The Byers Girl (On Pause until season 5)

Chapter Three: Holly Jolly

An increasingly concerned Nancy looks for Barb and finds out what Jonathan's been up to. Joyce is convinced Will is trying to talk to her.

While Nancy loses her virginity to Steve, Barb awakens in a waterless, dark version of Steve's pool, every surface covered in fleshy black vines. The figure that took her there pursues her as she tries to climb out, calling Nancy's name (which Nancy believes she hears momentarily) before being pulled back into the pool and going silent.

Nancy leaves Steve asleep and goes home, where an anxious Karen confronts her. Nancy tries to play it off, despite Karen noticing her wearing Steve's sweatshirt.
Jonathan Byers awakens to find Joyce talking to Will in his room, but realizes she is talking to an assortment of lights.
"Will baby can you show Jonathan what you showed me?" Joyce asks crying desperately.
A light bulb in one of the lamps flicker.
"See he's trying to talk to me" Joyce says frantically.
"Mom it's just an electrical problem" Jonathan says sadly holding his mom's arms.
"Mom are you okay?" Y/n asks coming into the room scared.
Jonathan looks at Y/n's scared expression and sighs sadly.
"Everything is fine" Jonathan says to Y/n.
"Okay I'm going to Robins, I'll see you both later"
Y/n says smiling sadly at Joyce and Jonathan before walking to Robin's.
Jonathan tells Joyce to get some rest before leaving the house.

Mike, Dustin , and Lucas discuss "Operation Mirkwood", a plan to find Will and save him from the Demogorgon. Lucas has brought his father's army supplies from Vietnam and a Wrist Rocket slingshot, and Dustin has brought food. Dustin and Lucas argue over the validity of a nearby Eleven's powers, and Dustin tries to get her to make Mike's Millennium Falcon toy float with no success.
Before leaving for school, Mike tells Eleven to meet the boys by a set of nearby power lines at 3:15. Not understanding the concept of telling time, Eleven is given Mike's watch to help.

At Hawkins High, Nancy notices people are staring at her in the hall, but Steve insists he did not tell anyone about the previous night. Y/n walks in the halls of the school with her headphones on listening to her walkman looking down sadly, Steve watches from a distance sadly. Nancy also notices Barb is missing from class.

Home alone, Eleven levitates the Falcon before wandering around Mike's house, ending up in front of the TV. As she flips through the channels, she comes across a Coca-Cola commercial and has a flashback to Brenner ordering her to crush a can with her mind, which she does to his approval.

Joyce buys several strings of Christmas lights from Donald Melvald and rigs her house up with them, hoping Will will communicate with her through them.

Hopper is granted permission to examine Hawkins National Laboratory, checking out the other end of the drainage pipe found in the woods. The security footage of the night Will disappeared shows nothing out of the ordinary, but Hopper remembers it rained that night and there was no rain present on the footage, concluding that he is being lied to. In the lower levels of the lab, Brenner watches as his men install a pulley system in front of the fissure.

Eleven explores Nancy's room and stares at her mirror, adorned with pictures of herself and Barb.
At lunch in Hawkins High, Nancy asks Steve if he saw Barb leave, which he did not. She and Jonathan lock eyes briefly.
Y/n is seen still listening to her walkman sitting alone at a table in the cafeteria by Steve who watches her concerned.

As the boys collect rocks for the Wrist Rocket, Lucas teases Mike about his apparent crush on Eleven until they are interrupted by Troy and James. They taunt Will and make insulting assumptions about his sexuality, and trip Mike when they leave, making him hit his chin on a rock.

Developing the photos he took, Jonathan's photo of Nancy in her bra is noticed by a classmate in the photo lab.

Hopper and Calvin Powell comb the library's archives for articles on Hawkins Lab, finding several about alleged human experimentation, Project MKUltra, and Brenner's connection with a woman named Terry Ives, claiming Brenner took her daughter.

Karen visits Joyce with her toddler daughter Holly to check in on her. The Christmas lights flicker and Holly follows them to Will's room. Just as the wall starts to contort again, Joyce pulls her out of the room, and frantically asks Holly what happened when she references having seen something. Karen and Holly leave, the former off put by Joyce's behavior.

Nancy calls Barb's mother and finds that Barb is not home.
Steve, Nicole, Tommy, and Carol confront Jonathan over the pictures. As Nancy arrives, Carol shows her the pictures.
"Jonathan what's going on?" Y/n asks nervously walking over to the group.
"Oh look it's the stalkers little sister" Tommy says smirking.
"Jonathan what are they talking about?" Y/n asks confused.
"Nothing just go home" Jonathan says more sternly.
"You want to know, your brother took pictures of Nancy over here while she was changing, like a creep" Steve says taking the photos before he tears them up.
Steve grabs Jonathan's bag taking the camera in his hands.
"Not the camera" Jonathan says desperately.
"Steve" Nancy says nervously.
"Steve please" Y/n says looking at Steve desperately. Steve looks at Y/n stopping what he's doing for a minute until Tommy knocks the camera out of his hand laughing.
Jonathan's camera falls to the ground breaking into pieces.
Steve looks at Y/n who has tears in her eyes walking over to Jonathan.
He decides to leave with Carol and Tommy.
Nancy notices a picture of Barb on the ground and hastily grabs the torn-up pieces before leaving.
Y/n helps pick up the pieces of the camera looking back at Steve for a moment feeling confused.

As Eleven waits by the power lines, she notices a cat. She flashes back to Brenner ordering her to kill a cat with her powers. She refuses, and Brenner orders her locked in her cell again. She kills the two guards carrying her before they can shut her in and collapses, and Brenner praises her before carrying her away.

The boys arrive, and she rides double on Mike's bike away. In the woods, she notices Mike's chin, and tells him that "friends don't lie" when he tries to pass it off. He explains Troy and James, not wanting Eleven to think he is a loser, but she insists that she understands.

Nancy searches around Steve's backyard for any clues that may lead to Barb, and is stalked by a shadowy figure that causes her to flee in terror.
She confesses to Karen that she is worried about Barb, and that she thinks she is in danger.

The Christmas lights begin to blink and leads Joyce to a large string of them. When she asks if they are Will and he is present, they light up. Will confirms through the lights that he is alive, but not safe. Realizing she cannot communicate with him beyond yes or no questions, she paints the alphabet on a wall and sets up the lights so Will can spell out words.

Hopper and Powell debate the validity of the articles, and Hopper theorizes that Will may have seen something related to the Lab that he should not have. He gets a call on his radio that causes the two to drive off quickly.

Eleven leads the boys to the Byers house, explaining that Will is hiding in the area. Enraged, Lucas and Mike argue until Dustin notices several police cars speeding by.

Will tells Joyce through the lights that he is "right here" before suddenly telling her to run as the lights start to blink. The wall distorts again and the Demogorgon bursts out of it, a giant humanoid creature with no face and grey skin.

The boys and Eleven follow the police to Sattler Quarry, where they watch in horror as Will's body is pulled out of the water. Enraged that Eleven claimed he was alive, Mike shouts at her before biking off. Mike returns home in tears and hugs his mother, unable to say what is wrong. Fleeing the house, Joyce comes across a returning Jonathan and Y/n who she embraces as police sirens speed towards them.

To be continued...