" That One Night With Will Byers " | BYLER | ✿ P R I N C E S S D A I S Y ! ! ✿

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐢𝐱 - ' the countdown of the decade '

"This is– T-This," Will stuttered, trying to understand what was happening. Will's knees started to give out, he seemed to let gravity take him, I grabbed him by his waist and pulled him into my arms. I looked at what Will was looking at, it was a drawing, a drawing he made me back in '83. He gave it to me after... Oh. My heart sank as I took in the surroundings completely. The dark blue room filled with what seemed to be tentacles, and ropes that matched the "tentacles" and the drawing was marked "To Mike, From Will, November 5th 1983." We were in the upside-down. Will was starting to have a panic attack, being in the place that started his severe trauma was not going to help. We needed to get out of here.

I picked up Will once again and carefully carried him out to behind his house, where Castle Byers resided, at least, what was left. I moved the remains around and pulled the mattress out of the wood. Leading Will to the mattress, Will laid down carefully on the bed. "Shh..." I whispered, moving his hair out of his face, he breathed in heavily. He grabbed my neck, pulled me on top of him, and he held me as close as he possibly could. "Stay close, please..." He whimpered. He was scared, I could read it in his voice, and I could hear his heart thumping loudly and quickly. I drew circles on his sides, humming a quiet tune trying to calm him down. Which seemed to work because his breathing slowed and his heartbeat was quieter than earlier, I looked up, he had fallen asleep, tears streaming down his face. I kept awake, keeping an eye out and planning how to get out of here.

–Upside-Down, Fall of 1988

I adjusted the mask on my face, the goggles I was wearing were fogging up from the heavy breathing. Will giggled slightly, helping me move my mask so my mask wouldn't fog up. I set the bat I was holding to my side so Will could get closer. "Careful Mike, you almost hit that vine." Will whispered, I bit my lip, nervously fiddling with my ingrown nails on my open hand. Will tiptoed back, I breathed heavily to see if anything would fog. It didn't, I grinned, Will grinned back when he saw my eyes smile. Will picked up his loaded gun and kept walking, I followed close behind, holding my bat over my shoulder. We kept a close eye out as we retreated back to our 'upside-down home.'

When Will and I went missing in March of 1986, we were lost in the Upside-Down and couldn't get out. Me and Will made ourselves at home in a cave-like cavern by the quarry. I faced my fear of dying at the quarry back in the early spring of '87. Will was right by my side and now we sit at that edge every now and then and stare at the red painted sky. Normally we kept our masks on when outside the cavern, but sometimes we would take them off and sit together, today was one of those days. Will put the safety on his gun and set it next to my jagged bat, he sat next to me, sitting as close as he could. He locked fingers with me, leaning his head on my shoulder. He sighed, thinking deeply. I rubbed his hand with my thumb, he grinned at the sky.

"What're you thinking about, hun?" I asked, he sighed lightly, blinking hard before responding. "I want to go home." He confessed. I frowned, hitting a spot on his thumb that made him flinch. I mumbled out a quick, "sorry, babe." before returning to the conversation. "I know. I do too, I miss Nancy and Holly like crazy. I can't imagine how much everyone misses us." I whispered, Will nodded. Thinking again, I tried to lift the mood, "They probably had a funeral for us, like we did for you back in '83." I chuckled, Will didn't move or respond. I sighed awkwardly. I took in the feeling of the slight breath-like wind blowing against our faces. Though this place was stuck in time, the weather still acted upon what clouds were left in this hell hole.

Celebrating our birthdays here was somewhat sad. No party, no friends other than each other, no cake, no presents. Will was older, his birthday landing on March 22nd, and mine landing on the 7th on April. Dustin's was coming up, and Lucas' had already passed, and so had Max's. Eleven's birthday was a handful of days before Dustin's and was coming up in days time. We had missed everyone's birthday. Did they even remember us? Did they know where we were? We had found Will within days, and yet, it's been two years, and in that time, they could've at least told us they knew we were alive. Didn't Eleven have her powers? Couldn't she look for us? So many questions that we've had to hold onto with no clear reason for why we were still here.