A Different Point of View

13. "I Saw Her Too..."

10th November 1983, 11:01 pm

SEVEN'S POV

I had made my decision, but I needed to act fast. I started to pick up my pace and speed-walk in the direction of the Byers' house. When I was about 10 meters from the back door, I decided I had the best chance of making a good impression on Joyce if I looked somewhat formal, and yes that does mean breaking into her house to steal clothes yet again.

I crept a bit closer and noticed a clothesline around the front of the house, so I traversed to it and took some light blue shorts, a white oversized t-shirt, and a grey turtleneck jumper, plus some white socks and black and green vans. Whilst I was there, I noticed the light brown Chief car outside the house as well as several other police cars.

How do I get inside if they're there? Maybe I can just spy on them for now and, possibly talk to Joyce later. It was late so maybe talking to her tomorrow would be the best option.

I decided that was a solid plan, so I made my way up onto the front porch and peered into a window. There weren't any officers outside of the house as I assumed they were all inside. I slowly opened the window whilst standing on my tippytoes for the best view. I could only see the back of a police officer... they were talking to someone.

"A trooper found something in the, uh... water that's at the quarry. Our working theory right now is that Will... crashed his bike, he made his way over to the quarry and, uh... accidentally fell in. The earth must have given way." I now realized that it was the Chief talking to someone.

"Joyce?" the Chief whispered.

"Joyce? Do you understand what I'm saying?" He asked, making it clear that he was talking to Joyce.

"No," she mumbled. "Whoever you found, it's not my boy. It's not Will"

I couldn't help but feel sorry for her. I could kind of understand what she felt, losing someone you care so much about. I lost my family, so I'm going to make sure she doesn't lose hers.

"Joyce-" the Chief started.

"No, you don't understand" She whispered, cutting the Chief off. "I talked to him... a half-hour ago. He was... he was here. He was... he was talking with these." She said, holding up some of the lights she had used to talk to him earlier.

"Talking?" The Chief asked.

"Uh-huh. One blink for yes, two for no. And... and uh, and then I made this so he could talk to me" She said, motioning towards the alphabet written on the wall. "'Cause he was hiding... from that... that thing."

"From the thing that came out of the wall?" The Chief questioned, making her seem like she was out of her mind. "The thing that chased you?"

"Yeah, yeah" She responded, frantically looking around her.

"Mom, come on please..." Her eldest son said, who I had figured out was her son a few days ago.

I had heard enough. I couldn't do anything to help without exposing myself to everyone there, and listening to this conversation and knowing that Joyce was right made my heart break. I stepped down off my tippy-toes and let out a breath I didn't realize I had been holding. I carefully closed the window and walked down the steps of the porch, my breathing heavy.

My vision started to blur as tears formed in my eyes. I slumped down beside the house and started to silently sob. I could hear familiar voices coming from another opened window nearby. It was too high for me to see, but the voices were loud enough for me to understand what was being said.

"Listen to me... after Sara... I saw her too. And I heard her. I didn't know what was real. And then I figured out that it was in my mind. And I had to pack all that away. Otherwise, I was gonna fall down a hole... that I couldn't get out of." I felt a tear slip down my cheek after hearing this. Once again, I couldn't take what I was hearing, so I just walked away, not bothering to close the window. I didn't feel like going to Castle Byers, it would bring back too many unwanted memories. And I clearly couldn't go into the Byers' house, so I made refuge in a small shed directly behind the house.

It was small and dusty and there was a gross slime on one of the walls, but I paid no attention to it and arranged a dusty blanket on a chair, making it somewhat comfortable for me to sleep.

I dozed off with the thought of what the Chief had said.

"Listen to me... after Sara... I saw her too. And I heard her. I didn't know what was real. And then I figured out that it was in my mind. And I had to pack all that away. Otherwise, I was gonna fall down a hole... that I couldn't get out of." The words replayed in my mind, over and over.

"After Sara... I saw her too. And I heard her. And then I figured out that it was in my mind. I was gonna fall down a hole..."

"Sara... I saw her too. I heard her."

"Sara..."

I fell into a slumber, still thinking about those words.

Dream

I woke up in my hospital bed to see a woman sitting at the end of my bed with her head in her hands. I pushed myself up against my pillow, trying to reposition myself which caught her attention. She pulled her hands up to her face, wiping some tears away, and smiled at me. I smiled back, not knowing why everyone around me was so emotional all the time.

She said something to me before kissing my forehead and standing up to leave the room. I watched as the door closed behind her. Shortly after, a man came in. He had bright blue eyes and soft brown hair. He walked over to me, leaned down beside me, and talked to me. I couldn't hear what he was saying, but I was still having a conversation with him."

"Daddy I'm scared" I whimpered. I saw a tear slip from his eye as he tried to smile, but instead he just wrapped his arms around me. I felt safe in his arms, so I leaned into the hug and rested my head on his chest.

"I won't let anything happen to you Princess, I promise." He whispered, barely loud enough for me to hear. I just nodded my head slowly before he pulled away and looked me in the eye. I could feel my chin trembling as I looked into his deep blue eyes. Everything around me swirled and disappeared into a black void.

"DADDY!" I screamed, crying loudly as I lay on the wet floor of the empty void. "Daddy..." I cried again, but much softer this time. I crawled into a ball and rocked back and forth sobbing loudly into my hospital gown. I squeezed my eyes shut, waiting for everything to be over.

End Dream