Byler- The Unwanted Return of Everything (And How It Finally Ends)

The Funeral

Notes- Tw for dead body

It was the strangest funeral that Mike had ever attended. He didn't know if funeral was the right word, but that was the word he decided to use. It featured the sending-off of a dead body, so it had to be a funeral. One of those old Viking funerals where they burned the body as it floated into the sea, maybe. That seemed like a kind thing to compare it to.

It was also the second funeral Mike had been to featuring the body of Jonathan Byers, which was weird. It was the third funeral Mike had been to that was featuring a member of the Byers family. None of these numbers made much sense in the big picture, but a funeral was a funeral, so he was sad.

Perhaps Will was more sad. Mike had offered to drive since he didn't know if Will would be up for it. He didn't seem like he was that affected by finding out his brother wasn't actually back from the dead, but Mike supposed he was hiding it. That was the only thing Mike didn't like about Will; it was his habit of hiding emotions. ' Just cry already!' Mike had once written in his journal back in high school. If there was one thing Mike hated more than seeing Will cry, it was seeing him try not to. Sometimes it was painfully obvious, today it was not. Will was a stone statue, facing the front of the car and unblinkingly following the road with his eyes. Most likely, he didn't want to look in the back seat.

The back seat was a little like a cruel joke. The group had decided to draw straws and Will pulled the short one, of course, so now he and Mike were driving to the gate in the woods with the bullet-ridden, unbleeding body in the back seat. That felt unfair to Mike, making Will transport the body of his brother, but he drew the short straw so there wasn't any arguing.

"Are you doing alright?" Mike asked, finally. The emotionless boy next to him was driving him insane. 'Just cry already!'

Will continued to stare forward. "I'm fine... It's not like it was actually Jonathan. I killed the Mind Flayer, and now He's gone. We'll put the body into the gate, seal it, and never have to deal with this again."

Mike sighed. "Yeah, unless the gate mysteriously opens again."

"It won't," Will said, he sounded sure of himself. "Jane opened it. She won't do that again."

Mike glanced over at his friend, trying to react to what he said. Jane had opened the gate? That didn't make any sense at all, she was just as confused as everyone else was about all this. "How do you know that?"

Will didn't move his pupils even slightly toward Mike. They continued to scan the horizon. "She told me. She opened the gate because she was convinced by a voice in her head."

"She said she didn't know why it was open," Mike argued. Jane wouldn't just open the gate.

"She lied," Will said plainly. He blinked for the first time in a minute. "And she told me not to say anything, so don't tell her I did..." He was quiet for a moment more. "It just gets me a little frustrated, the thought of her doing that. She should've known that wasn't a good idea."

Mike shook his head, still not convinced of the accusation. "But she was convinced by a voice, right? It's not her fault."

"You misunderstand me. The voice was her own imagination. She opened the gate because she wanted to, Mike. She wouldn't tell me why."

Now Mike looked unblinkingly forward. "Why would she do that?"

"Not sure," Will concluded. "But don't tell her I said anything, seriously. I thought I should tell someone because I'm not sure what to do about it." He sighed, finally looking away from the front window and towards Mike. "I love her more than anything and I hate myself for thinking this, but can we trust her? She's..." He looked down. "Never mind. That's probably looking too far into it. I'm sorry."