Just Friends - Byler

XIX

"So what were you gonna tell me?" Eleven shoved her suitcase into the trunk along with her (clearly overfilled) backpack.

"Oh um, I just thought that-you were upset with me." Will stuttered.

"No-why would I? I didn't have the best time but I'm not mad!" Jane laughed and put her hand on Wills shoulder to comfort him.

"Oh ok." Will opened up the door so that Eleven and him could get into the back seat. "Do you...still have feelings for Mike?" Will choked out his words.

"Ugh, I'm so over him!" Jane laughed and got into the backseat, Will closed the door behind her as he go in too.

"But, what's been going on with you-like you've been getting all of this weird nosebleeds and you haven't been looking too good the past few weeks we were here..." Jane frowned.

"You know when...before we moved to Lenora- I said I had a headache while we were leaving Hawkins?" Will asked, "I'm scared that it'll happen again."

"You'll be okay, If you feel bad, you can hold my hand." Jane smiled and offered her hand to Will.

"Thank you." Will smiled and his mom opened up the cars front door.

"Okay, we're ready?!" She breathed out and slumped into the drivers seat.

"Yeah-I'm ready." Jane smiled.

"I think we're gonna take the plane back, since this is a rental and all..." Joyce had bags underneath her eyes like she's been packing all night to leave. She looked like she was more stressed about what was going on with Will...she kept glancing over to him every few seconds.

"Mom- I'm fine..." Will kept reassuring his mom. She smiled at him kindly and kept driving.

•••

"I'm so tired!" Jane settled down in her seat on the plane. She buckled up and laid the seat back, to lay down comfortably.

"I think we all are..." Joyce smiled tirelessly at Jane.

The plane took off and Will got a sharp pain in his head, something or someone telling him not to leave. Begging him, pleading him, forcing him to not leave.

"Mom..." Wills vision was wobbly and blurry, he could only see a portion of his moms face...he slurred his words and held onto the side of head, his body threatened to pass out.

"Will honey, what's wrong?" Joyce supported her sons head from falling.

"Mom...I-" Will couldn't finish his sentence before his upper body collapsed onto his moms shoulder. I can't see you...

People from other seats looked over at the boy, concerned expressions plastered along each and every one of their nosy faces. Joyce glared over at a few people and they looked away, threatened by her mean stare.

"Eleven- did Will tell you anything?!" Joyce held her sons head up. She stared at Eleven, eager, desperate for an answer.

"I think we can't leave." Jane watched as horror captivated Joyces face. She should've told her before, warned her. Perhaps it would've been safer if they didn't go back.

It was like a rope was connected to Will from Vecna in the Upside Down and he couldn't get it to cut; like a rope made of spandex. It was as if they were one person, both suffering together, both thinking together, both surviving together, yet apart. Wills head would ache in Hawkins, he's here.

His head would pound, continuously squinting his eyes shut to rid the pain, Will would hold onto his head as if that would ease the pain in a way.

"You can't hide from me, William Byers!" The voice would boom so loud, shaking the walls of Wills head. The clock...that awful ticking, awaiting a loud chime. He kept hearing it...kept seeing it. A large grandfather clock with vines building up the wooden frame.

It would appear in the most peculiar places, inside a tree in the woods, in the Hawkins Arcade wall, out in the Hawkins Middle School field, inside Castle Byers, anywhere you wouldn't expect something so expensive to be.

Millions of black spiders crawl out from the shattered glass in the crack, Will knows he's back. Footsteps creak on the stairs, he's here. It's all an illusion, a mind-trick by vecna. Like everything else the Byers boy had experienced, he hoped this was all in his head and he would wake up as a small little boy, curled up in his bed.

You may think he sounds insane for this but, more than anything, William Byers wanted everything back to the way it was. He wanted to hear his fathers yelling rather than the growling of a Demogorgon or the screams of Vecna awaiting him.

He wanted to hear the laughs of his friends as they played a ten hour D&D campaign made by his best friend Mike, rather than the chimes of a grandfather clock he could never seem to know where it's coming from.

Worst of all, he wanted to feel the pain again, the way he felt after getting locked into his room for coming home from school late because he forgot a book, he wanted to cry again, till his lungs gave out.

He wanted anything more that feeling the headaches dancing through his head, the constant pain in his chest from his beating heart, his throat too dry to let out a glimpse of what should be a cry.

For now, Will lay unconscious on his moms shoulder, the plane too high up to move too much. Will always got motion sickness from planes. A tear slipped from out his senseless eye, what should be a cry for help was only a small squeak from the brunette boys pursed lips.

Joyce ran her hands through her sons hair. She observed her emotions carefully, if anyone was to see her cry, she would be weak. She always told herself to stay strong, for Jane, for Jonathan, for Hopper, for Will most of all. Jane knew the emotions of the women she didn't dare to call mother yet felt the need to.

When sneaking around for midnight waffle extravaganzas, Jane would often hear Joyce in the room closest to the kitchen, sobbing. Her muffled sons made Jane break into a million pieces, she knew exactly how Joyce felt.

After Hopper died, the only kind man she had ever knew died, Eleven was heartbroken and so was everyone else. Eleven would remember herself crying the same way Joyce did just then.

"How much long do we have left?" Joyce stopped the kind lady, commonly handing out salted peanuts.

"We have two hours left ma'am!" The nice blonde lady smiled at Joyce. "Peanuts?" She asked.

"Oh, no thanks." Joyce smiled in disappointment and looked down at her son who was still unconscious.

"We'll be there soon." She whispered down to Will and gave him a kiss on the head, laying hers on top afterwards. She let her eyes drift off into a painfully slow sleep and he breathing calmed.

word count: 1200
time done: December 6, 2022 12:17 AM

A/N:
I'm actually somewhat proud with this omgg!! That's a first. 😭 I'm listening to music, currently: Child Psychology- Black Box Recorder <3