You take the man out of the city, not the city out the man

chapter twelve

  "Hey, Will." I say as I look at Will, who looks frozen. I look at Mike and he shrugs his shoulders slightly before walking towards Will.

I call my mom to tell her I was at Will's place before heading back towards the two.

  The walls are filled with drawings and I look at all them. They're almost like... connecting?

"It's like... it's like I feel what the shadow monster's feeling. See what he's seeing." Will explains as I look at his shirt, the neck stained in sweat.

"Like in the Upside Down?" Mike asks as he looks at the drawings.

"Some of him is there. But some of him is here, too." Will says as I look around the room.

"Here? As in this house?" I ask Will.
"In this house and.. in me. It's like... it's like he's reaching into Hawkins more and more. And the more he spreads, rhe more connected to him I feel." Will explains as Mike and I sit next to him.

"The more you see these... memories." I start as Will cuts me off.
"At first, I just felt it in the back of my head. I didn't even really know it was there. It's like, when you have a dream and you can't remember it unless you think really hard. It was like that." Will says as he touches the back of his neck.

"But now it's like... Now I remember. I remember all the time." Will says with tears rolling down his eyes.

"Maybe... maybe that's a good thing." I say to Will.
"A good thing?" Will asks as he looks at me and I notice his dark eye bags.
"Listen to me, Will. It's like... you're a spy. A superspy. You're spying on the shadow monster. If you see what's he's seeing and you feel what he's feeling... maybe that's how we can stop him." I say as I look around the room.

"Maybe all of this is happening for a reason. So we can stop him."
"You really think so?"
"Yeah. Yeah, I do." I tell Will and I look at Mike, who's looking at Will concerned.

  Will looks over at a corner and I look to see what he's looking at. A drawing of a... monster?

"But, what if he figures out that I'm spying on him? What if... what if he spies back?" Will asks, still looking at the drawing.

"He won't." Mike says confidently.
"How do you know?" Will asks as Mike holds his hand.
"We won't let him."

— the next morning

Mike and I end up sleeping over at Will's, Mike and I sleeping on the ground.

Will wakes up with a gasp, sitting up straight, waking up both me and Mike.

"Will, what's wrong?" Mike asks Will as he stares at us. Will stays silent and I look at Mike.

All three of us go look for Joyce, finding her sitting down on the ground with the phone right next to her.

"Mom?" Will says, Joyce not noticing our presence.

"Mom? Mom." Will says as he touches her shoulder, Joyce finally realizing we're by her.

"Yeah?"
"I saw him." Will says as Mike puts his arm around my shoulder, practically covering me.

"You saw who, baby?"
"Hopper." Hopper? Will didn't tell us what happened, just that we needed to find his mom. Joyce looks at Will confused before he continues.

"I think he's in trouble. I think he's going to die." Will says, whispering the last part.

"Can you draw what you saw?" Joyce asks Will as he nods and goes to his room, grabbing a piece of paper and crayons.

Will sets down the crayon and Joyce looks at the paper.

"Hey, is this where you saw him? Is this where you saw Hopper?" Joyce asks Will as Mike and I take a look at the drawing.