I left the Byers house very late. When I opened the front door my dad was sitting in the living room waiting for me to get home.

"Where have you been?" He asked with a worried look on his face.

"I was at Jonathan's. Will is missing and I was helping them look for him." I said.

"You couldn't call? You couldn't take one second to walk over here and give your dad some peace of mind?" He asked.

"I'm sorry, I thought you would be at work all day. I didn't think about it. So much was going on." I said still in shock of all that has happened.

"Do you know how worried I've been?" He asked.

"I know..." I said, but he cut me off.

"No, you don't know. You could've been in a ditch somewhere, you could've been kidnapped. You could've been hit by a car." He said with tears in his eyes.

"Dad, I'm sorry." I said hugging him.

"What is this about Will Byers missing?" He asked now digesting the words I said.

"Nobody knows where he is." I said my voice breaking.

"Oh, honey." He said sympathetically.

"I'm gonna head upstairs, go to bed. It's late." I said not wanting to cry in front of him. Before he could answer I rushed up the stairs and into my bedroom. As soon as I closed the door, I began sobbing letting all my emotions come out. I knew that I couldn't do this in front of Jonathan. I had to be strong for him, but I couldn't keep it up by myself.

I heard a knock at the door followed by my father's voice saying, "Frankie, let me in please. I can help you."

I reluctantly opened the door and let him in. I returned to my bed and continued to cry. My dad came over to my bed and held me in is arms until I fell asleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My father let me sleep in the next day. He told me that I could stay home from school today. It fit in perfectly with my plan to go to Indianapolis with Jonathan to see Lonnie. I got out of bed and was looking out my window to see if I could see Jonathan. His car wasn't home and then I realized that I promised him that I would help him put posters of Will up. Shit I was late. I got into my car and sped off towards the school. I pulled into the parking lot just as Jonathan was heading into the school.

I got out of my car quickly and ran to catch up with Jonathan. "Hey, sorry I'm late, but I'm here now." I said a little out of breath.

"Jesus, you scared me." He said as he opened the door.

"Sorry." I said. We were heading to the bulletin board to pin Will's missing poster to it. I could see Steve, Tommy H., Carol, Barb, and Nancy Wheeler staring at us. I saw Jonathan look at them too.

"Just ignore them. They're assholes." I said as I helped him pin up the poster. After I said that, Nancy Wheeler was approaching us with a sympathetic look on her face.

"Hey." She said.

"Oh, hey." Jonathan replied.

"Hello." I said feeling uncomfortable.

"I just I wanted to say, you know, um I'm sorry about everything. Everyone's thinking about you." She said.

"It sucks." He replied.

"Yeah. I'm sure he's fine. He's a smart kid." She said and continued to stand there, not saying anything. They were staring at each other with intense eyes. I've never seen that look from Jonathan. I felt a pang in my chest. When I couldn't take it anymore, I cleared my throat.

"I have to go. Chemistry test." Nancy eventually said.

"Good luck." Jonathan said.

"Thanks." Nancy said walking down the hallway to rejoin her friends.

"Are you ready to go now?" I asked trying to ignore Jonathan looking longingly after Nancy.

"Yeah, let's go see dear old dad." He said turning to walk out of the school doors. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Winter 1973...

There were moving guys and boxes everywhere entering what would become my new home. I didn't want to move from Colorado, but dad said that it would be good for us to be near Grandma and Grandpa. Hawkins, Indiana was where he grew up, so it was only right that he would come back here after mom... 

Our house wasn't big, but it wasn't tiny either. It had three bedrooms and two bathrooms, which was good because I didn't want to share with my dad. My room was a decent size, but I didn't want to start over with new friends. I wasn't very good at making friends. Being five years old and having glasses and almost all your teeth missing wasn't the best for making friends. 

We were moving next to a nice couple that dad seemed to know. I was standing outside playing with my doll when three people came up to me. 

"Hi, sweetie. What's your name?" the woman asked. After she asked my dad jogged up to greet our new neighbors.

"Joyce, is that you? Jesus, how long has it been? Eight, Nine years?" He asked the woman.

"Winston. It's been a while. I thought you were living out in Colorado now?" She asked sweetly.

"Winston." The man mumbled and shook my dad's hand.

"Lonnie. I was living in Colorado, but decided to move back to be closer to my parents." He replied.

"And who is this?" Joyce asked shifting her gaze to me. I hid behind my dad's leg.

"This is my daughter Frankie. Frankie, this is an old friend of mine, Joyce. Why don't you say hi?" He said.

"Hi." I mumbled from behind my father's leg. Just then I met the eyes of a kid about my age in a similar position to me.

"Hi, Frankie. It's so nice to have another kid next door. This is my son, Jonathan." She said gesturing to the boy.

"Why don't you go play with Jonathan while I unpack some boxes. If that's alright with you two." My dad said asking for permission.

"Of course. Let the two of them get to know each other. I'm sure you'll be fast friends." She said.

"Do you want me to show you around the woods? There's lots of different types of bugs in there." He said unsure of how I would react.

"Bugs? What kind of bugs?" I asked intrigued.

"Worms, beetles, anything really!" He said ready to show me.

"I'll race you to the edge of the woods." I said starting to run.

"Hey, that's cheating." He called out.

"No, it's being smart." I said.

"Frankie, make sure you're home by dark!" My father yelled after us.

"Ok, daddy!" I yelled back.

"I WON!" I yelled in excitement.

"Only because I let you win." Jonathan said.

"Sure." I said unconvinced.

"The best bugs are over here." He said gesturing for me to follow him. I could tell that this was the start of an amazing friendship.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We pulled up outside of Lonnie's house. 

"Are you sure you're ok to do this?" I asked concerned.

"Yeah. Will could be here." He said sadly.

"Alright, well, let's go see Lonnie." I said fake enthusiastically. We walked up to the door and Jonathan knocked. We waited for a little and I impatiently knocked again.

"Can I help you?" A woman said answering the door. 

"Yeah, is Lonnie around?" Jonathan asked. 

"Yeah, he's out back. What do you want?" She asked curiously.

"To look around." Jonathan said pushing past her into the house.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing? Hey!" She yelled following us.

"We'll be quick." I said going through rooms to help Jonathan look for Will.

"Hey, Will? Will! Will, you here? Will!" Jonathan yelled through the house.

"Will, are you here?" I yelled. I heard someone hit the wall hard.

"Jonnie, are you ok?" I asked concerned.

"Get off!" Jonathan said pushing Lonnie off of him. 

"Damn, you've gotten stronger. You're still hanging out with him?" He said directing the last part at me, but I didn't answer.

"Will someone please explain what the hell is going on?" The lady asked.

"Jonathan, Cynthia. Cynthia, this is Jonathan. My oldest." He said introducing his son to Cynthia.

"Who's that?" She asked jealously.

"Oh that's Jonathan's girlfriend, Frannie." He said.

"Frankie." Jonathan and I corrected. 

"And we're not dating." I said lowly.

"Come here." Lonnie said hugging him.

"Get off me, man." Jonathan said and Lonnie led us outside to talk.

"I can't believe you haven't hit that yet. I mean, seriously Jonathan, are you a fag?" Lonnie asked seriously.

"That's what you're thinking about now?" Jonathan asked before Lonnie changed the subject.

"Take a look at this beaut. Should've seen it when I got it. Took me a year, but it's almost done." Lonnie said pointing to his car. Jonathan checked inside it to see if Will was there.

"Really? You want to check up my ass, too? I told you the same thing as I told those cops, he's not here and he never has been." Lonnie said defensively.

"Then why didn't you call Mom back?" Jonnie asked accusingly.

"I don't know, I just I assumed she just forgot where he was. You know, he was lost or something. That boy never was very good at taking care of himself." Lonnie said.

"This isn't some joke, all right? There are search parties, reporters" Jonathan said before Lonnie cut hum off.

"Hopper's not still chief, is he? Tell your mother she's gotta get you out of that hellhole. Come out here to the city. People are more real here, you know? And then I could see you more." Lonnie said and Jonnie scoffed. "What, you think I don't want to see you?" Lonnie asked.

"I know you don't." Jonathan answered.

"See, that's your mother talkin' right there. She even know you're here?" Lonnie asked and Jonnie and I were silent. 

"Oh, great. So one kid goes missing, the other one runs wild? Some real fine parenting right there." Lonnie said insultingly.

"What do you know about being a parent?" I asked angrily.

"Look, all I'm saying is, maybe I'm not the asshole, all right?" Lonnie said ignoring my question.

"He's obviously not here, Jonnie, let's just go home." I said stroking his arm to calm him down. Jonathan began walking towards the car, but stopped in front of Lonnie.

"In case you forgot what he looks like." Jonnie said as he shoved Will's missing poster in his hand and we walked away.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We were in the car on the way home and Jonathan was fuming.

"He's such an asshole. He doesn't call mom back and then acts like she's the one to blame for everything! God, I hate him." He said as he was driving.

"I'm sorry." I said not knowing what else to say.

"Why are you sorry?" He asked confused.

"Your dad, he's a dick and he doesn't seem to care that Will is missing. I'm just... I know how it feels to have only one parent." I said looking out the window.

"Yeah." He said.

"You've never mentioned your mom before." He said lowly.

"I don't really remember her much." I said holding in tears.

"What happened?" He asked continuing to drive.

"My mom was amazing, from what I can remember. She got really sick when I was four. Cancer. She fought really hard, but eventually it got the best of her." I said, but paused choking back tears.

"I'm sorry, Frankie. That sucks." He said sympathetically.

"Yeah. My dad never talks about her. I think it's too painful for him. He always says I look like her." I said sniffling.

"Well, if you ever need to talk about it, I'm here. I don't care if I'm going through shit, you can talk to me. Your shit is my shit, remember?" He said comfortingly.

"Yeah, your shit is my shit." I repeated with a small smile. Jonathan drove me home and dropped me off.

"Are you coming in?" I asked as I stepped out of the car.

"I'm gonna go look for Will for a little while, you should go rest." He said.

"Are you sure? I could help you look." I said feeling guilty.

"No, I'm just gonna see if I can see any trails or signs of Will anywhere. I won't be long. It's ok. I'll call you tomorrow." He said understanding.

"Ok, well, be careful." I said.

"Yeah, of course. Night." He said.

"Good Night." I replied as I walked to my front door. I went straight upstairs to go to sleep. I was emotionally and physically exhausted. Sleep overtook me as soon as my head hit the pillow.