"EVERY BREATH YOU TAKE" Will Byers x Reader

Now Memories// chapter 16

Y/n's POV 

'So this thing, this shadow thing.' Hopper says, folding his hands together. 'You told your mom it likes it like this. It likes it cold?' 

I glance up at Will, and for the first time in several hours I see that it's actually Will. It's the way he holds himself-the way his eyebrows crease slightly when he's anxious. Not a cold-calculating expression, or even a strange confidence. 

'Yeah.' Will replies softly. 

'How do you know that?' Hopper asks. Joyce looks at Will, concern filling her features once more. 

'I just know.' Will answers. 

'Does he talk to you?' Hopper asks. 

'No. It's like...' Will hesitates for a second. 'I don't have to think. I just know things now. Things I never did before.' 

'Whatever the thing is, it's taking over him for short intervals.' I jump in. 'It's allowing him to see, but just slightly. True sight.' 

'True sight?' Hopper frowns. 

'It's a DnD thing.' I wave it off with my hand. 'Anyways, I think it's allowing him into its brain to show him things. For short periods of time. That's what you would call these...episodes.' 

'Only they're not episodes.' Joyce clarifies. 'They're real.' 

'And, uh...what else do you know?' Hopper clears his throat. 'What else does it show you?' 

'It's hard to explain.' Will says slowly. 'Like Y/n said. It's like old memories in the back of my head, only... they're not my memories.' 

'Okay.' Hopper says. 

'I mean, I don't think they're old memories at all. They're...' Will's voice shudders slightly. 'They're now-memories, happening all at once, now.' 

'Can you describe these now-memories?' Hopper inquires. 

'I don't know. It's... it's hard to explain.' Will quavers again. 

'I know it's hard but can you just... Can you try?' Joyce asks softly. 

'For us?' 

'It's like...They're growing and spreading...killing.' Will's voice breaks. 

'The memories?'

'I don't know.' 

Tears roll down Will's face, and he leans on my shoulder. I blink, rubbing his back and holding him. 

'I'm sorry.' Will whispers. 

'No, no, no. It's okay, sweetie.' Joyce soothes. 'Hey, hey, sweetie...what if you didn't have to use words?' 

'What if we try something...' I trail off. I press my hand to his forehead, trying to enter his mind. 'I can get in now.' I say softly. 

I close my eyes, seeing a bung of scribbles floating across Will's mind like a map. A map? They weave and coil around like...like roots? It's like a pathway, or something. I reach out and grab something from the nothingness and hear Joyce gasp. My eyes open quickly. 

'What?' 

'You just, you just-' I look around and gasp as well. All the things I saw are projected on the walls and are glowing with the same kind of light from my energy blasts. 

'Turn the lights off.' Hopper says gruffly, reaching for the light switch. 'It's sort of forking and branching.' 

'Like a storm?' Joyce suggests. 

'Roots.' I say softly, wiping my nose. 

'Roots!' Hopper snaps his fingers. 'Vines.' 

'Vines?' 

'Vines. He's drawing vines.' Hopper concludes, grabbing his coat and leaving.