Heartbreak Story - Byler

Epilogue I

Trigger: Homophobia is present in this chapter. I'm sorry.

Saturday 15th August, 1987-

As the night before's deep, dreamless sleep finally released me from its firm grip and I slowly began to awake to the blissful morning light, I reached out my hand in search of what was missing from my arms: my boyfriend of over six glorious months. However, to my dismay, the side of his small bed he always reserved from himself was completely empty and my hand clutched at the bed sheets as I unsuccessfully attempted to pull Will back into my clasp.

My heartbeat quickened within my chest and my eyes snapped open, all feelings of drowsiness and grogginess vanished with haste as I automatically began to worry for the boy I loved who was no longer sleeping by my side. Though I knew the fear was irrational as nothing seemingly supernatural had occurred in the town of Hawkins ever since Nancy and Jonathan had shut down that god forsaken lab., panic welled within my chest like a disastrous, unwelcome beast as horrifying thoughts of what could have happened to Will swarmed through my head.

Relief washed over me as my eyes locked on the small boy perched by his open window, wearing nothing but his briefs, as he gazed out into the world beyond. The summer had been scorching, some had even thrown around terms such as "record breaking", so it wasn't unusual for Will and I to sleep in nothing but our underwear. Naturally, however, knowing that the boy I loved was barely dressed as I held him close to my chest every night had made it difficult to sleep as ideas swirled through my head of what I wanted to do to him and I had to use all of my will power to keep them at bay.

"G'morning, beautiful." I announced, my voice travelling towards the window yet barely affecting the boy it reached. His attention was clearly elsewhere as I spoke to him.

"Morning." Will responded in a distracted, unfocused tone of voice. As I regarded him with confusion, I noticed his eyes seemed a little glossed over and I understood that he wasn't actually seeing whatever it was that he was looking at outside. His mind was deep in thought but nothing about his demeanour gave me any clue as to what these thoughts could possibly be.

Silence washed over the room for a minute or two as I stretched my tired limbs and tried to shake off the stiffness that always came along with sleep. I hoped that Will would be the first to speak up, to share his thoughts with me, yet I found myself disappointed when I came to the conclusion that he would not be the one to destroy the peaceful quiet that had surrounded us.

"What are you thinking about?" I enquired politely as my interest levels became far too high to ignore.

The brown-haired boy let out a heavy sigh before finally turning completely to face me and look me in the eyes. I witnessed as his eyebrows knitted themselves together slightly and worry line appeared just above them before he spoke to me: "Your parents."

"Wha-what?" I gasped out in shock. Of all the unusual and unlikely things I thought could have made their way into Will's mind in the early hours of the morning, my parents certainly hadn't been anywhere near that list.

The boy gazed intently at me, the worry line creasing even deeper into his brow as he did so. "Baby, aren't they starting to question anything? You know, about the two of us? It's been months and to top that off, you've practically lived here for the whole summer and you haven't even been back there in almost two weeks."

"Will, please, you know they don't ever notice whether I'm there or not. I bet you they haven't even been in my room once to check if I'm still breathing. Unless it's about their own petty little dramas, they don't notice a thing about me." I forced out as I began to scratch the back of my neck awkwardly, hoping to avoid the remainder of this unexpected conversation.