Heartbroken//Mileven

Chapter 20

Mike shot awake hearing a scream in the distance. It sounded like Nancy, but terrified of something, almost like someone were forcing her to scream. 

Dustin sits up with a twig in his hair, and for the first time in a while, the whole group laughs.

 It felt good to finally have some of the tension in his chest released, but the darkness was always there. It had always been there. 

It started in about second grade when he first felt it. Crushing, squeezing the will to simply live out of him.

 It started when he became to object of Troy, always taking the brunt of everything. It became too much to handle, he stopped going to school. The stress and he torment was finally getting to  him, he started to believe all of the things they said to him.

His parents were extremely worried because a once talkative and happy child had become this knot of hopelessness. They didn't know how to fix it.

 He was put on medications, he was put into programs, but nothing seemed to work. He stopped eating, his skin grew paler with every passing day, and the staff of whatever hospital had admitted him at the time had to keep anything he could harm himself with away. 

Then he met Lucas. Lucas had been in for examination, but the two had by chance found each other and instantly clicked. 

You could say that Mike found happiness again, making new friends and finding a purpose in life, but that doesn't mean the darkness disappeared. 

He wanted it to, but he had to let go first, he needed help but he just never wanted it.

 He snaps out of it as El grabs his hand, "Blood" she whispers. "What?", "Blood!" Mike looks down and realizes that he scratched too hard, his fingers, his arm; they were covered in blood.

 A roar sounded in the distance, and Nancy fell through the bushes; grabbing Mike she ran, and everyone ran after them.

Johnathan hadn't slept for weeks. Will had been missing with four other kids, Hopper hadn't visited since last Monday, so that meant his mom had gone absolutely insane. 

She smoked way more than two packs a day now, and she often would talk to herself when there was no one in the room and she thought he couldn't hear her.

It killed him to see her this way, but he couldn't help, and she'd refused anything else. He began to work three jobs everyday to support them, never quite getting enough.

 He wanted to go to collage with all of his heart, NYU already accepted him, but he couldn't leave his mom. He had to take medical leave until September, meaning he was missing their pre semester program. 

He walked into the kitchen and saw her sleeping in the table. She was drinking again, and way too much for one night judging by the bottles around the floor.

 He sighed and cleaned everything up, starting to make breakfast. 

He ate and left for his first shift in the city four hours away. He carefully closed the door so she wouldn't wake up, and left for his long day of work. 

Driving down the road he stop short of a child right in front of him, and he gets out. The child grabbed his hand and pulled him into the woods, adding another victim to the army.