Say Anything | Steve Harrington |

Ch. 23 Yes Or No

November 1st, 1984
Hawkins Middle School

"What's happening? What's wrong with him?" Mike asked me as he tried shaking Will out of his episode, something that had little effect on the boy. His eyes remained rolled back, eyelids fluttering open and shut rapidly.

"I-I don't know..." I stuttered, wracking my brain to understand what had caused this, it'd all happened so fast. Mom had told us the signs and triggers to look out for if he were to have another episode but none of them were like this; this was something different.

The group had found Will and me in the middle of the field after hearing the commotion from the school entrance, Lucas was the first to jump into action, running back up to the school to find or call for help, leaving Mike and I behind to watch over and try to wake Will.

"Will? Will!" Mike tried again, practically yelling in Will's ear but he remained frozen in place, his form rigid and shaky while his hands were clenched into tight fists. The sound of running footsteps pulled our attention away from Will and back up the hill as we turned to find Dustin, Lucas, Mom, and the new girl running toward us.

"I- I'm sorry, I don't know what happened... He was fine one second but I think he's stuck- I can't wake him up!" I yelled to Mom as she stood in front of him, placing her hands on the side of his face. "Will! Will!" She yelled in his face but that did nothing. "Will, it's Mom!" She yelled again.

Nothing. Not a sound, not a flinch was pulled from Will as she grasped onto his shoulders tightly, shaking him in gently in his place. "Will, please wake up!"

Nothing.

"Will, please! It's me, it's Mom..." She yelled one last time before finally, his eyelids shot open revealing his green eyes, taking in a deep breath as if he'd been holding it in all this time.

"Oh my God..." Mom let out as she pulled him into a hug while the rest of us slowly let out a sigh of relief. "Are you okay?" I asked, kneeling next to them as Mom let the boy out of her death grip. "I think... I think so..." He whispered as he looked around us, still scared of whatever he had seen. Whether they were memories of that place or not, he was still noticeably shaken.

"Come on, let's get you home." Mom whispered to him, wrapping an arm around his shoulder and walking him to her car. "Nell, where's Jonathan?" She asked as we made our way up the hill, leaving the party alone to discuss what had just happened and continue their search for Dart.

"Oh, I-uh. I don't know." I stated, opening Will's door for him as he carefully slid into the front seat. "What do you mean, you don't know? How do you not know?" She questioned, squinting her eyes as she closed the door for Will. Turning towards me, she crossed her arms and gave me the look.

The dreaded Joyce Byers look that meant no matter the answer you gave her, you'd be suffering some sort of consequence.

"How am I supposed to know?" I tried as I walked past her and towards the rear passenger side. "And what does it matter? I can watch Will by myself. Or am I not good enough?" I questioned with a frown, crossing my arms tightly over my chest as I looked at her to find that she had followed me around the car.

"You know that's not what I meant... It's just... He talks to you, he tells you things he wouldn't tell me." She said moving in front of the car door as I reached for the handle. "Not like before." I muttered, and instead of responding, she stared down at me for a few seconds before looking back at Will who watched us from inside the car with wide eyes. "We're talking about this later." She muttered before moving to the drivers side door and sliding into the car.