Chapter Text
Will Byers was always used to hiding things. He'd hide bruises that Lonnie gave him, he'd always tell his friends that it's "just dust" when they ask why it looked like he'd just finished crying. He'd always had 1 overarching secret which began with Mike Wheeler, yet Will wouldn't ever be able to tell him. But this new secret could literally kill him from the inside. All that work his mom, brother and Nancy put in, and all the pain he went through, all for it not to work. Every night his dreams would be invaded by tunnels and screeching and shadows. Worst of it all, Will was hearing a new sound in these dreams (nightmares, visions??) and it was a man, but he didn’t sound human. Will just wondered if whatever divine being up there hated him. He was nearly burnt to death, yet the Mind Flayer was still partially in his mind.
Will had known ever since the burning ended. He still felt part of the shadow stirring in him, and it was mad. He also experienced a hurting sensation, but that feeling was far away, somewhere else in Hawkins. The shadow hung over him less than it did a few hours before, when Will needed to be drugged and woken with bleach. But over the past few weeks, the shadow still had its impact on Will’s life. Everyone, from his mom to his brother and friends had been noticing he was more distant. He wasn’t enjoying hanging out with his friends as much as before, and couldn’t count the amount of times his teachers had caught him zoned out.
Will had also “apparently” been more moody. One time Max had tried make a joke about Will and that week he’d got lost in the upside down. Usually Will would laugh at stuff like that, but that day he just started shouting at Max so much that it looked liked she was about to cry. For the rest of the day, he’d hated himself for it. Its not like anything bad happened before the joke, and he never really got angry, he’d just get sad and bottle it up.
More things like this had happened, getting more intense the more recently they were. That incident with Max just yesterday. Will thought he should tell someone about the truth, that he was still partially possessed. Maybe he could start with his mom. She’d probably help. But wouldn’t that just mean he’d go through all that pain again, a new voice in his head questioned. Will though about it for a while. If he didn’t get the Mind Flayer out while he had the chance to, he could hurt someone under its influence. But Will knew something. The temperatures during an exorcism could easily kill him, especially since he was more vulnerable to heat. He’ll try hold out from being controlled too much and if he can’t, then he’ll go get help. But he’d think about it more later. He needed to sleep. He was going to that new mall tomorrow with his friends. And Will fell into an uneasy sleep, filled with vines and rats and a sludge of sorts.