We check the AV club room before we hear the boys and Max calling for Will. We follow their voices. Dustin comes around the corner with Max.
"Dustin!" Mom calls.
"Mrs. Byers? Y/n?" Dustin says
"What's going on? Where's Will?" Mom asks before Lucas busts through the door.
"The field!" He calls before running back out with us following.
We go out to see Mike trying to snap Will out of it as we approach. Will just stands there with his eyes closed and a blank expression.
"I just found him like this!" Mike calls to us. "I think he's having another episode!"
"Will! Will!" Mom calls as she puts her hands on his shoulders and slightly shakes him. "Sweetie, wake up! It's Mom! Will!" I shakily take one of Will's hands. "Will, wake up! Can you hear me?" Mom panics when there's no response. "Will, please, just wake up. Please, wake up!"
Will gasps harshly as his eyes open.
"Oh, God, Will." Mom pulls him into her arms as he stands there shaking and I sigh in relief.
We take him to the car and we drive away. When we get home, we sit down at the dinner table and ask him what happened.
"I can't remember." Will says.
Mom sighs. "I need you to try."
"I... I was on the field and... and then it... it all just went blank, and... and then you guys were there."
"Will, I need you to tell me the truth."
"I-I am."
Mom sighs and stands and walks over to another table and picks up a piece of parchment paper and walks back over to us. She puts it down to reveal a spider-looking thing with a head that looks like it just came out of the movie Alien.
"This shape, I saw it on the video tape from Halloween night. It's the same shape as- as your drawing." Mom sighs. "These episodes that you're having, I think Dr. Owens is wrong. I think they're real. But- but I can't help you if I don't know what's going on. So, you have to talk to me. Please. No more secrets, okay?" Will nods. "Okay. Did... did you see this thing again on the field?"
Will nods. "Yes."
"What is it?" I ask.
Will looks at me with fear in his teary eyes. "I don't know. It's almost more like a feeling." He says shakily.
"Like the one you had that night at the arcade?" Mom asks.
He looks at Mom and nods. "Yes."
"What does it want?" I ask shakily.
Will turns back to me. "I don't know. It came for me, and... and I tried. I tried to make it go away." Will sobs as mom shakily covers her mouth. "But it got me."
"Well, what does that mean?" Mom asks.
"I felt it... everywhere. Everywhere." He cries. "I- I still feel it. I just want this to be over." He sobs as Mom pulls him into a hug and I wipe a tear that escaped my eye.
Mom pulls back and takes his face in her hands. "Listen. Look, look at me. I will never, ever let anything bad happen to you ever again. Whatever's going on in you, we're gonna fix it. I will fix it. I promise." She pulls him back in for a hug.
I go into my room to sleep. I'm to mentally exhausted for anything else right now.
...
I wake up and get ready for school. I notice Jonathan is nowhere to be found.
"Hey, Mom. Where's Jonathan?" I ask when I see her at the kitchen table drinking coffee.
"Oh, he left early today. Not sure why, but he left a note." She says and I nod.
"Guess I'm going alone today." I mumble and grab my bag before walking to the door. I stop right before it. "Um, Mom." I turn and look at her. "If anything happens to Will that you need help with, just call the school, okay? I wanna be here for you if you need help."
She smiles sweetly. "Thank you, sweetheart. Have a good day."
I smile back. "You too, Mama." I wave and leave. I get in my car and drive away for another day of school.
I come back home after school to our house covered in connected drawings of some... blue vines? And all of the windows open.
"Mom." I sigh ad she looks back at me from her place on the couch "I told you to call the school if anything was wrong."
"I-I know, sweetheart. I'm sorry. I just got lost in thought and I forgot." She says as she stands.
"Is Will doing okay?"
She sighs and shrugs. "I don't think he's getting better. He's- He's cold and he doesn't want to get warm. I- I don't know."
I walk to her and put my hands on her shoulders. "Mom, it's okay. He's gonna be okay, alright?"
She nods and hugs me and I hug back. I can tell now that the's even more worried than she's letting on.
After a bit, Mike comes knocking at our door. He seems to know about the shadow monster.
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