𝙢𝙤𝙣𝙖 𝙡𝙞𝙨𝙖 𓆩♡𓆪 𝙣𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙮 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙚𝙡𝙚𝙧

BOO !

death was one thing that terrified mae byers. infact, she often wondered how she would die. when would she die? would it be after her siblings, or before? perhaps it would come early and she would die before her own mother did? it all played a major part in her anxiety, which constantly put her on edge. the weight of mortality hung heavy on her mind, making everything seem dark even on the simplest moments of the day. each second of the day seemed to echo with a reminder of life's fragility. despite this, mae still managed to be the brightest girl she could be. atleast she tried.

these thoughts caused mae's eyes to flutter open. well, that and her mom's voice echoing across the hall.

"will??" she heard her shout as she got closer to her room. mae propped herself up against her creaky, worn headboard just as her mom swung the door open.

"have you seen will??" her mom asked, clearly distressed in her work uniform. slowly rubbing her eyes, mae let out a groan.

"did you try the bathroom??" she mumbled, offering a sleepy suggestion. without a word, her mom just shuts the door and rushes off toward the bathroom.

"guess that's a no.." mae mutters to herself. dragging herself out of bed, she shuffles her way to the kitchen.

mae snags an egg from a plate on the counter and tosses it into her mouth. "you do know that wasn't yours." jonathan argues. she grins.

"well, it is now. isn't it??" she replies with a chuckle before taking a seat at the old wooden dining table.

"did mom ever find will??" mae asks, jonathan shrugs.

"uh.. i dont know. i think she went to check the bathroom." just as those words left his mouth, joyce appears from the hall with will beside her in his ghostbusters costume, both with a huge grin on their faces.

"hey, look at you!" jonathan exclaims. mae smiles.

"you look great!" she adds in before giving a ruffle in his hair. jonathan grabs a camera out of his bag.

"here, come here." he motions to a corner in the living room as he snaps a few photographs of will. mae felt a wave of happiness wash over her. after everything that went down last year, her main wish was for will to be happy. seeing him do so much better now was all she ever needed.

✮ ✮ ✮

despite being a huge horror fan, mae never really did much on halloween. most of the time she'd just stay at home alone watching 'a nightmare on elm street'. but she wanted that to change this year, although she wasn't sure how. from her favorite book, 'the shining' by stephen king, came with the quote, 'monsters are real, and ghosts are real too. they live inside us, and sometimes, they win.' and that last sentence in particular sent chill's down her spine. her lack of participating in halloween activities mostly had to do with her fear of, well, everything. mae had a huge belief in the supernatural, so ghosts were without a doubt real. zombies, vampires, anything you could think of, in mae's mind, was real. especially with everything she had seen last year.