zero || eddie munson (UNEDITED!!!)

6 - THE TOLL DEATH TAKES

Eleven was nervously playing with the radio, semi secluded in her fort in the Wheeler basement.

"Can you please stop that?" Mike asked.

"Why, does it bother poor Mikey poo?" Null asked, annoyed that he'd snapped at her not long ago for not being able to find Will, and then being upset that she brought him to a seemingly dead Will.

Mike chose not to respond to Null, in efforts to avoid an argument with her. Eleven continued to play with the radio, static crackling as she did so.

"Are you deaf?" Mike asked El.

"No," Null replied, looking up from chipping her nail polish off. "I can hear your prepubescent voice just fine, unfortunately."

"Not you, her," Mike looked at Eleven. "I thought we were friends, you know? But friends tell each other the truth. And they definitely don't lie to each other. You made me think Will was okay, that he was still out there, but he wasn't. He wasn't! Maybe you thought you were helping, but you weren't. You hurt me. Do you understand? What you did sucks. Lucas was right about you. All along."

Just then, Eleven switched the radio and you could hear a young boy feverishly singing "Should I Stay Or Should I Go."

"Will, is that you? It's Mike! Do you copy? Over. Will, are you there? Will!" Mike asked, anxiously. "Was that..."

"Was it..." Real? Null wanted to ask.

"Will," Eleven confirmed, with a small smile on her face.

~~~~~

The next morning Null made her way over to the Byer's house, pounding on the door at 7am.

"Go away," Jonathan's firm voice said behind the door.

"Jonathan, open up, it's me," Null insisted.

He swung open the door to reveal himself in yesterday's clothes, with messy hair and eyes red from apparent crying.

"What do you want?" He asked, looking down to her feet.

"Let me in, please. It's Will, he's not dead. Whatever was found in the quarry, it wasn't him," Null pleaded, trying to push past him into the house.

He groaned. "Not you too," he began to close the door.

Null put her hand up, stopping the door from closing. "Just let me in, I can explain everything. Well maybe not everything, but as much as I know."

"Jonathan, who's there?" Joyce asked from behind him.

"No one mom, just go back to bed," he insisted.

"Joyce!" Null called out. "It's me, Null. This is gonna sound crazy but Will's not dead. Just here me out."

Joyce looked at Null from over Jonathan's shoulder before looking at her reluctant son. "Let her in."

They all sat down at the dining room table, Null trying not to look too long at the Christmas lights now hung all over the house. Null cleared her throat.

"Right so this'll probably sound a bit crazy, but uh something tells me that that's become some what of a norm in this house-"

"Null," Jonathan warned.

"It's okay Jonathan," Joyce reassured. Joyce was simply eager to hear if her suspicions would be confirmed.

"So I think it's all connected. The killing at Benny's, Will's disappearance, Barb's disappearance. All of it."

"Go on," Joyce urged, leaning forward, intrigued.

"I was there, at Benny's, when it happened. The people killed are from Hawkins Lab, which is basically a place where the scientists there experiment with people, things, really anything they can get results out of," Null took a deep breath.