to him, Max, and Dustin.

“Interesting how?” Sue asked, sharing a glance with Charles. “We saw your last video, and we thought it was a bit odd too. Did something happen? Nothing happened to you or Erica, right?”

Lucas shook his head. “No, nothing like that. I’m just… I have so many questions. Things aren’t what we thought. Everything we thought in our profession, everything else we’ve seen online, everything else we’ve seen other people encounter… None of it seems to matter, it all seems completely irrelevant.”

He sat up so abruptly that he startled his parents. “I don’t… I don’t…” Lucas stood up, pacing the space around his parents bed, Charles pausing Netflix as he went. They just watched, waiting patiently. Hearing Max and Dustin downstairs, both sounding annoyed but relieved, and Lucas went to close the door only for Erica to appear.

She was surprised to find Lucas there, frowning.

“Is… everything okay?” she asked slowly, stepping into the room and closing the door behind her. Lucas stared at her, then back at their parents, and resumed his pacing.

“I don’t know what to do,” Lucas found himself blurting out, unable to hold himself back. “I’m questioning everything. My job, my entire livelihood, life and death, whether there’s a place beyond, if it’s possible for someone to become stuck…”

“Lucas…” Erica started to say, knowing what he was talking about, but he was on a roll. Ever since yesterday, seeing Patrick’s grave, Mike talking about Will…

He had to keep Mike under wraps, but everything else was harder.

“What if there was a possibility Patrick could come back? Just for a little while?” he asked, so abruptly that Erica recoiled and his parents stared at him, too stunned to say anything. “Not just Patrick, but Eddie, and even Billy too? Just so Max could have peace of mind?”

There it was. The one thing Lucas couldn’t stop thinking about since he had met Mike. He knew Erica had an idea, and that Max and Dustin had been thinking the same thing, but he hadn’t been able to stop thinking it. To stop it from repeating in his head, over and over.

Less than a week, and this was haunting him. Even the ghost in his rv wasn’t haunting him like this was.

He fell, covering his head from people almost kicking him. Lucas looked up, through the crowd.

“Lucas… what is bringing this on?” Sue asked slowly.

“Lucas!” He heard a voice calling out as he spotted him, lying on the ground.

“Nothing… everything… nothing!” Lucas burst out, trying to control his thinking.

He was lying on the ground, the blood around his head, staring at nothing…

“Lucas!”

Erica’s voice brought Lucas back. He stopped to stare at her, breathing hard, and she saw the recognition cross over her face. She’d seen this look on his face before, and Lucas didn’t like that he was making Erica remember what had happened at the concert.

He closed his eyes, taking a few deep breaths as Erica stepped forward and hugged him tightly. He hugged her back, closing his eyes, even though all he could see was Patrick lying on the ground, not moving, hearing the screaming in his ears.

Sue asked the one question Lucas did not want, and could not, answer.

“Lucas… what’s going on? What’s this about Patrick? Eddie and Billy?” She sounded worried, and a little scared. Lucas opened his eyes to see Charles take Sue’s hand, giving it a squeeze, and her a meaningful look.

Erica took a step back, nodding at Lucas, tears swimming in her eyes. Lucas took a deep breath, letting go of Erica and walking around her to sit back where he was before next to Sue.

“Mom… Dad… I… I need to tell you about something.”

The looks on Max and Dustin’s faces when they sat outside with Lucas, Erica, and Mike that night could have sent Lucas to the hospital. They had decided to leave that day, at least getting to the first rest stop, and since they were the only ones there, Mike could go outside.

“You… you told them?!” Dustin struggled to get out. “You told them about Patrick, Eddie, and Billy? In detail?!”

Max was angrier than Lucas had ever seen her. She stood up so abruptly that she shook the table, knocking over Erica’s water.

“You had no right to tell them! NO RIGHT, STALKER!” she yelled, clenching her fists, slamming them on the table. “No one knew about Patrick, Eddie, and Billy, NO ONE, except us!” She stormed off to the rv, slamming the door behind her.

Dustin glared back at Lucas, shaking his head. “We’ll talk in the morning.” He followed Max onto the rv, also slamming the door, leaving Lucas with Erica and Mike.

Silence descended upon the three of them. Mike nervously looked back at Lucas.

“What… the hell was that?” he asked slowly, hesitantly. Lucas stood up.

“I have to talk to those two, now,” he said, taking the sock with Mike’s ring out of his pocket. “I need to talk to them alone. Is that okay, Erica?”

The look on Erica’s face said it was not okay, but she nodded, sighing. “I’ll do it.”

“What’s going on? What’s happening?” Mike demanded, now furious, but Lucas closed the door to the rv before Mike could touch him and electrocute him, stopping him.

He, Max, and Dustin needed to talk, now. Before they continued with finding Mike’s family.

Chapter Text

Chapter Eight – As Blue As Can Be

The door to the tech room slammed just as Lucas climbed onto the rv, leaving Erica and Mike outside. He sighed, running a hand over his hair. He knew he should have spoken to Max and Dustin first about this, but it had sort of just spilled out to his parents, who he could usually talk to things about.

Max didn’t have that relationship with either of her parents, and Dustin didn’t talk to his mom all that often. Lucas couldn’t leave this though – he knew if he didn’t talk now, it’d cause more damage than good.

And even his parents had told him that he had to talk to Max and Dustin about what happened. About Patrick, Eddie, and Billy all dying in the same accident. The nightmares; the self-blame; Lucas, at one point, obsessively visiting Patrick’s grave.

He hadn’t wanted this for maybe another ten years. The thought of it, the thought of talking to the two people heavily affected by that night as well as himself was too much. But he had to. He’d never seen Max so angry at him, and he and Dustin rarely fought.

He tapped on the tech room door, hearing Dustin hush Max. Lucas shuffled his feet, before timidly calling out, “Can I come in?”

“Go away, stalker,” Max said immediately. The name calmed Lucas a little – she was angry, but she didn’t hate him. He put his hand against the door, sighing.

“Please? Even my parents told me that I need to talk to you guys about… That I need to talk to you two,” he quickly changed course, not wanting to piss off Max even more. “And I’ve been wanting to, I just didn’t know how to start, and I can’t even wrap my head around how I feel about what happened. Please, let me in, guys.”

A few more seconds of silence passed – Lucas heard Erica turning on music outside – and finally the door slid open, revealing Dustin.

“Fine,” he hissed as Lucas sighed in relief. “We’ll talk.”

Lucas swallowed heavily to the point it hurt. A pit formed in his stomach, and he clenched his fists. Max was sitting in one of the bean bags, arms crossed, glaring at him. He took a deep breath, stepping into the tech room and sliding the door closed behind him.

Indianapolis, 2017. Lucas, age 17

Lucas ran down the school hallway, knocking into another student and sending their books flying. He skidded to a halt, turning quickly to kneel down and help them.

“Sorry, sorry!” he apologised quickly, handing the books to the guy. “I was in a hurry, I didn’t mean to! Nothing’s damaged?”

The student shook his head, so Lucas flashed him a thumbs up and was on his feet again, hurrying back down the hallway. Max was waiting for him, and he didn’t care if anyone called him a simp – Lucas Sinclair was down bad for Max Mayfield.

He slowed when he turned the corner and spotted Patrick hovering outside the music room, a goofy smile on his face. He knew that smile; Patrick was listening to Kim Chau Lam, member of the school choir, practising in the music room.

“Patrick, you’ve got no chance,” Lucas teased, making Patrick jump as he approached. He nudged Patrick in the ribs. “She’s been with Spike since middle school, you’d be hard pressed to find any two people more suited for each other… well, except for me and Max.”

Patrick shushed him, peeking into the music room. Lucas looked over his shoulder, spotting Kim standing in the middle of the room, her back to them as she read lyrics from her phone. She was practising for the charity benefit concert later this weekend, and chose a song that made a lot of people raise their eyebrows.

‘Dream A Little Dream Of Me’, a song that was like a hundred years old. For someone as hardcore goth as Kim, it was an odd choice, but she had a soft spot for the oldies. She sung them well too; Lucas remembered when Fallout 4 came out and Kim was belting the songs from Diamond City Radio in that frequently.

She and her boyfriend, Spike, were popular. Lucas didn’t know them all that well, especially since Spike had dropped out his senior year, but he was good friends with Eddie, which was good enough for Lucas.

“I might have a chance,” Patrick whispered back, worried Kim would hear. “She and Spike are… what do you call it… poly-amorous? They’ve been with that Angela girl for a while.”

Lucas glanced at Kim again. Though the door was shut, he could hear her well enough. “Yeah, but Angela is as weird as they are. I can’t explain it, but they’re in their own world. It’s hard to get to and you know it.”

Patrick sighed, nodding. If he got into Spike’s crowd, he might lose his scholarship that he got for college. Spike was cool a great guy, but he hung out with some dodgy people, Eddie being one of them. Lucas was nearly knocked back when Kim turned to the door and Patrick dodged out of sight.

His eyes were wide as he stared at Lucas. “Do you think she saw me?”

Lucas didn’t even answer the question as Kim opened the door, sticking her head out to smile at them. “You can just come in, you know. A lot less creepy than hanging out here.” She laughed as Patrick looked like he wanted the ground to open up and swallow him. She flipped her long black hair over her shoulder, going back inside, leaving the door open.

“Alright, you stay here, I’m gonna go find Max,” Lucas said. “Don’t weird her out, man, she’s just a person. I’ll see you at practise later.”

“See you, man,” Patrick said, grinning as he clapped Lucas on the shoulder and went into the music room. Lucas walked off into the students milling about. He passed the robotics club, seeing Dustin through the open door, absorbed in his work.

Lucas would text him later, he decided as he headed down the stairs and toward the main doors, stepping outside into the bright sunlight. Max was alone, skating around as she usually did when she had free time, and Lucas couldn’t help just watching her for a few moments.

She’d left her hair out today, the red shining in the sunlight. They’d been on and off since middle school, but now, they’d been official a little over a year. Lucas was sure this was it. He’d gone back into battle every time she dumped him and won her back every single time.

Max looked up, spotting him and smiling herself. “Get over here, stalker!” she called out, stopping and stomping on the back of her skateboard so she could grab it. Lucas wasted no time; he almost tripped over himself hurrying down the steps, Max laughing, and she dropped her skateboard as she grabbed the front of Lucas’ jacket, kissing him.

”Are you sleeping over tonight?” she asked when they pulled apart, still smiling. Max was doing well these days; things had calmed down at home since Billy had moved out, and her Spanish grade was coming up. She was aceing in P.E, wiping both Lucas and Dustin out of the park, even though Lucas was on the basketball team.

“Of course,” he assured her, gently threading his fingers through her hair. “Dustin’s only gonna be there for when we do the zoom call with Trucy, then he’s gonna head home.”

Max nodded, deflating slightly. “I miss Trucy, I wish she lived closer. She was so cool, and makes the best blueberry muffins I have ever eaten.”

Lucas thought for a moment, kissing the tip of Max’s nose. “Maybe she could stay over the summer for a week. Dustin’s missing her as much as you are, but that’s because he has a huge crush on her.”

Max laughed, kissing Lucas again. He was completely oblivious to everything around him, even though a group of freshman passed them scowling at their PDA.

“He really does, but she likes him too,” she confirmed Lucas’ suspicions, nodding as he gasped. “She really likes Dustin. I found out after she dumped that loser boyfriend of hers.”

“Oh, he was the worst.” Lucas rolled his eyes. “I thought he was gonna talk her out of baking school, but thankfully he didn’t.” He kissed Max, cutting off what she was about to say. “But back to more important things.”

Giggling, Max wrapped her arms around him, and Lucas only just faintly heard one of the freshman yell, “Get a room!”

“You really aren’t gonna go now?” Patrick asked as Lucas leaned over his desk, shaking his head.

“I can’t, Patrick, I have to get at least half of this essay done before my mom even lets me go,” Lucas told him for the millionth time, spinning in his desk chair. “I’m almost there; it’s not really a difficult subject, just something I’m stuck on, then I’ll get Erica and we’’ll be there.”

“Anything we can help with?” Jermaine asked from where he sat on the edge of Lucas’ bed, tossing a basketball up and catching it.

“Nah. I’m in advanced classes, I’ve got this covered,” Lucas said. “I appreciate the offer, Jay, but I really wanna go to MIT with Dustin, we have to focus.”

Patrick leaned over Lucas’ shoulder, minimising the document so he could click into Lucas’ spotify and pick some music. “There. Music always helps me, and listen to the same music when you take the exam, helps you remember.”

Lucas raised his eyebrows. “Where’d you hear that?”

“Chrissy always does it,” Patrick explained, quickly reaching out and snatching the ball from Jermaine. “She’s acing History with that technique. Read it somewhere on the internet, do you ever check Instagram?”

Lucas groaned, his head falling back. “Of course I do. Since Dustin and I decided to start our YouTube channel together, we did everything, made a new insta, tiktok, even a Facebook page but that’s my mom could follow.”

“Do you use your personal anymore?” Jermaine asked, trying to get the ball back in the narrow space of Lucas’ room. Grinning, Patrick tossed it back, and Jermaine set it back by Lucas’ bookshelf where it usually sat. “That’s where your friends are, you only follow brands and other YouTubers on your channel one.”

Lucas gave up. “I don’t, not really. Max and Erica will shoot me a link if they see anything I’ll like, but really, Dustin and I barely use out personals anymore.” He let out a huff, leaning back in his chair. “As I said though, I’ll be late, and Erica’s not allowed to go without me. I’ll be there, but in like an hour or two. The concert ends at 2am anyway.”

“Did you hear Corroded Coffin’s playing?” Jermaine took his phone out of his pocket, tapping through it quickly. “Last minute addition, added yesterday.” He turned the screen to show Lucas and Patrick, showing Corroded Coffin’s instagram and the announcement they’d be performing at the charity.

Lucas let out a low whistle. “Heck yeah, Max loves their music. They’re pretty good.”

“Kim’s singing too,” Patrick added as Jermaine locked his phone and pocketed it. “She invited me to hang out after she sings! With her and Spike!”

He frowned when Lucas and Jermaine shared a withering look. “What?”

“Careful around Spike, Patrick,” Jermaine warned. “He’s a nice guy, but he’s caught up in some pretty wild stuff. You really don’t want to lose your chance at a scholarship, I heard his brother actually died because of the life they’re in.”

Lucas didn’t know that, his eyebrows raising. “Really? How?”

“Overdose.” Jermaine glanced at Lucas’ alarm clock for the time. “Spike dropped out not long after. I knew his brother, Rich, he was a nice guy, but really troubled. You could see it in his face all the time, there was something about him no one knew. Don’t think Spike knew either.”

“That’s awful,” Lucas said, and the three fell silent. Jermaine glanced at the clock again, giving his head a shake.

“Alright, we gotta head out if we’re gonna make it in time.” He gave Lucas a hug tight enough to lift him slightly out of his chair.

“Ouch! Jay, put me down!”

Jermaine dropped him, laughing. Patrick grinned at him, clapping Lucas on the back.

“Thanks for letting me know, man, it’s gonna be a good night!” he cheered, high-fiving Jermaine, and Lucas finally shooed them out of his room, laughing as he heard them jogging down the stairs. They called out goodbyes to his parents, and the front door slammed.

Lucas stood to close his bedroom door, then returned to his desk, cracking his knuckles as he sat.

“Alright,” he muttered to himself, finding his gaming headphones and putting them on, plugging them in so he could focus. The music cut everything out, and he found there was some truth to what Patrick had said – he was able to concentrate better.

He made sure the right tabs were open, the correct book was open to the correct pages on his left, and his notebook was next to him, pen at the ready. He had to get this half done so he could go meet Max and his friends.

Charles would be picking Erica up at eleven; she was only thirteen and their parents didn’t want her out too late. Lucas had strict instructions – no drinking, no accepting rides from strangers, making sure Max got home alright, not going near Billy Hargrove. That one was already a given; Lucas avoided him even when Billy still lived with Max.

He swivelled his pen between his fingers as he read what he needed to, picking out notes and writing them down, anything worth putting into this essay. He clicked through various articles, reports, accidentally gave himself a paper cut flipping through his textbook.

It was easy to concentrate like this, and he purposely kept the time covered up so he could focus without constantly checking. Erica, starting this weird mindfulness, self-help, and sleep hygiene stage, had taught him that constantly checking the time, especially when trying to sleep, helped nothing, and especially achieved nothing.

She had really settled into her status as nerd. Her current obsession was Steven Universe. Lucas liked the show too, but he would be happy to not hear the soundtrack over and over again.

Thankfully no Steven Universe songs in this playlist. Lucas tapped his pen lightly against his cheek as he read through the text book, turning the page carefully with his now band-aid-covered finger. He knew the outline of his essay, and that he was close to the halfway mark.

He didn’t realise his phone had begun buzzing non-stop. He’d left it on his bedside. Lucas looked back up at the screen, tapping away almost aggressively. The sky was darkening through the crack in his curtains, and he was beginning to worry he’d miss Corroded Coffin and Kim singing.

His phone buzzed off his bedside table, clattering on the wood floor and making him jump. He was almost halfway – maybe a paragraph or two – but he turned away. His phone buzzed again. Lucas took off his headphones and glanced at the times.

“Shit,” he cursed, nearly falling as he got up from his desk chair and running to his phone, scooping it up. He’d been working nearly two hours – maybe he’d been a little overzealous in making sure the essay was the best he could make it.

Missed messages, so many missed messages from what looked like a new group chat he’d been added to. Lucas unlocked his phone, his thumbs shaking as he tapped in the code, and went to the new message. His eyes widened at how many people were in the group.

Not just him, but Max, Dustin, Patrick, Eddie, Jermaine, Chrissy, Jason, Andy, Gareth, Chance, Kim, Spike, just about everyone in his, Dustin, and Max’s respective groups. He tried to read the incoming messages, but they were coming so fast.

Jermaine: Has anyone heard from Lucas?

Dustin: I’m trying to find Eddie, he was near the stage.

Chance: Just found Jason and Andy, we’re all fine.

Spike: Chrissy’s with us.

Kim: Did anyone see where Patrick went?

Gareth: I’ve got Jeff and Matt, one of the light fixtures fell on my drumset!

Spike: Chrissy’s hurt, we gotta get out of here, people are calling 911.

Jermaine: HAS ANYONE HEARD FROM LUCAS?

Lucas: I’m fine, I’m at home, what’s going on?!

Jermaine: The stage collapsed and a fire started, people are freaking out!

Lucas’ heart thundered, threatening to jump out of his mouth, and he stood properly, running to head downstairs quickly. Erica, annoyed but knowing his timing with assignments, was leaning by the front door, scrolling through tiktok. She looked up as he approached.

“There you are!” she said, pushing off the wall. “I’ve been waiting ages, what were you writing, the Declaration of Indepen-”

Lucas ignored her, grabbing his varsity jacket and his car keys. Erica raised her eyebrows, following as he ran out to his car.

“That’s what you’re wearing?” she asked in disbelief as she climbed into the front passenger seat of Lucas’ car. “It’s not a pep rally, Lucas- hey!”

Lucas still wasn’t speaking, his mind racing as his tires squealed, looking over his shoulder as he peeled out of the driveway and swivelling onto the road. Erica, who normally would be setting up the aux cord now, grabbed the seat in fright.

“Lucas, what the hell?!”

“I told him about tonight,” was all Lucas could mumble, feeling cold creeping through his bones, down his spine, arms, and legs. “I told Patrick that the concert was happening tonight.”

His phone was buzzing insistently in the centre console. He couldn’t think straight; Chrissy was hurt, a fire had broken out, other people were injured…

And he’d told Patrick to go tonight. Lucas had been the one to tell him. He couldn’t shake from that thought, even though Max and Dustin were there.

“Can you check to see if Patrick and Max responded to the group chat?” he blurted out, telling Erica his passcode. Alarmed, Erica picked up his phone and checked for him.

“Yeah, Max responded… Oh my god, there’s a fire? The stage collapsed?” The screen illuminated her face as she read, trying to absorb it like Lucas had tried before. “Lucas, what’s going on? Max says she’s with Dustin-”

“Patrick!” Lucas cut across her, nearly breaking the speed limit. “Has Patrick said anything?! Has anyone said anything about him?!”

Erica was reading as quickly as she could, shaking her head. “Nothing, Jermaine’s asking if anyone’s seen him. Spike said police have shown up, but they’re still waiting on ambulance and fire.”

Lucas eased on the gas just a bit more, his heart pounding, his head pounding, his mind and his blood racing. Patrick… He’d told Patrick about tonight.

“I told Patrick about the concert,” he said, almost mumbling. Erica looked at him. “I told him to come along. He wanted to see Kim sing. I told him. I told him.”

“He’s…” Erica’s voice was shaking. “He’s probably fine, Lucas, we’ll get there and he’ll be-”

She got cut off again as Lucas swerved around another corner, sending Erica into the door. They were getting close to the venue – it had been set up in the outdoor amphitheatre. He’d seen the photos – lights set up everywhere, a makeshift dancefloor, areas to get food and drink. It was supposed to be a good, fun night, raising money and awareness for charity.

And he’d sent Patrick right to it.

The blue and red flashing lights of police cars soon appeared, and Lucas pulled over in a side street, not even bothering to park properly. He could hear the screams; people trying to get out, but there had only been one entrance and one exit set up.

He took his phone back from Erica, and he was out, not even bothering to shut the door as he made his way into the throng.

“Lucas!” he heard Erica calling out. “Wait!”

He couldn’t, checking his messages again. Everyone had been found except Patrick and Eddie. The team were searching for Patrick, while Dustin, Spike, and Kim were looking for Eddie. Max had asked if anyone had seen Billy, and to stay away from him.

He could hear police on a megaphone, trying to urge the panicking audience to remain calm and to leave in an orderly fashion. No one listened; Lucas nearly lost his phone as people pushed into him from all sides. Nearly everyone in town had shown up for this, and they’d only set up one entrance and one exit.

“Lucas!” Erica’s voice called distantly, but he tapped his phone to call Patrick; straight to voicemail. He tried again, Patrick’s cheery voice saying to leave a message and he’d get back later. Lucas cursed, Erica’s voice closer now as he pocketed his phone again.

The fire was spreading from behind the stage, where some lights and beams had fallen. The smoke was thick, floating into the sky. Lucas struggled to stay upright.

“Patrick!” he called out helplessly, turning, searching in every direction. “Patrick!”

He told Patrick about the concert, recommended it to him, even insisted Patrick go. He would never have said anything if he’d known something so dangerous would happen. He heard crying; the amphitheatre was beginning to fall, and he started seeing people lying on the ground.

Shit, would this turn into a crowd crush? He’d heard something, probably from Eddie, about how crap the organisation of this concert was. The advertising was brilliant, done by the performers themselves, especially the ones with a following. Lucas did not want to get caught up in this, and he quickly looked around for Erica.

He could just see her over the crowd. She was in a less populated spot, thank goodness, and as he panicked, the crowd was dispersing. Hopefully it wouldn’t result in a crowd crush. He still looked, hearing Erica calling his name as she tried to get closer.

Lucas was getting closer to the dance floor, passing one of the bars set up. The bartenders were getting the alcohol as far away from the fire as possible. Someone shoulder-checked Lucas right in the collarbone; he coughed, gasping, and found himself falling.

He quickly braced his fall, feeling an odd crunch in his left wrist, then covered his head, not wanting to get kicked.

“Lucas!” Erica was closer now, somewhere to his left.

Lucas cautiously lifted his head, peering through the sea of people’s legs, searching, his heart sinking every time he saw someone lying on the ground…

And his heart damn near stopped. Everything in him froze, and the world became far away. Lucas felt as though he was shooting to the end of the long tunnel, staring ahead at him lying on the ground. There was blood on his head, blood on the ground, two large beams behind him.

Lucas should never have told him. He should never have told Patrick to come.

It was his fault.

Groaning, ignoring the shooting pain in his left wrist, Lucas began army-crawling toward Patrick. His chest was painfully tight, like his heart was trying to strange itself in his chest.

“Lucas…”

Lucas blinked hard as hot tears pricked at the edges of his eyes. He crawled along, ignoring the occasional kicks, his eyes on Patrick. He had to get to him.

His fault.

“Lucas!”

Lucas couldn’t stop if he wanted to. He pushed forward as his lungs screamed, his heart ached, his mind hazy. Finally, he pulled himself up onto his hands and knees, crawling toward Patrick.

“Lucas!”

“No!”

Lucas finally reached Patrick, sitting back on his heels. God… There was so much blood, and from what? Lucas could hear someone shouting, feel a rumbling in the earth, as he reached out, taking Patrick’s hand. The rumbling increased as he carefully rolled Patrick onto his back, giving him a small shake.

“Lucas!”

Erica’s hand on his shoulder made Lucas realise the shouting was him. The rumbling was his body, shaking with sobs, his stomach dropping as far as it could go and feeling as though his heart was shattering. He clutched Patrick’s hand desperately with both his own, begging him to get up, to wake up, to open his eyes. He shook Patrick occasionally.

He felt Erica hugging him, her head on his shoulder, and she was crying too. She didn’t say anything as Lucas begged, pleaded with Patrick.

What had he done? His fault… All his fault. If he had never convinced Patrick to come…

A groaning of metal, followed by a bang that made Lucas and Erica jolt, looking up. Lucas heard a grunt, and a sound, a scream he never wanted to hear. It echoed around him, burrowing into his head, right into his very soul.

Max.

A desperate scream tore from her throat, and he saw what she did at the same time.

“BILLY!”

Seven deaths that night. Four of them Lucas didn’t know. Three of them he did.

Patrick McKinney, age 18.

Edward ‘Eddie’ Munson, age 20.

William ‘Billy’ Hargrove, age 18.

All seven deaths had been over eighteen, and listened online and in the paper. Dozens injured, mainly from falls and smoke inhalation. Three people arrested. Spike had gone into hiding following rumours he’d been openly doing drugs.

Dustin had a broken leg. Lucas had a broken wrist.

Lucas and Max had watched Billy standing in the wrong place, speared right through the chest and stomach by a falling light. Eddie had died in Dustin’s arms after taking a metal beam right to the left side of his chest. Patrick had died from a head injury on impact.

Only Eddie hadn’t died on impact. Billy was dead before he hit the ground, Max rushing to him.

Lucas didn’t want to move, to go anywhere. His wrist was in a cast – he had hauled himself out of bed, asking his dad to drive him to Max’s. He’d walked in, almost like he was floating along, and found Max in her bed, curled up wearing pyjama bottoms and one of his hoodies.

Dark circles were under her eyes, and her hair was frizzy, unwashed, in the same two braids for days. Lucas didn’t care. He’d simply lifted the cover, climbed into her bed, and curled his body around hers, wrapping his arms around her. She had her earbuds in, and Lucas had brought his regular headphones.

He’d listened to the song Kim had meant to sing, too scared to touch Corroded Coffin’s music. Any of Patrick’s favourite songs. He didn’t know what Max was listening to, all he knew was he played ‘Dream A Little Dream Of Me’ over and over until the lyrics were all he thought of.

Dustin had completely retreated, not answering his phone. Chrissy was distraught, still in hospital after losing Eddie, her best friend. Indianapolis was quiet; the school let students have time off. The team invited Lucas to be with them, but he never responded.

Sometimes, he would hear Max’s mom and stepdad arguing, and he’d turn his music up to drown them out. Sometimes, Max cried. Sometimes, he cried. Other times, they cried together.

Most of the time, they slept. As the fights between Max’s mom and stepdad got worse, Lucas moved them to his place. Charles and Sue welcomed Max in, having no objections with her staying in Lucas’ room right now.

Charles hovered more than usual. Erica stayed shut up in her room. To Lucas, it felt as though the world had stopped. Their world had, why couldn’t the rest of it?

He knew Max hated Billy, and she was reacting the way she was because she had once confessed to Lucas that she wished, with all her heart, that something would happen to Billy to make him leave her alone, to make him go away. She had wanted something to happen to him.

Eddie had died in Dustin’s arms. The one time Dustin had come round, at the insistence of his mother, he whispered that he couldn’t get Eddie’s face out of his mind, the blood pooling in his mouth, and Eddie’s last words.

I love you, man.

The news called it a freak accident. Safety checks hadn’t been done, appropriate barriers hadn’t been set up, and there weren’t enough emergency personnel on hand. Seven unnecessary, completely avoidable deaths. Billy apparently wasn’t even supposed to be there – he’d gone at the last second.

But Lucas had insisted that Patrick go. It was going to be a good night; if Lucas hadn’t procrastinated so much, he would have gone with Patrick and Jermaine. Things might be different. Patrick might still be alive, if Lucas had gone along right at the beginning or never said Patrick should go.

It was Lucas’ fault that Patrick was gone. He hugged Max tighter, burying his face in her hair as hot tears dripped down his cheeks.

Lucas…

He couldn’t stop ruminating on it. If he had never told Patrick, if he had never said anything…

Lucas, please, listen…

If only he could say he was sorry. Apologise. Turn back the clock and stop Patrick from going. Stop himself from going. Stop everyone from going.

Lucas!

Indianapolis, Present Day. Lucas, age 21

Lucas blinked, looking up, feeling those hot tears on his cheeks. Max and Dustin were staring at him with wide eyes. Max had been crying; Dustin looked like he wasn’t far behind her.

Giving a small cough, Lucas wiped his eyes. He heard one of the bean bags shuffling, and looked up as Max approached, hugging him tightly. He hugged her back, smelling her shampoo, her deodorant, everything that made her Max now.

Max, who had been attending online therapy for two years now. Thrown herself into her camera work, researching film making and editing. Going through their comments. Max, who was every part of ‘The Ranger and The Bard’ as Lucas and Dustin were.

She pulled back, glaring at him. “You idiot, stalker… It wasn’t your fault what happened to Patrick. It wasn’t anyone’s fault except the event organisers, they told us that.”

“You’ve been… you’ve been blaming yourself all this time?” Dustin asked weakly behind Max. “Dude…”

“I can’t help it,” Lucas wept, his shoulders shaking. “I can’t stop thinking if I hadn’t told him, he’d still be here.”

Max and Dustin were quiet at that. Max sat on Lucas’ lap, wrapping her arms around him and resting her head on his shoulder. Lucas wrapped his arms around her waist.

“I keep feeling like if I hadn’t wished so much for something to happen to Billy, he’d still be here,” she whispered, unable to look at Lucas or Dustin.

“...If Eddie hadn’t pushed me out of the way…” Dustin trailed off, unable to finish his sentence. They fell into silence.

Max and Dustin weren’t mad anymore, not after Lucas’ explanation. They were revealing how they felt, their own grief… Lucas’ heart ached. It ached in a different way to when he’d seen Patrick lying on the ground, but it ached all the same.

“Do you think we looked for ghosts so much because if we managed to find one, maybe we’d be able to see them again?” Dustin asked after another long bout of silence, and his question surprised Lucas. Clearly, after finding Mike, the same question had been on Dustin and Max’s minds.

“Maybe,” Lucas admitted. “I really like the adventure, and the history, but I guess some part of me did want some way… Even though I don’t think there really is. Something about Mike is different to what you wold normally expect from ghosts… I’m not sure we could bring Patrick, Eddie, or Billy back the way Mike is now.”

Silence again. It was almost stifling; Lucas shifted Max slightly so he could breathe easier. He closed his eyes, trying to imagine Patrick back as a ghost like Mike, but it was near impossible. Mike himself was barely believable… It was too much to hope for Patrick. To say he was sorry.

The blue light didn’t surprise Lucas now, shining against his eyelids. He opened his eyes to see Mike had come in, standing near the door, looking between the three of them. From his expression, Lucas knew that Mike had heard everything.

Mike took a deep breath.

“I know… I know it’s not the same, but I think I know someone who might be able to help you guys with what you’re feeling,” Mike said slowly, cautiously, clearly choosing his words carefully. “I’m pretty sure she can help. She was always strong, practically… practically a superhero.”

Lucas frowned at that. Mike was describing this woman in a strange way.

“Who?” Max asked, sitting up as she looked back at Mike. He sighed.

“Remember, I wasn’t the only one in that car crash. My sister-in-law and my niece were there too, and they survived. El… I think she can help. She might be the only person who can help with what you three are going through.”

Dustin was sitting up straighter now, giving his face a quick scrub before hauling himself up and heading to the laptop. He opened it, tapping in the password and clicking through to maps. Lucas and Max watched as Dustin looked up at Mike.

“You’re saying she might not only be able to help you, but us too?” he asked, a sharp edge to his tone.

Mike hesitated a beat, then nodded. Dustin gave a single firm nod.

“Okay. Tell me what her address is. We’re going to find your sister-in-law El, and see if she can really help us like you claim she can.”

Chapter Text

Chapter Nine – Home & Dreams, Steel & Beams

Lucas sat alone in the tech room, leaning back in one of the beanbags as he watched YouTube. Max was driving. A risky move, but Dustin was asleep and Lucas wasn’t in the mood. Mike and Erica were with her, and he could hear their distant laughter as Max and Erica sang along with the radio.

He was watching the video on the time he and Dustin went to a castle in England with suspected activity, their first international ghost hunt. Max had wanted to go to Thailand, where there were some truly terrifying haunted places, but Lucas and Dustin chickened out before she could book the flights.

Lucas sighed, resting his chin in his hand. They’d been so excited, looking into history and the area surrounding the castle while Max took care of flights, booking a rental van, and finding places where they could sleep in the van.

At the time, they’d had a much small van back in the states, barely big enough for the three of them; Dustin usually slept in a tent on clear nights while Lucas and Max took the van. They did a lot of recording on their phones and the one handheld camera Max had, and they did struggle while also doing university online. They went on hiatus for covid, but that had been about a year and they all lived together anyway.

Lucas watched as nineteen year old him and Dustin stood under an arched doorway, talking to the camera as Lucas relayed the history of this castle, and how one corridor toward the dungeon was perhaps the most haunted part of the building. People reported seeing shadows, hearing footsteps, and finding things moved.

“One man even said he heard whispers, and what sounded like someone saying “It’s too dark”,” Lucas onscreen said. “Let’s see if we can talk to whoever said that…”

Lucas sighed. This had gotten so complicated since they’d found Mike. His entire perspective on his very livelihood had changed in the blink of an eye, finding Mike. Before, the ghosts were mainly nameless, just spirits that stuck around and haunted areas, providing good stories and scary tales. They’d never found anything, and it had seemed harmless.

But Mike was real. He was a real person who had died. His situation was different – he didn’t haunt where he’d died, nor did he look the age he died or bore any of the injures he’d like incurred at the time of death – but je was still a ghost.

As Lucas kept watching, he let out a huff. Part of him wished he could go back to this time, to just keep investigating Hawkins without finding Mike.

But if they had never found Mike, he likely would have been trapped in that attic forever. He would be stuck, never be able to pass on. Dustin theorised that if Mike was around too long, he would likely go mad.

That was a terrifying thought. Lucas didn’t want to ditch Mike. They’d found him, and now they were on their way to his sister-in-law’s place. El. She and her daughter had survived the crash, Mike believed, but he gave no information on his niece.

Lucas didn’t blame him – his niece had been ten at the time, and Mike didn’t want the past being drudged up for her. He didn’t even know where she was, and he was guessing that El still lived in the house she’d been raising her daughter in.

There was a sliding noise – the door to Dustin’s bunk opened, and he crawled out, yawning. “Hey, man, what are you doing?” he asked groggily. Lucas waited as Dustin grabbed a Mountain Dew from the mini fridge under the desk and sat in the beanbag next to Lucas. He cracked open the drink, and stopped before taking a sip as he saw what Lucas was watching.

“Oh,” he said softly, lowering his drink. “Our first ghost hunt overseas.” Despite everything, Dustin smiled, finally taking a drink. “That was a great trip. Though Max could have toned down the amount of times she sentenced me to the Tower of London every time I made a bad joke.”

Lucas laughed as he clicked onto another video – a trip to Australia. They’d ended up staying in Australia for three months. They’d gone to a few haunted places, but it turned into a temporary travel blog and urban exploring of abandoned places. It had been a great three months, and Max had been on camera a lot, doing skateboard tricks in some of the abandoned places.

Surprisingly, that series had turned out to be one of their most popular. Erica brought up at least three times a week that people were asking when they’d do another series like it. With Mike and the mystery of Hawkins now, it had to stay in the ideas bin. Maybe after, but they still didn’t know how to help Mike pass over just yet.

Hopefully, El would have a few ideas. Mike said there were things only El could tell them, which maybe everything more intriguing.

Lucas ran his hands over his face. He hauled himself up and sat in front of the computer screens, tugging the laptop over. He turned it on, hearing Dustin get up to stand behind him, watching as Lucas checked the two editing files he had open on two of the screens. He sat back, his eyes flicking between the two screens.

“I… made two versions,” Lucas said, clicking out of the files to find the videos he’d rendered. Dustin leaned over as Lucas clicked the longer one. It ran through their intro, then showed them walking up the steps to the Creel House the second time.

Lucas sucked in a sharp breath through his teeth, the cold air making his teeth ache. It had felt so long since they had been at the Creel house, when it had only been a week. Sleeping in Henry’s room, meeting Mike… Lucas glanced at Mike’s ring, still on the sock on top of printer, glinting from the light from the tv.

“This version has Mike in it?” Dustin interrupted Lucas’ thoughts. He turned back: Dustin was leaning over him now, clicking t certain parts of the video. “Why two versions?”

Lucas grimaced. “I wasn’t sure… Meeting Mike has changed everything. Ghosts exist, and we have one on camera. But Mike lived. It feels weird uploading footage of him when we’re still figuring out what happened to him, especially uploading it without his consent.”

The look on Dustin’s face let Lucas know he understood. Dustin let out a breath, blowing up the curl above his forehead.

“Dammit. Our morals go against silence and our jobs again,” Dustin muttered, crossing his arms. “I was thinking we’d just upload all of it… How does the one without him end?”

“On a cliffhanger,” Lucas supplied, opening the shorter file. This video was shorter by about ten minutes. “We see the blue light when we go upstairs, then it cuts to Erica asking her rapid twenty questions. We hear Mike answer them, then the camera goes blank.”

He showed Dustin, rolling the chair aside slightly. Dustin watched the ending, his eyebrows rising as circled Erica onscreen snapped at them, “Just getting the facts!”

He smiled when the credits rolled, nodding.

“That’s perfect until we sort all this out and get Mike’s okay with posting the longer one,” Dustin said, flopping back into his beanbag and grabbing one of the xbox controllers, clicking out of YouTube. “Upload away!”

Finally satisfied with his work, Lucas shot down the open windows and brought up YouTube. He uploaded it, copy-pasting their usual descriptions into the description box, opening it with a message saying hello and welcome back to the Creel house. He ended it with thanks from their Patreons, and everyone who commented, subscribed, and kept up with their journeys.

He typed in the title, and settled back to wait for it to upload and process. He felt something tap against the back of his head.

“Hey,” Dustin, who had tapped Lucas on the back of the head with a controller, said, and Lucas looked over his shoulder at him.

“Hm?”

“Wanna play Split Fiction? I bought it and haven’t tried it yet, you said you wanted to try it,” Dustin said, holding out the controller. Lucas took it, swivelling the chair around and rolling it closer.

“Hell yeah, I’ve been wanting to play this for ages!” Lucas waited impatiently as Dustin loaded up the game, and they just accepted which character they would be, watching as the game started up.

Behind them, the video uploaded, a little slower than usual.

“I haven’t been here in so long,” Mike said, sitting on the step between the drivers seat and passenger seat. Max and Erica were behind him as Lucas drove, and Dustin sat in the passenger seat, Max’s phone in his hand as he directed Lucas.

“It’s changed so much, and in only ten years. Really feeling my age,” Mike muttered, massaging his chest. “My niece would be in college now… I wonder what she decided on in the end.”

“Left here at the lights,” Dustin said, pointing up ahead. Lucas had to stop for a minute, tapping the steering wheel as he waited for the lights to change. He glanced up at the sky, seeing the clouds forming. He pursed his lip as the light turned green and he eased on the gas, turning left.

“We’re a few streets away.” Dustin looked back at Mike. “Still familiar?”

Mike nodded. “Yeah, we’re not far. El wanted to be somewhere suburban to raise her daughter. Will and I lived further in the city, in an apartment, but I doubt Will stayed there after… after I was gone.”

“Is there anything about El’s partner or husband? Her baby daddy?” Max asked, and Dustin shot her a horrified look as Mike chuckled.

“No. We’re not really sure what happened with that. El just said she was going to have a baby, she had her baby, and that was it. No father. She raised her daughter alone, but had a lot of help from me and Will, their brother, and Nancy.”

“Nancy was involved?” Lucas asked as Dustin pointed left again, this time onto a street lined with houses. The van definitely stood out, but Mike had said there was a park not far down the street they could park next to.

“Yeah, she married Will’s brother not long after me and Will got married,” Mike said. “They didn’t want to get married until Will and I could, and even then we had a tiny window. Her and Jonathan had been together since the eighties, a little longer than Will and I.”

Lucas and Dustin shared a glance. A Jonathan married to a Nancy? Where had they heard that before?

“We’re almost there!” Mike’s hand appeared between them, pointing at an elementary school. “My niece went there. El’s around the corner. Hopefully she hasn’t moved, she might have, but maybe whoever lives there now know where she lives.”

“We could always get in touch with Nancy again,” Lucas said, following a sign pointing to the elementary school. “I think I still have her email buried somewhere. Would have been handy to know your sister is married to Will’s brother.”

Mike laughed. “I don’t want to many people involved. A lot of people were hurt back then, Nancy included. Her best friend died during what happened. I just think… Well, it’s bad enough we’re bringing up old news for El.”

“Do you want to see her?” Lucas asked the question he, Dustin, and Max had been ruminating on late at night after Erica brought it up. Mike was quiet for a few moments, pointing silently to the last street.

“I… I don’t know,” Mike whispered. Lucas drove down a quiet street, one not unlike the street Dustin had grown up one. Mike’s blue hand appeared again, pointing at a an empty park where people were walking their dogs.

Luycas pulled over, cutting the engine after straightening the van. They were all quiet as Mike remained silent, then he let out a slow breath.

“I just need to know she’s here first,” Mike whispered. “I just want to know she and my niece are alive first.”

Lucas nodded. Mike stood, backing up as Lucas and Dustin got up from their seats and stepped through to the back. Lucas grabbed his phone and his wallet, tucking them in the pockets of his varsity jacket.

“Ok. Erica will stay here with you while we check,” Lucas said, turning to Mike. “We’ll see if it’s El, and if it’s her, we’ll explain things, ok?”

Mike nodded as Max grabbed her phone from Dustin and Lucas tossed Erica the vans keys. He was frozen as Lucas, Dustin, and Max headed to the door.

“So we ask for Jane Hopper?” Max reiterated as Lucas opened the door. Mike nodded. “Alright. We’ll take it from here, Wheelie-boy.”

“Hey! Don’t-”

Mike was cut off as Max hopped off onto the grass, shutting the door behind her. Lucas shook out his arms, looking up at the sky.

“Anything about rain?” he asked Dustin. Dustin was adjusting his cap, and he took out his phone as the three went up to the footpath, walking along the side of the van to cross the street to the side El’s was on. Dustin tapped, scrolling for a moment, and shook his head.

“No, just clouds. End of summer, alright, we’re gonna be in for some heavy rain later this week,” Dustin told Lucas and Max, pocketing his phone again. “Gloomy weather after so long… I’m gonna miss it a bit.”

Lucas took a deep breath, looking about the neighbourhood. He’d grown up in an upper middle class street, while Dustin and Max had grown up in a place similar to this. He reached out to wrap his arm around Max’s shoulders as they crossed the street, keeping an eye out for house number 5.

It was a ways down, further than Mike had insinuated. Lucas stopped himself and Max in front of a brick house, very late nineties/early two thousands, the bricks painted yellow. The front garden was a little unkempt, but full of beautiful flowers. The entire front walkway was covered in small, childish paintings of flowers, planes, spaceships, dinosaurs, everything that a kid could dream of.

El’s daughter looked like she’d grown up in a happy home. Lucas hated walking up to the door; Max under his arm, clutching her Switch in one hand and her phone in the other, provided him strength. The three crowded on the front stoop.

Lucas glanced at Max, then at Dustin, nodding at him. Dustin raised his hand to the buzzer, which had a small name written under it in Sharpie.

Hopper.

Hopper.

Now that he was thinking about it, El’s last name was familiar too. Like he knew someone with that last name, someone close to them…

“Coming!” a voice called out inside. Dustin still had his hand raised as footsteps approached and the door swung open, revealing an all too familiar face, wearing a white crop top, a high-waisted pink skirt covered in flowers, and she wore no shoes.

She was smiling over her shoulder, a smile that faded to shock as she took in who stood on the front step. Lucas and Max’s eyes widened while Dustin’s mouth dropped opened.

“Trucy?!” he blurted, his hand shaking where he still held it up. “What are you doing here?”

“What am I doing here?” Trucy asked, and even with their shock, Lucas saw the way Trucy’s eyes fell on Dustin and stayed there. He and Max may have been chopped liver when it came to these two. “What are you doing here? All of you?”

“We’re here to see Jane Hopper,” Lucas told her, his voice dying as he realised, and it hit him hard as Trucy blinked those large brown eyes of hers at him.

“This is my Mama’s place. I grew up here. Why are you here?”

Trucy Hopper-Byers, 2011. Aged 10.

The sky was fittingly gray, like some of Trucy’s dinosaurs from Uncle Will. She stared up at the sky, her right arm in a sling, as her left clutched Mama’s arm tightly, afraid to let her go. Everything was scary now. Everyone around them seemed taller than usual, towering over Trucy, swallowing her up as people dressed in blacks and dark blues filled the hall.

Uncle Will was like the people in the shows Mama watched sometimes. He stared at nothing, wearing a suit with sleeves a little longer than his arms. Nana Joyce sat next to him with Uncle Jonathan on his other side, never leaving.

Trucy didn’t like looking at the coffin. It was ‘open coffin’, Uncle Jonathan told her. She didn’t like looking. It was bad enough after the bang, the car rolling forever, and Uncle Mike slumped against the window.

The crying she heard from Mama seemed scratched into her brain like one of Uncle Will’s charcoal drawings. Lights on the dashboard were lighting up, sounds beeping, as Mama shook Uncle Mike hard, begging him to wake up.

But he never did. Uncle Mike never woke up.

And now people were arriving to say goodbye. Grandma Karen, Papa Ted, Grandpa Jim, Aunty Nancy and Uncle Steve, Aunty Holly, Robin and Vickie, friends of Uncle Mike’s, some of his former students, people they used to know from Hawkins.

Trucy shifted closer to Mama. She felt younger than ten, feeling Mama’s arm around her, rubbing Trucy’s arm gently. Trucy looked up; Mama was looking down at her, tears in her eyes, but she had a comforting smile on her face.

Mama always made Trucy feel safe. Mama, with her brown eyes like Trucy’s, with her trying out new things every week, working odd hours so Trucy could be safe and happy. Mama, who sat Trucy down and told her as early she felt Trucy could understand bits of her past, the 011 tattoo on her arm that she’d had covered up with Trucy’s name and flowers.

Mama, who did everything for Trucy now she’d never had when she was Trucy’s age. Grandpa Jim had done his best, but he’d come too late.

Mama, who’d tried fighting off nurses in the hospital, screaming for Trucy, for Uncle Mike, for Grandpa Jim, but most of all, for Trucy.

“Where is my daughter?! Where is my Trucy?! Give her back! Give her back now!”

“Trucy, darling.”

Trucy didn’t let go as she turned. Grandpa Jim and Papa Ted had joined them, and Grandpa Jim put his hand on Trucy’s head.

“How’re you holding up, kiddo?” he asked, his deep voice rumbling calming Trucy a little. “A lotta people, right?”

“I brought this,” Papa Ted said, crouching down. “Here, if you want to play it. I kept what I could.”

Trucy looked down at what he was holding. A CD, with Uncle Mike’s name written on it. She knew Papa Ted was Uncle Mike’s biggest fan of his music, even if he didn’t show it. He gave Uncle Will a ‘run for his money’, as Robin said once, whatever that meant.

Trucy’s eyes filled with tears, and she pressed her face into Mama’s dress. She heard Papa Ted saying something as Grandpa Jim dragged him away, but she didn’t want to look anyway. She didn’t want to hear. She took in a deep breath, taking in Mama’s smell.

She felt Mama walking, taking Trucy with her. Trucy followed, keeping her eyes closed, until Mama pulled away and crouched to Trucy’s level. Trucy knew she was shorter than other kids her age, and she felt younger still as hot tears raced down her cheeks.

“It’s time to say goodbye to Uncle Mike, baby,” Mama whispered. Trucy shook her head, wiping her face.

“I don’t want to… I don’t want to!” she blubbered, shaking her head. “I want Uncle Mike to wake up! Why isn’t he waking up?!”

“Trucy…”

She felt Mama’s hands on her face as she cried harder. Mama’s hands were warm, soothing, despite her own sadness.

“Trucy, Uncle Mike would like to say goodbye. He loves you very much.”

Trucy kept crying, shaking hard, Mama’s hands on her cheeks as she sobbed loudly, not caring who saw or heard her. She knew she probably sounded like a much smaller kid, but she didn’t care as it all flooded out, and she wept like a baby.

Mama stayed, pulling Trucy into a tight hug. Trucy clutched her back, crying for her Uncle Mike, asking again and again why he didn’t wake up.

Trucy Hopper-Byers, Aged 16.

Trucy sighed, leaning against the register as she closed her eyes, thankful for a moments reprieve. Mama worked so hard, and now, Trucy had been working at this small store for a few months. Nana Joyce had been the most excited hearing where Trucy worked; she’d worked at a small store in Hawkins in the eighties, and now Trucy worked a similar job.

Mama hadn’t been happy when Trucy got a job. She’d gotten rarely angry, the lights flickering and the oven timer changing to wrong times as she’d paced in the kitchen, ranting about how Trucy should focus on school and her friends.

Uncle Will, who had lived with them for five years now, had been silent. Trucy had known he would talk to her in private, and he had. Apparently, Uncle Jonathan had started working at thirteen to provide for him, Will, and Nana Joyce.

Grandpa Jim showing up had meant a lot to them.

Trucy couldn’t help it. She wanted work experience, between her studies in baking and her friends. She liked her friends, sure… but Trucy always felt something was… missing. A hole had been left behind by Uncle Mike, all those years ago in the car crash, but that was Uncle Mike. This part…

She knew if he was still alive, he could help her figure it out. Uncle Mike was good like that, back then. He helped Trucy a lot with her homework, had long answers for simple questions, and was there for her almost as much as Mama.

He’d also just been cool. Uncle Will had been the only person to agree with her, but Uncle Mike was cool. She missed him a lot.

A Red Bull energy drink plonked down in front of Trucy, making her jump. She busied herself, mumbling an apology, only to look up at the girl’s words.

“No sweat, take your time. Gotta take a moment to breathe, y’know?”

Trucy looked up, surprised. Standing on the other side of the register was a girl, maybe a year older than her, with long red hair. She was wearing a green shirt, baggy jeans, and when Trucy got a peek, skate shoes. She had a skateboard under one arm, a phone and Nintendo 2DS clutched in her other hand.

Standing next to her was a tall black kid, wearing a shirt with a Green Lantern symbol and jeans the same shade as the girls. He had sneakers on, carrying a laptop bag, his arm slung around her. They definitely looked from out of town.

Scanning the girl’s energy drink, Trucy saw the guy turn and call to someone. “Dustin, hurry up! We’re meant to be there in an hour, I wanna have a shower before we go!”

Trucy gave the price to the girl, who pushed a $10 note into her hand and told her to keep the change, and the couple loped off. Their friend – Dustin, the guy had called him – approached, laughing as he did.

“Calm down, Lucas, you’ll get your skincare routine in! Max would beat me to death if I held you both up,” the guy, Dustin, called as he put down a few items, smiling at Trucy. She froze for a moment, staring at him. He had a carefree smile on his face, a shirt that said Hellfire, and a long coat over the top. He wore a white, blue, and red cap on his head, and he had small curls poking out underneath.

Trucy caught herself in time, scanning items for him. He was polite, taking out a reusable bag for her to bag them in, and he gave her an appreciative smile. She felt a warmth in her chest, her stomach flipping. This guy – Dustin – was one of the cutest guys she had ever seen.

He paid by card, tapping it, and took his stuff, thanking her and hurrying after his friends. The tall guy and the red-haired girl. With no one in the queue, Trucy watched them as they walked across the parking lot, joking, all of them laughing at each other’s words and jokes.

Trucy had never wanted to see someone again like the curly-haired guy. She was probably nothing, just some girl who went to log out, changing into her clothes and heading to the college intake session. It was long; Trucy sat alone, careful with what she wanted. She wanted to do a bakery course, and that would require going to a different college, but she wanted to hear out NYU. Uncle Jonathan, Uncle Will, and Uncle Mike had all gone.

Aunty Nancy had gone to Emerson College in Chicago, but Trucy felt she was betraying Uncle Mike if she didn’t go. She stood alone at the booth for baking courses, staring at the signs, wondering if this was the right decision.

She sighed, taking her phone out to text Uncle Jonathan. Maybe he would know what to do. Trucy had just put her phone back her pocket when she heard, “Hey, aren’t you the girl from the store?”

Trucy turned to see the curly-haired guy – Dustin – standing behind her. She couldn’t stop herself from blushing, and stuttered, “Y-yeah, I think so. Your friend bought a Red Bull?”

Dustin smiled at her. “The very one. Max is around here somewhere, with Lucas, but I thought I recognised you.” He hesitated, then held his hand out. “I’m Dustin Henderson. An enthusiastic pursuer of knowledge.”

Trucy grinned, reaching out to take Dustin’s hand, feeling the warmth that spread up her arm. “I’m Trucy Hopper-Byers. What brings you to this NYU session?”

Dustin walked to stand beside her, looking up at the signs. “Not sure yet,” he admitted, and she noticed a slight lisp to his words. “Lucas and I were both accepted to MIT but are looking at other options to know what we’re getting into.”

Trucy’s eyebrows rose. “MIT? That’s impressive, you must be super smart.” She immediately blushed at her words, but Dustin just laughed.

“You could say we are. Why? Why are you interested in NYU?”

Trucy looked up at the signs again, feeling that pang in her chest. Uncle Mike would have wanted her to at least try NYU but…

“I’m testing my options too. I’m young, but I skipped a grade. Mama was so proud… but I want to go to baking school.”

“Baking school?” Dustin asked, turning his attention to her. “You’re a baker?”

Trucy wasn’t sure what to say, so she shrugged. “A little. I love baking with Mama a lot. I just like the smells, the way it’s all made, how to make it all build into cupcakes and cakes and bread and… and…”

She was blushing hard, and Trucy’s voice vanished. Dustin was paying attention to her, what she was saying, what she was interested in. Trucy’s friends liked listening and knew everything about her, but to have someone look at her like Dustin did, take an interest like he did…

He was different. Trucy knew that. She’d known since the beginning that Dustin had been special, and would likely always be special to her.

Trucy Hopper-Byers, Aged 20.

Mama was happy. She smiled as Trucy passed her a cup of coffee, the same as Uncle Will’s. Cream and five sugars. Trucy had questioned a lot if Mama and Uncle Will were actually twins, but they weren’t. Just looked a lot alike, acted a lot alike…

Might as well be twins, according to Uncle Jonathan. They looked similar to pass, and they usually did, nowadays. Why did it matter? Mama and Uncle Will were close.

Mama took a sip of her coffee, smiling at Trucy over the cup. “My baby… Thank you,” she said, setting the cup down. “I know you’re not a child anymore, but I appreciate you still visiting.”

She got a hard look in her eye, one that Trucy was still getting used to.

“You know you don’t have to as often? You could keep up your baking and travel with Dustin. I see your face when you talk about him… I’ve seen it before.”

The doorbell rang, but Trucy couldn’t move, staring at Mama.

“What do you mean?”

Mama, who had downed half the cup, peeked over the top with those large, doe-like brown eyes the same as Trucy’s staring at her.

“When you talk about Dustin. You look just like your Uncle Mike talking about Will before they got together. It was a sadness, but feeling happy when you spoke about him… It’s okay to follow him, to follow what you want.”

The doorbell rang again, and Trucy gave a half-hearted smile, standing. “I’ll get the door, Mama.”

She jogged to the door, pulling it open without checking the peephole. Trucy froze seeing Dustin on the doorstep, Lucas next to him with his arm around Max. She stared at them, barely able to speak as they asked to speak with Jane Hopper.

Jane Hopper.

Her Mama’s name adopted name. Trucy stared back at the three of them, finally settling on Lucas. She couldn’t look at Max, or especially Dustin, in that moment.

“She’s… she’s my Mama.”

Trucy hesitated, the memories of Dustin talking about Hawkins flashing through her mind, and she clutched the doorknob tighter, stepping back.

“...She’s right this way. But if you upset her, you’re out. And if you upset her…” Trucy blinked back angry tears as she glared at Dustin.

“It’s over between us. For good.”

Chapter Text

Chapter Ten - Small Tail, No Wail

Lucas, Max, and Dustin followed Trucy into her mother’s house, the front door closing behind them. Lucas wasn’t sure what he was expecting; the walls were dark wood panel, the carpet a floral design. Paintings adorned the walls – the majority had ‘Will Byers’ scrawled in the corner, but others had ‘El’ or ‘Trucy’.

Most of the doors were cracked open a few inches; they passed what look liked three bedrooms, to an open air kitchen, dining room, and living room space.

Wind chimes with stained glass hung over the windows, and there were photos and paintings on the walls and various surfaces. Trucy turned to them.

“I’ll get Mama, she was going out to fix up something in the garden,” she told them, gesturing for them to sit. “I’ll be back in a moment.” She vanished out a sliding door leading to the back garden.

Max sat in the three seater couch, still looking about, while Dustin hesitantly sat in the two seater across from her. There were two recliners – one looked like it hadn’t been touched in a while – and all these seats had floral patterns in pink and yellow.

Lucas stopped in front of a table holding a tape deck, which had music flowing from it on a low volume. He was staring at the photo next to it, and he picked it up, staring at the two men smiling away. The one on the right had curly, shoulder-length black hair, coming loose from a ponytail. The other had brown hair styled up, a fashionable style from the early 2000’s. He wore what looked like a suit, his jacket off and slung over his shoulder. The other’s jacket was completely gone, blue suspenders holding his slacks up.

Even though he’d never seen Mike in colour, Lucas knew this was him. He was a good-looking guy. The man next to him had to be Will.

Lucas couldn’t believe how happy they looked. On their wedding day, just basking in being together. He smiled sadly, setting the photo back as the back door slid open and Trucy returned. Standing behind her, a woman standing tall for her early fifties, was Jane Hopper. El, as Mike more affectionately called her.

She had brown eyes the same as Trucy’s, a little aged, doe-like, but sharp as she looked over the three of them. Max and Dustin had rocketed to their feet, watching as El walked over to Lucas first, looking over him. Her face was clear; Lucas couldn’t tell what she was thinking.

“Jane… Hopper?” he asked slowly. She nodded.

“Please, call me El,” she told him. She went to sit in the worn recliner, Lucas sitting next to Max and Trucy sitting next to Dustin. “Trucy said you went to Hawkins, after all this time. Last I was told, they were planning to demolish it.”

“Yeah,” Lucas admitted sheepishly, feeling Max take his hand, threading their fingers together. “We’re ghost hunters, content creators on YouTube. We heard about Hawkins, and with my sister having a free summer, we decided to go there.”

El shook her head. “Why would you go there? It is not a safe place anymore. It was not safe when I lived there. The things… well.” She shared a glance with Trucy, who turned to Dustin.

“What do you know about Hawkins?” she asked him, and even though she was mad at him, Lucas could hear the softness in her voice that was there whenever she spoke to Dustin. “You said you knew some of the history, but how much do you?”

“We know about some of the disappearances.” Dustin leaned forward on his knees, twisting his hands together. “Erica and I did some research into MK Ultra, into Dr Brenner and all those missing babies. We know that Will was the kid who went missing, but was found a week later.”

“I think Erica has a spreadsheet, back on the rv,” Max spoke up. “She’d been putting it together, showed me some of the stuff she found, it’s pretty impressive.”

“And completely unnecessary,” El cut across her, making Lucas, Max, Dustin, and even Trucy jump. “Hawkins needed to be left behind, buried in the past. What happened there hurt a lot of people. Will was taken for a week. I grew up in a lab…”

She hesitated then, and Dustin’s eyes widened.

“More people disappeared,” El continued, not letting Lucas or Dustin get a word in. Lucas saw out the corner of his eye Trucy slowly, hesitantly, putting her hand on Dustin’s knee, giving a slight squeeze. Dustin didn’t acknowledge it, or at least didn’t show he was.

“My sister-in-law’s best friend was the first to die. More disappearances, people hurt… I was in hiding a long, long time. Will, he… changed. Mike became closed off. It seemed to never stop.” El’s voice was becoming shakier.

Lucas’ phone vibrated, then exploded into song, startling Max. He quickly fished it out the pocket of his jacket, seeing it was Erica.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, it’s my sister,” he apologised to El, who just waved her hand. Lucas stood, hurrying to the hall, and hit the call button.

“I swear, Erica, this better be an emergency because I just had a song you know I hate playing out loud-”

“I know, worth it,” Erica was laughing. “But I did call for a reason. Mike said he wants to see El.”

Silence. Lucas felt the words stuck in his throat, walking further down the hall, glancing back at the doorway to where Max, Dustin, Trucy, and El were sitting and waiting. He glanced up at the wall, seeing a photo he missed before.

El, much younger, in her early thirties, holding baby Trucy in her arms, in a hospital bed. No father in sight. Just El, smiling tiredly, cuddling baby Trucy close to her. Lucas smiled, thinking. As he thought, though, he felt a shiver of nerves up his spine.

It would be the reunion of the century if Mike got to see El and Trucy. The people who had been there when he died, surviving, having to go on without him. With Will passing the year before, and Trucy’s grandparents travelling, it was just the two of them.

Even then, Trucy spent a lot of time further in New York, busy with getting ready for baking school. El was out here, alone, doing whatever she liked doing nowadays. Her brother had only been gone a year…

Lucas couldn’t imagine losing Erica like that, having to go on without her. El had Jonathan too, but Jonathan being married to Nancy Wheeler, they definitely had busy lives. Lucas clutched the phone tighter, trying to make a decision.

“How?” he whispered, sitting against the wall by the front door. He slid to the floor, wrapping his arm around his middle. “We can’t get Mike here without people seeing him, and it’s weird to ask a lady we’ve just met back to our rv. Trucy knows us, and the rv used to belong to El’s father, but still… It feels off.”

There was a noise on the other end, and Erica said, “Hang on, your email is going off.”

“For the channel?”

“Yeah, gimme a sec-”

Lucas jumped and Erica got cut off when Dustin yelled out, “Lucas! Holy shit, what did you do?”

Hitting the button so Erica was on speaker, Lucas hauled himself up, jogging down the hall to the living room. El remained where she had been sitting before, while Max and Trucy were sitting on either side of Dustin as they watched something horrified.

“Lucas, what did you do?!”

El’s head snapped up at Mike’s voice, and Dustin was as equally horrified as the girls. He looked up at Lucas.

“Dude, you said you were uploading the cliffhanger version, what the hell?!”

“I… I did upload the cliffhanger version!” Lucas protested, only for Dustin, Erica, and Mike all to yell, “It’s the full version!”

“I thought you were gonna talk to me about this!” Mike continued, and Lucas saw El’s face paling, like she had seen in a ghost. Well… heard a ghost, which she was hearing. Without explaining anything, Lucas turned and ran to the front door, yanking it open and running outside, jumping over El’s front hedge.

“Lucas!” he heard Dustin calling behind him, but Lucas ignored him. He knew Max was the only one who could keep up as he ran down the street, to the rv, his phone still clutched in his hand. Erica was saying something about searching through their files as Lucas reached the rv, yanking open the door and jumping onboard, missing the step completely.

He burst into the tech room. Mike was standing next to Dustin’s bunk, hands over his hair as he watched Erica. She was clicking furiously, trying to figure out what was going while their email kept dinging insistently, their comments being flooded.

“Crap,” Lucas cursed, quickly urging Erica to move so he could see the damage. “Shit… Shit, shit, shit!”

“Why did you upload this?” Mike asked, his voice torn. “I wasn’t ready. I don’t even know if I was ever gonna be comfortable with it, this was my life, Lucas! You’re exploiting my life!”

Lucas clicked through to the studio, scrolling a bit, and worked to completely delete the video from YouTube. He didn’t post a community post, didn’t update their Twitter or Instagram. He had to wait a few moments as YouTube verified the deletion, and the video was gone.

He leaned back in the desk chair, letting out a long groan.

“I’m so sorry, Mike,” he mumbled, unable to look at him. “I edited two versions, the full version and one where I cut every shot of you out and let it end in a cliffhanger, so you could decide once we had figured out what happened to you before whether or not you wanted to be on the internet.”

“You’re gonna have trouble taking this down completely,” Erica said, taking the laptop and typing in a few words. “People are already uploading bootlegs and making reviews. I’ll copyright claim everything I can, let the more reputable reviewers know this was the wrong version.”

Lucas was shaking his head, his hands quivering as he slowly turned to face Mike… but Mike wasn’t looking at him anymore. Lucas frowned at him, then followed Mike’s stare to the tech room door…

And realised Max and Dustin weren’t the only ones who followed. Erica heard how quiet it was, looking over her shoulder, and saw El and Trucy frozen in the doorway to the tech room, staring at Mike.

Their faces were white as sheets. If Mike could change colour, he’d likely look similar to them in appearance, but his white eyes were just wide, hair moving like he was in an anime breeze. El took a step toward him, then another one.

Before anyone could react, she rounded on Lucas, Max, and Dustin, and all three flew back in various directions. Mike yelled while Erica and Trucy screamed.

“Mama, no!” Trucy protested, and Dustin stopped short of the ladder to Lucas and Max’s room while Max hit the wall above the steps to the drivers seat, falling with a thud. Lucas hit his back against the desk, falling to the ground, coughing as he wrapped his arm around his ribs.

“El, wait!” Mike said quickly. “Stop, El!”

“What trick is this?!” El demanded, her eyes fiery, eyebrows knitted together. “How… Why would you trick me with this… this thing?”

“We didn’t…” Lucas coughed, struggling to sit up. He could hear Dustin helping Max, and his mind reeled as he tried to figure out what the hell just happened. “This isn’t a trick, we’re not professional scientists. We’re ghost hunters, paranormal investigators, and we found…” He nodded toward Mike. “A ghost.”

He could see the confusion, anger, and devastation in El’s face. He felt something, something he couldn’t see, lifting him off the floor. Erica fell out of the desk chair, scrambling back, as Lucas felt himself being pulled through the air, his toes a few inches off the ground.

“Mama!” Trucy was back in the room. Dustin was behind her, supporting Max, who was rubbing the back of her head. “He’s telling the truth! He told me a while ago that they’d found a ghost, they just didn’t tell me who it was!”

Lucas was gasping for air, out of panic more than anything, as he stared down at El. A trickle of blood ran down one of her nostrils.

“Mama, stop!” Trucy ran over to stand between Lucas and El. “I didn’t know he was talking about Uncle Mike. I knew they were in Hawkins, but I didn’t think they’d find anything… Least of all Uncle Mike’s ghost.”

Lucas’ breath was shuddering as he watched mother and daughter stare one another down. Erica was still on the floor, having crawled until her back was against Dustin’s bunk, her eyes wide and mouth open. Dustin and Max were frozen in the doorway, Dustin still supporting Max.

“Let him go, Mama, please,” Trucy begged. “They’ll tell us everything. Just let him go.”

Lucas waited as El looked up at him, still furious. Out the corner of his eye, he saw Mike approaching El. He reached out for her shoulder. El looked up at Lucas as Trucy’s head turned to face Mike. Dustin opened his mouth to warn El about what happened when Mike touched someone…

Only for Mike’s hand to land on her shoulder. El didn’t jump or flinch like Lucas and Dustin did, but she did turn to look at him, her expression softening a little as she stared at Mike now. Trucy turned and caught Lucas just as he crumbled to the ground, stopping his fall similar to how El had been holding him up.

Erica crawled over to him, putting her hand on his back as Lucas coughed again, clutching his ribs. He looked up to see El frozen in place.

“Mike?” she whispered, reaching up to put her hand on his cheek. How she was able to touch him without getting hurt bewildered Lucas, but she had just thrown him, Dustin, and Max, as well as held him up, with some sort of mind powers. “Mike?”

“It’s me, El,” Mike said softly, nodding. “I’m… I don’t know what I am, how I got here. I just am. It’s just me though. They found me in the Creel house.”

Tears began to trickle down El’s cheeks, and she hugged Mike tightly, still unhurt, gently smoothing down the back of his hair. “Mike!” she gasped, shaking with sobs. He hugged her back just as tight, as though he were really there, and now Lucas’ mouth dropped open in shock.

Trucy was crouched beside him like Erica was, watching her mom and uncle reuniting after a decade. A reunification that no one had seen coming in a million years ago.

“Mike, I am so, so sorry,” El was crying, still shaking. “I tried hard, so hard, I searched for you, but you… you…”

“I was gone, I know,” Mike whispered as they pulled back. “All I remember is the car flipping, hoping that you and Trucy were okay, then nothing. I was gone. Then next thing I remember was seeing Will’s grave for a second, knowing he was gone too, then I was in the Creel house.”

El was wiping her eyes. “Henry’s house?”

“The very one. I was trapped in the attic, my wedding ring was there. I don’t know how I got there or why,” Mike explained. “I don’t even know how long I was there, if seeing Will’s grave was a glimpse of a future yet to come when I did come back.”

The two fell silent, El looking thoughtful. Erica and Trucy helped Lucas to stand, and Lucas leaned on Erica, his arm still around his middle. Trucy’s arm slipped from around him, walking over to Mike and El. She stared up at Mike, who was even taller than Lucas, and just stood there. Mike turned his attention to her, a weak smile coming to his face as he held his hand a little above her head.

“Last time I saw you, you barely reached my elbow,” he said, letting his hand rest cautiously on her head. Like El, him touching her didn’t seem to hurt Trucy at all. “How’s it going, muffin?”

Now Trucy let out a choked sob, and she nearly knocked Mike back as she hugged him, burying her face in his chest. Mike stumbled slightly, then hugged her back, resting his head on top of hers now. Lucas shared glances with Dustin, who was still supporting Max. She was rubbing her lower back, wincing.

“I didn’t think… I didn’t want to think this was possible,” Trucy was saying. “They were talking about going back to Hawkins, and I was worried they’d find something, or something would happen, and after you, I didn’t want them… I didn’t want him…”

“I get it, kid,” Mike said, nodding. “I haven’t felt anything there. I was sure I would, since I’m stuck between life and death right now… but I really don’t know. I don’t know how to figure this out, I don’t have the powers you and El have, remember. Even Will… though I do seem to have the ability to give people without powers like yours or Will’s a little zap.”

“Like Will’s,” El breathed, and Mike nodded.

“Exactly. I don’t have True Sight either, that was a Will speciality, it seems.”

“Ok,” Max coughed, finally straightening up. “I don’t want to interrupt this touching family reunion, but what the hell is going on? What the hell did El do to me and Lucas? How did Trucy stop Dustin from getting hurt? And how can Mike touch either of you without getting hurt?!”

She sounded pretty pissed now that the pain had warn off. The Max who had once swung at Billy with a baseball bat because she was done with how he treated her was rearing her head. Dustin’s face was pinched too, but it softened slightly whenever he glanced at Trucy.

No matter how upset she was with him right now, Trucy had stopped him from getting hurt. Whatever it was El and Trucy could do, El was a lot stronger, but Trucy had some ability, enough to stop Dustin short of getting injured.

El, still clutching Mike’s arms, turned to Lucas, Dustin, Max, and Erica. Her face hardened again, and she let go of Mike.

“Tell me everything you know. Show me everything, from the start,” she demanded. Erica returned to the laptop to fix the damage of Lucas accidentally uploading the wrong video as Lucas grabbed his phone and the tv remote. He switched it on, tapping to the YouTube app on his phone and streaming the first Hawkins video to their tv.

El remained standing as Dustin helped Max to a beanbag, then just as he straightened up, Trucy walked to him and hugged him. Dustin embraced her back, burying his face in her long brown hair which was half up, clutching the back of her shirt. Lucas looked away, feeling like he was intruding on a private moment.

Instead, he tapped play on the video, and Lucas on the screen said, “The Creel house has been abandoned since the fifties, nearly forty years since it all was…”

It took well over two hours to get through the first Hawkins videos, the official uncut second video Lucas had accidentally uploaded and Erica was still emailing people, the podcast he and Dustin did just tallking about the history, and the powerpoint Erica had been putting together about Hawkins history and talks of it being demolished.

She had had to admit, however, that the lab there was the only place not once mentioned in the demolition talks. In fact, after the early eighties, there was no information whatsoever since it had been shut down. Erica had gone down several rabbit holes trying to find out why Hawkins lab was going to remain standing, and had found a few testimonials from former residents.

Steve, a friend of Dustin’s who turned out to be one of Trucy’s beloved uncles. Some guy simply called Tommy H, and an unnamed man who said he’d had his arm broken by some girl who didn’t even look like a girl, and said she’d made him pee his pants. He didn’t know how, but she did.

El, who was sitting in one of the camp chairs Dustin had dragged in from outside, was sitting back, staring at one of the articles on Hawkins lab.

Finally, she let out a long, low breath.

“I grew up there,” she said simply. Mike and Trucy didn’t react as Lucas, Dustin, and Max stared at her.

“You… grew up there?” Lucas asked slowly.

“You mean you were one of the kids taken as babies?” Dustin asked. “I heard about some of them, their parents were subjects in MKUltra, apparently they had powers of some sorts… and you have them too, with how you threw me, Lucas, and Max several feet in different directions.”

“I am sorry about that,” El said, with a shake of her head. “I was just… overwhelmed, seeing Mike again, after so long, after what happened. I thought, for a second, you had been sent to find me, to find Will too. But I know it did not make sense. I know you all, I have seen photos of you.”

She was quiet for a few moments, and Lucas felt a pang in his chest. For a moment he was reminded of his own Mom, and he made a mental note to call her later as El looked at him first.

“Lucas, you’re the oldest. You do a lot of the research on your channel, you played basketball for a few years, you love anything horror, you really, really like your girlfriend-”

“Mama!” Trucy hissed, but El wasn’t done as she turned her attention to Max.

“Max. The first girl Trucy really became friends with. You skateboard, you love Kate Bush, a big singer from the eighties, and you’re apparently very good at Dr Mario. Trucy talks about you and Lucas a lot.”

Her eyes went to Dustin now, and Lucas saw Trucy blush bright red.

“Trucy talks about you the most,” El told Dustin, whose eyes widened. “Dustin… Super smart, good with robotics, lover of snacks and food for stamina…” El smiled at Dustin, and now he blushed. She stopped at that, jumping as Erica clapped her hands, spinning in the desk chair.

“Got it,” she said triumphantly. “You guys have a dedicated fanbase, the Lucas Lovelies and Dusty-buns have banded together to make sure the video is taken down and your reviewers are posting apologies and announcements to not share the video.”

“Well done, Erica,” Max grinned, her earlier anger gone. “I haven’t seen a fanbase band together like this since that one thing with Dan and Phil years ago.” She spotted Lucas, Dustin, and Trucy eyeing her, and she shrugged. “I’m not saying what it was. Just they have a good fanbase… for the most part.”

“Anyway…” Lucas stood up, crossing to the printer and picking it up, holding it out to El. “This is what we found at the Creel house. Mike’s connected to it, he can’t go anywhere unless his wedding ring is there to..”

He held it flat in his palm; El reached out, delicately taking it and holding it up. She smiled fondly again, spinning it between her fingers.

“Are we… dealing with grave robbers here?” Dustin asked. “It’s a pretty serious crime if someone has dug up Mike’s grave, and we’re the ones who have his ring, we could get done in pretty bad.”

El was staring thoughtfully at the ring, then held it out to Trucy. She took it, holding it between her enclosed hands as she frowned.

“Mama… are you sure?” she asked softly, her grip tightening slightly. El nodded.

“All you do is try, Trucy,” she said. “I had hoped you wouldn’t be born without my powers, but I got mine from my Mama, so you can too. Like we practised. If you really don’t want, though, it is up to you.”

Trucy shivered a little, giving a small nod. Lucas, Max, and Erica watched as Dustin put his hand comfortingly on Trucy’s knee, not sure what was going on as Trucy closed her eyes. Her hands tightened on Mike’s ring.

He stood next to El, watching intently. Whatever this was wasn’t new to Mike either.

“What Trucy can do is a little different to what I can do,” El explained. “We all have something different. My sister Kali was able to create incredibly convincing illusions. Trucy… Well, watch.”

Trucy was completely still, then her eyes began to move beneath her eyelids. Dustin’s hand tightened slightly, and Lucas inched closer, curious. He had never seen anything like what El and Trucy could do before, what Mike could do touching someone without these ‘powers’ was enough, and he didn’t even have powers when he was alive.

The electricity had been Will’s. Why had it transferred to Mike?

After a few minute, Trucy jerked slightly, and she opened her eyes. She uncovered the ring, holding it up in the palm of her hand.

“That was… weird,” she admitted, frowning. “I saw the day of Uncle Mike’s funeral, then being lowered into the ground. Darkness, for a long time. Uncle Will’s voice faintly. Then, I rose up out of the grave, saw Will’s next to Mike’s. The sky became dark, then red, with lightning, and our world looked… wrong.”

“The Upside Down?” Mike suggested. Lucas frowned as Trucy shrugged.

“Maybe. Next thing, the attic formed, and there was a crumbling noise, and there was darkness again. When light showed, I saw Lucas’ face, and that was it.”

Silence fell as everyone ruminated over Trucy’s words. She reached out, dropping the ring into Lucas’ hand.

“You can see the memory of items you hold?” he asked, turning Mike’s wedding ring in his fingers as he thought.

“Kind of. I can still do the telekinesis stuff that Mama can, but she goes to a whole other place. She can venture a lot further, I just see the surface stuff. Very rarely do I feel emotion,” Trucy shrugged, then shuddered. “I felt one emotion, when the ring came out of the grave. Complete, pure anger and hatred. A feeling of finality.”

“That… what?” Lucas said, looking to Mike. “Do you have someone that hates you that much?”

Mike shrugged. “Not really, at least not around the time I died. I had a few annoyed family members of my students emailing me when they found out I had a husband, but the university I worked at was a pretty decent workplace, and I was never fired or discriminated against for being an openly gay man. Will wasn’t either at the studio he worked at, we ignored people a lot, and Steve and Robin would talk to anyone who tried to mess with us.”

“Eddie and Patrick stuck up for me and Max when we came out,” Lucas added, noticing El’s inquisitive look. “We both came out as bisexual in high school.”

Her face softened. “...Trucy told me about your friends. I’m sorry about what happened to them,” she said kindly. Lucas swallowed thickly, nodding. He had a feeling that Patrick and Eddie would have liked El. She was already talking about something else, sensing the sudden drop in emotion from Lucas, Dustin, and Max.

“In that last video, you mentioned you were going back to Hawkins,” she pointed out, using whatever those powers of hers were to go back on Lucas’ phone to when they mentioned they’d be back to look through the town next. “Are you planning to go?”

Lucas shared a glance with Dustin and Max. Dustin gave a small nod while Max shrugged.

“Yeah,” Lucas told El. “We promised Mike that we would find out why he’s back, and why he’s been separated from Will. With what you’ve told us, surely, Hawkins has answers.”

Trucy tensed up as El nodded. “I see.”

“Wait!” Trucy interrupted. “Hawkins is dangerous, there’s a reason they want to demolish it!”

“It’s safer than the Creel house,” Erica spoke up, clicking through her power point again. “That’s a big reason why they’re taking so long to make a decision. A ton of the structure is still sound, and many of the houses are in decent condition, just abandoned. The Creel house… I think it just has such bad energy that that’s why it’s falling apart, and it was also built in the late 1800’s.”

“We have to go back then,” Dustin insisted. “If there’s anyway to find out why Mike’s back, why he can’t pass on, surely it’s there, where this all started for you guys.”

El was quiet for so long that she scared Lucas.

“The last time people lived in Hawkins was the nineties,” she said, pursing her lip. “There’s a reason people left. You are not the first to go back and explore, though from what Trucy has told me, those other ghost hunters weren’t nearly as involved as you four.”

“They didn’t find Mike,” Lucas pointed out. “I don’t know if we’d have stuck around as long if it weren’t for him.”

“We’re going to find out why Mike’s back, and what’s keeping him here,” Dustin promised El. “No one deserves to be where he is, questioning everything, and asking for one thing a lot of the time.”

“What is he asking?” El inquired.

“He keeps saying he’s searching for something, and asking where his husband,” Lucas told her. “He’s just… slips in and out… Like he is now.”

Everyone turned to look at Mike, who had that blank expression on his face. El stood, walking over to put her hands on his shoulders.

“Mike? Mike, what is wrong?” she asked, giving him a small shake. Mike just looked blankly back at her.

“I think… I lost something,” he said slowly. “I need to find it. Can you help me?”

El just kept staring at Mike, then turned back to Lucas, Dustin, and Max. “What is wrong with him?”

“I have a theory,” Dustin started slowly, hesitantly. “The longer Mike is here, like this, between life and death, the more he goes mad. If we don’t figure out what happened to him soon and reunite him with Will, I think you’re gonna lose him for good.”

El looked back at Mike as Max, Erica, and Trucy all stood now, all waiting for El to say something. She just stared at Mike for another minute, then turned around.

“Please, find out what happened to him,” she begged, her eyes going to Trucy. “Trucy… go with them.”

“What?” Trucy was taken aback. “Mama, I have to study for-”

“I know, sweetie, and you can, on the road,” El insisted. She stepped over and took Trucy’s hands in hers. “Please, my girl. I know I said I’d never return to Hawkins, but you can go for me. Please. For Uncle Mike, for Uncle Will, and for me. They’re going to need you.”

Trucy glanced quickly at Lucas, Dustin, Max, and Erica, then back at El.

“Alright, Mama. I’ll go with them.”

El smiled, tears in her eyes. “Then please, come stay in the house for the night. Have a nice dinner, and go first thing tomorrow.”

Chapter Text

Chapter Eleven – Eleven & Seven

Lucas lay on his back, hands behind his head as he stared up at the ceiling of El’s house. Even the ceiling was painted; he felt like he was looking at the murals Rapunzel painted in her tower in Tangled.

He could easily see Trucy growing up in this house. El explained that her parents had bought it for her not long before Trucy was born; Mike and Will lived here for a few years, then got their own apartment. Els’s house was filled with flowers, art projects, various paintings Will made, photography from Jonathan, and even a few of Mike’s published novels adorned the shelves.

Most of it, though, aside from the furniture, El and Trucy had made themselves. Trucy had once mentioned her mom dabbled in almost every art imaginable, trying to find something she really enjoyed. There were three bedrooms; one was El’s, the one across from hers was Trucy’s childhood bedroom, and the bedroom down the hall had once been Will’s.

It was relatively untouched. Erica was sleeping in there, Mike sitting in there and looking through Will’s art in the years since Mike had died, while Lucas, Max, and Dustin took the lounge room. They had only been there twenty minutes when Lucas saw Dustin’s silhouette against the hall light as he got up, and a few moments later, Lucas heard Trucy’s door creak open then shut almost.

Three inches open when the rooms weren’t occupied. Lucas didn’t dare ask El why that was a rule. Instead, he just let out a long sigh, his eyes adjusting to the gloom as he studied the roof art.

“Lucas?”

He heard Max whisper in the darkness, and felt her shift over to him. He looked down at her, quickly wrapping an arm around her as she snuggled against him, resting her head on his shoulder.

“Max?” he whispered back, resting his cheek against her hair. “You okay?”

She nodded, tracing her finger over his skin. It might nearly be the end of summer, but still warm enough that Lucas opted not to wear a shirt to bed. He’d worn his varsity jacket for comfort, which was now draped over one of the dining chairs.

“Yeah,” Max whispered, her breath across his skin making him shiver. “I’m a little nervous about going back to Hawkins. There’s a reason why El won’t go back, and even Trucy is nervous to talk about it. She’s never even been there.”

Lucas let out a breath. “I know. It’s a lot to take in… but we made a promise. A promise that I…” He stopped, a lump forming in his throat, and shook his head.

Max turned to look up at him, her eyes glittering in the light from the hall. “It was a mistake, Lucas. Anyone could have made it. Erica fixed it pretty fast.”

“I still made it though, Max, I nearly wrecked everything, wrecked our promise to Mike,” Lucas told her through gritted teeth. “We need to go dark online until this is sorted, Max. We have to. Mike deserves that, he deserves to find his peace before we… we…”

“Exploit him?” Max lifted herself up onto her elbow, leaning her head on her hand. “We went into that house half expecting to exploit it, Lucas. We didn’t know he was there. This is our job, and he knows it. We go to these places, we do all this research, we earn a living from this.”

Lucas was silent, staring at her in the darkness. He was distracted for a moment – Max really was pretty, even when she was being stern, or when she was mad.

She was right, of course. Max was right pretty much all the time.

“Yo, stalker, you awake there? Or did you fall asleep with your eyes open?”

Lucas just leaned up to kiss Max, feeling her breathe in sharply. He reached up to cup her face, his hand move to tangle his fingers through her hair. Max fell against him, kissing him back, her hand gripping his bare shoulder.

He allowed himself this, just for a little while. They’d all been so high strung with a ghost around, a ghost who was currently making sure Erica was alright while going through his husband’s paintings. Dustin was with Trucy, the person he had been wanting to be around every day for so long.

So Lucas allowed him this, and he knew Max was feeling the same. He rolled them, not breaking from her lips for a second, feeling her arms wrap around his shoulders. She was warm, but in a pleasant way compared to the air outside.

He counted himself lucky that he had stopped being stupid years ago, Max too, and they decided to actually be together. Six years now, and Lucas couldn’t imagine a day without her.

After awhile though, he had to draw back for air, and he saw Max’s face was flushed, her freckles more pronounced. They both breathed laughs, and he tapped his nose to hers, grinning.

“I’m glad you’re here, Mad Max,” he whispered, and she laughed now, a full sound that always made his heart tap just that bit more.

“I’m glad you’re here too, stalker,” she whispered back. Lucas kissed her one last time before he had to haul himself up to go to the bathroom. Max lay back down, curled closer to his side as he left for the bathroom. It was just off the living room, so he wasn’t gone long.

After Lucas was done, he washed his hands, twisting the taps off with a squeak. He sighed, leaning on the basin as he looked up at his reflection. His eyes were a tad glassy, shadows underneath them, and he saw the worry lines etched into his forehead.

He was grateful to have some time alone with Max, but this – all of it – finding Mike, discovering Trucy was his niece, that Hawkins was likely the key to everything…

Lucas gripped the basin tighter, taking a few deep breaths. They really gotten themselves into it this time. Even now, images of Patrick lying on the ground, covered in blood, kept flashing through his mind. That steel beam going right through Billy’s chest.

“BILLY!”

Lucas’ eyes flew open when he heard the faint sounds of music. He opened his eyes, freezing for a moment as he listened. Max sometimes slept with headphones on, or Dustin listened to a podcast, but this was different. He took his phone out of his pocket; he’d been in the bathroom having a panic attack for ten minutes.

He slowly opened the door, peeking out into the living room. Max was still lying on one side of the mattress set out for her, Lucas, and Dustin, Lucas’ pillow in her arms as she slept. She really did fall asleep fast when she felt safe, which was usually in the rv with Lucas beside her and Dustin asleep in his bunk. If Erica was there, even better. Four people she trusted.

Now, Max was out like a light. In a house for the first time in months, with two people who had telekinesis abilities, as well as her boyfriend and two of her best friends. No headphones, though her Switch was near her head just in case.

Lucas strained his hearing. He approached the hallway, listening intently as he went. Trucy’s door was closed, a faint light underneath. Will’s door was open, and when Lucas went down to peek in, he saw Mike sitting at a desk across the room, flipping through various paintings, his back to the door. Erica was asleep on the side of the bed closest to Mike, her phone on the bedside table playing a Smosh reddit podcast that Mike didn’t seem to mind.

I knew she was a Smosh fan, Lucas thought to himself as he backed out, listening for the music. It was coming from El’s room.

He looked toward it; the door was cracked open three inches, a faint pink and purple light flickering. Listening hard, trying to place the song, Lucas crept to the door and put his hand on it.

‘Dream A Little Dream Of Me’, a song that was like a hundred years old. For someone as hardcore goth as Kim, it was an odd choice, but she had a soft spot for the oldies.

Lucas had just put his hand on the door when he heard El say softly, “Come in.”

He hesitated a moment, then pushed the door open slowly. He was met with a room that was primarily pink and white, with bits of purple, yellow, blue, red, green, and orange mixed in. El herself was sitting at her desk, holding up something in her hand, a thin paintbrush in the other with silver paint on the end.

She looked over her shoulder as Lucas stepped in, smiling. “Come in, Lucas. I do not sleep sometimes, especially with Trucy home. Every moment with her I can.” As Lucas walked in, El waved her hand slightly, and the door returned to its ‘open three inches’ place it had been before.

Lucas walked slowly as El returned to her painting, her tongue sticking out slightly as she did. Her room was reminiscent of the eighties bedrooms he’d seen in movies for women and girls. A white iron bed with a floral sculpting, a pink checkered bedspread, a teddy, a stuffed tiger, a plush frog. Photos of her parents, of Trucy in various stages of her childhood, Will and Mike and El in their pre-teen years. A few of Will’s paintings, and what looked like a passage from one of Mike’s books hung over El’s bed.

She had one shelf full of what looked like dnd figurines. Too many to count, all painted individually. Lucas had to crouch slightly to see them. Another, small glass blown flowers.

El had really delved into every creative medium she could find. To find her own place. After revealing she’d grown up in a lab, it made sense. How much could learn in such a clinical environment? A place void of colour, of creativity?

“My house isn’t just what I wanted growing up,” El interrupted Lucas’ thoughts, sitting up straighter to admire the figurine better. “I made it a place Trucy could be herself. After where I’d grown up… Mike and Will never being able to fully express how much they loved each other publicly until they got married… This place deserved to be a place for everyone to just be themselves.”

Lucas sat on the edge of her bed slowly, watching as she turned to face him. She studied him for a moment, then reached down to pull up the thin sleeve of her left wrist, revealing a tattoo. Lucas had to lean closer to read 011.

“11?” he repeated, frowning. “Is this a lab thing?”

El nodded, sliding her sleeve back down. “I was number 011, of 12 children. My sister Kali, she is 008. And Henry… The one whose house you went to, stayed in…”

Lucas waited patiently, watching as El dipped her paintbrush in the mug of water she had on her desk, swirling it around.

“...Henry was 001, Lucas. You went there, thinking it was just a haunted house. Mike told you to leave, didn’t he? I saw the footage.” El wiped the paintbrush on a paint-stained rag, turned to Lucas as she held it flat in her hand. His eyes widened as the paintbrush floated up, higher, and began to spin.

“He did,” Lucas whispered. “Told me to get Dustin and Max, get out, and never come back. Mike told us to run.”

The paintbrush began to spin faster, but El’s eyes remained on Lucas. “But you didn’t. You went back. You found him.”

Lucas nodded. “We did. I don’t know why, but I knew we had to go back and investigate. I had to find him, find the voice that told us to run.”

The paintbrush slowly stopped spinning, settling back into El’s hand. He couldn’t help nodding at it.

“How does… all that work? Dustin did some research into MKUltra patients and their babies, but there wasn’t a lot of information. I promise not to share it online,” he swore quickly, holding up his hands. El laughed, picking up a small red paint bottle the same shade as his jacket and dipped the brush in it.

“There’s not much to tell, even I don’t know how it came about. Mama had powers, and I passed mine onto Trucy. Will had powers, to an extent, thanks to Henry, but his controlled electricity. He rarely used them, but if it weren’t for Will, I would never have been able to lock Henry away in the Upside Down for good.”

“Lock him away for good?” Lucas asked, and El nodded.

“I sent Henry to the Upside Down for the first time when I was eight years old. He had… killed all the other children in the lab, except Kali, who escaped. He killed everyone, the orderlies, our carers, the guards, everyone… except Papa.”

Lucas waited for El to continue, wringing his hands. He put her paintbrush down after a few more minutes, her shoulders slumping.

“He possessed Will one last time. He nearly died. If Mike hadn’t been there… Mom, Jonathan… He would never have survived. Never gone on to be with Mike, marry in the brief window it was legal. We had to lock him away, for good, with non chance of getting out.”

El paused, then stifled a yawn.

Lucas stood quickly. “I’ll get out of your hair. Thanks for telling me this, El.” Before she could say anything else, he left the room, leaving it open the way she liked, and headed into the living room. Dustin was still in Trucy’s room, so Lucas returned to the mattress next to Max. She immediately snuggled up against him, giving his pillow back in exchange for his bare chest.

She was a bit chilly, trying to warm herself on him. Lucas pulled her into his arms, burying his face in her hair, which she had left out for once. The house was quiet now; no music, no sounds from down the hall, nothing except Max’s breathing.

Lucas hugged her tighter, settling in. He focused his attention on Max, on her breathing, on the feeling of her against him… and he too was soon asleep.

Introducing Trucy to the rv was trickier than Lucas thought. They had to figure out how to fit a fifth person; Erica slept in Dustin’s bunk while Dustin took the tech room. Lucas and Max had their loft above the drivers seat, so they had to figure out where Trucy was.

True, Dustin had spent the night in Trucy’s room, but they didn’t talk about it. If anything, things were more awkward. In the end, Dustin decided to sleep in the main room while Trucy took where he’d been sleeping in the tech room. He, Trucy, and Erica switched up depending on whether or not Dustin and Erica needed to work in the tech room.

Trucy spent a lot of time in the tech room with Mike, Dustin, and Erica, holding Mike’s wedding ring in her hands as she tried to figure out what had happened. Lucas drove mainly, Max in the passenger, too tense to be around anyone else.

El’s words kept ringing in his ears. He hadn’t told anyone, not even Max. But of course, she could tell something was wrong, and tried continuously to get it out of him what he was thinking. Lucas just said he was thinking, he needed time to sort out his thoughts, and Max would give him that same deadpan look she had whenever he was trying to support her, to understand what she was going through.

And now, she was trying to get through to him, and he couldn’t. Not yet. Not now. Lucas didn’t know what to say, and how to say it the way El did. She had trusted him with some things, she likely told Trucy more, and Lucas didn’t feel comfortable until Trucy was in the room with everyone.

Lucas gripped the steering wheel so hard that his bones strained against his skin, and Max reached out, putting her hand over one of his.

“Lucas, hey, calm down,” she said reassuringly, giving his hand a squeeze. “What’s gotten into you? You’ve been so weird since before we left.”

“I’m not weird, Max,” he protested, forcing himself to relax his hands. “I’m just… thinking a lot. We have a lot to think about. We’re going back to Hawkins, to where it all apparently started for Mike, and El, and Will… Trucy was born into their family. Don’t you have questions?”

Max was silent, and she took her hand away from Lucas’. He couldn’t blame her; he was pushing the speed limit, and eventually had to pull over at a truck stop, his heart pounding.

“Lucas!” Max called as he opened the drivers door and leapt out onto the gravel, slamming the door shut. The truck stop was deserted; he was able to walk a good way away from the truck and start pacing, grasping the ends of the sleeves of his red and yellow varsity jacket. McKinney’s name seemed to scream back at him, and he nearly tore the sleeves off in panic.

“Lucas!”

He turned, seeing Mike and Trucy standing near him, Trucy holding Mike’s ring. Lucas stared at them, and he saw Mike’s face fall.

“El… she told you a lot, didn’t she?” he asked gently, and Lucas wanted to snatch the ring from Trucy and throw it into the nearby fields. He wasn’t sure how he was feeling… Overwhelmed, probably? He wanted to help Mike, but he was beginning to become so frustrated, and albeit, a little frightened.

What if he was putting Erica in danger? Max and Dustin? Trucy seemed to be able to read his thoughts and ran over, grabbing Lucas’ arm.

“Stop!” she demanded, shaking him. “Please stop worrying! We’re all here because we want to be! You, Max, and Dustin have a job to do. Me, Erica, and Mike want to be here. I know I was hard against Hawkins in the beginning, but I want nothing more than to help Uncle Mike, understood?”

It felt a little weird that she called Mike ‘Uncle Mike’, considering right now he appeared the same age as them. Now that Lucas was looking, though, he realised that Trucy curled her hair in the same way Mike’s was curly. She might not have been blood-related to him, but Mike had been one of her favourite people through and through.

Lucas stared at Trucy, clutching her arms back, and his gaze slid to Mike. Mike, the one he had promised to help, to do anything he could to find out what had happened to him.

They had gone dark online; Erica had changed their profile pictures to images just saying, “Pending.” She was handling their social media is while still keeping up with her own instagram and filming Max when she did her skate tricks.

But Lucas and Dustin, for all intents and purposes right now, had completely vanished from the web. Trucy did her baking whenever they stopped, even if she stayed up all night with Dustin and Mike while Lucas, Max, and Erica slept. They were getting comments and messages asking what had happened to Lucas and Dustin, if the ghost what was real.

Their fans were dying to know what happened to Lucas and Dustin. But they stayed silent. Lucas deleted all his social media apps except for Facebook, to keep up with his Mom.

He looked up into Trucy’s face, seeig her resolute expression, and finally gave a nod.

“Okay,” he breathed, shaking his head. “I just.. needed a moment. Let’s get back to the rv before anyone shows up and sees Mike.”

The three trooped back to the rv, Trucy and Mike going through the side door while Lucas climbed back into the drivers seat. Max was still there, listening to Imagine Dragons, and looked up as Lucas flopped into the drivers seat and slammed the door shut.

“You okay, stalker?” she asked. Lucas started the rv, driving out of the rest stop before he reached out and took Max’s hand warmly. He smiled at her, threading their fingers together.

“Yeah, just needed a pep talk,” he admitted, feeling tingles up his arm. “I got so used to you, Max, and Erica that now having Trucy here, as well as a ghost, made me a little overwhelmed.”

Lucas had to take his hand away to steer. Max stared at him, then reached out for his jacket, pinching the end of the sleeve between her thumb and forefinger.

“The rv is getting a bit cramped,” she admitted, but her face was thoughtful. “… I did think Trucy would eventually join us though. She and Dustin, they just… care about each other too much.”

Lucas thought for a moment, tapping his fingertips on the steering wheel.

“I agree,” he admitted. “Dustin asked if he could set up a sleeping place for Trucy, above his bunk. After she finished baking school, of course. I don’t know how much she would join in our job though, she doesn’t really have any interest in ghost hunting.”

Max gritted her teeth, and Lucas glanced at her, alarmed.

“She’s so damn cute, I wanna squish her cheeks,” Max admitted, clenching her fists. “She just wants to bake, and her Mom’s house was amazing. If Trucy does join our crew, she’s gonna end up painting our rv like El’s house.”

Lucas chuckled. “She would, and I wouldn’t complain, it does look a little clinical. The tech room has to remain untouched though.”

Max nodded her agreement, and she took out her phone, scrolling to one of Lucas’ favourite playlists. She selected a song, and Lucas grinned as Max began singing along. As she did, they heard Erica approaching, joining in the singing as she sat on the step down to the drivers seat.

Max turned the music up, and she, Lucas, and Erica sang along loudly to the music as the road stretched before them, the tyres of the rv racing along the highway.

Lucas drove straight past Indianapolis and into a rest stop beyond. He, Dustin, Max, Erica, Mike, and Trucy all crowded in the tech room, Mario Party 7 playing on the Wii U with Lucas, Dustin, Max, and Erica playing. A few drinks had gone around, only Mike and Erica not partaking. Trucy nursed one vodka coke the entire night as they laughed.

Max had brought in the camp chairs, and she was squished into one of with Erica. Lucas and Dustin occupied the beanbags, Trucy had the desk chair, and Mike just sat in front of the tv, watching intensely as Erica was completely smoking her brother, Dustin, and Max.

“That’s bullshit!” Dustin exclaimed, pointing his Wii remote at Lucas. “Complete bullshit, I had the right rope! You tricked me!”

Lucas just laughed, taking a sip of his drink.

“You chose the wrong one, dude, that’s on you!”

“Nerds, shut it! I need focus!” Erica snapped, concentrating. She was playing as Birdo, Max as Luigi, Lucas as Princess Peach, and Dustin as Yoshi. She furrowed her brow, concentrating, and selected a rope.

She got passed. Lucas and Max were both flung with the next two ropes, and Erica won again, throwing her hands up, minding not to hit Max. She had the most stars, with Dustin coming in a close second.

“Sorry, guys, but I’m rooting for Erica here,” Mike teased with a laugh, and he slapped a high five with Trucy. Lucas couldn’t help feeling jealous that Trucy could make contact with Mike without getting hurt. Surely, it had something to do with her powers.

“I’m gonna win, and you’re all gonna eat your words,” Erica declared to laughter all around.

Lucas felt like it was the calm before the storm. They were only a few hours away from Hawkins. And right now, he didn’t want to think about it.

A/N: this is a meme from Buzzfeed Unsolved that I made for Lucas and Dustin.

Chapter Text

Chapter Twelve – Hawkins & Walk-Ins

They hadn’t actually driven into Hawkins itself when Lucas, Max, Dustin, and Erica first arrived to investigate the Creel house. The Creel house was a good distance outside of the town, so it felt a little surreal to actually drive in. Dustin drove in slowly, leaning forward to make sure the road he drove on was safe.

Lucas sat in the passenger seat, looking out the front window, with Max on the step down to the drivers seat. He wasn’t sure where Erica, Mike, and Trucy were. He swallowed heavily; he couldn’t hide his nerves of finally arriving in Hawkins, the town they had wanted to explore before they found Mike.

He looked down at his phone, at the notes he had written the first night they were at the Creel house. He scrolled through more notes, documents on history, everything they needed when they came to Hawkins. The Creel house one night, then into Hawkins, exploring the town the next few days.

None of that happened. Lucas had heard Mike that first night, and the rest was history. None of their original plans came to fruition.

Lucas wasn’t sure he could ever trust their plans to go ahead the way they intended ever again. Especially since he had accidentally posted the full version of seeing Mike for the first time. He and Dustin had had to turn their phones off when the calls started coming in, and Erica was manning the official email.

Despite their best efforts, news of Lucas’ leak was spreading. People trying to defraud them, news outlets calling them hacks or the next big thing. They hadn’t revealed anywhere where they were headed next. Lucas had shot off a group text to his friends and family, telling them not to reveal a thing, tell no one where they were, and to delete the message once they’d read it.

Since they’d broken no laws, no one could go into their phones and look. Lucas got back a chorus of ‘okays’ and nervous texts from his parents. He’d deleted all of them then switched the phone to flight mode. Dustin did the same with his mom.

Thankfully, Max was left alone. They wanted to speak to the guys in front of the camera, not behind it. Much to Lucas’ relief, Max, Erica, and Trucy were left alone. No one even knew Trucy had joined their group anyway.

Trucy appeared between Lucas and Dustin, scanning the streets.

“Mama told me… Hmmm… If it’s still in good condition, we can use Uncle Mike’s childhood home.”

“Wait, what?”

Lucas turned to see Max had moved to the side so Trucy could stand between him and Dustin, and that Mike had hurried over, the only one unaffected by the rumble of the van.

“Wait a second, I’m not sure I wanna go back to my old home-”

“It’s in the middle of everything,” Trucy explained. “Mama told me that your house, or Uncle Will’s, was used a lot. Unfortunately the cabin she lived in with Grandpa Jim isn’t around anymore.”

She pulled out her phone, tapping to photos and hitting one of a map. She centred in on it, Lucas leaning over to see it was a crudely drawn map.

“Mama drew this,” Trucy told him. “Turn up there, Dustin. I have the version she drew with us, but it’s not easy to explain without actually looking at it.”

Dustin threw his arm out, catching Trucy as he hit the brakes a little too hard. Lucas and Max both rocketed forward, and they heard Erica shriek from the tech room.

“Sorry, Erica!” Dustin called back to a string of insults from Erica, who must’ve hit something. Dustin switched off the rv, quickly moving past Trucy to check on Erica. Lucas and Max followed Trucy to their small kitchen table, where she took out a folded piece of paper. She unfolded it and slapped down.

Dustin returned with Erica, who was rubbing her arm. Max put an arm around her carefully.

“You alright?” she asked, leaning her head against Erica’s shoulder. Erica nodded, resting her head against Max’s.

“Yeah, yeah, just hit my arm while cleaning up… while checking the emails,” she corrected herself, closing her eyes as she let out a sigh. Dustin grimaced as he sat down, scooting around to the middle of the booth-style seating.

“I can’t get the hang of braking in this thing, I nearly sent Lucas through the windshield once,” he admitted as Lucas sat next to him. “I’ve been practising for two years and I still can’t get it.” Lucas patted his hand reassuringly.

“No one can be as perfect as me, Dusty-bun,” he teased, pretending to flip his hair. Dustin scowled.

“Oh, bite me-”

“Can we talk about this later please?” Max interrupted. “We have to figure out what to do, where to keep the van, and where we need to go.” Her eyes went to Trucy. “Your mom drew a map?”

Trucy nodded, smoothing out the crudely drawn map El had made for them. She’d made it from memory, but the looks of it, drawing little houses and important landmarks. Trucy pointed a finger a house labelled ‘The Wheelers’.

“This is where Uncle Mike grew up,” she started, then pointed to a small house on the outskirts of Hawkins. “This is where Nana Joyce, Uncle Jonathan, and Uncle Will lived.”

Mike sat across from Lucas now, his brow furrowing slightly as he successfully leaned on the table without going through it. He was starting to get the hang of this ghost here, and with Trucy around now, he was making strides Lucas wasn’t expecting. Whatever was going on with Mike being a ghost and how much he could do was tied in with these powers that El and Trucy had in some way.

And El was convinced that Mike’s return was connected to Hawkins. She wasn’t sure if Will was around, but Hawkins was the place to start.

Lucas had a weird feeling there were bits missing from El’s story. For one, she hadn’t really said anything about the first thing Mike had told them. That the Creel house was connected to what had happened to them.

If what Mike had said was right, then that meant what happened to the Creels was involved. Which made Henry’s disappearance that more convincing he had survived somehow, yet confusing.

“Gahhhh!”

Everyone looked at Lucas as he leaned his elbows on the table, letting out a long groan as he put his face in his hands. His head felt like it was spinning, and felt a small sliver of fear in the base of his spine. It spread up like ice, and he shivered.

“Dude, what’s wrong?” Dustin asked, putting a hand on Lucas’ shoulder. “We’re just deciding where to put the van.”

“It’s more than that though!” Lucas said, looking up. He looked directly at Mike, sitting across from him. “What the hell happened back then? There’s so many holes in this story that they rival the pot holes in Hawkins!”

“Lucas!” Max stopped him before he got too far. “We’re getting there, can we just find a safe place for the van?”

Mike was silent, his lips pressed hard together into a thin line without answering. He looked up at Trucy, told her to just go to his childhood, then stormed to the tech room, phasing right through the door. Lucas was breathing heavy, feeling the guilt building at accidentally going off at Mike.

Trucy sighed. “Can we just go to Uncle Will’s old place? We’ll probably have more room for the van anyway,” she said to Dustin, who just nodded.

“Yeah… I can do that.”

The old Byers house was right on the edge of town, not that close to any other houses. Dustin successfully parked without sending everyone flying. Trucy was now in charge of the sock that held Mike’s wedding ring, so Lucas, needing a moment, climbed up into his and Max’s loft bed, closing the door and pulling down the black out shades.

He switched on the lamp on his side of the bed and flopped back, flinging his arm over his eyes. He felt, finally, he could breathe. Trucy coming onboard really made the van feel a little claustrophobic, but Dustin was already setting up his tent. Trucy and Erica were looking over El’s map, and Lucas wasn’t sure what Max and Mike were doing.

Lucas didn’t know what to think right now. Maybe he should have listened to Erica suggesting he try journalling… He’d always liked writing, but hadn’t had a lot of time beyond writing the occasional script for reading out the research he’d made.

The familiar sound of the door sliding open made Lucas peek – Max was climbing in, sliding the door closed behind her, and crawled up the bed, resting her head on Lucas’ shoulder. He put his arm around her, tucking her against him.

“Out with it, stalker,” she demanded. “What’s got you so riled up that you’re taking it out on Mike? He hasn’t done anything, he can barely touch things without concentrating.”

Lucas stared at the ceiling, slowly rubbing Max’s arm as he tried to piece his thoughts together.

“I… don’t know,” he mumbled, grimacing. “Just with meeting El, having another person in the rv, trying to figure out what happened to Mike, talking about the concert, people hounding us for a mistake I made… I just feel…”

He couldn’t even think of the damn word. Max looked up at him, waiting for him to talk. Lucas glanced back at her, seeing how calm she was. Therapy had done wonders for Max. He and Dustin had thought about it with how heavy some of the places they went to, but neither had actually looked into it.

“It’s just a lot, okay?” Lucas finally said, letting his head fall back. “We found an actual ghost, people have literal powers, it’s all… just…”

Max listened for a few moment, thinking.

“...Are you scared, Lucas?” she asked softly. Lucas didn’t answer for a long time as he ruminated over her question, and he finally answered.

“Maybe? I think maybe… I mean, aren’t you? Ghosts are real, people have powers, Hawkins is somehow at the centre of it all… It just makes me nervous,” he admitted, sitting up. Max sat up too, leaning on her hand as she listened.

“And on top of it all, if we don’t figure this out, I’m terrified that what Dustin said is gonna come true. That Mike’s gonna be lost on a plane of existence, damned to wander into madness. That’s not fair on him.”

“Which is why we have to figure this out, and you need to not go off at him,” Max told him with a shake of her head. “I heard him tell Dustin and Trucy that he feels like he’s losing it already. He’s slipping, Lucas, he has been since we found him.”

Lucas chewed his bottom lip for a few moments. “...I’m scared, Max.”

“I am too, Lucas.”

She kissed his cheek, her hand trailing over his ear, and Lucas glanced at her. She was giving him a small smile, and he smiled back.

“Let’s go,” she encouraged, and Lucas nodded. They left the loft, Max sliding the door shut again as Lucas saw that Mike had joined Trucy and Erica, leaning on the table. The door to the rv was open, and he heard Dustin swearing to himself outside.

Mike looked up at the sound of the loft door, and his face hardened slightly seeing Lucas. Lucas sighed, walking over to him.

“I’m sorry,” he mumbled, loud enough for Mike to hear. Mike gave him a side-eye, but didn’t quite look at Lucas again. “I drew first blood, and I’m sorry. This is all just… a lot, and I got scared, man. Mainly, I’m worried we won’t be able to help you.”

Mike finally looked at him, pushing off the table. “Your main worry is me?”

Lucas nodded. “We gotta figure this out, and get you back to Will. It’s what you want, isn’t it?”

Mike’s hard face cracked, and he quickly wiped his eyes.

“More than anything. I need to find Will.”

“Ok.” Lucas clapped his hands together as Dustin appeared, jumping up into the van and going to grab some Mountain Dew Kickstart from the fridge. “The first thing I wanna know… Trucy, what exactly are your powers, and how strong are they?”

Trucy stood so quickly she nearly knocked the table over.

“I was nervous about this,” she said, shaking her hands out. “Basically, Mama and most of the other children had telekinesis abilities, as well as the ability to transcend into a void, to see and hear things. They could find where people were. Uncle Will… he was a little different.”

“Wait, Will had powers too?” Max asked, surprised, but Lucas and Dustin looked at each other as Lucas clicked his fingers.

“Well, that sort of explains why Mike electrocutes us whenever he touches us,” Lucas suggested. “He was Will’s husband, partner in life and all that soulmate stuff, some of it probably stuck around on Mike, for whatever reason.”

“What electrocution?” Trucy asked, frowning. “I’m fine when Uncle Mike touches me. So was Mama.”

Lucas grimaced, clenching his fists as he and Dustin argued without saying a word. Max and Erica had seen this many times before, but it was new for Trucy and Mike, who just watched in slight alarm. After a few moments, Lucas walked over to Dustin, holding a hand out.

“Best two out of three, loser takes one for the team?” he asked, and Dustin nodded, holding his hand out in turn.

“Paper, scissors, rock!”

Lucas had paper, Dustin had scissors. Dustin cursed as Lucas cheered, and he heard Trucy ask Max, “What… what are they doing?”

“It’s just something we do,” Max told her, and Lucas could practically hear her rolling her eyes as he and Dustin geared up again. “We usually just play it as a game but use it to make decisions too.”

“Rock!”

Lucas had rock, Dustin had paper.

“Yes!” Dustin hissed, pumping his fist in victory as Lucas covered his face in shame. One left to go; the decider. They both flexed their hands, and struck again.

Lucas’ face fell when he saw he had rock again, and Dustin had paper. Grinning evilly, Dustin just closed his hand over Lucas’ fist and pretended to solemnly shake. “Good game, man, but you’re it. Go get shocked.”

“Fine,” Lucas grumbled, Dustin still grinning as Lucas walked over to Mike and held his hand out. Mike still looked unsure, but reached out to take Lucas’ hand.

Lucas felt the electric current up his arm immediately, even though he could feel pressure of Mike actually holding his hand. He stiffened, and Mike quickly dropped his hand so Lucas could breathe again, doubled over with his hands on his knees, breathing hard.

“What just happened?!” Trucy asked, shaking her head, and Lucas had to take a few deep breaths, swallowing hard.

“That was… ow, that one hurt… That was Mike actually being able to hold my hand, but he can’t touch us without electrocuting us,” Lucas gasped out to her. “We don’t know why, but if the whole soulmate thing actually exists, then Mike clearly got it from Will, though he has no control over it.”

“Interesting,” Trucy mumbled, heading back to the map and scrawling something along the edge. “I can’t do anything like that. I can do telekinesis part, but I can’t travel to the void. I can more… feel emotions in places, like what you saw back at Mama’s. Her Mama had similar abilities to Mama, though not as strong. She was catatonic for most of Mama’s life.”

Lucas wasn’t sure he wanted to ask about that, and Trucy didn’t offer anything else on it. Instead, she took Dustin’s cap off his head, putting it on her own and sitting in the centre of the room, or the closest she could. She crossed her legs, motioning for someone to sit on one side and someone on the other.

Everyone sat in a circle, facing Trucy. Dustin was beside her, his knee almost touching hers, with Erica on her other side. Trucy pulled the cap down over her eyes, then placed her hands on the floor, palms down, concentrating.

For a minute or two, nobody said anything. Lucas glanced at Max, who just shrugged back, while Dustin’s eyes never left Trucy. Things might be a little weird at the moment, but Lucas was beginning to strongly believe a lot of the weirdness would be gone if Dustin and Trucy just confessed and got together.

Trucy’s lips parted slightly, and she let out a sigh.

“There’s… a lot of pain here,” she said aloud, almost a whisper. Lucas stiffened again as Max grabbed his sleeve. “Grief. Denial. Blame. Hatred. Confusion. Questions… so many questions…”

Dustin’s hand went to Trucy’s knee, even though he was stone-faced. Lucas’ eyes widened when he saw blood slowly dripping from one of Trucy’s nostrils.

She took a deep breath, calming, and a soft smile came across her face.

“There’s a lot of happiness too. Laughter, happiness, excitement, love… A lotta love here…” Trucy giggled at that, and Erica rolled her eyes. “Trust. The trust is immense.”

Mike, who was standing behind Max and Dustin with his arms crossed, finally smiled. He had chosen not to sit down so he didn’t accidentally touch anyone. Trucy pushed the cap up to look at Dustin, and Lucas, Max, and Erica all grimaced at having to witness the lovey-dovey look between them.

Mike was the only one to say anything.

“Hey, hey, none of that under my roof!” he joked, pretending to wave Dustin away. Trucy scowled at him.

“I’m twenty, Uncle Mike! Hell, you actually look the same age as us right now!”

Mike looked down at his clothes – clearly a style from the nineties – and shrugged. “That is something I don’t know why it’s happening either. Leave my clothes alone.”

Dustin stood, helping Trucy and Erica up, while Lucas got stuck for a moment as Max used his head as something to lean on to get up.

“Hey! Max, what are you-”

“Calm down, stalker.” She grabbed his arm and yanked him up to stand. “You’ll live.”

They all crowded around the map again, and Lucas saw Trucy’s writing around the edges. She was busy being helped by Max and Erica to clean up her nose. Seeing Trucy’s nose bleed worried Lucas – was that a normal thing with Trucy and El using their powers? The other kids too?

He didn’t want to think too much about what those kids went through. About what El went through. El was short for Eleven. She had the chance to change how Trucy developed her powers and she took it, even though Trucy’s were a little different.

“Okay,” Trucy said as she dried her nose with tissues. “Mama did suggest a few places to look around in, namely Uncle Will’s old house and-”

“My old house,” Mike said, a touch bitterly. “I left home for a reason, didn’t El ever tell you?”

Trucy was silent for a moment, then nodded. Mike sighed.

“It took years to fix things with my parents, then I died and that ended,” Mike mumbled as Dustin stretched. Lucas was looking between Trucy and Mike, trying to decide whether to ask about filming. He and Dustin were dark right now, but this was still their job.

Mike looked up at Lucas. “I think I saw your go-pros were fully charged when I was in the tech room,” he said, and Erica clicked her fingers.

“They are. The mics and Max’s camera are ready to go to, we can probably start with the Byers house.”

“Wait, wait, wait!” Lucas held his hands up like he was stopping traffic. “You’re… We’re gonna be filming this?”

Mike frowned. “I expected it, pretty much. I just want to see the final product before you upload it online,” he explained. “I wasn’t happy with what you did… but Erica explained that files can sometimes get mixed up. I was still adjusting to how fast technology was moving when I died, so it took a bit to fully understand.” He let out a sigh, looking down at his hands.

“I was thinking… at least maybe the world would know about Hawkins. About Will. All of this would be recorded and proof we existed,” Mike said, clenching his fists as he looked back up at Lucas. “And this is your job. You would never have found me if you guys hadn’t just come to the Creel house expecting paranormal activity.”

Lucas, Dustin, and Max stared at Mike, who laughed.

“Erica’s been teaching me the terminology,” he admitted, grinning at her. “I would high five you but I nearly blew up your smart watch the other day when you accidentally bumped into me.”

Erica smiled gratefully. “Air high five then?” she suggested, standing a good distance away so they could do so. “Mike’s learning fast what is what with the internet and social media nowadays.”

“It helps fill the time,” Mike added.

“Okay, you two talk about that, me, Max, and Dustin will go gear up, and Trucy…” Lucas hesitated, seeing Trucy still looking over El’s map. “Are you okay with being recorded and on camera?”

“Huh?” Trucy looked up at him. “Oh, yeah, I’m okay with it. I just want to see the footage before you upload you.”

Lucas clicked his fingers at her. “You got it,” he said as he, Max, and Dustin headed into the tech room, finding their various cameras and mics. Max picked up her camera, stroking it fondly.

“Ah, I missed this,” she admitted. “I’m gonna film the hell out of Hawkins.” She started fiddling with it, checking the memory card as Lucas and Dustin worked with their go-pros. Dustin clipped his to the edge of his cap as usual, and Lucas had to help him with his mic.

The door opened again, Erica walking in and taking her place in front of the monitors. She had to reach to turn on the top three, organising the cameras around the rv. Dustin leaned over her should to turn one of the to the front door of the Byers house.

“You got notes for this?” Max asked Lucas, and he nodded.

“Yep. They’ve been sitting in my phone for weeks.” He pulled it out, scrolling through the many notes that had accumulated since they met Mike to his original research and script on Hawkins. “I might need to ad-lib a little bit-”

“Lucas, most of what we do is just talk without a script,” Dustin pointed out.

“The research can’t just be made up, we have to be careful,” Lucas shot back, putting his phone back in his pocket. “At least now we have someone who literally lived here in the eighties. Trucy has what she knows from El, but Mike is the one who knows everything.”

Erica spun in the desk chair to face them. “Hurry up, nerds, we’re losing light here after Dustin’s terrible driving,” she clapped at them.

“The van is bulky and Hawkins is a wasteland-”

“Excuses,” Erica stopped him. “Max, the night vision cameras are charged. Are you guys planning on staying in the house?”

Lucas and Dustin shook their heads.

“To our knowledge, there’s not really any paranormal activity here… at least no one’s really spoken about it,” Lucas said. Erica spun back to the laptop, bringing up YouTube and searching for videos on Hawkins. She scrolled through the videos that came up, most of them simply exploring abandoned places.

“Doesn’t look like it,” she murmured. “A few looked into what if rather than any rumours. They just call this place a ‘house outside of town’ though.”

“Doesn’t look like anyone else did as much research as us,” Lucas said, ready to go. “But I guess no one else had a former resident with them either.”

Once Max was ready, since her equipment was the heaviest, they called goodbyes to Erica, who just waved her hand in return, eyes on the screens. She was locked in. Trucy and Mike were standing outside the van, Mike taking advantage of being able to be outside without people seeing him.

“This is so weird,” he said as Lucas and Dustin lead the way, trudging through the overgrown grass to the Byers house. “I practically grew up here, I was here a lot after Will’s Dad left. He was… not a good man. It was actually a relief that he was gone.”

Max was following behind, her camera mostly on Lucas and Dustin, but her mic picked up anything Mike and Trucy said.

The wooden porch squeaked, protesting under their feet, and Dustin gave a yell as Lucas quickly yanked him away from a weak spot in the floor. His foot would have gone right through. The door just barely hung on its hinges.

Lucas put his hand out to push the door open carefully, the hinges protesting from nearly thirty years of rust accumulating. He and Dustin peered in first.

It was worse than the Creel house. Furniture overturned, windows smashed, the dining table clear in half. One wall was covered in paint, all the letters of the alphabet.

“Where there’s no graffiti, run,” Dustin whispered as Lucas motioned for Max, Mike, and Trucy to follow.

“What?” Trucy whispered back.

“I don’t know, I just read online that if you see no graffiti, you run. Don’t know why,” Dustin told her as Lucas nudged a broken armchair with his foot, dust rising.

“Be careful,” he told the others, though Mike was the only one who would be unaffected. “We don’t know how dangerous it is here. Let’s look around, but carefully.” With the sun setting outside, Lucas and Dustin took out flashlights, while Max clicked on the one attached to the top of her camera. Mike himself was somewhat of a light source too.

Lucas navigated his way around furniture to the wall covered in the alphabet, shining his light over it. It had been painted over many times, not really graffitied like some of the other walls and the door. Mike stepped up next to him, reaching up to trace his finger over the letter W.

“I remember this,” he said softly. “Joyce – Will and El’s Mom – she was convinced Will was alive. For a little bit, she and I were the only people who believed he was alive. El knew he was. Joyce, she told me years later, figured out that Will could communicate to her somewhat through lights, so she painted the alphabet on the wall and hung Christmas lights over each letter so Will could spell things out.”

His face scrunched up in pain. “The night she did this, he told her to run. And Will’s fake body was found in the quarry.”

Trucy reached out now, placing her palm flat against the wall and closing her eyes. Mike stepped out of her line of sight so she didn’t have a lot of light shining against her eyelids. Lucas, Dustin, and Max were quiet as they watched her, waiting.

After a few minutes, she took her hand away. “No wonder my family moved to California,” she said, shaking her head. “There’s a lot of pain here. A lot. Fear, grief, sadness… So, so much pain and fear. I’d heard stories about how bad it was with Uncle Will’s birth father living here, but I could only imagine how awful it was.”

She looked down at her shaking hand. Dustin reached out and took it quickly, and she breathed a sigh of relief.

“Let’s keep going,” Lucas decided as Mike put his hand on Trucy’s shoulder. She nodded, shivering slightly, and they continued, carefully picking their way through the ruined house. Lucas didn’t have a lot of information about what happened to the Byers; he talked aloud about Will’s disappearance, El eventually joining the family.

There was a gaping hole in the end of this story, but when Lucas looked to Mike to confirm anything, Mike conveniently was looking away. Lucas didn’t press him; whatever had happened in the end had driven the Hopper-Byers family from Hawkins for good.

“That was Jonathan’s room,” Mike said, pointing to the doorway. The door itself was completely gone. Lucas, Dustin, and Max had a quick look around; the mattress was missing from the bed, and there was a broken tape deck with smashed tapes around it.

Whatever had happened made the Hopper-Byers leave without a lot of their stuff. Jonathan’s room was the worst room for graffiti, every wall covered in it. Mike said Will and El’s family had left before Hawkins was abandoned, and the teenagers and young adults who all thought Jonathan was a freak really said what they really thought on the walls of his room.

It was awful. Trucy was beginning to take on the look of someone who had accidentally stepped on a thumbtack; whatever had happened in this house was painful for her to feel. Mike remembering it all was making his voice more strained.

Joyce’s room had nothing interesting; it was the only room mostly empty. Actually, it looked like it had been halfway through renovations before the family left.

Mike stopping outside the last room – Will’s room – made Lucas, Dustin, and Max stop behind him. Trucy was holding onto Dustin’s arm, leaning her head on his shoulder. Mike stared at Will’s bedroom door for a long time, the light emanating from him seeming to get a little brighter.

“I have to find Will,” he whispered. “I’m… missing something. I think it’s him. I need to find Will.”

Lucas was holding his breath as he waited for Mike to open the door. Max adjusted her camera height slightly, and Lucas saw Dustin give Trucy’s hand a small pat. Mike let out a huff, and reached out, grasping the doorknob.

He didn’t have to turn it for the door to open.

“This was Will’s room. He hid here when he was… in that place.”

Will’s room looked abandoned, rather than the rest of the house being destroyed. Bed half made, unfinished drawings on the desk, a homemade rocket, a poster of The Thing on the wall across the room. The curtains were moth-eaten, and the wallpaper was peeling bad, revealing water damage.

Lucas latched on to one thing Mike said.

“In that place? What are you talking about? When Will went missing?” he asked cautiously. Mike didn’t answer as he walked over to Will’s bed. He reached out, placing his hand on the covers, trailing his hand over it.

He looked over his shoulder at Lucas, Dustin, and Max.

“Will… He didn’t get lost in the woods. He got lost somewhere else. A place you can’t get to anymore… The Upside Down.”

Chapter Text

Chapter Thirteen – Wheelers & Feelings

Mike Wheeler, 1988. Aged 16.

That had been the weirdest conversation of Mike’s entire life. He couldn’t wrap his head around it, no matter how many times he tried. Everything had just begun to settle; El had sealed Vecna away in the Upside Down for good, with the help of Will. Life was finally, finally returning to normal, four years after Will originally disappeared.

Hopper and Joyce were together. Jonathan and Nancy were together. Mike and El had amicably ended things a little over a year ago, realising it wasn’t working. They were good friends, but that was all Mike would ever love her as. A friend.

And the person he really loved…

He paced the basement one last time, then flopped down on his couch, letting out a frustrated yell, covering his face. What the hell was happening?

El has visited, dropping off some cookies she made for the first time (they were terrible, but Mike ate them anyway to not upset her), and she noticed the painting hanging prominently in the basement. She had studied it for a moment, then asked if Will had painted it.

Mike had been confused. Hadn’t El commissioned it years ago? When he asked, she just shook her head and said she knew Will had been painting something, but she thought it was for someone he liked. Will had walked in at that moment, having ducked into the bathroom, and frozen hearing El’s words. Mike stared at him, his mind racing, opening his mouth to say something when Will abruptly pushed past El and ran up the stairs, slamming the basement door behind him.

El called his name and ran after him, leaving Mike alone in the basement, staring at the floor with wide eyes. He didn’t know what to do. He barely said a word at dinner – something he knew Karen noticed – and he just retreated to the basement again. He stared up at the painting, the painting Will had done, saying all that incredible stuff, that Mike was the heart…

Mike stood on the couch, carefully taking the painting down and sitting, staring at it. His eyes roamed over it, every brush stroke, every part of it that Will had touched. A painting that Will had poured his heart into, not El.

Making a decision, Mike carefully rolled up the painting, fetching his backpack and sneaking out the basement door to find his bike. It was well and truly dark now, but with Vecna locked away for good, there was nothing to worry about. Mike climbed on his bike and rode off.

He knew Nancy was already at the Byers. El would have already gone back to the cabin, and Joyce was working, so Mike just pedalled along.

Will had done all that, all of it just to make Mike feel more secure? Like he actually mattered? Why would Will do that? El didn’t need him…

Mike knew what he wanted the answer to be. The real reason why Will had made that painting, said all that amazing stuff to him, assured him, made Will feel like he wasn’t a mistake…

Mike nearly crashed into the bushes outside the Byers, lost in thought. He climbed off his bike, walking it around the house to the shed. He hid his bike behind it and trudged through the grass to Will’s bedroom window. The kitchen light was on, as was the hall light, Jonathan’s, and thankfully, Will’s.

Listening carefully, Mike crept up to the window. He could hear the faint sounds of music from Will’s room, some of that classic rock Jonathan had introduced. Swallowing heavily, Mike straightened up and tapped on the window.

A few seconds passed, and he tapped again, a little louder. The music switched off. A shadow approached the window, and he just heard Will’s voice.

“Wh-who’s there?” he asked shakily.

“Will, it’s me, it’s Mike. Can you let me in?”

The curtains flew open, revealing Will quickly tugging on a sweater. It took him a second to shove the window open.

“Mike, what are you doing here?” he hissed as Mike unceremoniously climbed in, nearly tripping over his own arms and legs. “It’s like ten pm, why-”

“It was you,” Mike gasped as he closed the window again, closing the curtains. “You were the one who made this.”

Will fell silent instantly, watching as Mike slid off his backpack and took out the painting, unrolling it. He stared at it for a moment, then looked up at Will. He felt a little pathetic, pleading, as he wished, hoped with everything he had that he was right.

“This… was from you, wasn’t it, Will? Please. Please, tell me the truth,” Mike begged, the calm demeanour he’d practised on the ride over gone completely. “Will, please.”

Will was still silent, his eyes filling with tears, and Mike felt his stomach tighten as he waited. He would wait forever if it led to what Will said.

“...Yes,” Will whispered, his voice rasping slightly. “It was me. All of that, everything I said… That was me.”

A beat of silence passed between them, then Mike let the painting fall on Will’s bed as he crossed the room and hugged Will so hard that Will stumbled back slightly. Tears began to trickle down Mike’s cheeks as Will slowly hugged him back, which became tight, fierce.

Every glance, every touch, every hug, every word that has once passed between them seemed to go by again, twisted tighter and tighter until it snapped, turning into something else entirely.

“Thank god,” Mike managed to get out, shaking slightly. “I wanted it to be you so badly. I wanted it to be you.” He pulled back to see Will was crying as well, his eyes wide.

“Really?” Will asked, a touch of disbelief in his voice. Mike took Will’s face in his hands, closing his eyes as he touched his forehead to Will’s, letting out a breath that seemed to rid him of everything he had tried to hide. Everything he had felt for Will. Everything everyone was wrong and unnatural, but felt so natural, so right, with Will.

“It’s always been you, Will,” Mike whispered, and Will’s hands came up to grasp Mike’s jacket as Mike pulled him closer and kissed him. Everything he ever wanted was here, right here in his hands. This is how it was meant to feel. The electricity he’d heard Nancy talking about with one of her friends, how she felt with Jonathan.

He felt it with Will. He didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. To keep kissing Will or take Will in his arms and never let him go. Will’s lips were warm against his, tasting ever so faintly of peanut butter and chocolate, and Mike had to pull back to catch his breath.

At least he could look at Will now. The terror in Will’s face was gone, now filled with relief, adoration, and just… love. Plain and simple. How Mike had never seen it before, he didn’t know.

“I’m staying the night, you realise,” he said, and Will breathed a laugh.

“I’m aware. And you won’t be sleeping on the floor tonight.”

Lucas Sinclair, 2021. Aged 21.

Mike turned to see Lucas, Dustin, and Max all watching him. Lucas let out a low whistle.

“Talk about romantic,” he said. He wasn’t about to press Mike on every detail of Mike telling them he and Will had first confessed in this very room, but he could imagine. “Will painted an entire painting of something you both loved and said romantic shit? That goes right to the movies.”

If Mike could blush, he definitely would be. He pressed his hands to his cheeks as Lucas, Dustin, and Max grinned uncontrollably.

“Stop!” Mike protested. “It was a huge deal for us back, we hid our relationship for years… for the most part. El figured it out immediately, Jonathan somehow already knew, and we just told Nancy before he did. Didn’t tell our parents till about 2001.”

Lucas could understand that. Mike and Will were sixteen in the eighties when they finally got together, he could understand why they told only three people. What surprised Lucas most was that Mike had actually dated El for a little over a year before he got with Will, but it was understandable.

‘Internalised homophobia’, Erica called it. No wonder Mike and Erica were getting along so well, she was showing him so much about how things had changed and some of what was unknown before actually had names.

Trucy tugged Dustin arm, and he walked with her until she stood in a free space. Trucy let him go, kneeling down to press her palm to the floor. Her head was down, and no one could see her face. Max moved with the camera to stand closer to Mike, facing Trucy.

Finally, Trucy looked up, and she was smiling, tears in her eyes.

“There is a lot of fear and pain… but underneath it all, a lot of love. A mother’s love, reminds me of Mama. Brotherly love, like how I see between Uncle Jonathan and Will. And the love you spoke of for Uncle Will… Though it seems much older than what you told us.”

Mike looked away at that, and Lucas knew the conversation was over. Trucy was too exhausted to carry on, Dustin and Mike helping her up. Lucas’ walkie crackled; he grabbed as he heard Erica’s voice.

“Are you guys setting up cameras in there? Over,” she asked.

“In a minute, we’re getting Trucy to the van, she’s exhausted. Over and out,” Lucas responded, stepping aside and out of the way before Mike could accidentally touch him. “Max and I will stay here and start setting up the cameras, make sure Trucy’s okay.”

“I’ll be okay,” Trucy grunted. “I just need to recharge. Mama… she’s the same.” She wiped her nose with the back of her hand, smearing blood on her skin. “I just need rest. I’m not used to using my powers so frequently.”

Mike put Trucy’s arm around his shoulder, taking care not to actually touch Dustin. “Your mom was like this whenever she fought. It was taxing to see El like that over and over, so don’t push yourself.” Despite his young appearance, Mike sounded very much the concerned uncle in that moment.

Max set her camera down on Will’s old desk, sliding off her backpack. Lucas couldn’t remember Max accumulating so many little cameras, but they were small, and Dustin had worked on them to improve their battery life. Lucas walked around the room, looking at various artworks of young Will’s sitting on various surfaces, tacked up on the walls.

“Try not to disturb too much,” he warned Max, who had one foot up to stand on Will’s old bed. “This room is one of the best preserved we’ve seen in such a dingy house.”

“Fine then, stalker, help me out here.”

Lucas sighed, crouching down so Max could swing her legs over his shoulders behind his head. Lucas steadied her, holding her legs securely, and slowly stood up.

This wasn’t the first time they’d had to do this, though usually Dustin was there to help. Lucas walked as close as he could to the point Max wanted to fix the camera, directly above the bed, close to the roof. She reached up slightly, Lucas swaying but keeping her steady, and listened as she stuck the camera to the a part of the wall where the wallpaper had peeled away.

“Done yet?” Lucas grunted, and Max knocked on his head, leaning over so she met his eye level.

“Yes, stalker.” She kissed the tip of his nose. “You can put me down now.”

Lucas let her slide down, and grabbed Max’s camera for her as she fetched her backpack. Dustin came back as she was fixing a camera above the door of Joyce’s room. Jonathan’s room had a camera above the window, and Max put only one more in the living room, above a wall Mike told Dustin something came out of the wall.

That confused Lucas, Dustin, and Max, but Mike wasn’t talking about that yet. Once they were done, they headed back out to the van. Erica, Mike, and Trucy were sitting outside, Erica having set up their picnic table. She was leaning across the table, her phone between her and Mike as she showed him something.

As Lucas approached, he heard voices he recognised from Smosh. It took eveything in him to not sit down and watch with them. Instead, he sat across from Trucy, taking off his go-prop and unclipping his mic. She was slumped on the table, face clean, wearing one of Dustin’s Hellfire hoodies as she sipped a Mountain Dew through a straw.

“You okay, Truce?” he asked gently as Mike burst out laughing. Dustin headed onto the van with Max, as Trucy looked up at him. She already had bags under her eyes, and she was quite pale. It clashed a bit with her clothes, since she tended to wear whites, creams, and pastels.

“Yeah,” she mumbled, taking a sip of her drink. “I’m just… worn out. I’m not used to this. Back home, I never use my abilities, they do nothing to help with my baking. I wanted that. I wanted a career where I didn’t have to use them… Didn’t have to…”

She pursed her lip, and tears swam in her eyes. “I’m not staying when we’re done, Lucas, I can’t. I can’t go around doing this sort of thing, I wasn’t trained like Mama was. I was taught to control my powers, use what I had to when needed, but like this, constantly…”

Her head dropped. Even her hair seemed thinner than usual.

“I can’t, Lucas. Mama left this life behind. I’m doing this for Uncle Mike, and him alone.”

Lucas stared at her for a few seconds; Erica and Mike were so invested in their video they didn’t hear. Lucas made a nod to a small distance away, and he helped Trucy up so they could walk out of earshot. Cicadas chirped, showing it was just still summer. The air smelled of rain, even though the sky had barely a cloud.

“I know, Truce. We wouldn’t ask this of you… We never even intended to in the first place.”

Trucy had left her Mountain Dew behind, swaying slightly as she looked up at Lucas.

“We had no idea you were involved in any of this,” Lucas continued. “You’re a good friend to us, and Dustin… Trucy…”

She was quiet, wrapping her arm around her middle. Lucas sighed.

“You do realise how much he cares about you, don’t you? Dustin talks about you constantly. He plans things around when you want to call, want to video chat. He has all your baking videos online favourited. He’s been trying to get into baking himself so you can talk about it freely with him.” Lucas pursed his lip, watching Trucy carefully. Her face gave nothing away.

“Just…. We have no expectation of you staying, especially not Dustin,” Lucas said softly. “He wants you around, maybe more than anything, but he knows you have your life, and he wants you to live it. He just wants to be a part of it.”

“Stop,” Trucy finally interrupted him. “...I… Lucas, this is too much.” She was sounding more tired. She definitely needed sleep. “I want to keep going with my baking, but Dustin… I want to be with him too, so much. But I can’t with what you guys do. He told me once that it gets to you sometimes going to so many haunted places, because people died in them. Can you imagine having to go to all of them and feeling how they felt when they were alive?”

Lucas felt as though he’d been punched in the chest. He hadn’t thought of that, but he also hadn’t understand the extent of what Trucy could do. What she could do was barely an extension of El’s powers. Mike had said it was taxing seeing El drained after a fight…

Trucy hadn’t fought anyone here. She was simply helping them with finding out how to help Mike. To uncover what had brought him back to Hawkins.

And it was already taking a toll on her. Trucy swayed, and Lucas jolted forward, catching her before she could fall.

“Dustin! Dustin, I need help here!” he yelled out, hoisting Trucy up. She shook her head, gripping Lucas’ arm tightly.

“I just need rest. I just need to recharge, then we go to Uncle Mike’s house. We find the next place.”

“Next place?” Lucas asked as Dusin appeared in the doorway of the van, leaping down when he saw Lucas supporting Trucy. Max was still on the van as Mike and Erica looked up.

“Mama… She said Uncle Mike’s…” was all Trucy said before she slumped against Lucas, too drained. Dustin shot over from the van, catching Trucy. Together, the two carried her onto the van. Max was in the tech room, hooking up her camera to the computer, and her eyes widened seeing them.

“What happened?” she demanded, following Dustin’s nod and running to open the door to his bunk. Lucas let Max take over for him, watching as Dustin and Max carefully lifted Trucy into Dustin’s bunk. Trucy passed out the moment her head hit Dustin’s pillow. Max tugged down the covers, adjusting the temperature settings in Dustin’s bunk.

She sat back for a moment, then turned to Lucas and Dustin.

“I’m gonna stay with her,” she said firmly. “Can you check the cameras and upload the footage from my camera?” she asked, gently shifting Trucy over. “I have my phone, and the same charger as Dustin.” She took off her converse, getting into the bunk and sliding under the covers next to her. “I think it’s best. Text if you need anything; Dustin did good with soundproofing and light blocking.”

With that, she reached down, sliding the door to Dustin’s bunk closed, effectively cutting them off.

Dustin immediately slumped into the desk chair, his face in his hands, elbows on his knees. Lucas heard another peel of laughter from Erica and Mike outside, and he quickly closed the door to the tech room.

For the first time in a while, it was just him and Dustin. His partner in crime. His longest friend. The one person he trusted more than anyone in the world.

They shared a look. Max was with Trucy, and Mike and Erica were cracking up over YouTube comedy. Lucas and Dustin left the van, heading to the Byers house, well out of earshot of Mike and Erica. They sat side by side on the porch, the sky quite dark now, most of the light coming from the van. More stars than they saw from Indianapolis twinkled overheard.

Lucas leaned back, stretching his legs out. He leaned back on his elbows, looking up at the sky. Dustin sat forward, his elbows on his knees, his cap pushed back a bit further so he could also look up.

“It’s peaceful here,” Lucas said, breaking the silence. “I’ve seen a few videos of Hawkins in the days before Will’s disappearance… I probably could’ve grown up here if people weren’t wildly racist in the eighties.”

Dustin chuckled, shaking his head.

“My mom would have raised me here too, but from what I’ve seen from eighties movies, I would have been called ‘Toothless’.” He purposely lisped the last word, and Lucas nudged his arm.

“We grew up now though. I can’t imagine how hard it was for Mike, El, and Will back then. El ended up being a single mother too,” he said, still looking up at the sky. “...You know what?”

“What?” Dustin asked, still looking up. Lucas hesitated for a few moments, then spoke.

“...I think you, me, and Max would have been good friends with Mike, El, and Will if we’d been around back then,” he admitted, shifting slightly. “Especially Mike and Will. With the photos we saw, could you imagine the four of us playing dnd together?”

“I can,” Dustin said, laughing. “But who would be the Dungeon Master? Eddie was ours.”

A beat of silence passed between them, then they both said, “Mike.”

They burst out laughing at their timing, Dustin’s face in his hand, Lucas laying back, his hands on his stomach as he laughed loudly. The laughter calmed Lucas, made the thoughts swirling in his head calm. It was something he needed.

When it was dark, Lucas allowed Erica to say in the loft, though he had a feeling she would stay up playing video games with Mike. He dragged out one of their extra sleeping bags, and his pillow, to Dustin’s tent, the two situating themselves like when they were kids, ‘camping out’ in Dustin’s backyard and pretending to rough it for a weekend when really, Ms Henderson regularly brought them food and they used her bathroom.

The two brought their Nintendo Switches out – well, Lucas borrowed Max’s after he texted her and she didn’t mind – and they played Super Mario Sunshine on their respective Switches, taking on different levels. Lucas found his head touching Dustin as they played so they could see each other screens, laughing when Dustin died in Pianta Village once again.

Lucas couldn’t laugh too much. Noki Bay was his fight.

After an hour, they both put the Switches down, just lying in the darkness, the only light from the outside light shining over the door of the van. Lucas had a feeling that Mike and Erica were still awake, watching god knows what. He could still hear their faint laughter. Max hadn’t said anything, probably playing Dustin’s 2DS while keeping an eye on Trucy.

“Dustin?” Lucas said into the darkness, lying on his back.

“Yeah?” Dustin responded to his right. Lucas could only just see Dustin in the dark; he was curled up on his side, in a fetal position.

“...Are you scared? About all of this?”

Dustin was quiet for a long time, and Lucas heard him moving. Dustin let out a sigh.

“Yeah, I am. I am scared. If we don’t fix this, then Trucy put herself through this for nothing,” Dustin said, his words echoing Lucas’ thoughts. “But mostly… if we fix nothing, I really think Mike is destined to wander, slowly going mad, and he’ll completely lose himself. It’s not fair he was somehow brought back, it’s definitely not fair if he loses his mind because of whatever brought him back.”

Lucas listened, silently agreeing. All of this landed of finding Will for Mike. If they didn’t figure out what was going on with Mike, then he was doomed. Dustin was convinced he was going to descend into madness.

“I really want to help Mike,” Lucas whispered, rolling to face Dustin. “We have to help him. We can’t leave him in limbo. He’d be stuck, we’d be hurting Trucy and El. We have to figure this out.”

Dustin was already looking at Lucas, and Lucas saw him blink in the gloom.

“We’ll figure this out, Lucas. We have to.”

Dustin suddenly lifted his hand out of his sleeping bag, spitting in it, and held his hand out to Lucas.

“Spit promise we do this? We figure this out, for Mike?”

Lucas spit in his own hand, and slapped it into Dustin’s, nodding.

“For Mike.”

Morning light woke Lucas the next day. He was facing the tent wall, half asleep, and could hear Dustin snoring. Blinking, Lucas wiped the drool from his mouth and rolled onto his back. His body ached from lying on the mats they usually used for sleeping in haunted places, and he held his watch up to check the time.

All he could hear was birds, and a few bugs chirping away, above Dustin’s snoring. Lucas yawned, stretching, and grabbed his phone, attached to the portable charger he and Dustin shared. There were no messages, not surprisingly, with his phone still in airplane mode.

Lucas left Dustin to sleep, pulling on his sneakers and crawling out of the tent, stretching when he finally stood. He heard the van door close, and turned to see Erica moving to the flattest ground she could find, airpods in as she started stretching. She was wearing her jogging gear, her hoodie sleeves rolled up to her elbows.

Walking through the grass, Lucas joined her, and began doing the same stretches and dance moves she was doing. He got so into it, no idea what she was listening to until they had both turned and he was into his dancing.

“Lucas!”

Lucas froze, turning slowly to see Erica staring at him, taking her airpods out. She smiled, turning off the Bluetooth on her phone, and held her phone out.

“You’re running with me. Choose one.”

Lucas took the phone, thinking for a moment.

“Dua Lipa or Michael Jackson?”

Erica thought for a moment, still stretching, and just nodded.

“You decide.”

Lucas set up a queue of ‘Beat It’ by Michael Jackson, followed by ‘Levitating’ by Dua Lipa, and he followed as Erica began her run. She took her phone back, tucking it into the pocket of her hoodie, and she had an even pace, focusing on a certain distance around the van. They had to run through long grass, but Lucas kept up, glad to have stayed on the basketball team just to learn how to stay fit.

The sun had barely risen, so Lucas and Erica made sure where they were running was safe. The air was cooler; Lucas felt his lungs ache a bit. Summer was almost at an end. In Lucas’ mind, that meant they were really running out of time with Mike.

He tried to focusing on running alongside Erica. Dustin had scoffed when Lucas joined the basketball team, and the main reason Lucas stayed was how it affected his confidence. He took better care of his body now, knew what to eat. Jay had made sure of that.

It was calming; Erica mapped out a running route, all within sight og the fan, picking any parts without overgrown grass. Lucas ket u, even getting into he music Erica was listening to. They had completed three laps when they finally returned to van. Dustin, Max, Mike, and Trucy were all outside, Dustin pouring bowls of cereal for everyone.

Max handed Lucas ad Eric water bottles as they reached them, sitting at the picnic table and taking long drinks.

Trucy looked a lot better. Color had returned to her cheks, her voice was back to normal, and the bags under her eyes were gone. They were ready to move onto the next place.

Mike was the only one not sitting as Lucas slid onto the picnic bench, digging into the cereal.

“Where are we off to today?” he asked with a mouthful of food, earning a glare from Erica and Max, Trucy, fully restored and stretching, spoke first.

“The Wheeler house.” She noticed Mike’s grimace. “Sorry, Uncle Mike, but Mama suggested it. We have to go. It’s prt of heklping you move on.”

Mike looked bitter, but finally nodded.

Chapter Text

Chapter Fourteen - Forming Clouds & Words Drowned

Dustin stood on the back of Lucas’ bike so Trucy could take his, since she was the only one who could touch Mike without getting hurt. Max was on her skateboard, camera in hand, holding the rope attached to the back of Lucas’ bike. He had to bike harder than normal, but it was worth it. Erica, of course, remained behind, manning the screens.

They were silent as they pedalled through the street. Potholes, overgrown front yards, trees having fallen on the road. The houses had broken or boarded up windows, holes in roofs, doors smashed in, graffiti painting the brick.

Lucas looked about as he pedalled, feeling a strange sense of melancholy. This had once been a town full of life, people everywhere, kids in yards, cars driving along. The Byers house felt quite lonely on the outskirts of town, and Lucas was nervous to leave Erica alone. He’d double checked the windows and exits, insisting she not go outside, not when they would be so far away.

She’d rolled her eyes, but followed his directions. The van was practically Fort Knox when Lucas, Dustin, Max, Mike, and Trucy had finally left.

Mike was looking around, standing on the back of Dustin’s bike with his hands on Trucy’s shoulder. She was riding smoother than Dustin, since Mike weighed absolutely nothing. He could move her if wanted, but was just looking around, a painful expression on his face.

“I never thought I’d be back here,” he said, grimacing as they passed where the middle school and high school were. Lucas knew immediately they would not be going into the middle school – there were signs everywhere warning of asbestos and just a generally unsafe area. “I thought once I packed that little black bag and escaped to New York with Will, that would be it.”

“Uncle Mike, this isn’t a Bronski Beat song,” Trucy said to laughter from Lucas, Dustin, and Max. Even Mick chuckled at her words.

“I completely forgot that you might remember that joke, Jonathan and Steve were relentless,” he said with a shake of his head. Trucy giggled.

“Only a little. I didn’t understand it back then, but now I get it,” she told him, and Lucas heard a hard edge to her voice. He was only able to look for a split second; if he tried to look any longer while being the one to direct a bike that had other people attached it, he’d send himself, Dustin, and Max right into the dirt.

Things weren’t the easiest for Lucas as an openly bisexual black man, so he could imagine what it was like for Mike back in the eighties with people voting for Reagan and living in the height of the AIDs crisis. Lucas could understand him wanting to escape from a small town as soon as possible, since by the sounds of it, his only two close friends had left for California before they graduated high school.

“Alright, please tell me directions, because it isn’t easy to stop their bike,” Lucas called out, trying to change the subject. Trucy was looking at the streets, trying to remember the map, but Mike answered this question

“We turn onto this street… This is my street,” he said, his voice tight, and Lucas got around a tree that had fallen onto the road. He slowly carefully so Max could prepare to stop. Trucy pedalled ahead, finally stopping in front of a two-storey house. The grass almost to Lucas’ waist in some spots, but the driveway, for the most part, just had random junk here and there.

Dustin jumped down as Lucas came to a stop. He walked the bike up to where Mike told them they could drop them, and Lucas, Dustin, and Max made sure their equipment was still good to go. Trucy had just her backpack with snacks – they weren’t sure yet how long they’d be there – so she just walked over to help Max.

Mike stood where he climbed off Dustin’s bike, staring up at his childhood home. He was quiet for so long that once Lucas heard his go-pro beep on and the light was on on his mic, he wandered over. Lucas wanted to put a comforting hand on Mike’s shoulder, and very nearly did, but caught himself in time.

“What are you thinking?” he asked, remembering how ‘are you okay?’ never helped with Max, but ‘what are you thinking?’ really helped in her early days of therapy. Mike put his hands in the pocket of his jeans, his mouth in a thin line.

“...I never came back here,” he admitted. “I don’t know where my parents are, if they’re even alive. My Mom was a bit funny but mostly okay when she found out about me and Will. My Dad… well, he actually really surprised me. Nancy kept in contact with our parents and I found out at Will and I’s wedding reception, which we reluctantly invited my parents to, that my Dad was fine with it.”

Lucas’ eyebrows rose. “I did not expect the story to go that wat,” he said.

Mike chuckled. “None of us did. Turns out my Dad sneakily kept up with our careers, he found out I became an English teacher, as well as the band I was in for a while, and he was proud of where Nancy and I went with our careers. He said he was worried that I’d never find anyone like Nancy found Jonathan, but seeing Will and I… He realised I already had, many years ago, even before Nancy did.”

“They’re still alive,” they heard Trucy say as she, Dustin, and Max joined them. “They live in Chicago, some dream of Grandma Karen’s to go. They visited, and ended up staying. Aunty Holly actually teaches English at a high school there,” she told Mike.

He smiled sadly, putting his hand on Trucy’s shoulder. “Thanks, kiddo. It’s nice to know my parents stayed together, things got a bit distant between them after I left apparently, but they got through it.” Mike sucked in a deep breath, shaking his arms out. “Alright, let’s get this over with.”

Lucas looked at Max. She held up three fingers, counting down, and Lucas and Dustin took their usual spots as hosts.

“Here we are, still in Hawkins, at another of the residential houses,” Lucas said, walking to the front door. In these upper class neighbourhoods, the houses were in a little better condition. The Wheeler house still had an intact front door. It was locked though, and Lucas didn’t feel comfortable just breaking into their old home when one of the members of the family was with them.

“There’s another entrance,” Mike cut in before Lucas and Dustin could start who would be getting in a window game of rock paper scissors. “Well, there’s two. My sister’s Nancy’s window, or the basement door.” He hesitated as Max pointed the camera to him. To everyone’s shock and surprise, Mike said into the camera, “Sorry, Nance. I saw Steve sneaking in that one time.”

It was taking everything in Lucas to not completely lose it and congratulate Mike on having the courage to speak on camera, but he held it together. With the way Dustin was pretending to cough, he was going through the same thing.

Mike led the way, around the house to the basement door. It took him a moment, since his hand kept through the doorknob, but he finally grabbed it, turning. It turned, but the door didn’t happen.

“Sorry Mom and Dad,” Lucas heard him mumble before turning to Lucas and Dustin. “Can you guys…?”

Lucas and Dustin moved to the door. They nodded at each other, then began to shove the door. Dustin pushed on it with his hands while Lucas hit it with his shoulder. It took a few shoves, then the door finally gave way. Max, Mike, and Trucy all burst out laughing when Lucas and Dustin fell into the dusty basement, landing on the carpet.

Lucas coughed, sitting up. He thankfully hadn’t damaged his mic, but his go-pro was lopsided. Max let Trucy hold her camera for a moment while Lucas stood up, and she adjusted it so it was straight and level.

“Thanks, Mad Max,” Lucas said to her, dusting off his shorts. Max grinned as she took the camera back.

“Any time, stalker,” she responded, and Dustin rolled his eyes.

“The Lumax shippers are gonna go nuts at ‘Lumax crumbs’, he teased, only to shut up when Lucas and Max both said, “It’s Mucas! We are Mucas!”

Dustin started laughing hard. Trucy was bewildered while Mike asked, “What’s Mucas? Lumax? Whatever that is?”

Max hoisted the camera a little higher, focusing it back on Lucas and Dustin as Lucas explained.

“It’s just a combination of mine and Max’s names. People ship us online, even though she and I have been together for years, but you can’t really stop the shippers.” Lucas shrugged, pulling his phone out to scroll through to his notes. “I’m shipped with Dustin too, the fans call us ‘Henclair’, a combination of our last names.”

“Erica explained shipping to me,” Mike said. “She said if Will were around, he and I would be ‘Miwi’ or ‘Byler’.”

“Alright!” Trucy said, clapping her hands. “I really don’t want to stand around hearing people ship my uncles, or ship-” She stopped herself abruptly, even though Lucas knew that him being shipped with Dustin bothered her. He could see it – she was a touch green with jealousy and envy.

Lucas just went back to his research, and put on his host voice. “We’re at the Wheeler house in Hawkins, former Wheeler house. Original resident, journalist Nancy Wheeler, actually sat down with me and Dustin to do an interview.” The basement was dusty, with moth eaten curtains over small windows.

By the looks of it, it hadn’t changed from the day Mike left, back in 1991. Lucas, Dustin and Max had to click on flashlights, even though Mike provided a pretty good light source. Trucy stuck close to him as Max filmed Lucas and Dustin walking through the basement.

A small table, set up with a dnd campaign. A couch that looked comfy, but was falling apart. Drawings on the walls that had faded over the years, drawn in pencil, crayon, and charcoal. Lucas leaned toward one of the drawings, seeing Will’s name scrawled in the corner.

“What happened to the painting?” he called to Mike, who was looking over his old tv set and SNES. Mike looked over his shoulder.

“It should still be at El’s. Will would’ve taken it with him.”

“It is, it’s in your old room at Mama’s before you and Uncle Will moved to New York,” Trucy cut in. “...I can answer questions after 2011, some at least.”

Lucas made a mental note to not do that. With the look he shared with Dustin, they had both decided not to ask anything after 2011, not if they could at all. If Mike asked, there was no stopping him. Mike’s face was still basically unreadable, what with being white and blue.

His eyes were still the most concerning part; completely white, all of it. Lucas only knew Mike actually had dark brown eyes because of the photos he’d seen of Mike and Will in El’s home. It didn’t matter how much he, Dustin, and Max needed the content.

What mattered was Mike and Trucy being okay with all of this. That they felt listened to, and their boundaries were respected. He, Dustin, and Max decided that together.

Max was holding the camera up to Will’s artwork, ranging from the ages of six to sixteen, according to Mike. Then Will had moved to California, his drawings became paintings, and they were kept separate from Will’s other works. Mike didn’t go into detail about any of Will’s other works that weren’t public, and Lucas didn’t press him.

He was developing an odd fear the further they dug. He couldn’t explain it, and he didn’t want to confront it just yet.

Trucy sat in front of Mike’s collapsing couch, legs crossed. Max and Erica had fashioned a strip of cloth, cut from black fabric from a shirt Lucas no longer wore, and Trucy took a deep breath, lifting it and fastening it around her eyes. Dustin tugged out his phone, turning on a video he downloaded to just straight static, and set the phone beside Trucy as he sat down next to her.

Lucas, Max, and Mike remained standing. Mike crossed his arms, watching his niece, while Max lowered the camera slightly to focus on Trucy and Dustin.

Taking a deep breath, Trucy placed her palms on the floor on either side of her. All of them were trying to ignore the dust rising, except for Mike, who remained stone-faced. Max reached out toward Lucas, and he took her hand tightly.

This was different. This was where Mike had grown up, likely where Will had visited a lot. If there was anyway to figure out what was going on, it had to be here.

Trucy was quiet for a long time. She visibly calmed when Dustin put a hand on her knee, and Lucas knew the two were gone for each other. Dustin was the only person who could really be there for Trucy while she used her abilities, made her feel normal while she did superhuman stuff.

Lucas’ hand tightened on Max’s, and she glanced at him. Her face, her eyes, her hair, her very existence…

Max was the north star Lucas had been looking for his entire life. When she smiled at him, part of him wanted to throw away everything he did and just live for her. To have Max feel safe, that she always knew that he was there for her. He had always been there for her, ever since they met.

Mike felt the same way about Will. And it was clear that Dustin felt the same way about Trucy. And he had for a long time, no matter what either of them said.

“Ok,” Trucy whispered, bringing Lucas and Max back to what she was doing. “There is… a lot of denial here. Ignorance, of feelings. Not just from… well, from everyone who set foot in this room, for a long time.” Her head twitched slightly; Mike took a step forward.

“But love, too… from Grandma Karen, Papa Ted… It’s faint, but there, from both of them.” One of Trucy’s hands moved to take Dustin, holding tightly. The other remained firm, steadfast against the floor. “Aunty Holly… Her curiousity, her excitement…”

Her voice died, and she tugged the blindfold up as her nose began to bleed. She took a deep, shuddering breath, and turned to Dustin, into her arms, clutching him tightly.

“I need rest… A break…” Dustin held her gently as she took deep breaths. Lucas found Trucy’s backpack, fishing out some snacks and grabbing some Powerade and a pack of trail mix. Max kept filming, unable to stop as Lucas knelt before Trucy and Dustin.

Trucy blinked blearily, looking up. Lucas opened the packet of trail mix and unscrewed the lid of the Powerade, holding it out to her.

“Here,” he said gently, and Trucy took it, still leaning her head on Dustin’s shoulder. “It’ll give some strength back. Electrolytes and all that.”

She took a long drink as Lucas set the trail mix in her lap. Trucy was quiet as Max finally clicked off her camera, kneeling down too. Mike remained standing, the three people he couldn’t touch all around his niece, and he didn’t want to get near.

Trucy picked up the trail mix bag as Lucas held the Powerade for her, and took a few nuts out, as well as a chocolate chip.

It was quiet for a long time, peaceful. Weirdly, Lucas felt comfortable and safe in Mike’s basement. It was a place of love, of safety to Mike a long time ago, and Lucas felt that seeping into his body, into his bones. He sat back on his hands, waiting as Trucy took some time to recover.

She was getting better at this, but Lucas understood why she didn’t want to keep going after they figured out what happened to Mike, and reunited him with Will.

The goal. Reunite Mike with Will… Somehow.

Mike began walking around the basement, looking at the everything his parents never moved. Lucas, Dustin, and Max started talking quietly about video games that quickly dissolved into a whisper argument about who had better perfection in Stardew Valley after Erica.

Dustin was an easy second, but Lucas and Max were tied. Mike came in last, but he wasn’t complaining.

Finally, when the colour had returned to Trucy’s face, she slowly sat up. The Powerade was gone, and only the walnuts remained of the trail mix, clearly the ones Trucy didn’t like. Dustin and Max helped her up, and they were good to finally head upstairs.

Max got her camera in position and began recording again. Lucas and Dustin had been recording the entire time with their go-pro’s, but Lucas would edit it out later. Mike fell into step behind them, and was last when they finally ascended the stairs, Lucas leading the way.

“We had to take a small break, but we’re heading to the first floor,” Lucas said to the camera, opening the door to the Wheeler’s kitchen. He hesitated, sticking his head out to look around, then motioned for the others to follow. “The Wheeler house was abandoned in the nineties, along with everyone else, and remains one of the houses most structurally sound.”

Mike stepped into frame then, narrowly avoiding touching Lucas who leaped back.

“I lived here in the seventies and eighties,” he said into Max’s camera. There was no way to attach a mic to him, so he had to speak as loudly as he could into the mic Max had set up. “I… things were different then. Will went missing, and I went alone to find him. I found El, my future sister-in-law in the woods, scared and alone, and she helped me to find Will.”

Mike led the way through the house, which hadn’t changed much since he left. It was incredibly dusty, and to Lucas’ surprise, they found a hole in the wall in the dining room. It was weirdly similar to one that had been in Will’s house.

Mike groaned when he saw it, walking over to lift some of the wallpaper that was torn.

“Of course this would be reopened,” he muttered. Lucas frowned, walking over to inspect the damage.

“What is this? It’s looks sort of like…”

“Someone broke in?” Mike let out a dark chuckle. “What had taken Will, taken El, taken my sister Holly… It did that. It caused this. He caused this.”

Lucas stared at Mike, not really sure what to say other than, “Who… what…”

“Uncle Mike,” Trucy said carefully, but Mike held a hand up to her. His face was dark, despite how bright he was, and he clenched his fists.

“The Demogorgan. It took Will, El, and Holly. Henry… He was the general. He was the one who sent it here. He’s the one who started this.”

Mike Wheeler, 1988. Aged 16.

He could hear the scream from the street. He and Will pedalled up the drive, ditching their bikes as they ran into the house. Ted was nowhere to be found, Karen was lying on the ground, her eyes closed, and…

The Demogorgan towered over Holly, bearing down on her. She managed to duck when it reached for her.

“Mike!” Will yelled as Mike ran between Holly and the monster, throwing his arms out. “Mike!”

“Don’t touch her, asshole!” Mike had no weapons, but he had his words. He pushed Holly back as the Demogorgan struck again, scratching him hard across the face.

“Mike!” Holly screamed now, while Will yelled, “No!”

He was between Mike, Holly, and the Demogorgan now, raising his rifle and shooting the monster right in the middle of its face. It stumbled back, injured but mainly stunned for a moment, before it let out an ear-splitting roar at Will.

“Don’t-” Bang. “Touch-” Bang. “Him-” Bang. “AGAIN!” Will punctuated each word with shots, reloading with a speed and efficiency Mike hadn’t sent before. He still kept Holly behind him, his arms curled around her, and she clutched his arm tightly, peering around him at what Will was doing.

After reloading again, Will lifted the rifle, and shot the Demogorgan right in the middle of its face again. It flew back through the hole it had made in the wall, back into the Upside Down. Mike fumbled for his Walkie-Talkie in his pocket, hitting the talk button, and yelled into it, “EL, NOW!”

The Demogorgan was struggling to get back up, and Mike saw the doorway to the Upside Down beginning to close, the brick beneath reappearing. It was slow, but the monster took atime recovering enough to stand, staggering. Will raised his rifle, shooting once more, and the gate closed.

Only the Demogorgan’s arm had been out. The gate closed over it, severing it, and it fell with a disgusting squelch to the carpet. Will lowered his gun, breathing hard. Mike couldn’t take his eyes off Will. He’d never seen him like that before, and he’d managed to save Mike, Holly, and Karen.

Behind him, Holly began to cry, hyperventilating. Mike turned to her, crouching down, and looked over her. She wasn’t injured, she dishevelled, and now scared and overwhelmed. Mike took her face in his hands as she cried hard.

“Hey, hey, it’s ok, we got here in time,” he assured her. “You’re gonna be alright. We’re figuring out what to do, and El has a plan.” He looked toward Karen. “What happened to Mom?”

Holly was trying to wipe her tears, but she was crying like a child much younger than her. “She got hit… Dad only went out for a little bit, but she got hit trying to protect me…” She was crying so hard Mike could barely understand her, and he quickly pulled her into his arms, hugging her tightly. He smoothed her hair down, glancing at Will.

Will was already putting the rifle strap over his head, running over and kneeling beside Karen. He reached out, checking her pulse, and let out a sigh of relief.

“She’s alive,” he called to Mike. “I’m gonna call my parents, we need to get medical attention for her.” He went to use the Wheeler’s phone as Mike kept hugging Holly, who was clutching like if she let go, he’d vanish. She was shivering sio much that she shook Mike too.

“Where’d Dad go?” he asked gently as they hugged. Holly shook her head.

“Out. He didn’t think anything would happen… I’m not sure when he’s getting back.” Her voice was getting weaker, and Mike caught her as the adrenaline wore off and she passed out. Will came back as Mike picked Holly up, carrying her over to Karen so he could sit beside his mother. He cradled Holly I his lap as Will sat down, putting his hand on Karen’s shoulder.

“Mom and Jim are on their way,” he said, giving Karen’s shoulder a squeeze. “They wanted to stick around until Ted gets back, make sure your Mom’s okay and that he knows.” He hesitated, then looked up at Mike. “… They think they should tell Karen and Ted everything. Now that…” He reached up to touch the back of his neck, grimacing.

“Now Henry’s after Holly, they want Karen and Ted to know everything.It’s time they found out.”

Mike had to agree silently, looking down at his unconscious sister in his arms. Karen and Ted had to know. And it was time to confront Henry, once and for all, and stop him from continue tormenting the innocent people of Hawkins.

Barb was dead. Bob was dead. This had to end… Now.

Mike had no idea he’d be telling people this story years later, when he himself had been brought back, in his childhood home.

He knew who was behind it. But why?

Well, he didn’t have an answer for that yet.

this image is how I imagine El with Trucy at Mike's funeral, and Mike with Holly after she got attacked by a Demogorgan. Though El and Mike are not smiling, I just love this scene of Kyoko comforting little Tohru and saying the bullying is not her fault. Just little Trucy and Holly crying because they are overwhelmed, and El and Mike ensure they are there, and they are safe.

Chapter Text

Chapter Fifteen - Nightmares & Hawkins Fear

Lucas Sinclair, 2021. Aged 21.

Mike was quiet for a long time after he mentioned the Demogorgan. He stayed at the hole in the wall, staring at it, and Trucy whispered that Lucas, Dustin, and Max should check out the rest of the house while she spoke to Mike.

It was obvious Trucy knew about all of this. Not why Mike was back, but she knew the story before her Mama and Will moved to California. Lucas had a million questions, the first being whether these creatures could come back.

He had never heard anything like this before, he had to admit to himself as Max set up cameras in various rooms of the house. Not every room, but one that looked like it hadn’t been touched the longer – clearly Mike’s old room – one other bedroom they guessed to be Holly’s, the basement, and the room where they had found the hole in the wall.

This was way out of Lucas’ area of expertise, and clearly Dustin’s too, from the frown he was sporting. Monsters? Literal creatures from another dimension? What the hell had they stumbled into? This was all on top of finding out people with superpowers actually existed, and it all started with finding out ghosts exist.

When the cameras were set up, Lucas, Dustin, and Max unlocked the front door and stepped outside, sitting on the front stoop. Finally, all three let out varying sighs. Lucas’ was shaky, and he put his face in his hands, shaking his head over and over.

“Dude, I feel like we’re way out of depth here,” Dustin said, his voice quivering. “I feel like I might cry with how intense this is.”

“This can’t be real anymore,” Max added, sitting there with her arms crossed, her legs tucked up against her. “Mike’s either yanking us and Trucy’s in on it, which feels like a whole other level of fucked up, or it all actually happened and it was covered up.”

“By the sounds of it… It was covered up,” Lucas said slowly. “Hawkins is a small town. No wonder all the residents eventually left if they literally had some other dimension bearing down on them.”

Dustin was on his feet, pacing up and down the front walk, nearly ripping out his curly hair.

“This is insane, this actually batshit insane,” Dustin was saying, breathing a little too quickly. “We’re ghost hunters, we just wanted to investigate places with paranormal activity and provide history and culture, not… not an eighties monster flick!”

“We haven’t seen any monsters, we’ve just heard about them,” Lucas tried to interrupted, but Dustin was spiralling. “If Mike’s right and El did seal whatever doorway came through that hole, maybe she sealed the entire thing away. Maybe whoever this he is is actually gone, and can’t come back.”

“Whatever Mike tells us doesn’t change the fact he’s still here,” Max said. “He came back, something brought him back. His ring was found in the Creel house. Does he have unfinished business here? The town’s been deserted for thirty years and his parents are in Chicago, what more does he need from a place he left at nineteen?”

While Dustin was spiralling, Max was sounding more and more pissed with each word. Lucas knew she had reached royal levels when she started over-enunciating her T’s. They were too far from the van for Lucas to just send them to opposite ends of it to calm down.

“Guys!” He managed to stop Max. Dustin stared at him, his hands over his ears, but he had stopped pacing. “We can’t lose control right now. We made a promise. Right now, we don’t have to deal with monsters or anything like that. We haven’t seen anything indicating any are around. We are still paranormal investigators, and we are still doing that, for Mike. We will make sure all this monster stuff was dealt with back then, but right now, we just have Mike.”

Dustin was slowly lowering his hands. Max was still fuming, but Lucas could see she was calming down. He’d gotten through, reminded them of their jobs and their goal. Dustin took a deep breath, closing his eyes as he took his cap off and ran his free hand over his hair.

“Lucas?” Max said. He turned to her.

“Yeah?”

“I don’t just need that movie date. I need a fucking holiday when this is all done.”

For once, the light that emanated from Mike, brighter at night, wasn’t filling the main room of the van when Lucas climbed out of the loft, rubbing his eyes. Max was still inside, asleep, and he could hear Dustin snoring outside.

He’d gotten up to refill his drink bottle, only to realise Mike wasn’t around. He hesitantly checked the tech room – only Erica was awake, not noticing he was even there as she played Fallout 4 on the xbox with headphones on – and he went to check outside.

Mike was out there. He just stood by himself, staring up at the sky. Lucas yawned, watching him for a moment, then found his crocs and went to stand with him. He didn’t bother putting a shirt on, but had made the switch from shorts to pyjama pants, since the nights were getting colder.

The grass crunched as Lucas stopped next to Mike, crossing his arms. Mike glanced at him, then back at the clear sky. He hadn’t said much on the ride back, and had asked to be alone for a while. Since Mike didn’t have to eat or sleep, it was hard to ask if he needed anything.

Lucas knew Mike was desperate to sleep. Just half an hour of not having to think about anything.

“… El sealed away the Upside Down back in 1987,” Mike said softly. “She had to. She had help from Will. Henry was getting closer to taking my sister, to enacting some plan that involved splitting Hawkins open… But she and Will managed to seal him away in the Upside Down forever.”

Lucas glanced at him as Mike shivered.

“I don’t know what they did. They never talked about it. I think they just wanted to move on from it, especially. after they moved. I did try to ask El when we saw her, but she stayed as tight-lipped as ever. Said it didn’t matter anymore, that Henry was gone.”

Lucas stared at Mike for a second. “Wait… Henry? Henry Creel?”

Mike nodded. “Yeah, he was the mastermind behind everything. Killed his family too. He was strong, basically a five star general in the Upside Down. He was too far gone though, so El and Will locked him away forever. There’s no way for him to leave or affect our world, whatever they did.”

He looked like he wanted to hit something, and it took everything in Lucas not to grab Mike and stop him. This not being able to touch Mike thing had gotten old really fast, and they couldn’t have Trucy around for everything.

“Henry would be dead now, I think,” Mike admitted. “Trucy said she doesn’t feel anything, though a lot of what she’s able to feel is faint. It’s buried underneath all this grass and dust.” He kicked out, but his foot just went through the overgrown grass. “He’d be almost a hundred years old, no way out of the Upside Down, no way to eat or drink. Will survived a week there without either, but he was really weak when he got out.”

“Maybe there’s something residual,” Lucas suggested with a shrug. “Something… I don’t know. Aside from the monster stuff, what else did Henry do? He’s the reason we even came here in the first place. Everyone wants to know what happened to Henry Creel.”

He hadn’t meant to put on his host voice, but it slipped out. Mike shot him a side eye.

“We’re not on camera right now, Lucas, you can just ask,” he said to a chuckle from Lucas.

“Sorry, force of habit at this point. It’s my job, remember.”

Mike was quiet for a few moments, then sighed.

“I heard a little about what you were saying to Max and Dustin, a little,” he admitted. “I keep forgetting that for you guys, a lot of this is your job. I’m just… making it harder.”

Lucas stared at Mike for a few seconds, then huffed. “Dude… Yeah, this is a job for us, doing the paranormal stuff, but we’re helping you because we like you. We want to help you, to figure this shit out and get you back to Will. If we had more time…”

The two men fell silent, and Lucas found himself lost for words. He hadn’t spent a lot of time with Mike, but in that time, he was considering Mike a friend. And a good one at that. Lucas was putting his career on the line, going dark on the internet, to help Mike find peace, pass on to whatever was next.

“What… is next?” Lucas asked cautiously. “Like… after you die. Where do you go? Is the whole ‘your entire life flashes before your eyes in the last seven seconds of your life’ thing really happen?”

“I’ve been thinking about that, and I honestly can’t remember,” Mike said, shaking his head. “I remember the car accident, I remember El screaming before nothing, I remember seeing Will’s grave but no dates, then I was in the Creel house. It feels like a badly edited movie, but it’s my memories.”

Mike dug his palms against his eyes, groaning. “He did that. He’d go through your memories, your feelings, to get to your trauma, your suffering. He used me against Will, and Will against me. Got in my head, just tore me down saying Will would hate me, I would lose him, lost everyone, everyone would hate me… I tried not to be terrified but it was hard when three of the most important people to me were actively being targeted.”

Lucas flinched at that, remembering how closed off Max and Dustin became after Billy and Eddie died. How he became so scared he would lose them that he shoved everything he thought and felt so far down it took years to resurface. Hiding nightmares from Max. Imagining over and over how Patrick died.

He had nearly lost Max and Dustin after losing Patrick.

“Lucas?” he heard from the van. “Where’d you go?”

“Can we talk about this with Dustin and Max tomorrow?” Lucas asked, hating having to leave Mike. “This is a lot… We’re here now, and been to your house, we need to figure out where to go next.”

Mike just waved him away. “Go, you’re all good. Wish I could sleep though,” he muttered as Lucas jogged back to the van, finding Max leaning out of the loft, blinking blearily. Lucas grabbed his filled drink bottle and returned to the loft. Max crawled back to her side, flopping down as she stifled a yawn.

“Sorry,” Lucas mumbled, sliding the door closed. The lamp on his side was on. “I just went to get water and ended up talking to Mike for a bit. He explained what happened with the Demogorgan. Turns out the person who controlled them back then was Henry Creel.”

Max’s eyes snapping wide open nearly made Lucas jump back, and she sat up.

“Henry? The Henry Creel who we’re actually looking for?!” she demanded. She shuffled over, grabbing Lucas’ shoulders. “Tell me now, stalker, tell me everything!”

“Ok, ok!” Lucas managed to get out between Max shaking him. “Just let me go, you’re gonna shake the words right out of my head!”

Max stopped shaking him, letting her hands trail down his arms to take his hands. Lucas told her as much as he could, knowing Mike would have to recount a lot of it later. He didn’t realise how tired he was – he slipped, forgetting a few details, and finally let out a long yawn, cutting off his story.

“I’m not forgetting this,” Max said as Lucas switched off the lamp, plunging them into darkness as they lay down. “We have to figure this out.” Lucas felt her shuffling up to put her head on his shoulder, and she was quiet for a while.

Lucas had thought she’d fallen asleep when Max spoke again.

“You were right from the beginning. There was more to Henry.”

Lucas chuckled. “Dustin’s gonna flip out if he hears you say that, he had the same idea,” he said, feeling Max leaning up on her elbow. He could just see her in the dark looking down at him. He felt her hand on his cheek, her thumb stroking slightly. He put his hand over hers, leaning into her touch.

“I’ll be sure to tell him” she promised before she leaned down, her lips warm against Lucas’, and he wrapped his arm over her shoulder, his fingers trailing through her hair.

A chill woke Lucas. He groaned, tugging the blanket up over his shoulder and reaching out for Max. When he didn’t feel her, he reached blindly behind him to turn on his lamp. Blinking in the light, he saw Max’s side empty.

The fact she hadn’t woken him up was odd, she’d knee him in the shin every single time she climbed over him to get out of the loft. Max Mayfield was not a woman of discreetness.

“Max!” Lucas called out, even though it was fruitless. Dustin had done well with soundproofing and light blocking. “Max!”

Grumbling, he hauled himself up, scrubbing his face with his palms. He debated whether he needed a shave, but decided to worry about that in the morning. Lucas crawled to the door, sliding it open, only to find it was still night, the van still and quiet.

The time illuminated from the clock above the fridge was the only light. No light shone from under the tech room door. Lucas slipped down to the floor of the main room, padding in bare feet to open the door and look in.

No one. No lights on, no tv on, screens blank, nothing. Erica and Trucy weren’t there.

Lucas frowned, and felt a pit in his stomach.

“Max?” he called out, walking over to open Dustin’s bunk. Also empty. “Dustin? Erica?”

Even Mike was gone. Lucas straightened up, scratching his head in confusion, and went to put on a shirt and his sneakers. He was just tying the laces when a bang made him jump violently. Lucas swore as he accidentally tied his thumb into the knot, looking up to see the van door had swung open.

The thunder was a surprise. Lucas fixed his laces and went to the door, feeling the wind already, ready to call out to Dustin. Only to find Dustin’s tent wasn’t there. Lucas wasn’t sure what was going on. He quickly looked down at his hands.

It didn’t happen often, but he could tell. Dustin had done way too much research into making yourself realise…

Lucas was about to turn to look at the clock when he heard his name being called. He froze, surprised he could hear anything over the thunder. Lightning lit up the Byers’ yard and the van, and weird red clouds covered the sky.

The same voice calling his name again, coming from the Byers’ house. Lucas couldn’t control his feet; he stepped down from the van and started walking through the grass to the Byers’ house. It still looked as beat up as ever, but the front door looked fine, not smashed in.

Lucas heard his name again, and he felt a shiver in his spine when he recognised the voice. He had thought those nightmares were over, those memories were over. The porch creaked under his feet, and Lucas felt his hand reach out to grasp the doorknob.

He was trying to stop himself, but there was no stopping this. No waking up. No Erica here to stop him. He turned the knob, pushing the door open, and stepping in.

He stepped onto the familiar dirt ground set up in front of the stage. The fire burning behind it, lighting fixtures falling. The door slammed closed behind him, and Lucas turned to see the door was gone. All he could hear was the fire crackling, the breeze that night that didn’t help, but there were no screams. No voices.

Somehow, that was more unnerving than the creepy storm he had just walked through. Hearing his name again, Lucas slowly, holding his breath, turned to face the scene before him, his hands clutching the edge of his shirt.

The cracking was the worst as he watched, frozen, his eyes wide. Patrick was slowly standing up, his bones cracking like they were snapping. His breathing quickened, and Lucas had never wanted to run away more than in that moment. He could move, however, as Patrick’s head snapped up, his neck cracking the worst one yet.

Dirt shuffled as Patrick slowly turned to face Lucas. He was stiff, his arms and legs snapping as he moved, and that cursed track of blood on his head from the night of the concert was there. Lucas had never realised how much the front of Patrick’s shirt was covered in blood when he turned him over.

Patrick took a step toward Lucas, who was able to take a step back.

“Don’t… Don’t…" Lucas managed to say. Patrick’s eyes were a startling contrast to Mike’s white ones; they were pure static. Nothing was there, this creature surely couldn’t be Patrick, but his voice came out of its mouth.

“Why did you tell me, Lucas?” Patrick was still shuffling toward Lucas, who was frozen again. “This would never have happened if you hadn’t told me. If you hadn’t said anything, I’d still be alive.”

“I didn’t know,” Lucas tried to protest, but his voice was barely above a whisper. “I didn’t know it would happen. I didn’t know about Eddie or Billy either…”

Patrick interrupted, a shriek leaving his mouth that sent Lucas hurtling backwards.

“All your fault!”

Lucas vaulted awake with a gasp, at the same time he heard Max gasp and sit up next to him. She swore loudly as Lucas sat bolt upright, putting his hands on the sides of his head as he tried to catch his breath.

It was a true credit to how loud Dustin could be at times when they could just barely hear him yell, “Son of a bitch!”

Lucas checked the time on his phone – it was a few hours after he spoke to Mike, not quite sunrise. He grabbed his shirt, tugging it over his head as he slid the loft door open. He would have fallen out in his hurry if Max didn’t grab the waistband of his pyjama pants.

“Why is everyone yelling? Some of us are trying to sleep!” The tech room door banged open, revealing an irritated Erica who looked as though she’d been abruptly awoken from an alarm. Lucas and Max ignored her, finding their crocs to run outside.

Dustin was struggling with getting out of his tent, Mike hovering nearby. He kept reaching like he wanted to helped, but Dustin was tangled right in the middle of that mess. Lucas and Max ran to help him as Erica and Trucy joined them. Erica was wearing a face mask, crossing her arms as Dustin was freed and able to stand.

He was breathing hard, as sweaty as Lucas felt, leaning his hands on his knees. Max had grabbed his red and yellow letterman jacket, keeping it wrapped around herself even though it wasn’t all that cold. Dustin looked at Lucas and Max, clearly having dressed in a hurry, and his eyes widened.

“Holy… You guys had weird dreams too, didn’t you?” he asked, his voice shaking. “I was alone, I saw a storm, I saw… I saw Eddie…”

Max swallowed heavily, and Lucas put his arm around her shoulders. “I saw Billy,” was all she managed to gasp out, her voice quivering. They didn’t need to ask Lucas, but he spoke anyway.

“And I saw Patrick. He said it was my fault. It was still my fault that he’s dead.”

The silence that fell somehow felt worse than what Lucas had seen. He still had that urge to start running and never stop, but he couldn’t just ditch his best friend, girlfriend, sister, close friend, and ghost friend in the middle of nowhere. Max and Dustin looked like they shared what they wanted to do.

Mike was shaking his head. “I don’t like what this place is doing to you all,” he said. “Trucy, are you sure you haven’t-”

“I haven’t, Uncle Mike,” Trucy interrupted him. “I’ve been trying, but it isn’t him. But it is something… remnants of that world, a world locked away, so twisted that the parts that broke through back then can still affect today.”

She shivered.

“I have never fully supported demolishing Hawkins more than I do right now,” she muttered.

“Seconded,” Lucas, Dustin, Max, and Mike all said.

“What do you we now anyway?” Lucas asked, rubbing Max’s arm. “That was… horrendous. I feel like running, but I also feel like if I try to, I won’t be able to. We need to know more.” He looked over at Mike, who was standing like someone had just jabbed him with a pin. “Is there anywhere here at all where we can look for any information? Hawkins was basically covered up.”

Mike thought for a few moments.

“The lab isn’t standing anymore, but… we could try the library,” he suggested slowly. “We have to be careful there though. The library was a centre for a lot of things in the Upside Down, since it was easier for Henry to take people there rather than dragging them all the way to his house.”

He clenched his fists, and Trucy put her hand on his shoulder.

“It’s where Joyce and Hopper found Will. They found him trapped there. They found more too, but Will was the main priority, and Hopper had to bring him back.”

“Bring… him back?” Dustin whispered in horror. Mike’s mouth set into a thin line.

“I am not talking about that. The old library was closed off before I left, but it should have something on what was happening before Will and El moved away,” Mike said. “Once Hop really got into figuring out what was going on in the lab and we had Demogorgan attacks, as well as Robin running a radio station, it wasn’t long before everyone knew. They had to, it was too dangerous.”

Everyone was quiet. Erica, having been in her slippers, stepped down from the van to hug Lucas. Her wrapped his other arm around her, his mind ticking as a weird idea came to him. He wasn’t sure whether to voice it aloud, or wait until the library….

Either way, Hawkins original library was their next destination. And as he hugged Max and Erica to him, Lucas knew, deep down, right in his soul.

He had to face Patrick. He had to face Patrick’s death.

Chapter Text

Chapter Sixteen – Too Much Dust & All They Must

Getting the van closer to the library took time. Two days of Lucas, Dustin, Max, and Trucy almost drowning themselves in sunscreen. They headed out to move as much debris off the roads as they could, inching the van closer to the library.

Mike had never driven a mobile home this big before, but he was able to direct Erica and carefully guide her.

This was the most gruelling part of their investigation for Trucy. She had never used her abilities so much, lifting trees too heavy for Lucas, Dustin, and Max to move. Dustin kept snacks and water on him at all times, even though the van wasn’t far.

Lucas and Max rolled yet another set of trashcans off the road and onto an abandoned front lawn. Lucas, stood, wiping his brow as he let out a hard breath. Even though Max had basically bathed him in sunscreen, he still felt like he was cooking a little.

Max, with her red hair, pale skin, and freckles, was bright red from exertion. Even with her efforts, her forearms were a little sunburned.

Summer really couldn’t end fast enough. They were so close to the end of August.

“So,” Lucas said, stretching his back. “What movie do you wanna see when this is all over? Where do you wanna go on holiday?”

Max was throwing branches and what looked like chunks of the curb off the road, her face pinched in concentration. She already had a few plasters on her hands, and one below her eye when she accidentally got herself in the face with a stick.

“Uh… I heard The Suicide Squad is meant to be really good,” she suggested, looking over to see Lucas shifting a branch he could lift. She gestured for him to help with a front door that had been broken off its hinges and dragged to the street. “I know Dustin wants to see it and I fully intend to beat him to it after he got to Moana first.”

Lucas laughed aloud, lifting one end of the broken door. “You’re never gonna let him forget that, are you?”

“Not when he was belting out ‘I am Moana’ pretty much every day,” Max grumbled, and they threw the door onto the grass. “We agreed to see the second one together, at least, so neither of us can jump each other. No such agreement was made for Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn.”

“Brutal. I love it, it’s a date,” Lucas agreed, and they slapped a high five. “How about a holiday? I guess regular people would suggest California, but we live there, so…”

“We could go to Florida, see a bunch of leathery old people sunbathing like raisins,” Max joked. “Or Utah, nearly get wiped away by the winds.”

“After the van nearly got blown away, I’m nixing Utah,” Lucas said, shaking his head. “We lost our satellite for a week, remember?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m just messing with you.” Max stood properly, wiping her brow. “I need a break. It’s about lunch time anyway, we shouldn’t be out in the sun for the next few hours.”

Lucas, nodded, looking about to see Trucy standing with with both her hands up, slowly shoving a van onto a driveway. Dustin was standing next to her, watching, and Lucas saw as Dustin lifted his hand, placing it on Trucy’s shoulder.

He felt weird interrupting them, but he did call out, “Dustin, Trucy! We’re heading onto the van for lunch!”

Dustin just waved his hand back, and Lucas and Max trekked back to the van. Erica spotted them coming and got up from the drivers seat to open the door for them. “This is taking a long time,” she told them, stepping back as they climbed on and flopped down, breathing hard. “Mike said we’re about five minutes away now, maybe we can just stop here?”

Lucas shook his head. The dreams hadn’t stopped – the same one for him, Max, and Dustin. Trucy was insistent that she felt no trace of Henry anywhere, so Mike couldn’t figure out what was happening to them. He put it down to Hawkins originally being such a place of fear and pain that those emotions never left.

From the look on Trucy’s face when he said that, Lucas had a feeling Mike was right. Hawkins had never, and would never, heal from what had happened so long ago. Anyone who came into contact with it was somehow also subjected to the fear and suffering of that time.

“Just a little further,” Lucas urged, yanking open the fridge and taking things out to make sandwiches. “Mike said the library was the centre of it all. I thought the Creel house would be, but the library…” Lucas held the packet of ham for sandwiches, staring at it, then just went to put everything on the counter. He fetched a knife and a cutting board, distracting himself best he could.

It was quiet for a while, peaceful, aside from the tapping from Erica’s phone. Lucas could faintly hear Dustin and Trucy talking outside, and Max was thumping around a little in the tech room. He washed his hands off before fetching his phone and headphones, putting them over his head and hitting a random saved Spotify playlist.

His phone was still on airplane mode. Lucas’s hand shook as his thumb hovered over the button to turn it off, then he just locked it, putting it face down on the counter. He then went to make sandwiches, but with the little different things everyone liked.

He glanced over his shoulder at Mike, still sitting in the van’s doorway, his hair actually ruffling in the breeze. Lucas didn’t like the thought of that – it meant Mike’s connection to where he was meant to be was really starting to dwindle.

His mind, his body, even his soul…

A feeling of ice shot up Lucas’ spine. Was there really a possibility of Mike vanishing forever, and not in the way he wanted to? Mike, lost to the world, stuck between here and there.

Lucas turned up the music, turning back to the food as Mike looked back at him. Lucas ignored the feeling in the back of his neck as Mike watched, then the feeling left. Lucas saw Erica looking up at him over her phone out the corner of his eye, and he ignored her.

When he was done, Lucas knocked on the tech room door and called over Mike’s head for Dustin and Trucy that he’d made food. Erica took out out her Airpod as everyone arrived to eat, except Mike, who only moved so Dustin didn’t touch him before he went back to sitting and staring.

Lucas glanced at Dustin, who was watching Mike as well. The worry was etched in his face, and Lucas could read his own thoughts right back at him. Max wasn’’t really eating or paying attention, engrossed in her Switch. Erica was eating, still accustomed to Sue’s rules of ‘no phones at the table’, but she was leaning over to watch Max play. Trucy sat on Max’s other side, also watching.

“Would you guys stop looking at me?” Mike snapped so abruptly that Lucas’ sandwich nearly fell apart. “I’m not even quite middle-aged, not old.”

“Sorry,” Lucas mumbled. “Just… thinking.”

“You can think and not look at me.”

Mike stood up and walked out of sight of the door. Close enough he didn’t bump the barrier, but far enough they couldn’t see him.

“Shit,” Dustin mumbled, putting down his sandwich and rubbing his hands over his face. “Is it just me or…”

“I’m getting scared he’s straight up gonna vanish,” Lucas whispered. Max, Trucy, and Erica’s heads snapped. up. “We gotta hurry. We’re running out of time. He’s forgetting where he is more and more, and his body is reacting more physical things, but I don’t think it’s a good thing. When he tries, it’s fine, but when he has no control…”

Trucy’s face twisted, her hand clenching into a fist on the table.

“I don’t want to lose him again,” she admitted. “Except for when he finds his way back. I don’t want to lose him like this. Mama doesn’t want to lose him like this.”

Everyone felt silent, Max pausing her game to finally take a bite of her sandwich. Dustin put his hand over Trucy’s, squeezing until it relaxed. She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath, then slowly turned her hand over to hold his hand, intertwining their fingers.

Everyone started eating again, Trucy giving Dustin and Lucas a weak smile, before a blue light washed over them. Lucas turned to the door, standing quickly to see Mike standing there, staring at them.

“Mike! Man, we’re sorry, we’re just… worried,” Lucas told him quickly, walking over to Mike. “This place feels like a dream. Of all the haunted places we’ve been to, this might be the most haunted.”

Mike gave him a small smile. “It is the most haunted, you found a ghost.” He held his arms out, gesturing to himself. Lucas looked back at Dustin, then back at Mike. He felt something replace the ice in his spine, a fire, and he looked down at Mike’s held out arms.

“Not just a ghost, Mike,” he finally said. “A friend.”

And with no care for how it would send lightning through him, Lucas summoned up the willpower Mike had to whenever he wanted to interact with the world around him. His body shook as he stepped forward, grabbed Mike by the shoulders, and pulled him into a tight hug.

Another day passed, and they got the van close to the library, parked right outside. It was tense; it was the first chilly night since mid spring. Lucas actually wore jeans for the first time in months. He pulled on the varsity jacket he loved, custom made and the same colours as Michael Jackson’s, only to see something stitched into the sleeve he hadn’t seen before.

Lucas stared at it in the mirror – he, Dustin, Max, and Trucy were all getting ready to head out – and leaned closer to see what he was staring at.

It was a word, just one. He hadn’t noticed it, it hadn’t been there when Max wore it the other night. Lucas slipped the jacket off to look down at the sleeve, and recognised the stitching as Trucy’s, from her videos on the aprons she made for her baking videos.

“Holy,” he whispered, running his fingers over it, his chest tight. When had she found the time to do this?

“You sleep heavy,” he heard Trucy say, and she saw him standing beside her. “Wasn’t hard for me to do the work, and I brought some of my own so I could get some of it done. After the other night, well…”

Lucas looked down again, at the McKinney she’d carefully sewed in.

“I did the same for Dustin,” she told him, walking over to wear Dustin had left his favourite cap on the counter. “His took longer, I’m sorry, I worked on it for a few months. Bought an embroidery machine, but only gave it to him now.”

She held out the cap for Lucas to take. He did, turning it over, and saw in the fashion of those pins Eddie used to have all over his vest Munson.

“Trucy, you didn’t have to do this,” Lucas told her, touched. “This… I can’t even put into words how much this means for me and Dustin. Patrick and Eddie were good friends of ours, and now we’re seeing them again.”

Trucy tapped the pin, then Patrick’s last name. “Mama said love is more powerful than anger and fear.”

Lucas handed the cap back to her as he slipped the jacket on. “What’d you make Max?”

“That was Uncle Jonathan’s idea, actually,” Trucy said. “She didn’t have the same relationship with Billy as you and Dustin did with Patrick and Eddie. I wasn’t sure what to do, so I called him and asked. He suggested something that might have helped her in the aftermath, then told me to send him a list of her favourite music, and I did.”

Lucas looked over at Max, who was fiddling with her camera. She had headphones he’d never seen sitting around her neck, and she had what looked like a Walkman on one side of her jeans. His eyebrows rose.

“A mixtape?” he whispered to Trucy, who nodded. “Wow, your family is just full of creatives.”

She laughed. “Not my grandparents, no, but there were a few of us. Music was important to us, and Jonathan knew what to do when he heard music helped Max.” Dustin called her name, picking up his cap, and Trucy smiled before leaving Lucas to finish up. He’d already set up his mic, clipping it to the front of his jacket, and wrapped his bandana around his head.

As he fixed the go-pro to it, Lucas did feel a little like he was going into some kind of battle. The final fight of Hawkins, before he, Max, and Dustin would all start advocating for its demolition too.

Only, they would be mentioning the history, the pain subjected on the residents, the amount of disappearances and deaths in one decade. Everything covered up. Hawkins, like the lab, needed to vanish for good.

Dustin was talking to Trucy, who was helping with his usual issues with his mic. He’d put the cap on, making sure his go-pro was secure. Max’s camera was ready, and Lucas could see Erica sitting in the tech room, the monitors on, typing away at the laptop.

Mike was standing outside. The sky was darkening, but Lucas assured they were used to working at night. The van was a minute walk from the front doors of the abandoned library. Mike and Trucy would be with them. They were going as a group, as a team, and there had too be something.

Something had to be left that showed what was keeping Mike in Hawkins.

“Are we ready to go?” Lucas called out, hearing a chorus of “Yes!” He double checked his backpack – they definitely were not sleeping in the library – while Max double checked the cameras she was setting up inside. He went into the tech room; Erica was swinging left and right side to side on the desk chair, inspecting the two left screens.

The first one showed the screens in the Byers’ house, occasionally flickering due to the distance. The lower screen showed the Wheeler house, the connection a little stronger. Erica leaned on the desk, watching them carefully.

“I don’t think we’ll see too much on these,” Lucas told her, leaning on the desk. “There really is no one here, no one left except us.”

“Better to be safe than sorry,” Erica said. “I’ll be sure to radio you nerds if I see anyone in the houses, or a Demogorgan.”

“That isn’t a joke,” Lucas scolded her, and she shrugged. “You won’t anyway, Mike said the connection and way to the Upside Down is gone. People haven’t been here in a while, usually just thrill seekers.”

“Thrill seekers, not truth seekers,” Erica agreed. She looked up at Lucas. “Are you sure you’re ready to do this?”

Lucas took a moment to answer. In the time he took, he felt Erica hugging his waist, and he hugged her back, patting her head.

“I have to. Mike can’t do it. We can’t lose him to something we know nothing about,” Lucas said. “We have to do everything we can to get him back to Will. To free him of this place.”

Erica let him go, looking up at him. “Good luck, butt munch.”

“Thanks a lot, nerd.”

She punched his arm, and Lucas smiled, heading out to where everyone else was standing around, ready to go. Dustin and Trucy looked nervous, holding hands. Max had her camera ready, waiting to start filming. Mike, the only one who couldn’t hold things for too long, just stood next to the van door, his arms crossed as he waited.

Lucas hoisted his backpack up.

“Ready?” he asked Dustin and Max. Max could only nod.

“Ready as I’ll ever be, dude,” Dustin said, and Lucas gestured for Max to start filming. She did, the recording light blinking, and everyone followed Lucas off the van, walking along the cracked pavement to the front walkway of the library.

Lucas stood there for a moment, staring up. He looked back at Max, on his right, and she nodded. He looked back at Dustin, on his left, who had slowly dropped Trucy’s hand and moved closer to Lucas. He nodded too.

“We got this,” he assured. “Lead the way.”

Lucas let out a breath, facing forward, and took the first step. The brightest thing near them, as usual with the sun setting, was Mike, that striking blue and white a stark contrast to everything around them.

The doors were locked with a chain. With the number of padlocks on the ground, Lucas guessed it had been broken into before. The windows were boarded up, faded police tape was littered about, and the gardens were all either torn or overgrown, rubbish, rocks, debris everywhere.

Yet there was an air of nothing. Aside from the occasional break in, this place was the only place in town that hadn’t been used in thirty years. Will had been taken here, found here, and brought back to life. The centre of it all, the one place that they approached where Lucas heard Mike breathe in sharply.

“So I don’t carry bolt cutters,” Dustin said as he and Lucas stared at the padlock. They were pushed aside by Max, who was holding a rock in her hand.

“We don’t need any,” she said, her voice hard, and smashed the padlock as hard as she could. It took a few hits, Max breathing hard, until it broke. She yanked on the chain and threw it off into the grass with a yell. Lucas, Dustin, Mike, and Trucy all stared at her as she stepped back, glaring at the door.

She looked up at them. “What?”

“I love you so much,” was all Lucas could say weakly.

“Not now, Lucas, open the damn door!” Dustin interrupted, giving Lucas a small shove. Lucas stumbled, catching himself on the door handle, and the door opened slowly. Rust had accumulated, and the creaks that came from the hinges made Lucas very uncomfortable.

It took him a few moments to shove the door open fully, only one side, and he stepped back, taking a few deep breaths. That urge to run away was back, but he fought it as he felt Dustin and Max standing behind him. Lucas stuck his head in to look around, then walked fully inside, Dustin and Max right behind him.

The boom that echoed behind them made all three of them jump, and Lucas whirled to see the door had slammed shut.

“Guys! Why’d you shut the door?” Trucy called out as Lucas ran to the door. He yanked on the door handle, trying to turn it, but his hand just slipped around it. Max put her camera down and she was shoving the door hard with her shoulder. Dustin tried pulling it open too, but nothing happened.

“We don’t know, the door isn’t opening!” Lucas yelled back, only to hear a loud thud against it.

“Trucy!” Dustin shoved the door hard with his hands again. “Are you alright?”

“That’s wasn’t me!” Trucy said back as they heard Mike say, muffled, “Son of a bitch, what the hell, why can’t I get through the door?”

“A ghost proof door now?” Lucas groaned in horror. “Just our luck… Mike, are there any other doors around?”

“I think a few emergency exits, but they’ve all been boarded up too,” Mike shouted back. “They wanted to tear this place down but could never get the permission. Our mayor back then was a dick, Joyce punched him one time!”

“Thanks for the story time, Mike, but that doesn’t help our current predicament!” Dustin interrupted him. “Is there anything we need to know? Was anything left behind that could be dangerous?”

“It’s an old building! Asbestos, structure damage, anything any thrill seekers might have left behind!”

Lucas could heard Trucy talking, but not what she was talking about. Then he heard Erica’s name, and realised she was relaying everything to his sister.

“How many cameras does Max have?”

Max picked up her camera again, handing it off to Dustin so she could slide off her backpack and quickly count them.

“Seven!” she yelled.

“Geez, Max, when did you collect so many cameras?” Lucas asked, and she just waved one at him.

“Shut up and help me set it up above the door.”

Lucas crouched down so Max could swing her legs over his shoulders, and he grabbed Dustin’s hands so he could stand. He kept a tight hold on Max’s knees as he walked to the door, feeling her stretch up to attach the camera above the door.

There was a beep, and she said, “Alright, it’s recording, you can put me down now.”

Max slid down, and she called out, “Truce, Mike, you still there?”

“We’re here!”

“I set up the first camera! It should be streaming straight to the van! Head back there and keep an eye out, using the walkie if anything comes up!”

“What, no, we’re not leaving you!” Mike shouted back straight away. “I can’t just leave you guys here!”

“Max is right, you can’t even get in here, Mike!” Lucas had to regretfully shout back. “You’ll do more good on the van where you can see us. Until we can get this door open, there isn’t much we can do! We’ll keep trying, and we’ll check in, but for now, just go back to the van!”

“Are you sure?”

Lucas could understand Mike not wanting to leave, but there really wasn’t a lot he could do right now, he couldn't even phase through the door. It was already established he couldn’t go through walls. Mike couldn’t even hold things unless they had an electric current or he focused.

Silence passed for a long time. Lucas was breathing hard, and he noticed for the first time how thick the dust was. It moved with their breathing, and when he looked at the floor, footsteps were scattered here and there in the front hall.

He took a step back as Trucy finally relented.

“Okay… We’ll head back. Every fifteen minutes, check in, I mean it!” she added. “I mean it, Dustin Henderson, if I don’t hear your voice every fifteen minutes then I’m blowing this place up!”

“She can do that?” Max whispered at the same time Lucas whispered, “I would love to see that.”

“Don’t!” Dustin hissed at them. “She needs more time to recharge, I’m not about to have her collapse because we needed every door opened!”

“Calm down, it just sounds cool!” Max protested, only for Trucy to interrupt again.

“Dustin-”

“Yes, I will check in!” Dustin yelled back. “I promise, Truce, I promise!”

Max took out her phone to set an alarm. They heard Trucy and Mike talking as they walked back to the van, and finally, silence. Lucas extracted his flashlight, clicking it on. The dust was thick, but they could breathe. He shone it around the first room of the library. The shelves still had books on them, old computers off to the right, a large curved desk in the centre, and drawers containing files off to the left.

“It would be handy having Mike here, he might be able to turn on one of these computers,” Dustin whispered, turning his flashlight on. Max turned on the one taped to the bottom of her camera, aiming it around the room as they took it in.

Lucas took the first step forward.

“Come on,” he said. “There’s gotta be old files, articles, something we can use without getting on the computers.”

Max checked her phone. “No signal in here,” she said, holding it up. “Internet’s out. Aside from the walkies and the cameras, we’re on our own in here until we find a way out, or Trucy recovers.”

“We cannot rely on her to do everything,” Dustin snapped. “We can’t. She’s not used to this, and it’s not fair on her. We’ve wanted her to come along for so long, and I want her to stay, but not for this!”

“Dustin!”

Lucas grabbed Dustin by the shoulders, shaking him lightly. “This is not the time to spiral about Trucy,” he told him firmly. “I know you’re worried, but you can talk about this with her later! And for the love of God, just fucking tell her how you feel!”

Dustin was frozen, staring at Lucas.

“We need to find something, anything, to get Mike back,” Lucas reminded him. “That is why we’re here. This is the centre of it all. There has to be something here, or we lose Mike, for good. No reuniting with Will, no safe resting in the afterlife or whatever goes on after, no sanity, no connection to the physical world. We lose him for good, his family loses him again, if we don’t figure this out!”

Dustin nodded slowly, and Lucas let him go.

“We don’t separate, at all,” he said to Dustin and Max. “Stick close. Always stay in sight of each other. Document everything we need to. Check in with Trucy. And we find the truth.”

Dustin’s face hardened, and he nodded. Lucas saw Max’s eyes widen slightly in the gloom, but she nodded too.

Lucas crept to the left side of the room, shining his flashlight around slowly. A thick layer of dust covered most everything. Mould was beginning to creep along the ceiling – if it increased then they’d have to get the masks out they’d gotten specifically for abandoned places – and there were pages torn from books littering the floor and nearly every surface.

“...I don’t like the lack of graffiti,” Max said, her camera aimed along the walls. “What was it you said, Dustin?”

“If there’s no graffiti, run,” Dustin responded. Lucas huffed as they passed through a doorway into a back room. More shelves, more books, odd machines that hadn’t been used in years. Used to read old newspaper articles, Lucas guessed, mentally cursing that there was no electricity.

Hugging Mike had caused quite the shock earlier, but it had been worth it. Lucas wished that ability was here now, but Mike wasn’t.

Lucas set his flashlight down to hold the desk steady. Dustin grabbed the desk and the chair as Max stepped up, putting her hand on Lucas’ head to steady herself, and set her backpack down at her feet to pull out another camera. She peeled off the back off it, carefully positioning it before sticking it to the wall.

“One second…”

There was a beep, and the recording light came on. Max jumped down as Lucas went back to surveying the room, listening carefully as she pulled her backpack on and picked up her camera again.

“Of all the places we’ve been in, I might hate this one the most,” Max admitted, shivering. “We’re not even looking for ghosts here.”

“I agree,” Dustin said.

“Let’s keep looking,” Lucas said instead, though he did agree. There were a few more rooms on the first floor, then up to second floor. Dustin quickly radioed Trucy, who said the two cameras were online. Max had a limited number of cameras, so they had to choose carefully where they put them, which rooms mattered the most.

They passed into a hallway. Lucas checked first, keeping his arm out in front of the other two as he shone his flashlight up and down it. One door was open, and the dust was a little thicker in here. There were no windows, and the darkness made him shiver. He reached up to turn on the night vision of his go-pro, then stepped in.

The dust was a centimetre or so thick, quickly covering Lucas’ shoes. There was no carpet in here, floorboards creaking ominously under his feet. He kept glancing back to make sure Dustin and Max were there; they were barely more than a few inches from him.

Once they got through this, Dustin, Max, Erica, and Trucy were never leaving Lucas’ sight ever again.

They could only check the open door – just a supply closet. The other rooms were all locked, and they decided to search everything unlocked, leaving cameras where they could, before they started breaking into areas of a library that had been closed fifty years.

“I hate this,” Dustin whispered as they found stairs at the end of the hall, ascending to the second floor. “I hate this so much.”

“So do we, dude,” Lucas hissed back. “This is… beyond creepy, knowing what happened. Knowing that Will was trapped here, in that other place…” He stopped to put a hand on his head, shaking it. “This is insane. This is actually insane.”

Max took his free hand.

“We can’t stop,” she told him. “Let’s keep going.”

Dustin checked in with Trucy again, who sounded relieved that they were all okay.

The moment they stepped onto the second floor, Lucas felt as though he’d been plunged into a bucket of cold ice. He took the moment to hold the flashlight in his mouth, readjusting his mic to his collar and zipping up his jacket.

As he lowered the flashlight, it shone briefly on McKinney. Lucas’ grip on the flashlight tightened, and he tried ignore his growing feeling of dread as they walked along.

The bookshelves seemed taller here, closer together, more intimidating. He pushed down the sudden urge to vomit, and with a glance at Dustin, Lucas knew he felt the same way.

“Why is it worse here?” Max asked, gripping her camera and now Lucas’ sleeve tight. “What the hell happened in the other place? Why was Will brought here? The other people that went missing?”

“I don’t know,” Lucas mumbled, still looking up. “But I don’t like this. I really don’t like this.”

Max nervously set up another camera, glancing about as she did so with Lucas and Dustin standing guard. The feeling in Lucas’ bones was getting worse and worse, and a pit was forming in his stomach. He remembered this feeling, and his eyes widened as Max stood beside them again, all three of them staring at a gap in the bookshelves, the wall behind it showing.

“...I really don’t like this,” Lucas said, walking toward the wall. “Why is the bookshelf missing? What happened here?”

He stopped in front of it, inspecting it. Dustin grabbed his sleeve now as Max’s hand moved to grasp his.

“I have a bad feeling about this,” Dustin said as Lucas reached out. He nearly touched it when they heard another bang behind them. All three of their flashlights clicked off, the only light coming from the red recording light on Max’s camera.

The three of them whirled around, Lucas’ shoes skidding slightly in the dirt.

Chapter Text

Chapter Seventeen – Wavering Powers & Darkening Hours

Erica sipped one of the Mountain Dews she had taken from Dustin and Max’s mini fridge, meant for gaming or Dustin only, but she didn’t care. They weren’t here, so she leaned on the desk, watching the monitors, the straw between her lips as she leaned her chin on her hand.

The monitor for the Byers’ house flickered every few minutes, but nothing showed. Nothing for the Wheeler’s either.

Erica sighed. Max could have taken more cameras with her to the library, but she, Lucas, and Dustin were dedicated to their craft, in deep with how long they had been paranormal investigating.

Cameras in every location possible, audio if possible, notes, research, a script occasionally. They’d spent years tying it all together, making it their own. They’d kitted out this entire van for everything they needed, and Erica had thought it was impressive.

She liked being the girl-in-the-chair, keeping an eye out. The walkie for her brother sat upright near her elbow. Erica usually got to order whatever food she liked, but so far out, she had to make do with whatever Lucas and Dustin had prepared for the apocalypse.

Mike and Trucy had stepped into the other room for a few minutes, leaving Erica alone. She reached out to the laptop, tapping the spacebar so her music played. Bobbing her head along, Erica rolled the chair backward to grab Dustin’s Switch. She turned it on, clicking to the profile Dustin had set up for her, and loaded up her Stardew Valley game, rolling back to the monitors.

She looked up at the one being set up for the library, a new screen popping up. Max’s face filled it, securing it high enough to survey the area.

“Got it,” Max said to Lucas and Dustin, vanishing from view. “Let’s keep going.”

Erica looked down at the Switch, starting up her game and leaving the farmhouse. She became a little engrossed, taking sips of her drink occasionally. Mike and Trucy were talking in low voices, and Erica had half a mind to call them back in when she heard, “I really don’t like this.”

Erica froze for a moment, pausing her game and looking up at the new camera Max had just set up. She set the Switch and her drink down, standing to lean on the desk and get closer to the screen.

“Mike? Trucy?” she called out, seeing they were in a new part of the library. The bookshelves seemed way taller, closer together. It was almost hard to see them.

The tech room door opened, and the two hurried in.

“What? What’s going on?” Mike demanded. Erica just pointed at the screen as Mike stood on one side of her, careful not to touch her, and Trucy on the other side, both watching.

“Oh shit,” Mike whispered, his face falling. If he wasn’t just blue and white, Erica would’ve guessed he was pale. “This isn’t good.”

“What isn’t good?” Erica asked. “What’s going on?” They watched as the three stopped in front of a gap in the bookshelves, and Mike stiffened next to her. “Mike?”

“That’s…” was all he managed to mumble, his words completely caught in his throat.

Lucas on the screen asked, “Why is the bookshelf missing? What happened here?”

“That’s where Will was,” Mike blurted out, panicked. “They need to get away from there, now. Henry might be gone, but the energy here… They need to get away, NOW!”

“I have a bad feeling about this,” they heard Dustin say as Lucas reached out toward the wall. Erica grabbed the walkie as Mike yelled for them to get away, even though they couldn’t hear him. Erica pressed the talk button hard.

“Lucas!” she practically yelled into it. “Lucas, Mike says don’t go there! Get away, now! Do you copy? Over!” They were met with static. Erica shared glances with Mike and Trucy, then spoke again, but there was no response.

By the looks of it, Lucas, Dustin, and Max hadn’t even heard the walkie go off.

“Lucas!” Erica was now yelling into the walkie.

“Stop!” Mike was shouting at the screen.

“I’m getting them out,” Trucy said, quickly finding her own walkie. “Something’s wrong. They can’t just… I’ll find a way in. I’m getting them out-”

She had just clipped the walkie to the waistband of her skirt when there was a bang from the screen. The flashlights all turned off, and Lucas, Dustin, and Max all turned. Just as they did, the signal went out completely, for every single camera.

“What just happened?” Trucy asked as Erica sat quickly tugging over the keyboard and mouse and beginning to click about, tapping away.

“I don’t know,” she stammered, tapping through each screen individually. “The feed’s been cut off to all of them. Every single one.”

“Shit, shit!” Mike slammed his fists on the desk, nearly knocking over Erica’s drink. Trucy was about to speak when every single monitor and the lights went out, plunging them into near total darkness since there were no windows in the tech room. The only light came from Mike and the paused Switch.

Erica was breathing hard, her fingers hovering over the keys.

The three of them shrieked as every single screen turned back on, showing only one camera angle. The one of Lucas, Dustin, and Max still in the library, still standing in front of the gap in the shelves.

“Lucas!” Erica tried the walkie again, her voice becoming strained. “Lucas!”

“I’m getting them out!” Trucy said again, finally running out the door. “Keep an eye on them! I’ll get them out!”

Erica could only nod as Mike ran after his niece, and she was left alone in the lights of the monitors, all showing the exact same thing.

Her brother, Dustin, and Max were frozen in place, like they were seeing something she couldn’t.

Trucy walked quickly to the front door of the library, fists clenched at her sides, Mike followed, trying to ask what she was going to do, but she ignored him.

Whatever was happening to Dustin, Lucas, and Max, she had to get them out. She had to. Trucy nearly tripped walking up to the main door, standing firmly in front of it. The blue light that emanated from Mike washed over the doors, and Trucy flexed her fingers, holding one hand up to the door.

“Truce,” Mike warned carefully, but she ignored him. She took a deep breath, focusing. Her hand shook as she felt the force in her hand, tugging on the door, trying to open it. Trucy tried to keep her breathing even, remembering what Mama had told her, taught her how to use her powers.

Mike stepped closer now, into Trucy’s line of sight, glancing at her as her hand began to shake. Trucy held her other hand up, using both to focus, trying harder to pull the doors open. She was shaking harder now, feeling the trickle of blood from her nose, and her head began to pound.

“Trucy, I think you need to stop.” Mike’s voice sounded like it was faraway as Trucy began to tremvble, seeing spots in her vision. The cnnection broke, and her knees buckled.

“Trucy!”

Mike quickly turned and caught Trucy before she fell, holding her up. Trucy was wheezing, her heart beating painfully fast in her chest, clutching tightly onto his arm. Mike sat with her as Trucy leaned against him, and he felt Mike’s hand over her hair.

“Don’t do this to yourself,” Mike said, his voice was soothing. “El had years of practise and she was also forced into it. She never wanted to force you to do anything she had to, and now you’re trying to make yourself do all of this.”

Trucy took deep breaths so her head stopped spinning, and she finally managed to sit up. Mike kept his hand on her shoulder, waiting as she collected herself. Trucy wiped her nose, using Mike’s arm to get shakily to her feet.

“Another,” she gasped. “Another… maybe one of the windows.” Mike had to almost jog to keep up as Trucy stood and quickly stepped over the low brick wall lining the path. She stepped into the tall grass, ignoring the way it annoyingly pricked against her bare legs under her skirt, and wandered around the library.

“Truce, you can’t, you need to recharge-”

Mike fell back, landing on the grass as Trucy threw her hand out to silence him. She sat out the corner of her eye that his arms were raised in shock, watching as she approached one of the boarded up windows. Trucy took another deep, calming breath, and held her hand up.

This had to be easier. Plywood over a window. Not exactly the best protection, it mainly kept the light out. Trucy tried to focus, sweat dripping down her temple, and her hand was shaking again, harder than before.

“Truce!”

“I can do this!”

Trucy stopped, letting her hand fall as she whirled on Mike. “I can do this!” she repeated, thrusting a finger at him. “I know I was only brought along because I have these powers, and I have this connection to you! I might as well use them!”

Mike threw his hands up in defense, opening his mouth to argue, when he frowned instead.

“Wait… you think they brought you along just because you have powers?” he asked, his voice low, and Trucy let her hand fall, blinking back angry tears.

“Why else was I suddenly invited? I mean, Mama said I should go, but they just… I’ve been trying to help, but I’m…”

She was shaking again, though it was from a fire kindling in her chest. She wanted to scream, to start throwing things around at the fact her friends only brought her along after discovering she had powers, but she didn’t.

Dustin, Lucas, and Max were in real danger. And Trucy was sulking outside because she couldn’t even get to them. She felt small, pathetic, and wanted to run.

Lucas’ want to run the other night was relatable.

Mike walked over to her, putting his hands on her shoulders and giving her a small shake. It was weird, having her ghost uncle looking the same age as her and shaking her shoulders as he glared at her.

“Are you serious right now?” Mike demanded, his hands squeezing slightly. “You think they brought you along because you suddenly became useful to them?”

Trucy looked up at him. The tears began to fall as she nodded. Mike sighed, shaking his head.

“Look… They never mentioned your name, but there was talk of a friend of theirs,” he said slowly, releasing her shoulders. “A friend who was a baker, and a friend that Dustin was crazy for. I never heard your name, so I didn’t realise it was you. But the way they spoke about you… Well, it felt like they were talking about a missing piece.”

Trucy blinked at him, her shivering lessening. “Missing… piece?”

“Yeah.” Mike rubbed the back of his neck. “It sounded like they were missing a member of their team. They argued a lot about whether or not to tell you everything. To ask if you wanted to join the team. They talked a lot about how to help with baking school, and how you could still attend.”

Trucy was staring at him, trying to take in what he was saying.

“Basically, they have all… I’m not sure how to describe it, seemed a lot lighter since you came along?” Mike shrugged, smiling. “They want you here because you’re their friend, Truce. Not because you have powers, they didn’t even know. I was pretty insensitive when I dated El, and kept telling her she was a superhero. She didn’t want to here that. Dustin, Lucas, and Max don’t see you like that. You’re a badass, but you’re their friend, someone they care about first and foremost.”

Mike glanced about, then leaned in to dramatically whisper. “Dustin? You are not just a friend to him. I know you told me you guys had decided to just stay friends, but he doesn’t want that, and I don’t think you do either.”

Trucy let out a weak laugh, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. Her clean hand, the other with the blood smear she tried to wipe off on her shirt.

“You want to help them because you care,” Mike said, putting his hand on her shoulder. “We just need to figure out a way in without you having to over-exert your powers. There’s always another way in. I can’t get in for some reason, but we’ll figure it out.”

Trucy stepped forward to hug Mike, feeling his comforting, assuring arms around her. Her Uncle Mike was here, right now, and pressed her face into his shoulder so he didn’t see her cry.

The walkie at Trucy’s waist crackled, and Erica’s voice came out of it. Trucy had to pull back to grab it.

“What was that? Over,” she said. Erica’s voice came back clearer.

“Have you found a way in? This is beyond creepy, they’re just staring at nothing, over,” Erica said back, her voice quivering slightly. “Please tell me you’ve found a way in, over.”

Trucy pressed down the talk button. “Nothing. I’m not strong enough. We’ll find something.” Trucy thought for a few moments, looking about, then remembered how much Max got in. “Do you know where Dustin and Lucas keep things for emergencies? I imagine somewhere under the van? Over.”

A few seconds of silence passed, then Erica spoke again. “Yeah. Meet me on the passenger side, over.”

“Got it. Over and out.”

Erica didn’t want to be away from the monitors for too long. Lucas, Dustin, and Max were all still frozen in place, but she knew Dustin had storage for emergencies under the van. Lucas had given her the full tour when she first started travelling with them.

She hurried to the van door, shoving it open and jumping down onto the ground, hurrying around to the passenger's side of the van. She spotted Trucy and Mike coming around the far side of the library. Erica ran down to the end of the van, underneath where Dustin’s bunk was, and used one of the keys Lucas left behind to unlock the emergency compartment.

She pulled the door up as Trucy and Mike reached her, and she yanked the draw out, Trucy moving to help her. Mike’s eyes went wide.

“Holy shit,” he gasped as Erica carefully sorted through the supplies. “What, is Dustin preparing for a zombie outbreak or something?”

Erica shrugged, shoving one of the boxes aside. “Not really. He just likes to be prepared because the three of them are on the road so much.” She had to lean into the drawer, Trucy holding her feet so she didn’t fall in. Erica pushed aside more things, including a hose she had no idea why Dustin had, and found what she was looking for.

It took a moment to wrench it free, the safety clasps doing their jobs. She yanked the axe out, motioning for Trucy to tip her out properly, and Erica handed her the axe, shoving the drawer closed and yanking the door shut.

“That’s all I can think might help,” Erica said breathlessly. “Please, just find my brother and get him, Dustin, and Max out.” She didn’t realise she was shaking so hard until she looked at her own hands, and Erica had to retreat, heading back onto the van. Trucy and Mike followed her, Trucy clutching the axe in one hand.

“Erica, we’re going to get them out,” Mike said as Erica flopped back in the desk chair in the tech room, turning her attention to the monitor. Lucas, Dustin, and Max were unchanged. “We’re gonna get them out. They’re our friends, I know the history of this place, and I am not letting Hawkins get to them like it did to us.”

Mike’s voice became thick, like he was trying not to cry. “This place nearly took everything from me. My family. El. Will. I will be fucking damned if it takes anyone else.”

Erica looked back at him, then back at the screen. It still hadn’t moved, and she finally stood, walking over to Max’s asssorted box of tech. She sorted through it, finally finding one of Max’s cameras.

“I don’t have a go-pro, and I’ll need a little time to charge this, but I’m coming with-”

She was cut off when Mike took the camera from her, avoiding skin contact, and held the camera for a few seconds, concentrating. Erica watched him, her eyes wide, then the camera beeped, a green light indicating it was fully charged.

“Here,” Mike said, tossing it back to her. “Let’s go. The longer we wait, the longer-’

He was cut off now too when there was a flicker of the lights, and the power went out again, including the monitors. Erica didn’t bother turning them on again. She made sure Max’s camera could film, then gave Trucy and Mike a thumbs up.

“Let’s go save my nerd brother,” she said. Without thinking, she joined in the highfive Trucy and Mike gave, only to yank her hand back in surprise, Mike having not shocked her. She stared at her hand, then at him. He shrugged again.

“I don’t know,” he said, smiling. “I high-fived Dustin once and it didn’t hurt him.”

Erica wasn’t in the mood to discuss the logistics of Mike’s abilities. She led the way off the van, Mike shutting the door behind them, and they walked around the library for a bit, trying to find a window boarded up that would give way. Trucy clutched the axe like a lifeline, while Erica nearly broke the camera and her walkie with how hard she was holding them.

Mike trudged a little behind, making no difference to the environment around him other than the light he gave off.

It took them nearly fifteen minutes to decide on a window, fifteen minutes that Lucas, Dustin, and Max were trapped wherever they were, before Erica and Trucy could agree on a board. The one they found had graffiti; Erica remembered what Dustin said about graffiti.

“That one,” she decided, keeping her camera pointed at it, and gestured with her finger for Trucy to go towards it. Mike stood next to Erica as Trucy raised the axe, and with a scream, drove it as hard as she could into the wood.

It dug straight in. She yanked the axe out, taking a deep breath, then swung again. Erica held her breath, watching as Trucy swung again and again, breaking the wood, smashing through the glass, and driving the axe in as hard as she could.

It worked. The board was falling apart, reavealing a way in through one of the side rooms, and Trucy kept swinging until most of the plywood was splintered through, and the glass with broken. Setting the axe down, Trucy tore off the bottom layer of her skirt, covering the bottom of the window in it, before picking up the axe again.

She took a few steps back, then hurried forward, propelling herself off the ground and through the window, landing inside.

“Erica!” she called out, and Erica saw her face appear. “You now. Stand near the window, and don’t be afraid. You’ll be okay!”

Erica shared a glance with Mike, who could only nod. Erica walked until she stood in front of the window, looking up at it. Trucy called out.

“Run toward me, and jump!”

“What?!” Erica shook her head, waving her hands in defence. “That’s insane!”

“Just do it, Erica! Now, we’re running out of time!” was all Trucy called back. Erica took a deep breath, prepping herself, and ran toward the window. She had barely jumped when an odd feeling came over her body, and she let out a scream.

“What.. What?!” she screamed, feeling herself moved horizontally. Erica felt herself moving in the air, through the window, and into an upright position. She still fell on her butt when she was dropped, looking up to see Mike leaping in through the window, unable to be hurt from the glass or wood.

For a few moments, the three stood in what looked like an office, breathing hard. With how undisturbed this room was, Erica knew this wasn’t one Lucas, Dustin, or Max looked into.

“This office is locked,” Mike said, approaching the door and inspecting the door handle. “It’s locked from the inside.” Erica was climbing to her feet as Trucy approached the door, trying to open it.

“It needs a key,” she groaned, and now Erica took the axe.

“Move, let me,” she demanded, and she swung the axe in the gap between the door and the outer part, hitting the lock. She tugged the axe free, than swung again. Twice more, and the lock broken. She handed the axe back to Trucy, and Erica opened the door. She hesitated to go forward, then looked back at Mike.

“Can you check?” she asked. “You’re literally a light source.”

Mike nodded, waiting for Erica to step aside. With very few windows, especially in the corridor, Mike was practically a beacon, lighting up about ten feet around him quite well in every direction around him. Since he couldn’t be hurt or be affected by the environment, Mike led the way, Trucy right behind him, clutching the axe, and Erica behind her, using Trucy as a barrier so she didn’t actually knock into Mike.

The silence was painfully loud. Stifling. Erica reached out, pinching the bottom of Trucy’s cropped cardigan in her forefinger and thumb. Trucy didn’t say anything, but slowed so Erica could keep up. They crept along the dark hallway, Mike lighting everything as he went.

“I think they’re on the second floor,” Erica whispered, making Mike and Trucy look back at her. “That was where they were when Max set up the last camera, I think.” She was holding Max’s camera so tight that Erica had to loosen her grip slightly, afraid she’d break it.

Mike just nodded while Trucy whispered, “Okay.” The three stuck close together as Mike found the stairs, leading the way up. He was still able to walk without making a sound, but the stairs creaked under every step Erica and Trucy made. Trucy was shivering, holding the axe like a lifeline.

The second floor was full of bookshelves, large and imposing, towering over the three of them. Mike actually physically recoiled seeing them, and he knocked into Trucy slightly.

“...I forgot how much I hate it here,” he whispered. “Jonathan used to come up here for me and Will because we hated how close the bookshelves were, how they seemed larger than life.”

“They are larger than life,” Erica pointed out. “Why are they towering like this? They don’t need to-”

She stopped when she saw three familiar people between the shelves, and she shoved past Trucy, narrowly missing Mike.

“Erica!” Trucy called, but Erica ignored her, running to Lucas first. He was holding Max’s hand in his free hand, and Dustin was clutching his other sleeve. She grabbed Lucas’ shoulders, shaking him.

“Lucas!” she called, trying to keep the stumbling out of her voice. “Lucas, wake up! What’s wrong? Lucas!”

Erica moved to Max next, asking the same questions, then Dustin last. She whirled to Mike accusingly, who was standing in front of Lucas, his hands hovering over Lucas’ shoulders.

“What’s wrong with them?” she demanded. Mie’s eyes were wide, his hands shaking.

“I… don’t know,” he admitted. “This is new. I know Henry isn’t here, but this feels… familiar. Like a memory.”

Erica watched as Mike stared at Lucas for a few more moments, then his face hardened. Erica stared, thinking hard, then yanked her phone out of her pocket. She clicked through her favourite playlist - the Steven Universe soundtrack. She found the track she was looking for, tapping 'Independent Together'. She waited a few moments, then nodded hard at Mike. Mike determinedly nodded back then put his hands on Lucas’ shoulders.

Lucas gasped as though breathing air after being underwater for a long time. He grabbed Mike’s hands, unbothered by the electric current, and stared right at Mike.

“I saw,” he whispered, and Mike raised an eyebrow.

“What did you see? What about Max and Dustin?”

Lucas swallowed heavily. “They saw too. We saw it all. Everything. We…”

Lucas stopped, taking a deep shuddering breath, before focusing on Mike again.

The music kept playing. "We could be independent together. Independent together, we can fly."

“We know why you’re back. And why you were separated from Will.”