Other Friends

Chapter 15 - Remember When

A plan was underway, cleaning out the shed outback, and making it as unrecognizable as possible was the plan. Will couldn't know where he was when he awoke. Bella refused to enter the shed, the night a year ago flooding back to her as she stared at the door. Her focus was just finding all the plain blankets and tarps around the house so that everyone else could staple them to the walls. The others were looking for cardboard and anything else that would help make the place unrecognizable.

Once it was finished. All the group could do was wait as the adults started by waking Will, the only others in the shed with them were Jonathan and Mike. After a few minutes the lights began to flicker throughout the house. Then they stopped.

"What do you think is going on?" Steve questions, leaning on the wall next to Bella as the others go to the kitchen window to see the shed lights also flickering.

She shrugs, "Will... or that thing, is panicking probably." she replies, staring at the ground.

He nudges her softly, "You alright? I haven't seen you since we all started clearing out the shed."

Bella looks over at him before looking away again and sighs. "The shed... it-it's where Will and I were before getting pulled into the upside down last year."

Steve's eyes widen, "Oh." he whispers.

"Yeah... oh." she shakes her head, "I just didn't want to freak on all of you so I just..."

"Avoided it, understandable." He finishes her thought. Then he sighs, "Are you okay?"

She looks at him again, her eyes showing surprise, "What do you mean?"

"With everything going on right now... Are you okay? I mean, you dealt with this shit alone last year, and now we're all dealing with it with you. I couldn't imagine how you felt dealing with this alone." he says to her.

She thinks for a moment, staring at him. Why did he care? Why was Steve Harrington of all people asking if she was, okay? "I've been worse, but I'll be fine. So long as we save Will, and get rid of this stupid Mind Flayer." she says with a shake of her head making him scoff at the name. "I- I wasn't alone last year. I had Will. But even with all of us together now, it doesn't change how terrifying all of this is." Bella admits.

Steve looks at her curiously, "Why did you run out of the bus if you were so scared?" he asks, but she doesn't have a response.

The back door suddenly opens, gaining their attention as Hopper enters the room with a few others in tow. Everyone joined together in the dining room. "What happened?" Liz questions seeing how rushed her Uncle was acting, grabbing a paper and pen, and writing something down.

Hopper sighs, "I think he's talking, just not with words." he tells the group as he writes.

"Wait, what is that?" Steve questions, as dots and dashes were written down.

"Morse Code." everyone replies, making him look around bewildered.

"H-E-R-E." Hopper mutters as he decodes it.

"Here." the pre-teens read out.

"Will's still in there. He's talking to us." Hopper tells them and a plan starts to form.

One by one they, if they had a plan to get Will to resurface they did it. Jonathan used music, talking to him about their first time listening to music. Hopper then uses the kids' walkies to transmit what Will was saying to allow them to decode in real time. Mike retold stories of their DnD campaigns, allowing more codes to be sent.

"You should talk to him." Windy tells her friend softly as they sit in the living room away from the working/pacing group in the kitchen.

Bella looks at her, "About what? Babysitting him?" she questions.