One (A Stranger Things Fanfiction)

Chapter Two - Will's Nighttime Thoughts

Will hated this time of year.

There had been a time when Halloween had been his favourite holiday. But now, it was simply the time of year when horrible things happened to him.

First, he had spent a nightmarish week trapped in the Upside Down, which was an experience from which he doubted he would ever fully recover.

A year later, he had become trapped inside his own mind as the Mind Flayer itself took over his body.

Bad things did not happen to him every year, and sometimes the Upside Down would attack at other times in the year. But this was the time that he would always associate with that terrifying place and the attacks that always seemed centred around him.

In some ways, he was glad that his mother had married Hopper. That meant that Eleven was now down the hall from him (in the room that had been Jonathan's until he'd recently married Nancy and moved out). She could kill Demogorgons with little more than a thought. However, he found her haircut and her tattoo incredibly disturbing. She'd recently buzzed off all of her hair again (although, at seventeen, nobody would mistake her for a boy now), and that just brought back too many unpleasant memories for Will.

There was one experience which Will had never been able to tell anyone about, something that had occurred during his week trapped in the Upside Down.

At that point, he'd been trapped in trapped in the Upside Down for four days. He was starving, parched, cold, lonely, and terrified out of his mind. So far, he'd done well at hiding from the lone Demogorgon that hunted him relentlessly, but with no food or water, his energy was waning, and the cold and the dark didn't help much.

Late in the afternoon, he finally collapsed.

Suddenly, there was a girl, a young woman, no more than twenty, hovering over him. Her hair had been buzzed off, and she was dressed only in a hospital gown.

"Four?" she asked hopefully.

She touched his cheek, and suddenly, he felt his strength and energy returning. He was still hungry and thirsty, but he no longer felt as if he was dying.

"How did you do that?" Will asked. "Wait a minute! You're bleeding!" he exclaimed noticing the blood trickling down from her left nostril.

The young woman wiped the blood from her face with her hand, and then looked at Will carefully. Then her face fell.

"No..." she said sadly. "Not Four. Too young. Hair is too long. Eyes are wrong..."

Will noticed that she had a very choppy way of speaking, as if it was an activity that was largely unfamiliar to her.

"Who are you?" asked Will.

In answer, she showed him the tattoo on her wrist.

001.

"How did you get here?" asked Will. "Where did you come from? Do you know how to get back?"

Suddenly, he heard the roar of the Demogorgon off in the distance.

"Come on!" said Will. "I know where we can hide!"

He led her to the fort that he and his brother had built in the woods. As they hid there, they heard the Demogorgon's rapidly approaching footsteps. Through a crack in the boards, Will could see the Demogorgon come to a stop not far from the fort.

He really hoped that nothing would draw its attention to their hiding place.

One suddenly made a move, as if she wanted to jump up and run for it, but Will grabbed her wrist and frantically shook his head. She reluctantly settled back down, but that small movement had been enough to get the Demogorgon's attention. It slowly started to move towards the fort. Will fought the panic that was rising within him.

But just then, Will heard the bleat of an unfamiliar animal that had also blundered into this terrible place, and the Demogorgon took off after the sound.

"What were you doing?!" hissed Will when the monster had gone.

In response, One simply said: "I could have killed it."

Will suddenly shuddered as he heard the dying cries of the poor, unfortunate animal that was now little more than the Demogorgon's supper.

"I hate this place!" said Will, tears springing to his eyes. "I want to go home!"

One looked at him thoughtfully for a moment or two, then finally, she said, "You are not Four, but I will help you. I can take you to Papa..." Suddenly, she trailed off.

"You know a way to get home?!" asked Will, hopefully. "Where is it?"

"A bad place..." said One, trailing off again.

"Worse than here?" asked Will.

One thought for a long moment, then finally said, "No."

"Then let's go!" said Will.

They ran on through the woods, eventually slowing down to save their energy.

"Where are you taking me?" asked Will. "Are there any Demogorgons there?"

"There were," said One, "but I killed them."

Just as Will was wondering how such an obviously sickly person as One could possibly kill multiple Demogorgons, a Demogorgon burst out of the bushes and roared at them.

But it was not the same Demogorgon that had been hunting Will.

This one had darker flesh and a yellow streak across its face.

"Run!" shouted One, pushing Will up the hill.

Will ran, but turned around to see what was happening.

One took on what almost looked like a karate stance, and she appeared to be trying unsuccessfully to light a lighter.

Then the Demogorgon was upon her.

One tilted her head back and met Will's gaze.

"Save yourself!" she shouted.

Then the creature sank its many jaws into One's neck, and One uttered a scream that would haunt Will's nightmares for years to come.

Then there was a fiery explosion.

Will just barely managed to get over the hill in time. When he looked back, there were burning embers everywhere, but no sign of One or the Demogorgon.

Will moved back to the spot where they had been, and while the air around the spot appeared to be a bit distorted, there was nothing to indicate that a girl or a monster had ever even been there.

Not knowing what else to do, Will ran back the way he had come in order to attempt to communicate with his mother again.

He wondered if he would ever be able to speak of what had just happened.

He wondered if he would ever get home.

Will pulled himself out of these horrible memories, trying to remind himself that he was not in the Upside Down, but at home, in his warm bed, with his mother and stepfather just down the hall, his stepsister in the next room, and his best friend, Mike, asleep on his floor.