Spoilers for Stranger Things season 1 episode 3.
Barb wakes in an empty, decaying version of Steve's swimming pool and struggles to escape the creature pursuing her. Nancy returns home without knowing what happened, then grows worried when Barb misses school and has not gone home. Steve discovers that Jonathan photographed the party, tears up the pictures and breaks his camera. Nancy saves the pieces of a photograph showing Barb by the pool. When she returns to Steve's house to look for her friend, she hears movement in the woods and catches sight of something that frightens her away.
Joyce strings Christmas lights through the house after becoming convinced that Will can control them. Jonathan struggles to believe her, and Karen's visit ends abruptly when Holly approaches a wall that appears to move. Joyce establishes a simple way for Will to answer questions, then paints an alphabet beneath the lights. He says that he is nearby and tells her to run before the monster bursts through the wall. Hopper visits Hawkins Lab and notices that its security footage does not match the rainy night of Will's disappearance. His newspaper search uncovers allegations about Brenner and a missing child. Eleven takes the boys to the Byers house, insisting that Will is there. They follow passing emergency vehicles to the quarry, where rescuers pull out a body that appears to be Will's. Mike blames Eleven and rides home in tears.