Rosalyn Henderson was staring at the coffee maker, waiting for it to finish making the pot. She did a graveyard shift as a kennel attendant at Hawkins Veterinary Clinic. It closes at 10 pm, but someone had to stay overnight to make sure the animals got their medicine and care. When the old night kennel attendant quit, Lyn did her boss, Penelope Myung, a favor and took some of the graveyard shifts until she could find a replacement.

The phone rang. "Can you get the phone dear, I'm making pancakes." Claudia Henderson asks her daughter.

While she didn't give a verbal answer, she moves to grab the phone from off the wall. "Hello, Henderson's resident." She yawned.

"Hello Lyn, this is Joyce Byers." It was the mother of Will Byers who was a friend of her brother, Dustin.

"Hey Ms. Byers, is something wrong?" Lyn moves her brows to meet in the middle. It wasn't like her to call for a chat. She was a busy single mother.

"I was wondering if Will is at your house. Did he spend the night?" She asks.

She looks around the kitchen in search of the quite well manner child. "Is Will here? Did he spend the night?" She put her hand over the bottom half of the receiver to ask her brother.

"No, last time I saw him was last night when we rode our bikes home." Dustin shoves a piece of pancake in his mouth that their mom put in front of him.

"He's not here. Dustin said that they rode home on their bikes together last night. Did Will not make it home?" She asks making the room goes silent. Dustin and her mother stop what they were doing to stare at her.

"You know what I think he went to school early. Yeah, that's what he did. Thank you. Bye." She sounds like she was trying to convince herself more than the teenager.

"Bye." She hung up the phone, no longer tired as adrenaline was pumping through her veins from the fear she was feeling for the preteen.

"Is Will okay?" Dustin asks his sister.

"He wasn't there when they wake up and they're not sure if he made it home last night. His mom thinks he went to school early." She explains with a pit in her stomach.

"Yeah, that sounds like Will." A smile replaces Dustin's frown. Lyn and her mom share an unconvinced look.

She went over and poured herself a cup of coffee. "I can give you a ride." She offered even though she knew the answer.

"I'll ride my bike with Lucas and Mike." He told her like he had been doing since he meets his three best friends on the first day of the fourth grade.

"Are you sure you should be driving? You just got home an hour ago, you didn't get any sleep." Claudia narrows her eyes at her daughter.

"I slept eight hours before I went to work." Lyn grit her teeth knowing where this was going.

"I don't know why you even have that job." Her mother rolls her eyes.

"I'm not hungry." She drank the rest of her coffee and put the mug in the sink. She walks out of the house, ignoring her mother yelling that breakfast was the most important meal of the day. She sat in the driver's seat of the black 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS 454 that had two white stripes going down the hood that she named Darling. She took deep breaths as she calmed down. It took everything in her not to snap at her mother, that she had to have a job because she refused to get one.

The summer before she went to the ninth grade, her father divorced her mother for a woman closer to her age than his. Her mom got the house, the kids, the van, and Darling. Claudia got a few jobs but quit all of them in the first week. Then, she sold their old house and moves them to Hawkins. It's a cheaper smaller safer town, she told them.

Her Dad was a CEO at a top tech company. His alimony and child support checks covered the mortgage and bills with just enough left over for groceries if it was budget right. But, it didn't cover clothes, school supplies, extracurricular, birthdays and Christmas gifts. She didn't feel like Dustin and her should miss out because their mom refused to give up her dream of being a housewife despite the fact she wasn't a wife anymore.

A knock on the car window took her out of her resentful thoughts. She rolls the window down. "Hey buddy, change your mind on the ride." She smiles weakly at her brother.

"No, I'm just checking if you're okay?" He looks his sister over, taking in the bags under her eyes. He hated asking her for things, but even when he didn't ask she somehow found out. Like when he came home from school one day to find the walkie-talkie on his bed.

"Don't worry about me. You go to school and scold Will for me." She reaches out to ruffle his curls.

He moves his head out of her reach and speeds off on his bike. She chuckled as she started up the car. Her brother was a preteen who no longer beam up at her for giving him affection. She drove the route that she drove some many times before, she felt like she could do it with her eyes closed. She parks in the Hawkins High School parking lot. She got out of her car and enters the school to walk down the hallways, ignoring all the stares she got. She was used to them by now, being dubbed the mystery girl because she didn't have any friends. Between her job, school work, and family, she didn't have the time for a social life.

Steve Harrington leans against his locker as he watches Rosalyn Henderson walk past him not even sparing him a glance. Not that she ever did in the two and a half years of living in Hawkins. He still vividly remembers being in homeroom the first day of freshman year, the day that the brunette beauty walked into his life. He gave out a dreamy sigh as the thought of how her hips sway as she made her way to her desk and the way she flips her hair over her shoulder gracefully as she sat down. The teachers made them introduce themselves like most of them didn't know each other all their lives. She, being the only stranger had everyone's eyes on her. She blushed and gave a small smile as she said her name and favorite movie, Jaws.

For two years, he asked her out to every dance and horror movie that came out. She always said no, most of the time she was nice about it, but if he nagged her she would shoot him the nasty glare he had ever seen. He wondered if she noticed he back off this year, to try and take a different approach. Who was he kidding, even if she did notice she was probably relieved. He supposed some good came out of it because now he had Nancy, a girl that liked him just as much as he liked her.

He pushes himself off the locker and made his way to the bathroom, where he was supposed to meet Nancy.

During lunch, Rosalyn walks over to the middle school. She was making her way to the front office to see Sheriff Hopper walking out of there with three of her four boys behind him. "Please say you're not here for Will Byers." She pleads.

"What do you know about Will Byers?" He asks her, but she looks past him to see all three preteens sadly nod their heads.

"Oh my god," She put her hands on her knees as she hyperventilated. She was imagining a scared wounded Will tied up in a predator's basement.

The three boys were quick to push past Hopper to comfort her. Mike and Dustin rub her back as Lucas kneels over to be face to face with her. "It's going to be okay. We are going to find him."

"Before you know it, you'll have all your duckling back in the pond," Mike reassured her.

"And Will be yelling at you that he's not a duck." Dustin let out a dry chuckle remembers how much the pet name bothers his missing friend.

"Who is this?" The Sheriff screams not liking being ignored.

"She's my sister!" Dustin shouts back at him. If Lyn wasn't panicking she would have scolded the boy for yelling at a cop.

"She used to babysit us," Mike explains.

"Now, she's our friend," Lucas updates the officers. She was a unique combination of authority figure and a cool older sibling. While she made sure they didn't get into any real trouble, she also got them into R rated movies and taught them how to pull pranks on the bullies at their school.

She became a big part of their group so naturally that no one in the group thought anything of it that a teenager was hanging out with kids five years her junior.

"WILL! WILL! WILL BYER! DUCKLING!" She yells out as moves her flashlight around the dark woods. The police were holding a search for the missing boy and they ask for volunteers.

"Yeah, like he would come out for that." Jonathan Byers, the missing boy's brother, let out a dry chuckle.

"Then you don't know your brother. He was going to be the hiding and seek champ, but when I call him that he jumps out of the clothes hamper to tell me never to call him that." She snickers.

"He was amazing at hiding and seeks." He smiles.

"He is, not was. He's out there, so don't start mourning him." She reaches out to grab his free hand to give it a squeeze.

"Thanks. I don't know what I was saying." He hung his head.

"I think we subconsciously always prepare for the worst." She told him. They walk together holding hands. To an outsider, it would seem romantic, but the two knew it was friendly support for the other was ready to break down.

They search for hours but came out empty. The police department was sending everyone home. "Are you sure you don't need any help?" She asks the Byers, who was going home to make missing flyers.

"Oh honey, you did more than enough. Go home and get some rest." Joyce smiles at her son's friend.

"Alright, call me if you need anything." She got in her car and made her way home. She parked in the garage. She was about to turn off the engine when she noticed that Dustin's bike wasn't leaning against the wall where it normally is. "Should have known those damn kids wouldn't listen to me when told them to stay home." She put the car back in drive and got back on the road. She drove the way Will would have rode his bike home. She watches along the edge of the forest. "Bingo," Pops out of her mouth when she saw three bikes laying down the side of the road. She parks her car and got out.

She was about to scream in rage when she saw figures coming out of the forest, but it left her when she saw there were four of them, not three. She got out of the car, not caring that she was instantly soaked to the bone. "Will!" She calls out as she rushes over to them.

She stopped in her tracks when she noticed it wasn't Will. It was another child wearing a long yellow t-shirt. She narrows her eyes to see better in the rain. She saw that it was a girl, a bald girl. The girl backs away scared when the teen tried to get closer to her. "It's alright, this is my sister. She's good, I promise." Dustin reassured her.

"What's going on?" She looks to the boys.

"We found her in the forest. We think she in trouble." Mike told her.

She looks back to the girl who was shivering. She was looking around like she was ready to run at the slights sign of danger. "She hasn't said a word." Lucas eyes the girl suspiciously.

"Are you trying to get away from bad people?" She bent down to whisper to her. The girl looks her up and down slowly before nodding her head.

"Then let's get you the hell out of here." She reaches her hand out. The girl stares at the hand for a while before puts hers on it. Lyn grabs the child's hand to lead her out the forest and to her car. She put her in the passenger seat.

"We're going to take her to my house. I can sneak her into the basement. Mom doesn't go in there since it became our hangout spot." Mike told her.

"Okay, put your bikes in the back of the car." She pops the trunk. She got in the car to turn on the heater.

"Here," She grabs the jacket Dustin left in the backseat and hands it to her. The younger girl grabs it and rubs it all over her to dry herself off. "Not what I meant, but that works too." Her intention was for the girl to wear it, but whatever works for her.

She got back out of the car to let the boys in the backseat before settled into the driver's seat to make her way to Mike's house. The boys started asking the little girl one question after another not even giving her time to answer.

From the side of Lyn's eye, she saw the girl reaching for the door handle. "Quiet boys! You're overwhelming her. Let her get dried off and warm up. Then you can ask her questions politely and she'll answer the one she wants too." Her glare shut the boys up.

The rest of the ride was in silence. She parked in front of the Wheeler's house. "Come on, let get you inside." They sneak the girl into the basement.