Bound By Shadows 3 | Will Byers x Reader (Fem)

~ 19 ~

After about thirty minutes of waiting, the basement door creaked open and the sound of rushed footsteps echoed down the stairs. 

Max and Eleven appeared — faces taut with confusion, eyes darting between all of us like they were searching for an answer before even hearing the question.

Max's red hair was pulled into a messy ponytail; Eleven looked worn, as if the night had carved lines under her eyes. They'd come fast. That meant they were taking it serious.

I was perched on the ledge next to the couch, legs crossed tight beneath me, shoulders braced like I was holding myself together by muscle alone.

Will sat hunched beside me, forearms on his knees, head bowed. He looked like someone carrying a weight he'd been trying not to show — which only made my chest tighten more.

Our eyes met for a second; there was an unspoken thread between us, taut and electric. I bumped his knee with mine. His fingers twitched, then he lifted his head slowly and started.

"We didn't think it was anything at first—well—" Will stumbled, rubbing the back of his neck, voice the kind that always sounded like he was apologising to the world for existing in it. "I think I just didn't want to believe it. Y/N thought something was wrong straight away."

Heat slid up my spine. Every head turned. All the oxygen left the room for a second. I forced myself to breathe, to let my voice be steady. "The first time we felt it was at day of the dead," I said, low. "Everything was fine and then— it hit. Like a wave."

"The power went out that night too," Mike added, quiet but precise, like he was building a case in real time.

"And then we field it again at the field near the Nelson farm," Will continued. "The next day."

"Then again, outside Castle Byers." My voice came out smaller than before, the memory jagged. Saying it aloud made it real in a way I wasn't ready for.

Max sat cross-legged on the floor by the coffee table, elbows on her knees. El curled in the single chair, arms wrapped around her legs, brow knotted with concentration. Mike and Lucas were slumped on the couch, the air between them taut. Nobody interrupted. Nobody wanted to be the idiot who said the wrong thing.

"What does it feel like?" Max asked at last, eyes flicking to me and Will.

Will hesitated. "It's almost like... you know when you drop on a rollercoaster?"

"Sure," Mike said, reflex.

"Yeah," Max echoed.

"No," Eleven said, flat.

I looked at her with something like gratitude. She understood the language of wrong things.

I turned back into myself. "It's like... everything in your body sinks. Your heart, your lungs — your blood. But worse. Like your body knows before your mind does."

"You go cold," Will added. "And it gets hard to breath. Like something's pressing down on your chest, something you can't see."

I swallowed. "I get migraines when it happens. Loud, ringing ones. Will doesn't." The words hit like a confession. "My powers go all weird, they— short out when the ringing is too loud, it's been getting worse each time."

Will's hands tightened in his lap. There's no way to make this casual. He met my eyes and the look said he believed me, that whatever came next we'd face it together, and that steadied me a little.

"We've felt it before," he said slowly. "Whenever he was close. Whenever we had the visions."

Max's brow creased. "Whenever who was close?"