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Chapter 1

Remember When...

Will sat alone in his room. This wasn't anything new. If fact, it was almost normal. It was normal for him to have the door closed. It was normal for him to have some music on. It was normal for him to be at his desk, pencil in hand, looking down at a piece of paper. It was a photo. The last photo ever taken of El. The photo that was taken two days before she vanished, disappeared... died.

He looked at the photo as he subconsciously grabbed a clean piece a paper from the stack on his right. He looked from the picture to the paper and sighed. He had been doing this ever since they had El's funeral. He does this to make sure he remembers. Remember when they had all of those happy memories that have now turned to sad. Remember when he felt like he had a full family for the first time in his life. Remember when he had a sister, a sister that could do the impossible.

He looked back at the photo. Sometimes he doesn't need a photo to draw, he uses his memory when there was no camera around to seal the moment forever with just one click. He had gotten many questions from the party, asking why he drew the moments that were already pictures. The truth is, he does it so he can relive the moment drawing it. Not just when the picture was taken, but what happened just a few moments prior and a few moments after.

He looked at the figures in the photo, it was the party just a few moments before learning they had to run for their lives. They were all in the Byers' living room, smiling... laughing at a joke one of them had just said.

El looked relaxed, happy even. Like she thought she was going to be safe forever. Because for a minute, she thought she was safe. She thought the Brenner was no longer there. Little did she know... little did they know.

Next to El was Mike. He was looking at her with so much happiness, so much life in his eyes. Nowadays, they never shine that bright. And if you looked very closely you see them holding hands. Something that made Will smile knowing how happy they were together. The picture was proof.

On the other side on El was Max. She was in the middle of rolling her eyes at the joke that had just been told. It was lighthearted and happy kinda roll of the eyes. Now whenever she rolls her eyes, they are just annoyed. You could also see she was also trying to hold back a laugh.

Will was on a chair with his head held in his hands, trying to regain his breath. It was the last time he had ever laughed with El. In fact, it was the last time they all laughed with El.

Dustin, who probably was the one who made them all laugh, had a goofy smile on his face. He was just happy to be there with everyone. He is still his happy personality, but it's harder to make others laugh.

Lucas also had a goofy smile on his face. A smile that said, we are okay. We are going to be okay. He was relaxed like El was. In just a few minutes their world would never be as happy ever again.

Will sighed again as he started drawing. He wished he could go back in time and warn them about the dangers that laid ahead. Because maybe, just maybe, if they had a little warning El would be safe. With just a cut on her knees, nothing more.

The more he drew, the more his hand started to shake. Eventually, he had to take a break to try to calm himself down. Again this was normal, whenever this would happen he would go downstairs and get a snack. But this time he didn't. Instead, he looked at the photo with a longing look. There was something about this photo that made him not want to turn away, afraid he would miss something in the picture. He just stared at it for a few minutes until a knock was heard from the door.

"Come in." Will said just loud enough so the person on the other side of the door could hear him through the music and door. He finally looked away from the photo when he heard a squeak from the door, alarming him that someone was coming in.

And that someone was Joyce Byers. Will's mom and El's adoptive mom. She would always come to Will's when she heard music, she knew he would need a little distraction from the drawing.

"Hi sweetie." Joyce said walking over to her son and taking a seat on his bed, which was to the left of his desk.

"Hey." He said returning his gaze back to the photo. Joyce followed his gaze and saw the photo on his desk. She smiled sadly, remembering the moment when the photo was taken.

"You all looked so happy." She said softly, looking to her son to see the corners of his mouth curve up for a second before going back down.

"Yeah." Will replied sadly. "We did."

Joyce looked away from the photo to the other drawings hung up in his room. All of them were Will's memories, something that kept her son going everyday. She smiled again sadly as she looked from drawing to drawing. Seeing the ones she had seen before until her eyes rested on a new one. One she had never seen, but knew about.

The drawing was when the party first found out about El's powers. They were sitting at around table. Everyone's eyes were fixed on the floating silverware, their faces completely in awe. Except for El's, she was focusing on the silverware. And if you looked close enough, you would see a trail of blood coming from her nose.

"Oh my." Joyce sighed as she reach to touch the drawing, careful not to ruin it. "This has to be my new favorite." She turned back to Will with a proud smile on her face.

"It's my second favorite." Will said looking at the drawing too.

"What's your favorite?" She asked softly.

"The wedding one." Will said referring to the day they all became a family. The day that has many drawings on the wall. But the one he talked about was the one where he made her laugh for the first time.

Back then, he didn't know she had powers. Back then, he didn't know someone was after her. Back then, they were family. A full, happy family. Back then, everything was normal.

Why can't everything go back to normal?

Authors note

I wrote this in under an hour. Let me just say, I'm proud. Even though I was depressed during the entire time of writing, I'm proud. 😇

If you guys are wondering when I wrote this, I wrote this when I was working on chapter 19. Fun...

Thank again for reading! Imma go try to finish neighbors now.

Toodles!!