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In the days after their return to Hawkins, Will Byers finds himself unable to sleep soundly through the night. In his waking hours, he’s plagued by the occasional cold chill running down his neck and an uneasy feeling whenever he looks up at the grey sky above. He runs cold these days, even though warmer spring weather has settled over Hawkins, along with the noxious blanket of grey smoke from the smoldering chasm that has opened up in the ground.
As the rest of the party take shifts at Max’s hospital bedside or watch rented movies together, and their extension of older friends and siblings volunteer at the high school community center, Will chooses to keep to himself. He and his older brother Jonathan were staying in the Wheelers’ basement. Joyce Byers seems to have moved into the cabin with back-from-the-dead Jim Hopper and Eleven. His mother comes to check up on Will just about every day though.
During these seemingly endless days as they wait for Vecna’s next move, Will mostly draws. He’s trying to capture a face that’s been appearing in his dreams. It’s a boy. About his age. Maybe just a bit older. Handsome. No, not exactly. More like beautiful. Delicate features. Blue eyes. Fine nose. Light brown hair, just on the verge of dirty blond. Will has to admit to himself, he likes looking at this face in his dreams.
It helps lessen the heartache he feels each morning when he wakes up on that lumpy couch in the basement. The dread of knowing he’ll have to sit across the dinner table that night from the boy he’s loved for so long. The one who pushed him away for the last few years, the one who will never love him back.
Although his relationship with Michael Wheeler has warmed up again, thanks to their cross country pizzavan adventure and a few heartfelt talks along the way, it’s still nothing like it once was. When Will felt like the center of Mike’s dinosaur and dragon-filled world.
For three days, Will had been sketching this mystery boy’s beautiful face over and over in an old composition book he found in the basement, before Mike’s mom Karen handed him some drawing paper and coloring pencils. She was always so sweet to Will, coming to look over his shoulder as he sat and drew, sometimes bringing him a snack or pushing his thick curtain of bangs aside with a perfectly manicured finger.
“You okay, Will? You know you can always talk to me. You’re like a second son to me.”
“Thanks Mrs. Wheeler. I’m okay. All things considered, I guess.” He returns to his drawings in earnest. This time, the boy’s face. Next, a portrait with his slim upper body. Another one, in full frame. Will even draws himself and the boy standing together. The boy is a few inches taller. Will is looking up at him.
In the evening when Mike returns from Dustin’s house, Will is in the bathroom. Mike goes down to the basement to find drawings scattered all over the table. Drawings of a boy. Another boy. Who is this guy? Maybe Will’s friend from California? He opens up an old composition book nearby to find even more sketches of this mystery man. Mike doesn’t particularly like his face, he’s too pretty. Annoyingly pretty. Not like Will, who’s just the right amount of pretty. Mike’s not sure where that thought came from.
He contemplates for a minute, throwing the book away. After all, it’s his old notebook from school, his property. Will didn’t even ask if he could draw in the unused back half of the pages. But he’s never thrown out any of Will’s drawings before. Of course, those were of things Mike liked. Dragons, dinosaurs, him and the rest of the party on campaigns through swamps and forests, fighting monsters and wizards. Not random boys. Not this stupid pretty one with the dumb light colored eyes that Mike doesn’t have.
Instead of throwing the book away, Mike just leaves it on the table and walks back upstairs to get ready for another awkward dinner.
That night, as Will’s brain settles into a deeper sleep and his eyes dart back and forth beneath their lids, he sees the mystery boy come to him once again. As always, he’s tall and lean. He’s wearing a plaid shirt and crisp beige pants. He’s dressed like Will usually does. He steps close into Will’s space, smiling gently. He tells Will he likes it when they can spend time together. That Will is his favorite person. He smiles when Will tries to make a joke. Tells him he thinks Will is so funny and smart. And handsome. He likes what he’s grown into. Likes how his body has filled out. How his voice has dropped. How his eyes sparkle when they talk. The boy tells Will that his name is Henry.
“I don’t like it,” Mike says to Dustin as they stand in the hallway outside of Max’s hospital room. “I get that Will doesn’t like coming to the hospital. I mean, after what he’d been through, I get it, I do. But he doesn’t want to come out for anything anymore.”
“It’s probably just weird for him to be back in Hawkins,” Dustin says. “Maybe he’s missing his friends back in California. Not that he ever really mentioned anybody in his letters.”
“Wait, he wrote you letters?”
“Yeah man, like five of them. We went back and forth. I’m glad he’s back though. I kind of hated writing letters, but his phone was always busy.”
“Tell me about it. I tried a couple of times at first. I gave up after a while and just waited for El to call me when Joyce wasn’t on the phone. But me and Will didn’t talk too much. Did, uh… Did you guys?”
“Not too much, about once a week. Same as Lucas.”
“Lucas too? Anyway, whatever. Now he’s back but it’s like he’s not even here anyhow. It’s so annoying. I thought maybe things would get back to normal—“
“Normal, other than the giant fucking crack in the ground that swallowed up city hall, you mean?”
“Yeah, other than that. But like, he just sits in my fucking basement, just drawing all the time, you know? I’m getting really sick of it. I mean, like worried. Like, I worry about him. You know?”
“Sure, man. But you know, these past few days… they’ve been pretty rough on everybody.”
“Yeah, I’m sorry about that, by the way. I know you and Eddie got pretty close before… well, you know.”
“Yeah.”
“Okay guys, I guess you can go in,” Lucas says as he steps out of the hospital room. “I’m gonna try to find something to eat. Ugh, I hate the food in the hospital cafeteria but Erica refuses to bring me lunch from home.” The boys exchange a smile.
“I think she’s doing better though. Max, I mean. I think I felt her move her fingers a little bit. So like, talk to her when you’re in there, okay?”
“Sure thing, man,” Mike says. He pats Lucas on the shoulder as his friend starts to make his way down the fluorescent lit hallway.
That night, Dustin, El and Lucas join Mike and Will down in the basement to watch a movie. It’s Gremlins tonight. Will doesn’t talk much but he still sits with everyone. It would be weird not to.
Eleven doesn’t really enjoy these kind of movies much, so she gets up to get a drink. On her way back down the stairs she walks past the table and sees Will’s drawings, now placed in a neat stack next to his colored pencils.
Back in Lenora, Will tried to teach his new sister how to draw, but she preferred to do more three dimensional crafts. She did like the drawings and paintings he’d make for her though.
She looks at the top picture of a boy. He looks a little familiar to her. Not from Lenora Hills High. And El knew Will didn’t have any close friends out there anyway. She wondered who this boy was. There was so much detail. Light brown hair, loosely brushed back from his forehead. Soft pink lips. Piercing blue eyes. High cheeks bones. A jaw, just on the cusp of squaring out. A boy on the verge of becoming a man. El can’t shake the feeling she has seen him before.
She’s broken from her thoughts when the party starts to shout at the tv screen. Apparently one of the meanest gremlins has done something especially gross. She goes to rejoin her friends on the sofa. She makes a point to sit with Will.
On that same couch a few hours later, Will is dreaming again. This time, Henry is touching him. He’s holding his face gently in his hands. His blue eyes, scanning Will’s face and dropping to his lips. Their bodies are close. Henry is wearing white tonight.
“I want to be with you, Will. I want to be able to have you with me, always. Would you like that? Do you want to be with me too?”
“Of course, Henry. And I want to tell you something. Promise you won’t tell?”
“I won’t tell on you, if you don’t tell on me.”
“I really like you, Henry. I mean, like. Really like you. Have feelings. For you. And I do want to be with you. I do.”
“I’m so happy to hear you say that Will. Because I need your help. I want so badly to be with you but I can’t. Not without your help. You see, Will. I’m trapped.”
Will takes a small step back to look at Henry again. But now he’s no longer wearing a white shirt and trousers. Instead, he’s in a hospital gown. His hair is now cropped very short. Henry looks at Will with sad eyes.
“They won’t let me out, Will. Papa has me trapped. I’m stuck inside Hawkins Lab. You have to help me. I’m scared, Will. I’m scared and so lonely. I’m alone, just like you. But if we were together, we wouldn’t be alone any more. You can help me, Will.”
“I… I don’t understand. They shut down the lab. They’re already bulldozering it. And Papa… El says he’s dead. I think I saw him die in the desert. Nobody can hurt you now, Henry.”
“But I’m still trapped, Will. And I’m scared, and so sad. I’m lonely, Will. I want to be with you. Don’t you want to be with me?”
“Of course, yes I want to be with you. So much. So much.”
“I know of a way, Will. Papa always told me to use my mind. If you open your mind to me, Will, I can be free. I can break out of here. Please help me, Will. I want to be with you. I want you at my side. I want to really touch you. Don’t you want that? Don’t you want me too, Will? If you open your heart and mind to me, we can finally be together.”
Back in the Wheelers’ basement, Mike is trying to rouse Will awake. Will’s eyes are rolled back in his head but he doesn’t seem to be in pain. He’s muttering something. Mike leans in close and hears him say ‘I want to help.’
Mike doesn’t understand what this means but he knows it’s not good that Will’s eyes look like this. He jostles him, gently at first. Then grabs him by the shoulders to shake him, but gets no response. He shakes him again. Now Mike is shouting, tears are starting to well up in his eyes and his face is getting hot.
“Wake up, Will. Snap out of it! It’s just a dream. Wake up! Will!” Mike needs help.
Jonathan Byers isn’t here. He’s been gone for several days. He’d decided to drive with Argyle back to California so he could gather what few personal possessions they could salvage from the Byers house in Lenora Hills. Will’s dreams began the day Jonathan left.
“Dammit, Will, wake up! Please! Fuck, what is happening? You can’t do this again. You hear me? You can’t leave me again! Fuck, Will! Please wake up!”
He’s screaming now. Two floors up, Karen is roused awake by the noise. Ted Wheeler grumbles that it’s probably nothing, just their son being an idiot over a game or something. Go back to bed.
In the basement, Mike fumbles for his walkie-talkie. He calls to Dustin. To Lucas. To El. He’s frantic as he explains what’s going on with Will. Lucas tells him he can’t come right now because he’s still at the hospital. Max is starting to stir. Something is happening and her eyes are fluttering. There’s panic in his voice too.
El tells Mike she’ll get Hopper to bring her over right away. Mike can hear Joyce in the background. He looks down at her son, laying limp in his arms. Will is growing cold, but at least he doesn’t look in pain. In fact, he almost looks happy. Will mumbles something about breaking out. In the distance, Mike can hear thunder.
El arrives with Hopper and Joyce a few minutes later. Mike lets them in through the basement’s exterior door, then rushes back to Will who is now lying alone on the couch. Sweat is beading up on his forehead, but somehow his body still feels cold. His eyes are darting back and forth even as they remain rolled back.
Eleven tells Joyce to hand over her scarf, she needs to use it as a blindfold. She tells everyone to be quiet as she sits on the ground next to Will’s makeshift bed. She holds his pencil-stained hand and starts to concentrate.
She sees inky blackness and knows she’s back in the mind arena. She hears the voices of two young men. Then she spots them. It’s Will and he’s standing very close to another person. A boy, maybe a few years older. Taller. Thin and reedy. His arms are wrapped loosely around Will’s waist. They’re whispering. Smiling. Will is blushing. The other boy reaches up to cup Will’s face. El moves around to take a closer look. Who is this boy that’s about to kiss her brother?
Then she sees his face. Pretty. Too pretty. Blond. Blue eyes. And although he appears about 17, El immediately recognizes him. Henry Creel. One. Vecna.
“Get away from him!” she screams.
“Will, protect me. That girl hurt me here in the lab. Do you know her?”
Will shields Henry as he turns to his sister. “Go away, El! You’re scaring him!” His eyebrows are turned up in concern.
“You do not understand, Will! That is Vecna! That is Henry Creel! He killed the other children! He killed his family, Will! And he is the one trying to pull Hawkins into the Upside Down!”
El reaches out her hand and blows Henry back away from Will. He lands in the darkness with a hard thud. He doesn’t strike back, just whimpers and calls for Will.
Will rushes over and covers Henry’s body with his own. “What are you doing! You’ll kill him! Stop it, El!”
“Will, can’t you see? He is trying to use you! He is trying to use you to connect to the real world. To bring everything down. Because your mind is the one that created Hawkins in the Upside Down. Get away from him, Will. Please! He will kill you!”
“No! He wouldn’t do that. He wouldn’t hurt me.”
At his side, Henry reaches up to Will’s face. “I want to be with you, Will. I just need you to open your mind to me. So we can be together. We can always be together. Like we deserve. We don’t have to hide the ways we’re different from everybody else, Will. Not anymore. We can be ourselves. Together. Don’t you want that, Will? Don’t you love me? Don’t you want to be with me?”
“He is trying to trick you, Will! He does not love you!”
“Don’t believe her!”
“Do you, Henry?”
“You know how I feel about you, Will. I want us to be together. I want you to always be with me. At my side. Please help me.”
“He doesn’t love you, Will!”
“Do you, Henry?” Will pleads. His eyes are fat with tears now.
“Make him say it! If he loves you, he should be able to say it. Why can’t he say it?!” El screams at Will. “It is a trick, Will. Please believe me. I love you. Your family loves you. Your friends love you, Will. He does not love you!”
“Henry?”
“Will, please. I need you.”
“But do you love me?” Will’s voice is small now. He’s beginning to stand from his crouch. When the beautiful boy doesn’t answer, Will starts to back away.
“Come back to me, Will. She’ll hurt me. She’ll kill me! Don’t you love me anymore?”
“Do you love me? Say it! Say it, if you love me, Henry!”
“Will, please, let me show you. I can show you. Just open yourself up to me and you’ll see. I’m not good with words, Will, but I can show you. I can give you more than you ever dreamed. We can be together…”
But as Henry is speaking, his voice is dropping. His image is shimmering. Will glances behind himself to see El with her arm outstretched to Henry.
“I want you to see who he really is, Will! Who Henry really is!” She’s trying to unveil him.
Will turns back and catches just a flash of scarring, burned flesh, rootlike tentacles emerging from Henry’s neck, but then the image glimmers away.
Henry looks angry now. Older. His hair, longer and gone blond and wavy. Then suddenly it’s short and cropped again. Then Henry is young. Even younger than Will. Hair, slicked back. Fragile. Blood coming from his nose.
“Will! Save me. You have to help me, Will! Free me! I can’t stay here alone, Will!” But the voice that started out boyish merges into a deep growl that Will can feel in the pit of his stomach. He can see now what Henry is.
In the distance he can hear music. Faint but he can make out the tune. The lyrics. “I would break down at your feet. And beg forgiveness. Plead with you”.
Just behind El, Will can see a hole in the blackness. He sees Mike’s crying face. Along with the music, he hears Mike screaming.
“Will! Wake up, please! Will! Please come back to me! Listen to the music, Will! It’s your favorite! Will, please! Come back! I love you so much. Please don’t leave me. I love you, Will, please!
Will takes one look back at angry boyish Henry who’s now growing tentacles. The glamour is gone and he’s morphing into a monster. So Will starts to run. He starts to run as fast as he can, even as roots try to trip him up and grab at his feet. He runs toward El and the portal to Mike’s basement. He grabs his sister by the arm and they both start to run.
El is looking back even as she runs to the light. She throws one hand back and grunts. What Will doesn’t see as he lets go and jumps into the portal is Henry, now Vecna fully realized. El turns to stand firm in front of the portal, both arms raised in front of her and screaming, as a giant fireball envelopes Vecna and he blows apart.
In the basement, blood is freely spilling from Eleven’s nose. Joyce is there, holding her body. She’s pulled off the scarf and is cradling her adopted daughter in her arms.
Hopper is right behind them, reaching around to rub El’s arms. “Come on kid, come on back. Come back, baby, please. Come on!”
El’s eyes flutter, she opens them. A smile of relief blooms on her face when she sees her parents. Joyce’s salty tears drop on her face.
The song that helped Will break from Vecna’s spell ended several minutes ago but the album plays on. Hopper clicks off the tape player just as “Jumping Someone Else’s Train” begins.
“What the fuck is this music? Jesus.” he grumbles.
Now a heavy silence settles over the basement except for the sound of quiet sobbing. Joyce crawls over to Mike, just a few feet away. He’s rocking back and forth, holding Will. His long hair acts as a curtain, obscuring both their faces. Mike is shaking his head slowly, whispering in a hoarse voice, “Come back, please, I can’t lose you. Will, please, I love you, please, come back.”
Suddenly an arm reaches up to clutch at his back. Mike looks down to see big hazel eyes staring back at him.
“You love me?”
“Will? Will, oh my fucking god. Will, are you okay?”
“I’m okay, Mike. I’m okay.”
Mike buries his snotty, tear-streaked face into the crook of Will’s neck and sobs. “Oh my god, Will, oh my god.”
“I heard you, in there. I heard you say…”
“I love you, Will, so much. I’ve been so stupid and I’m so sorry but I love you. Please please don’t leave me again.”
“I… I won’t. I won’t.” Will gives Mike a wobbly pat on the back and smiles.
Eleven, now wrapped in the arms of her parents, looks over at the best friends, huddled in a pile of arms and gangly legs on the basement floor next to the couch.
A look of understanding crosses her youthful face. Her lips pull back in a sad smile, but then she looks back up to see Joyce and Hopper looking at her and the smile finally reaches her eyes. She knows she’s safe and loved, and she’s glad Will has that feeling too.
Just then, the staticky sound of a walkie-talkie breaks the reverence of the moment. “Guys!!! Guys, she’s awake! I don’t know know what the hell just happened, but Max is awake!”
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