𝐦𝐢𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐫 𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐞~𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐲𝐞𝐫𝐬

𝐀𝐂𝐓 𝐎𝐍𝐄, 𝐒𝐂𝐄𝐍𝐄 𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍

𝒂/𝒏 𝒔𝒐 𝒊'𝒎 𝒄𝒖𝒓𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒍𝒚 𝒎𝒆𝒍𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒏 𝒎𝒚 𝒓𝒐𝒐𝒎 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒊 𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒆𝒏𝒈𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒎 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒊𝒈𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒐𝒑𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒆𝒎𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒗𝒆 23 𝒅𝒆𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒊𝒔 𝒇𝒖𝒏. 𝒔𝒐 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕 𝒎𝒚𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇 𝒊𝒎𝒎𝒂 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒘𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈. 𝒃𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇 𝒈𝒖𝒚𝒔, 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝑾𝑰𝑳𝑳 𝒃𝒆 𝒂 𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒏𝒆
𝔀𝔀𝔀𝔀𝔀𝔀𝔀𝔀𝔀𝔀𝔀𝔀𝔀𝔀𝔀𝔀𝔀𝔀𝔀𝔀𝔀𝔀𝔀𝔀𝔀

𝐈 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 𝐘𝐎𝐔, 𝐏𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐂𝐄𝐒𝐒
ᴍʏ sʜᴀᴅᴏᴡ's ᴛʜᴇ ᴏɴʟʏ ᴏɴᴇ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴡᴀʟᴋs ʙᴇsɪᴅᴇ ᴍᴇ
ᴍʏ sʜᴀʟʟᴏᴡ ʜᴇᴀʀᴛ's ᴛʜᴇ ᴏɴʟʏ ᴛʜɪɴɢ ᴛʜᴀᴛ's ʙᴇᴀᴛɪɴɢ

𝑾𝒊𝒍𝒍'𝒔 𝒑𝒐𝒗
Will didn't know what confused him more: the fact that he was stuck in this place with no forseeable way out, or the fact that there was a pretty girl that had not only showed an interest in him, but had also agreed to be his girlfriend. If he ever got back home, the guys would freak.
"When" he heard Ashley mumble beside him.
"Huh?"
"When you go home" she explained, fiddling with the fabric at the ends of her sleeves. Will replied with something really smart
"Oh"
After sitting in silence for a few moments, Ashley yawned and Will realised for the first time how tired she looked. Her eyes were half closed, not to mention the purple bags under them.
"Hey," he nudged her to get her attention "Get some sleep, i'll keep watch and let you know if anything shows up"
"No, stay with Will" she tried to protest, but he could see her eyes drooping.
"Yes, sleep" he told her, but she didn't need to be told twice. She rested her head on his lap (𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒗𝒆, 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒖𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓) and brought her legs closer to her chest. Will blushed a little, before stroking her dark hair with his fingers, something that his mom used to do when he was younger to help him sleep. It seemed to work, because he soon noticed her breathing slow down and become deeper.

He knew people said this a lot about someone they love, but she was beautiful in her sleep. Well, she was beautiful anyways, but when she was asleep the worry lines around her eyes relaxed and her mouth pulled into a slight smile. Will missed his friends and family a lot, but he knew there was nobody he'd rather be stuck in this place than the girl sleeping in his lap.
He began to wonder what the "bad men" had done to Ashley to make her so skittish and isolated from others as he gently pulled up her sleeve and stroked the tattoo on her wrist. 010. If she was number ten, then surely there was a 1-9 too, and maybe even an 11, 12 and so on. And if Ashley possessed telepathy, which still scared Will, what if she had known from the start that he had a crush on her, then did another have telekinesis (𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒃𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒐𝒃𝒋𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒔) or even pyrokinesis (𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒆 𝒑𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒔)?

A more important question came to the surface. Would these people come looking for her and take her back to the lab? She was clearly afraid of that place, and Will wasn't surprised. They kept her locked up in a room, performing experiments on her and punishing her if she did something wrong. They also didn't seem to feed her much, Will could tell because of her well defined cheekbones and her bony features.

Will decided that, when they got out of this place, he would convince his mom to let her stay with them so she would never be hurt by those bad men again. He smiled to himself, proud of his plans, when he noticed Ashley whimper in fear and begin to stir. He caressed her cheek, telling her she was okay, that it was just a dream but she started to cry, small sobs that made Will's heart hurt. She had only been asleep for an hour or two but Will deicded it was time to wake her up.
"Hey Ash, you're having a nightmare, can you please wake up for me?" he asked, shaking her shoulders lightly, but she didn't wake up.
"Ash!" he spoke a little louder
"Ashley!" he started to shout, getting worried.
She shot up, clamping a hand over his mouth before putting a finger over her lips, indicating him to be quiet. She removed her hand and pointed outside, which was when Will began to hear the rustling outside.
"We gotta get out of here" Will said, pretty stupidly.
"Will has to sleep" Ashley replied but Will wasn't tired.
"I was asleep when you got here actually, i was so exhausted that i decided to just go to sleep then" Will explained, which was true. Ashley's expression softened and she took Will's hand, taking him outside.
When he saw the demogorgon, he nearly screamed. It was about 8 feet tall with long, bony limbs and green skin, but that wasn't the scary part. The scary part was that it didn't have a face, just a giant mouth. Ashley grabbed his hand and told him to move before it jumped, but Will couldn't move, it was as though his legs were rooted to the floor.
He was soon shocked back to reality when the demogorgon jumped on top of him, ripping him from Ashley's grip and pinning to the floor, drooling all over his face. As its grip tightened on his shoulders, Will closed his eyes and accepted his fate, but Ashley had other ideas
"NO!" she yelled, effectively getting the monster's attention, but not for long. It turned back to Will and shrieked so loudly Will's ears began to ring. Ashley walked over, standing by Will's head and tried again
"NO HURT WILL" she shouted before screaming and thrusting her hands out in front of her. The demogorgon rose, and Will thought it was about to kill both of them, but it did something stranger (𝒉𝒆𝒉𝒆). It lumbered towards Ashley and gave her a hug before saluting to them and skipping into the woods. Will turned to her, completely bewildered.
"What was that?"
She pulled some slimy stuff from the demogorgon and helped Will up
"Told it to be nice" she shrugged it off as if it was no big deal, but didn't loosen her grip on his hand.
"Ok, so where are we going?"
"Will's house" she stated, dragging him through the woods until they reached the clearing where his house was. When he saw his house, he caught his breath. It was his house, but it looked so old and decayed that it was almost unrecognisable. Almost.
"Why?" Was all he could manage before a sob escaped his mouth and he crumpled to the ground. He had only been gone for maybe a day? And he missed home. He missed not being scared for his life or being constantly on the run. He missed playing D&D with his friends and spending time with his family. Heck, he was even starting to miss Troy and his constant bullying. Ok, maybe not that much, but you get the point.
"Make it better" Ashley was kneeling in front of him, holding both of his hands in hers.
"No" his voice was laced with poison
"It isn't going to get better because we're stuck in this place, all alone with no way out. We have hardly any food, not to mention the cold and...oh yeah! The literal demogorgons constantly chasing us. So no, unless you can get us out of here then there is no making it better" he spat, hastily removing his hands from hers.
"Will..." he heard her talking but he wasn't paying attention. He probably would've stayed like that if it weren't for her wrapping her arms around him in a hug. He buried his face in her shoulder and began to cry. He didn't care if he looked like a baby, all he wanted was to be home.
When she pulled away, she held her cheeks in her hands and wiped the tears from his face.
"Will is scared"
"Y-yeah" he sighed shakily "I am. I'm terrified out of my mind, to be honest"
"Okay to be scared. But Ashley will make it better. Promise"
Will smiled, it was cute when she spoke in third person. It reminded him that, although she had these cool powers, she was still just a kid like him. When he looked into her eyes, he noticed the glassy look in them, and how red they were, like she was...oh. Of course. She was just as scared as Will, but putting on a brave face for him.
He then realised that everything he had just spoken about, being alone, hungry, scared and constabtly on the run were actually quite normal for her. And here he was being ungrateful while she had suffered this her whole life, and she's never complained once.
"I am so sorry" he summed it all up
"Okay. For what?" she asked, tilting her head and knitting her eyebrows.
"I'm sorry for being so ungrateful and treating you like dirt. I'm really glad you're here with me. I think i would probably be dead by now if it weren't for you"
He took a deep breath
"I love you Princess, i hope you know that"
"Princess..."she mumbled, looking at her hands before facing Will
"Love you too, Byers. Come. Try something."
She pulled him up and they walked into his house, being careful to touch as little as possible. The inside looked just as bad as the outside, covered in thick black vines and decay. Will gave Ashley a tour, starting with the kitchen before moving down the hallway to the bedrooms. He started with Jonathan's room, trying to see if he could find any way to connect with his mom or brother
"What is brother?" she asked, looking around his room.
"A brother?" she nodded. How did Will explain to someone what a brother was?
"Well...do you know what a sister is?"
"Yes"
"A brother is the same thing, just a boy instead of a girl"
"Brother" she breathed, processing the new information. They walked over to his mom's room and he hesitated before entering. Even in another dimension Will felt strange about bringing another person into his mom's room. They looked around and Will stifled a sob.
"Miss mama?" Ashley asked, walking over to him and gently squeezing his hand.
"Yeah. I miss her a lot" he sat on her bed, but the familiar softness of the bedsheets still failed to comfort him. Ashley came and sat next to him
"Mama loves you. Mama will find you" Will nodded and smiled at her before another question popped into his head
"Do you know your Mama?"
She shook her head
"Gone" she said it in the same tone when you say someone is dead.
"Oh...i'm sorry"
"It okay" she replied before they got up and left the room. Will walked to his room and a chill went down his spine. If he got back home, he would never complain about cleaning his room again. He turned around to see Ashley at his desk, looking at his drawings and he blushed. He had never had a girl in his room before, and his mom didn't count.

He walked over to her and watched her pull a piece of paper out of her pocket
"Will the wise. Very good" it was his drawing, from the day they first met. He was wondering where he had put that, but he was happy to know that Ashley had kept it. She slipped it back into her pocket and they walked into the living room (𝒐𝒓 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒕 𝒓𝒐𝒐𝒎 𝒐𝒓 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓, 𝒃𝒂𝒔𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒐𝒐𝒎 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂 𝒕𝒗 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒐𝒇𝒂).
The first thing Will noticed were the pictures scattered messily on the table, before hearing whispery voices that sounded very familiar. He listened more carefully, trying to hear what they were saying, but he couldn't make out a single word. He did manage to make out two different voices though. They sounded upset, like they had just lost someone close to them.
Wait. If this was his house, then it means that the voices must be
"Will's mama and Jonathan" Ashley confirmed his thoughts. Will was about to reply when something caught his eye. The phone. If Will could figure out how to get it to work, maybe he could contact his mom. But would he even be able to call his house with his own phone?
"Try" she told him, walking over to the phone with him. He picked the phone up and turned the disc around to the correct numbers. It was such a long process. Will hoped in the future they would make phones that work faster.
When he had turned to the last number, he heard a loud but muffled ring and footsteps running towards him, but no-one that he could see. The ringing stopped and he heard a voice down the phone
"Hello?" Will caught his breath
"Mama?" Ashley asked and he nodded in reply, unable to speak.
"Hello? Lonnie?" His mom spoke again and every cell in Will's body was telling him to say something, but he couldn't.
"Who is this?" she spoke again and Ashley's head snapped up.
"Monster. Close. Have to go." But Will was stuck. He wanted to tell his mom what had happened, but his voice didn't work.
"Will?" His mom asked, her voice desperate. Yeah mom, it's me Will. I'm here. I'm stuck. I need you. He wanted to tell her, but he couldn't talk.
"Will?!" he heard the monster growling outside, but he didn't care. His mom must've heard it too, because her voice began to grow angry as well as sad
"What have you done to my boy? Give me back my-" the phone cut off.
Before Will could react, Ashley grabbed his hand, running out the front door and Will was obliged to follow. As he left though, he could hear Jonathan shouting and his mother crying, and he was terrified to think that that may be the last he would ever hear of them.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚍 𝚌𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚝: 2278 ▼・ᴥ・▼
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𝒊 𝒂𝒎 𝒔𝒐 𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒇𝒖𝒍 𝒕𝒐 𝒘𝒉𝒐𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒎𝒂𝒅𝒆 𝒇𝒂𝒏𝒔. 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒍𝒚. 𝒔𝒐 𝒊 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒏𝒐 𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒂 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒃𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆, 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒃𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒚 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 30 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔? 𝒊 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘. 𝒂𝒍𝒔𝒐 𝒊 𝒄𝒂𝒏'𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒐𝒇 𝒂 𝒑𝒆𝒕 𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒂 𝒈𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂𝒔𝒉𝒍𝒆𝒚. 𝒐𝒓 𝒓𝒐𝒈𝒖𝒆. (𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒅&𝒅 𝒄𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒓𝒐𝒈𝒖𝒆) 𝒊𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒊'𝒎 𝒎𝒐𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐𝒐 𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒍𝒚 𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒐𝒐 𝒔𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒍𝒚, 𝒐𝒓 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒅𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌, 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒍𝒆𝒕 𝒎𝒆 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘, 𝒊 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔!
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