Forever | Mike Wheeler

007 - Will The Wise

"This is so disgusting is this really necessary?" Lucas asks, grossed out.

He was digging in the dumpster behind the school, looking for Dart with Alex, Mike and Max watching. They previously drew straws, to fairly choose someone to dig into the trash, and Lucas drew the short straw.

That was some real bad luck.

"What the hell's going on?" Dustin runs up to the four.

"What do you think? We're looking for Dart." Alex scoffs.

Lucas then throws out some trash bags and jumps out of the dumpster.

"Jesus!" Dustin yells in disgust.

"Well, well well." Lucas looks at Dustin. "Look who finally decided to show up. Right after i drew the short straw. Real convenient." He rolls his eyes.

"You stink!" Max backs away from Lucas, now standing next to Dustin. She was right though, Lucas smelled like absolute shit.

"Hi, Max." Dustin smiles at the girl, waving his hand.

"Hi?" She replies tilting her head in confusion.

"Where's Will?" Dustin now turns to the four.

"He'll be here." Mike replies.

"So, are you just gonna stand there, or are you gonna help." Alex looks at Dustin and throws him a stick.

The five of them now start poking their sticks into the trash bags that Lucas threw out earlier, looking for Dart.

After a few minutes, the bell rings, meaning its time for class. They all drop their sticks and quickly make their way over to science class.

The seat on Alex's left side was empty. Will's seat. He didn't come to school that day, causing his friends to start worrying about him.

-

"Hey you've reached the Byers, we're sorry..." the Byers voicemail sounds through the school's payphone.

"Nothing." Alex turns to Mike, putting the phone back. Mike sighs and then runs back to the others, Alex right besides him.

"Anything?" Dustin asks the two.

"Nope." Alex shrugs.

"We need to talk. A.V. Room. Right now." Mike commands. "Party members only." He looks at Max, causing the girl to slightly frown.

"Come on Mike..." Dustin faces the boy.

"No! This is non-negotiable!" Mike walks in.

"Sorry Max." Alex apologizes to the girl, following Mike inside. She felt really bad. After all, Max just wanted to be friends with them, but she was always left out of the meetings that they had. Alex would make it up to her one day, she promised to herself.

-

"Will didn't want me and Alex to tell anyone, but on Halloween night, he saw a sort of shadow in the sky." Mike explains to Dustin and Lucas, Alex nodding.

"A shadow?" Lucas questions, confused. "What kind of shadow?"

"I don't know. But it scared him." Mike says. "If Will really has True Sight and he can really see into the Upside Down, maybe he saw that shadow again yesterday." He continues.

"So thats why he was frozen like that." Dustin quietly speaks.

"Maybe." Mike looks at the boy.

"Can it hurt him?" Lucas asks Mike. "I mean if this shadow thing isn't from our world..."

"I'm not sure..." Mike furrows his eyebrows. "Dustin?" He turns to the boy. The group usually asked Dustin about these things because he did a lot of research on them and he knew a lot more than they did.

"Well, if you're in another plane, you can't interact with the material plane, so theoretically no, the shadow can't hurt him."

"Yeah if that's even what's happening." Alex shakes her head. "This isn't D & D. This is real life."

So what do we do?" Lucas turns to the girl.

"We acquire more knowledge." She simply replies. "I'll visit Will after school. See what's going on."

"I'm coming with." Mike looks at the girl as she nods in response.

"You guys stay here and find Dart." She instructs Lucas and Dustin. "With Max." She adds.

"Dart? What's Dart got to do with this!?" Dustin widens his eyes.

"Will heard him in the Upside Down." Alex looks at the boy.

"Yeah." Mike starts. "I don't know how, but he's gotta be connected to all this."

"If we find Dart, maybe we can solve this thing. Maybe we can help Will." Alex finishes.

-

"Hello?" Mike knocks on the Byers front door, Alex standing right next to him. "Will?"

"Ms. Byers?" Alex now knocks on the door. A few seconds later, Ms. Byers opens the door with a smile on her face.

"Hey Alex, hey Mike." She blinks.

"Is Will here?" Mike asks.

"You know what? Now is not really a good time." Ms. Byers says politely.

"Is he okay?" Alex looks at the her.

"Yeah. You know he's... he's just not feeling real well." She quietly says, closing the door. "He's laying down, so I'll tell him you stopped by, okay?" She pats the two kids by the shoulders, leading them off of the front porch, but Alex stops and turns around, facing her. "It's about the shadow monster, isn't it?"