~ Byler I One Shots ~

3

Chapter's playlist:

"American Pie" by Don McLean
"So Far Away" by Carole King
"All I Want" by Joni Mitchell
"The Boys of Summer" by Don Henly
"Changes" by David Bowie

Chapter Text

Will Byers knows one thing or two about change.

Life changed when he was haunted by some nightly creature in the middle of the night on his way home, until it materialized in a monster with a gaping mouth, and before he could even knew what had happened, he awoke somewhere that eerily resembled home but lacked any of its warmth.

Life changed when the waken nightmares that would catch him at the most unsuspecting moments turned out to be a tangible shadowy representation of his worst fears materialized right in front of him, taking control and possession of his own body and will.

Life changed when he watched with his feet rooted to the earth core as everyone around him grew up and moved on with their lives, leaving him with the few lingering tendrils of fleeting memories deteriorating as he clung to them with sore fingers.

Life even changed, for better and for worse, when his father became just a mere phantom of echoed screams bouncing off the walls and the sporadic hushed sounds of glass and ceramic shattering against brick walls, and a guilty sense of relief washing over him.

Moving to the other side of the country, far away from everything and everyone he has ever known besides his family it's just another change in a long list of changes.

"Can you help carrying that box upstairs?" El asks him.

That is another change— he has a sister now.

He still isn't sure how to feel about that.

"Sure", he replies and proceeds to grab the box laying by the side of the entrance doorframe.

There is a strange tension between him and El. There is probably some strange tension between her and Jonathan as well, now that he thinks about it. During those three months, after Hopper died and Dr. Owens practically sent them to solitary confinement and isolated them from all their friends, she glued herself to his mother like a silent shadow. Even during their two-day trip between Hawkins and Lenora Hills, they didn't talk more than a couple of formal and polite 'good mornings' and 'good nights'.

He thinks that he count with one hand the amount of clipped sentences they have exchanged to each other; they probably never shared an actual conversation, and now they have been exiled to the other side of the country, away from the people that actually know them, and forced to act like they are a family to the students and teachers of Lenora Hills High School when they are barely a step over mere acquaintances.

Maybe they would know how to live with each other if she and Mike hadn't spent six months swapping spit with each other instead of inviting the whole Party over to Hopper's cabin, that treacherous voice in the back of his mind tells him. He tightens the hold on the box he is carrying— he will not be the kind of person that gets jealous and bitter because his friends are too busy hanging out with their girlfriends to spare a day with him. Well, not anymore at least. There is no point in acting like a child and cling to an argument that occurred months ago when there are two thousand and forty-eight miles separating them now.

It seems like a lifetime ago. He feels like he has lived through too many lifetimes in one already.

Besides, there are some changes he never wanted to face, and he has realized that he doesn't have to face them as long as he can force them out of his mind. If he has no choice but to deal with another change in his life, then that means he can choose what to bring with him. If he desires to leave some things in the past, like everything that happened last summer, he plans to do so.