Chapter Text
The California sun was a different kind of heat. It wasnt the humid clinging weight of an Indiana summer, but a dry oppressive force that bleached the color from the sky and made the world feel vast and empty. Will Byers stood on the driveway watching the moving truck swallow the last of his mothers boxes. It was August and everything was ending.
Or maybe everything was beginning. He couldnt tell the difference anymore.
Inside the house the rooms echoed with the absence of furniture and the lingering ghosts of their brief tumultuous life in Lenora Hills. He could still picture El sitting cross legged on the floor of the living room her face scrunched in concentration as she tried to levitate a soda can. He could still hear the strange static filled silence that followed her every outburst of power. And he could still feel the phantom ache of the Mind Flayer a tingle at the back of his neck that even now a year after Vecnas fall hadnt completely faded.
Dr Owens said it was psychosomatic. A memory his body held onto. Will preferred to think of it as a scar. A reminder that he had survived something that should have killed him. More than once.
Will His mothers voice bright and strained with the effort of pretending everything was normal cut through his thoughts. Honey are you just going to stand there Come say goodbye to the house.
He turned to see Joyce Byers standing on the porch her hands on her hips. She looked tired the lines around her eyes deeper than theyd been a year ago. The move back to Hawkins wasnt a surrender shed explained to him and Jonathan one night. It was a reclamation. They had run from Hawkins twice and both times Hawkins had pulled them back. It was time to stop running.
He walked past her into the hollow shell of the house. Jonathan was in his old room carefully peeling a sticker of a punk band off the wall. He caught Wills eye and offered a small understanding smile. They didnt need to talk. They never really did. Jonathan just knew.
Wills own room was bare. The walls were a pale impersonal beige. The only thing left was a single piece of paper a drawing hed done weeks ago lying in the center of the floor where his bed used to be. He bent down and picked it up. It was a sketch of Castle Byers the one hed built in the woods back in Hawkins as a kid. The one hed destroyed himself when he thought he was losing his mind.
Underneath the drawing in his own handwriting were the words I am still here.
He folded the paper carefully and tucked it into the back pocket of his jeans. A talisman. A promise.
The goodbye at the airport was harder than he anticipated. Not with his mom or Jonathan they were a constant the only true anchor he had. It was saying goodbye to the others. To El who hugged him so tight he thought his ribs might crack whispering friends dont lie and they dont say goodbye forever into his ear. To Mike.
Mike Wheeler stood a little apart from the group his hands shoved deep into the pockets of his too big jacket. He looked uncomfortable his dark eyes scanning the airport floor as if it held the answers to the universe. Since the battle since the Creel House since Will had felt Vecna inside his mind one last terrifying time there had been a shift between them. A crack in the foundation of their friendship that Will didnt know how to mend.
Everyone said their goodbyes. Dustin made a joke about Hawkins being a superfund site for weirdness and promised to keep Mike in line. Lucas clapped Will on the shoulder a gesture of solidarity that spoke of countless campaigns and shared battles. Max leaning on her cane gave him a small genuine smile that didnt quite reach her eyes but her eyes were slowly learning to smile again on their own.
Finally it was just him and Mike.
So Mike said kicking at an invisible pebble.
So Will echoed. The silence was a living thing between them filled with all the words they hadnt said in the back of that Surfer Boy Pizza van in the halls of Hawkins High in the years of Wills disappearances and possessions.
California Mike said as if the word itself was a foreign concept. Surfing Sun You will probably forget all about us weirdos back in Indiana.
It was meant to be a joke. Will knew it was a joke. But it landed wrong like a clumsy step that twists an ankle. I could never forget you Mike Will said his voice quieter than he intended. You are my He trailed off. His what His best friend. The word felt too small. Too inadequate.
Mike finally looked at him and for a moment his gaze was the same as it was when they were kids huddled in a blanket fort in the Wheeler basement rolling dice and slaying imaginary dragons. It was a look of pure uncomplicated friendship. I know Mike said softly. Me neither.
The announcement for Wills flight crackled over the intercom. This was it.
We will call Will promised. Every week.
You better. Mike managed a weak smile. El will kill you if you dont. And not with her powers. Just with really annoying questions.
Will laughed a short surprised sound. It broke the tension. On impulse he stepped forward and hugged Mike. It was quick a brief squeeze but in that second Will felt Mikes arms wrap around him tightly his chin resting on Wills shoulder. It was the safest Will had felt in months.
Then it was over. Will pulled away grabbed the handle of his carry on and walked towards the gate without looking back. He couldnt. If he looked back he might not have the strength to leave.
On the plane as California shrunk beneath a blanket of clouds Will took out the drawing of Castle Byers. He traced the lines of the fort with his finger. He thought of Mikes hug. He thought of the monster in his head now just a whisper. He thought of the word he couldnt say the feeling he couldnt name.
He was still here. And maybe for now that was enough.
The new apartment in Hawkins was small. It smelled like the elderly woman who had lived there before a mix of lavender and dust. Wills room was barely larger than a closet but it had a window that looked out onto the parking lot and beyond that the familiar tree line of Indiana.
The first night back he couldnt sleep. He lay on his new bed staring at the ceiling listening to the unfamiliar sounds of the building settling around him. No ocean breeze. No palm trees rustling. Just the wind through the pines a sound so familiar it made his chest ache.
He reached for the phone on his nightstand. His mom had insisted he have one in his room for emergencies. He dialed before he could talk himself out of it.
Three rings. Four. He was about to hang up when a groggy voice answered. Hello
Mike Its Will. I am sorry did I wake you
Will Mike Mikes voice immediately shifted from sleepy to alert. What is wrong Are you okay
Nothing is wrong. I just I got here and I couldnt sleep and I
You dont have to explain. Mikes voice was softer now. How is it The new place
Small. Weird. It doesnt feel like home yet.
It will. Give it time. A pause. I miss you already. The basement is too quiet without you. Dustin tried to fill the silence with a thirty minute lecture on radio frequencies and I actually missed your eye rolling.
Will smiled in the darkness. I always thought you liked Dustin lectures.
I tolerate Dustin lectures. I like your company. There is a difference.
They talked for another hour about nothing and everything. About school starting soon about the new campaign Dustin was planning about how Max was doing with her physical therapy. By the time they said goodnight the weight in Wills chest had lifted slightly.
He fell asleep with the phone still warm in his hand and the echo of Mikes voice in his ears.
The last summer of childhood was ending. But maybe that was okay. Maybe what came next could be something worth living for.