Home // A Stranger Things Story

xvii

"All right, you ready?" Hopper asked Joyce.

"Yeah." She whispered back.

He poured a liquid onto something and held it up to Will's nose. His eyes shot open with a gasp, making me jump slightly.

He looked around in confusion and I ducked behind the light post, peeking around the corner so he didn't see me. 

"What? What? What is this? What? What is this?" He asked, getting angrier. "Why am I tied up?"

Joyce crouched down in front of him, speaking calmly. "Will, we just wanna talk to you. We're not gonna hurt you."

"Where am I?" He snapped at her. 

"At least the plan worked." I whispered to Mike, who nodded in agreement.

"You recognize this?" Hopper asked, holding up the drawing of the Mind Flayer. "Do you recognize this?" Will shook his head.

"Hey," Joyce said softly. "We wanna help you. But to do that, we have to understand how to kill it."

Something flashed in his eyes. "What am I tied up? Why am I tied up?" He yelled over and over. "Why am I tied up? Why am I tied up?" He started thrashing around, trying to break free. "Why am I tied up? Why am I tied up?" The lights began to flicker, causing my eyes to widen. 

"Let me go! Let me go! Let me go! Let me go!" His voice got deeper and demon like. He really was possessed. "Let me go! Let me go! Let me go!" Hopper held him close to calm him down as he continued thrashing.

Everyone's panicked thoughts just added to my own. I wish I had stayed inside. But it was too late for that.

"Let me go! Let me go! Let me go! Let me go!" He started to calm down slightly. "Let me go! Let me go! Let me go! Let me go... let me... let me go..."

The lights returned to normal and Hopper stepped away.

Joyce pulled herself up into the chair across from him. "Do you know what March 22nd is?" She asked him. "It's your birthday. Your birthday. When you turned eight, I gave you that huge box of crayons. Do you remember that? It was 120 colors. And all your friends, they got you Star Wars toys, but all you wanted to draw with all your new colors. And you drew this big spaceship, but it wasn't from a movie. It was your spaceship. A rainbow ship is what you called it. And you must've used every color in the box. I took that with me to Melvald's and I put it up, and I told everyone who came in, 'My son drew this.' And you were so embarrassed. But I was so proud. I was so, so proud."

I smiled at the memories replayed in Joyce's head. Jonathan stepped forward, starting his own story.

"Do you remember the day Dad left?" He asked, crouching down next to him. Will turned his head toward him, tears in his eyes. "We stayed up all night building Castle Byers. Just the way you drew it. And it took so long because you were so bad at hammering. You'd miss the nail every time. And then it started raining, but we stayed out there anyway. We were both sick for like a week after that. But we just had to finish it, didn't we? We just had to."

"Do you remember the first day that we met?" Mike asked, starting to tear up as well. "It was... it was the first day of kindergarten. I knew nobody. I had no friends and... I just felt so alone and so scared, but... I saw you on the swings and you were alone, too. You were just swinging by yourself. And I just walked up to you and... I asked. I asked if you wanted to be my friend. And you said yes. You said yes. It was the best thing I've ever done."

"Will, baby..." Joyce said, reaching a hand out as he cried. "If you're in there, just please... please talk to us. Please, honey, please. Can you do that for me? Please. I love you so much."