"SHOULD I STAY OR SHOULD I GO"// Will Byers X reader

Waffles // chapter 16

Y/n's POV 

El watches as Mike and Dustin continue to prod Lucas, shouting his name to try and wake him. I back away from them, taking El's hand. 

'It's alright.' I whisper. 'He'll be fine.' El swallows hard, looking at me. Her eyebrows furrow for a second before she turns and runs towards the woods. The boys don't even notice as I run after her. 

'El!' I say. 'El!' She dodges sticks and trees, bending down and crawling through bushes. Her blonde wig falls off, getting stuck on a tree branch and dangling there. 

'Can't stay.' El says. 'My fault.' She sobs, collapsing on the ground. She stares at the water in front of us, her reflection peering back. Stick crunch around her as I sit down, crossing my legs. I use my sleeve to wipe away some of her tears. 

'El. You aren't the monster.' I say, soothing her quietly. 'It's alright. We're going to fix this.' 

'The monster.' She says, pointing at herself and crying. 'I am.' 

'No. You aren't. It's not your fault Will's missing. It isn't.' I say gently. 'We are going to figure this out.' 

The sky begins to darken, covering us in shadows. I stay up for most of the night, comforting El as she shivers. 

'Cold?' I ask in the morning. 

'No.' She manages a small smile. 'I'm hungry.' 

I nod, helping her to her feet. 'There's a store not far from here.' 

We walk for about twenty minutes before we reach Bradley's Big Buy. People stare at us as we walk in, covered in dirt, blood from El's nose, and tears. Not to mention the fact she doesn't have hair. 

'Are you lost?' A man ask us. I ignore him, following El to the frozen food section. I think I know what she wants to 'buy'. 

'Is your mom here? Your dad?' The guy repeats. 

'Mouth breather.' El whispers to me and I smirk. 

'What should we do?' The man says, not so quietly. 

 'Uh... Call the police.' 

El grabs several boxes of Eggo Waffles, handing me some as well. I grab us a frozen pizza as well, because we can't survive on just waffles, obviously...

'Excuse me. Young ladies! You know you have to pay for those!' The storekeeper calls after us. El whips her head to the side causing a shopping cart to block their paths. I hiss at anyone in our paths, shocking them with my favorite animal imitation: the snake. 

'Hey, hey! Stop right—' El makes people fall out of the way, smashing the windows on the way out. It's like an awesome scene in a movie. Sure, it's stealing, but we need it more than they do.