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Happy Birthday!!! I thought as I rode past the quarry. Today is April 7th. The birthday of my late best friend, Mike Wheeler. Today he would have been 16 years old. I miss you so much. I told him as I parked my bike by the trees. I walked over and stood on the ledge of the quarry, 250 feet above the water. The exact sight he looked down on 2 years, 4 months, and 24 days ago. November 14th, 1983. The day he died, saving my life. And I hate myself for it. Everyday. It’s a constant reminder that I’m the reason he’s dead. I sat down, feet dangling over the drop. “Hey, Mike! I’m here… again. Day 875 without you. We all miss you, especially Will, Lucas, and I.” I took a deep breath and looked around, making sure no one was here to see me, “We’re so close, Mike. I can feel it. We’re so close.” Tears filled my eyes and my throat began to tighten up, “I wish you were here. I’m sorry. You should be here. It my fault. You should get to help finally defeat Vecna. But you can’t.” A tear slipped down my cheek and I wiped it off. “I have a feeling that there’s gonna be another crawl tonight. You would have loved planning them with us. We’ve almost got him. Will says he’s close. That we’re close, but he also hasn’t felt Vecna for sometime so I don’t know how he can tell.” I looked down at the water and remembered his body falling. It hurt. To remember, that is. But school was going to start soon and I still had to visit Eddie this morning.
“Well, well, well,” I turned around to see Andy and one of his goons, Carlton, walking up to me. Shit. “If it isn’t Dusty Bun Henderson.” He walked closer and I scrambled to stand up and get away from the edge, “Talking to your boyfriend? Does he listen?”
“Go away, Andy.” I said, trying not to act like I cared but tears were slowly forming in my eyes again as I picked up my bike and went to get on it.
“Woah, woah. Not so fast there, buddy,” Andy curled his hand into the back of my jacket and yanked me off my bike, “You’re not going anywhere.”
“Aren’t you gonna be late…Again?” I peeled his hand away from my coat.
“I think. You’re going to be late.” I turned around to find Lucas walking towards me with Will following him. “Leave him alone, Andy.”
“Yeah, why don’t you just shut up and go back to your little posey back at the school.” Will’s voice rang around the quarry. Everyone knew him as the kid who died. The kid who came back to life. The kid who survived being buried. the kid who lost his best friend. And the kid who never got to say goodbye bye. Will was wearing his classic ripped black jeans, a Hellfire long sleeve, and a black zip up hoodie over it. We all know that Will loved Mike now. More than we did. In a different way than we did. We had to bring him to a hospital so he wouldn’t follow Mike into the darkness. He still feels that way, we know he does. I know he does. Because I had to go with him once. After Eddie died, I couldn’t bear it. I’d lost one of my best friends and one of the most influential people in my life. But we keep each other here. Max and Lucas keep us here.
Andy took a step towards Will, “Aww, stepping up for your new boyfriend? Did you get tired of the fact that your old one is dead?”
Will clenched his jaw, he hated getting into fights, “Andy. Stop.”
Andy rolled his eyes, “Whatever, you guys are such dorks.” He walked away with Carlton, likely towards school as to not be late.
“Thanks guys.” I whispered, fixing my jacket.
“Of course,” Lucas patted my shoulder and wheeled bike back to me, “Maybe… maybe seeing him everyday isn’t worth it anymore…”
“Lucas! I can’t stop now. I’ve been coming here everyday since he died.” I was confused. Why would he suggest such a thing?! It’s stupid. Will would get it if he talked more than 5 times a day. Or at least Lucas would understand that Will does get it.
“Whatever.” Lucas rolled his eyes, “I just don’t want you getting hurt, man.” He patted my back. “Now come on, we gotta go to school.”
I rode my bike to school, ahead of Lucas and Will. I had biology straight away in the morning. It was bullshit but at least El was in there too. After biology I went to a creative writing class, Mike would have loved this class. And after that it was geometry then geography and finally physics.
Later that day we get a radio from Rob that tells us where the crawl is and things happen. It takes nearly an entire year but we find Vecna. We kill him. Will officially told us that he was gay. I’m now dating El. Will has a new boyfriend, his name’s Alex and he’s really nice, Will’s happy with him and now at NYU for an art degree. Lucas and Max are together again and are both going into different branches of the military. El is going to work with other special kids across the country. And I’m still here. At home. But I’m moving out today. El and I are going to move to Blaine, MN. It’s not too cold but it’s far enough from home to forget all of the loses we had.
I look around the house, “Good bye.” I say as I walk to my room for the last time. There are 3 things there that I have to grab and put in my backpack before I leave forever.
I walked over to my bed and sat down. Grabbing 3 images off of my bedside table. The first one is one of Eddie and I. It was the day he died, before we knew he would. We were in the field and we were so happy together. He was like a father to me. Steve had taken it. The second picture was one of Mike and I one day while planning for a D&D campaign. We were 11 years old and had no idea what would come the next year. And finally, the last picture is a picture of everyone that lived. It was all of us at graduation. Hopper, Steve (who is gonna be El and I’s neighbor in Minnesota), Nance, Johnathan, Robin, Joyce, Murray, Holly, Derek, Erica, Lucas, Will, Max, El, and I. I carefully placed each picture in my backpack before standing back up. I grabbed my walkie that would work so I can still contact Will and everyone else.
God it’s impossible to believe that it’s been exactly three years since the last time I talked to Mike. It’s his birthday again so I feel like I truly owed him a goodbye, I’ll visit sometimes when I come back but I can’t go without telling him. So, for the last time, I picked up my bike and ride to the quarry. I walked over and started like always, “Hey, man, it’s day 1,971 days without you…” This time I didn’t sit in the edge. The edge was only there for me to sit on because maybe that time it would fall and I would join Mike. But this time, I had a life to look forward to. I was going to college at the U of M for theoretical physics. So I stood. I told him everything. About Will. And about El and I. About where everyone’s going and where we had been the last year. How we defeated Vecna and how we missed him so much. I told him about Holly and about Karen. I told him that Joyce and Hop got married and how we were all groomsmen. I told him that Max woke up and that she was doing better. And that I was finally okay. I wanted to live now.
“Well… I’ll be visiting soon, I know it. So I’ll talk to you soon. I just love you so much. I wish you were here. And I know you died for me but I know that you’d want me to live the life you saved. So, this is my goodbye, for now at least. Goodbye, Mike Wheeler. I love you, man.” And I walked away. I went to live my life. Finally.