Camping In The Clearing Of Trees And Trust (With Continue On)

part 1

Will frowned as his mother lectured him on why camping would be too dangerous, Will slowly stirred his soggy rice cereal with his spoon. Johnathan watched and felt sorry "Everyone else is going, it'd be a bit unfair if Will didnt get to go" Johnathan protested. Joyce sighed and sipped her coffee. Will didnt bother to look up as disappointment filled his eyes. "Your brother is dropping you off and you better be back by 8 in the morning or I swear to the gods that you'll never see daylight again". Will dropped his spoon and rushed around the table to hug her "thank you thank you, I promise I won't be back late!" Joyce held Wills face in her hands "but please be safe, I'm trusting you" Will nodded softly as he backed away and turned quickly to go pack. Johnathan smiled at his mother while she rolled her eyes as she picked up the bowl of cereal that Will had left behind out of excitement. Though Joyce still felt panic in losing her boy again, she needed him to be able to participate like any other child though she knew he wasn't exactly like every other child. Traumatized and filled with fear he was, this was good for him to be out with his friends to break the nerves he had built around him. Will hummed as he packed his bag, Johnathan startled him as he touched his shoulder. Will gasped and put his hands over his heart, "I thought we talked about knocking, you scared me" Johnathan sat on Wills bed as Will anxiously packed his stuff up quickly. Johnathan put his hands over Wills, "are you sure you feel okay to go?" Wills face faded to a pale tone, "I-i want to.." Will stuttered out quietly, Johnathan nodded "I know you do, even after the incidents??" Will shook his head out of it and continued packing frustrated slamming his clothes to the bottom of the bag "it was one time.." Will mumbled "yeah, one time three nights in a row" Johnathan nagged back. Will zipped his bag up and crossed his arms, "I'm not Arguing about this, if mom finds out she would never let me leave her side again because she thinks I'd make a bigger fool out of myself. Now can we stop with this?" Will huffed as he put his bag on and stormed out the room. Johnathan felt bad for him, all he had been through felt extremely unfair. Scared for his life and reliving the events at night through PTSD. All he wanted was for him to feel safe in his home and body again. Will didnt speak a word to Johnathan on the way to where they'd planned to camp, he didnt even humm a single note which worried him a bit. But assumed he was just nervous as it was his first night away from home since being stuck in the upsidedown. Will went to open the door when Johnathon locked the door, Will grunted and sat back in his seat. "I'm not letting you go until someone's here, mom would literally kill me" Johnathan said leaning closer to Will, Will shrugged lightly as he fiddled with his bag straps. "Hey, just talk to me for a second?" Johnathan asked with a worried tone to his voice. "Mhm?" Will answered back. "I'm sorry with how things have been, if I could change it I would" Will nodded and spoke softly "I know.." He looked out the window as the tress shifted in the wind. "I'm sorry too, I've been so frustrated and feel so trapped on the inside like its still crawling around in me I feel like I can't escape it" Will said with anxiety making his legs shake. Johnathan put his hand on Wills shoulder "I know kiddo, we all care about you so much we won't let anything bad happen again" Johnathan stated "promise?.." Will questioned "promise" Johnathon said as he unlocked the door as he saw Mike riding his bike in his side view mirror. Will smiled and open the door jumping out and closing it behind him. "Remember I'll be back at 8" Will nodded as he ran over to Mike giving him a bro hug. "Dude I can't believe you actually made it" Mike said surprised "I know!" Will smiled back. They put their bags down and sat on a log to wait for the others. After a bit of silence Will's face got pale as he kept looking behind him as if someone was going to attack him. "Hey its okay, I got your back" Mike said as he put his arm around Wills Shoulder. "Uh yeah, thanks" Will said looking down as he blushed. They both stood up quickly as they heard someone coming and put distance between them. Dustin came storming in on his bike as he skid in the dirt, "yo hey, I brought the food and get this!" He said as he pulled his bag around fumbling with the zipper. Will and Mike walked closer as Dustin pulled out a 6 pack of beer. Mike rolled his eyes, "why?" Mike asked him, Dustin shrugged and smiled "fun?" Dustin quickly shoved it back in his bag as Hoppers police car pulled in to drop off El. Hopper slammed the door shut and stood in front of the boys who looked scrawny next to him. "No funny business and I mean it" the boys nodded heavily back at hopper. Hopper threw his cigarette on the ground in front of them and stomped on it walking away but turned to look at Will "you look after Will just as much as El" Hopper told Mike as he closed his car door shut. El came over and smiled "camping" El said, everyone nodded back still scared Hopper was watching them. El dropped her bags and looked around. Mike sighed in relief as Hopper drove off "I swear he almost killed me that time"
"I swear he had xray vision and saw the beer in my bag" dustin replied "beer? Hopper has that, he said its for stressed adults" El stated. Dustin huffed "well life is pretty stressful being a teenager too" Mike smirked trying to hide it. Mike looked over at Will to see him staring blankly into the Forrest "Will? Hey Will" Mike said as he shook his shoulder a bit Will looked over confused "huh what? Oh sorry I was just looking at the trees" Will said as he looked up at the limbs moving followed by everyone else looking up. "Creepy" Dustin said as he put his bag back on his back walking off. El followed not far behind as Mike watched Will stood still as terror flooded his eyes. Mike slowly pulled Will away to follow them. "Come on, we will set up further from the trees" Will nodded softly as he pulled himself away from Mike and continued walking with a fumble in every couple of steps until he snapped back into reality. Mike and Dustin threw their bikes down as they came to a clearing of trees. "Hey perfect am I right?" Dustin smiled and Will nodded softly feeling safer in the area they had chosen. They put all their bags down in the middle of the clearing and sat on them. They talked about setting up for a bit until they heard twigs break. Will shot up and looked behind him but sighed in relief to see it was only Max and Lucas. "Sorry we're late, we got lost" Lucas said as he plopped down next to Dustin. Max nodded, you changed meeting spots. "Oh yeah the trees were gonna fall on us if we stayed any longer" Mike huffed back "the trees were barely- ouch" Dustin said as mike stopped him mid sentence knowing well it'd upset Will. "The trees were barely.. Standing" Dustin said being more considerate this time. "Anyway here is much cooler" Dustin said looking around, Mike and El nodded. "We should set up before we have lunch and go explore" Mike suggested. Everyone nodded and started to unpack the three tents, El followed Max with a tent. "Hey I thought we were gonna share a tent, its your first time" El shrugged "Hopper said girls with girls and boy with boys or he kicks ass" Mike sighed and nodded turning around as he knew he wouldnt and shouldnt argue against that, he saw Lucas and Dustin already setting up a tent together as Will stood clueless still in the middle on the clearing of trees. Mike thought that maybe this was for the best, Will wasn't doing well. It was his first time away, at least he'd be able to protect him and make sure he didnt disappear overnight.

Mike pulled over the tent closer to the rim of the clearing "here okay?" Mike asked, Will looked up and nodded.