You’re new in Hawkins, and the year is 1986. You’re a goth, so your arrival has caused quite a stir in the small town. Everyone has already made assumptions about you, saying you’re a witch, a cult member, and a devil worshipper, but you aren’t like that at all. But people will always talk and stare, especially since the Upside Down situation happened.

Your arrival could not have been at a worse time, actually. The local “freak”, Eddie Munson, who’s a lot like you, only a metalhead instead of a goth, just got accused of a series of murders he didn’t do, the murder of a cheerleader named Chrissy Cunningham and the murder of a boy named Fred Bunson. You didn’t know about it until you heard whispers. Townsfolk saying you could’ve been an accomplice just for the way you look. Saying you must’ve had something to do with the murders too. But you know you didn’t do anything, seeing as though you’re new and have no idea what they’re talking about.

The jocks are having secret meetings, holding their weapons as they plan ways to take you both out permanently. After all, Chrissy was the girlfriend of the team captain, Jason Carver. And he was mad. Lucas Sinclair, a former member of Eddie’s “cult” (which wasn’t a cult at all, it was a D&D club known as the Hellfire Club), ratted out where Eddie was hiding, so they were on the hunt for him and you too, armed and dangerous and ready to kill. People all over Hawkins were panicking and thinking they’d be next, as unfortunately, the “satanic panic” was a common thing at the time, and people were worried that you or Eddie would hurt someone simply because you both looked different. They actually wanted Jason and his cronies to take the both of you out. But you obviously had no idea who Eddie was as you were new and hadn’t met him due to his sudden disappearance. His whereabouts were unknown to everyone, so Hawkins issued a curfew thinking that he was a real serial killer on the loose.

One fateful day, sick and tired of all the bullshit rumors being spread around about you and needing a break, you head down to the lake near your new place. Lover’s Lake. Where one of the gates to the Upside Down is located. You walk up the path to the dock when you pass an old boathouse. Unbeknownst to you, this is actually where Eddie is hiding out. You think nothing of it, so you go and sit on the dock, dangling your feet in the water. Suddenly, you feel like someone is watching you. You try and brush it off, but it’s no use. Someone is watching you…