Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

He did it, he got out of that stupid fucking basement.

Finney thinks if he could comprehend anything besides the Grabber being dead, he would like the way the sun felt, being outside in the daylight for the first time in days. He would like the scent of fresh air, a drastic contrast to the stale smell in that basement. The one thing he knew he did like, was hugging his sister. Out of everyone he missed while he was down there, he missed his sister the most.

They clung to each other as the policemen led them to an ambulance and put shock blankets around them. Finney saw their father running towards them, collapsing to his knees apologizing. The only word he’s said since killing the grabber was “basement” to the police officer, and he doesn’t think he could manage anything else. He thinks that an EMT is asking him questions, but everything is so fuzzy he can’t even look up. Someone is leading him into a car and putting his seatbelt on him. Gwen is still sitting next to him, so he allows himself to close his eyes and drift off.

In the background, he thinks he can hear a phone ringing.

///

The first thing Finney recognizes when he wakes up, is that the ground feels a lot harder than the car cushion he fell asleep on. He would think he was back in the basement but he could feel dirt and sticks beneath him.

The next thing he noticed was many voices overlapping each other. His eyes snapped open as soon as he felt a hand placed on his shoulder. He slid back away from the person and hit a tree. About seven figures stood in front of him, ages ranging from his age to about twenty years old. He pried his eyes away from the group and took in his surroundings. It was dark out, he must’ve been out for hours. He was in a forest, there were no forests like this back at home so he could be hours away.

The kid closest to him looked to be about fifteen, he had a hat on that had the words ‘Thinking Cap’ on it, a mullet, and a green shirt. He had his hands up to make himself look non-threatening. Finney thinks a five year old could look threatening to him right now. The kid crouches down to him and as he scooches closer, Finney scooches back.

“Steve?” The kid asks as if he was talking to a scared animal.

”Are you dead?” It was the only thing Finney could think to ask. This must have been wrong, because the kid only looks more confused, he looks around to his peers who have matching looks on their faces.

”No, do you talk to a lot of dead people, Steve?” He says that name again.

“Who’s Steve?” This makes everyone start talking over each other again.

”Are you not Steve?” The kid asks, Finney shakes his head.

A girl closest to his age says “See? I told you so”,

One of the oldest girls with short curly brown hair says “He looks exactly like Steve just ten years younger, he appeared in the exact same spot Steve was, it has to be him,”

Finney was starting to get overwhelmed when a boy with long dark curly hair kneels down to him, Finney thinks he sort of looks like Vance, and asks “If you’re not Steve, then what’s your name?”

Finney thought about it, when he lied to the grabber about his name, it didn’t do him any favors. It was probably in his best interest to tell the truth.

”Finney Blake,” He thought about it for a moment, “But my middle name is Steven,” He offered.

“Ok we don’t have time for this!” A girl with short brown hair and bangs exclaimed,

“I don’t know about you all, but I for one, would love to get home. That-“ She very aggressively pointed at him “is very obviously Steve, so why don’t we take little Stevie to supergirl and figure out a way to fix this so I can sleep for the next month.”

They all started to open their mouths to argue some more when a walkie talkie burst to life. Static played through it when a voice traveled out.

”…F- nney..?”

He lunged towards it and lifted it up to his mouth.

”Robin?!” Finney shouted into the device, the girl with bangs looked up in shock.

”Listen Finn,” the dead kid said, “I don’t have much time, but you should go with them, they’re safe”

“Wait, Robin, what?-”

”Listen Finn!” He cut off, “Do you trust me?”

”Of course, Robin, but-”

”Good, then trust me when I say you can trust them-, I have to go now, Finn-… go with them” the walkie suddenly cut off, leaving static in its wake.

”Robin?” Finney tried, ”Robin!”

“What the hell was that?!” The kid in the hat shouted, his eyes wide.

”I’ll go with you, but only ‘cause Robin said I should,” he told them coldly. He stood up and wiped the dirt off his shirt. Finney thinks he could kill for a shower right now, he’s sure he stinks but he doesn’t have time to think about that too thoroughly.

”Okay…, ignoring whatever the hell that was, let’s just get back to the Byers house,” she went to put her hand on his shoulder, but he flinched away before she could touch him.

The gang led him to a trailer, and the guy that vaguely looked like Vance got into the driver's seat. With little effort, everyone climbed in, the girl with bangs sat down next to him, the kid in the cap sat right beside her. Everyone sat still, quietly staring at him, he pulled his knees up to his chest and silently glared at everyone. He was supposed to be done with his nightmare, but every time he seemed to be done, something new happens. The girl next to him was the first to break the silence.

”You said your name was Finney?” He nodded, “Well, I’m Robin,” she held out her hand but he didn’t take it.

”Robin?” He questioned.

”Yeah, uh, you called the kid on the phone Robin, right?” He stared at her questioningly. She seemed to take the hint that he didn’t want to talk about it and moved on.

”Well, this is Dustin,” She pointed to the kid next to her, “ That’s Eddie and Nancy,” pointing to the two up front, and finally she pointed to the back row, “and that’s Max, Lucas, and Erica.”

He nodded once at all of them, looked away, and leaned his head against the window. The rest of the car ride was spent in awkward silence. Finney started to pick at his nails, dried blood crusted under them, he didn’t know if it was his or the Grabber’s.

They pulled up to a small house, two cars were already parked in the front. Everyone started to climb out and make their way to the door, but Finney planted his feet and stared suspiciously at the house. The girl, Robin, hovered her hand over his shoulder and looked at him with questioning eyes.

”You okay?” She asked.

He just swallowed his fear and started towards the house. There were seven others that stood in the living room, with everyone piling in, it was starting to get crowded in the small house. A kid with black hair stood up suddenly, staring at him with wide eyes. Finney flinched back.

”Woah, what the hell?!” He exclaimed, “Is that Steve?!”

Robin stepped up and announced “Yes, this is Steve, and no, we don’t know how it happened. One minute we were all making our way back to the car, and the next Steve was replaced with this kid. Personally, I think he time-traveled like in Back to the Future or some shit. And he goes by Finney, not Steve.” She looked at him.

”Finney this is Mike, Will, Joyce, Jonathon, El, Chief Hopper, and-“ she paused, “Sorry I don’t know your name…” She trailed off awkwardly.

”Oh no biggie,” a guy with long black hair said, “I’m Argyle,” Finn could easily tell this guy was on something, most likely Pot from the smell of it. He turned his attention back to the oldest man.

”Hopper?” He asked.

“Do you…, do you remember Hopper?” Robin asked. Finn shook his head and shrugged.

”I knew a kid with the last name Hopper.” The man's eyes widened.

“Sarah Hopper?” He hesitantly asked. Finn shook his head.

”No, his name was Vance,” the chief furrowed his eyebrows, and looked at him questioningly.

”I had a nephew named Vance, the kid went missing in ‘78.” Finn’s eyes widened.

”What year is it?” He asked. The group looked around at each other.

”1986,” Will answered. Finn’s eyes widened further and backed up to the wall.

”No, no way. I would be twenty years old.” He exclaimed. Their eyes filled with pity. A woman with kind eyes, Joyce, stepped forward.

”You were twenty, Steve- Finney.” He started hyperventilating.

Across the room, a landline started ringing. He looked around to see if anyone else heard, but only a girl with a buzz cut was looking.

”Do you hear that…?” He asked hesitantly.

”Hear what, sweetheart?” Joyce asked.

Instead of replying, he moved around the woman and made his way across the room. He slowly raised his hand to grab the phone, feeling all their eyes on him. He picked it up off the wall and spoke into the transmitter.

”…Hello?” Everyone was looking at him like he was crazy, but he ignored them.

”Hey Finney,”

”Bruce?” He asked the ghost.

”Uhm, if you say so,”

”I thought you couldn’t call anymore,” He asked accusingly.

”We don’t know how this works, man. We can get a feeling for things, but nothing for sure. You’re in quite the mess there, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, no shit, man. How do I get back?”

“No clue,”

”Bruce!” he exclaimed exasperated.

”But I do know you have to watch the tape, if you watch the tape you can go home.”

”What tape?” He looked around the room for any tape.

”It should be in the VHS player, it’ll say The Black Phone. Watch that with these guys and you’re good.” He told him, “Your arm is mint, you almost had me. I knew you could do it. Bye Finney.”

”Bye Bruce,” The phone hung up. He stared at it for a second before putting it back on its hook. He raced over to the TV set and opened the VHS player. Low and behold, a tape labeled The Black Phone sat inside. Finney grabbed it and held it up for everyone to see.

”I know how to get home,” he announced. Confused glances bounced across the room.

”Was that Robin?” Dustin asked.

”Wait, Robin?” Mike asked, looking towards the other Robin. Finn ignored them.

”No, it was a kid named Bruce, he said if we all watch this video, I can get home.”

”Yeah, but how can you know that for sure?” Jonathan asked.

”Did you have a tape named The Black Phone before?” The Byer’s family shook their heads.

”Then this is all we’ve got,” His confidence faded away, suddenly feeling insecure about his outburst. He hitched his shoulders up to his ears.

“Great!” Robin suddenly announced, she took the tape from his hand and popped into the VHS player, “Then let’s get started!”

The group looked around at each other, but seemingly decided to listen to the girl. Eddie plopped down
in the middle of the couch, patting the right side for Finney to sit next to. Hesitating for a moment, Finney decided to take his chances and sit down next to him. Robin sat next to Eddie and the kids all made their way to the floor. The adults found chairs and recliners to sit on.

The screen lit up and the movie started to play.

Chapter Text

With everyone situated, the movie began to play.

The movie starts on a baseball field. An unknown man cracks open a beer and takes a sip. A wide shot of the field shows, and the words ‘North Denver 1978’ appear on the screen. Indistinctive chatter plays in the background as Finney steps up to the plate.

”Come on, Finney, come on,” a little girl in the stadium says.

Finn throws the ball and the catcher catches it as the umpire yells out ”Strike!”

The little girl in the stadium shouts, “Yes, Finney! Nice, Finney!”

The movie pauses.

Dustin, with the remote in his hand, turns around to Finney.

“Wait, you play baseball? Also, who’s that girl?” He asks with a smirk. Getting the hint, Finney curls his lip in disgust.

”Gross, dude, that’s my sister,” for some reason, this shocked everyone. The whole room turned to Finney with surprised looks.

“You have a sister?!” Mike asks. This confused Finney even more, he thought these people were supposed to be his friends.

”Yeah, of course I do. That’s Gwen, she’s two years younger than me. You guys didn’t know that?”

”You never mentioned her, not once.” Nancy said, she had a betrayed look on her face.

”Listen,” Hopper said to the group, “I’m sure by the end of this we will have a bunch of questions, let’s just get through this movie and save our questions for later, okay?” The group grumbled without a definitive answer.

”I asked if that was okay?” Hopper said a bit more aggressively, and the group nodded. “Good, then let’s start the movie,”

Dustin hit play.

Finney raised his knee, and threw the ball again. The batter missed again and the umpire shouted out “Strike Two!”

Finn looked over to a girl standing by a pole, she smiled at him and he bashfully looked away.

“Ok, now who’s that?” Dustin asked again, with a similar smirk.

”No one!” Finney blushed, “Just a girl from my class,”

The group oohed at him but ultimately turned their heads back to the screen.

Finney takes a deep breath and throws the ball a final time. This time, the batter hits the ball and starts running. The ball passes over the fence and the umpire yells out “Home Run!”. The boys on Finney’s team sigh in defeat. Players chant “Bruce! Bruce! Bruce!” As the kid, Bruce, nods his helmet towards Finney. As Finney heads towards his teammates, the girl from before walks away.

“Oof, that’s rough kid,” Robin says.

Finney puts his head on his knees, he can feel a blush rise up his neck. He knew this was really gonna suck.

The scene changes to all the players lined up shaking hands. Bruce comes up to Finney and says

“Hey, dude! Man, your arm is mint, you almost had me.” The kid says smiling.

”Good game,” says Finney as he walks away.

Bruce is on his bike, riding home, the song Free Ride plays in the background. Two girls wave to him and say “Hi Bruce!” in sinch. He nods at the and keeps riding.

Finney sets up a rocket and takes a step back, he presses a button on a remote controller and watches as the rocket flies up into the air. The camera shows Bruce again with the rocket shown in the background.

Bruce slowly stops his bike as a black van pulls up in front of him.

The screen fades to black.

Dustin excitedly turns back to Finney, a grin on his face.

”You like rockets?!” He asks. Finney shrugs.

”I guess, why?” He says defensively.

”It’s just so nerdy!” Finney glares back at him, as Max hits him over his head.

”Not in a bad way! I just never thought you would like something like that!”

”It’s just a toy rocket,” Finn mumbles and turns back to the screen.

Bright colors and flashing images play across the screen, showing clips of missing posters and black balloons. Suspenseful music plays in the background.

A pool of dread filled in Finn's stomach at the sight of Robin's lost bandana soaked in blood. Even seeing that stupid van made his chest clench. He could assume what was about to be shown based on the title of the film and the clips he’s seen already, but that didn’t make it suck any less. He just hoped he didn’t have to see any of the other kids get hurt.

He looked around, the rest of the room looked confused by the flashing clips, but thankfully, they stayed quiet.

Beer bottles and cereal boxes lay on a counter as Finn’s dad pours coffee in the background. He sits down across from Finney and pulls up his newspaper.

“You think you can slurp that a little louder? I don’t think they can hear you open in Boulder,” He says, glaring over his newspaper menacingly.

“Is that your dad?” El asks shyly.

”Yeah,” he looks down so he doesn’t have to see their faces.

“He seems like a mouthbreather,” She says with no hesitance. Finn chokes on his laugh in surprise and turns back to the TV.

Finney’s little sister walks over to the bread box, wincing when the lid bangs against the counter. Finn looks nervously between his dad and his sister.

“Sorry Daddy,” she says, and continues to pull out the loaf of bread. She looks over to her brother, putting her hands out to mock their father.

”I don’t know,” the two siblings are walking to school, "Everyone says Fonzie or Richie. Millie says Potsie, but I don’t think anyone should ever trust anyone who wants to grow up and marry Potsie. I think I’ll just stick to my current plan and marry Danny Bonadunce.”

“Smart girl,” says Nancy.

”Meh, my favorite was always Laurie,” Robin says. Finney thinks he’s going to need another name to call her so it doesn’t get confusing.

”Yeah, but she’s talking about who she wants to marry, not her favourite,” Nancy replies, Robin just quietly snickers to herself, turning her attention back to the movie.

“You’re not gonna marry a member of the Partridge Family.” Finney tells her.

”He’s so crucial, I love his voice,” She says, but Finney’s too focused on a poster on the fence.

”It’s new,” he says.

”What?”

”The flyer, Mr. Yamada is putting them up again.” A picture of Bruce Yamada with the words ‘Missing Person’ hangs on a fence.

“Woah hold on, that kid went missing?” Dustin asks, turning to Finney for reassurance. Finney just nods without moving his gaze from the TV. No one else says anything.

“You don’t think they’re gonna find him, do you?” He asks his sister.

”Not how they want to.” She replies solemnly.

“Well that was ominous,” Eddie mumbles beside him.

“Come on, let’s go, we’re gonna be late,” she says, turning away.

A bunch of kids run towards something, Gwen immediately follows with Finney close behind. Kids start chanting “Fight!”

”You think you’re so tough, huh?”

”Let’s find out,”

”I’m gonna pound you like a nail,” A kid with long curly hair says.

”Then do it,” a kid with a bandana says, “Unless you’re scared.”

The bigger kid swings his fist, but the other one dodges it with ease. He punches the guy in the stomach, and the bigger kid bends over in pain. The kid kicks him into a pole before he can recover. The guy gets back up and starts swinging, but the smaller kid puts him into a headlock.

“Get him, Robin,” Gwen says.

“Wait, that’s Robin?” The other Robin asks, “The one you were talking on the walkie with?”

Finney adamantly ignores her, he refused to talk about it, at least for as long as he was able to.

”Okay…” She says,

Robin puts the kid in a chokehold and pushes him to the ground. He stands over him and starts punching. With every punch, the crowd gasps. The kids face is bloody. Finney ushers Gwen away from the fight.

”Holy shit,” She says,

”Let’s go. Let’s go,” He grabs her arm and leads her out of the crowd. The kid's face, and Robin’s knuckles, get bloodier with each punch. When the kid passes out, Robin stands up and walks away.

”What the hell? That was Moose!” Gwen tells her brother,

”I don’t care.”

”Moose is a giant asshole.”

”I know.”

”But last year when he made your nose bleed…”

”Gwen,”

”He had it coming.”

”No one has that coming,” he gestured back to the fight.

”Finney, he beat you up!”

”I know, Gwen, I was there, Remember?” He said, trying to get her to drop it. “I- I just don’t want to talk about it.”

”Well, he was stupid to pick a fight with Robin Arellano. He’s the toughest kid in school since The Grabber got Pinball Vance Hopper,”

Wincing, Finney looked over to the other Hopper to see his reaction. The guy sat there with an unreadable expression on his face, he thinks he looks sad either way.

”Pinball Vance Hopper? The Grabber?” Dustin pondered over the names.

”I don’t wanna talk about it,” Finney mumbled into his knees.

The group looked questioningly but turned back towards the screen.

“I wish you wouldn’t call him that.”

”Everyone called him Pinball Vance.”

”No, I mean-“

“I know what you mean, Jerkface.” She interrupted, “Even the papers call him the Grabber.”

”Just…, I wish you wouldn’t say his name.”

“Okay, seriously, who is The Grabber? It sounds like some superhero movie bad guy.” Robin said, exacerbated.

”He was a serial killer,” Hopper said. Finney glared at him, it felt like he was airing out his dirty secrets. “He took and killed five boys,” He finished.

”Six boys,” Finney corrected.

”What?” Hopper asked.

”He took six boys.” Hopper stared at him suspiciously for a second, but decided against questioning any further.

“You don’t actually believe that story, do you?”

“No,” Finney said,

“Because he can’t hear you, and he doesn’t really take kids that say it.”

Finney thought that was weirdly ironic now, but he didn’t mention it.

“I know that,”

”Finney,”

”I said I know!”

”Then say it!”

“No!” Finney said laughing.

”Are you chicken?” Finney stopped laughing suddenly, “I didn’t mean it.” His sister amended.

”I know,” he said.

A black van with the words Abracadabra in a blue font pulled up behind them.

Finney stood up suddenly. It couldn’t have been following him the whole time right? No, it had to be a coincidence, by this point he hadn’t gotten Robin yet. But knowing that he was so close the whole time made his heart race faster.

“You okay, kid?” Hopper asked. He looked around the room to see everyone staring at him. He sat back down, with heat rising to his cheeks.

”I’m fine.” They kept staring for a second, but he refused to tear his gaze from the TV. Eventually, they all followed his lead.

“The inner core is solid, the outer core is molten,” His teacher droned on.

“Ugh please don’t tell me we’re gonna have to watch his whole school day,” Lucas said. Next to him, Max hit his shoulder, playfully.

”I doubt it, stalker. Besides, I bet you’d like it, nerd,” she told him. They both smiled cutely at each other. Finney wondered if they were dating.

Finney played with a little rocket flashlight on his desk. He looked over to the girl from the baseball game. As if she could sense him staring, she looked back at him. Quickly he turned his gaze back to his paper. She smiled and blushed down at her paper. The bell rang.

All of the kids and young adults “oohed” at him, Eddie knocked his shoulder with his arm playfully, raising his eyebrows up suggestively. Finn turned away from the group, flushing.

Finney walked out of his class and through the hallway. A kid resting against the locker called out for him.

“Hey, Finney!”

Finney started walking faster, three kids followed behind him and into the boys bathroom. Finney hid in a stall putting his feet on the toilet to hide from the boys. The boys entered the bathroom.

“Hey, Finney,” one of the boys said.

”Come on out, Dick Weed,” said another.

”Not fooling anyone, Noid,”

Eddie looked curiously down at him, with a questioning gaze.

”Wow, real creative,” Robin commented sarcastically. Finney looked down in shame. He really didn’t want anyone to see this. This whole debacle was embarrassing enough as is.

Finney exited the stall.

”What are you doing in our bathroom, huh?” A kid with an unfortunate hair cut asked.

”See the sign? It says, ‘boys’,”

“Yeah, boys, not fags.” The third kid sneered.

Everyone in the room turned towards him with shocked faces. The guy next to Nancy, Johnathan, stared at him with incredulous eyes. Finney blushed and pulled his knees up closer to his chest.

Behind the three boys, the door opens. Robin enters the bathroom holding a roll of tape.

”Dipshits, move,” the bullies all stepped out of his way.

“Hey Finn,” he started washing the blood off his knuckles, “What’s happenin’?”

”You know, just, keepin’ on keepin’ on, I guess,” Finn told him, while looking at the bullies.

”Uh huh., Moose’s got some damn sharp teeth. Knuckles bled all first period.” The bullies started to slowly walk away.

”Wait. Fuck with Finn again… I fuck with you. You can leave now.” The bullies left.

”Thank you,” Finn said shyly.

”You’re gonna have to stand up for yourself on of these days.”

”Yeah, I know.” Robin started to wrap his knuckles with the painters tape. “Why’d you fight Moose?”

“He was just shit-talking, pretty sure he’d back down. Nope,” The boys started laughing, “I was so surprised when he swung, to be honest.”

”I mean, did you have to? Looked like you really hurt him.”

Robin moved to lean up against the wall while he continued to wrap his hand.

”I was just gonna knock his ass down, whale on him a bit, but that wouldn’t draw no blood. In a situation like that, the more blood, the better. For the crowd y’know? It makes a stronger point.” He lifted his fist up to show Finney.

”I’ve seen Texas Chainsaw Massacre Friday night, you seen it?” Robin said, changing the subject.

”That movies rated R, my dad would never take me to see that.” Finney threw a paper towel into the toilet.

”My uncle takes me to the drive-in, we see everything. But man, that movie? It’s the best, ever.”

“Better than Enter the Dragon?”

”Well, okay, maybe second best.” Both the boys laugh.

”You know, I want to see a Bruce Lee movie one day.”

“Pause,” Eddie said, startling Finn, “You’ve never seen a Bruce Lee movie?” Finn shook his head.

”They any good?” Finney asked shyly.

”Uhm, yeah man, those movies kick ass. Texas Chainsaw is way better though.”

”Nah man, I doubt it,” Finney said. Watching Robin and him interact on the screen hurt more than he thought it would. Everytime Robin laughed, it felt like a sucker punch to his stomach.

”Are you ladies done chit chatting, or are you going to rank every movie before we can keep watching.” Erica said from her spot on the floor. Finney blushed and looked away.

”My apologies Lady Applejack, please, don’t let our little debates distract you.” Eddie said dramatically, gesturing his hands around. Finney looked at him incredulously, confused by his odd choice of words.

“Like uhm,” Finney continued, “Maybe if it comes on TV, y’know?”

”Yeah. Yeah, you will.” Robin started to walk toward Finney. “Hey, uhm, you got time to stop by my house after school?”

At the time, Finney didn’t even realize Robin hadn’t called to ask him over. He wondered if that made him a bad friend. He bet it made him a terrible one, actually. Guilt gnawed at his stomach. Next to him, Robin and Eddie shared secretive glances, he wondered what that was about.

“Is it math again?”

“Mr. Johnson talks too fast. He doesn’t explain it right, not like you.”

“Why would he need Steve’s help with math?” Dustin ask,

”What the hell does that mean?” He grumbled, slightly offended. Robin leaned over and smacked him over his head.

”He didn’t mean anything by it. Just, y’know, future you can be kind of a dingus sometimes. But a loveable dingus!” She amended.

“Yeah, for sure!” Dustin agreed.

”Dingus?” Finney asked himself.

“Can you walk me through it? If I get another F, I’m suspended.”

”Yeah sure.”

The scene changed to inside another classroom.

“So, when we subtract six from eleven, we find that the value of X is five.” A woman walked in and asked for Gwen. The principal and two police officers stand in the office as Gwen enters.

”You wanted to see me?” She asks, nervously looking around.

”Gwendolyn Blake, this is Detective Wright and Detective Miller.” The Principal introduced.

“Miss Blake,” Detective Wright pointed to a chair for Gwen to sit in.

”They would like to talk to you about something.” They all sat down.

“Is it… Is it true you’re friends with Amy Yamada?” Detective Wright asked.

”We have homeroom together, is she okay?”

“She’s fine,” the other detective said, “You know what this is about.” He accused her.

“What did you say to Amy about her brother Bruce?” The kinder detective asked.

”Just that I had a dream about him.” Gwenny answered.

”What kind of a dream?”

Gwenny never told Finney about this interaction, he couldn’t help but feel a little betrayed by that. But more so, he hoped Gwen wasn’t about to do anything stupid.

”Are they seriously interrogating her about a dream?” Robin interjected.

Finney wanted to point out that her dreams were real, but he knew logically no one in this room would believe him. Hell, he wouldn’t believe her himself if he hadn’t seen it happen.

“She’s a child,” Max pointed out, “what do they think they’re getting out of this by playing ‘good cop, bad cop’.” The room hummed in agreement.

“Just a weird one,” Gwen responded.

“What happened in your dream?”

”He was taken, that’s all.”

“By a man with black balloons in a van?”

”Yes.”

”What else can you tell us about your dream?”

”Why? It was just a dream!” She rebutted.

”Who else knows about the dream?”

“Nobody!” They were starting to get on her last nerve.

”We found two black balloons at the scene, Gwen.” Detective Wright finally admitted.

“Wait, what?” Robin hesitated, “Her dreams were real?”

”Like a prophecy?” Dustin asked excitedly.

”Like Clairvoyance!” Will theorized.

The whole room seemed pretty excited about this prospect. Only a couple people had disbeliefence on their faces, and those were overshadowed by curiosity.

”…What’s Clairvoyance?” Finney inquired.

”I-it’s like being able to see into the future, or knowing things you shouldn’t be able to know. Through, like, visions and stuff.” Will informed Finn. Finney pondered this for a moment. He guessed it was like that, being able to know things without any reasoning.

“Like El!” Mike added in. The room started to shush him, Nancy knocked his shoulder. Mike slumped down in his seat, hoping Finn wouldn’t have questioned his comment. He probably would have if he felt more comfortable, but for now he wanted to get on with the movie. He did wonder though, was El like Gwen and him? Could she see or hear things others couldn’t?

“Oh.” Gwen faltered.

”We also found one black balloon at the scene of Griffin Stagg’s abduction.”

”And we never released those details, so…” Detective Miller added. Wright cut him off ”So the question is, where did you hear about the balloons?”

“I didn’t.” Gwen reiterated.

”I’m going to ask you again.” Miller ordered, “How did you know about the balloons?”

”What aren’t you telling us, Gwen?” The camera cut to Wright, and then back to Miller.

”Either there’s a leak in the department or…” Miller insinuated.

“No way they think this little girl is The Grabber.” Nancy said, disbelieving.

“Or what? I’m The Grabber?”

“No-“ Wright amended.

”You think I kidnapped Vance Hopper last spring? Is that it?” Gwen sassed, “Vance got held back twice. I’ve seen him fight, and trust me, he could kick the shit out of either of you blindfolded.”

The principal looked up from her seat in shock.

”Gwen, watch your language.” The principal warned.

”Yeah, I took him down ‘cause obviously I’m The Grabber, you dumb fucking fart knockers.”

”Gwendolyn Blake!” The principal scolded.

The room oohed childishly at Gwen, Finn gasped quietly at his sister on the screen. Admittedly, Gwen learned that insult from Finn, by accident. He didn’t mean for her to hear him calling Moose that, but happy accidents, he supposed.

”Go Gwenny! Stick it to the man!” Eddie said vehemently. The room cheered at that.

“Gwen.” Detective Wright said, “What are you not telling us?”

Gwen fidgeted with her hands and looked down.

”That sometimes my dreams are right.” She admitted.

“I knew it!” Dustin declared from his seat in front of Finney.

The scene changed to Gwen’s hand sliding against a chain link fence, as Gwen and Finney make their way home. The three boys from earlier look over to him from across the street. The ginger boy says “There he is.”

”What was that?” Gwenny asked her brother. Finney sighs, and says “Nothing.”

”I’m staying over at Susie’s tonight. It’s Friday, so you know what that means.”

”I’ll look after Dad.” Finn reassured his sister.

”I’ll be home in the morning,” Gwen called after her brother, walking in a different direction, “and you better not eat all the ice cream!”

It’s evening now, Finney’s dad is shown to be passed out on his chair with a beer in his hand, other bottles skewed around him. Finney walks up and gently takes the bottle from his hand, and sets it next to him. He takes the needle off a record, and turns off a lamp. He tip-toes around his dad, cautious not to wake the man. In the kitchen, he grabs an ice cream scoop off the counter and takes the ice cream from the freezer.

The scene changes to Finney watching a horror movie, he’s playing with a rocket in his hand. When, on the TV, a woman leans over the bathtub to find a bloodied hand appearing from a pool of blood, Finney covers his mouth with his hand in fear. He looks over to see if he had woken up his dad.

From across the room, Joyce and some of the other girls awed at his reaction. Joyce, Robin, and Nancy looked at the TV screen fondly. Finn didn’t want them to think he was some child.

The scene changed to Finney asleep on couch cushions in front of the TV. He’s awoken abruptly by screaming in the other room. He dashes to see what’s happening. Their dad is beating Gwenny with a belt over the kitchen counter.

”I’m sorry!” Gwen screams while crying.

”Dad, stop!” Finn says in an attempt to distract him.

The room freezes at the sight of his crying sister. Jim shakes his head and mutters a quiet “Jesus,” to himself. The kids cover their mouths with their hands. Every time their dad hits Gwenny, Joyce flinches. Finney looks away in shame.

“Hey!” Their dad points the belt in Finn’s direction. “You stay out of this!

He looks back over to Gwen, she’s hyperventilating. “Gwenny. They came to my work. Why did the Police COME TO MY WORK?” He ends the sentence with a swing with the belt.

”I DON’T KNOW! I’M SORRY!” Gwenny shouted.

”You need to tell me what you know about this investigation!”

”NOTHING!”

“Tell me what… WHAT?” Terrance says, threateningly raising the belt.

“God, fuck this guy,” Max says, “What a fucking douchebag.” Finney has to agree with her. He loves his dad, but watching this again was excruciating.

“Nothing.”

“Huh?!” He continues to threaten her with the belt.

”NOTHING!”

”WHAT?!” Gwenny grabs a bottle of vodka off the counter and holds it above the ground.

”NOTHING! Hit me again, and I’m dropping it!” She threatens.

”You drop that, and I will beat your ass twice as hard.” He threatens menacingly.

She drops it, and Terrance yells. Finn looks at the bottle in shock. Terrance pulls Gwen to the ground and continues to beat her.

“NO, DAD!” Finn yells from his spot.

”That was an eight-dollar bottle of goddamn vodka!” He says while he beats her. “Oh now you listen to me. Listen to me! You are not your mother!”

”I know.” Gwenny sobs.

”That means you do not hear things that are not there! You do not see things that are not there!”

”Okay!”

”They’re not there, Gwenny!”

”Okay!” She reiterates.

”And your dreams… they’re just fucking dreams. Do you understand me?”

“Yes!” Finn stands in the corner, seething.

”DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?!”

”Yes!”

”Say it, I wanna hear you say it!”

”My dreams are just dreams!”

”Say it again!”

”My dreams are just dreams!” She repeats.

”Say it again.”

”My dreams are just dreams!”

”Go watch some television or something,” their dad slurs, breathing heavily, “and no ice on that bottom, young lady! I want you to think about what you did.”

Terrance pants, and Finn gives him a deadly glare.

”Did you know anything about this?” His dad asks Finn. Finn shakes his head, he has tears in his eyes. ”Same goes for you, you got that? You got that?! Now, get out.”

“Christ, kid,” Hopper says, looking at Finn, “You know that's not okay, right? Your dad should never treat you that way, ever.” He tells Finn.

”I know.” Finn mumbles.

He thinks it’s unfair, having his business shown in front of everyone. And embarrassing, he’s especially embarrassed by the fact that he didn’t do anything, he just stood there. He bets the whole room thinks he’s a coward for not defending his sister.

Joyce has tears slipping down her face, her son, Jonathan, puts his hand comfortingly on her knee. Jonathan and Will both have grim looks on their faces. Eddie looked down at him with pity in his eyes, but he didn’t say anything. Finney was shaking from his seat. At that moment, he really hated his dad.

Finney sits next to his sister, who was watching TV. She was still crying, but Finn didn’t say anything. Gwen laid her head on Finn’s shoulder.

The scene changes to Robin walking down an empty parking lot. He turns the corner of a building, and sees a black van with a man coming out; the screen fades to black.

Finney bolted up from his seat, was that how he got kidnapped? Morbidly, he wished he could see more, just to understand better, but he knew he couldn’t handle watching his best friend get hurt.

”Holy shit! Did the other Robin get kidnapped too?!” Robin asked.

The room looked around at each other, and looked to Finney for reassurance. Finney thought this was very insensitive, so he didn’t enable her with an answer. He sat back down and continued watching.

Phones ring from different houses, a hand picks one up. Sirens come from the TV set, where Finney and Gwen watch. Terrance walks into the room with a solemn look on his face. He looks uncomfortable.

”Finney,” Gwen and Finney look up to their dad.

”Yeah?”

”Do you know a kid named Robin Are…A-ar…Ar-“ He cuts himself off with a sigh.

”Arellano?” Finney finishes for him.

”Yeah that’s it.”

”He’s a friend from school. Why?” His dad turns around and walks away.

“Why didn’t he say anything? Why’d he just walk away?” Dustin asks.

”He probably didn’t want to tell his son his best friend was kidnapped, dingus.” Robin told him.

Finn hates that they’re treating this like it’s an actual movie, and not his real life. He hates that their acting like he’s not in the room and can hear what they’re saying, like this wasn’t his real trauma.

A search party and police cars are shown from an aerial view. Finney looks out his window, and Gwen enters his room.

”I’m really sorry, Finney. I know he was your friend.” Finn gets down from the window, and climbs under the covers.

”Don’t say ‘was’. He is my friend.”

”Sorry.”

”Gwen. Can you do that dream thing?” He asks his sister.

”It doesn’t work that way.” She tells him.

”Have you tried?” She sighs.

”Of course I have.”

”Well, try again. Please.”

She sighs and closes the door. In her room, she opens a doll house and pulls out a Bible, a cross, and a picture of Mother Mary. She holds up the cross, and looks to the sky.

”Jesus, I know you know what I’m going to ask you, but I’m going to ask you anyway. My brother, he needs his friend. And I know you can’t just let him go, because you don’t interfere or whatever. I don’t know the rules, but if you could help me have a dream or two, and just see something that will help the police or me or anyone find him, I will follow you forever.”

A light in the hallway turns on. Gwen hurries to put her stuff back in the doll house. She climbs in bed, climbs out and says “Amen,” then climbs back in bed. Her father peaks in from the hallway, Gwenny looks terrified.

”Don’t think I don’t know what’s going on in here. No playing after lights out.”

”Sorry, Daddy.”

”Go to sleep,” he slurs, “I love you.”

”Love you, too, Daddy.” He walks away and Gwenny lets out a breath.

Now morning, the two detectives show up at the Blake residence, Terrance answers the door.

“Oh God, not these two idiots again.” Max complained.

“Goddamnit, Gwenny.” Terrance says to himself. “What the hell did she do now?”

”We’re sorry, Mr. Blake. Your daughter hasn’t done anything.” Detective Wright said.

”But is there any way we can speak with her?” The other detective asked Terrance.

The scene cut to Gwen talking to the two detectives without dialogue. Creepy instrumental played in the background. A missing poster with Robin’s picture on it hung on a fence as Finney ran from the three boys in the background.

Finney really didn’t want them to see what was about to play. It was embarrassing enough that his little sister had to save him, he didn’t need an entire room of his supposed friends to watch him get beat up.

“I’m sorry about your friend, Ste- I mean Finney.” Robin consoled. A tear ran down his cheek, before anyone could see, he wiped it away.

The boys pushed Finney to the ground and started kicking and punching him.

“Jesus!” Dustin shouted, “Were you bullied?” He asked.

”I’m fine,” Finney avoided the question.

He didn’t have any idea how embarrassing this was for him, having to watch himself get taken down by three assholes. Eddie turned to look at him, so did Jonathan.

”Why are you looking at me like that?” He asked the boys.

”Sorry, it’s just- King Steve of Hawkins High getting bullied is a little hard to wrap my head around.”

”’King Steve’?” Finn asked.

Eddie shook his head in dismissal. Finney didn’t know why it was so strange that he would get picked on, he was always ‘Finney the Freak’ in school, he couldn’t imagine being the ‘King’ of anything. Well, maybe the King of the Basement or something.

Gwenny grabbed a rock and ran towards the kids screaming: “Fucking cock-sucking cowards!” And hit one of the kids in the head with the stone.

“Go Gwen!” Cheered Robin. The room cheered with her, proud of the little girl they didn’t know for sticking up for him.

“Fuck you, too, ugly ass-face.” She told a different boy. She threw the rock, but it missed the boy and hit a fence. She ran towards the boy, but he grabbed her and flipped her on her back. The boy kicked her in the head. Finn called out for her sister.

”Gwen!”

The boys went back to kicking Finn as Gwen went to sit next to the boy she hit with the rock. Blood spilled out of her mouth.

A dead frog showed up on the screen, and a teacher told his class to pick a partner to dissect the frogs. This would be their partners for the rest of the year. Finn looked around to find anyone, but everyone was already paired off. The girl from earlier walked up to him and asked:

”Do you need a partner?”

”Uh, no no, I-I mean, yeah, I don’t have a partner yet.” Finn trailed off.

“Real smooth, Harrington.” Eddie told him. The room snickered to themselves. Finney blushed, he wondered why Eddie called him Harrington. He didn’t mention it.

“Those guys are assholes.” She told him.

”What?”

”This morning. Everybody’s talking about it.”

”Oh.” Finney looked away, embarrassed.

“Your sister’s really cool, though. I wish my brother and I were friends like that.” Finney smiled at her, then smiled to himself.

“Well, at least one good thing came out of that interaction.” Mike said. Finney smiled and blushed, he thought so too.

“Donna, Donna, Donna.” Gwen mocked in a sing-songy voice. They were walking home from school, again. She made kissy noises at him.

”Stop.” Finney told his sister.

”’Oh Finney, will you be my lab partner?” She continued to make kissy noises.

”Shut up, you jerk.” He said playfully, Gwenny laughed.

”Alright, see you tomorrow,” Gwen said to him.

Finney realized what was about to happen. He found it cruelly ironic that he wouldn’t see her the next day, or the day after that. He didn’t think he could watch himself get kidnapped, he might have to leave the room. Everyone else looked so unsuspecting, still smiling to themselves from Gwen’s comments, it made him a little nauseous.

“Where you going?” He asked her, confused.

“I’m staying over at Susie’s tonight. It’s Friday so…”

“I’ll look after Dad.”

“See ya, kid.” She told him, and then walked in the other direction.

Finney turns a corner, a black van with the words 'Abracadabra’ on them is parked in front of him.

“Wait a minute, is that the van from earlier?” Nancy asked, alarmed. Dustin and the others turn to look at her.

“What do you mean?” Dustin asked.

“Yeah, that’s the van Gwen was talking about. And the van that we saw with Bruce, and the van we saw with Robin.” Robin declared.

“No way,” Dustin denied.

Hopper and Joyce looked at him in concern, the rest of the group sat up a little straighter, preparing themselves for what could happen.

“Please tell me you recognize the van and walk the other way.” Robin hopes. Finney pulls his knees up to his chest and looks the other way. He could hear his heart beat louder.

A man in a top hat drops his groceries in front of Finney.

“Well isn’t that just peachy keen!” The man says.

“You need some help?” Finney offerered.

“Don’t help the creep! Turn around and run away!” Dustin yelled at the Finney on the screen, as if he didn’t realize that this had already happened, and any advice he had to give wouldn’t be useful.

“You see that?” The man picked up a broken egg and threw it in the grass.

“Yeah.” The man started laughing.

“Would you hand me my hat?” The man asked Finney. Finney reached down to grab it and handed it to him.

“Yes sir,” he said, holding a canister, “I am a part-time magician. Would you like to see a magic trick?” He started shaking the can.

“NO! Say NO!” Multiple people shouted. Finney would give anything to go back and say no, to do anything but stand there and accept it.

“Yeah…” Finney said hesitantly. Finney stepped closer to the van, peering inside the back window.

“Are those black balloons in there?” Finney asked suspiciously.

“Oh Jesus Christ,” Hopper said.

“Yeah!” The Grabber opened the back door of the van and shoved Finney inside.

“NO, STEVE!”

Everyone in the room gasped. Multiple kids stood up to shout at the screen. Finney curled in on himself and looked away. Chaos erupted in the small room, worry for the boy evident. They shouted at him like they could stop The Grabber, like they could do anything at all to fix the past.

The movie paused.

“WHAT THE FUCK, STEVE?!” Dustin turned around to shout at him directly, seemingly remembering he was in the room with him. “WHY WOULD YOU HELP THE MAN?!”

“HEY!” Hopper stood up from his seat to yell at Dustin, the room quieted down, Dustin turned to look at the man. “We can’t do anything about it now, all we can do is watch! So sit your asses down and close your mouths!”

Finney was eternally grateful for the man stopping the chaos, even though the man seemed to be breaking down himself.

“But-!” Mike started.

“Nuh uh, no buts! It already happened, we can't do anything about it, and we sure as hell aren’t about to make this more stressful for Steve.”

Finney wanted to correct the man for calling him Steve, but he was already standing up for him, and he didn’t want to push the man's limits.

“If you want to leave the room to take a break, then go, but the rest of us are going to get through this.” He took the remote from Dustin’s hand, but before he resumed the movie, he turned to Finn.

“You okay to keep going, kid?” He asked Finn.

“Just play the movie.” He told the man. With minimal protest, everyone took their seats. Eddie scooched an inch closer. Finn closed his eyes.

The movie played again.

Finney struggled against The Grabbers hold, he took his toy rocket and stabbed the man with it. The Grabber yelled out in pain. He took the spray can he was holding, and sprayed it into Finney’s eyes and mouth. The man shoved Finney inside, the black balloons were released from the car.

The Grabber shut the door.

Chapter Text

The room sat in stunned silence, no one dared to breathe let alone speak. Finney had tears streaming down his face. He buried his head into his knees and started to quietly sob. He only cried once the whole time he was in that basement, when he couldn’t get out through the freezer. Around him, others were crying too.

Eddie and Robin were the first ones who noticed him crying. Robin got up from her seat next to Eddie to comfort him, she hovered her hands above his shoulders. Hopper paused the movie and got up, he stood close behind Robin.

“Hey, hey it’s okay, kid.” She comforted awkwardly, “Can I hug you?”

The last person he had hugged was his sister, and he didn’t love sobbing awkwardly in a room full of strangers, but he couldn’t deny he would appreciate the comfort of a hug. So he nodded his head between his knees.

She engulfed his frame with her arms, awkwardly positioning herself in a more comfortable spot. He let her hold him, and continued to cry harder. She whispered assuring words, and awkwardly patted his back. He was very aware of the others beside them, watching the interaction happen.

After a second, he pulled away from her, and wiped his eyes with his sleeve. He hadn’t even realized his clothes were still dirty from the basement. He could kill for a shower, he probably smelled. But for now, they had a movie to watch. He collected his bearings.

“Okay, we can keep watching.” He told the room, quietly sniffling.

“You sure, kid? We can take a break if you need it.” Hopper told him, still holding the remote.

“I’m good.” He said with a finality in his voice. He really just wanted to get this over with so he could go back home. He thought after escaping, he would finally be able to see his sister, he guessed wrong. Hopper muttered an “okay” to himself and resumed the movie. Robin motioned Finn and Eddie to move to the side. She sat down next to Finn, so that Finney was in the middle of the two. He took a deep breath, and looked at the screen.

The Grabber carried an unconscious Finney into a basement.

“My fucking arm.” He said to himself, “I should snap your neck for what you did to my arm.” He tossed Finney onto a dirty mattress. Finney opened his eyes and sat up, he pushed himself away from the man. The Grabber sat in front of Finney on the mattress.

“Jesus” The Grabber said while he touched the gash on his forearm. “It’s covered in blood. It’s like I killed someone.”

The whole room seemed to cringe at that sentence. Finney couldn’t stand to look at that creepy mask.

“You see that?” He waved his hand in front of Finney’s face, Finney barely blinked. “Not like you can see shit.”

Finney continued to blink at the man hazily.

“I know you’re scared, but I’m not gonna hurt you anymore. What I said about snapping your neck…” The man sighed, “I was angry, is all, and you did a number on my arm.” He said laughing.

“I’m not gonna hold it against you, hmm?” The man got closer to Finney.
“I guess…” He moved the bangs out of Finney’s face, “Now we’re even. You don’t have to be scared, because nothing bad is going to happen here.”

Finney shuddered at the words.

“Bullshit.” He whispered to himself. When the man put his hand on Finney’s face, the whole room held their breaths. Joyce flinched away from the screen, not wanting to see that evil man put a finger on the little boy. The room was filled with a tense silence, as if waiting for a pin to drop. Finney started to scratch his arm back and forth to distract himself from the scene in front of him.

“On that I give my word, Johnny.” He held up two fingers, like a boy scout. “You like soda? Hmm? I’ll tell you what,” He pushed his finger against Finney’s chest.

“I’m gonna go get you a soda, and then,” A phone rang in the distance.

Finn looked around to see if anyone heard the phone ringing, no one looked up from there spot, still fixated on the screen.

“Is that the phone?” He looked around, “You hear a phone ringing? I’m gonna go see who it is, then I’ll get you a soda, and then I’ll come back and explain everything, hmm?”

The Grabber got up, and left Finney in the dirty basement. The door bolted behind him.

The whole room seemed to let out a breath of relief.

“What is with that creepy ass mask?” Dustin asked. Max hit him on the shoulder with a scolding glare, she looked back at Finney to see if he had a reaction.

“What?” Dustin said, obliviously. When she didn’t answer he just grumbled and turned back to the movie, Finney hoped they wouldn’t treat him like glass the entire time.

Finney scooched back on the mattress, still holding his bloody rocket toy. He got up, looking at the door suspiciously, and tried opening it. It was locked. He walked across the room to explore the bathroom. He turned on an overhead light, revealing a dirty toilet with a stack of carpets next to it. He walked back into the main room, to find a black phone hanging on the wall.

“Wait, a black phone! Like the name of the movie!” Dustin pointed out, proud of his discovery.

“Nice work, Sherlock,” Erica commented sarcastically, “You sure solved the case.”

Dustin crossed his arms and curled in on himself. He muttered a quiet “Shut up,” to the girl.

Finn took the phone off its hook. He pressed down on the switch hook a few times before finding the broken cable. He put the phone back, and dejectedly laid down on the mattress. Finn closed his eyes and tried not to cry.

A woman on the phone called down to Gwen.

“Gwenny, your dad’s on the phone.” She handed the phone to Gwen.

“Hi, Daddy,” Her dad said something inaudible over the phone, “No I haven’t, not since school.”

Gwen’s eyes widened as she dropped the phone. Breathing heavily, she ran out the door in a panic, not bothering to close it behind her.

Police lights flashed through the neighborhood, as Detective Wright and Miller talked to Terrance Blake. The sound was muted over suspenseful instrumental music. The camera panned down to show Gwen crying, with a shock blanket around her.

Finn hadn’t even thought about how Gwen found out, in his defense, he was a little preoccupied.

“Oh, that poor girl.” Joyce remarked.

The room had a solemn air to it, it was slowly choking Finny. He wondered if he could finish this in time, or if he would suffocate before then.

Gwen is shown praying in front of her dollhouse, still crying. A phone rings and she looks up.

Finney wakes up on his mattress and stares at the phone on the wall. Slowly, he gets up and walks towards it. He picks the phone off the wall.

“It doesn’t work.” The Grabber interrupts from behind the screen, “Not since I was a kid. Hang it up.”

The Grabber stands in the doorway, shadows covering his frame, only his outline is illuminated. He turns on the light to the basement, but it doesn’t do much to brighten the room.

“I know you’re scared, and you wanna go home,” He tells Finney, “I’ll take you home soon.”

“Yeah right.” Someone says. Finney didn’t look to see. Everyone in the room seemed scared to say anything, like they didn’t want to trigger Finney. That probably triggered him more, he didn’t want to be treated like he was made of glass. Something terrible happened, and now he’s watching that terrible thing again. It sucked but he wasn’t going to break down if anyone so much as breathed.

“It’s just that… Ohh everything’s all fucked up.” He sighed, “I gotta be upstairs for a while. Something’s come up.”

“Why would he come down there in the first place if he was just going to go back a minute later?” Dustin wondered out loud.

“Just to look at me.” Finney shuddered out, remembering the man’s former words. The room looked at him in distress, Finney wondered if that was the wrong thing to say.

“What?” Finney asked, bravely.

“Nevermind what.” The Grabber lowered his voice, almost menacingly. Finney narrowed his eyes.

“Did someone see something? Are the police coming?” He sounded hopeful, and with every question, he moved a step closer. “If you let me go before they get here, I promise I won’t tell.”

The Grabber laughs at this.

“It’s not the police.” He says, shaking his head.

“Someone, though? Someone’s coming? I’ll scream.” He tells The Grabber. “If someone’s upstairs, they’ll hear me.”

“No, he won’t. Not with the door shut.” Finney realizes the man’s mistake.

“He?”

The Grabber sighs, but it comes out as a growl. He’s getting mad.

“With the door shut, no one can hear anything down here. I soundproofed it myself, so shout if you like you won’t bother anyone.” He says, bearing his teeth.

“You’re the one who killed the others.” Finney notes, “Bruce.” He hesitates, tearing up, “Robin.”

The Grabber walks closer.

“That wasn’t me. That was someone else. I will never make you do anything you won’t…like.”

Finney shuddered in a breath, his heart hiccuping at those words. It didn’t get any better hearing them a second time. Some of the kids missed the implication, but all the adults turned to look at him in shock.

“Oh Jesus H. Christ.” Hopper said, “Please tell me he didn’t do anything.”

Finney thought that was a stupid comment, of course the guy did something, he kidnapped Finney for Christ’s sake.

Finney shrugged a little, he started biting a hangnail on his thumb. Hopper shook his head and looked at his hands on his lap.

Joyce had her hand around her mouth, hiccuping a sob. Robin put her arm around him, and gave him a quick squeeze.

Abruptly, Max stood up, and fled the room, her shoulders up to her ears. Lucas was quick to follow her. She slammed the bathroom door and Lucas started knocking. Joyce started to stand up to check on her, but Hopper put his hand on her shoulder.

“Leave them be.” He told her, and she sat back down.

A few moments later, they both came back with tear stains on their faces.

Finney looked terrified at these words.

“If you try to touch me, I’ll scratch your face, and whoever’s coming will see and ask why.” Finney threatened, his voice shaking a little.

“This face?” He gestured to his mask, waving his fingers, “Hang up the phone, now.”

Finney put the phone on its hook. The Grabber took a deep breath.

“I was down here once when it rang,” The Grabber told Finney, “Ooh, creepiest damn thing. I think it’s static electricity that does it. It went off while I was right next to it. I picked it up without thinking, to see if anyone was there.”

“Was there?”

The man looked down at the boy, and shook his head.

“No.”

He turned around, and walked away, slamming the door shut behind him. The light turned off, leaving Finney in the dark.

“HELP!” Finney screamed “HELP! PLEASE!”

Outside, through the basement window, Finney is shown screaming with the sound muted. Then, back in the basement.

“HELP!”

Finney finds the small window a few feet above him. He jumps up to touch it, steps back a few feet, and jumps again. He does this a couple of times. He tries to move the bed, but it’s bolted into the ground.

“Stop, stop, stop it.” Finney says to himself, pacing around the room. “If anyone could’ve broken that window, they would have done it. Robin would have done it.”

He sits down on the mattress, looking hopeless.

“You’re not getting out of here.” He gulps, “I’m not getting out of here.”

Joyce’s heart broke into pieces hearing that little boy lose hope so quickly. Will going missing was the worst week of her life, seeing another boy, the same age Will was, go through a similar experience made her relive that dreadful week. Unabashedly, she let herself cry. She wanted to stand up and hold the kid, protect him from the cruelties of the world, but he’s already faced more evils than she could ever imagine. So she stayed in her seat and continued to watch.

The phone rang in the corner, Finn turned around to look at it. He got up, quickly, and stepped a few feet away from the phone. As the ringing continued, Finney walked slowly towards it. He picked it up, but hesitated before answering.

“Hello?”

He went to put it back, but he heard a clicking noise on the other line.

“Hello?” He repeated.

Nothing. He put the phone back on the hook.

Finney, half asleep, looks up from the mattress to the phone. It pulses, becoming bigger and smaller.

“Stop it.” He mumbles to the phone.

“Stop what?”

The Grabber is crouching across from Finney.

“Jesus Christ!” Dustin said in surprise.

Multiple people in the room jumped back from The Grabbers sudden appearance. Finney remembered how much this interaction freaked him out, the fact that he was never safe, not even while he was sleeping. He felt more vulnerable than ever after this, The Grabber could do whatever he wanted to Finney, and he had no way of stopping him.

Except, he did. He did stop The Grabber, and he needed to remember that. Reliving this experience made it so easy to forget he wasn’t back there, that he got out. In the end, he was the one who defeated The Grabber. Not Vance, not Robin, but him.

Finney gasped and shuffled away from the man.

“I’m hungry.” He told The Grabber, “I need food.”

“How are your eyes?” The Grabber deflected.

“They hurt,” Finney told him.

The Grabber put his hands under his chin, he was only wearing the bottom half of his mask.

“Well, I can’t bring you anything to eat. You’ll have to wait.” He started walking towards the door.

“Is there someone upstairs who will see you bring me food?”

“Don’t you worry about that.”

“If you weren’t gonna feed me, why’d you even come down here?” He demanded.

“Just to look at you. I just wanted to look at you,” Finney looked horrified at that notion. “I’ll go.” He shut the door.

“Oh my god.” Robin said. The room realized why he said what he said earlier. It wasn’t an educated guess, he was repeating what the man had actually told him. That was somehow more terrifying.

“This guy is such a fucking creep.” Robin told him, like he didn’t already know.
Finney, terrified, moved to the far end of the mattress. The lights turned off.

Now, bright outside, Finney is curled up on the mattress. The phone rings.

“What is with that fucking phone ringing,” Dustin huffed.

“Like you said, dummy, it’s the name of the movie. Now will you please shut up, we’re trying to watch.” At that, Dustin sent Erica a death glare.

“Erica!” Her brother scolded.

“Just the facts.” She told him. Half the room rolled their eyes.

Finney bolted up, the phone rang some more. Cautiously, Finney got up and walked towards the phone. He picked it up, and static rang from the other side.

“Hello? Is somebody there? I need help.” He paused, “Hello?”

“Finney.” A strange voice rasped over the phone.

Almost everyone in the room flinched back at the mysterious voice.

“What the shit?!” Eddie cried out and jumped back, causing the whole couch to move.

“I thought it was broken?!” Mike exclaimed to no one in particular.

All of their attention transfixed to the screen in anticipation.

Hyperventilating, Finney stumbled back, away from the phone. He fell to the floor, and slid until his back hit the wall.

The phone rang again. He got up and stared at the phone for a second, before marching his way back over. He hung up the phone.

This time, the phone rang continuously, without any breaks between the rings. He answered.

“Don’t hang up.” The voice told Finney.

“I won’t. Who is this?”

“I don’t remember my name.”

“Why not?

“It’s the first thing you lose.”

“Well that’s not ominous as shit.” Eddie commented sarcastically.

Everyone simultaneously shushed him.

“Geez, alright.”

“First thing you lose when?”

“You know when.”

“How do you know my name?”

“We met once. Your arm is mint. You almost had me.”

“Wait a minute,” Mike pointed out, “Didn’t that baseball kid tell him that? I thought The Grabber killed him.”

Nancy smacked his shoulder, huffing a bit.

“Be sensitive, asshole.” She told him.

“Well I’m right, aren’t I?”

“Can you talk to ghosts?” Will asked shyly. He wondered if it was anything like the Upside Down, only being able to communicate through lights and the telephone.

“Kinda,” Finn told him.

“Kinda?!” Dustin exacerbated, “And you never mentioned this?!”

Finney shrugged, he had no idea what his future self did and did not do.

“We knew this, Dingus,” Robin told Dustin, “When he got that freaky call, and no one else heard the phone ring.”

“I heard it ring.” El said.
No one looked too surprised by that statement, even though it shocked Finney. The only other person who could hear it ring was The Grabber, he wondered what that said about all three of them.

“Bruce? Bruce Yamada?”

“Y-yeah, Bruce, uh, I’m Bruce. Your arm is mint, you almost had me.”

Max pointed to the screen.

“He just said that.”

“Yeah, they repeat their last words. I don’t know why.” Finney informed her.

He added the last bit in case anyone had follow up questions. From what he knew about the group already, he was sure they did.

“Did the phone ring for you?” He asked the ghost.

“It rang, but none of us heard it. Just you. The Grabber hears the phone, too, but he doesn’t wanna believe it.”

“Why are you calling me?” Finney narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

“Your arm is mint. You almost had me. I’m glad it’s you. Finney?” He asked.

“Yeah?”

“There’s a dirt section of the floor in the hallway, where the tile is loose.”

“Okay?”

“Dig down underneath the foundation. I tried, but there wasn’t time for me to dig up and out the otherside.”

“Will I have enough time?” Finney asked. Static droned over the phone, and the phone hung up.

“Hello?” Finney asked for good measure, “Bruce? Bruce?” He hung up the phone.

Clips of a couple and their baby sitting in a park play. Then, the kid a few years older, plays with a plastic baseball bat. Clips continue to play Bruce in different settings, growing up. The final clip of Bruce shows him being kidnapped by The Grabber, sprayed with the same thing he sprayed Finney.
Watching Bruce getting kidnapped by The Grabber almost identically to the way he was kidnapped, made Finn want to hurl.

“Oh that poor boy,” Joyce commented.

With the same static overlay, Finney is shown banging his shoulder against a screen door screaming for help. The camera backs up to show the outside of a brick house.

Gwenny wakes up from a bad dream, sweating and hyperventilating.

Gwenny bikes through a dark street, searching for the house she saw in her dream. The only thing

Finn had always wondered what Gwen's prophetic dreams were like. That was a lot more graphic than he was expecting. Maybe that’s how she found him so fast, once he got out. He didn’t put much thought into it at the time, too focused on being reunited with his little sister.

Finney wished he could tell her to turn back, that it was too dangerous to bike outside alone, but it didn’t matter now. She had already done it, and he guessed it did work out in his favor.

In the bathroom, Finney lifted up some broken tiles. A timelapse of him digging a hole was shown. He would dig with his hands, then dump the dirt down the toilet. He got a few feet deep, before laying one of the carpets over his hole. He went back to the main room, and collapsed on his bed.

Gwen is in an auditorium, mutely watching her principal talk. In the background, police officers and staff members have their heads down in solidarity. Kids look back at Gwenny. Donna looks down in shock.

Finn sits staring at the phone, chewing the nail of his thumb. The door opens and Finney jolts up and scurries to the back of the room. The Grabber comes in holding a tray.

“I made you some breakfast.”

“What did you put in that?” Finney stares suspiciously at the food.

“Salt and pepper,” The Grabber jokes. He giggles and sets the tray on the ground.

“Oh, eat it, don’t eat it. You’re already down here, what do I need to drug you for?”

Hopper noted the wording in that sentence. He said: ‘what do I need to’ instead of ‘what would I need to’, like it’s not a hypothetical. The implication between the words filled his insides with rage. Hopper felt sick to his stomach thinking his nephew died at the hands of this bastard. Honestly, he wished the pervert wasn’t already dead, so he could kill him himself.
The man turns to leave, but doesn’t shut the door all the way. Finney notices immedietly.

“Holy shit, the door’s not closed!” Dustin pointed out, “You can get out!”

Finney shook his head, he hates to think that their hope will be crushed, multiple times in all honesty. He doesn’t want to be the one that bursts their bubbles, not yet.

Finney goes to open the door, but is interrupted by the phone ringing. He weighs his options, but chooses to answer the phone.

“Hello?”

“Don’t go upstairs.”

“Why the hell wouldn’t he?!” Dustin shouted. He just wanted a way for Finn to escape, he hated that he had to watch his best friend go through such a traumatic experience.

“Why not?”

“It’s a trap.”

“Oh.” Dustin sighed.

“Are you… are you Bruce?”

“Who’s Bruce?”

“Another kid?” Nancy asked, “How many are there?”

“Five,” he told her.

“Do they all call?”

He nodded once. He hated that he had to be the one to answer all their questions. He really wished they would just listen to Hopper, and save their questions until the end.

“Uh, I was just talking to Bruce.”

“I don’t know any Bruce.”

“He’s the baseball player,” he informed the boy.

“We don’t play baseball down here.”

“Who are you?”

A bloodied boy appears behind Finney, and Finney doesn’t seem to react.

“Jesus!”

They all jumped back, including Finney. He knew that they were in the room with him, from what Robin had said, but actually seeing it was a different thing. He had seen Griffin’s body, but he thought that was more of a projection than an actual spirit.

“I don’t remember.”

“Did you play soccer? Football?” Finney tries.

“I delivered newspapers.” Finney realizes something at this.

“Billy,” he tells the spirit, “You’re Billy Showalter.”

“Maybe.”

“No, you’re Billy!”

“Do not. Go, Upstairs.” He warns Finney.

“What is he doing?”

“He’s waiting… on the other side with that fucking belt. He didn’t say you can leave, so if you try, he’ll punish you. He’ll beat you with that belt until you pass out. It hurts, kid, it hurts real bad.”

Lonnie had a similar belt, Joyce would cry and cry to get him to leave her boys alone. She can’t imagine what she would do if that psychopath took one of her babies. She felt for those poor dead boys.

“You’ll cry, you’ll beg him to stop. We all did, but he just keeps beating you.” Billy reaches up, and pushes down on the switch hook, ending the call.

“Hello? Hello?”

Finney opens the door, and starts heading up the stairs.

Lucas throws his hands up in exasperation.

“What are you doing, man?! The kid just said not to go up!”

Upstairs, beyond the door, The Grabber waits for Finney. He sits in a chair in the middle of the kitchen, shirtless, belt in hand.

Finney goes back downstairs, falling to his knees in front of the tray. He scarfs down the eggs, gulping the soda between bites.

In class, Gwenny is asleep on her desk. Her teacher comes over to wake her up.

“You poor dead. Go to the nurse’s office and get a nap.”

Back in the basement, the phone rings again. Finney answers.

“You said my name was Billy.”

“Billy Showalter-”

“Don’t call me that! I don’t remember it, that’s not who I am now.”

The empty bottle on the ground starts moving.

“What do you want me to call you then? What do you remember?”

“I told you, I was a paperboy.”

“Okay, Paperboy.”

“See the wall in front of you? See how the wall is separated from the floor?”

“Yeah.”

“I tore a long cable loose from down there. I kept it hidden.”

“What am I supposed to do with that?”

The bottle starts spinning on the ground.

“Holy shit!” Dustin exclaimed, “Ghost powers!”

The kids seemed very excited at the prospect of the ghosts having abilities.

“Just like El!” Mike said. They kept referring to El like she had superpowers. Was this something that they made up, or was she like him?

The bottle lifted up, and pointed towards the window.
On a cot in the nurses office, Gwen laid asleep. She dreamt of a boy delivering newspapers. Billy rode his bike, tossing the papers to houses, with his dog trailing behind him.

The dog sat next to the abandoned bike, a familiar black van drove away. The Grabber, holding black balloons, stood in front of his house. Distorted laughter played in the background.

Gwenny shot up, and ran out of the office.

Finney pulled at the cable, hidden underneath the wall. Like a lasso, he threw the cable up to the window, trying to get the cord between the metal bars. After a few attempts, Finney got an idea.

He jumped over the hole he made in the hallway, and hauled one of the carpets to the window. He positioned it to lean against the wall. He grabbed the cord and snaked one end of it through the carpet, until the other end poked through the top. Carefully, he looped the cord around the bar, and moved the carpet to the side.

Nancy was impressed by this, she probably wouldn’t have thought of this. Honestly, she couldn’t imagine this clever kid as Steve. Maybe that was rude, but from all the time she spent with him, he never showed this side before. She wondered why he hid this part of himself away from her. She thought they were closer than that, because they dated for a whole year. She also wondered what else Steve kept locked away to the world. Had he let anyone else know this side of him? She felt a little betrayed by the thought.

He grabbed the end, and tugged on the cord to see if it would hold. Satisfied with his answer, he put his feet on the wall, and tried to hoist his way up. This didn’t work, causing his body to slam against the concrete wall. He tried again.

Then, he got an idea. He tied the two ends of the rope together, and put his foot through. He got his hands up to the ledge, and attempted to grasp at a small latch on the window. The metal bar came loose, and hit him on the head. Finney went somersaulting backwards from the impact.

“Ooh, wipeout.” Eddie gracefully commented.

“Dude, not funny.” Lucas told him. Beside him, Max snickered into her hand. Finney blushed from the pestering. It wasn’t his fault the bar came loose.

From the doorway, Gwenny looked to her dad cautiously.

“Daddy?”

Her father turned around in his chair, smoking a cigarette.

“Yes, honey?”

“Can I ask you a question?”

“Yeah, of course, come sit,” He pulled an ottoman for her to sit on, in front of his chair. She sat down.

“But you promise you won’t get mad?”

“I promise, honey.”

“It’s about my dreams,” her dad had a painful look on his face, Gwenny prepared herself for his reaction.

“What about your dreams…” he waved at her to continue.

“Well, what if they… Y’know, they’re…well…”

“Gwen,” her dad put his hand up to stop her, “Your mother, she was a special soul. And she was smart, just like you. But, sweetheart, she was also, uh… touched. She saw things and she heard things, and sh-she just became so convinced that her dreams meant something, and eventually, they told her to do things. Terrible things.”

Terrance started to tear up.

“And so she took her own life. But they weren’t real, sweetheart. They just weren’t real.”

“I loved mom,” Gwen told her father, she had tears in her eyes too.

“I…I loved her, too.” This was obviously a very difficult conversation for the man.

“I mean, I loved her the way she was.”

“I know, sweetheart,” he put his hand on her shoulder, “I…I just, I don’t- I don’t want that future for you, sweetheart. Do you understand?” Gwen took in a shuddered breath.

This is where Nancy got confused with the story. She had never met the Harringtons, personally, but she had heard of them enough. Richard and Diana Harrington were both cold, absent parents. Steve didn’t like to talk about them much, never saying a kind word about them. But she had seen pictures around the house. Richard Harrington looked nothing like the man on the screen.

And his mother was very much still alive. Steve, or Tommy and Carol, would have told her if she had passed. Steve had talked about her mother a lot. She would follow his father on his business trips, just to make sure he wasn’t seeing another woman. He had told her she was in a rehabilitation facility in California at the time being. But could she really trust what Steve said? He clearly held so much back from her.

That’s where the name came in, too. In all her yearbooks, starting from freshman year and up, Steve was listed as Steve Harrington, not Finney Steven Blake. She almost doubted the story, still kind of did, but Finney looked exactly like the little boy she saw in pictures around the house. There weren’t many, but she had seen his familiar face holding basketball trophies on their fireplace mantle.

Was he adopted by the Harringtons? That’s the only idea that made sense, but then why wasn’t Gwenny in the picture? Had something happened to her? Nancy really hoped not, she was starting to like the spitfire girl, she reminded her a little bit of Holly.

She looked over to the boy, he wore a pained expression on his face, watching his father and sister interact. They must have had a strained relationship, but he clearly loved his family.

“But… what if it could help me find Finney?”

The two Blake’s were now in a car, Gwenny looking out the window, trying to find the house she saw in her dreams.

Finney was very surprised that their father had listened to her. He remembered back in the ambulance, his father begging for his forgiveness. Maybe he came to his senses about how he was treating him and his sister. Though he had a weird way of showing it, their father clearly loved them.

The information that was just given shed some light to why that man acted the way he did, but Hopper was still wary. He knew what it was like to lose someone so dearly loved, and to take it out on another person he loved. He made that mistake when El ran away from the cabin. But he would never dream of physically hurting her, no matter how much he was grieving. He did see a bit of himself in the man, however, maybe that’s why Steve had always been wary of him.

Detective Wright and Detective Miller knocked on the door to a house. Behind the door, a dog barked. A man yelled:

“Hey, Samson, stop!”

A man with a mustache and crazed eyes opened the door.

“Hello sir, we’re canvassing the neighborhood talking to residents, and we were wondering, have you seen this boy?” Detective Wright pulled out a picture of Finney to show the man.

“You’re the police.” The man pointed out.

“Yes, Denver PD.”

“Uh-huh, you’re here for the missing kids.”

“Yes sir, and if there’s anything at all-”

“No no, come inside,” he interrupted, ushering the detectives in. “Right, I want to show you something. Yeah, right over here.” He pointed them to a corkboard, containing information about the kids.

“So, all the kids live in the same district, right? They all walk to and from school. They were all grabbed on the way home from school, except for Robin Arellano- he was grabbed on a Saturday afternoon on his way to the store to get some pop and a candy bar, right?”

Finney realized where he had seen this man before, this was The Grabber’s brother. Which meant that this whole interaction was happening right above him. He kind of wanted to strangle the man for being so dense. But then he remembered the man's fate, and felt a little sick for speaking ill of the dead.

“Sir, we’re all aware of that-”

“Just listen,” the man interrupted, “he has to be able to grab these kids and get back to his place very quickly. Which means he’s got a house with a garage. And he can’t risk them getting away or waking up if he’s knocking them out. Which means that The Grabber has to live somewhere in this area, right here.” He pointed to a map on his corkboard.

“Mr. uh…” Miller waited for the man to introduce himself.

“It’s Max.”

“Mr. Max…”

“No, not Mr. Max, it’s just- it’s just Max. My friends call me Max, and since we’re all working on this case together, I figured-”

“How long have you lived in the area, Max?” Wright asked, while looking around the house.

“I-I live down in Dorango, I’m just crashing here, this is my brother’s place. I’ve been reading about this case a lot, and I’m in between jobs right now, and you guys could really use my help on this!” He rambled.

“You keep working at this, and if you see any of these boys, give us a call.” Detective Wright handed Max a business card.

“Wait- or if I have any new leads, right?”

“If you see any of these boys, then call.” They walked towards the exit.

“And, uh, might want to tidy up before your brother gets home.” Detective Miller added, pointing to the coffee table, before leaving.

“Oh.” Three lines of a white powder sat on the table.

“Jesus, this guy’s an idiot.” Hopper muttered.

“What is that?” El asked Hopper.

“Uh, nothing kid, don’t worry about it.”

A few of the kids snickered, but El seemed satisfied with that answer, and kept watching.

“Stupid, stupid, stupid moron.”

Max sat down on the couch, in front of the lines.

“Goddamnit, Max.”

He picked up a rolled up dollar bill, and snorted the lines.

The camera panned down to the basement, where Finn sat on his mattress.

“No fucking way!” Dustin shouted, “That was The Grabber’s brother?!”

The room sat in shock at this revelation.

Chapter Text

“Hold on,” Mike said emphatically, “so you were under this guy, who was actively looking for you, the entire time?”

“Yes.” Finney rolled his eyes. It really shouldn’t have been that big of a deal for them. If this is how they were reacting to the guy just being his brother, how would they react to him getting an axe through the head? Not very well, he imagined. Well, that was too bad, because he actually had to live through it. Their shock didn’t seem to last, though, as they simultaneously turned their attention back to the movie.

Finney went back to the hole in the hallway and hopped down into it. He continued to dig.

He sat in front of the door on his mattress, waiting for The Grabber. The light turned on, and he flew back onto the mattress, and pretended to sleep. The Grabber, holding another tray of food, breathed in deeply as he stepped into the room.

“I know you’re not sleeping!” He said in a sing-songy voice. Finney sat up.

“I’m starving,” he told the man.

“Tell me your name,” The Grabber ignored his comment.

“Why do you care?”

“I usually don’t. I find out eventually in the paper. They always print a nice, big photo, with all the details I could ever want. All the things you boys lie about.” He said the last part in a deeper voice, almost changing his persona.

“What’s different this time?”

“Oh…” a dog barked in the background, “oh, it’s complicated. It’s… too complicated. Everything’s different, nothing's going right.”

“You could let me go.” Finney suggested.

“I’m thinking about it.”

The creep on the screen gave Hopper the heeby jeebiez. But he wasn’t just a man on the screen, was he? This is the man that murdered his nephew, not some horror movie villain. It was getting harder to digest that idea, that this monster of a man hurt six little boys, for his own sick pleasure. He was starting to reconsider if it was a good idea to let El watch this.

“No way he’s actually thinking about letting you go.” The Wheelers boy commented. He agreed, people like this were so unpredictable in their mannerisms, you could never estimate their behaviours. You could, of course, find patterns. Which Hopper had been doing since the start of the movie.,

Finney straightened up in hope that the man was serious.

“I promise I won’t tell anyone. You can blindfold me, drop me off on the street, I’ll walk home.”

“Well, tell me your name.” Finney hesitated.

“Taylor. Taylor Mullen.” He lied. The Grabber sighed and dropped the tray on the ground, letting it clatter to the floor. He chucked a newspaper at Finney, which he hastily opened. A picture of his face was shown, showcasing his real name as well. Finney realized his mistake.

“I was really starting to like you, Finney.” He spat out his name with venom. He kicked the tray and shrugged his hands. “I almost let you go.” He left, closing the door behind him, but not locking it.

The lights turned off, leaving Finney’s confused face in the dark. He went to open the door, but the phone rang.

“I would have lied, too,” Robin consoled the kid next to her. She put a comforting hand on his back.

It was hard to think that this kid was her best friend. Before Starcourt, Robin perceived Steve Harrington in a very specific light. She thought he was a class act douchebag, and he kind of was. When she watched him in Mrs. Clacks class, she thought he was a self-absorbed jock who couldn’t think for himself. Watching this brave twelve year old have to survive in this basement, she knew that it was all an act. She put on a similar act around strangers, having to shield her identity from everyone, in case it wasn’t safe. She recognized that in him now, the douchebag act was just to save face from his real personality, the kid that got taken. ‘King Steve’ was a trauma response, from his years of being bullied and his time down in that awful man's house.

“Hello?” Finney said into the phone, “Bruce? Billy-Paperboy?” He corrected himself. The phone was cut off.

Upstairs, The Grabber tried to stay awake in his chair. He would fall asleep and wake himself up with his own snoring. Eventually, he nodded off.

Finney slept on his mattress, when a dripping noise woke him up. He turned on his rocket flashlight and pointed it around the room. He pointed it at the phone, slowly moving it across the wall. In the corner of the room, a floating body appeared.

“Oh Jesus Christ!" Dustin exclaimed, pushing his back to the couch.

Finney gasped as he stared. Blood spilled from the kid’s neck, dripping rhythmically on the ground. The body lifted its hand and pointed to the phone. Finney got up, and put the phone to his ear.

“Hello?” Finney spun around. The body was gone.

“What the fuck was that?!” Dustin demanded. He pointed to the screen, eyes wide.

“Dustin, language.” Joyce reprimanded, but didn’t fully mean it as she was still in shock herself. The room sat in a tense silence, all in anticipation for the next jump scare.

“No but seriously, what the hell was that?!” The room shushed him, all of their gazes locked to the screen. Dustin noticed this, and continued watching.

“Hello?” Finney asked again, when no one answered, “Hello?”

“You don’t have much time.” The boy told Finney, “The Grabber hasn’t been sleeping. He thinks this might be it. That he’s gonna figure it out.”

“Who’s gonna figure it out?”

“His brother upstairs,” the boy starts laughing manically.

“Are you Griffin?” Finney asks.

“Who?”

“Griffin Stagg.”

“Probably, it’s all a little hazy, but I imagine you know all our names.”

Finney realized what Griffin and his conversation led to. He didn’t want to crush their hopes by being caught. He doesn’t know why he cares about their feelings, he just met these people. Sure his future self knew them, but he had no emotional attachment to these people.

“Every kid does. I didn’t know you,” he offered the kid.

“Nobody did. You spend so many years invisible, and then every kid in the state knows your name. You don’t have much time.” Griffin repeated.

“Why hasn’t he killed me?” Finney morbidly asked.

“You won’t play the game. You have to play the game. If you don’t play, he can’t win.”

“What game?”

“Naughty Boy.”

“If you don’t play Naughty Boy, The Grabber can’t beat you. And if he can’t beat you, he can’t move on to the next part. And the next part of Naughty Boy is his favorite part.” Finney’s hand clenched around the phone.

“Oh God,” Joyce covered her mouth, the implication of that game was horrible. She could barely hold herself together watching a little boy suffer, she would probably hurl watching a kid suffer like that. Once this was all over, she was giving that boy the biggest hug he could possibly imagine.

Eddie had a hard time comprehending that this tragic kid was Steve ‘The Hair’ Harrington. Harrington always walked around Hawkins High with a smug air around him. Eddie had always envied him, loathe as he to say, for his supposed upbringing. He, admittedly, thought about it a lot. Growing up in a big house, with loving parents, and a big pool. Eddie loved his uncle, and loved his house, but he couldn’t help wanting more. He assumed that was normal, which made his constant staring at Harrington normal, too. It was fine that his gaze was naturally drawn towards him, he just wanted a life like his, that’s all.

And then Harrington bit the head off a bat in the ‘Upside Down’, which was probably the hottest and most metal thing anyone could do, so it’s fine that he felt his face heating up at the thought of it. And he learned that Steve and those brave ass kids had gone through this whole shebang upwards of three times. But still, the whole time they were out there, Steve clung to his confident persona, leading the kids out of harm's way. It was different seeing him like this, but he could still tell it was Steve.

This kid, though, was completely different. Hiding in a shell of self-loathing, making himself as small as possible in hope no one would notice his presence. Finding out Steve got called all the same names that he was called, and he still ended up the way he did, made Eddie a little angry. But, then again, if he had the chance to change how everyone perceived him, would he? He looked over to the kid’s curled up body next to him. He had a haunted look in his eyes, one that Eddie could recognize in himself after the Chrissy fiasco. Every time he looked at the kid, he felt a surge of protectiveness in his chest. Eddie thinks he almost has the full picture of Steve Harrington, almost understanding the way he acts completely. Maybe once the movie’s done, he can finish the puzzle.

“What’s the next part?” Griffin laughed again.

“You don’t have much time.” He sternly told Finney.

“You said that.”

“He’s not been sleeping.”

“You said that, too.”

“Yeah, well, he is now in his chair. He passed out waiting for you to play.”

“What good does that do me?”

“The door’s unlocked.” Dustin and Nancy realized at the same time, they both looked at each other with hopeful glances. Finney pulled his knees closer.

Finney looked to the door, realizing something.

“Wait, the door is still unlocked.”

“The door is still unlocked.” Griffin emphasized.

“Do I just…go?” Finney gulped, frozen where he stood.

“There’s a combination lock on the inside of the storm door. It was my bike lock.”

“Your bike lock?”

“Yeah, he took it when he took me.”

“What’s the combination?” Finney asked hopefully.

“I don’t remember.”

“Griffin!”

“I remember I’d be afraid I’d forget it. That’s why I wrote it down.” Finney started to look around the room.

“What? Where?”

“I carved with a bottle cap in the wall.”

“Which wall?” Finney looked around frantically, “Which wall?!”

“The one on the right, about shoulder height when you’re sitting down.” Finney dropped the phone and ran to the wall. On it, the numbers 23317 were carved.

“23317, 23317, 23317.” Finney memorized. He picked the phone back up. “23317?” He asked Griffin.

“If you say so.”

“But is it 23-31-7, or 23-3-17, or 2-33-17?”

“I can’t remember.”

“Griffin.”

“I can’t remember! You’ll have to try them all, and you’ll have to be very quiet about it.”

“Yeah, okay, thanks.” Finney hung up the phone.

“Holy shit, this is it! You’re getting out!” Dustin encouraged. He bounced a little on his spot on the floor. Finney didn’t have the heart to break his spirit, the movie would do it for him.

Eddie noticed the kid averting his eyes from Dustin, and for some reason, he had a feeling that this was not it.

Finney clenched his rocket toy in his hand, and made his way to the door repeating the code to himself. Very quietly, he worked his way up the steps. At the top, he paused in front of a sleeping Grabber.

“What are you doing?! Go, go, go!” Lucas prompted. The whole room sat at the edge of their seats, waiting in hopeful anticipation.

Finney tiptoed towards the door, eerie music played in the background. He tried the first combination, but it didn’t work.

“Come on, come on,” Lucas whispered. The room was silent, as if one small noise would wake The Grabber.

He tried the second combination, when that didn’t work he looked back to The Grabber to see if he was still asleep. When he confirmed he was, he moved on to the last combination. The combination worked.

The room cheered, lightly jumping in their seats when the lock clicked open.

A dog barked in the background, and Finney ran out the door. At the commotion, The grabber woke up. Shooting towards the door.

Finney ran through the street, the only thing lighting his path were the street lights.

“Come on, Finney, hurry up!” The kids cheered at him to keep going.

Around the corner, a black van skidded into view.

“Help!”

The van turned into a driveway in front of Finney, knocking him to the ground. The Grabber got out and chased Finney as he got up and ran the other way.

“NO! What the fuck!” Max, Lucas, Dustin, and Mike were all standing up and yelling at the TV together. A crestfallen look appeared on all their faces as they watched The Grabber grab Finney.

“Get up! Get up!” He didn’t get up.

“HELP, THE GRABBER!”

The Grabber caught up to Finney, and tackled him to the ground. Due to the commotion, several houses turned their porch lights on. The Grabber pulled out a pocket knife and put it to Finney’s neck threateningly.

“You say one fucking word…” The Grabber whispered in Finney’s ear, “and I will gut you like a pig right here in the street, and strangle you with your own intestines.”

After a few seconds, both the houses turned the lights off. The Grabber got on top of Finney and raised his fist.

“Nighty night, naughty boy.” He slammed his fist into Finney’s face, effectively knocking him out. The screen turned to black.

“NO! What the fuck are you doing?!” Lucas demanded as the houses turned their lights off, “He yelled ‘The Grabber’, someone save him!”

Max sat back down in disbelief. Hopper ran a hand down his face, and the rest of the room sat with their jaws loose. Eddie shook his head, and fell back onto the couch. He was so close to getting out. If the neighbors had just looked a little further, he would have been saved. Eddie had to remind himself that the kid would get out of this, that he would grow up to be Steve Harrington and would be just fine. He looked over to catch the kid pulling at his hair.

“Stop that,” he lightly reprimanded. The kid looked up at him with the most tragic case of kicked puppy eyes Eddie could possibly imagine. But he removed his hand from his hair, and went back to watching. This had to be torture for the poor kid, watching his nightmare replay like this in front of all these people. The kid was brave as hell, he’d give him that.

The Grabber threw an unconscious Finney back on his mattress clumsily. A voice from upstairs called out to The Grabber.

“Hey what was all that noise I heard?” The voice, his brother, yelled.

“Samson was barking at something. It’s nothin’, go back to bed, Max.”

Gwenny sat up in her bed, and looked around. She opened her dollhouse and hastily took out her things. She looked towards the sky.

“Jesus, what the fuck?” She seethed.

Multiple people in the room let out a surprised laugh. Finney could always count on Gwenny for lightening the mood. He was grateful for a distraction after the last scene, he loved his sister more than anything.

“I mean, what the fuck!” She stressed, “I ask you for help, and you give me these clues that don’t mean anything. And now this morning, I wake up without any dream at all? Seriously, what the hell is wrong with you?! You let The Grabber take Finney, right? And don’t tell me that you don’t get involved, because you’ve been giving me these dreams. Unless…” She sighed. “Maybe you’re not even real.”

Finney’s heart broke a little at this. Gwen had always held her faith close to her, she had believed Jesus was the reason that she had the dreams, and that Jesus told her mom to do what she did. When their mom died, Gwenny used Christianity as a coping mechanism to deal with the loss and confusion she felt. Finney didn’t want to be the reason she gave up her hope.

Finney woke up, wiping blood from underneath his nose.

“Son of a bitch.” The phone rang. “No.”

The phone continued to ring.

“Fuck you,” he told it, the phone just kept ringing.

“Goddamnit,” he got up and picked up the phone.

“What?! You gonna say something?!” He demanded, “Do you even know who you are?!”

“What the shit kind of question is that?! Do you even know who you are?!” The kid aggressively asked.

“Vance,” Hopper realized. He looked over to Finney for confirmation (not that he needed any, he could recognize the kid's hostile voice anywhere) and the kid nodded at him. This would be very hard to watch, but he needed to, for his sister. So, he braced himself and carried through.

“I’m Finney Blake,” he said, losing his confidence.

“Yeah, well, nice to fucking meet you Finney Blake,” he sneered. A boy with long, curly, blond hair appeared behind him. He was facing the opposite direction of Finney, and he had no clue the ghost was behind him.

“Right here,” the kid pointed at something, “this is it.”

“This is what?” Finney asked, confused.

“The horrifying end of your pathetic little life.”

Hopper’s heart clenched at the sight of the poor boy. He was a troubled kid, heaven knows, but he didn’t deserve to go through this. No one did.

“Holy shit. You’re Vance Hopper,” Finney breathed into the phone, “I remember you. You used to scare me.”

The kid turned his head to reveal his bloody and bruised face.

El turned to Hopper, obviously confused.

“You share a name,” she pointed out.

“Yeah, he uhm, he was my nephew.” He told her, he had a solemn look on his face. El just nodded solemnly and turned around. No one dared to comment on the man’s lost nephew.

“Trust me, Finney Blake, if you knew what you had coming, you’d be fucking terrified! Today’s the day motherfucker!” He kicked at something invisible.

Inside a Grab n’ Go, Vance Hopper played a pinball machine. A kid with straight long hair came up to watch him play.

“Vance, you’re gonna beat your highscore!” The kid pointed to the scoreboard on the machine.

“Holy shit he looks like Eddie!” Dustin shouted, Finney agreed with him. Just that one was a brutal bully, and the other seemed oddly gentle.

“He looks like Billy.” Max said, looking down at her lap. Everyone paused at that, looking at her with caution. Finney would have asked about that, but he recognized the tension around someone who didn’t want to talk about it.

“Of course I’m gonna do it, dumb shit, I said I would.” He insulted. The ball landed right on a metal piece, both the kids paused. One kid, horsing around with his friend, was pushed into the machine, knocking the ball into the drain.

“Motherfucker! You fucked with my game!” He grabbed the kid and threw him into a comic book stand.

“Acts like Billy too…” Mike muttered to himself. Lucas looked at him, appalled.

“Dude! What the hell?” He went to shove him, but paused, when Max started laughing. The party looked at her cautiously, like she was about to crack.

“What?” She asked them, “It was funny.” The group looked around at each other and shrugged.

A woman behind the counter shook her head and went to call the police. The other boy grabbed a knife, getting ready to fight the bigger kid. Vance grabbed his arm, and kneed him in the stomach. From behind, the other boy grabbed Vance trying to hold him back. This didn’t stop him from kicking the other kid. Outside, kids lined up at the window to watch the fight. Vance grabbed the kids arms that were holding him, and threw him to the ground.

“Don’t. Fuck with me. Again!” He headbutted the second kid, and smashed his head against the linoleum floor. He took his knife, and carved the numbers 7741 into the kid's forearm.

“Oh Jesus Christ,” Hopper said exasperated, not paying attention to what he was carving. Nancy did take notice, squinting her eyes and tilting her head.

Finney opened the door as the police dragged Vance out of the store. Gwenny watches as they throw him into the police car, and gets in next to him.

Finney narrows his eyes at this, that’s not how he remembers this at all. After Vance was put in the car, Gwen went right up to him to ask him questions about the fight.

“Oh, it’s another dream!” Will pointed out. Finney was a little embarrassed he didn’t realize that first. She was his sister after all.

Both the kids look around, Vance doesn’t seem to notice her presence. The radio crackles, over which Finney asks: “Do you even know who you are?!”

Holy shit, Finney realized to himself, She’s dreaming of our conversation! He would have to talk to her about this once he got home. It was comforting to him that even though he didn’t know, and she couldn’t see him or talk to him, they were with each other. Even for just a short amount of time, they were in each other’s presence during his week in hell.

“What the shit kind of question is that?! Do you even know who you are?!”

“I’m Finney Blake.” At this, Gwen starts yelling for Finney, but no words come out.

“Yeah well nice to fucking meet you, Finney Blake. Right here, this is it.” He pointed out the window to a brick house. The cop car comes to a stop.

“This is what?” Gwenny silently got out of the car.

“The horrifying nightmare end to your pathetic little life.” Details of the house are focused on. Gwenny soaks in all the small details.

“Holy shit. You’re Vance Hopper, I remember you. You used to scare me.” Finney says in the distance. The camera zooms in on the address, 7741.

“I knew it!” Nancy called out, “I knew that number was the address!” She looked ecstatic with her detective skills.

“How?!” Dustin asked. She just shrugged, like it was all obvious in the first place.

Vance got out of the car.

“Trust me, Finney Blake, if you knew what you had coming, you’d be fucking terrified! Today’s the day, motherfucker!” He kicked open the gate leading to the house.

Gwenny gasped, and lifted her head from her bubble bath. Her dad knocked on the door.

“Gwenny, hurry up. You’re gonna be late for school!”

“Sorry, daddy.”

“Holy shit. You’re Vance Hopper, I remember you. You used to scare me.” Finney repeated, back in the basement.

“Trust me, Finney Blake, if you knew what you had coming, you’d be fucking terrified! Today’s the day, motherfucker. Have you tried stacking the carpets to reach the window?” He suggested.

“I’ve tried everything,” Finney stressed.

“No, not everything. When The Grabber saw what I had done, that was it. And he took his time with me, too.”

Hopper gagged at how casually that horrifying sentence was said. He did not want to know what that entailed. The poor kid was way too young.

“Oh, that fucker had to spend a fortune to repair all the damages!”

“What did you do?” Finney pressed.

“I’m getting to that, cuntwad! Or do you have some other important shit you have to do right now?!” Finney breathed heavily.

“No, no, no, no I’m…I’m listening.”

“There’s an outlet in the shitter,” Vance continued on, “across from the john.”

“Yeah, I’ve seen it.”

“On the other side of that wall, there’s a storage room. You can’t get into that room, because there’s a big-ass upright freezer in the way.”

“Okay…”

“Break into the wall about two feet above the outlet, ‘til you get to a panel with screws in it. Get the panel off, you’re into the freezer.” Finney nodded at the directions.

“And then out into the storage room.” Finney finished for him, “Thank you.” He said earnestly.

“For what?” Vance spat out. His silhouette appeared behind Finney, still Finney couldn’t see him.

“For helping me.”

“Helping you? This isn’t about you! FUCK HIM…!” Finney flinched as he yelled in his ear. An invisible force pushed his ghost out of frame as he continued to yell. Finney covered his ears, and crouched against the wall. Two empty soda bottles crashed against the wall on both of his sides.

“What the shit?!” Dustin yelled as the bottles flew at Finney.

“Cool…” Will muttered in awe.

Finney took the lid off the toilet, and started smashing the wall with it. A timelapse showed him breaking the wall, getting farther with each hit. He scooped water from the tank of the toilet into his mouth.

“That’s disgusting,” Erica gagged at the sight.

“It’s still a liquid.” Robin mocked, obviously referencing something that Finney didn’t know about. Robin looked smug at her comment.The little girl rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. Dustin huffed out a laugh. Looking around, other people seemed to be confused, so at least Finney wasn’t the odd one out.

He continued to work at the wall, until a metal panel came into view. Finney tried to use his rocket toy at the screw, and when that didn’t work he pulled a piece of metal, the perfect size, out of the toilet tank.

“That’s smart.” Nancy complimented. She chuckled a little to herself when he blushed to himself.

“Thanks,” he told her, while cautiously averting his eyes.

He took the panel off, and moved some packaged meat out of the freezer. He crawled in, and hit his shoulder against the door. It wouldn’t budge, no matter how hard he tried. On the other side, it was bolted locked. After realizing his plan wouldn’t work, Finney crawled out of the freezer and onto the floor. He curled up on himself and started to sob.

Everyone’s heart shattered a little bit more at the kids sobbing. Dustin couldn’t help the tears that split at his best friend’s crying. He always looked up to Steve, even when he wouldn’t admit it. Steve did whatever it took to protect his friends, putting himself in harm's way like an idiot, to save the people he loved. So watching little Steve lose hope hurt Dustin in more ways than imaginable. But even if Steve had lost hope, Dustin still clung onto it for him. He knew he could get out, had watched him fight off a hoard of Demodogs and win, he could fight one creep no problem. He was Steve Goddamn Harrington, he was going to be just fine.,

The phone rang. Finney picked up the phone and leaned his head against the dial.

“What?” He said half-heartedly into the speaker.

“Hey, Finn, what’s happenin’?” Finney immediately perked up from this voice.

“Robin?” He asked into the phone.

“Hey, buddy, don’t cry.” Finney hastily wiped the tears from his face.

“I’m not.” He lied.
“Yes, you are. I can see you.”

“You can?”

“I’m with you. I’ve been with you this whole time.”

“Awe,” Robin cooed at the screen. She had a bittersweet look on her face. Finney would be embarrassed, but he was too busy listening to his best friend's voice for supposedly the last time.

“You have?”

“A man never leaves a friend behind. My dad didn’t leave his buddies behind when he went to ‘Nam. That’s why he didn’t come home. And I’m not coming home, either. And I’m not going to leave you behind.”

“We’ll be together soon.”

“Oh honey,” Joyce sighed. She looked at the screen with pity. A boy this young should never expect death, let alone accept it.

“Fuck that! You ain’t gonna go like I did,” he told Finney.

“I’ve tried everything, nothing’s worked.”

“Yet.”

“Robin.”

“Do you remember what I told you?”

“That I needed to see Texas Chainsaw Massacre?”

“Before that.”

“That someday I need to stand up for myself.”

“‘Someday’ is today, Finn. Today’s the day you stop taking shit from anybody.”

“I’m not a fighter like you, Robin. You couldn’t even take him.”

“You’ve always been a fighter, Finn,” Robin encouraged, “That’s what we have in common, why we were friends. You were always afraid to throw a punch, but you always knew how to take one. And you always got back up, every time.”

“I’m not strong enough,” he insisted.

“You have to be. You’re getting out of here. If you can’t do it for you, do it for me?”

“What does it matter?”

“Because I don’t wanna die for nothing!’

Finn gasped at Robin’s ghost on the screen. It was one thing to know his best friend was with him, but it was another thing to see it. If it weren’t for Robin, weren’t for all the boys, Finney would have been another body in that basement. It wasn’t him who killed The Grabber, it was the boys who couldn’t get out of there.

“I want to at least have died for a friend. And because I can’t kill that hijo de puta, you have to do it for me!”

“How?” Finney was convinced.

“You’re gonna use a weapon.”

“What weapon?”

“The one in your hand.”

“The phone?”

“Fill the receiver with dirt, pack it in tight, give it some heft.”

“Then what?”

“Then you practice, over and over.” Robin moved behind Finney, as Finney moved forward.

“You raise the phone,” Robin lifted a pretend phone in his hand, “take a fast step back, step forward, step back, and swing.” As he instructed, Robin did the actions.

Finney would probably have those instructions engrained into his memory for the rest of his life. Finney mouthed along the words, and faintly did the actions from his seat, almost like muscle memory.

“Try it.”

“Now?”

“Yes. You raise the phone,” Finney lightly did the actions, “take a fast step back, step forward, step back, and swing! Again.” Finney became more confident.

“You raise the phone, take a fast step back, step forward, step back, and swing.” The two boys were doing it together now, in synchronization. “Again! You raise the phone, take a fast step back, step forward, step back and swing! Again. You raise the phone! Take a fast step back, step forward, step back and swing!” Finney grunted at the last swing and raised the phone back up to his ear.

“You got it,” Robin told Finney, “Now fill the phone with dirt like I told you.”

“Will I still be able to talk with you?”

“This is the last call, Finn. It’s all you from here on out.”

“I miss you, Robin.” Finn admitted.

“Then get out for me. Use what we gave you.”

“I will.”

“Bye, Finn.”

“Bye, Robin.”

As he hung up the phone, Robin’s ghost disappeared. Finn pulled out his rocket toy, and cut the cord of the phone. He filled the phone with dirt from his hole. Testing its weight by hitting it on his hand, before putting it back. He tied the cord that Billy showed him around a screw, making a trip wire.

Outside, in the rain, Gwenny rode her bike. She searched for the house in her dream, wearing a yellow raincoat and red rain boots.

“Please, dear Jesus, please, please. I’m sorry I said you weren’t real, please be real. Please,”

In front of her, five bloody boys appeared. She shrieked and fell off her bike, landing at their feet.

“She can see them!” Dustin shouted. Finney had a lot of catching up to do with his sister when he got back. He started making a mental list of all the things he was going to bring up.

When Gwenny got up, they were all gone. She realized, as she stood up, what house she was in front of. The house had the same gate, same tree, and same address as the one in her dream. Hurriedly, she rode her bike back home. She grabbed the detective’s business card from her Bible, and called the number.

“Detective Wright, please.”

“Holy shit, you’re getting out, you’re really getting out!” Dustin said emphatically. This time, Finney smiled, knowing he was right. The room turned to see his expression, grins growing on their faces as they saw.

In a store, The Grabber took a tarp from off the shelf. Max snorted a line of coke off of his coffee table, as he stared at his corkboard. Slowly, as if something had dawned on him, he squinted his eyes and tilted his head. The Grabber put the tarp in his van, with an axe and some dirt. Detective Wright sat up from his seat, on a phone call, both the detectives grabbed their coats and sped to the door. Max stood up, his eyes widening as he looked to a specific point on his map. He looked over to the kitchen suspiciously.

Everyone sat on the edge of their seats as they realized shit was about to go down.

The black van sped through the neighborhood, as Gwenny raced towards the house. Max went to open the basement door, but hesitated. He weighed his options, before deciding to go down. Finney paced in the basement, but paused when he heard creaking. The phone was pulsing at him, he stared at the phone in apprehension. When the light to the basement turned on, he grabbed the phone. The door slowly creaked open, and Finney clenched the phone in his hand.

Instead of The Grabber, his brother, Max, appeared.

“No fucking way,” The man gasped, “I knew he was hiding something from me down here, but holy Mary mother of God.”

“Please, help,” Finney cautiously made his way towards the man, “c-can you call my dad? Call my sister?”

“Oh, listen, don’t worry he’s not here. He-he had to go into work. Uh, I’m Max, man, stay-stay calm. No wonder he was freaking out this morning. Hey, wanna hear the story of how I found you man?” Finney backed away from the man.

“Oh, no, no, no, no…”

“Hey no, no, no, don’t worry about it,” the door opened wider, revealing The Grabber coming at Max with an axe, “We can talk about this.” The axe hit Max straight down his skull, hitting his brain. Finney screamed and backed away.

“Oh, what the actual fuck?!” Dustin screamed standing up. Everyone jumped back, winced, and looked away. The kids were more in shock by this turn of events, but even the adults were freaked out by it. Finney thought they were lucky, they didn’t have to be in the room when it happened.

Lucas covered Erica’s eyes, but she peaked through the gaps of his fingers. El stared in amazement, having done worse before.

The man stumbled forward, axe still stuck in his head, before hitting the ground. The Grabber came down the stairs, blood covering his clothes and face.

Gwenny stood in front of the house while multiple police cars arrived in front of her. Detective Wright exited the car, pointing to the house in front of them.

“Is this the house?”

“Yes.” She confirmed.

“Are you sure?”

“I’d never seen it before today, except in my dreams. The tree, the door, the address, the gate,” she pointed as she spoke, “Every detail.”

“Okay. Okay, y-you step back,” Detective Wright pointed to a police officer, “you, stay with her.”

“Please hurry!”

“Look what you made me do,” The Grabber said, Finney was hyperventilating, looking between The Grabber and his dead brother, “You made me kill my brother.”

“No,” he said gasping, “It wasn’t me I-”

“He was an idiot, but he was my idiot,” he took the axe from his head, “I’m sorry, Max. I’ll have to put you with the others. Looks like you’ll find those naughty boys after all.”

“Open up! Police” Detective Wright banged on the door, but no one answered.

“What’s up with the phone, huh? I TOLD YOU, IT DOESN’T WORK!” He yelled at Finney, “Normally, I would use a knife. But, you are special, Finney.” He pointed the axe at Finney.

“I’m gonna take my time. I want this to really hurt.” He growled out.

“Samson!” He called out for his dog, and a big black dog came down the stairs. The dog barked as The Grabber tied his leash to the door, preventing Finney from escaping.

The police kicked the door down. The house was completely empty, no furniture, only dust collecting on the surfaces. The police announced each room as clear.

“It’s empty”

“It’s the wrong house.”

This must’ve been what the police were doing across the street when Finney escaped. He hadn’t paid too much attention, only looking for his sister.

“Wait, what?” Lucas said. The group started to look panicked, like something wasn’t right

The Grabber took the axe, and slowly crept towards Finney. He lunged at the kid, and Finney leapt to the side, dodging the attack.

“Yes! Go Finney!” They cheered for him. It felt strangely good to have an audience root for him, even if it had already happened. Like they were watching the playbacks.

Finney ran to the bathroom, jumping over his hole, and pulled the trip wire tight. The Grabber tripped over it, falling into the hole, and breaking his ankle on the grate.

The group ‘oohed’ at the sight of the broken foot, and cringed at the foot's weird angle, but no one actually felt bad for the man.

The man screamed in pain. Finney jumped back, jumped forward, then jumped back again before swinging. He hit the man in his face. The Grabber lunged at Finney from inside the hole, but Finney dodged it, repeating the actions. The Grabber growled at the kid, but he upper cut him with the phone.

With every hit Finney got on the man, the room cheered. Even Joyce and Hopper, who had relatively kept to themselves, were cheering. Finney saw himself rocking his fist with each hit, encouraging his past self to keep going. He had to admit, he looked pretty badass in retrospect.

When Finney went for another swing, the man grabbed his arm, pulling him close. In retaliation, Finney undid his mask, leaving the man clawing at his face, screaming. Taking this opportunity, Finney continued to swing the phone at the man

He paused for a breath, and looked at the cable. He ran around the man, holding the cable to his neck. He began to choke him with the cord. The man started choking when the phone rang. They both looked back at the dial. Finney had a determined look on his face. He put the phone up to The Grabber’s ear.

“It’s for you.”

“Welcome to the nightmare end of your pathetic little life.” Vance said.

“You don’t have much time.” Griffin laughed.

“Today’s the day, motherfucker!”

“I can’t kill you hijo de puta, so Finn’s gonna do it for me!” Robin told him.

“Finn’s arm is mint!” Bruce finished.

At the last sentence, Finn pulled back, and slammed the cord down, breaking The Grabber’s neck.

Almost everyone in the room stood up, cheering for the kids' victory. Eddie and Robin shook him a little in congratulations. Finney just laughed at the room's antics, feeling proud of himself for defeating the man.

The kids jumped around, holding each other, and shouted. Jonathan gave him a little smile, showing a lot more emotion than expected for the shy man.

Behind a shelf, a police officer found a secret door.

“Wait,” he called out, “we’ve got a basement.”

Finney threw Samson a piece of meat, distracting the dog. He walked up the stairs slowly.

The basement door opened, revealing multiple graves in the dirt ground.

“It’s the missing kids. This is where he buries them.” The flashlight shone over an empty grave.

Finney stopped smiling abruptly. That was supposed to be his grave. He felt bile creep up his throat. Most people go their whole lives without seeing their graves, Finney had one dug out for him prematurely. But it wasn’t premature, he was supposed to go in there, was going to, if he hadn’t killed his kidnapper.

“I think he kills them someplace else,” Detective Wright pondered.

“I think you’re right,” Detective Miller said, staring at the empty grave.

In shock, Finney walked out into the kitchen and over to the main door. He put in the combination, and walked out, finally free.

Sitting by the fence, Gwenny looked up to see paramedics taking out a gurney. Across the street, she spotted her brother, stumbling out of the house.

“Holy shit!” Dustin exclaimed, “You were across the street the whole Goddamned time?!” He threw his hands up exasperatedly. Finn did find this bit a little ironic.

She stood up, and Finney saw her too, pausing in his tracks. She ran over to her brother, enveloping him in a bone-crushing hug. He put his arms around her, still in shock. The detectives, and a few police officers, ran over to the kids.

“Basement.” Finney told the detectives. Two more detectives led the kids away from the house, still clinging on to each other.

In an ambulance, the kids still held onto each other, with shock blankets wrapped around them. Their dad ran over to them, crying. He hugged Finney tightly, before collapsing to his knees.

“I’m so sorry,” he said to both of them “I’m so-, I’m so sorry. Please forgive me.” He sobbed, the kids just looked at him with a straight face.

Gwenny wrapped her arm around her brother, pulling him in. The three of them sat there.

The movie fades to black.