it's the end of the world as we know it.

07. frankie gets humbled by murray bauman

Checking out of the motel is quick and easy; though Frankie's stomach is churning as he thinks about last night, and his and Jonathan's conversation, when his fingertips touched Frankie's hand. He can feel the goosebumps raise on his hand the thought, and he attempts to keep his cool on the rest of the ride to the journalists' home.

Eventually they reach the place; just an hour outside of Springfield. It's a total cement building with an old van sitting outside, and it's surrounded by a gate. They slow to a stop a few feet away from the van. "Are you positive this is the right place?" Jonathan asks, glancing at Nancy.

"3833, yeah." She nods.

"Okay." Jonathan agrees, pulling his keys out of the ignition. The group gets out and cautiously head toward the door, where spray painted in red, it read "Keep door closed!" Jonathan leaned forward and pressed the buzzer.

Frankie glanced around, with his hands in his pockets, before glancing at Jonathan. "Y'know, this guy doesn't want to be found by the government — we found him pretty easily."

Jonathan raised an eyebrow at Frankie, who shrugged, and a voice snapped through the buzzer. "Look at the camera!"

Jonathan frowned and tapped at the buzzer, murmuring, "What camera?"

"Not the loudspeaker — the camera! Above you, to the right!" The voice instructed, and the trio glanced up toward the right following the instructions given. Suddenly the door shook, and a man stepped out. Frankie quirked an eyebrow upon seeing him; he wore black sweats, a white tank top, and a red and yellow striped cardigan. He had no hair but a thick beard, and wirey rimmed glasses.

"Nancy Wheeler, Jonathan Byers... Frankie Avery, you three are a long way from home." He stepped aside, allowing enough time for them to get in before anxiously checking about, and quickly closing the door behind them.

Frankie remembered Nancy had mentioned his name was Murray, and Murray lead them toward his living room. "I hope you didn't come all this way to tell me about the bear in the Harrington kid's backyard. I've heard that one already."

Murray lead them to another room, where he had an elaborate wall with red yarn strung across it, describing the events of the fall of '83, though some were holed and not fully accurate. "Take a look; don't be shy." They slowly approached the board, glancing up and down of its full contents.

"I followed up on 200 tips, most bogus, but that's how these things always go, okay? I know every last step Barbara took that day, every last person she talked to. The answer to what happened to your friend, it's up here somewhere. I assure you that. I just gotta connect the right dots."

"Timeline is wrong." Nancy interrupted, staring at the big sticky notes next to the picture of Barb.

"I'm sorry?"

"Your timeline; it's wrong. And the girl with the buzzed hair, she's not Russian. She's from Hawkins Lab. Her name was Eleven." Nancy said, and Murray's eyebrows furrowed in confusion, not sure how they knew this.

"You might want to sit down for this." Jonathan said, nodding toward a chair.

—

Nancy and Jonathan began explaining the entire story to Murray, from November 6th, 1983, to the current day of November 4, 1984. Murray remained silent throughout their speech, sitting on his couch with his arms crossed as he glanced between Nancy and Jonathan.

"What's his role in this?" Murray asked, nodding toward Frankie, noting Frankie hadn't been mentioned once yet.

"Oh, I'm not in the story yet. I'm new to this like you." Frankie explained. Murray hummed as Nancy fished out her walkman tape again, and replayed Owen's voice for what felt like the thousandth time.