WHISTLEBLOWER | ❝It only gets stranger...❞
Hawkins has never looked back on the events of November 1983. They know the surface-level story. 'The boy who came back to life.' Will Byers is alive and well, while the futile search for Tonya McCarth...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
( trigger warning: descriptions of exorcism)
MONDAY 5th NOVEMBER, 1984
"LOOK, Jonathan, there's the oak tree; take a right here..." Thomas points out from the passenger seat of the Ford Pinto. Behind the wheel, a wary Jonathan obeys his instructions and swings the car right down a narrow road. It's another piece of the instructions left by Hopper, leading the way to his remote cabin in the woods.
Meanwhile, Cath is sat in the back between Joyce and Nancy, the sedated Will laid across them. His mother smooths her fingertips through his hair, whispering sweet and loving things in case he might hear them — except there is a coldness in her voice. After what she has seen tonight, Joyce Byers has clearly had enough. As for Cath, she gingerly holds onto Will's hand, pale and like ice to touch.
The atmosphere in the car is like one big, collectively-held breath. No one quite knows what lies ahead, and whether the plan will work. They are one piece in a partnership of actions with Eleven and Hopper. Cath simply prays that it has to work. She can't have El run into danger and be lost again; and she definitely cannot let Will slip away from them like this. Thinking about this, the girl squeezes his hand a little tighter as the trees start to constrict them more, turning thicker into forest at the dead-end road. As everyone gets out of the car, an owl coos from one of the trees, staring down at the scene. It's one of the only welcoming things here.
Jonathan offers to carry Will, trailing just behind Thomas as he leads the way to the cabin. Cath, Joyce and Nancy all stick together, trudging through the light-starved dirt path in the woods with boxes of heaters and matches. After five minutes, the moonlight draws an outline of a small, housed-shaped wooden structure. Cath stares at it curiously, bewildered by its discovery — so this is where Hopper and El have been living for the last year, without any of the others knowing. They were right here this whole time. Incredulous, she retraces all the times she cycled near this spot on her bike, so many instances where her old friend was right under her nose... and she never knew.
Cath doesn't have the time or energy to be angry about it. As long as El was safe, that's all that matters.
Using the keys Hopper gave them, Thomas unlocks the front door. It's a little too dark to see the details, but Cath is struck by how much it looks and feels like a home. There's a stove, a living room, a TV, left-over trays from microwaved meals still on the table. A painted mint-green door towards the end of the house makes her wonder if it's El's bedroom. She secretly hopes it's nice in there, the kind of safe space every growing girl needs.
