Everyone turned to look at the younger Wheeler. "If anyone knows how to destroy this thing, it's Will. He's connected to it. He'll know its weakness."
" I thought we couldn't trust him anymore. That he's a spy for the mind flayer now." Max tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. "Yeah but he can't spy-"
"If he doesn't know where he is." Julia came to the realization. Mike faced her, nodding his head softly. Hopper, went to the shed in the backyard, throwing all the supplies out of it.
Everyone gathered in the shed, taping plastic tarps, sheets, and tin foil around the walls and floor. Jonathan brought his brother out into the shed, placing him on a chair. Julia helped Jon tie Will down to the chair, including his arms and legs.
Steve rubbed Julia's shoulder, pressing a kiss to her neck, "everything is going to be fine." She nodded, attempting to believe his words. The lights Mike plugged in were shining bright on Will as Hopper woke him up using Ammonia.
Dustin, Nancy, Steve, Lucas and Max remained inside the house, all of them worrying about what was going to happen in the next few seconds, minutes, and hours.
Will looked around the room, everyone had their eyes on him as he struggled in the chair. "What? What is this? Why am I tied up?" Will grunted and heaved as he attempted to escape the rope that held him down.
Joyce squatted down to get to his eye level. "Will, we just want to talk to you. We're not gonna hurt you." The young Byers remained alarmed, not calming down. Hopper showed him the picture he drew of the shadow monster, "do you recognize this?" Will shook his head no.
"Hey. We wanna help you." Joyce's soothing words flowed from her lips, "but to do that, we have to understand how to kill it."
"Why am I tied up?" Will repeatedly screamed, thrashing around. The lights flickered, Julia pulled Mike back gently and placed herself in front. "Let me go!" Wills voice went from the familiar one, to distorting to a demon like cry.
Mike hid his face in Julia's back, not being able to see his best friend go through this. Wills screams simmered down into just his heavy pants.
Joyce sat herself down in the chair in front of him. "Do you know what March 22nd is?" He didn't respond, only stared numbly at the woman in front of him. "It's your birthday." Joyce took a deep breath before she continued.
"When you turned eight, I gave you that huge box of crayons. Do you remember that? It was 120 colors. And all your friends, they got you Star Wars toys. Julia here got you that rubix cube that you spent hours on."
Mike moved from behind Julia to her side, wrapping his arm around her side. She wrapped the young boy close to her, afraid if she let go he would get hurt.
"But all you wanted to do was draw with all your new colors. And you drew this big spaceship, but it wasn't from a movie. It was your spaceship. A rainbow ship is what you called it. And you must have used every color in the box. "
"Do you remember when dad left?" Jonathan spoke up. He walked over to his brother, tears swelling in his eyes. "We stayed up all night building castle Byers, just the way you drew it. And it took so long because you were so bad at hammering." Everyone in the room let out a soft chuckle.
"You'd miss the nail every time. And then it started raining, but we stayed out there anyway. We were both sick for like a week after that. But we just had to finish it, didn't we?"
Mike left Julia's side slowly, "Do you remember the first day we met?" Mike swallowed a hard lump in his throat as a tear slid down his cheek. "It was.. it was the first day on kindergarten. I knew nobody. I had no friends, and-" he cut himself off as he sniffled.
Julia wiped her nose with her sleeve as she watched the events come undone. "I just felt so alone, and so scared, but I saw you on the swings and you were alone, too. You were just swinging by yourself. And I just walked up to you and I asked if you wanted to be my friend. And you said yes. It was the best thing I've ever done."
Julia stepped forward next to Mike and crouched down. "It was your 11th birthday party. You and I shoved pillows up our shirts and were sumo wrestling with each other. You charged at me, body slamming me to the ground." Julia laughed as she recalled the memory.
"You got off my and you were so scared that you hurt me. I only had a bruised elbow, but each day that went by you always checked in on me. Asking if I was okay or if I needed anything. And that's when I realized something. I realized that you are one of the most kind hearted people I've ever met. And I'm so thankful that my brother has a best friend like you."
Will stared at Julia blankly. "Will, baby. If you're in there just please talk to us. Please. I love you so much." Will seemed like he wanted to cry. He was letting out small whimpers, actually showing emotion. Until his face went blank as he bluntly said, "let me go."
Mike sniffled and hugged Julia. She ran her hand through his hair giving him a kiss on the forehead. "Wait a minute."
Hopper ran inside, followed by Jonathan, Joyce, Mike and Julia. He grabbed a piece of paper and sat down at the table. "What happened?" Dustin asked.
Everyone gathered around Hopper has he took out a pen. "I think he's talking, just not with words." He drew dots and lines on a ripped up envelope.
"Morse code." Julia breathed the Chief. "Exactly. H-e-r-e." "Here." Everyone spoke.
"Will's still in there. He's talking to us." Julia, Mike and Joyce ran back into the shed. Jonathan ran into his room and grabbed his stereo, playing the song 'Should I Stay Or Should I Go?'
One by one they told Will some of their favorite memories. Julia sat in the chair and took out a hand made bracelet with the letter 'J'.
"Last year for my 16th birthday you insisted on getting me a gift. I told you that you didn't have to buy me anything. You showed up at my doorstep with this bracelet and the happiest smile I've seen on your face. And I remember you looked me in the eyes and went, "I didn't buy it. I made it." I always have it with me. Whether it's on my wrist or in my pocket, every day I have it."
The phone rang from outside the shed, everyone is head popped up to the direction of the house. Wills eyes fluttered shut as he began to breath heavily.
"Will? Can you hear us?" Julia asked. "It knows. It knows where we are." Joyce injected the Anesthesia into her son, knocking him unconscious. The four of them, excluding Joyce, ran out into the backyard. Mike gripped onto Julia's arm as a loud screeching was heard in the distance. Everyone ran into the house.
Hopper walked into the living room with two guns in his hands. "Can you use this?" He asked Jonathan, "I can." Steve passed Julia her steel bat, they glanced at each other in the eyes. He looked at her while he mouthed, "I love you." She bit her lip, "I love you too."
She stood aside of Steve, and in front of Dustin. Julia bent her knees, her bat in position. "Where are they?" Max cried out. The growling got louder as the monsters got closer.
A loud roar came from the side of the house, everyone gasped as they faced the way the noise came from. "What are they doing?"
Another screech echoed off the walls in the living room. Everyone faced front, prepared for the monster. The demodog groaned and screeched, until it suddenly stopped.
It came flying through the window, glass shattering everywhere. Everyone screamed as Julia pulled Dustin back, and Steve put his arm in front of Julia.
Everyone stared at the unmoving monster, their eyes trained on it. Hopper slowly moved towards it, "Holy shit." The Henderson siblings breathed out. "Is it dead?"
Hopper used his foot to push the head of the monster away. No reaction. "I think so." The door creaked in the slightest, drawing everyone's attention to it.
The locks hinged from the door, everyone raising their weapons in front of them. The door slowly swung open. The beloved girl she hadn't seen in over a year. Eleven. A girl who Julia thought was dead. She wore a black t-shirt with a leather jacket. Her hair was slicked back, she had black eyeshadow on her eyes. A single drop of blood dripped from her nose.
The whole group stared at her in shock. Mike walked forward with tears in his eyes. Elevens face fell soft when she saw him. Julia felt warmed at the interaction between the two.
"Welcome back El." Julia softly whispered.
A little filler chapter, but this scene is one of my favorites in the whole series. It makes me cry everytime I watch it😭