Say Something I'm Giving Up On You

The Shadow Monster

The next day, Will was sitting in his room looking like he was void of any emotion. Joyce saw this and she called Hopper to see if he could come over. Everyone else was in the living room, eating breakfast, since they had all stayed the night. Lucas, Dustin, and Rey had all called their parents to tell them that they were okay and that they just needed to help a friend. Mike knew that when Hopper would come over, Nancy would come over so he could explain it to her then.

Joyce came out of Will's room, looking like she had just seen the Demogorgon again. She started opening all the windows in the house, making everyone confused. It was starting to get cold in the house due to the windows being opened and everyone was shivering.

"Uh, Mrs Byers? What are you doing?" Dustin asked.

Joyce stopped what she was doing to look at the others. "It's Will. He wants it cold in here. I don't know why though," she said. "I think it has something to do with his episode he had last night, but I'm not sure. I want him to be okay, so I'm doing this to help him feel better."

Rey shot looks at Mike, 007, 009, and 010, showing them that she was worried. Then she looked back at Will's mother and stood up. "I'll go see what's up. Mike, come with me," she said. Then she and Mike went into Will's room, where they saw him sitting on his bed, facing away from them, and shirtless. The two slowly walked over to him to not startle him and Mike sat down next to him while Rey sat on the chair by his desk.

Mike put a hand on his shoulder. "Hey buddy. How are you feeling?" He asked. Will shrugged in response and looked down. "Are you okay? Why do you want it cold in here? What happened last night?" Mike asked. 

Will looked up at him with an emotionless look. "He likes it cold. I have to do what he says. I can feel him everywhere and I can see things that he sees and feel things that he feels," he explained in a hoarse sounding voice.

"Who's he? Will, who is telling you this stuff?" Mike asked, rubbing his shoulder.

Will didn't respond, instead he was looking down. Rey looked over to his desk and saw a drawing that interested her. She picked it up and examined it. It was of a giant creature with red lightning surrounding it and it was overlooking the town. She looked back over at Will and held up the drawing to him.

"Is this 'he'? Did you see this last night?" Rey asked him in a gentle voice.

The young boy started trembling at the drawing. "Y-Yes. I tried to make it go away. But he got me. I can feel him everywhere! Everywhere! I'm so scared! I want this to be over! I want the Shadow Monster to go away!" He said, starting to cry a bit. Mike rubbed his back in comfort and looked over at Rey with worry.

Rey sighed and put a hand on his knee in comfort. "We're going to do something, okay? We'll figure this whole thing out," she said.

"We promise you Will," Mike added.

Joyce then came back in and saw Will crying. She went over to her son and pulled him into a hug. Hopper soon entered the room and sat near where Rey was sitting. Rey and Mike decided to leave the adults with Will so they left the room, taking the drawing with them. They went back into the living room, and they saw that Nancy had joined everyone in the living room. When she saw Mike, she stood up and went over to hug him.

"Mike where were you?! When I woke up and you weren't there, I became worried!" She exclaimed.

"I'm sorry. I just had to talk to Rey about something to do with the lab. I didn't mean to make you worried," Mike exclaimed.

Once they let go, Rey and Mike went outside through the back door. They walked into the small shed and Mike grabbed a blindfold that was in there. Then he sat down on the stool and took the drawing of the Shadow Monster. Rey sat down in front of him and gave him a worried look.

"You sure you want to do this? It could be weird and frightening," she asked.

Mike nodded, looking determined. "I'm sure. I know I can do this," he reassured. Rey nodded at him as he put on the blindfold and focused on the Shadow Monster while clutching the drawing of it. When he opened his eyes, he was back in the void. He looked around a bit before seeing the giant monster. Mike took a deep breath, reassuring himself that the monster couldn't see him or hurt him, and walked over to it slowly.

He could almost hear whispering coming from it, but Mike couldn't tell what it was saying. It seemed to be overlooking something, but the boy couldn't tell what. Suddenly, it disappeared into thin air, making Mike jump and start to freak out a bit. He looked around again, trying to find it but he couldn't find the monster. 

But he saw something else that made his eyes widen.

Mike saw a small figure far away from him that looked familiar. When he got closer, he realized that it was El. His eyes widened as he ran over to her. He could see her screaming for help while crying. Mike couldn't help but tear up when he saw her. He knew that if he touched her, she would fade away so he just stood by her.

"El?!" He said.

El stopped crying out for help as she turned to look at him. "Mike! Upside Down! Shadow Monster! Others like me! Help!" She cried.

"El, slow down! What's going on?" Mike asked, panic in his voice.

"I'm in the Upside Down! Papa and others like me brought me here! I don't know where I'm the Upside Down! Will's in trouble with the Shadow Monster! I saw! The others like me are after you!" El said, crying again. "You have powers now so they want you!"

Mike gasped in shock at what she said. "El, I'm going to help you! I'll find you! We'll also help Will and stop whoever is coming! I promise you!" He said.

"Promise?!"

"Promise!

"I need you Mike! I love you!"

"I love you too El! I'm coming!"

That was when Mike woke up panting for breath.