Hawkins, Indiana
Christmas, 1987
"El? El, is that really you?"
They were here for Christmas.
Eleven, Will, Jonathon and Joyce had came back to Hawkins for Christmas. The people most happy to see the bunch, was Mike and Nancy. Everyone hadn't seen The Byers in a year. Eleven was expecting Hopper, but quickly remembered what seemed to be his demise. They all took their stuff out of the boot, and quickly put their stuff into the spare rooms of the Wheeler's house. While El had been slowly trying to get her powers back (in the past year), Everybody asked her to try them out again, and she refused. Max asked Joyce if Jane could come to her place, and she accepted.
Mike ran down stairs with Will and the other boys, to show him a surprise.
"Erica got bored of it pretty fast, so she handed it back to us!" Lucas exclaimed with a grin.
It was Dungeons and Dragons, and it was the same set they had used to play with. Mike, Dustin, and Lucas had spent weeks repainting the mini-figures, board, and box art. And they even added a new special mode to the game. Dustin flipped the board upside down, to display a new world. It was the top of the board, but with signs of infection, spreading, and monsters.
"Tada!" Dustin shouted.
"I... Love it...?" Will said.
Dustin smiled his toothless grin. He tipped the box upside down, and new board pieces fell out like the lab, demedogs, Will the Wise, spiky bat, and nugart. They set up the board, and tried the game. It had been 4 years since their first game of DnD, and this time, may be there last.
Dustin opened his back pack, to show Will his new ham radio.
"It can go longer distances, even further, for when she is on holiday!" Dustin exclaimed.
The 15 year olds were done for the night eventually. They all went to bed, Jonathan in Nancy's bed, Will with Joyce, Lucas with Max, Mike with El, and Dustin by himself, with the radio beside his bed. He talked to Susie for a while, and then went to bed. When Susie got off of the channel, Dustin heard static, with talking. He turned the radio volume up, with tape recorder in hand, and hit the record button. The person talking was a man, with a deep voice.
"T- G-t- -s op-ing ag-in" he said.
Dustin quickly switched channel, and called Steve.
"Dustin, it's 9. Go to sleep." He said, tiredly.
"It's urgent! I heard it again." He said.
Something appeared in the chat.
"S-on, y-ur n-xt" it said again. "You- nex-" it said once more.
