"this used to be the place i ran to whenever i was in need of a friend."

★・・・・・・★

The four teens had a quite boring car ride in the police car to the Wheeler household.

"Then what exactly were you all doing at the lake?" Chief Powell had asked them the second they all sat down.

Amber's nerves had gotten extremely high when she saw Mrs. Henderson, Mr. and Mrs. Wheeler, and Mr. and Mrs. Sinclair in the room.

"It's comp—" Amber tried.

"We were... We were just going for a walk," Max said.

"A walk?" Callahan questioned. "At 9:00 pm?"

"To the lake," Dustin said as his voice got higher. "We were gonna take a little swim. Late night swim."

"Dusty," Mrs. Henderson said. "Someone was just murdered there."

"Yeah, we... we didn't realize that until we got there."

"That's why we didn't swim," Lucas said.

"And Nancy, was she with you at this night swim?" Mrs. Wheeler asked.

"No."
"Yes."

Amber and Max slightly glared at the Henderson boy at his answer. Amber looked back and saw Mr. and Mrs. Sinclair glare at her and she reached a new level of fright.

"We're not sure," Lucas said, trying to cover for the different answers.

"She was there," Dustin said. "Then she left. It's all a little confusing."

"That's when you guys came," Amber spoke.

"Right," Max said. "And then they dared me to say what I said."

"Oh, yeah," Lucas said as he chuckled.

"About the killer," Max tried as the two boys started fake laughing and reaching over Amber to point at each other.

"You're lucky you didn't get shot," Mr. Wheeler said.

"Have you had any contact with Eddie?" Powell asked.

"That psycho... freak killer?" Dustin asked. "God, no. Nope. Absolutely not."

"No. We haven't heard from him in ages."
"We barely know the guy."
"No contact."

"Oh, that's a bunch of bull," Erica said as she came forward.
"Erica!"

"I mean, you realize they're lying. The whole couch is on fire."
"Erica."
"Just the facts."

"Are you lying to these policemen, Dusty?" Mrs. Henderson asked.

"No," Dustin said as his voice somehow went even higher.

"Lying to the cops is a crime, kids," Mr. Sinclair said to Lucas and Amber.

"We're not lying," Lucas responded for the two.

"The fire is consuming us," Erica continued.

"Threaten them with a little jail time," Mr. Wheeler said. "Maybe that'll loosen their lips."

"Okay—"
"You wanna send our kids to jail?"
"We need to take this seriously."
"He didn't mean it like that."

Almost everyone in the room were overlapping each other with arguments before Chief Powell had enough.

"Shut up!"

"Oh my God," Amber mumbled, getting a huge headache at the moment.

"Shut up!" Chief Powell yelled. "We're gonna try a more civilized approach. One at a time."

Amber was staring at her fingers that were sitting on her lap before her name was called.

"This isn't like you, Miss Wilson," Powell said as if he knew her. "I knew your parents and they never spoke of you this way."

"This has never been like you," Mrs. Wheeler spoke. "We know that you have had a terrible year, but this isn't the way to go about things."

"We can get you with a counselor. You can deal with your grief there," Powell spoke as the adults agreed with him.

"Chief Powell, Officer Callahan, Mrs. Henderson, Mr. and Mrs. Wheeler, Mr. and Mrs. Sinclair, with all due respect, you have absolutely no idea what I've gone through in the past year," Amber started, standing up to get everyones attention. "This is beyond me losing my entire family. I have gone through things beyond grief that I don't want to speak of."

Amber took a deep breath, and continued.

"At the moment, I am literally living with the Sinclair's. So I am asking you, all of you, including you guys," she said, slightly moving her body to look at the three on the couch and then turning her attention back to the adults. "Please do not assume that you know what I've gone through and how I've delt with things. Because I can assure you, that what you assume is almost entirely wrong."

"Okay. We're sorry, Miss Wilson. We'll still need to talk to you, but for now, we'll start with you," Powell said as he pointed to Max.

"Wait, what? Why me?" Max asked.
"Follow me."

"I'm not even in the Hellfire Club."

"Do I need to cuff you?" Callahan said. "Up. Chop chop. Let's go."

Amber sat back down and put her head in her hands, quite literally exhausted. She just wanted to sleep.

-

"Are you worried about her?" Lucas asked Amber as she stretched her face with her hands. "Max, I mean."

"When am I not worried about her? But I'm also worried about the fact that you're parents will have to punish me, because there's no way in hell that I am getting off the hook just because I'm not their daughter. When my parents punished me, it was scary enough. But your parents? Shit, I'm not ready to face that."

Dustin came back into the kitchen, seeing Amber and Lucas talking as Holly left the room.

"Anything?" Lucas asked Dustin as he sat at the island with the two others.

"Nothing."

"You don't think they went through..." Amber asked.

"Through Watergate?" Dustin finished her sentence. "Without us? Without a plan? Without weapons? They wouldn't be that stupid."

"They must just be laying low 'cause the law got us."

"'The law'?" Erica asked as she entered the room. "What is this, Gunsmoke? The Stupid and the Ugly? Should I round up the posse? Saddle the horses?"

"Erica. Please, just go away," Lucas said, quite annoyed at the whole situation.

"Here's the deal. Either you tell me what's happening or I tell Dustin and Amber what I found under your bed."

Lucas's face quickly turned into a panicked one when Erica said that, and Dustin and Amber's turned into surprised ones.

"Please, no," he begged.

"Spill your guts, cowpuncher," she said.

"What'd she find?" Amber asked.

"Nothing," he quickly denied.

"Is it gross?" Dustin asked as Erica nodded. "Scale of one to ten."

"A hundred," she spoke.

"A hundred?" Amber questioned.

"The serial killer is a dark wizard from the Upside Down," Lucas said, obviously wanting to change the topic. "And we've been looking for him, but he's in the Upside Down, which we can't reach. At least we thought we couldn't, until we found a gate at Lover's Lake. That was the reason why we were there, but these stupid cops grabbed us. And if you tell anyone about this, that's including Mom and Dad and Tina... especially Tina. I... We... will smother you in your sleep. Do you understand?"

"Hmm..." she hummed.

"Erica?" he questioned as he slid closer to his younger sister. "Do you copy?"

"The smothering in my sleep part, but not much else. Besides, Amber wouldn't do that. She likes me too much. Why would they open up a gate at Lover's Lake?"

"What?" Lucas questioned.

"The commies," she said.

"The commies didn't do this," Lucas rolled his eyes.

"Then who did?"
"Nobody."

"So it just opened up for fun?"

"Erica, you have no idea what you're talking about."

"No, she doesn't, yet she raises an essential question," Dustin said. "How did Watergate open up? Only two gates have opened, so far as we know. One by El, one by the commies. But it's not the commies or El this time, so it... Holy shit. Wait, wait, wait."

"'Wait, wait, wait,' what?" Lucas asked.

"There's one thing we've never understood," Dustin started explaining as he stood up straight and walked around the island. "Which is why Vecna's killing people. What's his motive? Killing teens? It always just seemed too random. Too prosaic. On top of that, how does the Mind Flayer figure into all this? And why does Amber have her powers back?"

Amber and Lucas shared a look. She knew that look, she lightly shook her head, signaling for him to not speak about it and keep his mouth shut.

"Maybe this is it... This is the answer."

"What is the answer?"

"You sure you just want water?" Mrs. Wheeler said to an officer as they came into the kitchen. "We have Coke, Sprite, Dr. Pepper."

"Coke works. Thank you."

Dustin tilted his head, signaling for the others to follow him by the stairs.

"Okay, just hear me out. How did El open the Mothergate?"

"She contacted the Demogorgon," Amber said.

"With psychic contact. Just like..."

"Vecna when he casts his spells," Lucas said.

"Exactly. So, what if, with each kill, he's not simply killing them, he's making a powerful psychic connection with his victims? A connection powerful enough to rip a hole in the fabric of time and space?"

"He's opening more gates," Amber realized.
"Bingo."

"Copy. We're still at the Wheeler house," they all heard a cop say.

"Why would he be opening more gates?" Dustin said as he moved into a different room and the others followed.

"To take over the world."

"Who do we know that wants to take over the world?"

"The Mind Flayer," Amber said as a shiver went down her spine.

"So if the Demogorgon was just his foot solider, Vecna's his five-star general. A five-star general with the power to open gates."

"Holy shit."
"Holy shit."
"Holy shit."

"Holy shit. That was incompressible," Erica spoke. "You lost me at 'Mothergate.' Please be kind. Rewind."

"Okay, so remember the gate?"

"Oh, no. I blocked that out," Erica said sarcastically.

Amber started spacing out, not wanting to hear what Dustin was saying, mostly because she already knew what had happened. She heard heavy breathing, so she turned around, expecting to see someone. But she didn't see anyone.

"Amber..."

She looked around in confusion before hearing her name again.

"Amber."

She turned around, seeing the others looking at her.

"You okay?" Lucas asked.

"Yeah. Yeah, sorry. Continue."

They sat down at the kitchen table as Dustin paced back and forth talking to them.

"That brings us to the question you first raised. How and why is there a gate at Lover's Lake? Let's analyze. What do Eleven and Vecna have in common?"

He continued to explain as they all listened.

"Vecna had to open a tear in time and space, just like the Mothergate. And that's what Vecna is doing when he attacks. But, are these gates like the Mothergate? But they're a gate nonetheless. There must be more. There was one where Patrick died, so we have to assume there's one where Fred and Chrissy died. So our working theory is that Vecna makes remote contact from his attic. We don't know why. We assume he can do it from anywhere. Are you even listening to me?"

"Yeah, I'm listening," Erica said, getting up and walking to the light. "It's just... You said you followed Vecna through lights, right?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Because I think he's here."

"'S.' 'O.' 'S.'," Dustin read. "Hey, uh, remember when I said they wouldn't be stupid enough to go through Watergate?"

"Yeah?"
"I overestimated them."

-

Lucas ran in the living room and unplugged Holly's toy that they needed.

"Hey!" she whined.

"I'm sorry!" Lucas said as Dustin grabbed her toy and ran upstairs with it.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry," Dustin apologized.

"For your understanding," Erica said as she gave her a candy bar.

They came back into Nancy's room, slightly startling Amber who was left up there.

Dustin, Lucas, Erica, and Amber kneeled down by the bed, putting all the little pieces on the board.

"Okay, that's it. That's it. Go, go, go, go, go," Dustin said to Lucas as they finished.

"Yeah, okay." Lucas responded as he plugged it in. The toy lit up and they hoped that the other teens could see it.

"Okay, you guys seeing this?" Dustin yelled.

The lights became brighter.

"Holy shit!" Erica said in surprise as Dustin hugged her and laughed.

"We're not moving it, but we're gonna unplug it. Stand by. Yank it," Dustin said as Lucas unplugged it.

"Okay, try it now."

"'H.' 'I.'"
"Hi," they all said.

"That worked!"

"'S... T... U...'"
"Stupid? Stupid?"
"'C... K.'"

"Okay, they're stuck in the Upside Down."

"Okay. Uh, you can't get back through Watergate?"

"That a six?"
"No, 'G.'"

"'G... U... A... R.'"
"Guar?"
"Guard..."
"Guarded."
"'Guarded'?"

"Okay. Uh, Watergate's guarded. Okay. We think we have a theory that can help with that. We think Watergate isn't the only gate. That there's a gate at every murder site." Dustin explained, but they just drew a question mark. "Okay. Seriously? How many times do I have to be right on the money before you guys just trust me?"

The older teens had an idea, so the younger teens agreed. Amber stood at the end of the stairs, hoping to get Max to come along. When she came out of the room, she put her headphones on and started playing Running Up That Hill. She saw Amber wave her hand to follow her, but she wasn't so sure.

"Come on," Amber said quietly.
"Amber!"
"Come on!"

Amber quickly told Max the plan, and she agreed to it. They climbed out Nancy's window and got their bikes.

"Let's go."
"Careful."

"Hey!" They heard Callahan yell. "Excuse me! No, get back here!"

"I guess it's just a minor misdemeanor," Erica said before popping the tires on a police car.

"Hey! No! No!"

The parents came running outside after their children.

"Lucas! Amber!" Mrs. Sinclair yelled.

"Dusty!"

"Lucas, Amber, Erica!" Mrs. Sinclair yelled. "Get back here!"

"Dusty!"

The five teens were riding on one road, unknowingly riding on the exact same road that the other four teens were in the Upside Down. And off to Eddie's trailer they go.

-

They got to Eddie's trailer and surprisingly it was unlocked. They went in, and luckily enough, there was a gate on the ceiling. Dustin grabbed a stick or something and started messing with it. He started pressing it against it and soon enough, it broke.

"No way," they heard Steve softly say.

Dustin started laughing in happiness, shocked that it worked. "Hi there."
"Hi."

"Holy shit, this is trippy," Ambrt chuckled.

"Bada bada boom!" Dustin yelled as the rest smiled.

Dustin and Amber started tying sheets together while Lucas and Max grabbed Eddie's mattress and laid it down right where the gate was.

"Those stains are, uh..." Amber heard Eddie say. "I don't know what those stains are."

Amber gave Dustin her end of the rope-like sheets. What they were hoping to do is throw the sheets up and make them stay.

"Not quite sure how these physics are gonna work. But, uh... here goes nothing," Dustin spoke.

Dustin threw it up, and luckily enough in the Upside Down, it stayed. He let the rope go and it stayed on their side too.

"There we go. And if my theory is correct..." Dustin said. He let it go, and it stayed! "Huh. Abracadabra."

"Holy shit."
"All right, pull on it! See if it holds!"

They saw Robin pull and hold on to it and it stayed.

"This is the craziest shit I've ever seen in my life," Erica said. "And I've seen some crazy shit."

"Guess I'm the guinea pig," Robin said as she stepped closer to the rope. 

"All right, let's clear the landing pad," Dustin said as they all moved.

She climbed up the rope, and when she returned to the normal side, she was upside down. She flipped over and onto Eddie's mattress, happy that it worked.

"Oh, thank God. That was fun," she said as Amber helped her up.

"All right, guess I'll go," Eddie said as he stepped closer. He started climbing, and the same thing happened to him as it did Robin. He came to the normal side upside down and flipped over onto the mattress.

"That was fun. Shit," he said as Robin helped him up.

"See you on the other side," Steve said to Nancy.
"On the other side."

Nancy went to grab ahold of it but stopped. She stood there, not doing anything.

"Nancy," Steve said. They all saw something was wrong with her, but they had no idea what.

Her eyes were rolling to the back of her head and they were glossed over. Just like Max's when she was possessed by Vecna.

"Hey! Hey! Stay with me. Nancy! Hey! Nancy, wake up! Wake up! Nancy! Nancy! Amber, can you do something?!" Steve yelled through the Upside Down.

"Vecna," Max realized.

Her voice started to echo as Amber saw something or someone through the window of Eddie's trailer. The atmosphere has become dark like she was in the Upside Down.

She looked through the window and the figure became more clear.

"Callie?" Amber whispered to herself.

She walked outside the trailer and saw her more clearly. It was her little sister.

"It is time for you to see us," Callie spoke. Her voice was deep and made Amber uneasy. It sent a chill down her spine.

Someone walked out from behind Callie.

~

"Amber, do something!" Steve yelled as he continued to try and get Nancy. Max turned to Amber, seeing her look out the window.

"Amber?" Max questioned. She saw her eyes glossed over as well.

~

"Kristen?" She said in question as tears started to fall from her eyes.

"You couldn't save me," Kristen spoke. "You left me to die."

"No. No, I would never."

~

"Amber!" Max slightly shouted, getting the attention of the others. "Please, Amber! Shit!"

~

Two more people stepped out from behind Callie.

"Mom? Dad?"

"You couldn't save us," they spoke in unison. "You left us to die."

"No. I would never do that. You— You guys are my parents," Amber said as she started slightly sobbing. "I would never do that."

"You left us to die!" Kristen yelled.

"You couldn't save us!" Her parents yelled.

"Please," Amber softly said. "I wouldn't do that! If I knew, I would've saved you!"

"But you couldn't."

She knew that voice all too well. The voice that wouldn't let her sleep. The voice that sent shivers down her spine every time she thought of it. The voice that traumatized her.

Brenner.

"You couldn't save them. Any of them. But now it is time. Time for your last lesson."

"Please. No. No."