Chapter Text
William Jacob Byers - otherwise known as Zombie boy to the kids in his high school and almost everyone in this god forsaken town. Also known as Will to anyone who dared to get to know him. - was sleeping in the Wheeler basement after he and his family moved from California back to Hawkins and was woken up by a loud noise. It took him a second to realize that it was his alarm attempting to wake him up for school. He rubbed his eyes before suddenly feeling a sharp pain in his left eye, sharp almost like a knife was trying to gouge it out. He winced slightly as he took his hand off his eye and the pain went away almost instantly.
Unfortunately enough before he could dwell on it, Mike - his childhood best friend and lifelong crush - had knocked on the door. “Will? Are you ready yet? We have like….Around 30 minutes before we have to go.” Mike said through the door, snapping Will out of his thoughts “Uh Oh yeah im almost ready i’ll be out there!” Will rushed to get dressed as his mind raced. Stupid! How fucking stupid do you have to be to not realize what time it was! He tried to shake away his thoughts as he walked out of the basement.
As he walked out of the basement he saw Holly - Mike’s little sister - and Mike walking to him “Will!!! Look what I drew X3 !!!” Holly said, really excited, showing him a drawing of Will next to…a man….? The man looks oddly familiar to Will but he brushed it off for a bit. but anyways the drawing was really well drawn. Will had been teaching Holly how to draw ever since he came back to Hawkins and started to live with the Wheelers with Jonathan. “You're doing great Holly!” Will said looking at the drawing “One question though…who is that?” He asked, pointing at the oddly familiar man. “Thats Mr. Whatsit he’s my new friend X3” Holly said as Will shared a glance of confusion with Mike who reciprocated the glance with a shrug.
Will had carefully put the drawing in his bag before joining Mike and Holly on the way to school. Will and Mike said their byes to Holly before going to school.
One minute he was in his first class and the next it was lunch…? Wait, it's already lunch….? Did he seriously go through the whole day on autopilot as he just dissociated? Dustin had sat down next to him right then, giving him a glance of concern asking whether or not he was okay. Will nodded before thinking oh shit there’s a crawl today how could i have forgotten?
He got through the last of his classes and made it to the squawk where everyone else was. Joyce and Hopper - Joyce’s boyfriend - were leading the meeting and instructing everyone. Of course he and El - his sister and best friend - always stayed behind as El was wanted by the government and Will was too fragile and Will, well Joyce - his mother - protested against him helping every time. So Will had pulled out the drawing Holly had given him earlier to look at it more and maybe to see if he could remember who this Mr. Whatsit was to him.
As Will had looked at the drawing for some reason he felt anger as he looked at the drawing though he didn't know why? As he was lost in his thoughts, his angry, angry thoughts so he didn't realize the lights were flashing and his nose started bleeding before all the lights broke. Regrettably he was sitting right under one as it broke so it left him with cuts on his arm as he instinctively protected the drawing…?
Fortunately no one got hurt except him. El, Joyce and Robin were too busy with cleaning as the rest left to do the crawl as Will snuck into the bathroom to clean up. He looked into the Mirror as he wiped the blood away from his nose. He looked at his reflection…for a split second he saw Henry instead of himself but he shook it off and grabbed the first aid kit to clean his wounds with.
Will looked over all the scars on his arms, fresh, old, some did in fits of anger, some from days he would prefer to not remember, others done by demogorgons or demodogs. As he wrapped the bandages around his arm he thought about everything. He looked up at his reflection before jumping almost out of his skin seeing someone who is not himself but a stranger. He realized from trips to the Creel house with the party that the person in the mirror of a younger version of Henry Creel?
He basically ran out of the room trying to get away from the mirror when he realized…everyone was back? Oh shit just how long had he been in the bathroom? The crawls usually take around thirty minutes to a half-hour and last time he checked they left a bit ago. “Will, you okay?” Mike said as he ran to him concern painting his face his majestic fucking face. Will didn't have the energy to do anything which is odd because he had so much energy before it was like something was taking it. Before he knew it he had fallen into Mike’s arms with everyone running to him, his eyes shifting in and out of focus as he slowly loses consciousness and is now passed out in Mike’s arms.
“William” a voice rang out, deep and uncomfortable. As Will opened his eyes he found himself in the creel house watching as the Creel family sat leaving their son in the living room as they ate. He noticed that Henry was drawing something…The mind flayer. Will’s eyebrows furrowed as he watched as Henry drew before the scene changed. He was now in a cave. As he walked through it he saw a man with a briefcase and a gun. The man yelled at something behind Will. When he turned around he saw a younger Henry in a boys scout uniform, scared and defenseless.
Will watched, horrified, as the man shot Henry in the hand. He flinched as Henry bashed the man’s head in before he grabbed the briefcase and opened it. Henry grabbed the rock inside the briefcase and disappeared. Will hesitated before turning and climbing up the ladder that led to the surface. As Will made it to the top he felt something grab his leg and pull him down. He tried his best to fight it but the thing was stronger than him and dragged him away.
Will woke up in a panic, sweat clinging to his shirt, as he looked around only to notice Mike sitting next to him asleep. Will hugged Mike, the hug woke up Mike who hugged back tight as if he thought if he let go Will would disappear again.