𝐈'𝐌 𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄 ( mike wheeler )

CHAPTER TWENTY

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐘
a big scary monster

"GUYS, I FOUND HIM." will said into his walkie talkie walking into the last stall of the boys bathroom.

"where!" dustin yelled.

"in the bathroom. by mr. salerno's" will whispered.

"copy that!" mike said and him and makenzie looked at each other before running off. what mike didn't notice was that makenzie started to slow down behind him. makenzie turned around to see the same monster her and will saw on halloween, coming right towards her. she turned a corner, and ran as fast as she could. turning another corner, she saw will, who was also running from the same thing. will ran forward and pushed the school's back doors open, and ran onto the field with makenzie running right behind him.

"come on let's go!" makenzie yelled running ahead of will, noticing he had slowed down. "will? will! come on!" makenzie yelled seeing that will completely stopped and turned around to face the big shadow monster.

"go away." will said staring at the monster, while makenzie watched him trying to get him to keep running. "go away! go away! go away!" will continued to yell getting louder each time. the shadow monster came down onto the field and surrounded will and makenzie like a tornado.

"will." makenzie mumbled before the shadow monster started attaching himself to will. he went through his eyes, and his mouth and nose, and really everything the shadow monster could go through. makenzie stood behind him and watched in horror. why wasn't it getting me? makenzie wondered.

meanwhile mike, max, and lucas ran into the bathroom to see dustin just standing there.

"where's dart?" mike asked.

"i don't know. not here." dustin said.

"will said he was here right?" lucas said.

"wait... where's will and makenzie?" mike said getting a little nervous and looking around.

"shit." dustin and lucas mumbled. the three boys plus max left the bathroom, and ran around the halls looking for makenzie and will.

"will!"

"makenzie!"

"dustin!" joyce byers says walking into the school.

"mrs. byers?" dustin said wondering why she's at the school.

"what's going on? where's will?" joyce said worried for her boy.

"their on the field!" lucas yelled opening the back doors of the school. dustin, max, and joyce byers all ran out the door and onto the field to see will and makenzie standing there still, with their eyes closed. mike was standing in front of makenzie shaking her and trying to wake her up.

"i just found them like this! i think they're having another episode or something." mike yelled getting really worried for makenzie and will.

"will! will! makenzie!" joyce yelled running up to her son and makenzie. joyce put her hands on will's shoulders and shook him the same way mike was shaking makenzie. "sweetie wake up! it's mom! will!"

"makenzie! wake up! please." mike said with tears starting to form in his eyes.

after joyce and mike yelled at will and makenzie to wake up a few more times, the two of them both opened their eyes and gasped at the same time.

"kenz." mike mumbled and wrapped his arms around makenzie's smaller body and pulled her close to him. it took makenzie a few seconds to hug back since she was still in shock from watching what had just happened.

the next day at school, mike was trying to call mrs. byers to see where will was and if he was okay, but it got sent to their voicemail. mike hung up a little frustrated, and walked back over to the party.

"anything?" lucas asked while mike was walking towards.

"we need to talk. AV room. right now." mike ordered. "party members only." he added noticing max was going to come with them.

"come on mike." dustin said.

"no. this is non-negotiable." mike said walking into the school.

"sorry max." lucas apologized.

"yeah. sorry max. mike's like that sometimes as you probably know. but i'll talk to him okay?" makenzie said to max, and max nodded before sitting back down on the stairs.

"do you want to tell them?" mike said to makenzie who hasn't been talking for most of the day. makenzie slowly nodded before she started to talk.

"will and i didn't really want to tell anyone, but on halloween night, w-we saw something in the sky. like a big shadow." makenzie said.

"a shadow? what kind of shadow?" lucas asked.

"i-i don't know. a scary big monster shaped one." makenzie said, then shook her head and chuckled at how childish she sounded. "and we saw it again yesterday. i don't really know what happened, but it looked like it got to will. got... inside of him." makenzie mumbled and the boys all just looked at each other.

"can it hurt him? and you? i mean, if this shadow thing isn't from our world..." lucas asked.

"i'm not sure." makenzie said.

"well, you can't interact with the material plane, so theoretically, no, the shadow can't hurt them." dustin said.

"so what do we do?" lucas said.

"we acquire more knowledge. kenz and i will go to wills after school. see what's going on. you guys stay here and find dart." mike explained, then looked over at makenzie to see if she was up to go to wills. makenzie nodded, and mike smiled before turning his attention back to everyone.

"dart? what does he have to do with this?" dustin asked.

"will and makenzie said they heard him in the upside down. i'm not sure how yet, but he's gotta be connected to all this. maybe if we find dart, we can figure all this out." mike said.