𝐦𝐢𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐫 𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐞~𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐲𝐞𝐫𝐬

𝐀𝐂𝐓 𝐎𝐍𝐄, 𝐒𝐂𝐄𝐍𝐄 𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐄𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍

𝒂/𝒏 18 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔? 𝒂𝒄𝒄𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝑼𝑲 𝒍𝒂𝒘𝒔, 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒃𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒅𝒖𝒍𝒕. 𝒊𝒕'𝒔 𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒆𝒄𝒉𝒏𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒆𝒔. 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚'𝒓𝒆 𝒇𝒖𝒏. 𝒔𝒐 𝒊 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒎𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒂𝒚 𝒔𝒐 𝒊'𝒎 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒈𝒐𝒏𝒏𝒂 𝒍𝒆𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒐𝒏 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓
☀︎︎☀︎︎☀︎︎☀︎︎☀︎︎☀︎︎☀︎︎☀︎︎☀︎︎☀︎︎☀︎︎☀︎︎☀︎︎☀︎︎☀︎︎☀︎︎☀︎︎☀︎︎☀︎︎
𝑾𝒊𝒍𝒍'𝒔 𝒑𝒐𝒗
Will was still reeling from his dream when he got to his house. He stood outside, so lost in thought that he didn't notice the music blasting from inside until he heard his mom yelling. He rushed towards the door, but something on the wall caught his attention. Where the wooden panels should be, a wide reddish film stretched about three feet wide. He ran to it, and could see faint light glowing behind it. He started to hit it, and the sound seemed to echo through the woods. He heard the music stop and his mom's footsteps walk closer to him
"Mom? Mom!" he called, hoping she could hear him
"Will! Will!" she replied, but he heard her run towards the door and he sighed in exasperation. She must've realised he wasn't there, because she quickly came back to the wall
"Will, i'm here!" she ripped away the wallpaper and dim light filtered through.
"Mom!" she pressed her forehead to the wall and Will copied, trying to catch his breath.
Behind him, a demogorgon growled, and it didn't seem happy. Panic rose in his throat
"Mom! It's coming!"
"Tell me where you are. How do i get to you?"
Will didn't have much time, but his brain took over and talked for him
"It's like home, but it's so dark. It's so dark and empty. And it's cold!" he shivered at the thought, and he heard the demogorgon pick up its pace, but he didn't dare look
"Mom? Mom!"
"Listen to me. I swear i'm going to get you, okay? But right now, i need you to hide"
The wall began to close up, if his mom grabbed the axe or something...he was being selfish. What about Ashley? All she'd done for him, promising she would get them out together. He couldn't leave her here alone.
"Mom, please-"
"No, no listen! Listen, I will find you, but you have to run now. Run! Run!"
Behind him, the monster screeched and he took off.
"Will?" a familiar voice called as he entered the woods
"Will? Is that you? Here. Big tree" she sounded so broken that his heart ached. He ran over to the sound of her voice and found her lying against a tree
"Ash! You're okay! What-"
She coughed, cutting him off
"Alive, not okay. Bad things. Dying. Where?"
"I'm so sorry, i shouldn't have left Castle Byers, but i felt the need to go to my house, and i talked to my mom"
"Lights?"
"No, no there was an opening in the wall. It was like, i could see her, but there was this thin transparent wall between us. It closed up, and a demogorgon came after me, so i ran"
"But-"
"Hey, i think we should probably get you back to Castle Byers and warm you up, okay?"
He didn't wait for an answer. He picked her limp frame up, carrying her bridal style. She put her arms round his neck and buried her face in the crook of his neck. After a while of walking, Will decided to break the silence
"So...did you send me that dream?"
He felt her sigh before she replied
"Yes"
"Was it all true? Everything that happened?"
"Yep"
"And you knew you were going to meet me some day"
"Yeah"
"You know, you'll need to say more that just variations of yes"
She smiled against his neck
"Okay"
"So why did you send me that dream?"
"Found the time where both of our timelines connected. Thought it was important"
Will cast his mind back to the first day they met, in school
"The fire alarm. It sounds like the bell in school. Is that why you were scared?"
"Yep. And fire. Scares me. Killed mama"
"What about your brother, Harley? I didn't know you had a brother"
"Don't know. Been trying to find Harley, not dead, but can't track. Missing"
"But didn't you guys run away together?"
"Yeah, but the bad men, they took me. Left brother. Didn't need brother"
He set her on the ground outside Castle Byers and helped her get in. They sat inside and Ashley took a drink before Will continued
"So who started the fire?" the question had been eating away at him probably as much as it had the man with the white hair. He turned to face Ashley and, even in the dark, he could see her narrowing her eyes at him
"Why?"
"I just wondered if you knew"
She sighed and closed her eyes for a few seconds before reopening them to look back at him
"The bad men. Lit the middle floor. Fire went fast. Mama didn't jump" her tone went bitter "Too scared. Papa killed mama. Just to find me."
"Hey, this isn't your fault, you were just a baby, it's not like you could've helped. You saved your brother, which is the best you could've done"
"But-but what if it is? What if it is all my fault?" her voice trembled and her eyes were glassy. Will wrapped an arm around her and pulled her closer to him
"It isn't, okay? None of it. Don't be so hard on yourself"
"Okay" she took an Eggo from his bag and ate it quickly, she was clearly drained from whatever happened earlier with the demogorgon
"So, what happened with the demogorgon?"
She eyed him warily "Can't say. Know i promised no more secrets. But if i tell you, i'll have to kill you" her eyes glinted darkly, and Will wondered even though she claimed to no longer be possessed, one part of that shadowy thing stayed with her.