It was a hard feeling to not want to get up.
To practically be glued to your bed as all you could do is lie in the pitiful puddle you've made of yourself. To watch everyone's life go by while you sat stuck in your bed. To be too drained to even stand.
But Y/n Byers soon discovered it was no where near as painful as losing someone. Of knowing deep down you'll never see them again, no matter how much you pray, no matter how much you dream. That's all it really is, a plea, a fantasy.
But the worst part of losing someone?
Expecting them to be around when they won't be, not ever again.
Y/n stared at the empty bed beside hers, waiting for Will to come back from getting a midnight snack. She stared at his shoes and thought to herself how he needed to clean them. She watched his empty seat at the dining table, wondering why he was taking so long to wash up for dinner.
But then it all came crashing back down on her, worse than before.
"Oh yeah, he's dead." She'd remind herself.
She couldn't cry anymore though, she couldn't scream or sob or sleep. She couldn't talk. No matter how hard she tried.
The tears from yesterday stained her pillow and blurred her eyes, but they never rolled down her cheeks anymore; no matter how hard she tried.
>>>
Mike was gazing through some of Will's old drawings while Eleven was fiddling with Mike's supercomm. Ten was fiddling with the chess board by himself. Silence filled the air.
That is until static crackled on the supercomm as Eleven kept repeatedly turning it on and off. A grieving Mike had noticed this and cocked his head to face the two, "Can you please stop that?" He snapped, anger festering up inside of him.
Eleven rose her eyes to his before looking back at the supercomm, turning it off and on once more as static roared from the supercomm, "Are you deaf?" Mike exclaimed. Ten looked up at Mike, his eyes wide, "I thought we were friends, you know? But friends tell each other the truth. And they definitely don't lie to each other." Mike paused for a second, looking from Ten and Eleven every few seconds to show that he was talking about both of them, "You made us think Will was okay, that he was still out there, but he wasn't. He wasn't! Maybe you thought you were helping, but you weren't. You hurt me. You hurt all of us! Do you understand? What you did sucks. Lucas was right about you two. All along."
Without Eleven pressing a button on the supercomm, static began hissing from the supercomm followed by... singing? "So come on and let me know." Mike's eyes widened as he found this voice so distinct in his mind, he couldn't quite put his finger on it, "Should I stay or should I go? Should I stay or should I go now? Should I stay or should I go now? If I go there will be trouble. If I stay it will be double."
As Mike seemingly fell out of the trance the soft voice offered, he bolted for the supercomm, his suspicion that this was Will getting the better of him. He snatched the supercomm, bringing it to his mouth as Ten and Eleven gaped at him, "Will, is that you? It's Mike! Do you copy? Over." Mike called out, pleading and begging for another response from the young Byers boy.
"Will, are you there? Will!" Mike babbled, hopefully, tears almost threatening to brim his brown eyes.
Silence fell on the supercomm and without lowering the supercomm from his mouth, Mike turned to Ten and Eleven who had just been watching helplessly, "Was that... was it..." He stammered, still recovering from what had just occurred.
Ten and Eleven turned to look at each other, knowingly before looking back at Mike, speaking in a monotonic unison, "Will."
Meanwhile, Joyce was at the morgue, determined to tell everyone that this wasn't her son and he was still out there. She just needed a little proof, "He has a birth mark on his right arm. Can you show that to me, please?" The woman asked the coroner. He nodded and moved the cloth that had blanketed his body to show his right arm.
"How's your mom doing?" Hopper was sat out in the waiting room with Jonathan and Y/n.
Y/n didn't even dare to look up from the floor at the sound of his voice. Jonathan rubbed her back, trying to assure her that it would be okay.
After a moment of silence, Jonathan's eyes locked on the door that led to the room his mom was in, "I don't know."
"How long's this stuff been going on? With the lights and, uh... Will and the thing in the wall?" Hopper asked, pausing between words, confused as most people would be. Y/n listened in, rubbing her eyes with her already damp sleeve.
"Since the first phone call, I guess." Jonathan paused for a second before continuing, "You know, she's had anxiety problems... in the past. But this... I don't know" He breathed in, deeply, "I'm worried it could be... I don't know. She'll be okay. We'll be okay. My mom... she's tough." Jonathan chuckled, sadly at his last sentence to which Hopper smiled at.
"Yeah, she is." Hopper agreed, his eyes falling on Y/n, "Hey, are you okay, Y/n?"
Y/n briefly looked over at him, barely turning her head before nodding, "I uh, I'm gonna go get some air." She piped up in a teary and groggily voice. Before anyone could utter another word, Y/n shot to her feet, trudging out the door. Jonathan sighed as he watched his baby sister walk out the door. He felt helpless, he felt like the world was crumbling beneath him.
"Ma'am!" The coroner called after Joyce who had darted out of the morgue, unpleased by what she had seen in there, "Ma'am, I need you to sign!" The coroner waved a sheet of paper attached to a clipboard in the air.
Joyce swiveled around, anger coursing through her veins, "I don't... I don't know what you think that thing is in there, but that is not my son!" Joyce roared before rushing out the door.
>>>
Joyce stomped through the streets of Hawkins, her mind flashing with the most unpredictable and predictable explanations for what was going on. "Mom, will you get in?" Jonathan pleaded from the front seat of his car, Y/n watched from the backseat with wide, red eyes at the encounter. Jonathan drove the car beside the sidewalk in an effort to keep up with her.
"No, I... I need to think. Just go on home." Joyce sputtered out, holding her arms to her chest.
"Mom, will you just get in, please?" Jonathan stopped the car, rushing out of it, running after his mother, "Mom. Mom! Mom." Jonathan shouted and Y/n sunk back into her seat, folding her arms over her chest looking down at her lap. "Stop." He grabbed her shoulder, spinning her around so she faced him.
"Just go home, Jonathan. Take Y/n with you!" Joyce pleaded.
"No, this is not an okay time for you to shut down." Jonathan argued.
Suddenly, a wave of chills washed upon Y/n and she shivered, the chills getting more and more intense with each passing second. The voices of her brother and mom arguing seemingly got louder and louder.
"Shut down? What..."
"We have to deal with this, Mom. We have to deal with the funeral!"
"The funeral? For... for who? For-For that thing back there?" Y/n whimpered, her hands clasping over her ears and squeezing her eyes shut, the voices filling her head.
"Okay, let me get this straight. Will, that's not his body, because he's in the lights, right? And there's a monster in the wall? Do you even hear yourself?"
Just like that, all went silent and Y/n slowly took her hands off her ears, her eyes opening to see nothing but a dark world. Vines crawled over the seat in front of her. She furrowed her eyebrows, throwing her door open and walking out of it.
Jonathan and Joyce were nowhere to be seen, in fact no one was. Dark vines covered Hawkins, the dark sky looming over everything as Y/n tried to call out for her family, "Mom! Jonathan!"
The girl walked out into the street when she suddenly heard a voice. An all too familiar voice, "Y/n!" It was Will, "Y/n, it's me, it's Will!"
Y/n's lip quivered as she spun around, trying to find the source of the voice, "Will! Will, where are you?!" Her voice crackled with every word she uttered, tears brimming her eyes.
"You need to run, Y/n! You need to go!"
"I'm not leaving you, Will! Where are you?! Please..." Y/n cried.
Just then, Y/n felt herself being thrown to the ground. She let out a small scream, her eyes flying open to see the brightness of the world along with Jonathan on top of her. A car honked from beside them.
The girl met her brothers teary eyes as he helped her up, "What the hell were you thinking?" He spat out, breathlessly. Y/n didn't answer though. She was looking around, frantically, astonished and left speechless at what just happened.
Jonathan grabbed Y/n's arm dragging her to the safety of the sidewalk. Joyce was stood frozen in place, her hands cupped on her mouth, tears flowing from her eyes.
Jonathan positioned Y/n to look at him, repeating what he said, speaking even more forcefully, "What were you thinking?! You could have died, Y/n!" Y/n met his eye, instantly breaking down, collapsing into her brothers arms. Jonathan hugged her, tightly, running his fingers through her hair. Joyce joined in, fear coursing through her veins.