WARNINGS: Shit-ton of POV Switches. Not my fault, they changed the POV in the show so frequently and so quickly in this episode, and it's kinda unavoidable...
||𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐄𝐑'𝐒 𝐏𝐎𝐕||
"Come on." Mike ushered us all into the AV room and had just locked the door behind us.
We followed him over the to Heathkit and Mike pulled out the chair for El, which she gladly took.
"Now what?" Dustin asked.
"She'll find him. Right, El?" Mike assures us as he adjusts the dials.
But I see something in her Mike failed to notice. Fear. She took a few deep breaths and closed her eyes. I figured this was how she finds people but something about her seemed... off. Troubling.
"She's doing it. She's finding him!" Mike exclaimed.
I shift uncomfortably, feeling bad about putting her under all this strain. Something seems off, she seems uncomfortable. Almost, like she is reliving something.
"That is crazy." Dustin said.
"Calm down. She just closed her eyes."
I flinched when suddenly the only light bulb I was standing under, went out with a pop. The boys gasped.
"Holy..." Dustin began.
The radio frequency goes crazy and the boys and I lean in, not wanting to miss anything. An odd noise that sounded oddly like someone hitting something.
"What is that?" Dustin asked, to no one in particular.
"I'm not sure, but am I crazy or does that sound like... someone hitting something?" I say mindlessly.
||𝟑𝐑𝐃 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐎𝐍 𝐏𝐎𝐕||
Joyce doesn't stop pacing as the music reaches its chorus. Her head whips around to the wall near the porch window when she hears a distinct clanging.
She stops the music and the noise she thought she heard is confirmed and she cautiously steps towards the noise. The swears she can hear the faint noise of a child whimpering.
"Mom?" Will.
It was Will's voice, it echoed and you had to strain to hear it but it was unmistakably the frightened voice of her child. She gasped loudly and clung to the wall.
"Will?"
《•••》
"Mom?" It was him. His voice rang through the air from the Heathkit and an audible gasp escaped my lips.
'It really was Will. He... he's alive.'
"No way!" Lucas breathed.
My vision becomes blurry from tears and I stumble back for a short moment, grasping the first thing I could reach which happened to be my brother's arms.
"Mom..."
《•••》
"Will!" Joyce desperately searched for a hole of any kind in the wall and ran across the room throwing open the door and sprinting onto the porch.
Much to her disappointment, she scanned the empty porch in a panic before running back inside.
"Will?"
"Mom!" He screamed, his voice distinctive and frightened.
"Will! I'm here! I'm here!" She kept banging on the wall, not knowing how else to comfort her son.
She began tearing down the wallpaper.
"Oh, God..."
《•••》
"Will!" I squeaked, my voice breaking.
"Will, it's us! Are you there?" Lucas cried desperately.
"Can you hear us? We're here!" Dustin nearly burst my eardrum but I didn't care.
If it meant he would here us I didn't care.
But the radio crackled and he called to his mom. My stomach fell.
"He can't hear us." I whimpered, stepping back.
"Hello? Mom?"
"Why can't he hear us?" Lucas exclaimed.
"I don't know!" Mike yelled, just as frustrated as we were.
《•••》
"Baby..." Joyce cried as she tore away the wallpaper to see a pulsing, red bulbous barrier of some kind but what she saw behind it made nearly made her faint.
It was Will.
"Mom?" He cried, hands up against the barrier.
"Oh, God! Will!"
"Mom!" His cries were distorted echoes.
"Oh, thank God." She wept, not knowing what to do. "Baby... Will"
Joyce heard the same horrific growl she heard right before the monster came through the wall. She could see Will look around in fright, panic consuming him.
"Mom, it's coming!"
"Tell me where you are! How do I get to you?"
《•••》
"It's like home, but it's so dark... It's so dark and empty." Fear gripped my chest as I heard Will so frightened for his life.
I squeezed my brother's hand as tears fell from my eyes. The four of us exchanging worried glances as we listened.
"And it's cold! Mom? Mom!"
《•••》
"Listen to me! I swear I'm gonna get to you, okay? But right now, I need you to hide."
The barrier began to disappear as the original foundation of the wall took its place once more.
"Mom, please!"
"No, no, listen! Listen, I... will find you, but you have to run now! Run! Run!"
Seconds before the wall closed for good, she saw the distorted image of her son running away as she sheared another screech nearby.
《•••》
The Heathkit crackled and suddenly it caught fire. Everyone but El jumped back in shock.
"He's alive. Will is alive!" mumbled, it finally dawned on me that I know for a fact that my best friend is alive.
The boys stumbled back and Dustin got the fire extinguisher and put out the fire, but the fire alarm had already started ringing.
My first thought was El. She must be exhausted.
"El? Are you okay?"
《•••》
Joyce found the previously abandoned hatchet and immediately set to work on the wall. She swung the hatchet with all her might, yelling as she slowly but surely chipped away at the wall.
《•••》
"El? Can you hear us?" Mike asked worriedly.
All the color had been drained from her face. She looked ill. Guilt washed over me once more.
"Can you move?" She didn't even have the energy to respond.
Mike and I shared a look and both grabbed one of her arms and helped her up.
"Can someone grab her legs?" I pleaded.
The Lucas ended up grabbing her legs and Dustin found a swivel chair to put her in.
I was just thankful the fire alarm was a big enough distraction to get El out.
《•••》
Joyce dropped the hatchet in defeat when she was met with the cold autumn air and the sight of her front lawn throughout the new hole in the wall.
Confused and defeated she collapsed into sobs.
《•••》
"This way!" Mike and Dustin each held a side of the chair as they rushed El down the hallway.
I ran alongside her and I grabbed her hand, giving it a tight squeeze.
"Hang in there, El. We are gonna get you home." I assured.