I, Will Byers, Am Not a Victim

Chapter 12: An Unexpected Visit

One good thing about being unable to sleep is that you get extra time in the day. During that time, I drew to keep myself occupied. I drew the images from my dreams in accurate detail. The drawings turned out more accurate than I had expected, so much so that it was giving me flashbacks. Perhaps this was a good thing, as this might give me some clues on what I need to do in my search for the truth.

I stuffed those drawings in my backpack so that my mother would not see them. She has liked my drawings, but I didn't want her to know that I was still having these dreams, or what I was planning to do. It's not that I didn't trust her, but I didn't want her to stress about me after everything that's happened to me.

"Good morning honey!" Mom said cheerfully.

"Hi Mom," I responded, trying to hide the fact that I'm having trouble again in my voice.

"I thought I heard you last night," she responded.

"Oh yeah," I reply. "I woke up at 4:30 and couldn't get back to sleep. I'm probably just wound up after last night, but I'm okay now.By the way, I'll be getting home late tonight. I have AV club."

"I thought those were on Wednesdays," she responded.

"Yeah.We scheduled this one for today because we have a project that we need to work on," I lied. My actual plan involved going over to Hopper's cabin to speak with. I was pretty sure that she was the girl in last night's dream, and that she must know something. I hated lying to my mom, but I couldn't tell her the truth. Not yet, at least.

The day at school went surprisingly smooth. Troy was absent since he was healing from his injuries from the previous day, and no one could prove that Mike and I had anything to do with it. He was the biggest cause of stress for me while I was at school, so when he was absent, I could relax a little. I spoke to my friends, and they didn't suspect that I was having problems either.

After the school day ended, I biked to Hopper's cabin. It wasn't too far away, but it was a long trip on bike. I couldn't ask for a ride without giving myself away, so that was my only choice. My mind wandered during the trip. I wondered what Eleven was doing there, who that man was, and what it all meant. Perhaps, it explained my bad luck over the past two years. Maybe there was a reason why creatures from the Upside Down keep targeting me.

As I arrived, I saw a man that is all too familiar to me sitting outside, smoking a cigarette.

"Hey kid," he greeted me. "Mike's not here right now. Why don't I give you ride home? You shouldn't bike out here. It's too far."

"Actually..."I hesitated. "I'm not here for Mike. I'd like to speak with Eleven, if that's okay with you."

"What," he responded as he put out his cigarette. He looked genuinely shocked to hear me way that. "I guess so. She's inside, watching TV." Even though the whole party had reconnected with her, only Mike had been in contact with her, considering the fact that she was still in danger of being discovered.

"Well, here she is," Hopper said to be as he lead me into the house."Don't take too long, or your mother will worry. God knows I don't need her blowing up my phone again," he remarked with a chuckle as he left the room.