Everything Turned Upside Down

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

M I K E

When Will smiles, every dimension warms up a few degrees and brightens. When Will's scared, upset, or angry, the world seems, to cry, shiver, or frown with him. The sky looked a thousand times foggier when Will looked around, not sure about where he was. Upside down or Downside Up? Although, I couldn't help but smile when Max threw a pinecone at Troy. I looked back down at Will who was still spaced out.

"Are you sure you're okay?" I asked moving down to his level underneath the dugout bench. He nodded.

I couldn't help but be a little worried about him. Offering him my hand to help him up, I accidentally pulled him up with to much force and our faces were inches apart. My breath hitched.

"WILL!" Lucas shouted, running over with Dusty close behind. Will moved around me to greet his other friends. I couldn't help but feel slightly disappointed.

No. Mike, you can't have a crush on him. El needs you.

But I couldn't help but feel slightly attracted to the smaller boy. Not a crush. Just slightly attracted. I walked over to Lucas, Dusty, and Will.

"Will, are you okay? You started mumbling 'Nonono' in class and then took off running. Mr. Clarke freaked!" Dusty blabbered all at once. Will blinked, taking a second to process that information.

"I'm f-fine." Will stuttered.

"Are you sure?" Lucas added.

"Yes. I'm fine. I promise." Will said. It was then when I was the first person out of the four that got the guts to ask him.

"Did you-Did you see The Shadow Monster?" Will froze, his eyes widening, and the uncomfortable silence said it all.

"God damn it." Dusty said, getting the gist also. Dusty's response was met with silence. Confirmation.

"I thought he would be gone once they got him out of me." Will said.

People were slowly starting to lose interest in The Runaway Zombie Boy, and were leaving for their next class.

"I have to get to English." Dusty started, "Ms. Norris is strict on tardies.

"I have art!" Will said, bringing back his famous smile, but it looked forced, his shoulders were almost up to his ears, and tense, as if he were bracing for another episode.

"I also have art." I said backing away, in the direction of the art classroom. Will followed, close behind me. "What exactly did you see?" I asked him.

"W-well, I was in the Upside Down a-and then I ran into the field and there it was. The Shadow monster was in the sky with the red lightning and then the demon dogs... surrounded me. I found an open spot and ran to the dugout. Then you were there." He said holding the door open for me when we finally reached the Art classroom.

"Okay Class! Today is free day! You can draw, paint, or anything, as long as it's art!" Said the extremely peppy art teacher, Ms. Cannon.

I got lost in space doodling random objects.

* * * * * * * *

The Next Day

Will finally convinced his mom to let him ride his bike to school, or I think. He might've hopped on and rode past my house before she could tell him otherwise. I was already heading out of the front door, so I ran to my bike, called his name, and chased away after him. My mom yelled at me through the still-open front door to remember to tell Nancy to remember the eggplant casserole pan that she brought to school. My mom has a weird obsession where she has a pan for every specific type of casserole. I hope she figures out that she doesn't need a different dish for every dish.

I caught up to Will and we started a conversation about which was cooler, Gandalf or Frodo.

"Dude, it's gotta be Gandalf! He can keep off a thousand Orcs just by raising his staff!"

"But Frodo has the better name!" Will obviously needs to get his priorities straight when it comes to powers vs. names.

"But doesn't Frodo sound like a frisbee company?"

"True." 

* * * * * * * * * * *

I was sitting with the Party in science, and Mr. Clarke was expanding our minds by a lecture on how atoms bond. Honestly, I was pretty intrigued. I was staring at the board when Will started to shake suddenly, pupils dilating, trying to absorb as much as possible, despite the constant flashing of the one super-bright light in the back of the classroom. Mr. Clarke abruptly stopped talking when he took sight of Will, but he attempted to cover it up, and me and my friends caught the gist.

"Wow, Mr. Clarke! I didn't know that the only halogen that bonds with Radon is Fluorine!" Dusty tried to direct the attention away from Will and towards his extreme nerdiness.

Will stood up and glanced at the doorway, nervous to exit the classroom. I got a nod from Mr. Clarke and took Will out of the classroom and into the hall. Will sank down the wall and hugged his knees to his chest. I caught a glimpse of the analog clock on the wall and it said 12:14. I looked back at Will as I took note of the time.

"Please don't come. Please don't come." he murmured to himself. He glanced down the hallway and his eyes turned the size of a 50 cent coin. He bolted from his sitting spot and into the cafeteria. I tried to keep up, but when someone's running for their life, and you're not, it's hard.

He opened the window to cafeteria. A horrible thought raced through my head. If he climbs out, alarms will go off and everyone will think there's an intruder. I grabbed him and held him back.

"LET ME GO!!!" He screamed, squirming in my grip, completely frightened. He probably thought I was a Demogorgon.

"LET ME GO!!!" He shouted again, struggling. It was hard to keep him from squirming out despite the height comparison.

Suddenly, I got an idea.

"Lucas! Dustin! Hold Him off from climbing out the window!!" I shouted. Lucas and Dustin ran over and grabbed Will. Will was half paralyzed from fear with 3 Demogorgon's surrounding him. I really want to laugh when Will slapped Dustin's face and left a bright red hand print on his face, as he recoiled. But I didn't. I had to help my friend.

"OW!" Dustin shouted and then quickly grabbed Will again who had almost gotten out the window. 

I ran to the water dispenser and grabbed the whole jug off the top. It was so heavy, I thought my arms were going to fall off. I dragged it over to where Dusty and Lucas were holding off Will and I poured it on his whole body. He quickly dragged his mind back from the upside down. His pupils went back to normal and his posture relaxed a bit.

"What the heck?" His startled voice exclaimed as he looked down at his soaking form. "Why am I all wet?"

"Sorry. That was the only way I could think to bring you back to the down side up." I said.

"I want to go home." He said shivering.

Word Count: 1201