Two Days Later

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"It's been less than 48 hours since a 7.4 magnitude earthquake rocked the quaint town of Hawkins, 80 miles outside on Indianapolis, in an event that seismologists are calling "a natural disaster of near-unprecedented scale." The death toll now stands at 22. But with hundreds more filling Roane County hospitals and many more still missing, officials expect those numbers to rise. This is sonly the latest tragedy to befall this once-safe town."

"Most recently, a string of high school students were killed in a series of ritualistic murders, which have been linked to a local satanic cult known as "Hellfire." Eddie Munson, the leader of this cult and prime suspect in the murders, has been missing since the earthquake and is presumed dead. A young woman, an alumni to Hawkins High, Danielle Henderson, has also been missing since the earthquake. Some people of the Hawkins community believe that she too, was a victim of Eddie's heinous crimes."

"But this offers little comfort to the people of Hawkins, who are scared, angry, and searching for answers. Why their town? What have they done to deserve so much suffering? A growing chorus believes the two recent tragedies are linked, claiming the Munson murders opened a doorway between worlds. A doorway, they say, into hell itself."

Steve's POV

She's out there. I know she is. I can feel it.

"Hey, Nance!" Mrs. Wheeler calls out, catching my attention. "I found some more of your old stuff in the attic." She says, handing a box to Nancy, as I put a box full of stuff in the trunk of my car. "Someone order a pizza?" Mrs. Wheeler says, confused.

"Pizza?" Dustin asks, also confused as we look at the end of the Wheeler's drive way.

A yellow VW van blares its horn as it pulls up at the end of their driveway. 

"Surfer Boy Pizza." Danielle's voice rings in my head as I read the giant, red sign, shaped like a surf board on top of the van.

Mike, Jonathan, Will, El, and Argyle step out. "He has really long hair." Danielle's voice says in my head. 

Robin and I watch as everyone rushes to each other, Dustin hobbles with his sprain, and they all meet halfway on the driveway, embracing each other in hugs. We walk our way up the hill, and stand next to Dustin as he hugs Will and El. 

Mrs. Wheeler pulls away from Mike and scolds him lightly. "You are never going on vacation again, you hear me? In fact, you can forget about college. You are staying right here." She tells him and pulls him in for another hug.

Jonathan and Nancy pull back from their hug and Jonathan says, "You okay?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm okay." Nancy says. "But, Jonathan-"

"This isn't an earthquake." Jonathan says, cutting her off. "I know. I know a lot more than you think."

"Oh, right. I know about the desert." Nancy admits. "A nuclear testing area? Seriously, Jonathan?"

"How do you know about that?" He asks confused. 

"Dani." Nancy said. 

"Oh, right." Jonathan chuckles lightly. "Where is she anyway?" Was all I needed to hear before I turn back around and walked back to my car. Robin placed a comforting hand on my back as we walk away.

Eventually, everyone goes their separate ways. El, Mike, Will, Argyle, Jonathan, and Nancy take a trip to the hospital. Robin, Dustin, and I take a trip to the school to drop off the donations.

We carry the boxes and follow the group of people inside. Once inside, we are told to go to the gym. We walk through the double doors of the gym and hundreds of people crowd inside. People are getting medical attention, laying close together on provided cots, putting up missing flyers. 

This is terrible.

As we walk past the missing persons board, a specific one catches my eye. 

Danielle.

Dustin and Danielle's mom must've came by earlier and put up a poster of her.

I tear my eyes away from the poster and we continue to make our way through the crowd and up to the "relief donations" table.

"Hi." Robin smiles at the woman who's volunteering as we each set a box down on the table.

"Hi." The woman smiles back.

"Uh, so these are blankets and sheets. And some... some clothes and... and some kids' toys." Robin says pointing at our boxes.

"Wow. It's already so organized. We appreciate that. Do you want a tax receipt for it?" The woman, whose name tag says Melissa, asks.

"Um..." Robin says before looking to me. 

I shake my head no.

"...No. I don't think that we need one. Thank you, though." Robin says before looking around and then back to Melissa. "But is there anything else that we can do to help?"

**

"Okay, then we sort by age." Another woman that's volunteering says to me as she leads me to the table of clothes. I piece of clothing drops from a large pile in a basket and I quickly pick it up before following the woman. "We've got infants, girls, boys, men, women." She says pointing at the different sections of clothes. "Oh, if anything is in too bad shape, we really don't want that. So, you can just toss it in the non-useable bin. Okay? Any questions?"

"Nope, not at all." I smile kindly at her and begin sorting through the clothes. 

I glance up from the table and across from me is Robin at the the "food pick up" station. She's talking to Vicky. Actually talking to Vicky. I watch Robin pass the jelly over to Vicky as I continue sorting through the clothes. I can't help but smile at our friend as she talks to the girl of her dreams. 

Our. 

Damn, I wish Danielle could see this.

**

I"m almost done with the giant stack of clothes when all of a sudden people crowd by the windows, saying that it's snowing. Robin and I quickly glance at each other, sharing a look that says, "Oh, shit." and we both race over to the windows. 

Oh, shit.

It may look like snow to others, but it's not. The Upside Down is officially molding into Hawkins. The sky is covered in dark clouds and particles from the Upside Down fall from the sky.

Danielle, where are you?

**

I wake up with a gasp. 

"You're in my control now, Jo." That all too familiar voice says to me. 

I try to sit up off of the cold, hard ground, as red lightening strikes above me, but can't because I'm held down by vines. My head hurts.

"I told you that you would join me. And now that you're awake, we can begin." He says as he now towers over me. 

"Welcome to the beginning..." He says and lifts his hand dangerously, hovering it over me. 

"The beginning of the end." One says and pain erupts throughout my body.

I let out an ear piercing scream as he weasels his way into my mind.

"You're mine."

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