PATIENT ZERO «1» Will Byers x Male Reader

-Holly, Jolly - PT. 2-

Jonathan dipped the paper gently in the water, watching as the image on it slowly became clearer. A red surrounded him from the lights in the dark room. He felt strange, as if he was losing his mind. What he was doing was creepy, and wrong, he knew that, but he couldn't help keeping up his repeated process, bringing his photos from last night to life.

He brought the picture out of the water and hung it on the wall to dry, along with all the other photos he had already processed. When another photo finished, he held it up. Just then, a girl walks in, slightly greeting him. It took him a few seconds to notice her presence, but once he did, he immediately panicked and started taking down the photos, hoping she didn't see any of them.

Once all the photos were down and in his hands, he rushed out of the room, ignoring the girl's weird stare. He grimaced while passing her, realizing she must've seen at least one.

- -

Colors surrounded Joyce, glowing purples, oranges, blues and more. As she plugged in the last of the Christmas lights, she looked around. The sight would be beautiful, a mess of harmonized chaos, if it wasn't for the reason she had hung the lights up in the first place. Will was here. She knew he was, these lights would help her find him.

She looked for any sign of the lights blinking, just one spark going out. After she got nothing for a couple seconds, her body eased up, until a knock was heard at her door. She quickly made her way to it, swinging it open, but keeping her hand tightly on it so it didn't go out of control. At her door stood Karen and Holly Wheeler, Mike's mom and younger sister. She gave the woman a smile while also letting out a quick sigh. She wasn't sure if the sigh was of relief or disappointment, expecting Hopper to be at her door.

"Hey."

Karen said plainly, she tried to keep on a smile for the woman who was obviously struggling. Her eyes peaked inside the house, immediately noticing the batches of color strung to the ceiling and walls.

"Hey Karen."

"...I brought you a casserole."

"Oh, uh, thank you. You wanna come in?"

Karen accepted the invite in, leading her daughter inside of the house as they followed Joyce. The beat down woman led them to a table where Karen let go of Holly and placed the wrapped casserole on the counter, getting the oven started. Finding a kitchen timer, she winds it for a few minutes to let the oven heat up, she goes to sit at the table with Joyce and Holly.

They started to talk. Talk about anything that came to their minds. At first, both women ignored the elephant in the room, but as time went on, as Karen kept glancing around at the various lights that littered what seemed to be the whole house, Joyce felt as if she should give some sort of explanation. Even if it wasn't the truth.

"Will always loved Christmas, I thought if I- I put the lights up, then I don't know, he'd- he'd feel like he was home, somehow. I- It's silly, I know."

Karen was surprised at first, at the sudden topic of both what's happening and of what's been happening. She got over the shock quickly, reaching out to take her friend's hand,