𝐇𝐮𝐫𝐭 𝐌𝐞 𝐀𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧 ; 𝘉𝘺𝘭𝘦𝘳

𝟏𝟑.

8 months ago...
5 days after the accident

Will sniffled softly to himself, staring out his window into the woods, watching for the tiniest movement in the trees. The faintest growl emitting from the pine. Waiting for the monster to finally show.

"Will, honey?" Joyce knocked on the door softly, her son granting her permission to enter. She creaked the door open slightly, and spoke again. "Why don't you go visit Mike today? I bet he misses you."

"I-I know...but I can't see him like that. And what if Troy's there? It's just too much—"

"That's really selfish. When you needed him he ran over here to comfort you. And now when he almost lost his life your keeping your distance?"

The truth was, he didn't want to trigger the voices again. He didn't like hearing them, and seeing the bad things they could make him do was enough for him to want to distance himself even from Mike. He wanted to protect him. There was no telling how their bipolar asses would take seeing him.

"I can't alright!" He yelled, shocking both himself and Joyce. Then the boy lowered his tone, his voice cracking when he said, "I'm sorry but I just can't."

Just then, he felt the goosebumps harden on the back of his neck. He was there.

"I'm gonna take a walk..."

Will passed by his mother, the woman still baffled by his peculiar behavior. She could feel this wasn't him, but how could she say that? He could simply just be having a bad day today. At least she hoped that's all it was.

He fought the breeze brushing against his skin and without a jacket, trudged his way through the wilderness, meeting it at the same spot it always is. Near the smallest tree. Will had only done this a couple of times, first meeting the monster early in freshman year, unsure of where it came from at first. But it has to have something to do with his father. It always does.

First it was creepy, but he knew it wasn't real. Like a hallucination it was in his head, the real monsters disguising themself as something disturbing.

"Stop following me around." He started every conversation with, although they never listen and seem to pop out randomly to put their input in. And then other times they're triggered by emotions. Emotions Will wish he could turn off sometimes.

"Where do you come from."

Whispers arise from the monster's flower-like mouth. Which was more than he got most days. They only wanted to talk when he couldn't see them.

"Why'd you choose me?"

They subtly swayed their head back and forth, possibly talking to each other.

"Can I get rid of you?"

And Will swore he heard the tiniest "Yes." come from one of them. Giving him hope that lasted longer than it should've, especially when they started talking on a regular basis.

Hawkins High | Fri 11:10 AM
Will Byers

Everyday on the way to his own locker, Will passed by what used to be Troy's, now occupied by someone else. He felt wrong for missing his presence, seeing as he should've been relieved to not be bullied anymore, and he literally ran over his boyfriend. But Troy was always just hurting, and what happened with Mike was just an accident.