"But any place and all places can be The Twilight Zone" The TV flickered ominously and PJ clutched the James's throw pillow closer to his form. The traditional Twilight Zone theme began to get louder and louder - CRASH - PJ jumped nearly six feet off the couch nearly taking the decorative coffee table with it. "Damn it" He muttered under his breath as he collected himself and made his way to the basement door. Before opening the door he hesitated and stopped, pressing his ear against the door slightly the muffled voices of the kids flooding through the thin oak door. After contemplating for a moment he finally cracked open the door and peeked inside. He could barely see the outline of the kids past the stairs leading down to the basement. "Hey! Is everything alright down there? Fletcher didn't break anything did he?" He called out raising an eyebrow.

Wes all but yelled at his friends as they raced to go check the dice he had rolled that had bounded off the table and tumbled under the tall book shelf. If they weren’t careful—CRASH. Great. They weren’t careful. His book collection all but reigned down on his scuffle of friends while they still frantically searched to find the dice. It was a matter of life and death, however. If the dice had landed on anything but a 3 or 11, the Demogorgon would eat every single one of their heads. Ugh! None of this would have happened if Luke hadn’t slammed his hands down on the table earlier which caused the dice to fly off. Wes with all the frustration he had built up over the course of the night hit his forehead on the fold out table they had set up for their Dungeons and Dragons game. Trying his very hardest not to yell and flip out, he only lifted his head up when PJ’s voice carried down the steps to the basement. Sliding his reading glasses back up his nose, Wes hollered back, “nothing’s broken other than my patience!” Luke popped his head out from behind the couch rolling his eyes at the boy. “Oh can it Wes, I don’t see you looking for the dice”. Wes shot him a look of complete exasperation as he replied, "that's because I'm the game keeper and way more civilized than you."

PJ shook his head a hint of a smile on his face, “alright, your parents should be home soon so you guys better start cleaning up”. As if on cue, Wesley's mother and father strolled through the front door after struggling (slightly drunkenly) to get the keys within the door. PJ's attention strayed from the basement to the door as he smiled at the rather intoxicated Mr. and Mrs. James. Mr. James was the first to greet Pj as he hung his coat on the door, "PJ! Nice to see the house hasn't burnt to the ground yet. Hope the kids haven't been into too much trouble". PJ let out a small laugh, "No, not anything too drastic. I didn't let Wes anywhere near the oven this time, lesson learned". He couldn't believe the boy actually tried to bake a cake on a 500-degree level for 50 minutes. He was lucky all that happened was some serious smoke inhalation and a burned towel.

"Found it!" Christopher's voice rang out from behind the half fallen bookshelf, proudly holding the lost die in his hand. "Thank god, I couldn't stand to hear those two goons fight anymore" Charlie spoke shooting a curt glare at Wesley and Luke. Wes grunted in response to Charlie's comment. Standing up from the table, he walked over to Christopher and asked "did you see what number the dice landed on?" He was honestly a little nervous to see what would be the fate of their party. Dungeons and Dragons was serious business, after all. Christopher shifted back and forth on his heels as all eyes in the room shifted to him, he saw what was on the dice but he knew none of them really wanted to hear what it had landed on. "Oh, uhm I actually erhm didn't catch what it landed on". There was a collective groan of annoyance from the others.

A knock at the door startled Mrs. James out of a small giggle fit as Mr. James retold a story about how once when Wes was a toddler, he cut himself on his science set and ran up and down the hallways screaming about how he was dying while blood dribbled from his finger and splattered on their new wall paper. PJ was grateful for the sudden knock on the door distracting Mr. James from his usual banter. Opening up the white painted chipped door, Audrey Fletcher offered a small smile as she was ushered in. "Hey mister and Mrs. James. Is Luke ready to go?" Audrey felt absolutely drained from the stupid date she was just on. She honestly didn't want to go in the first place, but her friends pressured her too. The guy was on the basketball team, and while he was nice, he could barley hold a conversation. Not that conversation was what he was really after. Audrey basically had to tackle him to stop him from throwing himself at her at the end of the night. "He should be, PJ dear would you mind getting Luke for Audrey?" Mrs. James said turning her gaze to him. "Yeah, of course... Hey Audrey" He offered the girl a small rather dorky smile before heading to the basement door. Pj only ever saw her when she came to get her brother and occasionally at school. She was rather quiet and definitely not apart of the crowd that he hung out with, but he gathered that she was sweet. Audrey offered back her own small "hey" to PJ, slightly curious if he knew the boy she had just gone on the date with. They were kind of in the same "sporty" group. Oh god, she hoped he wouldn't hear that she knee'd the kid in the balls. Now she definitely wasn't looking forward to school. Mrs. James gave Audrey a gentle nudge with her shoulder, both eyebrows quirked up promiscuously as she stated "PJ is such a nice boy, isn't he?" Great.

PJ ventured down to the basement, his eyes widening slightly at the mess. "What happened down here?" Luke gave him a cheeky smile, "The demogorgon". Charlie piped in after him, "Oh Peej it was horrible, he destroyed everything". PJ let out a small laugh staring at the rather innocent faces of the kids. "Really? That sounds terrible! Did they demogorgon happen to have the name Luke Christopher Charlie Wes?" This wasn't the first time the kids had blamed their mess on one of their imaginary game characters. "That seems like a pretty long name for a monster" Luke said sarcastically, "I'm pretty sure its name was Wesley James". Wesley threw up his hands rather dramatically as he exclaimed, "I had no part of this! It was all those three!" Charlie whipped her head around to Wesley, "Excuse me? I had no part in this James. It was you three". Wes raised his eyebrow at the girl, stating firmly, "I don't recall running head first into a book shelf like some blonde girl I know." PJ rolled his eyes and gestured to Luke, "Alright you guys can sort this out later, Luke, time to go your sisters here". Luke let out an overexerted sigh, "Great, Audrey the Monster is here. Can't wait to here about how disastrous her date went tonight". PJ covered his mouth sightly to keep from laughing, "Fletcher. Move it". Luke frowned and trudged his way upstairs rather angrily, he stopped at the top of the stairs and leaned over the banister, "see you guys tomorrow!" The boy made his way up the stairs and glared when he saw his sister, who was currently getting chatted up by Wesley's parents.

"You two as well, I'm sure your mom is almost here Charlie" PJ stated nodding to the two stragglers. Charlie grabbed her coat and made her way over to the stairs, "I won't forget that comment James" She threatened before heading upstairs followed by PJ. Wes stuck his tongue out at her. The room was rather quiet now with just Christopher and Wes. Anyone could tell the quietest boy had something to get off his chest, he was fidgeting like a mouse. Glancing over at his friend, Wes's arms that were previously crossed over his chest dropped to his side, immediately reading the tenseness in his face. "Hey, is everything okay, Chris?" He questioned, taking a small step forwards towards the brown haired boy. The sound of hands claping together startled him as Wes heard his mothers voice call, "Come on, everyone up the stairs! Mama is going to bed!" Christopher hesitated slightly as he looked from the stairs to Wes's concerned expression. He set the dice on the table slowly, and guiltily looked at his friend. "I lied. I did see what the dice rolled. It was a four. The demogorgon, it got us". Wes's eyes locked onto the four on the dice. Was it unfortunate? Yes. Did everyone have to know? No. Walking towards the table, Wesley picked up the dice and inspected it for a short second, before setting it down onto the table with the 3 facing upward. Turning to look at Chris with a wide grin, he said "No it didn't. See? it landed on three. We beat it." Christopher blinked slightly as Wes changed the four into a three. If no one knew it was a four that meant they were fine, right. Wesley always had Christopher's back, if Wes believed it was a three then so did he. Clapping his friend on the back, Wes's grin grew as he hollered, "I'll race you upstairs!" before running rocket speed up the pick carpeted staircase. Christopher grinned at Wes and ran up the stairs after him, "Hey! You got a head start! That wasn't fair!"

Luke walked past Mr. James grabbed his sister's hand turning back to offer his friend's father a smile. "Thank you for letting me stay over Mr. James, Audrey and I better get going. You know how my mom is." Audrey slung her arm around he little brothers neck, squeezing lightly. "Bill me for any damage he did. I'm still not sure the whole cake incident was Wesley's fault and not his." Mr. James laughed and ushered the two to the front door. "Of course, of course. Wouldn't want Maura getting worried. Have a good night you two! Drive safely!" He dragged his sister outside and to the car rather aggressively, "Come on Aud, the faster we get home the less I have to hear about your date". Audrey rolled her eyes as she opened her car door. "You sure about that? I kicked him in the nuts." Luke's eyes widened at Audrey, "Holy shit Aud you punched him in the nuts?" He then clamped a hand over his mouth, "I mean crap. Holy crap". Trying to cover up his little slip he quickly changed the subject following Audrey's gaze to the house. Audrey snorted, saying "this scenario calls for a 'holy shit' exclamation." Peering at her brother, she asked, "hey, does Chris have a ride home?" Luke continued, "yeah, uhm, I'm pretty sure Henry's at work but Chris can just ride his bike home". Audrey stared at the door for a couple more seconds before shrugging her shoulders. "Alright, get in the car, and if you tell mom and dad that I kicked someone, you're next." Luke didn't give up a fight after that and got into the car.

Wesley watched as Luke and Audrey left in the car, before turning to his increasingly louder parents. "Alright! I'll wait with Charlie and Chris, you guys go to bed." If he had to hear them reiterate anymore embarrassing stories, he was going to jump in front of the Fletcher's car. His mother pinched his cheek before saying, "Fine, fine. Get home safe kids! Jim, pay PJ will you?" Mr. James nodded as he opened his wallet, pulling out whatever cash he could see in his drunken slate. Slapping it in PJ's palm, he exclaimed "Thanks again, son. We have a party next week, so expect a call from us!" PJ's eyes widened at the couple of twenties Mr. James laid in his hand, it was more than he had ever been paid. He opened his mouth to ask Mr. James if the amount was correct but the couple had already headed upstairs. A small ring of the doorbell interrupted the group yet again and PJ opened the door to Mrs. Hoffman, a short but simple woman. "Hey mom!" Charlie grabbed her things and gave her mother a small hug. "Charlie honey, we have to hurry, I left your father to finish the chicken and you know he can't cook to save his life". Charlie giggled and turned to wave at the boys hanging her gaze a little bit on Wesley. "Bye guys, see ya tomorrow." Wes gave a small and awkward smiled back, waving his hand with a flick of his wrist trying to act nonchalant. With that the two girls were out the door leaving PJ, Christopher, and Wes.

"Well, I better get going too. Henry is going to be back from work soon and he always gets worried when I'm not there" Christopher said shifting his weight back and forth from side to side. "Are you sure you don't need a ride buddy?" PJ spoke, honestly ready to go home himself, the kids always wore him out. "Yeah, I promise, I ride my bike home a lot". Wes yawned, stifling it behind his hand. "Come on PJ, Chris is a big kid." Pj shoved his hands into his pockets and nodded, "alright, just be careful ok?" Christopher nodded and waved shyly at Wesley before heading out the door.

No one knew that was the last time anybody would ever see Christopher Byrd.

Henry really needed to stop taking double shifts, especially late night ones. Not like he could really say no. His family needed all the extra cash he could get, and Jane's son was sick anyways so she really couldn't come in. God knows that woman would cover him if he really needed it. He didn't even get home from the diner until one in the morning, and by that time he was so exhausted from the late night drunks crashing in to get a burger last minute that he didn't even bother to check in Chris's room to see if he'd gotten home okay.

He regrets that now.

Getting up a little on the late side for a school day, Henry barley pulled a scratchy black wool sweater over his head before his mother poked his head into the room, without knocking might he add. "Honey, where's Chris?" she questioned, a small crease appearing on her forehead in concern. Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, he cocked his head slightly asking, "What do you mean? He's not here?" By the second, Henry was really starting to wake up. "No. I just went to wake him up and his bed doesn't look like it's been touched. He came home last night, right?" She pushed on. Henry brushed past her to go into the poorly carpeted hallway, pushing open Chris door. His Mom was right. Everything was the same as it was yesterday. Not super unusual, but enough that a small panicked feeling was starting to form in Henry's stomach. "I never saw him last night, I worked a double. Have you called the James's? He was there last night." His mother just shook her head, bringing her hand up to bite her nails nervously. Henry let out a long, shaky breath before running over to the bright yellow phone dangling by it's cord as it sat on the floor. Odd, maybe it fell in the night. Dialling the number to his friends house, Henry leaned up against the wall, returning his mother's worried look. Someone answered on the fifth ring with a cough. "Uh, hi, whose this?" A gruff voice answered on the other line, sounding a little worse for wear. "Mr. James? It's Henry Byrd. Hey, did Christopher spend the night last night?" There was a short pause until he replied, "I only see one kid sitting in my dining room. Give me a second." Henry had to pull the phone slightly away from his ear as he heard Mr. James yell "Wesley, did Christopher spend the night last night?" He heard a softer voice yell back, "No, why?" before Mr. James voice filled the phone line once more. "Doesn't look like it. Everything okay down there?" Henry's heart nearly dropped through his chest. Shit. Shit, shit, shit!. "Yeah, uh, he must be around here somewhere. Sorry to bother you." Henry croaked out, before hanging the phone up. Henry's mother dropped her hand for a second in question. Henry simply shook his head. Not there.

Sarah Byrd took in a deep breath, trying to calm her nerves. "Okay. Okay, maybe he left. I'll call the school to see if he went there early. Why don't you go to school Honey? I'm sure he'll show up," she nervously smiled. She was worried, yes, but nothing bad ever happened in Hawkins. Right?

Henry shook his head harder, his dark curls bouncing around his head almost comically through his nerves. "I can take a day off of school, mom," he scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest. "It's my fault he's gone. I wasn't there last night. Call the school and I'm going to look around the house to see if I can find anything." His mom looked ready to argue, but she knew that no matter what he said, he was going to do it anyways. "Fine. Alright," she conceded, before turning towards to phone and dialling a number. Henry nodded in a resolute manner, before slipping on some shoes and running outside. Quickly checking the area where Chris usually parks his bike, he noticed it wasn't there. He could have taken it to school, yes, but Henry just had a bad feeling. He had a bad feeling about all of this. He was sure something had happened. He could feel it in his bones, and he was terrified. Running a hand through his hair, he circled around the house once, not noticing anything out of the ordinary. Then he remembered something. Henry didn't have to unlock the door yesterday. It was already open. Henry had left after Chris had gone to his friends, and he sure as hell always remembered to lock the door.

Racing back into the house, he got there just in time to see his mother hanging up the phone at the wall. She didn't turn for a minuts, and Henry's feeling of dread hit an all time high. It took only the look on his mother's face as she turned around to guess what he'd been thinking all along; Henry wasn't at school.

"I called his other friends parents to see if he was there... none of them have seen him."

Christopher was missing.

---

---

It didn't take them long at all to pile into his broken down car and race down to the Hawkins Police station. The only ever time he had entered the building was to deliver burgers to a couple of guys when he first started working at the diner at 15, and when he took a field trip here in grade school. It was an old building. The cops in it? Even older. Well, expect for the Chief. But even then, Henry wasn't sure Chief Crawford did much at all.

Stepping into the building, they were greeted by a fifty-something lady, smoking a cigarette at reception. "I-I need to speak to Crawford," his mother stumbled her words, her hand visibly shaking. Henry grabbed it and gave it a light squeeze, in hopes it world calm his nerves as well. "Don't we all," the lady mused, before pressing a button on some intercom and saying, "John, you have visitors.". A voice staticked back saying, "Tell 'em I'm busy and send them to someone else." The receptionist looked back at them with a deadpan face and repeated, "He's busy, see someone else." That wasn't good enough. Henry gave the woman a hard look as he let go of his mothers hand. Feeling a sudden burst of bravery, he hopped over the counter, much to the older woman's shock, before he clicked a button on the intercom. "It's Henry Byrd. Chief, my brothers missing, you need to help us because I swear if anything has happened to him-"

"Jesus, I get it. Get in here," a voice cut him off, as a dirty blonde haired man stood in his office doorway. Henry let go of the intercom speaker, the receptionist lady giving him a rather nasty look. Sarah just mumbled a small, "thank you," before moving into the office, Henry close behind her.

As soon as the door closed behind them, John Crawford thumped down behind his desk, crossing his arms over his chest. "Alright, so missing kid? How long has he been gone?" Both the Byrd's sat in front of his desk. Sarah glanced at Henry before saying, "last night. We think. We woke up this morning and he wasn't home; we called his friends houses and the school, no one has seen him." Henry chirped in adding, "his bike isn't home either, and I noticed that our house was unlocked last night when I got in. It's not like him to leave the house unlocked." John nodded, as he scribbled something down on a note pad. Clearing his throat, he set his pen and paper down as he said, "You don't think he just wandered off for a night? As a kid I would spend a couple nights outdoors by myself just to get away. Kids do it all the time." Henry shook his head. "No, he wouldn't. He's not the type of kid to do that. Trust me, he's missing, something's wrong." John didn't seem overly convinced, but honestly at least this gave him something to do today. For a bit. "Give me the name of his friends and I'll go talk to them at the school," he huffed out, pushing himself out of his chair. Sarah rattled of the kids's names. Going over to the coat rack, john slipped on his jacket and put his hat on. Just as he was about to leave, he turned to Sarah and said, "Sarah, go home and I'll give you a call if I find anything out." John then turned his gaze to Henry and grunted out, "and you. Get your ass to school, kid.