Complicated • Stranger Things

7 - The Bathtub part 1

Not too long after, Joyce and my dad show up at the station. He brings the three of us into his office and we end up telling them everything. We tell them what happened at Steve's house, about what happened when we went into the woods and found that entrance, and what we think we know about this monster. Jonathan also showed them the pictures he took from the night Barb went missing.

"You say blood draws this thing?" My dad asked.

"We don't know." Jonathan answered.

"It's just a theory." I added.

"I'm sorry, mom." Jonathan told Joyce, who looked a bit disappointed. She motioned him to follow her into the hallway and I gave him a look that said 'good luck' before he left.

A few moments later we heard yelling coming from outside and my dad told us to stay put before exiting the room. Nancy and I just sat there in silence until my dad quickly came back and told us that we needed to leave. I kept asking why, but he wouldn't answer me.

The five of us got into his police car and went to a road that looked over Nancy's house. There were multiple of the same cars parked outside of the house and there were men in suits carrying their stuff out of the home in boxes.

"I have to go home." Nancy stated. We were all standing outside of the car, watching her and her family's belongings being taken from their home.

"No, you can't." My dad told her.

"My mom...my dad are there." She stated.

"They're going to be okay." He said.

Nancy, ignoring what my dad just said, started walking towards her house. I mean, I understand where she's coming from, but I don't think it's safe.

"Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey." My dad said, going after her and grabbing her by the arm.

"Let go!" She demanded.

"Hey! Listen to me. Listen to me. The last thing in the world we need is them knowing you're mixed up in all this." He told her.

"Mike is over there-"

"They haven't found him. Not yet, at least." He stated as he looked up at a helicopter that was flying a good distance away from us.

"For Mike?" Nancy asked as my dad started bringing her back to the car.

"Come on, get in the car." He told her.

We all got back in the car and my dad and Joyce turned back to the three of us.

"Look, we need to find them before they do. Do you have any idea where he might have gone?" My dad asked.

"No, I don't." Nancy answered.

"I need you to think." He pushed.

"I don't know. We haven't talked a lot. I mean, lately..." She sighed.

"Is there any place that your parents don't know about that he might go?" Joyce desperately asked.

"I-I don't know." She stuttered.

"I might." Jonathan stated, and everyone looked at him.

"What?" My dad asked.

"I don't know where he is, but I think I know how to ask him." He said.

"The walkies." I realized. Jonathan nodded.

My dad drove to the Byres' house and as soon as we pulled into the driveway we all hurried out of the car and into the house. When we entered Nancy and I looked around in shock. The place was completely trashed, but everyone else ignored it and went straight to Will's room.

Nancy took the walkie talkie and tried to get through to Mike. "Mike, are you there? Mike? Mike, it's me, Nancy. Mike, are you there? Answer. Mike, we need you to answer. This is an emergency, Mike. Do you copy?" She tried, but there was no answer. "Mike, do you copy? I need you to answer. We need to know that you're there Mike."

My dad took the walkie talkie from Nancy and started to talk into it. "Listen, kid, this is the chief. If you're there, pick up. We know you're in trouble and we know about the girl. We can protect you, we can help you, but you gotta pick up. Are you there? Do you copy? Over."

After a few moments of silence, he put the walkie talkie down and turned to us. "Anybody got any other ideas?"

All of a sudden we heard Mike's voice come through the walkie talkie. "Yeah, I copy. It's Mike. I'm here. We're here."

He told us that he, Dustin, Lucas, and the girl, Eleven, were at the junkyard. My dad left to go get them while Joyce, Nancy, Jonathan and I stayed at the Byres' house.

"This is insane. This is fucking insane." I said after about five minutes of silence. "Seriously, what the hell is going on? How'd my life go from normal teen drama to Nightmare on Elm Street?"

"It's going to be fine, Jordan. Hopper's going to come back with the kids, we'll figure out what's going on, and then we'll fix it." Jonathan told me. Does he really believe that? Is he that insane? By now I was pacing around the room.

"Yeah, either that or the scary men in black suits come and take us and they kill us or experiment on us or whatever crazy shit they do. Or the giant fucking monster will come and just rip us all to shreds." I said as I started to panic, realizing that there is no way that two adults, three high schoolers, and three—four—middle schoolers are going to be able to get rid of whatever those people are doing, and a monster that isn't even supposed to exist.

"None of that is going to happen if we stay calm. If we start panicking then we won't get any closer to getting through this." He told me, which I guess made sense. "Just sit down and wait for Hopper and we'll figure it out as we go."

"Yeah, okay. Yeah." I agreed and I sat back down. I put my hands over my face and leaned down into my lap as I took deep breaths to try to calm myself.

A few years ago I used to have panic attacks pretty frequently, and they still happen every once in a while. I usually know how to stop them before they get too bad. It helps having my dad around, though.

How was everyone so calm? Have they just not processed everything yet? Because everything just hit me like a truck.

Maybe ten minutes later we heard a car pull into the driveway and we all rushed outside.

"Mike. Oh my God. Mike!" Nancy exclaimed once she saw her brother step out of the car. She ran towards him and hugged him. "I was so worried about you."

"Yeah, uh...me too." He awkwardly replied. God, I've always loved that kid.

As Nancy was reuniting with her brother I went over to Dustin and hugged him before doing the same to Lucas. Nancy looked back at the girl, who supposedly has psychic abilities—with everything going on right now, I didn't doubt it—and she looked her outfit up and down.

"Is that my dress?" Nancy asked, causing me to almost burst out laughing. That's really what she's worried about right now? A dress?

The girl just looked around, confused as hell. Poor girl, she must have been through so much. I decided to introduce myself to her to try to make her a little more comfortable.

"Hi, you're Eleven, right? My name's Jordan." I told her. She looked around before giving me a slight smile and a small nod. I smiled back before we all headed inside.