Chapter Text
It’s a sunny and pleasant afternoon in Southern California. Summer break had just begun for the students, and tourism was about to be at an all-time high.
Some students had extravagant vacations planned for the summer while others were planning to go to concerts and festivals. Will Byers, on the other hand, had no such thing to look forward to. He believed his summer break was going to be the same, boring thing it always had been.
Will was sat in his room reading a book, enraptured by the swirling romance between the two main characters. The main leads had just confessed to each other, despite their love being forbidden. Just when they were about to kiss, Will heard a knock on his bedroom door.
“Come in,” he yelled out to the person.
Jane, Will’s stepsister, opened the door, a bright smile on her face as usual. Jane and Will were both 15, but they were very different. Despite this, they got along well.
“Will! Whatcha reading?” Jane says, jumping onto the bed next to Will, jostling him.
“It’s nothing…just some dumb story,” Will says, trying to deflect the question.
Jane raises and eyebrow, smiling deviously. She grabs the book out of Will’s hands and begins to read it aloud. He tries to take it back, but Jane kept extended her arms, holding the book up where Will couldn’t reach it. She hops up and begins running around the room, still reading between laughs.
Will manages to retrieve the book back from Jane’s clutches, flustered.
“Will, when are you gonna stop reading all that romance stuff? It’s so boring-besides, being single is much more fun! We don’t need a man to make us happy,” Jane says playfully.
Will blushes. “Keep it down! Mom might be around,” he says.
“You’re going to have to tell her eventually, Will. What’s holding you back?” Jane asks.
Will thinks about it for a moment, then shakes his head.
“You just wouldn’t get it,” he says, finally. “Why’d you come bother me anyways? Besides to ruin my reading time.”
“Jonathan and Argyle wanna take us to the beach! It’s funny-we live so close, but we never go. Well, you never go, anyways,” Jane says.
“Did mom put you up to this? I told her-I’m fine. I just want to stay home and read.”
“C’mon, Will! It’ll be fun! I’m bringing Max-why don’t you ask Dustin to come with us, too? Please, please come?” Jane begs, trying to guilt Will into coming.
He rolls his eyes. “Fine, but if I get hit with a beach ball, we’re leaving,” he says.
——
Will, Jane, Jonathan, Argyle, and Max pile out of Argyle’s van. Max and Jane run out together towards the boardwalk, dying to get some ice cream. Jonathan and Argyle gather up the beach supplies and head on down into the sand. Will hangs back, waiting for Dustin to arrive. He said he hitched a ride from his friend, Steve, and said he’d meet Will there.
The sun beats down, and Will wonders how the ocean isn’t boiling from the intensity. More and more people file onto the beach, but still no sign of Dustin anywhere. Will gives up on waiting and goes to find Jonathan and Argyle. He spots where they set up, but the two are already in the water. Will sits on one of the towels with his arms wrapped around his legs.
Surprisingly enough, the beach doesn’t feel too crowded in spite of all the tourists and whatnot. Will checks his watch. They’d already been there an hour, but Dustin hadn’t shown up yet. Max and Jane were off doing who knows what, and Will didn’t really feel like swimming with dumb and dumber. He decides to talk a walk down the shore.
Will, lost in thought, walks for a much longer distance than he thought he would. He ends up on a rather secluded part of the beach. There’s no one else around and he’s not sure how far he went from where he had been.
Will turns to look out into the water, and the hair on the back of his neck stands up. A chill runs down his spine as the once burning hot air turns frigid. He touches the back of his neck, his eyes peering further into the horizon. The once sunny day turned dark and foreboding all at once it seemed, and the wind began whipping harshly.
Suddenly, Will begins hearing a…song of some sort. It’s coming from the ocean, and, as if in a trance, he begins to walk towards it. Once waist deep into the water, Will finally snaps out of it.
“Huh? What the-?” He says aloud, unsure of what just happened. The waves whip and lash around him, becoming rougher and rougher. Will tries to start walking ashore, but something wraps around his ankle, pulling him under. The darkness of the sky made it harder to see under the water, and Will tried desperately to escape the grasp of whatever had a hold of him. Becoming too disoriented, Will couldn’t tell which direction was up and which was down. Panic begins to fill Will’s mind, and, without thinking, he screams, causing water to rush into his lungs. His vision begins to blur when he sees something swimming towards him at an incredible speed. Right before losing consciousness, he sees what looks like another person’s face.
——
When Will regains consciousness, he’s underneath the pier, up where the waves barely reach. He jerks himself upright and looks around. The sun was beginning to set on the horizon, and the beach was almost empty. Even though he was soaked head to toe, he couldn’t tell if what had just happened actually had just happened.
Will surveyed the area around him, but he couldn’t see anyone he recognized. He does catch a glimpse of something shimmering in the sand, though. He goes to pick it up, brushing the sand from the item. It’s a shiny blue scale. He examines it, having never seen a scale like this before. Then, in the distance, he can hear several people shouting his name. He shoves the scale into his pocket and hops up.
“Will! Where are you, it’s time to go!” Jane yells.
“I’m right here!” Will says, voice raspy. He begins to cough rather violently, and Jane runs up to him.
“Oh, my God, Will! Are you okay? Where have you been?”
“Just…took a walk down the beach, that’s all.”
“A walk down the beach? You’re soaking wet!”
“I, uh…tripped and fell into the water.”
Jane rolls her eyes. “Well, c’mon! Everyone else is ready to go, we were about to leave you behind!”
Jane grabs Will’s wrist and drags him along. They get into the van and buckle up. Jonathan turns around in his seat to look at Will.
“Where did you run off to?” He asks.
“Just…down the beach…a little ways,” Will responds.
“Okay…” Jonathan says, then turns back around in his seat as Argyle begins to drive off. Will stares out the window, flashes of the blurry face he saw popping into his mind. Who had he seen? He couldn’t tell if he had actually seen a real person or not. He stuck his hand into his pocket and felt the scale. He rubbed the pad of his thumb over it, and decided whatever or whoever he had seen, he needed to see them again.