Decide

"What the hell?"

"Holy shit" you say to yourself, entering Hawkins, Indiana. You're driving your '86 Isuzu Impulse down the country road, past the Hawkins Light and Power plant; or what's left of it at least. The building is practically in shambles. Apart from the few white company vans in their parking lot, you would think the place had been abandoned for years.

You drive past the "Welcome to Hawkins" sign, which is pulled halfway out of the ground. Looking into the town itself, it's like a horror movie, something out of a warzone. The old trailer park where you and your cousin Eddie spent most of your childhood? The homes are sticking halfway out of the ground. Sidewalks? Can't even tell they were there; they're in rubble. The ice cream parlor where your parents would take you whenever you had to go to the dentist? A giant crack pretty much splitting it in half. You're looking around for any kids in the neighborhood playing, riding bikes, or playing hopscotch, but the only people you see are the ones running around in panic. They are fleeing their very own homes, or frantically looking for their children or missing people in their families, holding up flyers.

The streets are crowded with the citizens scared out of their minds and the local police trying to contain the situation; although you can see that it's not doing much good. Not paying attention to your driving, you almost run over a curly-haired boy; yet he's running in the middle of the road. He has to put his hands on the hood of your car to avoid getting pulled underneath. "Lucas! Wait up!" he's yelling.

Rolling down the window, you yell "I'm so sorry!", but the boy isn't even fazed by the fact that he almost became a pancake on the road. He just keeps running to catch up with his friend waiting on the other side. Okay then, you think. Well, there is no way that I am driving any farther today.

Knowing this, you decide to pull over to the side of the road by a gas station- or what was a gas station.

Getting out of your car, you immediately almost get ran over by someone's van. You stumble back into the side of your car. They had to have been going at least 70 mph. "Somebody is in a hurry", you mumble, to no one in particular.

You come out of your daze and see the real reason everyone is in a panic; why the town is in complete chaos. It was stupid to think that Hawkins was just a bit behind on housekeeping or some shit; the TOWN ITSELF was in shambles. Smoke coming from the community center, hospital, multiple apartments, and even the ground itself. There were huge cracks- at least eight feet wide- in the very ground you were standing on. The closer you got, the more it seemed that they went straight to the Earth's core. Grass and trees were dying, and what looked like ash was falling from the sky.

Looking everywhere around you, all you can get out is-

"What the hell is happening?"