Chapter Text
Mike Wheeler stood ringing his hands.
His mother told him when he woke up that morning that everything would be fine. However he couldn't help but feel frightened. It was his first time away from home. Away from his parents. His sister. Everything around him was new. Bold. Terrifying. He was told by his father he would make friends. Like Nancy had Barb. But Mike didn't know how. Didn't understand what he was supposed to do. How this was supposed to work. So he stood by the merry-ground on the verge of tears. It was then he saw him. A small boy on the swings by himself. He just sat there looking sad. Looking lonely. Mike wondered if he needed a friend. If he did, would he be Mike's friend? Mike hesitated. What if he didn't? What would Mike do then?
Be courageous. Be Brave.
Mike told himself as he swallowed hard and walked over to the swings, taking a seat. He sat there for only a second before he turned to the boy and said with a small smile.
Do you want to be friends?
The boy nodded and they began to swing. A sense of utter happiness filled Mike at that moment. He had a friend. He wasn't alone.
And from that moment forward, he never would be again.
He had Will. He always had Will.
That is until he didn't.
That is until that day Will was taken from him.
And things were never the same.
He awoke with a start. Cold, sweating and panting Mike woke up in his room. At his house. Confused, he took in his surroundings. The last thing he remembered was being in the tunnels with Nancy and The Party on their way to rescue Will. Will! At that moment Mike was filled with a blind panic. He didn't know what was going on. Trying his best to not freak out he sat up and took a look around. His room was different. Sure there were things there that he remembered but there were other things -- things he didn't remember being there before.
On instinct he turned to his alarm clock and his stomach immediately dropped. It was just a little past midnight. But that wasn't what startled him. He looked around his room again, the panic turning into fear. The realization that something was very, very wrong. Had he been dreaming before? Had all of that just been a horrible nightmare? Was Will safe? In that moment memories started flooding back into him. Memories that contradicted the ones he had sworn were so real just a moment earlier. Quietly he got up from the bed and made his way downstairs.
He passed the living room and went into the kitchen, stopping in front of the basement door. Slowly he crept the door open and made his way downstairs. He stopped halfway before he saw them. Jonathan asleep on the couch and Will. Will asleep in a huddle of blankets on the floor. Alive. Safe. Healthy. A sense of relief came over Mike at that moment. Has it all been a dream? But it felt so real though. Mike stood there looking down at Will for a moment. A moment longer than he should have.
Goodnight Will.
Mike whispered as he turned around and made his way back upstairs. Sitting back down on his bed, he took a hand through his hair, the panic that had ebbed at him as he awoke, now subsiding. It had been a dream. Will was okay. He had seen it with his own eyes. Then why did this seem so wrong. He looked at his alarm clock once more. It wasn't the time that bothered him so much. It was the date. It read:
November 3, 1987.
Mike looked at the clock once more before folding himself back into bed, closing his eyes.
Why does that date seem wrong? he thought as he drifted into an uneasy sleep.
From the dark shadowed corner of the room, Vecna appeared, staring down at Mike. A wicked smile creeping across his face.
It has begun.