I, Will Byers, Am Not a Victim

Chapter 02: The Mind Flayer Part 1

Around Christmas time, which was a month and a half after my ordeal, I started getting brief flashes of the upside down and then coming back. One time, I threw up a slug. I chose to hide this from my friends and family. I figured that I scared them enough, and that this was a problem I could deal with myself. I was wrong.

This only got worse over time, but I kept it to myself. Brief moments in the upside down got longer, and I noticed a large, terrifying creature with an octopus-like head and four tentacles along with a horrifying storm, turning the sky red. The following Halloween, while trick-or-treating with my friends, I had another episode, worse than the previous ones. I screamed for Mike, but there were no people around, and I was terrified. Before I knew it, it was over, and I was on the ground,holding my knees, cradled with fear.

"Will! What's wrong?! I couldn't find you. Are you hurt? I'm gonna get you home okay" Mike said in a worried tone. He was such a good friend, so when we got back to his house, I told him everything. I thought I was going crazy. He promised me that he wouldn't let the monster get tome, and that if I go crazy, the two of us can go crazy together.

The next day, my mom's boyfriend, Bob, who was driving me to school that day, advised me to stand up for myself. This is something that I have always had trouble with, like when I was being bullied. His advice, while well meaning, did not work out well. Next time I saw the monster, I screamed "go away!" but it made its way inside me, and that was the start of my true hell.

Over the next few days, things only got worse. My mother saw this episode, and when she took me home, I lied, claiming that I didn't remember anything. That's when she made me promise not to keep this a secret any longer. I told her everything, but it was too late. The monster had gotten me, and I was slowly getting possessed. I felt it everywhere, and I couldn't stop it.

My temperature was low, but I couldn't do anything about it, and I developed memories that I never had before. The demon inside of me was slowly taking control, forcing me to keep myself cold. Chief Hopper came over as well, but I couldn't describe what was happening. I could, however, draw it. Using up all of the paper and then some, I drew what ended up being a map of the upside down. I don't even know how I did it, but it was accurate. Mike came over later, but even he couldn't help me.

The next events that happened were so horrifying that it hurts me to even describe it. Somehow, I knew that Hopper was in trouble and where to find him; it's hard to explain how I got that information, but I just knew it. We got there, and I was right. He was saved, but a group of people from Hawkins lab spotted us and used a flamethrower to burn vines from the upside down.

As that happened, my body started burning from the inside as well. I never knew true pain until this happened. I fell to the ground, convulsing, like I was having a seizure, but this was no seizure; all the pain that the creatures from the Upside Down felt, I could feel as well. My mother, Hopper, Bob, and Mike all tried to help me, but there was nothing they could do. This pain felt infinite and eternal. I did not expect to get out of this alive.

Somehow, I made it to the hospital alive. My body temperature went up to 106 and my heart rate sky-rocketed to 222 BPM. At the moment, I could barely see or hear anything, and all I could do was scream at the top of my lungs. They sedated me, offering me some relief for the time being.

By the time I woke up, I felt myself losing control. I don't know how, but I couldn't remember some of the people that I had known, like Hopper, Bob, and Dr. Owens. They tested my memory, and the only people that I recognized where Mom and Mike. I struggled to control myself, but it was becoming increasingly difficult. The demon inside of me, that is referred to as the Mind Flayer, was taking over. He wanted to know where I was and where the doctors were; I tried to fight it, but he got the information out of me. This resulted in the deaths of numerous doctors and scientists; I have been told that this wasn't my fault, but I still can't help feeling responsible.