NO SURPRISES --- Steve Harrington

CHAPTER TEN.

- INTERROGATE
- luneetoilex

"YOU CAME,

YOU CALLED."

   AMELIA SAT IN THE SHADOWS, facing the unconscious boy tied to a chair. His head drooped and the bright light opposite him bleaching his hair lighter. The Chief shook the container of ammonia before soaking the cotton ball in it and holding it to Will's nose. The boy shot awake with a gasp, instantly on edge.

  "What? What? What is this?" He yelled, thrashing around in his chair. The post he was tied to creaked. Mike laid a reassuring hand on her shoulder and Amelia wished for Steve. "Why am I tied up?" He roared, pulling against his restraints.

   "Will, honey, we just want to talk to you." Joyce's voice was gentle, calming the agitated boy. "We're not going to hurt you."

   "Where am I?" He asked, calmer but still on edge. Amelia gripped her seat a little tighter. Will couldn't find out where they were.

   "You recognise this?" Hopper held up a drawing, Amelia could see the outline of a spider-like shape pushed into the paper. "Do you recognise this?" She pulled the police chief back by his arm, the angry tone wasn't going to help them. Will's haunting brown eyes were trained on Amelia.

   "Hey, we wanna help you," Joyce laid a hand on Wills knee. "But to do that we need to understand how to kill it."

   With the mention of 'killing it', Will began a fit, screaming to let him go. Amelia gripped her seat tighter and Mike's fingers dug into Amelia's shoulders. Joyce calmed him into quiet, rubbing his thigh calmingly.

   "Do you know what March 22nd is?" Joyce asked her absent son. "It's your birthday, your birthday." She pushed her finger into his chest, begging for a reaction.

   "When you turned eight, I gave you that huge box of crayons. Do you remember that? It was 120 colours. And all your friends, they got you Star Wars toys, but all you wanted to do was draw with all your new colours. And you drew this big spaceship, but it wasn't from a movie. It was your spaceship. A rainbow ship is what you called it. And you must have used every colour in the box. I took that with me to Melvald's and I put it up and I told everyone who came in, "My son drew this." And you were so embarrassed. But I was so proud. I was so, so proud." Joyce sat with tears in her eyes, begging to see a glimpse of her son in the monster's eyes. Jonathan stepped into the light and Will's dark eyes shifted to him. 

   "Do you remember the day Dad left? We stayed up all night building Castle Byers... just the way you drew it. And it took so long because you were so bad at hammering. You'd miss the nail every time. And then it started raining, but we stayed out there anyway. We were both sick for like a week after that. But we just had to finish it, didn't we? We just had to." Jonathan stood looking defeated, if Will had recognised him, there was no indication. Mike's hand left her shoulder, walking towards the light.