Music blares out of the Byers' stereo, "Should I Stay or Should I Go" plays on a loop. "Come on," Joyce pleads to the empty room around her, "Come on! Talk to me!"
"(Y/N)! Will! We're here!" (Y/N)'s mother calls in a softer, more welcoming tone.
"I know you're here!" Joyce paces around the room, grabbing at the dull, unlit lights frustratedly.
♥︎
Will and (Y/N) had crept out of the crawl space and into the perilous world around them. The two had planned to go towards the screaming they had heard earlier, in case there was a way out. However, they hadn't gotten very far into their journey before hearing the familiar song which they both adored playing from back inside of "Will's" house. They both looked wide-eyed at each other before sprinting back through the forest and into the deteriorating house.
♥︎
In the AV Club room, Mike pulls out a chair for Eleven. She sits down in front of the ham radio. The room is dimly lit. "Now what?" Dustin asks.
"She'll find them," Mike is confident, "Right, El?" Mike turns a dial on the radio as Eleven shuts her eyes. She goes deep in thought, channeling older memories to help her create new ones. She's determined to help her friends. She doesn't want anyone else to feel trapped as she had a mere week ago.
The radio begins to emit a strange noise. "She's doing it," Mike looks at both of his friends, "She's finding them," He feels triumphant, his stubborn friends will finally believe him! And of course, he's going to get (Y/N) and Will back.
"This is crazy," Dustin is shocked that this supernatural activity is actually happening. It's like something from his comic books.
Lucas still isn't sold, "Calm down. She just closed her eyes," Just as Lucas finishes his skeptical statement, the light above the group goes out. The boys gasp. Now the only light source comes from the small desk lamps illuminating the radio. The light bounces off of Eleven's face and her features are beautifully illuminated. An echoey, pounding sound comes out from the radio. The boys gather tensely around Eleven, the light now shining onto their faces as well.
"What is that?" Dustin asks, shaken. The radio continues to tune itself, trying to hone in on a signal.
♥︎
The song had been amplified in a certain area of the wall. In an act of desperation, (Y/N) and Will had begun to bang on the wall. Trying to get through to the other side.
(Y/N) notices a small tear in the wallpaper, revealing a pinkish, fleshy material. She begins to pull at the small flab of paper and it begins to peel back. Will notices what's going on and helps rip down the paper as well.
When they're finished, a semi-clear layer of stiff goop is exposed. Will reaches his hands out to touch the material expecting it to be squishy. Instead, it's hard like a smooth, slimy rock. He balls his hands into fists and starts to hit the wall, trying to gain attention from the other side. (Y/N) joins him.
♥︎
Joyce turns towards the far wall confused. (Y/N)'s mother hasn't noticed what Joyce has. Joyce turns and hits a button on the boombox, turning it off. She begins to walk over to the wall. "What are you doing?" (Y/N)'s mother asks the woman who seems to be listening in on something.
Joyce shushes Mrs. (L/N). Joyce makes it to the wall and grazes her hands over the wallpaper. A small voice echos from inside the wall, "Mom?"
Mrs. (L/N) raises her eyebrows, "Was that—" Joyce shushes her again.
"Will?" Joyce calls to the wall.
♥︎
"Mom?" Mike, Dustin, and Lucas flinch as they stand around the hamshack.
"No way!" Lucas is beyond shocked.
♥︎
"Mom," Both children call out simultaneously.
"Will!" Joyce responds.
"Oh, my God," (Y/N)'s mother cannot fathom the fact that she's hearing her missing daughter's voice through the Byers' wall.
"Please," Will pleads. He wants to be recused. Joyce runs out of the front door calling for Will. Mrs. (L/N) goes to the wall and begins to cry, repeating (Y/N)'s name. Joyce stops short outside as she sees that no one is on the other side of the wall. Where are they? Joyce rushes back inside.
"Will!"
♥︎
"Mom!" Will's weak voice changes into a rough cry. (Y/N) raises her voice as well, her raw throat aching.
"I'm here, I'm here!" Joyce says from the other side.
♥︎
Joyce cleanly rips down a square of wallpaper. (Y/N)'s mother helps with clearing it away. "Oh, God..."
♥︎
"Will!"
"(Y/N)!"
"Will, it's us! Are you there?" Lucas yells through the radio's microphone.
The boys panic as Eleven stays calmly focused, "Can you hear us? We're here!" Dustin tries reaching the two.
"Hello? Mom?"
"Mom!" Will's and (Y/N)'s voices emit from the radio.
"Why can't he hear us?" Lucas asks his friends, frustrated by their lack of communication.
"I don't know!" Mike answers back, becoming frightened by their friends' desperate cries.
♥︎
Joyce peels back another layer of wallpaper revealing a pulsing, red membrane. Two clouded figures can barely be seen from the other side of the gross substance. But, of course, the two mothers recognize these figures right away. It's their children.
"Mom?"
"Oh, God. Will!"
"Oh, my God. Oh, my God," Mrs. (L/N) steps back from the wall but then rushes towards it again, touching the disgusting material. The mothers and children all have their palms resting against the membrane.
♥︎
(Y/N) and Will have given up pounding and scratching at the material. They calmly rest against it sobbing. Their way out is right in front of them and they cannot get through. "Oh, thank God," Joyce's voice echos through from the other side. She's so relieved that her son is alive.
"(Y/N)!" Mrs. (L/N) is more hysterical than Joyce in this moment, her voice breaks as she speaks.
"Mom!" Tears rush down (Y/N)'s face. She doesn't even bother to wipe them.
♥︎
Joyce smiles sweetly. She was right. She knows this now. She was never crazy. She was always right; her son is alive. Mrs. (L/N) has her hand of her mouth but her eyes are squinted and upturned, revealing that she too is smiling.
♥︎
(Y/N) and Will hear their new least favorite noise sound off from outside of the house. The monster's crackling growl. They whip their heads towards the sound and (Y/N) looks to Will wondering if they should stay or go. Will looks at (Y/N) and then to their mothers, "Mom, it's coming!"
"Tell me where you are! How do I get to you?" Joyce yells to the children. Joyce takes control of the situation, so (Y/N)'s mother stands back. She wants to collapse onto the ground and cry, but she knows, unfortunately, that won't solve anything.
♥︎
The boys' eyes are glued to the radio, terrified. Will's voice comes from the Heathkit, "It's like home, but it's so dark...It's so dark and empty."
"And it's cold!" (Y/N) adds in brokenly. Dustin begins to tear up hearing his friends so agitated. Eleven begins to furrow her eyebrows, showing the most emotion she has had for a while. Fresh blood drips from her nose.
♥︎
"Mom? Mom!" Will pleads with his mother to get him out. Snot begins to drip from (Y/N)'s nose. She starts to scratch at the wall again, frustrated that she cannot get through.
♥︎
"Listen to me! I swear I'm gonna get to you, okay?" Joyce yells to the children, keeping her composure, "We're going to find you! But right now, I need you to hide!
♥︎
The Demogorgon's growling grows closer. "Mom, please!" Will pleads again. (Y/N) tugs on his arm, signaling that they need to go.
"No, no, listen! Listen, I..." The wall begins to grow back around the fleshy membrane, Joyce doesn't have much time to speak.
"Will!" (Y/N) begs the boy to move but he stays in place.
"I will find you, but you have to run now!"
"Run! Run!" Joyce chants. The wall closes back to how it looked beforehand.
♥︎
The fuse on the Heathkit hamshack blows and sparks go flying. The radio catches fire. Mike looks at the overhead light which has turned back on. Dustin rushes to retrieve a fire extinguisher. He puts the radio fire out. Eleven leans her head back in exhaustion. Her skin is discolored and blood has run from her nose down to her lip. She is drained.
♥︎
Joyce grabs the axe she had brought out from the shed earlier and swings it at the wall, yelling as she does so. There is no membrane in sight, only wood and insulation. Mrs. (L/N) falls to her knees and continues to sob. Why didn't I say anything? Why couldn't I say anything? Why didn't I save her? She's gone.
Joyce continues to smash the axe through the wall. Light filters in through the hole and illuminates her face. Joyce is crestfallen as she sees nothing but her lawn on the other side of the hole. The children are nowhere to be seen.
♥︎
(Y/N) and Will flee out of the window in Will's room. They would have run out the back door however, they had previously blocked it to get out of a similar situation to what they're in now. From the window to the ground is a bit of a leap, so after (Y/N) and Will jump, they take a second to recover, they have been tirelessly worn down for days. Everything aches. They run off into the woods hand in hand, to a secret yet familiar bunker.
♥︎
Jim Hopper and (Y/N)'s father both sit in Hopper's police vehicle. They pull into the parking lot of the Roane County Coroner's office. "You understand?" Hopper asks the man after he had explained their plan thoroughly.
"Yep," (Y/N)'s father responds confidently, although he really feels a bit unsure about the whole situation. Hopper nods in response and exits the vehicle. Mr. (L/N) follows. Hopper gets a last second idea and pops back into the car to put his hat onto the dashboard. The men walk into the building together.
"Hey, Patty!" Hopper says warmly to the secretary, who sits at her desk on the phone.
"Hey, uh, need something, Chief?"
"Oh, you know, I forgot my hat," Hopper shrugs, laughing at himself. Mr. (L/N) leans on the desk, his face void of emotion, an intimidation technique. Good cop, bad cop.
"Oh," The receptionist quietly responds, looking at Mr. (L/N), she's slightly uncomfortable with his presence but feels comfortable with the kind Chief.
"We'll just be a minute," Jim quickly goes through the door. Mr. (L/N) taps his hand on the secretary's desk and gives her a forced smile before rushing after the Chief.
A trooper sits outside of the door holding a book. "Hey, I love that book. It's a nasty mutt," Hopper calls from down the hallway. The trooper quickly closes the book and gets up, putting his hand on his belt.
"Hey, you can't be back here," The twitchy troop stands protectively in front of the door.
"Yeah, I just got off the line with O'Bannon. He said that he needs to see you at the station. It's some emergency..." Hopper tries to make up a convincing story to lure the trooper away from the door.
"What the h*ll are you talking about? I don't work with O'Bannon," The man states cockily.
"Did I say O'Bannon? I meant..." Hopper blinks rapidly then pulls a face he would make if he sucked on a lemon. He realizes that lying isn't going to get him through this scheme, he's going to have to exercise force, "Okay," Hopper punches the trooper in the face twice. The man falls onto the floor, unconscious.
"Woah," (Y/N)'s father says a bit surprised.
"Gotta do what you gotta do," Hopper says as he unhooks the keys from the trooper's belt. He looks to his left then to his right down the hallway to see if anyone had noticed them. All clear.
Hopper inserts the key into the lock and the two enter the foyer before the room they need to get into. Mr. (L/N) closes the door behind them.
Hopper opens the door to the refrigeration room which contains the bodies of the deceased. He begins to open large metal draws, searching for the correct bodies. Mr. (L/N) walks in hesitantly and starts checking the drawers on the other side. The men grimace as they open each cabinet. Hopper pauses, finding a body he is looking for. "Got one," he says quietly and the metal screeches as he pulls out the table. There's a small figure under a blue drape, it brings sadness to both of the men. Mr. (L/N) resumes searching. He comes across another small body on the bottom row of the cabinets. He pulls it out.
Mr. (L/N) turns to look at Hopper, who has pulled the sheet down and is now looking at the small discolored face of "Will Byers". He hesitantly does the same and almost gets sick, again, as he sees his "daughter's" lifeless face laying below him. How could I have let this happen? The men both take a second and walk away from the bodies. Hopper runs a hand over his mouth while (Y/N)'s father looks up at the ceiling to keep his composure.
Hopper takes a deep breath and puts his face into the palms of his hands. He lifts his head back up and walks over to the body, pulling down the sheet to expose the "boy's" torso. Hopper presses his palm to "Will's" chest. He withdraws his hand quickly, confused. It doesn't feel right. He examines his hand. Hopper takes another deep breath and takes a pocket knife out of his pocket. He flicks it open.
"What are you doing?" Mr. (L/N) asks as Hopper stares at the "corpse" apprehensively. Hopper then moves the blade towards "Will's" abdomen. "Woah, man, what're you doing?" (Y/N)'s father asks again, horrified. Hopper composes himself and hopes that his theory is correct. After mentally preparing, Hopper plunges the knife in at the belly button and drags it up the torso. "Oh, my God," Mr. (L/N) whips around and holds a hand over his mouth, trying not the lose his lunch.
Hopper's face relaxes as he finishes the incision. Something definitely isn't right. Mr. (L/N) peeks behind his shoulder to see Hopper reaching inside of the rubbery skin and pulling out a tuft of white cotton stuffing. A look of confusion spreads across his face, "What the h*ll," Hopper stares blankly at the artificial body.
"Now her," Hopper says as he makes his way over to (Y/N)'s table, ready to do the same process over again and uncover a huge government conspiracy.
♥︎
As the two anger-fueled men storm out of the morgue, Jonathan and Nancy discover a monster hiding in plain sight. And at the Byers household, a wolf in sheep's clothing arrives at the door wearing a tone of forced compassion and a leather jacket.
__________________________________
Season one definitely isn't the most fun to write for Will because he's barely in it. So, I'm very sorry if I don't write (Y/N) and Will in as much as you want! I swear the next seasons will be way more fun for the both of us, this is just a lot of exposition I guess! I hope you're still enjoying the story though! Stay safe, be kind ~WoodCeiling♥︎
*THE CHARACTERS, THEME, AND SOME DIALOGUE BELONG TO STRANGER THINGS AND THE DUFFER BROTHERS*