One Summer//Byler

Chapter 5; Fear and Panic

Will's POV;

"Wait out here one second!" Mike says, clearly anxious like he forgot to do something. "Uh, okay..." I respond. Mike goes into his room, slamming the door in my face. Rude... I start to hear clattering sounds come from Mike's room. Is he throwing things, or is his room still a mess?

*10 minutes pass*

Why is he taking so long? What is he even doing in there? "Are you almost done, Mike?" I yell over the clattering in his room. "Almost!" He yells back.

*4 minutes pass*

I hear the front door unlock. Oh no, they're back. I open Mike's door and quickly shut it as quietly as possible. "Will? What are you doing? I told you to wait-" Mike says, but I cut him off whisper-yelling,"Your family is back!" His expression changes quickly. "Uh, okay, should we hide?" He whispers back. "How bad will the consequences be?" I whisper. "They probably won't let you stay the night. Like at all." He whispers. "Fine, let's hide then." I whisper. "Then get into the closet." He whispers. "What about you?" I whisper. "If we can still both fit, then I will be surprised-" He gets cut off by Mrs. Wheeler yelling, "Mike! Will! Where are you boys!!" We look at each other, then quickly head into the closet.

We close the door shut. It's a bit cramped, but it works well enough for us not to get caught if we're quiet. They would probably check here last since we haven't hidden here since we were 13. Mrs. Wheeler's yelling gets louder until we hear her opening the door. "You guys in here?" She says loud, but still not yelling.

That's when I get a flashback of a very bad memory of when my dad used to lock me in the closet until I would do 'normal' things with him and he'd yell at me until I'd do so. I started to cry softly, trying to be quiet enough not to alarm anyone. Mike still heard me and decided to pull me into a tight embrace. "Don't worry, Will. We'll be okay. He's gone now." Mike says quietly and calmly. By this point, I'm unsure if Mrs. Wheeler left or not. "But he's back. What if he involves his friends? Remember how bad they could get?" I say. "Will. I will never let him hurt you ever again. Do you understand?" Mike says, pulling away. I nod.

Mrs. Wheeler opens the closet door. "C'mon, get out of here. We need to talk." Mrs. Wheeler says to us softly but gives Mike a harsh look. I wipe my tears quickly as Mike sighs, getting up and looking at his mother sadly. I had a feeling of where this was going. I get up and rub my arm sightly. Mrs. Wheeler heads down the stairs, and we follow.

I see my family, Mike's family, Dustin, and Lucas. They all stared at us. My mom ran up to me and hugged me tightly. "Never do that to us again. Okay?" She says to me. "Okay.." I say back. What do you mean never do that to you again!? It's his fault for showing up and making me run away, not me... What if it is really my fault?... I mean, he did come for me and Jonathan.

Mike's POV;

I look down at the floor. I don't want to look at anyone right now. I just know this is going to turn into another one of our screaming fights. I just want to go to my room and hang out with Will. "Will, there is something we need to tell you..." Joyce says. Will says nothing in response. That's when I noticed Joyce's eyes swelling and Jonathan having tears already streaming on his face, trying his best not to start sobbing. What's going on? "So... you guys are going to have to stay with your dad for the weekends..." Joyce says then starts to cry. Hopper runs up to her to hug her tightly. Will stands there completely frozen in shock, and then a tear rolls down his cheek. I can't believe they let this happen.

Anger consumed me things started having a slight red tint. "EXCUSE ME?! YOU JUST LET THIS HAPPEN!!?" I yell, almost screaming. Will starts shaking about to break out, bawling his eyes out. "I CAN'T YOU BELIEVE YOU JUST LET THIS HAPPEN TO WILL. JONATHAN IS ABLE TO REFUSE IT BUT WILL CAN'T DO ANYTHING!!!" I start basically screaming at them. "NOT A SINGLE ONE OF YOU DID ANYTHING TO STOP THAT FUCKING BASTARD?!!" I scream once again. "Language, Michael!" My dad yells at me. I couldn't take it anymore. They just let Lonnie do this without resisting. "NO. NOT LANGUAGE. I BET YOU DON'T EVEN CARE WILL IS BEING PUT IN DANGER AGAIN!!!!" I start screaming again and I feel like I'm about to cry. "Mike! You don't even know the situation and you start accusing-" Nancy started but I refuse to let her finish. "SO TELL ME HOW LONNIE MAGICALLY GOT WILL OVER THE WEEKENDS, NANCY. GO ON AND TELL ME HOW HE FUCKING WALTZED OVER TO JOYCE AND HOPPER AFTER ME AND WILL RAN OFF GETTING WILL OVER THE WEEKENDS. JONATHAN HAS A CHOICE SINCE HE IS AN ADULT." I scream as a single tear streams down my face and Will finally breaks down going into a panic attack that seems to turn into an episode. Not an upside down episode, but memories flooding into his head about what happened and he starts bawling.