Will Byers x OFC

Chapter 7: The Nightmare

It was cold. Chills nipped at her bare arms and made her shiver. Pushing herself up off the bed proved futile as she struggled in the sheets, trembling with both fear and the glacial temperature. June could feel her blood running through her veins like ice water and her heart pumped erratically, only serving to make the girl breathe in heavier, bitter air forcing its way down her throat straight to her lungs. She couldn't scream, nor move for that matter, her head being the only body part able to swerve around at the slightest noise. The only noises she was actually able to hear were the sounds of wind and some kind of wet oozing. With a heaved gasp, she desperately pushed herself up by her weak arms and managed to balance herself on her elbows. Too cold and weary to feel triumphant, Juniper shifted again, the weight of her hips too much to bear as she grunted weakly and swung her legs out of the damp blanket.

Pressing her feet against the icy floor, she shivered and attempted to stand, her legs wobbling like jelly and her knees colliding with the hard ground beneath her. Not a sound drifted past her lips as she fell, but she wasn't going to give up just yet. Slamming her palms onto the floor, she dragged/wiggled her way over to the window, staring into the empty void that was her street. The sign showing the name of the lane she lived on was caked in... goop and what looked like moss.

The road was tinted green and specks of dust floated around her, as if sun was shining on particles. Only, there wasn't any sun here. At all.

With a pained whimper of a groan, June turned to balance back on her hands and knees, crawling slowly to her door. Creaking it open, she whispered,

"M-Mom?" Cursing herself for how quiet her voice was, she found herself not being able to utter anything above a whine or keen, like a dog who'd had his foot stepped on. She peeked out of the crack in the door to see black slime dripping from her ceiling onto the once rose-red carpet. Gasping, she spotted mould and cracks festering away at the walls, an unforgiving tremble running up her spine.

"June?" Her name was yelled in the distance, too quiet to be heard unless you were listening closely as it echoed through the empty space of her dank room. "June!" Louder this time and she silently screeched when two hands grabbed her arms from behind and dragged her upwards, her scream loud this time.

Throat dry, she heaved and wheezed, hands softly patting her back and tucking hair behind her ears. She could hear voices but was unable to make out any words and suddenly they stopped, as if the ringing in her ears had completely deafened her. Her head pounded and tears spilled from her eyes as they screwed shut in an attempt to rid of the awful throbbing of her head. She felt like her brain was pressed to the sides of her skull, pushing painfully and every time she swallowed she felt like the walls of her throat were made of thick sandpaper. Her tongue was dry and she couldn't utter a single plea for water.

Her vision swam hazily, pupils trying to make things out as objects ran in and out of focus.

She recognised the room as her own. She was usually comforted greatly by the warmth of the sheets and the coziness of the pillows but this time she felt as if she was suffocating, drowning in her own sweat and the sweltering heat of her room.

June continued to pant, a sudden feeling of fear and anxiety swarming her thoughts as she felt claustrophobic, as if the walls around the safety of her room were closing in on her and wrapping around her in a blanket of terror.

"Juniper? Honey are you OK? Talk to me baby!" She recognised the voice as her mother's, the hands on her spine suddenly moving up and down as the girl's breathing evened out, the voice of her father whispering to keep breathing.

"That's it, sweetheart. There we go, better?" She nodded feebly and collapsed into her father's arms, the warmth less suffocating as he lifted her up. She was too caught up in her own drowning that she didn't notice. Her head felt heavier than lead as it weighed down on his chest, fists clenched around his shirt in an attempt to feel something- anything other than the darkness surrounding her, trying to pull her down.

As if he already knew what she needed, her father took her outside into the cool air where she began to regain her senses and gasped in the sweetly bitter oxygen. Her lungs seemed to almost thank her and she finally was able to open her eyes. He began to sing a lullaby to his little girl, cradling her in his arms as her skin stopped boiling and her head gave in to the swimming. Saliva finally pooled in her mouth and the aching of her limbs slowly receded, until she was left with only the soft voice of her father and the gentle swaying of her body in his arms. After a while, she was calm enough to fall back asleep.

June's mother came out of the house, tying a robe tighter around herself as she shivered in the cool breeze.

"Get her inside, Bert. We'll put her back to bed." Bert stood there for a while longer, staring down at the pale face of his daughter, curled up in his arms. Her mother placed a hand to her forehead, wincing at the heat radiating from it. "She's feverish."

"I know." He replied shortly, watching Juniper's eyes frantically move around beneath her closed eyelids.

"What are we going to do about her? She can't go on like this. We can't go on like this." Making eye contact with his wife, he felt his eyes tearing up. She bit her trembling lip, rubbing her forearms to return at least a little heat to them. June mumbled in her slumber.

"I think we should cancel Chicago." Bert whispered, rocking the girl a little when she stirred. He kissed her head softly and she smiled.

"What? Bert, you know why we can't do that." She hissed, stroking her daughter's hair from her cheeks. She left her fingers on her warm cheek for a little while longer, watching her expressions.

"Sam, our daughter is sick."

"We can leave her with Karen. We'll be gone for a few days. A week, at most. She has her friends and her second mother; God knows how much that woman loves June-Bug." Sam sighed, looking up at her husband.

"Fine. But when we come back, we'll be taking her to a doctor."