Ashes Falling Upwards (stranger things, Will x OC/reader)

Voices

"Where have you been?"

"Ah, mom, you startled me." Ash slipped off her shoes, tossing her jacket towards the coat rack and starting into the house.

"I said where have you been?" Her mom yelled, her voice shaken with worry. "You were supposed to be home two hours ago! I told you to call me if you're going to be out later."

"I was hanging out with friends. There wasn't a phone nearby. I forgot, I'm sorry."

"Wait."

Ash flinched as she rushed past her mother. She was painfully aware of the white bandage tied around her right arm, fully exposed in her short T-shirt.

"What is that?"

"I—I tripped. Scratched up my arm pretty good," she lied, putting a hand over the wound.

"Oh, okay."

She could tell her mom didn't believe that, but thankfully she didn't pry any further.

"Can I go?" Ash asked, eager to get away before she was trapped in an awkward conversation.

"Not yet."

Shit.

"Who were these friends? I'm guessing not Erin, since she would've remembered you have to call me."

Ash leaned against the cool white wall as nonchalantly as she could. "The same ones I went trick-or-treating with."

"Those boys?" Her mother frowned suspiciously. "I saw Will Buyers in that group. Are you friends with him?"

"Yeah, I am."

C'mon, mom. I don't want to deal with this right now.

"I heard he has problems. It's he making you deal with them?"

"What?" If only you knew what I just went through. "No! Of course not! We're just friends is all."

"You sure?" Her mother gave her a worried look, but it seemed forced. "I don't want to—I don't want you to deal with any of that. I care, you know."

"Sure." She resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

The look hardened. "What do you mean by that?"

"Nothing!" She threw up her hands in exasperation. "Can I go now?"

"O-okay."

With that Ash ran to her room, careful not to slam the door behind her. She hated fighting with her mom because she knew how much it stressed her out. But sometimes she was just so...

Ash flopped onto her bed with a sigh. Seeing Will's mom being so worried about him had reawakened all the feelings about her mother she'd tried to keep bottled up.

I want to scream at her, to just let it all out. "You don't care about me, you don't protect me like a mother should!" But all that would do is make her mad at me and then we'd both be mad at each other, which wouldn't fix anything. At least this way my home life is generally peaceful and happy.

Speaking of home life, I wonder how Will is doing? He really didn't seem good when he left, which is understandable since all of that shadow thing went into him. How does that even work? Is he part of it now?

The time after she'd woken up was a blur, but she could clearly remember the slimy, ugly twisted feeling she'd had in her gut the entire time, always pulling towards Will. It was in him: part of the Upside Down. Not just connected to him, but actually part of him.

And now it's part of me too, isn't it? Just a little bit.

She held her hand up, examining it in the lamplight, then rolled over to look in her mirror. She looked the same as ever; dark brown hair spread out around her on the bed, hazel eyes sparkling as usual, dressed in simple jeans and a striped t-shirt.

"Are you still you?" she whispered to her mirror self. Mirror Ash whispered the same thing back. That didn't tell her much of anything.

But it definitely was inside her. She could feel a part of her brain that was different now, like she was sharing her mind with another person. Every now and then a thought would enter her head that she never would've had before. She could also hear a woman's voice that she didn't know echoing around inside her mind. It almost sounded like Will's mom, but she wasn't sure.

A couple hours passed and Ash brought out the book she was reading. She flipped through the pages, but her mind was too procured to focus on the words. A call from Will. A call, to let her know that he was okay or that he needed her, something, anything.

"Ashley?" Her mother's voice yelled up the stairs. "There's a call for you!"

"Thank you!" She cried, throwing the book away and dashing down to grab the phone from her hand. Her mother gave her a confused smile, then returned to her spot in the living room.

"H-hello?"

"Um, hi, is this Ashley Park?" That was Joyce's voice, for sure. Hearing it now, Ash was almost certain that was the same voice she'd been hearing in her head, talking gently and worriedly. How, she didn't know.

"Yeah, that's me."

"Hi! Ah, I'm Will's mom. He, ah, he says you know what's going on and that maybe you can help him."

"Is he not doing well?" she asked, careful how she worded the question with her mother so obviously listening in from the next room over.

"I'm afraid not—can you come over now?"

"Yeah, for sure." She leaned over until her mother's face was in her view, mouthing can you drive me? When she nodded Ash said into the phone, "Yeah, I can. I'll see you soon?"

"Yes! Thank you so much, Ashley!"

And with that the phone went silent.

"What's going on?" asked her mother worriedly, coming back into the hallway. "Who was that?"

"That was Will's mom," she explained, then, deciding lying would be best, "Will's not doing so great, he's got a migraine and you know how I got those migraines a lot after...what happened? So they thought maybe I could help him out, as a fellow kid, you know?"

Her mother nodded, luckily looking convinced. "I think that's a nice idea. But are you sure you want to do this? You don't have to, you know."

"Y-yeah. Yeah, I'm sure."

"Alright."

She grabbed her keys and they headed for the car together, Ash's heart pounding.

Now there was a man's voice in her head.