─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───
november 4th
byers' residence
they were now all squeezed into the shed, covering up everything so will wouldn't recognise it. hopper secured the unconscious boy to the chair as the rest finished up.
after they had finished, everyone except mike, jonathan, tilly, hopper and joyce stayed in the shed and everyone went back into the house.
"all right, you ready?" hopper asked joyce.
"yeah."
hopper shook the bottle of ammonia and put some on a cotton pad, he then held the pad under will's nose. after a while, the boy gasped awake.
"what? what? what is this? what?" will struggled in the rope's grip, "what is this? what am i tied up?"
"will, we just wanna talk to you." joyce told him softly as she squatted in front of him, "we're not gonna hurt you."
"where am i?" will groaned.
hopper held up the drawing of the mind flayer, "you recognise this? do you recognise this?"
will shook his head and tilly sighed.
"hey. we wanna help you." joyve continued, "but to do that, we have to understand how to kill it."
"why am i tied up? why am i tied up?" will repeated, "why am i tied up? what am i tied up?"
"hey." hopper frowned.
"why am i tied up?" will snapped, "why am i tied up? let me go! let me go! let me go! let me go!"
the lights started flickering in the shed causing mike and tilly to share a knowing look.
"let me go! let me go! let me go! let me go... go... go..." he finally ran out of energy to yell.
"do you know what march 22nd is? it's your birthday. your birthday. when you turned eight, i gave you that huge box of crayons. do you remember that? it was 120 colours." joyce explained as she sat on the chair opposite.
"and all your friends, they got you star wars toys and joane got you some paints and a brush, but all you wanted to do was draw with all your new colours."
tilly gave the woman a smile as she talked to her son and closed her eyes, hoping it was working.
"and you drew this big spaceship, but it wasn't from a movie. i-it was your spaceship. a rainbow ship is what you called it." joyce continued.
"and you must have used every colour in the box. i took that with me to melvald's and i put it up and i told everyone who came in: 'my son drew this.' and you were so embarrassed. but i was so proud. i was so, so proud."
jonathan let out a shaky breath, "do you remember the day dad left? 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."
joyce and jonathan chuckled as the rest smiled.
"you'd miss the nail every time. and then it started raining, but we stayed out there anyway." jonathan reminisced, "we were both sick for like a week after that. but we just had to finish it, didn't we? we just had to."
"do you remember the first day that we met?" mike asked with a tear rolling down his cheek, "it was... it was the first day of kindergarten. i knew nobody. i had no friends and... 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-i asked if you wanted to be my friend. and you said yes. yes said yes. it was the best thing i've ever done."
tilly sighed before walking forward, "do you uh... remember when we met?" tilly questioned the distant boy, "it's one of my favourite stories to tell on your birthday. we were 6 and someone pushed me off a slide... and then you told him off but he yelled at you so y-you cried."
will looked her cold in the eyes and gave her no emotion.
"and then i gave a chocolate bar from my lunch because i never knew how to console crying people and i still don't-" tilly chortled, "will i know you're in there and i'm so sorry this happened to you."
"will, baby... if you're in there, just please... please talk to us." joyce begged, "please, honey, please, can you do that for me? please? i love you so much."
"let me go." will ordered.
─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───
hopper marched into the room in a rushed matter, the rest following behind. he grabbed a piece of paper and pen, then sat on the table.
"what happened?" dustin walked over to him.
hopper sighed as he wrote down symbols, "i think he's talking, just not with words."
"smart." daniel smirked.
"hey, what is that?" steve asked.
"morse code." the party spoke in sync.
"how did you know that?" daniel whispered.
"nerds." she explained.
"H-E-R-E." hopper translated the code.
"here." they all read off the paper.
"will's still in there." tilly explained with a faint smile.
"he's talking to us." hopper finished.
─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───
"do you remember the first time i played you this?" jonathan asked as 'should i stay or should i go' by the clash played in the background, "mum and dad were both arguing in the next room. so i played you the mixtape i made you. and it was the first time you got into music. real music."
as the group spoke to him, hopper repeated will's taps through a walkie talkie.
mike began rambling on about one of their previous games of dnd.
"...and then the party escaped into the sewers, and there were those big insect things, and you guys were still on level one." mike explained, "then you cast fog cloud and you saved us. you saved the whole party."
tilly took a deep breath, it was her turn. she shut her eyes and deeply thought about what to say.
"you okay?" mike whispered to her.
"hold my hand... please?" tilly looked at him with glossy eyes.
he nodded and took her hand as she walked over to will.
"i know i'm about to expose myself and i know you probably won't remember this..." she took a deep breath, "but i think i like you."
tilly glanced around the room to see everyone giving her a sad smile while mike squeezed her hand reassuringly.
"and not the best friend kinda thing... the mike and el kinda thing." tilly confessed, "i like how you smile every time i say something stupid, i like the way your face lights up when you draw me... i like the way you hold my hand when i'm scared. i'm rarely scared but... please will - come back."
it was joyce's turn, she was telling a story of will being generous, "you saw that little girl and she was in the sandbox and she was crying."
she continued, "you gave her your tonka truck and i told you we couldn't afford to buy another one. you said she should have it because she's sad: 'she's sad, mummy'. i love you so much. so, so much."
will started at her before suddenly shutting his eyes and moving them about.
joyce took notice of this, "hey, can you hear me?"
he began breathing heavily and panting.
"it knows. it knows where we are." hopper stepped forward.
"oh, shit." joyce quickly ran over and injected him with sedative.
─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───
once joyce and the rest had returned the rest had been looking out the windows. hopper and daniel came into the room with two guns each in their hands.
"hey. hey, get away from the windows!" hopper ordered, "do you know how to use this?"
"what?" jonathan gave him a blank look.
"can you use this?" he repeated.
"um."
"i can." nancy stepped forward, hopper tossed her he gun which she caught.
"gringo." tilly grinned as she gripped her crowbar.
daniel, hopper and nancy stood in the front. the three pointed their guns while the rest stood behind them, the screeching noise was back.
"where are they?" max asked from behind lucas, who was aiming his wrist rocket.
there was a loud thud and everyone re-directed themselves.
"no way." tilly ran forward to the door, feeling someone's presence. but before she could make it, mike had pulled her back.
"are you crazy?!" mike whisperer-yelled, "you're already injured."
"but-" tilly started but was interrupted by the window smashing and a lifeless demo-dog flying in.
the group screamed in fear and backed away.
"is it dead?"
"holy shit."
hopper stepped forward and used his foot to touch its head. when the head moved by the shoe's touch, the group moved back.
tilly strolled forward and stabbed the creature with the crowbar, thinking back to bob which made her angrier.
"hey!" hopper called out, "hey!"
tilly hasn't even realised how many times she spiked it, she was mesmerised by rage and lost her mind for a second.
"sorry." she muttered.
"woah." slater gaped.
"gringo." max smirked.
"gringo?" dustin asked.
"gringo." nancy confirmed.
"was that necessary?" daniel quizzed, slightly taken aback.
"he asked if it was dead."
the door chain began moving on its own, grabbing everyone's attention. once the door was fully opened, it revealed the lost girl with a bloody nose, slicked-back hair and a leather outfit. they lowered their guns, weapons and candlesticks and gaped at her in shock, mike stepped forward and tears welled up in his eyes.
"eleven."
⎯ ❃ neens speaks!
BELIVE ME i know how cringe her confession is but i really can't be bothered to change it so please stop hating on something i wrote two years ago haha
not edited!
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