Chapter Text
Will stood in the middle of the shed, aiming the gun that was too big for him at the door, at the monster that was chasing him. He was shaking, he had to quiet down but he couldn’t seem to stop his heavy breathing. He heard something weird behind him, like a dog’s mouth sounds but weird. He turned around, freezing at what he saw. It was the monster, towering over him and somehow making the single light in the shed flicker and brighten, the buzz of electricity invading Will’s ears and stabbing his brain.
What the hell is he supposed to do now?
-
Will opened his eyes to the feeling of his shirt and jacket riding up his torso, cold leaves piled up against his bare skin and the ground moving beneath him. What the fuck what the fuck what the fuck-
Will grabbed the gun that he somehow was still holding onto and shot the monster in the arm. It dropped his foot, turning towards him and swiping a handful of claws at his face, his head whipping to the side even though it barely touched him. Will scrambled to his feet, immediately sprinting towards his house. He could barely see, barely breathe, he could feel hot tears streaming down his face, his hair getting stuck in it. He sprinted towards his house, he had to find his mom, make sure she was ok.
He was next to the park, a 20 minute walk from his house but he was sure he could get there in 5 minutes. For once, he was happy that he was small, it made it so he could run faster than anyone he knew. The entire time he ran to his house, he could hear the monster behind him, it’s loud footsteps and snarls right behind him the entire time. He saw his house come into view and ran inside, slamming the door behind him and jamming it with a chair that was nearby.
“Mom!”
He slammed her bedroom door open. She wasn’t there. But when he finally stopped for the split second it took to take in his surroundings, he realized the walls were covered in thick black vines, the floors and ceiling too. He looked behind him, the entire house was like that. Covered in thick black vines that looked slimy, like they had just been dipped in thick black oil. Will was about to reach out and touch one when he heard a crash from the back of the house. The Monster. He ran to the front of the house, trying to find a good place to hide. He certainly didn’t have enough energy to run somewhere else after he got here in 5 minutes. He spotted a small cabinet in the corner of the room, he ran over to it, crawling in and shutting the door on himself.
There was no light in the cabinet, the only thing he could do was listen for the monster and wait to see if he was going to die today. He could hear it come into the room, the sound of its feet thumping on the hardwood floor (that was covered in vines?). He could hear it come close to his end of the room, he could hear it breathing, trying to sniff him out. But then it went away, he heard it crash through the house, going out the back door again and running away through the leaves in the woods.
Did it…leave?
Will opened the cabinet door a little, making sure it at least wasn’t in the room, slowly crawling out of it. It wasn’t in the room, he couldn’t hear it anywhere in the house but just in case, he slowly peeked around every corner. He had to find his mom. He had to find someone. He had to find a way back home because even though this was his house, it wasn’t his home. He took a good look around. It was still dark but not so dark he couldn’t see anything, there was a weird kind of dust in the air, like ash but not dry at all. Then there were the vines, everywhere he looked, vines covered every surface. They were thick, and not that he was looking, they looked more like tentacles.
He swiveled his head around, looking for something that could tell him anything. Except when he did that, his head started to feel weird. He reached up to the left side of his face, feeling something wet dripping down his face. When he looked down at his hands, his fingers were covered in a dark liquid, dark red between the flashes of lightning. He was bleeding. But when…the monster must’ve caught him with its claws earlier, before he started running. How didn’t he feel it? He could definitely feel it now, his heartbeat running through the wound. What was he supposed to do now? Will turned around again to look for his gun.
That was when he saw it. On the wall, there was a glowing red orange splotch with something on the other side. It was like the wall had suddenly turned clear, and on the other side was…the room he was in? Except it wasn’t the same, he could see his mom on the other side of the wall.
“Mom!”
She turned her head, looked straight at him. She could see him.
“Will?”
“MOM!”
“Will!”
Her voice was muffled, like he was underwater and she was yelling for him to save himself from drowning.
“MOM HELP!! HELP!! I DON’T KNOW WHERE I AM!”
“WILL!! I’m gonna get you out of there, just hold on!!”
He could see the weird glowy splotch starting to shrink, the regular wall was just regrowing in a darker black color.
“MOM!! HELP ME, HELP!”
He was crying now, he couldn’t see his mom. All he could see was their usual living room, it wasn’t covered in vines and it was bright and there was nothing in the air. Why was he here? How did he get here? How does he get back to the real world??
“WILL?!”
His mom was coming back, she sounded even farther away than before. He saw her walk up to the window thing, trying to claw at the sides to stop it from closing.
“WILL STAND BACK!"
He took several steps back, watching as his mom grabbed an axe from the floor and went straight at the window in the wall. The edges of the window started closing more quickly, by the time she was about to hit it, there was only a sliver of that weird red light shining through when he saw the axe connect with the wall.
“NO! MOM COME BACK!!”
Will fell to his knees, sobbing, slamming his fists against the wall. His only connection to home was gone. Somehow there were two versions of his house, of the entirety of Hawkins. Or maybe he was in hell? How would he have seen his mother then? Before he could cry out again, he heard something crash through the leaves behind the house, quickly coming towards the house. Where he was.
Will ran back to the cabinet, pulling it closed again and covering his mouth so he didn’t make a sound. He heard the monster walk back into the house. Why was it here? Why was he here? He could hear his heartbeat in his ears, feel it in his temples. He waited there until the monster left, then stayed there some more. He had nowhere else to go, nothing else to do. What could he do other than just stay there?
-
It felt like days before Will finally heard something other than monsters running around and thunder flashing every few seconds.
“Will?”
Will opened his eyes. That was his mother’s voice. It sounded like she was right next to him. Where was she? Will crawled out of the cabinet, looking at every corner of the thing, trying to find where his mother’s voice had come from. If the last time he could hear his mom was when there was a window in the wall, so where was the fucking window??
“Will honey, are you there?”
She sounded so close.
“Mom?” His voice was barely more than a whisper, hoarse from not speaking or making any sound for who knows how long. He reached into the cabinet, trying to find her or anything that said she knew he was there.
“Yes! Will, are you there?”
Will pulled back, did she see him reach into the cabinet? He reached in again.
“Yes! Oh Will, you’re alive! Ok, one for yes, two for no, alright?”
“Ok, Mom.” except it didn’t seem like she could hear him, so he reached in again. Once for yes.
“Ok, ok! Will, are you ok? Are you hurt?”
Twice, for no.
“Oh thank goodness! Will, honey, are you safe?”
Twice, for no. He could hear a faint sob come from inside the cabinet.
“It’s ok honey, you just stay where you are and keep hiding, I’m going to find you ok?”
He wanted to ask how, he wanted to ask her what the hell was going on, he wanted to ask why this was happening but he couldn’t. He couldn’t even see her, the only thing he could do was hear her somehow and he didn’t know what to do.
“Will, are you still there?”
Once, for yes.
“Ok, look I’m going to go get a way for you to talk to me ok? I’m…going to grab some more lights. You just stay there and wait for me ok? You stay there.”
Once, for yes.
“Good, I’ll be back. I promise.”
Once, for yes. Again.
He didn’t know if she was still there or not, but he crawled back into the cabinet anyway, closing it shut and hiding himself once more. His mom told him to hide so that’s what he would do. He had to hide. He had to make sure his mom was able to save him. He had to survive.
-
“Will? Honey? Are you there?”
That was his mothers voice again, still muffled but it was coming from outside the cabinet this time. He opened the cabinet door, looking around, making sure the monsters weren’t near.
“Yes! Ok good.”
He walked out into the living room, where was he supposed to reach into this time? He had no idea what he was doing before. How was he supposed to do the same thing now?
“Will, I put lights on the walls, a light for each letter. Do you see them?”
He didn’t know what to do, he didn’t know why there were lights.
“Will, can you light something up? There’s three rows, 8 then 9 then 9. Left to right. Please can you light something up.”
Three rows of letters, 8 then 9 then 9. That meant A-H on top, I-Q in the middle, then R-Z on the bottom. He hoped he was getting the spacing right, he couldn’t see anything on his wall but his mom must’ve done something on her side. He reached up to the top right corner of the wall, hoping it was an H.
“H…”
Ok he was in the right spot. I would’ve been next, he went down a little bit and all the way to the left, sliding his hand against the wall.
“I! Hi! Oh hi Will!” He heard her laugh a little bit.
“Yes!” He muttered under his breath.
“Ok, can you tell me where you are?”
As he was reaching for the wall, he heard that rustling of leaves again, like someone (more like something) was running through the woods behind his house.
The monster was back.
He quickly figured out where the letters he needed would be. R - U - N.
“R-U-N? Run? Will, what do I need to run from? Are you running from something? Will!?”
Will didn’t stay, he could already hear the monster coming in the house, inspecting other rooms for any hint of him. He had to get out of here, he was too far from the cabinet to make it there without being seen. He left through the front door, making as little noise as he could. He ran through the woods to Castle Byers, the only place he could think of that people could find him. It would probably be the second place they checked after the house, he just had to survive until someone found him. If someone found him at all.
-
Will stayed in Castle Byers for even longer than he was stuck in that cabinet before, impossibly cold, impossibly hungry, exhausted and wet. He wanted to go home. He could hear the monster walking around looking for him, he just stayed quiet. He didn’t hear anything from anyone.
But then he heard a faint voice, like an angle in the air.
“Will, your mom is looking for you.”
Will opened his eyes, looking up at nothing.
“Hurry. Please” Will managed to say, his voice weak.
He had no idea how close the monster had been, if he had he might not’ve said those few words. The minute after he said that, he could hear the monster running towards him. He grabbed his gun, suddenly awake. As the monster crashed through the walls of Castle Byers, Will shot at it, hitting it twice before its fist slammed into the right side of his head. It thankfully kept away from the side of his head that was already cut up but Will's head still throbbed from the impact. The monster raised it arm again, crashing it's fist down on Will's head, intensifying the dull throb in his head.
As Will went unconscious, the last thing he saw was one of those vines raising up and wrapping around his ankles.