Just Friends - Byler

XX

Will tilted his head up, a light peeked through a dusty, broken window. Oh God, This can't be. Will shot his eyes open, light from the crack blinded him and he moved against the wall, peeling wallpaper tore off as he slid down to the creaky wooden floor. He sobbed into his hands. This can't be real. He choked on his words, calling out for his mom desperately.

"Please, no, no, no." He stood up and paced around the room, "MOM!!" He called out again. A flying creature, bat-shaped, flew head-first into the broken window. A cracking sound was heard then the bat knocked unconscious and fell onto the pavement down below.

Wills vision was blurry and his nose was runny. His throat was dry, and his lips were cracked. It felt like he'd gone weeks without water. Months without food. "Mom!" He tried again.

"Wake up!" A gentle voice spoke, almost like an echo in a cave the voice filled the room, running ear to ear like an 8D audio.

"He's not waking up..." Was that Jane?

"Ma'am is everything okay here?" Will searched around the room, hoping to find an opening, a way out. The voices echoed throughout the room. The floor creaked beneath the boys feet as he paced from wall to wall.

"Will honey." He felt a hand touch his back. He turned around. Everything went dark but the silhouette shaped into a person stood in front of Will. The face was hard to make out, but he knew something was wrong, it was not his mom, or his sister.

"Will honey." Joyce repeated. A second hand was placed on Wills shoulder, he couldn't move. He couldn't breathe. The silhouette disappeared from its spot and he turned around, it was behind him now. It reached out its hand to Wills face and-he woke up?

"Oh thank god!" Joyce smiled, relieved after thinking all horrible things. What if he died? She was anxious like that.

"We're here. Are you okay?" Eleven held out her hand for Will to grab. He placed his hand in hers, still not sure if this was a dream he was having or not.

Joyce set her hand on the back of Will to lead him off the plane. He jumped, still startled from the memories of his nightmare. He wasn't sure if he could ever call whatever that was a dream. Joyce gave a puzzled look and slowly removed her hand from his back.

"Sorry." Will whispered and they all went to collect their luggage. Eleven grabbed all of her overpacked bags and lugged them to her side, they looked almost too heavy to carry. Will would've offered to help carry some of her bags but, he wasn't so sure after he already hasn't been feeling too great.

"We're going this way Will, we can't just leave the car!" Joyce smiled and waved over towards the exit where they parked their car.

"Oh yeah, sorry." Will rubbed his eyes and followed Jane and his mom out the doors and into the car. Joyce packed their bags into the trunk and backseat after there wasn't enough room.

"Will, are you okay?" Eleven asked again, not getting an answer from earlier. Will looked a her, his head was still pounding ever since they took off.

He thought that maybe it was just a headache and it would be over. He thought maybe he was just stressed about having to leave everyone in Hawkins all over again. He already knew it wasn't safe, why would he not warn them before he left?

He's sick, twisted. He's a horrible person and friend for not telling anyone. Fuck, fuck, fuck. He needs to go back. He needs to go warn his friends. Won't summer break come any sooner?

"Yeah, I'm fine." He lied, and El knew that. She didn't say anything, just nodded and proceeded to look out of the car window.

Will felt guilt pinch at his stomach, he felt sick. He's gotten way too good at lying ever since this has all happened. If this were before, he would've never lied to anyone about something so serious. He pinched the skin on his fingers, to the point where they became irritated and the skin started to break. Blood trickled down his finger, he didn't care, he continued to pinch at the skin.

Tears welled up in his eyes and his nose felt like he had been punched continuously by someone with super-human strength. The blood dripped onto his T-shirt and he wiped it from above his upper lip. He thought this would be over. He thought that as soon as he got to Lenora again, he wouldn't feel like complete shit. He was wrong.

Joyce stopped at a gas station. "Does anyone want anything?" She looked into the rearview mirror, horror shot into her eyes like she had just seen a dead person come back alive. "Your bleeding Will!" Joyce put her car in park and got out of the front seat.

She opened up the cars back door and held up Wills hands and face in both of her hands. "If you are dealing with anything, you can tell me!" She cried out. "I thought we talked about this...talking about your feelings?" She tried to refresh his memory. He did nothing but look down at his shoes.

"I'm sorry." He spoke.

"Hey, hey, what did we talk about? No sorry's allowed." Joyce warmly smiled, her eyes lined themselves with tears.

"Sorry-I mean, yeah." Will corrected himself and took his hands away from his moms. "I'm okay." He smiled and Joyce closed the car door to pump gas into the car.

"Why do you lie?" Eleven glared at Will as soon as the door closed. She furrowed her eyebrows in an angry, annoyed manner. "Friends don't lie."

"Yeah? Well, we're family now, and family lies. All. The. Time." Will paused in between words, mostly for a dramatic effect. "It's just another thing to get used to." He muttered. Eleven opened her mouth, wide-eyed. She continued to look at Will in shock before giving up and going back to staring out the car window. "Just-stop asking, okay? I'm not ready yet."

word count: 1073
time written: December 9, 3:50 AM

A/N:
I'm tryna be poetic here. HELP. I mean, it's clearly not working but it fills up space. 🤷🏻‍♀️ I also forgot to post this. I wrapped so many gifts for my younger siblings last night!! 😭