Forget Me Not

The Official Story ⸻ The Munson Murders ended on March 27th, 1986. Hawkins, Indiana had been the site of many tragedies in the early- to mid-1980s - disappearances in 1983, including a death caused by a toxic waste leak; a mysterious rot in 1984; the Starcourt Scandal in 1985 - but the Munson Murders would go down as the worst of them. Twenty year old Edward Munson used the cover of a high school Dungeons and Dragons club to kill three. He would have killed a fourth, but he was stopped at the last minute by Jason Carver and the Hawkins High School basketball team. At the time it there were rumors that the murder has been influenced by a cult. Years later most agree that that idea was a result of the satanic panic and the paranoia that had already permeated Hawkins. The official story included nothing paranormal. Edward Munson had simply been homicidal trailer trash, manipulating teens for his own means.

The Truth ⸻ Max Mayfield had been saved just in time. Vecna was distracted long enough for his ritual to be stopped. For the gates to be closed. On March 27th, 1986, the Upside Down was defeated...for now.

For now. Everyone else believed that 1986 was the end of Hawkins' oddities, and on the surface it was. Those who knew the truth waited...and waited...and waited. They grew up. They moved out. In a way, they almost moved on. Became normal people with normal lives and normal families. The looming anxiety would never go away, but after 39 years it's easy to almost believe. Believe that maybe they really had saved the world and the Upside Down had been fully locked away.

Of course, they should have known better than believe. Once again something has come for Hawkins, and this time they won't be there to protect it.