Please Don't Go (I love you so)

♡

I. Encounter

William's memories were fuzzy.

Memories. He couldn't remember how, or why, he had gotten there. He tried to mentally go back in time, but vainly, as if he were walking along a shore and the water had erased each one of his footsteps. However, William did not have the feeling of being lost. It was as if this was his place, as if he deserved to belong there. His self-conviction dictated it.

He couldn't move, couldn't speak, couldn't feel anything. Complete darkness surrounded him from head to toe, inside and outside of him. Although he didn't know where he was, he didn't have the feeling of being lost. He would say that he belonged to something. An ethereal, unchanging something. He wondered if that was death, acclaiming him. He wondered if, in reality, he was already dead.

Memories. His greenish eyes began to catch light, a couple of blinks was enough to clear his vision. Now he could see. A high-pitched voice echoed in his eardrums, linked to the image above his head. Now he could hear. He was still immobilized, still surrounded by complete darkness, except for his image, his voice.

"I'm Mike. Mike Wheeler. Erm... I hope you don't mind if I sit down, although you said I can sit down, so, okay, yeah." He said off the cuff. Then he took a breath, shook his head and made a repetitive gesture with his hand, indicating that he should forget what he had said. "Okay, I'll start over. I'm Mike Wheeler. I'm new to kindergarten and, ah, what's your name?"

"I'm William Byers, I'm also new." He replied, shyly.

That Mike held out his hand for him to take and, after hesitating for a few seconds, he took it. After a handshake, Mike continued.

"William, nice name, uh... Can I call you Will?" Will nodded. After all, that was how they referred to him around him. Mike smiled, looking calmer, but it didn't last long. "Okay Will, well, I hope you don't mind that I came over to talk to you, maybe I interrupted you, or you were waiting for your friends and I messed up." Mike mumbled.

"Ah..." Mike looked concerned as Will looked down, dejected. "I don't have any friends. You haven't interrupted anything." He assured him, shrugging his shoulders. "Maybe you're meeting yours, in which case I can leave...."

"No! No!" He interrupted him. "I don't have any friends either, I was hoping that, perhaps, you would want to be my friend."

"Me?" He questioned, incredulous. "Why?"

"Yes! You. I don't have a why, I just want to be your friend. It's like... I don't know, seeing you here something made me want to talk to you." Realizing what he had blurted out, he wanted to rectify himself. "Erm, better forget about that last one, I've got a lot of games! You can come to my house later if you want. Ah, wait, you still haven't answered me, maybe you don't want to..."

"No." He interrupted this time. Then he went on, smiling sideways. "Yes, I want to be your friend."

"Ah! Well then." Although the other boy's eyes were jet-black, as black as the surrounding darkness, he could see a gleam in them. A gleam that Will had never seen in anyone else. He had a starry sky drawn both on his cheeks and in his gaze. "Do you want to come to my class?" he suggested. I saw a seed grow out of a plastic cup with cotton wool in it earlier. I think the teacher forgot it on the table."

"Really?" Will asked, incredulous.

There was a brief silence, in which the two of them stared at each other, as if neither of them really knew how it had been so easy to make a friend. Will looked reflective. Mike just perplexed, in a good way, cheerful. Wheeler was the first to come out of his trance, getting off the swing with a determined expression.